Chapter 19: The Faith-Driven Descent

Weiss's Perspective

Two towers shot up from the ground and reached to the ceiling, a grand archway forming between them. The archway had a grate above and below it, each one covering the gears and machinery behind it. The door was incredibly ornate, similar the well carved doors we passed by in Markarth. On both sides of the door were two full sized statues of Dwarven Centurions, which were angled to face the path, and possibly face any who walk on it. The most curious part about it though, was the pedestal that stood a small distance, no more than a yard or two, from the door. It reached about chest height, and had a plaque at its base with some weird language written on it.

"Is this Dwarven?" Nora asked, leaning towards the plaque.

"Most likely." I replied, scrutinizing the plaque.

"But can you translate it?"

"No. I can only recognize the text." I admitted.

"Allow me to take a look." The Dragonborn said, walking up to the plaque. I held my breath in anticipation of seeing him translate it. "The text is definitely Dwarven, but it is too faded to make out." I sighed in depression. He then poked the plaque. "It is done. Now I know what it says."

"You what?" I asked shocked and sort of angry.

"It says 'The door that-' it trails off, 'the seal which must be-' it trails off again, 'Thanks for coming to Vzaldam, your patronage is appreciated.'" He recited, the last part seeming more like sarcasm.

"That had every. Single. Thing. We needed. Except. Directions." Pyrrha said slowly and angrily.

"Welcome to my world. I wander around caves for many an hour to find what I need. Unless I have a quest in there, then I have a little thing that directs me." The Dragonborn stated.

So he uses Clairvoyance?

"On my map." He specifies.

Oh.

"So because this isn't a quest, you don't have any directions, right?" Yang asked.

"That is correct." He replied.

"Fabulous." Yang said sarcastically.

"Alright, everybody take a look around. There has to be something around here that will help us get inside." The Dragonborn said.

I stayed near the Dragonborn to see if he would pull the same trick of touching a plaque to translate it again. It didn't seem like long before he did something like it again. He stopped in a room and looked right and looked right again. He then had a different scabbard at his side. I'm going to bring it up.

"Hey Dragonbor-" I was cut off.

"Everyone come here!" Nora shouted.

I jogged over to the place that Nora was and found an abandoned campsite.

"What's this?" Ruby asked.

"Clearly it's an abandoned campsite." I said, shocked by her stupidity. Sometimes she doesn't know the difference between destruction and restoration magic. I snorted at the thought.

"No. This." Ruby said, picking up a bloodied book. Oh. She's still a dolt though.

The others appeared to have not listened to the conversation Ruby and I had.

"This blood looks like it's years old." Yang commented, poking a bedroll with her foot.

"Yes. It seems we have stumbled upon something important. If only there were some way to know who these people were." The Dragonborn said, crouching next to a bedroll drenched in blood.

I glanced at Ruby and nodded towards the Dragonborn. She looked apprehensive, but slowly took out the journal from her pack.

"H-Hey Dragonborn." Ruby stuttered.

"Yes, Ruby?" The Dragonborn asked.

"I f-found this lying around." Ruby handed the Dragonborn the journal with a slightly shaky hand.

"Ah, now this should provide some answers." The Dragonborn said, taking the journal.

"The first entry says this:

Day 2

We've managed to expand the tunnel to allow us to get to the actual entrance of the ruin, and the sight before my eyes is unlike any previous ruin I've ever seen. Two towers shoot up into the ceiling, a grand archway between them. Partially collapsed statues of Dwarven spheres adorn the path to the door. The door itself is one of the ornately carved ones that normally aren't seen this close to the surface. The most interesting thing here, however, is the pedestal which stands a few feet before the door. None of us have been able to figure out what it is or does, mainly because we're too afraid to. At the top of the pedestal is a outline of a hand, and on the base there's a Dwemer inscription that none of us can make sense of. I sent Attelian back to Markarth to see if Calcelmo knows anything about any of this." The Dragonborn quoted.

