"Why are we stopping?"
Darren folded his arms across his chest as he threw the two of them a suspicious look.
Their journey through the Winterhold Hold and Eastmarch had taken the rest of the day and it had been decidedly uncomfortable. Darren was rather unresponsive to any attempts at small-talk from Aeyrin and he seemed angry at the company that he had found himself in the entire time. After a while, they just settled for traveling with him in silence and the two of them only talked to each other, trying to pretend that he wasn't there. He didn't seem interested in them anyway. He only ever spoke to complain about the length of the journey, the cold or the lack of properly paved roads. He even managed to appear abrasive towards Karnwyr – every time the wolf got anywhere near the Breton, he scrunched up his nose in disgust and walked a few paces away to avoid him.
Finally they reached the vicinity of the ruins of Mzulft, but it was dark already and they needed to rest before they delved inside.
"We need to make camp and rest up. The ruins are right over there. We'll head out tomorrow," Aeyrin explained while she pointed towards the faintly visible stone structures in the distance behind a canopy of trees.
"What? Those are the ruins? Why are we stopping now then? We can just go in right now and find the Staff!" Darren protested instantly.
"It takes fucking hours at best to go through Dwemer ruins, even if they were empty by some fucking miracle. We need rest. And since I'm assuming that you'll be doing sweet fuck-all to help us in combat, apprentice, you don't get a say," Bishop snarled at him.
"Watch your mouth, dog! First of all, a mage of my caliber will dispose of any enemy in a matter of a second. And I told you already, the Synod mages have already explored the ruins! The place is empty," Darren retorted again. Sometimes it just felt like he was arguing for the sake of arguing. Or maybe he really was worried about what was happening at the College in the meantime. Who knew with him? He was nothing but closed off and abrasively defensive the entire time.
"You don't fucking know that! You said yourself that they could be dead already! We're either resting here or inside the ruins where anything could be lurking about, can you get that through your thick skull?!" Bishop was losing patience with him. Every time that mage opened his mouth, it pissed him off more and more. He was just constantly whining and poking holes into their well-established routines. It was infuriating.
"You seriously expect me to sleep… in the mud?" Darren scoffed with unbridled indignation.
"Are you serious?" Aeyrin couldn't help but giggle. What did he expect? They were clearly going to travel for some time. Did he think that they could make it to the ruins and back without resting somewhere? And there wasn't even any mud around! Well… not much of it anyway.
"Unlike you, I'm actually used to sleeping inside, not in filth and dog-pens," Darren shook his head in disgust.
"You can just stand there… all night. Not like we give a fuck what you do," Bishop smirked at him. "You don't have to touch the filthy mud at all."
Darren only grumbled in annoyance, but before they pulled out their camping equipment, Aeyrin noticed something in the distance in the opposite direction from the ruins.
"Hey, is that an Orcish stronghold there, behind the trees?" she squinted to see the wooden battlements properly. She'd seen some of these strongholds from a distance before during their travels and this one looked very similar. "Is that Nar… Narulzulur?" She was pretty sure that she got the name completely wrong.
"I don't know. There's a stronghold there, but I don't remember the names," Bishop chuckled.
"Well… are there more of them in Eastmarch? Because if not, that must be the place. Do you remember those Orcs I'd met when I was with… with Faldaen? They told me that I should stop by their stronghold sometime. Maybe they would let us rest there," she beamed at Bishop excitedly.
"This should be the only one around," Bishop nodded. "But it's not like the fancy mage here can't actually survive a night in the mud," he snorted contemptfully at Darren.
"It's not that. We wouldn't have to bother with the traps and everything. And there's really no good place to bathe nearby," Aeyrin shrugged. The stronghold was really close, it would have been silly not to take advantage of that.
"Alright, I guess. We can go see if they take us in. Maybe then he'll actually stop whining," Bishop scoffed, earning only a disgusted shake of a head from Darren.
"As if sleeping next to filthy Orcs is any better than being covered in mud and grime."
…
"Hold, travelers!" an Orcish woman's voice boomed from one of the wooden watchtowers. "Only kin can enter our stronghold."
