Markarth, they say all that goes through it is blood and silver. It is among this blood we shall find ourselves, this blood is people, they are the Blood of all Tamriel. It is among the Blood we find the few who stand out, those few make the world the way it is. Whether it is a Emperor leading his people, a bandit pillaging a village or someone with an utterly sinister purpose.
Just in Markarth you can find an example of all of this. It is these examples with which we shall associate. Let the waft of eternity grasp your senses as we open the Scroll yet again, and it shall tell you a story that had been written long before it started.
The air was warm and stagnant, It always seemed to be like this in Markarth, with the stone warmed by the bustling people in the city. The forges raged as they smelted silver from the mines, further adding to the heat. Sometimes a worker may be lucky to have the wind blow some snow into the crevasse in the mountain in which Markarth was built. The temperature differed in the higher areas though, as only the rich frequented those areas. Not even the cold mountain water seemed to help, when so close to the mine.
For travelers the stark contrast of temperature would be shocking, as it could be a steady 80 degrees Fahrenheit while just outside the entrance could be 40 and lower.
The Silver-Blood inn was not a jovial place, most of the patrons were workers who blew there Septims on alcohol to wash their troubled lives away, if only to escape for a little while.
Some were the curious sort though, who didn't have much to worry about, as they were well paid thugs in the pockets of the Silver-Blood Family.
The focus of their attention was the Robed man in the corner, who was nursing a glass of wine while ready intellectual books. He seemed fairly bulky under the robe betraying to them his armor underneath.
Occasionally he would speak to the inn-keeper and there was a slight of the hand, he was obviously paying the inn-keeper well, as this man had been living in the inn for a few months now.
Not much was known about him except he had payed frequent visits to Calcemo the Court Mage, who seemed all too intrigued in him. It was also known he was looking to hire people to help him, but the lack of available details left many not wanting to risk anything he could possibly offer.
Who would risk it? Only the Divines would know.