Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-24123288-20150315182542/@comment-3293219-20150320232801

(Sorry, I thought that there would be another post before...

This was a Lott longer than I originally intended it to be. XD)

At the very heart of the bustling city of Daggerfall, lay a small residential area for those with the most money, power or influence. Unlike most people of this particular lineage, these residents were merchants, tradesmen, scholars and bankers and so, they all worked in the city. This meant that they were required to live close to the central business district and therefore it was required that their lodgings were incredibly small, compared to the manor houses that most nobles lived in across Tamriel.

However, one should never mistake 'incredibly small' for the lodgings of the destitute as the small apartment buildings were beautifully designed and their residents well accommodated. They had only the best, when it came to their accommodation, in fact the cheaper buildings meant that they could spend more money on furniture or sturdier windows that all but kept the cold completely out and many of them were completely carpeted. Not only this but no one living on this particular row had to worry about crime as the guards kept a constant patrol on that street, making it one of the most well protected places in the city.

Tristard Ashcroft was a resident of this street and a good friend of Arrietty's, perhaps her only friend, after she ran away from home. The Breton was a scholar from Wayrest, a man who dedicated his adult life to history and archaeology and, as a result, had headed a number of successful expeditions over the years and amassed a great number of treasures. These treasures had gotten him into the public eye and made him a point of curiosity for a number of scholars... and thieves...

He had been the victim of seven break ins, within the space of a year, however, thanks to the fact that his house was constantly under watch, by the guard, he was able to foil most attempts. Most... But sadly, not all... Several prize worthy relics had been stolen at some point or another, by some of the more seasoned thieves, he even got stabbed trying to defend one of them.

After that, he always slept a little lighter and resorted to more drastic measures and so, when Arrietty broke in, on her own and 'barely armed,' he honestly felt a degree of pity towards her. However, his pity soon turned to admiration, when he learned that Arrietty wasn't working for anyone and wasn't some common knuckle head, who was grasping at whatever shiny object she could get her hands on, it was almost like she was interested in historical artefacts...

She wasn't really, she was profit driven but he could at least pretend that, that was the case and it made her a great intellectual sparring partner... Even if she was an unwilling one. The two of them eventually formed a sort of partnership, after she learned that one of his relics had been stolen but there was no evidence to convict the suspect and as a result, the artefact was lost. Arrietty was far more discrete than most and actually knew what she was looking for and by the time that daybreak came, Professor Ashcroft was reunited with his lost love, a small, golden statue of Dibella.

The Goddess of Love would probably approve...

…

Probably…

Over the next three years, Arrietty often found herself coming back to the Scholar's house, asking him about certain treasures and how they could be obtained. He even let her crash in his house as they waited for the city watch to calm down, mainly so that he could get a look at whatever she had come home with and record it in his logbook.

This time, however, her visit was more of a personal nature and they both knew that it may be the last time that they would ever speak...

Arrietty had arrived outside of the young scholar's house, wrapped up in her black cloak, her face burried deep inside a black hood. She quickly looked up and saw the yellow glow, that lit up the room and the black silhouette of Ashcroft, that could be seen moving  by the window as Tristard was most likely filing his papers, something that was rarely done in the shambles that he referred to as his ‘study.’

The Breton quickly entered to get out of the Morning Star cold, slamming the door shut behind her as she threw her cloak on the nearest hook and slowly ascended up the stairs, listening to the creak of every step as she went, one step at a time, listening out for Tristard’s mutterings.

He used to talk to himself a lot, not in a crazy way as odd as that sounds, it wasn’t like he had split personalities or anything. No, it was more like he couldn’t contain his thoughts in his head, a few of them had to escape and become vapour in the air, to make way for new ones or to reinvigorate old, dormant ones.

These days, with him receiving more visitors than he used to, he refrained from speaking aloud, in case he ended up looking like a loon in front of her or worse, his employer at the Daggerfall University.

