//------------------------------// // Chapter 31: Dogs Amongst Decay // Story: The Equine Scrolls: SkyFiM // by FireOfTheNorth //------------------------------// Chapter XXXI: Dogs Amongst Decay “I know why the Diamond Dogs are blind. It has nothing to do with the Minotaurs disappearing. Really.” After departing Breakneck Cavern, we made our way back to Whitetrot and Faniar. After leaving him the sizeable collection of records we’d picked up in our travels he pointed us in the direction of another Draugr ruin. Hoovgrenzl-ra was our next stop, built in the mountains near Shor’s Stone. Intent on getting there as soon as possible, we left that day and stayed the night in the tiny town near the ruin. The next morning, we headed up the mountains toward our goal. Few ponies knew that Hoovgrenzl-ra was actually an ancient earth pony ruin, mostly due to the fact that the ancient Minotaurs had built their own city on top of it. In order to enter the Draugr crypts beneath, we’d first have to pass through the Minotauran bronzeworks. Fighting the Draugr guarding the lower ruin would be bad enough, and I sincerely hoped the guardians of Hoovgrenzl-ra would be less active than the ones in Nuzel-zum. I could see puffs of steam rising from the Minotauran city as we approached, driving the machinery buried far below the surface. Gears spun without tiring outside of the massive bronze doors that led to the ruin. “Have either of you been in a Minotauran ruin before?” Steadfast asked before we entered. “A few times,” Mephalda said. “Once,” I admitted. “So, what is there to worry about?” “Automatons mostly,” Mephalda answered for me, “But stay out of the reach of their swords and you’ll be fine. And look out for poison gas and flame traps.” “Sounds like a delight,” Steadfast said, looking a little unsure. “Hey,” I told him, “No matter what’s in there, we’ll face it together.” That seemed to ease his worry, at least enough that he didn’t look petrified anymore. Giving a push, the doors swung open onto Hoovgrenzl-ra. A stone path lined with hissing pipes led the way through the Minotauran city. At first glance, it appeared to be far more expansive than I’d hoped, with stone buildings stretching off into the distance. Trotting down the first flight of steps, the city suddenly came to life. Gears doubled their speed, lights lit up on their own, and metal guardians rolled out of their alcoves. I blasted lightning at one of the sphere-mounted automatons as it rolled toward us, shattering its gem eyes. Once it was close enough, I swung Calcion’s Cleaver into its head, bending the metal and sending wires and gears flying everywhere. Leaking steam, the machine fell into a heap of broken parts. Mephalda fired arrows into another of the contraptions as it came from the other side. The arms suddenly stopped spinning, the blades trapped in their current position, as an arrow stuck in the torso’s rotation mechanism. Pulling out his warhammer, Steadfast took a swing at it as it got close, knocking its head off. The shiny orb went rolling down another flight of stairs, making quite a ruckus and waking the rest of the automatons that were still slumbering. More of the sphere-bots rolled at us from down below. As one tried to roll up the stairs at us, I shot an ice spike through its head. Yet it barely seemed phased that a massive shard of ice had ripped the metal of its face apart. I followed up with a blast of fire, melting the ice and causing the machine’s head to be ripped apart by the excessive steam. Steadfast galloped down the stairs, bending the torso staff of one of the automatons as it approached. Even bent onto its side, it continued to spin its blades around, though sideways. As it tried to climb the stairs, its swords were broken to bits as they impacted the stone. Another strike from Steadfast’s warhammer put it out of business permanently. Climbing a nearby ledge allowed me to look down upon the remaining automatons. Hoping I wouldn’t be hit by the spinning blades, I jumped down at one, the Axe of Whitetrot at the ready. I bucked its head in as I fell, knocking it off course, and jabbed my axe’s blade into the arm mechanism at the same time. I crouched to the ground as the blades continued to spin for a bit before grinding to a halt. Drawing Calcion’s Cleaver, I used it to chop the machine in half. I smashed the sword through its face before retrieving my war axe. However, I was now surrounded by the machines, and while Mephalda was shooting them down as fast as she could, I was about to be shredded to bits anyway. Holding both my weapons in my magic, I focused my thoughts. My weapons