Watching on as the tanks ruptured, Roze was silently thanking herself for backing away so quickly - the Ashlander opposite to her had not been so lucky with his own tank, being punctured by several pieces of shrapnel as the towering construct fell; the Dunmer had died, but the Centurion was no longer moving. Was it dead, however? Roze watched on dubiously, bow once again in her hand, ready for any further movement from the metal monstrosity - but other than the metal groaning under the weight of the collapsed pipes and tanks, it seemed to be fairly motionless. Glancing to her right upon hearing laughter, Roze shared a grin with Niernen.
"Not so bad yourself, Dunmeri." She replied with a quick wink - but Roze did not follow Niernen further into the mist. The steam had all but soaked her leather armour, sweat dripping down her neck and making everything ten times more uncomfortable. Quickly retrieving her bandanna from one of her several pouches - and still amazed it was in one piece since getting it during their trip to Winterhold - Roze used the brightly coloured cloth to tie up her sodden curls, heading for the exit of the room for some much needed fresh air; also, she wanted to get away from that Centurion. At least with people, you could see if the light had left their eyes when they died - the machines in the Dwemer ruins didn't have life nor eyes to see it with, so Roze wasn't particularly fussed about taking a chance and going near the fallen centurion. Even half-crushed, it could cause some damage.
Walking as quickly as she could manage without skidding on the floor, wet from all the steam, Roze paused as she spotted Tsleeixth on the floor, propped up against the wall. Although closer to the entrance, there was still an uncomfortable amount of wet, sticky heat in the air. If Roze felt bad uninjured, Mundas knew how poor Tsleeixth was with several stab wounds.
"Hey - want some help getting to the elevator? I'm no expert in restoration, but I may be able to make you a bit more comfortable." Walking over to the injured Argonian, she offered her aid with a kind smile.
Tsleeixth tensed up when he heard the sound of an explosion coming from the room where the Centurion was, promptly followed by the sound of falling rock and creaking metal. "
By the Hist, please, let none in the Company come to harm." He thought to himself, tensing slightly when he saw the door opening and someone coming out only to relax immediately when he recognised Roze once the Breton woman entered his field of view. Shifting slightly in the suddenly uncomfortable atmosphere in the ruins Tsleeixth nodded when Roze offered some help getting to the elevator. "Yeah, that'd be much appreciated." Said the Saxhleel as he tried to stand up, his knees shaking slightly as he propped himself upwards using his good arm.
Reaching up to steady himself in Roze's shoulder, Tsleeixth stopped as he felt a cough coming up. "Ah, Hist-damne-" He began to speak before his frame was racked by a coughing fit, crimson blood hitting the floor with each cough of his. "Ah....dammit...." He wheezed in between coughs. "Sorry Roze, Bloodlung doing it's magic." He said drily as he steadied himself against the wall. Grimacing, he spat what little blood remained in his mouth due to the coughing fit. "Sorry you had to see that, it's not usually much of a problem but I do get this coughing fits every once in a while." Admitted the Argonian with a sigh, waiting for if Roze wanted to say something before grabbing her shoulder for support.
Roze's smile faltered somewhat in concern as Tsleeixth doubled-over in a fit of hacking. She'd seen cases of bloodlung before, but these people had been bedridden. Were they over-exaggerating their disease? Or was Tsleeixth just suffering from a mild case? Well, by the looks of the blood and pain etched across his face, she doubted very much it was mild - of course, the coughing wouldn't be doing his wounds any favours.
"No need to apologise, my friend." She replied, letting him take hold of her shoulder and using her free arm to gently support his blood-stained body. For the amount of stab wounds he had, he was doing well to be walking. "It doesn't sound like a particularly fun ailment to have." She said as they walked slowly back to lift, she taking care not to jostle him too much. "Although, I don't suppose any ailments are very fun. Apart from maybe hangovers; it's always great seeing a friend with a sore head after a heavy night of drinking." She added after a thoughtful pause, chuckling slightly. Looking back to the Argonian, Roze recalled that one of their number was an alchemist. Perhaps he could help? "One of our Khajiit - Rhasha'Dar, I think his name was - he's handy with potions. Maybe when our two groups meet up again, he could brew you something to help? Bloodlung is cureable, right?" She asked hopefully - not knowing all that much about the disease, other than it clearly hurt like hell and could potentially kill you.
