The Tomb of Coritonius

[OOC]
Count me in then. I'm a bit miffed at not being able to use green for my character though. I always use green! *sob*

Oh well, guess I'll just have to try a different colour then. Here goes.....

Name: Lindsay Farrington
Age: 24
Gender: Female
Race: Human

Description: She has long, slightly wavey, honey-blonde hair. Normally she wears this in a pony tail down to her lower back, loosely-tied with an elaborately plaited leather hair tie. However, when on site she usually wears it tied up in a bun so as to keep the dust out.

She has rich, hazel eyes and soft features. She is very attractive and of medium build and full figure. She is slim, but not athletic, keeping to a sensible diet rather than working out.

She usually wears a dress of some sort, but since this is impractical at a dig site, where she is often running around through dirt and obstacle-filled passages and dust bowls, she tends to wear comfortable soft-leather leggings and jacket, over a blouse of some description. She wears Elven boots whether in town or on site, because they are comfortable, quiet and both soft enough so as not to damage anything underfoot and hard wearing enough so as not to wear out too often. She also tends to wear soft elbow-length leather gloves in order to protect any specimens she handles from damage due to oils or moisture from her fingers.

Currently, she is wearing a pale blue blouse, with the top two buttons undone because of the heat from being underground, as well as her black leather leggings and a beige sleeve-less soft leather jacket/waistcoat. Her leater gloves are also beige and she is wearing a brown swuede fedora, that used to belong to her father, to keep her hair tied up in a bun.

At her hip is a flask of water, a sharp double-edged dagger for use in removing artifacts, that is also perfectly weighted for throwing and a small pouch that contains various tools of the trade, such as soft brushes, cloth and bandages for the various incidents that invariably happen on digs.

Lindsay is a friendly and outgoing person who is enthusiastic in her learning and gleaning of knowledge and can often be quite excitable. Especially if there is an unknown or newly discovered artifact involved.

She is trusting and makes friends easily but can hold a grudge if her trust is broken. She can also be fiercely protective of her acquisitions and dig sites.

Abilities: Lindsay is highly dextrous. Years of crawling through small spaces and tunnels, over objects and around obstacles has given her a flexibility that is invaluable in her line of work.

She is highly intelligent and always keen to learn. She is a expert healer and is accomplished at most forms of throwing weaponry although she has never had to put her skills to the test.

She is also a mage of some ability. She knows three spells from the force college and these have proved highly useful in securing sites (there's not much that's less penetrable than a wall of force) or protecting herself and colleagues from the occaisional rockfall or cave collapse. She also knows a few other spells (yet to be decided what).

Inventory: She has a flask of water, her balanced, sharp double-edged dagger, her excavation and archaeology tools and some bandages readily accessible at her waist. She also has a more complete doctoring and healing kit in her pack for those more serious occaisions.

She is wearing her normal excavation clothing (see description) and has a spare white blouse, gloves and boots in her pack incase it gets too muddy or dirty in the caves.

She has a bladed boomarang tucked into a pouch on the inside her sleeveless leather jacket, just incase it's needed.

On her right hand is a ring of divination that allows her to identify magickal items, on the rare occaisions that her knowledge isn't extensive enough to identify them through non-magickal means. She considers it invaluable although she has only ever had to use it once, since it means that she doesn't have to go through the laborious process of training in the divination college of magick. As far as she can tell, the ring itself appears to have infinite charges, but it takes time to regenerate it's energies after each use.

Background: Lindsay is an unusual women. She is an educated woman. She was born in Roseborough in the Caladonian states and from a very young age she became fascinated with the Ring of Brodgar and the history surrounded it. By the time she reached her teens there was little else she could learn about Arcanum's history from her local environment as so her parents sent her to a school just outside Caladon.

Although she was not from a wealthy family, she soon excelled in her learning and by the time she was 16 she had won a scholarship to study at the esteemed Caladon Institution of History and Archeaology, a member institution of the University of Caladon.

She learned much at the Institution and graduated with high honours at the age of 19. She then went on to study for courses in the Magickal History of Arcanum and the Endemic Magickal Properties of the Ancient Artifacts of Arcanum at the mage academy of Tulla.

