The large metal doors closed shut behind them with a loud booming noise.
This was it. Irkngthand. Another large Dwemer city, teeming with dangers and untold treasures.
They knew the drill by now and they had Mercer's plans with them. They left Karnwyr to hunt outside – it was always too dangerous to take him into Dwemer ruins and he wouldn't be of much help until they reached the depths – the areas marked with a big 'F' in Karliah's notes. Falmer-infested chambers.
They were not looking forward to those. But Dwemer automatons were not much better.
Bishop left his bow on his back for now and brandished his sword. They made sure to charge their weapons properly for this adventure. They needed all the help they could get and Bishop's lightning enchantment would surely come in handy, even if Aeyrin's fiery one did little to the machines.
They moved into the first chamber, carefully scanning their surroundings, but when they entered the room, it was eerily quiet.
There were corpses on the ground. Bandits. And several deactivated mechanical spheres and spiders as well. It was a scene of a battle, but it did not look like a very recent one. The bodies were already in various stages of decomposition and even in the vast hall, the pungent smell carried through the air.
"Bandits. Predictable," Bishop's scoff was a bit muffled as he held his arm over his face to stave off the stench. "You wanna make a bet on how far they got?"
"There's a lot of automatons here," Aeyrin let out a sigh, equally muffled. At least a dozen in the first chamber alone. That did not bode well. "I'm guessing not very far."
"Guess we'll see," Bishop shrugged. He didn't have high hopes for the bandits either. So many clans were eager to venture into Dwemer ruins with barely enough training in battle and no plan or tactics whatsoever. Of course they were slaughtered instantly. Only he and his fellow bandits, all honed after Thorn's brutal training, made it far into Mzulft, but even that was a suicide mission. These poor fuckers probably didn't manage to clear the way for them too far in.
"Let's get going. Nothing to see or loot here anymore I guess. And the smell is fucking disgusting," he growled. One could see so much death in their lives and he still wondered if anyone would ever get used to that smell. Those priests of Arkay must have gone insane from it a long time ago. At least embalmed bodies in Nordic tombs didn't smell like that, although it was far from a pleasant smell too.
Aeyrin nodded hurriedly and they moved forth through the chamber.
They reached the next room in no time, but they both stopped in the door arch abruptly.
It was hard to miss. Right in the center of the room was a small tall platform and upon it an automaton.
Not one they've seen before though. It wasn't the familiar sphere, nor the small spiderlings. It wasn't even that large monster of a machine they had seen on their venture through Raldbthar.
It was something that reminded them of a large kettle helmet with legs underneath. Or maybe some odd type of mudcrab machine? It looked strange. And they had no idea what it could do.
"It looks… inactive," Aeyrin whispered uncertainly.
"You never know," Bishop growled in response. His eyes scanned the rest of the room promptly until he noticed another issue. Three very familiar circular 'portholes' decorated one of the side walls. It was very likely that there were spheres hidden in those. "Look there," he pointed towards the holes.
Aeyrin inspected the room as well. It was always hard when they couldn't actually tell the number of these things they would be facing, or even if they would all be active.
"Alright," she gave him a determined nod. "You sneak past those holes and be ready to flank the spheres if they come out. I'll get their attention and go see that… thing," she scowled at the strange new automaton on the platform. It wasn't too tall to climb, but the issue might be even getting close to it.
"Get your shield out. It might be able to shoot," Bishop scowled. Why else would it be on a platform like that? It was very likely.
Aeyrin nodded at him and waited for a bit as Bishop disposed of his pack by the archway and began sneaking along the wall, past the holes.
Everything was quiet. He didn't make a sound and nothing in the entire chamber moved.
When he was in position, Aeyrin disposed of her own pack and began slowly walking. She raised her shield in front of herself enough to be able to cover her head with it while her steps slowly reverberated through the room with the clank of metal on stone.
She made a couple of steps before suddenly, the thing on the platform hissed with escaping steam.
It was active!
Aeyrin only barely noticed a strange circular hole on its front open before she quickly moved her shield in front of her face. It was going to shoot. And a second later, a loud clank ripped through the room and she was forced to stagger backwards when a pressure hit into her shield. It was so strong.
