Dragonborn Saga

Chapter 682: Clockwork Apostles

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"So, this leads into the city?" (Glymet)

"Into the Fortress." (Tarnished Bosmer)

"Yeah, the Fortress City." (Glymet)

"It is just the Fortress." (Tarnished Bosmer)

"Wha… this is a City, right?" (Glymet)

"It is, but it is a Fortress." (Tarnished Bosmer)

"That doesn't make any sense." (Glymet)

"This realm is the Clockwork City, the settlement is called the Brass Fortress." (Tarnished Bosmer)

"That's confusing. Why not just call it the Clockwork Realm and the Brass City." (Glymet)

"I… I… I don't know." (Tarnished Bosmer)

"Glymet, stop confusing everyone!" Laaneth shouted at the two men whose conversation was starting to irritate her, "And you, if your route leads us somewhere filled with Abominations, things won't look good for you."

"Yes, lady. I swear on Seht's name!"

The Tarnished Bosmer was a member of one of Clockwork City's factions, the nomadic Tarnished, a group of those who lack the skills required to become a Clockwork Apostle or are incapable of being merchants or craftsmen. As a result, they are cast out from the main settlement and the major facilities.

Kota was also a Tarnished but judging by the fact that neither Kota nor the Bosmer survivor recognized one another, it was easy to understand that the Tarnished people were split into many groups and clans.

Either way, the Bosmer man offered a way into the Brass Fortress, and the group had to make a careful decision between this possible infiltration and Jon's angry plan of blasting everything that's moving.

Seeing how Jon was already bombarding the response force Mecinar was sending and the fact that he did that even without magic, they knew that he would go to radical lengths in order to attain his goals. The problem which he seemed to not care about was the fact that Swims-at-Night may actually get caught in the crossfire and that's against the whole purpose they have ventured here for.

With this set mentality, the team decided to head towards the Brass Fortress but Kota lagged behind and decided to return to Jon and inform him about their change of plans. As for Ram, he seemed to be willing to explore the Fortress with them.

It didn't take them long to arrive at an old tunnel that was transporting fresh air to the Brass Fortress from the Halls of Regulation. The tunnel had strong blasts of air current after it was dormant for the past two centuries (thanks to activating the Halls of Regulations) and the group had a rough journey through the tunnels all the way to the mechanical spires inside the Brass Fortress. As they managed to evade the rotors in the tunnel and exit it via a maintenance hatch, they found themselves on top of a vast city, vaster and wider than any city they've ever come across on Tamriel.

"The Jewel of the Brass Badland, the Brass Fortress." The Tarnished Bosmer said with pride despite not being a resident of the city.

"Gods! A city made of metal and glass…" Laaneth exclaimed, "The legends don't give it any justice."

"Yes." The Bosmer nodded, "You can consider yourself the first unlawful trespassers of the city since the fall of Lord Seht. Its beauty can only be equaled by its arrogance."

But just as the four of them started wondering about the appearance of this city of brass, a pillar of smoke was spotted rising from the eastern section of the city.

"I guess we are not the first trespassers after all." Glymet said, "I don't think that's Jon Dare."

"We need to get down there." Laaneth said and instead of taking the maintenance ladder on the spire, she cast "Feather Fall" on herself and jumped off the spire.

"I am coming too." Glymet did the same and descended after her.

The only ones that remained on the spire were the Tarnished Bosmer and Ram who were transforming the mechanical body.

"Jet Thrusters infusion installed!" Ram spoke in an emotionless mechanical voice and started to levitate with a flame coming from tubes under his feet.

"Ah!" The Tarnished Bosmer looked at how the others were moving around and back off from Ram, "I'll be waiting here then."

But before he would do anything, Ram held the Bosmer from his collar and lifted him up as the man started screaming during the flight down.

***

Once the group reached the source of the smoke, they were shocked by the fact that the things that were burning were actually some of Mecinar's Abominations.

There were no citizens or any living souls in the place they are in right now, which is a market square.

"What is happening here?" Asked Glymet as he checked out the objects that were scattered on the ground.

There was a lot of clutter and destruction but what stood out was some weapons and blood splatters on the ground. Glymet crouched down to check out an item, which resembled the weapon that was being used by Jon and frowned in his thoughts.

As for the others, they were looking around and taking note of the place that seemed to have a lot of food stalls and strange mechanical contraptions. While Laaneth was focused on the machines, Ram was drawn to a certain screen that was viewing some visual illusions of scandalously dressed ladies with mechanical body implants.

"This…"

Ram was somehow mystified by the feeling he was experiencing but just as he was about to interact with the holographic illusion, Laaneth was there for the rescue.

She swung her staff and destroyed the machines that were emitting this scandalous and improper view.

"By Azura, what are these deviants making a child look at?" Laaneth said with an angry tone, "Ram, if you see anything like that, look the other way immediately."

While a bit disappointed, Ram lowered his head and complied with what Laaneth said. It was obvious that these illusions had stirred up something in him but he was too confused to process what it was.

But just at that moment of noise when Laaneth destroyed the hologram emitter, those who were adept in battle within this group (Laaneth and Glymet) started to back off while warning Ram and the Tarnished Bosmer to back off too. The group retreated until they were all back to back as they sensed something they couldn't make heads or tails of.

At that moment and accompanied by the sound of magical machinery, many brass-armored figures started to appear from all around the market square while surrounding the group of adventurers. They were all… humans, elves, beastfolk, living breathing mortals.

