Vex was fine with the dead. They were nothing but corpses, laid to rest forever by their loved ones and friends. Short of the smell, she really didn't mind being near a corpse.

It was when they moved, however, that she was creeped out and often mortified. Nordic tombs, then, were among her least favorite places in the entire world. She had always thought that perhaps she could just sneak by them, and she had a few times... but there was no sneaking past magic.

Typically, said magic had a tendency to make a perfectly still corpse rise, or step down from a stone alcove. It was almost as if magic was keeping an eye out for intruders and waking the dead guardians of the tombs.

Already, Vex and Carissa had been ambushed by a couple of draugr which they had both assumed completely inanimate. Although Vex was a formidable fighter herself, she not only preferred not to resort to violence, she also had skillful techniques to fight the living... not walking corpses. Every stab to an arm or the chest did nothing to slow them down.

Carissa, on the other hand, had proven that her own blades were mostly for show: instead of bladework, she wove spell after powerful spell, typically fire, against their undead adversaries. Vex was intrigued and impressed; most Nords either had no aptitude for magic, or they distrusted it altogether. Then again, most Nords were an honorable and straightforward race when it came to fighting, and Carissa was a thief; she was hardly a normal Nord.

How, then, had she come to stay in Valenwood for a time - certainly long enough to meet and befriend Vess?

It was a question she'd ask after they got out of this tomb. Carissa had called it Geirmund's Hall. Vex hadn't heard of it before, though given its location - an island in the middle of a lake - perhaps it wasn't quite so popular in the first place. In any event, as they descended the cavernous pit leading into the ruin and navigated a spider-infested corridor or three, Carissa explained why they were in Geirmund's Hall. Apparently, it was the resting place of a powerful amulet - or more than likely, a fragment of one. The amulet in question was spoken of in the book Forbidden Legends, which Vex had only ever glanced through a couple of times in the past. All she remembered was how it was said to have belonged to a powerful mage named Gauldur. The details weren't something she really cared about; old ruins meant undead, which turned Vex away from it altogether.

Not Carissa, however. She had been intrigued enough to investigate it closer. She had first discovered a similar fragment in another ruin called Saarthal, in Winterhold Hold. She was interested in what sort of power a whole amulet would bestow, and had made it something of a side project.

They weren't the only ones, it seemed.

As they delved further into the Hall, they began to notice signs of prior combat, complete with defeated draugr and the occasional blood spatter on the floor or on a wall. It was difficult for Vex to tell how long ago the blood had been spilled, but she was hoping it wasn't recent. She already had enough to worry about without competing with others for something.

Upon arriving in a large chamber, however, they realized they were competing after all. Vex and Carissa both had to hide behind stone columns that didn't quite reach the ceiling; they seemed more like rather highly elevated pedestals than anything. They hadn't been spotted yet, fortunately. This allowed them to observe their competitors from their hiding places.

It took Vex a moment, but she ultimately recognized one of the figures. She wondered wildly if Durian considered the Guild beneath him - for here he was, accompanied by a trio of men in robes. Given the situation she'd endured in their new fortress not too long ago, she was willing to bet his comrades were necromancers.

"What's he doing here?" Carissa whispered, staring at Durian. "He's supposed to be in Windhelm on Guild business..."

Vex didn't dare answer. She had nothing constructive to offer, and didn't want to spend time coming up with theories. Her attention instead went to the withered corpse at the feet of the necromancers; even from afar, Vex could tell it was a draugr, and a strong-looking one at that. If they destroyed it, all the better; less fighting for her and Carissa.

To her shock and horror, Carissa stood up straight. "Durian!" she shouted, making the Breton and his companions turn to face her. "What are you doing here?"

"None of your business," he began.

"Brynjolf and Delvin might argue that," she countered. "This isn't Windhelm."

Vex kept watching from her hiding spot, not daring to show her face quite yet. Preferably not at all, but she would if the need arose.

"I could ask the same of you," he shot back. "Why are you here?"