She could vaguely hear more hissing of steam to her right. The openings of the sphere holes were activating, but she needed to trust Bishop to take care of this. She needed to take the shooting automaton down.
But before she could even recover from her stagger while her arm thrummed in protest to the force it had to exude to hold the shield upright, she heard another noise – a familiar one by now. That thing shot at her again so quickly, she barely even managed to realize what happened.
A second later there was another unbearably strong pressure below her knee, followed instantly by a piercing pain of something tearing through her flesh.
She let out an involuntary scream. That bolt lodged itself below her knee, she felt it graze her shinbone disturbingly vividly and she instinctively fell back onto the ground. Her legs couldn't hold her up through the pain and shock and the confusion of it all made her release her strained hold of her shield. It slid across the stone ground out of her reach. But at least she still kept her hold on her mace.
Bishop's head snapped towards Aeyrin instantly when she screamed. He had been concentrating on the spheres rolling out of the openings, but everything was happening so fast. Three spheres were now out and clearly about to attack Aeyrin, but so was that shooting thing! It was reloading so fast. It must have packed quite a punch to actually bring Aeyrin to the ground through her armor.
Fuck! He needed to take that thing down. But the spheres!
He had only seconds to decide.
He quickly lodged his sword in the sphere closest to him. It hadn't even noticed him before lightning crackled around it and its mechanical body slumped down onto its round 'legs'. It all took only a second. Now he needed to get that fucking shooter. Aeyrin didn't have her shield anymore and it was still facing her.
He ran towards the platform quickly and the strange automaton's body suddenly turned with the opening towards him. It didn't even move its legs! It just rotated the 'head'.
Bishop didn't stop though, he ran towards it and he only flinched when he heard the first shot being fired. Luckily it missed. He didn't know what the spheres were doing anymore. He fought the urge to check, but he needed to stay alert to dodge the bolts. Shouting wasn't a good idea here, it tended to attract even more trouble – these things were fucking sensitive to sound. But if there was no other way, Aeyrin could always resort to that.
He reached the platform, quickly sheathed his sword and hoisted himself up with impressive speed, but the second his form appeared in the shooter's view, another bolt flew from its opening.
Bishop's bicep instantly got enveloped in piercing pain and he fell backwards, flat on his back on the cold stone ground again. That thing shot with such a force and the pain in his arm was agonizing. He wasn't even sure if he had screamed. Everything was in such a confusing chaos right then.
But he needed to get back up. Now!
With a loud growl of pain he hoisted himself up on his feet again and put all his weight on his other arm as he pulled himself up. He made it, but he already saw it open its hole again, ready to shoot him in the gut.
In a split second, Bishop jumped up on the thing's head, splaying himself rather gracelessly there.
But it worked. He was hugging that thing's bulbous top in a very uncomfortable way, it felt like he would slip at any moment, but the bolt missed and shot into the wall on the side.
Did it sound like stone breaking? Did it actually shoot through stone?!
He didn't have time to ponder on it much. With a bolt still agonizingly lodged in his arm, he used his left hand to unsheathe his sword clumsily and he lodged it in the construct. He worked the blade through the elaborate metalworks inside, as deep as he could, and he was constantly shuffling it around, trying to rattle its inside and make it deactivate at last. It was harder with his left hand, but he had to make do.
Finally something clanked inside and more steam escaped the thing's body. It slumped down on its legs, but the movement made Bishop's splayed position unstable and he slid down from it quickly. He barely managed to drop his sword and catch himself on the edge of the platform. He could never hold his own weight like that, but it slowed his fall considerably.
He let go and fell back onto the ground, this time into a sitting position. That hurt much less than falling flat on his back. His arm was still in fucking pain though, but he had other things to worry about.
He quickly looked back towards Aeyrin. She was still on the ground, on her back, but there was only one sphere in front of her now and she was swinging her mace wildly from her position. Fuck, that was impressive. She fought them off from her back? It was a bit baffling that she didn't get up at any point, but it didn't matter now. A second later, her mace connected with the automaton's body with such force that its mechanical 'spine' cracked and broke. The whole construct slumped down in a matter of a single moment.
Fuck, it was done. There were no more of these things. And they didn't even alert any from the following rooms, it looked like.
