[i]11th of Sun’s Dawn, early evening, 4E201
Outskirts of Jehanna,
The Border of Skyrim and High Rock[/i]

Another hunter had approached the cave from the opposite direction. 

Jodane Lirrencel was a man that was wanted by more than one party to answer for his crimes. With the bounty posting still stuffed into the pocket of his overcoat, Gregor Mercurius had followed the trail that the innkeeper outside of Jehanna had pointed him towards, which allegedly led to a cave that had been in use by a long and storied succession of bandits. Wherever there was an underground hideout, Gregor mused, there was someone unsavory hiding in it. His leather boots were soft on the forest’s dry earth and his eyes reflected the duskborne light with the color of old mahogany, searching the trail ahead for any signs of the promised cave. It wasn’t a given that Gregor would find Jodane there but it was the best lead he had, and he was hardly a natural at following the tracks of a man that didn’t want to be found. If this didn’t pan out, Gregor had already decided that he would leave this bounty to the professionals. 

As he crested the latest hill in a series of hills -- for the border between Skyrim and High Rock was a particularly hilly and even mountainous area -- his eyes fell on a figure, broad-shouldered and long-limbed, dropping down from a tree and approaching… ah, there it was; a cave. The man was unarmed but the untamed hair and rippling musculature told Gregor all he needed to know about the danger the man posed. One thing was certain: it wasn’t Jodane Lirrencel. This was a Nord, or else Gregor would eat his gloves. He cursed quietly to himself and stuck to the shadows for a moment, deliberating on what to do. It wasn’t a surprise that someone else had been attracted to the same bounty. Or, rather, it shouldn’t have been a surprise. Gregor fingered the grip of his bastard sword’s cruciform hilt, sheathed across his back as it was, but decided against drawing the weapon immediately. Perhaps the stranger and himself could come to an amicable cooperation. Half of a reward was still better than none of it, and he did not take kindly at all to the idea of coming to blows with another law-abiding citizen merely carrying out his duties. 

And so, hands empty and held out in a universal gesture of non-threatening compliance, Gregor stepped into the fading sunlight. He was dressed in fine garb, dominated in color by red and black, with his dark hair swept back into a ponytail and his beard shifting slightly to convey the fact that he was smiling. It was hard to say whether the smile extended to his eyes, however, cast in shadow as they were by his powerful brow. 

“Hail, friend,” Gregor said. “I don’t mean to startle you, but might I assume that you are on the hunt for a certain Jodane Lirrencel as well? If you are, I would like to request your cooperation in this endeavour.” He nodded towards the cave. “No telling what we’ll find in there. I’d feel much better if I had someone to watch my back.”