"Personal interests, and I have no Guild matters to attend to. Seemed like a good time." She stepped forward, toward Durian and the necromancers. "Never mind what you're doing here, who are they?"

"Friends." That alone almost made Vex scoff, but she kept herself in check. "They had separate interests in this place, so it made sense to join up with them." Silence settled in the chamber. "You came for the amulet fragment, didn't you?"

"Would it be a conflict of interest if I did?" she shot back.

"A little. I have a vested interest in recreating the amulet as a whole once more, then selling it to the highest bidder." Vex could see the greedy smile cross Durian's lips. "Make me an offer, and I might just sell the fragment to you."

Carissa pursed her lips, then sighed softly. "We go fifty-fifty," she countered, "and I get to hold onto the fragment until we have the others." Vex recognized Carissa wasn't commenting on the fact that she had one fragment already, and had to admire her tenacity; assuming he agreed, she would have all three once they found the last, and she could give him the slip while he pursued the final fragment - the one already in her possession. At least, it's what Vex would do. His necromancer buddies would probably be a greater threat than Durian himself if they detected the duplicity, but that was another problem to consider if it became a problem.

"I am many things, love-"

"Don't call me that, for the last time!" Carissa snapped.

"But a fool, I am not. You forget that we are both thieves. I am not stupid; the only way you'd know about the fragment is if you have one already." Vex couldn't deny she admired his intuition, if nothing else. His choice in peers and colleagues outside of the Guild left much to be desired, of course. "I have an alternate offer." He snapped his fingers, and the necromancers suddenly had their hands lifted, sparks of lightning dancing from their fingertips. "Give me the fragment you have, and I promise my friends here won't turn you into a soulless walking husk."

Carissa snorted, arms crossing. Vex couldn't deny he was bold. There was no way out of Geirmund's Hall, save for what looked to be a door behind Durian. Carissa was effectively trapped by the ultimatum. If only he wasn't a scumbag who worked with necromancers... She might have actually respected him.

"Stealing from another member of the Guild." Carissa chuckled quietly, shaking her head.

"No one else is here to bring it back to them." Durian was drawing a dagger and pointing it at Carissa. "So, the amulet fragment or your life."

Vex decided she'd heard enough of his annoying attempts at intimidation, and in one swift movement, rose from her hiding place, steel dagger between her fingers. Before anyone could react to her sudden appearance, her dagger escaped her fingers and found itself buried in the face of the necromancer nearest to her. Blood plumed from his face as he fell backward, body limp.

"Wh-" Durian's surprise was cut short as Carissa sent a bolt of lightning directly into the chest of another necromancer, making him cry out in pain and writhe on the ground. By the time he realized what was happening, Vex was already halfway to the dead necromancer, eager to reclaim her weapon. "Ah. Well then, I'd say we'll be taking the fragment by force." What appeared to be a pale blue sphere appeared in his free hand; after a moment's concentration, he threw the sphere in Vex' general direction. She noticed it fell short, striking the dead necromancer in the back. She thought about how horrid his aim was, and opened her mouth to say as much.

Of course, that was before the dead necromancer twitched and started to push himself off the stone floor. Vex cursed under her breath. Of course Durian was also a necromancer. It would have been too easy if he wasn't. Her fingers curled around the hilt of her dagger and she wrenched it out of the now undead necromancer's face, then kicked him - it, she supposed - in the face, trying to knock it down. It worked, for it collapsed from the impact, but didn't turn to dust.

The sound of sparks burning flesh met her ears, and Vex glanced toward Carissa. She was bringing the third robed necromancer to his knees, and he was convulsing violently from the shocks. Eventually, his short and interrupted screams of agony faded altogether, and he crumpled into a heap on the floor. Carissa then turned her attention to the second necromancer, who was standing again and trembling. He, too, suffered the same fate as the first.

A heavy step was all the warning Vex got that told her she had a foe of her own to contend with. Durian himself was charging at her, his dagger raised over his head in an obvious downward stab. She readied herself to dodge, then leapt to the left as he swung the dagger down. He cursed quietly as his strike missed and caused the dagger to keen off the stone floor, then cried out in surprise as Vex delivered a swift kick to his head. He tumbled upon the floor briefly before catching himself and glaring at her from one knee. His left hand was upon his dagger now, while his right clutched the side of his head.

