Skyrim: Band of Thieves

With their work in Windhelm completed Capper had them start moving towards Whiterun, as he wanted to follow the plan he had set for them when they left Riften not that long ago, and with how they had cleared the roads so far he knew that this would be a pleasant ride for them. Not only would he be able to complete the Guild quest for Olfrid Battle-Born, but he was sure that they would run into Ri'saad along the way, since that was one of the stops of the head of the khajiit caravans that roamed Skyrim, who Tonillia wanted to make a deal with. In addition to that Azure wanted to check in with the Companions, turn in the job he had done for them, see if there was more that needed to be done, and maybe relax with his new friends for a time, instead of traveling with Capper's group all the time. The others would be able to relax for a few hours, since he wasn't totally sure what Olfrid wanted from the Guild, but he was determined to do it right and ensure that the Guild was able to return to it's full strength in no time at all.

He also knew that some of the others were no doubt annoyed by the lack of enemies, but it was possible that the bandits of the land had finally wised up and weren't eager to die by their hands, and while it did take them a few hours to get to their next destination they didn't have to stop for any enemies.

"Looks like we're in luck, Ri'saad is still outside Whiterun." Capper commented, as it was easy to see the khajiit and his group hanging outside the main gate of the city, or at least near the first defensive point that Whiterun had, since they weren't even allowed inside the city.

Sure enough Capper was able to cross one item off the list almost immediately, as Ri'saad was willing to speak with him on the topic of the Thieves Guild, and when the moonsugar was introduced he said that he would accept and share the news with the rest of his people. It was clear that he, and likely some of the other khajiit, were addicted to this stuff and that they would be overjoyed to have some again, not to mention a source for them to buy the stuff from, so in the end Capper was able to do what he set out to do. With that in mind he and the others entered Whiterun as evening fell over the city, allowing Azure and Tuk Ur to head back to the mead hall while he searched for his next client, though fortunately for him he didn't have to go too far, as he spotted the patron of the Battle-Born clan near the family's house. It looked like he was simply in the middle of sitting and enjoying what bits of nature were near the house, even though he did seem slightly worried about something, which had to be where he came in, causing him to approach Olfrid and learn against a wooden post.

From what it looked like this also allowed the man to look out over the area of the city that his home was in, that way any deed would be seen by him and information might be gleamed before it reached it's intended destination, or maybe he was reading too much into the simple rest area that the client was using.

"Delvin sent me. What can the Guild do for you?" Capper asked, as it was best to get straight to the point and not waste time, since there was no telling what the man could be asking and how much time would need to be spent on this job, which was why he allowed the others to do whatever they wanted while he worked.

"Good, you arrived within good time of me hiring the Guild... I was worried that something might happen to Arn while I was waiting for you to arrive." Olfrid said, making not move to acknowledge Capper's presence, as if he was talking to himself, a fact that meant he must be used to dealing with shadowy figures and knew that keeping one's identity a secret was the best for everyone, all while he looked at the guards as they walked by on their patrols, "He's an old friend, we fought together on the battlefield for many years, and now it's my turn to save him from the executioner's block in Solitude... but before you go on about 'why am I here', let me tell you that Arn was imprisoned in Dragonsreach's prisons for drunken behavior. Now, this is more than a simple prison break, as I'm setting him up with a brand new identity, and we have time since the Jarl and his Steward have yet to realize that they have Arn in their prisons. What I want you to do for me is retrieve the letter that came from Solitude, which should be in the Jarl's private chambers or his desk, and I also want you to change Arn's entry in the prison registry to something else, you can make up whatever you want, as it'll force them to let him out after some time."

"Dragonsreach? Finally, a challenge." Capper remarked, as that was the truth, breaking into a Jarl's personal domain was far more of a challenge than dealing with a rival clan, which was followed him him nodding his head for a moment as he started to move from where he had been leaning, "Very well, I'll be back soon with news."

Capper wasted no time in heading up to Dragonsreach, because he had nothing to fear in the entrance area, everyone was welcome there, meaning he could easily just walk around before slipping into one of the side passages that existed inside the structure, as he knew there was one for the servants and one for the Jarl's people. From what he saw when he entered the building was that the Jarl was talking with his Court Wizard about something, no doubt about the dragons still, and found that there happened to be a break in the foot traffic of the staff. Such a thing allowed him to slip into the kitchen area before heading down the stairs into the servant portion of the Jarl's quarters, where he paused for a second, feeling the faint pull of a daedric item, before he walked up into Proventus' chamber. The prison book was open on a table, a fact that seemed strange to him since he figured it would be kept elsewhere, where he found that his luck had to be great or something since it was open to Arn's entry, causing him to smile as he used the nearby quill to completely rewrite what was on the page.

