The manor at the edge of town continued to tower over Noblecourt as the party drew nearer, and Therion glared at the peaks of the building as he walked in its direction. At the very least, he was glad that Barham had been willing to help him, and he could say that he at least had one other person on his side outside of his current traveling party. He would hardly say it had been worth the difficulties that came with Noblecourt's general existence as far as he was concerned, but it was a step in the right direction given all the frustrations the town had offered him before.

Orlick was bound to be yet another irritation in a long line, and Therion would have been lying if he said he was at all looking forward to seeing what was going to come of this next. He could tell that if Orlick was firm enough in his ideals to toss out his research partner, he wasn't going to be letting go of the dragonstone quite so easily. In other words, it seemed like it was just a matter of time before Therion was forced to raise his dagger in combat. At the very least, this wouldn't be a fight to death, and after what had happened with Rufus, that was an improvement. It did leave Therion wondering just how awful his life had become if he was glad to not have to fight for the right to continue breathing each time he marched off to combat, but he knew there wasn't an easy way to answer that question. In the end, he decided that finding a solution to the problem wasn't worth it and would only serve to add another layer of frustration on top of everything else Noblecourt seemed intent on doing to damage his sense of self-esteem.

Cyrus wound up falling into step alongside Therion as the mansion continued to get closer, and Therion glanced over in his direction. "I'm glad you're not like Orlick," he muttered under his breath. He wouldn't say that he knew much about Cyrus given how different they were as people, but at the very least, he could say with confidence that the scholar he was traveling with was far from being the same as the one who was holding the ruby dragonstone with such feverish obsession.

Cyrus perked up at Therion's words with a small smile on his face, though Therion couldn't quite read what Cyrus was trying to get across. "The pursuit of knowledge is a difficult path to traverse," he said simply. "One must always walk a fine line so as to not slip into obsession. Orlick... It seems as if his passion has become his downfall."

"If he's not going to hand over the dragonstone easily, then we're just going to have to take it," Therion told him. "I hope you're ready to take him down, because I doubt he's going to just roll over and let us take the stone without any consequences."

Cyrus nodded. "Of course. I refuse to allow his actions to bring harm to any of us," he assured Therion firmly, and once again, the thief felt a sensation that seemed a lot like foreign belonging rise in his chest. It was odd to have someone looking after him, and Cyrus was hardly the sort who Therion would have expected to say such a thing.

Therion was so stunned by Cyrus' words that he didn't seem to realize that the scholar had started to speak again until a few moments later. "I wonder if the dragonstone has any qualities that could contribute to Orlick's shift in behavior," he murmured. "When we were around the sapphire dragonstone in Bolderfall, I couldn't help but notice how oddly captivating it was... The dragonstones hold great magical power, and perhaps it can act as a poison if someone is around them too much."

That caught Therion off guard, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized Cyrus probably had a point. The dragonstone had been in a secluded corner of Ravus Manor, and the guards that were meant to look after the stones were stationed a small distance away. It would make sense if that was because Cordelia and Heathcote were trying to ensure nobody fell under the influence of the mysterious power contained within the gems. "So Orlick getting so close to the jewel..." he began to whisper.

"It could be doing something to taint his way of thinking, yes," Cyrus finished for him. "It would hardly surprise me if his sudden shift to obsession had something to do with the dragonstone itself. After all, the gems are endlessly powerful, and a strength like that... It would be more than enough to catch the attention of anyone interested in the arcane arts, and from there, it would hardly be a stretch for them to fall under the influence of the stones."

Therion nodded slightly at that, and he couldn't help thinking that Cyrus was right. "I can only hope it doesn't wind up coming back to bite us while we're here," he muttered. "Then again, I suppose the Warp Staff will give us the chance to get back to Bolderfall before we can fall under the influence of the gemstone."

"Lady Cordelia and Heathcote must have immense faith in you to believe that you would not succumb to such temptations of the stones," Cyrus remarked. "Perhaps that was another reason they requested the rest of us accompany you in your journey to find them once more..."

Therion shook his head. "I don't know, but I don't intend on letting some damn gemstone control the rest of my life," he assured Cyrus. He knew words were probably cheap in the face of a magical artifact that quite possibly possessed some degree of influence over human emotion, but Therion was going to remain bitterly stubborn to the end, and if that meant standing up against the dragonstone's power, then so be it. He wanted the dragonstones out of his life as soon as possible, and nothing was going to hold him back from that, not even the jewels themselves.

