Chapter 86: Laying a trap

[14th – 16th of Sun's Dawn 4E 203]

My friend Damien, the Imperial battlemage, had insisted that we meet outside of the city, and he had outlined a plan to lay a major trap for the Thalmor. Considering their scheming, attitude and behavior, I had to agree that this – a trap rather than opposing them publicly – was the way to go. We could not risk causing a public affront or antagonize them too much; one never knew how they'd react. If there were some serious accidents, though, and they could neither explain nor prove our involvement, that was going to be an entire different story, and we had done a big step in that direction already with the heist in the Arcane University some weeks ago.

In the early afternoon my wife and I walked to the castle, as suggested. We were guided into a medium sized room and met good friends. Captain Hadvar was there from the legion, Captain Inius and Selina Matius from the city guard, and a young male Imperial I did not know. This time even Legate Brutus, the legion commander of the county, was with us, and he greeted us warmly:

"How was your time in Anvil, T'mara and B'lushona?"

"Great, thanks. Anvil is a nice city, and it was nice to be close to the coast for a few days, too."

"So, I have heard that you are planing to leave Cyrodiil again soon?"

"Right, it's time to go home again, and this is Skyrim for us. We are waiting for the ship's captain to tell us about the right time."

"I wonder if you'd want to join us for a few days to look at what a group of scholars and mages have found at Garlas Malatar? Do you have time for that?"

"We probably still have a few weeks, so what would that be about?"

"It's really amazing. Do you recall something about the history of Garlas Malatar?"

"We do, yes; it is the place where the Hero of Kvatch defeated Umaril the Unfeathered, right?"

"Right, and there were Auroran warriors to help Umaril, big and ferocious Daedra from Meridia's plane. Some of the mages have found something really amazing related to those Aurorans, and we would like you to witness that together with some of us. So, if the two of you can spare a few days, we'd be honored to have you with us. As a matter of fact, we plan to leave for the place day after tomorrow, and I will join the party as well. The ruin is in Anvil county, but my counterpart in Anvil has invited me."

T'mara and I looked at each other, and as we had agreed with Damien earlier, we nodded, and I said:

"Sure, that will be a nice little adventure just before we leave the province again, and thank you for inviting us."

So far for the 'official' discussion. At this time, there were only very few Thalmor in the city, and one of them had claimed that they needed to be included. T'mara and I went home and told the rest of the family about our plans. We had spent a few nice weeks with them, and our girls were happy enough to get a few more days just with Grandpa and Grandma and our housecarls. Naturally, Iona and Valdimar objected and did not like to be left behind, saying that their duty was to protect us, but we made clear that we were going to travel with soldiers and mages, and that had to be good enough.

We hugged our girls on the next night when we got them to bed, and we left the city early in the morning on the day after. At the stables we met Legate Brutus with a detachment of soldiers and battlemages, the latter ones lead by my friend Damien; we mounted our horses and off we rode. Captain Hadvar had to stay behind this time. The mages interested in the discovery, from both Kvatch and Anvil, had already left days earlier, and it would be our job to make the situation plausible and emphasize the legion's interest.

While we rode T'mara used the opportunity to have Edric, her familiar, fly around again. The griffin apparently enjoyed the chance and rose high up into the air. If there was a danger lurking somewhere ahead, he was certainly going to warn us, but a group of two dozen soldiers and mages was unlikely to encounter any problem.

When we got to the Gold Road at the hill bottom, another group of mages and soldiers already waited for us. Some highly qualified mages from the Arcane University and a group of legion soldiers from the Imperial City had the same destination, and Legate Brutus had timed our departure so that we were going to meet them.

While we followed the Gold Road west, Legate Brutus keep his horse close to T'mara and me, and he gave us an update on the situation with the '3G':

"This is not public knowledge yet, but the information we gained from the captured bandits end of last year in the university area turned out to be priceless. Sure, the bosses themselves managed to keep their secrets, but some of their deputies talked, after some 'encouragement'. Our two master interrogators managed to extract some locations from them, and special forces were sent there. The soldiers did not attack the hideouts, but first observed for a week or two, and this lead us to further places, some of them being used as storage for stolen goods.

