Capper found that he didn't have to wait too long for Sharva to emerge from Dragonsreach, rather it seemed like she had been inside the building for about five minutes after his departure, no doubt gathering more information about what the Jarl wanted her to do before she set out on her quest.
"So, what's the quest?" Capper asked, though at the same time he stopped leaning against the wooden post that was at the top of the steps that lead to Dragonsreach, where he was amazed that the guards had allowed him to do such a thing, as his business with the Jarl was done, but he wasn't about to complain.
"Farengar, the court wizard, wants me to head to Bleak Falls Barrow to find a 'Dragonstone'," Sharva replied, where she let out a sigh for a moment as they walked down to where the ruined tree rested, while Capper made sure to stop at the market for a few bits of food before continuing towards the main gate, "which is supposed to be a map of dragon burial sites... I'm not sure why that's important, since we're dealing with a living dragon and not a long dead one, but he made it clear that this should be my top priority."
"Really? Bleak Falls Barrow? How interesting... I thought they would have sent you somewhere else." Capper said, because he did find it a little odd that the area the Jarl's court wizard was focused on was so close to the city, meaning he could have hired a few adventurers or something to do the job, instead of relying on random strangers, but he decided that it wasn't worth worrying about, since Jarl Balgruuf had apparently okayed the mission, "You know, like a library for a specific book or to a museum for an artifact to borrow... oh well, no harm done. I wonder if Bleak Falls Barrow is the same as Angarvunde, with draugr to worry about?"
Sharva looked like she wanted to say something, but decided not to as they headed outside and found that the others were waiting for them, the wagon positioned so it could leave at a moment's notice, to which Capper returned to the front seat as the ashen khajiit joined Rarity in the back, allowing them to get moving once more. While they did so Capper noticed that a trio of guards were departing from Whiterun as well, which seemed to be the detachment of guards Irileth was ordering to go out to Riverwood, though while he wasn't sure how much help they would be he knew the people would be grateful for a little aid. He did offer the trio a ride, since they were headed in the same way due to the fact that the quickest path back to their home was in the direction of the place the guards were on their way to, but the head of the trio declined and thanked him for the offer, explaining that them running was to get there as soon as possible. With that in mind he and his friends just watched all three guards run off in the direction of Riverwood, causing him to chuckle a little as he got the wagon moving in the same direction, allowing the others to return to what they did whenever they used the wagon.
While they traveled, however, it was clear that everyone else was lost in thought, Capper's friends no doubt wondering why Sharva was still with them and Sharva no doubt thinking about the quest she had been given, and when they rounded the corner by the meadery one of them decided to speak their minds.
"You know, the guards noticed us approach the Jarl together and saw us leave together, so... do you think we can team up to deal with whatever is inside the barrow?" Sharva asked, where it was clear that she had never asked such a thing in the past, in fact Capper was sure that she had been a loner for a long time, forced to fight on her own with no one to fall back on and no one to ask for help if things were beyond her control, and was trying to break out of her shell, "I don't care about any of the treasure, if there is any, but maybe you can use it when you tell your boss that I hired you to help me aid one of the other Jarls?"
"Maven won't be too happy if we're late... though she didn't give us a time limit on when to get the job done, so we're free to do whatever we want, as long as we deliver her gold in the end." La'nari said, as she knew Maven the most out of everyone that was on the wagon, so it was easy for her to say such a thing, though at the same time she had to grin as she glanced at Capper for a couple of seconds, who had a more neutral expression despite what she knew was going through his mind right now, "What do you say, leader?"
"We'll have to set the wagon outside Riverwood and ask the guards to keep an eye on it, and hide the gold we've collected so far, but it's doable." Capper replied, though as he glanced at the rest of the group he noticed that Sharva was happy, though at the same time it seemed like she had a hard time actually expressing herself, like whatever had happened in her past had stopped her from properly expressing her emotions, "At least with all of us going into the barrow you can guarantee that Jarl Balgruuf and Farengar will get what they want."
Sharva gave them a weak smile, which was likely all she could manage right now, while Capper continued to direct the wagon to the small town they had passed through earlier, though he knew after checking out the barrow they would have to take a break and rest up, since going too long would only bring them down. Fortunately it didn't take them too long to reach their destination, where the group found that the guards were already setting up a camp on the other side of Riverwood, over on the side that lead to the Guardian Stones, and one was already patrolling the area. La'nari got off and spoke with him for a few seconds, where Capper found that he was agreeing to keep an eye on the wagon while they were gone, though as their friend did that he picked up Maven's gold and moved over to the underside of the stone bridge, making it look like he was hiding it there. The reality was that he was slipping the container into the outside area of his vault, since he didn't have to worry about anyone stealing it from this place, and once that was done he returned to the others without them knowing about the hidden vault, allowing him to see that the others were ready to depart.
