Skyrim: Band of Thieves

After dealing with the ritual master and her necromancers, and securing Potema's soul in her new wolf lich form with Mora holding onto the phylactery that bound the vile figure, along with ensuring she didn't rebel, Capper let the Prince and their newest ally return to the Opulent Lands. He then looted the rest of the area, securing tomes and magical items, before they found their way back to the entrance of Wolfskull Cave and returned to their carriage without delay, where La'nari got them underway without wasting time, so they could deliver the news to Solitude. Of course Capper wasn't going to tell Falk about Potema being reborn in a brand new body, that would freak him and everyone else to no end, but they were going to make sure the news of the cave being cleared was delivered to him, since it would allow them to aid the Jarl. He wasn't sure what sort of job the Jarl might hand them, but if she gave them a personal favor that meant they were on the road to getting one of them to be a Thane, either him or Rarity, even though they might not have the power of the other Thanes.

The only reason he was interested in that was because it meant they might be able to purchase a house, which was where Mora's map told him that one of the last two Stones in this area was located, reminding him that he needed to steal the one in the Jarl's room later.

When they reached Solitude once more only he and Azure headed inside, since it would be a lot quicker that way, causing the pair to make their way towards the Blue Palace once more, again without being stopped since the guards seemed more interested in patrolling the city. Once inside the Jarl's palace they were able to find the Jarl, she was sitting on her throne in the upper level while Falk and the others talked around her, no doubt discussing a variety of topics, which was perfect since it looked like everyone was distracted. With that in mind Azure walked up to find Falk, so he could give him the good news, while at the same time Capper headed down the passage that was off to his left and made his way up to the upper floor, to approach the Jarl's bedroom from another direction. Fortunately, thanks to Elisif, Falk, and the rest of the court being totally distracted, and none of the guards even paying attention to the second floor, he was able to stroll into Elisif's bedroom and found that it was definitely a large place, with a bed that had been hers and her husband's.

Finding the Stone of Barenziah proved to be far too easy, it was on a nightstand and he swiped it without delay, he also took a few of Elisif's more expensive looking attire for Rarity, since he knew she loved this sort of thing, and once the items were stored away he retreated after making it look like no one had been in the room, allowing him to catch up to Azure as the warrior left the Blue Palace.

"You were right, Jarl Elisif asked me for a favor: she wants the war horn of her husband delivered to a shrine of Talos, since they were unable to honor the Ninth Divine during his funeral." Azure softly said, keeping his voice low so only Capper could hear him, while at the same time displaying the elegant ivory war horn that was part tool of war and part art piece, where Capper spun it around in his hand before attaching a faint spell to it and handed it back to Azure, "She whispered that there is one outside Whiterun that is well hidden, that we might be able to place it on as an offering."

"Good to know. We'll be heading by there soon, no doubt, so we can make a pit stop there... the spell is designed to let me know when someone steals it." Capper replied, because he wanted the war horn for his collection, though this time he felt that showing some restraint would be best so he could steal it from whoever stole it from the shrine, since he knew such a thing was going to happen after they dropped it off, "This job should put us in Elisif's good graces, enough for her to let one of us become a Thane of her Hold and purchase the house that's available... Rarity might like the house, honestly, plus it would give us a base of operations and lets me acquire one of the missing Stones."

Azure said nothing to that, this was what he had come to expect from Capper, everything he did was a step towards another plan, another goal, and with every step taken he knew that the newfound Daedric Prince would make another one for any of his various plans, because for every step he took he planned two more in it's place. He was like the other Princes, thinking and planning ahead to make sure everything went his way, yet he cared more about his people and the mortals of Nirn, but he decided not to speak up as they headed outside and regrouped with the others. Once they were back with the others the carriage started moving without delay, allowing them to share the information they had received from Elisif, about where they would be going soon and what they would be doing, while Capper let Rarity take her new stuff to her residence in the Golden City, as Capper was calling his capital. At the same time he made sure that the Stone was placed with the others, but it did cause him to do something else as well, he called upon the shadowy kobolds and a number of Collectors, allowing him to hand out maps with areas that held the other Stones circled, as he was going to send them after the ones they didn't have right now, save for the last in Solitude and the one right outside Falkreath.

