An Unexpected Turn of Events
"Now I'll kill you like the rest! Once I find that damn potion!" How did I get captured by this idiot?
I have been asking this question over and over and each time I remembered the answer the more I became disappointed with myself. It was completely my own fault for letting greed take control and not stopping to think. I've been through dungeons like these hundreds of times, so by now I should've known what to expect. Traps are not uncommon but so far my record at avoiding them has been good. Turns out it just takes one little mistake to ruin that record.
"You will die soon enough!" As punishment for falling into this trap, I have to listen to this necromancer rant about his success. Then sit here, in this cold water, waiting for him to find a potion that will supposedly kill me. At first, I was almost scared this man would kill me, but now. I knew he was far too incompetent to do any of the such. If he can't even have a potion ready to kill me then I'm sure the cage he trapped me wasn't all that locked up.
The man went into another room, yelling at the gods for not showing him where this elusive potion is. Leaving me alone and unattended with the perfect chance to escape. I went to work right away on the cage's lock using the lockpicks I always kept on hand. It would seem this necromancer did something right because this lock was actually proving difficult. I was already on my third lockpick when I heard someone yell out in successes in the other room. Time wasn't on my side and sadly for me, this lock required patience. I was trying to be careful, with what could possibly be my last chance, but good fortune was not with me. My third lock broke and I heard footsteps come up from behind.
"How sweet! You waited for me!" I looked back at the voice and saw that the necromancer had reentered the room with a sadistic smile plastered on his face. "As a reward, I'll use this very special potion to kill you." In a dramatic fashion, he pulled out a bright blue bottle and held it out in front of him. The bottle was made of glass and had paper wrapped around it with strangely written letters. The bottle also had a metal cap keeping the blue liquid inside it. This was an unknown potion for me to say the least.
I began to wonder just what kind of potion this bottle contained when the necromancer tried to open it. I say try because that metal cap wasn't coming off. Again the man screamed at the Gods as he became more and more distracted in trying to get the bottle open. As much as I thought about asking if he needed help, now was my chance to think up another plan.
My long sword could thrust through the cages gaps and into the man. But from what I could see, he was just out of reach of my sword. I had a few other lockpicks but he'll see what I'm doing long before it could be successful. Options were running low and that metal cap loosening up. Scott and Lydia then came to mind, and from how this situation is going. I'll have to wait out for them.
'Here's hoping they get here in time,' I thought to myself as the necromancer finally got the metal cap off.'
'Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.' How did she fall into that trap so easily? There was a metal door on the ground right in front of her!
Calm down Scott, if she died I would've have been thrown back into the void by now. That means there still time but I'll have to be quick about it. Getting mad now will only hurt my chances of saving her. I don't know where she ended up but I do know she's below me. Meaning I'll have to find the way into the basement. Looking around, I found two doors with one on the left and the other on the right. Both could be the way I needed to go and as the plan started forming inside my head, Lydia ran through the left door.
"Great," I sighed to myself, seeing Lydia doing exactly what her Thane just did. Running through the left door after her, I found Lydia trying to get a metal gate open that leads down a flight of stairs. "Could have waited for me," I said to the other hot-headed girl in my party. She barely looked at me as I came up from behind. Looking at the gate it was clear she wasn't going to open anytime soon. The gate was connected to some kind of pully system and, from what I know about that, there as to be something around here that would let the counter weight fall.
"Open!" Lydia fell backwards, clearly tired from her pointless exchange with that gate. I simply looked down at her and, even with the mask on, she knew what my face said. I just shooked my head.
"If you want to rescue her then I suggest we start looking for a lever," I told her as I started looking. Lydia got up, finally, and started as well but with a more pissed of expression. She's going to become a handful without Arthur.
Right next to us was another flight of stairs but these lead-up. So, seeing no lever in our current room, we went into the room above and started looking there. After killing off another of those damn ghost clones, I found a lever hiding in the upstairs room. Knowing I found what I was looking for, I pulled the lever as soon as I say it and right away heard the gate open. Running down the stairs back to the gate, I say that Lydia was just about to sprint off again.
