Skyrim: Band of Thieves

Once they were done in Irkngthand, and all of the kobolds rejoined Nocturnal in the Opulent Lands, Capper and the rest of the group made their way back to Windhelm, to use the Gate he had set up to warp over to Morthal so they could track down Midnight and her abductors. This was the quickest method available to them, instead of traveling across the rest of the landscape to reach their destination, something the rest of the group agreed with since it meant they could catch up with Midnight before something terrible happened to her. This was due to the fact that they had no idea what the pair of assassins from the Dark Brotherhood had planned for their friend, they could be interrogating her or killing her for all they knew, and if that was the case Capper was going to destroy them, and everyone wanted to get there as quickly as possible to avoid such a thing. Fortunately for them there were no enemies on the road for them to deal with, since they had traveled down this path earlier that day, and that meant they were able to reach Windhelm without wasting too much time, much to their joy.

With that in mind the group carefully dismissed the carriage when they reached the stables and headed inside the city, to which Capper brought them to the Gate, allowed them to pass into the Opulent Lands before stepping out into Morthal a few seconds later, where he pulled out the map as he headed towards the bridge to the north.

"Okay, according to the trackers the shack that the assassins brought Midnight to should be to the north of us." Capper said, as it looked like the location was a fair distance from the village, no doubt for the privacy that it offered the brotherhood, but it also told him that they would have to deal with some of the creatures that called the marsh home, which was why he took a moment to glance at his companions, "Keep your guard up, as the critters between here and the shack will likely try to eat us."

"Looks like someone burned a building down recently, near the inn. Maybe we should investigate later?" Rarity asked, due to the fact that helping the people of Skyrim liked heroes and Azure was someone who would no doubt do such a thing while they were traveling, plus she knew that Capper would do it to help build relations with the people of Skyrim for whatever his end goal might be.

"I would like to do so, if at all possible." Azure commented, where he found that Capper nodded his head, that he could take some time to gather some information once they were done with the Dark Brotherhood, causing the group to focus as they headed out into the marsh, each of them drawing their weapons like normal.

Capper found that there was a side path as they left Morthal, which appeared to go right to a vampire's lair, making him take a moment to wonder if the residents even knew it was out here or not, and if they didn't it stood to reason they might wipe out another small clan before it grew into a problem. After that they found that there were a few enemies out in the marsh, a couple of spiders and even some mudcrabs that wanted to pinch them with their claws, but the annoying thing was that there were a few chaurus on the surface, wading around in the water. Such a thing told Capper that they must have been born in one of the dwarven ruins and, somehow, found their way to the surface while leaving the falmer behind, and if that was the case there was no telling where they might have built a new nest. He considered clearing the entire marsh, but then decided that they would focus on the enemies that were currently in their way, leaving the rest for whatever the future held in store for them, but that didn't stop the group from dealing with the critters that attacked them.

Rarity froze her targets with shards of ice, Azure hacked his foes apart, La'nari loosed a few arrows into her targets, and even Sharva got involved, dancing around the spiders before slashing them apart, her daedric swords a flurry as she fought their foes, though after the second encounter Midnight stabbed a chaurus from behind and took it's head clean off.

"Well, this is a surprise. Welcome back." Capper said, which put a smile on his face as they regained themselves and stood off to the side, in an area where they wouldn't have to deal with the enemies that lived in the marsh, though he could tell that Midnight was thinking about whatever had happened to her, "What did they do to you?"

"I met their Leader, Astrid, and she told me that I owed them for killing Grelod." Midnight replied, where she reached into her pouch for a moment and withdrew three golden soul gems, confirming that the rings Capper had made for her and the rest of the group worked like a charm, which she handed to him without delay, "She and her partner, whoever it was, happened to have some guy who killed people during the war, a lady that apparently made some enemies in the past, and a khajiit who... well, has had a hand in a lot of dirty dealings. I was told that one of them had a contract on their head and that that person couldn't leave the shack, and at first I took the khajiit's life since he was the most suspicious of the three, but then I thought about the information the other two gave me and... I'm ashamed to admit it, but I took their lives as well, mostly to make sure I passed the test. Astrid then invited me to join the Dark Brotherhood, told me where the Sanctuary was and how to enter it... figured that I could check in with you guys, go check it out, and then decide whether or not to actually work with them after meeting the rest of the guild."

"Where is their base located?" Azure asked, because normally he would rush out and slaughter the underhanded guild with his own hand, but since he was okay with Capper owning the Thieves Guild, despite his thoughts on the guild, he felt that he would be fine with the assassins, as long as they weren't too bad.

"Outside Falkreath... like right outside the main town." Midnight stated, something that caused Capper to think of the side path leading down into the ground that they had noticed when they were helping Sharva recover the shards of Mehrunes' Razor, something none of them had actually investigated now that he thought about it.

