Soon Selena heard the door creak behind her, through which she had just entered.
"Probably, the elf went to check what happened at Raelynn with the Anchorite," the girl suggested.
Then she walked on, hoping to find a way out of the cave. She picked up the torch sticking out of the stone wall again, because she had thrown her previous torch somewhere after hearing the words of the elf necromancer.
Remembering that she had been warned about possible attacks by skeletons, Selena took out a steel axe that she had recently found in a coffin. However, this axe in its fighting qualities was practically no different from a spiked mace.
"If skeletons or some others undead attack me, then there's no point in me fighting them, trying to kill them. The main thing for me is to get out of the fucking cave. I wish I had a shield. I would just run through, defending myself with it," Selena mused, moving along the gloomy corridor.
Soon she came to a dilapidated door consisting simply of boards with large slits. Trying to be silent, the girl slowly pressed on the door, forcing it to open. A spacious hall opened before her eyes, in which there were large stone stairs. A human skeleton stood alone beside them, armed with exactly the same steel axe as Selena.
The skeleton stood motionless in the rays of moonlight that penetrated from above through the cracks. At first, she even thought that he was some kind of statue or just an exhibit for anatomy, like those that she had seen a long time ago in the alchemical school. But when the dilapidated door squeaked shrilly, the skeleton slowly turned its head to the acoustic stimulus.
Her first thought was to close the door and quickly return back to the protection of her former mistress, Raelynn.
"I might have come back if it wasn't for the damn Molag Bal!", Selena recalled. The horror she had recently experienced from the attack of an unknown force gave her the determination to leave this gloomy dungeon.
Gathering her courage, the girl ran to the stairs. The skeleton aggressively rattled its bony jaw, having no vocal cords to issue a certain battle cry, and swinging an axe rushed towards the naked runaway.
Selena perfectly saw the movements of her opponent, which were not as fast as Dolada's attacks, for example. She dodged the skeleton's slashing blow by jumping back, and then quickly attacked him. To her surprise, the skeleton put a block with his axe, not allowing himself to shatter his ribs.
However, he recoiled from this blow and almost fell, perhaps because it is difficult to maintain stability on bony legs. The skeleton shifted a couple of meters to the side and hesitated a little. Not wanting to continue the fight, Selena just ran to the stairs, hoping that somewhere ahead there would be an exit from the cave. She heard the scraping of bones on the stone floor behind her, but did not turn around and jumped over some garbage, pieces of old boxes, barrels and coffins. She quickly reached the stone steps and rushed up.
After a couple of seconds at the top, she saw another large hall, where there were also bulky and powerful stone stairs.
"Damn it! What a huge cave! It's good that it's pretty empty! Maybe all necromancers are wandering around somewhere, performing various missions against magicians and robbers?"thought Selena, continuing to run, looking around, "I think since necromancy is banned, there shouldn't be many necromancers. Necromancers are just starting to gain strength again, after an epic losing battle against Galerion. At least that's what they taught me at school..."
Selena saw two more armed skeletons upstairs. They were again armed with the same steel axes. It is possible that this undead is the remains of some kind of military detachment armed with the same axes, and buried or died in this cave.
The girl, confident in her fast legs, did not even try to fight with these dead, but simply ran around. The skeletons, obviously not possessing great intelligence, did not try to block the exits, but simply scratched their feet behind the running girl, who ran around the room in a circle and left the unintelligent undead behind.
Another door appeared ahead, which was made of a single piece of wood and was quite massive. Selena kicked it with a running kick, hoping to effectively open it wide, but the door opened inward.
"Shit!" she shouted, feeling a pain in her heel. She dropped the axe and grabbed the ring in the door handle. The last thing she wanted right now was to be near a closed door. It would be logical if necromancers locked the front door with a key, and wore the keys around their necks, not allowing outsiders to get inside or escape outside. But pulling the door ring hard on herself, Selena discovered to her great joy that the door gave way and opened inward.
And outside there was not another gloomy hall, but the beautiful night sky of Nirn!
"Oh, glory to Meridia! Freedom!" the imperial girl involuntarily shouted, and left the Mossy Rock.
Selena took a deep breath of the fresh night air and quickly put on the robe she found in the cave, and also picked up a spiked mace, since all sorts of hungry animals could be found in the night forest.
"So! I remember a map of the surroundings of the Imperial City. Mossy Rock is located north of the capital. If I go strictly straight to the south, I will go out on the circular imperial road in the area of the Roxey Inn," Selena recalled, starting to move away from the entrance to the necromancers' cave.
