Breton and Bosmer

Dare you venture further?

Just here for gold	14.3%	[ 1 ]
Is this about Skyrim?	14.3%	[ 1 ]
Cool RP - the characters look interesting	0.0%	[ 0 ]
I like the story!	28.6%	[ 2 ]
What happens next?	42.9%	[ 3 ]
Total Votes:			[ 7 ]

[E is for Enigma]

"Using the potion?" Thessaly asked. "What for?"

When Arwen brought up the claw, Thessa had to admit that she hadn't thought about how to distribute its wealth between them. With previous companions, they hadn't much cared for loot, or they had been compensated with coin, which was easily split. But there was an obvious solution.

"Easiest would be to sell it and split the profit," Thessa told Arwen. "But let's not get ahead of ourselves--why was this fellow looking for it?"

[Purplish Space Rock]

"I bet you if we bring this back to that crazy man, we'll get that reward," Arwen said, looking thoughtful and nodding. "He said he wanted spirits cleared out, didn't he? That was no spirit." She kicked the corpse's head again, just for good measure. "That bottle on the table there is called a Philter of the Phantom. It gives you the appearance of a spirit, but keeps you intact. Unfortunately, consuming too much of it can drive you rather crazy."

She flipped the journal back open to the front and steadily read some more, fingers running over the words as she read. She started nodding slowly, getting a few pages in.

"Yes, it looks like he started getting a little touched in the head toward the end here," she offered, a little more than halfway through. "His writing gets disjointed and he starts getting paranoid." Arwen closed it again and stuck it in her bag, sharply cinching it up. "We can show this to the old man and show him there weren't any spirits- just a guy pretending to be one. I don't think there are real spirits here."

[E is for Enigma]

Thessaly snorted as she sheathed her swords.

"That's what you get for drinking potions," she muttered.

On the way out of the would-be ghost's chambers, she realized that Arwen hadn't answered her question.

"So, did the book mention what our friend wanted with the golden claw?"

Once outside those chambers, she noticed that there was one door they hadn't yet inspected. Blood still running hot from their battle, she almost didn't notice the trip wire at the door's corner.

"Just a moment," she said to Arwen, and crouched by the door. Once the trip wire was dispensed, she opened the door cautiously. Two statues guarded a short, waterlogged hallway. She tried hard not to think about what trap might have come out of the spouts on the statues' mouths, but checked the following door closely for any more trip wires before passing through.

The hallway beyond was much more expansive, and, unlike most of the rooms thus far, it was unlit. Thessaly called a few more dancing lights to show them the way. But while her eyes were busy searching the floor for more pressure pads, she didn't notice the intricate wall carvings that lined the hall.

[Purplish Space Rock]

Arwen raised her eyebrows, having entirely missed her question as she poured over the journal.

"Oh! Let me look again," she said, pulling it from her pack again. She got up to follow Thessaly, nose in the book as she walked, narrowly avoiding running into the walls. "'They want to find the burial chamber on their own and keep the riches for themselves,'" she said, slapping the journal shut. "That's that. It sounds like the claw opens a door. Aside from that, the last few pages are the ramblings of a man gone mad."

Following along, Arwen called up her own lights and held them low, to see Thessaly's back and watch her step. They passed the wall carvings and she looked up, holding her lights higher to read. They weren't in any language she understood, but they were pretty and intricate.

"Look," she said, tapping on Thessaly's pack. "These look important."

[E is for Enigma]

Thessaly followed the dusty floor all the way to the far wall, where her eyes lit upon a very strange structure. Figures carved in sliding stone rings beneath a central symbol. None of it made any sense to her, but upon closer inspection, Thessa found notches in the central circle. It reminded her of something. She held out three fingers and a thumb towards the notches, and her hand took a familiar shape.

"Opens a door," she muttered, then grinned and turned back to Arwen, showing her the shape of her hand. "Oi Arwen--this look familiar to you?"

[Purplish Space Rock]

Tearing her eyes off the walls, having been glaring at what looked like a giant stone whale, Arwen looked around and studied Thessaly's hand for a moment, not quite getting it.

