Now with the crew recovered, they listen to what their captain has to say...but what does that entail? will they carry on as they have been or will they learn from their mistakes? find out now!
Chapter 26
Cave Exploration...
At the bakery...
After Traysek made his announcement, the crew was at a loss for words, surprised by this, Lucien cleared his throat."Not...that we disagree, but I thought we always trained before a mission, right?" he asked with an eyebrow raised.
The Redguard nodded, "Very true, although it's not quite what I meant..." he paused, "What I mean is instead of training and using the current skills and magic we have, why not push that further and learn to adapt?"
"Adapt sir?" Erik said with a rose eyebrow.
The captain nodded, "Yeah, more like learn newer things here," he began with, "Look I'm not going to sugarcoat this, but that turned on us too quickly for my comfort, one minute we're winning, and the next we're all on the ground... if they've got tactics to do that then we need contingencies, and there's the fact that half of you don't even know the basic healing spell, we're either picking you all up or you're using potions to heal, which is nice, but that's eventually going to be a downfall if it doesn't change..."
Inigo frowned upon that, "I get what you mean, but I'm not too good with magic, I'm worried I'll catch up in flames like you did,"
The Redguard rolled his eyes, "Inigo, there are plenty of instructors to make sure you don't do that kind of thing, maybe you don't have to learn EVERY spell in the book, but it pays to have some on you if any at all, and since you want to be the best marksman and swordsman, you would benefit from this greatly," turning to Lucien, "They might even have some tech to use, I can see you benefiting from that Lucien, being the techie you are,"
"That's...very true, there might be schematics out there for something grand, we wouldn't know if we didn't find out, and it could help us later down the line," Lucien added.
"My thoughts exactly, now Erik and Yuriana? you two are going to have to look for one that suits your style, I know you Erik, love to play defensively, and I'm sure there are classes to do it better, as for you Yuri? you're going to have to really look there," Traysek pointed, "I'm sure there's someone that can push your strength to where you want it to go,"
"Well, I do want to hit harder than I do now, you're on point with that one, however...finding one is harder than it seems," Yuri pointed out.
"As expected, but who knows? you just might get that lucky," The Redguard grinned, turning to Recorder and Dargo, "What about you? From what I heard, you used to be an assassin, why not forward that skill?"
Recorder nervously laughed, "Ahehehe...yeah, I was for a time, sure, but for a specific world... but to become a full-fledged assassin? I don't know if I'd make that cut..."
"And what's stopping you from trying?" he flatly asked.
That made her frown deeply, "Nothing I guess," turning to Dargo, "Do you think I've got the talent for it?"
"Perhaps, but even so... I do know that you'll be a master assassin no matter your current skills." Dargo stated, "The only problem is that the assassins of the Dark Blade are very secretive. They'll never accept someone else besides a Dark Elf who is ready to sacrifice his emotions to gain powers."
Traysek sighed, "Yeah, that would be an issue and even more, you do go crazy during battle, however, it doesn't mean you can't become one in your own right, you'll just have to work harder at it," smiling, "But I know you can do it,"
"Hmm, alright then, I'll...give it a try, at least for the more basic skills," She agreed, "Ah hell with it, why not? not like I'll have much to lose,"
The Redguard nodded, "So now that everyone's onboard, any objections?" looking around, getting headshakes in response, "Good, meeting adjourned, now let's get back to our food," going for his pie.
As the others did, Lucien rose an eyebrow, "It may be late to mention now, but has anyone seen Ethan? He wasn't at the camp when we left,"
Erik finished the piece he was eating, "I might know, his tent was next to mine, he said something about taking Baldur out to get more food, but I haven't seen him since,"
"Odd, and he was a good comrade to have during our invasion there," Inigo added, "I do hope we run into him again, he seemed to know about that place too well,"
"Right?" Yuriana pointed, "Almost as if he used to be one himself, wonder what happened?"
"That's up to him to tell us and if he doesn't feel like it, don't push for it... the worst thing you can do to a retired soldier is that if he hated that service, is to bring that backup," The Redguard said.
"From the way he was talking, I could sense regret and self-blame." Dargo pointed.
"I noticed that too, on our way there he knew we were close, and probably has his reasons for leaving as we did," Erik added, "Might've seen something during that time with them, that changed that perspective and after our visit up there, I can see why,"
"If I am to be honest... I've never seen anything like that." Dargo stated, "I thought that I saw everything that humans can do... but after that, I begin to suspect that there's more, if not worse..."
"Of course, there's worse, there's always going to be worse," Traysek pointed, "In fact, I think that was just the cherry on the top, I know this corruption has layers upon layers on it, it just depends how it comes at you," taking a bite of the pie.
Somewhere near thorn...
