2 through 6 Heartfire (Days 18 through 21)Arkngthand part II![IPB Image](https://i.imgur.com/97hdGpL.png)
Over the course of several days, Joan of Arkay is uncertain what to do about the final room she'd found in Arkngthand. Full of hot lava it was, with a broken bridge to somehow cross. And the broken bridge? It was supposed to transport folks safely over the floor full of hot lava.
She eventually learns this room (and all the chambers and corridors directly to it) were named Heaven's Gallery. Not such an apt name; it does not seem such a heavenly place to her. But Joan figures it must be the location where the puzzle box is located, it
has to be. For it seems she has looked everywhere else.
The box must be there. But how will she get deeper into Heaven's Gallery?
Joan has several pondering sessions between Heartfire 2 and Heartfire 4, as she travels this way and that. After leaving the underground lair on the second day, she spends the rest of Heartfire 2 resting in Fort Moonmoth, and then two more days in Balmora. Here she sells several Dwemer coins and gems which Arkngthand's bandits had stashed away. She uses her newfound earnings to buy several potions which resist fire, a couple more which shall fortify her health, and one which will allow her to walk on water. These potions are quite an expense. Joan has no idea if the water-walking potion will allow her to instead walk across lava. If she chooses to try this, she'll need to do so with much caution.
Finally, she buys a 'Hoptoad' scroll from Galbedir, the Balmora Mages Guild enchanter. The scroll has a spell which will allow her to jump far into the air, and then float like a netch for quite a few seconds. It will also slow her falls, promises the colorfully-robed Galbedir. Buying the scroll is quite a setback at 124 drakes, and it takes Joan some time before she makes this final purchase.
Heartfire 4Once back inside Heaven's Gallery, she tells her guard to wait behind, and in fact leaves him far away from the room full of lava. This way, he won't get tempted to try helping her if there's any problem, hidden enemies, and so on. Helping her, then slipping and burning quickly to his demise.
She makes her way back to the gallery's final hellish chamber, fiery waters of Nirn boiling below! The broken bridge is before her again, and unfortunately, nobody has bothered to fix it. Joan of Arkay hems and haws a bit as she tries to decide: Jump across via the magic of her expensive scroll, or walk on magma via potions? Scroll? Or potions? ... She finally chooses the scroll.
"O-la ... O-mah mah... Ga-ga O-la-la..." she reads aloud. And it
works! Amazingly, it works. She feels an odd combination of magic envelop her person, clouding her vision briefly purple. She then shudders, before giving a good leap across the end of the broken bridge like a light-footed rogue. Not only is she able to traverse the bridge with ease and competence, but the magic within the scroll does something to her weight as well, allowing her to stay suspended in midair for seconds at a time.
It's an eerie, yet wonder-filled moment for her. She can't help but float around a few seconds, this way and that, the bridge's surface a couple meters below, the heat from the chamber's magma falling almost to nil! Finally, she lands. The full weight of her armor, shortsword, and gear returns. A long, hollowed-out section of cave-rock is before her, which eventually bends to the left. She begins to walk. Occasionally, she passes by one of the Dwemer's odd cylinders of light. These cylinders glow, even without the help of fire or magic! How had the dwarves achieved this? Joan muses.
"You will die where you stand," somebody with a particular northbound accent says calmly.
It's a nord, who has somehow been living here in this section of Heaven's Gallery for however long. How had
he managed to get across that bridge? ... The nord hasn't got any armor, but he's carrying a BIG axe. He comes after Joan, who does not bother to try convincing him not to.
"Yarrgh!" Though she puts up a good fight, his axe deals a lot of damage with just two connects. Joan must quickly backtrack, cast her healing spell, and then return to the safety of the previous chamber.
She rushes back to the broken bridge, and risks a jump across. But by now the scroll's magic has completely worn off, and she's not any sort of an acrobat. So she falls several meters, landing momentarily right into the molten hot magma! There's a moment of pure panic; she must dash across to safety, which amounts to a smidge of bare earth beneath her boots. Just inches from her feet is the lava.
The acolyte is momentarily safe, so she quickly looks into her pack, and downs several potions, including the one which is supposed to allow water-walking.
Suddenly, Joan hears a splash! The nord with the BIG axe had really lost his wits it seems, and had tried to jump across the bridge as well. Like Joan, he's carrying too much weight, and also hasn't got the speed or agility to make it across. Unlike her though, he merely stands in the pool of lava once he lands. His priority is to kill her, not save himself from damage. It is only two or three seconds before he burns to a smelly, boiling crisp.
Joan of Arkay heaves a sigh, before cautions a couple steps over the gallery's hot liquid. Not a good idea. Her boots immediately sink into the mix. Water-walking potions apparently do
not work over lava. Time for another potion of healing.
She makes her way carefully back to the chamber's initial causeway, running at full speed across an area where there's no land to step upon. Finally she is safe. But she also hasn't got any more special Hoptoad scrolls, which means there's no current way to get across that collapsed bridge. This necessitates yet another trip to and from Balmora. More Dwemer coins sold, and one more eerie jump across. Joan is hopeful.
Yet after all these trips back and forth, items sold and bought, jumps across the bridge, and hours of exploring, the puzzle box is still nowhere to be found.
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Back in BalmoraBroken Bridge Floating in midairJoan landing