Skyrim AU: Bleak Falls Barrow

[aeons_crackshot]

There have been many bad days in the course of Ann Abel's (usually parsed by non Khajiit as Annabelle) life.

The day when she came home from trapping rabbits at age 12 to find her entire family murdered by bandits, the days not too many moons later when she nearly died in the badlands of Elsweyr before she was found and adopted by a band of Khajiit.

Today....today is shaping up to be in a high position on that list of bad days. Her "partner" of these many months, someone she truly believed was trustworthy, proved otherwise. Why else would he drug her, strip her of literally everything that she had to her name, and leave her in a Divines damned CRYPT? She is NEVER working with an Argonian again! Even the worst sugar-tooth among the Khajitt would have had the decency to slit her throat rather than leaving her here to die of deprivation or being eaten alive by the crypt's inhabitants.

Bastard's probably well on his way to Cyrodiil by now.

But she's never been the kind to give in to despair, even if she is naked and unarmed in the midst of the enemy. Well, she WAS unarmed. Turns out you can, with difficulty, bludgeon a draugr to death with a funeral urn. That kill netted her a bow and a quiver full of arrows. The clothes on the draugr, alas, fell to pieces as soon as she tried to get them off. (Fabric doesn't hold up too well over the centuries, it seems.)

She'd experiment with spider webs as clothing, but they might cause a fatal delay in her reactions thank to their stickiness....

Comments

[nordthuum]

She could try the linen wraps on the embalming tables...

"RARGH!"

...nah, too stiff... she'd need to wash it first, and there's no water around.

"HURGH!"

Well, at least the Crypt is not too cold?

"HYA!"

Now who, in Taltos' name, is making that infernal racket?

[aeons_crackshot]

Well now, that sounds like someone who is very much alive!

At best, it might be someone who could be convinced to help her out of her....predicament. At worst, they're a bandit or similar soul. (In which case she can kill them and TAKE whatever they've got.)

Annabelle pads quickly toward the commotion, whatever noise her bare feet make on the stone drowned out by the noises of battle.

She rounds a corner, bow drawn. There, that must be him, the fellow with the great-sword! He's battling a bunch of bandits at the moment: two are in melee with him and one is hanging back and firing arrows at him.

Annabelle draws the bow back to its fullest extent and fires at the archer. Her arrow strikes fatally home just as the female bandit is about to release another shot. The bandit gives a last, gurgling cry and the arrow falls from her fingers as her body slumps against the wall...

[nordthuum]

The tall man (a Nord, clearly) fights with a mix of power and skill, sidestepping a blow and then cleaving down one of the bandits. In the heat of combat, he seems to not have noticed the archer is down, turning to face the last bandit, a fellow with an axe and shield.

[aeons_crackshot]

Understandable!

How well does the bandit with an axe and shield fight with a surprise arrow in the kidney courtesy of Ann Abel?

(Yes, he looks as if he could handle him himself, but just standing there would be RUDE.)

[nordthuum]

The arrow is a surprise for both, but... more for the bandit.

Don't worry, he'll not suffer the wound long: a clean, powerful blow and the man's head tumbles off across the room.

The big Nord turns to face his... helper? Blade still up, and dripping blood.

[aeons_crackshot]

The first thing he's likely to notice is that his helper is naked. (Nakedness is distracting, especially when the naked person in question fits the Nord female ideal as well as Ann Abel does!)

The second thing he's likely to notice is that her bow has no arrow on the string and that the weapon isn't pointing at him.

"Peace, kinsman. I've no intention of doing battle with you, I've had more than enough trouble today already."

[nordthuum]

"...I am sure there's quite a story on why are you naked." He is faintly amused, and does lower his blade.

Of course he's looking.

He's a red-blooded Nord, after all.

[aeons_crackshot]

"Quite a story, yes," Ann Abel replies with a wry smile. Time to loot the bandit closest to her in size!

She'd be insulted if he WASN'T looking. Talos knows that if it were him naked instead of her she'd be admiring the view. Life is entirely too short to pass such opportunities by.

During the looting, she explains. "You can blame my former 'partner'," she begins. The word 'partner' is said in such an acid tone that it might be expected to etch metal. "Why that bastard of an Argonian decided to drug me and take literally everything I own NOW after working with me all these months I haven't the faintest idea."

She scowls. "When I find him, I plan to rip his throat out and beat him to death with it."