He was setting the stage as if Arn was totally innocent, the people had the wrong man since drunken behavior meant they had to have witnesses and there was no mention of them, so it could have been a brawl or something, and once that was done he headed up the twin set of stairs, found no guards in the Jarl's place, and located the letter, which was in his pocket as he exited the structure.

"Like taking candy from a baby." Capper commented, in fact he was slightly disappointed, he expected the guards to be at their posts inside the Jarl's quarters, but he wasn't going to complain too much as he headed back out into the city and made his way over to where he had left Olfrid, who raised an eyebrow as he returned, "Job's done, the entry is changed and I've got the letter that Solitude sent."

Olfrid was surprised by how fast he was able to do his work, though he expressed his approval of Capper's abilities and told him that he'd be sending word to Delvin to reopen the Guild's doors in Whiterun, causing him to nod as he departed from the area and returned to the carriage, where the others were waiting. Apparently most of them had elected to remain with the carriage this time around, and Azure said that he had another job to do in another part of Skyrim, but this time it was just recovering an heirloom from a cave, something they could wait on. With that in mind Capper decided to have them use the portal he placed in Whiterun and it wasn't long before everyone stepped out in Solitude, where he left everyone else to do whatever they wanted as he headed back to the Blue Palace, as it was where his contact, Thane Erikur, would most likely be located. As it turned out he found the nord Thane walking out of the Jarl's domain, meaning it was likely time for them to head home for the night, though he did take one look at him before walking into an alley near his house, which seemed to be quite close to where Elisaf's domain was located.

Fortunately it looked like everyone else in the city happened to be focused on heading home and their dinners, instead of the shadowy business that one of their Thanes was engaging in, and Capper let the shadows cover him while he focused on the nord that was in front of him.

"Delvin Mallory said you had need of the Guild's services?" Capper inquired, as working with a Thane meant he needed to be on point and focused, instead of worried about other things, and if he was on point he suspected that Erikur would be more willing to work with him, especially in the future.

"I am impressed, you got here in a timely manner." Erikur said, his tone revealing that he must have been expecting one of the thieves to arrive in a few more days, instead of so soon after he sent word to Delvin, and Capper was pleased to find that this worked to their benefit, since he would be more reasonable in the future, "I will speak plainly: nothing raises my ire more than having an agreement broken, and Captain Volf of the Dainty Sload has decided to try my patience by neglecting to honor one of the trade agreements we had set up. What I want you do to is show him the error of his wars by sneaking aboard his vessel, which is located just down the road from the docks, and plant some contraband in his quarters... and the only one that would get the response I require is the very illegal Belmora Blue. I know of only one person, in Solitude, that has access to the stuff, which would be Sabine Nytt down at the docks, aboard the red Wave... you'll know her when you see her, since she's always wearing steel plate, minus the helmet, and carried an ebony battleaxe."

"Find the contraband, steal it, and then plant it. Consider it done." Capper replied, because this sounded easy and decided not to say that to the Thane before he walked away, as he didn't want to give the client the wrong idea, where he headed out to track down everyone else and make sure they were relaxing.

Sure enough he found that Azure, Rarity, Midnight, and the rest of their large group were simply taking in the rest of the city, to which they waved him on and he headed out to where the dock was located, which meant heading down the main hill that brought people to Solitude's main entrance. From there he turned to the side and headed down to the dock, where he found a reddish ship docked at one of the piers, which happened to have a female warrior, or pirate he guessed since she was so heavily armored, that matched his client's description. With that in mind he made his way down to the dock and was grateful for night falling when it was, because this meant it would be easy to get his hands on what he needed, though while he could speak to her and buy the item, he had a fair amount of gold, he was going to do this like a real thief. Such a thing meant using the night to his advantage and not being seen, and fortunately it appeared that the moon was covered by a sea of clouds, casting a great deal of darkness over the entire area, causing him to grin as he got to work.