"I'm surprised that they didn't mistake you for their 'kin'," Darren snorted at Bishop quietly. Bishop kind of wished that he had said that out loud. If the Orc heard the thinly veiled insult in that, she might have pummeled him to the ground right then and there. That would have been a sight to remember.
"Aah, well some of your kin actually… named me their 'Blood-Kin'… does… does that count?" Aeyrin asked a little nervously. They told her to visit them here. It must have counted, right?
"Are you the Dragonborn?" the woman raised her eyebrows at her with palpable intrigue in her voice. Aeyrin only nodded at her and the Orc's face instantly brightened with a wide grin. "Our kin mentioned how you helped them slay that beast in the Rift. You are always welcome here, Blood-Kin. Welcome to Narzulbur." She turned towards the edge of the watchtower and hollered down into the stronghold grounds: "Yatul! Open the gate!"
"So… you're the one that they mistook for their 'kin'," Darren smirked meanly, but his voice was still tellingly low. Perhaps he would be intimidated by the Orcs enough to actually shut up once they were inside.
The large gate between the battlements swung open only a few seconds later and they were eagerly ushered inside by a small group of Orcs. Aeyrin recognized two of them as members of the party that she had encountered months ago in the Rift.
After some brief cheerful introductions, the Chief of the clan, Mauhulakh, agreed to let the three of them, along with the wolf, stay for the night in their longhouse.
They were ushered in quickly and sat down by a long table along the group of Orcs. Even though it was late, one of the Orc women rushed over to the adjacent kitchen and started to make food for everyone. They were served what the Orcs called their 'brandy' and the evening continued in rambunctious conversation.
"He is a strong one," Mauhulakh chuckled as he threw a piece of raw venison towards Karnwyr. The wolf caught it in his teeth eagerly and he quickly withdrew to the corner of the chamber to protect his treat from anyone who might want to take it from him. "He acts tame, but I suspect that ends the second he's got his prey in his sights."
"Oh yeah. He's not even squeamish about sinking his teeth into the draugr anymore," Bishop chuckled at Mauhulakh before he threw a brief fond look at Karnwyr. The wolf had already made short work of the meat and he wryly walked back to the Chief. He sat down diligently at the Orc's side before he let out a loud bark, wagging his tail excitedly.
"Spoiled though," Mauhulakh laughed heartily and he gestured to one of the other Orc to fetch another slab of meat.
"Yeah, you can blame her for that," Bishop laughed as he nudged Aeyrin with his elbow.
"Hey! I only spoil him when he deserves it," Aeyrin chuckled. Bishop immediately gave her a doubtful look and she retorted with a bright smile. "He always deserves it. He's a good boy."
Karnwyr let out a pleased bark at the praise and he slipped below the table to get closer to Aeyrin in order to nuzzle her leg affectionately. He had almost forgotten about his next serving of venison, but when Mauhulakh whistled, he instantly crawled around everyone's feet again to sit back at the man's side diligently.
"First wife? They always spoil everyone," the Chief chuckled at them.
Bishop got a little caught off guard at the comment. He wasn't exactly sure how to respond to that and he had no idea why. She wasn't his wife – the answer shouldn't be that hard. Aeyrin only snickered a little and an involuntary blush spread on her cheeks. She didn't seem too dumbstruck by that comment. He shouldn't have been either. Why was he?
"Yeah, he should be so lucky," she smirked at Mauhulakh after a second.
The Orcs around laughed heartily at that but Bishop wasn't sure if she was referring to the spoiling or to the whole wife thing. He chuckled alongside them, but he didn't know if it was actually convincing. Why was this suddenly so weirdly uncomfortable for him?
"Just wait till you get a second wife… oh wait… you Nords only get the one," Mauhulakh laughed a little maliciously.
"How many do you get?" Aeyrin looked at him in surprise.
"However many it takes to keep the bloodline strong," the Chief smiled a little wistfully. "Me, I've been married many times, but the Gods keep taking them from me." There was deep sorrow etched on the man's face as he said it, but he still kept up his slight smile.
