I was right – it's only an hour later when I awaken. I decide to spend a little more time in the little stone hut before venturing out into the giant caverns of Blackreach. Rummaging around the corpse, I find a journal stuffed with notes about crimson nirnroot, and a wish to collect at least thirty of them to experiment on. There is also mention of a helpful adventurer who aided him in collecting nirnroot in Cyrodiil – I remember one of Cousin's letters being about helping some reclusive Altmer with his alchemy… I think I've found the unfortunate remains of the poor man!
Crossing the small room as I tuck the journal into my pack alongside the others, I take all of the ingredients off of the shelf and make several potions – and twice as many poisons – at the alchemy table, before removing the enchantments off of several of the heavier magical items I picked up at the enchanting lab set beside it. There – that lightens the load, and makes more room in my bag for other things.
OK, time to brave the gloom of Blackreach. Here goes!
Taking a deep breath, I push open the door and draw my bow as we walk out into the great space, looking around and alert to any dangers that might be lurking nearby. Nothing so far…
Finding the remains of a road leading further into the enormous cave, I follow it, only to be attacked by a pair of Falmer hiding on a raised platform a little way down. I can barely see them through the murk, but I can see well enough to shoot back. Three arrows and two pained squawks later, the creatures lie dead on the stonework. After mining the nearby quicksilver vein for a little while, I continue along the faded road, only to encounter a strange beetle-like creature lurking among several glowing egg sacs. The thing, upon spotting us, spat some acidic stuff at us before charging into the fray, gnashing at us with its great mandibles. Luckily, our fight doesn't awaken the giant Dwemer machine standing nearby. Soon enough, after several hacks at the small gaps in the creature's solid carapace, it lies dead at our feet.
The rest of the journey towards the tower emerging from the gloom is relatively quiet, only disturbed by another small group of Falmer accompanied by more of the strange chitinous monsters. A couple of times we paused so I could mine the ebony vein and the geode vein we passed. Soon, we're crossing a bridge and pushing open the great metal door to the tower, revealing another lift. Pulling the lever, Lydia and I stumble as the floor rises, slowly climbing through the tower until we stop at the entrance of a reasonably large room, lined with shelves and with a fire-pit in the middle. Most of the items on the shelves are ruined books, but there are a couple of potions and several ingredients too. The next room, however, is really rather strange.
Most of the space is taken up by an enormous sphere, with a stone ramp leading up to a walkway around the strange contraption. At the top of the ramp, we find a skeleton clutching a journal at the bottom of another shorter ramp leading up to a row of buttons. Hoping the journal will give me some clue as to how to operate the giant machine – which must be what contains the Elder Scroll we're looking for – I pull it out of the bones and open it to the only used page.
I weren't never one for writing about my life. The king-priests of old deserve their stories told, but Drokt is a simple man. So this isn't no journal and I'm not telling any stories here. Full marks for grammar, this one. But this infernal machine done worked its way into my brainspace and I won't leave till it's figured out. The whole contraption just sets like a dead horker if it doesn't have the box. Putting the box in the hole made it all come to life. Five rings, but only four buttons? Most of of 'em don't work most of the time anyhows. When the lights line up, more open, but they don't seem to help. Just make another damned thing move. The old fleabag Khajiit what sold me this cube said something about 'the light through the knowledge through the machine rests on the cube.' I remember because he made me say it back at him till I wanted to throttle him. So I did. Tried to leave, but wolves to the top and them eyeless freaks outside the tower. Gotta stay here till I get it right. And I will get it right.
The box this poor man was talking about must be the cube that Septimus gave me, though how he ended up with it when it would've been in Drokt's possession when he died I don't know. I climb the short ramp and inspect the row of buttons, pulling out the cube as I do so.
The buttons are covered by little metal grates, but when I slot the cube into the pillar to the right of the buttons, two of them are uncovered. The first button does nothing, but the second makes the giant sphere shift, spinning so that round blue decorations are visible. I press the button again, and the sphere moves again, revealing a different pattern of blue circles. Pressing the button again, the sphere moves once again to show yet another pattern, and the third button is uncovered. The cube also opens up – now it is covered in little blue-glowing glyphs.
I press the third button, and three great metal arms with blue disks at the end lower out of the ceiling, focussing the light coming out of the open roof into three bright beams. Pressing the button again moves the arms until the light beams touch blue disks set into the ceiling and the fourth and final button becomes accessible.
Pressing this last button, another metal arm descends, holding a blue crystalline container, which opens to reveal the Elder Scroll inside. The cube Septimus gave me closes up again, but now it is still covered in the little glyphs. Grabbing the cube as I pass, I walk up the short ramp over the sphere and remove the Scroll from its container. Nothing more happens, so I tuck it into my pack and head towards the door set in a recess beneath the buttons. It leads to a short antechamber. The next room is merely the bottom of a lift. I wait for Lydia to catch up, then tug on the lever; the floor rises slowly and shudders to a stop at the top.
Daylight! Oh blessed daylight! I had almost forgotten what the surface world looked like. I now have an excellent view of the northern holds.
