The direction given by my most helpful item was not supposed to lead me in the easiest direction. It had a marker that pointed in a direction that would make a straight line between myself and the target place. It didn't account for things like mountains or rivers, one of which slowed me down along the way. The arid climate that was assumed to encompass all of Hammerfell was not constant, nor did it hold sway everywhere. I had ended up going towards the north-east corner of the province, hence getting me closer to the chilly lands of Skyrim and the fair winds of High Rock. The river that impeded me for a half an hour caused me to walk until I found a way across that was calmer than the rest of the currents. From then on, it was simple movements for the two days it took to reach Fang Lair from Belkarth Guard with a temperature that made traveling much easier. It was also surprisingly calm, despite the spreading corruption of Jagar Tharn reaching everywhere. It was possible that the wilds were not as touched in some places.
"It's supposed to be here. I should be right on top of it…" The outside of Fang Lair was not present within view, despite the structure possibly being quite large in everything that is said about it. I continued and the direction the map gave me stopped at a certain spot, but all I could see in front of me was a mist that was nothing more than a blanket one could find in a bog or swamp. The trail I was following led me to a path that was flanked on either side by a small fall on an incline, neither marked by stone or even a dirt road. Checking to see that I didn't misread the scroll, my eyes left the thick fogs. A breeze came through the area and I instinctively curled up a bit, closing my eyes until it passed. It lasted a few moments and looking back up from the scroll, my eyes widened. I was stunned in place as I saw before me, a humungous building. The mist that was previously in front of me had thinned after the breeze to reveal what I could only assume was the Fang Lair.
The building was beyond what I was expecting, a granite or marble entrance that looked like it belonged at the front of a palace. It was completely solid and reached at least 20 feet tall or higher. Even more impressive was standing taller than the marble entrance were two towers on either side, supporting a visage of a dragon as if it were flying into the air. To either side of the marble entrance were rocks that jutted completely upwards, making climbing hard or impossible depending on who was attempting it. Beginning to look behind me, I only got to my left when a huge sculpture of another dragon came into view. It was made very realistically and if I didn't know any better, I could believe that the figure was just a dragon resting on a stone support just as large as it was.
"What in Oblivion could hide this place…?" Speaking to no one and not expecting an answer, I forced myself to move forward even though my legs weaker than normal. Even before walking into the marble entrance, Fang Lair proper could be seen without any problems, looking like it was trying to penetrate the sky itself from the angle I was at. Before entering the marble tunnel, I took a deep breath and willed my equipment onto me. I had come to this place in nothing to burden my trip and everything equipped at once, settling onto me with ease. I had gotten quite the array of things before I had come this place. The money I had acquired was able to afford me a complete plate suit, complete with boots and gauntlets. I had kept a dwarven helmet from Stonekeep, as well as the elven longsword as my weapon. Finally, I had replaced my small buckler with a proper shield; a silver tower shield and something I was a lot more trained to wield. When I was a soldier, I tended to wear heavier style armor and use the larger weapons and shield when possible.
The tunnel was long and could let no more than one person in at once. For normal soldiers, this was an extremely dangerous and near suicidal position to be in. The attackers would get picked off in seconds after coming out from the only currently known entry. With the material being marble as well, magic could be used without needing to worry about collateral damage. It was ingenious design, showing how skilled the Dwemer were in warfare just from one disconnected structure. Thankfully, there was no opposition waiting as I exited and could see Fang Lair properly. It was magnificent, tall and showing its dominance over the surrounding land. It wasn't flashy in material or looks but the stone truly showed how much it could stand the test of time. The short walk to the towers entrance showed that there were signs of neglect, but the integrity of the building was a marvel to still be standing as strongly as it was. A circular design going up three or four floors, it was hard to tell from where I was, with much smaller support towers placed around the perimeter made of a strong, natural stone. There were no intricate carvings or special insignias, just a place that wanted to prove that something didn't need to be complex to be remarkable. With a final sharp inhale, I pulled the doors of the Lair open to venture forward. Somewhere in its depths was the first piece of the Staff of Chaos and Tamriel's freedom.
"Empty, that is a plus so far." I stepped into the building to see some damage already inflicted by the decades or centuries of neglect. The opening room was large with some kind of post that held torches that were alive with flames. The ground seemed to be a hardened earth with no real paths that were clearly laid out, no doubt because of the history of this place being a mine by the Dwemer rather than a place of gathering like a stronghold or palace. The walls and ceiling reflected the natural state of the area, both carved out and the ceiling reaching a surprisingly high height of at least 8 feet or more. A detail in the room that didn't look to be as natural was a hole a distance in front of me that looked to span a good distance into the area of this entrance room. That could have been purposely added by the Dwemer that once populated the structure or some damage caused by a natural or unnatural force. Another detail that probably wasn't present before was the spatters of blood in front of the deep hole area. The source was clear, a dead body in the corner to the left of me in the big room.
"Wonder where that came from. A trap or someone who was completely reckless in entering or trying to leave, possibly." My experience before with people before in these kinds of places were that they are not the greatest at being prepared before arriving. Although, this place had been hidden for me, so this could be from something on the inside that had been her for a long time. With a raised weapon and a shield that properly kept me protected for any threats that could come to me immediately, I went to see if I could get any clues from the corpse.
