There’s some discussion, right now, about where to put the gem. The younger and more impressionable pair definitely want it to be sealed in the big vault; their elder has just enough sense not to want to tamper with the protections. Somewhat less sensibly (perhaps) she’s reminding them that the Cowl of Nocturnal is being kept in there, and they can’t risk the corruption of exposure to such a dark artifact.

She’d rather just put the gem into the sealed display case where there are already three black soul gems. ‘To wait for purification’, she says. Nearby is a nearly complete set of daedric armor looming black and blood-red on its stand; an ugly black mace on another, a gnarled wooden staff in the center of an unnecessarily large (and smelly) cage. Each is warded with more simple runes (though an ordinary thief, one imagines, could easily be killed by even these precautions).

Felix, in the meantime, has made his way downstairs: he’s lurking outside the door and trying to peek through the crack to see if he can sneak in. He pushes it carefully, but it starts to creak once it’s open a crack, making one of the Vigilants jump and look around nervously. Blast! He retreats a step to try and come up with a new plan, listening in case they actually come investigate.