"There's the pedestal." Pyrrha pointed to the pedestal after the Dragonborn read the journal. "Now what?"

"Let's see if there's more in the next bit." Ren replied.

"Alright then, continuing on:

Day 5

Attelian still isn't back yet, and we're starting to become concerned. Worst case, the bandits in the fort below killed him, or the Forsworn killed him on his way to or from Markarth. To make matters worse, our supplies are beginning to run short. Cosrimil wants us to descend and give up, but I will not falter after everything we did to get here in the first place." The Dragonborn quoted.

"That didn't explain much about the pedestal." Pyrrha commented. We all nodded in agreement.

"Plus, why did you skip three days?" Nora asked.

"That was the entry after the one I previously read." The Dragonborn said, double checking the pages.

"They only took a single week's worth of food? They must be new to adventuring." Yang mumbled.

"They probably didn't expect...whatever the pedestal is." The Dragonborn said.

"Still." Ruby said.

"Getting off of that, this is the next entry:

Day 8

I shouldn't have done it. They warned me not to but curiosity got the better of me. I stuck my hand on the pedestal, and needles shot into my hand to draw blood. It all happened instantaneously, the pedestal didn't see my blood as the key, and before I knew it, the ground was shaking and a horde of Dwarven Spiders was after the three of us. If it weren't for our experience, we'd be dead." The Dragonborn quoted.

"Finally!" Pyrrha shouted. "Information about the pedestal."

"Who doesn't take at least two weeks worth of food on an expedition?" Yang continued.

"Yang. We get it." I said exasperatedly. Sometimes Yang is more annoying than Ruby.

"Just keep reading, Dragonborn… please." Jaune said timidly.

"Very well, the next entry is as follows:

Day 12

Cosrimil and Selihus have resorted to hunting in the nearby woods for food, whilst I sit here and wait for any sign of Attelian. They keep telling me to give up, to call it off, they won't think any less of me if I do. But they don't see it, the visions. That pedestal implanted something in my mind that only comes to me in sleep. The door won't open for the simple-minded, only those of the highest intellect can break the seal. I've tried to tell the others, but they won't listen. They think I've gone mad, but, I'm not mad, am I? No. This ruin will not break me, I've dealt with far worse." The Dragonborn quoted.

"Guess we aren't putting the dumbest person on pedestal duty." Blake said.

"Weiss is out then." Yang shot back at me.

"Wait just a min-" I was cut off by the Dragonborn.

"Calm yourself." He said.

"Now then, there are still a few more pages:

Day 15

I heard Cosrimil and Selihus talking last night, saying how they're going to leave me for dead here. Just when I figured out how to get the door open, they want to leave. Maybe if I bring Calcelmo back here, his blood could open the door. Then I can show them how wrong they are." The Dragonborn quoted.

"Would Calcelmo work?" Ruby pondered.

"Obviously only I will." I commented.

"Weiss, we've already established that you're the only one who won't." Blake replied.

"There's one final entry, so I will address it as such:

Final Entry

They're after me...saying it's for my own good...the door...must be-" The Dragonborn paused briefly before continuing, "After that, the ink is strewn across the page and blood is covering the bottom right portion of it."

"Lovely." Ruby commented. "Glad I was the one that found it."

"You don't have very good luck in this world, do you?" Pyrrha asked honestly.

"I don't think any of us have." Blake said, pushing her money pouch out of sight.

"You know, for a sneak thief, you're not all that sneaky." The Dragonborn said.

"Wh-What are you talking about?" Blake said, her money pouch completely gone and any Thieves Guild armor disappeared from her body. "I a-am not a 'sneak thief'."

"You may be able to hide your secret from them, but I witnessed you first hand. So you can't put it past me." The Dragonborn said, giving her a cold stare.

Blake's face was bright red. She started babbling. "I-I-I… Y-You don't…"

"Just stop while you're ahead." The Dragonborn said, putting his face in his hand.

