Outside the Bee and Barb, Brynjolf went to his stall to begin the distraction. He watched the Dragonborn slip into the crowd to get into position. He had provided her with a couple of lockpicks to get Madesi's stand and lockbox open, privately hoping she could manage that. Lockpicking was an art in and of itself. Not everyone had the touch. With that thought in mind and praying things went to plan, he started hawking his "Falmerblood Elixer". Just as he hoped, the crowd started to gather around. Both Madesi and Brand-Shei were among the spectators. Brynjolf expertly kept the crowd's attention on him while he discreetly watched Eriah pick the locks she needed to and pull out the silver ring from the lockbox. She then snuck over and slipped the ring into the Dunmer's pocket. Then, like an expert, she snuck a fair distance away before straightening up. No one noticed a thing. Now Brynjolf was convinced someone was favoring him because she did exquisitely. He focused on his crowd but after it broke up when no one was buying his story, he casually made his way over to Eriah who was leaning against Balimund's smithing shop.
"Looks like I chose the right person for the job. And here you go...your payment, just as I promised. The way things have been going around here, it's a relief that our plan went off without a hitch," he said, handing over a small pouch of gold. The woman took it with some hesitance. No surprise there. It was dirty money, given how she earned it. Beggars, however, couldn't be choosers and Eriah was smart enough not to pass on it. "Never again, you hear me?" Eriah said, her face noticeably pale from the stress and shame of the job. "Fair enough, lass. That's all I needed from you. Now, I hate to do this to you but I have one more test for you to pull off before I give you the information you came to me for," Brynjolf said. "Don't tell me there's more," the Dragonborn groaned. She looked like she was about to vacate the contents of her stomach. "Calm down, lass. This next part is right up your alley if I'm assuming correctly you're some sort of adventurer. Come to the Ragged Flagon in the Ratway. Make it there alive and I'll give you what you want. The Ratway is full of ne'er-do-wells so it's not a place to take lightly. Take your time coming down. I'll be waiting," he said.
"Can't we talk here?" Eriah asked. "The walls have ears and you're being tested, lass. We'll talk in the Ragged Flagon. Besides, I have an inkling about who you're looking for and the farther we are from eavesdropping ears, the safer it will be for both of you," Brynjolf replied. He raised a good point. Eriah watched him walk away before taking a deep breath. She had to pull herself together and pray she didn't arouse suspicion from anyone around her. Turning away from the market, she went to the Temple of Mara. She was about to ascend the stairs when she caught sight of a Talos statue near the city wall. Deciding to pray to one of her patron gods away from other people, Eriah changed course and walked over to the statue. She sat down in front it, head down and her eyes taking on the thousand-yard stare as she thought about the fact she committed a crime. A necessary crime but still a crime.
By the time she looked up again, the sun was starting to set. Eriah decided that whenever Brand-Shei was released from the prison, she'd offer to help him with something to discreetly say sorry. Same for Madesi. Neither of them had to know what she had done but making amends, even in private, was the only way she was going to clear her conscience. She decided to find the Ragged Flagon in the morning so she headed to the Bee and Barb. Upon entering, she went to the bar. Keerava looked up from sweeping the floor. "Welcome back. You don't look so good. Everything okay?" she asked. "Just tired. I'd like a room tonight," Eriah said, pulling out some gold. "Sure thing. It's yours for a day," the Argonian woman replied. After taking the gold, she leaned her broom against the wall and led Eriah upstairs to the room she was given. "Let me know if you need anything else," the innkeeper said. "Could you wake me up around seven tomorrow? I have something I need to do and the earlier I start, the better," Eriah said. "No problem. I'll have Talen-Jei wake you if you're not up by then," Keerava said. She headed back downstairs as Eriah shut the door. Pulling off her armor and leaning her hammer against the wall near the head of the bed, the Dragonborn got in and turned to face the wall. She was asleep in minutes.
The next morning, as promised, Talen-Jei came to wake Eriah up. The Dragonborn got out of bed and freshened up before pulling her armor back on and heading downstairs. Keerava greeted her and Eriah paid for breakfast. Feeling a bit better in spite of getting her hands dirty with Brynjolf's scheme, Eriah prepared to face the Ratway. Heading to the lower level of the city where the canal was, she located the gate and door that led to the Ratway. She spent the next hour carefully navigating the tunnels, taking out skeevers and the unsavory types that hid in the sewers with them. She finally emerged into a large manmade cavern and on the other side of the pool had to be the Ragged Flagon itself. Keeping her hammer in hand but at her side, Eriah walked around the pool. As she got closer, she heard voices. She peered around the corner to see Brynjolf, wearing black light armor instead of the fancy outfit he wore the day before, in conversation with the bartender.
