Sitting in front of the desk of the sole reason why Raven went to Markarth instead of his mates home Solited, the Zangoose was tapping his metal claw against the said desk and looked anything but amused "So... let me get it straight... you have sent me a letter to order me here, with the wholehearted addition that I have to stop everything I was doing for what? Killing a spider and find your lost expedition?"
"That?s right!" told the desk?s owner Calcelmo, the Altmer Scholar who specialized in researching the Dwemer "The spider was discovered as I had sent somebody after the expedition to bring over some additional papers, and since they haven?t returned yet despite the time that had passed since then. So I called for the best guy to explore a Dwemer place. You!"
"While I am flattered" replied Raven "I am certain that calling in a fire type to roost that spider would be faster. Especially since I know that at least two fire type mercenaries are in town. Not to mention the guards, where properly a few know either fire spells or fire moves. In the time you waited for me, you could have easily sent two entire expeditions in to find your other one. Not to mention that we three have to prepare one anyway." and gestured to his two female companions, his old friend Selena and his mate Lycra.
"Nope. You are going in NOW. I want that spider gone and the expedition found. So that at least their findings can be saved." countered the Altmer and Raven were slightly gritting the teeth. That old elf was only interested in his research. If anybody dies for it was low on this one?s priority list.
"We are talking about going after a fully equipped research expedition. With how many armed people? A dozen? two?" asks Raven in irritation while pointing his thumb at the direction where the entrance to the expedition?s path lies "For one to Dwemer ruins that lies deeper, which in itself is dangerous to go unprepared thanks to these guys love for traps and automated defences. Second, there is always the risk of running into Falmer, which is by itself not a good thing. And lastly, third, they haven?t returned yet. If they are down there as long as you claim, they are dead anyway as they would have no way brought so much food and water with them. So they got either stuck or attacked. Both cases were not very good to go in unprepared. We cannot bring you anything back if we are death ourselves."
Calcelmo looked evil at Raven but leans back ``You are right. I give you two days to prepare and rest. Then I want you past that door, doing your job.''
Gritting his teeth once again, Raven recently said ``Good. We see us later.'' and stood up, leaving the two females going after him.
Lycra was the first to speak once it was certain that the old Altmer wouldn't hear them ``Raven. That is insane. There is no way we can be prepared properly that fast.''
``Not to mention that we are only three. What chances do we have?'' asks Selena with her arms spread.
"That guy is not one you can argue about time tables. Trust me, I tried in the past. I simply took his offer to give us two days and we have just to see how far we can get. Luckily we are relatively well-equipped weapons wise already. So we only need fresh food and water for our deep dive." explains Raven and rubs his chin "And if we lucky perhaps one or two people who can aid us. Preferable one of them knowing how to crack open locks."
``Do you really expect locked doors and chests to loot down there?'' deadpans Lycra with crossed arms
"Yes," told Raven and points back to where they came from "That guy won?t pay us so any expenses must be covered by loot."
Lycra looked at Raven even more ``I hate that guy so much at this point.''
To which the Zangoose just shrugged "Believe me... if I knew somebody who has as much experience with Dwemer techs like this guy, who can keep my arm in working condition for reasonable price or condition, I would have dumbed that elf ages ago." which brought back the reason why Raven agreed of coming. Without somebody to maintain it regularly, it would be a matter of time until it breaks down as it wasn?t built by the Dwemer themselves. And even then, most Dwemer tech received maintenance by their self moving machines.
Lycra and Selena hung their heads to that. Both wanted to help Raven but they lack the contacts or skills for that. Sure the female Luxray may be one of the best Smiths in Skyrim, but she could at best only make the pieces. Not assemble them in a way that works.
The three first went to the inn where they rent a room and sat on a table while having mead delivered to them. They stared at each other in silence, while quietly thinking about their main problem.
Until Lycra spoke out the mammoth in the room ``How are we supposed to track and potentially save an expedition that is only Dialga knows how long down there with only three people?''
