Back to Roots/Part II

Abbard and Arnor reached Riften headed to the Barracks.


 * Arnor

Abbard was reading some of the papers to see if any one them connected Maven to the Thieves Guild. Abbard found some evidence, some odd transfers were made from Maven's bank account to anonymous accounts. There were also some letters addressed to people only identified by a letter, which is very suspicious. He decided to tried looking for Mjoll Grimlion in the Barracks but only found Lieutenant Francois Beaufort. He asked him if he had seen the Thane. Francois said that it had been a few days and suggested they check her house. Abbard agreed. Arnor went with them. Abbard and Francois knocked on Mjoll's door. They called her but there was no answer. Francois looked over at Abbard and said that something was wrong. Abbard nodded. Francois then kicked down the door and drew his sword. Francois and Abbard checked around the house, both of them had their weapons drawn. Arnor went to check other rooms for evidence and split up from them. They managed to find Mjoll and learned that her family had been kidnapped.

Mjoll and the guards at her house returned to the Barracks. They gave her the papers they found in the Lodge. She asked if they had told anything else about them. Abbard said that it was just the four of them. Mjoll said that the longer it took for Maven to hear about this the better. Mjoll quickly looked over the papers that Arnor and Abbard had taken from Maven's Lodge. She said that some of the letters come from other provinces. Maven must have contacts in other places outside Skyrim. She read some more. Francois asked if it was enough. She said that it would certainly get the Jarl's attention. Though she was unsure if it would be enough to lock Maven up for good. They needed to first organize the case. She ordered them to separate anything that could be used against Maven and set it aside for her to take to Jarl Laila. She headed outside for some fresh air. Francois told her to take her time, she'd been through a lot. She thanked him and headed outside the Barracks.

At the Barracks. Francois was sitting at a table playing cards with some of the other guards, including Arnor. Francois asked him what it was like sticking it to Maven by finding the evidence with Abbard. Arnor said that it was suspenseful. He played cards with the other guards till late that night.

Sometime later, Arnor went to privately look through the evidence he had collected. Francois stumbled into Arnor. He told him that the evidence, it was all gone. He couldn't find it anywhere. Arnor blamed Francois for this, because of his boasting during their card game. He let out his anger at the Imperial. Francois said that he wasn't the one handling the evidence. Last time he saw it was with Mjoll. He asked where she was. She was supposed to meet with the Jarl today so she might have the evidence. He went to check on Mjoll and told Abbard to help Arnor try to find the evidence. Francois left the Barracks and went to the Keep. Arnor shouted before slamming several objects off of a table. He picked up a wooden sword that managed to stay on the table and smashed it on the table. Francois returned sometime later. He said that he found where the evidence went. Mjoll had exchanged it for her husband, all of it. She also said she couldn't help them anymore since they still had her daughter locked up somewhere. Arnor shouted in rage before violently leaving the barracks. Abbard left after Arnor.

Arnor has stormed into the tavern, where he ordered a cheap bottle of Nord mead, refusing to drink Black-Briar beverages. Arnor finished his mead. He looks over, having heard Francois and Abbard speaking to each other. He walked over to them. He told them that Mjoll was corrupt. She could've denied that there was any evidence, and then she could have come to them. They would've found her family. After all, he and Abbard were investigators. They've each investigated kidnappings. He warned them of Mjoll. Francois pointed out that Maven's goons had kidnapper her family. If she didn't give them the evidence they would have killed them. When he went by her house he saw the state that Aerin, her husband, was in. It was pretty bad, he was severely beaten. Like the Imperial was a few months back. He then revealed that he was able to get Jarl Laila to make him the new Captain of the Guard. He had a few guards watching Maven's and her men's every move. In the meantime he wanted Arnor and Abbard to infiltrate the Ratway and find the Thieves Guild's hideout. He had heard rumors of a Black Market in the Ratway, so they should start there. Arnor thanked the gods for Eldrid Red-Spear and Thane Mjoll being relieved of their duties, he thought them both incompetent. The Imperial said it wasn't their fault. He said they he was going to stay in the Barracks and try to uncover any corrupt guards. Arnor suggested raiding the Ratways, without informing any other guards. Last time it had been their downfall he was certain that someone in the group was corrupt. Francois said that only the three of them knew of this undercover operation. He wasn't going to make the same mistakes as Mjoll.