She left Tulla at the age of 21, with a doctorate in the History of Arcanum with a minor in the Use of Magicks in Information Gathering. Whilst at Tulla she also learned the art of Force magick and has since gained a keen interest in the study of magery.

After leaving Tulla she moved back to Caladon for 2 months before getting a year placement at the Tarant History Museum under a Gnome by the name of Professor Donald Smythe. When her year placement was finished she moved into field excavations and has spent the last two years at various dig sites around Arcanum, including the famous lair of the dragon Bellerogrim.

She is currently attending a dig at the site of what appears to be an ancient Elven burial ground to the east of Tarant. This is unusual because there have never been any Elves documented to have lived in the Morbihan area, even when it was forested.
[/OOC]


I stooped down and made my way under the low beam. I made my way down the newly opened passage into an area of the dig site that I hadn't been down before.

This dig had been going for about 6 months now. It was an ancient Elven burial ground, but the odd thing was, that the Elves had never been resident in this area of the world. We were here to find out who was buried here and why. So far, all we'd found were two chambers. The southern chamber had little of value but the northern chamber of the two had several graves in it. There were several items of interest, including an ornate and very ancient Elven headstone and several Elven weapons, some of which were enchanted or hexed.

However, everything we saw indicated that this burial site contained something of greater value or importance. Some special artifact or an important Elf must be buried here somewhere, but we have yet to find it. There were hints and transcripts all over the place but they were so badly degraded that they were simply adding to the mystery.

However, on one particular headstone we had found reference to 'the third chamber'. The professor was sure that this third chamber must be somewhere to the west of the two that were open. Due to the layout of the burial ground I was inclined to agree with him.

The professor spent most of his time up on the surface. He was funded by the Tarant History Museum and we had met when I did my year placement there. After the expedition at Bellerogrim's lair had proved too dangerous after our excavations uncovered a nest of Dragons, he had invited me down here to aid him in his project. Delighted I had accepted.

We made a good team. Whereas he was more the scholarly archeaologist, I was more of the hands-on type. He stayed upstairs in the camp working on preserving and cataloging our finds, whilst I frequently came down here to identify any finds and assess their situation in the grounds. Right now I was down here because there had been a development in passage that was being cut to the west.

I stooped under yet another low beam and then the new western passage opened up into a small chamber. I looked around. It was smaller than the other two chambers and just as bare as the southern one.

"Is this the western chamber? It's a bit small and there's not much here."

The foreman grinned at me and swung his lamp over the north wall. "Just look over there ma'am."

I followed his directions and strained my eyes against the darkness. I gasped.

"What is it? What have you found?"

"We don't know ma'am. We were just trying to clean up this here chamber when the side wall gave way, exposing this..."

I examined the depression in the north wall and then felt around the edges of the hole. It was hard. Wood?

"Artificial?" The foreman nodded. "So far as we can tell it's made of the same wood that the vault supports for the other chambers are made of. However, if you look, the patterns don't match."

I grabbed a lamp off the wall and moved over to the depression. I examined the patterns carved into the wood. They were exquisite! I checked the other side. I noticed something odd about the wood. "Have you noticed the difference?"

The foreman blinked. "Difference?"

"The wood here. It's far older than the rest of the burial ground. It's like the whole place was built on top of an older tomb."

I took a small trowel from my belt and scrpaed at the mud at the back of the depression. I scraped some more. Clink. Surprised I scraped some more. "Hand me that hand spade over there." Taking the tiny shovel I removed more of the crusted mud. Very soon I had uncovered a stone tablet.

"What is it?"

"It's a cover stone. Give me a hand!"

Very carefully the two of us fully uncovered the cover stone. Eventually, and after a lot of digging, we had uncovered the entire opening. We stood back and I held up the lamp. "It's magnificent!"

What stood before us was no cover stone. We stood before two huge, intricately carved stone doors, set into the north face of the chamber. On their surface could be seen an ancient language. I recognised it instantly as a form of Elven script.

"Notify the professor. We've found the third chamber!"

[OOC]
OK. The professor I'm using is the one that you find dead at the burial ground. I can't remember his name though.

Also, I'm setting this a while before you guys meet up. My next post will detail our findings and what happens afterwards. Shortly after that you can make your appearance.