"Thank you Roze." Said Tsleeixth when the Breton thief told him that there was no need to apologise and let him take hold of her shoulder, letting out a sigh of relief when she used her free arm to gently support his body. He wouldn't admit it freely, but standing up as he had before had been incredibly difficult for him and the coughing fit he experienced shortly after that didn't help matters in the slightest and, as such, both Roze's support and the slow pace with which they walked back towards the lift was a welcome respite for the weary Argonian. "No, it isn't." He chuckled softly when she mentioned that Bloodlung didn't seem like a particular ailment to have. He laughed a little at what she said next, his lips curling upwards in a smile. "Aye, true enough....hmm, speaking of hangovers, I wouldn't mind downing a bottle of alcohol, or twenty for that matter." He said, letting out a soft chuckle, before fallign silent as she pondered on what Roze said about Rhasha'Dar.
"No idea to be honest, Sevine gave me a potion back in Windhelm for my Bloodlung and the only thing it managed to do was lessen the severity of my coughing fits." Admitted the Saxhleel, letting out a sigh as he shook his head. "I know Bloodlung is curable, but as far as I know I haven't heard of a case of an Argonian contracting it so who knows how my kind reacts to the disease. For all I could know it won't kill me but I'll be coughing blood for the rest of my life." He said, shrugging as best he could. "Though, admittedly I do not know much about diseases in general and the lack of a big Argonian population in Skyrim doesn't helps matters at all." He admitted with a light frown.
Letting out another chuckle at the thought of alcohol, Roze couldn't help but agree. Once all the dangers were dealt with, maybe she could find some more Sujamma down here? The Ashlanders must have had some somewhere... unless their magic Nerevarine leader had outlawed alcohol or something. Gods, what a miserable existence that would be.
"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try another potion?" She replied somewhat uncertainly after listening to Tsleeixth. If he'd had one potion already and it hadn't done much, perhaps there wasn't a cure for him? Although, with all the miracles she'd heard of, like cures for vampirism or lycanthropy, it was hard to believe someone, somewhere hadn't managed it. "A shame Rhasha isn't here now - we could really use some health potions." She added with a sigh as the pair finally reached the elevator, the injured Leif and Elmera still there - and still alive, thankfully. Once again, Roze was cursing herself for not knowing any restoration spells; some spotty, non-magical medicine would have to do in it's absence.
"Right, let's get that armour off, see if I can put more pressure on those wounds or something." Approaching one of the walls, Roze helped Tsleeixth gingerly sit down; it'd be far easier to do it on the floor, just in case he fell over. Or passed out - judging by the loss of blood, both were highly possible, and the last thing he needed was to crack his skull off the hard stone floor and sustain yet another injury.
"Hmmmm, I do suppose you are right. Can't hurt to try, it's no like the next potion will make me cough my lungs out." Chuckled the Argonian before nodding when she mentioned that it was a shame that Rhasha wasn't there with them. "Aye, it's true, we could use some health potions, though we do have Do'Karth with us so it's not like we are bereft of healers, and Niernen knows restorative magic as well so her sudden appearance is a boon to us as well." He said as they got into the elevator proper. He was relieved that they found both Elmera and Leif safe in the entrance of Bthamz, breathing out a sigh of relief at the fact that they were safe.
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." Said Tsleeixth when Roze suggested they get his armour off so that they could treat his wounds better. He bit back a groan of pain as Roze settled him down on the ground, pain flaring from his wounds at the movement. Moving his hands he gingerly took his iron cuirass off, hissing in pain as he accidentally scrapped the gaping wound in his left shoulder with the metal armour. "There, that should be better." He said, looking down and grimacing at the sight of his body. Blood was coming from the gaping wound in his left shoulder where the Ashlander had yanked his dagger away, and the three stab wounds in his gut seemed to have opened slightly due to his coughing fit.
The young thief couldn't help but wince at witnessing the extent of Tsleeixth's injuries. The only solace was that the wounds were to his gut and shoulder; although undoubtedly painful, and still weeping from blood, they weren't life-threatening as of now. With healing on hand, it was better to have injuries to guts than lungs - not that his lungs were in perfect condition anyway. Using some cloth that Sagax had kindly donated, Roze used a small bit soaked in water from the skin at her belt to mop the blood around his bandaged wounds. Doing so as gently as possible, Roze once again silently cursed the lack of alcohol. Not just for drinking - although Tsleeixth certainly could use some inebriation as of now - but it could have disinfected the fissures in his scaly skin somewhat. Water would have to do.
Cleaning as best and as gently as she could, Roze carefully unwrapped the bandages placed there earlier - the 3 injuries to the stomach seemed to have reopened somewhat, but weren't quite as bad as his shoulder - with a lack of both restoration magic and stitches (Not that she'd be comfortable sewing someone's skin together - Do'Karth was better at that than herself) - she'd just have to be imaginative with her bandages.
