Amaryllis and Wind found that Neloth spent the rest of the day researching Talvas and her new body, taking samples of her blood, her new fur, taking measurements and comparing all of them to Lydia's, who just stared at him with a blank look, and jotting down whatever notes he happened to be making at the moment. The rest of the group stood on the opposite side of the top of Tel Mithryn, staying away from Neloth and his studies, least he become interested in someone else and pull them over to where he was working, though his Steward stayed away from him while he did this, mostly since she wasn't needed and this provided a break of sorts. As Amaryllis watched the wizard she found out something interesting, Lydia and Talvas' bodies were nearly identical, in terms of measurements and appearance, while the only difference seemed to be the locations of the cow spots that littered their bodies, as Lydia had one on the side of her right shoulder while Talvas had none in that spot. Talvas, of course, was deeply disturbed by her new body, which was understandable given what she had been through, all by her master's hand no less, and the fact that she was trapped in the body of a different gender, at least until Durum turned mad and the wand's power returned, though by that time there was no telling how much damage might be done to her mind.
One thing she wanted was for Neloth to mess up, as in brush his hand over a milk stained part of his apprentice's robes, or knock over one of the other vials and spill it on himself, because it would have been some form of justice if such a thing were to happen to him, a taste of his own medicine, but when nothing happened she sighed and watched from the other side of the tower.
Eventually, however, she decided to leave Tel Mithryn, since it appeared that no one was leaving until Neloth upheld his end of the bargain, where Amaryllis headed outside and stepped onto the ash covered ground once more, though as she took a moment to wonder what she was going to do she heard a sound that seemed different than what she was used to hearing. It was something moaning, where she glanced over to her left and found a rather large creature, looking like an armored flea based on what she was seeing, with long legs that looked like stilts, standing some distance from the tower of Neloth, on top of a river that cut through this part of Solstheim. Oddly enough she was the only one attracted to the loud moan that was coming from it, which she was thankful for since it meant they didn't have to worry about attackers coming to this place, though she had a feeling that if Reavers attacked Tel Mithryn Neloth would capture them and use all of them in whatever experiments he happened to be doing. There was also a Dark Elf standing near what appeared to be a short walkway, one that lead to a sitting area of sorts that was on the flea's back, making her take a moment to wonder what in the world she was staring at, as while it wasn't a creature of Oblivion it was something she hadn't seen before, just like a few of the other enemies she had found on this island.
The Dark Elf, seeing the surprised look on her face, chuckled and told her that she wasn't the first one to be surprised by Dusty, which happened to be the creature's name, as most people had no idea what a Silt Strider was, a pretty rare being who brought in all sorts of characters who wanted to know more about her. Apparently this used to be a form of travel in the past, as they were commonplace in Morrowind at one point in time, and the Dark Elf, Revus he called himself, told her that the blast from the mountain, likely the Red Mountain, wiped out most of Dusty's race, though he was staying by her side until she died, which he assumed was going to be soon. Revus also told her that he had a habit of trading things to anyone who passed by this place, meaning he bought and sold things to people while tending to Dusty, and, just like those who came before her, he offered to show her his wares, even though he admitted that he didn't have a lot now since most of his current goods were food. One thing she discovered was a white stone with a golden ring near the top, where he told her that it came from one of the many adventurers who went into the dangerous Dwarven ruins, who claimed that it was among some treasure and Neloth wouldn't buy it, claiming it was trash, but he had a feeling it was special, where she took a moment and parted with a hundred Septims.
Revus told her that the adventurer claimed he could sell it for a thousand gold, though to be honest he didn't care and he still had more than enough to get back to Morrowind when everything was said and done, so he was fine with selling it for a hundred coins, allowing her to pocket the item before returning to look at Dusty for a time. Since she had some time to waste, at least until Neloth was done, she made sure to take a few steps back before reverting to her true form, allowing her to fly off into the night sky, because what she was doing was upholding what Za'kera told the Captain of the Guard of Raven Rock, that whoever was sending the Ash Spawn would be dealt with. Given that there was only one fort in the area near the Dark Elf settlement, well, it was easy for her to determine where her target was located, and sure enough she was able to find an Imperial standing on the ramparts of a somewhat buried fort, carrying an impressive hammer on his back, one that needed both hands no doubt, and there were plenty of Ash Spawn nearby. As such she dived towards her target without delay and drew her daggers, where the moment she landed she spun around and swung her blades, both slicing through his neck before he even realized what was going on, and he collapsed without any of the Ash Spawn even realizing what happened, allowing her to claim his warhammer and some gold before slipping into the shadows.
