Traveling through The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim

Chapter 135 Chemical Shock

Hayou and Babas set off, and the rest of us were busy setting up camp. The scale of the Kirkreth Temple is very large. Although we only searched the two rooms after the entrance, it took more than an hour. Hayou and his team must have to go deeper to find new ghosts to test, and they will not be back early. Agis took a few pieces of dried meat and climbed up the tree. Helgi came to my side and whispered:

"She's mad at us. I refused to give up, and you sent Brother Hayou in again."

"Tsk! Now she knows that her cousin is a good man? I heard that in Elsweyr, her family looks down on Hayou."

"Huh? There's such a thing? Come on, tell me about it."

"I don't know the details, but it's just some of the little things that the big families do that look down on others..."

"Oh, Miko, be good. I'm not talking about you."

Helgi coaxed the big black dog, and the little girl's curiosity was not satisfied, so she had to look through Falion's notes by the light of the campfire.

"elder brother."

"Ok?"

"When we get back to the castle, I have something I'd like your opinion on. It's about the history of our... the Reachmen."

Lund once told me that Helgi was collecting records related to the Reachmen, and I specifically asked the Companions for this and got her the opportunity to borrow internal documents. Now it seems that this girl must have encountered something difficult to understand. Although I agreed to her, I didn't think I could help much. In the eyes of others, I may be a well-informed person, but I know that this is only due to the information I have access to in the game. However, the game is not clear about the issue of the Reachmen. On the other hand, the other world I am in is not completely consistent with the game.

As far as the various forces I have come into contact with so far, the beliefs, magic systems and social structures of the Reachmen are very different from those shown in the game. In the game, most of the Reachmen are just wild monsters in human form, and they fight each other with swords when they meet. Only in the Forsworn Rebellion quest in Markarth City will you come into contact with some Reachmen who can communicate. The Reachmen in the other world are tribal people who make a living by fishing and hunting. They have their own culture and organization. Although they are a bit scattered, they can at least talk about reason. Especially when it comes to individuals, such as Annis and Helgi, and the members of the Reach Guard that my father has, they are all quite easy to get along with.

As for the history of the Reachmen, I only remember that in the First Age, a king appeared among them, named Red Eagle. There is a quest in the game to find the Sword of Red Eagle. With this in mind, I began to suspect that Helgi was planning to invite me to join him in tomb raiding, which would be a good way to make a fortune. It's not that I hadn't thought about doing this before, but there was no suitable target in the territory we controlled.

It was getting dark, and Hayu and Babas hadn't come back yet. Agis insisted that she should watch the first half of the night, but I didn't bother to argue with her. The little cat had red eyes, and I didn't know if it was because she had just cried or because she hated me. I said goodnight to Helgi, crawled into my tent, lay on the mat made of wolf skin, and silently reviewed the knowledge I learned in the chemistry class.

Hydrogen sulfide is a colorless, toxic gas that smells like rotten eggs and is corrosive. It is a common component of volcanic gases and natural gas, and is also a product of human metabolism, which is excreted through breathing and sweat. Rotting animal carcasses can also produce hydrogen sulfide, which can form aerosols when air circulation is poor, which is one of the sources of what the ancient Chinese called "miasma". The toxicity of hydrogen sulfide is also multifaceted. Simple contact can cause inflammation and edema. Inhalation can cause suffocation and damage the nervous system, cardiovascular system, and liver. Symptoms of hydrogen sulfide poisoning include headache, dizziness, vomiting, difficulty breathing, and coma, and in severe cases, death.

When hydrogen sulfide mixes with air and encounters open flames or high temperatures, it will explode, as we have seen in the temple. I dare say that if I can get three or two hydrogen sulfide ghosts on the battlefield and summon fire elements, I can definitely give the enemy a little chemical shock. Of course, using such chemical weapons to blow up people is really too crazy, but at least I can use them to attack buildings.