No wonder there were no bandits in this one. That fucking shooter was lethal.
Bishop got up on his feet again and walked towards Aeyrin, clutching himself below his wounded bicep all the while.
She remained on the ground but she sat up. And when he got close enough, he finally noticed why.
"That thing tore through your chain?!" he gasped when he saw the bolt buried in her leg with the rings of her underchain clearly dislodged. Fuck… it probably took some of the chain inside her wound. That must have been so fucking painful.
Aeyrin didn't answer him. Instead, she gripped her knee with one hand and the bolt with the other. With another scream and tears forming in her eyes, she yanked the bolt from her leg at last. Bishop knelt down by her side with concern in his face as he watched her work. He almost forgot about his arm. She took off her bracer and the chain gloved from her hand and she spread the chain on her leg a little as well in order to give herself proper access to her wound.
"I think I need a knife," she groaned with a palpably trembling voice.
Bishop quickly took out his knife from his sheathe and handed it to her. He considered offering to do it for her, but with his injured arm, he wouldn't probably be very coordinated.
She pursed her lips together to keep herself as quiet as possible as she lodged the tip of the knife into her wound. Bishop could see the strain on her face and the tears of pain streaming from her eyes. He considered holding her through it for comfort, but her eyes were closed and she could startle and make her wound even worse. He should have fucking thought of that before.
Luckily Aeyrin was effective. Within seconds, she slowly retrieved the knife, scraping along the inside edge of her wound as she dragged the chain from it by the tip of the blade. It was over soon and she only let out labored breaths as she tried to calm herself down after the ordeal.
Bishop waited for her to heal herself at last, but instead she looked at him pointedly.
"Come closer," she inclined her head toward his arm with the bolt still inside it.
"No, heal yourself first," he scoffed.
"I need a minute," she sighed. She was probably too exhausted from the pain to immediately conjure up a spell. He was sure that more exertion getting the bolt out from him wouldn't help though. He tried to yank it from his arm with his other hand instead, but fuck it was deep. Taking it out was way too slow and he couldn't stand the pain. With a loud grunt, he let his hand fall from the bolt in defeat.
"Come on," Aeyrin urged him rather impatiently. He shuffled closer to her on his knees and she immediately grabbed his arm under the wound and the bolt with her hand. Fuck, the pressure hurt like the Void, but it was so quick. He let out a startled yelp of pain, but it was over sooner than he managed to notice. She yanked the bolt out with surprising strength, given her exhaustion from her own ordeal.
"Bone's alright?" she huffed tiredly.
"Yeah. I'm fine," he nodded. His arm was still throbbing, but it was much better. Too bad their packs were so far. No potions for them right now.
"Good," Aeyrin gave him a weak smile. "It's just deep. I can heal us both in a second." She laid herself back down onto the ground again and Bishop reached out and gently stroked over her cheek.
"What the fuck was that?" he let out an almost incredulous chuckle. "That fucking thing packed like a ballista. How the fuck did it tear through metal?" He instinctively looked back towards the wall behind his back – the spot where the automaton had shot before.
Yep. There was a hole there in the stone and a bolt lodged inside it.
"Plan's didn't mention that, huh?" Aeyrin huffed.
"It said, automatons protect the place," Bishop scoffed. "Never mentioned that they would shoot it to pieces if they needed to."
Aeyrin shook her head with an incredulous smile of her own. This was only the second chamber. They had scores to go through yet.
This would definitely be an ordeal.
"I can go get our packs," Bishop stroked over her cheek gently again.
"It's fine. I think I can try now," she shook her head and when he let his hand fall from her cheek, she straightened up to sit again.
At least that ballista didn't break their bones. She was pretty sure that even her shield would have a large dent in it.
She really hoped that there was only one in these ruins.
…
They were fortunate, going through the next chamber. There was only one small spiderlings scrambling on the ground and Bishop promptly got his bow and shot through the crystal on top of it.
They appreciated the reprieve, but they knew that it was short-lived. At least it seemed like it, according to Mercer's plans.
It was clear that the man gathered his information from somewhere other than ancient maps and blueprints. All the notes were surprisingly… poetic. The books he had stolen from Arniel Gane probably described the ancient city as a visitor would see it. Perhaps even back in its glory days?
