141 Chapter IV: Descending Down Familiar Halls

I leave Phineas' tower with a mix of excitement and dread. When I asked him for his anatomical research I expected a singular large tome, maybe two considering his possible experience. What I most assuredly did not expect however was twenty four-hundred page tomes describing in painful detail every single experiment he had ever conducted.

When the flames in his eye sockets brightened ever so slightly at my gobsmacked expression I could swear that the lich gave me everything just to fuck with me. And I couldn't even be mad!

I made my way to my mansion to deposit the mini library I had just acquired into my vaults when the sound of annoyed yelling drew my attention from the dining hall.

Draping myself in shadows and shadow-walking through the slightly opened double doors I stood in one corner of the room and observed the unfolding drama.

My three guardsmen, whom Scorch had generously dubbed the Scorched, were quietly snickering at the sight of Edrassa hissing at Davos "What do you mean I have to trudge through caves with you?!"

Davos' smug look of superiority didn't leave his face for an instant as he explained "Our Lord has commanded that all of us are to accompany him in the expedition. Besides, can you honestly tell me that you do not wish to unearth one of the greatest cities of Dwemereth outside Resdayn?"

I am quite sure he learned the ancient names of the Dwemer Kingdom and Morrowind just to annoy her further...

She throws her arms up and groans "I am a mage, not a miner, I have things to do here!"

Davos shakes his head 'in disappointment' "My oh my Edrassa, you wouldn't be referring to Lord Dagoth as a miner now would you?" He was having way too much fun with this.

She sighs and slumps back into a nearby seat, waving him off "Whatever, it isn't like I have much of a choice, is it?"

"That's the spirit!" Davos cheers.

I leave the room and shake my head with a chuckle, it seems my jumpy agent of a vassal was finally fully embracing the art of trolling.

Later that day I visited the guard house to catch up with my buddies in the guard, we had a few drinks and talked about the happenings in Skyrim. Well, I say we but it was mostly them pestering me to tell them the tale of my adventures, something they greatly enjoyed.

I even got to witness the scene of Minthara sparring with Thorfinn, the young man apparently got curious about a person I chose to train, and after an obvious refusal from Marco who was busying himself overpreparing for any situation like a paranoid little gremlin, Thorfinn challenged my pet demigod.

The spar started fairly evenly with the both of them using alteration and probing their opponent with light attacks, and then Minthara started swinging... Her rapid hammer strokes completely overwhelmed Thorfinn within moments and both he and the observing guardsmen were openly gaping at the display.

I merely cackled at them.

Thankfully my apprentice was a good sport about it and the two developed a quick friendship, much like Thorfinn and I did over a year prior. We spent the rest of that day carousing and exchanging tales.

The following day and a half were spent in heavy preparation, I made sure everyone in my household had a variety of scrolls to use, and when that failed some well-made digging equipment and plenty of rope. I was not about to lose anyone to a Divines damned accident.

I made sure to brush up on terramancy and spent most of my free time practicing the art of shaping stone on a larger scale, I wouldn't be overturning any mountains anytime soon but being able to turn the terrain against our enemies while in a cave was bound to be powerful.

Finally, I grabbed a clairvoyance spell guide from the Arcaneum and pestered Shalazar to give me some advice on using it. He spent a good couple of hours explaining how to differentiate myself from the visions I might get and also cautioned me to move step by step as even he was unsure of what kind of reaction my third eye may or may not have with scrying magic.

I swore to myself I would be careful, I was not about to let myself turn into another Ravencrone.

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The expedition was finally under way, the air of the marching army of laborers, mages and adventurers was a mix of excitement, dread and greed. Everyone was very aware of the risks we would be taking by delving into what was probably one of the most dangerous locations in Skyrim but the prospect of unimaginable riches emboldened even the most craven in our number.

Contracts were drawn up and all the payments would be paid fairly, either to the workers and mercenaries themselves or their families in case of death.

It took us two days to reach the Falmer cave and half a day more to reach the old Falmer town. As I trudged through the caves memories of my first adventure resurfaced and a goofy smile found its way onto my face.

The forward encampment that had been set up over a year of concentrated effort looked to be more a fortified town than an expeditionary outpost. A surprisingly large number of guards and college apprentices were on constant guard against any possible attack from the uncovered passage. The Falmer's grand tower was repurposed into the quarters for the mages working here, incidentally I also found Master Colette there, as she was currently on duty.

Well over a hundred of my spider animonculi were piled up one corner, now joined by an extra dozen I brought with me. The old ones were well worn by the constant use and I noticed a lot of parts were jury rigged and haphazardly replaced by the camp's administration, no doubt wanting to save some money and possibly pocket it.