The mansion came into view in full soon afterward, and Therion realized that they had arrived at their destination. All of a sudden, his throat felt overwhelmingly dry, and he shook his head to try and eliminate any of the residual nerves starting to mount inside of him. He had carried out heists more difficult than this countless times before, and this time, he even had the added advantage of knowing exactly how to get inside thanks to the combined influence of the password and the key Barham had given him. In other words, this mission was going to be over as soon as it started, and it was just a matter of time before the pieces came together without consequence.

At the very least, that was the hope, but Therion supposed only time would tell. He shoved his impatience as far down as it would go before he turned to the other members of the group, gesturing for them to fall in line behind him. He was going to be able to handle this, he was sure, and he didn't want any of them to jeopardize the mission. Under most other circumstances, Therion would have just gone in alone, but if the dragonstone really did have the power to influence emotions as Cyrus suspected, it would be best to be safe rather than sorry. Plus, if Orlick grew violent, Therion knew he would fare better if he had help at his side than trying to take on Orlick's massive faction of armed guards by himself. As much as he hated to admit it, he needed them if he was going to find success in this heist.

He hated even more that he actually enjoyed that thought deep down in the pit of his darkened heart.

When the group did grow nearer to the mansion, Therion walked up to the entrance without a care in the world, doing his best to shove aside his nerves. This was bound to be an easy heist as long as he was able to get inside, and the key to deceiving the guards was confidence. He had everything he needed to get the dragonstone; all he had to do was use his tools properly.

Therion almost thought he was going to be able to walk inside the building without issues when the guards standing on either side of the staircase stepped together to block the entrance from view. "Halt. What business do you have here?" the guard on the left questioned, his voice immediately shifting to something accusatory.

"My friends and I have a package for Orlick-materials for his experiment," Therion replied. He gestured behind himself to where the other travelers were standing, his hand specifically pointing out Tressa. Her bag of supplies was massive; if he said she had something, nobody would bother to push back against him, or so he hoped.

The guards looked surprised at that, and they turned to one another. Insecurity was already starting to leak in through the cracks of their firm facades, and Therion could tell it wouldn't be much longer before he was able to get inside without any consequences. "You hear anything about a delivery?" the guard on the left questioned, every word tainted with uncertainty.

"Not me," his companion replied with a shake of his head.

"That's odd..." Therion murmured, playing it off so seamlessly that neither one of the guards even seemed to notice something was wrong. "Maybe the message just got lost somewhere. Anyway, he said it was urgent, so we rushed over."

Behind Therion, Tressa had picked up on what the thief was trying to do, and she showed a small box to the guards. Therion didn't know what was inside, but something shifted within the container. He assumed it was something she had bought while they were in Stillsnow, and Therion was glad Tressa had figured out his ruse. After all, that only increased their chances of being able to get inside. She would make for a better thief than she realized.

The sight of the small box seemed to be all the guards needed to see, and the man on the right nodded. Therion made a mental note to thank Tressa later for acting as the clinching moment to allow the pieces to fall together so seamlessly. "Understood. What's the password?" the guard on the right questioned.

Therion nodded. Here goes nothing. "'The truth of all things,'" Therion answered simply. Under most other circumstances, he would have felt his chest constrict with fear at the idea of what might happen if he was wrong somehow, but Therion couldn't bring himself to succumb to his anxieties for the moment. He knew Barham had told him the truth, and Therion had no reason to disbelieve someone who was so tragically similar to him.

The guards glanced to one another, and their previous uncertainty melted away. The man on the left nodded. "Alright. You may pass," he said simply.

The two men stepped apart, leaving the staircase easy to access once again. Therion nodded to them, gesturing for the others in the party to follow. "Much obliged," he told them. He truly did owe them a lot; after all, they were allowing him to walk right in, and he hadn't even broken a sweat once he had all the pieces in his hands. Stealing the dragonstone was already proving itself to be much easier than sneaking into Ravus Manor had been, Barham's fetch requests aside.

The guards didn't move as the group continued to walk up the staircase, and Therion smiled into his scarf. Orlick had only hired the best, but not even the best were good enough to stop Therion from getting inside somewhere once he put his mind to it. Therion never would have expected to work so openly and freely with others after what had happened the last time he had a partner, but the others in his traveling party were not only proving themselves helpful, but beneficial in more ways than Therion could have ever expected. All that they had to do from there was actually get their hands on the dragonstone, and while that was bound to be easier said than done, it was a step in the right direction.

