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Posted by
Paul M November 5, 2014 -
519 views
Legate Rikke has been relocated to the Rift in an effort to shore up the Empire's supply lines into the hot zone that is Skyrim. She says she wants me to return to Riften and work on the good first impression I made upon the thieves of that city. I'm still a little shaken from the untimely death of my travelling buddy/ hired thug Belrand in the mines nearby, so I'm more than happy to be headed somewhere with warm beds and daylight above me. I notice one of the camp's horses that seems less well guarded than the rest so I grab it and make a run for it. Someone shouts after me but I'm long gone by that point. I'm on a war mission anyway: why else are these horses here if not for this.
Arriving back at Riften I'm suddenly struck by the beauty of the place, and I decide I'll spend a couple of days getting my bearings before trying to work my way in to the thieves guild. As I stroll around the central plaza a comment from one of the locals makes me realise I've picked up another dose of Rockjoint, so I consider making my first stop the apothecary.
I take a bit of a wrong turn and meet Laila, the Jarl of the town, who while more a fan of Ulfric than anyone else is generally anti-war, and keen to avoid damage to the town. With that said, she has some pretty uncompromising views about the empire and the thieves guild, and I can start to see where a covert word or two in the right ears might create a much less bloody resolution to the Riften question.
The court wizard is a slightly timid sort of mage, I'm guessing deriving from a lack of experience. Wylandriah is her name, and she wastes no time asking me for help. I politely decline and continue my explorations. Doing so brings me upon Saerlund, the Jarl's son. He is a fan of the empire, or at least dislikes Ulfric enough to have earned some punishment. He may be of some use later on.
I come upon the temple of Mara, the divine that I'm sure has bestowed restorative effects upon me before. Sure enough, her shrine rejuvenates this simple woodcutter, and I decide that my next stop will be the local pub called the Bee and Barb. The place is run by the snake people, but as none of them are trying to kill me for a change I figure I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and I rent a room for the evening. The bar lady doesn't see any need to show me where the room is though, so I engage the local clientele in conversation.
I meet my thief friend I made earlier: a chap called Brynjolf. He reminds me that he had directed me to something called the Ratway last time we spoke. It sounds to me like the town's sewer, but I decide to go have a look for it anyway. The town it turns out has a winding series of docks at the base of all the buildings, no doubt to allow the movement of goods without having to deal with the crowds up above. The Ratway sits behind an inconspicuous door, and after some stealthy murdering of the local homeless population I eventually come to a dingy staging post called the Ragged Flagon, where Brynjolf awaits with a fresh task.
He tells me to put the shakedown on some of the locals, including the snake people who own the tavern where we just were. I find this a little bit of a menial task for someone of my skills, but I agree to give it a go. I try taking what I think will be a shortcut back thought the Ratway Vaults, but somehow I end up being set on fire quite severely before managing to get to the Ratway Warrens. I figure I'm making some sort of progress at least, and press on.
I kill some sort of cannibal vagrant before coming up against a door that can only opened by a chap standing on the other side of it. The gent's name is Esbern, but shooting arrows at him and summoning a flame atronach on his side of the door does nothing other than incur a 40 coin bounty on my head. Thwarted, I turn back the way I came and take the long road back to the inn where I have booked a room for the night, picking up something called Dravin's bow as I go.
