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]

Thessaly couldn't quite fathom the thief's motives, and that made her nervous. Arwen's question of what he might do to get the claw back only increased that concern. Money was all well and good, but there was still the mystery of the barrow to be investigated--there was a strong chance they'd find more beneath the tomb than whatever this fellow offered for the claw.

"I know a merchant who will give me one thousand septims for the claw," the thief told Arwen when she asked after its price. "If you give it to me, I will give you one thousand two hundred septims. No merchant in Skyrim would give you this price. No merchant in Cyrodiil, either."

Thessaly toyed with the claw in her hand, but the thief's eyes never strayed from their faces. There was no doubt in her mind how badly he wanted it--but it wasn't from an obsession with wealth. His expression was oddly earnest.

"You don't appear to have one thousand septims tucked away in that uniform," Thessaly noted.

"I have other items of value," he replied. "And I am willing to trade."

Thessaly looked again at Arwen. She knew the mage's love of money. This offer must have been enticing. Going into the barrow was a gamble in more ways than one. Thessaly had no idea weather or not the claw would work on the door, or what they would find beyond it if they did. On the other hand, if this fellow was no liar, they could make some fair gold to split between them and wash their hands of this character, with none the wiser. Perhaps it was Thessaly's inclination to disappoint the thief's eager desires, but she turned back to Arwen and conveyed to her in a whisper her vote.

"I want to know what connection this claw has to the door below the barrow," she said, face turned from the thief in the unlikely event he could read lips. "After that, I have no qualms selling it. What say you?"

[Purplish Space Rock]

Watching their exchange, Arwen turned her head back and forth as each one spoke, from Ennis to Thessaly, Thessaly to Ennis.

"A thousand septims isn't as much as you think it is, stranger," she said, almost mumbling in thought. She was very still, something she generally had trouble doing unless she was asleep. "I think I'd rather see what that claw is all about." She spoke without turning her head, eyes still on Ennis as if he'd do something drastic for their treasure.

"I'm very interested as to what it's for. I think you agree, Thessaly. I think you, too, want to know." She finally turned her great grey eyes on her, looking a little creepy with her eager smile. "Let's just kill 'im and be on our way. Come on, right in the eye," she said, suddenly yanking an arrow from her back. She mimed the action of firing a bow in Ennis' direction, tittering. "Or we could flay him anyway, even though he sat like a good dog."

[E is for Enigma]

Thessaly resisted urging Arwen to be quiet, unsure she wanted the thief to know of their own interest in the claw, when they knew none of his. But when Arwen drew the arrow, Thessa gave pause, narrowing her eyes. Was this show of violence an act, or had she fallen into company with someone who possessed a far more wicked heart than she'd originally believed?

"You think it's necessary?" she asked Arwen evenly, still keeping her voice down.

The thief watched the exchange avidly, eyes widening by degrees as Arwen spoke. Horror struck his face as she drew the arrow, and he threw himself on the ground before them.

"Please," he begged. "Don't kill me. I'm not worth it. Please, I'll give you the money, just let me live."

[Purplish Space Rock]

Arwen looked down, raising her eyebrows, and place the arrow's flat side under the man's jaw. She pulled his head up and stared him in the eyes, holding it for several seconds before she tucked the arrow away. The smile dropped from her face and she tucked the arrow away, abruptly pulling it back, to turn her attention to Thessaly.

"No, I don't think it's necessary," she said with a shrug. "I didn't think he was that much of a coward, but he just proved me wrong. If I were more fun I suppose I would have asked to make a bet with you on whether he'd snivel and beg for his life or have the stones to take the two of us, but I can only handle so much fun at one time."

She shifted, stepped back, and did a full-body stretch, hands over her head.

"I say we do two things," she said with a sigh, once she'd finished. "I say we take the claw, do what we want to do with it, and sell it to this wibbling pile after we're done. Meet him in Riften, maybe. Or we can take him along with an arrow at the back of his head. Whatever you'd like to do, really, I value your opinion."

[E is for Enigma]

Thessaly nodded at that.

"I'd say that's fair," she said. "Sound like a fair deal to you, fella?"

The thief nodded emphatically.

"Good," said Thessaly. "Meet us here tomorrow afternoon. You'll get your claw. Just make sure none of the villagers see you. A few of them may be out for your blood after this."

"But... what am I to do for food?" the thief asked, lip trembling.

"You have enough coin for a trade, but didn't bother buying rations?" Thessa sneered. "That ain't our problem, friend."

The thief looked away from her, expression stricken. Thessa wondered briefly when he'd last eaten, if he really was this hopeless.

She cursed herself as she did it, but she grabbed a pair of apples from her pack and threw them in the dirt before him. His eyes widened in surprise.

"You'll owe me more for those when we get back," Thessa told him, shouldering her pack and turning her back on him. He said not a word, but gathered the apples up and cradled them in his arm as he watched them leave.

[Purplish Space Rock]

Bouncing a bit on her toes as they walked, Arwen caught up to walk next to Thessaly. She clicked her teeth in disapproval.

