The Thalmor Embassy, Haafingar Hold
Skyrim, Nirn
The 27th of Heartfire, 4E201
Lucien waited at the cave while the others rented a carriage and got in, taking it up the mountain and to the Thalmor Embassy so as not to get their finery covered in snow and mud. It irritated Sieghard that they had to rely on a carriage to take them up the mountain. Upon arrival, a footman opened the door and helped them out. They handed their invitations to the doormen, who gave them each a pat down. Belinda and Dione blushed angrily when the doormen put their hands on their breasts. Belinda slapped the one who laid his hands on her.
"How dare you, PIG!" she barked, covering her breasts.
"My apologies, ma'am!" the doorman exclaimed, withdrawing his hands quickly.
The trio then entered the embassy. Music was playing and people talked. The Housecarls were all off to the side, chattering amongst themselves. There was food and drinks and the air seemed rather stuffy. A couple people danced, but it mostly seemed to be a lot of standing around and talking. Clearly, Elenwen hadn't much clue of how to host a proper party, and while Belinda hadn't attended a lot of parties in her life, she was sure she had a better idea than Elenwen.
"This is a party? Boring," Belinda whispered to Dione and Sieghard. "Like, where's the decorations? Even soirees on Innistrad are more colorful than this. Admittedly, there is a lot of red…"
"Do I want to know?" Sieghard asked.
"I don't think so," Belinda answered.
Elenwen herself then approached them. "Good evening," she greeted, feigning politeness. The trio could smell her fakeness a mile away. But they two needed to fake being polite.
"Good evening," Belinda responded.
"I am Elenwen, First Emissary to the realm of Skyrim," Elenwen introduced. "I have not seen either of you here before. Please, introduce yourselves."
"I am Sieghard Wolf-Son, Harbinger of the Companions."
"Dione Nightingale, Archmage of Winterhold."
"Belinda Scale, Thane of Whiterun." I need a cooler title, Belinda thought. "And Dragonslayer." Better.
"Ah yes, I remember your names from the guest list," Elenwen said. "I must admit, I have previously invited Mr. Wolf-Son and Ms. Nightingale in the past, but neither of you have made appearances. Even Mr. Wolf-Son's predecessor had declined many of my invitations and I was under the impression none of you would attend."
"We've all been rather busy," Sieghard explained. "If not for my lovely friends here, I likely would not have attended. But someone needs to keep an eye on them. Now, where's the mead?" he asked.
"We don't have mead," Elenwen replied. "We have fine wines, brandy, whisky-."
"Sounds good," Belinda said, and earned Elenwen's attention.
"Now, you, Miss Scale," Elenwen started. "Seventeen and thane of Whiterun, made such for slaying a dragon. What brought you to Skyrim?"
"I like it here," Belinda responded. "Skyrim is quite beautiful."
"I see." Elenwen proceeded to continue, when Malborn interrupted her.
"Madam Ambassador," he called.
"What is it, Malborn?" Elenwen demanded angrily, turning to the bar.
"It's just that we've run out of the Alto Wine," Malborn answered. "Do I have your permission to uncork the-."
"Of course!" Elenwen snapped. "I told you before not to bother me with such trifles!"
Bitch, Belinda thought.
Elenwen turned back to them. "Forgive me; perhaps we shall talk later." She walked off to mingle.
"Not," Belinda muttered
Dione giggled and they walked up to Malborn. "Okay, listen," he started in a hushed tone, "you are going to need to create a distraction of some sort so we can slip out of here, unnoticed."
"Easy," Belinda said.
"As long as it isn't something stupid like setting the place on fire," Malborn added.
"Still easy," Belinda pointed out.
"You clearly don't have a lot of faith in us," Dione said, giving a cocky grin, "and besides, setting the place on fire means we wouldn't be able to loot it. Just imagine the treasures that these Thalmor horde to themselves."
"Is that so lass?" asked a smooth, heavily accented voice.
The trio spun round to face a tall, handsome Nord man with dark red hair and stubble a few shades darker; silvery eyes, and…
Oh, so yummy, Belinda thought, her mindset running to stereotypical high school girl who just saw the heart throb of the school in movies about teenage drama. "Oh, by the Divines, you're sexy," she just blurted out, voice cracking and instantly regretted saying it. "I'm gonna just shaddup now…" She walked off, face red as an apple and mentally kicking herself for what just happened.
