A lone tower, similar in nature to the buildings of Markarth, awaited them. Perched on the edge of a small cliff, parts of the old stone had crumbled away though its bronze dome shaped roof appeared to be good condition, completely intact aside from some dirt.
For what reason would the Dwemer build such a thing? The balcony offered a good view of the surrounding area, but if the purpose of this tower was scouting that implied there was something nearby they wanted to protect.
A quick look around revealed nothing more than plain mountains, illuminated by the slowly rising sun. Vast as Markarth was, there weren’t too many interesting structures in this area and those they did find usually housed Forsworn.
“We’re almost there.” Remiel said, excitement and grogginess mixed into one exhausted groan. She’d have run the rest of the way up if she could, but traversing mountainous wilds all day then throughout the entire night slowed her.
“Good.” Auri said through a small yawn and stretch. “What are the chances it’s safe enough to sleep in?”
“We’ll find out soon enough.” Athias said, ripping his gaze away from her. There was a slight burn to his eyes that blinks worsened, but the lack of sleep didn’t bother him too much. He was ready for a fight.
“Stop right there!” A yell came down from the balcony as the trio approached. A dark haired woman, protected by armor made of silvery steel, peeked over the edge, an arrow aimed down at them. Athias stepped a little ahead of Auri. Worse comes to worse, he’d intercept the arrow and give her time to line up her own shot. “Who are you people?”
“Adventurers.” Athias shouted back. Just because he was ready for a fight didn’t mean he needed to jump right into one. The woman’s arrow wasn’t fully nocked and she definitely wasn’t Forsworn. “We heard there was a Dwemer Tower out in the open and came to see it for ourselves.”
The woman said nothing. She didn’t lower her bow either. And yet, the hairs on his neck never stood up.
[Name: ???]
[Race: Nord]
[Level: 25]
Ward or Flash.
If Sixth Sense activated or she made any sudden moves, he’d immediately go for one of them. Either she was good at hiding her malicious intent as the system called it or that woman had no real desire to attack them. A friendly stranger would be a great change of pace after that encounter with the Forsworn and a night that went on forever.
“Any Forsworn follow you?” She finally asked.
“I don’t think so.” Athias said. He couldn’t be completely sure. There hadn’t been anything off when they set up camp yet the Forsworn found them. The work of experienced trackers and their unique group. The trail left by Scrap wasn’t subtle, cracked stone often left in his wake.
“Let’s hope you’re telling the truth. For both our sakes.” The woman lowered her bow. “Don’t make me regret letting you all in.”
She stepped back and out of their view, the sound of a hefty metal door coming from the balcony.
“Ugh, we have do deal with people?” Remiel groaned.
Auri patted Remiel’s shoulder as they passed her. “People are part of the adventure.”
“I suppose.” Far from happy, Remiel joined them at the tower’s entrance and Athias pushed open the old doors.
The entranceway was small, barely enough space to hold them with the humming dwemer pipe built overhead. It connected to a spiraling stairway, crumbled stone pushed aside to make a clear path up. Athias kept a hand near his sword and readied his steel shield, leading their ascent.
It paid to be prepared.
The tower itself wasn’t the tallest due to its already advantageous position on a cliff, so they reached the top floor quickly. As the only other room here, it contained basic enough amenities for its former use. A stone bed, dwarven dresser, and stone table. Then there was the metal door that led out to the balcony.
The woman from before blocked it, adopting a near identical stance to him; a dwarven shield raised just enough for a quick defense, but low enough to not carry any aggression, and a hand near the axe at her waist.
Neither of them were looking for a fight.
She eased her shield lower and Athias did the same.
“You adventurers chose a dangerous part of Skyrim to explore.” The dark haired woman said once both of their guards were completely lowered, hand moved away from axe. “The Forsworn always find a way to show up at the worst of times.”
“Oh we know.” Remiel agreed from behind him. She was already examining some of the cogs and metal of the table. Scrap crawled beneath it, quietly humming. Sometimes Athias forgot that automaton was even following them now that it didn’t make so much noise. “All we did was walk around one of their hideouts and they decided to raid our camp. How am I suppose to properly carry out my research without sleep?”
