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Of Facades and High Fantasy

Chapter Seven: Cornered Rats and Thieves

This carriage could benefit from the invention of the brake.

I'm jerked awake by the sudden stop of the carriage. The driver looks back to us and nods. "We're here."

I nod, and climb out of the blanket's embrace and hop off of the cart. I take the blanket I had and roll it up. The others slowly hop off of the carriage, one at a time and haphazardly fold and crumple the blankets. I take each one and stuff them into my bag.

Yosuke blinks. "How much stuff do you have, Yu? Sheesh. Doesn't that stuff get heavy after a while?"

I shrug. "A little. I'm sure you can spare room in yours to carry them."

Yosuke shrugs. "Sure. Besides, you're the one who usually carries the super important stuff."

While we head towards the gate, I take the fabric out of my pack and hand them to Yosuke. When we reach the entrance, the two burly guards close in on the door. "You got the visitor's tax?" The one on the left asks, but it really doesn't sound like that was a question from the intimidating tone.

I narrow my eyes and cross my arms. "Visitor's tax? I've never heard of anything like that." Of course, the investigation team react in their own ways. Kanji glares and spreads his stance. Naoto gives a stony stare forward. Teddie and Rise give their own angry expressions. Yosuke rolls his eyes.

The other one steps forward. "I ain't ever heard of you, either. Just pay the tax, and we'll let you pass."

Suddenly, Chie starts talking in an overly loud, faux-scared voice that drips with sarcasm. "Oh no. Not a shakedown from the guards." She cups her face with both hands.

Yukiko gives a cocky smile and joins in. "Are we really going to be a victim of some scam?"

Both of them back away, cringing under their helmets. "Keep your voice down. Do you want the entire town to hear you? Just… just go." The guard on the left says, as he digs in a pocket to take out a key. He sticks it into the lock and turns. They both push open the gate and step out of the way. "Welcome to Riften." The other says. His voice drips with both malice and defeat.

Chie gives a sickeningly sweet smile. "Thank you." She says, as we pass by them.

I look around, this town's buildings are faded, the sky seems pale, and everything just seems… seedy.

Another man, leaning against a post, stops us once more. "I don't know you, you in Riften lookin' for trouble?" He says to us.

I shook my head. "No. We're passing through."

He spits on the ground. "Ain't nothin' to see. We don't need a buncha' kids poking their noses where they don't belong."

I shrug, and continue on my way. "I'm not scared." The others follow me as the other man snorts.

"Wrong answer." I hear. I was expecting for him to come and try to intimidate me more, but it seems he's leaving us alone.

Kanji rolls his eyes. "Is everyone in this world gonna' to try and intimidate us?"

Naoto pokes me on the shoulder. "Where do we start looking for this person?" She asks.

I shrug. "He's a nord. It's a Viking parallel. I'm starting at the tavern."

Yosuke snorts. "I'm pretty sure he'd be at the next fight."

As I peer at a sign reading 'The Bee and Barb', An old man nudges Yukiko. "Spare a septim for an old man?" He asks. He looks dirty, his hair is an unwashed white, and sports the ghost of a wiry built withered by starvation.

Yukiko frowns, and takes out a few coins. She hands them to the beggar and gives a small smile. "I wish you luck."

He nods, and smiles widely. "Thank you. Divines bless the ground you walk on."

Yosuke pulls Yukiko away, and heads towards the tavern in front of us. We all follow as I get in front and open the door, the wall of warmth hitting me.

"What the hell were you doing?! We need that money!" Yosuke rubs his face and shakes his head.

I cross my arms. "It's only a few coins. Besides-."

Yosuke interrupts. "Yeah, but it's a game. It's not like they're real." At this point, his tone was hushed.

"Well." I start, "Dunjar doesn't seem like a bunch of code."

Yosuke blinks. "Bu-… that's a good point. He's supposed to be a silent protagonist. His 'personality' is decided by the player's dialogue options."