"Oh… I'm sorry to hear that," Aeyrin answered almost automatically. She wasn't sure what else to say at that moment. The man didn't look like he was seeking platitudes.
"Don't be. We can't control their whims. And my wives have given me two strong children already. And hopefully I will meet my next wife… or wives soon."
"A Chief may take many wives at once, if he so chooses, unlike in the Nords' culture," a women sitting beside Mauhulakh explained. "We must ensure our race's survival by keeping the bloodlines strong, especially since many of our clans remain scattered after the last sacking of Orsinium."
The slightly somber mood didn't even last for a minute before a few of the Orcs started to emerge from the kitchen area with pots filled with food. The Orcs around the table erupted into merry cheers right away at the sight.
They were all served some roasted boar meat with juniper berries and potatoes and they all dug into the food with excitement. All of them, except for Darren. He had been quiet the entire time, never engaging in any conversation with the Orcs. He seemed to be particularly peeved at the fact that they were there, even though it was partly for his benefit too. He barely even partook in the numerous toasts that the Orcs had already made and when the meal arrived, he only pushed his food around the plate with a morose expression on his face.
"So, where are you three… four headed?" Urog, the Chief's daughter, inquired after a while during their meal.
"We're going to those Dwemer ruins nearby," Aeyrin announced a bit proudly. Predictably, that earned very interested looks from the Orcs around the table.
"Mzulft? We know of that place, though we never venture inside. Good on you. You have some guts to brave those machines," Mauhulakh nodded at her approvingly.
"You gotta know a lot about what goes around those ruins. Any idea if there are some people inside? Like bandits or…" Bishop looked at the Chief with curiosity. Maybe they could get a hint about the mages' presence there.
"No bandits. They wouldn't dare holing up so close to our stronghold," the Chief smirked. "We used to see a lot of other people going in and out. Looked like scholars or mages. They weren't armed. But there hadn't been much activity there for at least a month."
That didn't bode well for the mages inside. Maybe they'd already left the place, but that may have only been wishful thinking.
"But I'm sure that strong warriors like you two will be fine," the Chief smirked at them encouragingly. "If you need to retreat and lick your wounds at any point, you are always welcome here. And we have some supplies to trade too."
"What of you? You did not come armed and armored like these two," Urag turned her gaze towards Darren suddenly.
The mage looked rather shocked to even be addressed. He scowled instantly at the question and he looked even more peeved than before for some reason. Why was he like this? The Orcs have been nothing but friendly to all of them.
"I'm a mage," Darren answered curtly through gritted teeth. He said it so quietly, as if he was suddenly ashamed of that fact. He had been flaunting his magic skills ever since Bishop and Aeyrin met him, but here in front of all the warriors, he didn't seem to be inclined towards the same posturing.
"A mage?" Mauhulakh raised his brow at Darren. Aeyrin could have sworn that she noticed Darren flinch at that. He even looked like he was bracing himself for something. Maybe the Nords' attitude towards magic had already taken its toll on him. "Good on you, boy. Mages should be honored for their contributions to the people. I don't even want to think about where we would have been without our shamans," the Chief laughed amicably. "I don't get why the Nords are so insistent to keep you all holed up in that College of yours."
Darren looked positively shocked at that reaction. He didn't answer, he just stared at the Chief in surprise. He probably never got a reception like that outside the College halls. The people in Winterhold were probably the worst with their attitude towards magic. Well… aside from Ulfric's zealots, probably.
"Doesn't mean you need to play into their talk, boy. Eat your food. Mages need strength too," Mauhulakh chuckled at him, likely to ease the mood after he noticed Darren's uncertain expression.
Darren still didn't speak, but now he looked a little more at ease. He even smiled a little at Mauhulakh's words.
Bishop considered quipping about how Darren was just an apprentice. It always seemed to piss him off even more. But then again, it was kind of a relief not to have that sour face constantly hounding their evening anymore. He was sure that Darren would go back to his morose self soon enough, but there was probably no need to force it just then.
The night in the Orcs' company lasted for another hour before Aeyrin and Bishop insisted on getting some sleep. They had to get to the ruins early in the morning after all – the quicker they got this done, the better, especially for the mages back at the College.
