Skyrim: Band of Thieves

Capper found that while they searched the fort for loot, and were ignored by the old maid that seemed to call the place home and worked for whoever owned it, that the new pair of kobolds watched him and his friends, seeing how they went for the gold, gems, and armor of value. Such a thing caused them to wander for a time, where Midnight followed them to be sure they didn't get into trouble, only to find that they returned with a small bag that was full of pricey looking potions, as if the pair of kobolds understood that they were looking for and wanted to help out. That, of course, caused Capper to think about the ones that were living with Ithelia in the area outside the Vault, the trio he had created before reaching this fort, and if they would be the same, taking to their new lives and forms as quickly as these two were doing. He suspected that the mage and warrior kobolds would be training, since that was what Ithelia had in mind for them, and the first thief would be learning in some manner, before letting out a sigh as he realized that the only way to figure it out would be to head into his realm and see.

When he checked the large chest that was in the chief's part of the fort, the highest point, Capper found a bag of gold that had roughly a hundred and fifty coins inside it, a silver necklace with a sapphire and a gold ring with an identical gem, both of which were enchanted, a set of orcish boots, and a mage robe that seemed stronger than Rarity's attire.

"It doesn't look like these guys had much on them." Capper commented, joining the others outside the fort once they were done looting the structure, where he found that there had been a few more chests, as La'nari had some items that had likely come from another one she had discovered, mostly just a coin pouch and some fur.

"I would agree... you'd think with their proximity to the road they'd be a little richer." La'nari remarked, though at the same time she checked out the items Capper had found before taking the robes, as they looked more like the apprentice level, as she had seen several mage robes over her life and these looked like they were better than the novice rank, "Hey Rarity, looks like we found something better for you... not sure which class of magic this robe belongs to, but it should help you out with your magic."

Rarity looked at the robes for a moment before shrugging and mentioned that she could make it work, though as she and the others started to board the wagon, having brought it near the entrance to help transport any loot they might acquire from the bandits of Fort Greymoor, Capper noticed that the dark purple kobold had a dagger and was stabbing the nearby bandit corpse.

"Woah, careful with that." Capper stated, where he approached her and gently took hold of her arm, stopping her from using the dagger to stab the corpse again, which happened to be the chief he realized, which explained why she seemed so angry all of a sudden, she had seen the face of the one who killed her previous form, and this seemed to be her way of getting back at the dead figure.

"B... But... stabs!" the kobold said, looking from him to the body of her killer, where it was clear that she wasn't used to the concept of speaking or being able to do more than what an elytra could do, though at the same time Capper found that the other new kobold seemed to be collecting herbs and ingredients, handing them to Midnight.

"Don't worry, she's gone and can't hurt you anymore." Capper replied, which was the truth, the bandit chief couldn't harm her or the other transformed elytra, though at the same time he thought about all of the golden soul gems he and the rest of the group had collected since assaulting the clan that called this place home, meaning he could make the dead chief into a new kobold at some point.

The dark purple kobold seemed to think about his statement, confirming that they could listen and learn, before lowering her arm as her dagger was returned to the small sheath in her other hand, which she likely took from the one who owned the weapon originally, but for the time being it looked like she had calmed down. With that in mind Capper followed the rest of his friends back to the wagon and beckoned for the kobolds to jump up into the back, since forcing them to walk all the way back to their home base seemed far too cruel, especially since these were new bodies for the pair. There was plenty of room for all of them, though as they moved down the road he found that Rarity was fussing over the gear that the kobolds were wearing, since both of their attire was torn in places, which made her groan as she realized that there wasn't much she could do without supplies. La'nari asked what she meant and Midnight told her that Rarity was into fashion, designing all sorts of dress and formal attire, so the supplies in question were needles, thread, and fabric, to name a few things, but for the time being they were going to have to live with their current attire.

Capper also found that none of the others asked any questions about the kobolds, no doubt assuming that he would share his information with them when he felt the time was right, allowing him some additional time to arrange his thoughts while debating how much he could tell them.

