15th Rain's Hand 4E208, Jerall Mountain Dwemer Excavation Site
Balroth & Judena
The excitement was palpable for all those on the descent down further into the ruins. When Rhea Valerius mentioned Judena the argonian mage nodded enthusiastically bumping arms with the willowy Anifaire. Jude was busily writing and recording her surroundings, upon entering the lift platform Jude stowed her logs away, surrounded by the group. The lift began to descend, Judena stood on the balls of her feet to see past the small window they had of the 6th level but it soon passed without a good look. She hummed able to see now the cavernous area illuminated by the glowing naturally occurring lichen moss. She made a useless mental reminder to get a sample of that to bring back.
When the lift shuddered to a violent stop Judena caught herself before falling into Balroth who stood in front of her, "My apologies, Bal-... Baljorick?" She asked misplacing his name, logs now stowed away in her pack.
Spear in hand she used it to steady herself.
Her stomach, much like others no doubt, felt it jumped up into their mouths when the lift gave way. The fall was quick, horrific noise happening all around them. Judena closed her eyes and just as suddenly as the fall was broken she felt all stable ground disappear from beneath her feet. A failed attempt to orientate herself she skidded head first into the pond it emptied into a river, sinking deep into the cold waters. The shock woke her immediately, breathing deeply the water filtered through her gills. With a powerful kick she found herself back up to the surface, emerging slowly, cautiously.
She spat the water from her mouth, squinting at the lift and scattered lumps of her group. Some in the water now bobbed up to the surface while others struggled on the hard ground. A spell she knew as well as the back of her hand, magelight popped free of her palm to light the surface of the water.
The orc had been about to correct her on his name when the lift failed them completely. Like Judena, Balroth was thrown clear of the platform. It took him a second to realize what was happening as he gathered speed and the only thought that managed to flit through his mind before he hit the water was 'This is not a good death.'
Being as large and heavy as he was, Balroth pierced the surface of the water with an enormous impact and sent large waves rippling around him all directions as the heavy booming sound of the water slamming back together to fill the void of Balroth's form echoed through the cavern. He was a good swimmer, having once swam across the Niben Bay to escape the Thalmor, and it didn't take long for Balroth to gather his senses and fight to the surface. He breached and gasped a good lungful of hair, internally cursing the weight of his armor, cloak and backpack. It was imperative he got out of the water as fast as possible. He was looking around when Judena's magelight flared into existence and he saw her reptilian head poking out of the water closeby.
"Judena!" Balroth called and swam towards her. The rest of the group would manage by themselves, he reckoned, but the Argonian lady was almost as old as he was and eidetically challenged to boot. What if the shock of the fall had caused her to forget where she was and what she was doing? He swam up to her and hooked one of his arms around hers and was about to say something in a concerned tone of voice when he remembered that Argonians were natural swimmers who could breathe underwater. She would be fine.
"Ah, hello," he managed and let go of the mage. "Shall we... swim to the shore?"
"Yes, lets! What a fall, would you say - um... Balrock?" She tested it out, recognizing the orc and again his name slipped from her memory. "You seemed awfully concerned, I am alright. Nothing that has not already been done once before, I'm afraid." She tapped the side of her head.
"Although, I am curious to see what is at the bottom of this lake. Perhaps on our trek back to the surface we may get a chance for a dive." She said then disappeared under the water swimming straight for the shore the small orb of light began to peter out above them, dissolving into small particles of magicka.
She hauled herself out of the water seemingly seconds later, quickly hefting the backpack off and pulling all her items out tsking, then humming over the water damage. The waxy bindings did protect the majority of her logs but they would need to a little help to restore them back. She took her most recent log, letting the water drip away.
"What a mess!"
Balroth emerged from the water like a beaching seal and remained prone on the rocky shore for a few seconds, the water still lapping around his legs, while he caught his breath. If he'd known he'd be swimming in an underground lake today, he certainly would have reconsidered some of his gear. Having sufficiently recovered, the orc clambered to his feet and checked his backpack.
His heart almost stopped and his breath caught in his throat. His axe was gone. It had been attached to his bag with thick leather straps, but apparently the impact in the lake had put too much strain on them. "Oblivion take me sideways," he cursed, dropped the backpack to the ground and rubbed his temples. Balroth could feel the rage building within him at the loss - he had forged that axe more than thirty years ago. The sentimental value alone made it priceless. Balroth took a deep breath to calm himself and looked at Judena. "My axe. It's gone." He turned around and stared out over the opaque waters of the lake, a far heavier weight on his shoulders than merely the wet cloak that hung limply around his frame. It felt like someone had hollowed out his guts.
Judena stood up from the log, now her own concern was present. She patted his arm, "Looks like we will get that dive after all."
She stripped from her boots and removed her robes, unabashedly. Cloth wrappings along her chest helped her to remain modest. Judena concentrated summoning a strong magelight spell in both of her hands. When the spell released the ball of light was incredibly bright, it hung above the waters reliably providing light for a while. "I set the spell for short increments. When the light goes out it will signal me to come up for a reminder, I hope it does not take me long to find it but..." She sucked in some air. "I am sure you have noticed my mind is not quite in the best shape. Please, all that I ask is you have patience with me. I will get your axe back, I need a reminder when I resurface as the light disappears."
"Can you do that for me?"
Hope flared in Balroth's chest and he washed away all skepticism and doubt about Judena's plan. "Of course," the orc said and nodded. He even managed a smile. "If you do this for me, I will be massively in your debt. I made that axe myself when I was a young, strapping lad and it's served me well ever since. I would hate to have to replace it, especially now." Looking at the Argonian he briefly wondered if she'd even be able to lift the axe, but he pushed the thought aside. It should be much easier to lift underwater than on land.
