Little Italy

Sᴋʏʀɪᴍ ᴘʀᴘ w/ Lɪᴛᴛʟᴇ Iᴛᴀʟʏ

Elle sat panting, her sword still pointed at the spider, even though it was clearly dead. Her brain took a moment to process that fact, and once it registered, she let out a sigh of relief. She sent a prayer of thanks to the divines, letting her sword drop back to her side. She had to say, she was definitely surprised Nilovas had offered her help at all, cocking her head at him slightly before accepting his hand and hauling herself to her feet.

"Thanks," she said, sheathing her sword and dusting herself off.

All the spiders were dead now, thank goodness, so now they could get a move on. Ralph was the first to take action, walking forward toward another outlet on the far side of the cavern leading deeper into the labyrinth. Elle started after him, silently hoping that they were done dealing with hostility. She was growing tired and her head still hurt. She was pretty sure she had bruised her tailbone too.

Well, this had just been the best day of her life. In fact, she didn't have anything left sassy to say, which rarely ever happened. If only she hadn't tripped over that stupid imperial during the ambush. She could be sitting in Falkreath, her intended destination, enjoying a pleasant day with her old friend. But no, she was stuck here trudging through the underground to avoid that stupid dragon who thought it would be funny to drop in and say hi. Then again, if it weren't for that 'stupid dragon', she would be dead right about now.

They hadn't gone far down the cavern when ralof halted and crouched, a finger to his lips. Elle mimicked his position, poking her head over his shoulder to see what he saw. A sleeping cave bear was curled up not far from them, its growl-like snore echoing around the cavern.

"Could we sneak around her?" Elle whispered to Ralof.

Sᴋʏʀɪᴍ ᴘʀᴘ w/ Lɪᴛᴛʟᴇ Iᴛᴀʟʏ

Haha oh man XDDD Well now we know

Sᴋʏʀɪᴍ ᴘʀᴘ w/ Lɪᴛᴛʟᴇ Iᴛᴀʟʏ

Elle hated spiders. If there was one thing that truly terrified her, it was spiders. Not other bugs, not monsters, not trolls, just those filthy arachnids. Give her one of those nasty chaurus any day, it would be better than a spider. As the cave became more riddled with cobwebs, she started getting chills up and down her spine and slowly fell to the back of the group, clutching the hilt of her sword as the air became fouler and the webs became more numerous. Hopefully there weren't any or there was just one or two so she didn't have to go near them.

She was glad no one else seemed to be paying her much attention. Perks of being small and normal, she guessed. It was definitely a relief because she didn't want them to think less of her than they probably already did. She muttered something under her breath about the whole situation when they reached the cavern.Upon seeing the spiders, she froze rooted to the spot and turned ten shades paler than she already was. Curse the dämned things and their beady eyes. She was pretty sure it was no natural for a creature to have so many limbs. Or eyes. And what was even with those pincers? Whose idea was it create such a thing in the first place? Why was one of them coming right for her???

At that moment, the same fear that caused her to freeze urged her arms and legs into action. She whipped out her sword with one hand and thrust the other out, flames shooting from her plan as she stumbled backwards. The spider gave a screech but continued to scuttle forward, now properly enraged and in pain. She was too busy focusing on her own predicament to see how Jym and Ralof were faring.

She was hacking at its face when the giant spider dropped out of nowhere. Somebody screamed. She would later realize that it was probably herself.

She must have either blacked out for a few seconds because the next time she blinked, the spider she had been fighting was in pieces on the ground and she was charging at the larger arachnid with a shout of defiance.

Wait, what the hell? Why are you running toward it? You're going the wrong way! something in her mind screamed at her. But it was too late to turn back now because while its focus was on Nilovas, the monster had spotted her. Well, the sooner it died the sooner she could get out of this stinking hole.

She darted around to the back of the spider and drove her blade into its abdomen as hard as she could. The frostbite spider let out an agony filled screech and lashed out with one of its remaining legs, since Nil was hacking of some of the others. It caught her in the stomach and sent her flying backwards, the wind knocked right out of her as she slammed into the ground for around the hundredth time that day. The spider, now missing a few limbs, limped toward her, mouth frothing angrily. She didn't have time to get to her feet, scooting backwards and holding up her sword, black spots in the sides of her vision. She probably had a concussion, but that was the last thing on her mind as the beast loomed over her with fangs snapping.