Volt was at the border town near Thorn, making a call to Dong Zhuo, and getting an answer...
"You had to call when I was busy." Dong Zhuo replied with an annoyed voice.
"My mistake," he apologized, "but I had another run-in with the red cunt, and now the fort is in ruins..." he growled "We need more weapons, powerful ones, the sword I tried to use barely did anything to him, I'm willing to front the cost if it's higher,"
"If you really want something like that..." Dong Zhuo stayed silent for a moment before continuing, "Tell me where to send you the weapons. But don't forget one thing... you keep your paws away from Dong Bai."
Volt nodded, "I haven't forgotten my end of the deal big guy, your granddaughter won't be touched as we agreed," sighing after, "Long as we get this bastard out of the way we can move on freely, send it to the border town near Thorn."
"I'll get them ready for you in four days." with that, Dong Zhuo cut the conversation.
"Night is near..." Gideon said as he looked at the sky, "We need to be cautious."
"Agreed, did you find what you were looking for?" He asked, eyebrow raised.
"Partially." the Tarnished answered, "Apparently, the humans aren't the original race of this territory, which means that they brought something with them... something that might give us an extremely sharp edge. However, the books and other documents that might help aren't in our possession right now."
Volt grinned, "Really now? and what is this weapon you're looking for? sounds worth the trouble you've gone for it,"
"Not an actual weapon, but something that can put even the strongest man to his knees." Gideon replied, "Imagine a person on the ground, begging for their life as you as the joints of the skeleton are painfully dislocated in every conceivable direction."
"Ooooh~ I have a few ideas on who I'd like to use that on, provided I can get a bead on them," The merc chuckled, "For now, I'll focus on preparations for Feoh, Beasley has yet to contact us on that,"
"Typical." Gideon shook his head, "That's why we can't trust people who rely on others to do their job." he then looked at the sky, "More importantly, a storm is coming."
Volt looked up at the sky and narrowed his eyes, but a grin was present, "Oh there is for sure...and you can count that we'll be bringing it,"
Back in Ulak...
Ethan got in with a dead deer and walked to a table, put the dead animal on it, before looking around.
"Guess that they're out..." he went to his bag and took the mead bottle, "I had to return there... out of all places... fate must be laughing at me right now."
Lucien was out wandering around, being the first to finish his food... He passed by a few villagers that waved at him, before he spotted Ethan at a distant table, chopping up something, 'Ah, I wondered where he went, guess I should check on him,' going over to his table, "Well, I haven't seen you back at the camp, leave early," with a smile.
"Had to pick up dinner." he pointed to the dead deer.
The imperial nodded, "I can see that, you went hunting, didn't know they were any animals left to do that with, thought the holy army decimated the hunting grounds,"
"Not even them could bend nature." Ethan chuckled, "Creatures adapt themselves to the environment to better survive."
"You seem to know about the geography here and knew the animals would hide," Lucien slowly nodded, "That's impressive, wish I had your insight on this land, you even knew about the fortress and traps there,"
"So you figured me out, huh?" Ethan sighed before adding, "Gotta say, you folks are sure smart." He then chuckled, "Bet that you think something of me..."
The imperial rose an eyebrow, "And what would that be, other than thank you? we owe you for your help back there, and we're not going to judge you for being one of them, we deserted from them too,"
"But you didn't do what I did to them... all that blood that I spilled in a faulty cause..." Ethan shook his head.
Lucien said nothing for a moment, sighing, "Maybe not, we did plenty to earn our bounties with them, I wasn't going to ask before but...what did make you resign as a holy knight?"
"Take a seat, kid... this is going to be a long one."
Flashback
A younger version of Ethan walked through the forest, wearing Holy Knight armor.
"The village is just ahead..." he mumbled before setting his eyes on a village filled with Felinefolk and Dark Elves.
He eyed them while staying hidden, taking notes of the lack of guards, weapon forges, and elite soldiers... the village had nothing of the sort. All that it had was civilians that were enjoying their lives.
"Something's wrong, why send me to scout this place? It doesn't make any sense." he narrowed his eyes before leaning against a tree, "We were supposed to attack an enemy outpost that supplies their frontlines with weapons."
After thinking for some moments he left without a sound, back to his base.
...
Once he arrived, he found two officers looking at a map.
"Once we find the village, we'll launch a full-scale attack." one of them said.
"Come now, Lord Theon, we need to be more civilized while handling this." the other officer pointed.
"There's no need to be civilized with these beasts." Lord Theon grinned, "We take them by surprise, kill the men, and make sure to pack enough meat to show the other nobles. Unless you're on their side... Lord Reymond..."
"I serve the Goddess Reborn, nothing more, nothing less." Lord Reymond replied.
