Carolara was nothing short of shocked when the first thing she spotted upon entering the Oblivion Gate was a man in a bloodied Kvatch cuirass, fighting for his life. Two impish scamps were on each side of him, hissing and clawing. The Breton barely hesitated and pulled an arrow from her quiver, nocking and firing. One scamp fell when it hit its mark, and the Kvatch guardsman dispatched the other in the opening provided by her distraction.
Relief overcame his desperate expression and he ran up to her, while she finally took a look around. All the earth here was charred and hot; an island dotted with the spiked silhouettes of towers, situated in a sea of lava to which there seemed to be no end. Red and black as far as the eye could see, the sky a mess of swirling crimson clouds and streaks of lightning, the resultant thunder rumbling through the hot air. It was a landscape straight out of a nightmare and the air was filled with the smell of brimstone.
"Thank the Nine," the Imperial said breathlessly, snapping up her attention. "I never thought I'd see another friendly face."
"Matius sent me. Are you all that's left?" Carolara handed him her water-skin; he very much needed it.
He gestured behind him while he drank, the Breton fighting back the urge to snatch it from him before it was all gone. Thankfully it wasn't as light as she expected when she got it back. "We were ambushed, trapped, and picked off," he explained. "I managed to escape, but the others are strewn across that bridge."
She finally followed his gestures with her eyes to see the corpses of Daedra and guardsmen scattered on a stone bridge, a closed metal door blocking one from going any further. Beyond that she could spot what seemed like a road that led up to the biggest spiky tower of them all.
"That's where I saw them take Menien," the guardsman spoke, staring off the same way.
"Then that's where I'm going," Carolara replied, wishing she sounded more confident but unable to summon up even a bluff in the face of this nightmare. She looked over her shoulder; the portal out still stood, providing her some level of mental comfort that if things went sour she might be able to make a break for it. "You, ah, wouldn't know how to shut this thing, would you?"
"Afraid not," he shook his head. "Do you need some help?"
A shaky smile on her freckled face, the Breton looked back toward the road. She thought she could see movement, but there was too much smoke and distance to be sure. "Don't take this the wrong way but I sort of work better by myself. Two are more easily seen than one, and I'm sure Matius would appreciate your help holding the barricade."
"Alright," An understanding nod. "I'll get out of here and let the Captain know what's going on." The guardsman began to make for the portal, but he paused and reached into the small pouch on his belt, handing her a tiny glass vial.
"What's this?"
"My last healing potion. You'll need it more than I do since you're planning on going in further. Take it as thanks; you saved my life, brought me back from hell. I won't forget it." With a grateful smile he turned away, striding towards the Gate and vanishing the moment he touched it.
Thus Carolara was left alone in the hellish plane, where she immediately began to walk up to the closed metallic door on the bridge. Constantly she felt as if she was being watched, though looking around over and over only served to stall her and revealed nothing. She searched for a mechanism or switch or something to open the thing, but came up empty, leading her to believe it was probably controlled remotely. So many towers shooting up into the blood-red sky all around, it could be hidden within any of them. The one at the end of the road's exaggerated height suggested great importance, so she stayed focused on it. There was just the matter of getting to it.
Knowing she was exposed on the bridge, the corpses around her serving as grim reminders, the Breton made herself hurry. She went around the edge of the doors, clung to the stone, and dared not look down at the lava she dangled over as she swung around the outside. She rushed off the bridge after that, staying low and moving to the side of the road.
The movement was becoming increasingly undeniable. At first she thought it was a large single entity, but it moved too irregularly. Soon it was close enough that she had to duck into the shadow of one of the smaller towers, laying flat against the uncomfortably hot ground as it passed. It turned out to be about a dozen armed and armored Dremora soldiers, coming down the road in a group. Something unseen to the Breton made the metal doors she'd just gone around come open, sweeping corpses into the magma as they moved, and the dread realization hit her that they were marching out the Oblivion Gate. Carolara was powerless to stop them. She counted more than a half dozen and she didn't estimate she could fell more than two before the rest closed in... she'd just have to count on Matius and his men and do her part to stop the flow of Daedra quickly.
The inside of the tower was brighter than it had been outside; a pillar of fire stood in its center running as far up as she could see. The heat radiating off it could be felt all the way at the edges of the room, and many of the tower's floors were visible even from the entrance, encircling the bright pillar. This room was seemingly empty but she laid low nonetheless, hoping nothing would spot her from above. The deep green of her cloak was perfect for forests, but in the wastelands of this daedric plane it wasn't quite as stealthy.
