Just a Skyrim fanfic: Extended cut

The hunt

(The song above goes very well with this)

Leonidas, Brynjolf, and Karliah meet up at irkngthand in their nightingale armor)

Leonidas: There's a few bandits outside. Cover me. FEIM ZII GRON!

(Leonidas does a leap of faith off a cliff, and his shout protects him from the impact)

Brynjolf: Did he just-?

Karliah: Yes

(Leonidas pulls out his sword and takes down the bandits head on with Karliah providing ranged support with her bow)

(As soon as the bandits are cleared out, everyone heads inside to find a bunch of dead bandits)

Karliah: Mercer's been here. I hope we're not too late. The bandits must have been his doing

Leonidas: I'm ready

Karliah: We should tread carefully. I wouldn't be surprised if he left behind a few surprises for us

(The trio heads through a door and sees someone with an eye patch fighting a group Falmer)

Karliah: It's Mercer. Look. Down there

(Karliah readies her bow, but Leonidas stops her)

Leonidas: Wait. Let him clear them out. Or maybe they'll get him

(Mercer kills a group of Falmer with his dual swords and heads deeper into the ruins)

Karliah: He's toying with us. He wants us to follow

Leonidas: Then lets not disappoint him

Brynjolf: We'll be ready for him

(The three nightingales continue to chase Mercer through irkngthand, being careful to avoid any traps)

Leonidas: Follow me. We'll take the high road

(Leonidas, Karliah, and Brynjolf take an elevated route, and use their bows to kill whatever Falmer are in the area)

(Something makes the ground rumble)

Brynjolf: A tower collapsed

Karliah: The only reason to do that would be to block pursuit. It must be Mercer

Leonidas: That just means he trapped himself

(A dwarven centurion activates and starts walking around)

Brynjolf: Shor's bones. Look at that monstrosity. We can take the beast on, or sneak around. It's your call

Leonidas: FUS RO DAH!

(The dwarven centurion falls backwards off of a ledge from Leonidas's force shout)

Brynjolf/Karliah: Woah

Leonidas: Now, if there are no further interruptions, let us proceed

(Leonidas opens a set of double doors, and everyone walks through)

Brynjolf: Ugh. The stench. This place reeks of Falmer

Karliah: This must be their hive. We'll have to keep silent if we want to avoid drawing attention

Leonidas: We don't even have to. Watch this

(Leonidas pulls a lever, which activates a blade trap and shreds up a few unsuspecting Falmer below)

Karliah: Even the Falmer don't deserve the pain these implements must have inflicted. The dwarves were a cruel race. There's a mass of Falmer in this chamber. We can sneak through or take them down. As long as we get to Mercer