"This lock is giving me trouble. It's so old I am afraid to break it,"
Leliana was still on her knees before the locked cellar door, Wynne behind her.
"Is there something that I can do to help, Leliana? Would magic help?"
"Let me just..."
Leliana jabbed her tool into the lock and for a moment they heard a click followed by a deadening clunk.
"Oh my. That didn't sound good,"
Wynne announced what Leliana already knew; the lock had broken.
Leliana pursed her lips. No lock ever got the best of her. If only she...
Something caught her eye.
"Sten! Do you have a moment?"
Sten was walking down the hallway towards them and Leliana waved for him to join them and he continued until he reached them.
"What is it?"
"Sten, do you think you could help us with this door? The lock is so old that I've broken it while trying to pick it. I was hoping..."
Sten came over and knocked on the door, observing it.
"There is no way that we can break this door down, it is teak wood. Even burning it presents a problem and I do not recommend that,"
"What I was hoping is that you could use your strength to force this lock. I think all it needs is some persuasion,"
Sten acquiesced after a moment and grabbed hold of the door handle, pushing down for all he was worth. When that yielded no results, he jabbed his sword within the lock and pushed his sword down, telling the two women to move away.
There was a loud pop and a clang and Sten moved backwards as the lock mechanism flew out onto the floor and the door handle fell out of the door.
"Excellent! Thank you so much, Sten!"
Leliana was thrilled the door was open and she and Wynne gathered their supplies and Mabs. They lit their lanterns and began descending the stairs, making haste as they'd lost much time already.
It was completely pitch dark down here and even the oil lanterns they used turned up fully did not light the basement adequately.
"Is this lighting going to be safe, Leliana? I feel that I might fall down the stairs at any moment,"
Leliana was having the same thoughts.
"Maybe we should go back and light some torches. These lanterns are good for rooms but...It is really dark down here,"
Wynne and Leliana made their way back up the stairs to grab some of the torches from our sleigh outside, furthering delaying their exploration.
Shmooples jumped out of his little bed the moment he saw Mabs and they greeted each other as always, touching noses.
"No, no sweetie. We have to get something outside and then we're leaving again,"
Leliana left Wynne, Mabs and Shmooples and returned to the sleigh, grabbing five torches, hoping that would suffice.
Leliana returned to the group and found them all snacking on dried fruit, awaiting her return.
"Hopefully five torches will light our path. I am pretty sure that I saw torch holders on the wall along the stairs,"
"Yes I saw them as well. Well let us waste no more time. There must be valuable items behind such a difficult door and I would like to see them,"
The trio headed back down to the cellar, the lit torches illuminating the dark before them.
"These are much better,"
Wynne tucked a couple of the torches in the stairway holders, one at the middle and then one at the bottom when they arrived.
Mabs set about sniffing immediately but Leliana did not sense he had found anything just yet. There must have been so many scent trails down here at one point but all must have faded.
Suddenly there was a slight rustling noise and Mabs darted towards it, sniffing away.
"What is it, boy?"
Leliana waved her torch in that same direction and saw a mass of moving black.
"Oh, it's just rats,"
Leliana stopped Mabs from following them for playtime as they were dirty and he needn't touch them. Rats carried diseases and were best left alone.
"For such a large fortress, this basement is very inadequate. Perhaps this is a just a vault of some kind?"
Leliana was inclined to agree with Wynne. Dirt floor, door like a stone wall, a difficult lock. Yes, it was all pointing more towards a vault than simple storage.
"I think you are right, Wynne. I think this was built after the fortress was already here. The stairs are very crude, not befitting of a fortress of this stature and the dirt floor is very unusual as well,"
Leliana's torch caught a glint from ahead of them, off to the side a bit and she moved forward.
"Oh my. Wynne, I think you were right,"
Wynne moved forward towards Leliana.
"Was I? How do you..."
Wynne's voice trailed off as her eyes settled on what had attracted Leliana's attention in the first place.
