The Dragonborn

Part 81

Jack pushed the heavy metal door open, the change in air pressure ruffling his hair as he breathed in a fresh earthy smell. Stepping through, Jack stood for a long moment in awe. He stood in a massive underground cavern unlike anything he had ever seen. Far out in the center of the cavern, sat a castle with a huge glowing golden orb hanging above it. While all around, the place was illuminated by giant blue glowing mushrooms and rocks. Glancing up toward the incredibly high ceiling, he grinned. The glowing rocks made it look like the night sky with billions of bright stars. Mark tapped his arm, saying excitedly. "Do you hear that? There must be a waterfall somewhere." Jack walked closer to the stone wall to get a better look at it all. The place was simply stunning. Mark stood beside him, stating out just as awed by it all. "So, this is Blackreach. The lost Dwarven city. I never thought I'd see something like this." 

Jack's smile faded a little as he noticed all the stone buildings spaced out around the outskirts of the castle. The place was huge. How were they going to find the Elder Scroll in here? It could take them days to explore this. Dropping his head with a defeated groan, Jack grimly mumbled out. "Oh, Mark... We could be here for months trying to find the damn scroll..." Mark placed a hand on his shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze, before moving toward the stairs staying. "Well, then we better get started. I'd bet that it's in the castle." Jack couldn't argue with that. It was as good a spot as any. Following after Mark, Jack made his way down the stone steps to the rocky road path. Other than the soft roar of a distant waterfall or two, the place was serenely quiet. Mark stopped on the path, gesturing to the little stone house nearby, asking him curiously. "You wanna check out the house since it's right there?"

Jack shrugged, giving Mark a pleasant nod. He was curious enough about the place to explore a little. Mark twirled Jack's glass sword to loosen up his wrist as he headed for the house. Jack slowed his pace shortly after, putting distance between himself and Mark. In front of the house's metal front door was a automaton sphere. Was it guarding the house? Mark drew closer to it and it sprang to life, charging straight for him. It shot a crossbow bolt at Mark, who blocked it with Umana's shield easily. The second Mark was close enough, he struck the sphere's fragile spine, until it fell apart under its own weight. Jack carefully made his way to the door and peeked inside. It looked... lived in. For a place that hadn't really been discovered, this house had a lot of fresh supplies. Jack let out a low whistle to get Mark's attention.

Mark jerked his head in his direction and Jack pointed inside with a cautious look. Mark quickly walked over to take point. He had the most armor and the best experience with fighting in enclosed spaces. Mark kicked the door open all the way, raising his shield to defend. Jack stood against the wall by the door, watching Mark's reaction closely and listening intently. Mark's body relaxed, telling him calmly. "It's clear. This guy isn't going to hurt us." Mark moved inside and Jack slipped in behind him. On the floor before a cold fireplace was a human skeleton. Mark yanked one of the two bolts out of the skeleton's shoulder plate, telling him softly. "Dwarven crossbow bolt. Seems that our friend here stumbled upon that automaton sphere and it chased him back home. Vindictive piece of machinery. It stayed stationed there all this time... Waiting for him."

Jack examined the skeleton's narrow hipbone, informing Mark casually. "This was a man. Maybe late twenties... The bones can't be more than a few years old." Mark tossed the bolt into the dead fireplace, chiming in. "Well, that means he's not a Dwarf. Damn... I was hoping to find something of them." Jack noticed that the skeleton had his hand on a journal and picked it up. Taking a seat on the large stone bed, Jack skimmed through the journal, then told Mark lightly. "Seems he was an Alchemist. A man named Sinderion. Some trading Khajiit gave him a backdoor key to these ruins, after showing him a rare crimson nirnroot that only grows down here. He was down here studying them." Jack closed the journal, looking up in time to see Mark holding up a small attuning sphere like the one they had used to unlock the stairs above.