Our troops lack siege tactics. When facing the Sunny Gardens Fortress, Tager did not dare to attack it by force, but adopted the tactic of starvation. For such a small stronghold, siege without attacking is indeed effective. For an old fortress like Whiterun that has been in disrepair for a long time, catapults and other things may be enough, but I am against the Imperial Legion. The mountains and ridges of Reachland and Haafingar, as well as the stone walls of Markarth and Solitude, will bring great challenges to the attackers. In addition, the enemy has dwarven tunnels or ports, which can obtain a steady supply. Siege alone may not be able to solve the problem.

Hydrogen sulfide also has the property of being easily soluble in water. I couldn't confirm whether it would maintain this property in the ghost state, so I had to let Hayou take a risk.

The knowledge I hadn't seen for a long time, along with the familiar sleepiness that only belongs to the classroom, slowly overwhelmed me. In a daze, the chemistry teacher's thick accent sounded again.

"Luo Ke'er, go to sleep!"

I woke up suddenly and stood up subconsciously, which directly knocked Helgi, who was lying next to me, to the ground. The little girl rubbed her forehead with a grin and dragged me out of the tent. Agis, who volunteered to keep watch, put his head against Miko's belly and made a snoring sound like a sleeping cat.

"Aigis is asleep, and I'm also very sleepy. Brother, can you keep watch?"

Before I could nod, Babas and Hayu came out of the woods. The tiger man looked excited and shook the empty water bag in his hand.

"It really works! I poured the whole bag of water on a ghost, and it dissolved more than half, and then disappeared. But the smell is really awful."

"You didn't touch the water with your hands?"

"Do you think I'm a fool? The sword that the ghost carried was made of very good quality. It immediately developed black spots after being touched by the water. Anyway, this method will definitely work. As long as we have enough water..."

Hayou glanced at the three remaining water bags.

"Aigis knows, let's go back to the river and get some water!"

The little cat girl had climbed up without knowing when.

"Very good, Aigis. You lead the way this time, and we'll go find Helgi's big bear brother."

Aigis shrank back. Cats, dogs, and Helgi looked at each other, then turned their heads to look at me.

"Well, I have thought of a way, but I don't know if it will work. If not, we really have to go back to the river. Now, let's take a rest. Helgi, make two sheepskin bags to hold water tomorrow."

According to the original plan, the others went into the tent to rest, and I stayed to keep watch. This job was not too hard. I usually summoned the fire element first, then meditated for a while. When the time limit for the summoning spell was up, I would get up and walk around, read for a while, and repeat the process when I was tired. But this time, Babas quietly followed me when I was patrolling the perimeter of the camp.

"You know what that ghost is, right?"

Of course, I know more, such as: hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, neon, sodium, magnesium, aluminum, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, chlorine, argon, potassium, calcium...

Alas... I regret not having read enough books when I need them! I should have paid more attention to how to rub the atomic bomb with my hands in daily life.

"I don't know, Master Barbas. But I think this ghost can be put to great use. For example, uh... don't I have a mine? If I use this thing to mine, it will definitely be twice the result with half the effort! What do you think, Master?"

The expression on Babas's face condensed into five words: I don't believe you.

"Then how do you know it is afraid of water?"

"Things that explode when exposed to fire will naturally wilt when exposed to water."

"You can summon ice elementals and cast ice thorns, so why don't you try it on it? Why do you have to use water?"

Is this damn dog the reincarnation of a curious baby? Why is it so endless today?

"This one……"

Babas looked me in the eyes.

"Look, sir, if I pour a bowl of water on a torch, it will go out in an instant, but if I throw a bowl-sized piece of ice on it, it may not be able to go out. Don't you think this is the truth?"

Don't ask me anymore! When it comes to flipping the spoon, Mendeleev is no match for me, but when it comes to chemistry, I am not even qualified to kneel at his door!

Babas looked thoughtful and nodded after a long while. Gouzi said something and walked towards the camp silently.

"Locke, Helgi's child is very adorable. You must take good care of her."

Are you kidding me? When she returns from this trip, Helgi will have two magic artifacts in her hands. The mask of Clavicus Vile and the sword of Meridia, two great demons serving her, is this a small blessing? It is not certain who will take care of whom.