Teddie shrugs. "The TV World does strange things. Maybe this world really isn't code."

I scan the tavern, and see Dunjar sitting at the bar. He takes another swig out of a bottle, laughing at a story he's telling.

I point in the direction and start walking. "If you look to your right, Yosuke, you can see me being right."

Teddie laughs to himself, as the dragonborn turns to me. He gives a nod, and raises his bottle towards us. "Welcome back, Yu. Didn't think you'd come back this quickly."

The rest of the team walks forward, the nord quirking a brow. "There's more of you, now?"

I nod. "Indeed. It seems our paths merged, as circumstance has us finishing out this journey with you."

The bearish nord nods, and stands. "Well. May I get the names of the new people?"

"Kanji Tatsumi." The blonde thug gives a two fingered wave.

"Rise Kujikawa." The brunette waves.

"Naoto Shirogane." The detective gives a bow.

"Teddie!" He smiles and waves. "It's bear-y nice to meet you!"

The Skyrim native nods, and heads towards the door. "Well. As long as my entourage is back, let's go do what I was supposed to do hours ago."

Chie blinks. "What are we doing, again?"

"We're going to find Esbern, an old colleague of Delphine. He knows something we don't." He replies.

We exit the tavern and start walking through Riften, letting Dunjar take the lead. "We'll be heading down to the Ratways. That's where he's located. So be prepared for unshady types. Luckily I met a guy who knew the location in the bar. We might even run into him." The nord says.

We head down to the docks, as Dunjar looks at signs on the doors. He taps one of the door with his knuckles. "This is the door." He smirks, and opens it. "Careful, we got thugs crawling around the place, supposedly. Be ready for some shit." He chuckles, and draws his weapons.

We head inside, to see narrow, stone tunnels shrouded in darkness. Each step makes an extended echo, and with this many people, we'd be detected in seconds. But we keep walking, I keep my eyes focused on the front, being next to Dunjar. My vision focused on finding any abnormal movements, I keep my hand on the handle of my sword.

I hear footsteps rapidly approaching from in front of us. I draw my sword, but by the time I could get into a battle stance, The bearish nord had already charged at a man with a large steel hammer. I heard a 'thunk', Dunjar's swords impaling the man and sending him to the ground. I hear sickening gurgles and moans of pain, but I decide to try and ignore it and keep walking forward. The rest of the team steps around the dying man as we kept traversing the dark tunnel.

I keep my sword out, and progress through the tunnel quickly. After a few turns, Dunjar stops me, the rest of the group halting as well. He takes a few careful steps, and looks down. He steps on a plate, a spiked door flying towards us and stopping inches from Dunjar's face. "You'll have to be more perceptive than that if you don't want to be grinded into pieces of meat. I'll keep this up, everyone go around."

I nod, and walk around the spiked door, the rest of the team follows. They seem pretty quiet, for once. I reach the next room to have a bare-fisted nord sprint up to me, hands up at the ready. I take a step to the left and summon my tarot card, immediately crushing it. "Izanagi!" I yell, my Persona appearing and bull rushing the assaulting man. He's tackled and knocked against the wall, the body slumping on the ground. He isn't moving, but his breathing seems to be fine. The group looks to me, and I just shrug. "Let's just leave him be." I say.

The dragonborn walks into the room, and looks at the unconscious thug. "…Eesh, Yu. Took the man down without even inviting me. Rude." He gives a smirk, and pats me on the shoulder. "Good job. Hopefully we aren't too far." Dunjar shrugs and continues onward. We follow through the dank underground system of rooms and corridors, each step one of us takes leaving an echo. I clutch my sword as I hear a faint conversation in the distance. Dunjar stops us once more, before we head into the next room. It was clear they knew someone was there from the abrupt silence of the voices.