"'Sneak thief'? Is that the Thieves Guild that your team said that you were a part of?" Pyrrha asked.

"You guys sold me out?" Blake asked angrily.

"Well 'sold out' implies that money exchanged hands and… well… we're poor." Yang explained.

"Very funny." Blake said in monotone, looking angry.

"Can you all please focus back on the task at hand." The Dragonborn said, annoyed.

"The Dragonborn is right!" Yang quickly agreed.

"Indeed. Now then, how should we determine who attempts to open the door?" The Dragonborn asked.

"By whoever is the smartest." Blake commented.

"Me-" I was cut off.

"Me-" Yang was cut off.

"Me-" The Dragonborn was cut off.

"Really, Dragonborn? Even you?" Ruby asked.

"I was joking." The Dragonborn said in his usual monotone.

"REN!" Nora shouted.

"What?" Ren asked.

"Hand. Pedestal. Now." Nora said.

"Why?" He asked, bewildered.

"You're smart." Nora explained.

"Fine. I'll try." He said. I looked at everyone and saw they were in agreement with Nora.

Ren hesitantly walked up to the pedestal. His hand shook so much, he had to grab it with the other to put it down on the needles. I knew it wasn't because he was scared of needles, he was scared of going crazy like the last man that put his hand on the pedestal. He slowly put his hand down into the hand outline. He seemed relieved that he didn't feel pain. Then the needles appeared. I have never heard a more girly scream. They appeared to only stay in his hand for a moment before retreating back into the pedestal. As soon as the needles were gone, the machinery behind the grates began to spur to life. Gears began turning, steam started blowing, and the ground began to shake, causing loose rocks and dust to fall from the ceiling. Before long, the shaking stopped, and the pedestal slowly retracted into its base. The gears then stopped turning, the steam blew its last gust, and the door creaked open. To my disappointment, another door sat at the end of the now revealed hallway.

"How anti-climactic." Pyrrha commented. Ren stared at his hand like he suddenly had six fingers. Then he glanced at the door. Then back to his hand.

"That wasn't anti-climactic to me." He said, staring at his bloody hand.

"You did great, Ren!" Nora said loudly, slamming his back with her hand.

"Ow." He said quietly.

"Come on, now. It was merely a quick poke to the hand, no need to look so pale." The Dragonborn said.

"I'm-" Ren was cut off.

"Ren's not pale! Right, Ren?" Nora asked proudly. Ren nodded.

"Regardless of who's looking like a night-spawn right now, the pathway has opened, I suggest we follow it." The Dragonborn said, gesturing towards the now open doorway.

"You're right." Pyrrha agreed.

"This part isn't in the journal, so we have no way of knowing whether or not this will be a trap or not." Blake warned.

"Noted." The Dragonborn replied, walking into the doorway.

After he had walked past the threshold of the doorway, he moved left out of sight and screamed. We froze for a moment, but before anyone else could react, Ruby ran over, followed by everyone else. When we saw the Dragonborn, he was perfectly fine and, though he was as straight-faced as usual, his eyes were alight with laughter.

"You all are so gullible." He said, still in his unchanged monotone.

"If you're going to prank us, at least laugh." Ruby scolded.

"Ha ha ha." The Dragonborn said without any emotion. "Happy?"

"Sure. Let's keep going then." Ruby said. "You first."

"All right." He replied.

Vzaldam Grand Hallway

The hallway we walked into was much like the one that brought us here; pipes sat on the walls and had water dripping from them. The only difference was the lack of vines and the lack of us being in Remnant.

A large chandelier of a dark, rusty metal hung high over the entrance. The light that it would've given off, would've made the room look industrial and sharp. But now the ring sat quietly upon its tether to the ceiling; a sad reminder of the lost civilization that called this place home. A faint layer of dust covered everything. The Dragonborn's heavy footfalls kicked up small tufts of dust that lingered for a moment before falling back to the ground in their melancholy state.