suddenly flew faster than I could follow, though I was in complete control of where they struck. Minotauran swords fell to the ground as I swiftly disarmed the automatons, and gears and gems flew everywhere. When the Shout wore off, not a single Minotauran automaton was left standing, and I was surrounded by piles of scrap metal. Past a large set of pipes, another machine was lurking, but it was quickly smashed into the wall by Steadfast’s hammer. One suddenly jumped out of a nearby pipe, startling my earth pony friend. Using the haft of his warhammer, he blocked its weapon strikes. As he began to give way, I struck the machine’s neck with Calcion’s Cleaver. Spinning its blades around and throwing Steadfast away, the automaton turned to me. Using my sword, I blocked its strikes as it rolled toward me. Arrows from Mephalda’s bow pinged off its head mostly uselessly, though a few managed to lodge themselves in seams and pop open the sphere. Holding it back with my sword, I also used my magic to crack open the head more until I could see the soul gem mounted in the center. I pushed the machine back with a quick thrust of my sword to get some distance and focused my magic on shooting ice spikes into its head. Eventually one hit the soul gem, knocking it out of place and killing the automaton. To head deeper into the ruin, we passed through a pair of bronze doors nowhere near as impressive as the ones we’d come in. From the wide open entryway, we now found ourselves within narrow, constricting passages. The smooth stone walls covered in piping funneled us farther down into the ruin and the great Minotauran city of Hoovgrenzl-ra. Thankfully, the Minotaurs were much larger than ponies, and though these passages were narrow and confining, there was at least enough room for Steadfast and myself to advance side by side and Mephalda to flap above. The first room the passage let out onto seemed to be a workshop for repairing the automatons that roamed all Minotauran ruins. Bits and pieces of the machines were everywhere, and it made it hard to realize when a few of the actual ones rolled out to attack us. The first hint I got was when a strike jarred my helmet. I ducked down and turned to see three automatons behind me, their blades spinning viciously. <> I Shouted, freezing up the mechanisms of all the bots. With a swing of Calcion’s Cleaver, I sliced the first one’s chilled head in half. The next I chopped the arms off of before burying my blade in the cluster of gems that served as eyes. The third’s arms began to spin again, sending flakes of ice everywhere, before I could take it out. Its sphere was still frozen to the floor, so it couldn’t move, and I took it out with repeated blasts of lightning to the face until the gems all cracked and fell to pieces from the sheer discharge of magical energy. A few of the automatons had also ganged up on Mephalda and Steadfast, but they were finished handling the situation before I ended the last of the bots that’d attacked me. Just to be sure we’d gotten all of them, we rifled through the boxes and shelves of parts in search of any more hidden assassins. After finding nothing we moved on through the tunnels. Next we stumbled onto another workshop, this one divided up into tiers where automatons were assembled. A few of them rose to attack us as we entered, though some were obviously unfinished. I quickly cut down one with no blades at the ends of its arms before moving on to the greater threats. With a blast of lightning I stunned one that Steadfast was fighting, allowing him to break its block and proceed to break it. I buried the Axe of Whitetrot into another’s array of gems as I passed it, shattering most of them. Blocking with Calcion’s Cleaver, I retrieved my axe and then slammed it in again. Again and again I struck the machine’s head until it split in two and bits of machinery spilled across the floor. The next automaton I encountered, I bucked down the stairs it was struggling to roll up. What was completed on its rolling sphere fell apart as it crashed to the bottom. With a blast of flame, I ensured it wouldn’t cause us any more trouble. I held Calcion’s Cleaver out in the air as another rolled at me, and it slammed right into the blade, slicing straight through its head and killing it instantly. “Looks like that’s all of them,” Steadfast said as he finished throwing aside the mangled body of the last automaton. From the shop floor there suddenly came a heavy hissing of steam. From one of the tables, a Minotauran death-clanker, one of the hulking monstrosities shaped like a Minotaur, stood up. It didn’t appear to