Following that they started to make their way back to Whiterun by using the road, as they were still giving Astrid the time she needed to get back to the Sanctuary, though at the same time La'nari, Rarity, and the others knew that this would be a quick ride since the road had been cleared a few times before.

Sure enough there weren't any enemies for them to worry about, at least not bandits based on what they could see of the bandit toll area, though they were interrupted by an interesting arrival, a green scaled dragon roared at them from the air, it was just flying above them, and released a torrent of flames on them, which was stopped by an icy barrier. Capper found that it was Rarity who made the initial move, she had noticed the beast coming and moved to intercept, and once the dragon stopped it's attack Rarity, Sharva, La'nari, and Midnight removed themselves from the carriage, leaving him, Azure, and their collective kobolds to watch the carriage. Rarity formed icy platforms for the others to use as they leapt into the air, reaching the dragon in no time, surprising the beast in the process, where Sharva slashed at it's right wing and cut through the scales, while Midnight delivered a similar cut to the other wing. This allowed La'nari to loose some arrows into the air, targeting the dragon's eyes and found that her arrows reached their mark without delay, causing the beast to roar in anger as it loosed a burst of fire on those it was fighting, but Rarity, seeing it coming, used her magic to create icy barriers around them, saving them from the attack so they could go on the offensive once more.

"You know, I think it might be getting to be time for us to start splitting up again." Azure remarked, where he found that the four fighters brought down the dragon in no time at all, one was simply far stronger in magic than she had been previously, one was the ever-growing Dragonborn, one was an excellent archer, and the last was basically an assassin who struck out at weak points, and Rarity caught them as the dragon collapsed on the ground in a heap, "Give the others a chance to shine without someone stealing their thunder."

"Agreed. I'll pitch the idea to the others later." Capper replied, where he climbed off the carriage and walked over to where the others were standing, allowing him and Sharva to stand in front of the dragon to see if the past was going to repeat itself for them, and, sure enough, he was proven right, the dragon's soul was turned into a large golden soul gem while it's innate knowledge flowed into Sharva's body, "This is what I like to see: another dracthyr, coming right up."

Sure enough the others watched as a green scaled dracthyr formed from the large golden soul gem, who was surprised by what was going on, and once that was done Capper collected the bones and scales that were left behind, though he did stop for a moment as he considered something. That happened to be the gear for the dracthyr, because in their new form they were like an honor guard, like the Saints and Seducers from the Shivering Isles, and they deserved their own set of armor and weapons to go with such a position. Sharva, of course, was going over the new information that had been given to her, as each dragon she gained the power of strengthened her understanding of how they Shouted, though it was hard to say what sort of Shout she might have unlocked from this encounter. It made him think about their promise to her, to take her to the Throat of the World to meet up with the Greybeards, who had to be getting annoyed by her delay, but for right now it seemed like she was focused on helping them with their own missions.

Once the new dracthyr was with her new kin in the Opulent Lands, of which there were only two right now, and Capper put away all of the components, he regrouped with his companions and they continued towards Whiterun, allowing them to just talk among themselves and relax for a time.

Eventually they made their way to the area that was outside Balgruuf's city and passed by the entrance, since this time they didn't have to head inside, before heading towards the north for a moment, following the small map that was tucked away inside the ivory war horn, a way for Elisif to tell them where it was without actually mentioning it. As such they headed off on the right side of the area and made their way back towards Fellglow Keep, since it was on the way there, and, sure enough, they located the shrine to Talos that was tucked away in a cave that was like an alcove. It was a simple matter to place the horn in front of the statue, just as Elisif asked, though there was some terrible timing as a trio of Thalmor turned the corner and attacked them, thinking that they were Talos worshipers, an incorrect assumption since they could have been simple explorers. Capper wasted no time in drawing his blades and sliced through them, turning them into three piles of gems and coins, allowing the Collectors to gather them up as he turned the slain Thalmor's souls into three new kobolds and sent all of them into the Opulent Lands as well, to join their new brethren.

Once that was done, and they were sure that they had done their job, they returned to the carriage and made their way back to Falkreath, once more taking the road since there was no reason for them to use the Gates, not since they were giving the Leader of the Dark Brotherhood time to get back to her Sanctuary.

