Mournhold - Night
I may have just stumbled into my very own home .. literally. I was in the Godsreach district, having just completed some business for the king's captain. He had wanted me to pay a visit to the late king's wife and offer my condolences, and then poke around for any clues of any plots or schemes.
It wasn't my most noble moment .. standing there .. bestowing my condolences on a woman I don't know for a man I could care less about .. all the while scanning the room with my eyes for anything of interest. I had assumed I would have to look through the rest of the manor, but a small note on a desk caught my eye. I bid the lady farewell, then turned and left the room. I made sure to leave the door open, and as soon as I was out of her sight I used my amulet of shadows to disappear.
With quickness of foot I snuck back into the room, right past the grieving former queen. I snatched up the note quietly, and glanced it over. It was exactly what the king's captain was hoping to find. It was a note discussing how best to assassinate the new king. For a brief moment I was conflicted. After all, we had a shared goal. I had already possibly thwarted one attempt on the king's life, and now another? Was I working against myself?
But as I read through the note I came to my senses. They were discussing the use of a brute of a man, who they admitted amongst themselves was a poor choice for an assassin. There was also mention of using The Dark Brotherhood, as well as admission that the king himself in many ways owned that organization now. Apparently they are unaware that I decimated it's ranks here in Mournhold, also. And finally, the note concluded with the idea to make contact with the Morag Tong and use their services first and foremost. Another dead end .. once they discover that the Morag Tong was also decimated.
No, this widow and her accomplices were in no shape to attempt an assassination on a king. They were ill-prepared, inexperienced and uninformed. Their plan would fail, and would again likely just increase the difficulty for me. I pocketed the note.
As I was headed back through Godsreach I remembered that earlier in the day I had spoken with a man in the bazaar. I was looking for work, and he had none, but he did happen to mention that the wizard who had appeared in the bazaar and attacked me a few months ago had a manor there. So I decided to seek it out.
It was late evening by now. The sky had darkened and a light rain had started. I found the door to the wizard's mansion and found it locked with an incredible lock. There were guards patrolling nearby as well, so I slipped around the corner. In the chilly rain I readied a master's lockpick in my hand, and turned myself nearly invisible with my amulet. A few moments later I was back at the door, crouched, and attempting to break the lock.
But the lock was something else. I couldn't seem to budge it. Annoyed by the rain leaking inside my armor, I stood there frustrated at the lock. I took a quick run around the building, looking for another way in, but there was none. I arrived back at the door, and stared at it. What kind of lockpicking device could break this lock if a master's pick couldn't?
Wait!
The wizard!
He had had a key in his possession.
I found the key and tried it in the door. It opened ... and I stepped inside.
I was immediately confronted by a very capable looking wizard, who also looked very familiar. It turns out he was the brother of the wizard I had killed, and while he understood my need to defend myself, he couldn't let his brother's death go uncontested. He insisted that we had to duel. I wasn't looking for a fight, but as the wizard summoned golden saints and an ogrem titan I knew I wasn't negotiating my way out of this one.
With the daedra closing in on me I quickly activated my belt enchantment and readied my short sword. I also maneuvered so that I would have a clear path of attack to the wizard himself, because as anyone with any sense knows, if you kill a summoner you will kill his summons.
I struck at the wizard several times, while he attacked me with some strange poison magic and his minions flanked me with additional attacks. Finally one of my strikes landed well, and the wizard wasn't able to continue resisting the sword's enchantment. He froze, paralyzed from the blade. I paused my attack to consume a health potion and save my own life. Then I resumed my attacks on him. He eventually recovered from the paralysis, to my surprise, and pulled out his own small enchanted blade, and paralyzed me in return.
Now I was in real trouble, because I was unable to move and outnumbered four to one. The attacks rained down on me and I felt my life slipping away. Finally the spell broke and I was able to consume another potion and save myself a second time. I then switched to my long sword, which I'm much more capable with, and began to really press the attack on the wizard. But I also took a moment to use a reflection potion, to help dissuade any future paralysis.
It worked, and after quite a bit of additional effort the wizard dropped before me and his daedra disappeared. And now I'm realizing I'm in his home, and he and his brother are now dead. Unless someone comes to claim the home, I can stay and use it for myself. This will be much nicer than sleeping in a dirty inn, or worse .. the sewers.