Skyrim: Band of Thieves

Capper waited in the Sepulcher for a few moments, allowing Tri Ki to pick one of the circles that had appeared around the lock that he had slipped the Key into, Nocturnal allowed such a thing to happen, and she picked the one that was related to stealth. With that information in hand they departed from the Sepulcher, headed for Falkreath, and returned to the Opulent Lands without wasting time, where he found that the others were waiting near the portal area and were ready to direct him to where the Dark Brotherhood was taking Midnight. Rarity directed him to the west of Windhelm, the pair was using a pair of horses to get away from the city and that their friend was on the back of one, bound for somewhere to the west, which opened a lot of possibilities for where they could end up. With that in mind he had them depart from the city and head out onto the road, allowing them to use their own carriage once more, though Capper had something else in mind as they left the area, allowing the others to see that he was calling out more of his followers.

This time around Rarity and the others found that the newly trained scout kobolds, suited for tracking targets or even just gathering information without being seen, where it wasn't long before the newcomers, each armed with shortbows to suit their bodies and leather armor to grant them increased agility, turned to their Lord.

"It's time for a trial for all of you: Midnight was abducted by assassins from the Dark Brotherhood, and they are heading to the west. I want you to track them, and anything else you find to be of note." Capper said, as he wanted them to be focused on the main task, which was Midnight, but also wanted them to be on the lookout for anything they could circle back to at a later date, something that made the kobolds interested in their first official task, causing them to salute before heading off to accomplish their task.

"Is this really necessary?" Rarity asked, as there were a fair number of kobolds that came to Capper's call, at least thirty by her count, and she was worried that this might be a little too much, even though there were far more back in the Opulent Lands, just working away while some were hoping for a chance like this.

"Not really, considering the dangers of Skyrim and the amount of places we haven't been to yet." Capper replied, which was the truth, there was a lot to the land they now called home and he wanted a good idea on where to find items and places of either importance or interest, so he could expand their treasure, add to his domain, and just do what they normally did, not to mention that there were three shards he was looking for, in addition to Barenziah's missing stones, "If they find anything of note we can decide what to do with them in the future... if not, well then the kobolds can take care of things on their own, since they've been trained well in the Opulent Lands."

Rarity decided that it was best to not argue with Capper, his methods were usually right, causing them to focus on remaining inside the carriage while he glanced out at the snowy land that was around them, his thoughts on what else they might find and all of the potential wealth they might gain from the vast land. It wasn't long before they found that some of the kobolds returned, letting Capper pull out the map as they pinpointed where things were located for him and the others, such as the exact location of the dwarven ruin that was in the area, bandit camps, ruins, and caves. Capper was interested in heading up to Raldbthar at some point, due to the fact that there was an Aetherium Shard somewhere in there, a piece of four that he had one of, reminding him that he needed to track down the other pieces at some point. There was another dwarven ruin on the other side of the mountain, no doubt built with some space between them, the ruin of Irkngthand, which was mentioned in the tome of Gallus, meaning it might be worth investigating at some point in the future as well.

None of them were even remotely surprised to see that Capper was already weaving together new plans on what to do with this information, figuring out where he and the others could tackle and where the kobolds could head when he wanted them to be tested, and it created some new ideas in his head for other things.

"Someone can sit up here for a time if they want. I'm going to speak with Mora while the kobolds world." Capper said, where he slipped into the carriage and found that it wasn't long before the Prince in question showed up, because he had done a lot with the short period of time he had been a Prince and he knew Mora would be interested in what he wanted to talk about, "You know where all sorts of treasures and items of value are located, right? I was wondering if the two of us could make a conjoined relic, one that the people of the world can use to obtain information on where they might find relics or treasure, but have it set up so that they have to write what sort of item they're after on a page, your ability figures out the wealth of the item, and then makes them pay a reasonable amount for the information."

"Everything is about your greed, isn't it?" Mora remarked, though at the same time she knew what was going through her Lord's mind, each Prince had multiple artifacts under their name and Midas was no exception, though this was one of the rare times where multiple Princes would work together to make a new artifact, other than the Storian, making her think about what he wanted, "However, it shouldn't be too hard to make such a tome, one that accesses the vast depths of my realm and the vastness of my knowledge while also correctly calculating the cost of such knowledge... we can set it up so all souls can go to my realm when they expire, all while all wealth goes to your realm. I'll be sure to pepper in some lower cost treasures as well, since some of these treasures will be very costly, to help spread the word of what the tome can do so the various treasure seekers will seek it out."