The next chamber had been labeled as guarded against intruders by 'fountains of flame', whatever that meant.
Bishop and Aeyrin found out soon enough.
The large chamber had one clear path among the semi-crumbled half-walls and shelves in the way. And that path was full of small pillars in its middle. The pillars were constantly rotating and they had four strange spigots on them. Every now and then, flames burst out of the spigots, covering the path and creating odd rotating traps.
"Alright," Bishop nodded with determination. He could find a good path through. He could already see some good spots to take a shortcut – those flames could be passed through for sure, but the continuous heat might get too bad or even singe his leather. It was better to avoid the traps rather than time their progress through them. He did need to find a good path that Aeyrin could use too, however. She had always been surprisingly agile in all that metal she was wearing, but not enough to pull the stunts that he could or to balance herself on thin ledges.
"Maybe I should go first?" Aeyrin scowled uncertainly as she looked at the chamber ahead. "See if there's a switch at the end? My armor can probably…"
"Melt against your skin if you stay in the flames too long? Yeah probably," Bishop smirked at her.
"I can turn ethereal if it gets bad," she gave him a wry smile, but she already knew what his answer would be. She'd seen the plans herself and even without the threat of alerting too many automatons, she knew that they were close to the areas infested by Falmer. Apparently they were very numerous in these ruins. She wondered why that was. And the whole statue of a Falmer… it was a statue of a majestic Snow Elf, right? Not one of these… monsters. Maybe they flocked to it for some reason? That was quite a disturbing thought. It would be better to concentrate on this room right here and the traps.
"How about we try to avoid that?" Bishop nodded at her. "I think I see a good route." He pulled on the straps of his pack to make sure that it was settled on his back securely before he took the first steps forth.
Only one trap to get past. He waited patiently to see the pattern of the fire before he saw an opening. When the fire stopped spewing again, Bishop quickly moved towards the trap and positioned himself between the spigots. He took steps as the spigots rotated, always in between them. Eventually, the fire started to spray out of the again, but besides the uncomfortable heat around him, he was safe. And it stopped again just in time for him to reach his next point – the crumbling half-wall.
He stepped on one of the crumbled stones and then on the wall itself. It took a bit of effort to balance himself, but the wall wasn't too bad. It was pretty stable.
"Your turn," he turned towards Aeyrin who had still been standing by the entrance, watching him progress anxiously.
She gave him a determined nod and she stepped closer to the first trap. She waited patiently and Bishop wondered whether he should signal her at the right time. He didn't need too though. She stepped in between the spigots just as the fire stopped spewing and she moved along with the rotations steadily.
She was by the wall in no time and Bishop promptly outstretched his arm to help her up.
When she was up there alongside him and kept in good balance, Bishop's eyes went towards the tall rack of shelves at the end of the wall. He stepped on one of the lower shelves and climbed up to the top one deftly. That was pretty easy. He just needed to crawl on all fours now to fit below the ceiling. Getting down was gonna be worse.
He heard the noise of clanking metal behind him as Aeyrin climbed up the shelves and he crawled forth all the way to the edge. There they would just need to get down and past one more trap to reach the door leading out.
He scampered towards the very edge and observed the trap again. Climbing down was out of the question, the trap was too close for that. He needed to jump down when the fire was off and then rush in between the spigots again. It would have been considerably easier were it not for the pile of rubble right beneath the rack, but he would have to make do.
He sat on the edge of the shelf and waited for the right moment. He took off his pack to allow himself better movement and threw it down onto the ground, right by the door with surprising precision and a loud 'thud'. The trap's flames were too high to affect it like this.
When he had observed enough of the trap's pattern and knew that the fire would stop the next second, he slid down promptly.
His legs landed in the rubble, but it all shifted instantly under him and he wavered. With his balance lost, he began to rush out of the unsteady ground, but the momentum didn't let him stop in between the spigots.
The timing got off within an instant and Bishop now rushed straight towards the door.
It was close. He heard the hiss of flames and he felt searing heat on his back, but he was only a step away from the door.
When he reached it though, it wouldn't budge.
Fuck! It was locked?!
