Capper found that the path in front of them really didn't have much to offer, as there was a stone bridge that they had to cross, before he spotted another ruin up ahead that seemed to be the site of another battle, as a group of Stormcloaks had killed a number of Forsworn, opening the path for everyone to use. Since the armed force didn't seem interested in them the group was able to continue down the road that La'nari was having them follow, though she also informed him that the next fork in the road was important, because the left would take them towards Solitude and the right would head back towards Whiterun. He nodded and told her that he understood, where he allowed the others to keep an eye out for danger while he focused on the road, where Rarity noticed that the elytra were still following and decided to just ignore them, since the pair didn't seem to be doing anything. Of course her thought changed when a trio of wolves came at them from behind and the elytra attacked, appearing to bite into the necks of the wolves and kill them before they could get close, the third being taken down by both of them, at the exact same time.
Such a thing caused Capper to wonder about the elytra, as they were different from what he had been expecting, which only made him curious if there was more to them than he knew or if they could be trained in some manner, something he and the others would have to focus on at some point in the future.
After the wolves they were able to continue down the road for a couple of minutes until Capper stopped them once more, as this time there happened to be a small wagon, like one would use to transport food freshly picked food into a city, though it happened to be resting in the center of the road. He thought this was strange and was proven right immediately as he and the others spotted someone resting behind some rocks on the upper portion of the hill on their right, along with some out in the wild on the other side of the road, plus a dead bandit near the cart. With that information in hand La'nari drew her bow and readied an arrow, though at the same time Rarity silently made her way over to the lone hidden bandit, where she used a hand to cover his mouth as she bit into his neck and pulled him down into the cover, preventing the other bandits from realizing what's going on. Following that La'nari loosed an arrow and let it fly, striking a bandit in her heart since her target was only wearing fur armor, though as the other two rushed into battle Capper found that this time that he and Midnight didn't have to get involved as Azure used his greatsword to cleave through one bandit and then beheaded the last one.
Capper found that the bandits really didn't have much on them, a few small coin pouches and some arrows, since he had no desire to sell their rags or fur armor to a merchant, while finding that the chest had a few more coins and a ruby, which he added to the collection for later. Once he and the others were sure none of the bandits had anything of value left on them they returned to the wagon, after Azure pushed the cart out of the way and Rarity burned the target she drained, and quickly resumed their journey, where Capper found that the sky was definitely getting darker, indicating that night was getting closer. He turned to the left and continued down the road, where it wasn't long before he spotted a saber car chasing a goat down another portion of the road, reaching yet another stone bridge that seemed to have a bandit camp on the other side, where Capper stopped so everyone could see what the end of the chase was. What they found was that the goat was killed before it even reached the camp, though that was followed by some of the bandits raining arrows down on the saber cat and brought it down, where some of the bandits moved out and collected both corpses, meaning they were going to eat good for some time.
"Three of their lookouts are going to be troublesome." Capper commented, pointing at the one of the wooden bridge above the road, another guarding a post that watched the other side of the road, and one that was on what passed as a lookout area near where he assumed the chief likely rested, meaning they might have to kill the entire camp since he was sure that someone would notice those three disappearing.
"Not necessarily. Look." La'nari said, where the three bandits that Capper had pointed out were heading into the main part of the camp, meaning there was a window of opportunity for them to pass through the area without being spotted, to which he nodded his head and got the horse moving again.
This time around the horse remained quiet, having seen a saber cat die had put some shock into it, or at least that was what Rarity was guessing right now, and sure enough it wasn't long before they heard some of the bandits singing, one even using a lute to play some music. Such a thing meant that they were drowning out any sound that might tell them that someone or a group was in the area, to which Capper and the others nodded to each other before going silent for a time as the horse followed the road that was in front of them. It was amazing that they were actually able to get out of the area without any of the bandits realizing that they were even in the area, allowing everyone to breath a sigh of relief once they were a good bit away from the camp, while letting them relax a little bit in the process. Ahead of them happened to be a Thalmor patrol, as La'nari pointed them out, causing Capper to say nothing as they continued down the road, letting the elves head towards the camp, where Rarity watched them for a time and found that none of the bandits allowed the elves to pass.
