We're still in Mzulft, and Erandur's NEVER going to live this down!
He said "MARA'S TITS!"
He REALLY DID!
He would've dropped to his knees to beg -
All right, I was all over the place when I was writing yesterday, and I don't want to do that again. I'll start from the beginning.
We woke up - I don't know how early - and had breakfast before we broke camp and kept going. There was a tripwire almost right outside the room we were sleeping in that let loose a bunch of boulders when I triggered it (on purpose!). The noise got the attention of a few chaurus down the tunnel, and they skittered over here to attack us.
Luckily they were little ones, so they were easy to get rid of.
There was a small cave just down the way with a chest in it, then another little tunnel off of that before it started to turn back into Dwemer stonework again.
We got to the top of a ramp when one of those Dwemer sphere fighters popped out of its… Setting? Place? Station?
Whatever you call it. There's these gold-colored things in the wall that the Dwemer ball things sit in, and when you come by they pop out and roll over before they unfold and attack you.
Erandur was even more surprised by them, and Valdimar showed him how to spot their moorings (I'll go with that, I know they're not boats, but good enough) and went over some of the weapons they might be carrying. The one in front of us had a sword for an arm.
We kept going, and after a few more ramps, corridors and chambers full of spiders and one more sphere fighter, we found our first Falmer. A dead one, but a Falmer all the same, laying in front of a big door next to two broken spiders.
Valdimar showed Erandur how to take the soul gems and the little oil containers out of the automatons without spilling or breaking anything. Erandur's used Dwarven oil in his alchemy work before, and he knew it came from Dwemer automatons, but he didn't know how to harvest it.
"No wonder it can be hard to find," he said.
We went through the door, and immediately found more broken Dwemer automatons. We kept going, and at the top of the ramp, found another wrecked sphere fighter, with one of the dished parts still rocking back and forth, like it was just destroyed.
We were right. Not far away was a Falmer, marching back and forth. It got darker here, and once we dealt with the Falmer, we found another dead researcher, and more broken spiders.
I feel like I should mention all the great Dwemer loot in here! There's all sorts of artifacts, like urns and dishes and such! I'd outfit all the houses with it if I could, but there's no way we'd be able to carry all of it back with us.
I did grab a few things, though. I like the look of Dwemer stuff. I think the dishes are really pretty.
We kept going, up more ramps and through more tunnels and chambers. Behind a locked gate in one room we found a bunch of destroyed automatons. One of them was a sphere type, and Valdimar pointed out that it had what looked like a small crossbow mounted on its arm.
I'm glad we haven't had to deal with any of those that work, but it's something to keep an eye out for, that's for sure.
We only had to fight Falmer and chaurus through these sections, so Septim's happy! At one point the path actually turned to bare rock and dirt, with a few Falmer huts and such. We found a few more dead researchers, too. None of them had any notes, journals, or crystals on them; not even a soul gem.
Speaking of soul gems, they're in every broken automaton in here! I think that's what powers them, or maybe they're what makes them "know" what to do? I saw one of the spiders fixing a pipe, I think, before we walked up to it and it attacked us.
At least we've been able to keep all our weapons charged.
Anyway, after the cave gave way to Dwemer ruins again, we came into a decently-sized chamber with a little locked side room that had something amazing in it!
There was a Falmer in the main room, so we took care of him, first, then looked through the barred window into the side room. Inside, we could see a table with a chest and a key on it, and just past that, a bed with beautiful purple blanket covered in Dwemer-style gold patterns.
Lying in the bed, under the blanket, were the bones of a Dwemer.
We went quiet for a moment.
It was so strange, seeing the actual bones of someone who's supposed to have "disappeared" centuries ago. I mean, I know there must be Dwemer bones lying around somewhere; I know some of them died before the rest of them vanished, but I've never heard of anyone actually seeing them.
I picked the lock to the room, and we went inside.
We went up to look a bit more closely at the bones, and Valdimar smiled. He said it was good to know what happened to at least one of the Dwemer, and that as far as he could tell, they met a peaceful end.
You know, Past Bronwen would have taken the bedsheets and the blanket. I'm pretty sure they were silk.