I was honestly too lazy to bother dealing with it so I let them off, they did do the job after all.

I also met with Morrigan and Marwyn once again, the two had returned from guard duty and bumped into me on accident. We spent a bit catching up and I ordered some unique alchemical products from my old witch friend.

Much to my surprise Morrigan looked very sad upon hearing what happened in with the Reachmen, she wasn't angry at me but her people dying in droves still brought her into a depressed state.

On the evening of our arrival, at least I think it was the evening, I was skulking around camp with the help of my umbramancy and noticed Marwyn talking animatedly with Phineas. The lich was telling something to the Breton before the young man brought out a bird carcass and animated it. So this was the path he chose in the end...

We took another day to rest up and prepare before plunging into the depths of the tunnel system. Soon the sturdy mineshafts gave way to frozen caves filled with nothing but the cold, we took no chances and made sure to secure the path fully.

Two further days of exploration later we had our first issue, apparently a Khajiit laborer by the name of J'darr thought it a bright idea to huff skooma in full lamplight. I had the idiot flogged and only let him continue due to his twin brother J'zarr begging me and swearing he would keep his brother clean of the filth.

Four days into the expedition some of the adventurers were getting increasingly bored, leading to quarrels between them and even a fistfight at one point. I naturally stamped down on any unrest with full and immediate force, five broken limbs later and everyone knew better than to create enough of a fuss to distract me from my reading.

 Ten grueling days after we first stepped into the cave system the forward crew of laborers dug out a thick wall of ice that Tolfdir sensed covered the path forward and I was forced to order the spiders accompanying them to throw themselves forward as to stop the literal wave of Falmer that rushed at them.

While their attack was surprising and their numbers unexpected, the degenerated elves fell like grass to our blades. The adventurers knew their craft well and if any Falmer managed to get through our hired muscle it was swiftly cut down by either myself or Phineas, who preferred to freeze them solid and tear them apart for his research.

*Sigh* I will have to pester him for those notes later as well. 

The icy walls gave way to stone, and two days later the stone gave way to Dwemer metal as a large doorway blocked our path forward.

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Tolfdir curiously tapped the door, looking deep in thought.

"Anything of note Master Tolfdir?" I ask as Phineas and I walk up to him.

"I am afraid not, the doorway seems enchanted to keep magic out." The old Nord shakes his head.

"Ah, but is it enchanted to keep magic in I wonder?" I mutter and surge as much Magicka as reasonable into my metaphysical eye, casting clairvoyance at the same time.

The amount of information I receive is almost overwhelming, for the briefest moment I get the picture of a long network of hallways filled to the brim with thousands of Falmer and hundreds of Dwemer automata but then something seems to react to my presence and my sight is pushed back into my body.

I grunt in pain but blessedly only a minor headache followed "It is an entire Dwemer base in there" My voice turns into a whisper "Well over a thousand Falmer as well, some kind of settlement at the end, I didn't get the whole picture before I had to cut the spell."

Tolfdir is seemingly unperturbed and starts muttering plans of our advance.

Phineas on the other hand cackles with glee "Good, I finally get to have some fun."

"I thought you said you take great care of who you raise?" I ask with a raised eyebrow.

The lich scoffs "Don't play coy with me Dagoth, I am not about to advertise my immoral practices for all to hear." He seems far more animated than I had ever seen him be.

"That is fair" I nod an turn to Tolfdir "So, do we go in adventurers first or do we let our lively friend have his fun?"

Surprisingly Tolfrid rolls his eyes and waves me off "I have no love for these monsters" He looks at Phineas with something I had never expected to see on the old man's face, pure malice "Make them suffer." He grinds out.

I stand completely stunned for a while before Phineas' skeletor-esque cackling break me out of it, I look at Tolfdir who had returned to his grandfatherly smile and he merely tilts his head.

Then it strikes me, Tolfdir had no doubt lost a lot of friends and family to the Falmer over the centuries, something like that could no doubt bring wrath even to Winterhold's genial grandpa. I give him a nod signaling my understanding and his smile turns sad for a moment.

Soon it is decided that Phineas would go forward by himself, quickly followed by myself and my group and finally by the adventurers. The lich had no fear of dying, even if the Falmer managed to get around his complete immunity to poison he would just reform if his body was destroyed.

And so it was that after briefing my guards on what was about to happen, it took me very little to convince that necromancy wasn't blasphemy if it was used on the enemy, we followed after the great necromancer, what followed gave me an entirely new perspective on the school.

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I feel like I should have saved the diggy diggy meme for this section of the story...

Well whatever, not like more mining could be bad amirite?

DIGGY THOSE STONES BROTHERS!

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