A Hypothetical Treachery Content . Dramatis Personae Malvasian : An Altmer battlemage Inzoliah : A Dunmer battlemage Dolcettus : A Cyrodiil healer Schiavas : An Argonian barbarian A Ghost Some bandits Scene : Eldenwood As the curtain rises , we see the misty labyrinthian landscape of the legendary Eldengrove of Valenwood . All around we hear wolves howling . A bloodied reptilian figure , SCHIAVAS , breaks through the branches of one of the trees and surveys the area . SCHIAVAS : It ' s clear . INZOLIAH , a beautiful Dark Elf mage , climbs down from the tree , helped by the barbarian . There is the sound of footsteps nearby . Schiavas readies his sword and Inzoliah prepares to cast a spell . Nothing comes out . INZOLIAH : You ' re bleeding . You should have Dolcettus heal that for you . SCHIAVAS : He ' s still drained from all the spells he had to cast down in the caves . I ' m fine . If we get out of this and no one needs it more , I ' ll take the last potion of healing . Where ' s Malvasian ? MALVASIAN , a High Elf battlemage , and DOLCETTUS , a Cyrodiil healer , emerge from the tree , carrying a heavy chest between the two of them . They awkwardly try to get down from the tree , carrying their loot . MALVASIAN : Here I am , though why I ' m carrying the heavy load is beyond me . I always thought that the advantage of dungeon delving with a great barbarian was that he carried all the loot . SCHIAVAS : If I carried that , my hands would be too full to fight . And tell me if I ' m wrong , but not one of the three of you has enough magicka reserved to make it out of here alive . Not after you electrified and blasted all those homunculuses down below ground . DOLCETTUS : Homunculi . SCHIAVAS : Don ' t worry , I ' m not going to do what you think I ' m going to do . INZOLIAH ( innocently ) : What ' s that ? SCHIAVAS : Kill you all and take the Ebony Mail for myself . Admit it - - you thought I had that in mind . DOLCETTUS : What a perfectly horrible thought . I never thought anyone , no matter how vile and degenerate - - INZOLIAH : Why not ? MALVASIAN : He needs porters , like he said . He can ' t carry the chest and fight off the inhabitants of Eldengrove both . DOLCETTUS : By Stendarr , of all the mean , conniving , typically Argonian - - INZOLIAH : And why do you need me alive ? SCHIAVAS : I don ' t necessarily . Except that you ' re prettier than the other two , for a smoothskin that is . And if something comes after us , it might go for you first . There is a noise in some bushes nearby . SCHIAVAS : Go check that out . INZOLIAH : It ' s probably a wolf . These woods are filled with them . You check it out . SCHIAVAS : You have a choice , Inzoliah . Go and you might live . Stay here , and you definitely won ' t . Inzoliah considers and then goes to the bushes . SCHIAVAS ( to Malvasian and Dolcettus ) : The king of Silvenar will pay good money for the Mail , and we can divide it more nicely between three than four . INZOLIAH : You ' re so right . Inzoliah suddenly levitates up to the top of the stage . A semi - transparent Ghost appears from the bush and rushes at the next person , who happens to be Schiavas . As the barbarian screams and thrashes at it with his sword , it levels blasts of whirling gas at him . He crumbles to the ground . It turns next to Dolcettus , the healer , and as the Ghost focuses its feasting chill on the hapless Dolcettus , Malvasian casts a ball of flame at it that causes it to vaporize into the misty air . Inzoliah floats back down to the ground as Malvasian examines the bodies of Dolcettus and Schiavas , who are both white - faced from the draining power of the ghost . MALVASIAN : You had some magicka reserved after all . INZOLIAH : So did you . Are they dead ? Malvasian takes the potion of healing from Dolcettus ' s pack . MALVASIAN : Yes . Fortunately , the potion of healing wasn ' t broken when he fell . Well , I guess this leaves just the two of us to collect the reward . INZOLIAH : We can ' t get out of this place without each other . Like it or not . The two battlemages pick up the chest and begin plodding carefully through the undergrowth , pausing from time to time at the sound of footsteps or other eerie noises . MALVASIAN : Let me make sure I understand . You have a little bit of magicka left , so you elected to use it to make Schiavas the ghost ' s target , forcing me to use most of my limited reserve to destroy the creature so I wouldn ' t be more powerful than you . That ' s first - rate thinking . INZOLIAH : Thank you . It ' s only logical . Do you have enough power to cast any other spells ? MALVASIAN : Naturally . An experienced battlemage always knows a few minor but highly effective spells for just such a trial . I take it you , too , have a few tricks up your sleeve ? INZOLIAH : Of course , like you said . They pause for a moment before continuing as a fearful wail pierces the air . When it dies away , they slowly trudge on . INZOLIAH : Just as an intellectual exercise , I