Skyrim: Band of Thieves

With Midnight now having an official order to talk to the client that the Night Mother had told her about, since Astrid had to think about it before telling her to go speak with him, Capper brought them through the Gates and they stepped out in the edge of Whiterun. Sure enough Azure went off to see what the Companions were doing, since it had been a while since he had been in Jorrvaskr, but that didn't stop the others from heading outside so Capper could summon the carriage once more, so they could head to Volunruud. Based on what he could see there were no guards outside Whiterun, meaning they must have arrived during a shift change, so he was able to summon the carriage with ease and everyone climbed onto it, and it wasn't long before Azure caught up with them. It was definitely a surprise, since he thought that he might take more time to speak with the rest of his guild, but that just meant that they must have been tired and only one person had been up when he arrived, likely Aela or one of the brothers.

As soon as he was on the carriage they departed from the city and headed to join the road, this time heading over towards the road that brought them to where they had first encountered Cicero, since the path they needed to take was near that area, based on what Midnight had told them.

"Aela told me that there's another group of Silver Hand out there, and the Jarl has officially asked the Companions to deal with them." Azure said, which was fine with him, especially since this meant that everyone in Whiterun understood that the Silver Hand were monsters, due to the fact that they had attacked the Companions and murdered Kodlak, though while this would be a big bounty he cared more about delivering justice to the group, "My location is a little out of the way, since it happens to be on the western side of Whiterun Hold, a cave called 'Swindler's Den'... they've probably grouped up with a bandit clan or something."

"Well, it's on the way at least, so we can get it after Midnight meets her contact." Capper replied, as he had a feeling that they would be coming back through the area at some point, so it would give Azure a chance to turn in the bounty before he and the others focused on whatever other quest they were following at the time, "After that, it depends on whatever Astrid tells Midnight to do next... should visit Solitude at one point as well, to get the last Stone of Barenziah, as I'm sure Vex has some quest for me to do once all twenty-four are in my possession."

Azure nodded as they continued along the path that was in front of them, where they crossed the bridge heading north and headed back towards where they encountered Cicero, and this time around it seemed to be a peaceful trip without anyone coming to bother them. After reaching the area that Midnight helped the jester in they moved off the road and headed up into the countryside, where La'nari followed the map they had while the others kept an eye out for more danger, despite no enemies being in the area. As such they were able to reach the outside of a nordic ruin, this one built into the ground, and it wasn't long before Capper and the others headed into it, because while they were here there was a lot of treasure to gain by killing the draugr, while Midnight got ready to face the client. Following that the group found someone who had been slain by a skeleton and Azure smashed the undead, where Capper found a journal that talked about the important figure that had been buried here, the weapons he carried, and the Voice he had been linked to, where Sharva nodded, it was worth doing for the experience.

While he did that they found the chamber that the client was hiding in, which appeared to be after an area with a bunch of dead draugr, especially a deathlord that Capper stole the ebony axe it had been holding, before most of them moved into the main chamber as Capper remained in the shadows while Midnight entered the side chamber.

"By the almighty Divines, you've come. The Black Sacrament... it actually works." the first figure said, which seemed to be a breton noble, based on what Capper and Midnight could see, though at the same time the second figure looked like a very ordinary imperial warrior that must have been the bodyguard.

"The Night Mother has heard your pleas, and I have come to do business. Tell me, who needs to die?" Midnight asked, where she was going with a more focused assassin persona for this, instead of being her usual self, and based on what she could see it appeared to be just what the client was expecting, which she was fine with.

"Actually, there are several targets... I'm sure that you and your people will find this enjoyable, but each death paves the way to the real target." Amaund stated, something that made Capper raise an eyebrow as he listened from behind the wall that was linked to the door Midnight had opened, because this would be more work than what Astrid was expecting, in fact this made him interested in what he might say next, "I seek the death of the Emperor."

Midnight wasn't entirely sure what to say about that discovery, rather she told Amaund that she would bring his message to her superior, causing the bodyguard to hand over a letter, containing the list of people they would be killing and information that the Dark Brotherhood could use to kill each of them, along with an amulet that was quite expensive and could be sold to pay for expenses. With that information in hand Midnight returned to the others and they headed out into the ruin, where Capper found that there were two paths and both had minor draugr defending them, though at the end of each one stood a single deathlord with a pair of scourge guardians. He did discover that both had a ceremonial weapon beyond their resting place, so he swiped them before they were damaged, while the group hacked through the undead, with the magical ones blasting them as well, eventually ending with their victory and the Collectors gathering more items to add to the growing pile in the Golden City. The ebony weapons were nice as well, since it meant that those who didn't have the best weapons could replace their gear with new items, and those that already had the best meant that the weapons could be added to the rest of the stuff in Capper's realm.