With that in mind, and La'nari made sure the horse had some food and water, the group headed over the stone bridge once more and headed up the path that was on their left, a stone path that definitely headed up into the mountain the barrow was built on. What they discovered was that there was a lone wolf on the path, one that took one look at them and turned tail before departing, showing that six people was far too much for it to deal with on it's own, allowing everyone to continue up the path as La'nari pointed out a stone tower up ahead. From what they could see there were a few bandits outside it, as they wore familiar fur armor, like they were lookouts for the main force or something, though La'nari had them stop for just a few moments as she raised her bow and readied an arrow. She was going to hit one of them and that was their signal to get moving, where Capper and the others got moving as soon as the arrow left her bow, striking the tree bandit in the leg as his companion realized they were under attack, only to be stopped by Sharva as she drew her swords and struck out at him, pushing him back.
Of course there was a third one, this one wearing iron armor, that came rushing at them from the tower, though Azure drew his greatsword and used it to push the nord back, allowing Midnight to use her daggers to deal with the tree bandit, but as those two fell Azure dealt with his foe. With the bandits taken care of Sharva and Midnight carefully observed the path that was in front of them as Capper carefully looted the bodies that were around him, finding a few coin pouches that would be the start of what they recovered during this venture. In addition to that he found another one inside the tower and a chest that was at the peak, one that was easily opened, though it had a few potions, a few for healing and a few for recovering mana, and a few more pieces of gold, all of which he looted before rejoining the others. There didn't seem to be any bandits in the area, not near the tower anyway, allowing the group to walk around part of the mountain before discovering a large carved stone area that might have been part of this mountain at one point in the past, no doubt the ancient nords carving the area into the temple that was in front of them.
The large arches told them that this had to be a place for dragon worship, they were large enough for such a beast to fly through based on what Capper was seeing, and there were three more bandits patrolling the area, to which Capper nodded to La'nari for a moment as she readied one of her arrows. As before she struck the best target, who seemed to be far away from the other two bandits, though this time she hit her target in the shoulder and dropped him to the ground, but as he cried out in pain both Capper and Sharva were already on the move. This time around Capper got involved as he rushed up to the closest bandit to his position before swinging at his surprised foe, who had enough time to block one of his blades as the second struck him in the chest, just like he had seen some of the others do in the past. While he did that Sharva rushed up the final step of stairs before leaping into the air, bouncing off her target's battleaxe before driving her blades right into his neck, allowing her to sever his head like it was nothing, while confirming that she had more battle experience than they knew.
As they made sure that these two were taken care of the bandit with an arrow in his shoulder got up and summoned fire in his right hand, though before he could do anything Rarity appeared behind him and bit his neck, causing the bandit to let out a scream as she drained him dry.
"Wait... you're a vampire?" Sharva asked, because while she didn't like Xylia, the only vampire she was aware of the existence of, she could tell that Rarity was different from the rest of the bloodsuckers she had heard about in the past, especially since she seemed to drain her targets until they were completely dry.
"Yes, just turned recently... I really wasn't thirsty, but I don't feel 'full'... this is so confusing." Rarity replied, though while she knew that the ashen khajiit might want a more flushed out answer she also knew that she didn't have all the answers, but in that moment her hands burst into flames, like she had seen La'nari do when she burned that bandit she drained, causing her to turn the flames on the corpse after Capper removed his coins and valuables.
"D... Did you gain his knowledge on how to use magic?" La'nari inquired, as that was what it seemed like, that Rarity was a unique existence and that she might gain skill knowledge by drinking the blood of her victims, meaning she might be able to become a legend in her own right after a couple of years.
