Marionette

When you arrive at Fort Farragut, it is high noon. You jump off of Shadowmere's back and reward her with the briefest of caresses before you hurry to your Speaker's abode.

You enter the fort through the secret entrance hidden cleverly in a hallowed out tree stump. It leads directly to Lucien's private quarters, and will prevent you having to spend precious time navigating the maze-like halls that are filled with traps and Dark Guardians.

You drop down the ladder, an apology for the intrusion already on your lips, but that proves to be unnecessary. The hideout is deserted.

Cursing loudly, you slump down on the wooden chair next to the bookcase and wait. You would prefer to take action, to go looking for him, but Lucien Lachance is not easily tracked. You know he will return here eventually, however, for he considers the crumbling fort his home. So the wisest thing you can do now is simply to wait.

Still, knowing it is wise does not make it any less excruciating.

Ironically, when he finally does come, you are too busy pacing the small space between the bed and the alchemy lab to notice – until you feel a cold hand on your neck, ready to snap it at the slightest provocation.

"You have exactly thirty seconds to explain why you are blatantly disobeying my orders."

When you leave here, we will not speak again, unless I deem it necessary.

You have broken the Third Tenet, you realise with a start, and now he has every right to end your life. You immediately throw your planned apology out the window and rush to tell him the reason you've come, your suspicions about the dead drop being false. Your words are enough to keep your Speaker from killing you – for now. Instead, he demands the dead drop you have deemed a fake, and you are more than happy to comply.

As he reads, you gradually feel the pressure on your neck lessen, until it falls away completely. You decide it is safe to face him now.

'Safe', however, is not the correct word to use in this situation. You know your Speaker is a dangerous man, an accomplished assassin, a conscienceless agent of Sithis. But only when you see the look on his face as he reads do you fully realise why he is feared even among his own Brothers and Sisters.

He must have read the words a dozen times when he finally acknowledges you. "The traitor lives."

His voice is reduced to a snarl that makes the hairs at the back of your neck stand on end. Afraid your voice will crack if your answer him vocally, you nod.

His eyes return to the paper, and you know he is trying to decipher the author of the abominable document. Calligraphy alone is not much to go on, however, as Lucien too is soon forced to conclude.

He hands you back the counterfeit dead drop, along with your new orders. You are to go to Old Bridge, as the traitor has written, and see whether or not the next dead drop has already been placed. If so, you will travel to wherever the traitor has placed the subsequent dead drop. If not, you will lie in wait for whoever comes to place it. Eventually, you Speaker reasons, you will come upon an empty hiding place and can then confront the one who comes to leave the next false orders for you.

"Go now, Silencer, uncover the identity of the traitor, and then return to me."


The hunt for the traitor leads you all across Cyrodiil, from the Imperial City to an old fort and even an Ayelid ruin. Whoever wants you to hunt down the Black Hand is quite enthusiastic, as you find four more false dead drops at their specified locations. It is only when you arrive in Anvil after a day long ride from Drakelowe when you find the hiding place, a barrel behind the statue in the pond, to be devoid of coin and orders. It is here you begin your stakeout.

It takes almost a full day, but eventually, the barrel is approached by a rather twitchy Bosmer. He doesn't look like a Dark Brother, but you know from experience your brethren is able to disguise their murderous intent quite well, so you hold nothing back when you intercept him and shove him roughly against the back of the statue.

You were right; he is definitely not a Brother. The moment you take hold of him, he starts stuttering out an apology, his eyes so fearful you wonder if you've made him soil himself. At your urging, he explains he was paid to deliver the dead drop, paid by a robed man who lives in the cellar of the lighthouse.

The Anvil Lighthouse... if the traitor is confident enough to leave his counterfeit orders so close to his home, he is likely nearing his endgame. You must hurry.

You leave the bemused Wood Elf behind and stalk towards the lighthouse. The cellar is locked, of course, but the keeper of the lighthouse is quick to give you the key when you demand it from him. He must think you're mad, but you find you can't bring yourself to care about the old Nord's opinion. If he becomes a nuisance, you can always slit his throat later. Now, you must find the traitor.

You unlock the door and rush inside, summoning flames to your hand to illuminate the dark cellar, and, if necessary, to lob at the traitor's head. As you descend, you soon come to the conclusion that the traitor is gone – but he has left plenty behind.

There are corpses everywhere, both animal and human, some still whole, others in pieces, all in varying states of decay. The effluvium is so overwhelming you have to cover your mouth and nose with your hood before you can press on. A part of you is disgusted, but another part is morbidly fascinated. However much you may despise the traitor, you have to admire the almost artistic carvings on some of the bodies. The irony is not lost on you.

A swift search of the main room reveals nothing, so you pick the lock on the door to the backroom – only to be tackled by a vicious beast that wastes no time attempting to tear your throat out. Without thinking, you hurl the flames you were holding at the dog, killing it instantly and adding the lovely smell of charred flesh to the already poignant stench.

Grumbling to yourself about madmen and animal control, you stalk into the room.

It is here you strike gold. The traitor left behind his journal, a thick volume in which the maniac has recorded his every crazed thought in blood. You instantly realise the scribbles are written in the same handwriting as the fraudulent dead drops, a curly scrawl you would now recognise anywhere.