Current Bronwen wouldn't dream of it. I mean… I know they're not using them, but it feels wrong. They've been there for hundreds of years, at peace. Who am I to disturb them?
I'm not above taking the gold and the jewelry I found in the chest, though.
Erandur said some words for them, and I made sure to lock the door behind us when we left.
Sleep tight, Dwemer! Thank you for the gold!
Anyway, we kept going, and down a few more short passages, we came upon a long corridor with a shallow pool in the middle. The edge was ringed with a walkway, patrolled by two Falmer. We took care of those, and looted some side rooms before we found a ramp going up with the body of a dead researcher outside of another large door.
Divines, I've lost count of how many of them we've found. I'll be shocked if that Paratus guy is alive.
We went through the door and there was another long ramp, with a Falmer at the top. We took care of him pretty easily, and peered around the corner.
There was a short hallway that split at the end with a worn Dwemer banner hanging proud on the wall. A chaurus came at us, and as we fought it, two more Falmer, one from around each corner, came to join the fight.
One was a fighter, and the other was a mage. I went left, after the mage with Erandur and Septim, while Lydia and Valdimar went right, after the fighter.
It turns out both paths were very short, and both of them turned into a vast room, at least as big as the inside of the Imperial Temple back in the Capital!
It has a high, vaulted ceiling, very brightly lit, and three doors leading out of it. The door to the right is down a long ramp, the door in the middle is on the same level as the floor, and the door to the left is at the top of a platform with two tiers. The middle tier has a Falmer hut on it.
There were also two more Falmer in the big room, and one of them was firing arrows at us. Luckily, Septim ran up and gave him a lot of trouble before he could help his friend do much damage to Lydia, whose back was to him.
Once they were all dead, we took some time to loot what we could and take a look around. Septim found another dead researcher in the corner of the room, next to a wrecked spider. I found a few things in the hut, including some ingredients, but what's really interesting is the strange crystal thing Lydia found on the Falmer mage.
I've seen these types of crystals before. They're called "geodes", but I've never seen one like this!
It's round, but has not quite half of it broken away. Inside are a bunch of thin, blue white crystals, with crystal-shaped metal spikes made from Dwemer metal coming through from the outside stone shell in an arc. Suspended between two of the Dwemer metal spikes is a blue crystal that's pointed on each end.
It looks like it's made from Aetherium.
On the outside of the stone, each of the Dwemer spikes has what looks like an Aetherium disc at the base of it.
The stone is set in a Dwemer metal ring in a way that allows it to spin. The rock itself has a blue sheen to it, sort of like a beetle. It's really pretty!
It's also practically vibrating with magic. Even Lydia noticed it when she picked it up.
I don't think she likes strong magicka. She handed that thing off so fast you'd think it smelled like rotten eggs.
Well, once we were done marveling over that thing, we realized we were all getting tired and hungry. There were three doors to choose from, and we decided to start from the bottom, and go up.
So, we went down the big ramp to the right, and opened the door at the end. Not far past it we came into a large room that looked like it was used for discussions. Valdimar said that the Dwemer were very focused on learning, so it might have been a lecture hall. The middle of the room is sunken in, and is ringed by two short levels, lined with stone chairs and benches. There's a table in the center, too, and there were some cogs and a bowl on the table.
Across from the entrance was a door, so we went through that, then down another hall that led to two Falmer, lying dead outside another door.
We could hear mechanical sounds coming from inside the room, and we got our weapons ready before I flung open the door and we charged inside.
I was expecting a few of those spheres or maybe a horde of spiders.
NOT one of those huge Centurions!
It took a big, clanking step towards us and Erandur said, "MARA'S TITS!"
So, yeah - That was Erandur's reaction to seeing a working Centurion for the first time.
I was so shocked at what he said I almost didn't dodge its hammer!
Once it was "dead", I couldn't help but say to Erandur that clearly, I was rubbing off on him.
He put his face in his hands and groaned. He told me to please not mention it again. He already felt bad enough.
"I'm going to be praying for hours tonight," he said.
Lydia told him to space it out. We needed him rested for whatever tomorrow brings.
Since the room doesn't have an exit, we decided to camp out in here. We found a bed, a table with a chair (perfect for keeping watch and writing at!) and some loot, including a key.
