Chương 380: Research Ventures
Michael glances around at the expedition group, "Alright, as you can see, the Forsworn are all pretty retarded. But that doesn't make them any less of a threat. Don't get cocky, stay with the group, and communicate. Alright?"
"Who put you in charge?" Calcelmo grouses, "It's my expedition, so you are all under MY command."
...
"The others are under your command, but I'm not... But whatever, you do you and we'll stick to our own methods." Michael shrugs, not really caring about Calcelmo's attempt at dick measuring.
Calcelmo nods, "Good that you understand... Now, just follow my lead. Don't get arrogant, stay in formation, and communi-Ahem... Listen to orders. " the mage states, essentially parroting everything Michael had just said, like a lazy student plagiarizing others...
Michael shales his head and looks to his group, "You girls work with the backline, Saya, stick with Tiff. Target the guys with Dwemer armour." he says, not wanting them to be caught in the front lines or something.
With the basic plan sketched out, Michael uses [Cloak and Dagger] to turn invisible and sneak over to the Forsworn. He checks for anyone who looked to be in charge, but he couldn't tell the difference between them. He might be able to figure it out with more time but, Calcelmo and his men would be attacking in a few seconds.
Shaking his head, he draws an ebony dagger and slits the throat of one of the few Forsworn mages present. The woman lets out a gurgled shriek as blood pools from her throat and gathers in her mouth.
Michael manages to assassinate another mage and an archer before he's noticed. Pulling all of the Forsworn's attention towards him. A few immediately give a yell as they charge, but are taken off guard as an explosion erupts in the middle of the biggest group, courtesy of Megumin.
Arrows and other spells are fired as the Markarth forces charge toward the enemy, quickly whittling down the Forsworn forces as they struggle to defend against both Michael and the other.
The surprise attack combined with the better geared Markarth forces, Michael's personal strength along with his companions, the Forsworn were quickly wiped out.
Usually, the clean up after the battle is the most annoying, but the Markarth guards and Adventurers scramble to try and acquire some loot for themselves, taking pieces of the Dwemer armour and weaponry the Forsworn had managed to gather.
Michael ignores all of this, instead swiping Katria's journal from a corpse and skimming through it. It was pretty in-depth and actually contained a lot of knowledge about the Aetherium Crest, or at least, its shards that'd been scattered throughout Skyrim.
Luckily, Katria also had information on their locations, making it possible to gather them... That wasn't all however, as Katria somehow located the place where the actual Aetherium Forge was hidden.
Well, not exactly, but she'd managed to find a place that had an indentation the exact shape the Aetherium Crest would be once complete. This was located nearby Ivarstead in the Ruins of Bthalft, so it was either the Aetherium Forge's location, or an elaborate ruse created by a 'funny' Dwemer.
He shakes his head and glances over his shoulder, spotting Calcelmo sifting through one of the Forsworn's bags and pulling out some Dwemer doo-dads that may or may not be valuable. "Should find whever the shard is hidden before this guy does..." he whispers to himself, picking up a nearby bow and firing arrows at the triggers in the order Katria's journal suggested.
Bottom left, bottom right, upper right-no, that's wrong...
Bottom left, bottom right, upper left, upper right, bottom centre.
*CLICK!*
"Hmph, lucky I know how to actually use a bow..." he mutters to himself, recalling the difficulty the Forsworn were having.
The bars blocking off the entrance below the triggers lowers to allow access to the door. Michael steps in before anyone realises what's happening and quickly jogs through the hallway, eventually finding himself inside some kind of vault.
Shelves were stacked against each wall and were filled with many untouched artifacts and equipment. Michael could hear the doors to the entrance swing open as Calcelmo shouts for him to wait, so he quickly swipes the thing that catches his eye...
A big blue shard was sitting atop a raised dais in the middle of the room as if it was the pinnacle of everything in the vault. He stores it in his inventory and places an enchanted Dwemer sword on the dais instead to try and throw Calcelmo off, who finally runs into the vault.
"DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING YOU FOOL!" the mage exclaims while pointing a finger at Michael.
Michael raises his hands placatingly, "What's your problem?"
"My problem!?" Calcelmo's voice cracks, "YOU WERE ATTEMPTING TO STEAL FROM ME WEREN'T YOU!? FROM MY RESEARCH!?"
"You didn't have a problem sifting through shit without notifying me or my friends, if you've forgotten, this 'coalition' was only to secure you and your men's safety. The Jarl said we'd get a fair share of the loot... And no, I haven't taken anything yet."
"Yet! Your petty greed for wealth means nothing to my research! Now, get out and let me look at this place. You can come for your spoils afterwards!" Calcelmo grouses while pushing Michael out.
Michael allows it to happen as he'd already acquired the shard, nothing else in the room really struck him, so he'd have a look at it later after Calcelmo was done pleasing himself or whatever else he was gonna do in here.
"Michael, we heard shouting, is everything alright?" Tiffania asks him as he walks out of the door, a few guards and adventures also observing from the side.
He shrugs noncommittally while giving a light kiss on her cheek, "Nothing much, just Calcelmo being a weirdo again. How about you guys, no trouble I hope?"
Tiffania gives her own shrug, "No for me, but Saya might have problems with suitors soon..." she says, gesturing with her head over at Saya who was rejecting one guy after another, the men uncaring if their chances of actually wooing her were zilch.
"No matter what she says, she looks happy." Megumin sourly remarks from the side, feeling slightly outclassed by the busty pinkette.
"Just let her be happy. She used to spend all her time chasing after one guy, this is probably a relief for her." Tiffania adds, patting the explosion girl on her back, "You'll catch just as much interest when you're her age."
...
"She's only a year older... You as well... Did you have those when you were fifteen?" she asks while jabbing a finger at one of Tiffania's breasts.
Michael coughs into his fist, "*Ahem*, that doesn't really matter does it? You have your own... Spark." he winks, trying to cheer the girl up. Only for both Tiffania and Megumin to groan at his cheesy joke, afterwards teasing him about it... At least she'd forgotten about her flat chest though, right?
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