As the pipes finally stop falling all over the place and we are sure that no one got their head crushed under the weight Edrassa hesitantly speaks up "...Does this count as catastrophic?"
I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose "Yep."
"Of course." She too joins in my lamentation.
"Didn't we already get what we came for?" Eldor pipes in with a bit of forced optimism.
"We did." I nod, looking at the new opening in the forge machine still gushing with steam hot enough to melt even my bones "But that is like celebrating finding a good sword at the cost of a legendary blacksmith's life if you catch my meaning."
"I get that but..." Eldor hesitates "Do we even know how or where to get more aetherium in the first place?"
Finally I turn back to him "You aren't wrong, still could have learned a lot from a forge capable of melting something like that."
"Why not simply disassemble it in its entirety then?" He asks without the briefest pause.
It wasn't the worst suggestion... My eyebrow rose "Are you asking that because you find it more efficient or because you want to loot the metal after we are done?"
"Yes." He nods.
I snort "Fuck it, might as well." I turn to Edrassa and find that she is already halfway through her customary defeated grumble "I want every single component recorded by the time you all are done with the disassembly, the place is important enough to warrant a portal so there is no need to cry about your lack of plush beds."
Her eyes almost narrow threateningly but she has enough good sense to force a polite expression "You have my thanks, my lord." She hesitates "...if I may ask, what actually happened with Katria?" She seems almost sad that the immensely irritating Nord died.
Then again a small part of me was as well "The tentacular fuck probably got wind of what we were doing and decided now was the time to get his hands on some lost Dwemer knowledge, all it would have taken was one cultist finding her and forcing her to swear herself into his service and the rest was history." I shrug as I go on "I had the choice between letting the Daedra get the information he wanted or forcing a confrontation, so I did what was right."
"And we all almost died for it." Edrassa mutters without heat, the couple of the nearby soldiers looking at her like she was retarded from behind their masks.
I give her a blank look, staring at her just long enough to make her uncomfortable "What would you have me do then? Give a creature like that access, partial or not, to something which can theoretically create gods?"
She wants to tell me otherwise but deep down even someone as selfish as her knows I am well and truly in the right here, so she just shrugs weakly "Guess I am the only coward here then."
I roll my eyes "Oh please, there is no need to be dramatic about this. Most of us came out of it alive and that is an achievement quite literally worthy of song, so why don't you accept the fact that you charged back into a chamber holding an opening into Oblivion and give yourself your well deserved pat on the back instead of moping like a spoiled brat?"
Suitably chastised she does straighten her posture slightly but all she can force out is "Right..."
"Speaking of charging Daedra infested chambers" I speak a bit louder just as the rest of the group enters "All those who have rushed to my rescue shall be suitably rewarded, the rest of you are not under scrutiny as running away was the right option but don't be idiots and think I am about to reward you for it."
Eldor and the five warriors preen with pride while the rest are satisfied with this, only one or two looking like they wanted to protest but only briefly.
'Bunch of fucking dumbasses.' Scorch scoffs telepathically as he lands on my shoulder 'If you lost none of them would have survived to begin with.'
'Let them enjoy their delusions while they can boy.' I give them the orders to start setting up camp and finally deemed it safe enough to approach the now cooled forge. And there, within the slot which once held the aetherium crest, floated an orb, a fair bit smaller than the crest itself but that was made up by the numerous moving parts within. It glowed a light blue and hummed pleasantly to my presence, immediately recognizing me as its master.
Without any ceremony I grabbed the aetherium core with my gauntleted hand and plopped the massive humanoid construct from my inventory next to me. A small opening, barely noticeable, was carved in its chest, just waiting for its destined 'heart', a heart I could now provide. The core slotted in perfectly, the slightest tap of my finger enough to encase it seamlessly into the armored chassis.
There was silence for a brief moment, almost as if the core wasn't quite sure where it found itself, but after an eyeblink things seemed to finally click and the entire figure was covered in barely noticeable purple Dunmeri runes. Slowly, almost gently, the energy moved from the core and spread throughout the automaton's entirety.
It was a large, if not massive, thing, standing at four meters tall if one counted its helmet, the automaton made for an imposing figure. Looking like a gigantic warrior armored in heavy ebony plate to others, and a member of a certain group of imperial bodyguards to myself, if with my own little Dunmeri spin on it.
Finally the energy reaches the last bits of its figure and the two red slits representing its eyes light up with life and power. The automaton seemingly blinks in confusion as it realizes it is now alive and its eyes immediately snap to my own, it bows and from within its faceplate comes an obviously artificial voice "Akulakhan The Younger ready to serve, my Master."
As Edrassa attempts to hide her horror behind a facepalm I cannot help but burst into a fit of only slightly manic laughter, the notifications appearing in that same moment not helping with my image whatsoever.
[Dwemertech Expert => Master]
[Str: 46 => 50]
[Dex: 50 => 52]
[Vit: 70 => 76]
[Mind: 71 => 80]
The mastery was a bit of a surprise but I guessed coming up with a thing dangerously close to being actually alive was something which would qualify. As for the stats themselves, I was not at all surprised with the explosive growth of my mind, surviving a mindblast from what was essentially discount Cthulu was an achievement and anything less would have made me quite pissy.
But none of that compared to what I read next.
[New minion gained: Akulakhan The Younger: Unlike that of his Dwemer brethren, this construct is not made to crush armies or play at being a god but is instead relegated to a singular task, the protection of Lord Reyvin Dagoth and his future family.
Powered by a core of aetherium, he is much more powerful than any other automaton save for Numidium itself, being capable of immense explosive strength and durability while also being able to create wards of immense potence at will. Will regenerate automatically by using ambient Magicka.]
Know your fucking place Kagrenac, my personal monstrosity may be weaker but at least it didn't snap me and the entirety of my people out of existence!