The young Ethan frowned before clearing his throat, "My lords, I'm here to report that I didn't find the village."
"You sure?" Lord Theon asked, narrowing his eyes, "Then go and continue searching until you find it."
"There's no need." Lord Reymond interjected, "Lorley is tired and a good soldier. Besides, I'm his direct superior."
"We don't have time! We need to find the village now!" Lord Theon nearly roared.
"You seem too hasty..." Reymond pointed out, "Is there a reason why?"
"I just want to go back home." Theon sighed.
"So do we..." Reymond nodded as Ethan exited the tent.
Flashback end
"After that, I waited until night came and set the camp on fire before killing as many knights as I could before escaping." Ethan stated before taking another swing from the bottle, "Some things happened and I faked my death, changed my name, and began to live as a trader who helps as much as possible. I did think about actually ending my own life... but I decided not to." he then chuckled before adding, "What a coward I am..."
Lucien had a slightly shocked expression, shaking it off, "By all means, you're not a coward for living...what you did was an act of the gods themselves, braver than anything I've done if I'm being honest..." he paused "You're a good man, Ethan, more than you're giving yourself credit on, you saw the army for what it was and left...we can't fault you for it, even if it was murder,"
"I'm not a good man." Ethan shook his head, "I'm a murderer, a killer... someone who killed many Dark Elves believing that I was doing the right thing... that I was on the good side... but it was all a lie that others said to me, to manipulate me."
The imperial stared for a moment, giving a sad smile, "Maybe so... but you had good intentions upon joining, you wanted to help people, fight the monsters, and became a knight under them to do it...That's more than admirable, truly...your chain of command was the problem there, they were corrupt and had you doing things under them, but you at least saw through it and did something about it...most will take part in it or won't do anything, those people in that village lived because of you, that makes you hero, not a monster...even if you don't think you are, you are to me... you are to us"
"I need to take my mind off this." Ethan sighed as he got up.
Lucien nodded, "Alright, I won't pester you with it anymore, just wanted you to know," before turning to leave, stopping mid-way, "Also, there's this cave the locals keep talking about, something about the howling noises from it, I was going to check it out, wanted to know if you felt like delving in with me, might be something worthwhile there,"
"Exploring, huh?" Ethan thought for a moment before looking at the owner of the inn, "Care to finish this?"
The owner simply nodded as Ethan got up.
"You will? splendid!" the imperial cheered, before looking in a direction, "I'll need my gear before then, who knows what the cause of that noise is,"
Armory tent...
Lucien and Ethan approached the golden knight in charge of the weapons there...
"Excuse me, sir? I'm here for my weapons, are they clean?"
The knight showed him the gear damaged.
He cringed at the sight of his netch armor, "I can't say I'm surprised," picking up the nearly broken dwarven blade, before putting it down, finding the beam saber and guns in good condition, grabbing them, "These seem to be better off," activating the beam sword, which shot out, indicating it worked, deactivating the blade, placing it on his hips, he also took the guns and goggles, "Alright, that looks good enough, we can always fix the rest of this stuff later, thank you,"
"Don't blame me if it fails you." the knight sighed.
Cave entrance, Northwest of Ulak...
Upon finally arriving, the sounds of howling echoed out of the cave, putting both on alert...
Lucien gulped, "Well, this looks and sounds like the place," placing on the goggles, activating the light on them, "Ready when you are,"
Ethan took a great breath before narrowing his eyes, "No human nor monster is here... but something big died long ago. That is a certainty."
"It's abandoned?" the imperial asked, "Doesn't sound like it, I'm hoping that's true," before walking in further.
"That's probably an Echo Spirit." Ethan walked and looked at some drawings on the walls, "These are... The Divine War of Succession. I never thought that I'd find something related to it besides history books that were written by people thousands of years after it."
Lucien walked over to the walls, studying them, "Interesting crafting method, never seen drawings like these," frowning at them, "What is this divine war you speak of?"
"It's the first war this world has ever seen." Ethan pointed before explaining, "At the creation of this world, there were two souls created; twin souls that would battle who would become the mother of all. But, there was a small problem... Demon Gods appeared and joined the war as two new forces: one led by the Blasphemous Demon God Rykard, and the other one led by the God of Blood." he took a breath before adding, "But there isn't any concrete text or document about it, so I don't know how it went off."
The imperial was writing notes down in a book, "I see...the first great war, I'm guessing the twins had to team up to drive the other two out, if they could that is," closing it, "If we keep going, I'm sure we'll find more as well as what's at the end of it,"
"Trust me, they didn't team up." Ethan stated, "Instead, it became a four-way war."
Lucien nodded, as he continued to walk, "So it was a four-way deathlock, interesting...was there a winner to this?"