Dione giggled, turning to the Nord. "Oh, Bryn, you know how to make girls put their feet in their mouths," she said. She looked to him, trying to appear flirty. It appeared to be working as the man she called Bryn took her by the hips and pulled her close.
"Whatever happened to 'I don't do parties'?" Bryn asked, leaning in close.
Dione put her hands on Bryn's chest and pushed him away. "Why, Brynjolf, darling, this is business!" she replied, theatrically. She then looked at him, looking seductive. "Are you not here with a proper Nord woman, as you should be?"
"I'd rather be with you, Lass," Brynjolf chuckled, taking Dione's small hand and kissing it gently.
"Now, who are you here with so I can rob her blind," Dione ordered him.
"And they have completely forgotten the mission," Sieghard said to Malborn, who facepalmed in annoyance.
"I knew this was a bad idea; we should abort the mission," the Wood Elf agreed.
Belinda was walking around, feeling slightly overwhelmed. This was not her setting for a reason. The music, laughing, talking, and crowded space was overstimulating her. She slipped away to a corner and took a deep breath. She needed to just calm down. She hated crowded spaces. She needed the open air and for people to be a little more spread out. She closed her eyes and imagined the sky, the sun beaming down from the blue heaven, clouds drifting by every so often. Wind accompanied birdsong and Belinda felt soft grass against her bare feet. A feather lazily drifted down and landed at her feet. She looked up again and she was a child again, Karr smiling down at her as he hovered. It was late spring, and Karr's wings were molting. She giggled, and felt a hand on her shoulder.
Belinda jumped, remembering where she was and looked to Sieghard, who had put a hand on her shoulder.
"Are you okay?" Sieghard asked.
"Yeah, just a little overstimulated is all," Belinda answered. "This is why I don't like parties, especially in cramped, crowded places." She looked down. "I should have left this to Dione. She's clearly better at this than me."
"I have an idea," said Dunmer told them, appearing from seemingly nowhere. They looked to her. She turned and pointed to a Redguard man sitting near the bar. "You see him there?" she asked her companions.
"I do," Belinda answered.
"Aye," Sieghard agreed.
"That is Razelan, a merchant in good standing with the East Empire Company," Dione explained. "He has a weakness for strong drinks, particularly Colovian Brandy. Now, while Elenwen didn't say they had Colovian Brandy, she said brandy is available. If we're lucky, Malborn might have some."
"You are brilliant," Belinda complimented.
"Thank you." Dione then fetched a glass of Colovian Brandy and gave it to Razelan, asking for a distraction in exchange. While Razelan joked about Elenwen, the trio snuck off with Malborn in the kitchen. He argued with a Khajiit and silenced her with threats of reporting her moon sugar addiction to Elenwen. The Khajiit hissed and sent them on their way. Malborn led them to the pantry where they gathered their belongings. They changed into their leather armor and Dione snuck ahead to scout. She was like a shadow in the well-lit corridor. She knew where to duck and hide, blending in so well. All things considered, she should have stood out. And yet, that was another thing about Planeswalkers. They were talented at what seemed to be the impossible. Of course, in Dione's case, she crashed and burned when it came to picking someone's pocket. She could never quite seem to do it right, no matter how hard she tried.
Master thief my ass, she would think bitterly whenever she failed. It's why she never took those jobs. Easier to sneak around, pick locks, and steal from inanimate objects. At least they didn't cry for the guards.
Sieghard lingered behind while Belinda creeped along. At a doorway, she carefully peered around the corner. She was doing more thinking than she probably should have. Dione seemed to work on pure instinct rather than thought. However, Belinda wanted to hear what the two Thalmor in the next room were talking about.
"Did you see those robes march in this morning?" the first guard asked, leaning casually against the bar. He was clad in Dominion armor, which was aesthetic, functional, and practical. "Who're they with? More of the Emissary's treaty enforcers?"
His friend finished his sip of wine, setting the elegantly design glass down on the bar. "No," he answered. "They're High Mages just in from Alinor." He looked to the first guard. "I guess Herself is finally getting worried about all the dragon attacks."
