Chapter 132: Btharzmar(3)

We got silent with that heavy question before shaking it off and moving to check for loot. The first thing we checked was the workbench table with it's parts and tools on it. None of it was worth grabbing though. It was all tinkering tools for engineering the parts themselves were the same. By looking over all of them I roughly understood that this was basically just a toy being made. The Dwemer equivalent to a rubber duck. Because of that I left it all there as I had no want for any of it and I wasn't desperate for material.-

The chest at the foot of the bed had a clever combination lock that I flat out cheated on with magic by creating a thin mist of perception that seeped into the mechanism and told me what the correct pattern was. Inside the chest there wasn't anything worth all that effort. The airtight design kept everything good as new but it didn't really matter if the stuff in it was worthless. And it genuinely was. Nothing but clothes and a palm sized Dwarven spider that Alontar crushed in a panic when it leaped out of the chest at him.-

"You know that thing couldn't have hurt you right? It was basically just a toy." I point out teasingly.

"I ran into a frostbite spider in Skyrim all those years ago. Now I can't stand anything even remotely similar." he said with a shudder.

I grimaced "Aye, they are known to have that effect on some people if you survive meeting one. Just maybe try not to bust up any more priceless things yeah?" I said not blaming him at all.

"It's a metal bug. How is that priceless?" he asked eyeing the shattered remains of the thing.

"It's priceless because it's a Dwemer made functional toy. Exactly how many of those do you think exist in the world when the Dwemer were well known to take their toys apart to build other things as they got older?" I asked and he paused to think about it.

"So that thing...?" he started before going pale.

"Indeed. It might have been one of the only ones like it in the entire world. No use crying over spilled milk though." I say as I walk out to head for the other room across the hall.

"Can it not be fixed?" he asked as he followed me.

"Do you have any idea how delicate the internal mechanisms for that thing must have been? Even if you knew how to fix it it's pointless. Everything would need to be remade and at that point it's no longer the thing it was before. It goes from being a Dwemer made antiquity to a recreation of one that used some original parts. The value is considerably different." I explained as I pushed on the other rooms door only to find it locked.

I fixed that problem with a unlocking spell because I refused to learn lock picking on principal. Besides, I didn't need to. Most locks didn't come with anti-magic protections. This doors lock was no different in that regard. When the mechanism clicked into the open position I pushed the door open and grimaced at what I saw. There curled up on a small bed was a child sized skeleton. Human from what I could tell of the structure. The metal bracelet set against it's ankle told me all I needed to know as I shut the door again.-

"A servant that lost their masters and couldn't leave because of the magical binding shackle on their leg." I said with a sigh.

"Are you alright?" Alontar asked gently.

"I'm fine. Just reminded that the Dwemer as a race were a bunch of bastards is all." I said shaking my head.

We started moving deeper into the structure following the tunnel down and further down again. Thanks to my [shape stone] spell running lightly constantly I spotted the trapped pressure points on the floor and steered us around them for a good thirty minutes. Finally the hallway leveled out and a large bronze colored ornate metal double door stood before us.-

"Beyond these doors things will get a bit sketchy as this should be the central area of this facility. I'm talking Animunculi and potentially other things as well." I warned.

He held his dagger a bit tighter at that and nodded. I pushed the doors that creaked after millennia of no maintenance. A wave of raw heat rolled over us from within alongside a glow that only got explained when I got a good look inside the area.

"Shit." I cursed at what I saw.

On the other side of the doors lay but a single incredibly massive chamber.

The thing that made me curse was that it's floor was literally lava and the entire area was a littered spiders web of pipes and metal catwalks leading to a single fenced close stone platform that even from what had to be a mile away could identify as a full tonal and engineering workshop. I knew this was the case because there was a massive Dwemer metal "tuning fork" pointed down from the platforms edge from four directions "stirring" the lava to keep it liquid and hot. In truth the things were just sending out the precise vibration of magicka needed to keep exposed molten rock, molten.-

Alontar stared at the set up and gulped.

"I-Is that safe?" he asked.

"Honestly? No idea. Let me go first. I can levitate if needed so the pathway falling won't be a huge problem. If it holds me though you follow as it should be fine." I said as I stepped forward into the unrelenting heat.

If I couldn't literally feel the air of outside being pumped in here to keep the air breathable that would be my greatest concern but clearly the Dwarves wouldn't leave out such a critical detail. I half expected the metal walkway under my boots to groan and creak as I stepped onto it but it remained perfectly quiet.-

I strolled forward with the matrix for [levitate] constantly at the ready in case I needed to get back to solid ground but I made it to the fenced areas gate with no issues at all and waved Alontar over before working to unlock the gate. The Dwemer behind the locking mechanism apparently hadn't considered another race would know tonal magic as the lock was held by exactly that. I buzzed my magicka against the lock carefully until I found the right frequency and pushed it into the lock causing the large interlocking mechanism to hiss as it released and the gate opened all it's own.