Dungeon Crawling
Middas, the 19 th of Last Seed, 4E 201
Evening was falling rapidly, and the pair stopped a few yards off from a rundown outpost. The shelter would make a great resting place for the night, but first it needed to be cleared of its current inhabitants; three bandits, the largest of them lurking outside at the entrance.
Even from the distance they were at, Adair could tell the bandit was easily the same height as him, but the problem was he outweighed him by at least a hundred pounds. Two more were wandering around at the top of the structure, but the guard was the biggest problem. Literally.
“We'll have to take him out first. Stealth is our only option since they outnumber us and have the high ground,” Adair said as Asling crawled up beside him, her bow gripped in her hand. She hummed softly, examining the outpost from a distance, then began digging through the snow. She grinned and looked back to Adair.
“Tell me, how good is your aim?”
Adair gave her an odd look until he saw the rock she held in her hand; well this might even the odds at least if she managed to shoot the big one out front. He plucked the rock away as she readied an arrow, lining it up with her target.
“Hit the big one for me, will you?” She asked without looking at him. Adair was about to protest to her ordering him around but decided it wasn't worth it, winding up and chucking the rock. It sailed through the air, missing its target by an inch, but the sound of it clattering on the stone bridge made him turn, and Asling released her arrow in the same instant.
The arrow found its mark in the back of the bandit's skull and he teetered a moment before toppling head over heels off the bridge, his limp body rolling down the snowy embankment.
“Haha! Perfect! Now for the other two,” she said, patting him on the shoulder as she crawled closer.
“Too bad you didn't hit him, but you were close,” Asling added and Adair growled in response, drawing his blade and following her. A faint shout came from the outpost, the sound of the first bandit tumbling over the bridge drawing out one of the others.
Asling made eye contact with Adair and inclined her head towards the bandit on the ground; she was hoping that Adair charging that one would give her a clear shot of the one in the tower.
The plan worked like a charm, and soon they had the tower to themselves.
“Right, well let's eat then get some rest. We're almost there, but it'll be better to arrive rested as there's sure to be more bandits there,” Adair said, looking up to see if she was even listening.
“Yeah yeah, I hear you...” she sighed, without pausing what she was doing. Asling was leaning over one of the dead bodies, busy turning out their pockets and once she had found everything of value, unceremoniously dumping them off the bridge.
Adair watched her over his map, his face scrunched up.
“Have you no decency?” Asling snorted at his comment and looked at him coolly.
“They're dead, what are they going to do with it?” she asked, and Adair bit his tongue; it was worthless to reason with her over this.
“Right, well hurry it up, we need to get to sleep, there's a storm blowing in,” he said dryly, folding up his map and stomping up the steps of the outpost.
“Someone definitely needs to sleep since they're so cranky,” Asling muttered, following him up.
The night was spent with the two of them huddled together in their bed rolls for warmth. Asling had made the suggestion after the first wave of snow began to fall, and Adair had little reason to argue; it wasn't as if they could have a fire in this rickety old place.
They pressed themselves against the southern wall to avoid the biting wind that had rose from a whisper to a howl in the time it took them to settle in, and Adair made a point to tell Asling that this was only a one time thing.
They rose at the break of dawn at Adair's insistence, choking down breakfast and heading farther up the mountain to the ruins. They could see the tips of the arches around the cliff face now, the markers scattered alongside the worn road becoming more numerous the closer they got.
They traveled mostly in silence as Asling was too tired to argue, her mood sour because of the early morning and the sharp drop in temperature.
Within the next hour, they had arrived at the crumbling steps and sure enough, there was another group of bandits waiting outside.
“Why don't we just sneak around them?” Asling said in a hushed whisper, making a move to creep off but Adair stopped her.
“No... we do this together. Here, you cover me from the archers and I'll take out those two,” he said, pointing out his targets, then drawing his sword. Asling was tempted to let Adair handle it on his own, but had the feeling that with her luck, he would survive and she would have to carry him back down the damn mountain.
Or he would die and haunt her til the end of her days...
