Nisha pulled her hood down to block her face from not just the harsh wind and snow but the bleary sunlight as well. She nodded at Tucker's suggestion of covering the horse with a blanket. She would have suggested more, but that was when they were near enough to see the campfire like.

"Makes sense," she muttered under her breath. "The golden claw was stolen by bandits after all... so there'd obviously be bandits around." She tapped Tucker's hand so that he'd stop the horse from heading any further. "We don't want them to end up hurting Pippi or ruining our wagon. Maybe we should leave the two here, somewhere hidden, and then sneak up the steps and take the bandits by surprise..."

There were plenty of stairs though, and the chances that they were slippery with ice was quite a danger as well. She could see pros and cons in both continuing as they were and fooling the bandits into believing that they were caught unawares while they really weren't, or in having the drop on the scumbags. Ultimately though, she was leaving this in Tucker's hands.

"What do you think?"​
 
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Tucker nodded his head in agreement with Nisha. Keeping Pippi away from danger was a priority. Not only was she their transportation but they had just liberated her from bandits. No way was he going to allow her to die so soon! "your plan sounds good to me." He whispered to Nisha as he guided Pippi and the wagon a few feet away from the temple entrance and behind a few large stones to obscure her from view.

"As long as we're careful and watch each other's backs, we'll be fine." The stone was probably covered in ice but he imagined that they would be okay so long as they kept their wits about themselves. "Sneaking around worked well for us last time, and we had the disadvantage then. Now we have a better advantage." The snow and wind would help conceal them as they approached the temple, even if the bandits were on alert.

"I don't think the wind will bother your shot too much since the temple is in the way." He mentioned to her before hopping out of the wagon. "Though, I wouldn't be surprised if you were so good the wind wouldn't do a thing to mess your aim up." He smirked at her and reached into the back of the wagon. He pulled out a fur blanket and draped it over Pippi, making sure it was secured.

Then, he drew his sword from its scabbard, keeping his shield on his back for now. "I think there won't be too many out here. Most of them are probably indoors." Indoors with whatever else may lay in wait. That's where the real trouble would be. But he'd worry about that later. First things first, they had to deal with the sentries.

"Read when you are."​
 
"Mhm," Nisha murmured, shading her eyes as she too left the wagon, looking up at the ancient Nordic tomb and the steps that lead to it. "I'm ready... How about this." She nodded towards the left. "I head up that way, while you stay closer to the steps and get them from there. I can watch your back that way and hopefully pick a few off." She patted the large Nord's arm before heading in the direction she planned.​
Climbing up the slippery slope wasn't too terrible for her. She had always been athletic and dexterous, and growing up under the mountains of Winterhold had her used to all the cold and vicious ice. Still, there was no need for mistakes, not when she needed to be as quiet as her shadow. So as she climbed, she slowly used her mana to create a small layer of fire on the inside of her hands, melting the ice and making an easy foothold for her.​
It wasn't too long before she reached the top of the hill, from where the stairs to the tomb was no more than a leap away. Positioning herself on a relatively flat surface, she pulled her bow from its holder on her back and then a couple of arrows, holding one in her mouth as she nocked the second one. From her position, she could see three bandits, two by the fire and one almost directly beneath her... one that could easily sneak up on Tucker.​
With no further thought needed, she aimed at the last bandit and let her arrow fly, striking him in the back of his head. As he fell, he lost his footing and tumble down the snowy moutain side.​
 