"Good. Also, I had the idea to make a bag, a satchel really, that can hold an infinite amount of wealth... but that the relic lets you skirt death as long as you have enough wealth inside it." Capper added, where he could see that Mora seemed to be in the middle of wondering what in the world was wrong with him, even though this was par for the course for Princes, treating mortals like toys or currency, even though he happened to be far nicer than most of the other Lords of Oblivion, "Like your first death would cost you, oh, ten gold, then the next would be twenty, and so on until the bearer of the satchel would be using hundreds of coins and even gems to survive... of course there will have to be some exceptions, like death by dragon if the bearer was eaten. This would, of course, send the soul to my realm upon their final demise, and their wealth so I can add their treasure to my Vault and then send it back out into the world to be used by someone else."

"So, two relics designed to be used by treasure hunters... or the greedy, if you think about it in another light." Mora said, as it seemed like all of her Lord's personal artifacts were designed with how much wealth he could gather while they were in use, by him or the mortals, while at the same time being items that most might find useful, especially adventurers and those who desired to live forever, "I can work on the tome and have it ready by the end of the day for you to test it, though I'm sure you can easily make such a satchel while following the trail of the assassins."

"Maybe... you know, I think I'm going to bring us to the ruin that Gallus was planning on visiting, figure out if I can track down the treasure he was after while the kobolds work." Capper commented, where he opened the way into the outer portion of the carriage and checked the map for a few seconds, something that caused the rest of his group to glance at him while he did that, causing him to smile for a moment as he looked up, "La'nari, stop by the entrance of Irkngthand and prepare to set up camp... I'm going to give the trackers some time to figure out the rest of the region that we're in and figure out where the assassins are taking Midnight, though while they do that I'm heading into the dwarven ruin. Actually, let me bring the rest of the shadowy kobolds from the Opulent Lands, give them a chance to have some experiences of their own... we can loot the entire ruin of everything that's inside it, gain some more soul gems, and have some fun while the trackers work. We should be done before they return with news of Midnight's final destination."

Rarity sighed as La'nari deviated to a path that would bring them by a lake that went nowhere, she wasn't even remotely surprised by what Capper wanted to do next, but no one wanted to question him since they had been doing what everyone else wanted to do, so he was due for something he wanted to do. While they moved to their new destination, however, they did spot some people, bards by the looks of them, being killed by some bandits, where Capper simply sighed as he nodded to the others, allowing them to lash out at the four bandits that were in their way. Rarity unleashed a few shards of ice that slammed into the bandits, dropping them in seconds, while La'nari pointed out that the path their foes had come from was the very one that they were interested in using to reach Irkngthand, so Capper let her start the assault on the bandits while he collected the new golden soul gems. The ones for the bards he used without delay, finding that they were kobolds that were dressed in the clothing they had been wearing while they were alive, and once they realized what was going on, as in the fact that they had been given a second chance, they obtained their instruments and joined the group.

There were a few more bandits at a small campsite that was just inside the outer walls of the dwarven ruin, which didn't look very defensible, though Capper tapped on the air next to him once he touched the ground and the others found that Tri Ki emerged with the rest of the shadowy kobolds, both thieves and assassins.

"It seems like you've amassed a gathering." Nocturnal commented, emerging from the private Gate that her new Lord had, one she was getting used to seeing since this was beyond what most of the other Princes had, and she had come to see what was going on since Midas had called a lot of kobolds to his side, "What's the occasion?"

"We're looting Irkngthand: assassins will tend to the enemies that are scattered throughout the ruins, while the thieves will be gathering and transporting the loot." Capper replied, where he could tell that the kobolds were excited, dwarven ruins had a lot of treasure inside them and they loved to take everything they could get their hands on, be it actual treasure or the mundane items, since they could use some of this stuff in the city, before he glanced in Nocturnal's direction, "Before he was killed Gallus was interested in something that was buried in this ruin, so while we're waiting for the trackers to locate where the Dark Brotherhood is taking Midnight I figured I'd claim whatever this treasure might be... also gives the kobolds a good chance to shine as well. You're free to join in on the fun as well, if you want."