As Arrietty got to the top of the stairs, she noticed that he was shuffling papers and putting them in draws. To a less perceptive person, it would appear that he had some sort of filing system but to anyone else, he was just stuffing the papers in whatever place was out of the way and freed up his desk. Arrie knew him too well, he couldn’t fool her…

“Y’know… This wouldn’t happen if you filed your papers every once in a while.” Arrietty pointed out, slowly walking on in and sitting on his newly cleared desk, prompting the young Scholar to shake his head and chuckle to himself as he turned around and got more papers to put in the small wooden boxes that he had ordered.

“True but I also wouldn’t have as much storage space at the University, if I couldn’t prove that I needed it.” Tristard replied, with a smirk, dropping the stack of papers into the crate, with a heavy thud before turning back to face her.

“I’ll be damned if I give that cretin, Professor Jilette, any more space than he already has…” He added, causing Arrietty to shake her head, with a smile. His disliking of the other professors always amused her, since the reasons for his scorn were usually so arbitrary. Still, from what she had heard, it sounded like Ashcroft was the least stuffy of the professors and by far the most human…

“So…” Ashcroft asked, remembering that he was being a terrible host as usual.

“What can I do for you today, Lady…” He then paused as he saw Arrietty scratching her messy hair and eating whatever she’d managed to pick off of the back of her head. Somehow, calling her ‘Lady Muldoon’ would seem like a piss take at this point…

“Arrietty?”

The Breton’s eyes shot over to his and widened a little as she was brought back into the room, she sat, bewildered for a moment before speaking.

“Ah, sorry… yeah…” She said, hopping off of the desk and wandering into Tristard’s sitting area as he cluelessy followed her around.

“Right… So…” She began, swiftly spinning on her heel and turning to face him, her eyes still glued to the floor as she built up the courage to raise them.

“I… Need your help… Finding something out for me…” She began, peaking his curiosity as she usually knew the name of something and its odd location and wanted its back-story from him. This time? This time was different…

This should be interesting…

“Well, I suppose having a friend with unlimited access to the University’s library was bound to bear some fruit at some point or another.” He muttered, eyeing up his walls as he slowly rocked from side to side as he folded his arms.

“So, what did you want me to find for you?” Ashcroft asked leaning against the wall as Arrietty began to fumble her words; she was never usually this hesitant…

<p class="MsoNormal">“I… Want to know everything…” She began, quickly finishing her sentence so that Ashcroft wouldn’t cut her off with a silly comment.

<p class="MsoNormal">“About the heart of Asgarne.”

<p class="MsoNormal">As Arrietty said this, the room fell silent, mainly because Ashcroft, for the first time since they had met and he caught her rooting around his unmentionables, was speechless…

<p class="MsoNormal">“The… heart of?” He paused to scoff, shaking his head and dismissing her with a gesture of his hand as he walked over to the window, prompting the Dark Eyed Breton to follow him across the room.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Trist… Listen, I’ve been looking around, talking to the folks in the east! Some of them tells stories of   people, who have even seen the damn thing with their own damn eyes!” She spluttered, hoping to get his attention for one minute, so that she could penetrate the shield of scepticism that he had thrown up. The heart was a fairy tale, not even a well shared one anymore, just some folk lore from the east, that the peasants speak of or that people with more money than sense chase after, in fact, a lack of sense is really the only thing that would cause some to chase after it.

<p class="MsoNormal">   “Arrie…” Tristard muttered, slowly looking over his shoulder to her as he eventually stood up straight and fully turned to face her.

<p class="MsoNormal">“The Heart of Asgarne is a fantasy, something that the people in Wayrest tell their kids; when they’re young to keep them quiet for five minutes and then later tell them that it’s bullshit…”

<p class="MsoNormal">“But it’s not bullshit!” Arrietty protested, drawing a slip of paper from her shirt and holding it out for him to take.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Here!”