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Tucker nodded his head in response to Nisha's plan and headed up the route that Nisha had pointed out. He crouched low, or as low as someone of his height could get, using the structures of the temple to further obscure him from the view of the bandits. Any noise made by him trudging through the snow was covered up by the howling wind.​
He paused behind one of the stone pillars and waited a moment before peeking around it. he counted three bandits, just as Nisha had. He ducked his head back behind the pillar for a moment, believing that one of them had noticed his head. When there was no reaction after a few seconds he peeked once more, seeing that one of the bandits was now gone. He took that as a sign to leap into action, and so he did.​
He broke into a quiet sprint, closing the distance between him and the bandit before he could notice him. "Hey!" The second bandit called out, but it was already too late. Tucker grabbed the bandit by his shoulder and raised his sword, stabbing the blade into his torso from the side of his neck. He quickly pulled the blade from the body, letting it fall to the ground, now devoid of life.​
"Wow, that was easier than-" Tucker couldn't finish his quip in time before the second bandit attacked him. He swung his axe at Tucker, but the attack was blocked by the shield, much to his irritation. Instead of attacking again he went on the defensive, gripping his weapon with two hands.​
"Tobias! Help me kill this one!" The bandit called out for assistance from the one that Nisha had killed. He waited a few seconds, and as if to oblige him, so did Tucker. "Tobias!!" He called out again. When there was no reply from nor an appearance by his ally, he took the moment to glance behind him. "Divines..." He muttered, realizing that both of his allies were gone and he was all on his own.​
He chose not to stay and fight and instead broke into a sprint. He wanted the treasure inside the temple as much as his brethren did but it wasn't worth his life. Not as far as he was concerned.​
"Ha! Reminds me of that horse thief! Doesn't it?" Tucker called out to Nisha. He figured he would let her kill him. It would be easier for her to shoot him than for him to chase him down. "Ah...divines rest that horse thief...whatever his name was..."​
 
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With her target down, Nisha had been more focused on Tucker, unsure how sound the large man would be in offing the two bandits without alerting them. She was actually surprised to see he did very well, only surprising them when he actually meant to. She wasn't one to rush as he did, but perhaps there was art and beauty in heading straight forward and charging full on into the problem. Of course, he did have size as advantage while she was as small as they came.​
"Careful!" she called out when she saw the second and still living bandit attack the large Nord with, but it seemed what little fear she had was unwarranted. In fact, it seemed as if fear belong to the bandit rather than her and Tucker.​
A chuckle escaped her as she heard what Tucker had to say. Of course he would remember something like that. "Lokir of Rorikstead," she called back as she nocked her bow once more, swiveling her weapon so it was now facing the runaway man. It wasn't long before her arrow flew and the man, like his previous companion fell and slid down the edge of the cliff.​
"Good riddance," Nisha muttered, a little smug that she killed two of the bandits. Putting her bow back in its holder, she easily slid down until she reached the wide snow riddled steps that led up to the doors of the crypt. "Nice work there... pretty sure we're going to be meeting more of these skeevers inside though." She let out a small sigh. "I'm regretting losing my two arrows now." It was a silly thought perhaps but she was a bit of a hoarder when it came to things that she found useful.​
She smiled a little as she rapped Tucker's shield with her gloved fist. "At least thing thing's coming more in handy than I thought. And you know, so far... looks like we're making quite a good team. If we can survive leaving this place with the claw and the tablet, might do good to try out some bounty hunting together."​
 
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"Lokir, that's right!" Tucker snapped his fingers before sheathing his sword. "Ah, that poor fool. If only he hadn't run. He probably would still be wandering Skyrim stealing horses right now." From the way he spoke of the thief, he almost sounded genuinely sorry for him. "Rest in peace, my old brother in chains." He shook his head, chuckling softly. A bit of a morbid joke but a funny one nonetheless.

"Thanks," Tucker practically preened from Nisha's compliment, a smirk growing on his face, "I was surprised they didn't hear or see such a big guy coming towards them till it was too late, to be honest. But I guess these skeevers aren't so smart." He laughed a bit, finding the way she spoke of the bandits to be both apt and hilarious.

He raised his shield a bit, patting the cold metal. "This baby has made life so much easier. It's almost like the third member of our little group." He kissed the cold metal, regretting it rather quickly. The unrelenting icy winds caused the kiss to sting. He made a face, patting his poor lips. "Even though Pippi is actually the third member of our group." As much as he loved the shield, it wasn't a living thing. He wasn't that crazy. "Don't worry about your arrows, either. You'll find plenty of them inside, I bet."

"We are making a pretty good team though." He agreed with the vampiress, his smirk returning. "A dynamic duo, complimenting each other's strengths and covering up the other's weaknesses! We survived a dragon and have killed three different groups of bandits, with more to come!" He had a hard time believing that the Draugrs inside would pose much of a problem for them.