"Dust, webs, body picked clean of meat and skin. It has been too long for this to be recent in any way." Whoever this was, they have long since been dead and their size didn't elude to them being by the time of the structure being populated by any races of man or mer. This was someone who had found themselves in the place by chance or possibly by the same means as myself. The body had very little left, probably meaning that it was already picked by something or it could have been long-since decomposed fabric. The last bit of useful items was loosely dropped gold, a plate helm, and a bracelet on the bony arm. After sent to my unknown realm of the void, I continued my exploration. Red splashes stained the floor and a pile of different materials were sitting in the corner of the large room. Sacks, wrapped leather, and barrels were sitting with only a few being broken or ripped for what was left of their contents being spilled out.
Exploring the room completely, I found on the ground level pathway leading from a side of the room a start to a rail system. It was to be expected with the fact that Fang Lair was a Dwemer mine, but it was a little surprising that the components still were in good conditions except for some minor chips and rust. There was one other pathway, in a sense of the word. It wasn't ground level, rather a hole by a wall adjacent to the railway. It looked to be at least twice the size of a person in size with metal grates on the floor of it to be traveled on. It could be the tunnels were used as movements for the denizens of the Dwemer that inhabited before when mining or possibly escaping.
"Right, no reason to go down there for now." Deciding against going down the smaller tunnels for now, I caught my attention back onto the tracks. Keeping them to my right, I pulled my shield to cover as much of my body without blocking my vision. It wasn't long, maybe half a minute of travel, before I came to branches off the main path of the major track. An unfamiliar clanking sound came from my right as two moving skeletons wielding their own weapons shambled out of the branch. I wasn't afraid or shocked, as both a person that had experience in war and recently monsters. I also didn't have a problem with moving bones that were supposed to be dead, it were other things that got under my skin.
"Graahh!" The skeletons pushed past each other as best they could, hollow bones banging against each other. It was a bit worrying that magic was able to bring back bodies supposed to be dead. It was nearly impossible to figure out if these beings were long dead or recently slaughtered and who brought them back. I raised my weapon to fight them as they shambled towards me to go in for their attack.
As expected, they were too clumsy to be able to hit me without needing to block too efficiently with the shield. After blocking their strikes, I dropped my blade down to see if I could detach the limbs from each other to see if they were able to be disarmed like a human. I hadn't fought skeletons before, so I was using this as more of an experiment. My elven blade came through the air with largely no resistance, although the surprise and setback in the previously simple plan came when my weapon hit the bone instead of a joint due to movement from the skeleton. Despite the material and weakness of the human body, the blade got pushed back with an unseen force and an ear ringing clang that was much louder than expected in the silent mine. It reverberated through the halls and the skeletons seemed to be unaffected by the hit.
"Fuck, everything I'm meeting is getting harder." The skeleton I attempted to hit retaliated with a simple swing that was deflected by my tower shield. The raised bones were not going to be a problem, but I wasn't going to be able to cut them apart with their clumsy movements and thick bones.
"Let's try something else, hm? Can't cut, then bash." My experience as a soldier and trained warrior gave me more than a few alternate fighting styles I used when my primary technique was unusable. Along with some hidden skills I made myself that were for specific situations, I was confident that I could get through a few simple enemies in this regard. Steeling my arm against my body to keep myself covered as much as possible, much easier with the size of the metal I was wielding, I pushed myself forward to one of the two shambling beings. Contact was clear, slowing me down somewhat, though I pushed forward with vigor. My body was forced to come to a hare stop when I encountered what I was wanting to reach: the wall of the mineshaft itself.
My attack came with the sounds of many items hitting the ground around me. Feeling like I had done what was to be expected, it was confirmed that the bones that were previously moving spread across the area, unmoving. A smile and I dealt with the other skeleton in a similar manner, this time bashing it into the ground with my shield. It didn't stand a chance and soon I was alone once again with the knowledge of how to defeat more unusual enemies. My arm got a reprieve and I was back through the seemingly abandoned areas and corridors.
I explored more of the huge complex, my scroll really showing the size of what I was walking through. Rooms led into more, corridors went between ones that weren't used for more than foot traffic, and the holes going through the place that had an unknown purpose currently. It was amazing what the Dwemer did, especially with how disconnected they were from the rest of the world. In fact, there were quite a few races that have long since been extinct that left some impressive legacies that may or may not have been acquired by others over time. This was one that seemingly did not want to be found by any other except for ones with a purpose, shrouded in mystery and giving no direct clues on the history. The tracks that lined the corridors were still intact enough that anyone could come in and use them as if they were built the day before. Even the layout was not made without reason and whether the Dwemer made maps along the way or knew some secret of the place, they did not make it impossible to eventually learn.
Along the way as well, more previous inhabitants came to try to punish the one that disturbed their sleep. I dealt with skeletons the same way that I did every other, my shield becoming my sword enough that I only kept it out for now. It was sad to see that whatever or whoever did this, possibly Tharn when he came to hide this piece of the staff, had to make spirits fight in place that they most likely worked had to cultivate. It made just another reason to drive a sword through his neck and down his stomach.
"Burn, interloper!" Only putting partial attention on where I was going, assuming that the skeletons would make enough noise just when they are moving, I ended up keeping my head down to see what the map was showing me as it was filled out. The magic had seemingly changed or improved some, with it now showing me some more of the area as I walked. Quickly snapping my head upwards to figure out what I heard, a fireball came at me, only to be stopped at my shield. I was not expecting anyone in the place that was capable of speech or basic human actions. The metal against my arm heated up to a point, not causing discomfort but making it clear I was not dealing with a physical attack.