We sent word to initiate the hits on a specific day, and we got into all location we knew at about the same time. This allowed us to not only get access to lots of stolen merchandise, but also arrest more bandits, and we believe that the gangs have been hit very hard and will not recover anytime soon. In addition we found more documents confirming that the Thalmor had been partially financing the gangs for years already, and they had defined some targets for theft and such. Naturally, no Thalmor were at any location we raided, but that does not matter."

"Wow" I responded. "So, it looks our effort was good for something."

"It certainly was, indeed. Strangely, even the representatives of the Thieves Guild are happy about our success. The '3G' gangs had operated outside of the guild's control, and they had not followed the guild's standards and moral rules. With them now out of the play, the guild may have a chance to get their own business organized again. Naturally, we don't want them to get too organized, but it is certainly better to have criminal activity done under strict rules, like to killing people, than getting crime out of control. We certainly will keep our eyes on the guild, too, but we will probably not pursue them as vigorously as a certain Hieronymus Lex had done two centuries ago."

"Oh, I have heard about this story; but his activities were stopped by the guild, right?"

"Sure was, yes. One day he got transferred from the Imperial City to Anvil, and strangely there were no records of this transfer, but somehow he had been requested by the Count of Anvil. We do suspect that the Thieves Guild has managed to get this arranged, but we never learned how."

We nodded, and the legate continued:

"Now, for the Ayleid ruin, you know the basic background. A small team has already been busy to outfit some forces with fake Auroran armor and weapons, and it was a little tricky at first to find proper people to wear that. Fortunately, one of our soldiers in Kvatch is an Orc, and he has friends with the large group of Orcs living in and around the place which is still called Lord Drad's Estate. You know, the one which belonged to that Dunmer who kept Orcs like slaves to work for him; they just kept the name of the place. Some big orcs volunteered and are now training with the new armor and weapons; their body build and strength will make our show more plausible. We have also prepared the one single door to the lowest level, and we have planted some fireworks to go off when we need it to add some effects to the show, too."

"So," my wife chimed in, "the plan is to trap the Thalmor and have most of them die, right? Isn't that cruel?"

"Yes, lady, I guess that it is. We'd prefer to just imprison them, but to legally do that, we lack the proof, and we can't have some of them run and tell a different story. We can only afford to have the few get away who have been exposed to the full effects and who are fully convinced that their colleagues triggered traps on their own. Their own arrogance will make it easier for us, I hope. Besides, I told you the story how the Thalmor trapped my unit years ago, right? They showed no mercy and had no scruples at all killing everybody they had no use for. I am not saying that is perfect to do the same to them, but it is a good enough justification for me."

"Indeed, I can understand. But how will their arrogance help us?"

"I am certain that they will insist to study the inscriptions on their own for some time, and most of the inscriptions are on walls in the lowest section, so that they will need to go there, without us looking over their shoulders. They will play right in our hands."

We nodded, and for some time we rode in silence now. Just before we were gong to leave the road, west of the Brina Cross Inn, we stopped for a quick early lunch, and with some soldiers now also listening in, I asked Legate Brutus how he liked being here in Cyrodiil again. He responded:

"Well, life could not be much better for me, honestly. I am back where I belong, and while Kvatch is not my home city, I have been at so many different locations that I do not really have a home any longer. The legion has been my home for more than a decade, and getting that position is Kvatch is likely to be the best point in my career. Kvatch has treated me well so far, and I try to also treat Kvatch and its citizens nicely. Sometimes I miss a nice lady at my side, but I am so much an Imperial soldier that she would not stay long at my side."

My wife and I looked at each other, and I knew that we had a different opinion on that; however, that was Brutus' prerogative to keep it as he wanted. I asked him:

"So, don't you have any hobbies at all? Something to do in your free time?"

"A legate is always on duty, my friends. But yes, there is something I sometimes find a little time for. Castle Kvatch has a large garden, and the Count has a few gardeners taking care of it. A long time ago, when I was stationed in Skingrad and was not yet an officer, I was tasked to patrol the northern road around the city for a few years, and I came to admire the many colorful flowers growing there. Eventually I met some of the people who bred some flowers and made them look even more beautiful, and since that time I have always tried to find opportunities to also do that a little. Since I arrived in Kvatch, I have been working together with the local gardeners, and it is quite relaxing to talk about roses, lilies, and many other cultivated flowers, including some from other regions and even other provinces. I don't have too much time for this, but nonetheless the flowers serve as a nice counterpart to my job."

