NABC Chapter 438: Chapter LVII: Kogoruhn
Chapter 438: Chapter LVII: Kogoruhn
Chapter 438: Chapter LVII: Kogoruhn
(Reyvin's POV)
"My lord" Dagoth Ulthis shuffles after me with hesitance in both step and voice, his eyes focused to the south-west and up above us "Are you... Are you certain that it will be fine?"
His question was obviously referring to the massive volcano above us currently spewing forth even more poison, fire, and detritus than usual, all of it started when I blew up old Molly's temple without even bothering to enter.
'Still worth it.' Scorch and I think at the same time.
I look up to Red Mountain for a long moment before shrugging "It shouldn't turn catastrophic too quickly." My eyes narrow "At least not before I do as I plan." And I would most assuredly do as I wanted, even without the obvious political and magical boons awaiting within my decision had been reinforced by forces beyond such petty things.
[Quest issued: Save the lands of Morrowind from a slow death.]
[Reward: A Comprehensive Guide to Stepping Through the Dark Forest]
A reward I straight up salivated at upon seeing it for the first time.
"And what is your master plan anyway, Reyvin?" Savos appears next to me "You have been rather vague about it this entire time and frankly I am starting to get worried."
"A ritual." I actually answer, surprising him.
But instead of accepting that he narrows his eyes "That is all I am getting, isn't it?" His frown deepens as he begins muttering "Still, a ritual of that scale, cleansing a mountain saturated with the power of a dead god would need a focal poin...t." He stills and looks up at me, mouthing a terrified "No."
My grin threatens to split my face as I begin walking faster "Oh yes."
"Damn it Reyvin get back here!" Savos yells after me.
And so it was that the remaining stretch of my 'pilgrimage' was spent dodging Savos and his constant nagging. Seriously, I did much dumber things before but the moment I try and do something a bit ambitious he loses his shit.
Old folks these days...
Still, I was also slowly beginning to decipher the little shit spying on us gave off, too bad I would not fully manage it before the time came... A worrysome thought, and something I could not permit to threaten me right now.
Guess I will just have to be ten times as paranoid as usual, what could possibly go-
Fuck no I am not finishing that thought.
"You are certain it is here?" I ask Ulthis in a mildly impressed tone. My ancestral home was concealed so perfectly even I could not detect it as it was right now.
Probably for that exact reason as they could actually perceive weaknesses, unlike most people.
"I am, my lord" He bows deeply "Kogoruhn welcomes you home." He raises and with appreciable theatricity snaps his fingers, causing a small jolt of his magic to touch the suddenly visible wards and temporarily unravel them.
The large mound of ash covered stone extending from Red Mountain itself splits in half, revealing a long and very tall corridor within, dozens of my own banners dominating the pillars at perfectly equidistant intervals.
I take a long breath of the oddly welcoming air and grin "Home sweet home."
The moment my voice spread, all thirty of the panicking warriors in full plate orichalcum prostrated themselves on the ground, not a one of them so much as twitching as they awaited my response.
'Way to fucking ruin my mood' I roll my eyes and splash them with a wave of my divinity. Something told me things were about to turn far, far more irritating.
The confused guardsmen led me through the great tunnel, most of them still unwilling to speak while the leader silently questioned Ulthis about what exactly just happened, looking quite rattled by the change happening within him as he did.
Due to Fyr's request, and a bit of my own curiosity, I spent the last two days of travel closely examining the changes in Ulthis' little band and came to some interesting discoveries. Firstly, now that their sight was their own it had become sharper and could take in more information, pretty much making a lesser version of my own bloodline. Secondly and most importantly, the lot of them gained a small healing factor instead of their previous resistance to bleedout and an extra century slapped onto their already prolonged lifespan.
All in all, a grand thing for my new servants to have, and something to invest more time in as rewarding the loyal with a direct family line boost was a no-brainer... After a lot of refining, of course.
Leaving such thoughts for later, I focus back on the tunnel as we reach a grand gateway, engraved with the masked visage of my ancestor stylized to hell and back to look downright intimidating.
Like a god looking down at his subjects in fact.
Four of the guards walk by me with heads bowed and activate runes on both sides in a particular order, sending a shudder through the gate and causing it to open on its own.
The sight beyond was... not what I expected.