As it turned out they were able to focus on the road that was in front of them and discovered that the watchtower was of no interest to the guards of Whiterun, other than using it to keep an eye on parts of the road, though one guard stopped them for a moment, as he saw them stop at Fort Greymoor. Such a thing caused Capper to inform him that they were attacked by the bandits that called it home, where they cleared them out and made sure there were no more bandits left, though the figure did tilt his head for a moment before recognizing Azure, causing him to nod his head for a moment. Capper knew that many had seen Azure talking to Aela during their time outside the city and had to assume that they thought he was either a Companion or was an honorable warrior of some kind, but he wasn't about to complain about this situation since it meant the guard believed their story. The guard informed them that there wasn't a bounty for the bandits of the fort, or at least he didn't recall seeing such a bounty last time he was in the city, so the only thanks they would get for their deed was a bit of thanks, before either the Imperials or Stormcloaks took it over in the future.

With the conversation done Capper got them underway once more, though this time around he didn't bother to stop outside the city, rather he resumed following the road that would bring them back to Riverwood, then to Helgen, and then back to their fortress, before heading to Riften to tell Maven about their success.

"You know, everyone is going to be surprised by our story... stopping a mad mage, acquiring a Daedric Artifact, and getting two individuals of a new species." La'nari commented, as it just sounded insane when she thought about it, everything they had done while taking this job had been one insane thing after another, which might be due to the fact that they had dealt with servants of Sheogorath, as she was now realizing what the names of the bandit clans really were.

"No, darling, they'll think we're insane or on skooma." Rarity said, because she knew about the substance thanks to some of their clan members, a few had mentioned it, and that was how some of their companions were going to see them after they told them about their adventure, causing her to glance at the pair of kobolds, who Midnight was giving some food to before passing some to everyone else, "Though seeing is believing, so there's a chance they might believe us right away."

"Especially with this greatsword... I'm actually surprised you can carry it, Capper." Midnight remarked, as that artifact was the one thing none of them had been expecting to find in the sewer, not until it had been mentioned in one of the journals they had recovered, and she was surprised by the fact that the leader of their little group was able to carry it with such ease, as his back wasn't hurting from carrying it.

"Might be part of it's enchantment... who knows, really." Capper replied, because he assumed that it was due to his nature, or the nature that Ithelia insisted was there, allowing him to wield the blade with little to no difficulty, even though he had no interest in actually using the blade and was keeping it close considering what it had done in Solitude's sewers.

Azure said nothing about the weapon, he had his golden greatsword, a weapon made by the hands of daedra, and he felt no need to exchange it for the Sword of Jyggalag, though he looked ahead of them and kept an eye out for more danger, but after everything they had been through recently he assumed there was nothing else for them to worry about. Capper didn't say anything else as he focused on the road, finding that no enemies seemed to be on the road, the guards seemed ready for whatever might come while they patrolled the area, and any travelers seemed to be in a good mood. That meant the road had to be safe for them to travel, something he was able to confirm as they rounded the corner of the meadery and went back up the path that would bring them to Riverwood, a portion of the road that was already clear of enemies. Such a thing was due to the fact that they had used this patch of road a few times so far, plus there were guards in Riverwood that would no doubt clear the road of hazards so travelers could reach the village without running into danger, and that meant they were able to reach their first stop without wasting too much time.

Instead of stopping in the village, like they had done the last few times they had passed through the area, Capper kept the pace as they made their way back to the ruined town of Helgen, which may or may not have dangers waiting for them since it had been some time since the dragon attack and he was sure the fires had died down by now.

Sure enough Capper and his friends discovered that the flames had gone out, though at the same time the gates were open and no one had moved into the area, meaning they were able to make their way through the ruined town and headed up the other path that would bring them back to their current home. The only thing that could stop them was the Stormcloak camp that was further up the road, but since those soldiers didn't seem to care about them, in fact it was hard to tell if they even knew about their existence, it was easy for Capper to direct them further up the road. La'nari pointed out a hunter that was up ahead, but that seemed to be the only person on the road right now, which was rather interesting since they figured that more travelers would be out and about, before Capper pointed out that their clan might be part of the problem, which caused their khajiit friend to nod her head. It was the most reasonable assumption to make, just like the clans they had just taken out to restore order to the roads on behalf of the khajiit caravans, which meant they had to be careful, since one day they might have to deal with attackers that would be seeking to purge the fortress of bandits.

