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Chapter 485 - CII: And They Call It A Mine?
(General POV)
The second day of Raven Rock's rescue, as some of the more eager residents would end up calling it, came with an odd air of peace surrounding the town. A few hundred reiklings still remained scattered in the surroundings but save for the rare report of a crossbow releasing one could be forgiven if they mistook the city to be under no threat.
A siege did not simply disappear and yet here they all were, safe as could be.
Which is why for all the excitement of yesterday, an intrepid trio of eager adventurers found themselves trailing a comrade of theirs as he talked with an old man... Well, it was more like one adventurer dragged his two companions along but the songs will never say that and so neither shall they!
"What is he doing?" Lydia of clan Olafsson of Whiterun, Housecarl to the Dragonborn Crown Princess of the Empire, narrowed her eyes
"Nothing sensible, that much is certain" Junia of the Pennitus Occulatus answered blandly "Something tells me I won't like where this is going."
"Oh do cheer up you two." Marco of Solitude, mage, bard, all around badass (self-proclaimed) and surprisingly a renowned participant in the Arena, rubbed his hands eagerly "I am sure our good friend Stormcloak isn't going to do anything too stupid."
"And yet here we are, following him" Lydia gives him a flat look "You are planning something."
"Me?" He faux gasps "Never!"
"Quiet" Junia hisses as she sees the old man visibly deflate in relief "It looks like they made a deal."
"So he really is going to do it?" Marco mutters with an odd mix of surprise and begrudging respect.
"Yes" Junia nods "And we are not following him."
But sadly for her, Marco only needed the first part of her answer, and was already approaching the man "Skirnir my good man!" He greeted the Nord "What is this I hear about you snooping around the mine?"
The de-facto leader of the Dragon Banner hides his surprise well and merely laughs his 'discovery' off "Adventure calls in these odd lands, and what kind of Nord would I be if I were to miss it?"
"A living one" The annoyed voice of Junia joins them "You do know we were ordered to hold position, yes?"
"Ah but my lady" Skirnir smirks "We were told to hold Raven Rock, and a mine overrun with potentially controllable Draugr is a threat to that order." He lowers his voice "Besides, old Crescius told us he'd give us a copy of all his notes and maps if we were to discover what happened to his great-grandfather, and I doubt our future rulers will mind having veins of ebony open for use."
The silence stretches for a long moment before Lydia mutters "He does have a point..."
Junia sighs "Lydia, no."
"Lydia, yes!" Marco exclaims.
Skirnir, seeing some remained unconvinced, spoke up again "Those Draugr need cleaning up no matter what we do." He faces Junia "Think of it like this, your task is to keep your charge safe and protected yes?"
She very hesitantly nods.
Stormcloak grins "Well think of this as us preemptively protecting her by eliminating all threats!" He claps his hands "It shall be glorious!"
A sudden wave of Magicka startles the Nord warrior and he glares at the source, finding a confused Marco staring at him "Since when did you learn to bullshit like a Cyrodiilic?"
Skirnir blinks, and then barks out a laugh "You don't get to lead hundreds of rowdy warriors without some wordplay, sad as I am to admit."
"Why does that make sense?" The elf mutters to himself while lightly palming his face.
"Because of course it does!" Stormcloak "Now let us get going, worst way this ends is with us still in the mines while the heirs return. I am sure my boys and girls will survive without me to look over their shoulders for a few hours at least."
Marco goes to agree but is interrupted by the noise of a throat being cleared, all of the quartet rounding on the intruder only to find an oddly contrasting duo, one robed in white and gold and leaning on a silver spear while the other was clad in well-crafted blackened armor that was either dark orichalcum or ebony and accented with runes of purple.
"Ah" Skirnir's back straightened "You wouldn't happen to have only just arrived and completely missed our conversation, would you?"
Alor, Retainer of House Dagoth, and something of an apprentice to its lord, shook his head.
Stormcloak could only shrug "Can't blame a man for trying."
The reaction of Dagoth Ulthis was invisible under his helmet but the familiar feeling (immensely diluted as it was) of someone staring into their souls quickly drew all eyes to the source as he spoke up slowly and decisively "Tell us of these... Darugs."
