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Despite the fact that it hadn't taken long for Elle to fall asleep, she awoke later due to sounds coming from outside her door in the main part of the inn. She was inclined to ignore it, turning over and trying to go back to sleep, but thoughts of her impending meeting with the Greybeards and the anticipation kept her awake. Irritated with herself, she sat up with a groan and rubbed her eyes groggily. There finally seemed to be a lull in the dragon activity in her dreams and now sleep evaded her. Laying here mulling over it wasn't going to help, so she decided to get up and get herself a drink of water from behind the bar. Her bare feet made no sound as she quietly made her away out into the empty main hall, slipping behind the counter and finding a wooden cup with the aid of the faint blue light filtering in through the windows and orange glow from the dying fire. She was about to go searching for water when she noticed that the door to Nil's room was ajar, and upon closer inspection, found that he was no longer inside it. A quick inspection of the interior revealed that his weapon was gone too. Perplexed and rather alarmed now, seeing as there was no sign of him, she opened the front door of the inn to see a tall, horned figure moving toward what appeared to be the entrance to a barrow.

What on earth was he doing? she wondered, but not wanting to yell after him at this hour, she rushed back inside to pull on her boots and grab the scabbard containing her sword. Not bothering to pull on the leather armor over her linen pants and loose shirt, she left her room in a hurry, long red hair an unruly mess since she hadn't tucked it back in its usual braid. So much for sleep, she thought to herself as she jogged back outside to catch up with Nil. She didn't seem to be getting much of it anyway. The air was colder than she had anticipated, but that wasn't enough to deter her.

"Hey," she called softly once she deemed herself in range, "Where are you going? Is something wrong?" she asked, a worried frown on her face and concern in her tone as she caught up to him. It hadn't occurred to her that maybe he was just out for a little night time walk and that everything was actually fine. She had come to expect the worst over the past few days, and wandering around a foreign place in the middle of the night didn't seem safe. Although, Nilovas probably didn't have to worry about that sort of thing as much as she did. Plus it seemed (at least according to her total of two past experiences) that dragons favored the day time, so at least fire breathing lizards weren't an issue. But as of now, the only thing in her tired mind was that she had to make sure everything was okay.

-

Elle smiled an raised an eyebrow, both amused and perplexed by his reply. Although, she was relieved that everything seemed to be fine. Maybe he couldn't sleep either. "Ghost hunting, you say?" she tilted her head with a laugh. Well, it was certainly the hour for it. Elle was a firm believer in the supernatural, more so now considering the fact she could absorb the souls of dragons. She still wasn't sure what all that was about, but she didn't want to think about it at the moment. Ghost hunting sounded more mundane, ironically. He had said it like one might say they were taking a leisurely stroll to gather juniper berries; an enjoyable activity rather than a potentially dangerous outing.

At his invitation for her to join him, she shrugged and fastened the scabbard around her waist. "I couldn't sleep anyway," she consented, her smile weary. Honestly, she was relieved he seemed to want her company, otherwise she would have left him to his own devices and returned to her room to stew in her thoughts. Tracking spirits sounded fun compared to the events of the last few days they had spent traveling, fighting for their lives, and bumping elbows with death itself. Plus, since it seemed they would be traveling together for a while, this might give them a chance to actually get to know each other before she dove head first into all this Dragonborn business.

"So, what makes you think there are spirits here?" she asked as she began walking in the direction he had gestured, using the leather band around her wrist to pull her wild hair back into a half up top knot. She assumed what he had seen was rather ghostly and that he wasn't just wandering about Ivarstead hoping to find trouble. Though trouble seemed to find both of them very easily, no matter where the pair seemed to go. She had survived more near death experiences in the past few days than she had endured in her entire nineteen years of living.

-

Elle had to quicken her pace slightly to be able to keep up with her much taller companion, squinting at the crypt beyond as they drew closer. She found Nil's explanation satisfactory enough and simply shrugged in response. She was certainly no expert on ghosts or the undead and saw no reason to question him further. They would find out if there were spirits within the crypt soon enough. She smiled up at him and nodded her thanks when he pushed the heavy door aside and waited for her to enter as well, passing through the threshold into the cool, musty air of the barrow. There were already lit candles lining the spiraling stair, which she found strange, but they hardly provided enough light to see properly. She was perfectly content to let the half-prince take the lead, staying close behind him as they descended the rickety wooden planks.