"Who is there?" Looking to where the spell came from, I seen a person of unknown gender with a deep gray and red robe masking me from seeing any major details in another passage to me side a good distance from me. I never understood the intricacies of magic use, but I did know that it was not something I liked to fight against.
"Jagar Tharn told me someone would be coming to stop his plans. Stay still and accept your death!" The mage's hands were open and in each was a conjured flame. I wouldn't get away without killing the mage, especially seeing as they were working directly under the traitorous battlemage. Summoning my own weapon in my free hand after securing my scroll, I wasted no time in working to close the distance between myself and the mage. One more fireball was thrown at me, the difference being that I was expecting it this time and there was no chance it would make contact with me again. Nimbly sidestepping the conjured fire, I kept my eyes locked on the overzealous magic wielder. While preparing another spell in the unused hand, they took quick steps back to get as many hits against me as possible. While mages were deadly at range compared to a typical soldier, it was nearly impossible for any lightly trained magic user to match steel at close range.
"The traitorous Tharn will be in the same pit of Oblivion as you soon enough." Within a minute, I was a few large steps from my opponent. They let loose their second spell at me, another typical fireball, and it was easy enough for me to handle the attack with my shield. Once again, the metal heated to a point, but kept itself cool enough as the heat spread quickly over the large area. I brought my blade back and it effortlessly swung in an arc from my back to my front and followed through afterwards. The mage let out a pained gasp and crumpled to the floor with a large gash through their stomach. Blood stained my weapon and spilled from the wound onto the aged floor. Standing over my opponent, I confirmed the true death by impaling the corpse in the neck until the tip of my blade stopped somewhere in the ground. "That's sad, I hope there aren't too many that followed him."
Leaving the body alone, I continued my search along the tracks and alcoves looking for any real direction of where I was going to find my way to the first piece of the staff. Some sacks and barrels still remained, either reused by new 'inhabitants' or preserved enough over the years to still be intact. Along with that, blood still came up staining the ground, unknown to whether it was recent or not.
It was quiet for a while, making me a little nervous on what was waiting around the dark corners. The more I heard my footsteps, the more worried I got that I was walking into a trap or something of the sort. The map didn't help as much as I envisioned either, as it was getting to the point where I was exploring quite the area around the abandoned mine. I figured it was about time I put myself into one of the subsurface tunnels. Looking at the hole from the opening, it was a little more refreshing to see that a grate was laid out that hopefully went the distance. Freeing my hands, I began in a kneeling position to put little pressure when I landed. Despite the foolishness that came with the process of not securing the tunnel beforehand, I couldn't follow every rule that was drilled into me during my youth. There were situations where not everything had to be followed to the letter.
The tunnel was no bigger than the entrance, the sound of my boots contacting the metal reverberating throughout the length. The only light coming into the area was from the room above, getting dim quickly the further in until it was completely dark at a point. Indication of direction was available from the ceiling of the tunnel, a red glow coming from the stone.
"Right. I wonder how they did that." There were only a couple heads at most from the top of my body to the ceiling of the tunnel. Reaching up to carefully touch the material, it was oddly lightly warm to the touch. With the color, I would have expected it to be a lot hotter probably to the point of instantly burning. My eyes stayed forward, and my hand stayed on the ceiling as I began down the darkened tunnel. There was only a little bit of light to help guide me, generally from my stomach down was completely dark but the grate at my feet stayed constant with the sound lessening over time.
"I wonder if this shows up to me, too." My last free hand pulled out the scroll to bring up the map, not needing both hands available. Interestingly, the magic endowed into the parchment was still godly in measure of abilities. Instead of being left to right, I had it unrolled from top to bottom. Even then, the orientation adjusted so that it looked no different and was visible despite the low light. The tunnels did indeed show and had a different shade than the rooms and corridors, thankfully to keep my safe. The tunnels took but a few seconds to split and go every which way.
"How did the Dwemer do this? This would be hard for any other race today to get this extensive." The tunnel made many turns, leading to many outlets at what seemed initially like random spots. After going down a few tunnels and back tracking to more familiar intersections, the map began to fill itself more regarding showing how the mine worked. While a large portion of areas were connected by shafts and corridors, a quicker way to travel was done by subsurface connections. Tracks led through the ground level portions of Fang Lair for transporting different things, underneath to be both digging areas and for the occupants of the magnificent wonder of past Dwemer architecture. This was my assumption, at least.
"It's a wonder that all these braziers are still lit after all of this time, even with a dull flame. There can't be anything normal about that, has to be some school of magic." Speaking to myself as I wandered through the shafts at some points, other times I went back to the surface to explore further and a little faster. While the mine shafts seemed to be safer, they were not as extensive as a network and led to more specific areas. Some walking skeletons got into my way and another mage loyal to the traitorous Tharn decided to throw spells at me before I could get within range where my skills were leagues above the unarmored magicka wielder. I couldn't tell how long it had been or how much longer I would be in the twisting stone walls of Fang Lair, but I did feel the onset of fatigue coming along. My age had little factor into the point of the exhaustion, I was not following the same regime I did when I was a soldier.
"I don't remember the Dwemer being big with magic, though. Not that they are around to ask anymore…" My vision was constantly scanning the surroundings, looking for any inconsistencies that could point me in the right direction.