"It's going to take some time for this Astrid to get back to the Sanctuary, so we can do something with our time." Capper said, as he expected that it would take a day, maybe a little more, for the Leader of the Dark Brotherhood to make her way down to Falkreath, to which he turned and started to head back to Morthal, his mind focused on what they could do to make sure Astrid had enough time to get home, "I've got it, we'll head back to Solitude and check out that haunted cave we overheard the Jarl and her court talking about... should check in with Falk before we do so, just so he knows that someone is taking care of it. We can check out the cave, clear it out, get the reward, and likely be back in Falkreath by the time Astrid arrives, then you can speak with them and figure out what you want to do with the Dark Brotherhood."

Midnight nodded for a moment, it was a fair assessment in her mind, before setting out with the group as they returned to Morthal, finding that none of the guards were up, or maybe there was a changing of the guard, thus allowing them to use a pair of Gates to get back to Solitude. There they found that some of the guards were watching the city that the Legion was operating in, even though none of them noticed their arrival, allowing them to head towards the Blue Palace once more, all while Capper wondered how much time this quest would eat up. Sure enough they found that Falk was an early worker and he was surprised to find that someone even wanted to clear out the cave, he didn't think it was worth their time, but he did feel that if they wanted to do so than they could go ahead and check it out. Following that they departed from the palace and made their way to the city gates, allowing Capper to bring the carriage back out once they were outside the city, allowing the group to rest up a little before they reached their destination, which was in the mountain beyond the abandoned temple one could see from the main road.

Capper had La'nari bring them up the main road a few minutes later and deviated from where the cave was located, as there was a side area he wanted to check out, a side cave below the building that the Thalmor had built, to which he had them pause for a moment. He discovered that the area he wanted to check out, which according to Mora's additions to his map had one of the Stones of Barenziah inside it, was just a small cave that didn't go anywhere, there was a single troll that was munching on someone's body, and there was an upper path that might lead into the embassy. Since he wasn't interested in the Thalmor right now, they hadn't annoyed him at all, he filed this information away for later and found a side portion that had a book for Rarity to learn from, a coin pouch, and the gem he was looking for, all of which he pocketed for later. Once he had the Stone in had he returned to the others, allowing them to head back down the road and spotted the cave that was called 'Wolfskull Cave'.

"Supposedly this place is connected to necromancy and Potema the Wolf Queen." Capper said, though as they made sure that the carriage was safe, that no one would notice it and try to steal it while they were inside the cave, he heard a creaking sound that reminded him of skeletons, and, sure enough, two skeletons emerged from the cave to fight them.

Azure slashed through them without wasting time, finding that both skeletons were shattered instantly and two golden soul gems landed on the ground for the Collectors to gather, causing him to glace at the others for a moment as they nodded, this was definitely a problem if the undead were coming back to life. With that in mind Azure took point as he marched into the cave, letting Sharva walk beside him while most of the others stayed in the shadows, keeping an eye on things as they quickly found that someone had been digging recently, rocks had been moved and a path had been formed. Sure enough the path brought them to a small camp that had two necromancers hanging out around a campfire, it was easy to tell due to their unique dark robes with skulls designs on the front, where La'nari put an arrow in one as Rarity ice spiked the second, before they could react. As Capper collected their golden soul gems, and passed some new tomes over to Rarity, Azure did open the nearby door and found that it brought them to another necromancer, who he beheaded, while leaving the pair of draugr to Sharva and Midnight, who fell in seconds.

"You know, it's hard to tell if these were weak draugr, or if we're just too strong now." Rarity commented, because she felt that the enemies in the cave weren't very impressive or very strong, though at the same time she glanced at the large hole that was in the center of the area that the third necromaner had been stationed in, because Capper was staring at it and what had to be down in the depths, "There's something down there, isn't there?"

"Yes, the soul of an incredibly powerful necromancer... Potema, no doubt." Capper replied, that was the only thing that made sense to him, based on the information they had been given, though at the same time that meant this was more important than they could have known, far more than Falk could have known based on the rumors he had been getting recently, to which he glanced at the others, "Come on, let's go."

The others nodded for a moment before they jumped down the short passage, landing on some stones a few moments later and headed down the path that was in front of them, which allowed them to access a massive underground chamber that had a long forgotten fort with a powerful font of necromantic power above the structure, with necromancers chanting about how they were calling Potema back into this world.

"Yep, that's definitely a problem." Capper commented, something that caused Azure to set down the path that was to their left so he could start their invasion of this area, because the sooner they dealt with the necromancers the sooner they were able to stop Potema from rising and doing whatever it was that she would do with a new body, before he tapped on the air for a moment, "Hey, Mora, who do necromancers worship?"