Hopefully the extra time will give me a chance to talk to Snow about what it is we actually found. :lol:
[/OOC]

 

Hmm... They don't seem so chummy after all. My initial estimate, that the two strangers where together was shattered as the young woman gave the large man a hefty slap. She then made a motion as if she wanted us to go before he could get his bearings. Having no idea what kind of relationship the two of them had, I did as she asked.

I nodded to her and pointed towards my office.

"We should be able to talk in there..."

As we walked down the long corridor I heard the man running after us. I looked at the young woman. She had noticed it as well and the expression on her face was enough to tell what she thought about him comming after us. Nevertheless, I desided to ask if only to test my hypothesis.

"Forgive me for prying, But whats the deal with your large friend? Does he always follow you around like some lost puppy?"

She laughed a little to herself but gave no reply. It probably wouldn't be wise to pry anymore in to how exacly they knew eachother.
As we came in to my office I flipped a switch at the right side of the door, turning on the new electric lights that had been installed in the museum only a few weeks ago.
"Marvelous, isn't? I don't claim to understand it, but it sure'lly makes my job easier. Mind you, when I started this job we still used candles made out of animal fat. If we where lucky! Splendid, simply splendid..."

She didn't seem as impressed as I thought she would be. Children today... Had I seen this when I was her age I would have watered my trowsers! Oh well... Dwelling on the subject wouldn't be wise, seeing as I was the only one that found it of any interest, and only mildly at that.
I made a motion for her to sit down at one of the two chairs that faced the front of my large oak desk. Joining her, I sat down in my own chair behind it. As I was about to ask her what she wanted her big "friend" bursted through the door. He didn't look very happy. "Never slap me again." he muttered, and sat down in the other chair before I had a chance to offer him a seat. She rolled her eyes at his remark.
I lit my pipe that I had neglected when I went out to see who was calling for me. Taking a few puffs at it, I blew the smoke at the ceiling so as to not cause any discomfort to my uninvited guests. Then I adjusted my monocle and put one hand in my coat pocket, while resting the other at the end of the smoldering pipe.

"So..." I took another puff and blew some more smoke in to the air. "What exactly can I do for you?"

 

I was sitting in Professor Symthe's office, across from him at his desk. I pulled the map out of my belt, and started unfolding it. But of course, that obnixious Caladionian burst in again. Plopping down next to me, without anybody's permission, he muttered, "Never slap me again." I sneered at him. "Or what, you pathetic overgrown boy? You'll call your mommy?"

I stood up walking to the other side of the desk, where I could (semi) privately show Symthe the map. I opened it for him, trying to shield it from that man. Did he even have a name? Did I really care? As long as he didn't know mine, that would be good. I whispered in Professor Symthe's ear. "Could you help me? What is this map for? The layout of a building?" I handed him the map, feeling he was trustworthy. While he examined it, I went and sat down. I stared malevolently at the man, trying to make him feel unwelcome. He was so infuriating! He made me so mad that he was trailing me and I couldn't shake him that I started to pout. Why won't he just go?! I screamed to myself.

 

The young woman handed me her map, making sure that her unwanted companion didn't get a good look at it. Why he persisted to follow her seemed rather odd. But as I said before, I had no idea how well the actually knew eachother.

As the girl sat down I could see that even tho she hid it well, she was excited to hear what I had to say. She probably thought it was a map to burried treasure or some such.
I spent a few seconds examining the map, I felt sorry that I had to disapoint her.

"Hmm.... Yes... Well, I'm sorry if you thought this was something important, my dear. Its an old mariner's chart of the coast around Tarant. What you thought was the outline of a building is actually an old mariner symbol for a lighthouse."

I took another puff at my pipe and turned the map around to show her.

"See, here you can see two of the reefs right outside of the Bigsby sound, and here's where the main shipping lane to Caladon starts..."

I pointed out a few other symbols and landmarks before I started to fold her map up again.

"Nothing terribly interesting I'm afriad. You can buy one of these in most major seaports these days..."

I could see that she was pretty upset. But what was I to do? I could only tell her what I saw.

"I'm sorry Miss, But if there's nothing else I'd like to get back to my work. I've got a lot of things to do and..."

While I was talking I had been holding the map in my hands. As I felt the paper between my fingers a memory that I hadn't tought about in at least a hundred years emerged. I suddenly felt very excited myself, something a person of my age doesn't feel too often. The paper... It felt special... I had only felt paper like this ones before...