"Have you ever encountered ghosts before?" she asked, her voice hardly above a whisper. She couldn't say she had ever had any direct contact with the dead before, only in fleeting glances and through stories she had been told as a child. On the other hand, she assumed that he had run ins with the dead sometimes, although, she couldn't be sure of what he hadn't fought before. That might be a shorter list. She still didn't exactly know that much about him, or even how old he was, so it was hard to say how much experience he had. That being said, he was certainly more of a fighter than she was, and considering what little she did know of his origins, had come upon many more evils than she had. Therefore, it was easy to conclude that ghosts were among them.

This barrow was much darker than the first one they had delved into when they retrieved the claw, more quiet and still. There were no bandits camped in the entryway this time. She almost preferred the ruckus to the silence. To make herself feel better, and to improve visibility, she raised her left hand, a bright, yet gentle blue light appearing above her palm, growing to about the size of an apple before rising above her head and staying there, casting a soft glow down the stairs before them. It wasn't blinding, but it certainly helped light the way better than the sputtering wicks of ancient candles. She wasn't scared, not with Nil around, but there was something eerie about this place that made her apprehensive, and the slightly broader field of vision helped quell some of that anxiety.

-

Elle nodded silently at his response, deciding that it was probably best to stay quiet. This place felt more like a tomb than the last one did, and she didn't want to disturb any ghosts or draugr unnecessarily. She was armed, but the oversized linen shirt would do little to protect her from any magic or blows. Hopefully it was a friendly ghost? If there even was one. Plus, by the looks of the place, it had already been ransacked, anything valuable gone. The candlelight spell illuminated the pillaged corridor, the red haired young woman staying close to her friend as they made their way through the soundless halls. She did pause at the bottom of the stairs to grab the healing potion that Nil overlooked. Hopefully there'd be no need for it, but better be safe than sorry. The pair of them had a habit of getting banged up pretty badly, judging by the last two large fights they had been in. Between Nil getting impaled by a death lord and her blacking out from absorbing the soul of a dragon, it was better to err on the side of caution. Who knew what lurked down here.

As it turns out, that would be answered presently, as she paused when Nil halted at the branching passages. She hadn't been expecting the sudden voice demanding they leave at once or suffer lethal consequences. After having been quiet for so long, it sounded much louder than it probably was, causing her to gasp sharply and instinctively reach out for Nil, the other hand flying to the hilt of her weapon as she focused her eyes on the blue figure behind the iron barred gate. In the few seconds that the apparition was visible, she found that she could, quite literally, see right through him. His hollow form was that of some kind of mer, tall, but not quite the same height as Nil. But, as soon as the spirit appeared, it vanished in a flash of white light, leaving the novice ghost hunters in baffled silence.

When the half-prince spoke to her, Elle relinquished her grip on his arm and looked up at him with a half-hearted smile. "Interesting is one word for it. If I wasn't awake before, I certainly am now," she replied with a shake of her head, pushing stray curls from her eyes as she stepped forward to inspect the gate. There didn't seem to be any way to get through, no levers, switches, or pull chains available to raise the iron barrier. She looked over her shoulder when Nil cleverly suggested continuing onward.

"Well, it seems you were right about this place being haunted," she said as she walked down the remaining passageway, fingers closed around her sword, "I hope he has less threatening things to say. Not exactly a friendly sort." This being the first ghost she had ever faced, she was certainly shaken by its appearance and message. And while it had certainly surprised her with its sudden entrance, she wasn't frightened like she thought she might be. Its statement had been ominous, but had failed to actually act on its threat. Which, she found odd, but didn't comment as they pressed forward. What did she know about the dead and their motivations?

The hall gave way to a sparsely furnished room with another iron door at the far end, two levers on its left and another pair on the right. Now after making it through Bleak Falls Barrow, she knew better than to just go pulling on random levers. They were most likely rigged to kill intruders should the wrong ones be activated. However, upon a swift initial inspection, there didn't seem to be any clear indication as to which lever was the right one. She stopped in front of the door, eyeing the switches suspiciously. "Thoughts?" she asked Nil, crossing her arms as her gaze swept the room for clues.

-

The fact that Nil thought something was off about the ghost made Elle uneasy, even with his dismissal of the statement. Not enough to make her freak out, but it made her wonder what was odd about this particular spirit. Aside from the fact that it was a ghost, there didn't seem to be anything necessarily off about its performance. Sudden appearances, flashy threats, then hasty exits sounded standard of the tall tales she had been told. Then again, her companion had far more hands on experience. She trusted his judgement, and despite what he said about doubting is capabilities, she had full faith in his judgement. She would have refuted the statement, but they had already moved on.

She had figured that the levers were a trap, and his analysis of the situation seemed fairly solid to her. Although, she scoffed indignantly when he suggested that she might want to leave. She may be skittish, but she was no coward. "I'm not going anywhere," she informed him, though did take care to step out of the line of fire of what appeared to be a dart trap, "Besides, if I left, where would you be without me and my low tolerance for alcohol?" she added, though her tone was clearly jesting as she planted her fists on her hips and tilted her head at him.