Hopefully their mission would go smoothly the next day.
…
They left Narzulbur early in the morning after brief farewells with the Orcish clan. The journey towards the ruins didn't take longer than a half hour, including restocking at the stronghold, just to be safe.
Darren had been strangely quiet the entire morning, but it was obvious that his morose mood had returned. His expression was constantly sour and he rolled his eyes exaggeratedly whenever he thought that Aeyrin and Bishop were taking too long to get into their equipment or to make preparations for potential combat.
"So, can you actually do anything or are you just gonna run and hide when we get attacked?" Bishop smirked at Darren mockingly when they stepped in front of the entrance to the crumbled ruins of Mzulft.
"What?!" Darren fixed him with a both incredulous and angry stare. "I am an expert in conjuration and illusion schools! They don't just let anyone into the College, you know?"
Aeyrin and Bishop shared a brief look. They've let them into the College and, aside from Aeyrin's priestly spells, they had no knowledge of magic. But, then again, their circumstances were a little unorthodox. And Darren did manage to summon that clannfear, ill-advised as it was. Maybe all apprentices weren't as unreliable as J'zargo and Brelyna. Besides, those two have only tried their new experimental spells on them before – maybe they weren't so bad with well-established old spells either.
Aeyrin decided not to comment on his skills – after all, she knew nothing of them, but Bishop certainly didn't skip the snide comment. "'Expert'? You're an apprentice. I'd be surprised if you could actually light a campfire, let alone deal with real combat," he snorted derisively.
"What would you know? Besides, there's not gonna be anything there anyway. The mages would have secured the place. It's gonna be empty," Darren scoffed after a while of silence.
"Right. 'Cause Dwemer ruins are notoriously safe. The mages are probably dead, you heard the Orc," Bishop rolled his eyes. The Chief said that there was no activity around the ruins for about a month. The mages must have been slaughtered by now. He just really hoped that this numbskull was going to figure out how to operate that fucking device inside.
"How about we just assume the worst and be prepared for anything that might be in there," Aeyrin sighed. The bickering, only ever interrupted by awkward silences, had been getting tiresome. She couldn't wait until they were done with this task – Darren's presence at their side made everything so uncomfortable. She didn't know how to deal with someone like him.
"So… illusion magic," she pondered a second later as she began to wonder about their combat tactics in her head. "Do you know those muffling spells? There might be Falmer in there and it would give us a big advantage," she turned towards Darren again hopefully. She certainly wasn't looking forward to encountering those creepy things again, if it came to it. This would at least lessen the probability of an ambush by those monsters.
Darren's brows creased in a myriad of emotions which Aeyrin couldn't decipher all at once. It took him a surprising amount of time before he finally blurted out a response: "That's an expert level spell!"
"Didn't you just say that you're an 'expert' illusionist?" Bishop scoffed at him. It was hardly surprising that he was exaggerating.
"W-well… there are… it works only on the caster… and I don't need it. I'm not wearing a boulder's worth of weight in metal," he quickly stammered in retort.
"It's fine, don't worry about it," Aeyrin quickly interrupted his transparent excuses. It was only making her feel more aggravated. At the very least he could stop with the pretenses. What was the point of that? Why would he even care what the two of them thought about his abilities?
"Do you want the ring? I can stay quiet easier than you," Bishop turned towards Aeyrin instead and gestured towards her armor to accentuate his point.
"No. Keep it. It's better if I'm the one drawing attention," she inclined her head somewhat subtly towards Darren again. If they were to make noise, it was better if she was the one doing it. She doubted that the mage would be able to deal with Falmer swarming him.
"Alright," Bishop merely nodded in response before he knelt down by Karnwyr to briefly ruffle his fur. "It's better if you don't come. You remember the last time. Just go have fun, unlike us," he smirked. Their party was big enough to draw plenty of attention already and Karnwyr didn't enjoy Dwemer ruins anyway, not with those machines around.
When Karnwyr let out a brief bark of confirmation, Bishop straightened back up promptly, then he gave Aeyrin a determined nod. "Let's go."
