Chapter Forty-Six:

Expedition Lost

The cave, encased in ice as it was, had us scrambling for balance more than once, but we were glad we fell even less often. And not even ten feet into the cave from the camp, we heard estranged mumbling from behind a wall of ice. With no way to get through without making a considerable amount of noise, we decided it was best to just continue on. Hopefully, whoever was there would be cognitive enough to answer a few questions.

We eventually escaped the ice and found ourselves in Dwemer ruins. And although the ice was clearly still seeping into the ruins through the various cracks in the crumbling walls, it was a welcome sight not to be surrounded by it on all sides.

I strayed towards a gate blocked by horizontal iron bars and a table with various books and automaton pieces strewn about. When I realized the books were detailing the historical Dwemer machines, I decided to look for some evidence into the missing expedition. Old, dried blood covered the floor and walls, even some of the bars of the gate. When I investigated the bars more, I realized there was a lever to open them, but it was well out of mine and everyone else's reach.

"There's a lift back there..." Aldren grasped the bars and sniffed the blood. "This clearly isn't a creature's blood. Someone was attacked. May have been a mutiny, unless rivals entered this place."

"No signs of Imperial presence besides that of Sulla Trebatius." Milos examined the stone table. "Almost seems like he ran this expedition uniform, like in the Legion. Maybe a few hirelings didn't like it."

I spotted a red journal under one of the automatons. When I grabbed it to examine its contents, I realized it had the same form of handwriting as the last two books.

"Sulla's research journal," I mumbled. "Even if there was a mutiny, I have a feeling that he wouldn't have left it behind."

"Then something caught them by surprise." Aldren glanced inside the bars again, his eyes focusing on the lift. "Doesn't look like that thing goes up further. And if I remember Dwemer ruins, there's always a shorter way to get to the exit. If we can assume that's it, some of us can remain here to guard the way while the rest tries to find the lift further down."

Milos snorted. "Not sure if splitting up's a good idea. We'll never know what's down there."

"It'd be a lot less clunky than we are now," I interjected. "I can take Cha'qim and Javin. Give us two hours. If we're not on the lift, you can come after us. Otherwise, it'd be a good idea to move quickly and fast."

Aldren narrowed his eyes. "The Redguard doesn't exactly specialize in stealth, Greystone."

"But if we run into trouble, we could use him," I argued. "Better to have someone with an extra punch if Cha'qim and I run into a spot of trouble, and Javin's got just that."

"I'm ready and willing," Javin offered. "We ought to move on now though. If anyone of the expedition's still alive, we need to find out what happened and if another's after our scroll."

"Good point."

We bade the rest of our companions a farewell and then pushed forward into the ruins. A few Dwemer spiders leapt out at us before we were even out of the room, but we took care of them easily and continued. Torches had been left lit, and from what remained of the cloth on them, I guessed that they were still a few hours old. Even if the entire expedition didn't get ambushed at once, it appeared someone expected to leave soon and needed to light their path.

Cha'qim took point and led us up the steep, ramp-like hallway. Buy the time we reached the top, ice once more covered our path. More torches lay there, along with pickaxes to chip away the ice, and a recently de-commissioned Dwarven spider. Cha'qim noticed the bloodstains in the room ahead and went to investigate with Javin at his heel, so I crouched and took my time to make it down the icy slope to our right to scout it. Another slope, this time with a torch, was in my path. I made my way down slowly once I noticed Javin and Cha'qim catching up.

"Where is it?! I know you were trying to keep it for yourself J'zhar... You always try to keep it for yourself!" a voice hissed. I froze at it and slowed further. "No! There's got to be more skooma... Shut up! Shut up! Don't lie to me J'zhar! You hid it! You always try to steal it from me!"

Javin lost his footing on the slope and crashed into Cha'qim, who in turn crashed into me, and while the other two managed to grab onto some Dwemer pipes to stop their fall, my fingers slipped from them. I tumbled down and crashed at the bottom, groaning at the pain the ice that was sticking up from the floor had caused me.

"What?" a grey-furred Khajiit not unlike Cha'qim spun and grabbed a nearby axe out of a stump of wood. "Who is this, brother?" he asked the corpse of another grey Khajiit. "Another of the smooth-skins looking for food? But this one wasn't trapped with us..."