The mansion that towered overhead was massive enough to be intimidating to even Therion, and he couldn't help but wonder how much money Barham and Orlick had splurged on the enormous building. It seemed more like a palace than anything else, though Therion supposed that was part of what it meant to live in Noblecourt (or to be rich, though Therion believed those two concepts were synonymous anyway). The size of the mansion wasn't going to wind up mattering in the end regardless; as long as Therion was able to get his hands on the dragonstone, nothing else was important, and he wasn't leaving without the ruby stone.

The door was easy enough to push open, and Therion silently scoffed at Orlick's confidence. He hadn't even locked the front door beyond the guards stationed outside. He clearly thought the armed faction he had hired was more than enough to guard his research, but Therion had proven it to be insufficient. Orlick's hubris was impressive, but Therion was going to tear it apart before he was gone. It was only a matter of time.

The inside of the mansion consisted of brown floors so ominously clean it seemed as if nobody had touched them in years. There was no dust, and it seemed as if the building was an untouched remnant of a bygone history nobody understood anymore. Olive green lined the walls, a color so rich and exquisite it was almost sickening. Orlick had no doubt spent more leaves on this mansion than Therion would see in his entire life, and he didn't even seem to mind enough to enjoy the space of everything he had been given. It was a waste as far as Therion was concerned, but it wasn't something he could decide. Orlick was the one who made this decision, and he was going to have to live with those choices both before and after the downfall he was given by Therion in a matter of hours.

There were many guards patrolling the inside of the building, but all it took was Therion offering them the password for the mercenaries to leave the group alone. It was almost sad how easy it was for the group to make their way to the back end of the mansion. The guards grew in number the deeper in they went, and Therion could only imagine it was a sign they were getting closer to their target. The dragonstone was hiding at the heart of the manse, and they were on the cusp of finally being able to grasp it.

Therion stopped walking when they arrived in front of a large set of double doors with a lock so large it could have easily eaten any of Therion's lock picks alive. Therion dug the key he had been given by Barham out of his pocket and compared it to the lock waiting before him. "So this is the door Barham was talking about," he murmured as he closed the gap to the lock with careful footsteps, giving him a closer look at just how strange the binding of the door truly was. "It doesn't look like it has an ordinary lock, that's for sure."

Therion examined the key once again before he pressed it into the lock, and he could already tell Barham had meant it when he said the key would be able to open the door. It was almost hilarious how simple it was from there, and the door clicked open after only a few seconds of Therion's interference. He smiled to himself before pushing the door open, dropping the key into his pocket. He could consider it a keepsake of another successful heist, he supposed. He might as well after everything he did for Barham for it to be made in the first place.

The room on the other side of the door appeared as if it had once been used for storage in some way, as countless objects were pushed against the walls lining the space. There didn't seem to be much in the way of rhyme or reason for why specific items were positioned in a given place, and Therion could only imagine this was the work of a scholar who cared little for his environment in favor of his current project. At least Barham had the decency to be somewhat clean when he was working.

Even if the positioning of most items in the room was haphazard and difficult to pin down, there was one object that stuck out. A table sat near the center of the room, and a white cloth had been draped over it. A cradle could be seen atop the tablecloth, and there was the ruby dragonstone, sitting there as if it owned the space with its silent imposing power. It gleamed gently in the light streaming in through the windows at the back wall, almost possessing an otherworldly aura as Therion drew closer slowly.

"The ruby dragonstone..." Cyrus murmured, his eyes wide. When Therion offered a brief glance over his shoulder, he could see that all of the other travelers were glancing to each other, seemingly waiting to see who would be the first to reach out for the gemstone that had brought them here to begin with. As far as Therion was concerned, the one who was going to get the dragonstone was clear as could be, and he didn't bother hesitating as he started to approach the jewel.

"One down, two to go," Therion muttered under his breath. He was on the verge of reaching out for the stone, his fingers already starting to tingle with the power he knew was just beneath his fingertips, when-

"That's fair enough, thieves!"

Dammit.

Therion should have known it wasn't going to be that simple. It seemed like his recent attempts at thievery had ended with some interference or another, though he supposed that made things at least a bit more interesting. He shifted his attention over to the door, doing his best to seem as composed as possible despite the tension that was quickly finding a home inside his body. The voice that had called for them to stop was a nasally one, and Therion could already tell it belonged to Orlick. He couldn't imagine anyone aside from the scholar of Barham's stories sounding that annoying.

The man that walked in over the course of the moments that followed wore clothing so elaborate and expensive it almost felt like a crime to look at him. His coat was a deep green color, dull but still rich in a way Therion struggled to describe. He wore a black hat with a white feather sticking out of one side. His hair was a light brown color, and Therion could tell that the man had been trying and failing to grow out a beard for quite a few years. The pathetic beginnings of stubble could be seen on the man's chin, but it was clear he wasn't ever going to get much more than that.