Amaryllis then spent the next hour cleaning up Fort Frostmoth, stalking the Ash Spawn and assassinating them before any of her targets even realized what was going on, and that included heading inside and killing those that were inside, but as soon as all of them were dead she cleared out the two large chests of treasure, mostly gold, gems, and a couple bits of ebony, before she returned to Tel Mithryn and waited for Neloth to finish his studies.
As it turned out it was early the next morning when Neloth finally finished tormenting Talvas, not that it mattered since he claimed his apprentice was no longer his apprentice, meaning he saw the Moomer form as something else, before he told Za'kera that he was heading to Nchardak and that they were free to join him. Of course they figured that he wouldn't say anything about the deal, or the fact that he might actually need help in getting through some of the ruin's defenses, but at the very least this meant he was willing to show them where the Black Book he discovered was located. His Steward was given the responsibility of keeping Tel Mithryn safe, not that it mattered since she didn't look like she could defend herself in a fight, as Neloth departed without wasting anytime on a morning meal, which was why Za'kera was happy that she had thought to pack some meat that could be eaten on the go. As such Neloth was the first one to drop down to the base of Tel Mithryn and headed for the walkway leading to Nchardak, where Amaryllis, Wind, and the others followed after him for a time, finding that it didn't look like any enemies were going to bother them, which would make things easier for them in the long run, allowing them to conserve their energy for whatever was inside Nchardak.
When they reached the Dwarven ruin, however, Neloth explained that this particular ruin was partly flooded and that the creators had designed it to raise and sink into the water, making it unique among the various Dwarven ruins he had been to in the past, and that he had locked the main door on his last visit, to keep out all of the 'ignorant meddlers', which had to be all of the Reavers, and sure enough they found some more camping in the ruins.
"Don't kill any of them... I'm in need of more test subjects, and they'll do nicely." Neloth stated, once more showing them that he had no regards for the lives of those that were around him, as while Za'kera and the others didn't care much for bandits they also didn't treat them like livestock, as that was how the wizard seemed to treat these people, though as he said that he used two spells on himself before summoning lightning to his hands.
Wind discovered that one of his spells was the Ebonyflesh, a rather powerful Alteration spell that cast a layer of protection over the caster, which happened to be one of the toughest spells of it's type, while the other she had no idea about, where her mentor informed her that it was the Whirlwind Cloak, which called upon the wind to help protect the caster, by using the wind to knock enemies backwards. That, in combination with his powerful lightning spells, as he under the expert level Destruction spell known as Thunderbolt, showed Wind and the others something very important, Neloth certainly didn't need any help taking down the Reavers that were camping outside Nchardak. His spells were quick and deadly, as he just hurled Thunderbolts through the air and struck his targets in the chest, knocking them backwards with ease while also keeping them alive, just barely since they were moaning while resting on the ground, showing them that he was just using all of them as bait for the Reavers, though Ma'jera deflected any spells as they moved forward. While they did that, and watched Neloth cripple all of his enemies, Wind found that her mentor had a bit of a surprise, she raised a ship out of the water, one that looked like it carried prisoners, and waved a hand to restore it to perfection, while disposing of the various skeletons on it, before placing it near Tel Mithryn and formed a temporary walkway for him to use.
Amaryllis felt sorry for the Reavers, who Neloth stripped of their armor and let them have it, since he didn't need any of their foul armor, because they didn't deserve the fate that was about to be forced upon all of them, though it did confirm that Ma'jera didn't care about mortals either, save for some special ones, before they reached the main door of Nchardak and stared at it.
"The Dwemer of Nchardak appear to have been fond of these control pedestals." Neloth commented, beckoning to a short red colored metallic pedestal that looked like some sort of device could be attached to the top of it, which was connected to the locked door that was in front of them, and in that moment he pulled out an odd metallic cube from his robe, which was different from a Lexicon, "Luckily I found a cube to operate it inside on my last visit, allowing me to seal the door when I left to keep out ignorant meddlers... let me unlock the door, as the Black Book is just inside."
He placed the cube on the pedestal and the top of it turned for a moment, causing the door lock to pull away and allowed them to enter Nchardak, where they found a decent sized chamber on the other side, one that seemed rather flat and had a lone pedestal across from the door, though in the center they found a circular structure, a glass dome of some kind, that had a small containment zone behind it, with the Black Book below it.