Sᴋʏʀɪᴍ ᴘʀᴘ w/ Lɪᴛᴛʟᴇ Iᴛᴀʟʏ

Ugh geez XDDD I think i was trying to make her not such a fragile snowflake but in doing so i made her too tough oops?

Sᴋʏʀɪᴍ ᴘʀᴘ w/ Lɪᴛᴛʟᴇ Iᴛᴀʟʏ

Elle dodged an arrow that was aimed straight at her forehead, jumping forward and tackling the imperial by the waist with one arm, her sword arm pulled back and poised to strike. As soon as they hit the ground, she drove the point of the blade through the man's heart, a dying cry escaping his lips before he went slack. She stood up and yanked out the sword, taking his bow and arrows. They may come in handy later.

Satisfied with herself and feeling much redeemed after getting stuck in that barrel, she sheathed her sword and looked to see how the others were faring. Rap of had finished off his opponent, as had Nil and Jym, the latter of which was giving her a disapproving stare. True her fighting methods were unorthodox, but it had worked, hadn't it?

She glared back with a toss of her hair over one shoulder, crossing her arms and looking around for a way out. Nil had gotten to it first, and now it was his turn to lighten the mood.

"I can see the dragon's reasoning in choosing this place as a target, that is for certain," she replied sarcastically, walking through the door to a wooden wall, a lever next to it. She shrugged and pulled it, the wall quickly turning into a bridge leading onward, the keep becoming more like a cave the farther along they went.

We must be getting close to the exit, she thought hopefully, crossing the bridge and walking deeper into the caves.

Sᴋʏʀɪᴍ ᴘʀᴘ w/ Lɪᴛᴛʟᴇ Iᴛᴀʟʏ

Yah dude I feel the same way.

Sᴋʏʀɪᴍ ᴘʀᴘ w/ Lɪᴛᴛʟᴇ Iᴛᴀʟʏ

Elle rolled her eyes and walked after Nil, Ralof close behind her. The two mortals didn't have to say a word to know how the other felt about all this. Elle decided it would be wiser to remain quiet instead of getting her head chopped off or something equally terrible.

Ralof stepped up and took he lead again, this time they entered another room, more soldiers inside.

"Really?" Elle muttered, drawing her sword as the imperials shouted and commenced attacking.

Ralof had already jumped into action, slashing at the first soldier that came near him. Elle darted across the bridge that spanned a small waterfall to take out an archer who was trying to pick them off from a distance.

Sᴋʏʀɪᴍ ᴘʀᴘ w/ Lɪᴛᴛʟᴇ Iᴛᴀʟʏ

Omg I'm dead XDDD

Sᴋʏʀɪᴍ ᴘʀᴘ w/ Lɪᴛᴛʟᴇ Iᴛᴀʟʏ

Ralof had just slain the imperial he had been fighting the the dremora appeared. Elle had to consciously focus on keeping her mouth shut so she didn't look like a fish when it cut the two imperials down as if they were no more than a couple of mountain flowers. She looked at Nilovas, clearly perplexed, until the dremora started to advance on her and Ralof.

"Um, no?" she said in response to his question, grinning a little sheepishly to mask her terror as she took a step back and held up the sword.

Thankfully, Nil told Jymmathik, or however you said that, that she and Ralof were allies, because this guy didn't seem to have any concept of good guys and bad guys. His expression as he glared at them looked like someone had skimped out on the meat in his sandwich.

Elle and Ralof just kind of stood there utterly confused for a moment, exchanging a look as the two conversed.

"Er," Elle cleared her throat, "I don't mean to break up this touching reunion, but shouldn't we be going? I'm pretty sure that dragon is still out there and-" she paused, her eyes landing on a book set on a stool. She walked over and picked it up, running her fingers over the black leather cover and silver dragon situated in the middle. "-And those imperials aren't just going to sit around and pick their teeth while we escape," she finished, deciding to keep the book and inspect it further later.

She didn't like the way this Jym guy was looking at them, so she simply glared back in response. She had been bullied around enough today. Even if this guy was way scarier than the imperials, he wasn't as scary as that dragon. She crossed her arms and glanced at Ralof before back at the other pair expectantly.

Sᴋʏʀɪᴍ ᴘʀᴘ w/ Lɪᴛᴛʟᴇ Iᴛᴀʟʏ

Ayyyee truuuu still are tbh XDDD WHOOOO LET'S GOOOO