The 5000 votes Extra that was promised! Sorry for being late.
~~~~~~~~~~
"Ladies and Gentlemen, we made it again." (Me)
"... Shut up!" (Alina)
"GOLD SLIDE!" (Jull)
"No way!" (Wulf)
"All that is gold! Again?" (Jorna)
What lied to us at the end of Fahlbtharz was another pile of Gold like the one we took from Haknir Death-Brand's tomb. Maybe a bit smaller but it was all Dwarven Gold coins which have a large price compared to the old Nordic ones.
"Look at these Dwarven Swords!"
"Jon, you are a real gold digger."
"I know."
We uncovered two treasures in four days. What are the chances?... Unless I know beforehand but I don't hide it so they don't believe it. Smart, right?
"Jon, compared to our wealth in Winterhold, this…" Alina said.
"This needs us to expand our vault at least three times if we added it to the other gold in the Cube."
"I was saying, shouldn't we be a bit modest with our luck?"
"... Nope."
"Good, I feel less guilty now."
We started hoarding all that gold into the Cube again.
As we finished with the Gold, there were artifacts. I started sorting them by the quality and the Enchantments. They were mostly not enchanted and got stored in their respective sections in the Cube's main space. We actually have a large armory in there.
The enchanted ones were mostly staves and some swords with minor enhancements but the most important thing her was the 'Visage of Mzund'.
"Wulf, put this on."
Wulfur took the Helm in his hands and felt its weight.
"It is massive."
"I know, right."
It was a large Helm that covered all the head, its appearance was unique as it carried that face which the Dwemer always make for their Dwarven Centurions. [A/n: Check Legacy of the Dragonborn Mod.] The appearance was fearsome and cool at the same time.
"Try to blow out a strong breath… no, not my direction."
Wulfur did as I said, he inhaled from his nose and exhaled a strong breath. With his head in the Visage, he let out a strong breath that turned into the same steam once it got out of the Visage.
"Fuck! What was that?" He freaked out.
"Amazing, right."
He took off the Visage and took his breath.
"This is awesome! I can't do a Thu'um like you but this… this is crazy."
"Of course. But you need to drink water after each use unless your ability gets enhanced. If you keep training on the Meditation Technique I gave you, you will be able to do it again and again."
"Awesome!"
Wulfur is all about Stamina. His power and speed were admirable but his endurance is something else. I tweaked the Meditation Technique I gave him so that his Stamina and Vitality become stronger.
Actually, his training is showing more effect than mine and Alina's. He can already carry things I can't carry with my Aura enforcing me.
"Jon, do you know what is the perfect use for this Visage?"
"Mhm?"
*Five minutes later.*
In a tiny space inside the Cube, Wulfur and I sat down with only towels around our waists. He drank some water then put the Visage on and exhaled a strong steam.
""SAUNA!""
This guy thought of that one his own, I am really proud. We finally have a sauna by utilizing one of the Magical Artifacts left behind by a long lost race of elves. Sounds like the right use to me.
[Visage of Mzund] The wearer has more Stamina and by exhaling strongly, the Visage will let out a Steam Breath Attack called 'Breath of Nchuak'.
***
We left Fahlbtharz and headed south to Kagrumez. From the name, one can understand that it is another Dwarven Ruin and like Fahlbtharz, it is a trial ruin. Seems like the Dwarves of Solstheim were quite the energetic bunch.
In front of the Ruin site, a woman in fit tight black armor under a black cloak was standing there, beside her was a Storm Atronach Horse. This was a Dark Elf from 'Team 0', my bodyguards and secret intelligence who take direct orders from only me as the Boss and Jullanar as their Captain.
"Boss, Captain."
"Ania, I trust you have what Jon needs." Jullanar started bossing around.
"Of course, Captain. Here are all the stones."
"Jon, are these what you want?"
"Yes, they fit the description. Good job, Ania."
"Thank you, Boss."
"Anything out of the ordinary?"
"No, Fort Frostmoth is completely guarded and we are about to get done with receiving all the shipments."
"Fine, tell Ongeim to start loading the ship and make the departing arrangements. We will finish up in a week."
"Yes, Boss."