Since there weren't many guards patrolling the docks Capper made his way over to the Red Wave, silently walked onto the deck, and found Sabine standing near the mast of the ship, apparently bored out of her mind, to which Capper crouched as he approached her. Such a thing allowed him to look into the pouches she was wearing, one having a note and a key while the second one had her bag of gold, to which he swiped all three items and looked at the note, which seemed to be her copy of what the Captain wanted her to do, and where to hide the Belmora Blue. With that information in hand he started to step away from Sabine, since he had everything he needed, before he carefully removed the ebony battleaxe from her back and stuffed it with the rest of the ebony he had recovered so far. Such a thing continued to amaze him, that he could simply steal an item that someone was wearing without them realizing what was going on, though he decided not to worry about it too much as he weaved a few spells around him and sank into the water that was nearby.

The spells were mostly to breathe and see underwater, while also keeping his entire person dry, and he was able to see the chest that had been buried under the docks, where Sabine's key allowed him to unlock the chest so he could pull out a blue skooma bottle, which was the Belmora Blue.

With that in hand he returned to the surface and cancelled the spells without anyone realizing that he had stolen the item in question, where Capper let out a low whistle as he walked over the bridge leading towards the Dainty Sload, because this was going to be a simple job for him as well. While he walked Capper located what appeared to be the second entrance into Solitude, a secret one by the looks of it, and he made a note of it as he continued down the path in front of him, only to find that it didn't talk him long to locate his destination. Since night was falling he wasn't expecting the crew of the ship to be up at all and found that the ones that were supposed to be patrolling the outside had fallen fast asleep, allowing him to enter the ship with ease and quickly discovered that everyone inside the ship was asleep as well. This took the fun out of the whole job, as he was expecting someone to be awake, but he decided to just walk through the ship like a ghost, stopping every now and then to relief the pirates, as some reminded him of Captain Celaeno's crew, of their gold.

In the end he found a private looking chest at the Captain's portion of the ship and slipped the Belmora Blue inside it, and as he departed Capper claimed another red gem, allowing him to quickly retrace his steps before returning to Solitude, where he found his client outside his house still.

"Job's done, the Belmora Blue is in position." Capper stated, something that put a surprised look on Erikur's face, almost as if he had expected it to take longer than this to frame Captain Volf of possessing something he hadn't bought, but the Thane was willing to accept that he was telling the truth.

Erikur informed him that he would be have the guard arrest Volf in the morning, and that Capper would receive his payment for the job via a shipment that would be sent to Delvin, reminding him of Olfrid earlier, causing him to nod as he departed once more, allowing him to regroup with the rest of the group. Given his success with the other Guild jobs Rarity decided it would be best if they head to Markarth and see what the last one was before the day had fully turned to night, causing the rest of the group to agree with her. As such Capper and the others used the portal and returned to his realm for a couple of seconds, since it was quickly followed by them using the Markarth portal, appearing in the area he had placed the gate, and they were in incredible luck, because Capper spotted someone matching Endon's description hanging out near a bridge that linked his area to another part of the city. He glanced at the others and found that his friends were willing to stay near the gate this time around, since they knew he'd be done in no time, given what the other jobs had been like, where he walked down and out into the open area ans silently approached the silversmith.

Capper decided to stick near the shadows near the client's house and found that Endon walked over not a few seconds later, to which the pair locked eyes for a moment while he noted that none of the guards seemed to care about their city, which he found to be odd as he focused on his client.

"Delvin said that you needed the Guild's services. What can we do for you?" Capper asked, which was likely going to be the last time he said such a thing, since he doubted the smaller Holds would have anyone who might want the Guild's services, especially since no one was sent out that way.

"Oh thank goodness. Honestly, I wasn't sure who else to turn to." Endon stated, where it looked like he was relieved to see that the Guild had sent someone to help him out, meaning he must have lost something or someone precious to him, and Capper was willing to help him out since it meant they'd have Markarth in their grasp once more, "Look, several months ago I ordered a very special and irreplaceable silver mold from some artisans in Valenwood, but it never arrived... and I recently found out that the caravan it was with was attacked by bandits. I've tried asking the Jarl to spare some men, but he's refused due to the ongoing war stretching his resources, or so he claims... but then I heard about the Guild's crime spree and came to the decision that hiring you guys would be best, to steal back what had been stolen. I've tracked the bandits to a camp near Falkreath, a place called 'Pinewatch', but I couldn't work up the nerve to fight them..."