Before they could enter the ruins, however, Darren's voice interrupted them. There was a strange tone in it – he almost sounded… worried. "Do you… do you really think that there will be Falmer in there?"
They turned back towards him with an uncertain expression. He really sounded scared. The thought occurred to them that he may never have been in actual combat before – their journey was very peaceful, only with the occasional troll on the horizon, which Bishop had disposed of from afar, and they knew nothing of Darren's personal life. Perhaps he was always only trained in theories and battles against training dummies.
"I… I'm not sure. I hope not," Aeyrin shrugged uncertainly. She wasn't exactly fond of the idea either, but what else was there to do than to push on?
"Where's your bravado, magey? Can't the 'expert' conjurer just summon a Daedra to save his own ass?" Bishop scoffed at him yet again. What? The idiot expected sympathy and concern after he'd been nothing but an asshole braggart ever since they met him? Bishop certainly had no intentions of reassuring him.
Instead of paying any more attention to Darren, he pushed on the heavy metal door to finally usher them inside.
…
The ruins really were empty.
The three of them walked through several chambers already and they haven't encountered any opposition whatsoever. But oddly enough, there weren't any construct remnants either. The familiar circular holes in the walls which usually produced the spherical automatons were opened and empty, but there were no signs of the machines themselves.
Bishop still remembered some of his experiences from these ruins from years ago and he particularly remembered the locations of some of the nastier traps – that was hard to forget when at least one of his fellow bandits died at each one. This time, however, the traps were disarmed completely. The mechanisms of the spinning blades didn't spring, the crushing pillars of metal visible on a ceiling of a long corridor didn't move and none of the pressure plates reacted.
It was strange how unsettling it was. Surprisingly enough, they were more comfortable with working traps – now they just had to constantly wonder whether these things would spring on them unexpectedly.
They walked through each chamber slowly, carefully and, most of all, meticulously. Bishop and Aeyrin scoured every corner, every chest and every shelf to see if there was anything left. Most of the expected treasures were gone, however, and the only things that remained were just common junk items – or at least Aeyrin had learned as much some time ago at the Dwemer museum in Markarth.
Darren was palpably exasperated with their approach to dungeon delving. He kept rushing them onwards to find the mages, but it would have been such a shame not to make use of the harmless Dwemer city. They weren't eager to repeat the situation in Raldbthar, but they did want the treasures. Especially Bishop with his pitiably empty coin purse. And they were already right there! It would always just take a little while to check the chambers.
It was rather surprising that Darren didn't share their enthusiasm for the exploration. Wasn't he supposed to be a scholar? He sounded like he understood Dwemer mechanisms when he spoke about the Oculory – wasn't he going to study the chambers and ponder on their uses and such? Maybe they just had a bit of a naïve idea about what scholars did in these ruins. Maybe they always just rushed through towards the most valuable artifact or machine they could study later.
After at least six hours of walking and exploring the eerie ruins, Darren was getting more and more antsy. He rarely complained out loud anymore, but he kept grumbling to himself quietly. They vaguely overheard him as he complained quietly about how sick he was of the Dwemer shit all around.
What a surprising mindset for someone like him.
But Bishop and Aeyrin hardly let the grumpy mage deter them. And so, after all those hours, they have managed to only explore a little over fifteen chambers. Who knew how many more were there?
They rested briefly in one of the smaller rooms, one which was devoid of any visible traps, in order to eat some rations and rest their feet. Darren seemed really relieved at that, but, much to his dismay, they didn't linger for long.
And finally, after another hour of exploration, the dead ruins echoed with an unexpected sound.
"Do you hear that?" Bishop stopped in his tracks and pricked up his ears.
"It sounds like steam," Aeyrin narrowed her eyes. The hissing was very familiar.
"Yeah… weird, huh? Everything here seems… disabled," Bishop started to slowly walk forward to locate the source of that sound. The usual pumping and hissing of Dwemer ruins hadn't yet been audible anywhere but here.