Dunjar sprints in, and lets out an impossibly loud bellow from his gut. "FUS… ROH DAH!" The two men are immediately knocked back against the wall, but one manages to get up and holds up his axe. But suddenly, from behind me sails an arrow. The charging thug falls to the ground, limp. I look behind me with shock and see Naoto slowly lower her bow. "Pulling back the arrow proves to be an endeavor, but my aim is nothing to be questioned."

Yosuke stares blankly. "Didn't you just get that bow? I'm pretty sure guns and bows aim differently."

Naoto pulls another arrow from her quiver. "I'm pretty sure I just shot a man in the head. So I suggest living in reality."

Dunjar rolls his eyes, and kneels down and grabs the still-alive other nord by the collar. His stare bores through the other man's eyes, foreheads almost touching. "If you run, we don't kill you. If I catch you around, or find out you sent people, I'll make sure that the best whores in Skyrim will marvel at how much room you have in your throat for my swords."

The man widens his eyes, and breaks away. He sprints past us, and bolts through the corridors. I stare blankly, as the group gives an awkward silence, broken by a, "Daaaaaammmmnnnnn." from Yosuke.

Kanji walks up and elbows me in the gut lightly. "Neat friend you made." He snickers, as we start walking forward once more. Though, it's still apparent on all of our faces that what just happened was somewhat shocking.

Dunjar quirks a brow, and hefts his two swords once more, leading the way. "What? I figured you kids would have liked the fact we didn't kill that one."

Chie scratches her head. "Well, that was actually kinda' intimidating. Didn't think you'd be that colorful with your threats."

Naoto shrugs. "A tough people need tough words." She says. We continue through the dark hallways, before Dunjar comes in contact with a door. He opens it and swings it to the wall, keeping it open for the rest of us.

We enter the room, a lot bigger and more well lit than the rest of the Ratways. I see a body of water with a small system of docks in the middle, and on the far side of the room a bar. Dunjar walks the path around the small pond and passes some of the people sitting at a few tables near the bar. The rough looking thieves in leather armor look to the nord with quirked brows or cautious glares. As soon as they see us, they begin actively turning to the new distraction.

The bearish warrior rests his arms on the bartop, looking to the barkeep. "Brynjolf told me you know where an… Esbern might be."

The bartender crosses his arms and stares into the nord. "Why should I tell you?"

Dunjar shrugs. "Well. It could be because Brynjolf said you would tell me. That, and I'm the dragonborn, and I can kick your ass."

The man behind the counter cracks a smile. "Fine. He's in the Ratway Warrens. He's locked up tight, good luck talking to him about anything, though." He looks to us, though with a quirked brow. "One night stands get the best of you?" The rest of the bar gives light snickers, as the dragonborn strokes his beard.

"Nah." The warrior says. "Just a few friends."

I nod, as the rest of the Investigation Team tries, and mostly succeeds, at looking casual. The barkeeper points to the door to the right of the bar. "Take the far door, and you'll end up at the Ratway Warrens. Good luck with the old guy."

The dragonborn nods, and heads towards the location pointed out to him. I start to follow as Yosuke taps my shoulder. "Dude. Did you see that?" He asks.

I blink, and look behind me. "I didn't."

Yosuke takes a card out of his pocket. "Some red-headed guy just snuck this card into my pocket. I think he uh… wants me to join some sorta' Thieves Guild."

I shrug, and head to the door, after seeing Dunjar exist the 'tavern'. "I wouldn't pay much mind to it. Let's just go." I say, as I open the door and head right for the darkness once more. I hear the sound of everyone drawing their weapons again, and I do the same.

Dunjar lets out a roar, as he charges towards something around a corner. I hear the sounds of steel clashing against each other. I run around the corner and hold my sword up high. I see two figures with swords and shields, clad in black robes. I see another further back whose hands spark with lightning.

I charge at the man Dunjar isn't currently dealing with and send my sword screaming downwards towards his neck. I only manage to slice his shoulder, as the person slams his shield into my gut. I land on my back, suddenly hearing "Persona!" from Kanji.

