A Breton Amongst Dremora
Dianne looked at the ring. It was pretty to look at, but nothing special. She didn't detect any enchantments on it. Ranyu gave it a once-over, shrugged, and said, "Might get some septims for it, and wait. We need to find the axe."
"Oh, right. Almost the entire point of us even coming here," Dianne said. "I didn't find it on any of the bodies, earlier."
"Hmm." Ranyu rubbed his chin. "Let's check the chests. The weapons shelves, as well. Look for anything that looks like it might have belonged to a bandit boss."
They spread out. Dianne opened a few chests but found very little of use. Checking under a bed, she commented, "These were some poor-arse bandits. Nothing around at all, or at least not much."
"Yeah. There's nothing of real use. Not even potions. Almost feel badly for the poor bastards." He paused. "Almost." He pawed through a weapons rack.
Dianne pondered. "If I were an axe, where would I be? Hmm. I'd still be right here. I'd just be an axe." She heard Ranyu make an amused snort. "I just hope they didn't manage to sell it off."
"Yeah, me too. Hey, here's a chest. You got those lockpicks?"
"Yep, sure do." She came over and gave them to Ranyu. He got to work on the lock, and a moment later, it popped open.
"Hah, there it is!"
Dianne heard the admiration in his voice and peered in. It was a fine looking weapon, all etched steel and a well-carved oak haft wrapped in leather strips. The leather was well-tanned and stained dark with the sweat of Hrungr's hands. The blade itself had a soft, blue shimmer. Ranyu picked it up and looked it over.
"Excellent craftsmanship, considering it was made by mortal hands," he said. He gave it to Dianne, saying, "Open my pack and put it in. We'll get this to Hrungr as quickly as possible. I don't want anyone seeing it on the way back."
Dianne did as he requested, then began looking around once more. "What re you doing?" Ranyu demanded. "I want to get out of here."
"I'm making sure that they didn't have any Khajiit or Argonians locked up in here. They trade in slaves sometimes, you know."
Ranyu shrugged. "Okay. If it makes you happy, go for it. I'll help, if only so we can get back sooner."
Ten minutes of searching turned up nothing else, not even so much as a dropped septim. Dianne said, "Ok. Looks like there's no people left. Let's get out of here."
"Finally," Ranyu grumbled.
Dianne glanced his way. "You okay?"
The disguised Dremora grunted his assent. "Yeah. I... oh, fuck it. I don't like caves. They're too closed-in. I can handle being indoors, so it isn't claustrophobia. I was summoned to guard a cave once. One of those permanent summonings. So I spent a few decades where my whole existence was a cave smaller than this one. It just gives bad memories. I was alone and almost got pull sickness."
"Shit," Dianne said as they began retracing their steps to get out. "That's bad. I'm sorry, Ranyu. What did they have you guarding?"
He shrugged. "Some stash of money and other crap. It was pretty large. I was bound by the summoning to stay there and guard it until someone came for it. And one day, some human came along, gave the passcode, thanked me for guarding his great-grandfather's fortune, and I was released. I might have killed him just for existing, but I just let him live. You could say that was me expressing gratittude. I never knew who he was. That was a few hundred years ago, as I recall."
"Why did you never tell me?"
Ranyu rolled his eyes. "Well, it's not exactly something that comes up in general conversation, now is it? 'Hi, I'm Churl Ranyu, Dremora in service to Prince Daeinde, and I hate caves because I was stuck in one for forty-two years, six months, 22 days, 15 hours, 14 minutes, and fifty-two seconds' is a hell of a lot to spill your guts out over when you've just met someone."
Dianne huffed. "I was asking because I care. No reason to be an asshat over it." She sighed. "Sorry, Ranyu."
"Yeah, it's fine. But now you know. Thank the gods, there's the exit." His pace sped up until Dianne damned near had to run to keep up with him. Once outside, he looked up at the sky for a few minutes.
"Let's get back to th inn. I'm starving." Ranyu patted her shoulder. He was too proud to apologize for getting testy, but this silent apology was enough for Dianne.
A short time later, they reached the inn. the afternoon sun hung high overhead, making the trek warm but not unpleasantly so. Upon entering the inn, they were met by a hopeful-looking and now thankfully dressed Hrungr.
"Friends! I had hoped you would make it back safely. Ah, but I see you are both spattered with the blood of your enemies! Was that accursed wench amongst them? More importantly, do you have my axe?"
"We do!" Dianne assured him. "Alas, the wench, uh, escaped, I fear." That technically wasn't too far off the truth.
Ranyu undid his pack and removed the axe. "I believe that this is yours."
Hrungr's eyes lit up. "Ahh! My fine axe.Thank you, my friends. Thank you!" He smiled. "I can now make my way north, to Dagon Fel. Should you ever make your way hence, come to see me at the tavern there. By that time, I should be solvent enough to giv you both a proper reward."
"that would be great, thank you," Dianne said.
The inn's proprietor arrived. "Now that you've cleared out the bandits, I can give you the agreed-upon reward." He paid them out from the tavern's coin box. "It would be more, but with them interfering with business, things are tight."
"Understood," Ranyu said. "We'll need a meal and accomodations."
"Very good. I cannot give those for free, but I am willing to take half from the bill."
"That's fine," Dianne said. "We were glad to help."
The innkeeper smiled and went to retrieve their drinks and their meals.