Oblivion:Shady Sam

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Shady Sam spends his days outside the Imperial city selling poisons and other "Shady" objects.

Shady Sam is a merchant who can be found just outside the Imperial City walls, about 100m north of the Chestnut Handy Stables. He is there day and night. He sells poisons, potions, lockpicks, and Skooma. He is somewhat rare among friendly NPCs in that aside from his greeting, he has absolutely nothing to talk about. You can't even use persuasion on him. (Though you can invest in his "store" when you become an expert at Mercantile.)

Shady Sam is also the proud owner of one of only three Black Hoods in Cyrodiil, a valuable item for enchanters. He won't sell them to you, so if you want them you'll have to loot them from his corpse or reverse-pickpocket a permanent Bound Helmet onto him and return later to steal the hood (although the hood does not actually count as a stolen item).

If you are having trouble finding him, Shady Sam is found in one of the indentations in the wall surrounding the Imperial City. Go to the Chestnut Handy Stables, face the gates that go into the Talos Plaza District and take a left, follow the wall around the Imperial City, and check in each indent. Shady Sam will be in one of those.