"You can see the book right there. So tantalizingly close... but trust me, no magic will open that." Neloth remarked, where he seemed annoyed by the fact that he was unable to magically crack the safe that the Dwarves had placed this book in all those years ago, though he turned towards another locked door that he had to open with the cube, "I would have claimed the book already if I could crack it with magic, which means we'll have to do this the hard way... restoring the steam supply to this room, to be exact, which should open the case. As you'll see soon enough, that's easier said than done... this way to the boilers."
Wind and the others said nothing as he unlocked the door and they found that a lift was on the other side, one that took them down into the depths of Nchardak and allowed them to reach a short tunnel that, after traveling for a few seconds, brought them to a massive chamber that was mostly filled with water, meaning something had to be damaged in the old workings of the ruin.
"As you can see, most of the lower levels of the city are flooded, but it isn't hopeless... the old Dwemer pumps still seem to work. Observe." Neloth stated, having walked down a set of stairs and approached two stone terminals that looked more like metal in some manner, before approaching two pedestals near the edge of this area and slipped the cube onto one of the pedestals, allowing them to watch as the water started to lower, revealing a platform below them with four boilers, the ones they needed to active, "But the pumps only operate when a cube is in the pedestal, and, as you can see, I only have a single cube. Now, these four boilers provide steam to the room upstairs, but right now they're shut down... however, they still respond to the control cubes. So, if we can find four more cubes, we can turn these boilers back on and restore steam power to the room upstairs, which will allow me to open the book's protective case. Bring that cube."
Amaryllis glanced at the others for a moment, as Neloth seemed to think they were merely servants, as Wind claimed the forgotten Control Cube and caused the water to rise once more, though everyone followed the wizard back to the pair of terminals as he leaned close and studied it for a short amount of time. Based on what they could tell it looked like this was some sort of Dwarven language or something, what Amaryllis really had no idea, though Ma'jera seemed to chuckle for a few seconds before Neloth explained that four more cubes were somewhere in this portion of the city, which was to their benefit he added. He did think about it for a few moments, as the information in front of him suggested that the city might have sunk during the first cataclysm of Red Mountain, though he shook his head as he continued to move, bringing them over to another locked door and told them that three of the cubes were somewhere on the other side, making it the most logical place for them to start. Wind nodded as she slipped it onto the pedestal and unlocked the door so they could head inside, moving into another part of Nchardak that might take them hours to explore, since Dwarven ruins could stretch on for who knew how long, where they were surprised to find a pedestal with a Control Cube on it, not a few steps away from where the door was located.
"A Control Cube, this close to the door?" Lydia commented, though as she said that Wind picked up the cube and added it to their growing collection, as now there were three more they needed before they could get their hands on the tome that they were here to get, "Hopefully the other three cubes are this easy to find and acquire."
"For a beast you can be pretty dumb... the Dwemer would have made this hard," Neloth remarked, where he found a paid of spider robots in front of him, in the middle of the path they needed to take to reach one of the other Control Cubes that were in this part of Nchardak, before he lashed out with a pair of Thunderbolts and struck them down, blasting them to pieces with ease, "but, with the power of a Telvanni wizard, I will make this as easy as I possibly can."
"You do realize that I'm contagious, right? I can make your life a mess in an instant." Lydia stated, tapping her udder with the side of her battleaxe's handle as they walked behind him, as he turned back to look at them for a moment, where she took a few seconds to envision what would happen to the figure in front of them, how embarrassed he would be if such a thing happened to him.
"Could you refrain from pissing him off? He's still got three vials, after all, and I'd rather not give him a reason to use them on us or all of Skyrim," Amaryllis remarked, reminding them that Neloth still had a card against them, as she and the rest of the group, save for Ma'jera, didn't want the vials to be used, especially since he could turn a city into cows if he felt like doing so, "plus the Moomer Wand is still inert... for now, he's holding all of the cards."
"And the assassin knows what's going on... even a baby could do that." Neloth stated, though his words caused them to pause for a moment, leaving him to loose another pair of Thunderbolts and take down two more spider bots that emerged from the wall containers that they usually rested in, as it was clear that he didn't care for them and that he was only doing this to make sure they were in his debt.
Wind frowned for a moment, as there was no telling how in the world the wizard had figured out that Amaryllis was an assassin, especially since her disguise made it seem like she was a rogue and she made sure to reapply her disguise just before returning to Tel Mithryn, but she agreed with Amaryllis, that keeping him calm was a good thing. Neloth, however, focused his attention to the chamber that they entered and revealed that they were in the workshops of Nchardak, where it was said that the Dwemer were able to assemble a single automaton, likely a centurion based on what was down on the tables below, in a day, and went on about their armies for a few moments. At the end of the walkway they discovered two pedestals, where Wind slipped one cube onto one of them and they silently watched as more of the water was drained, a good thing since there was another pedestal that had been covered by the water and seemed to be connected to a path that would bring them to where the next Control Cube rested. Sure enough several of the containers opened up and they found a number of spiders, spheres, and a few centurions waking up as Neloth stepped down into the bottom area, where everyone watched as he continued to show them the might of a Telvanni wizard, as if believing that he was stronger and far more intelligent than a Demiprince.