That one I could certainly understand. By now we had finished our quick meal and rode on, leaving the road now. We kept south of Crowhaven and arrived at Garlas Malatar in later afternoon. Brutus decided that we were going to meet the mages inside the ruin on the next day, and we set up camp. Some soldiers cooked dinner, and when he sun had set, we split into smaller groups around individual campfires for eating and chatting. Damien introduced us to some mages from the Arcane University, and T'mara was acknowledged with some interest. When we had finished our meal, it turned out that some of us, including T'mara, had very little knowledge about this place and Umaril, whereas I had re-read some of my ancestor's diaries to refresh my memory. Thus I volunteered to provide some background:

"When the Hero of Kvatch had helped Martin Septim to defeat Mehrunes Dagon, he rested for a few months, but when he traveled to Anvil, he met a prophet and the prophet told him about a quest to restore the Knights of the Nine. The hero succeeded, and the quests final fight was here in the Ayleid ruin, against Umaril the Unfeathered. Umaril was an Ayleid king and sorcerer, and he was rumored to be allied with Meridia. In the First Era, Umaril was defeated by Pelinal Whitestrake, but he did not really die; rather, he somehow survived and managed to return to this realm at the end of the Third Era, where the Hero of Kvatch encountered him and finally defeated him for good. This had to be done twice – once in our normal mortal plane, and once in the spirit realm. With the help and guidance of Talos, this was a full success, although a few knights died here in the fights against Aurorans, Umaril՚s guards."

"Wow, you really know a lot about all of that" my wife admitted.

"I cheated, and I refreshed my memory by reading the reports again recently" I conceded with a smile.

It was time for sleep now, and I happily pulled my wife into our big sleeping bag, the very one I had purchased more than a year ago in Riften. Sleeping with her petite body tightly pressed to mine was always very enjoyable.

We woke on the next day from the noise of a camp waking up, and soon we shared breakfast with some soldiers and mages around our campfire.

Brutus issued orders, and about half an hour later a few of us, mostly the mages from the Arcane University, T'mara and I, were guided into the depths of Garlas Malatar. We had camped on the mainland, and now we crossed the wooden walkway to the island the top part of the ruin was located on. We quickly passed the upper two levels, and the door to the lowest level was guarded by four soldiers. They acknowledged the legate and allowed us to pass, and we got into the area called 'Garlas Malatar, Carac Abaran', as Damien told us.

There was a large hall down there, and a few passages branching off from it. Some of them showed signs of recent tampering, and one passage lead to a room with many inscriptions on the walls.

"The inscriptions are of course all in the Ayleid language. Fortunately, for us, very few Thalmor manage this language, but they will certainly send at least one who can read it down here. Naturally, we have deciphered all of that already, and while some inscriptions actually do mention spells, nothing new is revealed here, although there are plenty of references to Aurorans. The Thalmor don't know that, and they will certainly almost all want to be down here, or so we hope."

We looked around, and Brutus asked for all of us to carefully check everything and tell him if we could see some signs of tampering, except for the places which were marked as such deliberately. There were none to see, and Brutus was happy about that, claiming that he assumed that the traps his experts had prepared should be hidden well enough from the Thalmor. There were a few places, though, where small buttons were shown, and some of those were wired to trigger some special effects, as one of the mages explained.

Before we went out of the ruin again, my wife mused:

"Once in my life I would like to be able to explore such an Ayleid ruin, with no hurry and having good friends with me. I can imagine that ruin exploration can be really exciting and fulfilling."

One of the mages around us nodded and replied:

"Your are right, lady, it can be that. However, in a ruin which has not been searched yet carefully, there can also been all kinds of nasty surprises, like traps which were missed, hidden doors and chambers with dangerous liches coming out, and more. It is really amazing how many of the ancient structures and traps have survived the flow of time."

