Online:Sathile Dreloth

Sathile Dreloth
Home Settlement	Tel Dreloth
Location	Isolation Tower
Race	Dark Elf	Gender	Female
Health	15000
Reaction	Friendly
Other Information
Faction(s)	House Telvanni

Sathile Dreloth

Sathile Dreloth is a Dark Elf and Master of House Telvanni. She is very protective of her son, Nathyn.

Related Quests

• Lovesick: Assist in the rescue of a captive lover.

Quest-Related Events

As you near the end of the Tel Dreloth Caverns, Mistress Dreloth projects an image of herself before you for a little chat.

Dacia Caro: "Wait, do you feel that? It's like we're being watched …."

<Sathile Dreloth projects an image of herself before you not long after Dacia makes her observation. >

Sathile Dreloth: "I've tolerated this incursion long enough."

Speak with her.

"Whoever you are, you've fallen for Dacia's fanciful tale, and now you're enabling her dangerous obsession with my son.
Nathyn made his feelings for Dacia perfectly clear in the letter he wrote. Or was that vital piece of information kept from you?"

The only letter I've seen is the one from Dacia saying she didn't love Nathyn. Did you write that?

"So what if I did? They'd both do well to believe it. They can never be together, do you hear me? Never!
Leave this place! Forget all that you've seen, or you'll end up worse than Tun-Shei."

What did you do to Nathyn? Does it have something to do with Delmon?

"Delmon?
Where did you hear this name, Delmon?"

We found your notes. Tun-Shei said Delmon was responsible for what happened in the lab.

"Ah. I see. So your half-informed mind proves far more dangerous than an uninformed one.
You cannot help. Leave this place, or I will do everything in my remaining power to stop you."

We're not leaving until we find Nathyn.

This ends the conversation, and Sathile's projection dissipates. The next time you encounter her projection will be at the end of the caverns, at the cave-side entrance to the Isolation Tower. She summons a guardian to fend you off.

Sathile Dreloth: "If you won't listen to me, perhaps my guardian will compel you to turn back!"

Her projection appears again before you enter the Isolation Tower Cellar.

Sathile Dreloth: "You cannot fight the danger that lies ahead. This is your last chance."

She appears one last time within the cellar:

Sathile Dreloth: "Dacia, turn back, or you may never leave this tower again!"

After you find Nathyn safe within the ward and speak with him, Sathile Dreloth appears behind the ward in the flesh.

Sathile Dreloth: "So now you know the truth."

Sathile Dreloth in the flesh

Talk to her.

"I'd kept this secret from Nathyn his whole life—that he might not grow up knowing he was a monster of my own making. That he might keep his will to live while I sought a cure.
After all, I gave him the Knahaten Flu and cured him of that, too."

You infected your own son with the Knahaten Flu?

"Delmon and I were trying to save the world. A promising fungal spore sample was on its way from Black Marsh when Delmon caught the very thing we were trying to cure. And I lost him.
I had to know if the spores would have saved him. And now I know."

Why don't the spores affect you?

"Nathyn came from me. I am enough of him that the fungal symbiote does not register me as a separate entity, and therefore not a threat to its host.
That is when I named it. Delmon Mycota. The cure, like love, that would be with us always."

Couldn't you have told Dacia the truth about Nathyn's condition?

"The truth is a poor cure for love. I did not want Dacia to share my fate of being shackled to Tel Dreloth by her own heartstrings. So I tried to drive her away.
But since hers is a love that clearly cannot be cured, I have devised a choice for her."

What choice?

"If Dacia is willing, I can safely inoculate her with the same spores I used on Nathyn.
She will share his affliction and his confinement. But they will be together, and she will want for nothing, except perhaps her freedom."

And what if she doesn't want that?

"Then she can make herself useful and help me find a cure.
I'll hire her on again. I need someone dependable to procure rare ingredients to keep testing possible cures for Delmon Mycota. Perhaps someday she can be one of my researchers."

Asking further questions:

Are you confident you can even find a cure for Nathyn?

"I've been studying Delmon Mycota for over twenty years. If anyone can find a cure, it's me.
I'm not about to abandon my life's most important work. There has to be something that can eradicate the fungus once it's disposed of the Knahaten Flu."