"I wouldn't have given him apples," she said, shrugging and turning up her nose comically. "I would have left his stomach to rumble." She cracked a smile, swinging her arms. She paused, step faltering, and touched her breastbone, brow furrowed. "My chest feels funny," she said, looking a little concerned. "It feels like...guilt? Or maybe disdain? Or...melancholy? I'm really not sure. I've only felt happiness and adrenaline for so long I don't know what anything else feels like, I think." She glanced back at Ennis, who was busy biting into an apple quite innocently. "I'm not sure what it is, but that guy made me feel it."

[E is for Enigma]

Thessaly shook her head a little once they were out of sight of the pitiable thief. She still wasn't sure what to make of Arwen. It seemed she'd been hasty in her assumptions about the mage, but it was easier to believe that her haughty treatment of the thief had been a farce than otherwise. At the very least, Thessa would keep her own counsel on the matter, and keep an eye out for hints of anything different. In the mean time, she had to wonder what on earth the girl was about.

"Arwen," she said with an incredulous grin. "You are possibly the strangest person I have ever met."

The rest of the way back to town was uneventful--though the villagers looked quite surprised to see them both coming down the road than out of the inn.

"A thief dressed himself as one of your own in order to make off with the claw without suspicion," Thessa explained to Ivarstead's guard, within earshot of whomever else was interested to know. "Next time keep your equipment more secured."

"What about the thief, then?" the guard wanted to know.

Thessaly shrugged, showing them the retrieved claw.

"Don't worry about him," Thessa said, already stalking off. Let them think what they wanted.

She was halfway to the barrow before she turned back to Arwen.

"I'm about ready to find out what this does. How about you?"

[Purplish Space Rock]

"What? I'm really not sure what this feeling is, it's odd! At least you know how to describe your feelings." She crossed her arms as they walked, though she still smiled, despite the odd sensation in her chest. She remained quiet as Thessaly spoke to the guards, perfectly content to remain quiet and let her do the talking. She wasn't one to make up stories or keep up appearances, so it was best to let her handle all that business.

When spoken to, Arwen nodded, a toothy grin spreading across her face.

"Yes, goodness. I'm so ready I was ready before I knew I wanted it," she said, bouncing and vibrating in excitement. "Let's go, yes?"

As the approached the barrow, a fox looked up from eating a mouse and dropped it, running off in fright. Arwen stepped over the half-eaten mouse with a grimace on her face, tongue sticking out. She made a disgusted noise and let Thessaly lead the way into the barrow, drawing her bow as they went.

"After you," she said, pointing with a handful of arrows.

[E is for Enigma]

As before, Thessaly lead the way into the barrow, one sword drawn, and the other loose in its sheath. She moved slowly and kept wary--they may have passed this way before, but Thessa didn't trust this place to be completely devoid of traps after their first walk-through. However, they did manage to reach the long cavern and its mysterious door unmolested.

"Well," Thessaly said, stepping up to it. "Let's see if that was worth it."

Reverently, she brought out the claw and fitted its claws into the three notches at the center of the door. They fit perfectly. When Thessa let go, they clung, suspending the claw in the door. But nothing happened. She pressed the claw, but it would not go deeper. She turned it this way and that, but the door would not budge, and no mechanism activated. It looked as though the slab in which the claw fit should rotate, but it would not do, no matter how she forced it.

"Malacath's balls," Thessaly snarled. "How're you supposed to work the blasted thing?"

[Purplish Space Rock]

Arwen grumbled as she reached up and plucked the claw out of the wall.

"Maybe it has directions," she said, turning it over slowly in her hands. "Maybe it came with a warning label and a direction sheet we weren't aware of."

She had it upside down and sideways when she paused, as if suddenly frozen. She looked up at the door, then down, up and down, before she finally held it out to Thessaly, palm of the claw facing up.

"It does have directions!" Arwen bounced a little and laughed wildly, looking perhaps the most excited she'd looked the whole time they had been together. "I figured something out! I feel important!" She jammed it back in the door very definitely, as if it were supposed to do something, but that was the moment she realized that it wasn't helpful. "Ah- well- it says something, I didn't...really look at what it was. Sorry."

[E is for Enigma]

"It what?" Thessaly came over and took the claw out of the wall. Sure enough, there were three symbols lining the inside of it, and three more in the door. They were images of animals--a moth, owl, and wolf.

"But they don't match," Thessa said almost to herself, reaching out to touch the symbols. "Did we get the wrong claw? Are there more, or...?"

The stone gave way beneath her hand. Surprised, Thessa gave the symbol a push, and the stone wheel turned, revealing another symbol hidden in the door. Finally, things clicked into place. Thessa shifted the rotating stone rings to match the claw's symbols, then placed the claw once more in the notches. This time, after sliding all the way back, something clicked and gave way. She found that the claw's stone panel turned now, unlocking the mechanism embedded within. There were more, heavier clicks, and the door began sliding into the floor.