The heat got worse and he let out an involuntary grunt as he felt the leather on his back sizzle. Fuck, that trap was close. And there was nothing he could do now, not until it stopped. He quickly reached for his lockpicks and with a strained grip, bearing the pain of the heat, he tried to unlock the door, but it was too hard at that moment and it was not as quick of a process as it was when he could kneel down. If he did that now, the trap would just singe the back of his head.
"It's off!" Aeyrin's voice carried through the room. He hadn't even noticed. The burning was still all the same on his back, but it was from the heated leather now without a doubt. Fuck, his armor would need so much fixing after all this.
He dropped down to his knee and hurriedly tinkered with the lock. His hands were shaking a bit from the pain and stress, but luckily it wasn't a very elaborate lock. It clicked only a few seconds later and he practically crashed into it, putting all his weight against the door to push it open.
He collapsed onto the ground, face down, with his body preventing the door from closing again. Fuck, his back hurt. Not only was it still sore from his fall from the platform before, now it really burned.
Before he could get his bearings again, he heard a loud clank of metal, followed instantly by a rumble of stones and then a curt yelp. He hoisted himself up quickly, but by the time he managed to collect himself, Aeyrin was already by his side, breathing heavily. It looked like she was unharmed.
"I… hate… this place," she huffed out in between labored breaths while Bishop straightened up properly again. He tried to pick up his pack again from the door arch when the flame trap was off again, but the pain in his back suddenly prevented his sharp movement.
"Your armor's singed," Aeyrin let out a sigh and a second later, he could feel very slight and careful pressure on his back. "I think the plate underneath's heated. You need to take it off."
"Fuck, fine…" Bishop grumbled. They were spending a lot of time stopping for healing today. The progress was so fucking slow. "Let's get away from the fire at least." He felt like he could still feel the heat, but that may have been his plate. He still didn't want to stay so close to the flames though.
Aeyrin grabbed his pack promptly and they both moved further into the ruins, through a long corridor.
"The next part says 'overlook'," Bishop mumbled, remembering the plans. Maybe it would be a nice vantage point for them and a place to take a breather and heal.
They opened the next door carefully and peeked in.
Just as the plans suggested, it was an overlook. Fortunately with no enemies in immediate sight. They knew that they were nearing the Falmer-infested areas now though.
Before they got to the healing and recuperation, their attention got caught by this place. There was nothing but a small platform with a spiral stone path leading down and a large cavernous ceiling above them. There was a metal wall around the platform with gold-bronze bars on it, allowing one to peer down from the overlook.
They stepped towards the edge of the platform instinctively and gazed down.
A vast chamber spread before their eyes. A grand Dwemer hall, lined with the glints of metal and majestic gold-bronze statues of various shapes, planet-like objects with wide circles around them.
But the thing that caught their attention the most were the numerous Falmer dwellings around the grand chamber and the creatures scurrying around. Too far to hear them, fortunately, but disturbingly plentiful nonetheless.
These ruins apparently haven't even begun to show them their true dangers.
…
The only sound in the large hallway was the slow continuous dripping along the cavernous walls by now.
The ground was littered with Falmer corpses, but it was very likely that there were still more, lurking around, in the next chambers or right there, in the hidden passages of the cavern.
It must have been around late afternoon by now, but time got funny beneath the earth. One thing was for certain though. Bishop and Aeyrin could not go on any longer without some rest.
Covered both in their and Falmer blood, grime and slight burns, they found an acceptable spot for some respite. After fighting countless Falmer, they have managed to make their way through a long and wide cavernous hallway. It was partially collapsed, with half-buried Dwemer domes and crumbling walkways, but they managed to find the door leading further into the ruins and fortunately, it had been hidden in a small alcove, perfect for resting. If they trapped the place properly of course.
They were both exhausted. Aeyrin's armor was covered in dents and Bishop's with slashes into the leather. The fights had been brutal. The Falmer had been numerous and the traps were deadly. It was almost hard to remember what an ordeal a Dwemer city could be after their rather peaceful excursion into Mzulft. But this definitely brought them back to reality. It was on par with their struggles in Raldbthar. But fortunately, they were not as close to dying this time. Although it hadn't been easy. Aeyrin had to resort to Shouting once or twice, either to save herself or Bishop from the vicious creatures, and that only called more upon them eventually.
