3rd of Hearthfire 4E 201, Markarth
Markarth is my hometown. It’s not the name we called it when I was growing up, but apparently that’s what the rest of the country calls it, and I’m just an ignorant Warren rat for not recognizing it. You learn something new everyday! Even before I got there, I could tell by the countryside that I was getting close to home. I got so overexcited I got lost on the road an hour outside the city gates.
I didn’t want to be recognized while I was in town, so I traded helmets with Lydia. Hers had a faceplate. Made me look like a guard, which felt weird. In hindsight, I probably didn’t need it. I was dressed as a warrior, with a housecarl and a wolfhound I’d picked up on the way. Who would ever have recognized me?
First thing inside the city gates, I witnessed a murder, and then watched the guards cut down the murderer and leave both bodies lying in the street. Home, sweet home, right?
As I stood there gaping, a bystander slipped me a note. That’s how I met Eltrys. Eltrys wanted to hire me to investigate a series of murders committed in the name of the Forsworn. I never knew any Forsworn growing up though—or if I did, I didn’t know they were. Few people admitted to being Forsworn. They usually claimed to be Bretons or Southlanders. I traded him investigations: I asked him what he could tell me about a mass arrest in the Warrens on 15th of Midyear that might also have taken down a certain orsimer Imperial captain.
“Yah, I remember that,” he said. “At least a dozen people were arrested; more than that left town or went into hiding. There was a riot when they tried to bring those people to the gallows. Most of the condemned escaped.”
My heart soared. I started asking names, but he shook his head. “It was none of my business. The whole thing was blamed on my people, but I know for a fact none of the condemned was Forsworn that day. I tell you what, you head into the Warrens to find out who Weylin was working for, you can ask down there about your friends, yah? And I can ask some people I know, too. Meet me here when you’ve learned something about my questions, and I’ll tell you what I learned about yours.” I agreed and we shook. Then he added, “It’s also been known to happen that condemned people actually end up down the hole in Cidhna Mine. You might want to look into that.”
My first stop was the Silver Blood Inn, to investigate the murdered woman, sell some stuff and get some sleep. This was the sort of place that I would formerly only have entered through a second story window. I broke into the victim’s room, sorted through her stuff, and found she was an Imperial agent, and she’d been trying to get the deed to Cidhna Mine. She called the Silverbloods “Stormcloak sympathizers”. This left me less inclined to regret her death, but it didn’t explain why a Forsworn group would want her dead.
Next I headed for the Warrens, but on the way I stepped into a smithy to sell some armor and weapons. I found it run by a female orsimer, just like me. Instead of doing business, I found myself asking her all kinds of personal questions. Did you know that smithing is traditionally a female occupation among orcs? She was raised in a stronghold but then joined the Legion to see the world. She reminded me of Durz, who grew up in Orsinium.
Weylin’s flop was in the worst part of the Warrens—what we called “the Wrong Side”, because you had to pass through the gallows to get there and between the two of them, the gallows was a better fate. I’ve seen nicer caves in the wilderness. Out there, the undead only try to kill you. Here they cry out for your sympathy. I got what I needed from Weylin’s flop and got out of there as fast as I could, headed for my old neighborhood.
On the way, this thug stopped me and told me he was going to teach me to stay out of other people’s business. Less than a year ago, no one in this town would have messed with me, but this poor sap didn’t know what he was in for. I beat him until he told me who sent him—Nepos the Nose. It seemed important to deal with this guy before doing anything else. Frustrating that my Forsworn investigation was rolling right along, but what I really cared about kept getting put off.
Nepos confessed right away to being a middleman directing the killings. He explained his people’s struggle, which had been going on longer than I've been alive, and the way it was being manipulated by Thonar Silverblood. I almost felt sympathetic, but then he ruined it by trying to kill me. Out of spite, I cleaned out his house after he was dead.
I was determined to stop wasting time on this Forsworn thing, so I set out for my own end of the Warrens. My old neighborhood seemed far dirtier and poorer than I remembered. I couldn’t find any of my old professional contacts, but I finally found our next-door neighbor, old Andre the Tinker. He was sitting on his doorstop mending an old pot. I took off my helmet and greeted him, “Well met, Uncle Andre.”
His jaw dropped at the sight of me. “Luciana Henriette, I thought never to see you again! Come inside!” he opened his door and motioned us inside. I let Andre sit in the chair while I settled on the edge of the hearth and Lydia turned over a bucket.
“Can you tell me what happened to my parents? I haven’t seen them or heard from them since I was arrested.” Andre eyed Lydia nervously. Introductions could have been awkward. If I called her my housecarl, he'd probably think twice about talking to me. “Uncle Andre, this is my good friend, Lydia, who is helping me find my parents. You can speak in front of her.”
He nodded, somberly. “I can tell you what happened the day of your arrest. While you and your father were out with that big orc, your mother and Modryn Faris stayed in your kip with that Imperial officer. I’ve never asked how Faris and an Imperial soldier came to be in the same room, and I won’t now. A lizard man showed up and spoke to the officer. Next thing I knew, there was soldiers all over the neighborhood, people were being arrested right and left, and your mother was hiding in my home.”
“But Ma escaped?” I asked tensely.
“She did,” confirmed Andre, “and so did your father.”
“I saw Da arrested,” I protested, but weakly, eager for the explanation.
“Yes, and I saw a good half the Thieves Guild sent to the gallows,” replied Andre. “That’s pretty odd in itself. I mean usually, they just take your money or throw you in jail, but this time, someone wanted the entire organization destroyed. But you can’t arrest half the Thieves Guild and not expect the other half to react. The Guild incited a riot and snatched their people off the block while the guards put it down. Since then, the whole organization up and left town. You want to find ‘em, you got to go to Riften.”
“You mean absolutely everyone escaped?” I said, giddy with new hope.
“Ehh…maybe,” he hedged. “Your mother and father did, and I think were headed for Riften. But as to everyone else, I wasn’t exactly counting heads. I think your lizard friend, Swims, may have got dropped down the Hole.”
“I’ll have to check that out,” I said. “Thank you so much, Uncle Andre! You’ve been…”
“Hold on,” he interrupted. “What do you mean you got to check that out? You think you’re just going to break into Cidhna Mine?”
“It’s not that hard to get in,” I replied with a grin. “Just got to start a fight with a guard. Might even be fun.”
“It’s the getting out…” he began, but I let him off the hook. “I’m joking, Uncle. But I actually have reason to speak to Thonar Silverblood anyway. I’ll find a way to get the information I need from him. I need to think—sort through everything I’ve learned. If you think of anything else I should know, you might find me at gra-Bagol’s smithy upstream of the gallows. Please don’t leave a message though.”
