In front of the closed mines of Raven Rock stood Raven, Thema and Lycra and the Luxray had a big grin on her face before turning to the other two ``Ready for a deep exploration of this mine?''
"Are you sure that there is still any ore left?" wondered Raven "They closed it off for a reason after all."
``I can feel it in my gut'' countered Lycra with a confident fist bump into her mate
"Let is go" Thema mused as she leads the way
Lycra patted raven on the ass as she went ahead and once they entered, they witnessed the fight between... an elder imperial and a Dunmer
"Damn it, woman!" shouts the man, "I said to leave me be!"
"Crescius, last time you explored the mine you almost fell to your death. I?m not spending the rest of my days as a widow!" countered the elf
Crescius points at her ``And I'm telling you that I'll do whatever it takes to find my great-grandfathers remains. He's down here, I can feel it!''
``That was two centuries ago, there may be nothing left to find.''
``Just let me go, woman!''
and with that the woman had enough ``Crecius, you're an obstinate old fool and you're going to get yourself killed.''
Crecius was about to counter but notices the trio ``Who the blazes are you? Can't you see we're busy?''
``We're only passing through.'' countered Lycra ``To see if the mine still holds ore.''
"Then you?re fools. The mine is closed due to no more ore left here." said the woman
``But here is a secret that will make Raven Rock be back on the map!''
"And what kind of Secret?" asks Raven
``A secret the East Empire Company swept under the rug two centuries ago.'' explains the old man.
``That might be true.'' mused Thema ``I can feel an unresting spirit down there. But I cannot say if it is good or evil.''
``How will you be able to tell?'' demands the elf.
"I am a Source." was the Weavile?s simple answer.
The elf stepped back ``The ones that use the spirits and put them to rest? But then...''
``I told you!'' called Crecius out
``That only means something IS down there'' countered Raven ``We will look at it while we look for the ore we believe is here.''
``As long you find something down there, I will be happy'' grunts Crecius and simply starts leaving the mine for now.
The elf sighs ``WEll... thank you for at least stopping him going down there. But be careful.''
The two had gotten ahead of her again, his mat teasing her from a distance, the Waviletaking her time to catch up.e
As they descend down the mine, Lycra checked on the walls and shakes her head "That there is no more ore is a total lie."
"But instead we got Frost Spiders here." added Raven and from a railing and lands on top of one while slamming his blade to its "comrade" next to it, killing both on this way.
The female sighed as he showed off ``show off as always I guess''
They descend further and saw a hastily blocked off wall and Raven broke it down with his arms and they move further in... but stopped as architecture came
"What the? That?s a Nordic Ruin down here!" came from Lycra and moves to one of the walls and looks at the dead Draugs lying there "Is this what the Imperial Trading COmpany found down here?"
``Must be.'' mused THema ``WHich means the spirit I feel could be one of the stronger Draugs. I can at least feel now multiple weaker ones having their rest here, ready to raise and fight against any invader.''
"Not sure what I expected, they always are, just seeing a Nordic ruin so far from Skyrim feels... wrong" Lycra replied ding around to check for any old traps.
"I heard rumours... but this is the first time I really see it" admits Raven "on the other hand, the land was always one of difficulty, not many explored it to its full extent."
"Well," one of them motioned around to the rubble then the ruins "someone did, someone did have to carve dis place out, no? Then another found it and tried to seal it up again" Thema looked over the rubble of the thin wall of stones raven had pushed through "looked as only dust or ash held it together after a few years"
``That's right... I wonder what they found or if they gave up.'' mused Raven ``SUch ruins held treasure but sometimes it is difficult to reach that treasure at all.''
Lycra nodded in agreement while drawing her large two-handed sword "then let?s go."
And the three began to move... and indeed were attacked by Draug, had to avoid traps but also found Soul Gems, money and old weapons and armour they packed for Lycra to work on them later for her shop.
Thema found a dragon priest dagger on the floor by a wall ``was this doing here?''
Raven narrows his eye "Careful. This means normally here is a Dragon Priest buried. And those buggers tend to get alive if we get too close" and they keep moving... until they stopped in front of an opening leading into a large cave... but the floor is only reachable by jumping down and then their only chance getting out would be only possible by finding the alternative exit.
``Shall we jump? If we don't find a way to open that door over there, we will be stuck, like those two guys'' explains Raven, pointing to two sets of skeletal remains.
Lycra tapped her paw on the stone ``maybe we should hold off on this part of the mine, I would rather not be trapped here''
She shifted to look at the drop
``If not the worst case one could climb this wall actually, these hex rocks may be steep but not beyond hand holds''
``What if only one of us moves down and the other two wait?'' offered Thema to the two others and they thought to consider it.
