Skyrim: Band of Thieves

Capper waited outside the shrine for a time and was well rewarded, where he found that the kobolds he sent into the area under Dagon's statue returned with gold and ebony bars, along with other ingots, a good bit of gold, a few enchanted items, some alchemy items, and a few odds and ends. There was a bunch of good stuff for them to claim and add to the Vault, so he made sure to add the gold and ingots to his ever growing collection of items, leaving everything else for Azure and the rest of the group to use, or keep for selling at some point. He also noted that the kobolds came back with a few daedra hearts as well, meaning a few had been inside the hidden treasury or whatever it was to Dagon, and they had more of the red tainted golden soul gems as well, just like the man Sharva had slain. It was just more souls for him to use for bartering with the other Princes, so he made sure to store the special ones in an area of his golden castle, where only he could access them, and once those were stored away he returned to the others without wasting time.

Once everyone had returned to the carriage he had La'nari set a course through Whiterun and down to the hidden shrine of Clavicus Vile, as it was time for them to help Barbas out, and once that was done they could return to Riften and see what the rest of the Guild had to say about the jobs he did for them.

"So... it would appear that I'm free to do whatever I want... and the Dragonborn was called to High Hrothgar." Sharva said, as she recalled what they had learned so far, and what many of them had heard since the death of that first dragon, and that caused her to focus on the sky shaking call that nearly everyone in Skyrim had heard that day, "Does that mean we should head up the Throat of the World and speak to the Greybeards?"

"If that's what you want to do, we can do so once I check in with the Guild." Capper replied, and he meant it, he didn't want to control his friends and force them to follow his path, even though many of them were fine with it, so once he was done in Riften he would focus on heading to the mountain and seeing what the Greybeards wanted.

Sharva nodded for a moment as they continued to move down the road, heading away from the shrine and Dawnstar while focusing on Whiterun once more, even though this would be a brief visit since they were just going to pass by it, since their destination was beyond Riverwood and even the destroyed Helgen. This did allow them to see that the Hall of the Vigilant had definitely been burned down, though Rarity went down with the kobolds for a time and returned with a few bits, a few bags of gold and a few silver goblets, and she reported a number of burned bodies. Midnight assumed that some where the Vigilants themselves, no doubt dead after the attack on their base of operations, while the rest of the burned corpses had to be the vampires that were slain in the assault, meaning the surviving vampires had burned the hall down. Capper thought about this discovery for a time as they returned to the road, since the only experiences with vampires happened to be on the road, but decided that there wasn't much they could do right now, not without tracking down the Dawnguard.

The road itself seemed to be just fine, the only bandits were the ones that had been slain in the nearby fort, meaning they could rest and relax once more, which was a good thing since none of them wanted to expend too much energy before the carriage reached their next destination. La'nari and the others glanced at everything that was around them, mostly to keep an eye out for potential dangers, like dragons, as some of the guards insisted that there were some out there, more than the black one that razed Helgen to the ground, or more wild animals or even bandits. Barbas remained up front with him and La'nari, mostly because he seemed to like being up here, though he didn't argue with the dog, rather Capper decided to let him sit there so they could talk for a time, so he could get some additional information out of him. What he learned was that Barbas was the voice of reason in the relationship, between him and Vile, and his other half had gotten annoyed with him, to the point that Vile had banished him from his realm and condemned himself to the shrine he was in.

Barbas wasn't sure what the argument had been about anymore, it had been a few years and he had been preoccupied with making his way to Skyrim, and when he finally did arrive in the cave Vile gave him the ultimatum he shared with them, hence him heading out to find someone who could help him.

Whiterun was totally fine when they passed by it, not even the guards in the lone structure facing the north road were even being bothered and Capper noticed that the trio was bored, meaning they were able to pass by it without anything stopping them, which put a frown on Tuk Ur's face, as he wanted foes to fight. Getting to Riverwood proved to be easy since there were no enemies to worry about, though they did stop to talk to the guards for a moment to let them know that they were just passing through, and it wasn't long before the group was on their way. When they reached Helgen the group found that there was a single Vigilant who seemed offended by Sharva's existence, since she had red daedric lettering all over her body and carried a pair of daedric swords, but she was willing to ignore him as she walked outside the carriage. She was doing so to get some exercise, though when the Vigilant swung his mace at her, viewing her as an abomination, causing her to step out of the way and cut him down with her blades, creating another golden soul gem for Capper to take.