"The one who became the mother of all." Ethan replied before arriving in front of a big door, "Never saw a metal like this one..."
Lucien turned to where was looking and went wide-eyed, "No...but I do...these are dwemer doors...but it can't be, and from the look of them, centuries-old..." he gasped, going up to touching them, getting dust off from it, "Looks like no one has been in or out in a while,"
Ethan knocked on the doors and narrowed his eyes, "It looks like these doors were shut for an eternity... which would mean that they were made around the time the Divine War ended, if not after it."
The imperial nodded, "I could believe that, the dwemer are or I should say...were advanced for their time, they had machine that could travel the air, the stars, and even through dimensions if they desired it, they had it all..." put a hand on his chin, "There was a rumor that many had branched out from their homeworld, Sotha Sil, but to be here of all places..." taking a deep breath, "You may be right about the monsters or men not being down here, but if we go in, we still have to be careful, there's bound to be treasure down here, but their automatons are also around and will not hesitate, dealt with too many of them to understand,"
"No-tomat-ons?" Ethan was very confused, "What are those?"
"Au-to-ma-tons, and their basically, machines- Er...creatures that have oil and gear instead of blood and guts, they're made of metal and are known for attacking those that invade these ruins," Lucien explained.
"Right... I'm going to pretend that I understood what you just said" Ethan slowly nodded, "Otherwise, We'll not advance." he then began pushing on the door.
The imperial sighed, "Nevermind, you'll see what I mean once we're in..." pushing past the other door...
Once in, they saw a lot of skeletons that had both dust and spiderweb on them.
"Welp... Seems like they didn't get to get out." Ethan looked around, looking at some papers with drawings of a monstrous canine monster having a black sword, "What the hell is this?"
Lucien walked up to the table and grabbed the photo, "I...don't know, maybe it's a creature they encountered while building it, they arrived in the past so it's safe to say it's something that used to exist," looking around, "I hope..."
Ethan walked to a table and grabbed a Greatsword that was on it, "Talk about heavy..."
"You should see how heavy a Warhammer from them is, and looking at the sword," the imperial frowned, inspecting it, "It seems to be in great condition, given how long it's been down here," spotting a next set of doors, going to them.
Ethan put the weapon back to its place before following the Imperial, finding some strange tubes coming from the wall.
"What're those?" he asked.
Lucien looked up at the golden steam-less pipes, going up to them, "These are their steam pipes, it's how they control power through the ruin, but, seeing as there's no steam coming from these, means the place is inactive, and lucky us, means we won't run into trouble,"
"Still, lowering our guard would be a real bad idea." Ethan pointed before heading back to grab the sword, "Even if it's too heavy, I can manage to swing it around." he then got back to Lucian, "Now where to go?"
"I...don't know, it's the first time I've been to this one," The imperial frowned, "Guess we're following the doors the lead further in, I wonder what's at the end of it," going to a next set of doors and pushing them open, finding a dark corridor with small amounts of steam coming from behind the gates, "Engine room I'm guessing?"
Ethan narrowed his eyes as there was a ball made of the same metal, slowly rolling.
"What kind of magic does that?" He asked, tightly gripping his sword.
Lucien drew his beam saber, activating it, "Not magic, these are the same creatures I was talking about,"
The sphere transformed, showing its metal face and body, as it charged toward Ethan and Lucien, swinging its sword...
Ethan blocked the sword before deflecting it to the ground before pushing it away.
"If you have any idea, do it," Ethan stated, ready to defend against the machine.
Lucien nodded, and rushed towards it, slicing through the arm with the ballista attached to it, "Go for their limbs and thinner parts on their bodies, they can't hold up without them!" evading its beheading slice with a duck.
Ethan swiftly sliced the other limb before impaling the automaton.
"Sword's heavy, but better than anything found in the kingdoms." the ex-soldier commented, "If only it was lighter."
The automaton powered down, the last hiss of the steam leaving it as oil did when Ethan yanked the blade out.
Lucien went over to check on it, sighing in relief. "So much for the ruin not being active, probably running on reserves if security is still around," He pointed, sheathing the beam sword.
"Are these the strongest?" Ethan asked.
The imperial shook his head, "Sadly no, there are more variants than these, some will just fire ballistas at you along with any other construct they may have, and that includes the Dwemer Centurion," he shivered, "At least we don't have to worry about the judgment automatons as we did back in Tamriel, dealing with those cyborgs are a different kind of nightmare,"
"I guess that explains how they could survive at a time like the Divine War." Ethan stated before walking to a door and pushing it open, "Still, what could have killed so many of them?"