"Draugr." Alor corrected reflexively.
Ulthis slowly turned to look at him, just staring for a long while before ever so slowly nodding "Draugr" He looked back to the quartet "How dangerous are they?"
-----
"Remind me" Marco's voice echoed through the deep mine shaft as he cleaned his sword from frostbite spider viscera "How long have we been marching down here?" n𝚘𝚟𝚙𝚞𝚋.𝚌o𝚖
"Just over an hour" Alor responds lightly as he finishes drawing the bit of poison that managed to get into Lydia due to a lucky strike "These mines are larger than I expected."
"Previous East Empire Company land" Junia explained, her eyes still fixed on potential approaches as she did "If the investment wasn't worth it they would not have bothered financing a town, small as Raven Rock is."
"Sensible" Ulthis agreed "But only halfway so."
"Hm?" Alor gave him a questioning look.
"If the place was already worth the investment of a town." Ulthis explains as he checks his blade for chips "Then clearing it out of danger would still have been better than simply abandoning it."
"Happened around the Great War if old Crescius was right." Skirnir speaks up "Could be they just forgot about the place because of some mishap or something" He shrugs "Those were hard times."
"Paperwork" Alor chuckles "A more dangerous monster I have never faced."
Much grumbling agreement ensues from those who had tasted such suffering.
Their conversation trails off and after a quick break they continue their descent into the depths, soon reaching the bottom and revealing a decently fortified passage blocking the way into what looked to be structures made by man's hand.
"Aha!" Skirnir cheers "It would seem that the old man wasn't completely insane!"
Junia stops mid step "You thought he was insane and still listened to him?"
"Of course" The Nord grins and nods, not a hint of sarcasm to him.
The blockade is dismantled promptly and without much issue, the act only slowed by Alor who made a point of taking the time to trap it with a stonewall rune just in case they failed.
An ominous act, and yet a necessary one in his eyes.
What awaited beyond however swiftly distracted them all from such thoughts "They simply dug the rock next to inactive Daugr?" Marco's eyes widened "They didn't even bother removing the weapons?"
"Could be that they didn't want to disturb them" Skirnir kneels in front of a Draugr seated upon a throne, a bit of disgust growing in his heart as he was faced with the fact the EEC would treat the resting dead so just for some profit "And these poor fools do seem inactive... A trap? Or some kind of protection?"
Before he could get his answer, the undead's eyes snapped open, its growl furious and its glare hateful. Skirnir flinched as a blur of silver and gold passed over his head, burying itself into the creature and setting it alight in gold.
Alor slowly retracted his spear and gave the grateful Nord a nod "We make sure to cleanse any undead we see preemptively, best not get overwhelmed by them."
He was swiftly met with universal agreement.
A wise choice, many would agree, and one that would prevent multiple skirmishes on their way. But it would soon hit a tiiiiny little snag as they stepped into a large chamber surrounded on all sides by coffins.
Empty coffins, with their contents currently standing ready for battle and staring at the invaders.
Alor felt cold sweat run down his back as his mind sped up, hands already moving alongside his Magicka. Walls burst from the ground but not quickly enough as he heard the Draugr shout a mix of unrelenting force and frost breath.
The multilayered walls froze and were then struck with a wave of force, sending chunks of stone flying everywhere and throwing the entire group back into the previous chamber like a bunch of boneless ragdolls.
All except one of them that is, as the dust cleared to reveal the firmly standing form of Dagoth Ulthis, whose legs were encased in what looked to be liquid steel and his back supported by a wall of his own making.
He nearly buckled as his spells ended and spat a glob of blood onto the ground from his now deformed helmet, a large potion already in his hand as he glared at the undead "N'wah fucking abominations!" He hissed as he threw the bottle onto the ground.
The Draugr could barely react as the Dunmer sped up beyond mortal limits and slammed into the closest one with the edge of his shield, breaking its neck with a crack and blocking its fellow's swift counterattack with his blade.
