Tamrielic Adventures

[Eltee]

Llela slung the bow and the quiver, filled her pockets with jewelry to be sold and Molag Mar, and slid the scroll, rolled up, up her sleeve.

In a rather large hurry, the duo set off, after Llela spun him around a few times to disorient him.

They arrived at the ruin just as the sun was setting. Like many ruins, it was at the back of a narrow valley bounded on either side by steep, unforgiving, sandy, ashy rock. It consisted of a half dozen Dwemeri towers clustered around an entrance. Mysterious gyroscopes perched on the spires of the towers.

Llela whistled. "Dwemer ruins always gave me this thrill in my heart." she said. "How about you? 'Volenfell' has it's own population of ruins, doesn't it? Have you explored one before?"

[MARS]

"I've been into one or two," Llevana replied, gazing at the marvelous bronze building. "But they had both been...inhabited. By things not Dwemer, I mean."

[Eltee]

Nchardumz

"Automatons?" Llela inquired, as she picked over the uneven terrain toward the ancient doorway. "Or something worse?"

[MARS]

"Just people," Llevana replied, as they approached the ruin. "Smugglers of the worst kind. They distributed cheap skooma among the cityfolk. That was only part of their scheme, though. You see, the drugs had been badly made on purpose; the side effects were very specific..."

Without going into too much detail, Llevana explained how the big smuggling network in Hammerfell worked as they were searching for a way to open the ruin's door:

First, the potential addicts were given normal skooma. Then, when enough people had been drawn into the addiction cycle, the suppliers lay low, and no one could get their fix. Then, just at the right moment, new suppliers (in cahoots with the old ones) came into town, selling their cheap skooma knock-off. As their health waned because of the drug, the addicts would give all sorts of things away; jewlery, family heirlooms, houses and land if they were wealthy, sometimes even their children.

"Evett's Brewers, as they called themselves, didn't shy away from slavery either." Llevana's voice was bitter. "Slavery has officially been abolished almost everywhere, but it still exist...everywhere."

[Eltee]

"Sons of [&@%!]." Llela swore, furrowing her brow. "One of the reasons I kept loyal to the Guild was because it kept the damn Camonna Tong dealers out of Balmora."

They came up the the imposing, bronze door of the ruin. Grey ash was piled up a half a foot at the foot of the door.

[MARS]

The lever that opened the door wasn't hard to find. Soon enough the two Dunmer were inside the ruin, and the clanking of metal on metal filled their ears. Centurions.

[Eltee]

In a smooth motion, Llela pulled an arrow from the quiver, strung, drew aimed. She blinked in the darkness. "You know a light spell?" she asked urgently.

[MARS]

Spoiler:

I honestly don't remember 'Vana's spell repetoire >_>

"Uh..."

Llevana had cast a few Illusion spells before. The light she cast was dim, but it was better than complete darkness.

"They...don't have a hivemind do they?" she asked. "If we destroy one the rest won't be alerted?"

[Eltee]

Llela shook her head. "No hivemind. But they can hear really damned well, so we need to be quiet."

[The-Shadow-One]

Ship of Gundrun.
Kerin ran after Aythu. "A-ah, wait!" he said a puppy at her heels.

[MARS]

Ship

Five crew members eyed the vampire with suspicion as she barged into the lower deck. Deimos simply walked further down the hallway, at a regular pace.


Nchardumz

"Hrmmmm," Llevana said with a frown. "I hope you know what you're doing."

[JVElEven]

Ship

"Keep up!" Aythu called back towards Kerin as she slowed down slightly, staying a few paces behind Deimos.

[The-Shadow-One]

Kerin tried just that, he didn't like the crews looks at Aythu, he kept a hand on his weapon.

[Eltee]

"I'm a professional amateur." Llela said impishly, giving Llevana a quick peck on the nose.

"Okay, let's go." With that, she began stealthily advancing, her Netch Leather boots making scarcely a sound, an arrow nocked but not drawn.