Lucien followed him out, "A number of things could've caused this, and since it was so long ago, it's too hard to tell when they fell," finding another large room, with grated walls surrounding them, "We won't really know unless we find a journal or book they've left here, and I'm sure there's a few notes lying around,"
"Hoping that's in a language that can be understood," Ethan replied, ready to fight anything that may appear.
They continued down the corridor, coming upon a smaller room with a large stone table and skeletons around on the floors and some of the chairs in odd angles, some even missing limbs...in the center of the table were a couple of notebooks, blanketed in dust, prompting the imperial to grab one and blow the dust off and open it up, frowning at it...
"What does it say?" Ethan asked as he looked around.
"I can barely translate this, most of the words have faded away, but," Lucien paused, looking over something, "There are mentions about some beast they were all fearful of, large blade and black flames, but other than that, I can't make out the rest," closing the book, grabbing the other, opening it, raising an eyebrow, "Now there's something interesting here...unlike the other book, this one is a better condition," he pointed, before clearing his throat...
2E 115
Entry one
We've entered a strange world, where gods and monsters are constantly at each other's throats...From the field team's report, they weren't met by humanity but by something entirely different, much more bestial...it's greatsword and breath were of blackened flames and with speed to the likes no one has ever witnessed...we sent out more the fifteen and only seven had returned, but frightened...hoping to find more Aetheruim soon and to head back before it finds its way to the rest of us - Ghamac Szogwench
When he finished reading he sighed, sitting the notebook back down, "Looks like they really did encounter this being, especially when only seven of their field team only managed to return...gods,"
"Is it that bad?" Ethan asked, trying to reach something.
"Must've been, but as advanced as they were, they barely feared anything, it had to be something even they couldn't handle if it was that bad," Lucien added, putting the books down, "We should keep moving, there might be more around,"
"Just a little..." Ethan did his best to pull a notebook from under a table and looked at the cover, "Strange... this looks like a rough version of the old Lycan tongue... strange..."
The imperial looked at the book, "I know a lycan race back home that could probably translate that, but that'll have to come after we leave from here," opening the next set of doors, finding four staircases going up to the other doors, and a console in the middle, "What in the world is this...?" finding a cube on the floor, "Guess we need more of these to power the doors up," placing one in, watching the mechanism turn before the door to the northwest opened up, "Figured as much, looks like we're dealing with one of their dreaded puzzles, and the other cube is in that room,"
"Let's see..." Ethan opened the book and began to read, "This can be translated to an enemy, but also a friend if put in the right place... this whole thing can have three meanings, but with some luck..." Ethan began to mumble to himself, turning the pages.
Lucien rose an eyebrow, "You can understand that language? if so, what does it say?"
"I used to live with one until... until the Holy Army found me..." Ethan shook his head and returned to the book, "Apparently, this is the journal of someone called Alice, and she claims to be... I don't know how to translate that word; it's either death or claw..." he hummed for a time before stating, "I think that I can put some parts together."
The imperial nodded, "How interesting, so it belonged to that figure they were talking about, didn't think it kept its own memo..."
"Not sure if it's that thing..." Ethan mumbled, "I'll try my best to translate these."
Fourth cycle of the burning flame
Father had to fight the followers of the blood who were after something that he has. Mother [Woman] was injured but she recovered before they could end her. According to [If I trust that] father, I'm the next / [Darkness] to inherit death, and to protect it until my days would come to an end. I want to understand [Believe] that I can do as good as Father, but I'm not sure if I can.
"Fourth cycle... probably one of the six cycles of the Divine War." Ethan mused.
Lucien frowned upon hearing that, "Yeah, must've been, but who are these followers of blood? sounds like the worshippers of the god you mentioned,"
"Probably." Ethan turned some pages.
Fifth cycle of the burning flame
Other intruders came to our home with strange moving statues. Father fought most of them, ending them before that they'd find mother in her weak [Dying] state. I could hear the intruders moving around, as well as their last cry. Father was certain that they were after death to obtain its powers, and he was ready to end them by any means necessary. Mother, injured by the Lord [Guy] of Hellfire, began to succumb to her injuries. I hope that she recovers.
"I think that the intruders are our friends here," Ethan said as he looked at the skeletons.
The imperial nodded, "That I can believe, but seeking the power of death? that's something else, I think these guys were after something else and got caught up dealing with that beast, either way, it would explain how they know each other,"
Ethan turned other pages, "Seems like this speaks of the Renewal era."
Renewal era
First-year
The war ended and the victor became the mother of all. Father, on the other hand, began to become more insane [Unstable] by the passing day [Moment] and he even tried to attack me, believing that I was after death. I wanted to help him, but don't know how. The intruders left their machines before leaving, which means that I can use them to protect this place better. But how? It would seem that I'm going to need to learn how to use these things.