"Don't worry, the mold will be in your hands in no time." Capper replied, though this was more interesting, especially since the job was taking him all the way over to Falkreath, so he left Endon to head home, rest, and focus on himself, while he just returned to Rarity and the others.

"So, what did he ask?" Azure asked, as this was much like when they went to recover the item from the rival guild, and part of him hoped that they were going to be going out to take down another group like that, or maybe some bandits since those were a blight on the people of the land.

"Recovering a silver mold from some bandits, who are located near Falkreath." Capper stated, where he could see that all of the people in his group, including the various kobolds, were eager to get underway, to which they used the portal and then used the one that would bring them to the forest Hold.

The first thing Capper did was get directions from the nearby guard, where they learned that they just had to follow the road back towards Riverwood and it would be off on the left side of the road, a small cottage that no one could miss, to which he thanked the figure before the group departed. Sure enough it didn't take them too long to locate their target location, as the bandits had set up a patrol bridge near Pinewatch, guarded by two archers, to which La'nari and Midnight released a pair of arrows that slammed into their targets, killing them instantly. Following that they quickly looted the area, and Capper added two more golden soul gems to the collection, before he tracked down the cottage and used his skills to unlock the door, to which they found that there were two tables full of weapons and a single guard on the floor below them. It was far too easy to see a hidden passage leading deeper into the ground, so Azure beheaded the bandit, after drawing his attention to him, as Capper pressed a button and caused a large shelf to move out of the way, revealing the path down into the earth.

After that Capper stayed at the back of the group as he allowed Azure and Tuk Ur to engage some of the bandits in a fight, Rarity and Mah Oh lashed out with their magic and targeted the ranged foes, while Tri Ki joined Midnight and La'nari in just sneaking around and hurting their enemies with either arrows or daggers. Capper and the collector kobolds focused on the fun part, looting the dead, collecting the golden soul gems, and just adding more wealth to the Opulent Lands, both in terms of gold and in terms of residents. He knew that Ithelia and Mora would be pleased with newcomers, since the latter was in the middle of working on training a whole new group of kobolds, and if that was possible Capper suspected that they might enjoy having more on hand, to train and enlighten. Of course some might remain miners and the other lower cast, but so far the ones who remained in the lowest tier of class in the Opulent Lands seemed to be enjoying themselves, just enjoying the chance to have a second life, and he could only imagine what the newest kobolds might think when he created them.

As they moved through the underground hideout Capper also found some locked areas, one that happened to have one of Barenziah's stones inside it, which he pocketed, but the main focus was on the bandits and the loot they had, something that made the collector kobolds happy.

Eventually they found the leader of the bandits, who wore a full set of nordic armor and carried a nordic axe as her weapon, but that hardly mattered as Azure dodged her attacks and cut her down, allowing Capper to pocket a set of keys, the gold, and all of the leader's belongings. With the rest of the bandits slain, and the kobolds had collected everything from each and every foe and container they could find, Capper headed out through the secret exit passage and found that it brought them back to an area that was near the start of the underground base. The area in question had a large coffin that was stuffed to the brim with gold, gems, ores, and ingots, all of which he allowed his collectors to take, after he picked up the silver mold that Endon wanted him to recover, one that definitely seemed more than a common mold. He slipped the item into his pack and beckoned for the others to follow, allowing them to head back outside at long last before everyone headed for Falkreath again, since they needed to use the portal that was there once more.

This time around Capper didn't have them use the other portals when they returned to the Opulent Lands, something that came as a surprise to Rarity and the others, but, as per usual, they were eager to see what he had to say since he was the master of this place.

"Since it's still night in Skyrim, I believe it's time for us to get some well deserved rest." Capper remarked, as they had been quite busy for a long time and really hadn't taken the time for a good night's sleep, so since he couldn't turn the mold in until morning he figured that this was a good thing to do, let everyone get some sleep before they tackled whatever the coming days had in store for them.

Rarity and the others nodded as they headed for the area that Capper had made for them, houses that were suitable for them, while he focused on checking out the haul they had gathered with the kobolds and store it away inside the Vault, but it only made him all the more eager to see what the future held in store for him, his friends, and the rest of Skyrim.