My laughter slowly dies down and I return to the present.
"Have you finished celebrating my majesty, Master?" Junior asks patiently, his voice made to sound obviously artificial so as to not make me confuse him for an actual person after a while.
'Uh huh, I bet your ass will get attached within days.' Scorch deadpans.
"Yup, that should do for now." I clap my hands, completely ignoring the pillow material "I have to say I have truly outdone myself this time."
"This is factual." The automaton nods slightly "None may compare to my legendary artifice."
"As it should be" I chuckle and turn to the rest, only to find all of them engaged in very loud conversation between themselves, mostly to do with a gods damned animonculus speaking, but also its presumed power.
"Ah! Before I forget." I speak up again and summon Hag's Bane, resized to fit AK Junior perfectly "Your weapon."
He takes it with one hand, his movements almost reverent, before testing out a swing and making the very air around the weapon blur with how strongly he swung it "A fine weapon indeed, as befitting my creator."
"I am glad you like it." I smirk and turn to my other vassals, but most of them were too busy freaking out right now to listen to what I had to say so I simply gave AK a look.
"Silence meatbags!" Junior slams the bottom of Hag's Bane into the metal floor, shattering it in a good meter of radius and probably blowing out at least a couple of eardrums of those present if the exclamations of pain were anything to go by.
Casting a wide range heal, to many thankful looks, I pretended as if I didn't just get ignored and cleared my throat "Thank you." A couple of them looked down in embarrassment at that "We have survived something most would think impossible and discovered a work as ancient as our very people! There is still much work to be done but for today I want all of us to celebrate the fact that we aren't dead and in some tentacle monster's personal collection!"
A couple of the warriors chuckle but most of them instinctually clench their backsides.
"So drink and make merry, my dear subjects, for tomorrow we get back to work!" I finish my little speech, unwilling to drag it out because my head was still pulsating as if it was going to burst at any moment.
Still, I forced myself to spend a bit of time with the others, naming each and every elf who died today and leading a small toast in their name before sharing some stories with the rest so that I would earn their deeper loyalty.
Too bad they would all have to be placed under secret surveillance because I couldn't be sure just how deeply Hermaeus' mental fuckery went. They would not ever notice it of course but it still felt a bit dirty doing it.
Even with my bullheaded stubbornness, an hour and a bit was as much as I could manage before the headache became too much and I stumbled my way into my tent, brought down here by a group of spider automatons and erected by them as well, and immediately knocked myself out.
Fuck I hope I don't wake up to an even worse one.
(General POV, some two days later)
Davos passed through the wayshrine hidden within the depths of the Rift and appeared within Tel Dagoth, relief immediately flooding his body as he could finally relax after his days long chase.
The noble agent may have slaughtered all of the orcs in the small fort but then their brethren found out through some ridiculous means, probably Malakath but he did not wish to entertain the idea, and started hunting him like a pack of hungry wolves.
He finally managed to lose them after another big confrontation where he was forced to ambush his hunters in a thick forest by making dozens of traps and abusing his maneuverability to the highest degree possible, and even then he was forced to grow back an eye after he fled from even more reinforcements arriving.
Unwilling to waste any more time he asked one of the apprentices where the lord was and quickly ran to the training chambers, though he soon remembered why he was taking his time with the search in the first place as he felt a pair of eyes trying to burn a hole in his back.
He wanted to shiver in fright but he had a job to do so he focused on the mission and made his way to his destination, the guards letting him in without any questions as he came onto a very glorious, or disturbing depending on your viewpoint, scene.
A massive ebony figure was currently completely and utterly manhandling his boss as he attempted to dodge and weave out of the way only to be caught almost instantly and slammed away, pointedly in a way which would do no damage but still cause pain.
"How is that fair?" Reyvin hisses as he gets up "I fucking made you, how are you better than me?" He sounded both irritated and proud at the same time.
"While you are the greatest among their number that has or ever will live, my Master" The giant rumbles in a voice that told everyone it was anything but alive "You are still very much so, a meatbag." The automaton seems almost sad at the fact, if it could even feel the emotion.
Reyvin rolls his eyes "I know I shouldn't have installed the 'cheek' module." But his attention is drawn from his creation and onto his right hand Mer "Finally done running, Davos?" He asks with a smirk that could only ever be described as evil.
Davos just sighs "Yeah, I got your little knife shards."
"That is a Daedric artifact by the way." Reyvin's smirk grows as Davos practically flings the little bag holding the shards at the floor.
"Fuck! Why do you do this every time?" The older Dunmer half glowers half hisses.
"Because it is funny." His boss deadpans "Now how about you tell me what you've been up to?"
Davos feels like getting away but knows he has no choice, deciding to be circumspect for once he looks to the large automaton questioningly but Reyvin just shakes his head and smiles "I will tell you all about mine once you tell me about yours."
And so Davos found himself recounting many a detail of his search, leading him from Falkreath to the Rift, the little chase he experienced serving as some peak entertainment for Reyvin as he could feel the utter misery radiating from his right hand man.
Once Davos was done and was about to start asking his questions, the sound of a very familiar voice clearing her throat, it did not take a genius to realize who had arrived.
Understanding just how fucked he was, he gave his boss a look that practically screamed 'Traitor!' and turned around to accept his fate.
Reyvin just smirked and teleported away, AK Junior disappearing with him.
-----------------
Days pass as you continue your endless toil, you slowly forget about anything else but the sacred task of mining the stones of power. You do not sleep, and you barely eat, the magical might of the House ensuring that you are capable of doing the maximum amount of work with the least investment.
A small part of you hopes that one day you will be able to see the sun again.
A much larger part though merely accepts its fate, as the words carved upon every beam and every minecart remind you of your fate:
Get back to work ;)
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