Skyrim: Band of Thieves

Capper and the others spend some time in the Opulent Lands, something that allowed Rarity and the others to relax in the Golden City for a time, since there was no telling what might happen when they returned to Skyrim and focused on what else the Dark Brotherhood might have Midnight do. While they rested Capper spent his time working with Mora and Katria, one was focused on studying the dwemer ship and it's secrets, in an effort to find more information that might be useful to her Lord, while the latter was solely focused on using the aetherium pickaxe to extract more aetherium. This place was like a dream to her, she had the Forge at her disposal and a constant source of the mythical material nearby, meaning she could make whatever came to mind, once she was done gathering everything she needed. In addition to that both Capper and Mora had the same idea to find individuals from his realm to send over to Katria, like-minded individuals that would work with her, research the power of the Forge, help Mora research the ship, and so many other things.

Katria, in turn, also had a lot to learn about, such as the fact that she was working under a Daedric Prince, she now lived in one of the Planes of Oblivion, she was encountering a lot of new creatures, and everything that was associated with the aetherium she had spent her life studying and writing about.

"You know, this is going to worry the other Daedric Princes." Ithelia commented, though at the same time she knew that her Lord wasn't going to stop what he was doing, even if she warned him about the potential danger, but, at the same time, she felt that she wouldn't be doing her job as Midas' Chamberlain if she didn't at least mention this every now and then, "You now have a material that is possibly one of the strongest in the whole of Nirn, a Forge capable of working the material into whatever you want, a large number of followers that could form an army, and three Princes serving you..."

"As much as I hate to agree with Ithelia, she's right... sooner or later Molag or Dagon will make a move." Mora remarked, in fact she was sure that the Prince of Domination and the Prince of Change were keeping an eye on this Plane, especially after Nocturnal came into Midas' ranks and some of her followers had been traded into his forces, "Especially since you've helped the likes of Sheogorath and Clavicus Vile, have obtained multiple artifacts and relics of power, and have the Dragonborn in your ranks... it's only a matter of time until things get crazy."

Capper thought about that for a moment, as he was curious as to how he would turn things around and come out ahead in the end, but before he could focus on it too much he and Ithelia felt something, a scroll appeared out of thin air and quickly landed in the latter's hands, who read it before glancing at Capper.

"It's Peryite. He's requesting entry into your realm." Ithelia said, which was interesting that they decided to talk about what the other Princes might be doing, to prepare for the potential invasion of the worst ones, the ones that could do the worst amount of damage to the Opulent Lands, and here one was seeking to enter Midas' Realm.

"Granted. This should be interesting." Capper replied, though he thought that it was good that they were outside the Golden City, close to where the road connecting the city to the portal to the Aetherium Island was located, giving them plenty of space for a meeting, since Peryite was said to be a dragon, or was portrayed as one, but he was more interested in why the Prince was interested in speaking with him.

Ithelia nodded as everyone gathered behind Capper, where he found that the space in front of him opened into a Gate that allowed a fair sized sickly green scaled dragon to appear in front of him, though as the Gate closed Capper found that Peryite shifted his position, like he was sitting.

"Lord Midas, thank you for agreeing to speak with me on such short notice." Peryite said, though at the same time Rarity and the others found that Nocturnal joined them, no doubt because she had felt the presence of another Prince and wanted to see what was going on now, especially since she had been the last new Prince to come and had been bound into service, a blunder she would hold in mind for a long time.

"It is my pleasure, Peryite. What can I, and my followers, do for you?" Capper asked, because he had to assume that Peryite, the Prince of Pestilence, wanted to do business with him and figured that coming to him was better than simply waiting for him to come by his shrine or meet one of his important followers, and it made him interested in what sort of business the other Prince wanted to discuss.

"I wish to enlist your aid in dealing with a rogue monk of mine, the elf Orchendor... I have been unable to find anyone that is appropriate to deal with him, while keeping my other followers alive." Peryite replied, which wasn't too odd considering the fact that many people seemed to assume that he was a weak Prince and wasn't worthy to be worshiped as much as some of the other Princes, so he was dealing with those that still worshiped him and hadn't found anyone that might be able to deal with his wayward monk, "Now, I know you won't do anything for free, plus I've heard that you are collecting artifacts, so I'm willing to hand over Spellbreaker as payment... in addition to that I would like to join your Realm, like Mora has, which I am also willing to offer as part of my side of the bargain."

