The Journey Begins...

Allysian Liore - Imperial

The ride into Riften was a long one. With barely enough septims to pay the driver, I had nothing left to buy food or supplies. Thankfully, being an alchemist, I was able to pick a few safe-to-eat mushrooms along the roadside when we stopped to relieve ourselves. While they weren't especially tasty, they kept me nourished. Thankfully Skyrim has an abundance of streams with fresh water to drink from, all that snow's got to melt somewhere right?

The carriage driver, Illgeir, wasn't particularly friendly. Every question I asked was just met with one word responses. I had hoped the 18 hour ride would have been more entertaining, but sadly, the man's a carriage driver, not a bard. I tried to sleep, but the jostling of the cart over the stony road made that impossible. Instead, and unfortunately, these quiet times end up with me reflecting on just how I ended up in this carriage with nothing to my name except a few borrowed septims and a rusty dagger I found among the mushrooms.

A friend back home, Erlen, suggested I make my way to Riften. I had never traveled to Skyrim before, but anything to get out of Cyrodiil was definitely welcome. He said his sister Edda had a shop set up here, that maybe I could ask her for work and succor. Gods know I could use it.

Illgeir parked the carriage near the front gate and gave me a head signal to vacate. I hopped out, very ungracefully as my legs nearly gave out after the long ride. I saw the guards posted at the gate chuckle and mutter something quietly amongst themselves as I approached. The female guard stopped me in front of the secured entrance.

"Citizen, a tax has been imposed to enter the fine city of Riften. The cost will be 30 septims. Pay or leave," she demanded.

"I... I..." I was confused. A tax? Really? I literally had nothing left. I pleaded with the guard to allow me entrance and that I would gladly pay the tax once I've earned my money. I was hoping that with just this weathered tunic on my back, maybe she would pity me and allow me in. The guard laughed and, strangely, opened the gate without another word.

I wouldn't say Riften is a pretty city by any means. The autumn colors were nice, but sadly much of it was seen in piles lining the edges of buildings. I didn't see a friendly face anywhere. I heard some noises just up ahead, the same mix of a hundred different conversations that's typical of a marketplace. I figured that was as good a place as any to start looking for Edda.

I made my way to the marketplace, being careful to avoid a heavily armored man near the city entrance. I did my best to avoid eye contact, but I could feel his gaze lingering on me. Thankfully, he didn't move, but I felt his eyes continuing on as I walked passed him.

I passed by a fruit stand, the beautiful reds and greens of Skyrim's apples looked so appealing. I'd had nothing but mushrooms and water since yesterday. My stomach ached for the ripe, juicy fruit, but sadly, I could not afford it yet. Paying for food is a luxury right now, I won't like it, but I can live off of the vegetation outside of Riften for now.

Everyone seemed so busy in the marketplace, bartering for this, hocking that. A well-dressed man eyed me up and down and looked like he was going to ask me something but decided against it and turned around, his booth had "Falmer Extract" or something. I looked for anyone that could possibly help me find Edda, I exited the center market and watched a man hammer steel for a minute. He eyed me suspiciously as I just stood there watching him.

"Come to see Balimund work miracles with steel, eh?" he said.

"Oh, sorry, no... I was hoping you could help me," was my sheepish reply.

"Look, I don't give hand-outs, sorry. You don't look familiar, what brings you to Riften of all places?" Balimund inquired.

I approached him, "I'm actually looking for someone, she owns a shop here. Her name is Edda, her brother said that maybe she could give me succor."

"Edda? You sure about that? Old woman's been a bit of a loose wheel these last few years," Balimund shook his head mournfully.

"Oh. Is she still around?"

"That's her sitting down in the marketplace over there. Exact same spot her old linen cart used to be. Sad tale, she was a heck of a weaver. She got sick one summer, disappeared into the woods. Came back months later in kind of a daze. Thieves picked her cart clean, ransacked her home then burned it to the ground. I feel sorry for her, but hey, what can you do? I tried to help her, but she just goes on and on about corpses in the canal," Balimund started stretching another hide over his rack.

"Thank you Balimund, I'll try and talk to her," with that, Balimund wished me luck. I left his shop and made my way to the frail woman sitting on a woven mat.

I tried speaking to her, telling her about her brother Erlen, but she was despondent. She asked me for a few septims, I checked my coin purse, five septims was all I had. I placed three of them in her hand, they fell from her grasp onto her mat. She looked up at me and asked me again for some septims. I gave her my last two, hugged her and walked away.

Night was fast approaching and there was a chill in the air, with no money, I had to find a place to stay soon. I asked a guard doing his patrol. He suggested I go down to the water, there's a place they call "Beggar's Row" down there, not entirely safe, but safer than sleeping outside the wall. The guards patrol there once in a while, but advised me not to count on it.

My stomach growled louder as I made my way down the steps to the canal. The smell here was awful. Stagnant water, rotting fish, discarded food, human waste. I found the door to the area the guard mentioned and opened it. I thought the smell outside was bad. It was far worse in here, but at least there was some warmth. I made my way further into the tunnel, passing some other ne'er-do-wells soundly asleep. Thankfully, deep inside Beggar's Row I was alone for the time being.

There were several old cabbages rolling around, some half-empty bottles of mead, pieces of rotting meat of some kind. I couldn't tell, maybe it was horse? Cow? Who am I kidding, it was probably skeever. I left it, last thing I needed was to get sick and further dehydrated.

I peeled back the cabbage and ate the less wilted leaves on the inside. I found a decent potato in a corner, used my rusty dagger to peel it best I could. After a while, the smell either dissipated or I just got used to it. While not happy, at least my stomach was full. I looked around Beggar's Row a bit more, nothing of value that I could see, some old book, but I wasn't in the mood for reading. I stepped on something made of glass and crushed it beneath my foot. Skooma.

I've never tried the stuff, but I heard it could be worth a bit of money since it was considered contraband. I grabbed the two remaining bottles and tucked them into the waistband of my pants.

There was a hay mat here, it was damp, but the only suitable place to sleep. The drip drip of Beggar's Row kept me from ever getting into a deep sleep. Probably for the best. I heard footsteps.

I stayed on my mat, pretending to sleep. My guest stumbled into Beggar's row, kicking over a waste bucket, emptying its disgusting contents onto the floor. I heard him swear, he was obviously Argonian by his speech.

"Sssssskoooooooma... where are you? It's been a long day... now where did I leave you..."

I probably should have cleaned up the broken glass. The Argonian was right up next to me, but still hadn't looked down.

"NOOO! HOW?! But this is just one.. where are my other two... sssskooooma?" He wheeled around and whacked me with his tail, I got to my feet quickly, rusty dagger ready.

"You, where isss my sssskoooooma?!" He swiped at me with his claws, but was drunk enough that he missed me, badly. "I will cut off your head, Imperial bitch." The Argonian quickly brandished a pair of daggers and stumbled towards me. He let out a primal scream, paining my eardrum, but I knew I had to do something now. I had to get him before he got me. I lunged at him driving my dagger into the side of his neck, he screamed.

The Argonian fell to the ground desperately trying to stop the flow of blood pouring out of his neck. I dropped my dagger and backed into a corner, shocked. I've never hurt someone like this before. I've never seen so much blood. His muscled tail was spattering blood all over the walls, all over me. He thrashed about breaking a chair with that powerful tail. His body finally settled down, though disturbingly, his tail continued to quiver. I threw the hay pile over his body, located my dagger and sprinted out of Beggar's Row, a bloodied, frightened mess.