Arnor wasn't sure an undercover operation was a good idea, it ended poorly last time with his confrontation with Maul. The new Captain said that it was their best option. Arnor refused to go undercover again, it was too risky. He said that he knew undercover operations better than Francois did. The captain said that it was their only option. They had tried and failed to raid the Ratways before. They hadn't tried to infiltrate it yet. Arnor insisted that it only failed last time because they were ratted out. Francois told him to keep his voice down, else corrupt guards might hear them. He pointed out that even if they aren't ratted out a group of guards going into the Ratways would draw a lot of attention. The investigator suggested they use plainclothes, just the three of them. Francois said that he couldn't go, he had other duties now as captain, muttering that maybe he was a little over his head. He told him and Abbard to go alone and try to infiltrate the black market. Arnor tried to insist on a raid another time but finally he reluctantly agreed to accept the mission. He said that any failure was now Francois responsibility. The Imperial was well aware.

Abbard followed Arnor. Arnor suited up in plainclothes and was soon ready to go. He opened the grated door to the Ratway. Abbard followed Arnor into the Ratway. Arnor told him to be quiet, he heard voices in the distance. Abbard did as Arnor said. They were near two scummy-looking men after sneaking for a distance. Arnor walked up to them, one hand on the hilt of his sword in case things went wrong. He greeted them and asked for the direction to the Thieves Guild. He knew the danger of speaking about them and was prepared to fight. The man gave Arnor a weird look. The first man acted confused but was interrupted by the second when he asked why Arnor had his hand on his sword. Abbard looked at Arnor. The Nord said that he was aware of the dangers of the Ratways and was just being cautious. The two men stood up. One of them grabbed a dagger from his trousers. They told him to take his hand off his sword. Arnor drew his sword in response to the dagger. The other man drew a club. Abbard let go of his axe. He told them that they just came to talk. The man said to tell that to Arnor. Arnor threatened them. The man with a club said he had a lot of nerve coming into their home and demanding information at sword point. He cursed them. He tried to get out of the situation and reason with the two men, but it was too late. The men figured out that Arnor and Abbard were guards in disguise thanks to their behavior and attacked them. Abbard said that he should've been more subtle. The two men charged at the guards. Arnor impaled one through the stomach as he charged before pulling the sword out and impaling his head with it. From behind, he was hit by a club and knocked over. Abbard hacked at the man with the club with his axe. The man fell over, and Abbard finished him off.

Arnor got up and put his sword through the dead club-wielding bandit's head. He cursed, before yanking his sword out of their skull and sheathing it. Abbard said that asking questions was probably not the way to go. It was too straight forward. Arnor agreed. Abbard followed Arnor as they traversed the Ratway. The duo arrive at the Ragged Flagon and come face-to-face with Dirge. Dirge looked at them, trying to figure out if he'd even seen them before. Abbard walked past Dirge and sat down near the bar as if he was familiar with the place already. He gave a small wave for Arnor to follow his lead. Arnor did the same. He sat down at the bar and bought some cheap mead, he nodded discreetly to his partner. Abbard whispered to him, saying that he was going to check the Black Market. Arnor agreed with the plan, it was a good to start. Abbard nodded. He got up and left the Flagon, heading to the Black Market nearby. Arnor visited the blacksmith. He asked him about his weaponry. The smith said that he had everything, even some ebony items. Arnor acted interested, but walked away. He leaned against a wall, in the shadows, listening to the conversation throughout the black market. He heard some troubling news, apparently Jarl Laila was murdered by her son Harrald.

Arnor pulled Abbard aside and asked him if he heard what happened in Mistvell Keep. Abbard did hear about the Jarl. He wondered if they should head up and check on things. Arnor agreed to go topside. He wanted to question Harrald. He began walking towards the Ratway's exit. Abbard followed Arnor. He said he'd go to Francois and learn the full situation.

After suiting up in his guard armor as to not risk blowing his cover, Arnor entered the room that Harrald was being detained in. He introduced himself with a fake name, in case anyone was listening to his conversation. He asked him to describe to him what happened the previous night so that he could try to figure out the entirety of what happened. Harrald looked up at Arnor from his cell. He sighed. He didn't know, he was in his bed and heard his mother scream. He immediately ran to her room and found her like that. Like he had told the others, he didn't know how or why she had his dagger in her chest and he didn't know anything about Saerlund being made the new heir. He proclaimed his innocence. Arnor asked if he thought it was a conspiracy to land him in jail and make his brother the Jarl. He asked for the location of any documents his brother may have signed. Harrald said that his brother would never do that. He had read the papers when Saerlund showed it to him, the signature and the seal were all his mother's. He couldn't believe after everything he'd done for her she picked him. He had backed the Empire during the war. He was the one that fought for the Stormcloaks. Arnor nodded and thanked him for his time.

