h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

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Omens of Oblivion: Tracking the Cultists

As Freya entered the cellar, she saw the Breton drawing a dagger and raising his arm to stab Baurus, who had his back turned at him. Quickly, Freya flung herself at the Breton, knocking him off balance enough for the stab in the back to become a slash in the shoulder instead.

Baurus swirled around, and drew his short sword. Meanwhile, the Breton had turned on Freya, who leapt back with such agility that it even surprised herself. Upon hearing the sound of a sword being pulled out of its sheath, the Breton turned back towards Baurus to counter his attack.

Facing each other, the two men circled, each one trying to spot a weak spot in the other. Freya, who had crouched down so as to make herself as unnoticeable as possible, carefully drew her own dagger, and slowly approached the Breaton, timing the circling to a point where his back was immediately in front of her.

Baurus, who never let go of the eye contact with the Breton, seemed to still notice what Freya was doing, or so she felt. When Baurus lunged forward, so did Freya, and together they managed to kill the Breton.

'I expected him to want to extract information from me first, not to attack straight away,' said Baurus, clutching his wounded shoulder. Meanwhile, Freya was kneeling down, searching the pockets of the Breton and pulling out a book.

She stood up and opened, leafing through the pages, with Baurus watching over her shoulder. Neither of them could make head or tail of the text though.

'What we need is a scholar,' said Baurus 'you'd better take the book to the Arcane University while I bandage my shoulder'.

It turned out Baurus had rented a room at the inn and, after assisting him in bandaging his shoulder, knowing that it would be tricky for him to manage with one hand, Freya left, taking the book with her.

Entering the visitors' hall at the University, Freya turned to one of the mages, an Argonian, and could hardly believe her luck. Tar-Meena turned out to be an expert on Daedric Cults and well familiar with the book Freya had brought.

'You'll need the complete set, consisting of four books, in order to solve the clue that, most likely, leads to the Mythic Dawn headquarters. I think I've seen the second and third book in the Archives - but you'd have to be a member of the University to get access to them. I've been told you have not yet received a recommendation from all the local Mages Guild leaders?'

Crestfallen, Freya stared at Tar-Meena. How could she explain that the matter was much too urgent for her to travel around gathering recommendations?

[-B4-]