Rusted statues of the Brass God and other Dwarven creations looked upon us sadly as we walked by, their time of being cared for by an intelligent race fading from memory. The rust that clung to them was not uniform, but in splotches according to the drips from the vents that no longer carried the things it once carried. Unlike Alftand, this ruin was completely silent. No machinery turned, no spiders tinkered with the cogs, no steam poured from the walls, it was void of life and void of mechanized life.

Molding and rotted banners hung quietly from the walls, their vibrant colors all but lost to the ages. Small mounds of rotted banners sat sadly underneath the banners. "We were once proud," they said, "now we're dying." A large clump of a banner slammed into the floor as we walked past with a loud bang. Some looked upon the banners with sadness staining their eyes, because they realized that all great civilizations someday leave behind crumbling monuments to their power. That includes Atlas. Just thinking of Remnant sent a jolt of homesickness through my heart.

A large brass-colored double door stood before us. The carvings that were on the door were covered by the rust that coated the door. The once shining brass, now sat dull and tainted by rust. An inscription sat at the center of the door. As we neared it, I saw that it was clearly in Dwarven.

"What does that say, Weiss?" Yang asked.

"Let me see…" I looked closely at the inscription. "I can't read it."

"I can read this." The Dragonborn says, walking up to the inscription. "It says 'Vzaldam Workshop: Subsection'."

"How can you read Dwarven?" I asked angrily, also partially from jealousy.

"I go through Dwarven ruins a lot, and a lot of words tend to repeat in these inscriptions." He replies.

He rested his hand on the door for a brief moment before shoving the door open. Dust rushed from the room we were about to enter, coating the ground in a very thin layer of dust. He propped the door open with some of the rotting chunks of the banners that lay on the ground. We were waved on to enter the door and Yang, along with Pyrrha and Ruby, strode through the open door and into the new room.

Vzaldam Workshop: Subsection

Green pipes hung from the ceiling, the metal rings that held them taunt were the only things showing their original height. The pipes had been so rusted, that they drooped from their original angle to form a small arc between the rings. In some areas rocks had piled up on the ground beneath a collapsed roof. Cobblestone made up the flooring. The rocks were cracked from the lack of maintenance for years.

Four brass tables stood in the center of the room, which they stood in for so long that bends had formed in the area between the legs. Small brass screws and cogs sat silently on the table, scattered about haphazardly. On one, broken Dwarven Spiders were covered in dust and various forms of decay. On another were the parts for the sphere part of a Dwarven Sphere. The other two housed the pieces and tools required to build and repair the automatons.

"Dragonborn, are you just taking everything that isn't nailed down?" Blake asked. I looked to see the Dragonborn holding numerous metal scraps and Soul Gems in his large hands.

"I do not know what you are talking about." He replied. "I am gathering supplies."

"'Gathering supplies' my ass." Blake replied.

"Language!" Ruby interjected.

"The Red One is right." He said, covering himself by shifting the topic.

"Don't try to move the subject from your looting." She snapped.

"'Looting' and 'supply gathering' are two different things." He said.

"I am in the Thieve's Guild. I think I know looting when I see it." Blake snapped.

"Even if I'm 'looting' as you say, just what do you intend to do about it?" The Dragonborn said, picking up another Soul Gem off of the table next to him.

"Oh, absolutely nothing. I find it ironic that you get on me for looting, yet here you are, looting." Blake said, pointing to his large stash of Soul Gems he gathered from the table.

"What I'm doing is reasonable, seeing as how no Dwarves are here to hold claim to these items. What you do, on the other hand, is reap from the unsuspecting." The Dragonborn said, a hint of harshness entering his tone.

"Enough." Yang interjected.

"Yes, enough." Pyrrha agreed.

"You stop first." Blake said to the Dragonborn.

"How about you stop first?" He replied.

"You're both acting like children." I said to them.

"Are not!" Blake protested.

"Are too!" Yang said.

"Just shut up already." Ren said, annoyed.

