19 Chapter 19

Athias raised his shield, the heavy shell like thing pilfered from a dead Falmer, and blocked a stab, shoving his attacker away with a grunt. Remiel slipped out from behind him. She shoved her dagger into the stumbling Falmer's neck, ending its life in an instant.

Another slash came their way while she tried and failed to dislodge the dagger.

Athias tugged the back of her collar while stepping forward, slash meeting shield.

This room they stumbled into, large with a fountain at its center, was home to a Falmer camp. The creatures stepped out of odd huts that were made of the same hard material as their shields, weapons in hand. There were too many of them to sneak past, especially now that he couldn't freely use magic, but Athias preferred things this way.

The sword bounced off the shield but another Falmer joined the assault, more slashes coming his way. Athias met them all head on, an efficient bulwark. Magicka might be his highest stat and spells the most versatile thing under his belt, but sometimes the classic clashing of steel was needed and he excelled just as well in that area.

There was a reason his health and stamina held numbers well above what he's seen in others.

Leveraging his superior strength and endurance, Athias focused entirely on defense, the instinctual guiding hand of his perks eliminating unnecessary movements. The few arrows fired at him were easily blocked, the brittle things snapping the moment they hit the shield, hardly a distraction.

It went without saying that he could hold his ground. That being said, defense alone didn't win battles.

Arrows came from the upper corner of the room and dropped the archers.

With their sharp hearing the Falmer picked up on Auri's position on the pipework, taking aim at her. Loud irritating clangs came from behind Athias. Making use of all the scrap she'd been collecting, Remiel smashed pieces of Dwarven metal together over and over. It wasn't enough to get the same adverse reactions her questionable potions got, but the Falmer closest to them took a step back while the distant archers flinched, their aim thrown off just enough for Auri to evade injury.

A mix of arrows, a sturdy defense, and some resourceful thinking saw them take down the force of Falmer that called the area home.

"Disgusting." Remiel muttered after a small struggle, dagger yanked out from one of the corpses and its bloody blade wiped along a pants leg. Auri jumped down from the pipes, heading towards the campfire next the fountain.

Athias moved to join her, all the while adjusting the shield around his left arm. No matter what he did, the poorly crafted thing felt anything but comfortable. It's ends were too jagged and could cut him if wasn't careful. The handhold was hard and pressed into his hand and arm. It was heavy too.

He'd keep it for now, but he'd be buying one once they got out of here. A proper shield would be useful when he couldn't waste magicka on a ward.

"What are you-" Athias shut up, grimacing as he joined Auri at the campfire.

Another researcher laid beside it. Among the ones they found, he had to have received the worse treatment.

Limbs were severed, bloody stumps left in their place. His eyes were missing. Well, one of them were missing. The other was on the end of a spike, cooking over the fire along with a half eaten leg.

A stomach turning sight.

At least when Auri harvested people she had the decency to keep it mostly out of his view and she focused on organs. Her whole process was like that of an experienced hunter.

The Falmer might be smart enough to make tools, build homes, and use fire, but this brutal butchering really hammered home what they were; feral creatures of instinct, no different than any other wild animal that called Skyrim home.

"What are you two-" Athias raised his shield to block Remiel's line of sight but the damage was already done. The short glimpse left her visibly disgusted and disturbed. The woman had a stomach for blood and dirt but this was a far cry from that.

"I'll look him over for any information. Just…wait right there." Athias said. Remiel nodded, eyes closing as she turned away, faint struggled gulps coming from her.

"This is barbaric." Auri said as he knelt down to search the man's torn bloodied robes. Hypocritical to a certain extent but who could really claim not to be? To her, ritualistic cannibalism and this, were probably worlds apart. The Falmer would sink their teeth in anything that moved, all of it food to them.

Athias found a small pouch near the man's waist and pulled out a pair of items.

[Item: Band of Righteous Fury]

[Description: The enchantment on this ring isn't particularly strong but any mage unlucky enough to find themselves in arms against the undead might find a use for it.]