After the outside threat was taken care of, the pair approached the entrance, though Adair hung back, his eyes darting around, his mouth drawn in a thin line. He ran what Asling had said through his mind, and realized there was something... off. Asling heard the falter in his step, turning to see Adair clinching his jaw.
“What now?” She looked impatiently at him, hands going to her hips.
“Where did Farengar say this Dragonstone was?” He asked carefully.
“In the main chamber of the tomb of course,” she replied, sending him a funny look at the way he was acting; what the hell was wrong with him?
“Isn't there usually a back entrance we can use?” Adair asked, staring out into the distance and refusing to meet her gaze.
“There is, but we would have to go back down to the other side of the mountain...” She stepped away from the door and went over to the edge of the landing, peeking off to the side at the sheer drop then coming back over to where Adair was standing.
“I hope you can fly, because there's no way we will make that... why? Are you scared of some musty old tomb?” She grinned at him. Adair puffed up his chest and glared at her.
“No, I'm not. I'm just realizing what a mistake this was coming here,” he sniped, and Asling scoffed in reply.
“You and me both, but it's a little too late for that, now isn't it?” She said tartly, raising a brow at him and went to push open the door.
“Now unless you're staying here, come on,” she hissed, ducking inside. Adair followed her, trying to shake off the sense of dread; he never was fond of tombs...
He wrinkled his nose at the sharp scent of blood, mingling with the dusty rot that seemed to cling to his nostrils. Ugh... foul...
To his left, Asling was crouched down in the entryway and she reached up to grab his arm and tug him down to her level.
“What are–” he started, but she shushed him, pointing across the room to the flickering fire and the two subsequent shadows their light was casting on the far wall. More bandits, of course.
“I don't have time for this...” Adair said, drawing his blade and flanking around to the side as Asling watched him. She didn't think he was capable of sneaking around in that heavy armor, and he had made good progress until his foot scraped against one of the loose stone bricks, making a dull clunking sound and alerting his targets of his presence.
Or maybe he wasn't so great... Asling let out a sigh and drew back her bow.
The effort proved useless as Adair quickly dispatched both bandits with only three swings and a block. Asling watched in awe as Adair twisted lightly on his feet and brought down the blade, taking out the second bandit without much effort. He did have some skills apparently; though stealth definitely wasn't one of them.
Her hand slowly returned her bow to its resting place on her back, skipping over to Adair, whom was bust cleaning off his blade again, the dead bandits lying at his feet.
“What was that about us working together?” she said smugly.
“Shut up... I just want to get out of here...” he snapped, turning on his heel to enter the lower part of the chamber. He was down about halfway when he realized Asling wasn't behind him, raising his hand and snapping his fingers at her to hurry up.
“Come on!” He could see her, bent over something, thinking at first that she was looting bodies again but she soon sat up and he spied the corner of the chest she was pawing through.
Unbelievable... he definitely did not have time for this.
“Oooh, look at this! Makes the trip almost worth it,” Asling chirped, hastily cramming the gold and gems into her bag because Adair was leaving her behind.
“Wait up!”
Adair heard her, but made no such motions in slowing down, speeding ahead with his sword ready, and by the time she had caught up, he had already killed another bandit. “Pick up the pace,” Adair snarled and Asling let out a snort in reply as they went deeper in.
“Someone's antsy. Claustrophobic are you?” she taunted, drawing her bow back to shoot another bandit when Adair stopped her, a scowl on his face. He jabbed a finger towards the next chamber, and Asking had just enough time to turn and see the bandit flipping the switch in the middle of the floor.
A rain of darts showered down from the wall, the poison killing him before they could make it down to him. Asling looked to Adair with a defiant expression, but nodded her head, turning her attention to examine the room. Above them on the upper balcony was a series of stone carvings, each depicting a different animal. She spied the stone pillars to the left of her, matching insignias carved into them.
“Alright... it's a puzzle...” she said, scampering up the steps before Adair could stop her.