The Dragonborn's Soul Gem/Dwarven Metal stash had grown substantially larger since we begun trying to break up their argument. Looting even when he is arguing. What a dolt.

"Anyways." Nora prompted. We all looked at her, expecting her to continue. "I was hoping one of you would continue." She said sheepishly.

"We need to discuss which hallway we go through." Pyrrha said. Which hallway?

I looked around and noticed that there were hallways on either side of the room, which I missed because of the Blake-Dragonborn argument.

"Let's check what we can see from each hallway, but not head too far away." Ruby offered.

As we split up to walk around the room, four Dwarven Spiders descended from the overhead pipes. I thought everything was dead in here. Guess not. The four Spiders sized us up and began charging. The Dragonborn engaged one, bashing it with the boss of his shield. It shocked the shield, but the Dragonborn did not react as it had planned. It then began to scratch the shield. After a scratch-attack, the Dragonborn slashed it with his sword and it fell to pieces. He moved onto the next, but Nora smashed it with Magnhild. Nora then proceeded to smash the two remaining Spiders in one swing.

The Dragonborn's eyes widened. "Impressive. You would make a fine Nord woman." He praised.

Nora smiled brightly. "I like smashing things." She said, stroking Magnhild. Was that a small glance at Ren?

"Okay then." Yang murmured.

"Let's check those hallways now. And if you need help killing something, call Nora. But I think she'll already be halfway to you." Ruby joked.

"I think I'll be fine on my own, if anyone should be careful, it's you eight." The Dragonborn said.

I went with my team and Nora into the lefthand hallway. The hallway was simple, a pipe ran along the roof and a very muted shade of gold was painted on the walls. The hallway was relatively short, ending only 20 feet after the entrance, but it had a strong right turn in it.

And the thing that sat at the end of the hallway was a storage closet.

"That was anticlimactic." Ruby commented. Blake and Yang nodded.

"I didn't have anything to smash…" Nora sulked in the corner of the room at the realization.

The hallway on the right also ended in a storage closet.

"It's the strangest thing." Pyrrha said, "There's no exit from the room besides the way we entered."

"That seems to be the case." Blake replied.

"THE WALLS ARE CLOSING IN ON ME!" Jaune cried, collapsing and clutching his face.

"Stand up, you useless excuse for a Nord." The Dragonborn said angrily from the right storage closet.

"Are you still looting the closets?" Blake asked.

"I am not 'looting', I am gathering supplies." He replied, with an air of being done with a conversation they already had.

"Let's not start this again…" Ren said quietly.

"Don't worry, Ren! I can make them stop!" Nora said happily, clutching Magnhild tight.

"'Make them stop'?" The Dragonborn asked. "How do you plan on going about that?"

"Like this." Nora said, smashing the wall out between the storage closet and the main room, exposing the Dragonborn with arms full of random goodies from the Dwarven drawers.

"Do you not have any care for the ruins we stand in?" The Dragonborn asked.

"Well you asked for a demonstration of what I'd do…" Nora replied.

"That doesn't mean smashing a hole through an ancient structure that hasn't been traversed in what could possibly be a couple of Eras." The Dragonborn said.

"There are only four Eras…" I comment.

"And the Dwemer disappeared in the First Era 700." The Dragonborn replied.

"Man, Weiss is just at a loss when it comes to Dwarven things." Yang comments.

"I am not!" I protest.

"You were unable to translate the Dwarven out there, you messed up in Alftand and now you don't even know when the Dwemer disappeared." Blake added. I felt my face heating up.

"You… you dolts…" I say, my strength leaving my voice and going to heating my face. I looked to the Dragonborn to back me up, but he was just watching in silence.

He spoke up. "As much as I'd love to see Weiss turn into a tomato, we need to keep moving."

"I'm not- I am not gonna- fine…" I try to protest.

"Now then. Let's go." The Dragonborn said, walking to the other side of the room and opening a door. I looked at Pyrrha.

"You said there wasn't a way out."

Pyrrha turned more red than her hair.