have its crossbows installed yet, and neither did it have a full chestplate or left hand, but it would still prove to be a formidable opponent. “I had to go and say something,” Steadfast mumbled as the hulking machine turned toward us. “Get back!” I called, retreating up the stairs as a blast of flame erupted from the automaton’s chest at us. Mephalda immediately took off into the air and began to shoot at its exposed chest cavity, where an elaborate system of gears and gems could be seen keeping the machine moving. Steadfast and I, however, were both grounded and were forced to keep our distance as the death-clanker lurched after us. I shot a few ice spikes into the machinery of its chest as I retreated, but it seemed to have little effect, my spikes being ground to frost or turned to steam before they could do any damage. As I reached the top tier, I ran around until I was nearly lined up with the machine. Giving a leap, I landed on top of it and began hammering away at the horns its steam supply was venting out of. Shaking itself in anger (if a machine had feelings at all), the automaton managed to throw me off. I went skidding across the ground until I knocked up against one of the wall enclosing the lower level of the workshop. Before I could get up, the machine turned at me, the flame elements in its chest heating up. My heart sank into my stomach as I realized I was trapped. Steadfast came out of nowhere, his warhammer slamming into the knee of the machine and twisting it out of place. For a moment, the automaton let off on powering its heating element and focused on staying upright as its leg collapsed out from under it. As it fell, it swung toward Steadfast, clubbing him with its intact claw and sending him rolling over toward me. Now both of us were trapped. Righting itself, the machine began powering its heating element again before Mephalda swooped down on it. From up close, she shot arrows into its eye, shattering the glowing gem, as well as fusing shut the horn I’d been beating on, causing it to heat up red-hot as the steam within became bottled up. Swinging wildly at the yellow blur, the machine finally got lucky and snatched Mephalda up in its claw. Not even bothering to drop her, it began powering its heating element again before Steadfast or I could escape. Unexpectedly, the automaton’s head suddenly exploded into bits of bronze and gems and it fell over dead. After the steam cleared I took a good look at our mysterious savior. Standing behind the wreck of the automaton was a creature that could only be described as a dog. Yet, it was far larger than any dog I’d ever seen, standing nearly as tall as a Minotaur would have. It also stood on its hindlegs like a Minotaur, though it had a very canine slouch about it. Milky white eyes blinked uselessly in their sockets, but large nostrils sniffed the air constantly, and the creature’s large ears twitched at the slightest sound. In one of its paws was a staff, which is what I assumed had reduced the machine in front of us to the pile of scrap it now was. “Hmm, ponies,” it said with a slight lisp as it took a deep breath of the air. Looking around I could see that it was not the only one of the strange creatures present. More of the doglike things filled the room, strange makeshift weapons grasped in their paws and rough vests draped over their emaciated frames. As a group, they moved in to surround us, hearing and smelling our location rather than seeing it. “Who are you?” I asked, perhaps overloud for creatures with such sensitive ears, as some of the nearer ones cringed at my voice. “We are the Diamond Dogs,” the one with the staff, presumably the leader said, “And this is our land.” “This Minotauran ruin?” Steadfast asked. Around us, the dogs growled and the hair stood up on the backs of their necks. “The Minotaurs, our old masters, our old torturers are gone,” the leader spat out with hatred in his voice, “We are the masters now.” “Well, I’m sorry the Minotaurs were so terrible to you,” I said, hoping to talk my way out of this, “But we’re not Minotaurs, we’re ponies.” “The ponies we hate even more!” the leader cried, “It was they who forced us to abandon the surface and become the Minotaurs’ slaves in the first place! Seize them!” Rather roughly, the three of us were grabbed by the Diamond Dogs surrounding us and tied up. Hoisting us over their shoulders, the dogs ran off deeper into the tunnels of Hoovgrenzl-ra. This day was starting to turn out pretty poorly. ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ The Diamond Dogs took us deep into the Minotauran ruins, scampering through the twisting tunnels until we were completely lost. At last they came to a halt at the very lowest cavern of the ruin where a set of ramshackle huts were set up in what must’ve once been a Minotauran square. A series of tiers led even further down until they butted up against the rough stonework of the ancient earth ponies. Draconic inscriptions around a doorway decorated with dragons proved it to be the ruin we were searching for. We’d found our goal, but we it looked like we wouldn’t be entering it anytime soon. After retrieving our gear from us, the Diamond Dogs threw us into an enclosure made of some kind of giant bugs’ exoskeletons. They’d taken into account Mephalda and I and had constructed a cover over the pen so she couldn’t fly away and doused my horn in some of the sticky pitch like the Imperials had when I’d first been captured, rendering my magic useless. After that, they untied us, and left us trapped in our cage until they could decide what to do with us. Their conversations leaned toward what method would be best to dismember and cook us, making me determined to get out at any cost. “So, what now?” Steadfast asked once the main troop of dogs had left. “Hey, no talking!” our guard, an unusually squat dog demanded, banging his fist on the cage. We had to come up with some sort of escape plan, but talking wouldn’t do. Both because it would anger the guard, and with the dogs’ sensitive hearing they’d be on to us as soon as we discussed it. Steadfast sat glumly for a moment before he began to trace at the dirt with his hoof. Perplexed, I looked over at what he was doing. “Have a plan?” he’d scrawled in the dirt, allowing us to communicate without speaking. “Still thinking,” I wrote back. “If only you could use magic,” he responded. He was right. Without this gunk on my horn, I’d easily be able to unlatch the gate from the outside and allow us to make a break for it. I looked around for anything that could help in that respect. As far as I knew, the only thing that could remove it was alcohol, but there was nothing in the cage except for a few old bones. Outside however, our Diamond Dog guard had a bottle of something that he was taking swigs of every so often. It was hard to tell just what it was, though it appeared to be some kind of Minotauran brandy. I’d just have to hope I was right. “Can you get that bottle?” I directed toward Mephalda. Understanding where I was going, she shuffled over closer to the guard and stuck her wing through a gap in the fence. She quickly drew it back as he reached for the bottle, but went for it again once he set it down. Wrapping her feathers around the bottle, she slowly dragged it toward the fence, until she had it inside and grabbed it with her forelegs. She passed it to me and I soaked an old rag within the cage with it. It was alcohol all right, or at least some close substitute, as the gunk began to come off my horn as I rubbed. Eventually, it was all cleaned off, and I could feel my magic begin to build again. It wasn’t a moment too soon; as the guard reached for his missing bottle I unlatched the gate and opened it on his face. Carefully, we tiptoed out of the enclosure, passing by the now-unconscious guard. Retrieving our saddlebags from where the Diamond Dogs had dropped them, we made our way carefully through the settlement. The paths were a bit twisting, but so long as we kept heading downhill I knew we’d make it to the Draugr ruin eventually. Hopefully once we reached it the dogs would let us be. I’d noticed that no settlements were built near the entrance and the dogs seemed to avoid it, so I hoped it meant that they were afraid of the Draugr and we’d be (relatively) safe within the ancient earth pony ruin. About halfway through the settlement, a howl suddenly went up from near where we’d been imprisoned. Apparently our guard had come to and was now alerting the others to our escape. Barking throughout the camp responded and Diamond Dogs emerged from their huts, makeshift weapons grasped in their paws. “Run!” I told Steadfast and Mephalda, seeing no other alternative. With so many dogs sniffing and listening for us, we were bound to get caught eventually, and the only possible way to escape would be to make a run for the Draugr ruin. I drew Calcion’s Cleaver as we galloped through the camp, slashing the chest of a Diamond Dog with a spear open as I leapt over him. Steadfast’s hammer crushed another as it came at me with a makeshift mace. I was momentarily trapped as a dog blocked my swing with an incredibly tough sword made from an insect’s pincer. A blast of fire from my horn sent him running off