I can give her a few more things to worry about, Belinda thought.
"Ah, good," the first guard said. "I've been wondering how we were supposed to defend this place from a dragon."
The second guard chuckled before taking another sip of his wine. "If a dragon does show up," he began, "maybe we'll get lucky and it will eat the mages first. Might give us enough time to kill it."
The first guard laughed. "I'd like to see those arrogant bastards taken down a notch!" he burst. "Always looking down their noses at us lowly footsloggers!" They shared a laugh, and Belinda rolled her eyes in disgust at them.
No respect for even each other, she thought. She looked to the end of the hall where Dione was and carefully breezed her way past the door while Sieghard waited behind. Stealth was not his elemental and he trusted the two Planeswalkers. Belinda entered what looked to be a storeroom of sorts and Dione was looting. "Anything useful?" asked the human to the Dunmer.
"Some Dominion robes and a couple elven weapons; useless china, a couple banned books…Let's steal the books." Dione and Belinda grabbed two bags and took a copy of each books. "The Dominion will likely burn these for being heretical. I personally like collecting books, as does the College of Winterhold. And I suspect Lucien would appreciate them also."
Belinda nodded in agreement, grabbing a bow and arrows to use. Unlike Dione, she didn't know how to conjure Daedric weapons. Dione, meanwhile, dipped into the land and pulled what she needed to summon a Daedric bow and arrows. They needed to take this slow and quietly. The two Alter guards were pacing the other room and the Planeswalkers took them out silently. It was bar with its own pantry where they collected a couple bottles of Surilie Brothers Wine.
"Oh, the good stuff too," Dione chimed. "The 399 vintage. These are hard to come by now, since a lot of the vintage was lost in the Oblivion Crisis." She smiled. "I'll be keeping these." When she saw a little gold box with beautiful red gem, she took it also and shoved it in her pack.
When they got out back, they saw two guards patrolling the back wall, one guard guarding the building across the courtyard, and a fourth guard patrolling said courtyard. Dione went to work calculating the best move to proceed. She conjured a fresh Daedric bow and notched an arrow to the string. She aimed for the man furthest from the others, he on the far wall and well out of sight, and took him down. She repeated the same to the other wall guard. Both went down quietly while Belinda slinked ahead to the one patrolling the courtyard. She passed through the bushes and struck, driving a dagger into the man's neck and pulling him into the snowberry bushes. Sieghard then charged the man guarding the door and cut him down with his battle axe.
"That was easy," Dione commented. "And quiet."
Sieghard dumped the body into the bushes, out of sight and the trio entered the building. Upon entering, they saw a guard moving away from them and Belinda quickly disposed of her. They saw a door opened a crack and Sieghard and Belinda ducked for cover while the Dione went up to the door and listened in. There was a conversation between two men, one whose voice she recognized.
"But I need that money!" exclaimed the first. "I earned it! I have my own expenses you know!"
"Silence!" demanded the second. Based on his accent being similar to Elenwen's, she knew he was an Altmer. "Do not presume, Gissur."
Gissur?! Dione thought. Why that slimy, backstabbing little weasel! She knew Gissur, had dealings with him. His business was information. And his business was about to become hers.
"We have other informants who are less…Offensive," the Altmer added.
"But no one else has brought you such valuable information, have they?" Gissur asked. Dione could practically hear his eyes widening. "Etienne…He's talked, hasn't he?" He took a step away from the door. "He knows where that old man you're looking for is; he told me himself."
So that's what happened to Etienne, Dione thought.
"You'll get the rest of your money when we confirm him story as agreed," the Altmer said.
"So he has talked!" Gissur exclaimed. "I knew it!"
"Everyone talks in the end," the Altmer sighed, sounding bored now. "Now, I have work to do. Leave me to it if you ever want to see the rest of your payment." He stood, the legs of his chair sliding against the wood telling Dione so.
"Can I…I could help you," Gissur offered, his greed for coin starting to make him desperate. "He'd talk to me. He trusts me."
"You'd like to come downstairs with me, is that it, Gissur?" the Altmer asked. "Shall we loose his bonds and put you in a cell together?"