After daybreak, Helgi and Aigis caught two unlucky goats and made sheepskin bags with ease. According to my request, she deliberately left the skin on the legs longer to form a tubular water outlet. I chanted a spell to summon the ice element, and asked Helgi to summon the fire element. My plan was to use the fire element to burn the arms of the ice element and try to melt it into water. According to the principle of summoning, both are creatures of annihilation. Through the power of Aetherius, they establish a short-term contract with the caster and then enter Nirn.

Theoretically, these creatures only project their shadows on my plane, so they will not be truly killed. After receiving fatal damage or reaching the summoning time limit, their projections will disappear. However, some annihilation creatures do leave behind corpse-like substances after being killed in the main plane, from which we can also extract fire salt or frost salt. So I speculate that the ice element should also be able to melt if heated.

Two sheepskin bags were tied to the "hands" of the ice element by vines, with the openings covering the "fingers". Helgi directed the fire element to move closer. Everyone held their weapons tightly and stared at the huge blue monster. Losing both arms is a serious injury, but it is definitely not fatal. What we need to guard against is the ice element's sudden attack and injury. Fortunately, everything went as we wished. The ice element's arms slowly melted and clear water poured into the bag. With a crackling sound, my summon disappeared. Hayou stepped forward and grabbed two heavy water bags.

After entering the temple again, the tiger brother and sister walked side by side in front. They tied the sheepskin bag to their backs with vines, and the water pipe extended from the right ribs, held in the claws of two cats. Whenever they encountered patrolling ghosts, they would tiptoe around to the side and back, spray water and run away with their noses covered. In this way, we successfully cleaned up most of the temple, and with the guidance of Meridia's holy light, we came to a wide staircase. There were about thirty steps, and at the end was a huge wooden door.

I called Hayou and Aigis back to my side. Without any need for verbal communication, everyone knew that the final enemy - the necromancer Mokran - was behind the door.

We followed the established tactics and stood in three groups in a triangular shape. The tiger siblings were on the left, Miko and Helgi were on the right, and Babas was in the front. I crouched low, stepped as lightly as possible, and approached the wooden door. As soon as the door was opened, I would throw an ice element inside. The damage of Mokran's ice storm was very explosive, and there were bottles and jars everywhere in the room. Once they were wrapped in magic, they all became weapons that could hurt people. I held the magic in my left hand and stretched forward with my right hand. The wooden door had a chill that penetrated the skin, just like an iron door frozen outdoors in the northeast during the coldest days of winter.

My right hand was stuck to the door, but I couldn't push it open. I instinctively used my left arm to protect my head and face, and the next second, the wooden door suddenly exploded. The cold wind blew up the fragments of wood, like a volley of arrows, sweeping past. If it weren't for the ice element I summoned at the critical moment to block most of the damage, I would have died.

"Now that you're already here, why are you still sneaking around outside? What are you doing?"

Another ice storm came with a laugh. I knew I should dodge, even if it meant rolling on the ground. But my whole body was stiff and I couldn't control my limbs at all. I must have been seriously injured, but the wounds were sealed by the extreme cold, and I couldn't even feel the pain. The ice element had already suffered too many blows and became shaky. A group of ghosts swarmed over, waving long swords. They were also affected by the ice storm and their speed slowed down a lot, but the flying debris and wood fragments could not hurt them at all.

A lilac ball of light blocked the door frame, and another ice elemental appeared. He opened and closed his arms, hugged the two ghosts in the front, and rubbed them repeatedly. After a loud bang, a familiar stench spread. Barbas grabbed my collar and dragged me back to a relatively safe place on the stairs. The dog turned around, jumped over the ice element's shoulder into the house, and rushed straight to Mokran's calf. The necromancer screamed, turned around and ran. When he dodged, he was shining, and it was obvious that he had cast several magic spells to increase protection.

The ghosts gave up besieging the ice element and turned to besiege Babas so that Mokran could cast magic calmly. One man and one dog surrounded seven or eight ghosts and circled in the empty room. The scene was somewhat funny. But I couldn't laugh. Suddenly, an idea popped up in my almost frozen brain. I didn't have the extra reason and physical strength to think about it. No matter what, fuck it!

I raised my left hand, squeezed out the last bit of my magic power, and summoned the fire element.

The explosion was earth-shaking and I completely passed out.