บท 241: Thieft

Michael and Valdr make their way back to the Dead Man's Drink, intending to celebrate their rather easy success with a couple rounds of ale. Unfortunately, it seems that Valga had other ideas judging by the way she was looking at them.

"Michael, Valdr, do either of you have any idea on who might attempt to rob me?" she questions with angry eyes and crossed arms.

Michael crooks a brow at her sudden change in mood, glancing at Charlotte who was in the corner attempting to read a local book, along with Illococoo who was helping serve drinks for the bar. They catch his eyes and shrug, both unrelated to whatever Valga had on her mind. "Is this a hypothetical or did someone legitimately try to rob you?" he asks as Valdr shrinks under her glare.

"I don't know what 'hypothetical' means, but no, no one tried to rob me, they DID rob me." she states, "Last night, someone snuck in here and stole that weird gold you sold me!"

Michael pauses at this, someone stole the Halkeginia coins he'd given to Valga? Why? And how did they even know about it? "Did they steal anything else?"

Valga shakes her head, "No, bastards even left the regular gold I had. Looks like they only wanted what you gave... I want to know why. Did you give me some Oblivion-cursed gold or something? Stolen goods?"

Well, she's wrong there, most of his Halkeginia gold was technically stolen... But no one here should know about that. "No, it was fine when I gave it to you. Besides, I have enough to pay it twenty times over now, so there'd be no point in causing my benefactor trouble... How about I look into finding the thief? I'm not really comfortable with someone sneaking around either." he states, meaningfully nodding his head towards the rooms where Maria and Tiffania were.

Valga nods, "Good, I don't really care about the gold, but if someone wants trouble, I'll give it to them!"

"Sorry Valdr, looks like drinks are off." Michael says, offering an apologetic shrug.

"It's fine, there's always another time. You need help?"

Michael shakes his head, "No, for things like this it's better to go alone." he says, turning to Valga, "Where did you keep the gold?"

Valga shows him the small hidden panel where she'd kept her prized goods, while she's revealing it, he takes out the Vessel of the Hunt and wraps it around Derflinger's handle on his waist. Immediately, he's hit by the stench of blood, as if he'd plunged his head into a fresh carcass... Was this how Vampire's felt all the time?...

He shakes his head to regain his equilibrium and focuses on the scent of blood... He wasn't sure who he was hunting, but he knew the thief's scent would probably still linger here, giving him something to follow. He couldn't differentiate the specific smell, thus the Daedric artifact made it easier for him to follow by making it stink of the metallic life essence...

Valga sends him an odd look as he sniffs the air and slowly wanders off, straight out of the inn... "The hells? Is he a Werewolf or something?" she question as she witness this before shaking her head, Michael was fine during a full moon, so that couldn't be it... Just another peculiarity of her guest she supposed, along with his companion's strange hair and tendency to growl at those who annoy her... Illococoo was funny sometimes.

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It was a strange sensation using the Daedric artifact, it might've been a phantom sensation, but he felt hyper-alert while following the thief's trail, his senses all seemingly enhanced to some degree. Again, he also felt very exposed, his invisibility was disabled, and as he walked people would unconsciously keep an eye on him.

It wasn't obvious to most, but someone keeping an eye out for it would notice people's strange behaviour toward him.

"Partner, I'm feeling a bit weird with this thing on me... Is it me or does this place stink of gore?" Derflinger questions and Michael looks in at the sword in surprise. "You can smell it too?"

"Of course I can! It smells like we've jumped into a river of corpses!" the sword exclaims, it's jaw-thing clacking in irritation.

Michael shakes his head and ignores it for now, inwardly wondering what other artifacts the sword would be able to use. "All you need to know is that we're following the smell. Now stay quiet, I don't need you breaking my cover with your annoying voice...

With Derflinger now thankfully silent, he casually walks through Falkreath, coming across a few spots that were heavier with the stench than other... But they were old, meaning his target had already moved on.

Thirty more minutes pass, and Michael finds himself standing before a small house on the outskirts of Falkreath, its wooden walls looking like they were on the brink of starting to decay... Michael thinks about trying to sneak through the single entrance of the home but quickly discards such an idea... Even if he wasn't affected by the Vessel of the Hunt, this wasn't Skyrim... You couldn't 'sneak' through the door of a brightly lit home and somehow remain undiscovered by the owners... Not unless you were invisible, intangible, soundless, and everything else that went along with that.

*Knock, Knock, Knock.*

...

"Hello?" a male voice asks from the home, opening the door with a pensive look.

Michael nods, "Yo, sorry to interrupt your night, but I need you to answer a few questions of mine." he asks, his nose twitching as the smell intensifies as the door opens.

"...I-,er... I have something important to-" the man starts but pauses when Michael rests his hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry, this won't take long." he says with a smile bordering on a grin.