"Hm, what's that?" Speaking of details, there was one that I noticed to my left. The first clue was the change in the floor. While the one I have been seeing was a stone material, if not just flattened stone in general, this new texture was a darker cobblestone that looked to be unnatural unlike the rest of the stuff. Lifting my weapon to its position crossing my chest and shield to my side, I took careful steps forward towards the new path. Peeking past the normal hole in the wall before putting my entire body in the doorway, I saw…nothing. At least, not a whole lot different than what I was expecting. Inside had the same wall texture, so it was probably dug out but given a new floor after. The ceiling also shared the same texture, not sure myself if it was for presentation or utility. Braziers holding a bright fire lined the walls, although that was the only good thing from first glance. Cell doors were also present, further down the long path that didn't have a clue on if they were unlocked or free to open. Narrowing my eyes to see if I could get a better view, I had to step in to get more clues. Even the sounds were still silent, not helping in the slightest.
"The air is getting so stale." Taking my best deep breath, I began to take tentative steps forward while being completely on guard once again. Rooms like these have never ended well for the lone warrior, an advantage of having comrades. I would give anything to have someone close who I could depend on to watch my back while I watch theirs. A skittering from many places met my ears when I took a dozen steps into the room, causing me to spin around my position to see if I was about to become food for something. There was no direct movement, at least none close by. There was some movement for sure, large arachnid bodies moving against metal bars. A few legs were poking from the cells, as well, giving the image of a pretty terrifying scene. Thankfully, I had a few fears, but spiders were not exactly one of them. I disliked the eight-legged beasts, but they weren't something that I would have a panic attack from. Wielding my shield forward over my blade, I kept a very close eye on every cell door to see if any were unlocked. The only metal I was hearing as I went deeper into the room were some bodies struggling to reach their prey. I couldn't imagine how ravenous they would be if they got it, assuming they didn't have some trap attached to their doors that I was blindly walking into.
"I wonder how long the traitorous bastard had to set this game of his up." I was completely sure that this was done by Tharn, this was not something the Dwemer would set for themselves. The true use of this room before the disappearance of the Dwarves would be forever forgotten, assuming that this wasn't truly left over from their time. I had trouble believing that the deep elves who inhabited the Lair would set up flesh-eating spiders. Storage would be possible or maybe where prisoners might have been kept. Not a lot was known about the Dwarves of old, their history stopping suddenly, and their pasts being shrouded like any old civilization.
The final portion of the dangerous room had a few more cells and a short hall leading to what seemed like a normal iron door. Keeping the door for last, I examined the few cell doors that remained carefully. Keeping a distance and my shield up in case legs came out to touch me, only one of the two cells in the main area, as one might label it as, contained a spider. The other was empty and that left three other cells. They went in a distance to where I couldn't see but there were not crawling insects. Silence filled the isolated spaces, making me think that this is where some sort of passage lied. The short hall to the iron door was remaining, a little suspicious being to the left of the three silent cells. If anything, that would be my best plan of action to figure out if there was any significance to the distinct area. The short walk down the hall to the door didn't lead me to stepping through, my footsteps halting when a force surrounded me to make me hesitate moving forward.
'You must prove your worthiness to proceed to the Underdark. The correct answer will open the cell to the gold key, which will open the way forward. Rush not to answer, mortal. The wrong choice will open the cell doors to the spiders.' A voice from a place unknown spoke to me, spooking me for a moment but not long, especially after Ria had been speaking to me over the past year or so. This was an unfamiliar voice, not having any distinct sound to the tone but rather sounded like what a deity might speak through. It wasn't as if they gave me any way to speak back, so this was possibly an otherworldly magic.
"That explains the spiders and all these doors. I want to hear the question." Willing my weapon away, keeping the shining tower shield on my arm, I stepped forward closer to the door. Once again, a force almost fought against me to make contact. The voice returned.
'Listen to my puzzle, foolish mortal and prove that you are worthy of my service.
If Cell Three holds worthless brass, Cell Two holds the gold key.
If Cell One holds the gold key, Cell Three holds worthless brass.
If Cell Two holds worthless brass, Cell One holds the gold key.
Knowing this brave fool, and knowing all that is said cannot be true, which cell contains the gold key?'
"Alright, I will need to think about this. The last thing I want to do is die by a stupid riddle." Speaking the words a few more times in my head, I worked through different scenarios and which of the three could be true. It was clear that one of the three held the key to proceed, while the other two would be the ones that lead to my slow death. Instead of standing, I sat myself by the door while I figured through which it could be.
I wasn't sure how long I sat thinking, trying my hardest to visualize the answer until I decided to carve a bit into the wall to figure through what I believe would be the right answer. One of the three statements had to be true, while the other two couldn't contradict the correct one. It was a problem of finding which of the three statements were true. Eventually, I was coming up with a similar answer using my own method of logic. With as much confidence as I could muster, knowing that I wasn't a scholar or trickster that utilized word play, I faced the door on my feet. The riddle was spoken again, at the end was the force lingering in my presence. Taking a deep breath in, I answered.
"Cell Two holds the gold key." Moments passed, too many in my opinion as the unknown aura remained. Each second made me worry more that I was going to hear bars opening. It would be possible to kill all the spiders, although I doubt I would live to tell after it with their poison. A chance I would seem to be having to take.
'You are correct, mortal. The key within Cell Two is yours.' The feeling of another around the space left after speaking and I was not sure if it was a trick or truth. Looking back with my anxiety rising, there were no sounds coming now. Not any movement, any spiders, or metal rubbing against stone. Waiting a moment more, I closed the distance to where the short path began in the main area. Scanning quickly, there were no roaming beasts, a couple visible feet coming from the barricaded enclosures once again.