“You have to turn the pillars to match the stones over there, see?” She pointed across the room, then turned to regard the symbols. Asling called out the symbols and Adair turned the pillars to match.
“Looks like one of them fell, but–” she glanced down and chuckled.
“The last one's a snake.”
They dispatched a group of skeevers and went downstairs into a lower chamber, Adair growing more sullen the farther they went. Asling had given up on talking to him as his nasty mood was, but it gave her more opportunity to loot the surrounding areas without him interfering.
Why didn't she raid tombs more often? Skyrim was full of them from what she had heard, so this was a perfect way to make more money before she skipped town. She was delighted by the thought, then cast a glance at Adair, her spirits falling.
Well, after she ditched the deadweight, she reasoned, snatching a scroll and glass bottle full of some dark liquid off of one of the tables. She tucked them in her bag without even looking at them and continued on, the hair on the back of her neck pricking up. There were a lot more spiderwebs down here, and it didn't take them long to find out why. They heard shouting ahead at Adair made a motion for her to be quiet, earning a glare from her, but she consented, sneaking up alongside him to peer into the room around the mess of tree roots and webbing.
There were plenty of corpses and spiderwebs, but no sign of the spider, the only life form in the room was a Dunmer wrapped up in the far doorway, squirming in an attempt to get out, but was making little headway.
“Come on...” Adair spoke to her in a hushed tone – the first thing he had said in a while – and she jumped a bit, exhaling and following his lead. Ahead, there was an archway where they could enter, only obscured by a mess of webs.
Adair was already clearing the way for them to enter, but Asling hung back shaking her head. There was no way she was going to chance the spider coming back. Deciding it wasn't worth dragging her along, he went in without her, sword readied as the spider dropped down from the ceiling.
Stifling a cry, Asling flattened herself against the wall, trying to make herself disappear.
That spider was HUGE, towering over Adair even before it reared up on its hind legs, striking at him. Lucky for him, the beast was slow, hobbled by numerous injuries to its leg and side. Even still, Adair now appeared to be struggling, unable to do anything but dodge its attacks.
“Some help would be nice!” he bellowed, and Asling snapped out of it, sidling along the wall. She was about to draw her bow when something on the wall caught her eye.
A lever sticking out of the stone.
Her eyes hurriedly scanned the floor, traveling over to where Adair was fighting the spider, and spied dark metal bars beneath the layers of webbing. There was a lot of variables, but little time to think on what to do, so Asling put away her bow, sprinting across the room before the spider drew too far away for the trap to be effective.
Just as the spider reared up again, Asling quickly pulled the switch and opened the trap door, sending the spider down into the pit below. In her haste to be rid of the spider, she hadn't noticed that Adair's foot was on the edge of the door. He let out a curse, quickly balancing himself then rounded on her.
“You idiot! What were you thinking?!” he spat, looming over her in a threatening manner.
“Oh, right, I'm sorry that I saw the giant spider and my first instinct was to get rid of it,” she mocked, rolling her eyes.
“You almost sent me into that damned spiked pit!”
“What a shame you weren't a foot over,” Asling sneered, Adair ready with a retort when the Dunmer cut in.
“Will you two stop arguing and cut me down from here?!” he shouted, catching their attention at last.
“Don't do something that rash ever again,” Adair warned, his tone deadly, but Asling wasn't paying any attention; she had already moved past him and had her dagger drawn, pressed to the now sputtering Dunmer's throat.
“Wh-what are you doing?”
“Tell me about the Golden Claw,” she demanded and Adair stared at her in disbelief.
“What are you talking about?” Adair asked, and Asling sent him a wry look.
“Bandits took the Golden Claw from the general store owner in Riverwood; this place is crawling with bandits, but we haven't found their leader yet. Ergo, this is the bandit leader,” Asling spouted out everything in one breath, inhaling sharply, an arrogant expression taking over her face.
“Do try to keep up Adair,” she said airily, then returned her attention to the Dunmer. Adair was stunned for a split second then let out a growl. He was beginning to think this quest was not worth keeping his honor.