"Hold on a minute! Yes, yes yes yes yes! of course!"

I quickly rose from my chair and turned around to face the huge bookcase that covered the entire back wall of my office. I started combing the rows of aging tomes all the while puffing almost violently on my pipe. After a minute or two of searching I found what I was looking for. A substantial thump caused my two guests to jump slightly as a large, heavy tome was thrown at the desk.
I quickly opened it, my hands shaking ever so slightly as I searched through the pages as only a man who has had more then 400 years to perfect his reading could.
I ones again adjusted my monocle to compromise for the small letters. As I found what I was looking for, I quickly read through the passages before slamming the tome shut.

"Right... right... Have any of you two seen my pipe?"

Both youngsters pointed, somewhat surprised at my mouth.

"Oh... Nevermind." I said, a little embarrassed. "You, the tall fellow. Could you please flip that switch?"

I pointed towards the light switch right behind him. Still somewhat unsure if I knew what I was doing, he nevertheless obeyed my command.

"Thank you kindly." I said, grabbing the map and making my way to the window.

It was still very dark, but the moon had just come out form behind a cloud, bathing the city in white moon light. Perfect!

I put the map up against the window. Just as I thought. As the moon light hit the map, the old sea chart vanished and in its place was something a thousand times more interesting.

"Crafty Elves!" I said, as a smile spread across my lips.
I turned around ones again and placed the map on the desk. My two guests, eager to see what had happend to the map seemed to temporarily have forgotten their little dispute.

"Its a map alright." pointing at a few odd symbols, I continued. "Its an old elvish dialect... Not really my field I'm afriad. But I think I might know someone who can help us decipher it..." I opened a drawer and pulled out another map. This one being more modern, showing the area around Tarant.
"She's working at a dig site here at the moment." I ones again pointed out a location. "Its a three day journey. But I'm sure it would be worth it. This is one of the most interesting finds I've seen in a long time. I suggest we depart as soon as possible..."

As I started to write a note to my staff about my absence, I suddenly remembered something. "Oh... By the way... Would you mind telling me your names?"

 

[ooc]I am switching my text to orange so you can have green Ferret.[/ooc]

"Or what, you pathetic overgrown boy? You'll call your mommy?" , she sneered.

Make her think call my mommy. I swear, she slaps me again I'll put her over my knee. I don't care how old she is.

She moved across the room and proceeded to show whatever that paper was to the professor while hiding what was on it from me. I made no move to find out what was on the paper. I would probably find out soon enough. If it was important they would get excited and slip up and talk louder about it. If it wasn't important, then, well, it wasn't important.

I was correct. Once the gnomish gentleman found out what it was he got VERY excited and proceeded to exclaim about crafty elves and the map.

Ah, well, that explains alot. Probably took it from the sailors.


"Its a three day journey. But I'm sure it would be worth it. This is one of the most interesting finds I've seen in a long time. I suggest we depart as soon as possible..." , the gnome said. I found it interesting that he seemed to include me when he said we.

"Oh... By the way... Would you mind telling me your names?", he said. "Oh, sorry about that. For some reason I forgot myself.", I said, rubbing my jaw. I heard a loud sniff from the woman. "My name is Talon, Talon Knight."

 

[OOC]
Phoenix, that's extremely nice of you. Thankyou. I could have got used to using another colour, but with my overworked and under-slept brain I was getting confused as to who was saying what. :lol:
[/OOC]


We sat there with the chest on the table. It had been just over a week now since the third chamber had been found and we were no closer really as to what we were looking at.

Inside the chamber was a sarcophagus. A very old sarcophagus too. The chamber itself was more or less bare, with a few ornate beaten-gold vases and ancient and extremely valuable Elven paraphinalia displayed either side of the stone casket. The walls of the chamber were carved from stone and completely blank. This itself was highly unusual as Elven tombs usually chronicalled the life of who lay within.

However, there had been problems. The entire chamber had been heavily trapped and there had been several casualties within the first few hours. In the end we'd given up and sent a team of five people into the chamber to scour the area and disarm and remove all traps they could find. There had been 12 traps on the sarcophagus alone!

