#served cold

Nixiel and Talvas sneak into the basement — I mean, Temple Ancestral Tomb

And they wait

And wait . . .

Wait some more

Talvas, doing a dance: Nixiel, I gotta go—

Nixiel: Shh!

Tilisu Severin walks in

Talvas: We need to report this to Arano—

Nixiel: I'm gonna go talk to her.

Talvas: Nixiel, no—

Nixiel talks to Tilisu Severin. Does not progress to a fight

Nixiel is dragged off by Talvas to report back to Adril Arano

Nixiel: *reports findings*

Adril Arano: *X in the chat*

Nixiel and Talvas are put on reconnaissance to subvert the necessity for damage control

Damage control required: pending

Nixiel: "If the Severins have betrayed us" . . . what?

Talvas: No idea.

Nixiel and Talvas sneak to the doorstep of Severin Manor

Nixiel: You watch the door while I find the evidence. I should just be in and out. Nixiel sneaks in

There are people inside

Nixiel, silently panicking: Seht, Seht, Seht, Seht.

Nixiel dives down the stairs out of sight

Down the hall into the master bedroom and right up to a . . .

Nixiel: Safe. Ash and fire.

SIXTEEN BROKEN LOCKPICKS LATER

Nixiel swipes out the gems, gold, and a suspicious missive, as well as an ebony greatsword

Nixiel: Now if I can just get out without being detected, that'd be smashing.

Stops to salivate over the alchemy station

Snatches a drought for better sneaking. Downs it in one gulp

Shoots up the stairs and out the door before either person realizes that shadow was a panicking Telvanni mage

Talvas: Nixie!

Nixiel: Hurry, Talvas! I got the dirt! Let's dish it and go back to Tel Mithryn!

Nixiel and Talvas find Adril Arano in The Retching Netch where Nixiel proudly presents him with the Ulens' letter

Adril Arano: Great, I want you to go bring them to justice.

Nixiel: Seht.

Talvas face palms so hard

Talvas: It's nearly midnight—

Nixiel: Sooner we go, sooner we're done.

Nixiel flounces into the wilderness of the ashlands

Proceeds to be separated from Talvas

While waiting for him to find her, she picks scathecraw and trama root

A rando Imperial woman appears and immediately starts attacking

FIVE ICE SPIKES LATER

Bloody n'wah.

Nixiel picks MORE scathecraw and trama root

Nixiel: Oh hey, I can see our mushroom from here!

Talvas: Nixiel!

Nixiel: There you are, you fetcher!

Nixiel and Talvas sneak over mounds of ash

Talvas: Why are we sneaking?

Nixiel: The element of surprise!

Talvas: We're not even there yet!

Nixiel: But we will be!

. . . until they reach a river

Nixiel: I always forget Solstheim has a river.

Talvas: It flows right by our mushroom!

Nixiel: How would I know? Our mushroom doesn't have windows!

While looking for a way to cross, they find an empty camp

Talvas: Have we been here before?

Nixiel: Oblivion if I know.

Further uphill they find some rocks to jump on

Nixiel: We need a good water walking spell.

Talvas: Fat chance Master Neloth will teach it to us.

They arrive next to the walls of the fort

Nixiel: It's the middle of the night! They'll never see us coming!

There is a guard outside that totally sees them coming

Naturally Nixiel and Talvas land blast her with magic

Nixiel: Hey, wait, wait, wait! It's a Morag Tong agent! They're finally going to kill me!

Talvas: Why do you sound so excited?!

Nixiel: I've been waiting for this day since I made my mom cry by joining House Telvanni.

Talvas: There are so many things wrong with this entire thing.

Nixiel: Hey, hold up, aren't those Redoran Guards?

Talvas: Yes, Arano was sending them to root out the Ulens.

Nixiel: I totally spaced out for that. Well! They're dead now! Want something done right, send a Telvanni!

Talvas: There's so much wrong with that, too.

They sneak in

Talvas: Why are there sculls in the walls?

Nixiel: Hlaalu have such a bad sense of style. They get it from their Imperial boyfriends.

One Shot One Kill Sneak Attack with an Ice Spike on a Morag Tong Agent

Talvas ice blasts the next two agents

Nixiel steals their sweetrolls

Nixiel: Hey, another safe!

TWO BROKEN LOCKPICKS LATER

Nixiel: I'm getting better at this.

Talvas: That bothers me.

Nixiel: Stop being so bothered by everything, Azura!

A little further on . . .

Nixiel: An alchemy station!

Talvas: Stop being so distracted by everything!

Nixiel face palms at Talvas' mimicking

Convenient chain to lower spike door is pulled

Mirri Severin plus cohorts immediately attack

Nixiel ganks Mirri Severin

Nixiel: This safe key would've been nice to have when I was breaking into her house.

Talvas: Nixiel!

Nixiel continues to swipe their alchemy ingredients

Nixiel: They won't need them.

Talvas: Whatever. Hey, is this a training room?

Nixiel: Looks like a wrestling arena to me.

More chains must be pulled

Talvas: Why is this place so creepy?

Nixiel: Because Hlaalu are creepy, duh.

Nixiel skips over several pressure plates in her never ending quest to keep pulling chains, both physically and verbally

Nixiel ganks Tilisu Severin and proceeds to fall into a water torture chamber

Talvas ganks everyone else

Nixiel: FACE THE WRATH OF HOUSE — oh, you've killed them all.

Nixiel foists a bunch of armor pieces into Talvas' bag, only for him to put the helmet on

Nixiel: You look drunk.

Talvas: And you don't?

Nixiel: Wash your mouth out with ash, you s'wit.

The two make their way back to the exit

Nixiel: This place reminds me of Master Neloth's ex girlfriend's house.

Talvas: Uh, that wasn't his girlfriend.

Nixiel: You sure, bug eyes?

Talvas: Let's just get back to Raven Rock so we can go back home.

Outside they cross the stream and enter the burnt remains of the forest

Then a wild burnt spriggan appears

Nixiel: TALVAS!

Talvas: I'm going to sit this one out.

Nixiel screams profanities to the Reclamations, the Saints, and the Daedra as she ganks the spriggan with ice spikes over and over again

Nixiel angrily picks yet more scathecraw and trama root

Breton Mage: HA!

Nixiel and Talvas come across two Breton mages blasting each other with ice and fire

The pyromancer smokes the cryomancer, only for Nixiel to put her on ice before Talvas can use his sumooned Frost Atronach

Nixiel: Bloody half-breeds.

Talvas: Please just stop picking all the scathecraw.

Nixiel and Talvas make it back to Raven Rock; Talvas tries to take his Frost Atronach inside Councilor Morvayn's house

Nixiel: Please stop.

Nixiel approaches Adril Arano

Nixiel: Your ashy little problem has been swept into the trash.

Talvas: She means we took care of the assassins.

Adril Arano rushes to tell Councilor Morvayn EVERYTHING

Councilor Morvayn: Nixiel Veres? Since you ended the lives of the people who wanted to end mine, you can have their house.

Nixiel: Sweet.

Talvas: We are not going back home, are we?

Nixiel and Talvas go to the marketplace

Nixiel: I need that helmet now.

Talvas: But Nix—

Nixiel: For the love of the Three, just let me sell it!

After taking care of some business, Nixiel and Talvas head over to Severin Manor

Nixiel: Hey look! Some scathecraw and trama root I missed earlier!

Talvas bursts into tears

Talvas: Shouldn't we tell Master Neloth we got a house?

Nixiel: Maybe?