The Dragonborn

Part 74

Jack didn't want to move. Part of him was planning on going back where they had come from. Monsters he could deal with... but Skooma did unpredictable things to heavy users that made monsters seem friendly on their worst day. Mark loosened his grip over Jack's mouth, gesturing him to follow him down the dark tunnel. Jack shook his head, when the wooden boards on the support wall creaked under pressure and he could clearly hear the sound of something sniffing the air. Jack cautiously moved as silently as he could over the snow toward Mark, keeping his eyes on the wall. He could hear the Khajiit let out a soft growling purr on the other side and it gave him goosebumps. Mark took his hand firmly, leading him around the corner and deeper into the winding tunnels. Jack hoped that they wouldn't run into him... but he was never that lucky. 

Mark lead him at a brisk pace, peeking around the corners before pulling him out. Jack noticed that the ice around them seemed to fade into a stone structure that he guessed was the work of the Dwarves by how metal was accented with stone in places. Mark suddenly slowed down his pace, lowering the tip of his greatsword to touch something crumpled on the ground. Mark tapped the blade on the crumpled mass of what appeared to be metal. When nothing happened, Mark relaxed his shoulders, informing him confidently. "Dead. Looks like someone got to it before us." Mark released his hand to peek on ahead, while Jack kneeled to look at the thing. Mark thought this thing would move? Upon closer inspection, he swallowed nervously. It was crafted to look like a small metal spider. Designed for an unknown purpose with six legs and two smaller clawed hands. Built into the top of its body is what appeared to be a mechanism for holding something... but it was damaged and a piece was missing.

Mark walked back to him, telling him. "The way looks clear. We should keep moving forward." Jack rose to his feet, asking Mark curiously. "What is this thing?" Mark glanced at the thing with disgust, answering dryly. "We call them Dwarven Spiders. They are everywhere in Dwarven ruins. As far as anyone knows... These pests dig. It's hard to say why, because the moment they see you, they try to shock you with electricity." Mark nudged the dwarven spider with his boot, adding in. "This ones soul gem in missing from the looks. They need that to work. I'm not worried about these guys though... I've heard tales of... Other things being in places like this. I'm just hoping we never see them." Jack nodded in agreement. He hoped to just get in and out without being seen by anyone... or anything.

Mark lead him out into a semi-open room with large pipes that ran through and around the walls. While just a few feet from a stone table was a large square doorway that was blocked off with heavy bars. Mark kneeled to touch a large puddle of blood leading to the bars, telling him cautiously. "Something came through here... recently. This blood is only a few days old." Jack moved to examine the stone desk, suggesting curiously. "Maybe that crazed Khajiit got him?" Mark rose up to follow the blood to the bars, uttering out in an undertone. "I don't think so. There is no sign of a struggle and the blood leads farther in... If the Khajiit has done this, he would have taken the body back to the fire pit we saw. The kill would have been sloppy. This looks too clean. The thing that did this was rational in its attack." Jack looked over the bodies of two more gutted Dwarven Spiders on the desk, mumbling out uneasily. "I don't like how you said that..."

Mark tested the strength of the bars by trying to see if he could slide them, while grunting out. "Ya... Well... Machines don't waste time playing with intruders." Jack shivered at the thought, picking up another journal as he told Mark anxiously. "I don't like hearing that either." Jack showed Mark the journal, then opened it to read aloud a page or two of the research notes on Dwarven Spiders for Mark. "If only Unmani had left one of these Dwarven machine creatures intact enough for me to study. The fact they almost killed those Khajiit brothers in the middle of the night doesn't mean we couldn't have found a way to disable one. We dragged some stuff in front of the pipes they came out of to stop them from coming back. They are simply fascinating! It is just as Calcelmo described in Dwarves V1. Their appearance does, in fact, resemble that of an arachnid. I had thought that to be an embellishment given by this source. The inclusion of the soul gem into the design of the apparatus is quite remarkable. It could explain the focus for the lightening that he describes. Oddly enough, it doesn't appear to be the main power source for the apparatus. Perhaps some sort of harmonic resonance with the energies contained in the soul gem to bring heat to the small boiler? Too early to say conclusively, That does raise the question of where they get the liquid for the boiler however."