Qa’skil tapped the glass tubing of his little refinery as the last few precipitated drops fell into the vile. Gritting his teeth as his expression and mannerisms showed the immense concentration and focus he was exhibiting, Qa’skil lifted the murky vile up to his eye and examined the contents against the candle that illuminated the basement room with a soft flickering. Growling to himself in frustration he examined what was again some of the poorest quality skooma he had ever seen before he jammed a little stopper into the vile. Rubbing his brow in frustration he moved across the room and slipped the small vile into the little pouch with the other two vials he had filled over the last few days, examining what was now his own hand-made stash. Over the last few days he had wasted almost half of the moonsugar through his unsuccessful attempts at turning it into skooma, and even the little he had managed to refine with what was left was of the poorest quality that even he had considered disposing of it – but of course he hadn’t.

The first vile he had consumed had taken the edge off for a while, but gave him [i]practically[/i] no relief to the deep needful burning he felt in every fibre of his being. He would still need to find some real skooma, and as soon as possible. The only slight positive was that now at least the little supply he had would now keep him on his feet and working towards that goal. 

He rolled up his belongings and began to stuff them away sullenly as he wondered what he would do next, now considering the last few days a complete failure. Roggi’s house had proved practically perfect for what he needed, the basement being completely separated from the house with a rear garden entrance and mostly filled with dusty cobwebs, the foolish Nord apparently never using it. It had been a fine place to set up shop and use as a base from which he had gathered all of the components he had needed. Once that was done he had constructed the crude refinery and gone to work, amazed at how focused and dedicated he could be when it came to skooma. Qa’skil was also tickled with the thought that if he had messed up more, his refinery would have burnt Roggi’s house to the ground, hopefully with the foul Nord still inside. 

Exiting into the cold night air Qa’Skil made his way towards the Braidwood Inn, pausing only briefly in Roggi’s garden to ‘relieve himself’ over the flowerbed. As he once more entered the warm room of the inn he glanced around, seeing the usual inhabitants sat were they always were. Passing the group of Nords Qa’skil gazed intently at Roggi with his one eye as he always did, the Nord now taking to trying to ignore him whenever the pair met. It was becoming clear that he was starting to unnerve the ‘fearless warrior’, and he greatly enjoyed any opportunity to worsen the situation. 

“Greetings Iddra” purred Qa’skil, smiling his charming smile as he always did “the usual if you would please”. 

The woman’s face lit up at the sight of him, after all he was one of her primary customers now. She wasted little time in placing two bottles of the wine on the counter before serving a sweet-roll , while he in turn placed several gold pieces on the counter. 

“Any news?” he asked casually as he picked up his purchases, always curious for any information that may be of interest to him. He listened as she rattled on about the usual sort of things, some of the miners having a dispute over something, some trader coming through and the like before he thanked her again and made his way towards his usual table. 

Taking a seat he once more glanced towards Roggi as he placed the sweet-roll on the edge of his table - towards where the Nord would have to walk past before leaving. With that Qa’Skil uncorked his wine and began his nightly ritual of drinking until he could drink no more, this time with the added component that he was considering where to go next. Little did he know that at this very moment a group of adventurers who hold the very fate of Nirn in their hands would be passing through Kynesgrove, and he would be joining them.