Back in front of the chest, the vixen lets the bag fall to the ground. She smiles as she bends down to open it.
Hmm... ah, here it is.
She takes the kit from the bag and opens it on the wet floorboards of the wreck, looking at the array of instruments in front of her.
Oh, um...
The fog is thick today.
With the array of tools in front of her, she runs her claw over them, looking at each one in turn, not sure which one to take. After looking at each tool, she finally decides to take the only one she recognizes. A file.
Smiling slightly, she tries to fit the shaft of the file into the lock, but it's definitely too big to fit.
Um... no...
She puts it back in the case and randomly chooses a small metal rod. She tries to get it into the lock, but it's a long and tedious task. The lock is full of mud and other aquatic debris with rust that has completely eaten away the inside of the padlock.
Despite all that, with great determination she finally manages to get the hook into the lock without breaking it.
Finally!
She say as she tried to pull the lock to open it, but it wouldn't budge an inch. The vixen narrowed her eyes in obvious annoyance.
Why it didn’t work?
She moved the rod in all directions, hoping to hear the lock click, but nothing happened. Despite her best efforts, the lock remains locked. Frustrated by this failure, she grunts as she turns her attention to the small open container in front of her.
Gonna have to try them all!
She takes the first hook from the kit and tries it. But as with the previous one, the process is long and tedious. A process that ends with the same result as the first attempt. In other words, a locked padlock and a slightly less patient vixen. After multiple try, she think to herself that she could just ask the fox to do it for her, but the thought was quickly dismissed by her own pride. After all, if he could learn it, why couldn't I, she thought. So she decided to go through her first plan and try every tool in the kit. She tried them one after the other in long and numerous attempts, all of which ended in failure, the only consolation being that the lock was now free of mud and other aquatic waste.
Stupid lock!
Indeed, we must got back fishing but as soon as we leave the island, we lose sight of it completely. The fisherman are to afraid to leave the island
Her patience stretched to the limit after so many unsuccessful attempts, she grabbed the biggest rod she knew that would fit. a very small dagger like rod. Holding it, she smiled broadly
No more playing nice!
With a powerful thrust, she stabbed the keyhole, forcing the dagger in and shattering everything in its path. With the tool firmly planted in the padlock, she then tries to turn it inside the lock, using the tool like a key, but despite the impact, the lock refuses to budge. Showing her fangs, the vixen doesn't stop, forcing harder and harder to turn it.
Come on! Open stupid lock!
But the force applied to the small dagger was too much and it gave under the pressure. Breaking in the keyhole, leaving a part of it into the padlock. The vixen stops to look at the broken tool still in her hand.
Oh? Oh! ... Hmm... That's annoying... I know someone who won't be happy about this...
She looked at the lock on the padlock, from which the missing end of the small dagger could be seen. She then tried to remove the small piece of metal stuck in the lock by pulling on it, but her claws couldn't quite catch the small piece of metal sticking out of the lock. Preventing her from pulling effectively
Roh! Come on!
But she coun’t get it out like that, so she then took the smallest rod that had gone in earlier and pushed it in, but in her haste she pushed too hard and broke the rod without even getting it into the keyhole.
!!! Stupid useless tool!
I know, we lost a lot of boats lately.
Without thinking, lost in her anger, she picked up the tool kit and threw it into the water. It didn't take long for the kit to disappear into the depths. At this point, her anger boiled over and she looked down at the calm water where she had thrown the toolkit.
Ah... Shit...
She looked at the water for a moment, then turned her attention back to the chest.
That's it, I've wasted enough time on you with his method! It's time to use MY way!
She says as she removes her scabbard from her back and draws the sword it contains.
---
Interestingly, I've just realised that I don't need to be close to the feather for it to hear and record what's going on. It might be good for spying on what other people are doing, or just to see if anyone has touched my stuff, although the feather reacts strangely. It's got weird texts on it. Like it's recording another conversation through it. I suppose she'll break it somehow, like my lock picking kit... But at least she didn't throw it in the sea like the toolkit... At least, she did get it back after I left. She was still wet when she join me on the dock... But I'm still a bit mad at her that she didn't ask me for help. I don't really care about the kit. After all, I've broken a lot of them over the years, but if only she'd listened to herself and asked me to help her. I would have told her to use the file on the lock and not try to force it, that would have saved her a lot of trouble... But, what's done is done, you can't change the past, so I have to concentrate on my quill. Understand what's wrong with it. Starting by seeing if it was proximity that was causing the problem.
---
After a short walk in the shallow water in front of the ship, the fox finally reached it. Grabbing the rope with one hand, he shouted to get the vixen's attention
Hey Cynv, I would like your help to...
But his words were cut off by the sound of wood breaking under a powerful blow. He squinted.
What the...
Uncertain, he grabbed the rope with his other hand and began to pull himself towards the deck of the ship.
.. Hey, are you trying to get through a door or something?
