After dispatching the bandits at the entrance to the Barrow, Elle had been having a grand old time. She had heard stories and read books about places like this, but had never actually had the opportunity to go in one, until now. She was sure Nilovas was thoroughly annoyed with her by this time, because she stopped to examine a carving or rummage through a vase every five seconds. Although she did try her best not to talk his ear off about her knowledge of the crypt, the information did come in useful for the traps and the puzzle door. The other upside was that she had come across quite a bit of coin and even some precious gems, which were bound to put more money in her pocket.

So far, there was only one part she really could have done without. The draugr she was fine with, in fact she was delighted to see them at first. What nearly gave her a heart attack was that spider. The monster was easily four times her size and she was sure the most hideous thing she had seen in her life. She had almost turned around and run the other way, but then she spotted the poor guy caught in the creature's web and her pity overcame her cowardice. Thankfully, it had been wounded so Nil didn't need much help destroying the horrible beast. On top of that, the unthankful bästard they had freed was going to make off with the claw again! 

Once they had the thing, Nil didn't seem to have much interest in it, so Elle volunteered to carry it, mostly because she wanted to examine the artifact. She had no problem continuing down into the dark underground to see more of the place, that is, after Nil promised her there would be no more spiders. She was rather quiet after that, busy turning the golden object over in her hands and rubbing the traces of dirt off of it, putting away only to dispatch draugr or traps. 

She was extremely happy once they had reached the hall with the puzzle door at the end, pausing to examine the carvings on the walls to try and decipher the stories they told. But she would have to return another day, because Nil was getting impatient and they had an artifact to return. She walked over to the circular door, examining the carvings and the indent where, upon placing the claw in it, the artifact must function as a key. But, the door wouldn't open when she tried it, so it must have something to do with the symbols above. 

[color=00B2EE]"Well," [/color]she said, [color=00B2EE]"We probably have to turn them in the right combination for the door to open, like the first one, only," [/color]she looked around the room,[color=00B2EE] "There doesn't seem to be any indication of what that might be."[/color] She scrunched her nose in thought and scratched the back of her head, looking up at the three creatures. [color=00B2EE]"Maybe, try a couple different combos and hope we get lucky? If that doesn't work, we'll have to figure out something else," [/color]she mused,[color=00B2EE] "I can't reach the top two, so could you try switching the bear for the bird and that bird for the owl?"[/color] she suggested.

… At least… she thought it was a bird. No, it was definitely a bird. Between the way it was faded from age and the lighting, it was hard to tell, but she was sure that's what the second stone animal was. She couldn't see what else it could be. She still had the claw in hand, but hadn't bothered to consult it yet.