Aloth casts a wary glance at the lift - there's no way that thing is safe to use. Unfortunately, it's the only way up to the top of the tower with the heavy cannons. The chains are incredibly rusted - even with the rust remover they poured all over them, which left some very disgusting puddles on the lift floor - and one journal details a series of accidents that happened on the lift. Result: the lift can't seriously be all that safe a few hundred years since its last operation.
Eder puts a foot on the thing, everybody wincing when it when it creaks ominously, and Cera says "There's no other way up…why couldn't the dwarves have just made a set of stairs somewhere in here?" Aloth agrees, even with the entry that mentioned bringing supplies up on the lift.
Pallegina says "Ac, there's nothing for it. No use putting it off." Did he just imagine the Avian Godlike glancing at him out of the corner of her eye for a moment?
They all file on, staying in the middle of the platform for some incredibly obvious reasons, and Eder pulls at the lever to start the lift. They all cover their ears when the lift lets out a painfully high screech, the chains protesting being used after so very long, and it starts lifting them up towards the top. There's another screech - but this time it isn't from the lift, it's from Skuldrak!
They all dive to avoid the spray of the poisonous gases the things breath, but Aloth tumbles by accident and nearly rolls off the edge - he grabs it just in time, and looks up to find a large Skuldrak looking down at him. It bares its teeth, then its look zones out and it slams itself into a wall hard enough to knock itself out - why would it do that? A pair of hands grabs his and yanks him up, and then he lands on top of the person who just rescued him - Cera.
It takes him a minute to realize the position they're in, a minute in which he's dearly tempted to kiss her right then and there, and he quickly scrambles off of her, his face turning as red as her new robes - at least Cera's face is turning at least as red. Then she looks over his shoulder and whips her crossbow up and fires. He flinches, then realizes the crossbow bolt went past his head and embedded itself in the head of another Skuldrak.
Sagani says "That looks like the last of them!" Kana sheathes his Estoc, then looks over and asks "What happened to you two?" Because Cera's sitting on the ground with her crossbow pointed in Aloth's direction and he's kneeling next to her - and both their faces must be bright red if not just simply glowing in the near-total darkness.
A stammering explanation out of both of them details how Cera saved Aloth from falling to his death and getting eaten by two Skuldrak - and both their faces must be enough to light up the entire shaft of the lift.
Iselmyr's annoyance and disbelief grates on Aloth's nerves, and she irritadedly says Lad, yer hopeless. Next time, kiss her!
Shut up, Iselmyr! Before she hears you!
Because he will definitely die of mortification and embarrassment if Cera finds out his feelings from Iselmyr of all people.
Lad, she'd better find ou' eventually. An' if not because of ye, I'll let her know.
No! Iselmyr, don't!
Grow a pair then, Lad. Along with some backbone. Tell her already.
Iselmyr, I swear-
"Aloth? Something wrong?"
He suddenly realizes Cera's maybe a foot in front of him and staring at him with a worried expression - crap, she must've heard the two of them talking. "It's nothing. Iselmyr's just being…vocal. As per the usual."
It doesn't seem to convince her - not in the slightest, damnit Iselmyr! - and then Eder casts him an evil grin and asks "What about?"
"Oh, about nearly dying by falling to my death, for one. Nearly dying tends to get her talking."
"Well, you've been looking annoyed, alarmed, and annoyed again for the past few minutes. Also, the lift stopped about ten seconds ago."
Cera looks up at the top of the tower, where they can hear the sounds of something large breathing and moving around. Aloth takes the opportunity to give Eder the worst glare he can manage, somewhat wishing looks could actually hurt. Eder, in response, gives him a mischievous grin and waggles his eyebrows - they'd better not tell Cera. They'd better not. Which seems to be written all over his face, because Eder rolls his eyes and Sagani quietly facepalms.
Cera whispers "There's an Elder Skuldrak up there. I can feel his thoughts…they're angry. And he wants to eat us."
Kana asks "The Skuldrak have thoughts? Feelings?"
"More like…instincts. Urges. Like hunger, and something encroaching on one's territory. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure I'm picking up both from it."
Pallegina draws her greatsword, muttering a few Vailian curses, and then a Skuldrak bigger than any they've ever seen before flies down. Cera's crossbow bolt doesn't do much more than annoy it, purple fire and all. They scatter as it swoops down, and then it lets out a bellow and puts its clawed hands to its head - there's an energy surrounding Cera's own head, she must've done something to it. Kana chants while he's slashing at the beat with his estoc, Pallegina makes a deep slash in its back, and that's apparently when it shakes off whatever Cera did to it and swings at them with its huge limb.
