Journal Entry Seven

Drarayne Thelas house was a brisk walk across the town over the Odai River, separating the business and residential districts of the town. My knock at the door was met with an ornery old Dunmer woman opening the door, squinting at me, leaning her face close in to mine, almost making me flinch.

"Eh? You Fighters Guild?" she said in a seething tone.

"Yes, Sera." I replied.

"Took them long enough!!" she yelled grabbing me by my forearm, and pulling me in with a strength one would normally not associate with a woman her age.

I was pulled into a house with stacks of pillows, and the smell of rotting vegetables. Typical smell of the elderly, atypical collection of anyone.

"The little bastards have been eating my pillows! You like pillows, don't you? No matter! I locked one in the bedroom! Kill it! Quick!" she said pointing to her quarters closed door.

I unsheathed my blade, and pushed open the door slowly, letting the dim candlelight of the den into the dark bedroom. At first I saw nothing, then I saw a jagged shadow with malevolent eyes reflecting the light with a reddish-orange tint scurry from underneath the bed with a surprising speed towards me.

Drarayne shreiked in fright, helping my own adrenaline rush, and within two beats of my pounding heart, I was clumsily swinging my longblade around, knocking over stacks of her pillows and books, chasing the critter around the house, as she chanted 'Kill it! Kill it!' from atop her dining table.

I finally had the diminutive beast cornered underneath a shelf, and I layed flat on my stomach as I shoved the tip of the blade into the flesh I felt. I repeated that a few times until I was able to drag the carcass out from underneath the shelf with it impaled on my blade.

She hurriedly jumped off the table, grabbing a pillow case and holding it out for me to put the corpse in.

"Well, you just made a perfect mess of things! Now hurry up to the attic and kill the others!" she prodded me.

I entered into the attic with a blade in one hand and a candle in the other. The jumping flames making the crates vibrate against the dingy walls. Again, the the little beasts ran around the room as I entered, and I made a perfect mess of things once again, stumbling over crates and pillows and burlap sacks.

I feared for my life nearly as one of the rats ran with its claws clicking on the wooden floor straight towards me as I landed face first on the floor, after tripping over a pillow.

To my relief it merely ran over my back and into another corner. I was now perfectly frustrated, and sheathed my longsword, and used my dagger for quicker slashes and made hunting down my prey a bit more personal.

A half hour later I descended into her den with three more dead rats, tossing them unceremoniously into the pillow case, my face covered in bites, scratches, and dried blood.

"Well. You did the job...even if you did make a mess of my things." she said counting out some drakes.

"You prefer the rats?" I said giving her a look accepting her payment.

"You got a mouth on you, don't you, outlander? That won't earn you any favors around here. But. Thank you for killing the rats. Now get out of my house."

I was all to happy to acquiesce to her request, and I reported to Eydis who looked over my wounds and sack of coins. She smirked at me as she looked over the coins and took her share.

"Not bad. For you...rest up, repair your equipment, tommorows another contract."

The smith in the guild, a salesman of a reguard, with a quick tongue, and a quicker draw, Wayn, looked over my equipment.

"Well, lets see here. Nothing wrong with your blades. I can sew up this leather boot though." He said wiggling a finger through a hole where a rat had bitten me.

"Hehehe! You got the grunt work, eh, greenskin? Don't worry, Ill have these boots ready for you by tommorow morning. Word is you go the egg mine contract."

"Egg mine?" I asked.

"You'll see. You go ahead and have dinner." he said shooing me away.

I took his suggestion and ate well. Keeping mostly to myself from the other guildmates, and I pretended to turn in early, which turned out to be a mistake, as the guild was as undisciplined and disorderly like Eydis had described.

They sounds of merry drinking and raucous laughter served to keep me awake til the early hours when I slipped out amongst the sounds of snores and smell of liquored breaths.

The town was asleep, with the exception of a few of the town guard making their rounds trailing smoke with their torches keeping a vigil against the shadows that threatened the safety and security of their keep.

A simple observation of their routes for a few minutes delivered me unseen past the buildings in the business district, and I jumped nimbly atop the roof from the clothing shop to Nalcarya's Alchemy Shop.

For an affluent shop in the Rich District, she did not have a high quality lock. Two pins, and fifteen seconds later I was inside her shop, rummaging through her jewelry, all of which made it into my small leather sack.

However a diamond of a particular cut was nowhere to be seen. Until I saw a locked jewelry box that was unconventionally placed on a small shelf just above her bed. Where she was asleep.

Altmer can look like arrogant magicians, even as they sleep. So it was of a personal satisfaction that I carefully took the jewelry box and made its contents mine, and placed it, locked, back where I had found it. She wouldn't know it was gone for some time.

I exited and stole away like a thief in the night...and when a list of suspects came up, I was the fighters guild greenskin whose guildmates knew that he was asleep with them that night.