"Is that… by Azura, it is!" Laaneth exclaimed, "After all these centuries… there are still people down there! They must be the last of Sotha Sil's worshippers. Careful, I think they…"

At the lead of the staff-wielding band of Clockwork Apostles was a Dunmer wielding a large staff that reflected his leadership status. Just as sudden as he emerged with his people, he gave them the attack command.

"More outlanders, friends! Defend the city!" The man shouted and all the people who emerged from the market square aimed their staves at the group of adventurers before sending a hail of spells and projectiles at them.

"Wait! Let's talk!" Laaneth seemed to be willing to drop her staff and talk peace but the agitated crowd was far from being peaceful and her words fell on deaf ears.

Thanks to Glymet's fast reaction, he managed to pull her into cover and proceeded to retaliate immediately. As Glymet and Laaneth hid behind a stall, Ram and the Tarnished Bosmer retreated into a hidden alley among the buildings.

If Ram was to join this fight, his only weapon (the gatling cannon) wouldn't be enough to convince those people of talking peace. That's why it was all left for Glymet and Laaneth.

Glymet jumped out of cover and vaulted at the nearest Clockwork Apostle before tackling and hitting him with the pommel of his sword. He evasively avoided all the attacks that were launched at him and arrived at where the apostles' leader was positioned which happened to be a high wooden scaffolding. Glymet only needed to kick the scaffolding for it to crumble and the man on top to fall with it.

Laaneth made sure to defend herself and Glymet during that process while disturbing the spells cast at her and stopping anyone from doing anything too dangerous until Glymet got the leader of the Clockwork Apostles and held him at a sword point.

"Alright! That's enough." She shouted and all the people present in the market square could see what had become of their leader, as it was intimidating and frightful, Laaneth chose to take the peaceful approach, "Alright, Glym. That's enough for you as well."

Glymet nodded and retreated his sword away from the man's face before offering him a hand to stand. The Clockwork Apostles and the people of the city were all on edge and realized that their foes were surely powerful but Laaneth's next words were more assuring to them.

"We came in peace." She said and walked to Glymet's side, facing the leader of the apostles.

The man seemed in pain as he held his back with his mechanical arm. Actually, everyone in this place seemed to have replaced their arms with mechanical ones, some even replaced their legs, eyes, parts of their faces, and even had their torsos and chests filled with mechanical implants.

Those were the real people of Clockwork City, the Apostles of Sotha Sil.

"We thought… we thought you were with the other outlanders. You really aren't, are you?" The man asked.

"We are not." Laaneth replied, "My name is Laaneth and this is my companion Glymet. It is rather unexpected for us to end up in your Realm but we came here looking for another companion of ours and those people who attacked you, Mecinar and his men, have taken him as a prisoner."

"So it was Mecinar after all these years…" The man sighed in grief, "My name is Galyn, I'd welcome you but as you see our city but as you can see, we are struggling against the invaders all alone."

"Invaders?"

"Mecinar, his lieutenants, those outlanders. They were hunting our population for Mecinar to… experiment and transform them. The apostles and I are holding this square as a defense choke-point." Galyn said.

"Those outlanders, they are treasure hunters. Maybe they have our friend. Which way did they go?" Laaneth asked.

"They headed towards the Mire Mechanica, and yes, they had a prisoner with them that was also an outlander." Galyn said so which made both Glymet and Laaneth hopeful that their friend is alive.

"But please, they've also taken something important from us." Galyn said, "The Memory Crystal of Sotha Sil, his last memory crystal, we hope you retrieve it for us. It is our most sacred holy relic."

Laaneth frowned since she had found some memory crystals as well in the Halls of Regulation and the Ventral Terminus. She was going to show them to Jon so they can research them together at a later date but if these Memory Crystals belonged to Sotha Sil, it would be very important to acquire them.

"Alright." She nodded, "We will come back for sure but we'd need your guidance to the Mire Mechanica. A safe passage from point A to B."

"That can be arranged." Galyn nodded.

"We will surely return since our way out of this realm is through this city but let me ask you first, when we return, what can we expect from Mecinar?" She asked.

"Mecinar… that bastard." Galyn seemed to be more vexed every time that name was mentioned, "He was once an Apostle like us but he walked a very different path which led to his ex-communication by Lord Seht not too long before he passed. Mecinar is obsessed with surpassing Sotha Sil so he will create the most bizarre things by combining machines and flesh."

"Look who's talking." Glymet spoke in a muffled tone as he stared at the Apostle's mechanic implants.

"SO…" Laaneth raised her voice to cover Glymet's, "After we get your artifact and our friend, do you know a way out of the Clockwork City back to Nirn?"

"The Brass Fortress Wayshrine. But that thing hasn't worked for years and a few hours ago, there was a power outage in the entire city so we need to fix them one problem at a time." Galyn replied.

"And of course, Mecinar as well." Laaneth said.

"That too." Galyn nodded meekly since he was asking them to take care of the Arch-Wizard that decimated everything in his way to get into the city.

Laaneth and Glymet had agreed on retrieving Swims-at-Night and escaping peacefully if possible but things seemed to be progressing the way Jon had anticipated. Going head to head against Mecinar was always on the table but now, it has become inevitable.

On their way to the Mire Mechanica, Laaneth and Glymet informed Jon of their little side venture and he seemed pleased to hear that there are Clockwork Apostles still living in the city. Still, he informed Laaneth that he has amassed enough power and will be striking the city in 6 hours. He advised them to get Swims-at-Night during that time window and join him before then since he needs five lieutenants to invade the city.

By that time, the last thing anyone could expect was that by regaining his power, Jon had managed to assemble a small army of machines outside the fortress.

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