“Is that a working spider?” The dark haired nord asked, peering down but refraining from invading their space.
“That’s Scrap, the fourth member of our team. Say hello, Scrap.” The automaton stuck a leg out from the table. Raised it. Then slammed it into the ground, slightly digging into the stone. “No, Scrap. I said hello, not dig. I’m still working on his commands.”
“How are you controlling it? I’ve never seen one take orders from anyone. I hadn’t thought it possible.”
“It’s quite a long story. It’s all started in Nchuand-Zel-“
“The-“ The nord paused, eyes closed for a moment. “Radiant City? I’ve found references to such a place in other ruins but I wasn’t aware it was found.”
“Are you well versed in the Dwemer language? I don’t mean to offend, but I didn’t think Nords cared to study them.”
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“There are always exceptions if you look hard enough. I-“
The longer the two talked about Dwemer, the less suspicious Athias felt. The glint of curiosity lighting up the woman’s dark eyes were quite similar to Remiel’s. Too similar to be anything other than genuine.
He and Auri locked eyes then slipped past the woman, giving her enough space to join Remiel at the table and more talk shop.
Auri plopped down on the stone bed.
“Shouldn’t have done that.” She muttered, laying back and stretching out across the thing. Athias spared a chuckle, stare focused on the nordic woman.
She was familiar for reasons he couldn’t quite place his finger on. Was she actually a character from the game? Surely he’d remember a nord invested in the missing race of Tamriel. Maybe she had something to do with one of the quests concerning Dwemer? There weren’t many of those.
There was that crap with Hermaeus Mora and that secluded mage somewhere in the Winterhold region. A situation he never wanted to get wrapped up in; that daedric prince might not be known to launch attacks on the mortal realm but he was up there on the danger meter. There was an Elder scroll to retrieve in the depths of Blackreach, a place he planned on seeing sooner or later. Other miscellaneous quests such as finding someone’s lost weapon existed but hardly stood out enough to warrant remembering.
There was the whole Aetherium Forge quest, but the woman involved in that had been dead.
Dead by the time Alduin made his appearance anyways.
Was she-
“You’re staring.” Auri said having propped herself up on the bed. “This is the first I’ve seen you so interested in a nord.”
“I’m just curious about something.” Athias said, not so dense that the subtle implication was lost on him.
The nord wasn’t ugly but didn’t really stand out either. She was rather plain compared to Auri. It’s not like that mattered to him though; it had nothing to do with his adventure through this world.
“Was it the dwemer ruins that brought you out here?”
Remiel and the nord looked their way, both a little surprised by his voice.
“That’s right.” The woman said. “I heard of this tower and came to the same conclusion as your friend here. If the Dwemer bothered to build something out on the surface then it stands to reason that one of their cities would be nearby.”
“And have you found this city?” Athias pressed.
“I have some ideas, but nothing concrete.”
“Why not join us in our search for it?” Remiel offered cheerfully. “I don’t plan on leaving this mountain until I find that place.”
The nord smiled, nodding to Remiel. “I appreciate the offer and respect your dedication, but I don’t believe that would be the best idea. Groups aren’t my thing.”
A denial. That what he expected. From what Athias remembered, years of her hard work and detailed research about the fabled Aetherium Forge had been stolen by someone close to her. A betrayal of that nature could linger with someone for the rest of their life.
The woman grabbed a fur bag near the table. “I pray that the Eight offer you better luck on your journey adventurers. Now that the sun has risen I’ll be taking my leave from this place.”
As she made her way to the steps, Athias made a decision. “I'm sure there’s honor and glory in being the first one to discover something, but if you die chasing that, you’ll just be another nobody no one remembers.” He said. He needed to strike as close to home as he could without coming off as someone who knew too much. “There’s a reason people say there’s strength in numbers. If we team up and find this Dwemer city together, were all more likely to get out alive.”
“He’s right. If it weren’t for those two, I wouldn’t have made it out of Nchuand-Zel.” Remiel said. “Auri is the best shot I’ve ever seen and -although he may not look it- Athias is a talented mage.”
“A mage huh.” The nord locked eyes with him, adjusting the bag over her shoulder.