It was as if he was trying to recruit a new apprentice, to the point of stealing one from the daughter of Hermaeus Mora, a fact that should have stopped him in his tracks once he learned that piece of information, but he didn't seem to care, as it looked like he thought that this was a game and that he would, in the end, outwit the Prince of Fate, though she knew that her mentor would win, she always did in the end. Of course she realized another aspect of their visit to Tel Mithryn, Neloth had one of the Black Books and that meant he must have read it, but even if he was able to resist the urge to head back to Apocrypha, and learn more from Hermaeus Mora, the existence of Ma'jera and her knowledge would tempt him in some manner or way that he wouldn't see coming. In addition to that he knew they were interested in the Black Books, meaning he might go out of his way to assist them, so long as he got to look at the tomes as well, which would reinforce the siren call of Apocrypha, to the point that he might cave and give in to his desires, just as Hermaeus Mora intended. She had no idea what would happen when they reached the Black Book, as in actually reached it, but she had a feeling that it would be good for her mentor's plans, as she had to wonder if it was possible to copy a Black Book without going mad, or if the new tome would become a brand new Black Book.
Of course she had heard Neloth's comment about needing assistants for this sort of thing, yet he was more than willing to smash the automatons with his magic, weakening himself with every spell he cast, though it looked like he had far more magic than a normal mage might have in their body, so it would be some time before he exhausted himself, but she was fine with watching him work while they watched.
In the end Neloth was able to bring them to where the next Control Cube was resting and Wind claimed it, which allowed all of them to see that the water levels raised in accordance to that, where Ma'jera formed magical steps for them to use so they could returned to the walkway that the cube they left behind was at the end of, which allowed them to take it not a few seconds later. With that done a door opened and Ma'jera helped them avoid touching the water, choosing to ignore Neloth since he was 'better than a Demiprince', hence why she made sure he slipped through the first magical steps and hit the water, causing Wind to hold back a chuckle as she watched the two bicker, showing off what sorts of spells both of them had access to. Of course Neloth continued to showcase his magic to them as he moved through an area that had a new type of automaton, one that fired off large bolts that could pierce most types of armor, as Neloth claimed he had seen one outside Nchardak and it punched right through the iron and steel armor that some Reavers had been wearing, just before his initial arrival, not to mention search, of this particular ruin. As he spoke they watched as he smashed through all of the remaining automatons, not to mention one last centurion, before discovering where the third and final cube of this part of the ruin happened to be resting, allowing Wind to claim it as the others continued to a set of stairs, allowing them to get above the water in no time.
With that done she used a cube for a second and lowered a bridge that allowed them to return to the main chamber of the entire ruin, where this time around she placed two Control Cubes on the upper two pedestals, causing a good amount of water to drain and reveal another pathway further below the section they had just been on, on the right side of the ruin to be exact, which was when Neloth started moving once more.
As they walked, however, Amaryllis took a moment to imagine what Neloth would look like if he were cursed, thinking back to Lydia's comment on the matter, though she quickly discarded the thought as the wizard smashed several automatons with his magic, all while Ma'jera floated nearby, Za'kera walked with a frown on her face, Lydia looked bored, and Wind, as usual, was studying the area around them. The former princess was a scholar at heart and she was in her element in this ancient ruin, something her mentor either encouraged or helped grow during the time they knew each other, unlike what happened when she was living in the Hive, as her mother wanted her to have enough knowledge about certain things and not get carried away. Of course there was the addition to her namesake, Crudelis, the first Queen of the Hive who was a warlord and was responsible for all of the bad things that had been written about their race, back home away, despite the fact that they became forgotten following her death, which changed when Queen Chrysalis revealed themselves during that wedding. In that moment Amaryllis let out a light sigh, as it seemed like being displaced to this world had been one of the best things for Wind, as she had been allowed to flourish during her time here and had learned more than ever before, only to be dragged into a war for the fate of the entire world, which she was still trying to wrap her head around.
