The Cursekeeper

Blessing and Prosperity

After leaving the vault with their new items, then heading back into Colter to browse around, the rescue party went south, following Spider Gorge to Lake Isabella.  They decided to change the look of their avatars to try to keep a low profile, so Arthur changed into a different looking man while O'Callaghan chose to be something called an Asari.  Jack made himself look like an elf and Lugh decided to experiment with being a duck man (aka Duckworldian), which was a very short duck with arms instead of wings and while he stood like a person on two legs, he had duck legs and a feathered tail on his rump.  

Darrach couldn't stop laughing when he saw it.

Arthur remembered Lilly telling him way back where she'd found Tessa, the wild white Arabian that she had lassoed for her husband as a gift.  And sure enough, there was a white Arabian on the western bank of the lake.  The group stopped to get a look at the white horse and Arthur smirked.

"So...how do we approach this?" Lugh asked.  "Arabians are skittish by nature."

Arthur dismounted from Holly, kissing O'Callaghan's hand.  "I got this," he said confidently before stroking Lilly's face and kissing her cheek.  "Don't go nowhere," he whispered before walking slowly towards the wild horse.

Arthur stayed low to the ground as he inched his way over to the unsuspecting horse, its back to him.  Suddenly he whistled a bit and clicked his tongue to draw the horse's attention.  The white Arabian looked behind herself at Arthur with a look of disinterest before going back to nibbling on some grass poking through the snow.  Arthur got closer still, calling out words of encouragement.  This seemed to make the horse ornery because she turned abruptly, locking her knees as she took a defensive stance.  Arthur paused in his steps as he gauged the situation.

"You're okay," Arthur spoke calmly, holding up a palm.  "Easy, girl."

The horse sized him up with her eyes as he got closer.  Suddenly her eyes rolled and she snorted through her nose.  "Alright, look pal," the horse said in an Irish accent, much to Arthur's astonishment.  "This ain't me first rodeo.  I know what yer tryin' tah do here, but it ain't happenin'.  I'm waitin' fer some folks."

Arthur scoffed in shock as he straightened himself.  When had Lilly learned to make animals talk?  Or was this horse even a real horse?  Was it a machine?  A computer program?  A hallucination?  This place just got weirder and weirder the further they got in.  For example, they passed by a ravenous, flesh eating elk on the way down.  With metallic, rotating antlers.  And razor sharp teeth.  And it was covered in what Darrach called "graffiti".  Honestly, it looked like a bunch of paint to Arthur.

That thing was still hard to kill, though.

"Look, uh, ma'am," Arthur mumbled with uncertainty.  "I know who you're waitin' for."

"Oh, ya do?" Tessa chuckled.  "And who am I waitin' fer, pray tell?"

"The Four Horsemen," Arthur replied, making Tessa's eyes widen.  "Courage, Justice, Redemption and Honor."  He pointed behind himself.  "And we ride on War and Death."

Tessa trotted up to him before looking at what he was pointing at.  She neighed loudly before gaping at Arthur.  "So, which one are ya?"

Arthur chuckled.  "I gotta be honest, I...I ain't sure.  We just found out that we're part of some prophecy.  Some archeologist had a book and you and Doc were shown in the book as Blessing and Prosperity.  Which one are you?"

Tessa giggled.  "Oh, I'm obviously Blessing.  Doc is Prosperity.  But what I was askin' fer was yer name, ya silly man."

"Arthur Morgan."