"It depends: some worship Mannimarco, the King of Worms, and some worship Molag Bal." Mora said, appearing from her Lord's personal Gate as Azure found a necromancer along the path he was following, taking off her head before she had a chance to summon aid or call for backup, though she and Midas stood there for a moment as she recalled something else that might interest him, "Once upon a time there used to be a Prince who was the 'Father of Necromancy', Malykriss he was called, and he stood as the Prince of Death... he, Xandria, Kaithe, and Nathrial fought each other over something in the past and they ended up wiping each other out. Mind you, we Daedric Princes cannot fully die, otherwise our Planes would vanish in due time and I've confirmed that their Planes are still out there, like how Mnemonic's realm of Deadlight is still there, even if he no longer has the power to rule his realm."

"So their souls are lost in the vastness of Oblivion... very interesting." Capper said, though at the same time Mora could see the gears turning in her Lord's head, he was imagining the potential alliances he could make if he found a way to reunite the four scattered Princes with their bodies, along with the addition of restoring Mnemonic's Plane and status to him, "You'll have to tell me more about them later, as all of them sound very interesting... would be interesting to know what caused the four of them to wage war with each other, and see if we can find Mnemonic."

In that moment Mora understood Nocturnal's concern, it was like their Lord wanted to seize control over ALL of Oblivion, as in all Princes and all Planes that they controlled, the mythical Daedric King she realized, but, at the same time, she decided not to say anything, to avoid giving Midas any additional ideas. With that in mind she returned to the Opulent Lands while Capper followed his companions down into the path they were following, where he found them fighting off another group of necromancers and the draugr they had raised to fight for them. This time around the necromancers were stronger than the ones they fought before coming down here, while at the same time the draugr seemed to be about the scourge level, which were stronger than the lesser ones that had been guarding the entrance, before Capper heard the Shouting that came from the Deathlords. Sure enough he found a few of the Deathlords walking down some stairs to where they were located, each of them wielding an ebony weapon like usual, though at the same time Sharva wasted no time in rushing up towards them as she swung her blades at one of them, while also resisting their Shouting as she used a 'Fus' every now and then.

That reminded Capper that they had to take her to the Throat of the World to visit the Greybeards, who he suspected were getting annoyed by the fact that she hadn't reacted to their summons, so he decided to remind himself that once they dealt with the Dark Brotherhood, in whatever manner they did, they'd deal with the Greybeards.

While they moved through the fort the group overheard the chanting of the necromancers, they were definitely trying to call Potema back to this world, in fact she understood that fact and seemed excited by the idea of returning to Skyrim, no doubt to continue whatever schemes she had been working on before her demise. As it turned out the necromancers were also trying to use the 'blood of the innocent' to bind Potema's soul to their wills, to make her their slave for their own schemes, a fact that caused the floating mass of necromantic energy, which definitely held the Wolf Queen's soul, to laugh at them as she informed them that they lacked the power to bind her. Upon hearing that Rarity glanced at Capper for a moment and he nodded his head, because if mortals lacked the power to actually bind Potema's soul than it stood to reason that the only ones that could deal with her were either vampires, since they dabbled in necromancy, or a Daedric Prince, and since Rarity didn't use such spells it was up to him to deal with her. At the same time he wasn't too sure if he wanted to tamper with the soul of Potema, she seemed like someone who might resist being a kobold, or whatever form she took since she seemed to be a unique soul in comparison to the others he had claimed, and he wasn't sure he wanted to deal with her right now.

He was, however, more than willing to claim the ebony weapons that were in the possession of the Deathlords, plus the few staves that the necromancers had, since one had an icy one and one had a fireball staff, all of which he ensured were sent to his realm for later.

The higher up they got the stronger the necromacers got, which explained why they were able to command Deathlords, as these ones could sent out waves of frost magic at them and knew that killing the intruders was the most important thing for them right now. What they weren't expect was for Midnight to appear behind two of them and stab them in the backs, which served as a distraction for her to take their heads off, while Sharva and Azure dealt with the group of draugr so their items could be claimed by the Collectors. It wasn't long after that that the head necromancer, a woman by the sound of her voice, noticed that they were getting close to the ritual area and ordered the rest of her followers to attack them so she could focus on the ritual, no doubt to finish binding Potema so they could use her against them and whoever they were trying to bring down. He, Rarity, and Midnight made their move instantly as they jumped into the air and moved towards the top of the fort, two using their wings since Capper had none, where Rarity used her magic to freeze the woman's arms and legs, allowing Midnight to remove her head, even though Capper caught it and slipped the head out of the skull helmet that had been on her head, one made out of a troll skull and crystals.