"Sorry if this hurts - I'm just going to tighten these to try and staunch the bleeding somewhat." She apologised in advance as she tore the strips of cloth into smaller pieces, balling them up and pressing them right against his wounds. Keeping them there, Roze re-wrapped the bandages around his midriff, keeping it as tight as possible without hindering his breathing. She then did the same to his shoulder wound, attempting to keep the cloth packed well into the cut - somewhat dangerous, considering the cloth was far from clean; but there were better healers than she that could deal with possible future problems. For now, the bleeding had to be stopped. With the final bit of cloth, left un-torn, Roze fashioned it into a make-shift sling, not unlike the one she had worn after injuring her shoulder in Windhelm. Lowering it over Tsleeixth's head and gently easing his arm into it, Roze leant back on the balls of her feet, quite pleased with the outcome.
"Well, I think my bandaging skills have improved since last time." She said quite cheerfully, wiping her bloodstained hands on her leather-clad legs.
Tsleeixth bit his lip as Roze began to gently rub the wounds in his body with a watered piece of cloth. While he was thankful that she was being gentle it still stung to have his wounds cleaned, pain flaring up from the contact against the piece of cloth in Roze's hands. He nodded a little bit when Roze apologised if his wounds ended up hurting again when she tightened the pieces of cloth wrapped around them. "It's ok, I understand." Said the Argonian, his fists clenching in anticipation as she re-wrapped the bandages around his midriff, hissing slightly as the wounds in his gut flared up as the piece of cloth was tightly wrapped around them. However when she pressed the cloth against his shoulder wound Tsleeixth's eyes widened slightly in pain, his fists clenching until his nails dug into his palms, calming down shortly after Roze was done putting his arm on the sling. "Well, I'm glad to hear that." Said the Argonian, chuckling slightly, when Roze cheerfully said that her bandaging skills had improved since the last time she had used them. "Shame there isn't a bottle of wine or something, I'd say we've earned a drink or two, eh?" He said, laughing a little bit as he shifted slightly and got as comfortable as he could in his current position.
"Ain't that the truth." She agreed, groaning slightly as she straightened up from her current crouched position, stretching her aching shoulder. After having loosed so many arrows - and dealt with a rather stubborn valve - her previously injured shoulder was throbbing from exertion. It would be stiff as hell tomorrow, but at least it was still working right. Her aim had been fine... well, barring that one scrape with Sagax, but a scratch was better than nicking an artery or something. Still, Roze looked back on it with embarrassment - Sagax endangered his life well enough by himself without her helping him along. Perhaps it would be best to keep this story a bit dumbed down when telling Sevine of it.
As her mind drifted to Sevine, Roze remembered the issue going on with Do'Karth and Leif. While the former was still in the steam-filled room, Leif was right here, and her eyes darted to him momentarily; he seemed none the worse for his injuries, from what she could see. While certainly painful, the burns didn't seem to be life-threatening. Deciding the talk about Sevine and his issues with her new furry partner could wait until there wasn't an audience, Roze threw herself into a spot besides Tsleeixth, letting out a light huff of air.
"I hope nobody does anything stupid while we're out of the room. Still some damned ashlanders alive in there." She said quietly after taking a swig from her waterskin, then offering it to Tsleeixth.
Tsleeixth chuckled at Roze's words, nodding in agreement, concern briefly flashing in his eyes when he heard her groaning as she straightened up from her crouched position. "You ok Roze?" He asked her worriedly, looking at the Breton archer with a critical eye. As far as he could see she wasn't bleeding from any wounds, though that didn't mean that she couldn't be hurt some other way, frowning slightly as he thought on how she could have gotten wounded when he noticed her eyes darting momentarily towards Leif. He nodded a little bit when she mentioned that she hoped no one did something stupid while they were out of the steam-filled room, although the mention that some Ashlanders were still alive left a sour taste in his mouth. "Fucking pricks." Was all that the Argonian said as he accepted the waterskin that Roze offered to him, taking a swig of water before handing it back to the Breton woman.
He was silent for a few seconds afterwards, debating on if he should ask Roze the question that had been nagging his mind ever since the voyage from Dawnstar. "Hey, Roze." He asked her once he finally decided to speak his mind, his voice dropping down to a low whisper. "Is there a problem between Leif and Do'Karth? I noticed that those two were strangely tense during the voyage to Bthamz, and you looked towards the former in a strange way when we got here." Asked the Argonian, confusion somewhat plain in his voice. "I ask merely because I am worried about our Khajiit friend, and I'd like to be able to help if possible at all." He said, frowning slightly.
