Like a whirling dervish
Spitting out the salty shells into the sea
She's making me nervous
She pushes to the brink
Thinks upon her feet
Thinks upon her toes
Laughed by all of her friends
Respected by foes Now begins the tale of...
THE GOBLIN LADY
Location: Ebonheart, Vvardenfell
Date: Hearthfire 8, 4th Era, Year 4
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"It happened so fast!"
That was what Angrus Tung realized first, as he explained to the Chief Ordinator located on Ebonheart's dock. The actual speed of their ploy had taken place in less than a minute. And within that minute, Angrus had lost all the money he'd previously had on his person. Two-hundred and siixty-five gold, saved up for a pack guar over the past seven months, gone. Just like that. How had he been deceived and distraccted so easily?
But it wasn't just their speed, it was also their delivery. They were
good. They had plotted this out, for sure.. "They were good, they were slick," he explained. "They went about their scam seemingly without effort. As though they'd done this before."
Just one hour previous, Angrus had arrived to Six Fishes for his morning brew, where he was supposed to meet the man who promised to sell the guar. The sun was shining, without a trace of Morrowind's usual mist. Angrus had paid just one gold, then stood at the table while he imbibed his drink. Others were just showing up for breakfast, or for drinks like his own.
That's when he'd noticed her. The old lady at the table adjacent to his. The lady with the court-styled gray hair, tightly coiffed in such a manner that her temples and forehead were rather severe. She had an open face. She had looked straight at him, with a countenance full of some sort of desperation. Worrisome and vulnerable. He had cocked his head in greeting, and smiled.
Top o' the mornin' to ya, he had said, before his own morning had not been so tops. And she'd then nodded in return.
Angrus Tung had seen her before, but when? And where? He joggled his memory. Couldn't quite get the pieces to fit. Had she been in Six Fishes on the previous evening? No, she had not. Angrus was sure of this.
"What happened next, sire?" asked the Imperial guard who'd shown up, and was scribbling notes upon a task-board. The Imperial nodded toward the Ordinaor who'd been first on the scene, some sort of unspoken notion passed between the two.
"Well I am afraid everything next happened in a blur," Angrus squeaked. "I am afraid what happened next might just be the most embarrassing moment of my life!"
A young Dunmer had come into Six Fishes, dressed in common tan clothes; another clever detail. Common clothes, common hair; he'd looked like a thousand other dark elves in Morrowind. He had moved into Six Fishes quickly. His eyes had swept the room, before locking upon the old woman. She'd seen him then, and her face had shown some sort of panic.
"You need not be afraid," the elf said. "Stay calm. Only fools earn my anger."
From somewhere near by, somebody whistled. But the old woman, she'd begun fidgeting, her court hair falling down. "I .... I haven't the money! Please!" she burst. "I haven't the money!"
"Your daliances don't fool me! Now, hand it over!" the dark elf shouted, causing the Six Fishes publican to drop the tan vase he was cleaning.
At that, Angrus had stood. Suddenly concerned, his morning drink losing steam. "I stood, and ... I did not know what I would do," he explained to the guard. "But as you can see I am a big man, and maybe my mere presence...." he trailed off. "Anyway, I began to walk toward them. When suddenly, a
second Dunmer fellow, dressed much like the first, bumped into me, and then moved on."
"And then?" The Imperial scribbled.
And then Angrus had stopped, while the first Dunmer continued to accost the old woman. Angrus had stopped, then felt down to his man-purse, subconsciously making sure the gold he had saved for so long was still hanging from his belt. And it was. The purse was still there. So he moved forward again. But before he could act, the entire discourse was over.
"An Imperial guard showed up, much like yourself," Angrus said. "Dressed in full steel regalia. His mere presence caused the dark elf to scatter. But now that I think of it, BOTH dark elves left the Six Fishes! Both at once!"
"Both at once, eh outlander?" asked the Ordinator. Another unspoken notion passed between him and the Imperial, as they exchanged glances.
"What?" asked Angrus. "What is it? Do you know who the perpetrators might have been?"
"Uh, please continue, sir," said the guard.
"Well.. next, I turned to my table, then sat back down..."
Angrus sat back down, wondering when the man who was supposed to sell that pack guar would show up. Took a sip from his cooling drink. Turned his head to glance at the old woman. And she was gone. She was gone, the Dunmer were both gone, and so was the Imperial guard who'd bustled into the inn. And it wasn't until later, maybe one hour later when Angrus had gone to pay for a second drink, that he realized all the coin in his purse was gone.
"In fact, the purse itself had been replaced, with one exactly like it!" he cried out. "How can this be? How can they have done such a thing?! You must find them!" Angrus explained to the Imperial, and also the Ordinator. "I know your investigative task has passed into Imperial hands, but you must do what you can! ... Imperial or Ordinator, I do not care who succeeds in helping me, but I shall pay handsomely," he promised. "I shall pay handsomely indeed!"
The Ordinator nodded, and the Imperial dispatched his task-board, all the notes he'd need had been taken. Slowly, the brilliant morning sun began to hide behind Morrowind's usual cloudy, gray blanket.
But it wasn't until another hour later that everyone suddenly knew how desperate the situation had really become. A boat, a small schooner-for-hire, had reportedly left Ebonheart's dock two hours' previous. And on that schooner-for-hire were four procurious subjects: two Dunmer, a man dressed in full Imperial regalia, and one old woman, her face severe, her courtly gray hair pulled back upright, and deftly intact.
Standing on the dock, Angrus Tung smacked his prominent forehead, after realizing where he'd previously seen the old woman. Two days prior when he was consulting with an Imperial man about buying that pack guar, the old lady had been quietly loitering nearby.
This post has been edited by Renee: Jul 22 2019, 02:29 AM