The wall was lined with four shelf units and all of them were populated by what appeared to be solid gold statues, mirrors, candle holders and more of the like.
"Dear Maker..."
Wynne trailed off again for a moment.
"I haven't the slightest idea what all of this might be worth,"
Leliana moved closer and was suddenly back in time by at least three years, stealing into a certain noble's house and absconding with items similar to what stood before her. From her experience, Leliana knew exactly how much worth they were talking and it was a lot.
Leliana couldn't take her eyes off the gold on the shelves, still lost in her memories until Wynne pulled her in a different direction.
"There are some chests over here too, Leliana,"
The trio moved closer and saw there were three locked chests against the wall to the left of the shelf units. Leliana went to work on them and was done within minutes. It was obvious that the Peak's inhabitants did not believe any thief would get past that door as the chest locks were very weak protection.
Wynne and Leliana looked at each other before Leliana swung the first of the three chests open and their torches revealed it to be overflowing with silver pieces. Leliana continued the same action with the other two and the two of them stood back, their mouths open.
The other two chests each held currency as well; one was gold and the other copper. This must be the Peak's treasury and what they would have used on every day needs and so forth.
"This will absolutely help the Wardens rebuild their order. This is...amazing,"
Wynne was in awe of their discovery and Leliana knew that she had never been around this much treasure in her life and probably had no idea of its real worth either.
As Wynne talked of the Grey Wardens revival, Leliana moved forward to one of the shelves again as a metal box had caught her eye. This box had no lock on it and creaked just a bit when Leliana opened it. What she found inside was better than anything else they'd found, in her opinion.
The box was packed full of necklaces and rings of all different metals, but mostly silver and gold.
Leliana's eyes twinkled as her hand grazed across some of the pieces, enjoying even the feel of them.
"Found your weakness, did you?"
Wynne was now beside Leliana and was observing her intimate moment with the jewelry.
Leliana snapped her hand back, surprised she hadn't known Wynne was there.
"Yes, jewelry is one of my passions and it's not often you find a cache of this size,"
"You could bring them upstairs if you like. The light is much better up there,"
Leliana moved forward towards the box again, her eyes caressing the necklaces again.
"I don't think that's a good idea. I feel they would be safer left down here. I would however like to bring some pieces upstairs to show Detra though, as an example of what we've found,"
"I think that's a fine idea, that way she doesn't have to endure coming down here if she needn't. Oh, those rats... there are just so many of them,"
Leliana unfolded a cloth from her pack and placed one of each currency piece, one very expensive looking necklace from the box and the necklace that had caught her attention from the moment she'd opened the box.
"There. That should be enough,"
"What about these items on the shelf? Maybe bring one of the smaller..."
"No, I wouldn't feel right bringing something so valuable out of here. It might attract a lot of attention. We can describe those items to her, but these are much easier to transport without being seen so obviously,"
Leliana closed up the cloth and called to Mabs who was near the corner, still trying to get a look at the little herd of rats who had gathered there to get away from the intruders in their home.
"That's it for the cellar then, I suppose. I was hoping for more scrolls or books and history type treasure but I gather the cellar would not be a prudent choice for storage,"
"Right. It's too damp down here, things would be ruined. The library must hold all of those items, Wynne,"
"I think I shall head there then if we are finished here,"
Leliana nodded.
"Yes we're done here. Come on, Mabs,"
Leliana tucked the cloth inside of her pocket and remembered something from earlier.
"I'm sure I saw Morrigan in the library when we were on our way here so at least you'll have some company,"
Leliana noticed Wynne twitch a bit and nodded to herself. At least she was not the only one to think twice about being in Morrigan's presence.
"Tell Detra I will be in the library if you would be so kind, Leliana. And let me know if she might need me for anything otherwise,"
Leliana agreed and wished Wynne luck in finding what she sought and then headed to the room that I had selected as my own to show me what all that trouble they'd gone to had rewarded them.