Chapter 20

The gates of Whiterun lay behind us. We had spent a day and a half getting ready to go back underground, and I thought it was time well spent. I’d made some slight improvements to our armor, even finally getting Lydia a Blades sword to match her armor. She was so happy with that present we had to delay our preparations for an hour while she thanked me properly.

I had also taken some of the things we’d found in Alftand to Dragonsreach and learned their enchantments. That enabled me to use the soul gems we’d recovered from those Dwemer machines to enchant some small pieces of jewelry to assist Lydia and me in combat, as well as other pieces to help me with my alchemy. I bought everything Arcadia had and with my new rings and necklace was able to make up some much more powerful healing potions than I could before.

I was whistling a bit as we got on the carriage to take us back to the Nightgate Inn. “You seem happier than you have in days, my Thane.”

“I am. I had felt overwhelmed for a bit. We had a lot thrown at us, all at once. I think this will be good practice, for I suspect we’ll face even harder trials. We may as well be positive about it.”

I grinned slyly. “That, and I look forward to being ‘thanked’ again by you. I could get wet just thinking about how your tongue felt sliding up inside me.”

“Good. Now you know how I feel most of the time when I’m around you.”

It was uneventful getting back to Alftand. We briefly rested in the camp set up below ground simply so we wouldn’t be tired later just in case, then took the lift back down into the depths below.

A door lay ahead of us, opening in the same shaft with winding walkways we’d seen before from above. Looking up I could where some of the Dwemer pipes had been ripped into pieces, yet others were still complete, working sections still carrying ... something. I briefly wondered at this, what this must have looked like before their downfall.

I paused upon the ramp, looking down. Using hand signals, I told Lydia to get her bow ready. There were several Falmer on the ground below us. We used our bows to good advantage, they never knew what hit them.

Another door awaited us at the bottom, leading into a passage that had a claw trap simply laying in the middle of the passageway. In a low voice, I said to Lydia, “That might work if we were blind. I’m not sure if the Falmer even realize that whatever it was the Dwemer used to light these ruins is still working.”

We easily avoided it and opened the doorway just past it. I noticed some pressure plates on the floor and pointed towards them so Lydia would see where not to step. Sneaking by them we saw another Falmer standing guard and quickly killed him with an arrow. Another door opened into a giant chamber and I heard Lydia mutter, “Oh, wow, this is amazing.”

There were stairs going up, flanked by ramps, probably for the spheres. The ceiling was hundreds of feet up, lit by both Dwemer mechanisms as well as light seeping in from outside. Several of the metallic structures built by the Dwemer were in here, along with an assortment of gears mounted into the walls running ... something. An entire second floor above the ground, lined with Dwemer grated walls, lay ahead of us as well.

Motion caught my eye. There were two Falmer walking around. I crept up the stairs quietly, killing one, then the other. Looking behind us and up, I saw a balcony hanging from the rock. A carved pathway led up to it, allowing me to see what looked like someone moving behind the grated wall. I also found a lever that, when thrown, caused the beams blocking the main path to retract into the floor.

We headed back down the pathway and then started climbing the stairs that confronted us. A giant mechanical crossbow was at the top of the stairs. I could see a Dwemer device that we’d not seen before to our left, with another apparently in a heap to our right. As I walked towards the one on the floor, steam started coming from the one on the left and it started walking towards us.

It was in the shape of a giant, armed with an axe in one hand, a hammer in the other. Steam was shooting out of it at the elbows and around the neck. It was able to pivot at the waist, looking around for us.

“Oh, fuck no.” I muttered. I reached down and grabbed one of the special potions I’d made while we were home in case we ran into another dragon. It would improve my archery skills and ability. Staying in concealment with the mechanical warrior seeking us, I drank the potion. I motioned for Lydia to stay back, then readied my bow. Two arrows and the metal warrior collapsed.

Lydia said in a very small voice, “Thank you, my Thane. I thought I was going to pee myself when that thing stepped out and came to life.”

“You’re not the only one. Let’s get going.”