"I didn't notice the door…" She replied meekly.

"How could you not see it? It was in plain view right as we entered this room." The Dragonborn said.

Pyrrha mumbled something like "I was distracted by something."

"What were you distracted by?" Jaune asked.

"Uh… Nothing." Pyrrha looked away from Jaune, now even her red hair turned red.

"So, are we going to move on? Or are we going to stand here as Pyrrha slowly begins to match the color of the Red Mountain after it exploded?" The Dragonborn asked.

I snorted. And a few other snickered.

"Let's go, guys." Yang said, walking towards the Dragonborn.

Vzaldam Workshop

The hallway we entered was much like the ones we had seen before; large brass pipes darted in and out of the walls, delivering steam to wherever it was needed. Brass fences lined a few walls, blocking us from entering a small room of large, turning gears.

We reached a small door, which the Dragonborn threw open.

A massive room came into view. It was square in shape with a stairway descending to a lower layer in the center of the room. The sides adjacent to the stairs had two workspaces on each side. Each workspace had a stone table with a multitude of screws and parts. They were blocked in with brass walls, with a cage-like area made of brass halfway up, with a brass chair/stool neatly tucked under the tables. The room itself was slightly dark, with a few areas for lights that had ran out of fuel many an Era ago.

Pyrrha lead us down the stairs, but we could still hear the sound of the Dragonborn taking everything that wasn't nailed down in the room we just left. Once we reached the bottom level, the Dragonborn had finished "gathering supplies" and rejoined us.

The bottom level had more workspaces, but they were more like worktables, numbering 10 with various projects still unfinished on them. On one table sat a large Dwarven Centurion with large dents and holes peppering the brass skin. At the far end of the work area there was a set of stairs that went up to some extension of the room. Pyrrha walked to the center of the room and turned around to face us.

"So what's the plan?" Pyrrha asked over the sound of metal pieces being taken off tables and put into a pouch.

"Maybe we should see what's in the next room before we- could you stop making so much noise?!" Yang was interrupted by a loud bang coming from the Dwarven Centurion.

"What? I'm just trying to get it's Gyro." The Dragonborn replied nonchalantly.

"Just ignore him, Yang." Ruby said to Yang.

"Okay, Ruby. So, as I was saying, before we make a big decision." Yang finished her idea.

"Good point. So are there any volunteers to go explore the next area?" Pyrrha asked.

"I'll go" I volunteered.

Ruby raised her hand.

"Okay. Ruby, Weiss, go explore the next area." Pyrrha commanded.

I ascended the stairs and saw a simple room with a pedestal exactly the same as the one that we saw at the beginning of Vzaldam. Behind that were a set of doors blocked by metal caging. I assumed that when the pedestal was satisfied with the person's hand placed upon it, the caging would retract to the wall and the door could be accessible. On the front of the pedestal was a bit of Dwarven that I could not understand. After seeing everything there was to see, I motioned for Ruby to follow me back down to the group.

"So, what's in the other room?" Pyrrha asked us over the sound of the Dragonborn still walking around taking things off the tables.

"A pedestal with a hand-shaped indent on it." I replied.

"It was like the one at the beginning of Vzaldam." Ruby replied.

"Well, I guess I'm needed to translate again." The Dragonborn said, seemingly appearing behind us.

"Yes." A few of us said in unison.

"Yes." Nora said after everyone else.

"Well then, give me just a moment." The Dragonborn said, cracking his neck.

After a few moments, he returned.

"The inscription was again faded, and from what I could tell, it was the exact same one the previous pedestal had." The Dragonborn said.

"I guess we won't know what kind of tribute this pedestal will want then." Blake commented.

"I don't want Ren to get stabbed again!" Nora shouted, smothering Ren in a hug.

The Dragonborn seemed both shocked and not shocked by this development.

"You're right. We mustn't use the one in green again." The Dragonborn replied, still staring at Nora clinging to Ren.

"So who should we use instead?" Pyrrha asked.