Thessa hastily withdrew the claw and tucked it back into her shirt as the massive stone puzzle slid laboriously into the ground at their feet. A cold draft wafted out of the tunnel, stale with age and dusty. Thessa coughed a bit, waving the must away, holding out a couple conjured lights to look ahead.

It didn't look much different from the outer tomb, though it was quite a bit more dusty. There was little to decorate the place, most broken down by time or the roots that had dug deep into the cavern. Random trinkets, some even serviceable, littered the tunnel. Thessa toed at an auroch-horned helmet, the iron not yet fallen to rust. This wasn't the kind of treasure she was looking for.

Further on down the tunnel, she could see another door, overhung by a portcullis. At once she was on alert again--there was no reason that whomever had entered this place so long ago was any less paranoid than their potion-guzzling friend. She approached cautiously, searching the place thoroughly for traps. To her relief and suspicion, she found none--not even in the most obvious place, under the interestingly well-kept book on the pedestal that stood in the middle of the room.

"Must be a spellbook," she mused aloud, plucking it up and tossing it to Arwen. "Here--ought to be something you can use, eh?"

[Purplish Space Rock]

Arwen followed along, as she often did, perfectly content to do so. She didn't mind letting someone else take the lead, and being second in line or in second place, as long as she was able to have as much fun as possible.

She would have conjured light herself, if Thessaly's weren't adequate and bright, but there was no need. A few candles were still lit, despite the damp and dust and long-darkness. Arwen reached up to feel a large chandelier-like bowl of ash and fire above the pedestal, magic evident in its existence.

"Isn't it marvelous what magic can do?" she said, shaking her head. She was still looking at it when Thessaly tossed the book at her, so she missed it and fumbled to catch it, dropping it on the floor. "Oops." Bending over to pick it up, she cradled it gently- she recognized a spell tome when she saw one. "Ooh, I like spellbooks," she said, opening it up to flip through. There was little of interest inside- it was a spell that was somewhat useless to her, but she read it anyway.

As she ran her fingers down the pages, which were again swaying slightly in the lack of wind, and both her fingers and the pages flashed white. It was over quite quickly, and the book had gone from being decently-preserved to ruined, the pages brown and falling apart, the cover sagging. Arwen set it back on the pedestal and closed it, the cover nearly coming off.

"That wasn't very helpful, but I can at least add another spell to my collection of them," she said, shrugging. "Onward, yes?"

[E is for Enigma]

"Anything good?" Thessaly asked of the book Arwen appeared to have used. Thessa had never before seen a mage use a spell book--did they all fall apart like that one, or was it just because that one was old? She didn't feel like asking--what did it matter to someone who wasn't like to use them anytime soon? It wasn't like she could read what was in them. And she didn't want to appear stupid.

She'd only barely gotten a reply when the portcullis slammed shut in front of her, as well as at the other side of the room.

"What did you trip?" she demanded of Arwen, not knowing that there had been no physical trigger. Regardless, they were trapped in this room now, and the coffins laid across the room were opening. The seals broke with popping sounds as the waking corpses beneath forced their lids open.

Thessaly swiftly drew her second blade and rushed the nearest druagr, cutting it down before it had a chance to crawl out of its resting place, then dashing on to the next.

((Edited: Whoops, I left out a few words. P: ))

[Purplish Space Rock]

"No, nothing good," said Arwen, flicking the corner of the cover. It twitched and the last bit of paper holding it on to the spine broke, letting it fall to the ground. She snickered and nudged it with her foot. "It's a spell to hone and harden soft armor. Unless you'd like to use it, I'll have no use for it- I like my leather." She patted her stomach as if she were hungry, smiling about her armor.

At the same time Thessaly pulled her blades, she yanked her bow from its clip, highly surprised. She snatched a handful of arrows and drew back, lining up.

"I didn't touch anything!" she snapped, releasing. The arrow whistled as it traveled and lodged itself in the nearest undead's eye, forcing it back several steps. Arwen shoved arrows in her mouth to hold on to, still trying to speak. "I' wa'n't me!" She began to get worried as arrow after arrow didn't bring it down, but it finally dropped, and she readjusted her stance. She pulled back further and the second one went down after three taut arrows, which only brought to light how frightening these abominations were- one in the face or two in the chest usually brought down most live people.

As four were down, more popping occurred and projectiles suddenly started raining down on them. It was difficult to see in the dark, so Arwen cast a ball of light in the center of the room, lighting it up- and revealing walking skeletons standing on high platforms.

"Gods, when will this stop?" she shouted in anger, arrows from her teeth used up.

[E is for Enigma]

With her attention on the new enemies above them, Arwen didn't see a fallen druagr rise behind her and amble forward. Thessaly lunged forward and plunged her blade into its decrepit gut, opening a dried, gaping wound in the creature and felling it.

"You get those up there, sharpshooter," she called from Arwen's back. "I'll take care of these."

She darted off to strike down the rest of the ground-floor walkers.