wonder what spell you would cast at me if we made it out of here without any more combat . MALVASIAN : I hope you ' re not implying that I would dream of killing you so I would keep the treasure all to myself . INZOLIAH : Of course not , nor would I do that to you . It is merely an intellectual exercise . MALVASIAN : Well , in that case , purely as an intellectual exercise , I would probably cast a leech spell on you , to take away your life force and heal myself . After all , there are brigands on the road between here and Silvenar , and a wounded battlemage with a valuable artifact would make a tempting target . I ' d hate to survive Eldengrove merely to die in the open . INZOLIAH : That ' s a well - reasoned response . As for myself , again , not saying I would ever do this , but I think a simple , sudden electrical bolt would serve my purposes admirably . I agree about the danger of brigands , but don ' t forget , we also have a potion of healing . I could easily slay you and heal myself to full capacity . MALVASIAN : Very true . It would end up a question then of whose spell was more effective at that instant . If our spells counteracted one another and I leeched your life energy only to be crippled by your lightning bolt , then we could both be killed . Or so near death that a mere potion of healing would scarcely help either one of us , let alone both . How ironic it would be if two scheming battlemages , not saying we are scheming but for the purpose of this intellectual exercise , were left on the brink of death , completely drained of magicka , with one healing potion to choose from . Who would get it then ? INZOLIAH : Logically , whoever drank it first , which in this case would be you since you ' re holding it . Now , what if one of us were injured , but not killed ? MALVASIAN : Logic would dictate that a scheming battlemage would take the potion , leaving the injured party to the mercy of the elements , I suppose . INZOLIAH : That does seem most sensible . But suppose that the battlemages , while certainly scheming types , had a certain respect for one another . Perhaps in that case , the victorious one might , for instance , put the potion up a tree near his or her gravely wounded victim . Then when the wounded party had enough magicka replenished , he or she would be able to levitate to the tree branches and recover the potion . By that time , the victorious battlemage would have already collected the reward . They pause for a moment at the sound of something in the bushes nearby . Carefully , they climb across the branches of a tree to bypass it . MALVASIAN : I understand what you ' re saying , but it seems out of character for our hypothetic scheming battlemage to allow his or her victim to live . INZOLIAH : Perhaps . But it ' s been my observation that most scheming battlemages enjoy the feeling of having bested someone in combat , and having that person alive to live with the humiliation . MALVASIAN : These hypothetical scheming battlemages sound . . . ( excitedly ) Daylight ! Do you see it ? The two scurry across the branch dropping behind a bush , so we can no longer see them . We can , however , see the shimmering halo of sunlight . MALVASIAN ( behind the tall bush ) : We made it . INZOLIAH ( likewise , behind the tall bush ) : Indeed . There is a sudden explosion of electrical energy and a wild howling aura of red light , and then silence . After a few moment ' s pause , we hear someone climbing up the tree . It is Malvasian , putting the potion high up in the bough . He chuckles as he climbs back down and the curtain drops . Epilogue . The curtain rises on a road to Silvenar . A gang of bandits have surrounded Malvasian , who is propped up on his staff , barely able to stand . They pull his chest away from him with ease . BANDIT # 1 : What have we got here ? Don ' t you know it ain ' t safe to be out on the road , all sick like you are ? Why don ' t we help you with your load ? MALVASIAN ( weakly ) : Please . . . Let me be . . . BANDIT # 2 : Go on , spellcaster , fight us for it ! MALVASIAN : I can ' t . . . too weak . . . Suddenly , Inzoliah flies in , casting lightning bolts from her fingers at the bandits , who quickly scramble away . She lands on the ground and picks up the chest . Malvasian collapses , dying . MALVASIAN : Hypothetically , what if . . . a battlemage cast a spell on another which didn ' t harm him at once , but . . . drained his life force and his magicka , bit by bit , so he wouldn ' t know at the time , but . . . feel confident enough to leave the potion of healing behind ? INZOLIAH : A most treacherous battlemage she ' d be . MALVASIAN : And . . . hypothetically . . . would she be likely to help her fallen foe . . . so that she could enjoy the humiliation of him continuing . . . to live ? INZOLIAH : From my experience , hypothetically , no . She doesn ' t sound like a fool . As Inzoliah lugs the chest off toward Silvenar , and Malvasian expires on the stage , we drop the curtain .