Outside is the remains of what must have been Drokt's camp. There's no sign of a road though, so I turn towards the giant mountain that dominates Skyrim's landscape and jog on. Not far from the camp we encounter a young Nord standing staring at a wolf's corpse.
"Oh, hello there. Didn't notice you come up." He says when I ask what he's doing. "I was focussing my magicka. Or at least, I thought I was. I don't really know what I'm doing."
"That's quite a staff you have there." I say, nodding at the item slung across his back.
"I used to think so too. See, my grandfather was a wizard. My father wouldn't talk about him much. But I found some of his things in the attic, including this staff. After that I thought that I was turning into a wizard too, because dead things near me would come to life again for a while. I even went to the College of Winterhold, but they just laughed at me. The magic is in the staff, not in me, they said."
"Seems like coin would be worth more to you." I offer the lad a small purse, which he takes with a shrug, unslinging the staff.
"Gold solves most problems, doesn't it?" He sighs, handing me the staff. "In fact, keep it. I must've used up the magic in the staff or something. It's just a dumb stick of wood now." With that, the lad heads off down the snowy slope.
I head off in the opposite direction, hoping to hit the road sometime soon or I'll end up totally lost. In the distance I can see Whiterun, which gives me some indication of where I am, and nearer is Loreius' farm. Spotting the road, I jog towards it, joining it a little way north of where the funny little jester still waits for his wagon to be fixed. Surely it doesn't take half a week to find some tools?
Following the road, I take a little detour and head into the city to sell all the excess stuff we'd picked up in Alftand and Blackreach. Belethor is as sleazy as always, but gladly takes all the stuff I dump onto his counter while passing over the supplies I ask for. Leaving his shop, I head back towards the gate, only to be stopped by a courier, who for some reason is wearing nothing but a hat and a loincloth.
"I've got something for you, your hands only. Let's see here… Ah yes. A note, from someone named Calcelmo, in Markarth. Looks like that's it. Got to go." He hands over the folded parchment, then dashes off towards the inn, hopefully to borrow some clothes. Not that he was that bad to look at…
Unfolding the note, I read the contents.
Lethandhrel One-Eye, it has come to my attention you may have recently acquired a certain Dwarven arrow from Belethor's General Goods. I'm not sure how such an object came to find itself resting there… but I've been trying to obtain one for my research. If you still have it, or if not, find another one, I would be most appreciative if you were to bring it to me here in Markarth. I will pay handsomely. Sincerely, Calcelmo.
How did he know? I've only just bought the things! Strange – precognition, maybe?
Tucking the note away in my bag, I leave the city and head towards Riverwood to store the items I want to keep in the chest in Delphine's hidden room. I'm gonna have to take up Balgruuf's offer of a house in Whiterun; I can't keep running off to Riverwood just to store interesting items. Not right now, though.
Passing a trio of Thalmor, I slip into the Sleeping Giant and head into what used to be Delphine's room to find the wardrobe that hid the entrance to the little room wide open. I thought I'd closed it last time I was here? Maybe I forgot. Oh well, no harm done anyway – she wouldn't have left anything behind anyway.
After stashing away my new possessions, I exit the inn and follow the road towards the Valtheim Towers. Along the way, I'm stopped by a harried looking woman wearing rags.
"Oh, thank goodness! I've been wandering alone for so long; I thought I'd never see another soul again." She pants.
"Calm down – tell me what happened."
"I was kidnapped by these bandits weeks ago." She says. "They locked me up in the towers near Mistwatch. I managed to pick the lock and slip out while the guard slept, but now I'm completely lost. Can you help me, please?"
"There's a town nearby, in that direction." I point towards Whiterun – how can she not see it? "Do you need help getting there?"
Oh, thank you, but I should be fine now that you've shown me the way. But those bandits have to be stopped! They're at Mistwatch. Here, let me show you on your map. If you can stop them you'll be a true hero!" After marking the place on my map, she dashes off along the road.
Continuing along, I find the goat track and follow it across the arm of the mountain until I reach the ruined tollbooth. This time, however, there are three glowing balls floating around it. Wisps! That must mean there is a Wispmother nearby, and those things are vicious. Sure enough, I haven't proceeded much further when the magical creature floats up out of the ground and starts flinging ice at me.
All I can do to fight back effectively is dodge the icicles that she blasts at me and shoot back as best I can while doing so. My flame-breath Shout seems to be quite effective – I do enough damage with it that the Wispmother panics and summons a pair of clones to try to distract me. It doesn't work, however, as I can tell the original apart by the arrows sticking out of it. Every so often there is an icy explosion as another wisp falls to Lydia's blade. Soon, with an explosion that echoes those of the wisps, the Wispmother falls into a gloopy puddle. I collect some of the ooze in an empty potion bottle, and the remains of the wrappings that served as clothes, then continue along the dirt track into Ivarstead. The sky is turning dark now, and the hour's sleep I had in Blackreach is catching up with a vengeance, so I enter the inn and rent a room.