Grabbing her shoulder as quickly as I could, I stopped her from doing such a thing. "Plan first," My voice was stern and even as she pulled my hand off her shoulder. The girl knew to stand and listen. As much as I needed to help Arthur, this was a chance I needed to form some trust with Lydia and, just maybe, put some discipline in the girl.
"Don't grab me again. We're going to do this mine and Arthur's way," Ok, looks like I'll have to put a lot of discipline in her.
"If your and Arthur's way is running into a situation blind then, by all means, end up like her," Clearly, even though this was a valid point, my comment only made her mad. Though, she was listening. She didn't look ready to go into a sprint again like before. "I want to get to Arthur as much as you do right now. But running into a fight blind will get you killed," The commanding voice I had over people seems to have worked well over Lydia.
"Ok, I see your point. What's the plan," Lydia was now ready to follow through, and as we were talking. A plan had formed in the back of my mind. Explaining the plan as quickly as possible, I say that Lydia's face was now changing into one of disbelief. "That's the plan?"
"I'm not explaining myself twice," Smiling under my mask, I went down the stairs with Lydia close behind.
"Now to see if this works," The necromancer tried to be quiet but I heard him loud and clear.
"You don't even know if it works?" Screaming at him, some fear started to set in. If he doesn't know what this potion does then there's no telling what it does. It may do nothing or worse and I don't want to be here if it's worse. Death was something I could handle but if, it says, makes me lose my mind then that's something else.
"You weren't supposed to hear that," The necromancer turned to me looking all to displease with himself. "Either way," With the cap now off, he now smiled ready to find out what his blue potion does. Though the gods may not have been there for him, they were here for me.
Near the end of the stone room, a wooden door was blown off it hinges. As the smoke cleared, I looked to see the wood from the door had caught fire. With the room being made entirely of old stone, I didn't worry about a large fire starting. Focusing beyond the door, to people had walked in. One with an arrow at the ready and the other with a large metal staff in both hands.
"How is this different from what I was going to do?" Relief came over me as I heard Lydia's voice.
"Cause we actually thought this out and made it a plan," I felt even more relieved hearing Scott's voice. "Now where is that stupid girl?" The relief left me as I remembered neither of these two is going to let this down. Lydia more so. Either way, I called out toward the two and both raced over. Scott noticed the lock right away and pulled out one of his small hooked shaped weapons. One of these days, I will ask him where he got such weapons cause that little thing was effective at blowing away the lock.
Stepping out of the cage, Lydia gave me a pat on the shoulder. "Good to see you well my Thane," She was just as happy to me free as I was, and I had to smile at that. It was always good to remember just how much your friends care about you. I then turned my head towards Scott to see him looking around for something. Be forgetful seems to be plaguing me today because I had just remembered there was the necromancer hiding here somewhere. As well as our originally captured victim. I drew my sword and began looking with Scott.
"Careful, our enemy has some unknown potion with him," I told those around me. During the rescue, my captor and ran off. He wasn't where he once was and neither was he in the other room. Not wanting to fall into another trap, I watch ever step I made and kept my guard up just in case. Walking towards the back of the room, I searched behind some old wooden boxes and found nothing. "Where could he have gone?" I asked myself well turning back around. In front of me was both Scott and the necromancer, with the former laughing menacingly.
"Got you!" The blue liquid now covered Scott's armor. I may not be sure what that potion does but I'm sure Scott would be fine. Unless if the potion eats away metal. "Oh no," The necromancer then realised his mistake. Even with the mask on, I knew Scott was not a happy old man. He grabbed the necromancer head and started slamming his skull against the closest wall. After a few seconds, all that was left was red mush.
It may have been a little overboard but Scott was effective at killing the man none the less. I was sure this wasn't the old worriers first time so I simply complimented the kill. I was just planning on driving my sword through his chest.