All three close-combat fighters get knocked to the ground - rather painfully-looking - and that's when Cera loses her cool with this thing. It then starts glowing from the inside out and explodes. Cera stumbles and nearly hits the ground, good thing Aloth catches her while everybody else is still reeling from the shock of an enemy exploding right in front of them. It was quite dramatic, after all.
Aloth eases Cera into a sitting position, remembering the time in Gilded Vale she nearly passed out after talking with the dead dwarf woman. Cera, you had better not pass out here because this is one extremely bad place to decide you want to catch up on all your lost sleep.
Cera chuckles, saying "Not in…the plan. Haven't tried that before. Pretty sure I did it right though."
Eder asks "You did that?!"
"Yeah…a Cipher technique…called 'Detonate' of all things."
Pallegina says "It's a fitting name. And useful, if a bit messy." She flicks a piece of Skuldrak off her breastplate, and then Eder notices something nearly completely buried in the snow. When he pulls it out, it's a shield with the face of a dragon on the front of it.
Kana says "I know that shield! It's the Dragon's Maw! Passed down from one Dragon Slayer to the next! But how did it end up here?"
Eder says "Whoever had it last probably got ambushed by Skuldrak and carried up here. Your fighting three of them in front, no time to worry about behind you because looking away will get you killed. Perfect opportunity for one to pick you up and take you to their nest. You think there'll be any angry spirits in this thing if I use it? Way better than my own, anyway."
Cera focuses on it for a minute, then shakes her head. "I'm pretty sure it's another one of these weapons we keep finding. Sagani's bow that occasionally summons lighting strikes, Pallegina's geatsword, Kana's Estoc. Looks like you've got one to."
"That only leaves you, huh?"
Cera laughs and says "If there's a special crossbow waiting for me, I'll find it somehow."
Aloth is really careful to keep his mind off the crossbow sitting at the bottom of his bag, instead filling his thoughts with how cold it is and how they should get the cannons activated somehow. It's supposed to be a surprise after all.
Cera pushes herself to her feet, looking around until she spots a wheel that looks like it's meant to turn on the large copper orb connected to all the cannons. It lets out a rusty screech, but it turns - and then Cera's knees buckle and she falls to the ground. Eder darts forward and catches her, as he's the closest to her, and sets her on the ground gently - her eyes open maybe a minute later and she lets out a groan, thankfully. Maybe it's the massive gush of steam that shot out of the orb, that's enough for them all to feel their faces and toes - that's the explanation that first comes to Aloth's mind anyway.
Kana tries to lighten the mood by saying "If you want to catch up on lost sleep, I'd suggest you do it inside the tower at least, Cera. Newly cleansed of Spiders and Skuldrak both, for one, and at least twenty degrees warmer than out here."
"Wasn't sleeping. Had a vision…ouch."
Eder asks "Anything that could help us with the Iron Flail?"
"No, I don't think so. I really don't know what just happened. There was something being forged, beings made out of metal - being made by a gigantic hammer, far larger than anything I've ever seen before. It could crush Defiance Bay all at once with one blow!"
At their somewhat skeptical looks, she shares the vision she had with them - they don't look skeptical anymore, she wasn't exaggerating.
They can even see the Iron Fort Flail from way up here, it looks like they won't get there 'til dark - so be it. At least it'll give them time to find out what other Cipher techniques Cera's been practicing in her spare time.
They find out its quite a bit of them, ever since they met Lady Webb, who also showed her what she knows and taught her how to further hone her powers on her own. She's mastered the technique for blocking pain, her own pain and others, along with something she calls 'Silent Scream' - apparently she can now produce a deafening mental scream that stuns whoever she's aiming for as well as those around them - because why focus on one enemy when you can halt the whole lot of them?
That certainly explains why some of the enemies they've come across just freeze and start holding their heads in agony then. Or the way an enemy will randomly catch on fire, it's their soul 'leaking' energy - that's literally the best way she can describe it. And what's she's hoping to try and master next she calls 'Tactical Meld' - she merges her mind with that of an ally, giving them both better accuracy and defenses against the enemy they're fighting. Oh, and she's getting better at both reading people's minds and keeping her own mind from connecting with others' without her knowing it. She's still every bit as good at forging the bond and severing it, now it just happens less when she isn't trying to do so. And she's getting better at shielding her mind from others' thoughts.
AN: Hey, everybody! Sorry about the wait on updates - school got a little busy all at once. And I got about four more ideas for stories that I'm currently trying to pan out. Anyway, as for this story, you'd think the dwarves would've made a set of stairs or something up to the top of that tower - because that lift likely wasn't very safe when it was new, much less present-day in the game. And, seeing as someone always manages to nearly fall to their deaths in that scene, I figured it'd be cute if Cera saves Aloth and they end up nearly kissing by accident. Enjoy! Review, please! And, in case anybody's wondering, I am actually going to get the two elves together at some point - a little later down the road though.