Skyrim: Band of Thieves

Capper, Rarity, Midnight, Azure, and the rest of their group spent the night in their rooms in the main city of Capper's vast realm, allowing them to get some well deserved sleep, and when morning arrived they even had breakfast in the palace, a fact that surprised most of them. Sure, it was a slight change of pace for them since everyone was used to sleeping while on the road and eating from their food stores, but he figured that this would be good for all of them, a chance to unwind and rest a little before they focused on their objectives. While they ate Capper asked the others what they wanted to do next, as he wanted to give Delvin some time to receive the reports of his success in the four main jobs, even though he needed to stop by Markarth to hand over the silver mold. Azure made a comment about what he thought might be the last job he had to do before the Circle allowed him and Tuk Ur to move up in the rankings of the Companions, and for the most part the rest of the group didn't care what they did.

"I think we've spent enough time away from the College. If it's okay with you, I think it is time that Mah Oh and I recover the tomes for the College." Rarity spoke up, as she had started learning from them and promptly left once she was given the job to track down some school books, and while it would be easy to ask Mora for copies of the tomes she didn't want to do things the easy way, hence her desire to head to Fellglow Keep next, "Then maybe we can continue our lessons before they send someone out to do another job."

"Plus we can see if they've moved that Orb or not." Capper added, because the pair had found the orb that radiated mana during their journey through the ruins of Saarthal, a ruin he had left to them while he and the kobolds collected the bits of loot that were along the way, and he was eager to see if anything had changed since their last visit, "I'm fine with it, really, but let me give the mold back to Endon and make sure he knows he's in the Guild's debt, so Delvin knows all four jobs have been completed."

Rarity and the others nodded their heads without delay, as they knew that Capper wanted to make sure the Guild was ready to return to it's former glory, and once they were ready to go everyone followed him out into Markarth, utilizing the gate he had installed. Such a thing meant all he had to do was track down Endon and hand over the mold, and since it was morning at the moment that proved to be rather simple, as the client was wandering near his house, no doubt enjoying the scent of the morning air or something. With that discovery made it wasn't long before Capper presented the mold to him, where the client was surprised by how fast he had recovered it, handed over some jewelry as a payment, and promised that he'd send word to Delvin as soon as the mold was in his shop. All Capper did was smile and nod, allowing the man to head home with a smile on his face, and as soon as he regrouped with the others they used the gate once more, before stepping through the one that brought them out into Whiterun.

The reason for that was due to the fact that the area that the mage who stole the books from the College of Winterhold had fled to a keep near Whiterun, a place called Fellglow Keep, so all the group had to do was travel over there, track down the mage that stole the tomes, and then recover the tomes.

With that in mind the group left the city, tracked down their carriage, and departed once everyone was ready to go, to which they nodded to the guards for a few seconds as they went by, who didn't seem to care in the slightest, allowing the carriage to head out into the wilds once more. Everyone remained silent for a time, as they knew that this time it would be Rarity, Mah Oh, and Capper's collection group heading into the keep, as everyone had an area they were the experts in and Capper preferred to allow those to deal with their foes on their own. This provided everyone with a fair chance to grow, learn new skills, or just improve their overall abilities without losing the experience to the others, and since they would be heading over to Azure's area after returning the books no one had any complaints. The only ones who didn't have something to do were La'nari, though she was thinking of being a thief again; Midnight, who was thinking about assassins; and Sharva, who had no idea what she wanted to do, other than check out the Greybeards at some point.

Other than a saber cat, who fled the moment they came into view, there was nothing for them to fight as they headed out into the wilds, and once they reached an area outside the keep Capper nodded, where he and a few kobolds stepped out as Rarity and Man Oh took point.

"Same as before: you two can do whatever you want, we'll be collecting the loot." Capper remarked, even though he could see three mages patrolling the area outside the stone keep, two of them had staffs and the third seemed to be a conjurer, as there was a fire atronach near them, before he nodded to Rarity.

"Of course, darling, I know you enough to know your plans." Rarity said, which was partly true, she knew Capper enough to understand his motives, but there was still much about him that even she didn't know, especially since her friend became a Daedric Prince, as there was likely no end to his ambitions now that he had access to a whole new level of reality, before she and Mah Oh turned towards the keep, "Come, dear, let us have some fun."