"This is what a failure of a thief does for work now?" he snarled. She wasn't sure if he was trying to provoke her or not; she certainly felt insulted enough, but managed to keep her emotions in check. "Well, I was right about something, when I first saw you." He smirked at her. "You are worthless, good only for sex... probably not even-"

Vex' anger didn't let him finish the thought. She was aware of nothing for a time, save the sound of bone breaking, a pained yelp, then strangled gurgling. She was only faintly aware of hands on her shoulders, shaking her, but she ignored them. She had to figure out what was going on. She wasn't in pain, so none of the noises were coming from her...

She felt arms wrap around her torso and pull her roughly off of the downed Breton, then felt those arms tighten around her stomach. She let her head fall forward a little, then slammed the back of her head into the front of whomever had her. There was a sound of impact, but no cry of pain. That, paired with the sudden burst of pain in the back of her head, brought her back to reality and her senses.

The undead necromancer. She'd forgotten completely about it. She realized the disadvantage she was suddenly in, and tried to free herself from the walking corpse's grip, but nothing she tried could make it let go.

She was suddenly aware of the corpse shuddering, then disintegrating into ashes. She was able to stand firmly on her own two feet again, not having realized she'd been lifted off the floor a little until that moment, and glance back.

Carissa stood behind her, dagger positioned to convey she'd just slashed the zombie's neck, possibly severing the head and deanimating it in the process. A concerned look flickered upon the Nord's face, but for now, Vex ignored it. There was a still one more foe to deal with, and she turned to face him.

Durian was on one knee, rubbing his neck. Blood streamed down from his nose, dripping upon the stone floor. His face registered pain, but also fury and hatred. His other hand was still clutching his dagger, and his grip was so tight that his knuckles were white and the blade visibly trembled.

"Now," Carissa said, gently resting her left hand upon Vex' right shoulder. "How about this. You give us the fragment, and I won't let Vex here have another go at strangling you." That certainly explained the stifled gurgling, then, but it also left Vex feeling surprised. She'd never tried to strangle... well, anyone before.

He glowered at both of them before reaching into his pocket and rummaging about briefly. In one fluid motion, he withdrew something, threw it at Vex, then was climbing to his feet.

The thing he threw turned out to be a clear glass bottle filled with a thick, green liquid. She moved to block it with her forearm, but overestimated the thickness of the glass; it shattered upon impact, glass digging into her arm and leaving several cuts. She hissed as she felt the liquid - poison, most likely - seep into her cuts. After a time, however, she felt nothing in her arm. She couldn't move it.

Realization dawned on her as the rest of her body began to follow suit. It was a paralyzing poison. She suspected she'd have fallen over, were it not for Carissa's hand upon her shoulder.

"Or I can do that and run," he snapped in retort. Vex realized his voice was retreating, and that made her realize he was making his escape while she was paralyzed. She somehow suspected Carissa wouldn't just leave her behind to chase him. She found she was right in that, for Carissa cursed quietly as Durian made his escape.


"Sorry."

"Stop apologizing, Vex," Carissa groaned. "I'm just glad you're alright."

"He got away with-"

"There will be other opportunities to take it from him. Stop worrying so much about it." Carissa gave her a reassuring smile.

They were back in Faldar's Tooth, a good week after the escapade in Geirmund's Hall. Carissa had rented a pair of rooms in Ivarstead for the first several days, so they would have a safe place to clean Vex' injured arm and take better care of it. Once the cuts had faded to nothing more than faint marks and dull throbs - courtesy of some potent healing salves crafted by Carissa - they had left the otherwise dull village behind.