After riding for a time they spotted what seemed to be a pillar of smoke in the distance, which worried La'nari since it looked like it was coming from their fort, to which she asked Midnight to check it out and the former Lunar guard took off, leaving the others to get ready as Capper continued down the road... though it wasn't long before Midnight returned to them, a look of concern on her face.

"Guys, we've got trouble: there's a force attacking the fort." Midnight stated, confirming what they had thought previously, that it was only a matter of time until someone decided to eliminate their clan to restore peace to the road, though none of them had expected such a thing to happen, so soon after thinking of such a thing.

Capper immediately gets the wagon moving faster than before, because if the clan was in danger it was better that they do what they could to defend them, especially after everything Brurid and Bek-Kajin had done for them since La'nari brought them to Treva's Watch. At the top of the hill they were able to confirm that things were dire, as it looked like there were ten or more warriors in the area that the bridge was in, spread out to make sure the clan didn't flee, and some of them had bows, allowing them to loose arrows at the bandits that dared to fight back. In addition to that there were a few mages in the group as well, meaning whoever was attacking the fort knew how many bandits were inside the structure and knew what sort of weaknesses they had, causing everyone to realize that some of the newer recruits had been liars who wanted to take down their clan. Such a thing meant they knew where everyone slept, the patrols that the chiefs used, and every important piece of information that would be useful in attacking the clan, meaning there was a fair chance their friends were dead and were being looted as they stared at the now burning fort.

When they reached the area near the bridge, however, Rarity drew upon her magic and loosed a bolt of lightning into the back of one of the enemy mages, knocking him forward as La'nari loosed an arrow into the female mage that was closer to the main gate, opening the way for the others to crash into the backs of their enemies. As that happened Azure slashed at some of the enemy warriors and cleaved his way through them, while at the same time Midnight stabbed her foes in their sides with her daggers, before using her wings to get around the gate that was blocking the way forward. That allowed her to find that everyone was outside, in the courtyard, as the twenty members of their clan were defending the walls, most were wounded, and that both of their chiefs were doing their best to keep order, despite the danger that was around them. While Midnight had the gate opened, thus allowing the rest of her group to join them, Capper cut down another warrior as they found that the two kobolds stabbed the rest of the force, collecting the golden soul gems as they followed everyone inside so the gate could be closed.

"While I'm glad to see you guys, you really shouldn't have returned... we're out of potions, and most of us are about to pass out from our injuries." Brurid stated, which was the truth, that while he was glad to see the group again, since they were good at what they did, he knew this wasn't the best time for them to return, in fact they should have turned away and just left them to their fate, "We had to collapse the secret entrance, as our enemies were using it to get inside, and the barrels of oil that they apparently sneaked into the fort ended up destroying most of the rooms and floors... that's why we're out here, as we have nowhere else to go."

"Not necessarily... it's hard to explain, but it's like this: I have a private area where we can rest up, and while I cannot open a portal there myself I do have this, which drew part of the Shivering Isles into Solitude's sewers." Capper remarked, taking a moment to touch the Sword of Jyggalag as the others stared at it for a few seconds, realizing that they had new weapons, armor, and even companions when the pair of kobolds approached them, though he had his doubts as to whether this plan would work or not.

As he opened his mouth, to tell them what he had in mind, Midnight tackled him to the ground, and into some cover, while Azure did the same for La'nari and Rarity, though they were unable to save anyone else as a volley of arrows rained down on the fort, piercing the ground and whoever was unable to move in time. Capper looked at the hill that the fort was built on and found that there were more enemies than what they had seen, there was a force of at least fifteen archers on the hill in question, their leader, a smug looking altmer with a magical bow in her hands, staring down at them. Midnight had even more bad news for them, as it looked like there were fifteen more warriors and mages standing outside the fort, near the bridge to be exact, meaning that whoever had hired these people wanted to make sure the fort was overrun. Despite not even knowing the bandits it was easy for them to tell that the pair of kobolds were sad, mourning their passing as Capper found that even their former clan had golden soul gems among them, while everyone else was both sad and enraged by what had just happened.