``I don'T know.'' answered Raven honestly ``Even under best conditions we need to be four to carry everything we need and still have enough fighting power to escort any survivors back. And that is not counting in the Dwemer traps and machines.''
``And how should that work?'' asks Selena and spreads her arms with a loud huff ``It isn't like we are gesturing to the door, somebody comes in that knows you and offers to help us.''
Lycra chuckled a bit of this "It would be like the one coming in is also your daughter." and gestured as the Persian suggested to the door.
At this moment the door opens and an Umbreon in white and red colour wearing a body-tight leather armour came in and moves towards the three and smiles to the zangoose of the trio "Hi. Are you Raven?"
``Yes....'' said Raven, a hand on his sword ``And you are?''
``I am Jay!'' smiles the girl and holds out her hand ``Bree?s daughter.''
Raven stared at her ``You mean the Umbreon that... didn't know she was already a mother.'' while holding his hand out as well.
Grabbing the hand, Jay giggled ``Mom didn't think to tell that much, not to mention that she is quite open in relationships so she didn'T bother to tell you she is mated.'' before sitting down on the remaining chair of their table. ``WHile me for my part want to see that one mon that caught her fancy and didn't keep at home.''
``Well thank you'' stated Raven and recalled what he still remembers about Bree and what her home is supposed to be like ``YOu got a long trip to just see me.''
``Don'T worry. I wanted to take a long trip outside of home anyway.'' smiles the girl ``YOu seem to be planning something. Can I help?''
That made Selena blink ``WEll... we are planning to go after an expedition in a Dwemer ruin but-''
"Perfect" declared Jay with a fist bump into the air "I already fought all kinds of "want me dead" creatures, including a dragon and a giant but I still lack Dwemer machines and Falmers!"
To which the two normal and the one electric type on the table stared at the Umbreon with wide eyes. "You... are looking forward to going... into a properly trap-filled, deadly place just to... fight there?"
``Bingo!'' smirks Jay with a thumbs up and Lycra looks at Raven ``Was this Bree... that crazy as well?''
"More in the bedding department" was Raven?s reply "Not the fighting deadly things side of things."
``Well... we really could use a fourth party member.'' admits the Persian of the group slowly ``How... are you with fighting? Prefer long or close range?''
``Close! Definitely close!'' smiles Jay ``So you and da- I mean Raven can stay back with your crossbow and bow while the electric kitty and I are mowing down the enemies close and personal!''
"Well... she is looking forward to it" admits Raven to his two female companions "And if she can fight like her mother than I would only worry about traps and Centurions."
``What kind of fighting monster is her mother?'' asks Lycra in a whisper.
"Saw her breaking a Giants head clean off with a thrown stone." was Raven?s answer. IN a tone that the Luxray learned he only uses for serious context. And the electric type just asks herself why Raven didn?t stick with that Umbreon if she was that powerful. That is a question she will ask later.
Looking at his female companions once more, Raven asks ``And? Do we agree with we welcome here into the party.''
``I trust your judgement here'' affirmed Lycra to her mate while placing an arm on his shoulder. Selena just shrugs as to say she is playing along for now.
Raven nodded and looks at the Umbreon "In this case: Welcome to our little group. We will shop tomorrow morning for supplies and then go into the ruins."
"Got it!" smiles the red and white female and tossed a bag with gems on the table "Than let me help out with the cost."
The jaw drop of the three is something Jay swore to forget for the rest of her life and giggled loudly at the sight.
The next day
After a restful night, (And recovering from the surprises of the day before) Raven and the girls were having breakfast, thought Raven broke one of the few rules he had regarding alcohol and took a cup of mead in the morning, Selena and lycra joining in.
Why?
Because Jay had already been awake for the gods how long and had bought EVERYTHING they could need for a tour into the Dwemer ruins. Including bolts and arrows for the respective long-range weapons and scrolls for magical attacks. And a bunch of Soul Gems for Raven?s arm.