With the ritual master defeated, however, the magic keeping Potema's soul contained shattered and it started to depart so Potema could return to either her body or her next vessel, where Capper raised his right hand towards the large soul and ensnared it with his magic without wasting time, causing her soul to be condensed into a golden soul gem that was tainted with black and dark green necromantic energy.

"It would seem that you were successful: you have acquired Potema's soul, and the Bloodworm Helm, an artifact associated with Mannimarco." Mora said, as she had been observing them and decided to come out after the battle was done, though at the same time she was surprised that the necromancers had such a powerful artifact in their possession, which was why Capper had the ritual master's floating nearby, "That explains why they were able to go after Potema's soul, they had such a powerful relic in their possession... and is also worrying, since many of Mannimarco's relics are unaccounted for... but at the very least you and your companions were able to save the day for Solitude. So, I dread to ask this, but what are you going to do with her soul?"

Capper stood there for a moment as the rest of the group dealt with the remaining necromancers, because Mora's question was very good, causing him to set the Bloodworm Helm down as he glanced at the area that the ritual master had been in a few seconds ago, to see if there was anything of hers that might inspire him. He found a glass bottle that seemed to be more akin to a more powerful mana potion, no doubt to enhance the ritual master's power for her foul ritual, before he glanced at Mora and found the remnants of a certain spell on her body, the one that prevented her from rebelling. Such a thing caused an idea to form in his mind as he considered what he was going to do, there was a way to do this that might work without him having to worry about someone trying to rebel and take over his realm while he was working on the guilds and the rest of the Holds. The downside to the idea was that Mora might go after Ithelia again, though at the same time he was hoping she had learned her lesson and wouldn't come after his Chamberlain again, and he could tell that Mora had an eyebrow raised as she wondered why he was looking at her.

"Mora, what would you do if I were to remove the portion of the spell that's stopping you from rebelling?" Capper asked, as he hadn't thought about that since the day Mora came and attacked Ithelia, he had been so busy that it had simply slipped from his mind, but now that he had thought about it again he figured he could see if she was going to remain loyal or if she was going to return to being a problem.

"Lord Midas, I know I originally disliked Ithelia, but you have my word that I will remain as your Archivist." Mora replied, due to the fact that there was so much she was learning from Midas and his companions, information that no one else had and secrets that were being revealed as they continued to interact with the world, especially since he made her think about the five other Princes that had been forgotten by most of them, before she realized why he had asked her this question.

Capper nodded as he held his hands out, letting Potema's soul gem float in front of him, where Mora watched as the lines on her body that represented the spell that prevented her from rebelling were lifted from her body and wrapped around the golden soul gem, telling her exactly what her Lord was doing. In the next moment Capper used his magic to pick up the glass container and altered it accordingly, reshaping it into something that could actually hold a soul and not shatter suddenly, to which Mora watched as it turned into a dark purple container with bone white markings. Mora recognized it immediately, it was a phylactery, something the powerful undead known as liches used to hide their souls, so that if their body was struck down they could go somewhere to hide before forming a new body, so if they were destroyed a lich would die. She realized that her Lord must have known about these from his world, or at found reference to them in something he had read since arriving on Nirn, but it wasn't long before he formed a new lich's phylactery and bound a portion of Potema's soul to it, like a way to control her.

In the next moment Capper focused on the tainted golden soul gem, watching as the wind kicked up as it transformed into Potema's new form, creating a female skeletal figure that floated above the ground, her torso and waist wrapped in what appeared to be cloth bindings with necromantic symbols on them. The figure had the skull of a wolf, or maybe werewolf was more accurate, with clawed skeletal hands, like a werewolf had been raised into undeath as a lich, and the power coming off of it was definitely on Potema's level, if not more so due to her newly ascended state. There were chains around her wrists, either part of becoming a lich or a symbol of her newfound bondage to Midas, yet Mora could see that the figure knew that she wouldn't be able to do much, like she understood the magic that was connected to her now. Potema floated there for a moment before bowing her head, confirming that she knew that there was nothing she could do against the power that had been wrapped around her soul, even though Mora also knew she would be looking for a way to get around this and rebel, or make a name for herself.

"Here, I trust you to hold onto this." Capper said, handing Potema's phylactery to Mora, who accepted it and stashed it away, and when he noticed her looking at her now empty space, where the binding spell had been located, he used a bit of power and reapplied it to the Prince, like Mora liked having that spell in place, "Potema, follow Mora to your new home. We'll be by later to talk."

Potema said nothing as she followed Mora, though at the same time Capper already had plans in his mind to fix things and bring order to the chaos that would be building right now, and he was interested in seeing what the other Princes had to offer and what the future might throw at them next.