Sagax's reaction might not have been exactly what Farid wanted, it was satisfying nevertheless. Farid mock-laughed at the Imperial's word. It was pretty obvious Sagax was not impressed, though the Imperial remained in-control on the exterior. “Delicate, heh?” Farid sneered. “I'm surprised that armor didn't flatten you, runner boy.” The Redguard said before Sagax went up. “And I pride in clean nails, something you can't understand. Have you ever taken a clean shower in that sewer of yours?” Farid scorned, the last line deriving from his own experience in subterranean locations and Sagax's slightly mangy appearance, not because he knew anything about Sagax's past.
Right behind Farid, Keegan had to suppress the urge to zap a certain scumbag with lightning. Like half (a lower estimate) of the people here, Keegan rated Farid just below Dumhuvud in terms of annoyance. For the most part, Keegan stayed out of Farid's ridicules. Perhaps it was because that, Keegan found some upsides to an otherwise irritating character. The Redguard was quick and resourceful, at around Sagax's age but trading in some agility for strength. As of now, Farid was in line to ascend, at the last second, he turned to face Keegan with a grin.
“What?” Keegan confused.
“We should set up a belay, push and pull our way up; make it easier for clumsies like you.” Farid said.
“How considerate of you.” Keegan responded drily. “Have you ever thought about rope length?” The Altmer spoke as a matter-of-fact.
“Now now, Keegan, don't sell me out so fast.” Farid boasted. “You know what we have on the dinghies? Rope. That's right, take some extra out and we can double this line.” Proudly patting his chest, Farid looked around for applause. When nothing came his way, he shot Keegan a dirty look and went to the corner where Ariane gazed into the ceiling.
“There's disturbed energy above us.” Ariane murmured. She was so deep in thought that the footsteps of Farid did not register.
“Hey, wake up.” Farid took Ariane by the shoulder and did a good shake. “I'm going to cut some rope from the boats, and since you suppose to be the boss, I thought I should run it by you first.”
“Heh? Alright.”
With that, Farid wasted no time putting his plan into action. First loosening the docking ropes from one of the boats, Farid took it back to the wall. There, he and a sailor tied a solid knot unto the existing line. The sailor who went up after Tsleeixth then hefted up a good length, undid Do'Karth's anchor and returned half of the length back down. The line now ran up through the sconce and down to another sailor acting as the belayer. The sailor up top spotted the makeshift pulley.
“This doesn't look very safe.” Keegan commented hesitantly. “I think I'll stay behind and keep watch.” He wasn't going to be useless down here, just that his skill sets worked better guarding boats and shivering Bretons than scaling walls.
“Scared?” Farid laughed, not at all deterred by potential problems. “Suit yourself.”
The Redguard quickly strapped on the crampons to his boots, and with the axe in hand, set to test out his improvised system personally. His climb was considerably easier than all others before. Being reasonably skilled with vertical movements himself, the pull of another strong person took a lot of pressure off Farid's arms. He was quicker than everyone (maybe the same as Sagax) and misses were few thanks to the belayer catching his weight.
Confident from his way up and not so much at the group stomped by a door, Farid told the next sailor up to bring lit torches. Dangerous, yes, but if anything could get through frozen doors, it would be fire. The torches came up without accident, and ice around the door started to melt when Ariane ascended with the help of her own feather spell.
“It's opening.” The torch-bearing sailor noted when clicking accompanied ice melting away. He told Roze to stop lockpicking, braced himself and booted the door open with several kicks.
At this point, Ariane was feathering a sailor after doing the same with Sevine. The sailor was almost up when the door opened, and when he finally clambered over the edge, a blur of color darted out of the doorway. The thing, a magic anomaly, whizzed past everyone and bumped full speed into the latest climber. Because this man was just recovering from his ascension, the speed of the hit sent him off-balance, over the edge and crashing neck-first down the opening. There was no time for scream, only the sick crunch of bones as he landed upside down beside the belayer, legs bent parallel to torso.
“Holy-” The belayer gasped. “What's going on up there!?” He shouted in panic as his former mate, now probably a corpse, unfurled lifelessly.
“Magic anomaly!” Ariane shouted back down. A wave of her hand and a burst of light from her palm was enough to disintegrate what had killed a man. But her effort did not end all problems. The people gathered ahead could now see into the next room, a large stone chamber, was swarming with at least eight magic anomalies. Like guard dogs noticing intruders, the anomalies whirled to life and went after their targets.
“I guess we stab them?” Farid said. He stopped the first anomaly with his sword and dug his off-hand dagger into the creature. His stab landed in what felt like a viscous pool of goo, though it only last momentarily before the anomaly fell apart at his feet. “That would do.” He announced to the group. “Sagax, do try to keep up.”
Eventually the anomalies were put down. They were fragile things, mindless and not lethal, but also stings that caused strange-colored bruises to form. Like his battle with the Forsworns and the Kamals, Farid was able to skirt around two anomalies without being stung a single time. He took lead through the chamber, up a set of staircases into another chamber, repeating the same thing twice more, until a ladder and a trapdoor appeared ahead.
“Lots of signatures on top,” Ariane spoke up from the rear. A faint blue glow lit around her hand and eyes; a life detection spell. “I think they are people, not anomalies. We're at the college proper.”
Farid nodded and scrambled up the ladder carefully. The ladder was solid and extended at least two stories. It was made of slim but tough wood, compact and light enough to be carried by the group for descending the ice wall. Over the ladder was a handle, which Farid twisted to unlock from his side. He then pushed the reinforced trapdoor with a grunt, swinging upwards to reveal howling winds.
“Crap.” Farid muttered. In the time it took them to negotiate the College Midden, the weather outside managed to brew up a full blizzard. Tiny balls of ice mixed with unfrozen vapors blew wildly from east to west. Visibility was poor, but Farid could see a shape amid crumbled structures, taking shelter under the few intact roofs. The Redguard held his hand down the ladder, mouthing “wait” to his comrades.
Having hoisted himself up into the courtyard, Farid took sight of the rubble. Though never been here himself, he was pretty sure the college suppose to be in better shapes. No one in sight beside the distant figure. For all Farid knew, that person could have been responsible for the disaster. Sneaking carefully through pieces of debris, Farid came into sight the individual, a Breton vastly different from the drowning idiot, moments later.
“You there!” Farid shouted to the Breton man. He kept a set of columns between them, and his hands on the hilts of his blades, in case a fight was to break out. “Are there anyone else alive?”
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