And for the love of the seven, he cannot wrap his head around how that girl could know that Raven needs SOUl gems for his arm. He never told her and her mother cannot know because back then he still had both organic arms made of flesh and blood.
``I swear...'' sighs Selena with a shaking head and looks at Raven ``IF she is like that down the ruin, I rather feel sorry for any Falmer we meet instead of worrying for our lives.''
``I think that is a bit far'' stated Lycra with a shaking head ``I don't think she is going so far... not to mention she is here on the table, eating with us.''
``Don'T worry about it'' grins Jay while putting her hands on the fellow females shoulders ``People like me and my mother just need some time to get used too. Don'T worry too much. And I am not that bad as my mother.''
Raven rose his single eyebrow, wondering if that should make him feel better or if it was an implied threat... given how outgoing she is, he assumed the former.
Sadly. Given what he remembers. Then looks down his cup. Would it be too late for his life choices if he takes a page of his Murkrow friend Qrow? Then again... he doesn?t like to end up him as the bird?s nieces Ruby and Yang grew fed up with their uncle?s antics so he threw that thought into a chest, locked it, melts the key and throws the chest into the deepest hole he could find, hoping no adventurer would ever find it again.
Shaking his head to get rid of the thoughts that run in his mind at the moment, he went for the next best solution of all of this... simply accepting it simple and go with the flow until he got a better idea. And finished his cup.
Sometime later
Calcelmo was already looking impatient in front of the door to the underground ruins and asks ``What did take you so long? I thought I made it clear that-''
"Shut up old fart," told Jay simply "WE had to at least get a decent breakfast to ensure we don?T need to break out our rations too early. Who knows how long we are going to spend down there."
The elf stared at Jay for a few seconds in shock before he shakes his head "Fine! Think what you want." and hands Raven a key "Just ensure you lock up behind you. Don?t want this damned Spider getting up here in case you die down there!"
"Thank you for your confidence in our survival," stated Raven in a very dry tone. So dry that one has to question if Raven got any ground or rock types as ancestors. They headed over to the door and passed through it thanks to the key and walked down the cave tunnel until they had to take a curve. Raven glances over and narrows his single good eye "I can see that this ends in a larger room... and sure enough, the big bad spider is walking there as well.
The experienced Mercenary was taking some thoughts and nodded "Well.. good news and bad news" he whispered to the three females in town "Bad news: THe room is pretty tight for a place with a Frost Spider of that size. Good news its size, and with that space its legs needs, is too large by now for it to pass through the tunnel."
"So, in short, the danger lies only for those who are going to this place or to the deeper ruins?" asks Lycra with a hint of surprise "That works surprisingly well for us."
"Indeed" Selena agreed with a smile AND makes it killing it super easy. Just get its attention, pepper it with arrows and spells and BANG it?s done."
"We can do even one better" announced Jay and grins at Raven "You will see soon!" and suddenly rushes towards the spider.
The other three are frozen for a second of surprise before Raven shouts ``Stop it! YOu are getting yourself killed!'' and runs after her, just to see that the spider had already noticed her, screeching at her and was shooting its poison over which Jay rolled under it before summoning a sword.
The Spider was trying to bite her with its fangs but Jay was faster and slammed the sword into the opening, straight through the head into the body, killing it.
Raven just stared at that. While the stunt was good, it was also dangerous like hell. Like what would have Jay done if she were too slow or missed? Then she would have known why so many died to Frost Spiders in Skyrim.
Dismissing the blade, Jay smiled and turned around ``Spider is dead! YOu can come now!''
And soon the three where there... with Raven slapping Jay?s head "NEVER do something like that! That was beyond recklessness! That stunt had better chances of KILLING you than pulling it through. There is a reason many die to those things. ANd one of the most common are fools who think they are easy to kill. And that one, in particular, is at a size I rarely encounter and glad that they reach rarely!"