"Are you sure, Peryite?" Nocturnal asked, because it almost sounded like Peryite wanted to be bound to Midas' service, since it would give him access to Nirn and whatever else he was after, while at the same time Mora and Ithelia glanced at each other for a moment, knowing that this would only heighten the tension between them and the other Princes, "You do know that you'll be bound to his service, your power will be sealed to a degree, and you'll likely gain a new form on top of it, like what Mora and I have been given."

"Yes, actually. Mora, I also have a few ideas to suggest to you, if Midas will take me." Peryite answered, his tone revealing that he was perfectly fine with the idea of being bound to another Prince, especially one that was on the rise and was becoming a major threat for the remaining Princes, since there was no telling what Molag and Dagon would do, while Mora raised one of her eyebrows for a moment, "I'll even pay up front, right now, if you want."

"Are you sure about that?" Capper asked, because that sounded like a horrible idea on Peryite's part, paying upfront could be seen as a good move, but at the same time he knew that one of the other Princes would abuse this arrangement, as in they would seal Peryite in another form, take the shield, and never do the job, before he understood why Peryite was saying this to him, specifically, because he knew that once a deal was struck he would uphold it.

Peryite nodded, showing them that he was serious about this, in fact he produced a dwarven shield that reminded Capper of the docking area that they had found before discovering the dwemer ship, and handed it over to him without delay, which Mora confirmed was Spellbreaker. In the following moments Capper made sure that Peryite was okay with this, just to be absolutely sure, and when the other Prince confirmed that fact he nodded and held a hand out, where the golden magic just swirled around the dragon for a few seconds as his magic did it's work. Sure enough his new form was a head or two shorter than the other transformed Princes, but instead of being like a dracthyr, like Ithelia, Peryite was more like a bipedal rat, or an 'anthro' as Mora called it, and he wore a green robe that was colored like his scales. In addition to that Capper found that he had patches of scales on his arms and legs, baring the same coloration when he was in his dragon form, while Peryite had a dragon tail, instead of a rat tail, and a short pair of dragon horns, matching what he had before making this deal, growing out of his head.

Capper was positive that Peryite was like an alchemist of sorts, in his new form, and once the deed was done, plus he had a chance to confirm the seal was on his power, he asked where he could find the wayward monk and found that it was inside the ruin near where he found the dwemer ship. With that information in mind he told Peryite he'd add it to his list of things to do and that it was definitely an important thing for him to do in the future, though he found that the Prince was fine with this arrangement, since he knew Orchendor wasn't going anywhere anytime soon and was okay with waiting a few more days before the job was done. After that Peryite moved over to where Mora was standing and started talking about some of the ideas he had come up with before coming to the Opulent Lands, where Capper caught that he was thinking of a way to undo the poison that the falmer had been afflicted with. That caused him to raise an eyebrow and he could see that Mora was already interested in the topic, because if they brought the snow elves back it meant that there might be even more things for Mora to gleam and add to her endless library.

While they were chatting Midnight also returned to the Sanctuary for a time so she could see whatever else was going on with the Dark Brotherhood, allowing them to focus on getting Peryite up to speed on what had changed since the last time he heard about the Opulent Lands, before returning with an odd look on her face.

As it turned out Midnight was the Listener of the Dark Brotherhood, as in she could hear the voice of the Night Mother and the figure had tasked her to speak to someone in one of the ruins of Skyrim, but Astrid, however, didn't want her authority challenged and told her to do work for Nazeem. Such a thing meant that she had two more contracts to deal with, one was near Falkreath, a vampire to be exact, while the other one was all the way in Morthal, an orc bard that was one of the worst in the entirety of Skyrim. With that in mind Capper realized that Astrid needed some time to see the truth, that Midnight was focused on making sure the Dark Brotherhood was worth working for or not, she didn't seem to care about power or any of the authority that some of the others possessed with their guilds. As such he decided that they could swing by the mill that held the vampire, let Midnight kill him so Rarity could have his blood, and then they'd swing by Morthal for a bit, kill the orc, and then maybe rest for a bit before returning to Falkreath so they could figure out whatever Astrid was going to do with this newfound information.