<p class="MsoNormal">Ashcroft raised an eyebrow as he looked to her in disbelief, prompting her to grunt and shove it closer to him. He then took it and unfolded the sheet, revealing it to be a very stained map of Daggerfall, possibly from the second era…

<p class="MsoNormal">He quickly marched over to the nearest candle, so that he could see it closer, slowly moving it around, in front of the flickering flame and seeing that it was a map of Daggerfall and on it, was a rather specific marking. A small ring, on a patch of land, that used to be barren but has since been built on as an estate. Probably an ancestral estate, since the house has seemingly always been there for the past two eras.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Arrie… This map points to Gaerston manor…” Ashcroft pointed out, getting a confirming nod from Arrietty as she stepped closer to it and examined it herself.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Yep, some rich tit’s built a house on it but, you see, that’s what I heard… According to the Office of Commerce, they sold that house to Gaerston for 50,000 gold. He paid double what it was worth to secure it for himself…

<p class="MsoNormal">Which means that he’s either a shitty haggler or that he knew all about the Heart and that he knew, that that plot of land was a gold mine!”

<p class="MsoNormal">Ashcroft paused, taking in what she had said and slowly turning his attention to the fold of paper that he had in his hand. He wasn’t sure if she was a mad woman, chasing a fairy tale or a genius who had uncovered the archaeological find of the era. Either way, he was growing concerned…

<p class="MsoNormal">“Well, as much as I am enthusiastic about… retrieving this artefact, I’m not entirely convinced that you know who you’re dealing with.” Ashcroft said to her, quickly handing her the piece of paper back as he knelt down, by one of his crates, thumbing through old copies of the local courier.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Oh, c’mon… So he’s got a few guards? It’s nothing that I can’t handle…”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Arrietty…” He muttered, slowly removing the last issue of the local courier and handing it to her.

<p class="MsoNormal">“The last man believed to have trespassed on his property was found a year later, with his tongue pulled out, his eyes gouged out and the autopsy said that he was disembowelled…” Tristard replied, rather shortly as he wanted to get the message across, Arrietty took the paper and began to scan it with her eyes before shrugging and handing it back to him.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Well, I won’t get caught then…” She decided, though that seemed like an obvious plan to her.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Arrie! Don’t just… Shrug this off! He’s dangerous! Powerful! He’ll kill you, in the worst way that his sick bastard mind can think up, if you make one mistake, you won’t be dead, you’ll suffer horribly and then you’ll be left to rot, face down in a river!

<p class="MsoNormal">For what? An imaginary trinket, with a genie inside? There’s no proof that it even exists and you’re risking everything you have to get it!”

<p class="MsoNormal">Ashcroft stopped ranting in her face and began to pant as his angered expression collapsed and became a more concerned one. He knew that she couldn’t be talked down from this, as much as that knowledge pained him… Still, the thought of her being found dead in a river, with no justice to ever be had for the poor girl just broke his heart.

<p class="MsoNormal">Arrietty knew this, she knew that this was asking much of him, perhaps too much but she needed him…

<p class="MsoNormal">“I have to…” She whispered, slowly wandering away from him, towards the couch in his sitting room. This answer only angered the Scholar as he hastily went into the room after her, rushing over to her side.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Why!? What could possibly worth you breaking into that psychopath’s house and getting yourself… Killed or worse!?”

<p class="MsoNormal">Arrietty paused, hanging her head as she debated with herself as to whether or not she should try to explain but she ended up coming to the conclusion that Tristard was her friend. He deserved an explanation…

<p class="MsoNormal">She slowly looked up to him, with eyes, shimmering with tears, becoming hazier as they met with his…

<p class="MsoNormal">“Toan…”

<p class="MsoNormal">-

<p class="MsoNormal">In her bed, at the Silverblood inn, Arrietty began to grow restless, her dreams fractured, images began to flash into her brain as more cracks appeared in the images that her eyes were projecting and a debilitating buzz could be heard all around her as her forehead began to throb.

<p class="MsoNormal">She grunted and groaned a little, unable to do anything else as the pain brought her back to reality, through the blinding white.

<p class="MsoNormal">With a gasp, she was awake, panting heavily as she stared up at the stone ceiling above her as the light of the candle in the corner flickered in her eyes. She slowly sat up and paused as her brow furrowed, prompting her to lift her covers up…

<p class="MsoNormal">Not again…

<p class="MsoNormal">