Chapter 3

Karianna crouched by the shore of Goldenglow Estate dressed in armor from the Thieves Guild. A woman who went by the name of Tonilia acted as the Thieves Guild personal "fence," meaning she'd buy ant stolen goods and would supply Karianna with armor upgrades as time passed. The armor was a lot thinner and lighter than her own Steel Plated armor which was now safely hidden in a log along with the rest of her gear save a few potions and a Dwarven Dagger Tonilia had sold her. Still, despite the enchantments on the armor to help her sneak around the estate, she didn't like the way the chill crept through. She also didn't like the way the mercenaries who were patrolling the estate under the light of the full moon.

She knew she couldn't exactly be mad at Brynjolf for getting her tangled up in this seeing as the assignment was given to her by the leader, a man named Mercer Frey. She couldn't even be mad at him for getting her initiated into the Guild, as much as she wanted to be. There was just something about the way he smirked at her and always called her "lass" that set her on edge for some reason.

Karianna shook her head to stop herself from dwelling on it. 'C'mon, you're the Dragonborn,' she told herself silently. 'You can do this. Just focus on the job at hand.'

Once she was sure she knew the mercenaries' patrolling patterns, Karianna moved in closer to the wall behind the bee hives. She had been ordered to destroy three of the hives and had come up with a little scheme to light them on fire without being noticed. As soon as the coast was clear, she threaded a series of fuses through the fence from three of the hives where she had built a little bit of kindling. From behind the safety of the fence, she lit the fuse and waited patiently for the smoke to rise and signal success.

Her heart leapt at the sight of the first column of smoke but the second and third was nowhere to be found. Karianna quickly scaled the wall to see what was the matter to find that one of the bee hives had indeed caught fire, but the other two had failed. Thinking quickly, she grabbed a torch from atop the fence and tried to reach the second bee hive. Finally, after her arm felt as though it would pop, the hive caught on fire and she was able to simply toss the torch at the third which quickly caught on fire. She was able to duck out of sight at last at the sound of alarm from the mercenaries.

While the mercenaries were distracted, Karianna slipped around to the back door and put the enchantments in her gloves to good use as she picked the lock. The inside of Goldenglow Estate was dark save for moonlight spilling in through the windows and light from a fireplace in the dining room. The lock to the basement was a little tricky, but manageable despite the chaos rolling around outside. She could hear water being splashed hurriedly over the bee hives in an attempt to salvage them as she crept silently down the steps. Three men were guarding the halls to the safe but Karianna was able to effectively slip by them using distractions from outside and invisibility potions sold to her by the local alchemist.

Just as she thought she was home free to the contents of the safe, she discovered that there was one last surprise to be had. A fourth guard sitting across the room from the safe. This one, however, was asleep in his chair with his feet propped up on a table. Above her, Karianna could hear the mercenaries guarding the Wood Elf who owned Goldenglow, Aringoth. She realized that her time was running out and that she had little choice left. As quietly as possible, the Dragonborn snuck over to the safe and began working on the lock. This lock, however, was seemingly tougher than the backdoor and basement door locks combined. Though that could have just been her nerves causing her to break lockpick after lockpick on the safe. Finally, after having drunk three potions said to increase lockpicking prowess, a potion for luck and a steady hand, Karianna was able to finally open the safe.

Unfortunately, the hinges on the safe door hadn't been tended to in ages and so they creaked louder than an old man's bones as she opened the safe. Karianna cringed and stopped to listen but everything around her was silent as the grave. With a smile, she made to grab the loot inside the safe before she realized that things shouldn't have been this silent even with the mercenaries outside having doused the fire. She turned slowly to see the hulking form of the guard standing over her with his Greatsword drawn and aimed for her neck.

Quick as a flash, Karianna grabbed the loot consisting of a bag of gold and a single envelope sealed with a dab of red wax and stuffed it all in her armor as she rolled out of the way of the mercenary's blow. She came up crouching with her back against the wall and her foot over a sewer grate. The mercenary sensed her distress and smiled through yellowed teeth.

"Shouldn't 'ave come 'ere, pretty little thief," he snarled. "Now… hand over the goods so's I don' get your blood all over them. The master wouldn't like that, now would 'e?"

Karianna shifted her weight onto the foot standing on the grate and felt the grate move. It was loose! But how would she move it in time to escape with her limbs intact?

"Your master probably wouldn't like hearing that you were asleep on the job, as well," she retorted. To her satisfaction, the mercenary's face turned red in embarrassment.

"I-I wasn't sleeping! I was only resting my eyes!" he shouted.

Karianna laughed indignantly and prayed that no one heard the man's shout. "A great buffoon like you? I imagine all you can do is eat and sleep. Eat and sleep. I bet you can't even swing that sword," she taunted.

With a roar of anger, the mercenary charged forward and Karianna took this time to make her move. She dodged the attack and leapt up to guide the man's blow onto the already loose sewer grate and was rewarded with it giving away entirely to a hole large enough for her to slip through. When the mercenary moved to attack again, she brought one of the empty potion bottles down on his head to knock him out cold before shoving him away and slipping inside to make her escape. A few yards down the tunnel, however, she heard the mercenary's voice once more.

"'Ope you enjoy this, pretty little thief." A second later a lit lantern dropped down from the hole and crashed upon the pink igniting liquid that was all over the floors and walls of the sewer tunnel.

"Shit." Was all the Dragonborn could manage before she broke out into an all-out sprint for the exit: a hole with cool moonlight flooding through the rotted, wooden boards covering it. She successfully sprang from the hole and onto the shore at the very edge of Goldenglow Estate, but not before a tongue of flame ate through the armor above her left glove, leaving behind a burn she only thought occurred on charred Skeever tail. She but back a scream of pain as she rolled away from the hole and the great ball of fire that emerged where she had been mere moments before.

"Lass!" a hushed voice cried out suddenly from beside her.

This time, Karianna did cry out, but only for a split second before one of Brynjolf's hands descended upon her mouth to muffle the cry.

"What in the name of Talos are you doing here?" she hissed.

"Keeping an eye out in case you needed help getting out of here." He stopped and looked at the bur on her arm with concern. "And luckily I did, lass."

"I don't need your help," she protested and tried to shove him away but he was far too large for her and she was far too weak at the moment.

He pulled a small, blue potion bottle from his pocket and a strip of cloth from under his armor. After stripping the glove from her shaving hand and rolling the tattered remains of her light armor away from the burn, he uncorked the bottle and poured some of the contents onto the wound. At first, the pain intensified and she felt as though her arm were on fire again, but then, the pain subsided and a soothing sensation was left behind in its wake. She found herself sighing in relief as he poured the rest of the bottle's contents onto the strip of cloth and tied that cloth around her arm to encompass the burned area.

"There, now, lassie. That should be better by tomorrow afternoon," Brynjolf whispered with a satisfied smile at his handiwork. "C'mon, let's get out of here before they start searching the shores."

"My gear-," Karianna began to protest.

"Already packed away on my horse on hiding amongst those trees. Let's go!"

Together, they silently waded through the cold water and onto the other side where Karianna slipped out of her Thieves Guild armor and into her own Steel Plated armor. Afterwards, they rode back into town on the back of Brynjolf's horse. The guards didn't even look their way as they strode inside the city's gates for the guards were too preoccupied with the events over at Goldenglow Estate.

"A thief broke in they're saying! Made off with the contents of the owner's safe!" Karianna heard a guard announce loudly to the crowd.

Feeling the weight of her loot inside her chestpiece, Karianna smile in silent triumph.