"Cell two? I guess that is one that doesn't have a large arachnid in it." Seeing as nothing opened itself, it might have been up to me to find out where I was needing to head. There were a couple cells that didn't have protruding limbs, but they were in between other occupied cells. The remaining three cells that were left were in a line made into the wall beside the door that gave the riddle.
"Those have to be it, at least logically. So that means I am looking for the second." Going to the one in between the three, I held my breath for a moment as I pushed the metal bars open inwards. Effortlessly, the door was pushed with some extra force that caused a reverb of sound that traveled down the room some. I followed it best I could, turning to see if anybody or anything was attracted by it. The only sounds that came were the slightly more aggressive attempts at the spiders releasing themselves. Confident for the moment that I would not be ambushed, I took a few steps into the space that was newly opened to me.
The same material that decorated the floor and ceiling extended into the length of the room, the walls being similar to how the rest of the place was dug out and built. Other than that, it was plain with nothing inside. Nothing, except for a glint of a more valuable metal inside the short expanse. Closing the distance, it was apparently the gold key that the voice spoke of in the riddle. Checking for traps by poking it with my shield, the clink of metal against the ground came and nothing else. It seemed safe and I was not about to waste anymore time then necessary in this space, scooping up the key and returning to the door. Easily, the moving of contraptions inside the thick slab were heard before the door moved to open itself. Whatever was around right now, it was not anywhere near human in nature and maybe even stronger than those that were inhuman. Like the cell, the next portion was short and led to a rope ladder unceremoniously leading down a hole large enough for one person to ascend or descend at a time.
"Hm, I expected something more." Hesitantly willing my shield away, I began the dangerous descent to the room below.
It was not long before I could see the ground below. As expected, it led to nothing exceptional despite being hidden behind a trap and an inhuman power. A large hallway completely square was revealed to be the next way forward, a bit of a disappointment after all the searching I had to do to get to this place. I was expecting some grand room or some really powerful enemy. Dropping my guard for a moment, I was not going to relax entirely until I was back in the safety of an Inn room.
The hallway was long, sparsely decorated with only braziers to light the way that looked to be built as some potential transportation location. There was enough room to fit many people and carts that could be with them any which way. It was always going to be pure speculation with what the Dwemer did in their buildings and practices, not a single one being alive after their disappearance thousands of years ago. It was when I got to the point where I could see a wall down the hall when a familiar sound echoed from wall to wall towards where I was. It was, unsurprisingly, more denizens that have long since been dead and were rudely brought back for at least their decomposed bodies to be used. At this point, I was more than adept at eliminating walking bones to where they were riskier for me to get a pulled muscle over actual damage. Even the three that shambled at me, taking them out strategically had the bones still again in less than a minute. Of course, I was also feeling my strength come back to me more and more like when I was a soldier in my youth. I wouldn't get back to the physique I had back in that day, but I knew that I could work on at least getting to where I was not going to fall from brittle bones.
The sight that greeted me as I finished my trek through the single bent hallway made things a little clearer on what this area might have been used for. The unimpressive hall led to an open and incredibly hot room. On my way down the ladder, I wasn't thinking about how far down I might have been traveling underneath the ground. The tunnels traveling underground on the floor above were nothing like what was in this large room.
It was sparse of manufactured products, using only the natural stone to keep the space from caving in on itself. I didn't want to think about what would happen if an earthquake ever occurred near this place. It wouldn't be catastrophic for the reason of structural stability; it was more for the reason of the liquid that dominated the outside space. Heat to melt metal were not hard to find with fire, but a bit hard to keep constant. The lava pools that populated the room solved that, not needing to worry about the magma cooling without a lot of work. The features of the space were indescribable unless experienced, the scene being near impossible to find without traveling down a specific mine. Even ones that were made today rarely went deep enough to reveal the natural heat underneath the stone surfaces.
The area was walkable due to some stone being kept making some narrow pathways in some areas, others bigger to hold more foot traffic. It was a little unnerving to know that this used to be used for some likely impressive feats before, while now it was completely deserted and has been since the disappearance that baffled even the most intelligent and oldest scholars of the eras. Pillars of varying size of heated rock jutted from both lava pools and pathways alike. Out of curiosity, I walked forward while looking at the architecture and lightly made contact with the glowing rocks. The heat was present, but the more I pressed my hand down, it only rose lightly in temperature. It didn't seem like one could actively hurt themselves by touching it accidentally unless they kept themselves on it for a length of time. On a majority of the pillars from how far I could see, there were braziers mounted and burning to light up where the lava could not.
The thing that was more than present was a very large square of natural rock reaching from floor to ceiling that looked to out of place in the space but was definitely serving a purpose. In this context, I could only assume it was where my goal was sitting undisturbed. If Tharn was to make things difficult, he wasn't about to keep the piece of the staff in the open whatsoever. In fact, my assumptions were solidified to me when I made my way to one of the four sides and was met with a door similar to the one that blocked my progress earlier. Thick and no doubt enchanted metal. I wasn't going to jump into the situation yet, wanting to see what more might have been held in the room apart from the piece of the Staff of Chaos.
I spent a fairly long time exploring the natural paths and carefully stepping around the lava. I would be dead nearly instantly if I missed a single step and I wasn't about to let something like that be the death of me. Nearly dying to a goblin was bad enough, it would be impossible to rest in peace as my body temporarily burned to be added to the pools. Speaking of dangers, a couple beings populated the walkable areas. A couple of unorganized lizard men, although slightly harder due to the fact they both had room to fight at once. Even with their flailing at the same time, I dealt with them after using my more experienced skills. A few strikes later and I stood victorious with two dead bodies at my feet and my elven blade dripping with blood. Other than the two of them, it was quiet as I returned to the door after my adventurous trek around the room.
