I met up with Almalexia in her High Chapel, floating in the dim light as usual.

"Come forward, Eldorf the Wise." she said, "I have something of importance to discuss with you."

"I am assuming it has to do with the attack upon the city, my Lady." I replied.

She nodded in agreement.

"Since the horrendous attack on the city, there have been alarming developments." she said. "One of the most troublesome has been a cult that has recently formed, led by a young Dunmer named Eno Romari. They call themselves 'The End of Times'. In these troubled times, I fear the cult is gaining in popularity."

"This Eno Romari." I asked, "Where can I find him? Does he carry weapons?"

"The leader of this little cult resides somewhere in Mournhold," she replied, "though he is not known to have a permanent residence" He is dangerous, as he spreads discontent among my people. He is not to be killed, though. I want no martyrs to this madman's cause."

"I understand." I said, knowing that people rally around a dead hero more so than a live one. "What can be told about this cult? What does he preach to the masses?"

"Very little is known about them yet," she replied, "but there is one very disturbing fact we have learned: many of their members have been found dead. At least seven of them have been found so far. All dead, all in their homes."

"By my beard!" I exclaimed. "Were they murdered?"

She shook her head. "No." she replied. "It appears they ingested a strong poison, and not even my magicks could revive those who were found."

"I see." I replied, understanding just how serious this kind of cult could be. "What must I do?"

"We must find out what drives this group, and rid my city of their presence. Speak with Meralyn Othan at the Great Bazaar; her brother, Sevil, was one of those found dead. Learn what you can about them, Eldorf the Wise, and of this Eno Romari. Take care with him, though. The words of a martyr cry louder than those of a zealot."

I indicated my understanding to her and headed out of the chamber.

Before starting on this mission, I wanted to find out what else might be in this chamber, and who or what might have been behind these new mechanical creatures. Once again enlisting the services of my bodyguard, we headed back down the hole in the floor of the statue.

I noticed two more Dwemer sphere centurions patrolling the floor, and rather than fight directly with them, I decided to do them in with a spell of God's Frost.

Another Dwemer sphere centurion went directly under our position, and it was impossible to aim a spell in that direction without falling over.

Using the Ring of Weapons, my bodyguard and I headed down to put the machine out of commission.

It got a few shots off at me before falling apart. Using a healing spell, I fixed up my bodyguard, then myself.

We decided to check out the other machines left over from the battle we had witnessed earlier.

These fabricants were like no other machine I had ever seen before. The gears and joints were not built the same way that the Dwemer would have used. These machines were built entirely for attacking, not patrolling, like the other machines.

We decided to check out the south door first.

There was so much clutter we nearly tripped over the damaged centurions and fabricants on our way to the door.

Entering the south door, the first thing that met us was an angry steam centurion, one with a very big right fist.

Dodging the attacks, my bodyguard and I managed to destroy the machine before it did any damage to ourselves.

We made our way further into the south chambers, finding more and more Dwemer sphere and steam centurions.

At one door, we found a pile of ashes next to a Dwemer chestplate. I decided to let the bodyguard keep it, since he'd need more protection than I did.

The pile of ashes continued to show up in odd places, in chairs, next to weapons, near workshops. That's when I realized what they were: they were the remains of the Dwemer - the remains of what was left after their connection to the Heart of Lorkhan was either made or broken, depending on which version of the story one wanted to believe. They had turned to dust during the battle of Red Mountain, and had dropped their things right where they had been standing.

A chilling thought, indeed.

We found a few more dart-throwing sphere centurions further down the south chambers. At one door, I cautioned the bodyguard to wait. I could hear mechanical noises from the other side.

I figured I would open the door and hit it with a frost spell.

As soon as I opened the door, however, the sphere centurion spun around and threw a dart directly at me. It missed, but hit the bodyguard.

Enraged he ran towards it, yelling, sword drawn, ready to do battle with the machine. What he didn't see was me just about to send forth a spell of God's Frost.

Stupidly, he ran headlong directly into the path of my spell. It was too late - I couldn't stop the spell from flying, and it hit both him and the machine.

Both of them fell into a crumpled heap on the floor. There was nothing I could do for the bodyguard. He had run headlong directly into the path of my spell.

I had hoped he would help me take some of the items from here, since they were too heavy for me to carry along in just one trip.

There was nothing left to do but carry on by myself.

I checked over the edge of the downhill portion of the floor and found the source of the tapping noise: It was a centurion spider.

As soon as I saw the thing, it saw me, and headed up the embankment, spitting out poison air at me.

Using the Ring of Weapons, I brought forth my longsword and shield.

I hit the creature, and dodged it's poison attack. I attacked it again and again, each time quickly backing up to avoid the poison that it spit at me.

In just a few moments, I had destroyed the machine.

I continued down the hallways. There were more and more rooms, beds, tables, chairs, and piles of ash everywhere.

In one room, there were a number of worktables and books, each on some different aspect of Dwemer machines, assembly, power usage, and so on.

I looked behind me and found myself staring at a 15 foot tall Dwemer machine. At it's feet, a hammer and a pile of ash where someone had been working on it. The hammer had dropped right in mid-stroke.

It was like looking at a moment frozen in time. All I could do was imagine what it would have been like to be an observer here during the battle of Red Mountain, and watching an entire race of people just vanish before your eyes.

In the deepest part of the chamber, another steam centurion awaited me, but God's Frost and some careful dodging using the Amulet of Shadows managed to win the day for me.

Nearby was a heavy door, and locked with a most advanced lock. A careful examination of the lock showed that it was also boobytrapped. This usually indicated something of great importance was in the next room.

The Ring of Keys managed to break open the lock, and a telekinesis spell opened the door from several feet away, springing the trap without harm to me.

Carefully, I made my way into a storeroom to see what was so important here that it was kept under the most powerful locks and traps to ensure it's safety.