whimpering, bowling into another crowd of dogs who also caught on fire. Avoiding the swings from other dogs, I rushed to catch up with Mephalda and Steadfast. At last we reached the outskirts of the settlement and were running across the smooth stone surface that led to the Draugr ruin. Arrows began to bounce across the stone near us as the dogs fired on us. How they were able to aim and hit so near without seeing was a miracle, but I would’ve preferred if they were a little less skilled. An arrow managed to slip through the cracks in my armor and stick in my shoulder as we ran. Arrows crashed off the wall and door itself as we forced the ancient iron to budge, and a horde of dogs came bearing down on us across the floor. The doors finally slid open and the three of us slipped inside, shutting the door behind us. My theory was proven valid as no dogs tried to force their way through the door after us. It looked like they were scared of the Draugr after all. Before we set off deeper into the ruin, we set about removing the arrows that’d stuck in us during our flight. A few healing potions and bandages later, we were back in top shape. Now that we’d passed through the Minotauran defenders and the Diamond Dog camp, only the undead legions of Draugr stood in our way. Whatever the name of this ruin was, it had been lost centuries before when the Minotaurs had claimed it and built their own city on top. Whatever it was called, it had a feeling of great age about it, as if it had been one of the first few ancient earth pony barrows built, except it seemed to be built more in the style of a fortress than a tomb, much like Ironhoof Barrow in the north. Though the Diamond Dogs seemed to fear this place, the ancient Minotaurs must not have. Strings of their mechanical lights stretched down the passage we were in, adding a brighter glow to the eerie flicker of the braziers. Here and there a few bronze pipes could be seen protruding through the stonework, as if the Minotaurs had tried to convert the ruin for their own uses and had given up halfway through. Following the lights brought us down another passage. This one seemed to have once been a simple hallway, but had been converted to a crypt later on. A few Draugr crawled out of their makeshift tombs before we could reach them. As one with a battleaxe clenched in its teeth swung at me, I blocked with the Axe of Whitetrot. The two blades slid away with a screech. Spinning my blade back around I knocked the Draugr’s weapon away. A follow up with a strike to the face lit the zombie on fire and sent it back to its slumber. Another Draugr knocked up against me as Steadfast crushed it with his warhammer. Down the passage another appeared through a doorway and came galloping toward us as fast as its rotting legs would allow. Mephalda and I both shot at it, her with arrows and me with ice spikes. Eventually the Draugr lost its footing and went tumbling end over end to lie dead at our hooves. The next room appeared to be a banquet hall, and Mephalda instantly dropped one as it tried to run around the doorway toward us. A throne had been set up above the banquet hall below, yet nopony was sitting in it. Below a few Draugr were tipping over a rotten wooden table and setting up bows on its edge using mounting mechanisms. Arrows came flying at us as they released the shafts from their mouths. My Griffin armor took most of the damage from them, a few dents forming here and there as I rushed down toward them. One critical weakness in the design of their bows was that they couldn’t be rotated all the way around the table, and both Mephalda and I took advantage of it, her by flying around behind to shoot arrows into their exposed backs and me by running around behind the table to attack them. A swing of Calcion’s Cleaver killed the first undead pony manning a bow, but as I moved to follow up on its companion I found my blade stopped by an ancient earth pony war axe. Both of us tried to disarm the other without success and eventually pulled away for another strike. This time I drew out my Axe of Whitetrot too and came at the zombie with two weapons. My strategy worked; while the Draugr manage to block my sword, it was unable to also block my war axe, and the blade ignited as it hit the zombie’s chest, lighting it on fire. Launching myself off my fresh kill, I sank my war axe into the neck of the next archer before moving on to its companion. I held my sword back as Steadfast suddenly crushed the undead pony with his warhammer. All the Draugr in this room out for the count, we moved on through the iron grate at the end of the hall. Continuing to