My stay in Riften is quite brief. I pop in to be debriefed by the Thieves' Guild on my operation at Honningrew.
The plot continues to thicken...or so I assume, since I'm actually pretty confused by all the Guild's past politics. I'm just here to get my next job, which I'm delighted to learn is in Solitude.
After all the craziness of the past few days, I really don't feel up to legging it all the way back up to the northwest.
It takes another whole day to get back to Solitude, and I add some time to that by making a highly lucrative pit stop at Whiterun. Most importantly, I finally decide to spring for a new bow of elven make, crafting it myself with some help from the Avenicci smiths.
A great weight lifts from my shoulders--now I'm not burdened with a stolen bow upon which I'm extremely dependent. Now I can get arrested by those Pale Guards with no long-term repercussions.
Hooray.
Once in Solitude, I check in with my latest shady Guild contact, Gulum-Ei, and am strangely unsurprised to see that he's an Argonian.
We marshfriends really get around in the criminal underworld, don't we? The only "straight" marshfriends I know all live in Riften, that wretched hive of skeevers and villainy, and all the other crooks are, well, dead. By my hand.
If Gulum-Ei knew this, he'd be appropriately worried about his future.
But he doesn't, and he's not. He's a cocky little twerp, and withholds his information unless I do him a favor by lifting some brandy from the Blue Palace.
Actually, that's not much of a burden--I'm delighted that my excuse for first visiting the Palace is a criminal one. The Imperials are nice people, but that doesn't mean I have to like everyone in their town.
Although, while in the palace, I overhear a court hearing and am lured atop by the sound of rich people in need of help. Now that I'm becoming more comfortable with my new identity as a special operations mercenary, I can't pass up the opportunity. I find two jobs, as it turns out: investigating possible necromancy in a local cave, and cleaning out some vampires in another cave nearby.
But I still lift the brandy and get back to Gulum-Ei; I know my priorities.
To my great irritation, he persists in being withholding. It's like he gets off on it. So when he just up and leaves in a superbly unhelpful manner, I tail him all the way down to the docks, where, sadly, I'm forced to kill one of the guards for nearly revealing me.
I keep on Gulum-Ei's tail, picking off the guards inside the inner dock.
One of them nearly spots me, but I'm able to get around behind and get the drop on him.
Another guard across the way seems to notice the commotion, but I drop him before he has a chance to make a scene.
It occurs to me that this is the first time I've killed an orc at one go.
And now the second.
I suppose he heard that one coming.
I keep moving, even faster, switching back to my knife when Gulum-Ei picks up the pace. I don't want to lose him, but for reasons I'm unable to divine, I decide to cut through some nearby webs into a small nest of spiders.
There are only a few thugs remaining by now, but I don't give them chance to ruin what has been a perfectly executed assault.
I find Gulum-Ei at the far end of the cave, with only one protector left. I cut his bodyguard down, and move to confront the wayward contact.
I'm fairly furious by this point, and would like to kill him. He certainly expects me to do so, and vigorously pleads for me to spare him in exchange for information. I reckon that puts us back at square one, since I didn't want to kill him anyways. Also, if I do kill him, that tips the scales--I'll have killed more marshies I've met than not.
So I let him live, and he offers to serve as my "friend in the north", fencing any stolen goods I happen to bring to him. I leave the hideout with a spring in my step and a warm fuzzy in my heart: I've done another job for the Guild, and made a friend in the process. A friend who's not human. Always a plus in my book.
But the warm fuzzy doesn't survive for long--on the road west toward the caves I'm investigating, a blizzard suddenly kicks up.
I'm stunned and infuriated. This is Solitude, for crying out loud! Land of the warm ocean breezes! I look about angrily for someone to blame for ruining one of my two favorite holds.
By now, I've learned to stop being surprised.
I think I've now met more dragons than Argonians.
Gee, I'm special.
Comments