The man wasn't alone though; it didn't take long for a group of at least twelve guards to close in around Therion and the other travelers. Therion's hand drifted to his pocket where he kept a small knife, ready to whip it out the second he thought they were going to get a bit too rough with him. In the meantime, he simply narrowed his eyes in the direction of the man leading the escort party. "You must be Orlick," he said, his voice surprisingly casual for someone who was at risk of being speared through from at least five different angles as he spoke.

Orlick didn't bother to confirm Therion's suspicions, instead continuing to speak in his irritatingly haughty voice. His eyes were so overwhelmed with a conceited sense of greed that it made Therion feel sick to his stomach, and once again, he thought back to his conversation with Cyrus. The dragonstone had to be influencing Orlick's emotions in some way or another. He was sure of it. "I assume you heard the rumors and came to steal my dragonstone," Orlick snarled, his voice dripping with malice each time he spat out a syllable. He shook his head. "But filthy thieves such as yourselves could never appreciate its true value."

Orlick turned to face the dragonstone a moment later, seeming to admire his reflection in the surface of the stone. The sheen that overcame his eyes could only be described as maddening, and a moment later, he seemed to perk up as if struck with something. His entire body went tense, and Therion swallowed back his agitation at Orlick's odd infatuation with the gemstone. "Wait! Barham put you up to this, didn't he?!" Orlick roared. He stamped one foot against the ground like he was a toddler on the verge of a tantrum, and his sad excuse for stubble was buried in the fur that lined his coat. "That nagging, patronizing coward, Barham!"

The first thing Therion thought as he saw Orlick cross his arms was that the man needed to work on his emotional regulation before he went around spouting off accusations. Therion knew that nothing he said was going to reach Orlick given how far gone the man was because of his research, so he instead resolved to keep his lips pressed firmly shut. It didn't matter what Orlick thought when it came to the reason Therion was there; as long as he was able to get the dragonstone, nothing was that important, and as far as Therion was concerned, he was still going to be able to pull it off. As long as the others were there, he had the high ground.

Orlick didn't seem to notice or care that Therion had a plan though, and he instead chose to keep talking, his tantrum dragging on even longer. "'This research is pointless, Orlick.' 'Enough with the dragonstone, Orlick.' I'll say when enough is enough!" Orlick shouted, clearly doing what he could to release his pent-up frustrations with Barham at anyone who would listen. Therion saw no point in trying to push back against him, so he remained silent even still, once again thinking that Orlick was in serious need of an intervention that involved him getting as far away from the emotionally influential dragonstone as possible. Barham was right, and so was Cyrus.

Orlick turned back to the dragonstone, and the twisted infatuation in his eyes only continued to prove the theory Cyrus had proposed. "Mark my words, thieves: this stone is mine, and you will never have it!" he roared.

"I beg to differ," Therion told Orlick casually. He wasn't at all bothered by Orlick's explosive temper. He had dealt with worse than this a thousand times before, and he chose to not acknowledge how similar Orlick could be to a certain other person he didn't want to think about anymore. "I couldn't care less about its 'true value.' But I need to get that stone back to its rightful owner, and that's not you."

Orlick continued to fawn over the gem as he spoke now. "This stone should be in the hands of someone intelligent, someone who can appreciate its mysteries," Orlick declared.

Therion raised an eyebrow at that. "Someone like yourself?"

"Precisely! This beautiful stone requires research, and I'm the only one who can do it!" Orlick cried out. He seemed like a dragon looking after a pile of gold, but instead of a collection of rare treasures, it was a simple stone worth more than anything Therion had ever even come close to in the past. Somehow, that was even more obnoxious to deal with than an actual dragon. After all, the beasts didn't exist, but Orlick most certainly did, and he was incredibly frustrating over it.

Therion watched Orlick for a long moment and his eyes slipped shut in contemplation. He chose to not look over his shoulder at the other travelers in his party. "It sounds like you can't trust anyone else to get the job done," he commented bluntly, not bothering to specify his words beyond that. At one point, he would have never been able to rely on others to help him with his work either, but he had evolved past that. He liked to think that he wasn't held back by his own insecurities on that front the way he once had been, though he knew that was difficult to describe for certain. That was subjective as could be, and Therion wasn't about to think about something so heavy when he had work to take care of at the moment.

