Part XIV: The Thieves Guild
We didn’t stop for anything. Just headed straight back to Fort Dawnguard. It was definitely the right call as the place was under attack the moment we got there. Isran and the others easily held the vampires off but that they knew where to find us was worrying.
What in oblivion have I walked into?
Isran wasn’t happy with the news which was even more worrying. When a man who can stare down a bear gets nervous, shit’s about to go down. He requested I find two more people to help us. Unfortunately, he hadn’t the slightest clue where they would be now. The most he could tell me was they were in Skyrim currently.
Well, that’s good news at least. If I had to go all the way to Hammerfell I wasn’t coming back.
I needed information which meant going back to the city and that meant going to Riften. I needed to go there anyway. I had been putting it off for too long anyway.
This place was definitely the home of the Thieves Guild. A guard tried to shake me down before I even entered the city. I called him on his shit and we got in easy. Didn’t get much farther before someone’s hired muscle was breathing down my neck. Whoever these Blackbriars were, they must be losing their grip on the city to be questioning anyone who comes through the front gate.
Shit, the last thing I needed was a power struggle. I told Khash to stay close and don’t talk to anybody. Someone like her who had limited interactions with others? They’d scam the scales off her body. This place was very different from Solitude. Many of the citizens were on edge. Staying on the main streets and watching their surroundings.
The inn was always the best place to look for info so I went there first. It had been way too long since I had been inside an inn. The smell of cooked food and alcohol, the dim lighting, and din of conversation. So many unsuspecting pockets just waiting to be picked clean.
Was surprised to find it argonian owned even if the owner was a bitch. She definitely didn’t like the look of me when I came in. Her first words to me were “pay up or get out”. It was going to rain tonight and she had no problems putting me out with a kid.
Turned out she wasn’t the only one with a stick up her ass, or lack of. Some other bitch with blonde hair flat told me I wasn’t welcome at the bunkhouse, whatever that meant. And there was this other brunette with a bad attitude. Was every woman in this town an asshole?
Once I found a suitable corner to drink and plot in peace, we were approached by a man called Brynjolf. Part of me thought I being setup until he mentioned how I sniffed out his scheme at the gate. The guard wasn’t supposed to target travelers, only merchants, but because of how smoothly I handled it, he wanted to offer me some more work.
Steal a ring form a shopkeeper and plant it on someone else. I didn’t ask why. But it was clear this man had connections, and I needed someone like that.
Stealing the ring was easy. I bumped into Madesi on my way by and swiped the key to his lockbox. No one even saw me as strolled into the crowd and planted the ring that poor dark elf.
Brynjolf gave me coin but also propositioned me with a job. It was for the Thieves Guild even if he didn’t say it specifically.
Finally, things were looking up. If there was anyone who could help me get info on the people I was looking for, it was them. Word on the street was the guild wasn’t doing so well. Hopefully it’s exaggerated. I need them.
I need the damn coin.
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