By that she informed the others that the bandits attacked the elves and ended up killing the three Thalmor, though they did lose two of their number in the process, giving them something to chuckle about as they headed towards Solitude, where Capper kept an eye out for something called the 'Dragon Bridge'. According to La'nari it would bring them to a village that was known by the same name, the last bridge they needed to cross before reaching their final destination, a special bridge thanks to how it was carved and how it looked, which is why he was focused on finding it. Along the way he did spot another wagon that had been attacked, as the horse and the couple that had owned it had been slain by arrows, where Midnight got off for a moment, searched the bodies for anything of value, and found a couple of crates that had been untouched, which contained some Legion gear. With that in mind she and the others nodded for a moment as they transferred the crates into their wagon, as delivering this stuff to Solitude might earn them some gold from those leading the Legion, and once the trio of crates were ready to go Capper got them underway once more.
The Dragon Bridge, as stated, was a long well carved structure in the style of a dragon, or at least it's head, and they were able to cross it without wasting time, which was a benefit of the time of day that they were arriving in, though there was a mill and a few houses, plus an inn off to their right.
Since they were well stocked from their last stop, and no one felt like stopping, Capper continued along the road that would bring them to Solitude, since everyone wanted to complete their self appointed task before returning to Maven, as taking the head of the snake would benefit her and the merchants in the end. Based on what they could see there was a single bear to the left of the small town's exit, which seemed to be sleeping right now, meaning Capper and his companions didn't have to worry about it coming and attacking them and didn't have to waste energy on it. In addition to the bear there was a temple off to the left that seemed important, despite no one being near it, and over the edge on their right, down below them, was a camp bearing the colors of the Stormcloaks, meaning they were likely harassing Solitude and were chipping away at their defenses every now and then. Other than that there wasn't much less to look at, save for a rock wall on their left, before he found the path leading to a stone watchtower, a farm on their right, what appeared to be some docks off to the right, and a city gate that had carved stone walls around both it and the rest of the city.
As they passed by a Solitude guard, who wore a red version of the chainmail armor that all Hold guards wore, he told them to keep their noses clean, least they end up like Roggvir, who happened to be a former gate guard who allowed Ulfric to escape the city after he murdered the High King, so the Captain of the Guard had him executed.
"You don't have to worry about us, we're just delivering some Imperial goods we found on the road, by a wagon that had been destroyed by some bandits recently." Capper replied, since they had no idea who had caused the deaths of both the married couple and the horse of the wagon they had passed by earlier that afternoon, so it was easy to put the blame on a group of bandits, especially after seeing some Thalmor die to them earlier.
The guard sighed and gave them directions on where to take the crates, as they just had to enter the city, walk up a path to where the blacksmith was located, and then go beyond that to reach Castle Dour, where they would find the General talking to his second in command, who would pay them for the goods. With that information in mind Capper thanked him before heading up to the main gates of Solitude, where he stopped the wagon to the right of the entrance so he and the others could get off and not obstruct the road when morning arrived, since that would annoy people no doubt. Following that the small crates were offloaded and they headed inside, allowing them to see the more well carved stone houses and buildings that made up Solitude, though since it was in the middle of the night it looked like almost everyone was asleep, save for the guards who had the night shift. While Capper followed the guard's directions they got a sense for how large Solitude was, as it was definitely larger than what they were expecting, though fortunately it appeared that they knew where to go next, due to the fact that there were two unique butterflies near a sewer grate, a purple one and a green one.
Midnight, of course, caught them and added their wings to her collection of alchemy ingredients, while Capper and the rest of the group brought the crates to the building, though it happened to be when General Tullius emerged for a late night walk and he just waved his hands at them, indicating that he didn't want to know, despite heading inside and returning with a bag of gold as they handed the crates to a pair of nearby guards.