After a three day delay we were finally able to catalogue and remove the artifacts within. Extensive records were taken of the chamber in it's pristeen state using some new device called a 'camera' that the professor had aquired. It was an amazing peice of technology but unfortunately I was a little too magickal for it myself and the images I took usually came out a little blurry so I left the 'photography' to other people.

Once the chamber had been cleared and everything tagged, boxed up and shipped off to Tarant for detailed laboratory examination by the museum, we had decided to open the sarcophagus.

That was five days ago.

To everyone's surprise we had found no body. No corpse. No remains of anything. Except one small chest. The chest that now sat infront of us on the table. It wasn't a big chest. It was about the size of those wooden boxes that shoes came in. 14 inches by 8 inches by 5 inches to be more precise. And the lid was covered in glyphs. It was also magickally sealed and no spell or device that we knew of could open it. We'd even tried scrolls of divination and sense contents but to no avail. Our only clue were those glyphs.

For the last five days we had tried to decipher those glyphs. It was obvious it was a form of Elven script, but it was ancient. It was also not quite right and did not match the writing on the door to te chamber, which was a normal ancient Elven language. The writing on the lid of the chest was more like a corrupted form of Elven. An ancient dark Elven language. Of course, the existence of the dark Elves has never been proven.

There was one man a long while back, although his name escapes me now, who published a book claiming to know the location of T'Sen Ang - the fabled location of the dark Elves, but noone believed him and the book, The Curse of T'Sen Ang had disappeared into obscurity.

Anyway, for the last five days we have been unable to decipher the chest. But that wasn't all that had happened. There had been strange occurances ever since the chamber was opened. Dark shadows or the sense that we were being watched. There had also been accidents. A part of the new western tunnel had collapsed, burying and killing two of the work party and injuring four others.

Infact, the team was beginning to believe that the chest was cursed of all things. I was inclined to believe that something was wrong, but if anything it was more likely to be some sort of trap on the chest the someone had overlooked. A nightmare spell of somekind. Although that wouldn't explain the tunnel collapse... I dragged my mind away from such thoughts.

I caught the sight of a shadow out the corner of my right eye. I immediately turned to look. Nothing. I blinked. I looked around at the dusky light but could make out no person or creature that might have caused the shadow. I must be tired.

"Professor, I'm just going to have another look at the chamber. We might have missed something that could shed some light on the chest." I knew as I got up and grabbed a lamp that there was noting in the chamber. We'd gone over it with a fine toothcomb but to no avail and there was nothing left in the chamber - except the sarcophagus, which was too heavy to move without mechanical help. We had some automaton lifters scheduled to come out to the dig site next week to help with that.

I made my way down into the burial site and down the western passage. I greeted to two others down there and stopped once again to examine the markings on the door and the surrounding wooden frame. I knew Elven quite well and had a fair knowledge of ancient Elven scripts. As far as I could tell it was some sort of seal that had been placed over the door to the chamber before it was buried. Unfortunately, age had taken hold and several parts of the wooden frame were missing due to rotting away and the scripting had worn in several places, making the precise nature of the seal unclear. The good thing though was that it had also allowed us to enter the chamber.

That was when things started to go horribly wrong. There was a commotion to the east and the sound of screaming. Horrible, painful, tortured screaming. There was a sudden blast and I was knocked backwards as magickal energies swirled through the tunnel. I managed to resist whatever spell it had been but the the other two were driven insane by it and started to claw at their eyes. Some sort of Nightmare spell!

This could mean only one thing. The dig site was under attack. By whom or what I do not know but they could wield powerful magicks as that last spell had demonstrated. I could here the sound of screaming echoing through the tunnels but intermingled with that was a new sound. The sound of fighting. Or more like the sound of slaughter since noone here could fight, especially when driven insane!

As the sounds of slaughter drew ever nearer I threw myself into the third chamber and heaved the doors shut from the inside. Edging backwards from the door my mind raced to find a way of hiding. There was a thud from the other side of the door and the sound of screaming ceased. The doors began to open.

I did the first thing that came to mind. I erected a wall of force directly infront of the doors. It worked. Try as they could, whoever was on the other side of the door could not push them open. The doors were sealed for as long as I could hold the wall of force in place and there was noting they could do about it.