He couldn't help but chuckle, wiping away a false tear. "Ah, Nisha, I'm glad you said something. I was afraid that my time adventuring with a beautiful vampiress was coming to an end." Surprisingly, his face wasn't 100% smug. Traveling with her was much better than traveling alone. He wasn't one for a one-man operation, but finding a partner was easier said than done. "Don't worry, I understand what you're trying to say." He reached over and placed his hands on both of her shoulders. "I've come to adore you just as much as you've come to adore me." Now his expression was 100% smug.​
 
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Nisha could only stare at the man, a little in shock at the easy way he took pretty much everything she had said out of context in the efforts to...what? Cause her to blush like a girl? Embarrass her and have her stunned out of words? It was working as well, though only for a few mere seconds. Her brow twitched and at last she managed to scowl ferociously. "You really do have an ego as large as yourself," she grumbled, elbowing him in the ribs as she walked passed him, dark eyes on the crypt's doors. "Don't get too ahead of yourself, Tucker of Markarth. Acceptance and adoration are not equivalent of each other. "​

She sighed a little, shaking her head as she walked, or rather stomped up the rest of the stairs, rather uncharacteristic for the small vampire. Truth be told, his nonchalant jokes reminded her once more of her father and it was slightly disconcerting... but perhaps it wasn't just that. Perhaps she was just too proud to admit that such bold and forward words had her flustered, even if they weren't serious and merely jokes.​

Idiot, she grumbled inwardly, though not at Tucker, rather her own self. It was also very annoying how this Nord man seemed to always find ways to bring emotion to her face. You are a calm lake on a breeze less morning...

At last she reached the top of the stairs and walked the large landing to where the doors stood towering over her, looking as cold as the snow and ice surrounding them. She took a breath before reaching out and pushing at one of the doors. Half expecting it to be locked, she was happy when it slowly creaked open. Though it was clearly aged, the fact that it opened with relative ease proved to the vampiress that there were more bandits to contend with within the ancient Nord tomb.​

"Keep on your guard," she called out softly as she pushed the door open a little further, allowing enough space so that she could slip through without much sound. "Come on."​
 
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"Get ahead of myself?" Tucker waited till Nisha stomped away before letting the biggest grin of his life, or at least so far, creep across his face. "I mean, I guess you're right...but they are proportional to each other." He commented.

For better or for worse, he couldn't help himself. Sure, before this it had been fun to poke fun at Nisha of Winterhold and even flirt with her, but now? Now it was more than just fun, it was like...hunting for sport or something. Her reaction was pretty strong, and it made him a bit more cheeky. While he had been teasing her about her adoration for him, however much it may be, he wasn't lying about not wanting his adventure with her so far to come to an end. Nor about her being beautiful.

Still, as much as he'd like to mess with her a little more, it was better that he held off for now. They were about to enter an ancient Nordic tomb with bandits and possibly the undead lurking within. They needed to be focused and on top of their game. And it wouldn't be wise to push the buttons of the archer that would be watching his back. He would save that for later, maybe when they returned to Whiterun after this.

"Here I come." He called out softly as he slipped inside after Nisha. He was unsurprised to see that the first room had decayed with time. Part of the ceiling had caved in and collapsed, allowing the snow from outside to filter in and lightly coat the polished stone floors. Statues were stationed on the sides of the room and the body of a dead wolf and a dead bandit lay on the floor.

The orange glow of fire illuminated the back of the room and the shadows of a few bandits were cast against the stone walls. They sat huddled around the fire, trying their best to warm up as they muttered and swore about the conditions of the job. "I'm telling you Harknir, Arvel should have been back by now." One of them muttered. "We should go look for him."

"Quiet Bjorn! He told us to stay here and wait for him, so that's what we'll do!" Another one of the bandits snapped in response. "Arvel is fast and strong. If he can't do it, then no one can. We'd just get in the way. Besides, do any of you want to fight a draughr?" He asked, a slight scoff in his voice. "Soling?" He asked the last bandit.

"...No..." He muttered in response, shaking his head. "I'll stay where it's warm and safe."