He did not stop there as he knew slowing down would mean death, and instead pushed on deeper into the crowd of the dead, cutting at their arms and legs and making sure to never stop moving, leaving them no chance to shout him apart even as his bones screamed due to the exertion, protected by magic or not.
Sadly for him, all it took to stop his advance was one misstep, and the backswing of a particularly aggressive Nord mummy struck him in the shoulder, throwing him off balance and sending him stumbling onto the cold stone floor.
He rolled away immediately, saving his head from that very same axe and sending the undead flying with a wave of telekinetic might, one that drained his remaining reserves but bought him time to raise his shield and stop the following series of counterblows.
Dagoth Ulthis was no fool, and neither was he ready to throw himself into pointless death save to serve his Lord and Sovereign, and he smirked as his gut feeling was confirmed, his Sight revealing his comrades rushing through the passage as he bought them time to heal themselves up.
Like a madman certain of his way, he pushed forward, letting the haft of a warhammer land on his shield hand as he used the chance to stab through the neck of one of the more ornately armored Draugr, letting the blow carry him away from a war axe headed for his neck, even as his armor deflected other glancing blows.
And that was all it took, for the familiar feeling of Alor's solar magic soon overtook the chamber and the undead were drastically weakened, his human allies and the Altmer rushing in behind him to cut down the rest of them.
Rarely did Ulthis feel such satisfaction at a plan working well, even one as haphazard as this one.
Could His Grace be influencing him even now?
A pointless thought, he soon decided.
"Oi, Ashlander!" The Altmer called to him "You still breathing over there?"
Ulthis grunted in irritation.
"I will take that as a yes!"
-----
Marco felt his sword hand twitch in pain as he cleaved the Gauldur Blackblade through the final archer standing above the small waterway in the middle of the tomb. Swords were not the greatest weapons for facing undead and stabbing into near-petrified flesh would wear any reasonable person down.
Or so he comforted himself.
"Oi, Marco!" He heard Skirnir call from above "Come and check this out!"
Poking the corpse one more time just in case, he rushed to join the rest of his group, all of them gathered around a traditional Draugr coffin, except this one was covered in some form of white-ish blue crystal that seemed to give off a small glow and a subtle chill to the air surrounding it.
"Not any material I ever saw." Marco commented.
Lydia, Junia, and Skirnir all collectively shook their heads, being pure fighters or close to it.
Dagoth Ulthis however was raised in a mining settlement and instead of immediately answering he tapped the ice crystal a few times, before sniffing it and staring at it for a good ten seconds "Some kind of attempt at recreating ebony?" He muttered.
"Doubtful." Alor shook his head "Looks more like the side effect of a ritual, likely for burial purposes."
"Still, it is eerily similar in structure" Ulthis points out "Not nearly as strong of course."
"It is a much less metallic crystal." The Falmer notes "And filled with Magicka instead of the usual weight the trained senses pick up from ebony."
"So a coincidence then?" Marco pipes in.
"Possibly" Alor shrugs "We best gather some samples for Lord Dagoth's perusal, he is likely to be interested."
"None of us brought the tools for it" Skirnir wisely points "Just mark it on the map and we can extract it properly later."
"Very well" The snow elf nods "That is enough dawdling now, we best get moving."
The party agrees and they continue their descent south, having to fiddle through some locks and levers to open the way but inevitably finding themselves before a large stone doorway.
Skirnir went to open it but was stopped by Marco as he pointed at a series of runes just above the passage "Look there" He called "Seems someone finally had the sense to leave behind a note."
"Zah-krii-sos?" Alor muttered and shook his head "No, that isn't quite right." His eyes scanned the word structure once more "Possibly Zahkrii and Sos..." He frowns "Sword Blood? A Nordic honor-name?"
"Five hundred septims that is a Dragon Priest" Marco deadpans.
Snorting, the Falmer directed him with a look so dry it made the undead looked hydrated in comparison "That is a fool's bet and you know it."
"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Skirnir grinned and pushed against the door "Not many things are as glorious as slaying one of Alduin's worshipers!"
-------
Do I even need to say anything on this one?
Mine discovered
stone demanded
get to work!
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