Into Skyrim, Elder Scrolls 8 Nirn's Beta-Chapter 118: Forge or Factory?

We spent an hour thinking up a plan for how to deal with the room filled with constructs. Most of them were transport constructs. Things like Dynastors had little to know weapons. They only had steam valves that can fire off hot steam. Which meant the threats were the Guardian which was in fact the large centipede construct, the Delvers which had laser tools, the several Perforators, and finally the few Steam Constructors.

Viree sighed, "So even if we do take out all the smaller constructs we still gotta deal with that Guardian. We didn't even get a good look at it."

I nodded, "My guess is the guardian is made of three separate constructs. As shown in the schematic. The good thing is the guardian seems to have been built to deal with any intruders entering through the cargo bays. This means we will have a little time to set up to kill the other constructs."

Viree gripped the Staff of Panoply in her hands, "Okay, can we run through this one more time?"

I nodded, "Using the staff you will cast Mass Petrification. Even if they aren't effected by the spell it will get there attention. This is where I use the Shout Roar of Disaster. Now since I have literally no idea what this does. You will Immediately pull me back into the gate and activate it."

Viree nodded, "Not that hard, but are you sure I can cast that spell with this Staff."

I nodded once more, "Do you need to see the spell again."

She shook her head, "No, just not used to being the one casting a spell."

She stood up and entered the gate, "I'm ready!"

I joined her in the gate and flipped the lever. The gate did it routine and revealed the cargo bay of the dwemer ruins? No, with how preserved this place is it can hardly be called a ruin. Several automatons moved toward the Gates raised platform.

Viree spoke, "Mass Petrification!" and clicked the staff against the floor and magic poured out in a cone. Several constructs were crusted in stone making them freeze in place. The nearest machines were frozen solid, but looking at the cracking stone it seemed it would last long.

I stepped forward and breath in, "Strun Kest Riik Krast Kem!"

The thu'um stretched across the cargo bay, but I didn't see what it did as the words blew me backwards. I heard something crack, and my whole body ached. Viree ran to my side and pulled me into the gate and flicked the lever. As the gate closed Viree held me. "Are you okay?"

I held up a hand, and opened my mouth, but no words came out. I tried to speak again and this time it came out. "I hurt all over, and my throat feels dry. Other than that I'm fine." I washed myself in healing magic. It made me feel so much better.

I stood up and winced as my knees felt rough. Within the minute though they healed quickly. I grabbed Philip and lead her into the gate. "Open the gate again, let's see what happened."

The gate squealed and struggled to open. When the gate didn't open all the way Viree pulled the doors apart making us both gasped, I kept my voice low. "Wow, I now understand what the shout does."

Viree snapped her head to look at me, "What do you mean, now? Now? Did you not know?"

I shrugged, "I understood the words, but the shout made no sense to me. Though I now realize how they combine and what happened." Looking at the clump of metal I realized the shout had five words because dragons had no word for a black hole.

Several machine parts twitched on the ground as they were ripped from the constructs they were connected to. "The shout was called Roar of Disaster and I think I understand why. If a dragon were to be hit by it they would instantly become crippled."

Viree laughed, "I think that was obvious! I mean we were worried about the guardian construct, but it is in pieces."

This was true, "I think the recoil I received is to protect the user from the impact. The impact itself creates a..." How to explain a black hole to Viree? I found my words and continued, "It creates a point that sucks in what ever is around it. Ultimately crushing them into a single point to the point of obliteration of whatever was in the impact site. Does that make sense?"

Viree nodded, "How much force would you say was behind it?"

My eyes drifted around to the two large cargo doors and the large new dents. I flicked my eyes to the floor and the large gashes caused by the constructs being dragged in I gave an estimate. "Roughly it fired into a forest would turn the landscape into wasteland. I mean look at the cargo doors."

Viree eyes moved toward the two doors and blinked. "Whoa."

I nodded, "I think this was the best case scenario. If I used this above ground it could've been devastating." I paused and thought about it, "Actually this might be one of the shouts Alduin uses."

Viree shook her head and started marching down the ramp. "Can you use it again?"