With the two ceremonial weapons in hand they were able to open the other door that was in the ruin and it brought them to a chamber that happened to be where the main draugr was resting on a throne, where Sharva rushed at it and swung both of her blades at it, allowing her to parry it's impressive looking silver axe and sword before she cut it down.

"Yeah, we should resume splitting up when we do these things... should make things more interesting." Capper said, since it seemed like the combined might of the entire group was too much for most of their ordinary enemies, and he could see that the others were agreeing with him, though following that they set about looting the entire place, Sharva even learned a new Word from the Word Wall.

With the information and loot in hand the group returned to the outside and climbed back onto their carriage, though this time around La'nari started to cut across the country, following a path she knew while the others kept an eye out for danger as she did so. She knew that the cave that the Silver Hand were resting in happened to be near a stream, so she tracked it down and then started to follow the left side of it, while at the same time Rarity loosed ice spikes, Midnight stabbed a couple of bandits, while Azure and Sharva cut down those that got near them. Capper, as per usual, held back as the kobolds went out and collected the loot, since it was the best thing to do right now, even though he did make a note of the areas that they had yet to visit so he could return to them in the future, just in case they had anything else to add to his collection. With the group's collective effort they were able to make their way across the countryside and La'nari stopped once they were right outside the cave that was Swindler's Den, where Azure shifted into his werewolf form without delay, because he would be fighting the Silver Hand and this was the best way to deal with them.

Capper followed him and Tuk Ur into the cave, finding that the werewolf slashed through those that came at him while the warrior kobold hacked his foes apart, and it wasn't long before the Collectors went to work, gathering the loot from those that died and the containers that were around them. Sure enough he found that Azure feasted on the Silver Hand, as in he even tore them apart with his sharp teeth, yet at the same time he could see that the former Solar Guard was in control of himself, instead of letting the rage take control fully, like some would have experienced in this situation. As they moved even deeper into the cavern, reaching a large dining area by the looks of it, Azure seemed to reach a point where his armor simply reformed on his werewolf body, and he could wield his greatsword in this form, something that surprised the Silver Hand as he tore through them with little effort. Such a thing made Capper chuckle, as one of them had mentioned that their group was full of unique people, like Rarity being a unique type of vampire, Sharva being the Dragonborn, and so on, and Azure was now fulfilling that prediction, a 'primal werewolf' as one had called such a thing in the past.

It was an interesting thing to see, Azure overcoming the primal instincts of his werewolf form and mastering it, to a degree, though eventually they reached what appeared to be a waterfall area, where there were a bunch of redguard warriors and one that looked like a leader, something that caused Capper to hold a hand out to stop Azure as he stepped up to where the leader was standing.

"Stand down men, let's not rush into the jaws of death." the leader said, as he could see that this wasn't a battle they could win, if there was a werewolf that could slaughter an entire clan in no time like this, they could practically hear him before he even reached this point, and if he was wearing armor and wielding a weapon he knew it would be their death if he fought him and his people, "Shall we talk?"

"We were only here for the Silver Hand, and the bandits. If you and your men are another force, we can talk." Capper said, to which he glanced at the men for a moment and realized what he was looking at, which made him interested in what he could do with this, because these were members of the Alik'r, redguard warriors who wielded scimitars and seemed to be part of the military of Hammerfell.

"We are searching for a redguard woman, who is said to be in Whiterun, because she is wanted for treason by the houses of Taneth since she sold the city out to the Dominion." the leader stated, where the other redguards could tell that their leader was thinking of using the trio to track down their target, that was why he was revealing this much to them, something that made Capper interested in what he might be able to do with these people, "We are to take her alive and bring her back to Hammerfell, so she can face her punishment... there is a substantial bounty on her head, and many of my people want her captured. If you are willing to help us, speak to my men waiting in Rorikstead and I can cut you into our rewards."

"I'll consider it. Do you mind if we loot the final chest that the bandits left in this place?" Capper inquired, where he found that the redguard seemed to be fine with this, none of it was their loot, so Capper looted it and found that there was a bunch of ebony items inside it, causing the Collectors to grab everything inside the chest before he, Azure and the kobolds left the area without wasting time.

Sure enough Rarity and the others were surprised when Azure came out in his new form, before they found that he could switch between them with ease, without the usual time restraint that came with such a transformation, though once Azure's group was back on the carriage they headed south to return to the road. It was about time they returned to Falkreath so Midnight could return to Astrid and give her the information she had obtained from their client, something that would allow them to figure out what she would do with the knowledge that someone wanted the Emperor of Tamriel dead. Capper felt that there should be another path to this, instead of killing such an important figure, but for the time being said nothing on the subject, since this was something for the Dark Brotherhood to do, which was him not interfering like he had done in the past, letting the others work with their guilds. Other than that it didn't seem like there were any obstacles for them to worry about, making him wonder what was up with this portion of Skyrim since he expected more danger to be coming at them, but he wasn't about to complain as they made their way back to Falkreath.