But they made it. For the moment, they could breathe and recuperate.
After trapping their small camp properly, they quickly shed their armors and inspected the damage. Fortunately it hadn't been that bad, but there were a lot of cuts and bruises. The worst part was definitely just how difficult it would be to move after resting their strained muscles. Maybe they would have to spend the rest of the dungeon wasting their healing potions on numbing the soreness.
"Fucking Void. This shit better be worth it," Bishop grumbled while Aeyrin ran her healing hand over a deep scratch on his forearm. It was slow going by now. Her magic had been dissipating more and more frequently and she needed to take a lot of breaks in between the spells. She was so exhausted.
"For this shit, I wanna see Frey's severed head sitting on that ridiculous 'throne' of his," he hissed hatefully. They'd already gone through so fucking much for that scumbag. No matter what, anyone would be better in charge of the Guild. Anyone without delusions of grandeur and lethal grudges.
"It's gonna be over soon," Aeyrin nodded somewhat absentmindedly. She said that with an odd mixture of incredulousness and reassurance in her voice and he wasn't sure if she was actually trying to reassure him, herself, or if she didn't really believe those words at all.
But it had to be. It'd been so long. The bounty had gone on for so long. And before… everything that Mercer had done to him and Jules. This had been a long time coming. The money from the Eyes had to buy off the Guild. It just had to.
Aeyrin's spell dissipated again before she could heal his cut entirely and she let out a frustrated huff. Bishop gently raised his other hand and stroked over her cheek with a slight smile, but she only shook her head at him with palpable exasperation.
"Tomorrow will be… rough," she sighed. "I just wish we had a better way of dealing with the Falmer. There are so many of them." There was still the option of using her Shout to divert attention like they had upon their return to Raldbthar. But that was only a good solution back then because they had the rest of the place explored and nothing at their backs. And an expedient way out. Scattering the Falmer now would never assure them that they picked them all off steadily and the things could be lurking anywhere. They may have even left many of them behind them – their explorations were not nearly as meticulous with how exhausted they were.
"We'll manage somehow, love," Bishop smiled at her again weakly. "We can always turn back if it gets really bad." Karliah was still waiting for them near the ruins. They could surely recuperate there properly if it came to that.
"Yeah… you're right," she nodded slowly. It was not the most exciting prospect to turn tail now, but… it was an option.
For now though, at least they had this small place for a respite.
…
Aeyrin and Bishop watched the Falmer scurry around below their vantage point.
So many of them.
Their respite gave them some much needed strength back and the opportunity to heal their wounds, but they were still far from being in their top shape. Everything was sore from yesterday's battles and the sleep wasn't so restful that they would not be tired now.
But still, they carried on through a smaller group of Falmer infesting the next chamber and now they were here.
There were significantly more of them here, but that wasn't the only thing. There were strange constructions all over the hall, all of them made out of an arch with an automaton under it. It was one of the large monstrous ones. They had never actually fought it before. They'd only seen it once in Raldbthar. It was going to be a tough opponent for certain.
They didn't really even see how it fought. Back then, when it activated, they ran and then only watched as the Falmer horde descended upon it.
But… that was an interesting thought.
"I have an idea," Bishop whispered to Aeyrin. "Might be fucking crazy, but you remember the last time we saw this thing?"
"As if that's something I could ever forget," Aeyrin sighed. Raldbthar was certainly an ordeal.
"We keep fighting the Falmer and the defenses. How about they fight each other for a while?" he gave her a sly smirk.
"That thing's not attacking them though," Aeyrin scowled at him. These automatons were all too eager to activate when Bishop and Aeyrin were around, but not around the Falmer.
"Yeah. Because they're silent. They probably know how to move around these things by now," Bishop nodded resolutely. "I say we give it a little nudge."
"And if they all attack us together?" Aeyrin scowled.
"They will do that anyway if we attack. Why not try to take advantage of these fucking machines? We could definitely use the help."
He had a point. And everything would attack them anyway if they descended their vantage point – a small platform above the scene.
"Alright. Do it," she nodded. Gods, she really hoped that this would work.