A line of pillars and braziers were laid out to the middle of the room on the side leading to the door. Probably from the original inhabitants, it was a nice detail Jagar Tharn could use himself to make the space seem more imposing. As I got closer, it was the door that spoke first in this.
'A simple question for you.
What is neither fish nor flesh,
Feathers nor bone,
But still has fingers,
And thumbs of its own?
What is the answer, mortal?'
"I assume you are the same one as before, you sound undeniably similar. I will have to think this over before answering." I wasn't as nervous for the talking door this time, especially since I knew what it was asking in a sense. I didn't know instantly what the riddle meant, but I did know that it wasn't going to be the first thing I thought of. My first idea was either an Aedra or Deadra, seeing as neither was made of traditional flesh or bone. It was possible that they could be, but the answer was going to be far from that easy to guess. Taking a seat near one of the pillars, I decided to cool my body down by willing my armor away and took myself down to the clothing underneath. The heat was not rising too much, keeping itself partially stable with the pools being spread out in the space and cooled by the stone walls and walkways. The ingenious minds of the extinct Dwemer were far too ahead of their time, even in the more 'primitive' aspects of their culture with simple things like head distribution.
"If I am to complete this quest, it would be interesting to use some of the things learned along the way." Closing my eyes for a moment to concentrate and properly relax, the riddle of the door bounced around in my mind.
"Think carefully before answering, mortal. The question remains, what is your answer?" Standing in front of the door with my armor equipped once again and elven weapon in hand, the door asked in the same voice for what I believed was the correct answer. I mulled over many things and eventually got to something that wasn't a living being, hoping for the best.
"A glove." A simple answer, the doubt that any riddle would have a complicated one. They were usually designed to have them. The trap was thinking too hard about the solution.
"You truly have the wit to continue. You may proceed." A moment of relief came over me as the answer was verified to be correct, the unknown force seemingly opening the steel gate as the other did before. I was highly curious on whether the two beings were the same or different, all the aspects of the knowledge that came with the concept of magic being interesting, despite my disuse of it. Knowledge wasn't limited to one that exclusively used the information. Any Knight could learn magic history and any Mage could read up on melee warfare tactics, in fact it was usually very advantageous to learn on aspects of more than just your proficiencies in life. I took that lesson to heart enough that I was quite the scholar, spending hours with the Mage's to read their books as much as possible.
As the chamber opened itself, my vision was immediately pulled to a large, gold arrowhead. The arrowhead had a purple flame surrounding it, bright and strong no doubt due to some magic if this was what I came here for. It had a pull to it that was unexplainable, an influence that pulled my attention away from my surroundings for a few moments, until my vision was obscured.
A large figure blocked the item, even though the purple glow lightened up the room. The mass was pure black in color, the shape being defined by the only available illumination. I had no doubts that if there was just darkness, the monster would be invisible. All save for the solid red eyes and darkened teeth. The monster had a body of a canine, although much larger than if not all household pets. This couldn't have been anything from the mortal plane with a structure as it possessed, and I couldn't think of any reason why such a random box would have something that remained of the Dwemer. If this were set here by Jagar Tharn, he was clearly pulling at powers much more powerful than I had expected and undoubtedly more dangerous than he could handle.
The creature let out a loud and, admittedly, threatening growl. I was used to mages and soldiers, not conjured monsters. Pulling my shield up to cover as much of my lowered body as possible, I wasn't afraid. Rather, I was entirely unsure of how to combat something as this, putting myself completely on the defensive until I had even a shred of a plan made. Combat rarely scared me, typically only if something was much bigger than me or I knew had massive strength behind it. Not even an army of fighters could make me anything but anxious, although that is not the greatest outlook on the situation, either. The thing kept its neck craned to not break vision with me, pacing in front of the elevated gold item without giving me enough space to circle for a way around it. If anything, the loyalty of the beast, whether earned or forced, was surprisingly strong. The way it was moving didn't give indication that it was going to make the first move, I was going to be the one to do so.
Planting a foot firmly on the ground, my shield extended outwards to give my sword arm more freedom of movement. I didn't try to make it a subtle move, I was more focused on keeping myself protected as much as possible. The beast made no movements against me still, holding its position as guardian of the item. The mood was tense until I pushed my body forward with one leg to meet the growling beast head on.
The fight was quick yet still difficult, if only because the odds of either myself or the beast winning was equal. As my first foot left the ground, the monster was not slow to the uptake. I had not encountered anything close to this beast in shape or pure presence, not a shred of known tactics to use against the monster. The initial attack was not mine, either. I had no use of ranged combat in my repertoire, but the black beast seemed to. The only reason I was able to react was the size and solidarity of the creature, signs of attacks being present.
Darkened red clouds licked the air outside of the beast's mouth for a couple seconds, the jaws soon spreading to throw a plume of something at me. It traveled quickly, covering more distance and stopping my approach of the black canine. I reacted naturally, raising my shield and tightening my stance to envelope my form behind the durable metal. Not having vision of the monster was not the worst of my problems, becoming clear when the unknown attack impacted my protection. There was no force behind the collision but there was a quick rise in heat spreading from the area hit outwards.
"Too hot!" The heat spread fast, reaching temperatures that made my flesh under my gauntlets begin to burn almost immediately. My first reaction was to release my shield, backing away from the sudden conduit of extreme heat. Whatever the beast did was both impossible for the typical canine on Tamriel and the intensity was severe compared to other spells used.