Tucker tutted softly, shaking his head in response to their conversation. So there were four more left, eh? Three of them were here now and the other one might have been killed by the whatever was waiting below. "We kill them, we only have to worry about draugrs." He whispered to Nisha, crouching low so as not to be seen.​
 
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Nisha looked over to Tucker. She had to agree with him. They were bandits after all, and they had probably killed more than their fair share of people. She had no guilt laying them to waster, and getting rid of them was simple and easy and would make things easier for them.​

"Although..." she whispered, "they may know the Barrow better than we do." She carefully unhitched her bow from her back and pulled an arrow from her quiver. "Perhaps one of them can even lead us through?" The vampiress looked over the three bandits there, counting them. There were three. Maybe Tucker had a point then... the last thing they needed was more of a nuisance. There was no need to keep all of them alive when only one was needed.​

Without a pause, her arrow was nocked and flying, hitting the bandit named Harknir. A look of shock replaced the defiant expression that had been there when he was questioning his companions, and it was no more than a few second before he crumpled to the ground, arrow sticking out of his back.​

Hand now glowing red with her vampiric magic, Nisha was pulling at the energy from the man named Bjorn, slowly but surely, until he too fell to his knees, halfway drained but still alive. "The two of you will die," she called out in a rather matter of fact manner, "unless you decide to help me and my companion. What say you? I assure you, the draugr here are nothing to fear compared to me and my friend here."​
 
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"That's true." The bandits have been in the barrows longer than either of them had. They might have been in here for days for all he knew. He had nothing to add, even less so when Nisha sprung into action, firing an arrow into the back of one of the bandits.

He stepped out of hiding as well, drawing his sword. He was sure he couldn't frighten them any more than the vampire who had just killed one of their comrades and was now waving her blood magic in their faces, but dammit, he had to try! "And if you both refuse? Well, maybe your friend would be more obliged to help us after we bring him your head."

Soling took one look at Bjorn and swore under his breath. "A vampire...what in the..." Just their luck. Now they had to deal with a vampire and some Nord with a sword on top of the draugrs in the temple. What was supposed to be a simple raid was becoming more of a pain in his ass. Now he truly doubted that it wasn't worth it. He glanced down at Bjorn, who was trying to recover from what Nisha had done to him. The two thieves locked eyes for a moment before Soling looked back to Nisha and Tucker."Fine...we'll help you."

Bjorn scoffed, in obvious disagreement with his colleague, but he hadn't the energy to respond with words at the moment. For a moment, it looked like he might try to surprise Nisha with an attack, but he held off, a smirk creeping across his face. All they would have to do is lead the two to Arvel. By then he would have recovered and they would have the advantage in numbers. Provided they survived what lurked within the tomb. Bjorn nodded to Soling, agreeing with the man's plan.

"Well good, you're both in agreement," Tucker commented. He was ready to kill one of them if need be. He expected they would have to. "While we have you here, give us the golden claw you stole in Riften." He demanded, holding out his hand for the item.

The bandit on the floor scoffed, shaking his head. "Arvel...our leader, he took it with him inside." He motioned to the doors behind him. "If you want that, we'll have to catch up to him first. He's quite swift though, so odds are he's already at the end of the tomb." The smallest smirk was audible in his tone. "If you wanna catch him, we should probably get going."​
 
Nisha returned the smirk with a rather open one of her own, the light from the fire glinting off her fangs. "Well, I won't speak for Tucker, but I think I'm quite swift myself, having escaped a bloody dragon." She raised an eyebrow at the bandit named who seemed the most talkative before motioning towards the pathways that seemed to be heading downhill. "Go on then, lead the way."​
The barrows was quite different from the ruins and icy underground caverns Nisha used to frequent as a child. Dusty, rocky, filled with dirt and vines from above ground, the path was long and narrow and clearly not someplace anyone wishing for casual tomb raiding would venture. There were many twists and turns but thankfully even though the tunnel was winding and spindly and even unwieldy, it eventually opened into a room that seemed to be blocked at the end with a grate. There were several pedestals with animals carved into them surrounding one in the middle before which a bandit stood. On the other side of him there seemed to be a staircase that lead to the upper level of the room.​
Nisha lifted a hand, pausing her step and keeping herself from entering the room. She pulled her dagger as the bandit who was leading them tried to enter, keeping him frozen where he stood. "Wait," she hissed, and even as she did, she heard the sound of many arrows being released- clearly a trap as they hit the bandit by the pedestal. The man looked like a pincushion as he fell to the ground, very dead.​
 
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"Bloody hell!" Bjorn cried out at the death of his comrade. He would have ran forward had he not just seen what happened, and if not for the two people that were holding he and his ally hostage. "He just died!"

"Yeah, we saw," Tucker replied, narrowing his eyes at the dead bandit. "You probably would have died if she didn't stop you." He slapped the grieving bandit on his back rather roughly before stepping into the room. "Huh... it's not triggered by just walking in here." He commented, giving Nisha a small grin.