Rarity nodded, as it sure seemed that way to her, to which she focused and extinguished the flames, ignited them, and then dismissed them again, where she had a look of wonder on her face as she did so, as this was totally new to her, especially since she never had Twilight's gift for magic, but now she could consider this to be a blessing and not a curse. While she did that Capper finished collecting the gold and valuables from the bandits, the one he killed even had a silver pendant with an amethyst inside it and another had a garnet in his pockets, before they approached the barrow's main door, which was large and like what a temple would have. He carefully opened the metal door, wide enough for everyone to walk through without alerting anyone to their presence, allowing them to see that the area inside was slightly covered in stone, fallen from the ceiling, with a bunch of dead skeevers all over the place, with a few dead bandits as well. In addition to that he noticed two bandits up ahead of them and held a hand up as he crouched, something the others did as Azure stayed at the back of the pack, since heavier armor made more noise than the lighter armor, to which he approached them first to see if they were saying anything of interest.
From what he gathered they were talking about something they stole from the Riverwood Trader, the 'golden claw', an item that seemed connected to this place and might be the very key to the treasure, to which Capper silently nodded his head and La'nari put an arrow in one bandit as Azure crushed the other with his weapon. While his companions finished off the pair of bandits he found a locked chest that he unlocked without delay, holding some more gold and an ingot that La'nari said was steel, she knew it thanks to the smiths in their clan working on it every so often. With the materials in hand, and all of the bodies were looting for anything of value, the group headed down the passage, which seemed to go deeper into the mountain a little, finding stone slabs that seemed to be offering tables, or just tables, with urns that had already been looted by someone. As such Capper and the others carefully followed the path that was in front of them and came to a stop as they found a room that had a lever right in the center, some stone pillars on the left, a few carvings near the ceiling, and a bandit that was in the process of pulling the lever, causing him to be pelted by poison darts as he perished on the spot.
"Okay, note to self: when ruins present a puzzle, solve it correctly." Midnight commented, though at the same time Capper carefully looted the now dead bandit, who had thirty gold coins in his possession, more than his fellows, before they took a moment to look around the chamber.
Fortunately the answer was surprisingly straightforward and informed them of the poisoned bandit's ignorance, there were three icons near the ceiling, one having fallen to the ground, and when all three of them were read together they figured out that the correct combination was 'snake-snake-whale'. With that in mind Azure moved the three pillars that were on their left to match the icons, causing Capper to pull the lever once he was done, which made the iron gate that was in front of them to rise out of the way so they could progress once more, entering a small room with a wooden spiral stair that went deeper into the mountain. Capper found a book that seemed promising, it spoke about picking pockets, which he pocketed for later as he looted the chest of it's gold and mana potions, the latter he handed to Rarity, before discovering that the urns were also empty, causing him to sigh as he pocketed a purple soul gem that seemed totally empty. Azure found a couple of skeevers at the bottom of the wooden spiral ramp and dealt with them before they could harm the group, where Midnight made sure to remove their tails, as they could be used in alchemy, before everyone entered an area full of cobwebs.
This part of the ruins looked like a number of spiders had broken into the area and turned it into their home, in fact Capper was sure of that as they found a larger chamber that had a bunch of webs on the walls, still bodies that were no doubt dead by this point, and some dark elf tied up in a web near the entrance they needed to take. In addition to all of that they found that there was a rather large spider in the center of the room, far larger than the corpses they had seen since entering this area, which meant that the tied up individual must have slain quite a few of them before getting caught by the parent spider, which was likely planning on eating him. With that in mind Capper carefully cut through the webbing that was blocking their path, no doubt placed there to prevent trespassers or to catch more prey, and once he was done the group moved in to deal with their target, since it was blocking the way forward. Sharva rushed out instantly and the spider spat it's poison right into her face, through the protection of the helmet, temporarily sealing her sight as she ran right into some of the other webs that were in the area, the ones not designed to catch prey, but that opened the way for Azure to hack one of it's legs off as La'nari killed it with an arrow.
While Rarity tended to Sharva, making sure to get the webbing off of her, La'nari freed the dark elf and told him to 'sit down and shut up', indicating that he would speak to Capper before they made a decision on what to do with him, though instead of doing that he rushed into the depths of the tomb, waking the draugr before activating a trap that took his life.
"Good to know that Skyrim has it's fair share of idiots..." Rarity commented, causing most of the group to nod their heads, as the dumb bandit had just caused the denizens of the barrow to wake up, at least the ones leading to the trap that had killed him, though it made Capper happy that their clan was far smarter than what they had seen in Whiterun's domain so far, "But seeing these webs reminds me: Sharva, when was the last time you took care of your fur?"
"Um... never?" Sharva answered, where they moved into the room that was at the end of the short passage, allowing Capper to loot it for anything of value, which was some gold, a soul gem on the ground, and a silver ring, though Rarity just stared at the ashen khajiit for a moment, like she was stunned by her statement, "My, um... boss... said that it wasn't important."