Jay, who rubbed her hit check looked down with ears lowered ``I thought it would be cool and would get your prise.''
"Next time do something less likely to kill you." stated Raven simply and looks around "Now we have to burn all that webbing just to find the door."
``Great...'' muttered Lycra ``I hate that.'' and looks around.
Selena was not really thinking about it and rather considered the reliability of simply burning the webbing as she moved up some stairs until she notices ``Hey! Here is a body!''
That caught the attention of the others and they moved up, finding a dead soldier. The Persian searched it and found a note or rather... "Its a letter for a Salonia." and looks over it "Those researchers were of the kind that examines every inch it seems... with only one being competent. And two seems to be up to something. At least if this soldier is right."
"Sounds even more likely we are only finding bodies" stated Raven as the Persian handed over the letter to him, which he pockets, for now, to give it Calcelmo later. Looking at where the body lies he took a breath and shoots a flamethrower at the webbing, burning it away and reveals a door.
``FOund it'' jokes Lycra and she and went first there and slowly opens the door. ``Nothing behind it.''
"Still." cautioned Raven "Let?s be not hasty" and took out his crossbow, while Selena got her own bow and Jay going right to Lycras side, the formation they had agreed on for this trip. And they walked down the door.
``Definitely Dwemer ruin'' chuckled Selena as they got down the corridor and they reached soon the end of the tunnel... and found themselves on a bridge. Leaning over the edge, Raven muttered ``WEll... below us is a lot of water. Not sure intentional or if it got flooded'' and turned in direction of the only way they could go... and whispered ``Falmer!''
With that, all got down on kneeling positions and peered over... and found the one Raven saw. Waiting for a moment it seems to be only one so Selena draws the string of her bow and aimed carefully... before releasing his bow and hit the Falmer through the neck. Their ears picked up a quiet gurgling as it tried to shriek but it was useless for the degenerate being that was dying. Moving forward to it, it seems it was a sole guard or the like and Jay were quick to ends it?s suffering from a dagger into the skull.
They moved furthermore thought Lycra motioned them to stop and Raven followed her gaze and saw why... another Flamer. One that somehow didn?T notice that dying squeals of its comrade OR that somebody was passing by with full-body metal armour. Nobody said a word of that oddity, only for Jay moving over and quickly snapping the neck of this thing.
She turned then and whispered, "I see another one." Selena moved over, nodded at the finding she draws her bow and released an arrow while Raven moved past the dispenser object that normally released Dwemer Spheres when somebody is close by and got at the end of this bridge construct and saw that the Persians aim was true.
The other females joined in soon and were glad that they managed to get so far without Falmer not having truly noticed them... because that means they weren?T expected from here on. And Falmer expecting any intruders to "Their" territory is always a bad thing. Following the still only path they could, they reach a dor and moved past it.
Inside the building, they didn?t need to move far before Raven stated: "Looks like we found the quarters of this town."
"The first thing here to reach are quarters?" asks Selena in surprise "Kinda odd if you want to keep defences up."
``To be fair'' mused Lycra ``Normally they would be alarmed by the activation of the Spheres which are if anything very noisy''
That Selena accepted and Jay wondered ``How comfortable are those beds?''
``I am not planning to sleep here at all if we can help it'' countered Raven hotly ``Not in a Famer infested Ruin. That's too dangerous. Not to mention they slept on stone beds.''
"I take back my question" was the quick answer of the girl. They turned further only to hear a shriek and seeing two Falmer?s rushing forward to them. QUickly, Lycra grabbed her magic sword and made a heavy swing, which created a vertical beam which cut through the first Falmer, the two halves falling forward while the other swung its sword at Jay, who blocked it with one dagger and while driving the other into the skull from below, killing it in an instant.
Raven and Selena and their long-ranged weapons drawn and were ready to fire them... but no more Falmer came and they lowered it.
