Interview with A Priest

My submission for the TESLORE Challenge #3: The temple of Xrib.

A few weeks ago, I was approached by a dunmer priest of Azura, looking for translation of something uttered in Falmeris. The story he recounted was horrifying, and the man had been through quite an ordeal. And besides, the chance to put my knowledge to use was something I was not going to pass up. The following is the story he recounted to me.

It had been a week since that blasted hole opened underneath us. And it got progressively worse as the days pressed on. At first, Our troupe of 5 had thought to climb out. Skyrim however, had other ideas, and the hole was covered in glistening ice, and we a group of dunmer priests with no climbing gear. Azura was testing us, surely.

Our next idea, was to continue on into the cavern system, the next day. We traveled for half a day in a rather elaborate underground tunnel network, before they attacked. We'd heard rumors of these snow goblins snatching livestock and animals from the Nords, but these... these were no goblins. Goblins we could have dealt with.

In our first encounter, we were ambushed. Drelane was slain outright, a poisoned arrow to the throat. We threw up our wards and retreated to the caves entrance, and fought off these vicious creatures, and hunkered down for the night.

They however, proved to be malicious and intent on killing or capturing us. A party of ten of them came while we were sleeping, and attacked us again. Silent as the night. I prayed to Azura in thanks that Zirath had the ability to detect the living. They would have killed us all in our sleep, instead of taking Nisil prisoner.

That attack left our remaining numbers at three. Zirath, Lilith, and myself. We did our best, but the blasted demons attacks were relentless, and with each failed one, they sent more bodies, and those nightmarish insects upon us.

In the end, we were overcome. It was impossible not to be, as we were severely outnumbered. Zirath was slain, Lilith too, and I was beaten, knocked unconscious, and dragged deeper into the caves.

When I awoke, I found myself in a chitinous cage, hanging above a pool of water, in what seemed to be some sort of metallic reservoir? A dwemer ruin perhaps? I did not know they were this far north, but I suppose that is unimportant.

Escape was first on my mind. The lock was no match for my magickal abilities, and I quickly found myself swimming in the frigid water below me.

This of course, alerted those blasted devils. I quickly cast an invisibility spell upon myself, and managed to sneak my way through there chitinous cities, and into a dwemer stronghold? temple? I do not know. I did not care at the time either. Escape was all that was on my mind.

I managed to make it some sort of Dwemer lift. Freedom, at last I thought. However, when I pulled the lever to ascend, a single, rather acrobatic devil managed to get his way into the lift with me as I was transported upwards.

We fought long, as the lift carried me to freedom, and by Azura's blessing, I came out the victor, but not before the demon spoke to me in a tongue not unlike Dunmeris, but wholly different. Thanks to you, and your help translating, I now know what he said:

We are the disciples of Xrib!

The Heretic shall rise!

You shall taste our fury, that feed the devils inside!

We are fueled by torment,

Driven to this by our sickness and Their pride!

Xrib will deliver us to vengeance,

and we shall feast on your flesh!

The dunmer then related how he came upon an altar of sorts at the mouth of the exit to his horrid prison. He said it was dwemer in construction, and that he was attacked by skeletons when he drew near. I have never come across any findings of religious dwemer... but the insects, the mention of cannibalism... Xrib, a name which sounds as if it were uttered from the mouth of something with mandibles... None of this bodes well with me. Perhaps this priest stumbled into a group of falmer Namira worshipers? I do not know. It worries me even more now that there excursions to the surface are becoming more numerous.