"Then you should go," said Raven to the weavile "You don?T wear anything heavy like Lycra and you?re also much lighter than me."
"Those words are of truth" nodded Thema "I will do it" and she climbed down and starts exploring the large cave, first by investigating the two skeletons. And by one of them, she found a journal and starts to study it. "I think I found it. That journal belongs to Gratian Caerellius from the East Empire Company. It detailed what happened to him. And that he wishes the journal returned to the family." and he kneels down "And a lot involves with the sword he has with him."
Then she looks at the strange door ``And we need it to open that door... I can sense it now. A dragon priest is behind it.''
"A dragon priest?" shouts Raven in nervosity "That?s not good. As long this isn?t dealt with, the Draug will keep coming back. Even if we prove that mine is still available for full operations, the danger for any workers is too great."
Lycra chewed her lip while she was thinking, Thema looked around for a way to open the door "they couldn?t just seal the Draugbehind the door with him could day? Nooo need to leave some out here to be dicks to wanderers"
She turned her gaze to the large red blade ``huh how odd, never seen a blade like this''
``What does that diary of this guy say?'' asks Raven in curiosity.
She read the journal then looked at the sword then up at raven, her mouth open to speak, then closed, she looked at the door.
"W-we should return" she closed the journal and set it down "I am getting feeling we should leave this for another, someone else is destined to kill that priest and take the blade" she looked to raven for his thoughts on how they should proceed
"Is this your gut feeling or one of your genuine look into the future?" asks Raven? "I say we at least report that this mine is still useable. After all, it would improve the town?s situation."
She sighed
"very fine then, from da journal find here. Shows this... sword can send out red ribbon slash of magic, when is swung, seems the poor fellow was too along dead to have the strength to swing it"
She moved to the unusual red greatsword and taps it to call Raven?s attention to it.
The Zangoose looks at it and looks at Lycra, who instantly took the hint and took it "I am better with such a large weapon after all." and looks at the gate and gave it a test swing, and that red ribbon appears as mentioned. "I take we have to hit the red lines of those beams?" she asks while pointing to the gate.
Nodding to that Thema points as well "That?s the best clue we get from the journal." and to that Lycra did like they thought aloud and indeed. Each line hit by the beam, makes the rocks move until no stone with red lines remain and the last slash was to "split the door open" as one could say.
``Well... that door is open. And we got swinging blades as rewards'' deadpans Raven ``Of course we got those.''
Lycra grumbled and pinched his shoulder as if it was his fault for the sad turn."hey! Protested Raven "I didn?t design that tomb. Or one of my ancestors... at least I don?t know any that lived on this island."
``L-Let's just hurry up'' she smelled of lust as she went by, her love of danger was annoying sometimes she imagined.
He rolled his eyes as he followed with Thema and the three are keep moving thought with difficulty with the swinging blades until they reached a door.
Thema stopped them ``ONce we pass this... we will face the Dragon Priest.''
``Any of you ever faced one?'' asks Raven ``I admit I never did.''
Lycra only shakes her head ``No. Thought I never went into a crypt with a Dragon Priest before.''
Thema was ahead of them by a small way now, perhaps a little too focused or nervous, her eyes scanning around the hall and the next. She felt off, dragon priest was on an issue but this one felt... different, to be sealed away like this was not like the normal ones it couldn?t be.
As Raven and Lycra caught up, the Zangoose asked the Weavile "What is on your mind? I can see that you?re on edge..." which the mercenary doesn?t like it... if an undead, be dragon priest, draught, ghost or whatever, she is normally collected and had a little issue as it is her job to deal with them. But if this priest makes her nervous, then he gets nervous.
"This... something?s different, not normal like other priests..." she looked back to the hall, at the end was the chamber, still sealed. She tasted the air "the air is wrong too, heavy with... something, like the air after a lightning storm"
"Heavy... lightning storm?" asks Ravne and saw the water-filled pool "Shit... SHIT!" and as the other two looked at him he exclaims "That priest is going to try to electrocute us. In a pool filled with water."
``What?'' asks Lycra in surprise and sighs loudly ``Just perfect... just perfect'' she muttered and shakes her head. ``At least I have resistance but the two of you...''
``I know'' grunts Raven and narrows his eyes ``That's not good....''
Thema looks down at the body of water "If he is like other Dragon Priest... we got half a minute once he is awake and breaking out of his coffin. In this short time, we need to get past that water. Then we can meet him directly."