She took the order and rode away. Team 0 has a lot of Dunmer and Khajiit but it is mainly made of Nords. The Dunmer were the refugees that became citizens in Winterhold and the Khajiit are the ones I tested myself. Khajiit, Orcs and Argonians are mostly not allowed to go into the cities due to xenophobic reasons even in Winterhold but I tend to look for the people with talent and quality, each person has their kind of problems and what I do is to solve these problems for them and use them as my people for repayment. Khajiit love free-spirited easy jobs so I offer them good work conditions and Dunmer want to be seen equal with Nords so I offer them dignity. The atmosphere in Winterhold was a bit awkward but as long as everyone is kept busy in their work they won't remember that they are different races all together especially if their line of work is doing shady business like in 'Team 0'.
Anyway, it was the time to delve into Kagrumez.
Kagrumez is an ancient Arena that the Dwemer utilized to make people and machines fight so it was going to be fun as long as one doesn't get hurt.
The ruins were also built in a so we have to go down the stairs then use the elevator in the middle of the ruins. The Dwarves used elevators like these in mostly everything they built.
We descended underground again and found ourselves in a storeroom-like place. There were all kinds of broken dwarven machines and metal bars. Wulfur and I didn't let one thing in place and hoarded everything… even the shelves… because they are big and also made of Dwarven metal. Anyway, as we finished we kept going down a stairway and we didn't come across any hostile dwarven machine.
As soon as the stairway ended, we arrived at an open space with a central platform and also a lot of surrounding high ones. This was the arena I mentioned before. On the central platform, there was a pedestal with a 3x3 grid, each point was a socket that would fit something inside.
"So! What now?" They asked.
"Look at that gate." I pointed to the gate in the east. "Let's check it out first."
As I showed them the gate we found another 3x3 grid with to points highlighted.
"The Middle Left and the Bottom Right." I said and went back to the pedestal. "Now show me what Ania brought."
I took the small box from Jullanar an inside it there were nine crystal stones in it, these were known as the Resonance Stones. Each one would fit on any socket in the pedestal grid.
"Okay, get ready."
I said and placed two Resonance Stones. Once I did so, a cage rose from the ground and surrounded all of us.
"Jon."
"I know, don't panic, we can teleport out if things went bad."
The cage held up for a while then went down, the walls around the arena started to move and we could hear some machines walking on them. With that, the first round of the fight for survival began. We formed a circle formation all with weapons in hand.
From the platforms on top, Dwarven Spider started jumping down and they were followed by Dwarven Ballistas.
"Go for it!" I shouted and we charged each to his fancy.
What met me was a Dwarven Sphere, it also ruched at me but avoided attacking directly and tried to make a circle and shoot me with its crossbow but I wouldn't let it go that easily. Parkour was still in my blood and I avoided each bolt it shot at me finally reaching it and performing a Superman Punch with my free hand that had a 'Thunder Cookie' spell charged.
My alarm spell sensed danger and I avoided right away as there was a Dwarven Ballista shooting at me while keeping its distance.
"No, you won't."
Before it shoots another one, I used 'Electrohand', grabbed it with my lightning hand all the way over me and slammed it on the ground to pieces.
Each one of us was going with his or her style as it would be bad if we centered ourselves in one place and got all shot at. Jull used her crossbow to shoot down all the ones that came towards her, Wulf and Jorna waved their large hammers idiotically, Nefertiti took a liking on a big steel axe and used it in her Werecat for, she looked super deadly, my lady fair, Alina, was using a mace and a magic, finally the awesome me was magic and unarmed combat.
It was fun but the Dwarven machines were kinda unending until we finally finished our first round.
"I am so tired." Jull sat down catching for breath.
"Yes, the Dwarves indeed has a lot of metal to spare." Jorna sat beside her in worse condition.
We started healing each other and I focused on Nefertiti who really hurt herself.
"Wanna go back and have a nap?"
"No."
"Wanna eat something?"
"No."
"Wanna destroy some machines?" I said and tickled her chin.
"Purr… yes."
She was larger than her normal cute self but she was still the little devil who would purr whenever she gets tickled… but this time she was carrying a large axe and very happy with it. She even switched to her Human Form and waved the axe a few times then went back again to the Werecat Form deciding it was better that way.
Anyway, I am happy that she found something interesting.
"Let's see the gate."
We went to the gate again and found it open this time, behind it, there was a corridor that led us to another storeroom that we started looting.
"Hooman, that lever."
"Oh yes, that. Wulf, come here."
There was a lever and behind it was a metal wall, once we used the lever, the door moved down and Dwarven Spider appeared behind it.
"Whoa!" I stopped everyone from blowing it to pieces.
"What?"
"This thing is not hostile, it is friendly."
"What? A friendly… machine?"
"Wulfur, go try it."
"Really?"
"Yeah, go."