They were the only ones present in the fledgling guild hall, as far as they could tell. It appeared as if Vess, Za and Agvar were still out and about, seeing to their respective tasks. Of the three, Vex wanted to see Za the most; she was anxious to see if she was actually cursed or if it was just excessively poor luck, and the Khajiit would be the one to figure it out for certain. Given the previous exchanges, she wasn't too keen on seeing Agvar or Vess right away... particularly Vess, given the wood elf's outburst, understandable though it had been. She bit her lower lip gently, eyes roving the septim-laden map of Skyrim rather idly. Were such outbursts common? Would she be subject to more of them if they were? Was there a possibility that Vess would do worse than reprimand Vex for her insistence?

"What's on your mind, my friend?" Carissa asked, leaning forward against the table. "You're looking rather anxious..."

"Vess," Vex replied. She didn't need to emphasize, at least she assumed not, given Carissa's understanding look.

"She usually reserves that tone or hostility for rivals and enemies, but she has been known to snap at friends or allies if it helps get them back in line." Carissa sighed softly and picked up one of the septims upon the map - over a point a little east of Markarth - and turned it over in her fingers. "She's gotten better since Valenwood. She used to skip words and literally cut people out. Had to stop, though, when-" She blinked once she realized Vex was staring at her, and chuckled nervously. "Vess wasn't always just a thief. She used to cut throats more than purses," she explained. "Again, it's not my tale to tell."

"Vess is an assassin as well as a thief?" Vex decided it made sense, even if it wasn't particularly comforting.

"I used to be an assassin," came the wood elf's voice, making both Vex and Carissa jump; neither of them had heard the door open. They both turned to face Vess, who was leaning against the open door's frame, had her arms crossed and a small satchel slung over her shoulder. "Cut throats for profit and for people too cowardly to do the killing themselves, that sort of thing. I quit, though, because it was the only way I was going to keep from self destructing."

"What do you mean?" Vex asked before she could stop herself.

"Right now," Vess said, affixing a hard stare upon the Imperial, "that isn't important. What is important is making sure our client gets what he's paying us for, and that's damned well what we're going to do." She slipped the satchel off her shoulder and tossed it casually upon the table. "To that end, we have an Embassy to infiltrate, and not a whole lot of time to do it."

"...They're moving the Crown," Carissa said after a moment, eyes widening. Vex wondered if Carissa somehow knew that for certain or was just guessing. It didn't matter in the end, though; the grim expression and nod from Vess was all she needed to learn Carissa was right.

"Ship's coming in from Summerset in about a month's time. Security's tighter than ever at the Embassy - believe me, I took a look. That ship's coming to take the Jagged Crown out of Skyrim and most certainly beyond our reach, at least for a few years... but by that time, it might not even matter whether we retrieve it or not."

Carissa was digging through the satchel, withdrawing several papers from within. She unfolded and spread upon the table what looked to Vex like a blueprint - the Thalmor Embassy, no doubt - and followed it up with what looked like a schedule. She also noted a sealed scroll that Carissa simply waved about lightly.

"For the Guild. It should keep them off our trail while we rob the Thalmor." Vess didn't need to say anything further, as evidenced when Carissa nodded and left without another word.

This meant Vex was left alone with Vess now, and she wasn't sure that fact was comforting in the slightest. She distracted herself with the blueprint, and noticed something odd about the Embassy. Her hand reached out and her finger tapped a rough-looking passage.

"Our way in," Vess said. "I found the cave it leads to, and have already dealt with the frost troll that made its den there. Assuming no others move in between now and then, we should be safe."

"Wait, I'm coming with-"

"Yes, Vex, you're coming with me," Vess sighed. "I need someone to watch my back in there, to get the Crown out if I end up captured or killed." She ruffled her short brown hair in the same forlorn manner she had after the bungled Windhelm job. "Even that's a risk..."

"Then send me alone, if I'm such a disappointment," Vex snapped without thinking. She instantly regretted her words, but knew it was too late to take them back.

"You misunderstand," Vess shot back, eyes narrowed. "There's no guarantee either of us will make it out of the Embassy, period. I don't even know if our way in is completely reliable. I tried breaking in already, just to see if I could, but I couldn't get the damned trapdoor to even move. I'm hoping you can succeed in getting it to open, though, and thus get us inside." She started at Vex for a time, then continued. "And trust me, getting in by being arrested is the absolute worst way to get into the Embassy. Chances are better you'll be tortured and then sent off to Summerset... or just killed and erased from the world. Getting free is not easy."