"Considering that the one in green couldn't handle the last one, I'll activate it." The Dragonborn said.

"I just didn't expect it to take that much blood…" Ren said quietly.

"I've had more taken from me before, and someday, you'll have even more taken from you. Now then, any other comments?" The Dragonborn said and asked.

"I can't heal from eating a wheel of cheese." Ren murmured under his breath.

"Clearly you haven't had the wonder that is aged Breton cheese." The Dragonborn said, walking up the stairs.

I look at Ren and shrug, showing that even I don't know.

We follow the Dragonborn up the stairs and watch as he places his hand on the pedestal.

"Wow. That was entirely painless." He said, showing us a completely untouched hand.

"I wish I put my hand on this one…" Ren murmured.

"Why isn't the door opening?" I asked, looking at the bars blocking the door.

"Why are there spider-bots?" Yang asked, pointing towards a few Dwarven Spiders.

"Where'd the pedestal go?" The Dragonborn asked, pointing to an empty base where the pedestal was.

"NORA!" Ren shouted at a flying Nora.

"Nora!" Nora shouted, smashing the Dwarven Spiders to bits.

I ran down the stairs in the middle of the group to rejoin Nora so we could fight off the waves of things attacking us. Where at first there were 4 Spiders, there were 6 Dwarven Spheres approaching us in a circle.

Nora swung Magnhild and broke a Dwarven Sphere into bits. The Dragonborn shield-bashed and then slashed a Sphere twice. The Sphere broke apart as it fell. I engaged a Sphere with Ruby. I glyphed ahead of Ruby and slashed it with my fire dust. It seemed to be unphased by the fire, but was slightly staggered by the strike. I stepped back and allowed Ruby to leap over my head and strike the Sphere with Crescent Rose. The Sphere rolled back a bit and shot a crossbow bolt at me, but Ruby swung Crescent Rose and cut the bolt before it could reach me. The Sphere started to maneuver around, but was shot in the head by Ruby's sniper rifle, causing it to break apart. Ruby held up her hand for a high five, but I ignored it so I could attack the next Sphere. I thought I could hear Ruby mutter "Thanks, partner" sullenly before quietly giving herself a self five. The Spheres were slightly harder than Spiders, but we disposed of them quickly.

"Good job, guys." Pyrrha said, patting Jaune's back reassuringly.

"Now's not the time to celebrate, take a look around." The Dragonborn said, pointing with his sword.

8 Spiders and 10 Spheres rolled out and began taking up positions around us. Nora zipped around, smashing Spiders with ease. The Dragonborn led the weaker combatants (cough)Jaune(cough) in fighting the bots. The rest of us just broke apart into our partners and took them down, bot by bot.

Within a few minutes, we easily mopped up the bots.

"Is there going to be any more of them?" Nora asked, slightly out of breath.

"Sadly." Pyrrha replied, pointing to the Spiders and Spheres approaching.

I counted the approaching bots, noting that they numbered 12 Spiders and 14 Spheres. I tapped Ruby's shoulder, signifying that I was ready. We moved out, but we were knocked off balance almost immediately. The statues that stood in each corner of the room began moving. Not like they fell over, like they were walking and grabbing weapons. Oh. This must be a Centurion. I got a reply in the form of a massive cloud of steam being ejected from the Centurions. Yup. Definitely Centurions. Nora wasted no time in leaping up and hitting it with Magnhild. However, unlike the other robots she had obliterated with her hammer, this one got a single dent and swatted her across the room with its own hammer.

"Watch out for the Centurions!" The Dragonborn announced.

"Shouldn't you have mentioned that before Nora got drop-kicked across the room?" Yang asked. Yang's eyes lit up after she looked at the Centurions.

"Yang…" Ruby warned.

Yang threw herself at the Centurion and was knocked across the room like Nora.

"What are you doing you idiot?!" The Dragonborn yelled.

"It's all a part of the plan." Yang replied from the wall.

"You aren't dead?" He asked.