"The more I read, the more intrigued I am." Ethan mused before finding a piece of paper folded. After opening it, he found a childish drawing of a dog wielding a sword, a dragon wielding a mace, and a small girl between them.
Lucien rose an eyebrow, "Yeah, especially when the father became insane, must've been the power itself that drove him there, it's tragic," before spotting the photo he held, "What's that? A picture?"
"I think that it's the drawing of a child... maybe it's the same child that wrote this." Ethan pointed.
The imperial scanned the drawn picture, "It would seem like it, but to know that this was drawn around then, makes me wonder if this ancient family has divinity in them," his expression going into a hard thought, "But if the dwemer had left, then how are we getting these corpses?" motioning to the skeletons.
Ethan folded the picture back and began to turn the pages, "Here."
Dragon war
Strange creatures known as Humans began to intrude on our domain. Father was always the one to face them, kill them... In the end, I had to fight too, to prove that I could protect death from the invaders that would try to take it from me. Father gave me three weapons: a black halberd infused with death, the mace of mother, and a crimson red sword that can summon blood to fight. My first kill was a human that wanted to steal from the tomb of Mother and wasn't able to fight the power of death as it consumed him.
"Tomb raiders." Ethan sighed, "But the Dragon War? I never heard of it."
The imperial nodded, "Me neither, except in Tamriel, but that was between man and Dragon...Alduin wouldn't have been here," now confused, "Is there anything else in there?"
Ethan began to flip the pages until he got to the last one.
Era of Man
Years have passed since the death of my father. I took the power of death away from him and put it on my body. I also found a way to control these statues after many tries. I made sure that they'd fend off outsiders from this place. And now, I need to go out to see how the world became after the end of the Human conquest.
"This, I know it." Ethan pointed out, "The age of conquest was when the humans came from the north and invaded these lands, fighting all the other races that were living here... that means that it was right after the Dragon war... I need to ask someone about this."
Lucien had a fascinated expression, "Interesting, so this girl, no- woman, recorded the events until this age...I almost want to know what happened to her once she got out, knowing how humanity has been here, I can bet she was in for a rude awakening," stepping back, "With that, we should keep moving, find out what else has been left here, might even find more of her journals...what was the name again?"
"The name's Alice," Ethan stated after going back to the first pages.
The imperial nodded, "Alice, right...this "Alice" woman must have plenty of notes lying around, if this is indeed all there is of her, then surely, the researchers that were here might know more," heading back to the console, "As it stands, there's only one door open, but if we find other cubes," looking up at the door the console led to, "we might be able to open this door,"
"I still wonder how a group of people that advanced would be defeated..." Ethan mumbled, pocketing the notebook.
Lucien sighed, looking back at a skeleton, "Actually, it doesn't surprise me that they would lose to...whatever the girl's dad was... and if death itself was a power he used to beat them, then it would explain a lot,"
Ethan nodded before looking at the cube, "Now, what to do with this?"
The imperial looked at the opened cube, "There's bound to be more and from the door that just opened, the other is in there," turning to him, "Do you mind watching over this one while I fetch the other?"
"As long as there's no death trap that can kill you in a horrible way." Ethan joked with a light laugh.
Lucien chuckled, "I wish I could share that enthusiasm," shaking his head, before going through the first door...
Once he was in, he found himself to be in the armory, finding weapons and tools made of the Dwemer, some even came in the form of guns, that were trapped behind a thick pane of glass.
'This is the armory...? it's rather impressive, I spot some Harquebuses amongst them, too bad they're behind that glass..." he mused passing them by...on his way to the next room, he found even more skeletons in ragged clothing, cringing at the angles of some of them, before entering another room, this time however, it was a room of working gears, the only platform being the large one in rotation, leading to the next door... 'It had to be a room like this...and what's more...' looking over, finding a long way down, gulping, 'Of course, there's that worry...okay Lucien, you've dealt with this kind of thing before at the Null city, this looks less than that, it should be easier...right...?' looking back over and taking a deep breath, "Here goes..." stepping on the first one which moved slow enough to for him to jump on the next, which moved a bit faster on the rotation, prompting him to run to the next which was moving faster than the other two, jumping on it next...
The third gear he jumped to, was moving much faster than the other two, barely giving him time to catch his breath as he quickly dashed on it, barely making the jump to the still platform, grabbing the ledge, and pulling himself up, panting...
"By...the nine...that was close..." standing up and looking ahead, finding three more gears to the door, spinning at varying speeds, sighing to himself, "Just three more to go..."
However, there was a note on the ground, written in the common language used by the humans.
Fire, death, pain.
That howl is cursed!
I must warn the others before they fall for it!
Before he made that jump, Lucien picked up the note and read it, frowning at the warning, 'What kind of Howl could they be talking about? And this seems to be written in common tongue more so than the Dwemer's, was it from the past humans here?' pocketing it and looking back at the bridge of gears, before jumping to one of them...