The corner of the metal and the stone connected, the reverberating scratch echoed around the room. My eyes jumped from my superheated equipment and the lightened visage of the beast dimming quickly again, only the staff piece behind giving light. If the beast could show joy, it would probably have at disarming me of one of my major defenses. Taking the advantage, the canine moved in a circular motion to my right. I had to give up on keeping my eyes on the shield, else the beast would have more of an advantage it already made.
It unexpectedly stopped its movements and threw itself directly at me with a lunge. Without a shield, my body had to improvise but it couldn't change trained actions as quickly as others. It took a few seconds for the shadowed beast to get to me, my instincts only thinking that the best course of action was to lift my elven blade sideways in my main hand, mounting my other arm behind the weapon to keep me from being pushed against easier.
"Argh, fuck!" The cursing came from a shot of pain traveling through my unarmed left arm. The reaction didn't keep myself protected nearly as much as I wanted, the damage being felt before my eyes landed on why. The beast had a large enough jaw that it took both the width of my blade and still opened its mouth enough to get well past the only defense I had without a shield. Apparently not thinking about its own safety, it clamped down to hold both my weapon and my arm in its grasp. The teeth were certainly abnormal, piercing directly through what I thought was strong armor to damage my flesh underneath. I cringed severely and was pulled down at the weight of the beast falling to its footing on the stone ground. Bent forward and having been stuck in the beast, my mind was racing to figure out what I could do to escape, anything and everything going through my head currently.
With a defiant grunt, I had to sacrifice my vulnerable arm more to get some control over the situation at hand. Giving a hefty pull on my elven blade, I pulled it out of the grip of the black beast. Along the way, I tilted the weapon to cut the mandible of the monster. That was the plan, although it didn't seem to do much more than get released from the dangerous grip. I didn't want to think about the monster shooting its unworldly flames while my arm couldn't get away from the attack. Not a whimper from the beast, rather a guttural snarl that sounded like the attack was more irritating than damaging. Unfortunately, a small plume on either side of the upper jaw gave away the sign of damage to signify it was far from immortal. That was enough to give me some confidence in that it could be killed with a hopefully quick change in tactics.
The reaction of the beast was to begin in a wide berthed circle around me, not making extended eye contact with me, being hard to judge with the entire space of where an eye would be filled with a red color. I kept my eyes on the monster as well, having the advantage of not being distracted by another. The distance between me and it was too large for me to reach it, but it eventually caused my vision to pass over something that was sitting unused on the ground. It was possible for me to get to it slowly, assuming the thing made to attempts to jump at me immediately. Not giving the monster an idea of what I was doing given the shield was at least a few seconds from me with all the movements that happened, I followed the beast still but took small shuffles to my biggest piece of protection I had so far.
The monster came back to where it began, closing the gap between it and I by quite a bit unknown to myself right away. I took the last few steps back hopefully unknowingly towards my shield to the hound before it suddenly began stopping itself when it was less than a large leap from me, sparks coming from the things feet. I wasn't about to pay attention to its motions any longer, twisting my body as it made its quick change to offense to reach my best defense. The distance from my tower shield and myself had decreased to where I was able to reach out and grab the rim of the longer edge. I wasn't about to try to beat the beast in getting it equipped, turning myself back to face the hellspawn. When I did, I was met with a jaw spread out no doubt expecting an arm or even more. What it got instead was the metallic rim that I was currently holding, the lower jaw not catching onto anything currently and the upper caught in between teeth on the shield. Instantly, the monster tried to get past the flimsy defense with a force pushing the only barricade left down and towards me. I had a feeling I knew what it was trying to do with getting my grip to fail, but I wasn't about to let that happen quickly. If this fight was going to filled with more unconventional tactics and many different situations, then I would follow the curve myself.
Going on the offensive, an idea sprung into my mind that in any other fight would get my kicked out of a military force or at least punished. I released my sword, letting the elven workmanship bounce on the ground with a clang and got the most solid grip I could on my improvised weapon. If the beast wanted through my shield, it would get through with giving something of its own. Getting a knee on one of the two straps that held it securely on my arm, the layered leather made a solid holster for my leverage.
'This thing wants through, it'll get through but I get something back!' Motivating myself for the success of this risky move, I moved the shield to give the beast less distance to bite me, but it gave me vision of its front feet. Putting all of my strength into one drop, the shield came down until it was stopped by what I figured was the stone underneath. In quick succession, my attack had been done and the pressure on my shield lessened until it tipped forward and took me with it to leave me on my hands and knees on it. It wasn't relief that came to me, rather desperation in that what I had done was a success. Seeing the reaction of the monster was a mix of both relief and worry, seeing as what I had done was apparently some damage. The black hound was thrashing and snarling intensely, keeping its front limbs moving. At a quick glance, at least what remained of them. My desperation opportunity seemingly removed a portion of the monster's front feet. While it was dealing with the possible pain, a large plume of black vapor was rising from where the portions were severed.
Taking a few deep breaths, I was beginning to lose my vitality a bit faster than I had figured I would. This beast was showing how much more of a challenge it was than anything so far. Unfortunately, I had to get my next move ready. Hoping it didn't have any sort of regenerative ability, I had to finish it off quickly or else the seemingly unending stamina of this creature would be enough to overtake me. My discarded blade wasn't far from my position like my previous situation. I rearmed myself with a feel around the ground behind me while the dark hound made the infuriation of damage crystal clear. The beast was barring its reflective white teeth. The damage done so far was still present, a mist rising from where the original cut along the jaw was made and two larger plumes from the severed front feet.