They all quieted down considerably while Bishop crept forward towards a metal door – it sounded like it came from the chamber ahead. Aeyrin followed Bishop only from afar, careful not to ruin his sneaky approach while Darren lingered even further back. He wasn't annoyed or grumbling anymore. He seemed particularly disturbed and even somewhat scared.
Bishop opened the door slowly and he slipped inside the chamber ahead. Then, before Aeyrin and Darren could reach him, his voice echoed throughout the area, barely audible under the hissing of steam and strange metallic clanking sounds.
"Whoa. Holy shit."
He definitely sounded more amazed than in trouble. Aeyrin picked up the pace, disregarding the clanking of her armored boots, and she quickly slipped inside the chamber as well.
It was a large room, but there wasn't anything particularly astonishing about the space itself – they'd seen much bigger ones before. What was staggering, was the amount of stuff in that room. The machinery was functional, unlike in the rest of the complex, the pipes were letting out steam periodically while there were constant clanking sounds coming from a giant metal vat… or a closed forge – they weren't really sure what it was. It had a grate in the front that let them peer into the coals and fire raging behind it, but the rest of it was closed off by thick metal and there were pipes leading from it all over the chamber and through the ceiling into other parts of the complex. There was a large number of levers right in front of it, pulled in various directions. There were also two more metal doors leading further in, one on top of a wide staircase and another on the other side of the chamber. And then there was a wide cavernous passage near that boiling vat.
But more importantly, there was the answer to their questions – the room was filled with remains of the disabled automatons, likely dragged here from all the previous chambers that they had already crossed. All the metals, all the strange-looking contraptions and treasures were scattered around the stone tables and shelves in the room. There were a number of books by each, some were lore books on Dwemer, while others were journals filled with drawings and descriptions of the objects lying nearby. The mages had clearly stripped the ruins clean and they took all that they could down here to study it without risking intrusions, perhaps by bandits or adventurers brave enough to venture inside.
"So… how pissed do you think that the mages will be if we help ourselves?" Bishop smirked while he and Aeyrin studied the treasures on the tables by the side of the room.
"What kind of 'adventurers' are you if you care about treasure first and not this?!" Darren called out to them loudly from the other side of the room, right by the cavernous entrance. His voice practically bounced off all the walls as he attempted to outshout the noise of the large forge.
He was far, too far for them to see what he was referring to when he pointed down at the ground.
But not too far for them to notice the sudden swift movement behind him. It was a sight they'd seen too many times before for their liking – the blurry shape, alerted by the noise, which jumped down to the ground from one of its strange dwellings on the cavern walls or ceiling.
They should have known better than to ignore the cavernous tunnel even for a second.
Bishop instantly drew his bow while Aeyrin gestured wildly towards Darren to alert him. She would have charged, but she worried about making more noise, now that they knew about the Falmer lurking nearby. They had no idea how many were there and if it was anything similar to what they'd been through in Raldbthar, they really needed to be careful.
Darren's eyes went wide at their sudden movements, but he still didn't notice the silent lurker behind him. Bishop let his arrow loose, right at the Falmer's face, but before it managed to hit, a clawed hand scratched blindly into the air, now when Darren was quiet, and it struck the mage in his face, leaving a few bloody gashes on his cheek.
The Falmer fell limply to the ground only a second later when the arrow swished by Darren's ear. He looked even more terrified by Bishop's attack than by the creature that had just scratched him. He didn't even make a peep out of shock. Maybe the reality of what had happened didn't quite sink in just yet.
Darren moved his hand somewhat shakily towards his cheek to check his wound as gently as he could while Bishop rushed forward into the cavernous entrance. Aeyrin had to be more careful in her approach, so she walked over to Darren only very slowly in order to stay as quiet as possible.
Bishop went further in without a word, but by now, Aeyrin knew all too well not to follow him. He would be much safer alone when he scouted ahead. Instead, she approached Darren, who still looked in shock, and she ushered him a little further away from the passage before she placed her hand over his cheek to heal him. She barely noted the large blood smear on the ground where the mage had been previously pointing when he called out to them – it looked like several bodies had been dragged through that passage at some point.
