Shadowkey:Rescue Prisoners

Quick Walkthrough
# Speak to Priestess Almathea.
# Find Delfran's Hideout.
# Search the hideout for all the prisoners.
# Return to Azra's Crossing.

Detailed Walkthrough
Priestess Almathea
Having proved yourself by finding the herbs, Acolyte Menlin asks you to speak with Priestess Almathea. The Priestess tells you that the bandits have taken away all the villagers and will kill them all if they are not rescued in time. She asks you to find the bandits hideout near Ghast's Pass and free them.

Finding Delfran's Hideout
Follow the path from the village that you used during the Herb Quest but this time go across the bridge. There you will meet Old Trinket, who tells you he saw a set of rats carrying a chest to Delfran's Hideout. If you follow the road you will see them off to the west just before you reach Ghast's Pass, and heading off the road in that direction will lead you to the Hideout. 

A message will pop up saying:
:"You think you see some rats scurrying nearby... with a chest?"
:Looked like it.
:''"And where there are rats, bandits are sure to be close by. You wonder where the rats were bringing the chest. It can't be too far."''

You can slaughter the rats and get the chest, which has 250 gold in it.

Releasing the Prisoners
As you enter Delfran's Hideout, a message will pop up saying:
:"Raucous laughter and crude shouts echo through the halls. They appear to be celebrating the looting of your village."

As you continue forward, two guards will approach you and say:
:''"Hey, you aren't supposed to be here!"

:Yet here I am.
::"Great, a villager who thinks he is a hero. Raise the alarm!"

:Die, scum!'''

Either way, you will have to kill them both. After this, continue through the door, where you will have to fight a bandit 

The Cells
To the east you will find a block of four locked cells. To get the key you must enter the adjoining kitchen and speak to the Chef. The Chef, who is rather short sighted, assumes you are a bandit and hands you a bowl of stew and the cell keys, asking you to feed the prisoners. You can then use the key to empty the cells. There are four female prisoners here, including Heather. 

The Infirmary
In the northwest of the Hideout you will find the infirmary. There are two more female prisoners here. When you free them they will tell you to rescue someone from the Interrogation room and that Birgitta has been taken to Delfran's throne room.

The Training Rooms
A little to the south of the Infirmary you will find two rooms containing locked chests. One of them will have another female prisoner in it.

The Interrogation Room
In the Northwest of the Hideout you will find a pool of water that can recharge Magicka, to the west of here is the Interrogation room. Contained within it is the only male prisoner and a captured Orc named Makor. As well as freeing the prisoner you can also choose to free the Orc, who will promise to repay you someday.

Delfran's throne room
In the center of the Hideout is Delfran's Throne room, unfortunately it is locked behind two doors. To get the keys you must kill Lieutenant Jolias and Lieutenant Breser, who both wander the corridors west of here. Once you have the keys, you can enter the throne room, where you will confront Delfran and his Guards. After killing him you find he has a Shadowkey on his throne and two captives, Birgitta and Skelos Undriel.

Reward
After freeing all the prisoners (Brigitta, Skelos, Heather, seven other female prisoners and one other male), you will be told to return to the village. 
Talk with Almathea to receive your reward.

Notes
It's not essential to release all the prisoners. As long as Brigitta is rescued from Delfran's throne room, the others can be left behind. Each prisoner released, however, gives a 100 XP reward so it's worth spending the time.
More rats being used as beasts of burden, this time a group of them stealing a chest.
The Chef also points out that the bandits seem to live on an all rat diet too.
This rewards you the first Shadowkey you can collect, see the Shadow Gate page to see what to do with it.