[Effects: Restoration and destruction spells are 10% more effective against the undead. Magicka regeneration is boosted by 5%]

Athias absent mindedly handed a bloody journal to Auri, rolling the plain gold ring between his fingers. It was faint, so faint that he had to shut his eyes and focus, but he could feel the ember of energy held in it.

It's good to know he could identify an enchanted item with or without the system's help.

This little find made up for that loot filled chest he used as a distraction and lure.

"Interesting. It looks like this researcher worshipped Meridia." Remiel said as she flipped through the pages of the journal Auri passed off to her.

Athias nearly dropped the ring right then and there. The first enchanted thing he finds and it's from a daedra worshipper; what kind of rotten luck was that?

He doubted he'd be risking retribution or anything by taking it. The Falmer literally slaughtered the man and were going about their day until the three of them came along. If a Daedra cared about this man's grim fate something already would've been done. Besides, their influence in the mortal plane wasn't perfect. As long as he wasn't near one of their artifacts or their temples he should be fine.

Right?

It wasn't so easy to logic away doubt born because of some of the strongest entities in this world.

Athias slipped the ring into his own pouch. He'd decide what to do with it later.

"Oh! I think we might be close to the control room. Take a look at this." Remiel said, waving them over. She made sure not to look towards the body.

Today we entered the city's armory. The Falmer have yet to break into the best of the Dwarven goods thanks to the sturdy dwemer locks. Erj said he would be able to get into the vaults and would send word when he's in. The spiders gave us much trouble but who could have foreseen they've been the only thing keeping Markarth safe?

After exiting the Armory we made camp, but the Falmer have been watching us and finally tired of our intrusion. They came while we slept and slaughtered what guards were left. Meridia forgive me for using my students as a distraction to get away, but I have to bring this place back to life.

too many

couldn't hit switch

"Seems that researcher had the same idea as you." Athias said. There was blood mixed in with the last two uneven lines. The man's dying message. "And if this is true, we might have even more Falmer waiting on us."

"Hopefully things don't end the same way." Remiel said with a small frown, eyes moving towards but never reaching the campfire. "I'd rather not be anyone's dinner."

Auri patted Remiel's shoulder. "Don't worry so much. You have the two of us to watch your back."

"Right. I'm sure everything will be fine." Remiel agreed.

x-X-x

Everything was fine.

A spike, made entirely of ice crashed into Athias's pilfered shield, shattering into a frosty mist. He could feel it. An icy energy, not his own, seeped past the shield and prickled away at his forearm. It wasn't significant, his health dropping by small amounts, but each time he blocked one of those projectiles, his arm lost a little feeling.

Was he truly so sensitive to magic that dodging it was the only way to avoid injury?

They had moved on from the camp and up a floor. Several treks and turns down dimly lit stone hallways and they found what they were in search of; a room of switches surrounded by a cage like structure, various pipes leading into it.

They also found an entire force of Falmer guarding it.

Several with swords and shields, two archers, and, at the very back of their line, a mage wielding a staff capable of shooting spikes of ice.

Auri dropped the archers quickly. He could defend against the melee fighters. But that mage? That mage was a god damn problem. An arrow from Auri should've wrapped things up but the creature threw up a wide circular shaped ward to protect itself the moment the group's scents were caught. And now that the fighting had started, it had no intentions of getting close to him.

Yep, everything was just fine.

Throwing off a slash from one of the fighters, Athias lashed out with a wide slash, blood filling the air.

"How'd do you like that bastards?!" Athias yelled as he backed away.

Both his swords sat at his waist. Instead of using them, he had picked up one of the Falmer's blades from the camp. The handle was rough and cold, a weighty feel to the ugly thing that he didn't like.

Athias picked up his defense again, only occasionally striking out. The strikes were never fatal, all surface level wounds done in a flash. Still, the Falmer's assault grew sluggish, something akin to grunts leaving those who suffered his attacks. More spikes of ice were sent his way to compensate, all of which he prioritized on avoiding.

