Alice Woodhearth's Story

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Alice would be at the bottom of the decrepit wooden spiral stairs, bloody hand prints on the eroded walls of the ruin just to see skeevers but they did not attack her in fact they surrounded her, all four of them, seeing her as a welcoming sight and the same to her despite their diseases and appearance, she loved all animals, she lived with them and due to her high resistance to disease and illness they were no threat to her.

She would feel her stealth spell deplete, exposing her and her potion effects dying and so when she went into the order with a fire scroll on the stone table, the room covered in spider webs, burnt books and broken bookshelves she fell on fours holding her stomach. ''Damn it....guhh...'' She'd groan out, the skeevers surrounding her, grooming her in fact.

She no longer could run and so, hide herself behind the table, not noticing her bloody hands prints showed where she was and the blood trail. She would try to breathe silently but it was hard, she was in pain....

As for the skeevers they stayed in front of the table strangely docile.

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Alice would weakly grasp the potion without a word putting on the floor and she'd unwrap her furry over shirt and revealed her armour and the deep wound that continued to bleed and she unsheathed her dagger and brought it to the wound. ''Metal doesn't belong in here...'' She'd then jab her dagger into the deep wound, biting her lip to stop a scream, it only a muffled cry of pain as she took the arrow head out of her wound with her dagger and with a sigh of relief she instantly drank the potion, excelling the healing rate of her body then she'd unsheathe her dagger and finally look at the Khajiit.

''Thank you....but why? Wait.....you...you are from before, in Riverwood. I saw you with the Altmer and Nord. Before I came here to retrieve the claw. It belongs to one of the owners in Riverwood I offered to get it for him.'' She'd then force herself up then look to the skeevers with a small frown then looked at the Khajiit again with a light smile. ''My name is Alice, Alice Wood hearth. What about you?''

"Dar'Jargo" He announced proudly to her. "We should hurry, no doubt the others will be here soon." He helped her up and continued down the hall. It was covered in webs... so many webs. He didn't like this...
"Bjorn, is that you? Someone bloody help me!" came the yell of a man from down the hall.
Dar'Jargo looked to Alice, unsheathing his bow and readying an arrow. "Someone is here..."
Walking into the next room, it was covered heavily in the webs, to the point you could no longer see the walls. A man lie tangled in the web at the far side of the room.

"Bloody help me!" He called, struggling to free himself. Dar'Jargo wouldn't free him, no... he can't be trusted. "Well, what does this one recommend?" He looked over to Alice, "Whatever made these webs is probably around here somewhere."

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At this point, Alice was looking up rather calmly as the giant frostbite spider came from the shaft above her. She simply put her hand up, with fascination in her eyes as the spider landed. His feeler touched her hand and she smiled, laughing lightly as she openly petted the creature.

While this was happening, the man caught in the web started screaming in terror. ''No! Don't let it eat me! Not like this!'' He'd struggle more, the webbing starting to weaken.

However Alice looked at the man, walking closer with the spider behind her. The Giant Spider lumbered after Alice as she walked, towards the man. It began to probe the man, slobbering and drooling over him as it did so. He let out a girlish scream. ''Your men are dead. I killed them. And you owe me, say, 200 septims for the damage they caused me.'' She'd then put her hand on the side of her 'pet' spider's face. ''You see, he is very hungry and you would do nicely for a snack. If I free you and you do not attack, I will allow you to leave. If not, I will have this one devour you. Simple.''

The man would nod and she would cut him free only for him to run deeper into the ruin. ''I am not paying you even one septim!''

Alice would frown. ''Wrong answer.'' She would command the spider to go further after him, but was interrupted by the sound of a man's scream followed by a dismembered voice shouting out. The spider hissed at the sound, backing away from the door. Alice looked straight into the door. "Draugr..."

Clumsily trying to pronounce 'Draugr', He eventually gave up. "Whatever it is, Dar'Jargo thinks that it could be guarding its valuables no? We may have the claw... but that alone will only get us so far. Khajiit suggests we go further down." At this point he began to grow weary, not because of the impending danger that lie ahead, but because the Thalmor and Warrior had not followed him.

With the assumption that they would be there any second, he recommended that they keep the spider on watch and make haste. He crouched down, readying an arrow. Anything besides the Wood elf would be shot on sight. He began to creep into the hallway on the other side of the door.

