Okay, this segment (or chapter, however you want to think of it) officially ends part 1 and catches us all up to Bel's current status.
Hell Hath Not Enough Furies Chapter 3
The next morning, Bel headed to the market area to sell off some of the things she had acquired on her way to Riften. As she walked toward the entrance, she noticed a beggar and gave him one of her few remaining coins before continuing on. People in Hell shouldn't pass up a chance to do a good deed now and then.
Going on to an nasty-tempered armor vendor, she sold off everything she had for sale and noted with disappointment that she didn't get very much for it. Bel was certain that she would need to be much better prepared before she could face Gian with any chance of victory, and was quickly running out of options.
As she wandered about seeking any way to raise some money, a shady looking man approached her, and offered her money if she'd help him with a task. Bel guessed that he must have seen the desperation in her eyes, and decided to take advantage of her situation. As he described the task, she knew what he was asking was dishonest and illegal, but she HAD to have more money. In the end, she agreed. Really, it wasn't like she thought she should be worried about going to hell, eh? The shady man started some kind of sales spiel, and Bel moved around to where the strongbox lay hidden that she had been told to get into. As she went to open it, she made two immediate discoveries.
First, it was locked. Second, she had not even one single lockpick.
By all the Gods, now what was she going to do? Perhaps she could purchase a lockpick, but... all of the vendors were gathered around the shady man. She could just imagine that conversation "Excuse me, I need to break into a market strongbox... Could you sell me a lockpick from your stand and then return here to be distracted?"
Eeesh! Wait, she remembered seeing a pawn shop on a side street, and the owner would probably still be in his store. Bel ran to the "Brawny Prawn" pawn shop and hurried through the door.
The shopkeeper seemed a nice guy, and it turned out he had quite a few lockpicks. Unfortunately she could only afford about six of them. So she took four (never spend all that you have, eh?) and hurried out the door and back to the strongbox.
Bel wasn't very good at lockpicking, but she managed to open the box without breaking a single pick. She couldn't believe her good fortune, and a part of her wondered if Hell (or the Old Man) was somehow looking after her. With a soft cluck of her tongue, she completed the rest of the job, and soon had happily been paid... and even better, the shady man offered more employment if she'd meet him at some bar.
When Brynjolf (the shady man) told her where the bar was, and about the Ratway, Bel's interest was fully piqued. It sounded like exactly the sort of place where she expected to find Gian.
First though, she needed a spell or two... among other things.
A week later, Bel was ready to enter the Ratway in earnest. She'd bought a couple of spells, stolen some ingredients from the alchemy shop to make potions she needed, and had roamed the area around Riften practicing her combat skills on wolves and anything unlucky enough to cross her path.
She approached the door warily, and crouched, stepped inside. The unpleasant smells of wet, mossy stone and sewage assaulted her nose, but she shortly became acclimated and moved down a short flight of stairs. Once at the bottom, she moved silently forward, until she came to a place where she could move out of the direct pathway. Tucked in to a small alcove with a grated floor, she waited there until Drahff passed by going toward the entrance.
Quickly quaffing an invisibility potion, she moved rapidly down the corner and passed by Black-Skeever. The huge thug was almost preternaturally aware, and somehow he sensed her moving by.
"I'll rip out your guts!" and he raised his mace and whirled to move after her... but she was already past him, gone through a door and had dropped to a lower level where she hid in the deep shadows til he had gone.
Searching around carefully, she found there were two exits from the small area she was in. One was a locked gate to a flight of stairs leading up, the other a booby trapped door. Bel wanted to make sure she had a way out, so she attempted to pick the lock on the gate. It was a difficult lock, but she opened it after breaking only one pick. Then she went to the door.
She managed to disarm the trap, and once the door was open saw a long corridor leading into an open room that was overrun with rats. Scurrying frantically, searching for only rats know what, they ran here and there around the room at the end of the corridor. Mace and shield in hand, Bel moved forward until she was almost into the room.
The room was small, dank, dimly lit, and smelled badly. On the other side was an open doorway, and just to the left of it was another corridor which was very dimly lit, and had a closed door at its end. Starting to move forward, Bel suddenly detected movement near that far door... something much larger than the rats, and itself dark moved near the door.
Her heart beating a little faster, Bel switched to her bow. Now she was really glad she hadn't sold the imperial bow she had taken from that bandit back at the fort.
She knocked her arrow and pulled the string taut seeking to get a clear view of whatever that was by the door... there it was... she steadied her aim for a second, and loosed the arrow which flew straight and true to her target. With hardly a sound, it slumped down to the floor and lay still. Moving up to it, she could see that it was in fact just a singularly large skeever. Damn thing! She was sure it would have cost her a year off her life... if she hadn't been dead already.
Silently she opened the door, revealing another room. This room was very dark, but she could see there was a gate on the far side, and on the right, half way across, was a small fire with a cookpot. The floor seemed to be covered with bear traps, and... over by the gate there was a pile of hay back in the deep shadow, and there seemed to be someone sitting on it, slumped against the wall.
Bels breath hissed swiftly between her teeth as she heard Gian cry out "Somebody there?"
She readied her new spell, and quaffed her last potion of invisibility. On the far side of the room Gian leaped to his feet, and ran toward the door she now stood by. Bellowing with pain as he stepped in one of his own bear traps, he swung around with his fists raised, seeking a foe.
Bel moved away, and said in a loud whisper "Gian, I hold your Name in the palm of my hand, and the Fury of Hell has come upon you!"
With that she summoned her flame atronach, then silently turned and hurried out through the gate. Once out the gate, she turned in a crouch, pulled taut her bow and with smooth, deadly aim loosed her poisoned arrow.
Gian was already engulfed in flame from the atronach, but even so he felt the impact of the arrow and cried out for mercy as he dropped to his knees. There was no mercy to be had.
Bel's second arrow found his body just as the atronach cast a firebolt that exploded in bright flame carrying Gian's soul to hell. His body was thrown against the wall, then slumped to floor where he moved no more.
Wishing she had a torch, Bel drew her mace and moved forward to examine his body. She grabbed a few small items from his corpse and finally with a muttered "Nice gloves!" she moved away up the stairs that lay beyond the gate.
***
Bel is now level 4
» Mon Apr 04, 2016 12:17 pm 
Great update!