If Dacia chooses to be inoculated, are you going to carry out experiments on her?

"What does it matter, if she and Nathyn are able to live out their days together?
I'd only prioritize curing her. But I am a researcher. I am not above recognizing the benefit of additional subjects with which to compare results."

All your researchers are dead except one. Is anyone going to hold you accountable for that?

"My researchers signed on with me because of my area of study. They knew the dangers of Delmon Mycota, as well as its potential. All that space in the labs was necessary for safe experimentation.
I regret their loss, but they knew the risks."

It seems like their deaths could have been avoided if you had told Nathyn or Dacia the truth.

"Or if I had time to think of a more believable lie to tell the both of them.
I knew they had been meeting for quite some time. When I overheard their plans to run away together, I had to act quickly—or else risk Dacia's certain death."

You knew how they felt about each other?

"Of course I did. I was glad for it at first. Dacia brought Nathyn happiness. If only they could have remained content being in love with the wards up between them.
It was only when they doubted me that things got dangerous. And now, here we are."

I don't understand. How does Delmon Mycota work?

"I suppose my research notes wouldn't give you the whole picture, would they?
Tun-Shei, one of my most devoted researchers, discovered it in a pool of brackish water deep within Black Marsh. Its capture and transport was quite the undertaking."

Nathyn said it was a symbiote? How does that work?

"When bonded inside the lungs of its host, Delmon Mycota passively produces spores toxic to almost all non-fungal life, as you saw in the caverns.
It seems to eradicate anything that might threaten the life of its host—including the Knahaten Flu."

Then how does it find new hosts?

"It is sensitive to smoke, a herald of fire, which causes it to release reproducing spores in anticipation of finding a new host.
These are the spores we would use to inoculate Dacia, if that is what she chooses."

And their spores won't be harmful to one another if they're both inoculated?

"Correct. Somehow, Delmon Mycota recognizes itself, and of course doesn't see itself as a threat.
Argonians like Tun-Shei are a different case, but only barely. Their natural resistance to toxins very nearly meets its match with Delmon Mycota."

If you ask her for her opinion after Dacia asks you what she should do, Sathile says:

"Don't look at me like that. I tried to get her to leave, didn't I?
At best, it would come to this. At worst, she'd have ended up like the rest of the researchers. The choices that love demands of us are never easy."

Tell Dacia to Stay

If you speak to her after telling Dacia to stay but before ending the quest:

"I can only hope she stays happy. I'll provide for her in every possible way.
If she tries to leave, after all, it's my life and research on the line."

You can talk to her after the quest.

"Dacia has chosen to make her home at Tel Dreloth. She brings Nathyn a comfort I could never hope to give him.
I will make sure to show her how thankful I am for that."

What are you going to do now?

"I'll say goodbye to Nathyn. His affliction doesn't affect me because of our shared blood, but I don't have the same connection with Dacia. Her spores would kill me.
I'll inoculate Dacia, and return to my work."

Are you going to hire more researchers?

"I'll have to, won't I? And Tun-Shei will help me, as he's always done.
I pay well, and the world is in no shortage of those who lost loved ones to the Knahaten Flu. I don't anticipate any trouble in finding more help."

Tell Dacia To Leave

If you speak to her after telling Dacia to leave but before ending the quest:

"Dacia's feelings may wither someday. But for now, she's found a path forward that will benefit everyone."

You can talk to her after the quest.

"So, she keeps her freedom. And she'll aid me in finding a cure, so long as her heart remains anchored to Tel Dreloth."

What are you going to do now?

"It'll put a stall in my research, but I think Dacia deserves a break. I've put her through quite a lot.
Letting her be with Nathyn—as much as she can be, with him behind these wards—will be a good reminder for why she chose the way she did."

Are you going to hire on more researchers?

"I'll have to, won't I? And Tun-Shei will help me, as he's always done.
I pay well, and the world is in no shortage of those who lost loved ones to the Knahaten Flu. I don't anticipate any trouble in finding more help."

Notes

• Mistress Dreloth is the author of two books: Sathile's Research Notes and the Note to Nathyn.