Lydia offered to get dinner going while I got our beds set up. Valdimar asked for Erandur's help in moving the metal hulk out of the way. Erandur agreed, but was eyeing it warily, and poking at it with his foot. He asked Valdimar if he was sure it was "completely broken."
Valdimar smiled, and used his dagger to pop off one of the panels on the body. He reached inside and pulled out a circular, cage-like structure with a red, spinning center. It looked like a heart. He called it a "dynamo core" and said that it can't run without it.
He handed it to Erandur, who spent most of dinner looking at it and asking Valdimar questions about the automatons. He'd seen the "inactive" ones in Markarth with the rest of us in Calcelmo's museum, but he couldn't imagine how metal and soul gems could give what looked like life to clockwork.
Valdimar, of course, was more than happy to talk about them.
We started getting ready for bed after dinner, and Erandur promised to keep his prayers only slightly longer than normal. I got everything out so I could write, and put the crystal here so I could look it over some more.
We closed the door, and while I don't think we really need to keep watch, I'd rather be safe than sorry.
Septim took the stone bed. There's still some old blankets on it, and I tossed on a fallen banner, too.
I really hope one of the dead mages we found isn't Paratus. This thing is probably that crystal Gavros mentioned before he died. If Paratus is dead, what do we do with it?
You know what, that's a Synod problem, not ours. If we find the "Oculory" - assuming we even know it when we see it - and no one's there, or we find a dead mage that's obviously Paratus, we'll just go back to Winterhold and hand this thing off to Savos.
No, not Savos. Mirabelle. She'll know what to do with it. I don't think Savos really cares.
Besides, that'll be the best way to keep Ancano from knowing about it.
Maybe I can just… Hire a courier to take it back to the Synod?
Argh, I don't know. No sense wasting ink trying to figure out a problem that might not be real.
Besides, it's time to wake Lydia up. At least it's quieter down here.
the doors swung open. Quill-Finder stepped back, letting them clear, watching the inside for any movement and staring at the wizard that now stood in front of her, taken aback that she was not who the mage thought she'd be. "what the-" the hooded wizard exclaimed. "Who are you? What have you done with Gavros?" he held fire in both hands, flames crackled between his anxious fingers, the dancing light illuminating the hall. his eyes darted between the argonian, a blood soaked Lydia, a singed J'Zargo, and Illia
Quill-FInder immediately put a hand up "Nothing, nothing!" she reassured. "We only came her to find the Synod!"
The mage's eyes narrowed, "And just why would you be doing that?"
There was a pause, and finally a sigh. the wizard dropped the fire from his hands. "It doesn't matter now... Gavros was supposed to have the crsytal. And if you're here, I can only assume he's not coming back. without that crystal, we're lost."
Quill-Finder was silent.
"So congratulations. you found the Synod." he gave a strained smile. "It's just me, alone. surrounded by angry machines, and even angrier falmer..." "Excuse me," Illia spoke up. "What's this about a crystal?"
The mage shook his head. "It didn't work the first time. I tried to tell Gavros, but he wouldn't listen!" he gritted his teeth in frustration "No it won't be too cold, he said."
He continued, "Well turns out, I was right. Focus completely wrong by the time we got here! the cold had warped it! He had to cart it all the way back to Cyrodiil, left us to fend off the damnable Falmer." Illia nodded, "But what was it for?"
"It was a brilliant idea!" the mage gave the first grin that the party had seen, "Mostly mine, though Gavros took the credit. Secret, though! Official Synod business."
Lydia cursed, pushing past. "We're looking for something called the Staff of Magnus. can you help or not?" there was a frustration in her face that made even Quill take a step back.
the wizard stammered, "I need the crystal to do anything useful, I'm sorry!"
"Aha!" there was a call behind Quill as the wizard talked. she hadn't even notice that J'zargo disappeared from behind her.
J'zargo hoisted something into the air. a geode of sorts with lenses bored into the sides of the object and a fastening apparatus looping around the device. J'zargo grinned. "I found it!"
the wizard pushed past the party, looking down to the Khajiit. there was a silence before he finally turned back to Quill-Finder. "Who are you people?" Quill-Finder shrugged. "Members of the college."