Despite the show of courage, she still held her breath when he pulled the first switch, though happily, it did not trigger any hidden blades or poisoned projectiles. Nothing happened. "Careful," she had whispers under her breath. However, the second rewarded them with the sound of metal grating against stone. A door had opened somewhere, which she took as a good sign. The third lever lifted the gate blocking their way, meaning that the remaining one was most likely the rigged switch.

"Well, that was anti-climactic," she remarked in agreement with his statement. Compared to the sophistication of the traps in Bleak Falls Barrow, despite being near painless to solve, this was unimpressive. She walked forward through the open portal into the next room, which much like the first, was sparsely furnished and had another door, with the addition of a portcullis. She moved over to the wooden door and tried to open it, only to find it locked. There didn't seem to be any obvious traps around it, unlike the portcullis, which had suspicious looking holes bored into the left side of the wall in a neat row just beyond it. She decided to try her chances with the former barrier, and knelt down in front of the keyhole, reaching into her boot and withdrawing a lock pick. She may not have any experience with ghosts, but she had jimmied a few locks in her day. She was no thief, but her eldest brother liked to "borrow" things from others, so she had learned the skill from him. The lock gave way after some careful fiddling, the Breton getting to her feet and carefully swinging the door open.

It was a tiny room, a chest at the far end, but right as she was about to step through and investigate, she paused when she noticed the pressure plate on the floor. She carefully skirted around it and walked over to the chest, promptly sitting down in front of it, and thinking she was clear of danger, threw open the lid without hesitation. However, the chest had been rigged with a dart trap, and had she been standing or any taller, she would have been peppered with a dozen poisoned projectiles that sailed over her head. She ducked and covered her head, freezing for a moment until the sound of the darts hitting the walls had stopped. She then slowly turned to look over her hunched shoulders to see if Nil had witnessed her near death experience, a sheepish, embarrassed grin on her face.

-

There was irritation clearly stamped across Nil's face and, was that concern? Either way, he didn't seem too happy that she had unwittingly almost turned them both into human pin cushions. Although, his comment sounded less angry and more passive, which surprised her, slightly. "My bad," she murmured apologetically before turning her attention back to the chest. There wasn't much in it; a coin purse, some potions. She grabbed the money but left the rest as she exited the room and fell into step behind Nil once more. She really hadn't expected the chest to be rigged, or even considered the possibility that it could be a trap. Well, she knew better now, and thankfully no one had been hurt. She would have felt terrible if one of the darts had hit him.

However, the ordeal was soon forgotten as they ran into, yes, more traps. What in divines' name was so important in this barrow that it need this many traps guarding it? They had met no opposition from the undead, or even that ghost, so she was really starting to become very confused. She would have asked Nil about it, but he was probably wondering the same thing and was at just as much of a loss as he was. This was confirmed when he murmured something about it out loud moments after they had triggered, and thankfully dodged a fire trap. The iron dragons spewing fire didn't startle her as much as she thought it would have, considering she had faced and survived the real deal. All thought of sleep and what lay in store for her tomorrow had long been forgotten. That is, until the reached the long room with the puzzle door.

In the Barrow, she had been ecstatic to see the story walls and solve the code to open the great stone door. Seeing a replica of it now just brought back unpleasant memories. There was a word wall behind that door, she could feel it. Thankfully she didn't hear any chanting. She had never actually explained to her companion what had transpired in Bleak Falls Barrow. though part of that was because she hadn't been, and still wasn't, sure of what had happened. She wondered what shout lay behind the door, but seeing as they didn't have the key to get in, they wouldn't be finding out tonight. Which she entirely believed was for the better, she wasn't ready to go learning any new dragon words at present.

But Nil had already moved on, and the sound of him unsheathing his weapon caused her to instinctively draw her own and break her train of thought. She moved behind him, weapon ready as the half-prince cautiously pushed the wall inward, revealing it to be a revealing door. She hadn't fully processed the fact that a ghost was eating soup before the alter left to its feet with a battle cry and charged toward them. She kept backwards to avoid the specter attack just in time to avoid Nil's well placed swing, instantly decapitating the phantom. Wait, no.

"So this guy was just pretending to be a ghost?" she gestured to the very now very mundane looking corpse on the floor, confusion stamped across her features, "So much for ghost hunting," she sounded slightly disappointed, looking up at Nil.