"Yep, similar in many Nordic ruins in Skyrim" I chimed in. "They also have lots of traps which still work perfectly, and the Dwemer ruins have all kind of mechanical guardians still in working condition, up to the monstrous centurions. I wonder if they have hidden repair shops on some levels to restore them once they get damaged or even destroyed."

Around noon time we were outside again, and a courier came to warn Brutus that the main Thalmor troop was likely to arrive before dusk. We had done what we could, and all we'd have to do now was waiting, without making it obvious that we just waited, of course. Thus, a number of soldiers were patrolling the area, and a few soldiers even were in the water, pretending to check for potential traps or additional exits there. Overall, we looked busy and occupied when the Thalmor group arrived. I had expected them to show in force, but I had not expected more than two dozen of them. They must have taken almost all available staff from their embassy in the Imperial City, and there were about half wizards and half soldiers, plus a total of five (!) Justiciars. To my dismay, the Justiciar who had tried to arrest us close to Kvatch was one of them, and he more or less glared daggers at my T'mara and me when he saw us.

"I have never seen so many Thalmor together before" I whispered to my wife.

She just nodded, and the leading Justiciar – fortunately not the one we had met before – now stopped close to Legate Brutus, with the other Justiciars close to him. If he intended to intimidate the legate, his efforts totally failed, and after some time the Justiciar spoke:

"So this is the place?"

"Which place are you talking about?"

"The place where the inscriptions were found and where you found a spell to conjure an Auroran warrior."

"Well, yes, it seems so."

The Thalmor finally seemed to noticed that his behavior did not get him anywhere, and he made an effort to be polite for now:

"All right, my name is Justiciar Andorion, and the ambassador in the Imperial City requests that we check out your discovery."

The legate nodded and replied:

"I am Legate Brutus, commander of the legion on county Kvatch; I also speak for my colleague in Anvil, who is not here today. My general in the Imperial City has authorized me to guard this place and prevent access to all who are not eligible and authorized."

"This is good" the Thalmor responded. "This implies that there are not so many people around to stand in our way when we investigate."

"What authorizes you to get in? Do you have a permission from the Legion, signed by our general?"

"We are Thalmor, and we do not need such a permit. You certainly understand this, right?"

The other Justiciars looked at us with barely concealed threats, and it was apparent that they did not care about our regulations, although they had to be aware of the fact that they really did not have any justification and authority here, specifically not over a legion legate. Of course we wanted them down there, but we could not make it too obvious.

Brutus tried to explain:

"It's not that we don't understand that, but I have clear instructions to keep unauthorized people out until we have made sure that the area is secure. There have been a few incidents, and we believe that there are still a few major traps down there; I am sure you understand."

"Nonsense; we don't care about traps. We will see the place and the inscriptions for ourselves, and our group of soldiers and mages will protect the scholars."

The legate pretended to hesitate, and the Justiciar continued:

"If you continue to block our way for much longer, you will certainly cause a diplomatic incident; this is now official Thalmor business!"

Yes, the Thalmor did have some special rights in our Empire, but they did not really have any rights to meddle in our affairs and our investigations of our own ruins like that. The Thalmor knew that and we knew that, but the Thalmor usually assumed that intimidation worked well, and that was what Brutus counted on. Reluctantly he stepped aside and said:

"Well, if you insist, go ahead. But I need to warn you; I strongly recommend that you take some of our legion soldiers and battlemages down there who know the area and all; we are almost certain that there are still a few cleverly hidden traps around, and your lives may be in danger."

"Nonsense; our own soldiers are more than good enough. Let's go!"

They even refused to take a single guide with them, and after five minutes or so, some of us slowly followed. When we got close to the door to the lowest level, the few mages who had worked down there came out; they had been ordered to leave by the Thalmor, right as expected. As far as I could tell, the Thalmor had left two guards outside, and two more were now posted close to the door, which was pretty close to our expectations.

From our point of view, this could not have gone much better, and we were more than ready to spring the trap, or rather just wait until one of the Thalmor down there touched something they should rather not have touched.

[Author's Notes: I enjoyed playing the 'Knights of the Nine' DLC in TES IV. So, lots of planing and preparations; let's see how all this works out.]