A Bard's Trials, Day 2

The abandoned house fills most of Leiros' expectations, as well as his belly.  Fresh food, wine, cheese, garlic.  If it wasn't for the Daedric presence permeating the whole place, he would be thoroughly content.  While the Vigilant guy wanders around investigating, Leiros helps himself to all the things that would fit in his bag.  At last, a decent weapon!  And a shield.  Like he was ever going to use that!  The shield goes right in his bag, and Leiros has high hopes of being able to actually make enough to sleep, and be well on his way to affording the carriage to Solitude.  And then the Vigilant asks Leiros to help with something.

Should have seen that coming.

As the two sorry excuses for adventurers try to flee the haunted house, the Daedra tries to work on their minds.  Listening to the Vigilant struggle was pretty much the moment every moral that Leiros still possessed died.  The Vigilant had armor, magic, and a mace.  Leiros had one crappy sword and a shield he could barely use.  Leiros also had the presence of mind to backstab first, before the Vigilant cracked.  After barely surviving, Leiros swipes everything he can from the Vigilant's body, and goes down to the altar where the Daedric Prince is lurking.

Okay, I really should have seen that coming.

Trapped, Leiros makes a panicked plea to the Daedra, and finds that he has somehow agreed to lead a priest of Boe-whatthehellishername to the altar at some point.  Could have been worse.  At least he is set free, and more importantly: can now sleep in the abandoned, haunted house.  Normally, this wouldn't seem like such a good prospect, but this is where criminals come from, boys and girls.  Desperation.
After a good night's sleep, Leiros loots the house, and takes the stuff down to the local trader to sell as much as he can, and then tries to buy some real armor.

Damn you, Economics of Skyrim.  Damn you.

While he can't afford anything, he does have enough for the all-important trip to Solitude.  YAY!  After a few celebratory drinks, Leiros staggers to the carriage and pays for a ride to Solitude.

Most college towns are... brighter.  More cheery.  This place looks like I should expect an execution at any minute.

It's 4am, Leiros is tired, but still has plenty of coin in his pocket (until he sees how much it costs to rent a room in Solitude).  Sure, it's dark and gloomy, but Solitude is a wealthy city, filled with nobles and civilization!

And executions.

Just once, Leiros would like to enter a city without someone dying immediately afterwards.