follow the Minotauran lights took us down a passage that let out on a chasm with a narrow bridge spanning it. The Minotaurs had thoughtfully added handholds to make the trip less perilous, but they were far too high for any of us to use and would be no use in keeping us from falling off the side. The disaster in Breakneck Cavern still fresh in our minds, Mephalda carried Steadfast and me across to the other side safely. Once on the other side, we could see that we were now standing in a cavern obviously carved out by ancient earth pony tools and lit by the Minotaurs’ mechanical magic. Across the cavern was something I could get excited about: a Word Wall. There didn’t appear to be any danger, so I galloped up toward it and allowed the burning letters to teach me everything about weapons. ~ZUN~ Looking around, I could see that all the Minotauran equipment finally converged upon a cage-like structure tucked to one side of the cavern, right next to a set of stairs that would no doubt lead us out of the ruins through a hidden back door. Mephalda and Steadfast were already looking at the mechanism, and I trotted over to join them. I nearly took a jump back as I saw what was contained in the machine. Tipped upright was the sarcophagus that would’ve been up near the Word Wall but the Minotaurs had apparently moved. The cover was off, and a Draugr wearing elaborate armor was sitting upright in it. As I moved closer, the eyes suddenly burst open. This time I really did jump back. The corpse came to life and began to bang on the bars of its cage. Swiftly flying away, Mephalda began to shoot arrows at the enraged Draugr. it suddenly Shouted, coating the bars of its cage in ice and drawing a sword. I drew my own weapons, as did Steadfast, as the Draugr began to pound on the bars with its sword, cracking the now brittle metal. With a final swing the Draugr broke free of its cage, sending bits of bronze flying everywhere. Swinging its ancient earth pony sword around, it advanced toward Steadfast. As Steadfast blocked, I charged the Draugr, my sword and axe ready. Steadfast swung his hammer at its legs as it turned to face me, knocking it down. it Shouted at Steadfast, freezing him before he could strike back. I jumped between my friend and the Draugr as it made to smash him, my sword blocking the strike. Ice began to coat Calcion’s Cleaver, but was soon pushed back by the lightning that began to arc from the blade. Pushing with my sword I forced the Draugr back until it swung my sword away from me. Blocking with my war axe, I hooked the blade around the Draugr’s. It became a battle of strength as we both tried to disarm the other, but eventually the zombie won, flicking my axe away from me. An arrow sliced through its neck as it moved to attack me. Growling, the Draugr turned around to face Mephalda. it Shouted, and though Mephalda dodged, a bit of her wing was caught in the Shout, causing her to flap a bit unsteadily down to the ground, still firing arrows the whole way. Before I could retrieve my axe, the Draugr came at me again, intent on finishing me off. I swung Calcion’s Cleaver toward its neck, but the Draugr blocked, forcing my sword to the ground. Picking it up, I swung at its maimed forelegs, but my swing was once again blocked. Before I could attempt to strike again, the zombie advanced on me, sword swinging. As its blade met Calcion’s Cleaver this time ice began to coat my blade, fusing the two together. I heard a shattering of ice just before my sword was pulled out of my grasp. I suddenly Shouted, staggering the Draugr before it could strike me. From behind came Steadfast, unfrozen through frost still clung to his coat in places, and with his warhammer he crushed in the ribs of the Draugr. Its sword went flying out of its mouth as it crumpled down to the ground, finally dead. “I guess I owe you one,” I told Steadfast as I retrieved my weapons. “Let’s not even get started on how many I owe you,” he responded with his usual upbeat attitude, despite having been frozen solid moments before. “I assume that’s the way out,” Mephalda said regarding the stairs as she joined us. “I hope so,” I told her, “I think I’ve had enough of this ruin to last me a lifetime.” Level Up Health: 210 Stamina: 190 Magicka: 210 New Perk: Your Blade is my Blade [Block] -- When blocking using any kind of axe, your chance of disarming your opponent is doubled. Word of Power learned: ZUN -- Weapon; Disarm – Shout defied steel, as you rip the weapon from an opponent’s grasp. New Quest: Delaying Doomsday -- Find some way to stop Alduin from finishing his plans to destroy all of the Northlands.