He proceeded to look around the room, taking notice of the lever in the middle. "Pulling that...probably activated the trap." He commented, rubbing his chin. The only problem was, the path ahead was gated off, and this was the only lever in the room. Was there some sort of tell that decided whether the door opened or someone died?

He looked around curiously, taking notice of the animal pedestals, or rather, the round piece they were situated on. He walked over to one of the three on the side, pushing on the side of the one with an eagle emblazoned upon it. Almost immediately it rotated, a snake replacing the eagle.

"It's...a puzzle." Tucker sounded both intrigued and irritated by this discovery. "Get the passcode right and you get to pass." He turned to Nisha, giving her a small shrug. "I don't know the code though. And if he didn't," He callously jerked a thumb towards the dead bandit, "Then I bet these idiots don't know either."​
 
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Nisha couldn't keep a little smirk from dancing on her lips. She was glad Tucker seemed to be willingly moving along with her plan to use these scumbags as their tests and shields. Barrows and ruins and crypts were known to be filled with traps, and here was the proof in the pudding right before them. She gave Tucker a small nod before entering carefully, her steps light as they touched the dusty ground.​
"Be careful still," she called out to Tucker. "There's still the lingering miasma of those poison arrows." She headed over to where the dead bandit still lay and grabbed him by the collar, dragging the body away from where the lever was situated. Once that was done, she stepped back a little, her eyes trailing on the fallen pillar to the ground, an open mouth with a now useless slab which showed a snake.​
"Hm..." With a light jump onto the staircase, she quickly made her way up to look at the remaining pillars and the animals that were portrayed on them. "Snake... snake... whale."​
She blinked and turned, eyeing the pedestals Tucker had been fiddling with. "Of course!" Shaking her head, she let out a chuckle. "It's simple Tucker. You just have to match them. The left one and the middle one, change them to the snake- the one on the right, whale. You!" Her voice was more of a bark when she addressed Bjorn. "Once he's done, you're pulling the lever. Get to it."​
 
"Well, that's surprisingly simple." Tucker whistled and began rotating the pedestals. The bandit that had died before them probably didn't even realize that there was a puzzle to be solved in the first place. He might have just pulled the lever unsuspectingly. He almost felt bad for the guy.

"Alright Bjorn, time to risk your life!" He called out to the bandit once all the pedestals had matched Nisha's orders. Keeping them alive was a grand idea. While he trusted that Nisha had figured out the answer, he was glad they could use the two bandits as test dummies. Any risk they didn't have to take themselves was a risk he enjoyed taking.

"Damn vampire..." Bjorn muttered as he approached the lever. He wrapped his fingers around it and stood still for a moment, silently whispering a prayer to the divines that they had gotten the pattern correctly. With a deep breath, he pulled the lever and immediately flinched, bracing himself for a hail of arrows. He was pleasantly surprised to see that instead of death rushing his way, the gate ahead had been raised, opening the path to them.

"Great." Tucker grinned, stepping back over to Bjorn and the other bandit, pushing them forward. "It worked!" He called to Nisha. "He's not dead and the gates open!"​
 
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Nisha hid a laugh at being called a 'damn vampire' as she nodded and made her way done the stairs, jumping halfway done and touching the ground with catlike grace. She looked to Bjorn and then the other bandit whose name she didn't remember nor frankly cared to. "Let's get going then." With that said, she pulled her dagger from its sheath and started forward. The bow was well and good, but she didn't know what was beyond.​
Ignoring the rest, she slowly stepped past the gate and started down the now relatively straight path. The further she continued though, the more her mood was beginning to sour, seeing the white sticky strands of web getting larger and larger, until she was forced to hack at them with her dagger. Grimacing a little, she paused in her steps and raised her free hand.​
"Keep back," she instructed, and without further ado a burst of flame shot out of her hands, incinerating the webs before her. She paused in her spell, watching the leftover webbing falling to the ground and crumbling to ashed. Now that she looked ahead, she could see there was a dead if they continued straight- to the left however there was an opening that was covered in even more webbing that before.​
"Sh*t," she muttered under her breath before looking back to Tucker. "I'm willing to bet there are more than a couple of spiders in there. Keep that shield at the ready." With that said, she hurried to the alcove on the other side of the passage. Once situated, she lifted her hand again and sent out another blast of fire, keeping the stream steady until most of the webbing was gone.​
From the other side scuttling could be heard, along with someone's muffled yelling. "Help! Get me out of here!"​
 
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"Arvel!" The bandit couldn't help but cry out in both, excitement and worry. He was glad their leader was alive, but it sounded like he was in trouble, and he doubted that these two adventurers would lend a helping hand to the bandit chief at all.

