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Chapter 2
Magnus the Greymind
Last Seed 19
Trebonius
Artorius stood up, and held his palms together, in somewhat of a
martial arts style pose. I didn’t understand that, because he knew
nothing of any form of martial arts. I assumed he thought it made him
look more intelligent. I knew at the time that any one of the mages
in that room could have performed the duty of Archmage better than
he. I, like everyone else though, never bothered to actually confront
him about it. I had heard from my fellow members that he was promoted
to Archmage and sent to Vvardenfell just to get him out the way of
higher business in Cyrodiil. I didn’t let it bother me. I was more
interested in perfecting my study than being in his position of
power.
“So, who
here has any urgent business that needs to be attended to?” Trebonius
asked. Edwinna Elbert, the Breton, stood up.
“Our guild
has been broken into once more,” she began. As she spoke, Trebonius
sat down, thankfully. “It first happened about one month ago. An
enchanted ring was stolen. Then, just last night, it happened again.
Whoever it was was very adept. Heem-La, who was present all night,
saw and heard nothing. Yet, the following morning, several chests
were broken into and Anarenen’s devil tanto was missing.” Several
heads turned to Anarenen, the High Elf, as he nodded.
“A
problem, indeed,” Trebonius said. He was always exceptional at
stating the obvious. Skink-in-Tree’s-Shade then spoke, remaining
seated. I didn’t like Argonians, or Khajiit, or Orcs, for that
matter. Skink, however, impressed me. He was not only intelligent,
but very polite, and quite insightful.
“Do you
have any suspects?” he asked, in his deep, Argonian voice.
“Well, we
can only guess that it is the Thieves Guild. But, it could be someone
else entirely. We really have no way of knowing,” Edwinna proclaimed,
with a hint of distress in her voice.
“Why don’t
we just use a few spells to break into their guildhall and look for
the tanto ourselves?” Orrent Geontene, a low ranking Breton,
suggested. Edwinna promptly responded.
“We can’t
yet be sure that they are the culprits. Plus, we don’t want a war on
our hands. The Thieves Guild may not be magically proficient, but
their skills are undeniable.”
“Might I
make a suggestion?” Skink asked.
“Certainly,”
she replied.
“I do
know, somewhat, of how thieves guilds operate. They usually don’t go
after Imperial groups unless someone is privately paying them to.
Perhaps you could go to the guildhall that you suspect, and attempt
to hire them. Ask the thieves guild boss if he has a devil tanto, and
then offer an impressive payment. If you can outbid their original
client, then I suspect that they would drop them, and sell you the
weapon. Once you see the tanto for yourself, then that would be all
the proof you need to incriminate the thief.
You could
even use an invisibility spell to bring along some help. Once they’ve
been reported, they would be unlikely to persist, in fear of starting
trouble with the Redoran House.” It was quite the clever scheme that
Skink had worked up. Edwinna seemed to like the idea. There was a bit
more talk, mostly about raising guild guide service prices, and where
to find high quality willow anther, but nothing really of interest.
Trebonius
adjourned the meeting, and we all rose to our feet, and conversed
amongst ourselves. I noticed Trebonius and Tiram Gadar, his second in
command, leaving right away. I also noticed Edwinna, Skink, and
Anarenen speaking in the hallway of the Ald-ruhn guildhall. I joined
them, and caught most of their conversation.
“…would
need to hurry,” Anarenen said.
“Yes,”
Skink began. “Time would be of the essence. We could make an attempt
right now.” Edwinna and Anarenen quickly decided amongst themselves
that trying to regain the stolen artifact immediately was a just
idea.
“All right
now, I’m quite skilled in the field of Illusion, and you, Skink, are
perhaps the best choice for conversing with them,” Edwinna exclaimed.
It was true. Speechcraft was a talent that Skink-In-Tree’s-Shade had
mastered. “But we’ll need someone else. If they were to find us out,
it would only take scroll of Black Despair to neutralize my magic.”
I, not only a skilled mage, but also an adept swordsman, offered my
services.
“Then you
need someone who doesn’t rely solely on magic. I could assist you,” I
said. As I spoke, I pulled open the side of my robe to reveal my
Nordic broadsword attached underneath.
“Thank-you,
Magnus. That would be appreciated.”
It was
about nine o’clock, we had prepared for the mission, and the
guildhall was then empty of others, with the exception of Anarenen.
He, being an alchemist with little magic or combat experience, wished
us well. We left the guildhall and made way for the Rat in the Pot.
At the time I hadn’t known, having only been in Morrowind for three
months, but the Rat in the Pot was where the Thieves Guild operations
for all Redoran cities were planned. We stood outside, under cover of
darkness, as Edwinna quickly enacted a spell of invisibility on
herself. Skink and I did not need to hide. Unlike Edwinna, the head
of the Ald-ruhn Mages Guild, we were new to the city and not
recognizable characters. Knowing that her spell could only last for
so long, Edwinna entered the building first, along with Skink. It was
amusing how he opened the door her, knowing she couldn’t do it
herself in her current state. I saw a sly hint of humour in the
Argonian’s usually emotionless eyes.