His Persona, Take-Mikazuchi, soars from behind me to tackle the man who had knocked me down. The giant, black-clad, mechanical-looking being raises his lightning shaped sword-like object and thrusts downward. The bolt pierces the man's gut, as I hear. "Zionga!" The lightning that runs down the blade courses through the soldier, finally leaving him limp. The Persona fades, as I finally look to Dunjar.

The nord had overpowered the other soldier, the hood flying behind him as he revealed himself to look… vaguely elvish. Pointed features, elongated ears, and pointed eyes all mark him of something I might have seen in some fantasy movie somewhere. But before any one of them make a move, I hear someone else shatter their tarot card.

"Sukuna-Hikona!" Naoto yells, her Persona appearing beside her. The blue-clad winged being raises a hand, as the detective begins to shout. "Be engulfed in light! Hamaon!" A circle of light begins to circle around the caster in the back, who had nearly finished his spell. A flash of light blinds me for a second, as I raise my arm to shield my eyes. The only thing I could hear that second was a scream. When I put my arm down, I see nothing left of the spellcaster.

Everyone else opens their eyes; I turn my head briefly to check on the team. But I quickly whip my head back in front of me when I hear a dull, 'thunk!'. Dunjar's swords once again shrouded by the enemy's insides, the elf's eyes slowly lose life and limbs start to fall limp.

Dunjar kicks the elf and lets the body fall to the floor. He furrows his brows and looks to Naoto, a stern look boring down onto the detective. "Neat trick. But next time, warn us. That could have been me on the other side of his blade. We can't afford to be casually disoriented."

Naoto blinks. She adjusts her hat and nods. "I apologize. I'll be sure to warn you when an attack of mine might affect someone."

Dunjar nods, and hands me a set of short, thin metal objects. "I see a chest, it has a lock on it, so I advise getting yourself or someone else well-versed in lockpicking."

I nod, but Yosuke pokes my shoulder. "Lemme at it. I've done the lockpicking stuff in this game. It shouldn't be much different." I hand him my lockpicks and clutch my sword once more. No moment in this place is a safe one. Yosuke kneels down onto the chest, and sticks one of the rods into the lock, carefully placing one of the picks in and rotating. He closes one eye in concentration, but quickly groans as the snap of the lockpick echoes through the tunnels. "Shit. Almost had it!" He takes another lockpick, and keeps at it.

While Yosuke keeps fiddling with the lock, Rise comes up to me. "Is there anything I can do?"

I blink. "Hm." I say, while I think of something Rise could do right now. "There is. Can your Persona see if thee are any shadows in this world?"

She nods. "Yeah! I can do that." She summons her Persona, Himiko, wearing an elegant white gown and a satellite dish on her head. She places some circular device around Rise's line of vision. Dunjar creeps back, and quirks a brow.

"By the Divines! What are you doing with that… thing?" The bearish warrior asks.

Rise concentrates for a few moments, before letting her Persona fade. "That was my Persona. I checked as far as I could for shadows. I haven't sensed any, but this world is pretty big. I have a feeling I didn't get everything."

Yukiko shrugs. "That's fine. It's still a good thing we don't have any shadows near us. I have a feeling if we had any shadows near us, we'd start seeing shadow selves."

Chie shook her head. "Yukiko's right. The last thing we need happening is for us to run into those. There are a lot more people, this time."

Yosuke, finally done with his lockpicking, rises and hefts his sack of gold pieces. "Yeah. I'm not really sure how this place works, this time, but if all these people are susceptible to getting shadow selves…" He gulps. "We'll be doing a lot of hard fighting."

Dunjar blinks, and crosses his arms. "You've told be about those. But I suppose if we've confirmed that they aren't a problem, maybe we can get to the task at hand." He waves an arm over, as he start walking towards the next exit.