Following that it was just a matter of passing by the Stormcloak camp, heading around the base of the mountain, and just kept going until they spotted the cave they had passed by a few times in the past, which was when Barbas jumped down to the ground and stretched as he turned to face them, while La'nari positioned the carriage for when they were done with this cave venture.

"Like I told you earlier, there is a clan of vampires inside this place, and we'll need to take them out so we can get to the area that the shrine is resting in." Barbas commented, though this time around he found that only one of them seemed eager to move forward, which turned out to be Rarity for some reason, only for him to notice the fangs in her mouth, causing him to realize that she was also a vampire.

"Good, a cave full of vampires and their thralls... it's been some time since my last meal, and this should sate me for quite a long time." Rarity stated, where she stretched a little as she stared at the cave, something that caused her to glance at the rest of the group, who nodded their heads, indicating that they trusted her and would be covering the rear, giving her time to deal with their enemies while they looted the slain, "Okay, let's see what I can learn this time."

Capper found that this time around Rarity opted to focus on stealth and not magic, as a cave full of vampires had drawn her attention and she wanted all of their blood for herself, and it wasn't long before they found that she was focused on simply sneaking around the cave. Rarity found that there was a thrall watching over the entrance and used a rock on a nearby wall, causing the nord to walk off the scaffolding that happened to be his lookout area as he investigated the area, only for her to appear behind him and bite into his neck. Barbas watched as she drained the thrall of his blood, and when she was finished with her meal she killed him, leaving Capper and Tri Ki to collect the goods, and a golden soul gem that had bits of brown that matched both his and Vile's fur, as some thought of Vile as a satyr, on it. Once the new soul gem was collected, and they had a chance to loot the dead thrall for his gold and other valuables, the magical kobold, Mah Oh, set fire to the body before they followed Rarity deeper into the cave, since she was leading them this time around.

While they walked Barbas asked what Rarity was doing, where Capper softly explained that she was unique, even among the vampires, as when she drank blood she could gain experience with other skills and drinking the blood of other vampires gave her impressive skill boosts, and spells, plus they burned the bodies to prevent more vampires from rising.

Rarity found that there was a pressure device on the way and walked around it, allowing the others to do the same while she pounced on a low level vampire and greedily drained her blood, where Capper found that she was gaining more power for her frost powers, not to mention her other spells. Capper made sure to loot the slain vampires and their thralls as Mah Oh just burned the corpses, though he was impressed by how Rarity was taking to being a magical predator, she stalked her prey in the shadows, used small sounds to distract one and bring them close to her, and then struck. One would think that she was an assassin with her skills, but as she worked, however, it was easy for Capper to see that she started to slip in bits of her magic, freezing the feet of her opponents so she could drain them of their blood, while also telling him to make sure she had more opportunities to feed.

Some of the vampires she ended up draining the blood of turned out to be some of the stronger types, since they seemed to be the ones that the lesser vampires were serving, and for a moment it seemed like Rarity was intoxicated by her feast, she was enjoying the feeling of drinking blood. It was different from how she started, doing it only because she needed to drink the substance, before he noticed that there was something off about her, like she was changing and growing while using the blood as a medium. Azure and Midnight weren't worried about her in the slightest, especially not when she reached the last chamber of the cave, leaving the kobolds to collect the treasure that Capper's group walked by, where Rarity drew each and every one of the higher tier vampires into the area leading up to the shrine and drained them. All this time Capper that each of his friends could now handle a dungeon on their own, as he had no doubt that Midnight could do so since she hadn't had a chance to do so yet, and once the last of the vampires had been brought down Rarity finally stopped.

When she did so, however, she doubled over as her back shifted, where Capper watched as a pair of slits appeared in the back of her robe as a large pair of leathery bat wings grew out of her back, causing her to huff for a moment as she flexed her new appendages with a look of fascination on her face.

"So we have a Daedric Prince, a bunch of kobolds, two special followers, and now a unique vampire... dare I ask what next?" La'nari inquired, because traveling with Capper had turned out to be the best thing in her life, due to the restoration of the Thieves Guild, that she had no doubt would happen, and now he was weaving what had to be the greatest tale of their lives, so the more stuff like this that happened the more the world would change, and she was interested in what might happen in the coming weeks and months.