He might not like their blades, but the poison that coated them was an effective little thing. So effective that the Falmer themselves weren't immune.

Given enough time, the mage would be all that remained. Once that happened, it'd be easy to cut down.

"Come on!" Athias taunted the slowed Falmer, slamming his own sword against his shield. The loud sound echoed throughout the large room, overpowering all else.

He wasn't waiting for Auri's arrows to break through the mage's ward. He wasn't waiting for the poison to run its course either. The prolonged fight, the obnoxious taunts and all the pounding against his shield served one very specific purpose.

Remiel crept along the edge of the large stone room, dagger clutched tightly.

She drew ever closer to the mage, the racket of his over the top defense and the snaps of Auri's arrows against the ward drowning out what little noise she might've been making.

Remiel rounded the mage completely, directly behind the wide ward shielding it.

She lunged forward, aiming for the neck.

The falmer caught her scent at the last moment and twisted around, Remiel's stab knocked off course. The dagger dung into its upper chest and it shrieked. Despite the pain, the Falmer mage grasped for Remiel's face, frost leaking off its hand.

An arrowed drove through the back of its head and it stilled.

That wasn't part of their plan, but the ward had fallen, giving Auri the opening she needed.

Athias finished off the slowed Falmer around him with quick stabs.

「Alert: Numerous skills advanced」

「Block 24 -> 26 Heavy Armor: 20 -> 21 Speech 22 -> 23」

Taunting boosted speech? Good to know.

Athias and Auri met with Remiel who was sniffing herself.

"Do I smell?" Remiel asked, looking to them. "Well, I do smell, but do I smell that bad?"

"We've been running and sneaking around a ruin for hours. None of us smell good." Athias said with a shrug. Compared to the thrill of fighting, seeing automatons, and so many other things, the pungent mix of sweat, Falmer blood, and portions that clung to them was easy to ignore.

He fought back a gag.

It was easy to ignore when no one was talking about it.

"Look on the bright side Remi, at least you don't smell as bad as this one." Auri said, bumping his arm. "All that leather isn't doing him any favors."

Athias snorted. "As if you could talk. You're barely wearing anything and somehow still manage to smell worse than these Falmer."

"Me? Smell worse than these things? Are you sure that poison didn't mess with your head?"

"It is possible." Remiel agreed with Auri, more inquisitive than joking. "Even though I wasn't able to learn it, I did do a little reading on the Cure Poison spell once. The effectiveness is entirely dependent on the user's awareness."

"This is the same person who forgot to cancel his spell. How aware can someone like that be?" Auri mused grinning at him.

Athias shook his head. Here he was being double teamed by a religious cannibalistic elf and a walking Dwemer encyclopedia of a breton; who would've thought he'd up in a situation like this. The latter was so oblivious that she was adding fuel to Auri's insults that he couldn't even be bothered to throw one her way.

"Aware enough to know that we should get a move on." Athias said. "You sure you'll know how to activate the security system?"

"Of course." Remiel said with absolute confidence as they gathered up at the door separating them from the control room. She pushed it open. "And if not-"

The three of them stared at the floor of switch filled room.

A twitching dwarven spider, errant sparks arcing out from the soul gem at its top, stood there facing them.

It didn't charge them.

It didn't form a blade.

It slowly rose up, it's metal legs chipped and unsteady. Then tilted as if to examine them with nonexistent eyes.

How peculiar.

x-X-x

I noticed my action-packed chapters typically end up shorter than chiller ones. A good thing I think. I don't want flowery phrasing with so many extra words to mess up the flow of action. That's what I think anyways.

Next week we'll be out of here folks. Until then, I'll see you next time.

As always, pop into the patreon if you want more of my writing and want to help turn this into a full time thing. We got the advance chapters for those who want them and soon to be more drafts for those who join as a free member.

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