"Why should I?" Orlick questioned, his voice sharp as he continued to admire the stone. He glanced up to Therion a moment later, his fingers stroking gently across the surface of the jewel.

Therion was quiet for a moment. Orlick's aggression didn't appear as if it was going to manifest itself in combat prowess, and if he did try to put up a fight, Therion doubted he would be capable of much. Still, talking him down would be better than pushing his luck the wrong way, so he might as well give it a shot. "I never said you should. I know how it feels-"

"Don't pretend you understand!" Orlick roared angrily, and Therion found that, truth be told, he didn't understand. Well, he did at least in part, but his comprehension wasn't as complete as it once had been. His mind briefly flashed back to the help Tressa had offered when the group arrived at the entrance of the mansion, Alfyn's lopsided smile in all of its strange perfection, and Primrose's gentle kindness despite all she had been through. At one point, Therion would have understood the importance of acting alone, but these days, he couldn't help feeling as if he had been dragged into something much larger than himself, and he didn't even fully comprehend how or why it had happened.

Orlick didn't notice Therion's internal debate though, and he raised one hand before clenching it into a fist and slamming it on the table where the dragonstone was sitting. The jewel shook ever so slightly from the contact, but it didn't fall out of its cradle by some stroke of a miracle. Therion somehow doubted it would have broken even if it did fall; something with that much power couldn't break simply by hitting the floor, he was sure. "Enough with this thoughtless prattle! I have work to do!" Orlick roared.

He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a knife bound by a sheath. He was quick to yank the dagger free of its bindings, and from there, he charged forward. The guards surrounding the group started to close in a moment later, and Therion's eyes narrowed. If Orlick wanted to do this the hard way, then so be it. He was going to get that dragonstone one way or another, even if he had to fight through Orlick to do it.

Sitting in the inn room was isolating.

Primrose had been there for the last few hours, and while she knew it was for the best, she couldn't help wanting to be with the rest of the group as they searched for the ruby dragonstone. She didn't want to risk being caught by any of the unsavory parties that had closed in on Noblecourt in the aftermath of her father's murder though, and that meant staying as hidden as possible. She hoped the others were having luck in searching for the dragonstone, and she wished there was something more she could do to help them beyond just waiting for them to return.

Primrose had found herself struggling to sleep even though that had been her initial plan. She figured she would catch up on the rest she had lost while she was stressed over Rufus' death in Stillsnow, but that had been much easier said than done. As it stood, she was just paranoid over the fact that they weren't back yet. This mission was bound to take a while to carry out, yes, but Primrose wanted them back as soon as possible.

She let out a small sigh as she leaned back against the mattress below. No matter how hard she tried to shift the focus of her mind, all she could think about was the rest of the group. Primrose had never expected other people would be capable of leaving such a profound impact on her life, and she couldn't seem to break free of her thoughts once she started thinking about all that had happened. So much had changed in such a short span of time, but Primrose was oddly alright with it. She was glad everyone else was there for her even if it was a difficult idea for her to accept.

For the time being though, Primrose could do nothing but worry about them. She was halfway tempted to search for them herself, but Noblecourt was the largest city she had ever been to, and she could look for hours without finding them. She didn't even know where they were going, and she knew that looking for them without any clues would only lead to disaster.

In other words, all she could do was wait. Primrose liked to think of herself as a patient person given that she had waited for ten years to execute her revenge against her father's killers, but her anxiety still boiled hot and agitating in her stomach. She prayed that they were alright and let out a sigh, her nerves rattling while she was helpless to calm them.

Wow, guys. Fifty chapters, and we're not even done with the second chapter two. Whoops?

I meant it when I said Therion's would go a lot faster than Primrose's for a variety of reasons, and I think that's becoming pretty apparent right now. I mean, we're already up to the boss fight, and while there will be a bit more to come in Noblecourt before the group is ready to leave, we're making good progress, and that's what matters most. This chapter is paced much faster for obvious reasons heavily related to Therion's mounting frustration, so we're getting through this at a great clip. Yay!

Cyrus' travel banter has become the third in this story to be changed so far because I thought it would be a nice opportunity to throw in a few extra details. Therion is just as snarky as he is in canon, don't get me wrong, but the world building was too much to pass up on. I like the idea of the dragonstones influencing emotions, and we're going to be seeing it again in the future as we move forward through Therion's story.

That's about all I have to say about this chapter since I think the rest of it mostly speaks for itself. Next time, we're going to be jumping into our next boss fight with none other than Orlick! Until then, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Feedback is appreciated as always. Have a nice day, everybody!

-Digital