Alternative to the thieve's guild
Who I really am
Ok, so you remember me telling you I wasn't really Neville? That's right. I'm Phintias, the shop owner. Well at least that's my cover identity. I have many identities, Phintias, Neville, and Curtis the muddy (Beggar). to name three. I needed the latter to infiltrate the Thieve's guild. Let me tell you the story.
6:00 pm
I was manning the counter of First edition when Mirvyna Arano walked in. You could call her the choosy beggar, looking all around, touching everything and bringing it up to the counter, asking me to explain the book. In short, she messed up my store, and only had money enough to buy a copy or two of The Real Barenziah.
7:00 pm
She was finally gone! I had to clean up the whole bookshelf closest to the door. At least it gave me something to do until closing time. I was planning on closing earlier, but Mirvyna had to come at the least needed moment. I accidentally dropped a book. It fell, getting scratched on the floor. It was "Follower's of the Gray Fox." Hmmph. He was the reason I was meeting Hieronymus Lex at 8:30 in The Bloated Float in the first place. I took the book and put it on a shelf in the basement, I would have to stitch it back up in the morning.
8:00 pm
I closed the shop up, and walked briskly to the Temple District. From there I saw Methredhel. I looked away, pretending to not notice her. She was a subject of the meeting. A rumored Thieves guild wannabe. I knew I might have to shake her down, but I never enjoyed interrogating a lady.
8:30 pm
After getting pickpocketed by someone named Jair, I called the guards who took him away. I saw some clouds rolling in on an otherwise pleasant, clear night. I started to run to The Bloated Float. I got there just in time to see Hieronymus order himself a Surilie brothers and sit down, beckoning me to join him.
The Bloated Float always smelled funny. All sorts of low life populated it, from bodyguards to the richer Imperial City inhabitants, to thieves to beggars. I found a seat next to Lex, and told the bartender to fill my mug with water.
"I'm sorry about your son, sir. His food was poisoned by that assassin. He got his reward in full, trust me." "Thank you Phintias. It's times like this when us legionnaire buddies need to stick together." The Gloomy Imperial guard replied. "So what do you need, boss?" I asked "Well, City-swimmer has stopped giving us info. I bet S'kriva found out about her being an informant. I don't know what happened to her, but I do know the Thieves aren't murderers. I need you to find out what you can about the Thieves guild. I want you to infiltrate it."
"Excuse me, are you ready to order?" It was Ormil, the only one here other than us who wasn't scum. Hieronymus wanted nothing, I ordered Crab Meat soup. "Your soup will be here in 10 minutes or less!" and he scurried away to tell the chef what to cook.
"Okay, but how do I infiltrate the Thieves Guild? Everybody knows Phintias sides with the law, and Neville used to be the law." Hieronymus Lex nodded. "I suppose to beat the scum, you have to be the scum. Find some trashy clothes, don't carry anything valuable, and get really dirty. We will call you Curtis the Muddy."
"I can't even afford the cheap clothes they wear though!" At this we laughed. "No, no seriously. You see, nobody has bought a book in three days, I have to pay off First Edition, and feed myself. My expendable funds are 2 septims. I need one more." Hieronymous tossed me a septim. "Have a coin, beggar."
The rest of the night went off without a hitch. The Crab Meat soup was delicious, too bad I didn't have the funds to tip Ormil. Lex and I talked, and drank and bantered with eachother. It must have been late when I finally left, because the moon was in the middle of the sky. Not that I could see it very well through the rain clouds. Through the downpour I did see two figures racing eachother toward the temple. Most people would find this odd, but not think anything about it. However, I am Agent Phintias, and this was the Waterfront. I gave chase.
Years of conditioning made me much faster than these two. I hung back a bit discreetly, but passerbys would wonder why Phintias was chasing Methredhel and that new Khajiit that had moved in. They entered the temple district, and I followed. They turned to the right, towards Amantius Allectus's house. I used a shortcut behind the houses and got there first. I used my Imperial City Watch master key to open the door, and ducked under Alectus's table right before they entered.
"Man, his door wasn't even locked, this will be easy." Said Ka'jirr, the new Khajiit. I knew he was in the Thieves guild. So was Methredhel. "I'll find it first!" she said and looked through a cupboard. Apparently they were racing to find an object. Some sort of initiation race? I pulled a hood over my face, and quietly slipped on a black robe I kept in my satchel in case I needed to sneak.
I grabbed a knife from the table above me, drank a night-eye potion, and chucked the utensil at the lantern that was lighting this room. I knew from my training how to put out a light with silverware. I knew the Khajiit could see in the dark so I grabbed him first. I put Wrist irons from my bag on him in 1.7 seconds, and then I tackled Methredhel who was making a run for it.
I put my special drain fatigue enchanted irons on her, so she would rather sleep than escape. I had Decided 5 seconds before, when I was under the table that Ka'jirr would be easier to interrogate. And boy, he cracked like a dropped egg. He was bawling that he didn't want to go to jail, and that he couldn't pay the fine, and not to hurt him. I cast a calm spell on him, and sat him in a chair.
I needed to make this quick, because the Allectus family would be up and wondering what happened soon. "Okay, who told you to trespass here, and what did you need to find?" "Will you hurt Ka'jirr if he doesn't tell?" "If you don't tell, I have authorization to kill you, send you to jail, hurt you, torture you, I can do whatever I want to you, so you better tell." He nodded vigorously. "Armand Cristophe told me to steal Amantius Allectus's diary before Methredhel."
"Why did he tell you that?" He explained that he wanted to be in the Thieves guild to make money, and Armand had too many people trying to join at once, so he made a race instead of a test of skill. "Okay, where can I find Armand?" "He should be waiting for us at The Garden of Dareloth, behind the Abandoned house." "Okay, when You wake up you will be at your house. His eye widened before I cast the Drain Fatigue spell.
I walked out into the rain, and ran to the nearest guard. I showed him my Imperial Legionnaire Officer seal, and told him to arrest the bosmer, and put the Khajiit in the Abandoned shack. He obeyed without question. I needed to get more wrist irons to enchant. I decided to give Lex the message tomorrow.
Still in my black robes I rushed to the waterfront. I grabbed Puny Ancus. He was the one I usually got my information from. He only knew me as the Black Robed Stranger. I gave him an apple and asked him where the Abandoned shack was. He pointed to a house with a redguard standing out back. I took off my robes, and found some middle class pants to put on in my bag. I took off my shirt and put on Puny's sandals. I walked up to Armand.
I couldn't help but hear about a thievery contest, and wanted to know if I was eligible, you see, I'm recently homeless and I need money to survive. Armand Stared at me for a second and then his face lit up. "Sorry, I thought I recognized you for a second. But sure, the more the merrier, we're always willing to help beggars.
"Thank you, Curtis is the name, some say I'm muddy. I believe you were talking about a diary? I'll have it in one hour." "No way, just have it back first, alright?" I nodded, and ran until Armand couldn't see me anymore. I then snuck to the beggar's bedrolls. I took a short nap, and withdrew the diary from Puny's food sack. I walked up to Armand, Diary in hand.
He was simply amazed I had the Diary that quick. I was instantly a member of the Thieves guild. I nodded, putting on a grateful face, and then went to sleep beside Puny.
To not be continued.