"Uh..." she started, shaking her head a little. It finally clicked and she snapped her fingers, which put her light out. "Oh! It looks like the sapphire claw!" She grinned as well, bouncing and pointing at the door. "If we go back to the crazy man and get the claw, then we can get in there and find riches! Or what are rumored to be riches, which is almost as good! Unless it's more draugr!" She still sounded delighted at the prospect of getting on the other side of the door, despite the idea that undead may be hiding behind it, waiting to spring up and attack. "Sounds like a lot of fun- are you ready for it?"

[E is for Enigma]

"Ready as anything," Thessaly replied, checking her swords compulsively.

Thessaly may have been a little hesitant to take the offerings to the dead the villagers or other passers-by may have left over the years, but a long-sealed tomb was bound to hold treasures long forgotten and long since devoid of ownership. Easy, guilt-free pickings for the likes of her and Arwen.

"Try to keep calm, eh?" Thessaly asked her companion as they headed once more for the surface. "Wouldn't want to give away to that old fellow what he's got there."

She was a bit concerned that Arwen's excitement over the new value of the claw might incline its owner to keep it for himself.

"Maybe I should do the talking?" she suggested as Arwen bounced along before her. She wasn't sure about the breton girl, but Thessa had one hell of a gambler's mask.

[Purplish Space Rock]

Arwen backed her bow and skipped along, kicking her heels against the ground as they went. She nodded, reluctantly agreeing to staying calm.

"How about I go get drunk while you talk to the old man?" she said, glancing back at Thessaly. She stopped at the entrance to the barrow, stepping aside so she could lead; it was better to let her exit first, being an archer and all.

"I'll get drunk before we bed down for the night, and you get to talk to the old man, and I will pass out on the tavern floor. That way I won't get in your way! That is, assuming we spend a night at the inn before heading out again. I'm a little tired after dispatching draugr and a fake elfin spirit."

[E is for Enigma]

Thessaly laughed. "Fair enough. I might join you in a drink after--though we might want to be cautious. I don't want to be battling druagr and a headache come the morrow."

Thessa had other reasons for being reserved. Assuming their would-be patron granted them the claw after their deeds had been proven, she would need to guard their prize carefully. She had no doubt that at least a few greedy eyes at the inn had made note of the man's unique possession. She wouldn't be surprised if someone had already made him an offer for it--or otherwise tried to take it for themselves. And once it changed hands, his problems would become theirs. Arwen could become as wildly drunk as she liked, but if Thessaly took the claw for safe keeping--something she was sure Arwen wouldn't object to--she would have to keep her wits about her.

She paused at that thought, wondering a moment. She decided finally that it wasn't right or fair to make assumptions.

"Arwen," she said, pausing in her step. "Do you trust me?"

[Purplish Space Rock]

"Oh, the headache can be mitigated with some water and a sweet roll or two," she said, waving a hand dismissively. "How d'you think I was able to get up and go so quickly earlier today? I take a glass of water for every drink I have. Or close to it, at least, you know, when you're drunk you can't exactly keep that close of an eye on how many drinks you've had."

As they exited the barrow, evening greeted them. It was a bit colder than when they'd set out that morning, but not bitingly so. The rustling of small animals could be heard, but it lessened and disappeared as they set food outside. When asked, Arwen turned around, looking as if she were greatly surprised by the question.

"I trust you enough to share loot with you, don't I?" she said, very serious. "Look. I can read people very well, partially on my own intuition, and partially by an odd magical sense my parents also have but can't explain. Unless they're one and the same, we have no way of telling, really. My point is, I trust you a bit further than I can throw you."

[E is for Enigma]

"Huh." Thessaly hadn't ever thought of moderating wine with water before. There were those she knew of that watered their wine, but that had never satisfied her pallet--perhaps she would give this new method a try.

She arched her eyebrows in surprise. Thessa wasn't sure what to think about Arwen's reasons for trusting her. She supposed she should simply be grateful that the mage had any reason to trust her at all--and at least this strange magical intuition of hers was better than just deciding to trust her because of her ill-gotten birth right as the Dragonborn.

"Fair enough," she replied. "It'd say the same for you, beanpole, but I'm fair certain I could throw you quite a ways."

The rest of their journey back to Ivarstead was similarly light hearted--until Thessaly spotted two guards in livery clustering the entrance to the Inn, speaking animatedly to locals on the porch, one of which was the fellow who had sent them on this veritable goose chase.

Thessaly checked the looseness of her blades, then strode in.

"What's going on here?" she asked.