The Kogoruhn I knew was basically a half-underground stone fortress barely worth the name after centuries of disrepair. What I saw now was an underground city seemingly built around that one simple keep, its ceiling almost a third as tall as that of Blackreach itself...
And it was not a mere shanty town of tents and tunnels but an actual underground settlement! All of it made from suitably dark volcanic rock with numerous farms powered by low level magical artifacts, animal pens holding the dozens of stolen kwama and many, many
mineshafts.
Even the central residential area looked surprisingly lively, with shops, taverns, and to my great amusement, large homes connected by clotheslines.
A light burst of happiness bubbled from within me at the sight.
"That is" I pause "Hm."
Seeing my confusion, Ulthis steps in "The house has been focusing on recovery for centuries now. We rarely leave the ruhn but recently our numbers have grown enough to risk it."
"No, no, I get that" I wave him off, my eyes still looking at the oddly bustling town "I just expected a lot more gloom I suppose."
"The house would never lose faith." The leader of the guards cuts in, immediately bowing at the perceived rudeness "My lord."
"Yes, I can see that" I nod at him and begin walking down the stairway, and right next to numerous defensive emplacements manned by dozens of awestruck elves.
The way to to the core of the settlement is a winding one, leading us to pass through most of it before we reached the grand dome shaped keep in the center of it, all of the Dunmer inbetween reacting to my presence much the same as I've come to expect so far.
'Even the children were not spared' The realization brought only disgust.
I was slowly beginning to genuinely like this place and its people, the sense of kinship I felt to
most of them was not something I could find in the rest of the world, even if I knew within my mind that it was all artificial.
Yet another insidious thing to 'praise' my ancestor for, I supposed.
The feast lasted well into the morning and the people were still joyous both to finally have
their prophesized leader return, and at what many of them described as my saintly gesture.
It was after all, merely another proof of my divinity to most of them. Still, all good things must come to an end, and my conversation with Althis and the lesser Councilors below him, inevitably ended at my purpose for coming here, and my promise back at the Rootspire.
"So, Althis." I speak up, cutting through the silence following my tale "Would you care to
lead me to the heart chamber now?"
The Mer looked like he wanted to do anything but, and yet the conviction and certainty in my
eyes told him I would be doing this with or without his help.
And so I was lead through the original Kogoruhn, the keep itself, through the many winding
tunnels and grand chambers within, I even got to see a chamber that was by right my own and had been maintained in anticipation of my coming!
I had no time for rummaging through ancient Dagoth vaults though, and soon we had reached
a heavily sealed and warded hatch, for it was too small to be a gate, in one of the southernmost tunnels.
"My lord" Althis bowed as my party and I approached it "Are you certain you wish to proceed?
The mountain, it is not safe."
"Have no fear, High Councilor" I pat him on the shoulder lightly "I did not come all the way
here just to fail."
He bows his head and casts a moderately complex spell, opening the way forward.
"Well then" I clap my hands "Into the bowels of hell itself."
Savos was not very amused by my choice of words, even as he followed after me.
The insides of Red Mountain roiled with power, the seemingly endless lava flows looking
almost eager to devour us as we abused the shit out of magic and my own partial command of all things Lorkhan to cheat our way through what would doubtless have been a gauntlet straight out of hell for most people.
It still took us a full day before we reached our destination, as the place was filled to the brim
with flaming atronachs of all forms and even some feral Sleepers that had somehow adapted
to fire.
I killed them quickly as an apology for what was done to them.
Our destination, what once was the complex surrounding the Heart Chamber was mostly
destroyed, much as I've come to expect, leaving only the smallest traces of what was once a grand palace, as alien as it was magnificent.
All of it was destroyed, save for the Heart Chamber itself.
For the destroyed corpse of Akulakhan the Elder still held some power and a bubble of energy
had formed within, preserving the site of the explosion and making me almost go berserk with how much of the heart's power still shone within.
We stepped through the somewhat unstable bubble of power, sighs of relief coming from all
over as we were finally away from the blistering heat. Though their relief did not last long as a
mere second later we were greeted by a voice, powerful and resonant.
A voice that echoed from everywhere and nowhere.
A voice that was oddly similar to mine, if a lot older.
A voice, that could only ever belong to a god.
"Welcome, Sun and Shade."
"To this place" "Where destiny was made."
Big D stares at you imperiously
you know what must be done
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