“But...” Sapphire whispered, feeling her head spin at the implications. “But if he could do that, why didn't he do it in the Cistern? Why not before they killed everyone else?? Karliah, he could have saved us all, but he just let them take him and let us all die, why...?” Sapphire's eyes blurred as the woman who liked to think she didn't know how to cry started sobbing, the hate and betrayal finally hitting home. Sapphire understood greed, she understood giving in to the lure of wealth and robbing the vault, but to abandon the rest of the Guild to their deaths like that... maybe she'd not been close to all of them, but they were still her fellow thieves. Still her brothers. And they'd died because Mercer had taken advantage of the Thalmor invasion to escape and cover up his crimes. Sapphire had been angry before, but now she was livid and heartbroken and vengeful all at once, a sobbing hate-filled wreck in Karliah's arms.
They were still like that when Brynjolf found them, moving quietly towards them.
“What happened?” he asked, surveying the scene.
“Mercer used his Nightingale powers to make the Thalmor turn on each other and got away in the chaos,” Karliah explained, her voice shot through with bitterness.
“He can do that??” Brynjolf gasped, mind boggled. “But if he can do that, why not do it when they first attacked...” He stopped, inhaling sharply as he reached the same conclusion Sapphire had. “Son of a bitch.” He knelt by Sapphire, taking her off Karliah and holding her to him, stroking her hair as a distraction, to remind himself not to completely let his anger consume him.
“That does it,” he said, voice a low growl that would have sent hardened killers fleeing. “He dies. I don't care what he has to say any more. First Gallus, then ruining your life, Karliah, then stealing all we had, and now I find out he could have saved the Guild but didn't? We kill him. End of discussion.”
Karliah closed her eyes and bowed her head in acceptance of the judgement. “We need to find him first,” she said. “Any ideas where he'd go?”
“No idea, he could be halfway to Morrowind by now,” Brynjolf sighed. “But we can search this place, find out if there's anything here that might tell us where he's gone. This is his stronghold, his sanctuary, if he was making plans to flee, this is where he'd keep everything.”
Sapphire dried her eyes and let Karliah help her up and the three of them began searching. No sign, nothing of interest, a bit of miscellaneous loot but nothing to indicate any sort of heist or secret hideout.
At least not until Sapphire thought to wonder why there was a wardrobe in the side pantry, and Brynjolf took a closer look. Once he might not have noticed anything, but that was before meeting Delphine again and seeing the secret passage in her bedroom. Hidden in a wardrobe just like this one. Seconds later, he had the false back open, revealing the steps going downwards.
“A secret lair,” Karliah murmured. “Cunning. Very cunning. Of course, there'll be traps all over the place, Mercer wouldn't want to leave it unguarded.”
No doubt. But that also meant there was something down there to find. Steeling himself, Brynjolf entered the passage. Time to find what Mercer was hiding.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There were traps all right. Traps involving firejets in the floor, where all three had to take different routes over the room and leap over the final tile to avoid getting toasted. Then the long tunnel with the battering rams and swinging blades. Karliah told them to wait while she dropped to her knees and slunk underneath, dropping and rolling in precise co-ordination with the blades. Finally she made it to the other end where conveniently there was an off switch for the whole thing.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: The Wolf Queen Awakens 17.7
Date: 2013-12-10 07:46 pm (UTC)They were still like that when Brynjolf found them, moving quietly towards them.
“What happened?” he asked, surveying the scene.
“Mercer used his Nightingale powers to make the Thalmor turn on each other and got away in the chaos,” Karliah explained, her voice shot through with bitterness.
“He can do that??” Brynjolf gasped, mind boggled. “But if he can do that, why not do it when they first attacked...” He stopped, inhaling sharply as he reached the same conclusion Sapphire had. “Son of a bitch.” He knelt by Sapphire, taking her off Karliah and holding her to him, stroking her hair as a distraction, to remind himself not to completely let his anger consume him.
“That does it,” he said, voice a low growl that would have sent hardened killers fleeing. “He dies. I don't care what he has to say any more. First Gallus, then ruining your life, Karliah, then stealing all we had, and now I find out he could have saved the Guild but didn't? We kill him. End of discussion.”
Karliah closed her eyes and bowed her head in acceptance of the judgement. “We need to find him first,” she said. “Any ideas where he'd go?”
“No idea, he could be halfway to Morrowind by now,” Brynjolf sighed. “But we can search this place, find out if there's anything here that might tell us where he's gone. This is his stronghold, his sanctuary, if he was making plans to flee, this is where he'd keep everything.”
Sapphire dried her eyes and let Karliah help her up and the three of them began searching. No sign, nothing of interest, a bit of miscellaneous loot but nothing to indicate any sort of heist or secret hideout.
At least not until Sapphire thought to wonder why there was a wardrobe in the side pantry, and Brynjolf took a closer look. Once he might not have noticed anything, but that was before meeting Delphine again and seeing the secret passage in her bedroom. Hidden in a wardrobe just like this one. Seconds later, he had the false back open, revealing the steps going downwards.
“A secret lair,” Karliah murmured. “Cunning. Very cunning. Of course, there'll be traps all over the place, Mercer wouldn't want to leave it unguarded.”
No doubt. But that also meant there was something down there to find. Steeling himself, Brynjolf entered the passage. Time to find what Mercer was hiding.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There were traps all right. Traps involving firejets in the floor, where all three had to take different routes over the room and leap over the final tile to avoid getting toasted. Then the long tunnel with the battering rams and swinging blades. Karliah told them to wait while she dropped to her knees and slunk underneath, dropping and rolling in precise co-ordination with the blades. Finally she made it to the other end where conveniently there was an off switch for the whole thing.