Through the cold, melancholic evening in Bruma, a warm voice and the upbeat sounds of a finely tuned lute emerge from the city's wealthier district. The inn these sounds emerge from is the Oswald Lodge, formerly known as the Jerall View Inn, it was purchased and renovated by Avendano Oswald, one of Bruma's wealthiest aristocrats and a diplomatic ally to the city's Archon. It is the higher-end and superior of Bruma's two inns, the other less favorable option being the Maiden's Arms situated in the city's outskirts. Only the city's most elite have the fortune to be able to stay a night or two. Even few have the chance to be able to perform here. Although Avendano himself was not here for the night as he had other pressing matters to attend to, a determined Salza did his best to entertain the wealthy patrons that were there to hear him play.
♫ ~The light in in your eyes,
True to your courageous flame
Births a strength in me to try
And one day be the same~ ♫
Salza completes the final verse, but midway through the closing lute instrumental to his composition, one of his strings break. The tear makes an audible, split-second screech the the whole room can hear , but Salza salvages the performances despite the missing note. In an awkward fashion, the wealthy patrons stand up sporadically to applaud the elf, but in a slow, off-beat clap that seems to imply pity instead of adulation.
"Damn it." Salza takes a small bow, and straps the busted lute to his back. Wiping off the sweat from his brow, Salza walks past the elaborate marble decor and fancy furnishings to head to the bar as the patrons carry on with their conversations and meals.
"Rough night, eh?" The bartender passes the disheartened Bosmer a bag of septims and an ale on the house for his performance. Instead of cracking it open, the elf just tightens his grip on the bottle.
"I don't get it. Something's just felt slightly off. There's a definite spark that isn't here, you know?" The bartender looks past Salza's shoulder to see a couple of armed mercenaries staring him down from across the bar. Their gritty appearance and them being armed to the teeth causes them stick out like a sore thumb.
"Don't look now pal, looks like those guys back there might just be fans of yours." Barely looking back over his shoulder, the elf walks away slowly as the two burly men follow at his pace. When he knows for certain they are here for him, Sal breaks out into a sprint, quickly ascending the marble staircase to lose his pursuers. The two men give chase, now getting the attention of a few of the wealthy bystanders. Salza runs down the fancy, well-lit hallway to get to his belongings and escape. Just as he gets the door open, a towering Imperial woman awaits within, causing Salza to freeze in place.
"Surprise." Before he can run back, the two mercenaries had caught up behind him. As the elf reaches into his boots to retrieve his daggers, a single forearm blow to the head from the Imperial knocks the mer out cold.
Salza recovers a couple minutes later, kneeling with both wrists tied to the end of the bed post. Looking up, the imposing Imperial amazon of a woman doesn't look like she can appear more gigantic than she appears now.
"And there he is, the fabled Red Herring in all his glory!" Salza looks to both sides of him to see the two muscled men standing on each of his sides. He struggles a bit with the leather bonds but to no avail. He looks up to his captor with a slight look of defeat across his face.
"H-Hey now. What's all this then? Don't know who this Herring is, but if you're looking for the one they call the Songbird, well, it's your lucky day. You found him." This was said with a hint of obvious sarcasm. Salza knows these thugs are aware of his criminal past, but he's still unsure of their intention. With a nod of approval from the woman, one of the mercenaries to the elf's side knees him in his ribs. This knocks the wind from the elf, shutting him up almost immediately.
"Liar! You can fantasize about playing bard all you want elf, but we know the truth. Some clever thief you are huh? Waltzing right into Lord Oswald's trap." So that explains the invitation to perform. Still there was no sight of the man himself.
"So how do I know you're not bluffing and just want me dead, what have I ever done to Oswald?" The Imperial woman audibly scoffs at this question as she rolls her eyes.
"Does it really matter? You pissed off his investors, and as such, you've pissed him off. You're truly insignificant to him, elf. Hell, he argued that you're better off dead. A sentiment I can rally behind." The woman then pulls out her dagger. As she approaches and begins to line up the blade with Salza's neck, the elf delivers a swift headbutt to her left eye, momentarily incapacitating her. With a small kick, he knocks over one of the heavily armored henchmen. The other henchman swings his axe aiming for Salza's shoulder. The elf reacts by swinging himself over the bed, causing the axe to break the bed post, thus freeing the mer. Still tied to the broken brass post, Salza aims it at the man's helmet to stun him. As all three begin to compose themselves, Salza grabs his busted lute and cracks open the window.
He jumps down to evade them, rolling down the roof of the building. He utilizes the bed post still tied to him to cling onto the edge, almost falling in the process. He shimmies to a dump of garbage below to break his fall. The Imperial woman recovers and sees him making his escape. She orders her henchmen to give chase in the same way Salza was escaping. Being much more armored than he, they tumble down much harder, and take a much more of a rough landing. By this point, Salza tried running into the alleyways to evade. This gets the attention of the town's enforcers, as a couple of them pursue him as well to see what is the cause of the commotion. Running into one of the alleys, Salza hides behind a sack of potatoes to reach for his dagger and free himself of the bed post at last. He then takes the potato sack and throws it over himself and removes his sash from his waist to have it cover the lower half of his face.
Emerging from the alley, he sees a couple confused guards still wandering about, but more importantly, Oswald's lackeys still hot on his trail. Salza tried blending in with all the people walking about in this part of the city. He keeps moving until he's reached the outskirts of Bruma. The so-called "under empire" truly lived in the shadow of Bruma's prosperous district. It was a tale of two cities, as the bright-lit streets and bustling nightgoers were replaced with dilapidated, aging walls and crime at every corner. Keeping up a brisk pace to avoid getting stopped, Salza takes shelter in the city's other inn, the Maiden's Arms. It would be an understatement to say this inn was in worse shape compared to the lodge. Creaky floors and a broken window, an obvious air of danger hovered over the area. Sal had heard rumblings of needed mercenaries, but he never imagined this much of a turn-out. Two similarly armored brutes, a khajiit, and their skull-helmet friend? Check. Two very pasty looking gentlemen chatting it up? Check. A nervous looking woman eating alongside a Redguard and a man in a fox mask? Check. An Orc and fellow Bosmer writing each other messages despite being a couple feet away from one another? Check. He didn't know if they were all here for the same reason, all Salza cared about however was taking momentary shelter. Instead of heading for a table, he stays on the side of the door, waiting to make sure one of those goons have not followed him here.