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Posted by
Paul M November 16, 2014 -
557 views
A rascal called Mercer Fey welcomes me to the Thieves Guild as I stand ankle deep in the filth of Riften passing through the Ratway. I hate the thieves guild absolutely, but I go along with the membership rigmarole in the hope I can raise the guild's fortunes enough to weaken the town's defences so that the empire can waltz in and take control more easily. War is a complicated business.
Now that I'm a paid up member of the club Brynjolf starts gassing about their latest ruse, and in doing so lets slip that the Black-Briars run Riften. I turn this over in my mind, and while paying lip-service to his sincere briefing about a raid on a honey producer I make a mental note to find and befriend the city's matriarch, Maven Black-Briar.
In the central plaza sometime later I find the Black-Briar storefront, and a poor young chap called Ungrien, who with a little persuasion tells me about Maven's redundancy policy: bodies dumped in lakes by all accounts. Another worker called Indaryn lets slip that the old lady has friends in the empire, and my suspicions that she'll be of some importance come the revolution are confirmed. It's back to the task at hand then: work my way up in the Thieves Guild's estimation.
Outside in the early dawn a snake lady makes an impassioned plea for my help with something called the Lexicon. I take it for later, but right now I have to acquaint some bee hives with my flame spells. The trip to the Goldenglow estate is somewhat more eventful than I'd planned, as I help the local guard deal with a fire breathing dragon, and then have an altercation with a very powerful conjuror at some standing stones. So it is that I come to the estate fully prepared for the hostility that no doubt awaits me.
Instead of opting for a frontal assault I do some recon by swimming around the lake, and ultimately decide to make my way in from a quiet looking dock area. I manage to sneak all the way in to the largest building on the site before encountering some friction with the owner, Aringoth. I don't try any magic, and instead present myself merely as hired muscle, albeit with an enchanted sword that sets people on fire. Heading outside I attract a crowd of mercenaries, but I switch to using a scroll of firestorm whilst standing next to this meadery's beehives. That takes care of both the mercenaries and the best part of my business here. I head back inside and with a mix of stealth and murder work my way down to the safe in the basement, and then escape via the sewers.
It's late when I roll back in to Riften, so I catch some shut-eye at the bunkhouse formerly run by the lady I killed a while ago. It's Morndas, 13th of Frostfall when I get up to go and check in with Brynjolf again. When I do catch up with him though he is somewhat underwhelmed with my shock and awe tactics against the target's bee hives. Apparently my efforts have earned me an audience with lady Black-Briar herself, albeit to get scolded for my overt enthusiasm.
I catch Maven at lunch in the Bee and Barb. I try to balance politeness against my contempt for Riften and everyone who lives here in the hope I can soon get through this convoluted business. Maven is disappointingly focused on business rather than the civil war in Skyrim though. She wants me to return to Whiterun and take out the Horningbrew Meadery. I vaguely recall getting roughed up by some heavies there many moons ago, but this feels like it isn't going to help me, or more importantly the empire, gain political strength in the Rift.
I take a different tack, and decide to return to the Legate for some strategic advice. As I leave town I check my coin purse and decide now is as good a time as any to buy a horse. I hold off naming her for now, given the prevalence of bears in this area, which I figure could cause unloooked for heartache if I form too much of a bond. A half day's ride proves worth the effort as the Legate advises that her spies think a lady in the Jarl's court called Annurial has some secret links with the thieves guild which I may be able to exploit. The thieves and mama Black-Briar can get stuffed then; after a quick nap it'll be back to town to get better acquainted with the Jarl's lackeys.