He nodded with a smile and went forward towards the Dwarven Spider.
"Hey, you seem friendly." Wulfur talked to the Dwarven Spider.
The spider let out steam as a response.
"Oh! Follow me then, I'll call you Spidey."
"Nice naming, Wulf."
"Oh boy, why do boys love strange things?"
It seemed that the team had some conflicting opinions about a Dwarven Spider coming with so we stored it in the Cube with an order to sort out things in there. There is no way would let such a study subject go to waste.
We then took the pattern for the next round's grid and went out to place the stones on the pedestal.
This round had fire traps all over the place and we got burned a few times but we managed to fend off the horde of machines. Its reward was an access to another storeroom and a Dwarven Sphere that Wulfur took too. He would go insane about anything Dwarven.
The third round was full of Lightning traps and the floor got submerged with water so it was too deadly to move around a lot else we would get electrified. Still, that didn't stop us from levitating or teleporting or merging with our own shadows. It was a hairy third round but we passed it.
This was the last round and we got access to the final storeroom and there was a unique artifact waiting for us.
"This is for you, Jullanar."
"For me?"
She didn't receive a lot like Alina but she always boasted about getting the Ring of Arcana. This time, I wanted to give her this amazing bow.
It is the [Dwarven Black Bow of Fate], each arrow fired from it can drain the targets Life Force and Magicka and the shooter would absorb them.
This elegant Black Bow was much like Alina's Bloodscythe and Soulrender. A worthy bow for a worthy shooter.
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~~~~~~~~~~
As we returned to Raven Rock to sort out our stuff and sell the items we don't need, we started to prepare for the final dungeon we are delving in. That was none other than, Raven Rock's mine.
Still, before that we had to prepare a lot. The girls were not ready to go on another dungeon for the next two days at least and I also wanted to laze around for two days. Being ahead of schedule sure feels good.
I started to meditate and perfect the technique more. I also was studying some ways regarding the Magic of the Psijic Order and I almost figured out some aspects regarding the Archetype of Time, one of the most mysterious magics of all time.
To cast magic is to understand its archetypes fully and apply them on a magic circle. All mages can make their Magic Circle appear during the casting and it is not something strange or wrong but some people has their own spells that showing of their circles may give their secrets out so only new learners us Magic Circles in the open before they start hiding it.
In the center of any magic circle, there is always one or several Central Runes which refer to the Main Archetype of the Magic. For example, most of Central Runes of the Destruction Magic always starts with the equivalent of the letter (K) in the Magic Script Alphabet. This Alphabet was seen in the game many times by the player on the 'Black Books'. There were other forms of Magical Runes of course like the Dragon Runes and the Daedric Runes but they were used for their respective subjects like the Thu'um and the Daedric Arts.
[A/N: see the article about the Magic Script Alphabet in the Wiki and the UESPWiki]
Anyway, reading the Magic Script Alphabet is essential to any mage and each and everyone must know how to do it for the sake of casting magic. It doesn't matter if you can understand it or not but at least have proper knowledge of the common runes. Some runes construct the 'Central Runes' of any Magic Circle and they are essential for the Main Archetype to manifest in the spell and some runes are for the Control Archetypes that reshape the Main into a proper spell. Takes a few days of training to be able to apply it but it is not as hard as it sounds.
The problem now with the Time Archetype is its usage of not so common Runes from the Magic Script Alphabet. There are those four runes that mostly don't get used in magic most often, actually, I would say that only a few people use them and no one else bothered studying them. These ones are the equivalents of (Q), (X), (1) and (2).
(Q) and (X) are necessary to use the 'Time Archetype' but (X) also can be used in the 'Space Archetype' which makes nothing easy. Space and Time are like Lorkhan and Auri-El, Padomic Energy and Anuic Energy. If something mutual between them appeared it would be strange and hard to understand.
That is why I can't understand the Time Magic on my own using the principles of Space Magic. That is also why Mysticism is the coolest school of Magic and the only one I see worthy to rule the other schools.
As each School of Magic has certain Archetypes for their respective practices and spell, the Mysticism has the hardest of all of them. The Archetypes of the Mysticism are; Outer Energy (Magicka), Inner Energy (Soul), Limits (Space), No Limits (Time), Reading the Space (Detection), Reading the Time (Divination).
I have a good understanding regarding (Magicka), (Space) and (Detection) while (Soul), (Time) and (Divination) are a bit of a hurdle. Nurina said that there are more Archetypes to that and the Psijic Monks can control Weather and Nature but I shouted "Give me a break" and ran away. I am a Nerd but not at her level of Nerd yet.
