She ices over the opening again.

Between avoidance and ice, they're able to get past the scuttle. 

Around the corner, there's a gate over the entrance to a cavernous room, undone by a lever that Ena cautiously pulls. The gate slides down without triggering any traps, and Ena slinks through. The room extends into mist both below and above, numerous walkways cutting across the space. A bit below them is a large platform, rubble-strewn, with an pool of blood and the body of a female orc. 

Ena follows the ramp they're on, sniping a spider that's off in an alcove, until they reach a large room off to the side, at the bottom of the ramp. There's a spider on the far end attacking the rubble, which Ena again snipes. The way forward is blocked by rubble; Ena goes to investigate the side rooms, which are mostly uninteresting, though the locked one on the left contains a skeleton and a locked chest, holding a staff that Ena turns over in her hands. "I think this summons a flame atronach?" she says. "That's not any better than my spell, but it'll save me magicka. Still, looks like the way out of here is blocked, and I didn't see a ramp further down outside."

"You can have the staff, if you want it." If there's no way forward, perhaps the time has come for the crazed hermit's key. Are there any divots or depressions that seem like a place for the orb?

"Thanks." Ena starts figuring out how to strap it so it's convenient if she needs it. 

Nope, not in this room. 

Any side paths?

There might've once been a hallway going forward, but there's rubble there now. The ramps don't branch, unless you count the ones below the one they were on - it didn't go down any farther, but there were more in the depths below.

"We might have to jump down."

She finishes with the staff, confirms she can draw it quickly, then goes back out to the ramp and looks over the side. "Yeah, I think so, too. That platform isn't too far? Though I don't exactly spend my time jumping from ridiculous heights, that's more my sister's speed."

"If we shift, we can make it easily."

"...Good point. Bats?"

"If you like." Elana cracks her neck and allows the vampire lord within to emerge.

She shifts and in a whirl of color and sound she's down. She coalesces back into her vampire lord form, then drops the transformation. 

There's three paths leading off the platform. One, to the northeast, has caved in. The western ramp leads up, while the eastern leads down. Their endpoints aren't clearly visible from here.

Further down seems like the direction they want to go.

Ena glances around, notes another of those primitive arrows, alongside a rough ax, by the body, and strange fences made of bone and a woven black material. 

The path down curves around the tower, quickly turning out of sight. She creeps down it - and turns to see a strange creature, like a stunted, pale elf, looking right at her.

Ena instinctively freezes, but it doesn't react, so she carefully draws her bow - and it twitches, then turns towards her, raising its jagged sword and charging at her. It's too close - she drops her bow, jumps back and goes for her dagger, but has to dodge a swipe, and she's on the defensive, unable to get enough of a breath to bring her weapon to bear. 

The creature remains entirely silent the entire fight.

There's a rustle as Elana's bats flow around Ena and her opponent before she reforms behind the creature, one clawed hand clamping around the sword wrist and twisting it out of position while she bites for the throat.

That works. The blood tastes nasty, corrupted.

Ena recovers, and frowns. "Thanks for the save... I need to get better at remembering to use that sort of thing in combat. I have more options than my dagger now, after all..."

She grimaces and spits the blood out.

"In a hundred years or so, it'll be second nature."

"Yeah, that does make sense." She sighs. "These things are difficult to detect, and have keen hearing; we might want to avoid talking for the next bit unless we know we've already cleared an area. Or we could just plow through them, that'd probably be my sister's solution."

"They're much easier to kill than constructs, but there is no sense in taking an avoidable risk."

She nods. "That's my thoughts. Onwards, then?"

"Yes."

They continue on, Ena barely avoiding being pushed off the ledge by a random piston, which why the fuck is that even there.

She keeps her daggers in hand in case she rounds a corner into one again - and yup, there's one lurking, she's able to soften her footfalls and sink a dagger into it - 

She eases its body to the floor, but there's still a soft 'thud' and a choked gurgle, and before she can straighten a misaimed fireball explodes on the edge of the path.

Up above them is a more elaborately dressed falmer wielding a staff. The pathway probably continues to its location.

Ena - 

Thinks for a moment, then turns into bats, dropping herself next to the enemy falmer, and whirls in with her daggers.

An arrow clatters against the wall near her head, and there's the sounds of more things moving.

Good, she's learning.

Atronach up along the arrow's path-

The archer doesn't continue shooting, and seems to die fairly quickly.

Ena finishes off the magic-user - and has to dodge as a mechanical spider flings itself at her out of the gloom.

She throws a knife at her waist into its gears, which doesn't kill it but does slow it down, and spends the rest of the fight dodging, letting it lunge past her, and then hitting it from behind. Her knives are pretty much in good shape when she goes to retrieve them, being made of sterner stuff than most; she'll just have to sharpen a few next downtime.

There's a few skeevers that try to attack Elana.

Rats. Ugh. They like to leap and attack the face, but if you catch them in midair that just makes it easier to snap their necks.