"Can't really complain about that: five hundred gold for returning a few crates of Imperial gear." Capper commented, where he spoke once they were far away from the General, who seemed to be heading deeper into the city, allowing them to head towards their true destination, the sewer entrance that they had seen the butterflies near, while noting that the elytra were waiting by the main gate, meaning they weren't coming with them.
"I still can't believe we have to go down there... what sort of villain hides in the sewers?!" Rarity asked, though after every odd thing she had been through throughout her life she found that the idea of entering such a place didn't even stall her, which she was going to blame on everything that had happened since arriving in this world.
"I'm not sure, but Thoron's cornered himself with this decision." Midnight said, where she made sure Rarity was fine with this part of their quest, especially since they had no idea what might be in the sewers, and found that their companion was fine, though she was sure that turning into a vampire, and getting over some of her mental blocks, had allowed her to focus on the task that was ahead of them.
What they discovered was that it was just a short ladder climb down into the sewer, onto stone and not into water, though in front of them rested a fork in the path, the left leading to a locked door, and Azure tried it as soon as he noticed that it was there, while the right went further down. With only one option available to them the group made their way down into the depths, only to stop when they noticed that the section beyond the small room that the stairs brought them to was far more like the insides of a tree and less like a sewers, or a natural underground cavern with large tree roots. In addition to that the group found some unnatural plants growing outside the arch and on the other side, with more of the purple and green butterflies flying around, where Midnight made sure to collect whatever she could, as she was going to have a field day the moment she got back to their fort's alchemy station. La'nari and Azure noted that there had been a wall where the arch was located, they could see all sorts of broken brick and stone around the watery side of the arch, causing them to get ready, as there was no way of knowing what sort of enemies might be waiting for them in this area.
While they did that, however, Capper silently confirmed that the sword was down here, he could practically feel it resonating with something, definitely not Thoron, and in that instant he understood what the blade actually was, it was an artifact like the Skeleton Key, which was all the more reason to kill Thoron and claim it.
What he and the others discovered was that their enemies were more elytra, as it looked like they lived in this root cave, for lack of a better term, especially since there were far more than just one or two of them, a fact that caused La'nari to loose a few arrows at them before they got close. Once the enemies got close she backed off and allowed Azure and Midnight to deal with the wounded elytra, who made sure to avoid the venomous attacks since they knew how dangerous their poison could be after watching their pair fight those wolves earlier. While they did that Capper found that there were tree husks in the cave as well, which had an assortment of herbs and alchemy ingredients inside it, plus more amber ore, and when he told the others Midnight asked him to acquire as much as he could, handing him the bag she was using to store her alchemy ingredients. Such a thing caused him to chuckle as he stayed at the back of the pack, carefully collecting the items that were around him, plus the elytra had some ichor that could be used as well, so he bottled some up with the containers inside the bag, showing him how prepared Midnight was to collect her precious ingredients.
One other thing they discovered was that there were ladies that were made out of wood and nature energy, spriggans based on what La'nari said, though their attacks hurt far more than the elytra, where Capper was sure that it was due to the fact that they were infused with some of the energies that were coming from the root cave's depths. Even Capper got in on the action as he stabbed and slashed at some of the spriggans, while at the same time Rarity found some openings to hurl a few fireballs through, blasting the nature elementals in the back or sides, anything to do away with them. The other thing that Capper found inside the tree husks were a few gems, far better in rarity than what he and the others had recovered since their arrival in this world, but there were only three or four of them by his count, not that it mattered since he was glad to have all of them in his collection. Despite that fact it sure felt like they had walked into another world, given the amount of growth that was on all of the walls that were around them, transforming the sewer passage into a tree hollow, almost like they had walked into a realm of Oblivion, or maybe a small fragment of Oblivion had been brought to Solitude, since Capper was sure they hadn't entered any portals to do such a thing.
There were a few side passages that they carefully checked out, which seemed to be dead ends, though there were more of the corrupted spriggans for them to fight, which made them wonder how so many had come to be contained in Solitude's sewers, or if they had come through with all of the elytra.