"Well I say it's time we start looking for are captured Battle-Born," I basically ordered both Scott and Lydia. After a good minute, we found him and as Lydia was making sure everything was all right with the man I walked over to Scott. Who, was holding the glass potion bottle from before. "Can you make anything of that?" Curious, I asked Scott hoping for some answers about the strange bottle.
"It just a shitty drink. Nothing else," He told me as he put the bottle inside one of his many pockets.
"Then why are you taking it?" I was even more curious than before. Walking past me, I heard him say five words that explained all I needed to hear.
"It reminds me of home."
We had made camp for the night off the main roads deep inside the thick forest. The trees provided good cover and offered good firewood. We'll be back at Whiterun by tomorrow morning if nothing stops us like a pack of wolfs or another Dragon. It was good to be back in a familiar setting. Whiterun may be where I live now but outside in the woods was home for me. The cold night's air combined with the breathtaking clear sky and you'll understand why I call this home. The two moons light up the ground below it but strangle our camp stayed dark. With only the small fire lighting up the area.
"Go to sleep," Scott's voice called out and I turned to look at him. Scott had offered to take the first watch, so it was only me and him awake right now. I could see him clearly in the fire's light, as he cleaned that curved sword of his with a rag. Thankfully, his mask was off making this a perfect time to ask a few question. As much as I'm sure he would disapprove of that.
"Tell me, and be honest. What are those weapons of yours called?" I asked, ignoring the look of dread on the old man's face. He told me to go back to sleep and not wanting to listen. I just asked my question again.
"Don't make this a long night," Scott told me, sounding very annoyed with me. I just asked my question again not letting up. "Fine. Which do you want to know about?" He had finally caved in.
"What about the one you're holding?" A curved sword like the one he had isn't common in Skyrim. Nords, like me, just aren't fond of the design. You could easily find such a sword from say a Redguard but Scott's sword was different. There were some wear and tear on the grip but other than that it was kept in pristine. It spoke volumes of the swords wilder.
"It's a katana gifted to me by a friend from out of this time," Scott sounded quite proud of this sword and it's former owner. So of course, I asked to describe this friend. "He died," Scott was blunt and I knew to stop asking. That didn't mean I was done with this conversation, though. There were a few other things I wanted to ask. Mainly about the bottle.
"What's written on it," I asked, and right away say Scott's face go dark. Apparently, this was also sensitive information. I knew it reminded him of home but this simple bottle was enough to get this old man emotional? The camp site became quite as I waited for Scott to respond, and after a few seconds, he did.
"As written on the bottle, it called Nuka-Cola. Or more specifically, Nuka-Cola Quantum," I have no idea what that name means. Asking for more of an explanation, he sighed and follow through. "It's a popular drink from my homeland. Kind of like your Mead but they decided to put more piss in this drink,"Scott explained, sounding not at all homesick. It kind of surprised me. I thought an old man like him would love to reminisce. So, that begged the question.
"Why do you hate it if the drinks so popular?" I asked, sounding more than my share confused.
"Let's just say I'm more off a Sunset Sarsaparilla kind of guy," He explained, and, of course, I asked for more of an explanation. "Go to sleep." Well, if I'm learning anything from this then it's that Scott's as stubborn as an old man.
"Come on. There's nothing wrong with small talk," I know from today's events that Scott's going to be sticking around for some time. So, if he can't even make small talk with me then how does he expect me to trust him? By just a few kind words here and there. No, I get that from your average barkeep and drunken fool. Not from someone who was showing to be a great ally.
"Listen, it's personal. So I'll ask you to let it be," I could a least understand that. Your home can be a complicated thing and I knew far too well of that. "Now, if you want to talk about something else. Then I'm game," Looks like I finally completed what I set out to do. Have a good to honest conversation with this old man throughout the night. I learned about those staffs of his and apparently they're called 'guns'. They are also very common from his home but I wasn't going to get my hands on one anytime soon.
It was disappointing finding that out but our talk was fun none the less. And as I finally went to bed like Scott had asked of me many times. It was good to know the day I was captured by a huge joke didn't end up being all that bad of a day.
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