"Hard to know, honestly. You alright?" Capper asked, addressing Rarity for a moment, where she nodded for a moment as all of them found that she could hide the wings in a pair of tattoos that were now on her back, causing him to sigh for a couple of seconds as he and Barbas approached the statue, which was of Vile himself and didn't have Barbas at all, "Clavicus Vile, Daedric Prince of Trickery and Bargains, I am known to my followers, and a few Princes, as Midas, the Daedric Prince of Greed and Lord of New Beginnings. I am visiting you at this time to return Barbas to you, as people have reported seeing him all over Skyrim and it's only a matter of time until some arrogant mage learned of his presence, and the power that one could gain if they tapped into his power... to either harm you or two bring your realm to this plane."

Midas, eh? You know, I've heard of you... Sheogorath has been spreading word of your existence to every Prince, even the realms he's been kicked out of. I don't know what you did, but he's invested in keeping you safe. Clavicus Vile replied, as his voice was coming from the statue that was in front of him, since he was forced to remain in this statue until he and his dog came to an understanding, before he heard a huff from the other Prince, You know, I was hoping for another mortal to come and deal with the vampires, so I could send them on a quest for another artifact... though I'm still trying to figure out how you got through the Liminal Barrier, since I can tell that this is actually you and not your avatar or chosen vessel for the time you are bothering some of the locals. Nice follower, by the way, she did well in helping me fulfill the last wishes of my old followers... though I'm not interested in taking Barbas back!

"Come now, is it wise to leave two-thirds of your power in the mortal plane, when there are people who can twist the power of said things to potentially invade your realm?" Capper stated, though he was interested in the fact that Sheogorath was actually telling the other Princes about him, and potentially even some of the mortals he dealt with when someone came to one of his shrines, meaning he might have people seeking him out in the future, "So why don't we make a bargain: you let me deal with your problem, Barbas and I will take care of it, and we'll be back before you know it... in exchange I would like the location of Umbra, so I can chain up that sword and seal it away in a case it won't be able to break out of."

This deal is definitely weighed evenly for both of us: I get my supreme power back, and you get Umbra and my boon. Vile said, as he was definitely weighing the pros and cons of the deal, sure he would have to put up with Barbas again, but as soon as he took the dog back in he'd be free to leave this shrine, return to his realm, and go deal with other mortals, while Capper was likely to receive two Daedric Artifacts, one being the boon he would have given a mortal champion and the other being an artifact that contained a bit of his own power, Very well, I accept. You see, there's an axe... an incredibly powerful axe that serves as another of my artifacts... that is currently in the hands of a wizard named Sebastian Lort, who should be in Rimerock Burrow. Barbas can lead you straight to it... bring the Rueful Axe and Barbas back and I'll give you the location of Umbra, plus my boon.

"Good. Now, where is Rimerock Burrow?" Capper asked, turning to Barbas for a moment, while at the same time noticing Tri Ki and the kobolds had looted the large chest that was behind Vile's shrine, which didn't annoy the other Prince, meaning he could focus on the task at hand.

"The western edge of Solitude's Hold, I can take you there in no time." Barbas replied, though in the next moment he found Capper walking over to one of the solid walls before tapping it, where both he and Vile watched as a transparent portal or gate appeared on the stone wall, something that surprised them since this was an unknown ability of the newest Prince of Oblivion, and even he could tell Vile was stunned.

Barbas was stunned even more when he discovered that the portal allowed them to cross over into a new Plane of Oblivion, the Opulent Lands he realized, before everyone crossed through another magical portal and appeared in Solitude, which let the dog know that Midas was definitely different from the existing Princes.

"You know, you had best be careful about who you show this ability to... there are Princes that would kill for the power to slip through the Liminal Barrier as easily as you can." Barbas commented, as that was the truth, the likes of Molag and Dagon would kill who knows how many people and beings to be able to use those portals, yet at the same time he had to admit that it was a great way to travel and wondered why the new Prince didn't use it earlier.

"Fair enough, but they would be limited to one percent of their power... they'd be no more than slightly powerful mortals, just like how I am in my mortal form." Capper replied, which was the major downside for the other Princes that Barbas was worried about, they wouldn't be able to enter Nirn in their full power and would be restricted to a small fragment of their total power, just like how Mora could only use a small amount of her overall power when she entered this realm.