Although, that didn't explain why the altmer was posing as a ghost. She skirted around the bleeding carcass into the room he had sprung out of moments ago, looking around curiously. Judging by the set up, he had been living her for some time. There were supplies stocked on shelves, a fire crackling in the pit, all signs that he had made this old crypt his home. Funny, since it was his tomb now too. A leather bound journal resting on the table caught her eye, and sheathing her sword, she picked it up and opened it to inspect its contents. The first paged was titled "Journal of Wyndelius Gatharian", and what followed was an almost... sad account. She frowned as she looked up at Nilovas.

"So turns out, this guy was a grave robber trying to get into the inner chamber, but he didn't have the key. And he didn't want anyone else poking around the barrow, so he created a potion that makes him appear spectral to scare off the locals. But, he had been down here so long that he went mad and believed himself to be a part of the Barrow, one of the dead that had been buried here long ago," she explained after skimming the pages. It didn't seem right to just leave it in the crypt, so she decided to take it with her and ask the innkeeper if he had known Wyndelius tomorrow morning.

-

Elle flipped back through the journal to see if there was any documentation of the recipe, and shook her head. "I'm afraid not," she replied, glancing up, "But, I bet the potion in this," she moved over to the table and picked up a tall flask, purple and turquoise in color, "Is the stuff that made him appear spectral," she guessed, uncorking the top to peer inside. She had no plans on actually drinking it, now didn't seem like a good time. But Nil was right, it may come in handy some day. One never knows when the need might arise to scare the pants off someone. She replaced the cap and offered it to him, having spied another one on the shelf; one for each of them.

"Seeing as we don't have the claw to open that puzzle door," she said, tucking the journal in her belt and picking up the second glass philter, "There's not much else to be done here, so we might as well go back and at least try to get some sleep. Ten thousand steps is a long trek." Compared to their other adventures, this midnight outing was very tame, and had helped take edge off of her anxiety about the future. Maybe she might be able to get some rest now. She needed it, no doubt. Something told her she wouldn't be able to rest easy again for a long time.

-

Elle had a feeling that what awaited them tomorrow would be more than interesting. Terrifying is the word she would use. It seemed the Greybeards were a peaceful sort, but maybe they were threatened by her existence and sought to destroy or capture her. Or she could just be paranoid and they just wanted to understand and help her. She would find out tomorrow, no use worrying abut it tonight. She was grateful for her brief outing, even if she had almost gotten them both poisoned via the trap she had set off. She decided to focus on that instead, and the contents of the journal she had found.The night was cool and crisp compared to the dank chill of the barrow, but she much preferred the warmth of the inn. Thankfully the return to their lodging was uneventful, and she retired to her room after bidding Nil goodnight in return.

Sleep didn't evade her for long this time. If she had any dreams, she didn't remember them, and the next thing she knew, sun was filtering through the window onto her face, its warmth and light causing her to stir. Her eyelids fluttered open as she sat up and stretched, sitting still for a moment as she gathered the motivation to get out of the bed and don her armor. With a soft sigh, she got to her feet and went about getting ready for the long trek up the mountain, a knot of nerves starting to form in her stomach once more. While she knew at least some of her questions would be answered, she was afraid that it would open more doors to the unknown, and almost dreaded what was in store. Was she really cut out for this? Would the Greybeards be disappointed that, out of all the warriors in Tamriel, she was the one who held the power to slay dragons? After all, they were probably expecting some tough warrior with a fighting background, which she was most definitely not.

Similar thoughts swirled around her head as she went out into the inn, making straight for the innkeeper, Wilhelm, who stood behind the counter. "Excuse me," she hailed him, setting the journal she had discovered the night before upon the counter, "My companion and I recovered this from the nearby barrow, belonged to a fellow named Wyndelius. You wouldn't happen to know of him?" she asked.

He looked surprised, picking up the leather-bound pages and leafing through to the last page. "Wyndelius, you say? Aye, he headed out to the barrow long ago. If you're bringing me this... I assume he's dead then?" he asked, to which he received a solemn nod from Elle. "A damn shame, that. Well, thank you for bringing me the journal. I guess that place wasn't haunted after all. I suppose it's only fitting I give you this," he turned around and unlocked a safe before facing her again, a dragon claw in his hand, much like the golden one that activated the door in Bleak Falls Barrow. This one appeared to be made of sapphire, judging by the brilliant blue stones adorning it.

Elle picked it up tentatively and smiled, "Thank you, glad we could help," she said, though she got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. If what was behind that door was anything like the first one, she wasn't sure that she was ready to open it just yet, not until she had a better grasp of the situation. She decided to keep the key to herself for now, storing it in her pack with the rest of her things. She would tell Nil about it later, maybe they could go back to the barrow once they were done up on High Hrothgar.

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