I rubbed my throat, "No, honestly I don't think I can use any Thu'um right now."

Viree nodded and picked up a chunk of the guardian, "Still it is a good means of mutual destruction."

That was true, I stared at the clump of metal. I paused and plucked out a red gem. Holding it up I realized it was a much smaller version of the one I had saw in the past. "A Memory Gem." So that was what the giant red stone was. It was a massive Memory Gem. I took out the schematics and flipped through them until I found the one about the centipede.

Viree looked over my shoulder, "You discover something?"

I held up the memory gem, "This gem functions as muscle memory for the constructs. Think of it as if you were to copy a fighting style onto the gem and inject it into the Construct. It seems they only add these to constructs of a certain size."

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I showed her the several schematics that implemented the memory gem. She nodded, "Can you use it for anything?"

I shrugged, "No real clue. This one is unusable though its a fragment. The gem likely shattered when the guardian got pulled into the singularity."

Viree pointed to a sanitization gate on the other side of the Cargo Bay. "Should we move on?"

I nodded as I grabbed Philip who was pushing a twitching mechanical limb. Viree pulled the door of the gate open as the metal distorted from the shout. Once inside she flipped the switch and the gate proceeded with the routine as if the door was perfectly fine. Though it did struggle to close behind us.

The gate lead to a corridor with a branching path. I looked into the split off room. "What is that thing?"

I shrugged, "An Oculory, it is likely for the lexicons we found. We can come back later, or more likely me as I might need to use it."

Viree nodded took the lead to the original path. We opened the door to the next room and found a small office. Three desks were laid out and three beds were placed down. Viree pointed, "Another small break room? It has those food containers."

I opened the next door and a wave of heat hit me. Viree shook her head, "Again, whoa!"

I tapped the walls, "Calcium Silicate, it basically blocks all the heat."

Viree frowned, "Is that lava?"

I thought about it, "Is molten rock in a cave lava or magma? Personally I think it would be called Magma."

Viree punched me and stepped into the large room. In the center of the rooms was a large pool of water. Three pipes connected to the pool and I dipped a finger in it. Viree yanked my hand back, "What are you doing."

I pointed to it, "Feel it, its cold."

She blinked, "What?" She dipped a finger into the freezing water while I looked around the space. On three sides of the room was magma and siphons that pulled the magma around the room. Several pipes lead to large machines.

Viree shook her head, "This is insane, how is this stuff built?"

I slid my hand against one of the machines. "This is where the constructs are made."

Viree shook her head, "but several of the machines are warped." Viree kicked an large plated cylinder on one side of the space to make a point. "Even this thing is half melted."

I stared at the plated pedestal? "Oh, that's an anvil."

She stared at it, "Useless now."

I nodded, "Several of these machines were likely automated. While dwemer forge masters likely worked on the anvil and work stations."

Viree looked around, "How many of these are usable? We came here so you can forge some things right?"

I nodded, "I hadn't really planned on using the anvil here unless it was better than the one I brought. The grindstone there will be useful and I think that bench there is an enchanting table. I think this work station is some kind of compression device... Actually, no this is a centurion core assembly station."

Viree pointed to another station, "The table is melted, but everything else looks fine."

I looked at the station and whistled, "This is a welding and liquid binding station. This is likely how they made the material that insulates the place."

Viree wandered toward the only other door in the room. "It's locked."

i looked at the lock and shook my head, "Not locked the door is melted together." I looked at the hinges and was interrupted by Viree slamming a foot into the door. Making it fall forward and revealing a hallway. I moved forward peeking into the room it lead to and whistled again. "That is a lot of material."

Viree nodded in some disbelief, "Yeah..."

I could understand as the room was stocked with an insane amount of materials. "I think it is safe to say this place really is a factory for the dwemer. The room is small, but damn is it organized."

She nodded, "So you can use it?"

I nodded, "I think it is safe to say I could likely use most of this. Can you go check on Philip? and set up some space for us in that break room."

Viree nodded, "I'm guess you are going to do inventory?"

I nodded, "Most likely followed by checking out the Oculory. Once I do that I'll invite you up to watch what I might be able to do with the lexicons."