As it turned out there was no one one the road for them to worry about, they were able to relax, stop at Riverwood for a bit of food, while Capper noticed the female innkeeper almost glaring at them and silently assigned a shadowy kobold to watch her and this place, before they got on their way. They did deviate from the path a bit as Capper had them move up towards Helgen, where they got another look at the destroyed town, though this time he just made his way over to the ruined inn and jumped up onto the second story, where he found several bottles of juniper mead. Sharva had mentioned it at one point in the past, something that the innkeeper had been making before Alduin came and crushed this place, so he tracked down all of the bottles that remained and moved into the Opulent Lands, handing them over to the brewmaster kobold, a male who enjoyed making mead, ale, and other drinks. Once that was done he returned to the others and they departed from the ruined town, allowing them to head down the path and continued back towards Falkreath, giving the group some time to just to relax and rest up for whatever happened next.

Eventually they reached the outskirts of Falkreath and continued down the road, passing by where they encountered Barbas previously, before stopping on the side of the road as Midnight headed down the side path and stopped in front of the black door, which eventually let her inside when she spoke the correct passphrase.

"So, what are we going to do about this 'guild'?" Rarity asked, because from what she could tell the Dark Brotherhood was far weaker than the rest of the Guilds that Capper had now gained control of, even though he technically only owned one since she and Azure were high up in the ranks of their respective orders, so he had influence in hers and Azure's, "If they're hiding in a small cave under the road they won't be able to do much for you."

"This is true, and for right now I will leave that decision up to Midnight. If she wants to work with them, I shall step out of the way and allow her to do so... if she dislikes them, we crush them." Capper replied, it was a simple truth, especially since they had the passphrase and could center the Sanctuary whenever they wanted, so if Midnight wished the destruction of the Dark Brotherhood they could smash them with ease, thus allowing him to set in motion his own plan, "I've already got an idea for my own assassins guild, if we have to destroy the Dark Brotherhood, what I'm thinking of calling the 'Gilded Blades', and that's just the start... but, like I said, it all depends on what Midnight says."

Rarity and Azure glanced at each other for a moment, because this meant that Capper had already envisioned a number of different divisions for his realm, no doubt for all of the different types of lifestyles they were discovering, because now there were thieves, mages, assassins, miners, warriors, and the dracthyr as his honor guard. At this point they weren't even a tad bit surprised by this discovery and should have seen it coming, though they were sure that Capper had plans to build up his newfound divisions, otherwise he wouldn't have mentioned it in the slightest. Rarity also suspected that he was going to use the information obtained from the Dark Brotherhood to further his understanding of the guild and create his own rules for his own assassins guild, or at least an assassins division if Midnight decided to keep these people alive. Other than that there didn't seem to be much for them to worry about, the area was clear of enemies and there weren't any patrols for them to talk to, allowing her and the others to continue to rest and relax, even though Capper was focused on thinking about what to make in his realm.

Eventually Midnight returned and climbed into the back of the carriage, where they found that she now possessed the attire of a Dark Brotherhood assassin, the same black and red gear that they had seen on the unfortunate assassins that had died after attacking them, and she handed Capper the Stone of Barenziah that had been in the Sanctuary.

"So, there are seven members of this 'Family': you have Astrid, then there's her werewolf husband, an argonian who claimed he's a Shadowscale, a dark elf, an old nord mage, a redguard, and a child vampire." Midnight stated, as she knew what to say after returning to the group, allowing Capper to understand the power that the small guild had to offer, while at the same time they could see that she was thinking about the information she had gleamed from the others, "There's a Word Wall in the Sanctuary... but, to be honest, I'm undecided on whether or not we should cut them down. Apparently they're gathering contracts by word of mouth, hearing rumors about who might have performed the ritual the boy in Windhelm had been said to be performing, and right now all of their contracts are minor... in fact, I have three: a miner in Dawnstar, an ex-miller that is on the way to Windhelm, and a beggar living at the base of the Throat of the World."

"So, follow the trail of targets, maybe take them out, and bring Sharva to the Greybeards while we're there." Capper said, to which he turned towards La'nari and she nodded as she directed the carriage on the path towards Dawnstar, because this would give Midnight time to consider whether or not they should strike down the Dark Brotherhood, since she was on the fence right now.

He still found the assortment of individuals in the Sanctuary to be quite weird, it sounded like a gathering of misfits, and that made him all the more curious about what Midnight might decide about them later, plus he was curious as to what Sharva might discover when they reached High Hrothgar, making him eager to see what the coming days held in store for them.