"Give it up, Brynjolf... those days are over," the man was saying. "I'm telling you, this one is different..." Brynjolf protested back. "We've all heard that one before, Bryn! Quit kidding yourself," the bouncer sighed. It was clear to Eriah that she hadn't been the first person in a while that the redhead tried to recruit. "It's time to face the truth, old friend. You, Vex, Mercer... you're all part of a dying breed. Things are changing!" the bartender, Vekel the Man, said. That's when she was noticed. "Dying breed, eh? Well, what do you call that then!" he said, turning to her with a smile. Eriah slowly came closer, on edge because several people were giving her looks. "Well, well... color me impressed, lass. I wasn't certain I'd ever see you again!" Brynjolf said. Clearly, he wasn't expecting her to get this far, much less actually come. The Dragonborn needed to show these people she wasn't to be underestimated. And she needed to set the record straight with the man himself. The way he was talking, it was like he convinced himself he managed to land her in the Guild but she had neither the time or inclination. He owed her information.
"Getting here was easy," she shrugged. It wasn't a lie. She'd faced more dangerous things than lunatics and oversized rats. Dragons and draugr were in a completely different field. "Reliable and headstrong? You're turning out to be quite the prize! So... now that I've whetted your appetite with our little scheme at the market, how about handling a few deadbeats for me?" Brynjolf asked. The Dragonborn caused several Guild members to chuckle when she gave him a hard look. "Not so fast, jackass. Since it seems you forgot already, I'm not playing your game any further. I'm not some prize for you to parade around. I did what you wanted me to topside and you promised that if I made it down here alive, you'd cough up the information I was sent to you for. Now are you going to honor the bargain or do I need to beat it out of you?" she asked. Delvin Mallory started to laugh. "She sure told you, Bryn. I like this woman already," he said.
The man in question just raised his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright, lass. Simmer down. I apologize. Seems I got a little ahead of myself because you did remarkably well yesterday and I hoped you'd come around to our way of life. I'm a man of my word so I'll tell you what you want to know," he said, deflating a little. "Good. You said you had an inkling yesterday about who I'm looking for," Eriah said, hooking her hammer to her back as everyone else went about their business. "Yeah. I bet I know your guy. He's hiding out in the Ratway Warrens. Paying us good coin for nobody to know about it," Brynjolf responded. He motioned for her to follow him and led her down a short corridor to another door. "The Warrens are through here. They're full of more of the same scum you faced on the way in. You'll know when you've found your guy," he said. Eriah looked at the door and took a deep breath. "Thank you for your help," she said, looking back at him. The master thief gave her a charming smile before once again taking her hand and kissing it. "At your service, Eriah. You be careful down there. Wouldn't want my lucky charm getting hurt," he said before walking back to the Flagon. Eriah just rolled her eyes at his flirtation, wondering what he meant by "lucky charm", and turned to the door. She opened it and walked through, pulling her hammer from her back as she did.
Brynjolf sat across from Delvin who just shook his head. "By the gods, Bryn. I can't recall the last time I've seen you act like a lovestruck pup," he said. "That's not it, Delvin, and you know it. The lass has skills. Something about her makes me believe she's the answer to our situation. She pulled that job off perfectly, something we've been botching lately," the Nord responded. "You can't fool me, Bryn. That girl was right up your alley. Knowing you, you tried to get her in bed before convincing her to help with the Brand-Shei job," the Breton shot back. "You're only half-right, my friend. I was able to convince her to do the job by making a romp the less favorable option," the guild's number two said. "She's that kind of girl, eh? Not one to tumble in the sheets with just anyone?" his friend asked. "Yes. While not the only woman to wear heavy armor, how she wears her kit tells me she's interested in protecting more than just herself with it. She possesses a private nature. I respect that so I decided to use that hang-up of hers to my advantage. Either way, it got the job done and Maven can rest assured Brand-Shei won't cause any further problems," the younger man responded.
"Well, Brynjolf, I suggest you don't pin all your hopes and dreams on the girl. Doesn't seem our way of life is for her. But who knows? Maybe she'll come around. Maybe not. We'll figure out what we pissed off and fix this ourselves," Delvin said before leaving the table to talk to Vex. Brynjolf just shook his head. His old friend was convinced their stint of bad luck was due to some outside force the Guild did something to piss off. For whatever reason, the Guild started running into trouble twenty-five years ago when the previous Guildmaster, Gallus, was murdered. Mercer Frey took over but things continued to decay. The Guild had been reduced to a shadow of its former glory. Heck, Etienne had been captured by those damn elves and he was one of the best sneak thieves in the Guild. How he managed to escape the Embassy was something of a mystery. All he could say was that some woman had broken him out of the prison there and she escorted him and a Bosmer to safety through the trapdoor he pointed out, killing a frost troll for good measure. About the only thing Etienne didn't know was the mystery woman's name, what she was doing at the Embassy in the first place, and how she got into the Solar where the prison was. There had been a lot of guards between her and the prison itself.
Brynjolf entertained the idea that perhaps it was Eriah who had sprung Etienne from the Thalmor. It made sense, given what she told him. She was the Dragonborn. Etienne had been captured because the Thalmor were after the same guy she was and they were torturing him for information. To his credit, Etienne managed to keep his mouth shut but it was clear to the Guild when he returned that he had been very close to breaking. If it had been Eriah who busted him out of the Embassy, Brynjolf knew he owed her a great debt. Even she would agree that no one deserved torture at the hands of those damn Altmer fanatics. He hoped to see her again and press her for more details. In the meantime, he was probably going to send some more people out to gather information on her. She well and truly caught his attention and he still believed she was the answer they had been looking for.