THE SIGHTLESS PIT
From the Journal of Lutherus Sotasius. Date of Entry: Heartfire, 2nd, 4E, 201.
"There, that should be okay for now." Finished the Surgeon, as he put away his medical kit. "I suggest you keep your helmet on, next time you may not be so lucky."
"I will, Surgeon. Thank you." Replied Lutherus, inherently grateful for the medical attention he recieved. He was incredibly lucky that no infection occurred, nor did any blindness of his left eye came out of the Khajiit's attack.
"Be sure to wash it with clean, hot water for at least a week." Instructed the Surgeon. "You may of been lucky to avoid a serious contimation, but you can never be too careful."
"I will Surgeon. Once again, thank you." Replied Lutherus, as he left the Medical tent. He saw Praefect Oaken-Heart, standing by the camp fire.
"Auxiliary! Hows the face?"
"Better now, thank you."
"Good, excellent! I was just talking to your Scout here, seems you have come to me with some sort of message?"
"Yes, Praefect Oaken-Heart. I come to you with a message from Helgen. I am ordered by Praefect Ottius of the Auxiliary Battalion there to bring you to Helgen, with your Guard."
"Well." Replied Praefect Oaken-Heart. "I was expecting my eventual transfer to Helgen, anything's better than this shitehole posting. Problem is Auxiliary, that some of my soldiers have gone missing. I do not wish to abandon them here, in this wasteland."
"With all due respect Praefect, they are expendable. We have reserves."
"You don't understand. These are the troops that I have drilled for many years. They are the most loyal I have ever seen, and would not wish for them to die a pathetic death here, abandoned by the Empire they are paid to defend. I can see where you're coming from though, so I'll make you a deal. You go find my men, and I'll put in a good word with Praefect Ottius regarding your capabilities. Empire sure needs it's heroes, especially with war looming over the horizon."
Lutherus contemplated briefly. "Where would I begin?" He said.
"Up there." Said Praefect Oaken-Heart, pointing upwards into the mountains infront of them.
"We call it the 'Sightless Pit', namely because it's pitch black. I sent two of my troops up there to investigate the surrounding mountainside, but they haven't returned since. For all I know, they could be dead."
"But, if they are dead Praefect, what would be the point in finding out?"
"So at least I know." Praefect Oaken-Heart retorted. "I will not abandon them to the wild, nor to the Bandit scum. If they are dead, bring their helmets back to me."
"Yes, Praefect Oaken-Heart." Said Lutherus, and gathering Cienna, made way to the Sightless Pit. It didn't take long for Lutherus or Cienna to scale the softer incline of the Mountain, nor was the location of this Sightless Pit far. Their first sign of intrusion in the area came in the form of a tent, styled in a way Lutherus had never seen before.
"Could be Orcish." Suggested Cienna.
"In this climate? Not a chance." Replied Lutherus. He noticed a black pit behind the tent. "That must be our destination. Let's hurry, I don't like the looks of this."
"Me neither."
The two proceeded down into the Sightless Pit, where they realised why it was named so. The entrance turned out to be a sheer drop, landing Lutherus and Cienna into a pool of deep water. In the drop, Cienna lost her sword, which sank to the bottom of the pool.
"Forget it!" Said Lutherus, as he desperately tried to keep his head above water. "If you swim down there you'll drown! Get to the shoreline, quick!" Both Lutherus and Cienna swam to dry land before the weight of their armour drowned them. Lutherus grabbed onto the dirt and pulled himself from the pool, and then extended his hand to Cienna, pulling her out of the struggle she had gotten into with the water. "Catch your breath." He said, "You'll just have to rely on your fists for now."
"Ok-k-kay!" She shivered in response, freezing cold from the water. Lutherus drew his sword, and led Cienna into the winding cavern. It didn't take long before they noticed the first sign of human presence, a campfire which was still burning. Lutherus and Cienna moved to it, to warm up and dry off.
"Three beds." Pondered Lutherus to himself whilst Cienna moved her hands to the fire. He was certain that this camp was made by the Imperial Soldiers under Praefect Oaken-Heart's command, but couldn't put together the presence of several cooking utensils, plus the campfire itself in the context of a scouting party. "Grab that Pickaxe, Cienna." Lutherus instructed, pointing behind him. Something was definitely not making sense to him in this cave. They continued through the cave with weapons drawn, braziers lit up along the path. Part of the cave's passage led Lutherus deeper into the Earth, where he saw the first signs of combat - two dead humans on the ground.
On closer inspection, Lutherus was slightly relieved to realise they were not Praefect Oaken-Heart's troops. Bandits perhaps, but certainly not Imperial soldiers.
"Look at the head! What is that?" Said Cienna, as Lutherus pulled an arrow that he had never seen before in his life. It was definitely not an arrow he or the Imperials used, it's complexity was incredibly foreign to him. Lutherus drew his sword once more, anticipating a fight with whatever killed these people. They proceeded deeper, and could hear scuttling noises echoing through the cave. They rounded a corner when all of a sudden, a pale, human like creature emerged from a crevice, and attacked the surprised Lutherus and Cienna. Fortunately, both had their weapons drawn, and put down the lone, alien like creature.