"Oh, I'm fine. Shoulder's been battered and shot at one to many times - I suppose it'll always have an ache to it after Windhelm." She responded to his query with a wave of her hand, indicating it was no big issue. Some people had lost entire limbs, and others had lost their lives; a stubborn shoulder she could live quite happily with after a scrape with the Kamal. Laughing quietly at his insults to the enemy Dunmers in the other room, she was about to take another mouthful of water when he asked another - unexpected - question. She chuckled again - somewhat nervously this time. Was it really her place to be spreading this around? Leif wouldn't be happy about it (Although it was a wonder not everyone knew at this point, after his drunken outburst in Dawnstar) but Roze doubted Sevine or Do'Karth would be pleased with her spreading rumours around the ranks of the group. Except... well, it wasn't really a rumour, it was the truth. A hard truth for the trio at hand, that was.
"Well... I'm not sure you'd be able to help at all. And, it's not really something for us to be worried over." She replied quietly, dropping her voice even more as she continued. "As you may or may not know, Sevine and Do'Karth have began courting. They're not exactly keeping it secret, so there's no harm in telling you that. But uh... well..." She hesitated a moment, fiddling with the top of the waterskin. "Leif has known Sevine for quite a few years now, and he wasn't... content... with her new relationship. So, there's definitely some animosity towards Do'Karth, but again, I shouldn't be too worried about it. Leif just has to get used to Sevine's new... arrangements. I'm planning on talking to him later - I don't know what I'm hoping to achieve, but maybe I can lessen the tension somewhat." She finished her hushed sentence with a light shrug. "For now, I'm just wanting everyone back on the ship in one piece - and then I hope we don't run into more troubles." She added honestly - their last voyage to Winterhold was still fresh in her mind.
"Ah, good, glad to hear it's nothing too serious." Said Tsleeixth, nodding slightly at Roze's explanation. He was silent after that, waiting for her answer to his question, but her nervous chuckle did set off some alarms. "
Shit, maybe I shouldn't have asked." He thought to himself, his worries easing somewhat when Roze began to talk again but the Breton's nervousness at having to speak didn't go unnoticed by the Argonian. He listened in silence and by the time that Roze was done talking Tsleeixth had to suppress the urge to groan in annoyance, lest he attracts unwanted attention from the nearby Leif for some reason. "Ah shit, so that's why those two were acting so tense around each other." He said, his voice low, as he frowned slightly. "To be honest I thought it was something less serious, that Do'Karth had somehow insulted Leif or that Leif had unwillingly insulted Do'Karth somehow, I didn't think the two were in, for a lack of a better word, a love triangle." He said as he shook his head slightly, making sure to keep his voice low so as to not be heard by the nearby Nord man. "Aye, that I can agree on, let's hope that we all make it back to Dawnstar in one piece and then we can, or more appropriately they, can focus on fixing this." He said with a sigh, shaking his head slightly. With the troubles the Company kept getting into it, having two of it's members at odds with each other wouldn't do them any good at the very least, if not prove a severe hindrance at the very worst.
"It's the tension that's bothering me." Roze murmured in response. "It would better if they just had a fist-fight, got it out of their systems and moved on from it. Nords have fights over less than a lady, that's for sure. The longer it stays like this, the worse the outburst will be." Shaking her head slightly, she began to bite soem stray skin on her bottom lip, a habit she ahd recently picked up the last 3 weeks when being bothered over something. "Hence why I want to talk to Leif. Hell, maybe he just needs to bed a woman to let it go. " She added, considering Leif's options. Spending the night with someone - it didn't really matter who - did wonders for stress most of the time; even emotional stress.
"Not that he'll be bedding anyone here, that is. I wouldn't like to, it'd be most uncomfortable." Roze had seen bedrooms of the long-dead Dwemer in ruins like these; even they were stone. Stone floors, stone chairs, and stone beds; it's no wonder the Dwemer became extinct, they likely never had a good night's rest on one of those things. Sex on them would be even worse. No, they'd all have to wait till Dawnstar for a decent bed; the ship had some comfortable hammocks, but they were terrible if you were prone to sea-sickness. Not that Roze was, that is - in fact, she was wishing for the rest of the group to hurry up so they could head back to the ship. At this point, she'd completely forgotten why they'd come down here in the first place.
Tsleeixth nodded in silence at Roze's words, there wasn't anything else to add to their current conversation, nor there was anything else to say about their current mission. Shifting slightly against the stone wall Tsleeixth settled in as comfortably as he could and closed his eyes, letting out a weary sigh. "
Fuck, I hope this mission is finished soon." He thought to himself.
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