I opened the door to the rented room and found Viree eating a baked potato. I looked at her inquisitively and she shrugged, "I was hungry."
I shrugged, "So, Thief. You clearly didn't have good intentions. What's up?"
He tried to spit, but it ended up as drool. He sighed, "I'm not telling you shith. I mean shit."
I shook my head, "The Tranquilizer already should've wore off. The drool was a nice touch."
He clicked his tongue, "Worth a try to get this beast off my back."
Viree was holding a single boot against the thief's back. With her strength she likely didn't need to threaten him. I shook my head, "Calling a woman a beast is rather rude don't you think."
He scoffed, "She smells like dog."
Viree shrugged, "He has been whining like this the entire time you were talking to the other one."
The Thief's expression shifted, "Other one?"
I stared at the thief, "Wow, you are..." I shook my head as my voice trailed off. "The Dark Brotherhood player was visiting to ask if I was going to interfere with their quest line. Which brings me to you. We can have a chill bro to bro talk or I can break your fingers one by one while Viree holds you down."
His eyes went wide, "What?"
I shrugged, "Well I mean, I was debating about taking out, taking over, or working with the thieves guild. So with you here, I can decide which to do."
He groaned, "I'll talk, what do you want to know."
I gave him a smile, "First things first...." My hand glowed with magic and suddenly he was stripped down to his underwear.
He yelped, "What did you just do?"
I pulled the Skeleton Key from my inventory and looked it over as I spoke. "I used a spell called Harvest to loot everything off your body. Highly efficient spell for players and against players. Truth be told I didn't completely expect it to work. However it seems my control over magic has increased as of late."
I looked down at the thief without his armor on I could see him as he was. An imperial, plain faced, one where you could spot from a distance, but not from a crowd. He was slim, no extreme character customizations. I could respect it, the guy went functional rather than cosmetic.
I twirled the skeleton key in my hand, "So how do you have the key and the armor? I can see you use the full nightingale set."
He sighed, "I made a deal with Nocturne. I won't disclose what the deal was, I'm sure you can understand."
I nodded, this left me with an important question. However I kept it to myself for now, "Fair enough, I'm going to offer up a hypothetical reason why she let you keep it. Just answer yes or no if it is correct."
He grumbled, but nodded. So I threw out my guess at Nocturnal's motive. "She wants the key to vanish from the current era due to the presence of players? And if one like yourself holds onto the key long enough it will disappear? Finally I don't want to sound egotistical, but specifically she wanted to keep me from entering the Ebonmere?"
He blinked, "How? I mean, yes. Though I'm not sure about that last part..."
I suspected Nocturnal did have some eyes on me like other daedric princes. I couldn't help admitting that I thought about cutting into the Ebonmere. I nodded, "Now, with such a key in your possession..."
The Thief scoffed before I could ask, "Yes, I tried to unlock my potential."
Looking at him I shook my head. He clearly hadn't unlocked his potential. I twirled the key in my hand again trying to think how to use it. "Let's move off the key, what is your name and why are you here."
He rolled his eyes, "Name is Bjorn Bjorn, before you ask, yes it was on purpose. Second I feel it was obvious why I was here, but telling that I fear pain, I will tell you anyway. I'm here to steal your information, ledgers and business dealings. and finally I have a guild quest."
He took a deep breath, and began speaking quickly. "The information is a personal goal as I may have played the games, but I wasn't much of a lore-monger. I was hoping you might know how to use the other functions of the daedric artifacts. As I am sure you know most things don't work like in the game. Only things directly related to the players function as such."
He looked up at Viree who's expression didn't change. He was clearly checking how much she knew. With no reaction he sighed and continued. "The Ledgers and Business Dealings are for the guild. We hoped to either put you out of business or put you in our pockets. Though as you can tell, that likely isn't happening."
That was all within expectation. "I believe I do know how to use the other functions of the Skeleton Key. My knowledge on cryptic powers as increased significantly. Though I'm willing to tell you after I use the key for my purposes and of course all your gold. Which I already took."
He glared at me, Viree had a slight tug of a smile. I smiled at the thief, "Come on that was funny."
He lightly shook his head, "No, because you clearly are going to keep my gold."
I shrugged, "Let's talk about more player aligned details rather than the affiliations. Tell me your Backstory. Why the thieves guild? and tell me about your skills."
He frowned, "Can I have my clothes back?"
I rolled my eyes and started dumping out his armor and all the other useless junk he had. He stared at me and sighed, "I'll take what I can get for now. My backstory is pretty simple and ties into why I picked the thieves guild. I was raised in the honor hall orphanage, but at the age of 15 I was kicked out. Acted as a beggar and later taken in by Vekel the Man. Working as a janitor for the Ragged Flagon the guild took notice of my dexterity and talent. Gallus trained me along side Mercer Frey and Karliah."
He took a pause and shrugged a little, "From there I'm sure you can guess how the rest plays out."
I counted the years, "How long were you awake?"
I blinked, "Awake? Oh! You mean when I arrived in skyrim. Hard to say..." He closed his eyes in some thought. "I would say around a year ago. However I'm completely aware of my memories from 15 years of age."
That was interesting, I rubbed my chin in some thought. "So why are you so shit?"