I held up a hand, but put the other on the hilt of Dragonbane to be safe. "Hold it. Hold it, I'm here to investigate the disappearances—."

"No... No!" The Khajiit stalked forward, axe raised. "You must be the one who took my skooma!"

He brought the axe down. I rolled to avoid it and stood quickly, whipping Dragonbane from its sheathe. Lightning crackled along the blade, frightening the Khajiit, but he tore his weapon from the ice and hissed loudly as he attacked. I managed to wedge Dragonbane just where the tip of the wood connected with the axe's metal, but the Khajiit still was strong enough to shove me against a Dwemer pipe.

"Give it back! Give me my skooma!" he shouted, shoving me again.

"Stop!" I yelled back, hopeful that he'd answer my questions.

But the Khajiit's eyes were diluted and desperate. He was clearly going through a very bad withdrawal that had led to the death of his brother.

Cha'qim leapt at him and buried her sword through his back and into his lung. The Khajiit sputtered, weakened, and then his body crumpled to the ground, his last words delirious and unintelligible.

The last living Khajiit in the room wiped her blade on his clothes and then moved on to the second dead catkin. Once I'd helped the Arch-Mage make his way down (fearing he'd slip again), Cha'qim stuffed a notebook into her pack and shouldered it. She caught the unsaid question in my eyes.

"J'darr was a skooma addict, and his brother J'zhar hoped to help him kick the habit down here." She showed me the empty bottles that had been in J'darr's pack. I smelt it and recoiled at the strength of the scent within. "When they were trapped within, he ran out. Clearly, J'darr did not take it well."

"Do you think he could have killed the rest of the expedition?" Javin asked the Khajiit.

She shook her head. "No. Too messy. Rest of the expedition would have killed him with all the noise he'd make in the kill." Cha'qim pointed to a path. "We may now continue. The others will surely be waiting for us."

We quickly moved down the icy hallway until we emerged once more into pure Dwemer ruin. A table with a lantern was the first thing we saw, and on the table was another red-bound journal. I automatically picked it up and began reading.

"It's been about a week since Valie went missing and now Endrast is gone too. We found blood leading to the barred-off doorway, but Sulla seems to think that they found a way through and that they are trying to cut him out of the discovery.

"He keeps saying that we need to press on. We've managed to break through into another section of the ruins, an 'Animonculory', where the Dwarves would produce their automatons.

"We learned the hard way that the metal creatures are still alive in there and it hasn't improved Yag's mood at all. She holds that the Khajiit brothers aren't involved with the disappearances and has been keeping a hard eye on Sulla.

"The rations have all but run out and we are going to have to decide soon whether to brave the storm or try to push further into the ruins. I don't know if the echoes of screams I've heard in my sleep are those of our missing comrades, or my own nightmares."

I stuffed the journal in my pack and caught up with the other two, and stopped them to warn them of the living automatons. Only when we had our weapons drawn did we dare continue into the ruins. We had hardly taken a few steps before some of the pipes spat out rolling Dwemer machines. Thankfully, oil also spurted from them and Javin set it, and the machines, aflame. We searched the room for anything useful (I grabbed the full soul gems from the two machines and stored one while using the other to power Dragonbane up again) and then left it behind, the thought of our waiting companions stirring us.

The hallways we next faced were empty, save for the pipes and ruined rugs and tapestries that had once made the darkness of Alftand brighten considerably. I found my mind straying as I wondered how such a race had died away, but Javin was quick to shake me from my thoughts and keep me going.

In the next room we faced several more Dwemer spiders, but there seemed to be a recurring theme of machines and oil, so we drew them into the centre of the room and burned them as well. I grabbed more of the filled soul gems and we continued on our way.

After more exploration including chests and the lockpicking skills of Cha'qim, plus the added bonuses of Javin's charms on that which was locked, we encountered yet more automatons but quickly put them down. I noticed more blood that was spattered in the halls, and realized how it was much fresher than the stuff by the elevator.

We dispatched more of the machines and soon found ourselves on the second level of where Javin had first torched the Dwarven spheres, and where I had found another journal (I believed it to belong to Umana, who was mentioned in the manifest as Sulla's long-time bodyguard). We had to time ourselves to run ahead of the mechanical pumps that would threaten to propel us down into the room below and give us a few broken bones on the way, but we managed fine and killed another Dwemer spider on the way.