Nocturnal stared at him for a moment before reaching into her robe, withdrawing two sleek curved daggers that almost came up to her elbows, seemingly made out of shadows or darkness while confined to the shape of a weapon, before she turned towards the ruin that was in front of them. Capper smiled as he motioned towards Irkngthand with a hand, which was when Tri Ki slipped into the shadows and moved towards the bandits that were between them and the main door, while all of the other kobolds followed, some sticking to the shadows while others started looting. Nocturnal, on the other hand, ended up flying up into the air above where the bandit chief was resting, where Capper watched as she brought one dagger into the side of his neck before the second sliced his neck open, killing him instantly. She then watched as a golden soul gem formed near the fallen bandit, an orc with orcish armor and weapons, reminding her that all who died within Midas' sphere of influence, which had quite the radius in the Mortal Plane, had their souls trapped in such a gem, for him to make kobolds and other species in the future.

As she thought about that, however, she noticed that the rest of the bandits, a mix of species, fell to the blades and arrows of the kobolds, while one unfortunate bandit tried to kill Midas and had his head removed before being reduced to a pile of gold and gems that his Collectors gathered, just like the rest of the items they were collecting while the others fought. It was an effective strategy, one portion of the group moved forward and eliminated the enemies that were in their way, while the second portion focused on recovering any and all treasure, be it gold, gems, ingots, weapons, and even armor, before she realized that they were taking everything. It didn't matter what the items were, the kobolds took everything that the bandits had and everything that was inside the various chests, no doubt to outfit the rest of the Opulent Lands, and once the outer area was cleared, leaving the campsite for Rarity and the others to set up shop in, they approached the main door. On the other side they found more bandits, lesser ones since they were weaker than the bandit chief, that were slain before they had a chance to defend themselves from the assassins, allowing them to claim their treasure.

Following that Capper advanced into the ruin itself, allowing the assassin kobolds to move with him, though like he expected the only enemies from that point onward were the dwarven spiders, the dwarven spheres, and the various traps that had been set up by the dwarves, while further in he knew they would find falmer.

The traps were nothing special in Capper's eyes, one was just a set of pillars that let out small bursts of fire that were easily avoided, while the chests themselves didn't seem to be locked very well, he found that he was able to pick their locks with ease and handed anything that was inside the containers to the Collectors. Any ingots he found were instantly warped into his Vault, while he took an interest in the couple of interesting rings he found along the way, ones that were made out of the brass that all dwarven items were made out of, with big gems set in them that were the width of one of his fingers. He found that the rings were engraved and crafted to perfection, just like the rest of the items that the dwarves made, and he had to value them pretty high, as he guessed a single ring would fetch nearly a thousand gold on their own, so this was more like a small fortune. The elevator that was beyond that allowed them to access a lower region of the ruin, a large chamber that did, in fact, have a number of falmer structures, though with the grated wall in the way they had to go around, which was fine since Tri Ki looted a side passage and handed over the loot before they pressed onward.

Nocturnal continued to follow after her new Lord, where she found that he rarely got his hands dirty, in terms of killing those that challenged him, rather he left that to either the kobolds or the rest of the group that was waiting on the surface, and his focus was on looting and expanding his ever growing wealth. She also found that he happened to be serious, this was more of a training exercise for the kobolds, he left everything to them while doing a little of his own work on the side, and yet she discovered that the small creatures wasted no time in falling into their respective roles. By that she meant that the thieves stuck to unlocking doors and chests, handing the loot over to the Collectors that were following them around, while those that were assassins were either stabbing their foes in the back or loosing arrows into their chests. Their teamwork was even spot on, as they worked together to bring down the few enemies that noticed them, while two thieves worked together to unlock the gate that was in the way, by flipping two levers at the same time, thus allowing her new Lord to continue his walk through this place.

She really wasn't sure what else to call this, because while Midas was acting like a mortal thief she knew this was like a walk to him, nothing for him to worry about, especially since she was the same way, because even in her state of low power she was still a Prince and that meant this was nothing to her. That made her reflect on what she had learned about Midas, he was like all of the other Princes of Oblivion, he had his own Sphere of Influence, like Mora and knowledge or Sheogorath and madness, but he had this interest in Nirn that was just as bad as Dagon's or even Molag's. There was also the fact that Midas was unique among their number, he had his own personal Gate connecting to the Mortal Plane and had nine other Gates that were connected to the Holds of Skyrim, totally different from her portal in her 'temple', and that even moved into his other unique aspect. That second one was the major one, in her mind, because he had the power to bend even Princes to his will, meaning his control over the vast waters of Oblivion was more significant as more Princes were brought under his rule, willingly or not since she knew Mora hadn't agreed and had decided to stay with her current situation.