The 'draugrs' did not sound very pleasant, he would have to be quick and on his guard at the same time. It reminded him of hunting. He began to drift at the thought. What he wouldn't give to be back down there in the warmth of the sun, under the canopy of the trees... he jumped, nearly sending the arrow flying, when he heard the sound of the draugr getting closer.

In what appeared to be a burial chamber, the thief lie dead on the ground, surrounded by a couple of undead nightmare-ish creatures. This frightened Dar'Jargo, but he aimed his arrow carefully, waiting for a signal to fire from Alice. Hoping that the draugr wouldn't notice them.

Lyra had seen the two, a Khajiit and a Bosmer, go into the ruins that she called home. She shared it in an uneasy alliance with the bandits, who were willing to tolerate her so long as she provided them with treasure she would come to find in the deep recesses of the ruin that was Bleak Falls Barrow. She could have killed them, but didn't feel like it would serve much purpose. Now, as she trekked through the outer ruins, she could see the bodies of some of the bandits splayed out. She shrugged assuming that the Khajiit and Bosmer had done the damage and went on her way to the inner ruins, not giving her "housemates" a second glance.

As the heavy stone door gave way into the darkness, Lyra allowed her eyes to adjust to the lack of light. As she looked about, she could see more bodies lying around a campfire. She took a closer look and was quite angered to find that some of her things had been pilfered by the bandits. She angrily kicked a body close to her. She felt foolish to trust them at all. Picking up some of the things that was stolen from her, she went deeper into the dank ruins to where she had set up her own little camp.

Her little area seemed somewhat warm and inviting and she sat down, bringing a tome from her knapsack. As she turned the vellum pages, she suddenly had a thought. She had never been able to go as deep into the Barrow as she would've liked, thanks to that enormous arachnid, but now that the Khajiit and Bosmer were here, she might be able to follow them into the deeper part. She sat the dusty tome down on the ground beside her and left her little camp to follow after the strangers.

It wasn't long before she caught up with them, slipping past a rather angry Thalmor and a Nord. They seemed to distressed about finding the strangers than they were about finding her. She came to the large stranger that housed the spider just in time to see the Bosmer tame it. She hid behind a pillar, watching the scene unfold. As they gave chase to the thief, she gave chase to them, following them to the sounds of screaming below.

She was no longer making an effort to conceal her presence from them and stepped behind them. She was not scared of the Draugr, having faced them before. Hiding from awakened Draugr was essentially futile in her opinion, but she wanted to wait and see what these two would do. She readied a conjuration spell, ready to summon a flame atronarch from Oblivion to take out the Draugr.

Dar'Jargo focused on the draugr, a total of four roamed the room, three of which examined the thief's corpse. He had only now realized that Alice had disappeared. At first he grew nervous, but this nervousness was short lived. He had remembered a power that only the Khajiits could wield. His mother taught him how to use it with up-most efficiency. Although he never used the 'Night-eye' power, he figured now would be a good time.

His eyes lit up with a blue haze, and lit the room through his vision. He could now see the cloud of fog next to a draugr. Almost in an instance, Alice became visible, and she yelled to Dar'Jargo. Her knife plunged into the draugr's skull, and she became shrouded in the shadows once more. Quickly aiming the bow to the draugr, he looked down to notice a yellow light illuminating the area around him.

Confused, he fell to the ground as the ball of fire hurled by his head, and into the draugr. He got up and spun around with one swift move, and drew another arrow, aiming it at the odd creature of fire. He had never seen something like this before. As his night vision began to wear off, he noticed a lady-like figure floating in mid-air. Despite it's body being covered almost completely in fire, he could notice a ball of fire in its hands.

He heard the sound of Alice calling to him, and he turned his head away from the strange creature to listen to her. This was a mistake on his part, to let the thing out of his sight. He should've known too. But he took his punishment in the form of a ball of fire. The burning sensation on his chest was unimaginable... He fell with a thump to the ground, gasping for breath.

She was still staring at the Khajiit with such anger, such hate that she felt her flame spell forming on her fingertips, as if reflecting the internal fire that was flaming inside of her. It started to burst on her fingertips, flickering in the air and illuminating a bit of the small space around her. She didn't even care about the Nord anymore, no, she was focused on that stupid cat, which had only caused trouble so far. How could he do this? She was the one that had saved him from the Nord in the tavern, the one who had defended him. She came along to help him, she was going out of her way just to keep him safe!

