Chapter 2
Karianna drew her Elven Warhammer and approached the two bandits crouching by a small fire in the dark and dank tunnels. Despite the heavy armor she wore, Karianna was able to get the first attack off before they knew what was happening. With sharp cracks, the Dragonborn effectively dispatched of the two men. From there she was able to descend down a set of slippery steps and into the rest of what she now realized was a complete maze. The more and more she turned corners to find dead ends, twists, turns and vagrants who attacked her upon sight, the angrier and more frustrated Karianna grew. By the time she found the door to the Ragged Flagon, she was ready to hit Brynjolf over the head with her Warhammer for sending her through that labyrinth.
"Heeeey, lass, you made it!" Brynjolf called from a small wooden table.
"Don't you 'lass' me," Karianna said through gritted teeth. She tightened her grip on her Warhammer until her knuckles shone white on the grip.
"What's wrong?" he asked knitting his brows.
"You sending me through that maze without so much as a warning as to how lost I was going to get," she seethed.
Brynjolf paused for a moment before bursting out in laughter. "Sit down, sit down, lass. Have a drink on me and I'll explain some things about my little… organization. I'll explain why you're here." He gestured to the empty seat across from him at the table.
Karianna stood there for a moment and weighed her options. Part of her wanted to simply smash Brynjolf on the head and storm off back through the Ratway to Riften. But the thought of trying to trek back through that labyrinth held her back. The other part of her was tempted by the free drink. From a bottle this time instead of a dirty tankard. In the end, she ordered a bottle of Black-Briar Mead and a little bit of food to eat as she listened to Brynjolf talk.
"Now, you see, lass, before I introduce you to the rest of the Guild, I have a bit of business for you to take care of for me. Hear me out." He held up his hands at the sudden glare she had given him. "Three people owe debts to the Guild and are refusing to pay up and I think you've got a certain spark to you that'll help me collect on those debts. You'll be paid of course, but only if you can get the debts without causing any trouble."
Karianna swallowed a mouthful of mead and nodded thoughtfully. "So who am I collecting these debts from?" she asked before taking a bite of charred Skeever tail which turned out to be a bit too charred so she washed it down with another swig of mead.
"Keevara, the Argonian innkeeper at the Bee and the Barb, I believe you've met her, already." He chuckled at the quizzical look she gave him. "I have informants all over this city. There isn't anything the Thieves Guild doesn't know about, lassie. The next person is the merchant, Bersi Honey-Hand, at the Pawned Prawn. It's right behind the Bee and the Barb next door to the Black-Briar Meadery. Finally, Haelga at Haelga's Bunkhouse, it's right on your left as you head towards the North Gate out of Riften."
"Okay…." Karianna wiped her hands off and looked at Brynjolf. "How do you expect me to collect on the debts? More stealing?"
"No, no, no. None of that, lass. It wouldn't send the message to these and all of the other merchants to not mess with the Thieves Guild. Intimidate them. Fistfight them, if you must. But do not kill them. It's awfully hard to collect on a debt if the person is dead and we are not assassins, lass. We don't kill here in the Thieves Guild. Once you have the money, meet me back down here."
"Okay, then. What's an easy way out of here?" she asked and lifted the bottle to drain the rest of her mead.
"Right back through the Ratway where you came from." He laughed and clapped her on the back as Karianna choked and sputtered on her mead. "Don't worry, lass, you made it through once, I'm sure you can do it, again. And who knows? Maybe by the time you're finished collecting on these debts, you'll have memorized the path." With a wink in her direction, Brynjolf strode off through a door which he locked behind him.
Cursing his name, Karianna grabbed up her Warhammer and stormed back out of the Ragged Flagon ready to flatten the first Skeever than crossed her path.
Karianna was still seething as she walked up the rickety stairs to the main street and towards the Bee and the Barb. She had taken a dozen wrong turns and was ganged up on countless times by bandits and vagrants and various sewer life. Before stepping inside the inn, she visited the marketplace to make a few barters and ease up the load in her pack which in turn caused her coin purse to grow heavier. It was good timing, too, for she was nearly out of healing potions after all the fights she had gotten in within those few hours. Now, in a slightly better mood, Karianna walked into the inn where she immediately spotted Keevara behind the counter. Keevara nodded in the Dragonborn's direction when she spotted her and Karianna took note that the inn was almost empty, plenty of space for brawling if that's what things came to.