Rarity grumbled to herself and told Sharva that they would deal with that in the future, she refused to allow such a thing to pass by in front of her and not do anything, though she stopped as Capper and La'nari noticed that the chamber that was ahead of them had a couple of draugr, the weaker ones, walking around. Since they were already active, and would likely notice everyone when they tried to sneak through the area since Azure's armor would no doubt give them away, he decided to take them out first, causing him to nod to La'nari as she loosed an arrow into the heart of the first undead she saw. As her target staggered backwards, and fell to one knee as it's companions noticed it had been attacked, Capper rushed out and used his blades to end it's life as Azure approached another draugr and crushed it with his weapon, opening the way for the others to deal with the third one. This time around Sharva was struck in the chest with the greatsword of the third draugr, which cut through her leather armor like it was nothing, though she didn't seem to mind, or didn't care, as she slashed her way through the undead and brought it down, allowing Midnight to collect some crafting ingredients while Capper walked over to where the dark elf had ended up.
Sure enough the now dead bandit had a golden dragon's claw in his possession, which was more skeletal based on what he was seeing, and a journal that he decided to grab, before he noticed that there were three icons on the underside of the claw's palm area, first a bear, then a butterfly, and then an owl at the bottom, a code for a door no doubt.
Once the area was cleared out the group carefully made their way around the pressure stone that was in the middle of the walkway that continued deeper into the barrow, since it activated the trap, only to discover another burial room, which was to be expected, with a smaller passage that had a swinging blade trap inside it. Of course there were more draugr for them to fight, though Capper utilized Azure's armor to their benefit, as he figured out which ones would come to life and which ones wouldn't, it was the fact that the ones that woke up had clothing on and those that were bare remained dead. With that in mind he made sure Azure stayed back a little while everyone else got into position, so when the former Solar Guard just walked into the chamber the draugr had no idea that there were others waiting for them to awaken. As such it meant that they were able to eliminate all of the undead before they became a threat, which allowed the group to loot the bodies for any items of value as Capper found a chest hidden among some rubble, a container he opened with the Skeleton Key and added the gold coins and an amethyst to the growing pile of loot they were collecting.
From there he had the others pause for a moment as he slipped through the swinging blade trap, avoiding all three blades in no time as Capper found a chain to pull, which stopped the blades and opened the way for the others to join him, allowing the group to descend deeper into the barrow. There were a few more draugr resting in a few of the alcoves in the walls that they were walking by, to which La'nari used her arrows to take them out, though as she lead the others forward Capper did what he did best, he looted their slain enemies before catching up with the others. The passage beyond those foes brought them to a larger chamber that had a waterfall on the left side, a small one that cut through the center of the room, and only one coffin opened to reveal yet another draugr, who Azure cut down before it could do anything, while at the same time Midnight pulled a lever and opened the iron gated door that was blocking the path to their right. After that they entered an area that appeared to be a natural cave, no doubt formed before the barrow had been constructed, though Capper looted a pair of chests as the others moved deeper into the cave, where he was pleased to add an enchanted item to their loot, since it would sell well in a trader, along with some more gold and some potions.
There was one more draugr in the area, on a natural stone walkway that passed by a larger waterfall, so La'nari took it down with an arrow, allowing them to approach the area before coming to a stop, as Capper knew they had come so far already and understood that they weren't even at the end yet.
"Let's take a break for a few minutes." Capper said, though he counted themselves fortunate that there was a waterfall near them, as the water was clear and untouched, so it was pure and delicious as he sampled it, meaning they would be able to rest for a short while, get something to drink and refill their waterskins, before pressing even deeper into the barrow.
What he found was that most of them simply rested and drank some water, just like he did, while Rarity took Sharva down into the lower area and showed her a few tricks on how to clean her fur, where Capper smiled a little as he heard them, as it sounded like the pair might be bonding a little, which was a good thing to see. Of course the fact that their new friend hadn't tended to her fur at all, despite being about twenty years old by his reckoning, just added another layer to the mystery that was Sharva's life, as he had no idea what could have caused her to live her life like this. Fortunately he saw that they didn't have to wait too long for the pair to come up, as there was only so much Rarity could do without the materials she was used to using back in her home, but once she and the ashen khajiit were done she mentioned that there was a chest down in the lower area. Since she didn't have the skills to unlock it, her admission and not their assumption, Capper quickly tracked it down and unlocked it, adding another pouch of gold to to total, which seemed strange for a chest, before rejoining the rest of the group as they made their way into another chamber, this one with a slightly larger wooden door.