You read quickly, your eyes flying across the pages in search of concrete evidence of betrayal. What you learn is far more stomach-churning than the copious carcasses in the other room.

His psyche is beyond repair, that much you know. Perhaps, under different circumstances, you would have pitied him for the trauma he suffered from losing his mother, but the moment you find out he is after the life of your Speaker, you feel only rage and blind panic. The traitor has already forced you to slaughter your entire Family in Cheydinhal; you'll be damned if you allow him to take Lucien too.

Before you leave, you unceremoniously stuff the preserved head of the traitor's mother into a sack. If the lunatic really loves his mommy so much, he shouldn't just leave her behind for people like you to find.


The ride from Anvil back to Cheydinhal takes far too long for your taste, even with a steed as fast as Shadowmere to carry you there. You have ridden her all across Cyrodiil in your hunt for the traitor, and she is beginning to show signs of fatigue. As you spur her on, you remind yourself to reward the horse properly after the traitor has been dealt with.

When you finally do make it to Fort Farragut, you gather the journal and severed head you collected from the traitor's lair, itching to present the items to your Speaker. Surely he will be able to identify the true betrayer once he's read the journal, and then he and you can finally track the bastard down. Perhaps he'll even allow you the honour of striking the killing blow.

Cradling the precious evidence protectively, you slowly descend the ladder to Lucien's abode. You expect to find him waiting for you in the shadows, as he always does. Instead, you find discord.

The room has been ransacked. The bookcase has toppled over, littering the floor with tomes on the murderous arts. The bed in the corner has been stripped of blankets, pillow and mattress, all of which have been cut open to reveal the feathers inside. The tapestries that proudly displayed the Black Hand when you were last here have been cut down and burned. The one wooden chair has been reduced to splinters, and every container has either been smashed, emptied, or both.

You carefully step further into the room, your eyes round as saucers. Tentatively, you call out for your Speaker, hoping he has somehow managed to hide his presences from the intruder and is still here waiting for you, but you receive no answer.

You try your best to remain calm, but when you notice the blood on the floor, the same blind panic you felt while reading the traitors diary returns full force, squeezing your heart until you can barely breathe. It can't be, he can't be, the traitor can't have...!

But you have been gone for nearly a fortnight in your efforts to secure evidence of the treason, and a lot can happen in that time. The traitor has likely realised some time ago that you weren't following the orders he left for you, that you weren't about to indirectly incriminate Lucien. Perhaps he thought it time to take matters into his own hands.

No, you think, shaking your head to rid yourself of the foolish thoughts. Lucien isn't so easily caught, especially not in his own sanctum. Besides, there's not nearly enough blood here to indicate a life-threatening wound, and you're not even sure whether the sanguine fluid came from your Speaker or his assailant. This is not the time to lose your head.

You will yourself to think. The most important action to undertake now is finding your Speaker. If you were Lucien Lachance, and you were forced to flee your home, where would you go?

After pondering the question for a few minutes, you are forced to admit you have no clue where your Speaker might have hidden. As his Silencer, you have only ever been summoned here, to Fort Farragut, and before that, it was always Lucien who initiated contact by finding you wherever you slept. Of course, despite never seeing him there yourself, you know he visited the Sanctuary from time to time, but you're certain that's not where he has fled. Your Speaker is far too clever to choose such a predictable hideout.

Then where has he gone? You know you can't expect him to come find you as he always used to, not while being chased by someone who thirsts for his blood. But you also know Lucien expects to meet with you to discuss your findings. There is only one logical conclusion: he must have left a hint on his whereabouts in this room somewhere. It is only a matter of finding it in this chaos.

You start with the books scattered across the floor, hoping to find an inkling in your Speaker's handwriting, but you come up short. Next, you scour the broken containers for clues, but most of the contents are just as shattered as the vessels they were stored in. Even Lucien's precious poisoned apples have been squashed, coating a large part of the floor in deadly apple sauce. You briefly wonder if you should try to salvage some to feed to the traitor, but it is then you catch something shiny in your peripheral vision.

In the corner you find a single whole apple, gleaming with the potent poison only your Speaker knows how to concoct. Next to it lays a human eyeball, its blue iris staring blankly at the ceiling. The items are perfectly aligned, obviously placed here with great care. Could this be what you're searching for? But what does it mean? Apple and eye. You're the apple of his eye? A lovely sentiment, but surely that's not what he's trying to tell you. Apple eye. Apple... see? Apple look, stare, view? Apple watch?

Applewatch.

You clearly remember the lonely little settlement in the Jerall Mountains where you appeased Sithis a month prior. The farmhouse is utterly inconspicuous, far away from prying eyes and, thanks to you, void of inhabitants. This must be where your Speaker has gone.

So it is where you will go, too.


A/N: In the actual game, Lucien temporarily disappears after you pick up the false dead drop, preventing you from speaking to him before actually compromising the Black Hand. Damn you, Bethesda. Of course, even if you could speak to him (as decribed above), the questline would not be all rainbows and butterflies, so the endgame still takes place at Applewatch. Also, I always wanted the DB questline to have a clue-searching section, like at Castle Chorrol in Oblivion or at Hjerm in Skyrim, considering the mystery that surrounds it. In-game, the last section of this chapter would be looking at everything and having messages pop up regarding its meaning – I love feeling like a detective in any game, really. Thank you for reading; any feedback is much appreciated!