I opened the gate that this centurion had been protecting. As we passed through, I could hear voices ahead. Apparently the survivors of the expedition were ahead, and we might be able to rescue them. I started to greet them when I realized they were arguing. The woman Redguard was beseeching the man to leave, and he was having none of it. They started fighting each other.

The Redguard woman won. She stood panting. “Stupid Sulla. I told him it was time to leave.” I stepped out of the shadows.

“If you wish to leave, you are free to do so. We have cleared the path back for you.”

“No. NO! I can’t leave, I must do my job, and protect Sulla!” She started to charge me. I put an arrow between her eyes. Lydia looked at her corpse in shock.

“What was that about? I thought she’d be happy to be rescued.”

“Remember the note we found? I’d guess that they went mad from being down here so long, unable to proceed, unable to go back. Ah, well, what’s this? Another lift shaft? Excellent, we have a way out now.”

“My Thane, look at this! It looks like a spot for that thing Septimus gave you.”

I pulled out the sphere he’d given me. It fit the opening perfectly. Upon putting it in, several gears started turning, a series of metal circles started spinning, and suddenly the floor around the center of the room began lowering, making a set of steps going down. I retrieved the sphere and we started down this narrow stairway. Another Dwemer metal doorway stood in our path at the bottom.

We opened it. I was in awe at the sight before us. An immense cavern spread out in front of us, seemingly stretching for miles. We could see what seemed to be giant, luminescent mushrooms dozens of feet tall growing from the ground, with others hanging from the ceiling. Dwemer buildings were also in view. This was an enormous underground city.

“By the divines! This is huge.” We walked toward the railing, near where another metallic catapult awaited. It was aimed at the door of a building across from us. I could see one of the spheres sitting in front of the door. I saw the mechanism to fire the catapult, but it was aimed too high and missed the sphere. “Damn.”

I readied my bow and shot the sphere once while it was still wrapped upon itself, then again while it was traveling. This one died much easier than the others had. I started looking around and realized that it would be very easy to get lost down here, this place was that large. And not that well lit, either.

There was a network of roads down here. Mysterious sounds, not natural, or maybe natural for here anyway, came from different places. A breeze was running through the glowing mushrooms that made them sound like glass chimes. Other noises, mechanical sounding, came from different Dwemer structures. I saw a couple of Falmer in another building and quickly dispatched them. I didn’t want to, because it was so tough to see, but I decided I had no choice and cast Clairvoyance.

The magical pathway seemed to lead us off to one side, and at least around another of the Dwemer centurions that I could see ahead of us. What I feared would happen did, when a Falmer and his pet chaurus attacked us. The Falmer hit me with his blade at the same time the poison from the chaurus did, causing it to seep into my blood. Another of the potions I had prepared came in handy to neutralize the poison.

Other than some minor bruising, Lydia and I otherwise came through this little battle unscathed. “That went ... better than I expected, or even hoped.”

We walked past a Dwemer building that, if it had been above ground, I would have called a gazebo. A walkway led up to a building that I had no idea what it did, but it bridged over the road. We went by it, as the spell showed me the path was to follow this road for now. In the distance to our right, I could see what seemed to be a central city of some kind, with a giant, orange orb in the middle of it.

In the middle of the roadway ahead, I could see clusters of chaurus eggs. “Ready your bow and watch out, Lydia.” We continued creeping forward. The chaurus must have felt the vibrations of our feet, as they jumped out from behind a glowing mushroom. But they didn’t see us, which proved fatal for them. I collected a few more of their eggs and we started on again.

Lydia grabbed my shoulder, pointing. Another of the Dwemer centurions in it’s cradle was up above us. I saw a lever on the side and decided to take a chance that perhaps it wouldn’t activate unless the lever was thrown. That turned out to be a good guess. We then saw we were on a bridge, with what seemed to be a flowing river running under it.

“My dear, I am just stunned at everything we’ve seen down here. This Blackreach city is huge. I wonder what happened to the Dwemer that lived here? And that vein of ore? It had soul gems in it, naturally occurring soul gems. The College mages should come here, I bet they could study for decades.”