When La'nari brought them to where the Sanctuary was located Midnight just disembarked alone and headed down into the opening, allowing the others to rest and relax a little while they waited for Astrid to get over the shock of the news Midnight was going to be bringing her, and, as Capper expected, their friend returned in no time.

"She wants me to take the amulet to Delvin, since he has a history with them, to find out what it is and if they can get away with selling it." Midnight said, something that caused the others to glance at each other for a moment, as this was an easy mission to do, in fact it didn't look like she had bothered to speak with Nazir while she was inside, she just went straight to the boss and came right back out.

Capper nodded as they headed into Falkreath and used it's Gate to return to his Plane of Oblivion, before crossing over into Riften again, allowing them to stroll over to the secret entrance of the Thieves Guild and head inside without being seen, to which he collected his loot from the tribute chest before they tracked Delvin down.

"Boss, always a pleasure. What can I do for you today?" Delvin asked, because he knew Capper was the best thief around, in fact he might be the best thief in most of the provinces right now, and he made it a point to make sure his boss had anything and everything he might need, even if it was for his companions.

"Midnight has some business with you, actually." Capper replied, allowing the former Lunar Guard to take a seat across from Delvin as she slipped him the amulet, where he stared at it for a moment before picking it up, where Capper nodded for a moment as he let Midnight take the reins of this conversation.

"Astrid sent me, wanted to know what this is and if we can sell it to you... and no, we didn't kill whoever owned it." Midnight stated, deciding to get straight to the point and not waste time, even though it looked like Delvin took more of an interest in the item than before when he learned that she was from the Dark Brotherhood, like he had assumed they were all thieves in some manner, despite their various sets of armor and weapons.

"This is an amulet of the Elder Council, specifically crafted for each member... worth a small fortune, anyway." Delvin replied, something that interested Capper, yet he could see that it was definitely unique, meaning that each member of the Council had their own unique amulet and that a great amount of septims went into making just one, before he placed it into his own pack and withdrew an important looking piece of parchment, "Here you are, a letter of credit that is usable by Astrid only, as per our standard agreement."

Midnight nodded as she took the letter, as Astrid had indicated that this was what she was expecting him to offer, before she thanked him and left the area, allowing them to head back into the city before using the Gates to return to Falkreath, and as soon as they did that she headed into the Sanctuary with Capper sneaking in like he did previously.

"You're back... what, get cold feet... or hooves, in this case?" Astrid asked, which was a fair comment to make since she had only just given Midnight the mission to check out what the amulet was and it was barely half an hour later, making her take a moment to wonder if the newcomer wasn't as devoted to the cause as she had assumed.

"I have wings, remember? I just flew there, found Delvin, and flew back." Midnight returned, which wasn't the truth, but she wasn't about to reveal the existence of Capper's domain to everyone, or the Gates that allowed such easy access to each of the nine Holds, before she withdrew the letter of credit and handed it over to Astrid, who stared at it in surprise, "The amulet was from a member of the Elder Council... seems like our client is trying to move up in the world and is eliminating those who might be standing in his way."

"Oh you, naughty, naughty little boy... this is getting more and more delicious as we uncover more information." Astrid said, because now this was an assassination contract so someone could cut open a seat in the Elder Council, maybe even opening the way for him to become the Emperor, which could have some serious consequences if he was different from the current one, but Astrid was focused on the here and now, "Anyway, your first target is Vittoria Vici, who will be getting married at the Temple in Solitude soon, and the public reception will be held outside it... you'll need to kill her then, while she's relaxing and enjoying her day. If you kill her during her speech to her guests, well, there's more gold in it for you... the wedding's in the morning, and the public reception is the day after, so you'll have plenty of time to plan your attack."

Midnight, like Capper, was interested in who Vittoria was and learned that she was actually a cousin of the Emperor, though he had originally been planning on coming for the wedding and cancelled at the last minute, so they were using her death to accomplish the same thing. This would, of course, give them some time to do whatever they wanted, meaning he could go buy the house in Solitude and obtain the final Stone of Barenziah, meaning he could have Vex reveal whatever it was that she was hiding about them, before even worrying about the assassination mission. With that in mind Midnight left the home of the Dark Brotherhood and returned to the others, where Capper found one of the Collectors waiting for him, as one was standing by the carriage with an odd bow in her hand. As Midnight told the others what was going on, however, they also found out that this bow was like two tendrils that had been bound together, with a pair of eyeballs on the front of it, to look at one's enemies, and it looked like it had some chaotic power inside it, maybe attuned to Sheogorath.

He wasn't entirely sure what the bow was, but for the time being Capper took it and returned it to the collection of strange relics inside his castle, he was placing it with the artifacts he had collected so far, before patting the Collector who brought it to him on the head, even though this made him interested in whatever the coming days head in store for him and his friends.