"Far from it." Yang said, walking out of the crater she caused in the wall.

Yang threw herself at the Centurion again, to the dismay of the Dragonborn. But this time she broke the arm it swung at her in one hit. The Dragonborn began pulling his face down with his hands from anxiety. Then, without warning, Yang disengaged, to the relief of the Dragonborn. The Centurion was pelted by numerous grenades being lobbed from Nora's Magnhild. Nora seemed pleased with herself… Until the smoke cleared. There he was, slightly worse for wear, but otherwise fine. The Dragonborn was banging his head on his shield. "Explosions. Don't. Work. On. Centurions!" Yang fired a few shots of fire at it. "Fire. Doesn't. Work. Either!" The Centurion shot steam out of it's mouth like a menacing smoker, but with more "I can kill you" vibes.

The Dragonborn sighed and hefted his shield to engage the Centurion. He took a deep breath and then leaned forward to release the words of dragons. "Fus… Ro Dah!" The Centurion took a step back and lowered its guard. A rushing Dragonborn leapt and slammed into the staggered Centurion, slicing it over and over with his sword. After a few strikes that, seemingly, glanced off, the Centurion fell to the ground and its glowing eyes turned off.

"Just do that for the other three." He said, pointing to the three approaching Centurions.

"Easy for you to say." Yang mumbled, angry that her grand plan failed.

The Dragonborn laughed a little and hefted his shield to do battle with one of the Centurions rapidly approaching us.

Team JNPR took one Centurion and we took the remaining Centurion. I opened the engagement with a quick blast of ice dust to the Centurion. It seemed unphased physically from the attack, but moved a bit more sluggishly. Good to know that I am only good for slightly slowing him down. Yang mimicked the Dragonborn by running then leaping into the Centurion after yelling "Fus Ro Dah!". She hit it a few times, and was nearly hit, but she jumped out of the way. Ruby pumped three shots into the Centurion and dashed away to avoid his strike. Looks like I can only support them with encouragement… And glyphs. Glyphs! I forgot them. "Ruby! On your right!" I shouted, pointing to my glyph I set up to allow Ruby be propelled into the Centurion and hit it. The Centurion's counter attack hit air as Ruby dashed away again. Blake used Gambol Shroud to wrap the Centurion's legs together, then Yang leapt up behind it to knock it over. It laid on the ground for a few moments whilst it was being slashed and hacked. At least I could do damage to it now… The Centurion slowly raised itself onto its hands and began to lift itself to its feet, but the wrapping on its feet stopped it, so it stood on its knees and tried to fight on. Valiant as it was, it was ineffective because Team JNPR had quickly disposed of their Centurion and came to assist us in ours. Pyrrha raised her right hand, palm facing up in her outstretched arm, and the Centurion slowly floated upwards. Pyrrha told us to back up and then threw him into the roof and then smashed him onto the ground. His eyes flickered before turning off.

"So. How was fighting a Centurion?" The Dragonborn asked cheerfully from on top of a dead Centurion.

"Easier than you said it was." Pyrrha replied, throwing the Centurion across the room to express how easy it is for her.

"Well, perhaps it wouldn't have been so easy if you didn't have that magic of yours." The Dragonborn said.

"It isn't magic." Pyrrha replied.

"Whatever it is, it assisted you extraordinarily with the Centurion." The Dragonborn finished the discussion.

"Wow, the bars have retracted on the door." Ruby commented.

"Weird. The first one of these wanted someone intelligent and this one was about fighting skill. It's almost like it's testing the people who enter to see if they're worthy of getting to the Elder Scroll." I mentioned.

"For once, I think you're right, Weiss." Yang replied.

Pyrrha cleared her throat. "We should get moving."

"Yeah!" Nora agreed, still amped up from the fight. She's gonna have a "sugar crash" later.

The door creaked as it opened, revealing a room that was overflowing with steam. I looked around and saw that a few of the girls' hair were already going frizzy. Oh boy, this'll be good.