Sundas, 22nd of Last Seed, 4E 201

Right now, we’re having lunch at the Bannered Mare.

I need to get us kitted out so we can help Saadia and earn a bit more gold.

This morning Proventus said I could buy a house in the city for 5000 gold. Given the incredible amount of loot I’ve had to pass on simply because I couldn't carry it, having Lydia to help should make it a piece of cake.

She did snark at me a bit when I handed her some food and drink. “I am sworn to carry your burdens,” she said, and she sounded incredibly tired of it all.

Something makes me wonder if being assigned to me was a punishment rather than a reward. I know a lot of the other guards were looking at me like I was some sort of magical being, but Lydia seems unfazed.

Probably Irileth’s favorite student.

I went out to get more supplies. The smith at the city gates is Adrienne Advenicci, Proventus’s daughter. She implied that her father’s wisdom doesn’t all come from him. Makes sense. She’s a smith and among the people. He’d need to get his information from somewhere.

She showed me how to work her forge, which was nice of her.

You know who’s not nice? Belethor. Good gods, that man gives me the creeps. He’s so slimy he makes a mudcrab look dry. I did some trading with him, and while I left I was certain that he was staring at my ass.

I went to talk to Saadia about those men looking for her, and she pulled a knife on me.

I hate being right all the time.

Luckily, I was able to calm her down, and she said that she was actually Iman, a noblewoman from Hammerfell who spoke out against the Altmeri Dominion. She wants me to get rid of the mercenaries hired to capture her. She’s convinced that if they do, their leader Kematu will either kill her or drag her back to be executed.

Gods forbid a woman have an opinion of her own, let alone voice it!

She said that she heard one of the Alik’r men got captured trying to sneak into the city last night. If he’s still in the dungeon at Dragonsreach, I might be able to learn more about where they're hiding. She promised a nice bounty if I got rid of Kematu for her.

I don’t know if I can handle a whole den of mercenaries, even with Lydia. I have no idea how good she is in a fight, but given that she seems as comfortable in her armor as a fox in its skin, she’s probably a force to be reckoned with. But I can’t ignore the threat to Iman’s life.

What I do know is that I don’t have nearly enough gold or gear to go running around the countryside looking for assassins.

Once we’re done with lunch, we’re going to go and retrieve Amren’s father’s sword from those bandits. Bandits mean loot, and if we’re lucky, I can buy that house or at least enough to comfortably outfit a camp for us and get more armor.

Well, I thought that was what we were doing today. Turns out, I was wrong!

We’re back at the Bannered Mare.

On our way out of the city, we saw a group of three thieves on the road, attacking a group of adventurer types. They must have been desperate, because there were a bunch of guards right there, too! Of course, by the time we got there there was nothing left to do but loot the bodies, so we did.

I decided that we’d better turn back and leave first thing tomorrow. So, I sold what we got and now we’re resting up to find that sword.