The pair moved forward without delay, where Rarity spun her staff around and loosed a shard of ice that slammed right into the chest of the flame atronach, causing it to stall for a moment before detonating, and while the mages reacted to that Mah Oh hurled a fireball at the now defenseless mage. As that one was set on fire, running around like a chicken, the pair turned on the other two mages and switched to lightning, each hurling a bolt of lightning that tore through them with ease, which just showed how skilled Rarity had become since coming to this world. They did discover that the main door was locked, no doubt barred from the other side by a wooden or metal bar, but Capper located another door that was a fair distance from the main one, so while he collected the goods from the slain he let the pair move down into the hidden passage. It only took a few moments for Rarity to find that another mage was guarding the inside of the underground area, one with a couple of pet spiders, and as Capper joined them both she and Mah Oh hurled flames at their foes, taking them out.

Rarity made sure that the golden soul gems were collected and handed to Capper whenever he caught up, he wanted more mages among the kobolds and now he was getting his wish, before she headed down some stairs and found four cages with a number of vampires in them.

"Oh look, a buffet." Mah Oh remarked, as she knew that Rarity was already eager to drain the blood from the vampires, that was how she really grew her power these days, and what was even better about this was that all of them were wearing rags, as they were captives of the mages, making them incredibly easy targets for them.

Rarity grinned as she advanced on the vampires, letting Capper use his magic to make sure they were pulled out one by one so she could drain them without allowing any of them to get away, and once they were dead she tossed them onto a flaming pile that let ashes and golden soul gems. Just like before Rarity found that her power rose sharply by taking in the blood of other vampires, making her magic far stronger than ever before, and a few of these ones had other skills that weren't even remotely linked to magic at all, but she was fine with that. In the end all of them gave her more power, which was her focus so she could stand on her own two hooves without having to rely on Capper all the time, and once she was done with the last of the imprisoned vampires she waited for Capper to collect the pile of golden soul gems before continuing forward into the keep. There were other mages deeper into the keep, where she and her companions found they were experimenting on the bodies of dead individuals, mostly khajiit since they knew that such people wouldn't be missed by most of Skyrim, but it only caused her and Mah Oh to tear through them without remorse.

Capper let Rarity deal with the mages and blast them into pieces, though he and his kobolds continued to collect the potions, soul gems, staffs, and other items that were in the keep, since he suspected they wouldn't be coming back and didn't want to leave anything behind. In the next chamber there were three caged areas, where it was easy to find a locked door, a mage in a side passage, and a pack of wolves trapped in one cage, before noticing a mage that happened to be trapped inside the center one. This meant they had found Orthorn, the mage who stole the tomes in the first place, which meant he might have an idea as to where the three tomes were located so they could get out of this place, hence why Rarity focused on blasting the enemy mage and Mah Oh dealt with the pack of wolves after letting them out of their cage. Capper, meanwhile, quickly opened the locked door so he could loot whatever was on the other side, mostly random loot based on the iron weapons, a steel chest piece, and a number of potions, and once he was done he rejoined Rarity.

She, on the other hand, threw the middle lever and the door that was keeping Orthorn imprisoned opened, where the mage seemed happy about this and walked out without wasting time, while Capper focused on keeping an eye out for any other enemies that might interrupt their talk.

"Out of curiosity, Orthorn, what was your plan? Integrate yourself into a coven and hope they shared their power with you?" Rarity asked, as that was something that was bugging her, the plan that the thieving mage had cooked up before he stole the books she was now here to retrieve, but she would get to asking about the books once she sated her curiosity.

"Well, um... yes, actually. Now the Caller has the tomes I brought them, and she locked me up." the mage replied, which was actually interesting to see, that he was willing to answer her question while also giving Rarity the exact location of the books that might be relevant to the orb they had discovered in Saarthal, before the mage looked nervous, "So, um, shall I assist you in fighting them and recovering the tomes?"