And then we reached the doors to the Animonculory, so we entered with haste. Steam covered its entrance in a heavy shroud which made it a bit difficult to breathe. Thankfully Javin cast a water-breathing effect on us, and while steam wasn't water, it seemed to alleviate us some. We explored the rooms in the hall, marvelling at some of the structures while we looked for valuables, and then we moved on. I spotted blood quickly in the next room, and we pursued it into a secret alcove within the pipes after dispatching another Dwarven spider. A body lay there, hardly cold at all. He clearly had died recently, within the last half-hour at most.

Cha'qim looted the chest nearby while I grabbed a journal belonging to him. I thought him to be Endrast, the elf Sulla had employed. He had an arrow sticking out of his shoulder, although its origins were foreign to me, and he looked as though he'd been tortured. Blood had stopped seeping from his wounds, but the markings were clear.

"The eyeless creatures took us in our sleep," his journal read. "I don't know what happened to the Khajiit brothers, we never saw them in the cell. I managed to pick the lock and we made a break for it, but got split up. Sulla yelled something about not leaving without finding what he came here for and Umana chased after him.

"Yag and I tried for the top of the cave shaft, but one of the ramps was broken. Without a hesitation, she grabbed me by the scruff of my tunic, threw me atop the ledge and told me to run.

"And I did.

"I didn't even look back.

"I just ran like a coward.

"I could hear her fighting and I just had to get away. I didn't even notice the arrow in my shoulder until I hid here."

We left his body behind (although I took his journal) and then made our way back through the alcove and up the steps. We noticed a Dwarven sphere patrolling, but Javin defeated him easily by setting more oil aflame that was spattered on the ground. Not long after, we found a trap on some steps going upward. It wasn't hard to see the pressure plates, so we avoided them, but Cha'qim tossed a loose stone onto one to deter any who would follow.

We soon found ourselves near some of the ramps Endrast had described, and he'd closed the way, but we pulled a lever to open it and continued without much trouble. However, we were wary of the Falmer that had clearly been described before, so we moved swiftly. I grabbed my bow, and so did Cha'qim, while Javin readied defensive spells.

Later, we found the body of Yag, riddled with arrows and blood spattered on the rubble. We dropped down to examine her further and close her eyes, but we luckily found a health potion which would no doubt come in handy later. Suspecting Falmer lingering nearby, we had Javin cast Chameleon on us to scout properly. Sure enough, Falmer were patrolling. They had pale eyes, alluding to their blindness, and wide-set ears. Their skin was about as pale as their eyes, though not transparent, and while some were covered in armour they'd scrounged together or crafted themselves (which was impressive in itself), most wore merely loincloths and scraps of cloth. Some had thin, coarse hair strands that were near-invisible on top of their heads.

Cha'qim shot an arrow at the farthest one we could see while I hit the closest. The Falmer were clearly confused, but the last were dispatched when Javin burnt them to a crisp with some well-placed fireballs. As we made our way down the ramps, deeper into Falmer territory, we spotted Falmer engaged with some Dwarven machinations. We waited for them to finish each other off, and when only a single Falmer remained we killed it and moved on. The bloodstains, dried from age, showed us the way.

The Falmer had set up camp. Javin cast a Chameleon spell on Cha'qim, so she moved down into the camp and quietly slit their throats. It was clearly a feeding ground of some sort, as bones from all sorts of beings littered the floor. Not far along, we found another camp guarded by fire that would surely singe our faces. Javin tossed a fireball onto some oil on the floor and burnt the Falmer, but they didn't fall. Cha'qim and I leapt to protect Javin and engaged with the Falmer, felling them quickly in the hopes that no other Falmer would come to investigate.

Javin grabbed some alchemical ingredients on the way (I had to look elsewhere when Javin borrowed my dagger to cut off the ears of the Falmer), and we pushed forward until we came to a room clearly used for torture. We killed another armoured Falmer and investigated the room. The body of the High Elf Valie was shackled to a stone slab, her body half-eaten. From the looks of the wounds, she'd been eaten alive. I shivered, and then kicked the Falmer corpse for good measure.

"Taryn! The elevator is here!" Cha'qim pointed to a bloodstained lift. "Shall we get our comrades?"

I grinned. "We shall! Javin?"