After leaving the dungeon, he spoke with Abbard. He suspected that it wasn't Laila that wrote that writ. He told the Nord to get the writ and another paper written by Laila so he could compare the handwritting. Abbard said that all the evidence was sent to the barracks by the guards that were first on the scene. Arnor cursed and punched the wall with all of his might, bloodying his knuckles, before storming out the door and towards the barracks. Abbard followed him. He told him to calm down, this kind of behavior would do him no good. Arnor was beginning to suspect Francois as well and decided to go look for him. Abbard asked him why he thought so. There were too many coincidences with Laila's murder. Abbard thought he was getting too paranoid, the evidence was still all there at the barracks. The investigator said that almost every guard was probably corrupt, he had plenty of reasons to be paranoid. He said that the guards shouldn't have moved the evidence until he and the other investigators finished their work, else they could tamper with the evidence. Abbard still thought he was overthinking things. Arnor calmed down and agreed to look through the evidence at the barracks, though he suspected that it was already tampered with and he'd hold Francois responsible. Abbard nodded and followed Arnor.

Upon arriving at the barracks, they learned that Francois had gone missing and Tobias the Black had been made the new Captain by Saerlund Law-Giver. Arnor walked into the evidence safe. He began to look through it and was surprised to see it all appeared to be genuine. He told Abbard to quickly fetch some other documents written by the Jarl. Abbard said he'd be right back before heading out of the barracks and to the Keep to get one of Laila's letters. Tobias soon approached him and he greeted the new captain. Tobias asked him what he was doing. Arnor said that he was doing his job. Tobias looked at the writ and said that Arnor was not assigned to that case. He couldn't just look into any evidence that he wanted. Arnor said that neither he nor Abbard were at the scene so as the veteran investigators they needed to investigate the crime now, after his smart guards had cleaned up the scene. Tobias said that he had other men running that investigation. He had heard that Arnor's task was to investigate the thieves guild so he told him to get back to that. Arnor stubbornly refused, saying that whomever was running the investigation was not qualified to do so and was likely corrupt. He said that he'd be taking over and told Tobias to let them do their job. He tucked the writ into a pouch on his belt before leaving.

Tobias followed Arnor. He said that the Nord wasn't allowed to take evidence from an ongoing investigation that he was not assigned to. He ordered him to put it back in the safe or be arrested for stealing evidence. Arnor stopped, slowly turned around, and got in Tobias' face. He told him that he knew he was corrupt and that he was not going to put the evidence back so it could be disposed of or tampered with. Tobias denied it and said that the only one that was corrupt was Arnor, who was trying to steal evidence. He ordered him to return it now or face the consequences, he'd have the new Jarl lock him up for treason. Arnor laughed. He decided not to take the letter but he was going to defiantly stay and look over the evidence. He sat down at the table he was at, where he picked up the magnifying glass and began to examine the letter closely. He knew that Abbard would be back any minute with the cross-reference material. Tobias grunted angrily, he ordered him to leave immediately. He was not a part of the investigation and he his meddling was only interrupting the investigation. He reminded the Nord that he was the new Captain of the Guard and Arnor was under his command. Disobeying a direct over would get him kicked out of the guard. Arnor said that he could not command him to leave the barracks, as he lived there. He did, however, put the letter back for now. He warned Tobias not to get rid of it. Arnor locked it back in the safe and went to lie down on his cot. Tobias was glad he saw reason.

Arnor kept an eye on the evidence locker from afar while he waited for Abbard. He soon saw Tobias come back to the vault and watched to see if he took anything. After he left, Arnor went to check on the evidence. The document was safe. With Tobias out of the barracks he quickly took it and forged a copy, placing that in the original's place. He folded the true evidence neatly before tucking it into his boot. He headed for the Keep to meet up with Abbard since he had yet to return. A female guard ran into him along the way. She asked if he was Arnor. He nodded and asked her what she needed. She whispered, saying her name was Lieli and Francois told her to meet him. Arnor told her to keep talking. She said that he told her to inform the investigator of his survival and that he left Riften. She had recently saved him from being drowned by one of Maven's goons. Lieli didn't know why they tried to kill him. Arnor told her to come with him. After the Jarl's funeral they'd have work to do. She nodded. He walked to the cemetery. He stood in the back, away from the crowd, watching over everyone for suspicious activity. Saerlund said a few words about his mother. After the funeral was done everyone went to the Keep for Saerlund's coronation.