Spoiler:

Shall you, or shall I?

[MARS]

The Ship

Deimos walked into a cabin at the end of the hall, and closed the door. Aythu heard the snap of the lock sound twice as the Bosmer turned the key. The view had been obstructed, and so the vampire hadn't seen what was in the cabin.

Nchardumz

The two Dunmer advanced slowly, as one of the automatons was standing in place very close by the end of the stairs. Fortunately for the adventurers, it was facing away from them, allowing them to move forward into the corridor on their right. Now their luck had run out, however. A Centurion Sphere was facing them at the end of the hallway. It hadn't seen them yet, but it had taken note of the light and had started rolling forward.

"[&@%!], what do?" Llevana hissed as the Dwemer construct approached, slowly but steadily.

[Eltee]

Nchardumz

"They're weak to fire. Aim for the joints. Stay light on your feet." Llela advised grimly. She smoothly drew and aimed, sighting along the shaft toward the whirring mechanisms in the sphere's abdomen. She was poised to release the moment Llevana made her move.

[MARS]

Spoiler:

Damn, has it really been three days? Other things on my mind, sorry.

Llevana nodded briefly, and sprinted forward, making sure she was out of Llela's line of fire, however. She was hoping to distract the automaton so that Llela could get a clearer shot.

The plan was going in the desired direction; the Dwemer construct saw Llevana as the bigger threat and took a swing at her. The Dunmer diverolled over the blade, giving Llela a clear view of the mechanical guardian.

[Eltee]

Llela let out a pent-up breath, as she released the arrow, sending it flying toward the whirring gears of the guardian's midsection. The chitinous arrowhead pierced some tube that emitted a burst of steam, before getting jammed in the complex gears. The Dwemer's pace slowed slightly, and its shield-arm went stiff as a board.

[MARS]

The other automaton in the room noticed the commotion, and started rolling towards Llevana. The Dunmer didn't feel like the same strategy would work a second time. Instead, she backpedalled, and shot a fireball at the centurion. It was visibly damaged, but didn't stop moving.

Llevana sprinted back into the narrow corridor, and gave the badly damaged automaton what for with a kick to the part that Llela had destroyed. The bronze construct fell over with a loud clank, and stayed down. Meanwhile, the other automaton had made its way into the hallway.

[Eltee]

Llela launched another arrow, but this one bounced harmlessly off of the construct's metal carapace. She same fate met her second arrow. "Three curses!" She swore loudly, quickly shouldering her bow, before jumping onto it's back, hopefully throwing the sphere off-balance.

[MARS]

The automaton seemingly lost it. It started jerking around violently, swinging its metallic arms, and letting out more steam than usual. Llevana didn't hesitate. She launched forward, and pressed her hand against one of the joints of the sphere's carpace, letting fire shoot forth from her palm. It wasn't long before the centurion stopped moving.

"Well," Llevana said, only to be interrupted by the loud clank of the Dwemer construct falling onto the metal floor. "That was exciting."

[Eltee]

Llela fell to the ground with the construct, with a loud yelp.

"Uhh... That's one word for it." Llela agreed stiffly, sitting up. Thick globules of blood dribbled from her right index finger, which she stuck in her mouth. "I pinched myself in it, the thrice damned mechanical [&@%!]..." she muttered, before sticking it right back in.

[MARS]

Spoiler:

I just realized that I was looking at the map the wrong way. What I just described was the second level >_>

"Better bandage that up, and disinfect it as soon as you get the chance," Llevana said. "This place is awfully dusty."

They searched the room for valuables, and found a heavy chest, full of Dwemer clutter. Only a few of the pieces were valuable, but the money they'd make would keep them afloat for a while.

"Do you want to go deeper, or is this enough?" Llevana asked.

[Eltee]

Llela rolled her shoulders. "I'm up for some more adventuring if you are, love."