"Last shot, hell hound." Of course, the monster couldn't understand me, but I was still vocalizing it more for myself than it. In response, a familiar cloud spread from the gritted teeth of the beast. This time, I was not going to be disarmed with the same expectation of being able to handle the attack. Instead of taking the attack head-on, I would have to try to either avoid it or see if there was a way to make the heat not be as effective.
The plume of flame came quicker than before, possible desperation coming from the monster. Deciding in a split second on how to handle the assault of otherworldly flames and using my position to some advantage, I pushed myself to the right and the flames made contact. Although, this time they largely missed where I previously was and while the temperature rose where I was gripping my tower shield, it was no worse than fireballs from unskilled mages. The beast suddenly stopped the flames and vaulted at me once again, the illumination of the blazes still very much present. Without needing to consider a reaction, my arm thrusted outwards at the approaching figure. A slicing sound and snarling came from the impaled enemy coming down my weapon. The futile attempts of getting some fatal injuries to me were made in desperation by the beast, light dying down once again to only come from the floating piece of gold to what was now my left. It took a few moments for the guard of the staff piece to fall limp.
Confident in that this was not a trick, I held the beast from moving with my shield and removed the elven longsword. Unlike when something in this plane died, the thing lying dead now made no sound of internals being damaged, almost silence being heard as the body fell to the stone floor. The adrenaline kept me moving after the initiation from the monster, the effects of exhaustion coming quickly. I could hold myself up, but my shield and weapon felt heavier than normal and it was almost constricting to be in my armor. The benefit of myself was that in a force of will, all of the extra burden was physically weighting me down was gone. In a couple moments, and the assumption of my own that I was not going to be in any immediate danger, my equipment visibly disintegrated into whatever pocket realm I had at my disposal. Whether I ever figured out what it was using to keep my items or not was not on my mind, though. Getting to my feet easier, eyes glancing to see if the beast was going to move any longer, I turned my attention to the only other presence in the room. The gold arrowhead held aloft by an unseen force surrounded by a purple mist.
"Really nothing else to do than risk life and limb on this is what I am sent here to get." If I didn't die from the guard of Jagar Tharn, then it would be bad to end my journey at what could be the beginning of the end for the traitor. Not that this was my first brush with possible death, although it was doubtful Ria could work her diminishing magic once again. To some surprise, my hand extended without much hesitation. Some fear was present to touch something as possibly dangerous as this floating metal, but not nearly as much as some others. It was possible that the events experienced so far had heightened my confidence or that my exhaustion was blocking rational thinking. My personal opinion was on the latter.
To the touch, the metal was not giving off any heat and was completely smooth to the touch. One would think being kept near the lava pools in the bottom of a mine would make it at least warm to the touch or that the mist surrounding the piece would give off something. The shining metal arrowhead was not that large, judging from my own grip on the item. The second my grip tightened on the object, the mist dispersed to nonexistence and the magic that kept it aloft disappeared. The weight was almost unnoticeable, being as light as a feather despite its expected qualities the opposite. On closer inspection with the piece of the Staff in my hand, it was almost surprising to have something as unremarkable be so special. The pointed edge of the piece had two lightning-shaped extrusions, most likely where the Staff would be against the ground or a top detail if one really stretched their imagination. The other end was cleanly cut, completely unlike if it were done by even the best of smiths. Precision was key in the work they did but getting something to be so smooth at the cutting edge was a fair amount of time.
"So, this is it, hm? There are others, but this is rather inadequate in what I was expecting. Maybe some inscriptions or details or something. Oh well, what's done is done. I wonder if it is still able to follow the rules of my pocket void." It didn't occur to me immediately, but what if it didn't go into my bag like the rest of my items? It wouldn't be too hard to imagine carrying it around, though.
Concentrating for a moment, I thought about the piece taking up the spot in whatever access I had thanks to the scroll on my hip. The piece of the Staff of Chaos did indeed flash out of my hand and the plane it was in, hopefully to where I wanted it to. There was a way to confirm on whether I still had it or not.
My scroll typically was under my armor to keep it from getting in the way, beneficial in the last fight with the hell hound. I wasn't worried that it would be damaged, rather I didn't want it impeding my actions. With my armor gone and the rolled parchment off its binding, I rolled it out to bring up a list of my current inventory. To my surprise, the piece was indeed in whatever void I had access to. Now all that was left to do was get back out alive and back to safety in Belkarth Guard.
I was assuming that the enemies I had beaten before would have come back or with the piece of the Staff gone, Tharn would have sent more of his brainwashed followers to come after me. I was surprised to retrace my steps, this time keeping my travels in the spacious corridors of the mine. I was on guard the entire time but was completely undisturbed from anything reanimated or alive. The only exception was that the caged spiders still made their presence known, but the cells that contained them were securely shut still. Before long, I was walking out of the room with the unknown hole to the fresh air of the outside world once again.
It was such a relief to be out of the stale air of an abandoned mine of an extinct race. The mist was held around the area when I exited Fang Lair, making no movement to clear this time. Maybe it was whatever magic that shrouded this place from the eyes of travelers or simply natural in the formation of such thick fog. I wasn't much in the mood to figure out either way, the pull of getting to civilization was a strong force. Over the archaic bridge and the mist being behind me soon enough, the thought of Belkarth Guard as my new motivation.