Once the group knew the plan, and he confirmed that Peryite was fine with working with Mora immediately, they returned to the small city and headed along the path that would take them to the north, to the mill they had passed by a few times while they were exploring Skyrim.

Tracking down Hern, the first target, proved to be quite easy since it was getting to be night out and that meant he wasn't in his house, rather he was working on the mill that he and his partner, also a vampire, happened to own, but when the group walked up to the bridge they found that the lady was nowhere to be seen. That meant she was either inside the small house, either sleeping or preparing to come outside, or she was out hunting for someone to feed off of, but for Midnight this was the best opportunity she could have asked for and took it without wasting time. She waited for the moment when Hern was walking away from the mill to strike, slipping behind him for a moment before slashing open his neck, and when the vampire fell it wasn't long before Rarity moved in to retrieve all of his blood. Capper found that the pair left the area without delay after that, and making sure to burn the body, before they started to return to Falkreath so they could use it's Gate to travel to Morthal, though it wasn't long before he heard the sorrow-filled cries of the female companion upon discovering the fate of her mate.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Capper asked, as he knew that Midnight might be on the fence about some of the people the Dark Brotherhood was sending her out to take the lives of, in fact he was sure that she regretted taking the girl's life in Windhelm, so he wanted to be sure she was perfectly fine with her the course she was following.

Midnight nodded, she didn't want to say much right now because she was focused on the fact that she was the Listener for the guild she had joined, before they returned to the small city that was the capital of Falkreath and used it's Gate to travel back to Morthal in no time. This time around Capper found that some of the residents of the small city were talking outside the Jarl's domain, so while Midnight headed for the inn, which was where she would find the bard, Capper stuck around for a moment to see what was going on. As it turned out they were talking about the burned down house that was near the inn, plus the wizard that had moved into the city and that none of them seemed to trust him, but for the most part it seemed like they wanted to know if the Jarl was going to do anything about the one who burned the house down. To Capper this was an opportunity and he informed the Steward, who was the one talking to the people of Morthal, that he would look into it, and he spoke when the others were heading back to their residences for the night, a few even heading towards the inn.

With that in mind he found his way to the burned down house, far too small for three people based on the information the Steward had given him, but there was when he found the ghost of a small girl in the house, who turned out to be the child of the man who set the fire and then pledged his life to Alva.

As it turned out she was willing to speak with Capper, but first he had to play hide and seek with her, he had to track down where she was buried and had to beat someone else to the punch, though he found that there weren't many places here for someone to be buried. With that in mind he noticed a path leading away from the burned house and it went into the hill that was behind it, where he found a vampire digging up a coffin, though he waited for a few moments, for Rarity to catch up, all with news that the bard had been taken care of and his soul had been claimed, before making his move. Together they took down the vampire and Rarity feasted on her blood, allowing him to speak with the soul of the girl once more, since her body was inside the coffin, and she revealed a few things to him that he had to work on. The female vampire was Laelette, she had been told by someone else to burn the house, and the vampire tried to turn the girl before her death, and the man that ran up to the scene also gave him more information about how Laelette had met with Alva before her 'disappearance'.

"Another vampire... perfect." Rarity said, though she and Capper knew what this meant, there was a master vampire near the city, a powerful one that needed to be eliminated before they could do any additional harm to the area, before Capper told Midnight and the others that they would be sticking around for a little while longer.

Capper asked one of the guards where Alva's house was located and found that it was near the guard building, though when he entered it he found that no one was nearby, rather it happened to be empty and that meant the vampire was likely in the inn, and her thrall was no doubt watching her from afar. Of course that meant he sneaked into the building and picked the lock to get inside, but he did find a basement and headed down into it, finding a single room with a coffin inside it, along with a damning journal that revealed that Alva was working with the master vampire to claim Morthal. With that in mind Capper returned to the Jarl's longhouse and found her sitting alone while the others were preparing for dinner, where he showed her the journal and she asked him to handle the vampire that was threatening the city. She also handed over seven hundred coins for proving that it wasn't the man's fault, it was Alva's, and he told her that he would handle Movarth, she didn't have to assemble a team to aid him, causing her to nod her head as he headed back outside.