Bishop pulled out his bow and carefully aimed at the automaton inside its arch. A second later, his arrow found its target. It bumped into the thing's metal quite harmlessly, but it did do its job. Steam escaped the large construct instantly and it began to move.
It seemed to actually see now. However that was possible. Its eyes were lit with menacing red lights and it instantly slashed with its bladed hand into one of the Falmer in front of it, chopping its head off in one swing.
Bishop and Aeyrin shared a satisfied smile. Good. Now to just wait for that herd to thin until they could make their way across.
Maybe they could actually make use of all these defenses that had been nothing but pain to them so far.
…
It all went better than expected.
The two of them had been able to use a lot of the defenses to their advantage against the Falmer. The automatons, the deadly traps, and everything in their path. The Falmer always persevered, which was probably for the best – they were certainly easier to fight than the machines. But their numbers were thinned considerably, leaving Bishop and Aeyrin with manageable battles.
It still took a very long time to traverse the chambers and deal with the remaining creatures. And their exhaustion was catching up to them again. But they were close. If the plans were anything to go by, which so far they had, they were very close to the final chamber. The place where the Eyes lay.
They took a brief break for recuperation in the chamber before the passage leading into the last one. They had no idea what would await them there. While the plan didn't mention defenses, it was quite possible that the grand treasure would be heavily guarded and secured.
When they were healed, a little rested and ready again, they shared a determined nod and finally set off towards their ultimate goal – towards the wealth awaiting them.
They entered the chamber carefully, but much to their surprise, they did not get met with scores of enemies or a deadly trap.
An enormous statue was poised in front of them. An elven man, dressed in robes and sitting cross legged with a scepter in his hand in an oddly regal and intimidating pose. It was entirely made out of Dwemer metal and glinting mesmerizingly in the cavern, reflecting the ever-lit Dwemer lights around.
It was beautiful. And their gazes went instantly towards its eyes.
But there was only one.
And suddenly, that one… fell off. The large pale-purple glittering gem fell from the statue's eye socket and before it could actually drop anywhere, it disappeared into thin air.
"What the fuck?!" Bishop's eyes went wide at the scene. What just happened? Was this some weird Dwemer safety measure? Did the Eyes just… disappear when someone entered the chamber? That didn't make any sense!
"Ah! You made it!"
An amused voice suddenly echoed through the room. It carried so much that it was impossible to pinpoint where it had come from, but they recognized the voice instantly.
"Frey?!" Bishop yelled incredulously. What the actual fuck?! How?! When?! Just… how?! How the fuck did he get here?! The exit lift was impenetrable!
Without waiting for the answer, Bishop instantly pulled out his bow and aimed at the statue's chin. That was where he had to be, right?
Bishop's arrow flew through the air, but it only collided with the statue harmlessly. Fuck. That bastard moved. He was invisible. How was he supposed to shoot him like that?! He couldn't even tell where the voice was coming from!
"Nice try," Mercer chuckled.
"How did you get in here?!" Aeyrin gasped. This was unbelievable.
"Easy," Mercer laughed. "Somebody was nice enough to clear the path for me. Good job on that, by the way. That was impressive. You two took your sweet time, which kind of played into my cards, but that was the intention of course. Who wouldn't take their time in a deathtrap like this? I could certainly never get through here so efficiently. Bishop, you prick, where did you learn to fight like that? Did Thorn beat it into you?"
Bishop growled hatefully and he shot another arrow into space, but again, it missed. Fuck! How did Mercer even know they were here?!
"But how did you…" Aeyrin wanted to ask that very question, but Mercer promptly interrupted her.
"Ingenious, wasn't it? All part of the plan. You think I don't know about the whore's contact at the College? You think I didn't know she would find out about the theft? And then you bought a house and asked around for security measures," he laughed loudly. "Subtle. Real subtle. But that was good. I dismissed my house guard and waited for a break-in. I almost couldn't tell. That cunt is good. But she got her plans and schemes and I knew she would send you two here. Why wouldn't she? I would, in her place, making use of the weapons in my arsenal. And it would be quite useless not to give you the information, wouldn't it? What good would you be if you dropped dead in the first chamber? I had this place watched and then when I got the word, all I had to do was follow you two and slip by you when we were close to the end."