I entered
a few minutes later, and made my way up the stairs and into the bar
area. It was quite dark, only lit by a few paper lanterns and
candles. I sat down at the bar, calmly eyeing everyone. An Imperial
woman was behind the bar, and three characters sat to my left. One
was a Khajiit, one was a Dunmer, and the third was an Argonian. Skink
had apparently gone downstairs already, in search for the Thieves
Guild boss. I ordered a drink from the barkeep, and began idle
chatter with the Khajiit to my immediate left. He was not reluctant
to speak, but maybe just too occupied with his skooma pipe to hold a
conversation. “You are traveling from Cyrodiil, then?” the Khajiit
asked in between puffs.
“Yes,
studying the Dwemer ruins,” I responded. It was the truth, too.
Skink had
never told me what he had said to Aengoth the Jeweler, the guild
boss, but it had apparently worked. As soon as I had finished my
drink, I saw Skink walk through the room, following a Bosmer. They
went downstairs and into the lower level. I could only assume that
Edwinna was following them. “So, who were those two?” I asked as
nonchalantly as I could. The Khajiit, who had identified himself as
Dro’Tasarr, answered my question.
“The mer
is Aengoth, but the Argonian, Dro’Tasarr cannot say. Not because
Dro’Tasarr does not want to, but because Dro’Tasarr does not know. He
came in only a few moments before Magnus the Greymind did, and asked
about weapons.” It was interesting. Not the information, but the way
the Khajiit spoke. It was strangely simplistic how he either could
not or would not refer to himself in the first person. About two
minutes had gone by since the two of them had left my sight. I began
to think if there was something I should have been doing. I didn’t
feel well just sitting there. My thoughts were justified though, for
after a few more seconds, I heard shouting. I stood up quickly, and
raced down the stairs.
As I
entered the large basement room, I saw a door quickly opening.
Edwinna; fully visible, and Skink were backing out. The Bosmer
Aengoth strode towards them, holding a Daedric short blade. I assumed
that he held Anarenen’s devil tanto in his hand. As my feet touched
the basement floor, Edwinna cast a spell of burden upon Aengoth, and
he fell to his knees. Skink retrieved the blade and backed towards
me. The boss wasn’t alone though, and three others surrounded them.
One grabbed on to Edwinna, and covered her mouth. The Nord was smart,
and knew that without her voice, she could cast no spells. While
Edwinna had been pulled out of commission, an Orc thief pulled Skink
by the arm, spinning him around. The Orc then jabbed a silver dagger
deep into Skink’s ribs. I was surprised by the ferocity of his
attack, and even stunned for a moment, but I didn’t wait long. I knew
that however badly Skink had been wounded, he could still take care
of himself. My first priority was to keep Edwinna safe. Thusly, I
made a dash for the Nord and pulled his arms off the Breton mage. A
well landed punch to the side of his head was all that was needed to
knock him away. Edwinna had been thrown to the ground. Behind us,
Skink dropped the tanto, and instead grabbed on to the arm that had
gutted him. He twisted the Orc’s arm back and slammed his head into
the wall. That was followed by a grapple, and Skink tossed the
beastman over his shoulder onto a small table behind him. The only
weapons Skink was equipped with were his hands, and claws. As the
Argonian trounced his opponent, Edwinna pulled herself up and spared
little time in summoning a lesser bonewalker to occupy the Nord. She
raced for the tanto, and was confronted by a female Altmer, who had
been lurking in the shadows up until then. They wrestled over the
enchanted blade. As I felt a hand grab on to my shoulder, it was soon
removed by Skink as he tackled the Dunmer that tried to assault me. I
looked at who it was, and realized that the three sitting at the bar
upstairs had followed the sound themselves, and were looking to
protect their fellow thieves. While Skink had the Dunmer busy,
Dro’Tasarr, and the Argonian raced towards me, one baring claws and
the other wielding a shortsword. The odds had suddenly grown
unpleasant, and I knew of the only way to stop the carnage. I raised
my hand and shouted out a few words of destructive magicka. “Pyrennus
Ignettus Carsal!” The small blast of flame I had summoned was not
nearly deadly, but enough to stop the progress of the two beast men.
They halted, as I made a quick move for Aengoth. He was just starting
to power out of the heavy effects of the burden spell. I didn’t give
him a chance for assault though, and slid my blade underneath his
chin. He wasn’t strong enough to overpower me, and I easily had him
in an inescapable predicament. “You’d do best to stop this, now,” I
commandingly stated to him. He was quick to follow my advice, and
shouted out for everyone to stop. The mayhem ceased, and all stared
on to Aengoth, who repeated his statement.
“Everyone…
just let them go.” The six of them slowly backed away from Skink,
Edwinna and I. Edwinna picked the blade up off the floor, and helped
up Skink.
“Are you
all right?” she asked.
“Fine,” he
responded. I saw his shirt was drenched in his own blood. He was not
fine. They stood at the base of the stairs and watched closely as I
backed towards them, keeping Aengoth in my grasp. The three of us
backed out of the Rat in the Pot, and I released the Bosmer upon my
egression. He immediately rose to his feet, with a scowl on his face,
and made some rather unfriendly predictions for the future. We had
got what we came for, but due to the circumstances, I knew we had
received more than we bargained for. We hurried back to the Mages
Guild and aided Skink’s wounds.
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