[nordthuum]

"He must be well on his way to Cyrodiil by now." The man watches her while she dresses. "It will be a long chase."

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle nods in agreement as she dresses. Clothes, clothes are awesome! (Especially in a Nordic climate for someone who's grown accustomed to the warmth of Elsweyr.)

"Chase is likely to get longer," she adds with a small sigh. "Hopefully, the damn Argonian didn't find what Lucan Valerius in Riverwood hired us to retrieve from this barrow. I'll need considerable funds and supplies before I try and make my way across Cyrodil to Black Marsh."

By this point, Annabelle is dressed and putting on the bandit's armor.

[nordthuum]

"And what it is, you're looking for?" He remembers Lucan, from his earlier passing through Riverwood.

Or rather, he remembers his sister.

[aeons_crackshot]

"It's a golden claw of some kind, from what he told me." Annabelle glances at the dead bandits, "I'd guess that this lot were part of the bandits that stole it from his shop."

She chuckles a bit, realizing something. "And I haven't gotten your name yet, shame on me."

[nordthuum]

"Einar." He is a bit disappointed that she is all dressed up. "If you and the Argonoan did not meet there on the way in..." he indicates the dead bandits. "They must be newcomers. Maybe friends of the claw-thief."

"There were three more outside, and two in the old tower down the trail."

[aeons_crackshot]

It's too cold for naked, Einar. Really!

"Ann Abel." Huh, that's definitely NOT a Nord name. Which is especially odd since her physical appearance shouts 'Nord' at several hundred decibels.

"This place was empty on the way in," she replies with a frown. "They must have gotten here after the Argonian left but before you arrived."

"Were you sent after the claw as well?" He must be here on business of some kind, right?

[nordthuum]

He could warm her up... "No. The Wizard from Whiterun wants some kind of stone tablet; it's here, he says, probably in the main chamber."

[aeons_crackshot]

He could, although being in a tomb filled with gods alone know what would likely put a damper on things.

Annabelle hums thoughtfully for a moment. "We could work together, since we both need to explore this place... And if she knows where he is it will be harder for him to spring a nasty surprise on her. (She's more suspicious than normal thanks to the recent betrayal.)

[nordthuum]

Details, details. The Things are not there right now.

"We could, yes." As she could put an arrow on his back, but... lets give her the benefit of doubt for now. "How deep did you go?"

[aeons_crackshot]

But good sex produces things like loud moans and shouts, which would certainly attract the attentions of the predators and guardians of the crypt. (And coitus interruptus is not fun for either party.)

"Not very," she replies. "The argonian and I set up camp in this room, and I woke up not too far from here. Watch out for draugr, by the way. That's how I got the bow."

[nordthuum]

"The restless dead. I wonder if they simply get bored of sleeping off eternity." The big man shakes head, raising his sword. "If you're ready, let's see what we can find deeper in this... tomb."

[aeons_crackshot]

"Or someone woke them up. Damn necromancers." Sounds like someone doesn't have a good history with such folk...

"I'm ready," Annabelle replies, refilling her quiver and strapping a sword to her side.

[nordthuum]

Einar takes point, sword ready, taking a torch hanging from a scone on the wall. He carries the large two-handed blade with the ease of a trained warrior, following the winding path on light step and silent feet.

Which is good, it allows them to hear the draugr rising from their funeral alcoves and taking weapons to fight the intruders.

[aeons_crackshot]

The quiet hiss of a bowstring heralds a rising draugr getting an arrow through the eye as it struggles from its coffin. It goes still, put down before it ever makes it out.

But there are more of them.

[nordthuum]

Einar is not good at the 'quiet' part once combat starts: the first draugr takes the torch on the face, while the second is shared in half from right shoulder to left hip, by a powerful blow of the big sword.

But there are more.

[aeons_crackshot]

How DID Ann Abel manage to fire two arrows at once and hit that bigger, nastier looking draugr with both of them?

The arrows don't bring it down, in fact, it charges her with a roar. She switches to the sword, preparing herself for a more up close and personal fight.

It swings its axe at her in a heavy overhead chop, but it's not fast enough.

She dances out of the way of its swing and her own sword arm moves forward sharply, cutting off its head. This is too much even for whatever unnatural forces are powering the corpse and it stops moving.

[nordthuum]

Einar is quite fast for a man his size: he sidesteps a draugr's battleaxe and removes its head in a hard cleaving strike.

He continues the movement and goes under an axe and shield guard, removing the legs of another undead abomination.