Ethan sat on a chair, reading the notebook he found, trying to find something that might help.
"Death... death again... there's only death..." he mumbled before noticing a schematic on the floor, "Seems like a bow... if I had to guess, it's made of the same ingredients." he mused before returning to his chair.
Meanwhile, back in the gear room, The imperial finally crossed the moving cogs, now on the staircase leading to the next door.
'Gotta admit, that was easier than the last set, but this third one nearly sent me to the bottom,' He mentally gulped, steeling himself, and headed through the doors.
What he found next was a large centurion at the back that had wires going through it, motionless...however in front of it was the power cube, sitting on its podium as he walked up to it...
'Found the second one, but now...' he thought, looking back at the large automaton, 'If I move this, this guy's going to wake up, however, I don't see any other cubes nearby, which means...I have to take this and run, there's no way can't fight this thing without my magic or the spiders...even then, with the room's spacing, I'd still get crushed...' taking a breath and grabbing the cube, hearing the gears outside of the room stop...however before he could get excited, the centurion powered on, slowly coming out of its molding, "Right, time to go!" dashing out of the room with the large machine stomping after him.
Ethan began to read the parts he ignored.
"Madness? That's intriguing..." he mused, "According to her father, madness is from a god that wants to end everything to begin a new world..."
He turned another page.
Back in the other room, Lucien was fleeing from the automaton on the stopped gears, when he noticed it had a hard time crossing over to him, humming in thought, 'As I figured, it would be too big to cross it if that's the case, then maybe I don't need to fight it at all...' reaching into his backpack, coming out with oil pots, 'I just have to get it to fall over...' dumping oil on the cog he was standing on, quickly jumping to another... Once the Centurion was able to get's foot out of the caught gear, once again it advance towards him...
Although, once it had stepped on the oiled platform, it began to lose its footing and eventually, fell from the cog, landing with a loud shattering sound, finding broken up bellow, making him sigh in relief, "Gods...I didn't think that would work... at least it's off my tail now..." looking towards the exit, "Got to get this back, hopefully, I haven't kept him waiting too long..." making his way back...
Ethan began to look around until he found a spear made of the same metal as his new sword.
"It seems like it's in good condition... but I'm sure that it has a crack or two somewhere." Ethan inspected it further before looking at a crossbow, "Never been a fan of these if I'm to be honest. I prefer bows over these things."
Lucien made it back to the main room, finding Ethan testing out the new weapons, "I see you've become familiar with the equipment," he joked, walking over to the console, placing the cube in the next podium, making two more doors open up, "We need two more and there are two more rooms...looks like we'll both need to go,"
"Where I'm heading?" the old hunter asked after putting the crossbow down.
"I'll give you the first choice, one of the rooms has this strange greenery coming out of it and the other has a stack of books next to it, whichever you pick I'll choose the other," The imperial pointed.
Ethan picked up the sword and said, "I'll take the green one. Besides, it might be a good thing for you to see if there's any book about the people that made this."
"It would be, something to also take back later as well," Lucien nodded, before reaching into his backpack, "Also, before I forget, I picked up a few things on my way back through the armory," handing him a bow with a few arrows, "Got you a Dwarven bow with Arrows, figured you're going to need it while in here,"
Ethan pulled with all his might on the bow before releasing it, "Heavy and hard to use. Which means that a good use of it can be devastating."
Lucien chuckled, "That's actually one of the easier bows to use, try an orcish bow, those are heavier...much..." before turning his gaze to the door with the book stack, "Alright, since you're going that way, I'll see what I can gather from here, best of luck to you, I mean it..."
"If I die, it would be a good death with my blade in hand and facing a worthy opponent while looking at his eyes." Ethan laughed, "So these things won't hurt me."
And with that both men set off to different doors, leaving the cubes to spin on their own...
Back in Ulak, Village Hall...
In a large building, Traysek sat with the village chief, wine being poured into her glass and then his by the servants there.
"Appreciate it," The Redguard thanked, holding the wine cup at the server, before turning to the chief, "You've got quite the helpers here," taking a sip of the wine, "Once again, thank you for inviting me, Lady Rhea, I take it you want to know what all happened there, yes?" taking another gulp.
"I do have some ideas, but other than that, I have no idea what happened there." she took a sip from her cup before adding, "As a former Kletzkrieg, I still feel like I have some duties when it comes to places like that one you were in."