Capper, on the other hand, simply stood up as he walked over to Bek-Kajin's body, not believing that this was happening in the first place, before noticing that the enemies seemed to be more interested in watching them, like they were waiting for something to happen, and it sparked a burning rage inside him.

As Rarity recovered herself, and her portion of the group noticed the death that was around them, she noticed something was wrong with Capper, golden energy seemed to be seeping out of his body and took the form of four icons, three that looked like the Guardian Stones they had passed by a lifetime ago. The fourth one seemed unlike the others in the fact that it seemed like it was made of treasure, that was the only way to think about it, where she noticed that something seemed to turn the first three icons, breaking them when they reached the rightmost position, and the fourth one breaking caused a torrent of magical energy to wash over Capper. The wind kicked up as that happened, like his rage was causing something to happen, reminding her of when Twilight got angry and set herself on fire, though before she could comment on it she and the others found that the torrent died down, disappearing in no time. As Rarity laid eyes on Capper again she noticed that his attire had changed, as it looked more like what royalty would wear, fine threads that were well made, yet she and the others found that he was sporting a golden vest with golden sleeves that had a golden collar, a bronze colored shirt, and a pair of regal looking pants that seemed to be golden as well.

In addition to that she found that there was golden inlay on all of his new clothing, plus gems here and there of all types, as if he was a prince of some kind, plus his hair took on a golden sheen, causing her to wonder what in the world was going on right now, which was when a tear in space opened nearby and found a new figure, a female humanoid dragon, stepping out with three kobolds.

Capper barely acknowledged her existence as he waved his hand, the golden soul gems, those from before and those from right now, were lifted into the air and transformed into kobolds before their very eyes, a sea of colors and having different attire, like mages, warriors, archers, and the like. Ithelia wasn't disappointed by that fact, rather she knew that her Prince was angry and simply lowered her head, indicating that she would follow his will, where she watched as he pulled out both of his golden blades as his magic washed over them, fusing the two swords into a greatsword that looked like it could be used with a single hand, or two if he preferred. The blade looked like it had been made to resemble a crystal, similar to the Sword of Jyggalag, but this one was slimmer and flatter, more like a rapier, with silver inlay that was lined with small gems, one of each type, a weapon that seemed far more than an ordinary blade. In the next instant Capper vanished, reappearing in front of the archers as he swung his blade and cleaved the altmer in half, her body dissolving into gold and treasure as her soul was briefly trapped in a golden soul gem before being transformed into a kobold herself, all in the span of a couple of seconds.

As one of the other archers raised their bow, however, Capper raised his right hand and touched their chest, where Ithelia found that the magic of his ring ignited, transforming the figure into a golden statue, like his touch was that of gold, and it, too, dropped a soul gem that became a kobold. In the next instant he turned and the archers found themselves being forced into the ground, as if they were being forced to kneel before their new master, before Capper turned and beheaded all of the archers with a single swing of his blade, raining gold and treasure down on the fort, and a lot of confused kobolds at the same time. With the archers dealt with Capper returned to the front gate of the clan's home, where one kobold opened it without delay so he could turn his attention to the other enemies, allowing Rarity and the others to watch in surprise as he stepped out and seemed to move in the blink of an eye, his weapon parrying incoming attacks as he cut down or touched his targets, killing them in seconds. It was surprising how easily he handled all of this, slaying the attackers like they were no big deal, in fact La'nari could see that the kobolds that had been their clan members, who wore their usual attire and seemed to be somewhat taller than the two that had been traveling with them, were surprised by this change in Capper.

When the last soldier fell, however, Capper glanced across the lake and held a hand out, where the argonian who helped them by delivering a message to Maven appeared in front of him, which revealed much despite him not saying anything at all, but he found Capper's rage focused on him a few seconds later.

"Who ordered this attack?" Capper asked, where the argonian noticed that his rage had turned cold, meaning he was now more calculated than before, dispassionate like his own boss was, which caused a shock to go through his body, like he knew that he was standing before someone he shouldn't anger.