Maybe it was stupid of him to try and change this woman’s future now that he was sure of who she was. Who knew what sort of ripples could be created.
And there were the gods to consider. The Aedra weren’t as overt about their presence as the Daedra, but it was still possible for them to exert influence on the world under the right, typically extreme, circumstances. Would Akatosh, the God of Time, and Arkay, the God of Birth and Death, take issue with him averting someone’s demise? What would they do about it? Could they do anything about it?
This would be a good way to figure out if interfering with the original time-line of the game had consequences.
All that aside, there was a fine line between staying in his lane to preserve his own life and watching someone blindly walk off to a needless death without giving them a chance to avoid it.
「Alert: Skill advanced」
「Speech: 24 -> 25 」
“I imagine the three of you will want to get some rest before we head out.” The nord said, internal deliberation over.
Here’s to hoping this decision didn’t come back to bite him in the ass.
----------------------------------------
[Name: Katria]
[Race: Nord]
[Level: 25]
Could he keep her alive? Would it be the smart thing to do? How much could saving one life change?
Various questions of the same vein repeated in Athias’s head as they followed their nordic companion. She pointed out various spots for them to check across the mountain. They were all spread out, no obvious pattern, but Athias noticed that she was quite deliberate in her decisions, not surprised when they found nothing yet intent on heading south.
She knew where the Dwemer Ruin was or a had a much better idea about it then she initially let on.
Auri bumped into his side as they followed Remiel and Katria along a dirt trial that led deeper into Markarth’s mountains. At this rate, they just might hit Skyrim’s border.
“What is it?” He asked.
“Just curious. Even after we went through that ruin with Remi you didn’t care all that much about whether or not she joined us. With this woman-“
“Really? You’re still on that?”
Auri bumped into him again. “You been staring at her a lot.”
“I’m not interested in her like that.” Athias insisted. “Katria reminds me of someone, that’s all.”
Technically, not a lie. The Katria in the game he remembered had been a mournful ghost, obsessed with achieving a difficult goal before moving on to whatever afterlife awaited her. This living person of the same name was a bit of a standoffish researcher with an interest in the Dwemer that rivaled Remiel’s. They might look similar and bare the same names but comparing this person with a character from memories of a game felt almost degrading.
Auri hummed. She twisted around, walking backwards as she slipped in front of him, searching his face for something. A stupid idea considering she still wore his cloak.
“If you’re not interested in her, what exactly is your type?” Auri asked, head tilted.
He raised a brow. This was all starting to feel very childish, which he supposed wasn’t a first coming from her. “Short jealous elves who don’t know how to mind their business.”
Auri smiled, the sides of her red hair shaking. Her ears were wiggling. “Is that right?”
“Isn't that what you wanted to hear?”
“Maybe. Maybe not. Who-“ Auri yelped, falling back, her foot finally having caught on the edges of the oversized cloak. He caught her arm and steadied her.
“Maybe that’s a sign from Y’ffre to stop making assumptions.” Athias teased as he walked past her. Auri gave something of a huff before quickly catching up with him, all smiles.
Athias couldn’t help but smile right along with her.
He liked her and she liked him; with all the flirting they did that wasn’t some big revelation.
Would he ever act on it?
Not likely. Relationships were complicated. Adventuring was simple. Dangerous but simple. The two didn’t seem compatible, the former coming with so much baggage that it’d inevitably bleed into the latter. He hoped Auri was on the same page.
Why else would she dance around the subject alongside him for so long?
“There it is!” Remiel exclaimed, rushing ahead of everyone, Scrap quick to follow.
Old stone protruding out the side of the mountain’s highest point, Athias wasn’t surprised this Dwemer ruin had gone unfounded for so long. It was nowhere as grand as Understone Keep and broken rocks covered most of it. From a distance it’d be difficult to notice if one didn’t know what to look for.
“Remiel understands the dangers of these places does she not?” Katria asked as they ascended the steps after their eager member.
“Isn’t that part of the appeal?” Athias retorted. Katria's lips thinned, thoroughly unamused by the question.
Now came the hard part; avoiding her death when he hardly remembered anything specific about this ruin. Hopefully seeing the inside would help.