Chapter IX: The grey quarter and obligations *Edited*

As we walk the streets of the grey quarter I cannot help but wince in disgust as I see the squalor that my people live in. The houses if they can even be called that, are tiny and ramshackle, the children running around wear ragged clothes and the workers milling about the place all seem malnourished.

My blood boils at the sight but my mind remains unmoved.

My companions seem to share my feelings for their own reasons, Morrigan says in a somewhat dead tone "Even the caves seem better than this"

I nod as we keep walking towards the local cornerclub.

The inside of the New Gnisis Cornerclub seems lively if a bit dusty, Dunmer workers and even a couple of Argonians who I presume snuck inside can be seen enjoying themselves drinking their problems away.

We walk up to the bar and are greeted by an aged Dunmer man "Greetings sera, if you are looking for a taste of home I've got just the thing for you and your companions"

"Sure give us a sujamma each, haven't had one in ages" I say as we take our seats.

"Coming right up" he says as he starts pouring "So what brings you to the fabled Grey Quarter of Windhelm?"

"Honestly I heard the rumors of how the place was treated by the local Jarl and had to see it with my own eyes, does he really not give a shit about a good quarter of his city?" I ask the last part quietly.

His eyes dart around the place before turning to me "No he really doesn't, we even have gangs of nords extorting us constantly and any complaints we give are at best ignored and at worst punished, and we can't even fight back because the gangs immediately go to the Jarl and he cracks down on any of our attempts" he says in a defeated tone.

"Is there any way I could help out?" I ask almost on instinct, immediately hearing a groan from Moriggan and an approving grunt for Durrak.

'Well, at least it would be an interesting adventure, right?' The old man part of me pipes in.

He eyes us for some time before giving us our drinks and saying "Meet me after the club closes, If you are willing to get your hands dirty we could use all the help we can get" before he walks off pretending that I annoyed him not to draw too much attention.

I turn to Morrigan to explain my need to do this but she merely huffs and says "Save it, you already offered them your help without even asking, what would even be the point of explaining, just know that I am not staying here for weeks so you can finish your little gang purge"

I sigh at this and say "That was not the plan in any case, I will do what I can to help before I disappear from the city for a year at least, can you help me with this?"

She looks at me for a couple of moments and exhales tiredly "Fine, let us go galivanting once more saving the innocent, just so we can get killed"

I take a swig of the Morrowind drink and damn is it strong. I turn to Durrak who has already finished his and he merely nods to me wordlessly, I smile and go back to my drink thinking of the shit I just got myself into.

I understand that one should help those he can, but I also know that if we get caught doing anything against the locals we will be properly fucked. Unfortunately, my youthful heart seems to have won out this time but I guess that giving Ulfric the middle finger is a worthy endeavor no matter how minor the act may be.

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We meet Ambarys Rendar late in the night and sit down with him, we are joined by three more Dunmer who seem to be wearing light armor and are armed with crossbows and shortswords, the lead among them looks at the club owner for a second before turning to me "So I hear we have a bleeding heart visiting" he says as if finding it funny but continues after a moment "Anyways name's Davos, me and my boys have been looking into the n'wahs that have been terrorizing the quarter these past few months and found that they have been kidnapping orphans for about a week now" he spits on the ground, and I have the urge to do it as well but this time I do maintain complete control.

Self discipline will be a must from now on it seems.

"I dunno what they are planning to do with them but I hear all manner of rumors about a coven of local rogue mages in the hills buying up anyone they can from the black market, for what reason I don't know nor do I frankly care" he continues in a harsh tone "the two groups of n'wahs will be meeting each other by the docks in about two days before heading out towards the mages together, we are plannin' on gutting them all and making it look like they offed each other, if you agree to help us you can keep a good third of the loot we find there." He looks at me expecting an answer.

I turn towards my companions who both nod, one with much less enthusiasm than the other. "Sure, we will help you out, when do we meet up?"

[Quest initiated: destroy the Nordic slaver gangs terrorizing the grey quarter][Reward: good reputation with most Dunmer who learn of you and an understanding of stealth]

"The day after tomorrow on midnight, keep in mind not to draw any suspicion on yourself"

I nod and soon we disperse.

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The next day passes relatively peacefully, in the morning I went to the palace and handed Balgruuf's letter to the steward, I really don't want to meet Ulfric before I was nice and ready to gut him.

I spend most of my day offering to heal any minor injuries the locals have for a pittance or even free if they seem really destitute, this gets me some good will, but I notice some Nords glaring at me from a distance. I also manage to sell off the weapons we got from the skeletons to the local general store.

My companions spend the day either training in the case of my orc friend or just relaxing in an attempt to get over her annoyance with the situation in the case of Morrigan.

I am unable to make too much progress in my magic as I have already read and re-read all the books I have with me about a dozen times, and I really shouldn't practice fire magic inside of a city, so I join Durrak for some light sparring so I can get used to my new weapon, in which I get completely destroyed within seconds.

We spend most of the evening in the corner club preparing for what was coming. Finally midnight arrives and we head towards the dock.