However, I was also trapped. I realised that I had dropped the lamp outside. It was dark in here with the doors shut. I was safe at least. I settled down in a corner and shut my eyes, trying to rest. Like this I could keep my wall going indefinitely. At least, until I died of thirst. All I could do was wait....

[OOC]
OK, if you haven't already figured it out, the dig site has been attacked by dark Elves, like they did in the game. The professor, in the camp at the entrance is dead, like in the game and the rest of the crew have been driven insane and slaughtered.

The dark Elves have taken the chest and you'll find those four Elves at the entrance. Now, time for you to rescue me.
[/OOC]

 

When I showed my map to the professor, I was initially very dissapointed. He told me that it was only a mariner's map. Suddenly, he grew very excitied. Holding the map up to the moonlight, it changed! It was a miracle to my eyes. I couldn't help but be amazed. He was so thrilled that he immediatly suggested that we go on a journey. I was stunned. This was supposed to be me, getting my treasure! And why the hell did he say "we" (that dreaded word) like he meant that man?

Then Symthe said, "Oh... By the way... Would you mind telling me your names?" Before I could say mine, he cut in, in a very pompous tone. "Oh, sorry about that. For some reason I forgot myself." I sniffed. What a moron! I thought. Then he continued, "My name is Talon, Talon Knight."

I nearly laughed. Why did he say it so seriously? Was he trying to make me have a laughing fit in front of a highly respected professor? I realized that they were both turned towards me. I said, "Honor." I stammered, feeling very ashamed for a second that I didn't have a proper last name. "Brighteyes." I said, coloring a little, knowing that now they would both know that I was just another bastard child. Well, not quite. I also happened to be a thief, although I wasn't about to say that.

 

Honor Brighteyes? Hmm, strange name. But who am I to judge, I am named after a hawk's claw.

"Well, I'm up for a journey. I just arrived in Tarant, but who can resist going on an adventure with a beautiful young woman, even if she is hateful. And, ah, Professor, I don't think I ever got your name."

 

"Well, I'm up for a journey. I just arrived in Tarant, but who can resist going on an adventure with a beautiful young woman, even if she is hateful. And, ah, Professor, I don't think I ever got your name." Talon said. It irked me. I am not hateful! I thought. I but outwardly, I blushed. No one ever called me beautiful! I was very pleased. I decided I should probably be nicer to him, seeing as though we would be going on a journey together. Maybe even brush up my flirting skills.

"So, when do we go?" I asked.

 

The larger man, finally saying something to me, introduced himself pleasantly.

"Oh, sorry about that. For some reason I forgot myself. My name is Talon, Talon Knight."

I shaked his hand, quickly moving on to the young woman. After hesitating for a few moments, she revealed her identity. "Honor" she said. Then she made a short pause. She looked as if she was weighing the pros and cons of telling us her last name, she finally said it. "Brighteyes"

I had seen more then enough of the world to know that this was probably not a name given to her by her parents. The way she acted also hinted that she had been forced to grow up fast in a harsh environment. At first, I felt sorry for her. I then realized that the last thing in the world she wanted was my pitty. I simply thanked her for telling me and gave her a warm smile.

As I spent a few more seconds marveling at the ancient map, Talon suddenly asked me what my name was. I was somewhat supriced, I had thought that they had come seeking me together. I give him a quick, informal bow and introduced myself. It seemed only fair.

"The name is Smythe, Donald Smythe. Professor and scholar of geography, history and archeology. At your service, Mr. Knight."

I was then asked by a somewhat excited Miss Brighteyes:

"So, when do we go?"

Hmm... A good question indeed. Personally, I'd like to leave right now. I was pretty excited myself about the discovery which had just fallen in to my lap. And besides that, I'm not really getting any younger.

I of course realized that there would have to be some logistics involved. After all, we where going to have a three day journey ahead of us if we went on foot... I then realized something, The museum keeps a few horses and a pair of carts to be used when shipping heavier peices to and from the train station. I had the authority to use them, and I knew there where no need of them for at least 14 days. The museum also kept a store of supplies and a small quantity of food. If we used these things, and left right now we could probably cut the time spent on the road in a half. I felt kind of proud of my quick thinking as I told my new found friends about my idea...