The guards took no notice of Thessaly and Arwen, but when their patron spotted them, he concluded his conversation with the guard and turned to them.

"It's been stolen!" he cried. "Took right off me while I slept!"

"Stolen?" Thessaly echoed. "What's been stolen?"

"My treasure," the man said. "What I promised you. A thief made off with it. These here guards are worthless s**t-eaters. Don't know why we have 'em at all."

Said s**t-eaters both aimed dark glances at the older man.

"How long ago?" Thessaly asked him. "Do you know which way the thief went?"

This time, one of the guards answered her. "Could have been any time after noon," he told Thessaly with a growl. "This old codger's been sleeping off his drink all day."

The guard got an equally sour look from the man.

Thessaly sighed impatiently. "And neither of you saw this thief leave the Inn?"

The guards both shook their heads. "No one's been in or out of here that weren't regulars," one of them told her.

[Purplish Space Rock]

Arwen grinned and put her cowl down, brushing a hand through her hair. She shook her head, still smiling.

"Hey, come on now. I'm not that skinny," she said, looking down at herself. She was, in fact, that skinny, however.

The rest of their journey kept a smile on her face, as they talked and chatted and joked in good spirits. They'd had a lot of fun and some scares that day, and it was exactly the sort of day Arwen looked for- fun and a little dangerous.

As they approached the inn, she noticed the same, the guards and the old man on the porch. Her heart fell a few inches into her tummy and she sighed, fearing the absolute worst- that something important had been stolen. When the guard confirmed her unhappy suspicions, she groaned loudly, tossed her arms down, and stomped her feet a little, like a petulant child.

"Oh, please, come on!" she wailed, highly disappointed. "We went through all that trouble for the pretty claw and it's been stolen?" She inhaled deeply and gave a labored sigh, rolling her eyes. The guards gave her a Look, and then looked at each other; a grown woman acting like a five year old?

"This thief probably used an invisibility potion and disappeared right in your room before they went right out the front door," said Arwen, moving her hands to her hips. She paused, eyes wide, before she crossed her arms, looking slightly shifty. "I mean, you know...if that's how thieves think. I wouldn't really know." She shrugged, a tiny smile crossing her lips.

[E is for Enigma]

Thessaly's dark elven eyes darted between the two guards standing at attention. Something was bothering her.

"Arwen," she said. "Do you have any way of checking for magic use in the vicinity? If someone used a potion of invisibility, I mean--would you be able to find them?"

Her gaze didn't leave the guards, however. Since when had Ivarstead had need for more than one guard?

She turned to Arwen now, not wanting to give away her suspicions. Somehow, she needed to get Arwen away that they might discuss it in private.

[Purplish Space Rock]

Thessaly raised a good point. Arwen hadn't thought of that, not focused on magic at the moment; after all, their precious reward had gone missing. She nodded and uncrossed her arms, head tilted.

"Yes, that's entirely feasible," she said, shrugging with palms up. Thessaly was also giving her a Look, and she stopped herself from asking why she brought it up. If she was getting an odd look, there was a reason, and Thessaly seemed the type of person to have a purpose for everything she did. "There's a spell one can use, but I'm not sure I can do that. I'm just a beginner."

Arwen returned Thessaly's Look, setting her head straight, less inquisitive. She'd picked up on it and made an assumption, though she spoke tentatively- she wasn't entirely sure what Thessaly wanted, but she got the sensation that she was supposed to shut her mouth and open her ears.

[E is for Enigma]

"Still, let's give the spell a try, eh?" Thessaly asked of Arwen, then turned back to the guards.

"If you would both kindly keep everyone from entering the inn, my mage friend here will perform the spell. She'll need her concentration, so we can't have anyone coming in."

The guards blinked at hearing orders from the elf, but eventually nodded.

"Of course, lady," one of them said.

Thessaly nodded, then turned to their patron.

"Now, you, mister...." She realized she didn't actually know his name.

"Jonas," the fellow replied.

"Jonas, right, if you'll follow us. We'll need you for the spell, since you were the thief's target."

The man nodded readily.

"Yes, yes," he said. "Let's get this done."

Thessaly looked back to Arwen, hoping she'd follow along, but she was fair certain the mage had already gotten her message. They needed privacy for what was to come next.

"Well, after you, lady mage," Thessaly prompted, gesturing to the door of the inn as the guards cleared the locals off the porch.