With that in mind the group headed to the north a little and found the path leading to the cave, where Midnight told them that Alva had run inside after noticing the guards coming to speak with her, though he had most of them stand outside, just to make sure no vampires escaped.

It was just him and Rarity as they descended into the cave, where they found a few spiders wandering around the area, but the main part was that there were a fair number of vampires doing whatever they had been assigned to do, plus a couple of thralls that had no idea what was going on. Rarity proved that her stealth abilities were growing well as she made no sound and approached her targets, grabbing the thralls by the neck and draining their blood before breaking their necks once she had fully drained them, and once an area was cleared out she set fire to the bodies to prevent more from rising. In addition to that they found some vampires patrolling the cave and Rarity took great pleasure in dealing with them, draining each one of their blood and getting a good boost to her existing spells, since most vampires were mages, it was an odd thing, and she knew she might score and get a new spell. Capper did collect the golden soul gems that were left behind, and the couple of Collectors that were with them gathered whatever treasures might be down here, plus they did find Alva in a side passage, who Rarity quickly ended before she could flee once more, and it wasn't long before Movarth was found, sitting on a throne like a king.

Sure enough he didn't last long either, Rarity was getting good at slipping into the shadows and appearing behind her target, especially when she learned how to make her spells silent to others and gained an invisibility spell, she got lucky recently, so Movarth definitely went down with ease. The master vampire had a ebony sword in his possession, some decent magical jewelry that Rarity claimed for herself so she could boost her considerable powers, and the large chest that was at the end of the cave had some decent treasure as well, a fair bit of ebony with a pair of daedric gauntlets. Capper made sure all of this was taken to his realm, especially the gauntlets, and once the kobolds had cleaned the place out of everything of value the pair returned to the main entrance in no time, both of them smiling since they were quiet pleased with themselves. They did find that the ghost of the girl thanked them for avenging her and her mother, speaking to them before they left, and once she was gone they returned to the surface and regrouped with the others, allowing them to return to the small city so they could deliver the good news to the Jarl.

A few minutes later Capper walked out with the thanks of the Jarl, an offer to purchase property in the Hold, and a sack full of gold, twelve hundred to be exact, though with that done they used the nearby Gate and returned to Falkreath so Midnight could speak with Astrid.

"So, what are we going to do after this?" Rarity asked, as part of her wondered if it might be time for them to deal with that vampire clan that some of the vampires were working with, even though she knew that Capper might focus on Alduin and the dragons first, given his promise to Sharva, especially since it would grant him access to more dragon souls, which meant more dragon materials and, more importantly, the ability to make more dracthyr.

"Depends on the Dark Brotherhood." Capper replied, which was the truth, if the assassins guild had work for Midnight then they would help her move around and do things around the area while she worked, much like how he and Rarity dealt with the vampire threat in Morthal, but if they gave her no jobs then they would be on their way to do something else, though it wasn't long before they found Midnight returning to the group, "What's the verdict?"

"I've been tasked with heading to Volunruud, to speak with Amaund Motierre... Astrid thinks we would be foolish to ignore the order of the Night Mother." Midnight answered, which was a bit of a surprise to Capper, as he assumed that the lady had no desire to work with the corpse or even someone chosen as the 'Listener', but it looked like she was willing to bend the knee if it meant bringing glory to her Family, "The ruin is north of Whiterun, just beyond where we first encountered Cicero."

"Good, then we can swing into the city, let Azure check in with the Companions, and then deal with the client." Capper said, it was a good place in his mind, especially since it allowed most of them to do some work and it would let Azure focus on the more honorable missions he was used to, like clearing out vermin from a house or rescuing someone from danger, since there was no telling what the Companions might ask him to do.

Capper found that the others nodded their heads in agreement, this sounded like a good place to them, it was fair and none of them were going to question his decision, though at the same time he found himself looking forward to whatever might happen next, especially since there was another Prince in his Realm and there was no telling what the others might do with this information, making him eager to face the next couple of days with a smile on his face.