``Seems like they were inexperienced... and didn't pick up the two of us'' stated Raven to the Persian.
``What makes you say that?'' asks Jay in wonder
Pointing to the two, Raven states ``If they had thought for a second, they would have run and alarmed the rest of them, forcing us to face gods know how many enemies at once. Here at this, they rushed blindly and got killed. Leaving none the wiser until the bodies are discovered.''
Accepting that explanation, the four moved further and deeper into these ruins. It took a while but they found a camp... with a few bodies and a couple of Flamers. Guessing those are members of the Expedition. Making a quick count of four Falmer?s and one Spider, the four were quick to decide their next course of action.
Starting first, Selena let first off an arrow, followed by a bolt of Raven to hit the first two Falmer?s, which shrieks in surprise as the projectiles hit their bodies, the one hit with the bolt getting pierced in the hair the other still standing but clenching the arrow in pain before Jay was close and finished it off with a cutthroat.
The other two and the spider was quick to come in but the spider met its end as Ravens Heavy boot crushed its shoe size body. Lycra finished her Falmer off by taking a hit with her armour before slamming the blade at the head, cracking it and piercing the body with the weapon.
The last one of the enemy group was swinging his sword around to keep Jay at bay while blocking her attacks with his shield. Only to have suddenly its head grabbed by Raven?s metal arm with all the strength the mechanical limb could give, got smashed into the wall, smearing its blood over.
``Not many of them here'' muttered Jay ``Was really-''
"Don?T finish that thought" interrupted Selena as she was putting her weapon away and the group swiped the bodies. Recovering still useful arrows, anything of worth and a Dairy from a guy named Stromm. Raven took the reading this time and studies its contents. Once he was done, he closes the book and stated "That is one part of the expedition... sadly they split up. AND they saw the Falmer come. But instead of retreating and come back stronger, they pushed on and hoped closing off some passages would be enough."
``So we can confirm that at least one part of the entire expedition is gone.'' deadpans Lycra while crossing her arms ``IF we are lucky we find the other half alive.''
Looking over to her, Selena shrugs ``My bet is still more on terms of we bring back proof of their passing.''
"Well... let?s get going" stated the Zangoose of the group "With Falmer presence established, I prefer NOT to stay around in one place where they can gang upon us. For now, we seem to be unnoticed... which can change at any time."
"Then why didn?T we just drop the bodies into the water as we had the chance," asks Jay. Only to earn a stare at her from the other three "And risking that every Falmer HEARS the splash?" was the reply she got. To which she laughed weakly and rubbed the back of her head "WEll... Uhm..."
"Let?s just go" sighs Lycra heavily. "And find the other group" and the group once again began their walk through this ruin. But in the end, they had to leave thought the same door as they came into this part thought as they exit it...
Raven was looking in a deadpan and turns to his female companions ``Any of you having a plan WHY we didn'T see that ramp before?''
``Properly due how dark it is here.'' suggested Selena and shrugs ``And it isn'T like we had any other choice at the moment regarding how to continue if we want to find that other part of the expedition.''
With a grumbling sound, the Mercenary and his female companions moved over to the previously missed Ramp and prepare to simply decent down to the water levels. And they saw a single door in swimming reach.
``Well, since I don'T see any other door due to the dark at the moment, I guess that is our best bet moving right now.''
"Let?s hope we don?t have to sweep every corner we could reach to find them," added Jay with a shrug and they swam over to the door and starts moving through it.
The first thing they encountered was Falmers but luckily they were just passing through and didn?t notice, and hence not bother with the group and the four decided to tail the Falmers for now as it seems to be the best bet to find the other group... thought they stopped as they passed a small camp. While it was only three people there, one of them having a dairy that confirmed the deaths are not the whole remaining party, it at least confirms the dead guard at the entrance to this underground city suspicion. As helpful as it will be in the afterlife. So they went in the opposite direction as the found bodies were split from the main party.
