OOM: Arkngthand, 8 First Seed, 3E 428

[moonandstar]

They emerge from the bar onto an ancient bridge, made of a metal that Ibani won't be able to identify - but clearly the work of an advanced and accomplished civilization. It bridges the foyada, high and deep on each side.

They won't have time to admire it, however. Because there's a bald Imperial in an iron cuirass standing at the other side of the bridge. He conjures a skeleton warrior, who charges toward them as its master launches bolts of lightning at them.

Comments

[last_kallig]

Ibani does not look impressed at the lightning bolts. "You call that lighting, REALLY?" she snarks as she sends a MUCH stronger bolt of Force Lightning back at him. And he's wearing IRON for Force sake.

[moonandstar]

Indeed, he will find himself hilariously outmatched. He screams as the lightning lances his body, collapsing into a lifeless, smoking corpse in mere seconds. The skeleton dissolves into the aether as its summoner dies.

Garyn doesn't even stop walking forward - he scarcely even slows down. He can recognize a hedge wizard in over his head when he sees one, and he's not afraid of this one.

"I'd wonder what that fellow was even doing here, but I'm not even that curious."

[last_kallig]

"A drunken bet, maybe? Doesn't really matter now."

She idly taps the metal of the bridge as they pass. "Looks a bit like Mullinine, but the sound is wrong for it."

"They weren't building small, these Dwemer. Was this a large settlement?"

[moonandstar]

"Perhaps posting watch for looters in the ruins," Garyn says. "It is illegal to trade in Dwemer artifacts, after all. They all belong to the Emperor."

Garyn looks to her with a wan smirk.

"So it's a good thing we're looting this ruin on the Emperor's behalf."

[last_kallig]

"Always nice to start with a loophole," she replies, smirking herself.

"If they're no more talented than this fellow, they'll be little more than a warm up exercise for us."

[moonandstar]

"Yes, but who knows what else we'll find in a Dwemer ruin?"

They cross the bridge together, and round the corner. Over four thousand years since it was last occupied, the bronze spires, tarnished though they may be, still tower impressively over the landscape.

"Hmmm...looks like the search might be a challenging one. We're looking for a Dwemer puzzle box, and the scrap from a Dwemer centurion, for the record. The latter being the official reason we're here, and the former being the actual reason."

[last_kallig]

"Neither of them biological in any way, I presume?" She frowns. "Sometimes, the Force will suggest a path, but not always."

"Still, so long as we're together, we'll manage."

[moonandstar]

"That we shall."

Garyn leads the way to what appears to be the entrance. There's a twisted brass crank standing next to a kind of hollow hemisphere.

Tentatively, Garyn grabs the handle of the crank and begins to turn it.

[last_kallig]

Ibani tenses, prepared for some kind of trap mechanism to go off. Trapping the front door is DEFINITELY the kind of thing the Sith did all the time on Korriban.

[moonandstar]

Instead, the hemisphere turns, causing an opening to dilate in the tall entryway. The process continues even after Garyn lets go of the crank, as the sound of turning gears fills the air around them.

"Hmmm...I suppose those are the Dwarves for you."

[last_kallig]

"Seems an odd choice for a mechanism," Ibani muses. "Why in the all the worlds that ever were would you design it like that?"

[moonandstar]

"No one understood the Dwemer while they lived," Garyn says. "Little point in trying to understand them 4000 years after they disappeared."

Garyn steps through the door, and they enter the ruined Dwarven fortress-city. Ibani might be surprised to see the antechamber lit by what appears to be electric light.

[last_kallig]

"Disappeared due to what?"

"That lighting's new to me. Doesn't feel like magic. Looks electric, but that doesn't mean as much as you'd think."

"Means more types of potential traps too."

[moonandstar]

"No one knows why," Garyn says. "It was at the end of the War of the First Council, so perhaps it had something to do with that, but...no one knows that for certain either.

"I suspect the man I'm fetching this cube for might have something closer to an answer than I do."

Garyn turns, leading them into a large open central chamber, lined with catwalks clearly installed by people who came later. Across in the distance, there's the sound of chattering voices.

[last_kallig]

"Hopefully not a plague, that would be inconvenient for us."

Ibani grins wickedly. "Shall we sneak up on them my love?" No reason to be sloppy, and Force Cloak is so very useful!

[moonandstar]

Garyn nods, and treads carefully down the catwalk as the cloak falls over them. As they draw closer, their words grow clearer.

"...already lost Cristus to one of those damned metal beasts. Whatever the Boss finds here better be worth it."

"It will be. Hell, even one horde of their old coins'll be worth more than that fat bastard ever was."

[last_kallig]

Ibani holds up a hand for a pause. No need to kill these two yet when they might offer up more information unknowingly.

Even so, she moves them into a good position to strike, either to kill or to capture.

[moonandstar]

"Well, I won't be going any deeper than I have, no matter what Boss Crito says. He can do it himself if it comes down to it."

"We'll see if you've got the guts to say no to him when it comes to it. Right now he's rooting around upstairs. Said he'd found a box."

Garyn looks knowingly at Ibani.

[last_kallig]

She tilts her head in a questioning sort of way. Kill them now, or come back for them later?

[moonandstar]

Garyn nods at her silently.

"Deal with them how you will, love."

[last_kallig]

Ibani decides not to leave enemies at their back. The first bandit is possibly the luckiest, they don't have time to feel the lightsaber blow before they're dead.

The other may have time to see death coming, depending on what Garyn does.

[moonandstar]

He won't be conscious for the end. Garyn clubs him over the head with the base of Sholagmer's hilt before running him through.

"They said 'upstairs.' Let's hope that means 'up that ramp.'"

He points to an open floor that hangs above the floor of the open cavern like a platform.

[last_kallig]

"Would be logical," Ibani agrees. She cloaks them again. They have to move slower, but this is a much safer way to explore the ruins.

[moonandstar]

The platform itself is clear of any more looters. But the door to the next room is closed. And it's likely to open noisily.

Garyn keeps his blade drawn as he swings open the heavy metal door.

[last_kallig]

Ibani is quite prepared to murder whatever might be on the other side with lightning as soon as she gets a clear shot, unless the room is large enough that she's not in range.

It's much nicer stalking through ruins at Garyn's side than it is going it alone, she finds.