She moved to kneel by where Quentin was digging and started to use her hands as well, scooping dirt and not paying heed to how it ruined her pretty hands. She paused to look up at Gareth with a smile, "Come on, don't be silly. A little dirt never hurt anybody." Unless one were buried alive, she thought, but that was beside the point. Her eyes were dancing with laughter and excitement before she turned back to the task at hand, eagerly digging into the dirt to see what could be unearthed.

"You may have to." Quentin says with a chuckle at Gareth, the big man digging down fairly deep. It didn't take long to find the box, it was only maybe a foot beneath the soil. It took a bit longer to drag it free as Quentin wipes his hand and grins. "Well, lets see what we've found."

He opens it up and finds yet another note sealed in a waterproof tube. Tapping it open he reads out the next clue. "You'd think Mary would have bargained for one more, but I took one hundred and sixty-eight from the top to even the score." He says arching an eyebrow at their squeamish local expert.

Eww... They looked like animals digging like that. Gareth walked away to go down into town and get a shovel. He wasn't there when the note was found.

She scratched her head at the riddle and then turned to say something to Gareth, but the man was gone. What in the world? "I think Mister Scott went off to search for shovels." Poor guy, she thought, couldn't handle a little dirt either. She shook her head and dusted her dirty hands on her pants.

Her mind went back to the riddle and she hummed. What in the world could it mean? Was it possible that someone took gold from the person in the riddle? Jewelry? Had some woman paid a steep price?

Wiping his own hands as free of dirt as he can manage with a handkerchief he grins at her. "It appears as though we've been abandoned." He gestures towards town. "Come, hopefully, we can find out local guide on the way back into town because I can't make heads or tails of the riddle." He leads the way back towards Whitby hoping to either catch up with Gareth or catch him on his way back to the abbey.

Gareth met them at the bottom of the steps. "I got the shovel!" he said, and he held it up proudly. No dirt under fingernails for him.

"We should probably hold onto that," she drawled out. "We've unearthed a riddle. You should take a look at it. I couldn't even begin to guess what it means." She was just happy to find the clues.

"Goodman," Quentin says with a grin as he accepts the shovel and hands Gareth the piece of paper with the clue on it. "It wasn't that deep down but this will save time if there is another buried piece. Take a read and tell me what you think."

Gareth looked from Claire to Quentin sheepishly, and handed Quentin the shovel, taking the piece of paper in return. He frowned as he read the clue. "My first guess is that it has something to do with these steps," he muttered. "The church above is called St. Mary's. One hundred and sixty eight from the top might refer to the specific step... But I can't figure out what the bargain for one more stands for... Or the evening of the score..."

"Fascinating," she murmured and rubbed her chin. There wasn't much for her to say, she stood there looking at the two men and would be left wondering what in tarnation the riddle meant.