(32) - Saadia - Journal entry -

Tirdas 15th of Hearthfire 4E201

I woke up very late this morning, so I decided on staying in Whiterun for the day. I had collected quite a few ingredients the past few days, so after a simple bread and goat cheese breakfast with Lydia I gave the alchemy table another try. I made a few health draining poisons again, and though not as bad as my first try, they still didn't turn out very potent. The potion of cure disease was a success though, much easier to make.

I still had some loot left that I hadn't been able to sell yesterday, so I visited a few shops to get rid of it. None of the shopkeepers had anything interesting for sale though, so I decided on heading out to the Bannered Mare to drop off Lydia for the day. She didn't mind. In the inn a guy named Sam Guevenne challenged me to a drinking contest, and promised me a staff if I'd win. I declined of course, I had no interest in his 'staff', and if I'd lose he'd probably make me polish it too, no thank you.

Bannered Mare

I went to the kitchen area to see if there was anything good for lunch, when I saw a Redguard woman stirring a pot there. That's when I remembered the two Redguards I had met at the entrance of Whiterun on my first day here, getting refused entry by the guards. They had mentioned looking for a Redguard woman in hiding, and the person in front of me was the only Redguard woman I had seen so far in Whiterun. The woman introduced herself as Saadia, and I told her about the men looking for her.

She was visibly shaken, and asked me to follow her to her room to speak to her in private. As we arrived at her room, she immediately drew a dagger and threatened me. Lucky for her I was able to calm her down telling her I didn't mean her any harm, and she sheathed her dagger and started explaining the situation. She told me she was a noble and her real name was Iman. The men I had spoken to were nothing but bounty hunter thugs called Alik'r, their leader called Kematu. Then she asked me to kill Kematu so they would stop pursuing her. I agreed, though I'm still not sure what I will do once I meet the character. I suppose I want to hear him out first too. Saadia / Iman told me one Redguard thug had been imprisoned, and he probably could tell me something about Kematu's whereabouts.

I agreed on investigating, but first I ate a dinner of cooked beef with some alto wine before heading out to Dragonsreach. I used the side entrance of the Reach, and quickly found the captured Alik'r. He wasn't very talkative, so I promised to bail him out of jail. After doing so he told me I could find Kematu in a cave West of Whiterun called Swindlers Den. Unfortunately one of the guards misplaced his cell key, so I guess the Alik'r will have a prolonged stay after all.




Whiterun Prison


I had no clue where exactly this cave was, so I headed up in Dragonsreach to check out the map in one of the rooms that I had seen near the Jarl's quarters. Unfortunately there were no caves indicated on the strategic map, just cities and fortresses. To the West of Whiterun I notice Fort Greymoor on the map, no doubt the fort I had passed on my way back from Dustman's Cairn. I think I'll go there tomorrow, if there's a cave with Redguard thugs nearby I'm pretty convinced that guards of the Fort can tell me more about it.

Strategic map at Dragonsreach

I picked up Lydia from the inn on my way back home, and we ate some cabbage potato soup with grilled leeks, and had a few ales together. I sent Lydia to bed early, as she already seemed to have had a fair share of mead at the inn.

I just finished reading 'Ode to the Tundra Striders', describing the wandering giants with their mammoth herds. The book kind of confused me, because it was written from the standpoint of a giant, yet the writing itself was very noble and weighty. Oh well, at least it had the interesting info that giants apparently hunt for skeevers a lot, so if I ever come across an empty giant camp, I should make sure to search it for some skeever tails for making poisons. Time to sleep now, I want to head West early in the morning and see if I can find Swindlers Den.