And what had he done? Left her here with the Stormcloak, betrayed her completely after deciding to save the stupid Bosmer. That thing wasn't even a true elf! She was only just above the Dunmer, and Eleywen was completely enraged that Dar'Jargo chose a wood-frolicking elf over her.

She opened her mouth, about to shout and scream at him and those around her, awaken everything that was inside the cavern, every bug, every odd creature. Shake the very pillars that held up the structure, crack the stone around her. Send out a huge fire spell, unleash everything she had and scorch everything in the room. But then, she heard a light creaking sound. The gate, the gate opened! But the cat had said something before, threatened them almost about not laying a hand on him. Before she could even decide to though, he ran down the staircase, leaving the room.

She stared at the exit, listening as the Nord's heavy footsteps echoed through the chamber. The woman made her way over to her abandoned sword, and picked it up. She paused though, and the Elf turned to look over her shoulder at her. She sensed some malice coming from her, a certain darkness in the Nord's eyes...however she sheathed her blade, and went down the staircase. Eleywen narrowed her eyes, and followed. The chamber was slightly darker below, and so Eleywen conjured a small magelight above them.

"I'll lead with the light." She muttered, stepping ahead of the woman. However, she didn't exactly feel comfortable with that action. She felt the woman's pasted onto her, though Eleywen ignored it and tried to focus. They came to a large open chamber. It seemed to be open up above, as light seeped through, illuminating the area. Just at that moment, her magelight faded away. Eleywen let out a small sigh of relief at the sight of the large chamber. Her eyes moved down to the floor, seeing in the dust and dirt, a weak footprint. The cat and wood elf had gone through here, most likely.

"Well, let's continue on. At the first chance I get I'm going to kill that cat." She spoke confidently with a quiet chuckle, turning to look at the Nord behind her. The woman had drawn her sword. Eleywen's smile disappeared.

"What in the name of Akatosh are you doing?" She cried out, watching the blade glimmer in the light. She tried to conjure the flames on her hand in defense, however, nothing happened. She looked down in panic, staring at her gloved hands. No flames...she...she was out of magika. She had wasted in on the magelight.

Eleywen looked up again at the Nord. The woman began to approach her, slowly, sword moving slightly with each step. The Altmer drew her elven dagger, though she held it clumsily, she hadn't fought with it for a few years. She could hardly wield it. She tried for flames again, even a weaker spell, though nothing happened. She didn't have any potions either....oh goodness. Her fate was at the hands of this stupid dagger, and she was facing a battle-worn Nord! Eleywen began to feel nervous, something that didn't happen often, as she backed slowly, nearing the wall with every step.

"Listen, I don't...we could just...you don't have to do this." She mumbled quietly, her amber eyes glowing with fear. The woman raised her heavy blade, just as Eleywen's back hit the wall. Squeezing her eyes shut, she held out her dagger in weak defense, ready to feel the blade slam into her. Nothing came though. The Nord was staring up at the ceiling, watching something. Eleywen raised her eyes as well, and in a mere second, the huge spider came slamming down on top of the woman.

Eleywen let out a sharp scream of surprise, dropping her dagger. The spider jabbed its pincers into the Stormcloak, finalizing her sudden death. It moved it's various legs in a spinning action, webs flowing out from it, wrapping around the woman's leg. The Thalmor let out a strangled breath, and then without a second thought, ran. She ran through the open chamber and into a small hallway, pushing webs out of her sight. She ran, and ran, not knowing where she was going, just speeding through dark corridors like her life depended on it.

And then, she heard noise. She stopped suddenly. Somewhere...near her, in another room, she heard voices and the moaning of some odd creatures that inhabited the tomb. Eleywen stepped forward slowly and silently, peering around the corner.

There they were! The cat, lying on the ground, a fire atronach in the corner along with a few other hazy shapes. Eleywen did not enter the room right away. She saw what looked like draugr inside, and did not dare to quarrel with them. She awaited for her magicka to recharge again. She pressed her back against the wall and slid down to the floor. As soon as they were done fighting...she'd come out and kill both of them..yes.