"As a result of all my wanderings, I was left with almost nothing! I have no potions, no money, no armor…There is an old robe and a mace, and sandals. Fortunately, I got a good spell "Frosty Touch", and the ability to make urinary bombs," the imperial girl mused, moving from one mighty coniferous tree to another.
After running about a kilometer, and fortunately not meeting any hostile creature, Selena saw lights ahead. She guessed that these were the street lights of the Roxey Inn.
"Finally!", she rejoiced, "By the way, recently someone mentioned this tavern among necromancers…Oh, no! It was on Gnoll Mountain, when Aunt Dolada was still alive, an elf from the fighter's guild came to the top of us. That elf survived an unsuccessful encounter with necromancers and retreated to this Inn. It was a couple of days ago about..."
Soon Selena came out of the woods to the Inn. It stood by a paved road and was surrounded by a low fence. There was a stable for horses and a bench on which a bald imperial in a plaid shirt was dozing near the Inn.
Most likely it was one of the drunken visitors. Not far from the tavern, a mounted patrol could be seen on the road. Two armored horsemen were moving slowly, talking among themselves.
Selena pushed open the main wooden door and went inside. It was a well-lit and warm room, in which a fireplace was burning, and there were tables with visitors. Several people in beautiful and expensive armor walked between the tables and the bar counter. Perhaps they were some kind of adventurers or mercenaries. Behind the bar, it was hard not to see a tall Nord woman in a blue shirt.
As soon as Selena stepped over the threshold of the Roxey Inn, many heads turned in her direction, and many appraising glances ran over her from head to toe. A man of about forty, well-built, in bright amber or "glass" armor, stood at the barrels near the entrance and stared at the unexpected guest with a stupid drunken smile.
"Oh! What a young lady visited our tavern at such a late hour?!" he exclaimed in surprise.
Selena didn't know what to answer and just walked on with an embarrassed smile.
"My name is Claude, baby," he said. It seemed that he wasn't going to pester her, but just chattered, being tipsy.
Selena didn't answer him and walked past him until she came across a tall Nord woman in unusual daedric brown-red armor. She was wearing a strange horned helmet that covered only the upper half of her face. At the same time, the eye holes glowed red for some reason, as if a fire was burning behind them. Obviously, it was a magical armor, and this Nord woman was an experienced warrior. She looked at Selena with a smirk and asked in a low voice: "What a cute imperial is this? I haven't seen you here before."
"Yes... hello... it's my first time here," Selena said, smiling awkwardly, and walking further to the bar, wanting to talk to the hostess.
"Hello, Imperial! My name's Malena! What do you want?!" a tall Nordic woman in a blue shirt exclaimed, addressing Selena, "What an old robe are you wearing? Are you some kind of pilgrim? Are you looking for some shrine of one of the Nine Divines? You can spend the night here for 10 gold!"
"Good evening. I am Selena. Yes, I'm going to the sanctuary of Julianos near the Imperial City," the girl replied, accepting the idea that she was a pilgrim, "But I don't have any money at all. I was robbed near the Mossy Rock. Can I just sit here in a corner until morning? And in the morning I will go along the ring road when I see the guards."
"So, you wanna just sit in my tavern without paying for a night's lodging and without even buying a single mug of beer or ale?", Malena asked suspiciously.
"I'm sorry... I'd love to... but I don't have any money. I was robbed," Selena said pityingly, "Please let me just wait for morning. I'll pray for you in the sanctuary of Julianos."
"Hey, I don't care about Julianos, who should be called Jhunal, for your information. And besides, if I let various crooks just use my tavern, then soon it will turn into a bunch of beggars and worthless vagabonds!" - Malena categorically stated.
"Look around! There are guards, there are adventurers, there is a headman and several residents from the nearby village of Aleswell. But there are no beggars and insolvent! If any of these visitors accept you into their circle, show interest in your company... if you can brighten up their evening, then you can stay. But I don't allow you to sit in the corner for free, like a gray mouse. I think you can still steal something here when I'm distracted!"
"Come on... I'm not a thief..."
"I've said it all. The Nords don't repeat it twice!"
Selena sighed sadly and turned to look at the motley company of visitors. Who could she keep company with here, as the hostess demanded? She didn't want to spend the night outside near the stable at all, and she didn't want to wander around the Imperial City in the dark.