She flapped her hand at him, "Debts for getting an axe back? Please, I would not remember to hold you to it." She stretched, twisting her back, moving back and forth on her legs.
She stepped back into the water, adjusting gradually to the temperature. Not nearly as cold as some rivers on the surface in Skyrim, but it was not the warm waves of Soulrest. Wading in further the slope of the shore dropped away quite steeply, she pushed off into the water with a breaststroke but soon relied on her tail to push forward. Above where the light hovered she moved beneath the surface diving, gradually making her descent. Her body naturally adjusting immediately to the pressure, gills working, her eyes adjusted with the help of the light.
With nothing better to do than take a seat and wait, Balroth did just that. He looked around the dimly lit cavern towards the elevator, but his allies were too far away to see exactly what they were doing. His eyes then followed the direction the water was going and saw that, on the far end of the lake, the water accelerated into a stream that disappeared beyond sight. He frowned at the sight and hoped nobody had been carried away, blissfully unaware of Latro's and Daro'Vasora's predicament.
Judena dived deeper, light filtering away. Everything became muted. She felt an undercurrent pull, resisting it easily trying with immense difficulty to not get distracted. She repeated her goal like a mantra, axe, axe... axe! She reached the bottom of a sandy rock formation. The slab of rock was only lightly dusted with sediment, gritty. The possible samples would be wonderful to analyze, especially from below the surface. She wondered briefly if she had brought a vial. Judena slowed to a stop scooping some of the grit into her hand.
She swam along the formation hoping she wouldn't need to dive deeper... but what was it for again? How much deeper would she need to go and for what? There was purpose obviously... The light from above disappeared completely, Judena made her ascent easily kicking up against the rock. Her instincts telling her to return.
She resurfaced a minute or so after the light extinguished observing Balroth curiously. "Ah! Balforth! You look like you are waiting for someone." She said, her voice easily carrying across the water. "You probably cannot see me, one moment." She released another orb of light above the water again.
"Do you know why I was diving? I feel like it was for good reason especially at the start of our... oh." She looked beyond him at the broken lift and was suddenly reminded, her eyes settled back to the Orc he was missing something.
Being told that someone had a memory deficit and seeing it in action for yourself were two different things, and Balroth's eyebrows raised considerably. He had never seen this level of amnesia in anyone but the very elderly before. However did she manage? It was admirable, but also more than a little concerning.
"You were looking for my axe," he replied matter-of-factly, trying not to let his worries seep into his voice.
She gave a quick thumbs up and dived under once again.
This time when she reached the bottom she ignored the sediment, same again repeating her mantra of her goal. She sped along the bottom, ignoring piles of bones with great difficulty. She struggled as the timer went down again, she found herself focusing on the seconds before the light disappeared and like a puff of smoke her goal disappeared once again. She stalled to a stop, trying to focus on what it was. Her hand opened and closed. Her eyes tracked through the water, something catching her attention. She reached for it, tugging it loose. Weapon in hand she rose back to the surface in time for the light to disappear as she surfaced.
"Banook, is this what you are looking for?" She casted magelight, held up an iron hand axe -rusted out. "I found your axe! Why you would keep a rusty thing like this is beyond me."
Despite the gravity of their predicament Balroth found it impossible not to laugh at the comedy of Judena resurfacing with a different axe (and the various, increasingly far-fetched permutations of his name). He chuckled and shook his head. "That's not my axe, Judena. That's hardly more than a toothpick. My axe is much bigger, designed to be wielded with two hands, and forged from orichalcum. Thank you, though -- if you can't find my axe, that one will have to do, so feel free to hold onto it for now."
She shrugged tossing the axe to shore, "If you are sure I'll fix it up for you. Remove the rust! But this time! For sure! I will retrieve your axe."
She dived once again. It happened at least two more times, forgetting and retrieval of a completely incorrect axes. Even finding a steel morning star in the depths, a pile of rusty or broken weaponry at Balroth's feet. With her memory skipping, Judena's own patience ran thin for herself. How hard could it be to find this one axe? She swam, passing over the site she found the first axe in, the light disappeared once again and she pushed on in the dark defiantly. Her foot snagged against a shaft that made her pause. Her hands explored it, it felt the appropriate size for a battle axe. Without light to see by, she tugged it free of it's resting place. Hauling it to the surface.
When her head broke the surface, a new magelight spell casted she recognized the orichalcum, the green of the metal shone in the light. Her hand smoothed over the blade admiring the workmanship, recognizing many decades of proper maintenance. It's age showing in the wood and leather wrappings. Craftsmanship of an apprentice-
She shook her head then held it up, "This has to be it!" She made her way to shore with it in her hands.
Balroth got to his feet with a grunt and approached the water's edge, squinting his eyes so that he could better see what Judena had hauled out of the water. Lo and behold, she was right - it was his axe after all. The orc grinned and clapped his hands. "Aye, that's my axe!" He took the Argonian by her arm and helped her up and out of the water, then gratefully took his beloved weapon in his arms. "Thank you," he said sincerely, keeping it short and simple. Balroth was sure Judena would wave away any more hyperbolic expressions of thanks anyway.
He looked behind him at the movements by the elevator and listened to the chatter that came their way. "Shall we join the others?" he asked.
With that said, Judena nodded squinting with a pleased hum. She pulled on her robes and slipped back into her boots. Put back together in short time.
"Anytime, Balroth."
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