Traysek rose an eyebrow, smirking, "Had no idea you used to be Kletzrkrieg, didn't think there were those that actually got out, interesting..." clearing his throat, "Well, to start off with, the place wasn't too hard to find after some point...A smoke trail had led to it...cause by the burning of their dead outside of the walls..." taking a deeper gulp this time, "The smell coming from it was horrid as if they've been dead for quite awhile..." he paused, expression going voidness "Upon entering, there were more bodies up in cages, hung like decorations...and that was only from my perspective..." sighing..."My men saw more...way more...storehouses full of so many people, and the children were behind trapped doors, way worse off than the adult captives there...eventually, Ethan, Bruk'daz, and I, ended up finding Keelia...but as we found her, we were found by Volt and Xunaakt..."
"I see..." Rhea sighed before adding, "Since they're going to need another inquisitor to replace the one you defeated, they're going to recruit someone else... but the problem is that it can be anyone. I need to contact the Birds of Prey to see if they don't know who they'll send to find the next inquisitor."
Traysek nervously laughed, "Yeah, defeated...sure, did I actually kill him...? Yeah... No. After I put three rounds into the walking testicle he warped out, which means he's still out there," sighing... "Somewhere..."
"Even if you let him live, it doesn't mean that the high inquisitor will." the Dark Elf pointed.
The Redguard thought on that, "Possibly, depends on what he tells her, especially if they're in cahoots," taking a sip, "At least you won't have to worry about possible attacks from the North village, but the downside is that it's infested with this scarlet rot,"
"If it's this infested, it means that not even them could reclaim it again," Rhea concluded.
"And while we could come up with a way to clear the disease, as you say, they would just get another guy, so, for now, it's abandoned and hopefully it stays that way," Traysek concluded.
"I wonder... what village would be targeted by the next inquisitor they'd choose." Rhea went into her thoughts.
The Redguard shrugged, "Who's to say? There are still quite a number of villages like these left, it could be either one of them, but you won't expect it coming there anytime soon, still, I wouldn't get too comfortable with the idea,"
"Everyone knows that letting your guard down is a bad idea." the Dark Elf pointed.
Traysek grinned, "I'm aware, but there are those that do fall into that habit, even with the danger present...If there are any neighboring villages nearby, give them heads up," taking another sip, standing up "As for the payment, There's no need to worry, we were paid in advance," he waved off.
"I'm well aware of that." Rhea smiled, "Still, it doesn't mean that you can't be rewarded for helping this village." she got up and went to a crate before taking an axe bigger than her.
"This was the weapon of my first husband. A strong man who showed me how much raw strength he had... but now, I believe that it should be wielded by someone again." she walked back and handed the axe to Traysek.
The Redguard slightly doubled over holding it, regaining his balance, "Strong indeed, Damn...!" he chuckled, shouldering it, "I accept, thank you, but...you sure you're willing to part with this? figured it would be more sentimental to you,"
"It's a weapon, and it should be used." the Dark Elf pointed, "Besides, I still have others like it." She then pointed to the crate, where a lot of heads of the same axe were there.
Traysek slowly nodded, "Okay then...odd but I get it," giving her a bow, "It's been a pleasure, Lady Rhea, we'll be around until tomorrow, we should be able to get back by then, I'll see you soon," turning and heading for the door.
Rhea watched him leave before sighing, "Now that's done, we can return to what we were doing; supplying the frontlines with food."
Thorn...
Marpesia's dungeon...
"A wolf is useful when he succeeds at his task." the Warmonger said as she was looking at her bloody armored nails, "I did think that despite your appearance, you could be useful, and even trusted your words of 'Never failing' that you pushed toward me. You gave me your word that you won't fail at defending the city you choose, even if we gave you all that you needed."
"It was... a miscalculation..." Horak panted as he was hung from his hands with wounds all over his body.
"Which is the same as failure." Marpesia pointed out, "I do admit that mistakes are necessary to evolve, that they are important for life to bloom... but it's also something that should be avoided by someone who promised perfection."
"I know that you're disappointed, but-" Horak tried to explain himself, but didn't get the chance to continue.
"I'm more disappointed that you gave an empty promise." Marpesia pointed before plunging her claws into the former inquisitor's side, causing him to roar with pain, "The night is still long, therefore, I still have time before ending you."
To be continued...
That was a dark ending for this chapter, I figured you all wanted to see more of the villains, so I showcased them and will be featuring them much later on...Also, after re-reading chapter 11 of this story...I've come to hate this chapter of it, mostly because my Co-author constantly fought with me to move it on strategically, which takes away from the magic of this fic...so I'll be putting a poll up if I should redux or keep this one going, until then, the next chapter will show up soon after this one...
To Alduinkiller: To be fair, he hid away from the scarlet rot, unlike the Dragonborn and his group, which were exposed to scarlet Aeonia...but despite that, I never said he got away unscathed, I'll show his condition on the matter later, until then...just be patient.