Lycra shock her head to that "Then I try to attack from the distance. I am too slow for this with my heavy armour. Not to mention in the water I will sink like a rock first."
Nodding in agreement, Raven then hands her his crossbow and his quiver with the bolts so she could try to shoot the creature. Heck raven even said to shoot once that priest is sticking his head out of this coffin. Lyra was the first to move, getting into a position to aim properly at the Priest if he is to wake up. While Raven and Thema were going behind her in position and counted down form three...
Then they sprint forward and jumped so far over the water as they could and once in the water they swam as fast as they could.
At the jump, the lit of the coffin flew up and the priest floats up, shouting something in Thu'um. While the Luxray didn't understand any of it, it wasn't important now. The important matter was what came now.
To get the primary attention at first, she pulled the trigger and the bolt flew straight at the priest, hitting him straight in the chest. Thought harmful or deadly for most other creatures, the Dragon Priest shouts in pain but pulled the bolt out and tossed away, shouting more while flying towards lycra.
She reloaded the crossbow as fast as possible and aimed once again, wincing as she was hit with a spell... a thunder spell. Like Raven was suspecting it.
Being glad that even with her metal armour she was resistance to electricity and while it hurts, it isn?t killing her in a rate comfortable for the dragon priest.
Thought the priest moving around to avoid being hit by the crossbow once more while keeping shocking her is uncomfortable for her in the long run.
Though thankfully, black sand appeared and pushed the priest around. It shrieks in surprise and turns around to Thema who was controlling this sand with the help of her necromancer spells. Thought she had to stop those spells and get behind the empty coffin to avoid the counterattack of their undead opponent.
Which gave Lycra the chance to shoot and hits the back of the Undead and he shrieks again, turning around again for another attack, only for Raven to drop on him from above.
Raven was held up by Thema with the help of her spells and once the opportunity arose, she dropped the spell... thankfully not too soon as the Weaviles reserves were critical. Raven was far from the weight levels she could comfortably keep up for hours if necessary and with the added problem of her attacking and holding him wasn?t comfortable.
The dragon priest was shaking a lot to get that weight off the back but Raven kept his hold. In fact, he grabbed with the mechanical arm the head and shouts "back to the dead!"
"Raven! No!" shouts Thema, realizing what Raven is planning but she was too late. With a loud boom, unleashed Raven the energy of one of his previous Soul Gems and blew up the Dragon Priest, but got caught in his own blast due to the angle of his arm and flew off, with a burned fur on his chest, landing in the water.
Dropping the crossbow, Lycra shrieks "Raven!" and Thema was the one jumping into the water again and pulled Raven out. he had a burn wound on the chest but luckily nothing too serious as the dragon priest head took the brunt of it. Speaking off... the Luxray had found the mask close to her and was surprised this thing wasn?t even dented by the force of the attack.
Raven grunts in pain as he got back up and moans ``Next time, I don#t do that again.''
"It was a stupid idea from the get-go." scolded Thema
Raven could only agree with her. After a healing potion, Raven and Thema raided their side of the tomb and left through the gate with the plan to come back through the mine with a ladder for Lycra.
the Luxray moved towards the "entry" and waited there. It took a sweet time but the two came back with a said ladder and put it down so that Lycra could climb it up "What took you so long?"
"First, the back exit leads to a tower filled with bandits," told Raven "Second we found a black book."
``A black book?'' asks the electric type in wonder
"A book from Hermaeus Mora." explains Thema while they go back "if you read that book, you enter his realm. Having to pass a test of his to show your worth of the might the book offers."
``What kind of might?'' wondered Lycra than but Thema shock her head ``I am not certain. Legends tell a lot but the dangers are also leading to many mad people. Only a few can walk through the realm of any deadric prince and remain sane.''
"Anyway, we delivered that dairy and told about the mines state. Got a nice reward and the right to mine as much as we can carry." told Raven to his mate "Looks like you can be quite happy now."
"Oh I am," smirks Lycra to her mate and giggles. "I would carry half of this mine back home if I could."
``Yeah, but you have to remain with what you and Raven can carry.'' mused Thema while rubbing her chin ``As I am going around this island once more, putting those lost spirits that are still here to rest.''
``You're not coming with us?'' wondered Lycra ``But why?''
"It?s her duty," said Raven "As a Surge, she has to fulfil a duty. It is rarely a thankful one but an important one. And knowing her we will see her again sooner or later."
``Indeed'' smiles Thema and put a hand on Lycras shoulder ``And then I will teach you more of my wisdom in the arts of Dibella.'' causing the Luxray to blush heavily while Raven was laughing heartily at the scene as they head towards the exit of this mine.
