Chapter 5 The ‘Fight’ part 2
[ 'Alright, who should I target-Dunmer with the fire spell it is.'] I mentally affirm my choice, moving towards the Dunmer and his Nord friend, who were playing some cards before I interrupted and began this little 'fight'. I thickened the darkness around them, making it so that even with the flame spell, they could barely see a foot in front of them. "Azura protect me." The Dunmer said as he saw my illusionary shades come closer, only able to see them because of the glowing green eyes that pierced the inky shadows. The blond Nord stayed silent, readying his dagger. [ 'Time to scare some hardworking thieves']
I telekinetichally grabbed the Nord and quickly dragged him away from his Dunmer friend, said Dunmer yelping and jerking away at the sudden loss of his buddy. The Nord yelled and was promptly knocked out. I then(after putting the Nord next to the other victims of my little game) zipped over to the Dunmer and not-so-gently flicked him in the chest as he was wasting his magicka attempting to burn the shades, sending him careening over the table behind him. And when he landed, rattled from the blow, I quickly cast the Sleep spell on him. All the while my Auditorial spell was working over time to make it sound as if they were being ripped to pieces.
I moved over to the middle left side where the beds are located, and knock out the three I left there earlier, being quick about it because I saw a man with a golden sword and a green dagger enter the cistern, coming to a halt as he saw the magical shadows and heard the screams of people dying. Several others rush in behind him and similarly halt,a man in barman clothes with a nice mustache and wielding a crossbow, a dark skinned woman wearing thieves guild equipment wielding finely crafted daggers, and a tall, muscular man wearing leather armor wielding a great axe. I also sensed another heartbeat behind the wall, probably the Alteration mage.
I stop casting my shadowy and auditorial illusion magic, not wanting Mercer to run and cut his losses. Simultaneously, I cast illusion magic on the unconscious bodies, making them look like corpses with stab and spell wounds. I speak as they are all assessing what happened-or as in the case of Brynjolf and his group, recovering from the shock of what just happened in barely more than a minute-97 seconds-- "Ah, Mercer Frey, just the Breton I've been looking for! Oh, sorry about the mess, I do hope that these....people..weren't close to you? Ah well, I doubt you would be willing to pay the price for resurrecting them anyway." Everyone's heads snap towards me as I speak, right in the center of Brynjolf's group of four -well more like three, considering Delvin is passed out-making Vax, Brynjolf, and another fellow jump away from my voice, the unnamed man yelping, all three of them turning around to face me as I finish my speech, looking at me in hatred and not a small bit of fear. Mercer collects himself quickly, saying hesitantly "Who are you, and why....did you attack us?" I cock my helmeted head, saying "I just woke up from a very much unwanted nap, and decided to come back to my old hunting grounds, so imagine my suprise when I heard this so called 'thieves guild' had set up shop, in MY city? So, like any smart home owner, I tracked the rodents who lived in the walls, finding their nest-oh thanks by the way, for unwittingly leading me here- and waited for you lot to gather in large numbers, so I could...cull the herd, and tell you how this is going to go." I finish, giving a whole bunch of masterly crafted bullshit and playing up the vampire routine. I hear several of them's teeth grind at my comments and condencsending tone, while Mercer tenses up even more at the 'reveal' of me having followed him for who knows how long. He breathes out slowly, calming himself, and says "So, what do you want from us?" I smile beneath my helm and say "I want you to give me some of your treasures, all your information of the lands, and following my acquisition of your treasures, I will get a cut of any future jobs so that you can continue your operations without worry of having accidents. Or...I could do away with this charade and enthrall you all?" Mercer looks like he's about to pop a blood vessel with how much anger he's trying to contain at my frankly outrageous demands. Vekel and Brynjolf look absolutely apoplectic with anger, while the others either share in their expressions or appear resigned. Everyone glances at Frey while I unhurriedly and blatantly cast Telekinesis on the person behind the wall leading into the cistern who's slowly trying to leave, catching them and hearing a loud yelp of fright. Meanwhile everyone quickly looked away from Mercer and tensely watched me cast the spell, then their heads collectively darted to where the yelp was heard, seeing me dragging the telekinetichally bound, robed Wood Elf woman closer to my self. I say "Well, well, if it isn't the fleshcrafting mage. Really Mercer, if you thought she could help you fight me, you were sorely mistaken." His nostrils flair in frustration, beyond that, his entire face loses it's angry hue-an act, smart- and he says in an even tone, "Well, it was worth a shot. We will...do as you ask. If..you would allow me to go to the vault, I could show you where we keep most of our gold and treasures." I nod and gesture for him to do so, while still holding the flesh crafter-Galathil, that's her name- in my spell. He walk around me and heads for the vault, unlocks it with his key and shoves the metal doors open.
I follow behind him and smirk at the chests,shelves, and racks filled with treasures and coin. "Hmm...I'll take seventy gold coins, and that ebony sword right there." I point and he silently does as I say, grabbing a coin bag and filling it with exactly seventy gold, then grabbing the sword and walking over to me, handing me the bag and blade. He evenly states "Will that be all?". I say "For now." Then turn around and walk out the vault with my misbegotten gains. I head where the 'corpses' are and cast Healing Hands on the unconscious group. They all yelp and scramble up, frazzled and very much frightened. I turn away from the lot, look back at the stock still group and say, "I'm not one to needlessly harm or break my tools. Consider this a....token of future cooperation. Now, I'll be on my way." I promptly zip out and into the tunnel leading out of Riften before I can be stopped, pausing to gently drop Galathil before continuing outside.
I again briefly pause before exiting the tunnel to rewrap my eyes, then exit at a normal pace and slowly turn towards the stairs, still helmeted. "Alright Mir'inale, I'm back!" I hear a shuffling of footsteps and then sense her enter my field as she gets closer, saying "That was quick, This One thought you would be longer. And is that a sword?" I smile beneath my helm and say" It's crafted from ebony, actually. Figured we could sell my old blade and get a decent bit of coin off of it on top of what I acquired while reclaiming my territory. Can you believe there's an entire THEIVES' GUILD in my old haunt!? Come down, and I'll tell you everything that just happened!" I state in a slightly disbelieving-if happy- tone. She walks down the steps and approaches me,saying as she steps close "Do you want This One to carry your new weapon Jordan?" I shake my head, "No, it's quite alright. Can't even feel it's weight, actually. Now, let me tell you what happened, you see I had just taken off my blindfold when I heard- " I tell her what transpired, occasionally letting her in on my thoughts of why I acted the way I did in a plausible manner, not giving away the fact this was my idea the moment we arrived near Riften.