“What was it you said before, my Thane? They tend not to leave their protecting College, even when something is within their sight?”

“Okay, you’re right. This actually is sort of a creepy place when you get down to it.”

“Creepy? My thane, I’m going to have nightmares for weeks from this glow, where things could jump from any shadows around us, and often do.”

“Okay, I can’t argue with that. I think my neck is going to be sore for days from pivoting so many times. In the meantime, though, I think that building on the other side of this bridge is the tower of Mzark.”

We opened the door, ready for battle if need be. Instead, a gentle glow from the walls lit up what basically looked like a study. Except that it held the remnants of a firepit and bedroll. “Okay, that’s different. Someone must have been here exploring at some point.”

A door in front of opened into a room with a huge metal ball, larger than a small house, in the middle of it. Some ruined carpets led off to the left. We followed them up a ramp. A series of stone tables and chairs surrounded the top of this ball. Suspended from the ceiling above was a grouping of round gems, hanging from half a dozen or more arms. The curved pathway continued up to what looked like a control panel.

What looked like an old waste bucket was along one wall, as was a skeleton. A note with the skeleton told the tale of who had owned the bedroll. Some one was sold a cube that sounded a lot like the one Septimus had given me, and then died trying to figure out the puzzle here.

I climbed up to the top, in front of the five pillars. There looked like a spot to put the cube, so I did. The ceiling opened up and light began streaming in. Some of the buttons on the panels were now lit.

I pressed the one on the right and nothing happened. I pushed the next one over and suddenly what looked like some gears in the metal ball started spinning around. I pressed it again, the same thing happened. Again, and things were moving now. Once more, and suddenly the cube opened up, with the insides glowing, and another of the buttons lit up.

I pressed that button and now the long arms with the gems on the ends began swinging around. I pressed it again and they moved into another position, only now they were reflecting the light so that it shone onto several gems on top of the ball. The last button was now lit, so I pressed it.

The arms moved around again, and suddenly seemed to dip down and pull a large crystal from inside the ball. It moved up, turned on it’s side, then opened in the middle into two equal parts. Something was within.

The sides of the cube had returned to their normal position instead of floating over it. I grabbed the cube to give to Septimus when we finally saw him again and then went down to the opened crystal. This was the Elder Scroll I needed. Almost reverently I reached up and took it. Perhaps not as dramatic as when Mother stole an Elder Scroll in Cyrodiil, but still, actually getting and holding an Elder Scroll gave me a thrill inside.

A door on the back of the room led to another lever that seemed to control another lift. Good, I had no desire to go back through Blackreach if we could avoid it. We took the lift. It took us to a locked Dwemer structure on a hill. I threw the lever that unlocked the door.

“I don’t think I knew how good it was to feel the fresh breeze upon my skin. I’m certain at some point we’ll end up back in Blackreach. That was just too creepy for me right now, though.”

“I agree, my Thane. Um, where are we?”

I looked around. There was a tent set up below us, along with a campfire. We were nowhere near Alftand. “I have no idea. I presume we’re still in Skyrim somewhere. It’s late, though. Let’s see if anyone is in this camp. If not we’ll spend the night here and head out in the morning.”

There was a large tent set up. It looked like someone had been studying the structure here, but it was deserted. Lydia and I took turns on watch through the night, getting some sleep and resting, recovering some of the fatigue that built up in our bodies due to combat. I had the last watch and woke her as dawn approached.

“Well, I spent the last bit of my watch studying my map. I don’t think we’re too far away from some place we’ve been in the past, we just need to find a reference point. Now that the sun is coming up and we can see, that’s got to be the Throat of the World there to the south. There’s a building of some kind down there, just to our north. I’m hoping there’s a road down there somewhere. Let’s go see.”

The path down the hill took us near the entrance of the fort. As we approached the road, several bandits came running out of the fort to attack us. As they closed, I Shouted at them and sent them flying. Lydia and I charged after them and quickly killed them. I felt an arrow bounce off my helm, and we went after the hidden archer as well.