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Posted by
Paul M November 5, 2014 -
471 views
My first go at collecting debts for the thieves guild goes slightly off script, and I beat a woman called Haelga (and some innocent bystander) to death before being arrested and thrown in jail. It's my first stay in this sort of place, and I'm surprised that they supply fine clothes and food free of charge. I have a couple of failed attemps at pick pocketing the guard's keys, before
I happen to notice a bench just outside my cell that I think I can sit on. Sure enough, I am able to mysteriously pass through the jail's bars and sit on the bench breathing the free air. A guard asks me what I want and then walks off, but my attempt to stealthily provoke him into a furious state so that he'll kill the second guard upstairs is not successful.
I find a chest which I reckon has all my stuff in, but I have no lock picks. I decide one of the guards must have a key, and make my plan to pickpocket my way to freedom. I get hold of a single master key that unlocks everything and reunites me with all my worldly goods. As I step out the main door the guards suddenly realise I should be in the cells, and start attacking. But I am outside in the Fredas night air, and I don't feel like going through all that hassle again.
I run. I run to the central trading area, and then to the north gate out of town. A mob hurls abuse and arrows at me, but I don't turn back. Outside the city I head to the river and the pitch black swamps. Some arrows whistle past me but after a time they stop. I keep on running for a couple of minutes and then stop in the cover of some rocks to catch my breath.
The mission in Riften seems well and truly to have failed, and I trudge forlornly in the darkness wondering how I'll ever get it back on track. I consult my map and see Ivarstead marked but no notes to say I have ever visited there. I figure it might allow the heat in Riften to die down a little bit if I head that way. I set out, following the coast of the great lake as far as I can to start with.
The wilds of south-eastern Skyrim at night are no easy proposition, and my ability to shout myself into an immaterial state saves me twice from some non-cave dwelling cave bears. I stumble upon Nilheim, a ruined tower of the sort found throughout the lands, though unlike most others this one is not infested with bandits. The occupiers let me use one of their bedrolls, and I fall quickly asleep, not waking till 8:30 on the 11th of Frostfall.
As I wake and look at the other men and women asleep around me I realise this place is not as unusual as I first thought. These are bandits, I just couldn't see their clothes in the darkness when I arrived. Clearly when I arrived they considered me to be one of them, a kindred spirit who had fallen from the path of righteousness and become an outlaw. I'm not sure how I feel about that, other than once again being glad Lydia isn't here to see all this.
When I arrive in Ivarstead the local militia confirm that I am indeed notorious: the rogue mage from Winterhold. The guardsmen confront me with the 1,140 coin bounty on my head but I'm tired of running and of prison cells, so I concede to the accusations against me and pay the fine. They say something about taking any stolen goods off me, from which I conclude they don't know I actually killed two people in Riften. I take that as something of a victory at least, and prepare myself for the long road back to Riften to face justice.
The trip is quicker than I was expecting, and I seize the rest of the day to continue putting the frighteners on the debtors to the thieves guild. My clairvoyance brings me to a gent called Bersi at a shop called the Pawned Prawn. I trade goods with him for a good long while, picking up some nice items before bankrupting him by selling him my unused stamina tonics. Then I get heavy, and am somewhat more successful at beating his tribute out of him than I was with the dearly departed ladies of a couple of days ago.
I opt to ask Keerava, the lizard lady at the tavern, for her dues after I have put a fair bit of coin her way buying food and sundries. I am so successful that I suddenly realise that I might have been able to achieve my objectives entirely peacefully had I just ensured the people I was shaking down for money were actually in possession of the money needed to pay me. You live and learn I guess, or at least most people lived through this unfortunate episode. I can't wait for the day the empire rolls into Riften; I will personally kill Brynjolf for all the suffering his damn thieves guild inflicts on the people here.
