They're in a hallway that seems to form a spiral around the center of the tower. To their left there are stairs going up, but Erandur goes right instead, and the path consists of flat landings followed by stairs going down. The wall between them and the hollow inside of the tower is broken by grates that permit one to look into it and down a couple of stories, where they can see a circular chamber with a tall altar. On this altar there is—something—protected by a circular energy field, and Erandur points it out to Ruby. "I believe that is the artefact I mentioned, the Skull of Corruption. If we can reach it, I will be able to disable the wards around it and destroy it."

Will you, now. You continue to know a suspicious amount about these people.

Nevertheless, there's no point in remarking on it; if Erandur turns hostile Ruby will deal with it then. For now he'll instruct his Dremora to scout ahead, since it's going to be their tank for the likely coming fights.

They advance slowly, counterclockwise, past a few doors to their right that presumably lead to the various rooms that probably line the walls of the tower.

After walking a little bit, they see two orcs sitting on the floor, looking groggy and confused.

And naked. It seems that they have also not been spared Sanguine's prank.

"...oh, of course it affected everyone in the temple. You know, I bet Sanguine would love it if we could solve this with less fighting and more fucking."

The orcs hear him and immediately jump to their feet, trying to get to attention despite their grogginess. "We mean you no harm," Erandur says, but it's no good; they don't even say anything, they merely attack.

    With their bare fists. And no armour. And no magic. Which means the Dremora gruesomely slices through them with its greatsword. "Weaklings," it growls.

"Rrright, then," Ruby says, feeling a bit queasy and deciding he will stop looking at the bisected bodies right about now.

Erandur seems—mostly unaffected by the gore, actually.

"Damn it," he swears after walking past them and noticing that the doorway that continues their path down seems blocked by an energy field not unlike the one surrounding the Skull of Corruption. "...we do not have enough time for me to dismantle this, the cultists and the orcs will all wake if we wait that long."

Ruby walks towards the barrier, gingerly dodging the pooling blood, and hums thoughtfully as he examines it. Then he points at the floor. "Not all of them. Seems like this barrier also traps the Miasma in, so whoever is on the other side will probably not wake. Right?"

"...good observation. Though the grating into the hollow center of the tower would still allow some of it to escape, even if the Miasma is heavy and it would take a while."

"Sure, which means we don't have forever, but we do have at least a while. Unless you have a better idea."

"Well, there is... one possibility."

"From your hesitation I take it that it's not an obvious unalloyed improvement over the time-consuming solution."

"It is not," he admits. "There exists a concoction called Vaermina's Torpor which can be drunk to inhabit someone else's memories for a time and then synchronise some aspects of it with the physical world. You could use that to use someone's memories of the other side of this barrier and then transport your body there and disable it from the inside."

"Something tells me that that 'you' in those sentences was not a general-you."

He sighs. "No. It uses Vaermina's magic as a key component, and so it does not work on anyone who follows another; in fact, it would be actively poisonous. And since I follow Mara, I cannot safely drink it."

"You realise how this sounds, right? Especially given that—well, you seem to know rather a lot about this place."

"Yes. I suppose there's no use in hiding it. I used to be one of the cultists here, decades ago. I fled at the time of the attacks and have spent the time since then trying to atone for my sins. Mara herself sent me back here, when the nightmares started, and I believe it to be her plan for me to undo these wrongs."

"Orrrr, and don't get me wrong, you sound like a swell guy, but we've just met, and for all I know you are still a priest of Vaermina and you just want my help with waking the others."

"...yes, I suppose that's a reasonable conclusion."

And just then, the sounds of fighting begin to be heard from upstairs.

"—seems like some of your erstwhile colleagues and orcs have woken up," says Ruby. "Let's go check on them."

And without waiting for Erandur, he starts making his way back up and towards one of the doors to the side rooms. The closest one seems to be barred from the other side but the next one opens.

Erandur follows, of course. He is not, in fact, still a priest of Vaermina, and he does wish to help Ruby.

The door they walk through seems to lead to a set of suspended walkways which rest atop stone pillars in what used to be a library and is now the ruins of one. The central pillar hosts a large circular platform that seems to have a mystic altar of some sort, and a mage and an orc are having a fight there.

Downstairs, small groups of fighters are duking it out. It seems that the main reason why the orcs haven't entirely lost is that they do have some mages of their own who are kitting the physical combatants out with magical shields and conjured arms. A few corpses are also visible—some looking like they just never woke from their slumbers while others look more recent.

    "A feast!" declares the Dremora before immediately jumping into the fray.

"I should have predicted this. Dremora, please don't kill the Orsimer fighting cultists unless they attack you first!" Ruby calls.

    "...I will obey," it calls back sounding disgruntled, its greatsword making short work of the surprised mage. Thankfully for it, the Orsimer the mage had been fighting does attack it so it can have its fun.

Ruby sighs and starts using Vaermina cultists as target practice for his archery skills.

Erandur... doesn't help. Not with the "taking out people" part. But when some of the cultists realise what's happening and start trying to take Ruby out, Erandur casts protections and heals on him to keep him alive.