Rarity agreed, even though she and Mah Oh definitely didn't need the help, before entering another passage that brought them to an area that had some novice mages hurling fireballs at some caged vampires, three more based on the cages, and they were oblivious to the fact that they had company. With that in mind the pair hurled fireballs at the mages, blasting each of them into the walls, while Orthorn tried to summon a flame atronach, which he successfully did, but by the time he did so the area was cleared of enemies, much to his surprise. As Rarity expected the mage went on ahead to deal some damage to all of the members of the group he had sought to join, his way of getting revenge on them no doubt, while Rarity drained the trio of vampires of their blood, letting Mah Oh set their bodies on fire when she was done. Following that the passage that was beyond the training area brought them to an area with a number of graves that had some skeletons walking around, no doubt the domain of a necromancer, of which Rarity spotted two black robed figures ahead of them.

None of them were surprised to find that Orthorn didn't last very long, he stumbled into the passage after revealing himself to their enemies, a fact that allowed Rarity to see his now lifeless body pierced by a pair of ice spikes, though Capper did take his golden soul gem while she and Mah Oh dealt with their new foes.

The door at the end of that passage brought them up into what had to be the main area of the keep, the area on the other side of the barred door, though Rarity and Mah Oh did have to deal with a pair of summoners after opening a door, which was easy to do since the enemy mages weren't expecting company. Capper found that there was an eating area beyond the small summoning area, which had a bar, and beyond that rested the main kitchen and gathering portion, where one mage had a frost atronach at the ready, almost as if they were expecting company. Rarity wasn't intimidated by that at all as she let a pair of fireballs fly into the icy creature and it's summoner, while at the same time her kobold checked a side door and found two more mages, ones that were getting up from their beds by the looks of it. She wasted no time in wiping them out, leaving Rarity to find a grumpy mage tending to an armorer's table, where one improved their armor, why she had no idea and wasn't about to ask as she crushed him with lightning, before spotting something interesting.

"Oh Capper, I've got something for you." Rarity said, where it took her friend only a few moments to walk up to the room she was standing in, causing her to hand over one of the Stones he had been collecting, something that caused both of them to smile as he pocketed the item and nodded his thanks to her.

With that discovery made Rarity and Mah Oh continued to move through the keep, moving up another side path since they found yet another barred door, a common trend in Skyrim they were noticing, and sure enough that meant facing a couple more mages, even though they seemed to be running out of mages to send at them. What Rarity was seeing was that most of the magic users here were likely apprentices and even novices, weaklings that were likely fodder for the leader that ruled over them all, but they were outfitted like they were more adept than they actually were. As they tore through another flame atronach, however, she came to the conclusion that the Caller, whoever that was, had to be the strongest mage in this keep, or at least she would be if it wasn't for the fact that Rarity and Mah Oh were here. Of course that wasn't counting Capper, as he was a Daedric Prince and their magic was beyond the power a mortal could wield, but it did tell her that she needed to be cautious when they finally found the figure, since she was sure the Caller had the books.

Other than the mages there wasn't anything interesting for them to worry about, Rarity and Mah Oh just tore through the rest of their enemies before reaching an impressive ritual chamber with three pedestals, one in the center and two resting on the sides, with a book on each of them, with a blue robed lady in the center of the room.

"So, you are the ones who barged into my home and laid waste to my followers... how very nice to meet you." the lady commented, where Capper suspected that she was the Caller, she was the only one left and seemed different the the rest of the mages that Rarity and Mah Oh had taken out since they started tackling the dangers of this place, "Now, what can I do for you and your annoying companions?"

"We're not here to join your coven, or whatever your group was called. We're here to collect the tomes Orthorn stole." Rarity replied, though she could tell that this annoyed the Caller, almost as if she had been aware of what sort of power the pair had access to, since there was no way she could possibly sense what Capper was, and might have been planning on offering her and Mah Oh a place in her new coven, "Surely we can come to some sort of arrangement, instead of fighting?"

To none of their surprise the Caller decided to attack them anyway, she was just annoyed that all of her plans and followers had been ruined by the untimely arrival of the group, though Rarity struck the Caller in the chest with some ice spikes, which impaled and killed her.

"You're getting better at doing that." Capper remarked, where he collected the golden soul gem that contained the Caller's soul and pocketed it, while at the same time Rarity and Mah Oh quickly gathered the three tomes Orthorn had stolen, one of which seemed connected to Saarthal since it was called the Night of Tears, reminding Rarity of the time period Tolfdir had mentioned when they entered the ruin.