The fox said as he finally put his hand on the deck of the ship and pulled himself up to see what was going on. It was then that he saw the vixen swinging her sword at the upper part of the chest, driving it a little deeper into the planks protecting it. Surprised and slightly panicked, the fox hurried up onto the deck. Trying to reach her to stop her in her tracks
Wohoho! Stop that! That's no way to open a chest! You'll break what's...!
Not listening, she delivers a final blow that shatters the top of the chest, the heavy sword finally passing through it with the impact.
... Inside...
Are you sure of what you saw?
The vixen smiles as she lets go of the sword, which remains firmly embedded in the chest.
Yes, I know.
If you know, why did you do it? Look at the chest! It's in ruins! Your sword is literally stuck in it! Whatever's inside is completely ruined!
She shrugs
I had no choice, I couldn't open it with your tools.
The fox sighs as he leans over to see the damage to the chest, hoping there's something inside that can be salvaged.
Even so
He pauses for a moment and lifts his head to look at her.
Wait, my tools? What do you mean, my tools? What have you done with my tools?
I needed your tools to open the chest.
He chuckles and looks at his bag lying open beside the chest. He turns it towards himself to rummage inside, looking for his tools.
And you failed... The chest is so rusty, why didn't you just use the file to remove the lock?
I'm sure.
She shrugs without answering. He sighs.
If you hadn't thought of it, you could have just asked me, Cynv, I could have shown you how to do it, it's not very difficult, it's just long...
Unable to find his tools in his bag, he turned his questioning gaze back to the vixen.
By the way, where are my tools?
In the water.
The fox squints.
In the water? What do you mean, in the water?
She turn her head toward the water, at the place where she threw the tools earlier.
Over there
We've been looking for days and haven't found anything. I'm beginning to think you're hallucinating
And what are they doing over there? They haven't gone all the way out there on ther own, have they?
She keeps looking at the water and doesn't answer.
Cynv, why is my kit is in the water?
She quickly turn her head toward the fox
Calm down, I'll buy you a new one. What'll it cost? 2-3 gold coins?
More like 50! That's a high quality kit you've thrown in the water! I will not leave it there just because you don't want to get wet!
I'll buy you a new one!
And leave it in the water? No, thank you! I'll go and get it!
The fox was about to get up when the vixen said to him
It's a waste of time.
Why it's a waste of time?
She crosses her arms.
I pushed too hard and broke some of your sticks. There's not much to salvage.
The fox sighs, rubbing his eyes in despair.
So you took my kit, broke it, then in your frustration. You throw it in the water and then hit the chest with your sword to open it?
It's here, I know it. We'll just have to keep looking. No whale of that size could disappear like that!
The vixen takes her sword in both hands and pulls with all her force to get her weapon unstuck.
That's a good summary.
You shouldn't have done that, Cynv... you took something that didn't belong to you, broke it and threw it away! You should have come and got me when you couldn't...
Obviously losing patience, she cut him by saying
But it didn't happen, so stop whining about it and open this stupid chest so we can get out of here!
The fox sighed, rolling his eyes in despair at the vixen response. Still silent, he began to put his possessions back into the bag before closing it. Meanwhile, the vixen put her sword back into her scabbard.
His bag finally in order, the fox turned his attention to the chest. He turned it over and removed the broken planks that covered the top. Clear of debris, the fox saw a strange lantern that had been completely destroyed by the blow, the vixen also took a look at it
Just a useless lantern? Pfft, so much for that
The fox runs his hand over the lantern, pulling back the algae that covered it, revealing the runes on it.
This is no ordinary lantern. It's magic... but it...
He lifts it from the chest, but as soon as it is in the air, pieces of metal fall from the lantern. Eventually it just falls to the wood, leaving the handle in the fox's hand.
... is worthless.
I thought you said you could sell the parts of a magical object.
He drops the handle before getting up
Well, I did say that, but I have no idea if it's true or not.
I hope you're right. I don't want to be yelled at when we get back.
She sighs, looking at the other shipwreck visible through the fog.
All those wrecks were a waste of time. Tell me, did it went better for you?
The fox clean his hands on his pants.
Yes, it did. That's why I came to you. I wanted to ask for your help in searching the cellar.
She looked up at the sun, which was beginning to disappear behind the trees.
We'll do it tomorrow. It's getting late and there's something I have to do here before we leave.
The fox puts his bag on his back and finally gets up.
Your right. We'll do it tomorrow. I'll wait for you on the dock.
The vixen nodded in acknowledgement before watching him leave the ship and walk towards the dock where their boat was waiting. Finally alone, she turned her head towards the water...
---
I hate it when she has these mood swings, she really needs to stop taking to so seriously... anyway, at least I now know that the distance has nothing to do with this flaw in the quill... Maybe when she drops it on the floor? Still, it doesn't seem physically broken, and the magic in it seems intact. I'll have no choice but to have it checked by an enchanter when we get back to the continent, but for now I'm going to get some rest. It's been a long day.