"Alright, let's keep sharp," Tucker muttered. He didn't like frostbite spiders. It wasn't that he was afraid of them. No, the great Tucker did not fear much of anything! But those giant leg-sized fangs they carried around? Those were enough to make anyone wary. Plus, it was rare to find just one. They almost always traveled in a pack or pride or whatever you called a group of spiders.

With a deep breath and his sword and shield at the ready, Tucker charged through the burned webs and into the large room. The walls were littered with large sacs covered in web, which he assumed were frostbite spider eggs. A few bodies were strewn about the floor, wrapped airtight in webs. The weapons and shields of the victims rested on the floor, cold and untouched. In the doorway to the next hall, Tucker could see the bandit's leader, Arvel, he guessed, caught in a web, struggling to break free.

"Ha!" Tucker started to snicker. He could afford to mock the man a little, right? After all, he saw no spiders, as weird as it was. He would have continued to mock the man had he not saw a shadow on the floor between them. The largest frostbite spider he had ever seen descending from the ceiling, hitting the floor with a loud thud, kicking up dust in the process. It wasted no time in attacking Tucker, who was able to block with his shield just in time.

"Whoa!" He cried out, stumbling backward slightly from the blow. He swung with his blade in retaliation, managing to clip one of the creature's leg in the process, an act that gave him a brief reprieve. With a pained hiss, the spider retreated backward to gather itself, nursing its own wound. "Definitely going to need that fire!" He told Nisha. "And those bandits can always get in here and help!"​
 
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Nisha hummed under her breath before looking to the Bjorn as well as the other nameless bandit she decided on the spur of the moment to call Rancid. "Both of you!" she snapped, eyes narrowing as she lifted her hand, a fiery glow showing she was ready to shoot if they needed to be inspired. "Get inside there and help him out. Now."​
She waited until they entered the spider infested cavern before she too entered the foray, keeping to the back. With her control over fire, there was no need for her to worry about accidentally hitting one of her allies. Aiming for the spider closest to Tucker, she let out a stream of hot red flames, catching the arachnid off guard. It writhed in pain for only a moment before collapsing, still on fire.​
"Over here!" yelled the man she now knew was Arvel. His face was barely uncovered, but his voice was sure loud enough, annoying even. "Let me down! Please! I don't want to be eaten!"​
"Shut up," Nisha replied irritably. She had used enough magicka for the time before and needed to recuperate. Pulling her dagger from its sheath, she leaped to the side, managing to dodge a spider that fell from above. "What in Oblivion do you think we're trying to do?!"​
 
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Tucker twirled the hilt of the sword in his hand so that the blade pointed downward, thrusting the weapon through a spider's head. "Darn bugs," He huffed under his breath as he turned around and slashing at another spider's side, opening its abdomen. With a shrill cry of pain the creature fell to its side, legs kicking about furiously as it bled until it could no more, its legs ceasing movement entirely.

Bjorn hated spiders more than anything in the world. Well, maybe not the Thalmor and prison, but they were still pretty high up there on his list of things to hate. Unfortunately for him all he had was a dagger, and that meant getting closer than he wanted to. But he'd rather face his fears than die succumbing to them. He was still a Nord after all, a proud one. He let out a battle cry as he leaped towards a spider rushing towards him, stabbing it in one of its eyes. He didn't stop there, pulling the blade back and stabbing it again and again, repeating the attack until the creature was dead.

His bandit friend, on the other hand, did not have as much luck. While he was decent with his bow he was not prepared for the sheer number of spiders or how close they were. He shot one spider in the face, but he was unable to nock another arrow before another two pounced on him. "Bjorn, help!" He cried out as the creatures began to tear into him, their over-sized chelicerae piercing deep. He did not get the chance to let out a second cry.