I follow, as well as the team. I come to the next room, seeing two levels of cells. Dunjar, once again, seems to be looking for something or someone in particular. My spine tingles as I hear a haggard, high-pitched old woman making incoherent ramblings. I take careful steps, clutching my sword tightly and keeping it up. Each rustle, each faint step from afar, and every voice I hear leaves my head turning, eyes darting. I look back briefly to see the rest of the Investigation Team holding their weapons cautiously as well.

Dunjar, however, looked more natural than the rest of us. He walks up the steps leading to the second floor. He starts to walk with a purpose, towards the other end of the room. I climb up the stairs and see at that end, a solid door with a hole in the middle that could open.

The nord reaches the door, and knocks. The rectangular strip in the middle opens up. I hear the voice of an older man, an air of caution and anxiety resonating from his words. "What? Who are you?"

Dunjar leans close and says. "Delphine says to remember the… Thirtieth of Frostfall."

The older man widens his eyes. "Delphine?! She's still out and about? And who are you?"

The nord gives a short laugh. "I'm the Dragonborn."

The old man seems… almost excited. "The dragonborn?! Just.. give me a second." The sound of clicks and clanks occur for a few seconds before the door opens. "Come in, D-…" He stares at the rest of us. "…Who are they?" He quirks a brow, backing away cautiously.

The dragonborn gestures to us. "They're only friends of mine."

The older man shakes his head. "Just you. The rest can stay here while we talk."

The nord frowns, and lets out a sigh. "I can understand your paranoia." He looks to me. "Just keep guard. He's very wanted, according to his record left by the Thalmor."

I nod. "Of course, Dunjar."

The warrior gives a small grin, and walks inside the cell. The door closes, and the locks start clinking and clicking once more. I walk to the wall and sit, leaning against it. "Well. There are a lot of paranoid people inside this world."

Naoto shrugs. "It's only natural. This world is based on nordic themes and old European styles. The way we look is going to raise suspicion."

Yosuke sits next to me, crossing his arms. "Fighting in this prison thing is awful. Only two or three of us can really do anything because the tunnels are so narrow. Why is it only when we get to fight in an open space, it's a freakin' dragon?"

Kanji shook his head. "Well it ain't like a dragon's gonna' fit here. It's a one-person game. The fact we're in here is sorta' like cheating."

Rise blinks. "If this is a game, why are they reacting so… specific to us? I mean… they seem like they have minds of their own."

Yosuke rubs his chin. "Well. Considering dragons from here can exit from Junes, they're a part of the TV World, now. It wouldn't be that hard to imagine that this world could give all these people emotions."

I raise my head up. "Wait." I look around. "If the TV World is a manifestation of a person's feelings or thoughts, why is it Skyrim? Who was thrown in here to make the world like this?"

Chie shrugs. "That's a good question. Why is it Yosuke's version of Skyrim, anyway? Not to mention this is the most elaborate the TV world has ever gotten in creating a world."

I sigh. "I have a feeling things are far more complicated than we know. Something or someone knows about us. I don't think it's a coincidence that it was one of our TVs or games that started this."

Yukiko nods. "Not to mention I've never really seen the TV World give someone that never even existed a personality. Not to mention a whole world."

Teddie springs up. "Maybe that's the point! Something or someone's creating personalities out of preset codes!"

Kanji shrugs. "I'm not gonna' stress it until I start seeing shadows. I'm just going through the motions until whatever's trying to pull us along shows itself."

I look up to Kanji. "Perhaps that's a good way to look at it. But we'll still need to look out for stuff."

The door opens. The nord and the old man walk out of the room. "Let's go. We're ready to head back to Delphine. You ready to see sunlight, Esbern?" Dunjar asks.

The old man nods. "Of course. I suppose if I'm going to go out and help the dragonborn, a whole group might as well come. More members of the Blades, as far as I care." He chuckles lightly.

Yosuke and I get up. I take out my sword again, and hold it up. "We're ready." I say, the rest of the group holding up their weapons up again as well.

Of course, we still Skyrim's mystery to unveil, too.