He scoffed, "I'm level 86, I'm not shit, something is just wrong with you!"
I shrugged, "Ah, perhaps." So putting the pieces together Bjorn picked the thieves guild to sublimate player skills with pre-established skills. Viree cut in, "I have a question. So I'm not entirely sure how to ask it. So I will just throw it out there. Are you a pussy or like what?"
Bjorn's face crinkled in confusion. Understanding Viree's question I rephrased it, "She is asking are you a pacifist."
He blinked, "Ah, yeah I am actually. Truth be told even though I have the Nightingale Bow and Blade I haven't leveled any combat skills other than hand to hand. Which I only really leveled since it gives a bonus to hand tricks."
That lead me to a new question, "So how many legend skills do you have?"
He shrugged, "Well all my starting skills are legendary. They were Lockpicking, Stealth and Light Armor. Before you ask, yes I have the lockpicking bonus. As for other skills, only alchemy is legendary."
So he had four legendary skill, I thought about it. "No illusion magic? Conjuration?"
He shrugged, "Honestly? I don't think i have talent for magic. For some reason when I look at magic tomes and stuff it looks like a bunch of scribbles. I know the spell muffle and soul trap, but leveling the skills are hard as hell. Soul trap leveling sort of worked, but..."
He shrugged and I gave a nod. It was bound to happen. I haven't hit a wall in my skill leveling yet, but I suspected my weak points were destruction, empowerment and pickpocket. They were my lowest leveled skills. Even Espionage was a higher skill level. Speaking of, "What unlocked skill trees do you have?"
He shrugged, "I have a few, Espionage is neat one. Helps with pickpocketing and stealth. I don't use the other as much, but I unlocked the Throw, Falconry, Streetwise and Medical skills."
I raised my eyebrow, "For the sake of my documentation, do you care to elaborate on each?"
He shrugged, "Espionage deals with disguise, spying, and blending in. The skills aren't bad, but telling that I already invested in lockpicking a completely shit skill. I didn't think it was worth it. The throw skill is self-explanatory. It is very similar to the archery skill tree, but well... You throw stuff. I got it from using rocks as distractions."
I nodded and took out my notebook writing the skill down. It might come in use to level up. "How did you get Falconry?"
He shrugged, "That one is from Nocturnal, as you know she is the Matron of Corvids. Unlocked it after she spoke to me through a raven." He let out a sigh, "She used a crow actually to tell me not to come here. I understand why though. Needed to for my guild quest though."
Viree pointed at him, "You should listen to your sponsors."
He rolled his eyes and responded sarcastically, "Wow, thanks for the advice."
I tapped my note book, "Continue with the skills."
He sighed, "The Streetwise skill is something I just had. It is a mixed bag really, some of it relates to speech craft, some of it relates to thievery. One of the skills is called Con Artist, allows for better persuasion checks on selling Snake Oils."
I wrote down the skill and added a question mark on the acquisition. "Medical skills? Is it like restoration?"
He have a shrug while placed his head against the wood floor. "Could I get a pillow down here?"
I gave a curt response. "No, now explain."
He sighed, "Worth a try. The Medical skill is hand based medical skills. Things like wrapping wounds, sewing wounds, you get the idea. It does boost the effectiveness of potions though. I got it after wrapping multiple wounds over a period of time."
I added the documentation. Tapping my pencil on my note book I finally decided to turn the conversation. "What is the Guild Quest. Normally the Solitude quest is related to Erikur. However I have removed him from the picture. So is the quest tied to you stealing ledgers?"
He gave a half-hearted shrug, "Pretty much. What does that leave us?"
I stared down at the thief and nodded. "We can work together. If the thieves guild betrays the information guild however, I will gather those who wish to burn the thieves guild to the ground and replace you. When I am done inspecting the artifacts that you have I will provide you with a complete data sheet of the reforms the thieves guild will need to go through. After all the thieves guild has a worse reputation than the dark brotherhood."
He scoffed, "How does the thieves guild have a worse reputation than the Dark brotherhood?"
I raised an eyebrow, "Isn't that obvious. You had a corrupt leader who went on a power trip only to be replaced with you. Who was easily captured by me, what would amount to your rival guild. This is without mentioning the amount of bloodshed the thieves guild had to commit. While the dark brotherhood who is a bunch of assassins has kept to their creeds."
Bjorn's expression soured, "Yeah, okay. I see what you mean. Our reputation is pretty fucked, but I have been restoring it."
I raised my eyebrow higher, "That still leaves the information guild in your way. Which brings me to the reforms. You can talk to your guild members about it and send a related letter later on. For now though, we will go. You can stay in this room free of charge as well as a meal. After all you are now broke."
He snapped back with sarcasm, "Wow thanks! I really appreciate it."
Viree stood up and Bjorn winced as she stepped on him. He looked at her, "Why? You fucking bitch."
She pointed, "That's why."
I waved as I exited, "I will inspect the artifacts you have and return them to this room once done."
He called out as I left, "And the function of the skeleton key?"
I spoke as I closed the door, "When I have it."
I smiled at Viree, "So, busy night. Wanna go to sleep." She rolled her eyes and walked off. I shrugged and followed her to the bar.