After the funeral, Arnor returned to the barracks and heard of Abbard's arrest for Skooma dealing. He checked the evidence vault and found no evidence pertaining to Abbard's case. He cursed. Lieli asked him what was wrong. He told her and she asked about the gold they supposedly found in Abbard's things. Arnor didn't see it. Lieli said that someone must have taken it. Gold sometimes went missing from the evidence vault. She asked about the work they had to do. Arnor and Lieli could hear footsteps getting closer and closer. The investigator said the Francois trusted her, so now that Abbard was in jail it was up to them to expose the corruption in the city. The two of them against all of Maven's goods weren't good odds. Three guards entered the Vault. They noticed Lieli and Arnor there. One of them asked what they were doing there. Another said that he was going to grab the evidence for Harrald's trial, they would need to bring it to the keep since it was starting soon. She said that they weren't doing anything. That made the guards suspicious. The other two guards grabbed a box which contained the evidence on Harrald's case from a safe. The Nord said that he was taking care of the evidence from a closed case of his. He mentioned that he and Lieli were going to clear out a bandit encampment and said to tell the captain. Arnor whispered to her to meet him outside the north gate by the forest. He then left the barracks. He walks out the north gate, seeing an opportunity to because of the trial.

Lieli followed Arnor. She said that they couldn't take on the corrupt guards and the thieves guild by themselves. They needed allies. He nodded and said that they needed to leave quickly for Windhelm. The corrupt guards would soon be looking for them. He decide against following the roads and ran for the forest. He told her to get rid of her guards' armor as well, to make it harder to spot them. Arnor took off the blue cloth garment over his armor and left it behind before taking off the chainmail and leaving that as well. They needed to blend in so they needed plainclothes disguises. Lieli did as Arnor and took off her guard's armor and conly leaving on her clothes that she wore underneath. They began their hike north. They needed to hurry since they shouldn't leave Maven and her goons ruling Riften for too long.

Lieli asked his plan. Arnor wanted to bring all this up with the High King. She asked how they were going to convince him of the truth. Arnor revealed that he had the true writ that made Saerlund the new Jarl. If the writ was shown to be forged, then Ulfric's guards could conduct a proper investigation into the Jarl's murder proving Harrald's innocence. They would need more evidence to completely prove that and Lieli suggested finding Francois. He knew of something since Maven tried to kill him. Arnor agreed but first they needed to get to Windhelm. She pointed out that there were two Stormcloak forts nearby so they could get help fast.

They walk through the Windhelm gates a few hours into the night. Lieli was tired from the journey so she suggested the inn. Arnor was determined not to rest until he had his audience with the High King. She said that the guards were unlikely to grant them passage into the Palace in their disguises. The investigator revealed that he still kept his Rift guard badge. She cursed at him for not telling her that before, she had thrown hers away with her uniform. He said that his would be enough. She still suggested resting, but he was against it since he suspected that Maven or Tobias might have sent assassins after them. She agreed with Abbard in saying that he was paranoid. She managed to convince him to allow her a nap to rest from the tiring trip, but he refused to sleep. Lieli and Arnor went to the inn and Lieli rented a room, where she rested for a few hours. When she woke up in the morning, Arnor was leaning against the wall keeping watch for assassins and struggling to stay awake. She asked if he saw anyone jokingly. He told the truth but joked that one could never be too safe. She gathered her stuff and finally agreed to head to the Palace.

Arnor walked to the Palace of the Kings, showing his badge to the guard at the doors. After a short explanation they let him through and he approached Ulfric. He told him of the problem in Riften and asked for help. They were surprised to find out that Francois was there in the Palace, already speaking to Ulfric. The High King said that this was a matter that their Jarl needed to deal with. Francois said that the current Jarl was just a puppet of Maven. Ulfric asked for evidence. Francois shook his head, Maven made it nearly impossible to find evidence on her. She had the city guard, the thieves guild and the Jarl in her pocket. He then asked Arnor and Lieli where Abbard was. The investigator told him of the charges put against Abbard by Tobias. He then asked Ulfric for safe stay at the Palace like Francois since they might have assassins after them. Francois revealed that he was staying at his sister's house, not the Palace and suggested they come with him. He asked Ulfric when his sister would arrive from her mission. The High Kind said that Sofia would be arriving soon and told them that he'd send a messenger to inform them of her arrival. Francois bowed to the High King. Lieli tried to copy him, but it didn't turn out as graceful as the Imperial's bow. Ulfric lifted an eyebrow at the sight of Lieli bow. She turned a little red from embarrassment. Francois couldn't help but smile and chuckle a bit. He told them to follow him to Hjerim, his sister's home. Arnor laughed quietly at Lieli's bow. He then gracefully bowed to the High King before turning around and following Francois. As they left the Palace she asked if it was that bad. Francois grinned and said that it was pretty bad, then asked them about the situation in Riften.