Truth be told, if we started tracing everything back to its source, we will arrive at the School of Mysticism and everything will be just big plane dumbness, that is why I wrote my ideas about the 'One School Theory'.
"Sigh! What a pain!"
I closed my notes and lied on the bed but somehow my head dragged itself back to thinking.
'Why are there Runes for (1) and (2)? What can they be used for?'
This was a million septim question which even Nurina doesn't know its answer.
I forced myself out of overthinking by pouring some cold water on my face and going out of my room.
***
As I roamed Raven Rock in the Afternoon, I started greeting the people I made friends with in the town. One particular person I was looking for was the foreman of closed mine of Raven Rock, that was Crescius Caerellius.
Asking Glover about him led me straight to the Mine. I found the old man setting in front of the Mine polishing his mining tools.
"I trust that you are Crescius Caerellius?"
"Who in the blazes are you?! Can't you see I'm busy?"
"My name is Jon Dare, I am the ow…"
"Oh, the traders that came from the mainland?"
"Yes, that is me." I offered the old man a handshake but he looked away with a snort.
This man is around 80 years old so I am not going to cause him trouble anyway.
"Isn't it dangerous here for an old man like yourself?"
"Humph! Listen to yourself, when I was your age, boy, I could shatter rocks with my bare fist. Now as I am at this age, most of the folks around here would talk like you. But mark my words, these mines hold a secret that could put Raven Rock back on the map once again and I can bet my old bones on it."
"What sort of secret would that be I wonder?"
"A secret the East Empire Company swept under the rug two centuries ago. It killed my great-grandfather and left Raven Rock with a worthless and tainted mine. My great-grandfather Gratian Caerellius. He spent his entire life exploring ancient ruins across Tamriel and he died in these very mines almost 200 years ago... The East Empire Company called it 'a terrible accident', claiming that he was lost in rockfall, but I know better."
"Figures, I was dealing with these bastards long enough to tell, but how do you know they are hiding something?"
"My wife and I were cleaning out our home, and we came across some of my great-grandfather's things locked in an old chest. I found an unsent letter he'd written he'd written to the East Empire Company and a key. The letter describes a discovery that was made in the mine by some of the diggers. They wanted Gratian to take a closer look. The East Empire Company must have felt it was of great value, as they locked that section of the mine off from everyone else."
"Did you take a look?"
"You crazy, boy? How can an old man like myself explore the uncharted parts of the mine?"
"I see! Truth be told, it sounds a bit crazy…"
"Sigh, just like how everyone else said."
"... But, when there is smoke there is fire. The matter kinda sounds suspicious."
"Finally! Someone who believes me." The old man seemed pleased that I said so, "I'm telling you... there's something big down there, something that the East Empire Company wanted to hide from everyone."
"Still… why did you tell me all of that?"
"Hehe, boy, I listen to the rumors and I heard that the merchant known as Jon Dare is roaming Solstheim looking for some treasure, many people are keeping a close eye on you especially that idiot Fethis Alor, he thinks that if he reports what you find to the East Empire Company, the would reward him when… if they get back to Raven Rock, damned fool.
"Yeah, I know about him."
My people are doing a good job, after all, I even know who is in secret relationship with who in this town by now, Dark Elves are so messed up when it comes to romantic affairs anyway.
"Anyway, Time's my enemy... old age caught up with me before I could find the answers that I'm looking for."
"And here is where I come in?"
"Indeed, I was hoping that an explorer can help me. I want to know what happened to my great-grandfather and what the East Empire Company is keeping from all of us."
It is all working out well this way.
"Fine, you got me interested. Any idea where to start?"
"Gratian kept a journal of notes about his discoveries. If you can find his... remains, I'm hoping it will help. Here's everything I have. The letter, the key. Please, do this for me so I can finally regain the respect that I've lost."
I took what the old man offered me and skimmed through everything. This is good… very good.
"Old man, let me go bring my team."
It didn't take me a lot to drag Wulfur and the rest all the way to the mines.
"This will be the last place we delve into in Raven Rock, the most important part in our journey and the finale of Phase 3. The…"
"... mines."
They seemed to be underwhelmed.
"I know it looks like me fooling around but this is Company Business. I am not bringing you around as your bro Jon. I am dragging you here as your Boss. Now back to shape."
My words were not that inspiring but they had to listen in the end. With that. With things like that, we finally set foot in the mine.
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