It made her wonder if Midas might be looking at a bigger picture, to become a mythical state known as 'Daedric King', as in the one who ruled over all of Oblivion and all of it's Princes, a state Mora said to be impossible to achieve since there was no way to obtain it, and Nocturnal had to wonder if she should ask Midas about it, before deciding that it was best to keep her thoughts to herself, least she loose a beast on the rest of Oblivion.

Capper, on the other hand, was more focused on the task at hand as the kobolds eliminated the dwarven machines and the falmer that had set up shop in the ruin, even though he did pause to marvel at one of the taller constructs that the assassins stabbed it in a way that brought it down. The only thing Capper didn't like were the chaurus, the horrible bugs that seemed to be the pets of the falmer, until they were turned into food or housing material, and that included the winged versions of them that occasionally burst out of what he guessed were cocoons. Fortunately the kobolds shared his opinion on the foul insects and killed them whenever they got the chance, while also gathering their eggs for the group of kobolds that were taking an interest in alchemy, especially since picking the eggs prevented them from hatching. Nocturnal even noticed that when they got to the falmer section of the dungeon, where the majority of the blind elves was located, the group slowed and made sure to eliminate each cluster of enemies they came across before moving onto the next set of enemies.

It was slow work, ensuring that no falmer or chaurus remained, but the kobolds did it gladly as the Collectors added more and more items to the pile, to be sorted in the Opulent Lands, before they reached the final door that brought them into the deepest part of the ruin, where a giant brass statue of a snow elf rested.

"And there it is, our prize: the Eyes of the Falmer." Capper commented, looking up at the statue's head, where Nocturnal and the others found a pair of large white opals that served as the statue's eyes, which seemed to pulse with a red glow a little, that allowed her to realize that these were what Mercer had been seeking, after Gallus did the hard work of locating which ruin they were buried in, "My turn to shine."

All Capper did was hold a hand out as the air around the statue shifted, where Nocturnal and the kobolds found that it just vanished, he teleported it straight into his realm, and sure enough Capper slipped into the Opulent Lands for a moment and found that it was inside the city. He quickly ensured that the Eyes were removed, gently with his magic, and were added to his Vault, before moving the statue itself to an area inside his castle, a secondary price since it was the only representation of a snow elf he had seen, which Mora was interested in. After that he returned to where the statue had been resting, where he, Nocturnal, and the kobolds simply turned around and made their way back to the surface, because now that everything had been looted they didn't have to stop for anything or anyone. On the return trip Capper also collected the bodies of the various constructs, as in the spiders and spheres, plus the giant one, because he was sure those working with Mora in his realm would appreciate having something new to work with, especially since he had an idea in mind and wanted to share it with Mora in the future.

Eventually they emerged from the ruin and Nocturnal got a good glimpse into the way that her new Lord worked, though as the kobolds returned to the Opulent Lands she followed them, allowing Midas to return to the campsite as he found that the trackers had returned while he was inside Irkngthand.

"The trackers have pinpointed where Midnight was taken: she's being held in an abandoned shack outside Morthal." Rarity said, something that caused Capper to raise an eyebrow for a moment, since he wasn't expecting the two assassins to carry Midnight that far, especially since they picked her up from Windhelm, it was just a long journey to make, before she and the others glanced at him as he noticed that it was later in the day now.

"Interesting. Well then, we'll return to my realm for a moment and use Morthal's Gate." Capper replied, because he was sure this was more than enough time for the Dark Brotherhood to speak with Midnight, even though there was a chance she had killed them and they'd arrive to see her unharmed, and felt that it was time to meet up with their missing friend.

The others nodded their heads and packed up their camp, even though they hadn't brought a lot out while they waited for him to clear out Irkngthand, though once they were ready to go Capper had them set a course back to Windhelm, to use it's Gate, where all of them were eager to see whatever the coming hours had in store for them.