She couldn't help but remember that day when they met – how Darren claimed that 'restoration was useless because no capable mage would get themselves wounded in combat anyway'. She had to stop herself from giggling at the thought and she refrained from any mocking words. Now wasn't the time for that.
"He… he shot at me," Darren gave her an incredulous look. Was that what he thought?
"No, he shot at the Falmer that did this to you," Aeyrin smirked as she gave a bit of a brisk pat to his cheek, making him wince slightly.
"Y-yeah… I thought that… never mind," Darren shook his head a bit. Was he serious?
"You thought that he would shoot you? Just… out of nowhere?" Aeyrin snickered a little in a low voice. He must have been still a little in shock, although she understood that the situation may have been confusing, this was a very far-fetched theory.
"I don't know! He's always being a jackass to me," Darren scoffed derisively. He wasn't wrong, but he was hardly one to talk.
"Yeah, well, you're not acting much better," Aeyrin rolled her eyes at him.
"Neither are you!"
He was like a petulant child who just had to throw in the last insult instead of actually considering someone's words.
"Great. Now that we've established that, let's go check the two doors for any more surprises. Like it or not, we're still here to cooperate so let's at least try to do that." Aeyrin let her hand fall from his already hale cheek and, with an exasperated glare, she began walking towards the door at the top of the staircase. He was so tiresome to talk to.
She ascended the steps as silently as she could while Darren lingered behind her, following reluctantly. It seemed like he couldn't decide between going with her to explore the likely unsafe chambers and staying all alone in the center of several passages.
Aeyrin slowly opened the door, only to come face to face with a sight that she would have rather avoided. There was a single Falmer there, squatting on the ground, perched over a decidedly un-fresh corpse draped in remnant rags of white with purple-blue accents. At least it looked like it… there was a lot of blood obscuring the colors, but Aeyrin had remembered them. She saw mages wear them at times back in Cyrodiil – this was without a doubt one of the Synod researchers. But that wasn't exactly hard to figure out even without the robes.
The Falmer had blood all over its maw and it was clear from the pulpy mess of the corpse below it that it had been… feeding.
The monster noticed Aeyrin right away by the sound of the metal door opening and it let out a disturbing screech.
Luckily, she was prepared.
The Falmer charged at her, but she quickly swung her mace against it, hitting it in the stomach with a strong impact and singeing its skin a bit with the flames. The monster practically flew some distance away until it collided with a wall of the chamber. Fortunately, there were no other exits from the place so Aeyrin didn't need to concern herself overly about the noise.
She rushed towards the Falmer who was already trying to pick itself off the ground. She quickly lunged at it and they both ended up sprawled on the ground with Aeyrin pinning the creature below her. Her knees were firmly on its scrawny arms and all it could do like this was screech and kick its legs uselessly.
"Wait!" Bishop's voice made her head snap back towards the doors. She noticed that Darren was standing there limply, just staring at the scene, while Bishop gave her a hurried soothing gesture with his hands. "Don't kill it. Just hold it down."
Aeyrin gave him a confused look while Darren just stared incredulously at him. Bishop didn't bother to elaborate though. He instantly rushed away again and Aeyrin was left in the room with the screeching struggling Falmer.
She really didn't want to look at that thing, especially with the blood on its teeth. It was making her sick. She pressed her gloved hand onto its face, muffling the sounds a little, and more importantly, hiding that awful maw. Too bad that it didn't hide those disfigured eyes.
Luckily, Bishop was back soon enough, although she only noticed when he was right by her side, kneeling next to the Falmer. Her eyes were instantly drawn towards the familiar Dwemer contraption in his hands.
"We won't get many chances like this, not without a score of its friends swarming us," he smirked at her before he pressed on her hand gently, guiding her to tilt the Falmer's face to the side to give him access to the side of its neck. He wanted to harvest its blood for the hermit.
"Wait… Falmer? Are you sure… they're not exactly… elves anymore," Aeyrin scowled. He said that the hermit wanted the combined blood of the elves. Did the Falmer count? Did they even have black souls anymore? Then again… did the souls need to be black? Or was the soul gem black just to encompass the mer souls?