"What in Oblivion is that thing?" Said Lutherus, kneeling to investigate. He noticed that whatever it was, hadn't any eyes. This was incredibly odd, considering that the attack this creature performed with a crude sword and shield was well placed.
"Whatever it is, it explains the guys up there." Replied Cienna, referring to the earlier dead bodies. Investigating the creature, Lutherus decided to cut it's ear off, as well as secure it's weapon, just incase.
"This is getting stranger by the minute." Complained Lutherus, as the cave extended into a corridor, it's architechture being identical to a Dwemer ruin. Delving into the Dwemer ruin, the pair made contact with another creature, this time armed with a Bow and Arrow. Lutherus engaged the creature along a narrow walkway, before pushing it with his shield off of it, sending the creature down to it's death. Racing down to investigate the carcass, he noticed the creature had equppied the similar arrows he found embedded in the earlier corpses. He also noticed another creature, killed by a single steel arrow, indicating to Lutherus that Praefect Oaken-Heart's troops were in fact here, and may still be alive. Pressing onward, Lutherus and Cienna continued. They soon came to a clearing, a massive Dwemer ruin with a huge set of doors leading into the unknown. "This must be it. You ready, Cienna?" Asked Lutherus.
"Ready." Came her reply. Lutherus opened the door. The doors led to another Dwemer corridor, and given the previous engagements with the creatures in the previous part of the cave, Lutherus handed the strange sword he took from one felled creature to Cienna, over the measly Pickaxe she had previously acquired. In a particularly dim part of the ruin, Lutherus and Cienna noticed something, an insect like creature of which they had never seen ever before. "What is that?!" Cienna quietly shuddered, her voice attracting the attention of the insect and it's creature master. Engaging the creature, plus it's pet proved to be incredibly challenging, Cienna being forced to her knees in exhaustion whilst Lutherus finished them off. Despite being outnumbered, Lutherus was able to prevail. And upon killing the creature, investigated it's corpse.
The dead insect, whatever it was, was as ugly as it was terrifying. It had a huge mandible on it's mouth, a scaly black skin, and two blue eyes, glowing as if they were embers. "The sooner we're out of here, the better." Said Lutherus, cutting the insects head off, just incase. They came to another clearing inside the Dwemer ruin, with tents just like the one they saw outside. More worryingly, they also saw a nest of some sort on the ground. Lutherus didn't hesitate to collect some of the eggs in the nest, hoping that when he left this nightmare someone could explain what they had fought against here. He also collected several of the creature's arrows, recognising that both he and Cienna had ran out of their own. "Divines..." Gasped Lutherus, as they came into another recess of the cave.
Presented to both Imperials was a huge clearing, contrasting to the cave that they had already traversed. It didn't seem like they were underground anymore either, and just under a thick mound of overgrowth. "Stay close, Cienna." Warned Lutherus, as he progressed up the steps. "This must be those creature's main hive. Look, several tents." He mentioned, noting the same shelters both he and Cienna saw in comparison to the above ground tent before enterring.
"Head Auxiliary! Look at this!" Said Cienna, picking up an item of some sort.
"What is it?" Question Lutherus, picking up the cloth. He unfurled it and presented it in length. "Oh, it's a cloak." He finished, leaving it back on the ground. Navigating through the massive clearing, they came to an area where a sole creature, flanked by two spiders caught Lutherus and Cienna by surprise. They noticed that this particular creature, whilst no different to the others they'd slain wore a crude helmet, that looked like the skin of their pet insects. "This must be the boss!" Called Lutherus, as he engaged the creature with his sword, whilst Cienna handled the spiders. With one well placed swing, Lutherus cut his foe down. And in wanting to find out as much as he could about these creatures, took it's helmet.
"Help! For the love of Stendarr, help!" Came a near cry. Lutherus rushed to the source of the noise, and there in a cage, found the missing soldiers, alive and well.
"We'll get you out of there, just hold on!" Said Lutherus, as he tried prying open the gate. No matter how much he pulled or cut away at it with his sword, the gate just wouldn't budge. He noticed the gate had a particularly spindly look to it, as if it were alive. "Right, I'm going to try something boys. Stand back." He warned, as he dropped his sword and shield, presenting both open palms to the gate. And, closing his eyes Lutherus unleashed a fiery blast from his palms, cooking the gate alive and forcing the spindly legs to recede.
"Bless you, bless you kind Sir!" Said the prisoners, grateful to of been freed.
"No problem. Is this all of you?" Enquired Lutherus.
"Yeah. I'm Henrick, this is Garding. Praefect Oaken-Heart's Mountain Regiment."
"Well, you're in luck. Your Praefect has ordered me to commence your rescue. Come on, lets get out of here before any of those...things return." Finished Lutherus, as the troops fled the cage. As luck would have it, Lutherus found a Dwemer device that took him, Cienna, Henrick and Garding out of the cave, to freedom.
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