"How do you know so much about..." Vex let her question trail off as she remembered Vess had successfully broken into the Embassy in Elsweyr, and chose to hold her tongue.

"If there are no further questions, I really want to get on the road to Riften, catch a carriage to Solitude, and then walk the rest of the way to the cave. The longer we delay, the smaller our window of opportunity becomes." Vess crossed her arms, staring at the Imperial. Vex looked down at the blueprint again, mostly to ignore the hard stare.

"Yeah," Vex finally said, a few seconds later. "Wouldn't the Thalmor know about the trapdoor being accessible from the cave?"

"They probably think the lock on it's too strong for anyone to pick open," Vess replied, "and they probably think it's completely safe to ignore it. Unfortunately for them, I have you." She hesitated a moment. "Do not make me regret my decision to put such faith in you again, Vex, please." Her tone changed to one that sounded like the wood elf was... begging? "I know I was terse with you-"

"Understatement of the era," Vex mumbled.

"-but I do still respect you and like you. Do not make me look like a fool again, alright? Just... pop the trapdoor open and leave the rest to me. I'll get the Crown to you, one way or another, and at the very least, you'll get it out... if not both of us."

"...Alright. Let's get out of here, then, and steal us the real Jagged Crown." Vex tore her gaze from their blueprint and lifted it to Vess. "There is one last question, though... do you still have the fake?"

For the first time since seeing her again, Vex saw the wood elf smile.

"Of course I do. And yes, we're taking it with us. Nothing more humiliating for them than to find out they're transporting their fake back home, after all."


A.N. - Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving (if you're American, anyway)! I spent the earlier part of mine polishing this chapter and starting the next.

This chapter's been practically done for the past week, but something about it just... didn't sit right with me. I hadn't been able to figure out what it was until night before last, and I fixed it.

What's the Gauldur Amulet got to do with anything? At present, not much, but it will be a thing later on. For me, it helped me figure out where to direct Vex and Carissa, and also (I think) helped establish Carissa's identity as a mage and person interested in legends. Making it a quick snatch and run was no fun, though... thus the necromancers and Durian.

I figured a little teaser as to Vess' past was in order here. I can say with certainty it's explored a bit further next chapter. In fact, most of next chapter will be about Vess, as well as breaking into the Embassy.

I finally finished the No Stone Unturned quest in Skyrim - y'know, that one where you run all over Skyrim and collect 24 Stones of Barenziah? Oddly enough, it was the Stone in the Embassy that gave me the most trouble...

Let me explain.

My 360 version of Skyrim is the most basic version, before all the patches to fix stuff. I have no reliable 'Net at home, so updating is... not so easy. Impossible, in fact. So, when I looked at my game guide for the locations, I saw Reeking Cave - that spot where you slip out, and in the case of All In, where Vex and Vess will slip in - and went there. No Stone. I searched everywhere in the cave, even tried getting up onto that cliff. No luck. I thought it stupid that the literal last Stone I needed was nowhere to be found.

A quick online search told me that it was in the Embassy in the most original, unmatched version of the game... mine. So I fired up the save at the trap door, went back in, found it... And yes.

Needless to say, it was rather... peculiar, I guess. The entire experience made me kind of lose interest in my Redguard vampiric illusionist thief, and... well, yeah. I'm probably going to play her again soon, but I've done the big things I wanted to do with her (Thieves Guild, College, No Stone Unturned).

I just want a new computer already so I can mod the hell outta Skyrim again. x.x. New job at GameStop should help with that... should, at least until I give into the pressure and pick up a One for Fallout 4 and Rise of the Tomb Raider. Add Fire Emblem Fates in February, and... yes, I'll have a lot to fight with...

I won't let it get in my way when it comes to writing, though. Next chapter will be up soonish!

-Spiritslayer