"It's just the nature of Skyrim, really. People have a habit of making stupid decisions." Rarity said, as she had been more than willing to speak with the Caller and come to an arrangement, but the lady had insisted on attacking her first, so she had to fight back, but she had no desire to drag the fight out, hence her quick killing of the Caller, "But we have the tomes, so now we can return to the College and give them the good news."

Capper nodded as they found the Caller's treasury, it had a single large chest that had a few valuable looking mage items in it, all of which he pocketed since Rarity didn't want them right now, and it wasn't long before they headed outside the keep and regrouped with the others. From there they headed back to Whiterun, since there was no reason for them to remain on the road for longer than was necessary and Capper was planning on using the gates to return to Winterhold, though there was something odd on the road ahead of them. One of the guards was standing near a dead cow, which hadn't been dead when they passed by previously, and it looked like a farmhand had been slain as well, though while the cow had been partly eaten it looked like the person had been drained of their blood. It was like a vampire and a werewolf had been through this area recently, which was weird since they had seen no signs of either while they were moving towards the keep earlier, yet at the same time Capper noted that it seemed to be the work of a single individual, instead of two.

"A creature that is a mix of werewolf and vampire... a werepyre?" Capper commented, as this was interesting, and while he thought about such a thing he made sure to let Ithelia and Mora see this, since they would be curious about the potential discovery they might have made, and once Mora made her notes they returned to the Opulent Lands.

It wasn't long before he and his friends returned to the gate, where Rarity paused and looked at Dragonsreach, feeling the same thing that Capper had felt no doubt, before they utilized the power of the gate, quickly returned to the Opulent Lands, and stopped for a moment. The reason for that was because Capper had an excess of golden soul gems and they watched as he channeled a bit of power into them, causing the various people they had struck down recently, from bandits to the vampires and mages, to be reborn as kobolds. Capper then spent a bit of time making sure they were organized and were assigned to their various duties, something his main two followers could handle in his stead, and once that was done, and he knew Mora now had enough mage kobolds to begin progressing towards scholars and other types, he and his companions returned to Winterhold. Once more they found that nothing exciting was going on in the small town, or settlement since it only had a small number of houses, so it wasn't long before Rarity, Mah Oh, and Capper crossed the bridge, leaving the rest to stay with the carriage since they weren't needed inside the College.

Once they were inside the structure, however, they found that the orc librarian who sent Rarity on the mission to recover the tomes was talking to some of the teachers in the main lecture area, which was where they found that the Orb had definitely been moved to the College.

"So, they managed to move it. Good to know." Rarity commented, speaking mostly to herself, even though she knew Capper was no doubt thinking of stealing the Orb, either because he really wanted it or he didn't trust the mages to keep it safe, but after saying that she focused on the orc librarian as she approached him, "Urag, we have the tomes Orthorn stole."

"Do you? I'll admit, I was wondering if we were ever going to see you again." Urag replied, taking the tomes from her as he checked them out, no doubt making sure they weren't damaged too badly, though he found that each one was in pristine condition, as if they hadn't been stolen by someone in the first place, before he handed her five books, which seemed to be both a reward and new study material, "Here, you've earned these. I'll go over the information you've recovered and get back to you once I have a better idea of what this Orb might be."

"Well, we'll be here, studying the Orb." Mah Oh said, which was the truth, all three of them were interested in the Orb, even Mora was interested since she slipped out of Capper's shadow to approach the item, tilting her head as she mumbled a few things to herself, causing the orc to raise an eyebrow for a moment.

"The Eye of Magnus... fascinating." Mora commented, speaking to herself as she moved around the Orb, giving it a name as Rarity and the others realized that they could have just asked her about the Orb, given that there had to be some knowledge of it in Mora's vast library.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it." Mah Oh stated, she was used to the fact that Ithelia and Mora could literally step out of Capper's shadow whenever they wanted, that seemed to be a benefit that his main followers had access to, before she just turned and focused on the floating Orb, or the Eye of Magnus she guessed.

Urag growled a little before departing for his portion of the College, no doubt more interested in the tomes and less on the stranger that was in front of him, which Capper found to be hilarious since he was ignoring a Daedric Prince, but he leaned against one of the pillars as he watched the trio, because they were going to study the Eye of Magnus for a time before it was time to leave again, making him eager about what the future held for them next.