Neloth made a comment about something as they reached the next locked door, where Wind used a Control Cube to open the locked door and they headed inside, finding another chamber that seemed to have some sort of puzzle, one that had three metallic bridges that were rectangles, though Wind found three more pedestals above the entrance, which had to go to the walkways.
"The last cube is somewhere in here, though I hope it won't require more swimming around in this filth." Neloth said, as he noticed the water as soon as they entered the chamber and it seemed to put a frown on his face, like he hated touching it or something, before he beckoned to a risen area on the right side of the chamber, "I would guess that the pump activator is over there, and to reach it we'll need to get all three of these bridges down... that's if your apprentice is smart enough to solve such a simple puzzle."
"Just wait a moment, I'll lower the bridges in no time," Wind replied, as while she wanted to retort that demeaning them like this, and constantly looking like he was trying to one up her mentor with his spells, she knew Neloth was one of those people who didn't seem to care and used his station to get away with things, so she focused on the task at hand and less on how annoying Neloth was.
Each pedestal had a reaction to the three bridges that were in front of them, so all she had to do was test them out before lowering all three of them into position in a matter of seconds, though of course Neloth didn't seem to care about what she had done and continued to walk as the bridges moved into position. She and the others continued to remain behind him, allowing him to weave his magic through the air as he used his Thunderbolts to blast the automatons apart, again not realizing that they were using him to clear out Nchardak without having to exert too much energy. As they did that Wind did find a locked chamber that had a pedestal outside it, to which she unfurled her wings and flew over to it, finding one of the ballista automatons on the other side, to which she smiled for a moment as she unlocked the gate and Neloth blasted it into pieces before it could do anything to them. Once that was done she took a moment to see what was inside the odd chamber and found a few weapons that were made by the Dwarves, not to mention a few gems and trinkets inside a chest that was resting against the wall, but she did find a white stone with a golden ring and Amaryllis informed her that she had one as well, causing her to hand it over once she was back with the group.
After that they found the pump control and she slipped a cube onto it, allowing the water to drain from this place, but as the group watched that happen Neloth informed them that he wasn't interested in swimming again and that he would be near the cube that was on the pump control, leaving the mission to Wind and the others. Of course Wind flew down to the lowest part of the chamber and used the last cube to open a locked gate so she could move forward, leaving Amaryllis and the others behind to make sure Neloth didn't take the cube while she was still in the danger zone, since there was no way to tell what he was thinking. She quickly discovered a few spinning traps in front of a locked gate that the last cube was on the other side of, so she moved over the traps and slipped the cube into position for a moment, allowing her to walk up to where the last Control Cube rested and claimed it without delay, though once that was done she turned around and, with both cubes in hand, she flew out of the area before it was covered in water again. The moment Wind emerged from the tunnel Neloth removed the other cube and they watched as the majority of the chamber filled with water, though Ma'jera weaved a protective barrier around her, her apprentice, and Za'kera's group, leaving Neloth to swim through the water while everyone else remained dry.
A few moments later they emerged from the chamber, as the door wasn't covered in water, and made their way over to where the boilers were resting, where Wind found that Neloth handed over the cube he had collected with a smirk on his face, no doubt assuming she couldn't solve the puzzle, but she proved him wrong by collecting another cube from the two pedestals above them and slipped the four into the pedestals for the boilers.
"This was so easy that a novice could solve it." Wind remarked, though as she said that a bridge lowered nearby and they found a large Dwarven automaton walking across it, not that it mattered since Neloth struck it down with a Thunderbolt to the chest, to which she turned to the others for a moment with a smile on her face, "Come on, let's go get the Black Book and get out of here, before the rest of the ruin wakes up and tries to kill us."
Everyone else agreed with her as she retraced her steps back to the lift that brought them down to this part of the ruin, to which Neloth pressed the button that was in the reading room and they watched as whatever machines were in this part of Nchardak to activate, causing beams of light to shine down on four points before the case opened, the floor raised up, and a pedestal was raised for someone to take the Black Book.
"Two down, five to go." Wind stated, making sure not to add Neloth's book to the count, since he hadn't given them the right to look at the tome and collect it, where she stepped forward and claimed the second Black Book, Epistolary Acumen based on what her mentor said, before she turned to leave Nchardak, as their time here was done and there was no real reason for them to stay.
Amaryllis knew that Wind would read the book when it was safe, meaning back in Tel Mithryn or even Raven Rock, if she felt like going over there, giving her a decent amount of time to read the book and learn whatever knowledge was inside it, not to mention that Za'kera had to do so as well since she needed to follow in Miraak's footsteps, but she was glad to see that they had made progress and was eager to see what happened next.