Oh, you can so tell he's grinning, Dione thought irritably.
"You can ask him anything you like," the Altmer continued, "and see how he answers."
"No, no," Gissur quickly responded. "I'll…I'll wait outside."
"That would probably be best," the Atlmer agreed. "Now get out!"
He walked away, going down a flight of stairs. Gissur came out, mumbling to himself. Dione quickly grabbed him and pinned to the floor with his arms behind him and Dione pressing on them with her knee.
"Who are you?! What are you doing?!" Gissur exclaimed, struggling against the Dunmer.
"A little birdie told me you betrayed the guild," Dione answered darkly as Sieghard and Belinda came out of their hiding spots. "You best hope Etienne is still alive. It would be very bad for your health if he isn't." She got off him. "You head straight back to Riften and you wait for me at the Ragged Flagon. If anyone asks, tell them you're waiting for Etienne and me to beat your sorry ass. Now go."
Gissur got up and ran.
"Friend of yours?" Belinda asked.
"More of an employee," Dione answered. "Gissur is nothing more than an informant. And apparently has endangered one of my thieves. Etienne is one of my best pickpockets, but has been missing for some time. He said he was going to meet Gissur for drinks one night but never came back. Brynjolf and I went to Gissur and he said he never showed up. Guess they met up after all. That lying bastard."
"We'll save him, don't worry," Belinda assured her.
They searched the first floor and the upstairs. They found dossiers on Delphine and Ulfric, a report on the Dragons, and a letter for Elenwen on Etienne being interrogated. It seemed the Thalmor were just as baffled about the dragons' return as the rest of the world. Without a word more, they trio descended into the dungeon where they heard the Altmer, Rulindil, interrogating Etienne, who was being beaten and in a lot of pain.
"Stop! Please!" Etienne pleaded. "I don't know anything else!"
"Silence!" barked a second Altmer, hitting Etienne in the ribcage with a wooden rod.
"Let's start at the beginning," Rulindil stated. "If you persist in this stubbornness, I'll have-."
"No, wait!" Etienne cried. "There's an old man living in the Ratways in Riften! I don't know his name! They just handed me a basket when I was a footpad and told me to take it to his door! It's kind of like an initiation down there! Sometimes I'm on the schedule to take him the basket, sometimes I'm not!"
"And his name is…?" Rulindil asked.
"For the like the thousandth time, I don't know his damn name!" Etienne shouted. His was struck again by the second Altmer, and then passed out.
"So, how do we do this?" Sieghard asked quietly.
Dione looked over the railing and took in the chamber. They needed a plan of action…
"I'll go through the torture room and get on the opposite balcony," Dione explained. "Belinda, meet me there."
Belinda nodded and headed back upstairs to reach the other balcony.
"Sieghard, knock one of those barrels down the stairs and get that soldier up here," Dione said, pointing to the four barrels in the corner by the stairs. "When she's here, dispatch her as quickly and quietly as possible."
Sieghard nodded.
Dione went down the stairs and snuck across the torture chamber. She was out of sight of the Altmer. Sieghard watched her. When Dione and Belinda were on the balcony on the other side of the torture chamber, he pushed a barrel down the stairs and got the Altmers' attentions. The female soldier told Rulindil she would investigate and went up the stairs. Sieghard jumped her, snapped her neck, and set her down her down. Dione and Belinda shot Rulindil with arrows. They three went downstairs and searched the chest, finding a dossier on a man named Esbern. They flipped through it, read up on this man.
"So they really are looking for that crazy old man," Dione commented. She slipped the book into her pack and heard the door open. Sieghard pressed his back against the wall nearest to the balcony while Dione and Belinda ducked into the shadows and laid low. They looked up, seeing two Thalmor soldiers, and they had Malborn with them, hands bound behind his back. Belinda and Dione cursed silently.
"Come out!" a soldier shouted. "We have your accomplice!"
"Just go," Malborn sighed.
One soldier came down and passed Sieghard, who grabbed him and wrapped one muscular arm around his neck and slapped a hand over his mouth. He squeezed until the Altmer's neck broke. Dione and Belinda moved through the shadows and shot the remaining soldier. Belinda retrieved Malborn and Dione retrieved Etienne and made their escape…