"Afternoon, Karianna, care for a bit of mead?" Keevara asked and reached under the counter for a tankard.
"Uhh… no thanks… I'm actually here on business," Karianna said quickly to avoid the dirty tankards.
"What business-?" Understanding dawned on the Argonian woman's face, followed by anger and what looked like disappointment. "You went and got tangled up in the Guild, didn't you? Well you can tell that buffoon that I'm not paying his people a single coin!"
"Look, I'm not in a very good mood after being down in that hellhole Ratway. Also, it was never a request to begin with."
"Hmph, look around you, I'm barely keeping this rat hole together, thanks to the war."
Karianna, who was tired of hearing the woman talk, heaved a sigh. "Don't say I didn't warn you."
"Give it your best shot!"
The Argonian leapt over the counter and landed the first blow on Karianna. The Dragonborn quickly got over her surprise and returned the favor to Keevara's scaly muzzle. Keevara's lover Talen-Jei shouted for the two women to stop but did nothing to pull them apart, not without anyone else in the inn to help him hold them back from each other. They circled around the room throwing punched left and right all the while knocking over chairs and tables and spilling drinks onto the floor. It was the first time Karianna had felt good since that morning when she helped Brynjolf in the marketplace. But just the thought of that man made her angry all over again and gave her that extra fire to bring Keevara to the ground where she begged for mercy and handed over the gold she owed to the Guild.
Despite a cut lip and a bruise beginning to well up above her left eye, Karianna felt better as she walked out of the inn and onto the next debt collection. She made her way over to where Brynjolf said the Pawned Pawn was and stepped inside. It was a cozy little shop and a balding man stood behind the counter counting gold. Even though he certainly looked weaker than the Argonian, Karianna didn't think she had it in her for another brawl, especially in a shop this small where she could be easily knocked into things. Instead, she picked up a Steel Mace hanging from a weapons rack along a wall beside an expensive looking urn.
"Ah, I see you're eyeing that Mace. I don't usually deal in weaponry, myself, but I'd be happy to sell you that Mace and you could go right over to the Scorched Hammer to sharpen it up," Bersi Honey-Hand said from behind the counter.
"Yes, it's a very fine Mace… mind if I test it out?" she asked.
"What do you mean?" he asked right as Karianna brought the Mace down onto the expensive urn beside her. "Wait! Wait! I know! You're from the Thieves Guild! Here, I was just counting out the septims for Brynjolf! Take them! Just please, don't destroy my shop!"
Karianna smiled and took the money. "Smart man."
'Two down, one to go,' Karianna thought to herself as she walked in the direction of Haelga's Bunkhouse.
Inside the bunkhouse, Haelga had apparently already heard about Karianna's "reign of terror" in Riften for she took one look at the woman and began begging.
"It's you! Please, don't hurt me!"
"So I take it you know why I'm here," Karianna said with amusement.
"Yes, please, everyone knows about what you're doing here in the town. I already have the money here, just don't do anything," Haelga said quickly and handed over a coin purse of gold with shaking hands.
Karianna smiled cheerily and thanked the woman before departing. Her good mood stayed with her even through the Ratway where she was able to instantly find the bridge leading across to the small room containing the stairway down to the door to the Ragged Flagon. There, she found Brynjolf sitting at the same exact table as before, but this time, he was wearing a set of armor from the Thieves Guild and a he now wore his weapon in the open on his hip. Karianna sat down in the chair across from him and tossed the three coin purses of gold onto the table before him.
"So, the job's done and you've even brought the gold." He sorted through the gold and counted out Karianna's share. "Best of all, you did it clean. I like that. Dumping bodies and bribing guards to keep quiet is expensive, so well done. And here, I owe you a little something in return." Brynjolf handed her a share of the gold as well as three different potions for her collection in the pack she carried.
"So, what's next, then?" Karianna asked after she had stored her earnings.
"Judging by the way you handled yourself out there, I say you've more than proved yourself. We need people like you in our outfit." He looked over at her hoping that she would agree.
"I'm in." Despite her anger towards him earlier, the pay was good and the jobs seemed easy enough.
Brynjolf beamed at her. "That's the spirit! I think you'll do more than just fit in, here, lass. Now then, about your next assignment for the Guild…."