"There's five vials," Bishop pointed to the small glass tubes around the needle of the device. There were five of them. "So unless you want to try and go search for some Ayleid vampire hermit or something, I think this is our last option."
Aeyrin only nodded at him. She couldn't really think of another option anyway.
Bishop pressed the needle into the Falmer's neck, eliciting a panicked muffled shriek from it while Aeyrin held it down firmly. It all seemed rather… inhumane… but… this was a monster that had just been eating a Synod mage. And it would have happily eaten them too if it could. She had to remind herself of that.
The vial slowly filled with dark red liquid when Bishop pulled on the mechanism on the back of the device. He removed the needle from the creature's neck and gave Aeyrin an expectant look.
She quickly reached down to her belt to unsheathe the new dagger, eager to get this over with already. It felt strange to be doing this, but she was kind of glad that the first soul they would capture would belong to a monster. With the explosion at the College, they didn't really have a chance to find out anything useful at all.
She let her hand fall from the bloody maw and she promptly slit the creature's throat. It didn't even manage a proper shriek.
A purple light shot through the Falmer's core and it almost instantly traveled into the black soul gem nestled in the device. It began to glow faintly, but definitely not as much as any other filled soul gem did. Maybe that was an indication of the fact that it was far from full – it would carry four more souls eventually.
"What. In. The. Void?"
They had completely forgotten that their strange treatment of the Falmer was being watched the entire time by Darren. It was so strange to have him there with them – half of the time they couldn't stop noticing him and the uncomfortable atmosphere that his presence was creating, and the other half of the time they had completely forgotten about him tagging along altogether.
"None of your business," Bishop scoffed at him before he got up from the ground and walked past the confused mage back towards the central hall, likely to stash the device safely back into the pack.
"It's just… it's a long story. Don't worry about it. We're just… doing a favor for a researcher," Aeyrin smiled at Darren weakly while she rose from the lifeless corpse as well. It was a believable enough excuse, right? And it wasn't exactly a lie either.
Luckily, Darren didn't ask anything further. He still seemed somewhat shocked over what had transpired. In the meantime, Aeyrin walked over to the mage's corpse and gently nudged it with a boot to make it turn over. She just wanted to find out if there was something important on his belt or some such, but she really hoped that it wasn't the case. The sight was nauseating.
The mage, however, seemed stripped of anything that may have been noteworthy, or rather he probably didn't carry anything on his person. The rest of the room was filled with much the same as the central one – metals, devices and books. It seemed like the mages had made quite a setup here.
"So…" Bishop's voice interrupted her examination of the room. He was back again, this time with his bow firmly gripped in his hand as if in preparation for what was to come. "There's a nest down there in that passage. A smaller one, maybe two dozen. I didn't see any other access points further into the ruins so I say let's get rid of the vermin and check the last door after."
Aeyrin nodded. 'Two dozen'? That wasn't that bad, was it? They've been through much worse. And now they could use the tactic with the Shout again if they needed to.
"What about Darren?" she asked after a while. He really didn't seem eager to join in their fights so far.
"Leave him here. No point in taking someone to babysit along," Bishop merely rolled his eyes, as if it was ridiculous to even entertain any other options.
"What?! I am right here! Stop talking about me like I'm not!" Darren barked at Bishop's words instantly. He had been so surprisingly subdued throughout the dungeon crawl, but right now, there was the familiar fire and indignation back on his face. "I am a mage! I can handle battle! I am going with you!"
"You didn't even handle one of those creeps, dipshit. We are not going to be watching your ass in there!" Bishop retorted quickly. Why did that idiot even want to come? He didn't even try to fight before.
"I can… I can. I am not staying behind," Darren gritted his teeth.
Now Aeyrin couldn't help but wonder if he was really outraged or just… worried about being left alone in there. She could understand that. Any place was terrifying with Falmer lurking about. It was always better to have them in one's sights.
"Alright. Just… stay back. As far as you can from them," she nodded at him, earning a disgruntled look from Bishop.
She really hoped that Darren would heed her words. She suddenly got a strange bad feeling about leaving him behind too, but… the combat wasn't a much safer option.
Hopefully they would dispose of those monsters quickly.