"M... Maven, your Lordship." the argonian stated, bowing his head quickly as he sweated for a moment, because he was very worried for his life now that he knew they had angered someone that shouldn't be angered, a being that shouldn't exist in the Mortal Plane, yet was for some reason, which was followed by Capper lifting his chin for a second before his body was turned to gold and his soul was reborn as a kobold.

After doing that Capper had the kobolds collect the gold, treasure, and the few golden statues that littered the area, while Rarity and the rest of the group just watched what was going on with interest and fear, since his rage had caused quite the change in him, but Rarity knew he'd return to them in no time. In the next instant they found themselves being moved from the fort and dropped into an area that seemed to be in the vastness of space, save for what appeared to be a vault nearby and a house that didn't seem big enough for everyone, since there were many kobolds along their number. As Capper and his odd companion stepped into the area as well, however, their friend raised a hand and suddenly things started to change, where she found that the ground buckled before expanding outward, in all directions, starting at the size of a small village, then a large city, and was still growing as they watched him work. In no time at all La'nari found that they were in the middle of a continent, which Rarity said was roughly the size of Equestria, and was likely the same length all the way around, like the land was a perfect circle from where they were standing, before the ground buckled and all sorts of environments started to form before their eyes.

There were forests, rivers, plains, hills, and whatever else came to Capper's mind, perfectly arranged around the continent while Rarity got a sense of unnatural beauty, as the grass seemed finer than what was back home and the apples that were on some of the trees looked perfect, and that was followed by this place being rich in more ways than one. In addition to that the area they were in was where Capper created a mountain that reminded them of the Throat of the World, large and could be seen from every inch of the land, though there was a ringed portion that wrapped all the way around the central mountain. It was there that they found a large city taking shape before their eyes, divided into districts since there seemed to be an area dedicated to the various crafts, a living area, and so on, a city that reminded Rarity of Canterlot a little, and at the highest point of the city rested a large golden castle with all sorts of inlay that made it look like a rich person lived there. In fact it had several towers with massive gems floating above them, like it was the domain of a prince, and Rarity found that the vault seemed to disappear into the heart of the castle, likely to be kept safe, before the ground at the base of the mountain shifted a little, revealing an area that looked like a mine.

In addition to all of that they found two orbs that appeared in the sky, one a yellow diamond that took the place of the sun and brought light to the realm, while the moon was formed from a brilliant sapphire, before the two orbs took their places, the sun rising as the moon set.

"My Prince, your realm is beautiful." Ithelia said, which was the truth, the new Plane of Oblivion that had been created was beyond what she had been expecting, especially when they caught a glimpse of an actual sea forming at the borders of the continent, meaning if someone wanted to fish or use a boat they could, as a shimmering barrier took shape far in the distance, the edge of the realm that vanished, making the realm seem endless.

"Yes. The Opulent Lands are just as I imagined." Capper replied, where Rarity and the others found that his anger had faded, that while it was likely still burning inside him he had returned to his original self, before he glanced at himself, as if only now seeing the changes for the first time, though it was hard to tell what he was thinking right now.

"My Prince, I know now might not be the best time to ask, but... have you thought of a Daedric name?" Ithelia asked, as she knew that there were many things that were going through Capper's mind right now, she knew the feeling since she was a Daedric Prince as well, despite what happened in the past, so she could help him adapt to his new role, and having a better name for the other Princes to address him by would be a good thing.

"...Midas... yes, that'll do. Midas, Daedric Prince of Greed, also known as the Gilded Prince, Ruler of the Opulent Lands, and Lord of New Beginnings." Capper stated, allowing Ithelia to realize that he had been thinking about the name and titles since she first brought up the idea, had likely been testing them to see which ones worked and which ones didn't, before coming to a decision on what he wanted the other Princes, and mortal scholars and people in general, to call him.

Ithelia bowed her head as she welcomed a new Prince into the ranks of Oblivion, knowing that it was only a matter of time until her Prince encountered the others, before escorting everyone to what she assumed was the rest area, so they could speak, eat, and rest up before facing whatever the future, and the mortals they would be dealing with, held in store for them when they returned to Tamriel.