Little Italy

Ain't that a Kick in the Poker Face [Graviloquence & Little Italy]

And the award for the longest collab ever goes to

Sᴋʏʀɪᴍ ᴘʀᴘ w/ Lɪᴛᴛʟᴇ Iᴛᴀʟʏ

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.

Sᴋʏʀɪᴍ ᴘʀᴘ w/ Lɪᴛᴛʟᴇ Iᴛᴀʟʏ

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.

Sᴋʏʀɪᴍ ᴘʀᴘ w/ Lɪᴛᴛʟᴇ Iᴛᴀʟʏ

A truly loathsome and terrifying alias to add to an already impressive resumé. What a guy.

yeENT

Sᴋʏʀɪᴍ ᴘʀᴘ w/ Lɪᴛᴛʟᴇ Iᴛᴀʟʏ

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.

Sᴋʏʀɪᴍ ᴘʀᴘ w/ Lɪᴛᴛʟᴇ Iᴛᴀʟʏ

Once I made cookies. But I burned the first batch while running through a flaming helgen. Ironic.

Nah I getchu man. I like to use the layouts they have, it saves some headache

Sᴋʏʀɪᴍ ᴘʀᴘ w/ Lɪᴛᴛʟᴇ Iᴛᴀʟʏ

For real! It's a lot easier to get through the NV opening. But I always tune out that opening sequence when i replay skyrim.

Aw thanks man!

Sᴋʏʀɪᴍ ᴘʀᴘ w/ Lɪᴛᴛʟᴇ Iᴛᴀʟʏ

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.

𝔻🇷🇦🇬🇴🇳'🇸 ℂ🇷🇴🇼🇳

Sorry that took so long! Been busy with my brother's graduation

𝔻🇷🇦🇬🇴🇳'🇸 ℂ🇷🇴🇼🇳

It didn't take long for Sorren to locate a trader a block or two down the road from where his altercation with the law had occurred. What did take forever was bartering with the merchant to get a decent price on supplies and having them delivered to the tavern where the elf was to meet his newfound companions. Thankfully, Mira had restored the belongings that had been confiscated from him when he was abducted by the pirate crew, so he would be able to cover the cost of the supplies and their delivery to the tavern. He wouldn't be able to carry it all himself. He invested mostly in non-perishable foods and first aid, as well as tents and blankets. Sparhawk said that they would have horses, so being able to tote it all wouldn't be an issue.

There was still a part of him that was debating on whether or not this venture was a good idea, if it was in his best interest to join two people, neither of whom he had too much trust in, on a dangerous errand to find an artifact that may not even exist. Hadn't he had enough excitement to last another hundred years? He was never really one for wild escapades, being a more scholarly type. However, the other half of him was all to enticed by the thought of not only being able to study the Dragon's Crown, but also to restore his missing limb after decades of learning to live without it. If such an object could possess such power, imagine all the good it could do for the rest of the world too. Or destruction, depending on whose hands it feel into. Maybe it was better that they were going to find it before anyone else did, to keep it from those who would use it for ill. At this point, he was pretty committed to accompanying the knight and the pirate. For better of for worse.

The mage thanked the shop owner after instructing him on the delivery of the supplies, then made his way back outside. There was some time to kill before he had to meet the other two at the tavern, so he decided he would use this time to write a letter to his superiors to alert them of his new mission. It was rare that any mail correspondence was exchanged between elves, but he thought it necessary that the others know his whereabouts, should something happen. Thankfully his writing materials had not been touched by the pirates when the had confiscated his belongings upon his capture, so all that was left was to find the messenger ravens. A busy port like this surely had an aviary. He chose a shaded bench against a stone wall to write his brief note stating his whereabouts and intentions before rolling it up neatly and tucking it into his worn knapsack. He asked a passerby about an aviary and was directed back toward the docks. He would have to be careful to avoid any of the pirate crew involved in his capture, considering Mira technically shouldn't have busted him out to begin with.

Thankfully, his short walk was unhindered and void of any trouble, and he reached his destination in a timely manner. He noticed that he was receiving a few stares from people he passed, though considering he hadn't seen a single elf since he had been here, he warranted that his kind was uncommon around here, and missing limb aside, he must be an unusual sight. Being well over six feet tall and wearing strange blue robes, he didn't exactly blend in. The woman in charge of the aviary accepted his letter and payment without comment, their exchange brief, then he was on his way to the tavern to meet with Mira and Sparhawk. Hopefully the supplies were already delivered and they could be on their way promptly. He didn't want to hang out here any longer than they had to.

Upon entering the tavern, it only took a brief survey of the room to spot the knight and the pirate seat at on of the tables. Sorren moved to join them, taking one of the empty seats. "Sorry I'm late," he apologized, "The supplies should be delivered shortly, I believe." He hoped that the other two had been successful in their errands as well. A smooth start would be nice, considering everything that could go wrong on this quest.