The Calm Before the Storm
Delvin Mallory rode his horse as fast as he could to the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary near Falkreath. He has to see if the rumors were true. Rumors had gotten out that the Dark Brotherhood had been destroyed by the Dragonborn Tigre Pantheros. The guards and the patrons at the Bee and Barb have talked about it and at first, he dismissed it as a mere rumor. When Maven came to the Ragged Flagon the previous night to inform him that one of Astrid's associates failed to appear after she performed the Black Sacrament, he got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. After Maven has left, he tells Mercer that he has some business outside of Riften to take care of. He bought a horse from Hofgrir Horse-Crusher at the stables and set off.
When he arrived one of the first things that greeted Delvin's sight were two dead Dark Brotherhood assassins on the side of the road. He quickly dismounted the horse and examined the bodies. One of them got shot in the neck with an arrow, the other appeared to have been stabbed by a sword. He turned his focus away from the bodies when his eyes widened in shock, horror, and disbelief at the following sight. There were more bodies of Dark Brotherhood assassins surrounding the entrance to the Sanctuary. One sight that stood out was that the entrance to the Sanctuary was open. The door, or rather the pieces of it were lying on the ground, looked like it had been blasted open. Melvin had read that the Thu'um was powerful enough to blast open castle doors.
Delvin did not want to see what was in there, but in order to find out what happened he stepped inside. Upon walking downstairs, the inside of the Sanctuary was completely trashed. The first body he sees is of Festus Krex who was stabbed and had both of his arms cut off. He went down the stairs that led to the main chamber and gasped in shock at the sight of the carnage in front of him. Arnbjorn was lying slumped against the wall, Veezara's headless body was on the ground, a pool of blood forming from the headless stump. Veezara's head was floating in the pool of water below the stained-glass window depicting Sithis. Also in the pool of water were the bodies of Nazir and Gabriella. The blood coming from their bodies stained the water red as it flowed. Delvin ran left of the word wall, went up the earthen ramp, and into the doorway that led to where the alchemy lab is. He saw the body of Lis the frostbite spider inside the pit, her body pelted with arrows. There was only one person that Delvin hadn't seen, Babette. Delvin looked everywhere else in the Sanctuary. No sign of Babette anywhere. She had to have escaped somehow.
Delvin dropped to his knees trying to comprehend what he had discovered. "By the gods, it really is true. Did one Khajiit really cause all of this?"
He heard the sound of coughing coming from the main chamber. He rushed down there and saw Arnbjorn barely showing signs of life crawling on the ground.
"Arnbjorn!" Delvin ran over to him.
"Delvin? Delvin? Is that you?" Arnbjorn asked.
"Yes, it's me." Delvin gave Arnbjorn a healing potion that would be enough for him to hang on for a little while longer. "What happened here?"
"You need to warn the Thieves Guild… You're in danger," Arnbjorn said weakly.
"In danger? What are you talking about?"
"This whole mess started when that stupid cat stole a contract from the Night Mother by killing that lady at Riften's orphanage…" Arnbjorn went into a coughing fit once he got the first part of the explanation out.
The lady at the orphanage that Arnbjorn was referring to is Grelod the Kind. Ironically despite the name from what Delvin heard. He heard horror stories about Grelod from Vekel and a few of the Guild's recruits who escaped from Honorhall. When Grelod was killed, Vekel had some celebratory drinks. According to the story, a creature that could be best described as a fusion of a werewolf, tiger, and lion came in, took Grelod outside, and mauled her to death. If Delvin remembered his time in the Dark Brotherhood correctly, Arnbjorn was a werewolf member of the Companions and only members of the Circle are granted beast blood.
"Grelod's death? That was really him?" asked Delvin.
Arnbjorn nodded. "Apparently, it made an impression on Astrid that she not only planned to make Pantheros pay the debt he owes but initiate him into the Dark Brotherhood…I tried warning her that it was a bad idea and look what happened…" Arnbjorn began coughing up blood at this point.
"Arnbjorn just hang on, I'm going to get you help," said Delvin.
"It's…too late. We haven't heard from Astrid since she left to carry out her plans for that fire breathing cat." Arnbjorn coughed up blood again.
"We found out why a week after she left…That cat apparently took over the College of Winterhold, the Companions, and even became Thane of several of the holds across Skyrim…He came with the Circle as well as several mages from the College, and a few of his Housecarls…They came here, killed our brothers and sisters outside, Pantheros blasted the door open with his Thu'um, and they came for almost all of us…Luckily Babette went out to complete a contract before the attack happened…" Arnbjorn explained.
"What does all of this have to do with the Thieves Guild being in danger?" asked Delvin.
"I was getting to that…" Arbjorn coughed blood for the third time. "That cat and Aela bashed my head against the wall several times and once I was slumped against the wall, they went to finish off the others…Right before I lost consciousness, I overheard him say something about doing something similar to the Thieves Guild…You've seen a taste of what he is capable of…You must warn the Thieves Guild…Good luck Mallory, you're going to need it…" With that Arnbjorn closed his eyes one final time.
If what he told him was true, he needs to head back to Riften quickly. If the Dragonborn is capable of wiping out the Dark Brotherhood, imagine what he could do to the Thieves Guild. He has to warn Mercer and the others. He could only hope that he won't be too late by the time he gets there. Not only did Astrid's actions sealed the Dark Brotherhood's fate but also doomed the Thieves Guild.
Author's Note: For many of you who do good guy playthroughs on Skyrim one of the things probably disappointed some of you is that you can't kill the Thieves Guild in the vanilla game. Luckily the modding community blessed us with the Destroy the Thieves Guild mod. This story is inspired by that mod. For those of you who hate the Thieves Guild and want to get rid of them, this is the mod for you.