There was a single draugr patrolling the area, wandering from the door to halfway down the chamber, though since it hadn't noticed them yet Capper let La'nari loose an arrow into it's chest, stunning it for a moment as Azure and Midnight brought it down with their weapons. He did spot a chest off to the right that he unlocked rather quickly, earning him another pouch of gold, about twenty pieces, and a smaller soul gem, both of which he pocketed as they stepped through the door and found a stone brazier with dragon heads on the other side. Since that seemed to be purely decoration the group walked around it and found a passage that lead to another swinging blade trap, which had three blades, to which Capper had the others stay back for a few seconds as he gracefully avoided the three sharp tools and pulled a chain on the other side that stopped the trap. With that done they looked at the chamber he had discovered, which had a main floor and a second floor, the latter having a stone bridge, though there were three more draugr for them to worry about, though none of them were very tough as they went down in two hits each, allowing Capper to collect their gold before they headed up to the second floor.
As it turned out there was a passage on the other side of the stone bridge, one that brought them to a unique door, one that had a combination on it's surface and a place for someone to put the claw key into, to which Capper gently touched one of the three rings that the icons were on and it started to move.
"I see. That makes this far more simple." Capper remarked, where he pulled out the golden claw and quickly modified each ring so they matched what was on the claw's palm, before he pressed it against the central point, allowing them to watch as the rings spun on their own for a moment and then came to a stop before the door sunk into the floor, "Well then, let us see what the ancient nords were hiding from everyone."
What they discovered was a massive cavern that had barely anything from the nords that had constructed the barrow, save for a few braziers here and there, before finding an area that seemed to be a final tomb of sorts, with a large wall that was like what he and Midnight had seen back in Angarvunde. There was another stone path leading out of the area, which had to be the way out of the entire barrow, and there was another large waterfall that was louder than the one they had passed by previously, though before walking up the steps to the dragon wall Capper noticed two smaller chests in the area. One was off to the right, tucked out of sight and out of mind, that happened to have a good amount of gold inside it with a golden amulet that had a ruby inside it, plus a few gems to add to the collection, which made him smile as he stashed them away with everything else. The second one was hidden off to the left, near the exit, and it didn't have as much as the first, but he made sure to loot the gold that was inside it and add the potions to everything they had recovered so far, though after that he joined the others as Sharva approached the dragon wall, seemingly lost in thought.
As they did that, however, the coffin burst open as a stronger looking draugr woke up and attacked them, causing them to discover something interesting, it seemed to loose a burst of wind or something that knocked everyone backwards, almost like the Royal Canterlot Voice from what Capper had heard in the past. It seemed like a tactic to scatter his foes so he could hit them easier, utilizing a power that none of them were familiar with, though Sharva was the first one to get back up as she rushed into battle once again, the draugr swinging it's battleaxe at her as it cut through her leather armor. Capper suspected that she was used to sturdier armor that could withstand blows, so it was taking her some time to get used to the lighter set she had been given, though he shelved the thought for the time being as he and the others joined the fight, attacking the draugr while making sure not to crowd where it was standing. In the end Capper stabbed it's chest before Sharva used both of her weapons to cut it down, allowing everyone to relax as he made his way to the larger treasure chest, which was a major disappointment in that it was just a pair of hide shields and a spell tome he handed to Rarity, but the sack of a hundred gold made him smile a little.
What really made them happy was the fact that there was a fairly decent sized stone in the draugr's coffin, one that had a map of Skyrim on one side with a number of icons that were incredibly important, and Sharva understood what it was the instant she laid eyes on it.
"The Dragonstone... we found it." Sharva said, as she had doubts about Farengar's information, but those doubts were now laid to rest as she held the stone in her own hands, meaning she could continue to help the people of Whiterun by aiding the Jarl and his court wizard.
"Indeed. Now, let's get out of here." Capper stated, because it was time to use the way out and see where it brought them, though now that they had helped her recover the Dragonstone he knew that it was time for them to return to the Rift and deliver the news, and the gold, to Maven and hope that she was willing to forgive the delay.
He did, however, have to think about the fact that Sharva had stalled when she approached the dragon wall, like she could read it or something, which only made him even more interested in learning more about her as they faced whatever the future had in store for them.