 

I was very pleased that Honor didn't argue with me when I said I planned on going. She seemed to blush at being told she was beautiful. I had actually figured she got that kind of thing all the time. Perhaps we wouldn't be at each other's throats the whole time like I had feared at first.

After Professor Smythe explained about getting supplies from the museum, I said,"Well, I am ready to leave when yall are. I just got off the boat here in Tarant and everything I own is either in this pack," I said hefting my bag a little, "or I'm wearing it right now. Do either of you need any help getting ready?"

 

I decided that now might be a good time to ditch them. I said, "I'm not ready, I've got to go home and get some things." I took the map from the desk, tucking it into my belt. "I'll meet you all... here? Let's say here, in an hour." I said, hoping my tone would deter them from attempting to 'help' me. Symthe was fine, Talon was... err... I wasn't quite sure yet... but I didn't need them. I didn't want them either. I wanted to find my treasure.

 

After Honor left the room, I turned to Smythe and said, "Do you really believe she is gonna be back here in an hour? Think I should, ah, trail her?" She had seemed a bit friendlier there at the end of the conversation, but I didn't quite trust her yet not to take off. I didn't want to take a chance of her taking off without me, even if I couldn't understand why I wanted to stay with her so much. Perhaps because she was actually as stubborn as I. And the looks helped.

Not waiting for an answer I took off out the door. I caught a glimpse of her back as she turned a corner and took off as quietly as possible after her. Hunting animals during my travels had helped my stalking prowess but the city was a good deal different. If she was paying much attention she would probably spot me. I was hoping she was too absorbed with the map to notice.

 

I ran as quickly as I could back to the building that served as the Tarant Thieves Underground headquarters. I ignored everyone, even the people shouting angrily at me as I pushed past them. I have to leave very quickly! I thought. At last I was at the building. I threw myself at the doors, yanking them open. Slipping inside, I walked to my room, trying to seem inconspicious.

I slipped into my dark room, and gathered my only possesions. A few coins, my extra shirt and leggings, and a few other things. I put them in a leather bag, then snuck into the kitchen to get some food. I stole some of the biscuits that were lying around, and some other semi-non perishables.

 

Considering the way Honor appeared to be in such a hurry to get her stuff, I felt I had probably been right in thinking she was going to try and lose us.

She entered a building that couldn't just be her home. I followed her in more cautiously. I had been correct, this was much more than her home. I couldn't figure out what exactly it was but it had a good deal goin on even at this time of night.

She ran into what was apparently her room and I waited outside a little ways down the hall, trying to be inconspicuous. After a few moments, she reappeared and headed down the hall. She ran into a kitchen, grabbed a few things. Once again, I waited a little ways down the hall.

 

I'd brushed off the feeling before, but now I was sure that I was being tailed. I stood extremely still in the kitchen, trying to listen for noise, then carefully dropped down to my boot, where my knife was tucked. I took it out, but didn't turn around. Slowly, I glanced around the room. There was a window, which I then opened. I pushed myself up to it, then vaulted out, hitting the ground below painfully. I dragged myself up, thinking, Very smooth, Honor, great going. I tucked myself against the wall, holding the knife, wondering what the person behind me would do.

 

Oh crap! I heard a window open within the kitchen, then someone hitting the groud outside roughly. I immediately ran into the kitchen and jumped out of the window after Honor. She's not gettin away that easy, I thought as I went through the window.

WHAM! Arg! Ground is farther down than it looks. I looked around and there was Honor pressed up against the wall with her knife out. "Uhhh, Hi."

 

My stalker jumped after me, landing with a splat. He looked up at me. "Uhhh, Hi." He said. It was Talon. Great. I fumed, replying, "You dumb shit, why are you following me?!" I slid the knife back into my boot, waiting for an answer.

 

"You dumb shit, why are you following me?!" , she said. I decided just to give her the truth.

With a sigh, I said, "I was afraid you were gonna high tail it outa here and leave us behind. Can you blame me?"

 

Phoenix sighed, replying, "I was afraid you were gonna high tail it outa here and leave us behind. Can you blame me?"

I decided to throw him off his guard, so I stepped over to him, and leaned in close. "Well, actually," I said, pouting, "I am!" I kicked out as hard as I could, hoping I could catch him in a place it would really hurt, but not even looking. I turned, running down the street, trying to get away from him.