This was all a trick? All of it? Ever since the College heist? He didn't have experienced adventurers in his arsenal so he used Karliah's?
"You are not getting out of here alive," Bishop growled at him again and, yet again, he tried to shoot, but it was pointless. His arrows couldn't hit Mercer in that enormous chamber. There was no way he would be that lucky.
"No. That's what I'm supposed to say to you," Mercer laughed. "End of the road for you two. And there's nothing you can do about it. I have what I came for and you two will stay here. Until you die. Which won't be long I think."
Aeyrin took a step forward and readied herself. She wasn't sure what for. She didn't know what Shout could actually help her when she couldn't see him, but she had to try.
"I wouldn't, dear," Mercer's voice echoed through the chamber again. "Did you know that this chamber was built directly below the river as an irrigation center? Fascinating how resourceful the Dwemer were. But they always had to be careful too. See… rooms like these are often… unstable."
'Unstable'?
Aeyrin quickly looked up at the ceiling. Would a Shout actually bring it down on them or was Mercer bluffing?
"You two have been a nuisance for a long time. But helping that whore sealed your fate," Frey spat hatefully. "Bishop, I thought you were always all about survival. You should have toed the fucking line. Maybe then you would have actually lived. And not only you."
Bishop clenched his fist hatefully. How fucking dare he?! He was the one who sent Jules to his death!
"And my dear Dragonborn, this is unfortunate," his tone sounded a bit remorseful, but it was surely fake.
What? Was he going to be regretful about all this now?!
"I so wanted you to end up buried in Thorn's cave. A fitting end for the 'hero' to be tortured and fucked to death by that freak for going against me," he snickered maliciously and Aeyrin flinched involuntarily at his words. "But this will have to do."
They didn't hear anything. They didn't see anything. But it was clear now. Mercer was making his escape.
Without a moment's hesitation, they both broke into a run. They ran as fast as they could along the platforms on the edges of the room until they spotted the alcove behind the statue.
The lift.
They doubled their pace instantly and just as they were almost near that alcove, Aeyrin stopped, preparing herself to Shout. She needed to catch him. Surely it wouldn't bring the place down this fast. She could make it in time and then the lift would take them to safety.
"Stop!"
Bishop's hand suddenly gripped her wrist and yanked her hard. Not just to the side, Bishop threw himself and her along with him onto the stone platform and the next thing she felt was his upper body splayed upon hers, as if he was shielding her from something.
What happened?!
Bishop clutched her firmly. He saw it. He knew what it was. There was a contraption on the floor right in front of the lift. A round container with a burning string trailing from it. It looked like the same thing he had used a long time ago to cause ruckus in Solitude and get inside the ballroom.
This one looked much bigger. And Aeyrin was about to Shout her way right atop it.
A second later, an unbearably loud sound echoed through the entire chamber, followed by deep rumbling. Bishop felt a few smaller rocks falling on his back and then there was more rumbling, more noise of rocks crashing against rocks. And… water?
Bishop carefully released Aeyrin from his hold and peered up.
There was water running everywhere, from several openings in the ceiling. His eyes went to the lift right away, but there was only a stone wall in the alcove now and the bars to it were closed. Mercer had escaped.
Aeyrin looked at the scene in horror.
What now?! The chamber was flooding. And there was no telling if it wouldn't collapse upon them entirely.
They both hurriedly got off the ground and looked around.
The water was rising so quickly. The platform was already covered in it a little bit and the whole bottom level of the chamber was flooded.
"Check the door, I'll check the lift," Aeyrin quickly nodded at Bishop and they each darted their own way.
Aeyrin reached the lift first and she desperately looked for a lever. When she finally found it, she pulled it in a hurry, but… nothing happened. She waited, but the stone in the alcove didn't move at all.
What has Mercer done to the lift?!
"It won't open!" Bishop yelled at her from the other side of the room.
What? How? They came through that door! Was it one of those that only opened one way, as the one they found in Raldbthar? They didn't check it before! Maybe it was some safety measure against thieves?
Gods, what now?
Aeyrin and Bishop both rushed towards each other again, but soon they actually had to wade through the knee-deep water.
They reached each other after a while, but they could do nothing but stare in horror at the water pouring down steadily from the ceiling.
They were going to drown in there.