JoS/Henriette/28th Journal - Bandits and Thieves

First Seed, 21st, 4E 203

It's been two weeks of peace and quiet. I was looking forward to it, but now that I think of it, I also had time off before I set off on my quest to defeat Alduin. As much as I enjoy this carefree life every now and then, it does get boring after a while. Boring isn't too exciting, but it's good for you every now and then. Excitement may not be so good for you all the time but that hasn't stopped me in the past, and danger can be fun.

I've been waiting for an excuse to get my ass out of these mountains though, and today I got it. A courier gave me two letters. First one is from Madanach, and it stated that he knows about what I did in Deepwood Redoubt, about how I have messed with his plans for the last time, and about how he swears to hunt me down. I requested the courier to send him a letter back, to which I included an insult, a small taunt if you will. It took me a while, but inside the envelope I slid in a crude drawing of a stick figure eating a sack full of dicks, with an arrow pointing at the figure accompanied with the word "you". It's probably not the most graceful of responses I could've given him, but I like the idea of him foaming at his mouth being mad at me.

Ah, this could be part of that reading which Olava gave me, I think…? Well, I'm sure nothing too horrible is going to come out of it. Just need to be careful and stay on top of my toes whenever I visit areas where Forsworn are active.

The second letter was from none other than Delvin Mallory, the old sly fox with the Thieves Guild. I'm not going to say everything it had written on it, but a gist of it is that there's been some interesting developments within the guild, and that they're looking to expand. He said that while he and the rest understand that I haven't been that involved with them in a long time, they're looking to rekindle their relationship with me. There are a lot of jobs to be done, and a lot of money to be made. He even has a job ready for me.

In case you're wondering, why contact someone who's more suited to assassination and murder instead of some active member of the guild who would maybe even appreciate a job offer like this? Well, that's because this isn't really a job for your conventional "thief". There will be "killing involved", and when it comes to that, there's no one better in Thieves Guild than me. Besides, he said it wouldn't hurt for us to visit them every now and then to "rejoin" the Thieves Guild. Sure, I've never been gone on paper, but my absence has been very noticeable.

Anyway, the Guild has a bit of a problem with rivals in Eastmarch. There's some new guild of wanna-be Thieves who are also involved in crimes involved with things that are considered unacceptable behavior here in this guild; things like rape, murder, stealing from the dead… Why does this concern us? Well, the rumors are spreading around pretty quickly and it's also affecting the business here in Riften. Their base of operations which is somewhere near Windhelm isn't too far from ours after all. There's also a great opportunity here for the Thieves Guild to expand north as well, which is something that they haven't been able to do in decades, not while Mercer was too busy running the guild to the ground.

The contract is someone named Torsten Cruel-Sea. I've heard that name before. He's kind of a big deal I think? He's the head of one of the wealthier families in Windhelm, owns some profitable farm or something, I don't know. He might know something about this guild of rivals and where they're hiding. Delvin suggests that I should go meet up with him immediately. No need for me to visit Riften first, as Torsten will fill me in with details. Delvin promises me that the pay is good, so I'll leave for my job tomorrow after getting some good day's sleep.

Serana is coming too. She plans on visiting the College so we'll be traveling towards the same direction. Sofia is already out on some personal business, so she can't come. Aliya won't be coming either, and probably won't join me on any adventure in a long, long while. Well, I don't expect her to… I'll honor her wish of trying to focus on studying magic. She seems to have a reason beyond just hunt for power for why she continues to study despite unquestionably being one of the greatest magisters alive, but she hasn't specified anything. Well, it doesn't matter to me, as it's beyond my grasp anyway.

First Seed, 22nd, 4E 203

I learned that Torsten had his daughter Fjolti kidnapped by these savages that call themselves thieves. Sounds more like Banditry to me than Thievery. Torsten personally just wants to get his daughter back, which I'm more than happy to help him with. He couldn't offer too much of help to me regarding how to contact these Bandits or where they could be hiding but fortunately, he could point me towards a woman who knows.

Her name is Niranye. She's an Altmer street vendor here in Windhelm and sells assorted goods and wares. Local Nords seem to treat her pretty well as opposed to the Argonians and Dunmer, but that's not really my business so I'll leave that commentary at that.

I asked her about Fjolti and she pretended not to know anything at first. However, after realizing that I'm only here to help, I learned that they actually used to be friends before, she was pressured into betraying her or something. I didn't learn all the details, but she's really sad about it, thinks about it daily, regretting it, also fearing for her own safety. She basically has to do whatever she's told, act as their fence unwillingly to buy their stolen goods and even sell it forward on her stall, all that stuff. Niranye seems really scared for her own safety and feels that in due time she will either find herself serving a similar fate to Fjolti as a captive slave, or locked in Windhelm prison for the crimes she has been forced to commit.

All the members of this rival guild are apparently her fellow High Elves and call themselves the Summerset Shadows, and Niranye blew the whistle on the location of their hideout. Since I now know where they reside, I might as well pay them a visit, and since Delvin already has given me the permission to kill, well… It won't be a friendly visit. Niranye suggested to wait until morning to strike to hit them when they're most vulnerable, a tip I'll gladly follow…

As I'm sure I'll be fine alone, Serana will be continuing north towards Winterhold for work there.