"No..." Bjorn couldn't believe it. There was a whole group of them when they started, and now there was only two of them left! And it was likely they wouldn't be left for long. Who knew what these two had in plan for him and Arvel? Nothing he wanted, he was sure. But the time for grieving and pondering his captors intentions was not now. Now it was time to fight. And so he did.

Tucker himself almost didn't realize what had happened to one of the bandits until he saw the spiders that had killed the man begin wrapping him in their webbing. "Darn! Down to three." He called out to Nisha, in case she hadn't noticed herself. It wasn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things. They'd lost one person but the spiders had lost many more. Either they were going to kill them all or the spiders would cease attacking. One way or another the battle would end. Of course, that would mean killing the rather large spider in the back, most likely their queen. It had jumped him earlier but now it was keeping back due to its injure leg Tucker had cut earlier.

Now was the time to finish the job. Without any hesitation Tucker charged towards the large spider, using his shield to bat a regular sized frostbite spider out of his way. The moment he was close enough the queen raised its front leg to attack, but the Nord drove through anyway, raising his shield and bashing the creature in its face with it, stunning it temporarily. Taking advantage of the opening he had just made, Tucker pulled his arm back and thrust his sword forward, stabbing the creature in its face. With a yell he pushed forward as much as he could, driving the blade deep into its head until the hilt itself touched the spider's face.

Even still, despite this, the creature brought its one good leg down upon Tucker's shoulder, a final act in its death. The attack didn't get through the leather armor the Nord wore, but it hurt even still. "Divines!" He shouted, jerking back. He had enough sense not to release the handle of his blade, despite the pain radiating through his arm. The force was enough to loosen the blade, allowing him to pull the sword out. "The big one is down!" He called out to Bjorn and Nisha, a smug but pained look on his face. "If this was a competition...I just won!"​
 
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Nisha looked over at Tucker, and for a moment she was a little sorry she was concerned about him. "This isn't a game..." She headed over anyway to see if he was injured, and lo and behold, he was indeed. Well, perhaps not in the sense that he was spewing blood, but even with that armour, it had to be hurting. "Stay still and stop gloating." Both of her hands lit with glowing golden light; she held them up to face his shoulder, allowing the magic to settle around him and take care of the bruising. Healing Hands wasn't a spell she had to use too often as she didn't really travel with others, so she suspected this was good practice.​
"It should be numb now," she told him when she finally felt her magicka deplete and the spell end. "And it should heal. Next time use your shield better." She smirked at him before looking to the other bandits. Bjorn seemed distraught still, but it was Arvel she was more concerned about. Leaving the other two she headed for the bandit in the webs, pausing and simply looking him over first.​
"You're lucky you haven't been sucked dry yet," she pointed out. "Stop squirming and yelling and I'll let you down." She was tempted to simply burn the web but decided to actually be nice about it and used her dagger instead, making small but steady progress until he was finally free enough to step down.​
"Haha, thank you kindly!" he replied with a grin, taking a step back. "And now, farewell!" His grin turned into a sneer as he turned and ran down the path, quicker than any human she had ever seen.​
"Sithis take him," Nisha muttered under her breath. "Or Merrunz." She looked back at Tucker. "Let's get going. You too, Bjorn."​
 
  • Bucket of Rainbows
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"Hey, my shield usage was...adequate." Tucker couldn't keep the pouting out of his voice even if he cared to try. "I just used it differently was all." He rolled his shoulder a few times, as if to check if Nisha's magic had actually worked or not. "Too bad I don't have any talent when it comes to that magic stuff." He chuckled softly to himself, pleased with the results. He imagined the bone had been bruised, maybe even fractured.

When the vampiress cut the bandit leader down and he started to escape, Tucker let out a curse under his breath. "Of course, of course he's going to run for it." He wasted no time in charging after the bandit, his sword at the ready. He only wished he had something to throw at him, perhaps a knife or a rock. He'd have to rely on the power and speed his legs granted him.

Bjorn half-hoped that Arvel made it, but the other half of him hoped he got caught. Truth be told, he just wanted to get out of this damned temple and away from all of this. "Damn Arvel...always making things difficult for the rest of us." He snorted.

"He's not called Arvel the Swift for nothing, you know." He told Nisha. "Maybe being in that web left him worse for wear, maybe we'll get lucky." He told her before starting after Tucker and his bandit leader. "If you get a chance, aim for his legs!""​
 
  • Nice Execution!
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