"Hm?" Javin was stooped over the Falmer I'd just kicked, my dagger in hand. "Already?"

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. We'll grab the others. Try not to wander off."

The Arch-Mage grinned while I ushered Cha'qim to the lift. She pulled the lever, and we went up. The ride wasn't long, and we were relieved to see everyone still in one piece. We pulled the second lever to open the way for them, and then we all got onto the lift to go down.

Javin had taken all the ingredients he'd wanted and returned my dagger to me, and with that we all moved into the ruin together. Since Hiemdall, Aldren and Milos were all rested, they took point. The two warriors gave away our presence quickly but they made up for it by engaging the Falmer and a lone frostbite spider with the assassin.

And then we followed the cobwebs past a bronze Dwarven door, and into a small chamber with a clear trap at the bottom of the steps. I cut the tripwire with my dagger and quickly got out of the way as the Falmer trap whipped upwards and tried to catch me in its claws. We passed through one more door with the warriors at the back of our troop and Javin at its head. After engaging one last Falmer before another large set of doors, we emerged into a wide and spacious cathedral. I thought it had been used for Dwemer ceremonies, it was that grand, even without its former splendour.

Milos and Hiemdall took on the two Falmer patrolling outside of the gate while Aldren and Cha'qim went off to find some treasure. Javin and I made our way up the ramps above us (I impaled a Falmer up there) and pulled a lever to open the courtyard to us. We met up a few moments later outside and then pressed in. We had hardly made it up to the veranda before a large automaton, easily four times the height of Milos, blew steam from its sockets and slowly lumbered after us. We surrounded it in an attempt to divert its attention, but it kicked and sliced and blew wave upon wave of scalding steam from its chest that it was making it excessively difficult.

"Taryn! Shout it to the wall!" Javin called. "We need to corner it!"

I nodded. "Fus Ro Dah!"

The machine slammed hard, head-first, into the wall. Hiemdall and Milos were quickly upon it, hacking and slashing at any point that looked vulnerable. Javin shot ice from his palms in the hopes to freeze it to the wall. Cha'qim and Aldren climbed onto it to deliver blows to its head. I quickly joined Hiemdall and Milos while avoiding the desperate kicks of the machine, and then we heard something pop within it, and it moved no longer.

We took a few minutes to regain our strength. I slowly made my way to the gate above the veranda and pushed it open. A pedestal with strange jewels made of stone and metal lay at the next room's centre, and beyond that was a Redguard woman with an Imperial man. They were engaged in combat, oblivious to the fight that had just transpired beyond the gates.

A brief lapse in combat had Umana, the Redguard woman, desperately holding her shield against Sulla Trebatius. "Sulla, let's just get out of here!" she pleaded with him. "Hasn't there been enough death?"

Sulla's eyes were clouded with madness. "Oh, of course you want me to leave," he hissed. "Just waiting for me to turn my back. So you can have all the glory for yourself!"

He lunged at her and drove his sword into her, above her collarbone. She gargled blood, her shield and blade clattering to the ground, as Sulla twisted his sword. I came up behind him and drove Dragonbane into his back, catching him unawares. I cut upward, into his heart and lung, and then tossed him off my blade. Umana was dead by that time, so I closed her eyes respectfully. Sulla could rot for all I cared.

I examined Sulla's sword and Umana's shield, and when Cha'qim came up bearing a key I handed her the sword and took the shield for myself. A note on Umana's body called it the "Targe of the Blooded". I could see why; it was lavished with metal spikes and prongs, so if anyone happened to be within reach, I could practically impale them on the shield. I wasn't much of a shield person, but I knew not to pass up the Targe.

Cha'qim procured a key from her pocket and walked over to the gate beside me. "Cha'qim found this on the Dwarven Centurion," she explained as she threw the gate open. "Do you remember the parapet we saw before we'd gone into the cave? This lift will take us up."

I nodded. "Good. But we've hit a dead end. What now? How're we getting into Blackreach?"

The cat grinned and grabbed the sphere that Septimus had given her, then she handed it to me. "That pedestal acts as a console. Merely insert the sphere, and we shall make our way to Blackreach."

I nodded again, and then inserted the sphere into the Dwarven mechanism. The ground around the pedestal shook, and then it gave way into a narrow and spiralling staircase. The rest of our companions quickly came to follow us down, and so we descended into Blackreach.