For what felt like hours she tiptoed through dark corridors and snuck past Daedra, looking for any sign of survivors or a way to shut the gate. The occasional smear of blood or chunk of armor was the only indication there had even a human presence, and it hope was looking weak for any that had been brought here. Then, finally, she came across an important-looking door; bigger and brighter than some of the others, something written in Daedric above it. Carolara knew but one or two letters of the demon's written language so she could not tell what it said, but it was one of the only labeled doors, and it was locked.
Not a problem! She thought at first... and then she remembered she didn't have so much as a bit of wire to pick it with. Her mastercrafted set of thieves' tools was probably still sitting in a chest in Mournhold somewhere. So she turned around and descended the ramp she'd just come up, recalling that there was a door she'd passed by before in favor of continuing skyward.
Opening this door resulted in Carolara's heart skipping a beat. She knew she'd gone up quite a ways, she just didn't imagine very accurately how high. From here she could see the entirety of the place and the Oblivion Gate itself, and even silhouettes where the sea of lava met the horizon that hinted at other such hellish islands weren't too far off. Before her was a terribly narrow bridge devoid of any kind of railing that led over to one of the smaller towers. Without much alternative the redhead slung her bow across herself and began to cross, arms outstretched, telling herself over and over under her breath to look forward and not down. She didn't always listen.
Once across she found herself near the top of the smaller tower. Under the sound of the thundering skies her entry was hidden, and thankfully so too. Just at the top of the ramp she could see a Dremora in robes, channeling a spell at something. Perfect... he hadn't seen her yet and she had a clear shot. Not moving too fast so as not to catch the creature's eye she set, pulled, aimed, and let go. Right through the skull, it made not a sound as it fell. Carolara was waiting a couple of moments to see if any more appeared when a weak voice inquired from the above room, "W-who's there?"
A human voice. Her eyes widened and she scrambled to a stand, running up the ramp. The man was alive; but it seemed the Daedra had been 'interrogating' him. He was slumped in a suspended metal cage, his body and the floor below him splattered with blood, one of his eyes swollen shut. The other gazed upon Carolara with desperation.
"Quickly... quickly!" He tried and failed to sit up, pointing to the fallen Dremora, "The Keeper has the key... you must get the key!"
Carolara followed his wild gesturing with her eyes and saw a key-ring on the creature's belt, bending down to retrieve it. There was only one key on it, made of a metal black as night. She began to circle his cage, unable to see a lock or a mechanism anywhere on it. The walls were blank too. "I can't figure out how to open it," she came back to the front of him and crouched to speak to him on level, "Where's the trigger to get you out of here?"
He groaned, the look in his good eye suggesting at a difficulty staying conscious. "Get me... no!" The man shook his head, fighting for awareness. "There is no time! The key opens... the top of the large tower. Remove Sigil Stone... the Gate will close. Remove..."
But the Breton refused to accept more loss. In frustrated futility she struck the bars, "I'm not leaving you here!"
The loud sound seemed to snap the tortured guardsman awake even more effectively, and he narrowed his eye at her, "I just heard them talking. More moving out. An army. Soon. There's no time, you stupid woman... go!"
Growling, the stress and fear and exhaustion starting to pile up on her and push her to the point of choking up, Carolara turned and ran. She bolted right across the thin bridge without so much as slowing down or losing her focus on the door ahead. Her mind wouldn't let her look, terrified of seeing how close the encroaching Daedra were to the Gate, but she could hear the marching of metallic boots hundreds of feet below. Matius' band of surviving guardsmen wouldn't stand a chance, and then the civilians... her heart pounded in her chest. I can't fail again, she mentally chanted. I can't fail again!
Though her hands shook, she had the lock open with incredible speed and she resumed her pace up into the top of the tower. Two scamps spotted her when she came into domed room at the very top, and she could see what she assumed to be the Sigil Stone between them, floating in the pillar of flames that stretched all the way from the bottom floor of the tower. Remove it, the man had said. It appeared to be on fire and she could feel the heat even at this distance. Carolara winced preemptively, but swiftly resolved to herself that burned hands were a small price to pay for saved lives. Now she had other things to think about anyway, namely the fireballs the scamps were throwing her way.
She didn't have time for a shootout with them, not even grabbing for her bow. Rather than that she kept her eyes on them, dodging each shot of magical fire that came her way as she ran up a ramp and right at one of the two. It swiped at her as she passed and tore across her left thigh, right through the leathers. Carolara yelped but didn't miss a beat, spinning around and kicking the creature in the face with her other leg to stun it while she reached for the spherical stone.
The moment she snatched up the Sigil Stone, the scamps let out a grating cry and fled. She didn't have long to marvel at the fact that it felt quite cool, or that her hands and the leather gloves on them were somehow both intact after reaching into fire; for the ground began to shake. Pieces of the tower began to collapse around her, the realm itself coming apart. With nowhere to run, and panic freezing her body, Carolara put her hands over her head and prayed that the Nine would save her.