Something that got a sort of confirmation as they entered a room with inactive Dwemer Autonomous and one dead body at the feet of a chest. Recovering this guys dairy they took also the chance of raiding the chest the wannabee thief opened before dead before they moved on. Which included a complete set of Dwemer Armor. SOmething Lycra is looking forward to work on to fit it for her.
Which leaves to follow the expedition further, passing through a door and found more inactive parts of the Dwemer defence systems. "Oddly, they are turned off" mused Lycra "I have heard a lot of such ruins and not a single one stated that they had inactive Defenses. A few spots had none, but they were not that important as far we can tell." explained the electric type.
Finding nothing else they went back to that other camp and continued their path from there, reaching one more door and inside... they froze. Noises hit them and looking up to the source they saw on the bridge they came from were Falmer, shouting. And it wasn?t hard to guess that they found the bodies and rang the alarm.
So the four did the smart thing and rushed down the hall that was in front of them, hoping to find a good defensible position. ON their way they got to two Falmers rushing towards them and they didn?T spend a long time thinking. Lycra tackles the first one and unleashed a Thunder attack point-blank while Raven was at the other, expending one of his Soul Gems to blast a hole into the creature?s body before the group keeps running. Thought they got a bad feeling is bodies start to show up, piling nearly until they reach the last room... a single door, a switch and one guy leaning at the wall, bleeding out by several stabbing wounds and arrows.
Quickly Raven took the open pages of the book, confirming it was a JOurnal and then called ``Pull the Lever!'' to which Jay without question did as asked. Once done, the sounds of the machines shifted and Lycra asks ``What did we just do?''
"We activated this cities defence system... the Falmer will have no handle the fact they are suddenly attacked from all angles" explains Raven and points to the door "Those spiders were the only thing that kept the Falmers away from Markarth at this point... now we added that layer too."
``That ruins other expeditions in the near future but I think that is better than a town being overrun by Falmer.'' mused Jay ``Now we have to get out of here.''
"Let?s hope that this door leads to an exit we can use." nodded Selena and peeked out of the door and blinked "YOu... should watch with me." and to that, all of them passed through the door and they all saw that... the Falmer were really busy fighting with ever-growing forces of autonomous.
"Well.. that takes care of one problem" mused Raven as he gestures to the battlefield.
Jay on the other hand points over to a stone path next to them. "And that will allow us to get back to our exit." and upon looking they could confirm it. Without thinking they run up the path, jumps down the ledge that brings them back to the bridge they entered first the city and heads back up to Calcelmo.
``You are back already? Giving up or what?'' asks the Mer.
Shaking the head Raven stated "No... we found them. Slaughtered by Falmer." explains Raven while handing over the books and notes they recovered "WE were forced to turn on the inactive Dwemer defence systems."
"That is a catastrophe" shouts Calcelmo and put the books on his table "No matter how you would have solved it, in the long run, it was bad. Ether Flamer killing us all or Dwemer Defenses making it next to impossible to get in without heavy losses." and he sighs as he calmed down "Well... it cannot be helped here. At least I am now certain what happened to them. And can at least learn something from their notes. For that, you have my thanks. And I will, of course, keep our agreement to keep your arm updated."
``Thank you'' stated Raven simply and nods ``IF you excuse us... we like to go back to the Inn... and leave the city tomorrow.''
``Of course. I send a letter if I need you again'' he stated and dismissed the group.
As they were leaving, Raven turns to Jay ``Well. What do you think?''
"It was quite the adventure." smiles Jay and put her hands behind her head, "I think I stick around for a bit longer with you. I am looking forward to seeing what happens on the trip to wherever you want to go next."
"That would be our home in Solitude" smiles Lycra and embraces her mate. Jay saw Selena biting her lower lip and the young Umbreon got an interesting thought in her mind regarding that scene.