"Oh... I guess that would help." Barbas said, because he hadn't known that fact before and was now more interested in the portals the Prince of Greed had set up around Skyrim, since that was what the portal area they had passed through seemed to indicate, making him wonder if the newcomer was going to focus on just Skyrim or if he was going to spread out to the rest of the world like the rest of the Princes.

With that discovery made the group departed from Solitude, where Barbas found that the carriage had appeared near the stables of the city, as if it moved on it's own or something, and it wasn't long before they were on the road again, this time with him pointing the way towards Rimerock Burrow. What Capper found was that the path they were following was back in the direction of Wolfskull Cave, though upon reaching it they had to turn left, wandering down another road, allowing them to see another fort off to their right that was no doubt occupied by bandits. This time around they did encounter a group of bandits, nothing the group had to worry about since Azure and Tuk Ur were more than enough to bring them down so the gold and soul gems could be collected, before Barbas had them following the turning path for a time. That allowed Capper to see a nordic ruin up ahead of them, which he marked down for later since it was bound to be full of riches, before following Barbas' instructions as he brought the carriage to what seemed to be a dead end, an open ledge on the edge of the side of the mountain, before locating a path leading to a small cave entrance.

Inside they found one flame atronach and a male wizard who seemed distracted, even when La'nari killed the elemental with an arrow he missed the explosive sound, allowing Midnight to cut him down as well, leaving Capper to pick up the axe that had two blades on it's head.

"So this is the Rueful Axe." Capper remarked, as it was an impressive weapon, he could feel the artifact nature of it while he was holding it, while at the same time the kobolds looted the small area, Tri Ki hauling the goods as they returned to his side for a time, causing him to shrug, "Very well, let's get back to the shrine and complete the transaction."

Barbas found that such a thing meant getting back on the carriage, heading back to Solitude with little happening, and then using the portal to get back to the Opulent Lands before passing through the temporary portal that brought them back to the end of Haemar's Shame.

"We're back, Vile, and we have the Rueful Axe." Capper stated, where he set the axe down on the altar that was in front of the statue, since it appeared that most of the Princes had an altar of sorts in front of their shrines, something he had to keep in mind for when it came time to place his own statue down, "Now, it's time for you to uphold your end of the bargain."

You sure made good time... kind of boring, having my problem resolved by another Prince... but a deal's a deal. Vile said, where the Rueful Axe vanished and Barbas barked happily as he was welcomed back into the fold, a dark daedric portal just opening in a spherical manner around him as he vanished, with a large dog appearing on the statue in front of them, which meant that the two were back together at long last, before a helmet with horns, shaped after Vile, appeared in front of Capper a moment later, There, as promised, I get supreme power again and you get my boon: the 'Masque of Clavicus Vile'. As for Umbra, last I heard it's in the ruin of Champion's Rest, an old nordic ruin located in the Rift, to the east of Shor's Stone... honestly, I'm not sure if you'll be able to contain that weapon, but that's your problem now, isn't it?

"Yes, but it will be better this way: Barbas is safe from those that would abuse his power, and soon Umbra will be in chains, of that you can be sure." Capper replied, though at the same time he shut down the temporary portal before collecting the masque, where he smiled for a moment before warping it into his castle for later, though he found it amusing that he had a fair number of artifacts from the other Princes now, before he turned towards the statue and nodded his head slightly to the Prince that was no doubt still watching him, "When this is all over, maybe you can swing by the Opulent Lands and see the blade's fate with your own eyes?"

Maybe. At least to appease Barbas. Vile replied, which told Capper that the dog must have liked traveling with them and might be interested in exploring the Opulent Lands once they were free to do so, something that made Capper smile since he was on good terms with another Daedric Prince, But now that I have supreme power again, it's time I went out to see if there are other interesting deals to make. Have fun, Prince of Greed.

Capper nodded and felt the presence of Clavicus Vile leave the shrine, to which he nodded to the rest of the group as they used the exit that was behind the shrine to head outside, allowing them to call the carriage to them again before resuming their journey back to Riften, as it was time to see if the Guild had confirmed Capper's missions and see if they had any special jobs for him, making him look forward to what the future held for him and his friends.