When they took out another corrupted spriggan, which Capper realized had a amber color to parts of it, he passed around some potions to the others, Azure and Midnight getting health while Rarity needed more mana, though he and La'nari kept an eye out for more enemies, given how many were in this place. The only thing of value that this place had was the various tree husks that gave them alchemy items, amber ores, and the occasional gem, though he wasn't about to argue since they were getting closer and closer to where the sword, and Thoron, was resting. Of course they also found a few dead bodies of unfortunate hunters who had been dragged into the area, since this didn't seem to be a place that someone could fall into on accident, though La'nari made sure to collect their arrows so she didn't run out of them at the wrong time. After the next group of enemies they discovered an area that excited them, an area that was full of weapons and armor from both clans they had dealt with, the golden Saints gear and the ebony Seducer gear, like a battleground of sorts, with no bodies, which was very odd.
Azure smiled as he found a replacement for his weapon, a greatsword made of the same golden material of his new armor, while Capper collected another golden sword and the others went after everything else, though they were quiet about it, as around the corner was a path leading to where Thoron seemed to be working, as he was mumbling to himself.
"Okay... he's right around the corner." Capper said, where he and the others used his greater sneak ability to get an idea as to what the figure was doing right now, and as far as he could tell Thoron was channeling his magic into a spell, while the sword was wedged into what appeared to be the root heart of the entire cave system, though it was easy for him to see that all of them were nervous, "It doesn't look like he's seen us yet, nor has he heard the sounds of us fighting the corrupted spriggans and elytra, so we have a chance to attack before he even realizes what's going on. La'nari, I think you could use a barrage of arrows to start the fight, maybe even critically wound Thoron before he can recover, and since he's a mage we can use Rarity's lightning magic to cripple his mana... maybe prevent him from using spells completely. Azure, if Thoron is able to summon any Saints or Seducers, it'll be up to you to deal with them, since you were able to stall the summoned ones during our last battles, which leaves me and Midnight to finish the job... hopefully."
"What do you mean 'hopefully', darling?" Rarity asked, because that made her more nervous, as Capper didn't seem like he was convinced that the plan would work, rather it seemed like this might be the only thing he could think of, utilizing their various strengths into something that might bring their target down.
"He's got a Daedric Artifact and he's boring a hole into a Plane of Oblivion... his powers might be beyond us... but we have to do something." Capper stated, as that seemed to be what the notes they had acquired and the information that was right in front of them was currently suggesting, not to mention why someone had insisted on him, plus his companions, recovering the sword before it was misused in the worst way possible.
La'nari agreed with him, this was someone who might be a servant of a Daedric Prince, meaning their power might be on an entirely different level depending on which Prince it was, which was why she pulled out some golden arrows and readied her bow, nodding to the others as they silently readied their own weapons. Once everyone was ready she sneaked out into the end of their passage, just before where Thoron made his camp, and loosed her arrows right into his back, rapidly since they couldn't afford to give him a moment to defend himself or even fight back. Thoron staggered backwards for a moment as the first and second arrow tore through his back, as he was only wearing a loincloth and a strange helmet on his head, while she found that the third one pierced her target's side as he moved out of the way. In the next instant Rarity loosed a bolt of lightning as Thoron got off his spell, summoning a warrior Saint to attack them as the bolt struck him in the chest, leading to Azure lashing out at the summoned warrior with his greatsword, pushing her away so Capper and Midnight could join Rarity in attacking their foe.
Midnight slashed at his exposed chest, her daggers finding more purchase than they were expecting, even though he wasn't wearing anything other than the loincloth and helmet, and Rarity's next bolt of lightning knocked him into the barrier that was around the crystalline greatsword, where she did it again and opened Thoron's defenses so Capper could take his head off in an instant.
"It would seem that he wasn't as strong as we assumed he'd be." La'nari commented, as this was good news, because that meant that Thoron might have been an outcast, someone who was stripped of his power and suddenly everything seemed to make sense to her, as now she knew that he had been trying to get back home and his Prince didn't want him at all, which was a sad tale if it was true.
"We were fortunate that he was so distracted." Capper replied, though at the same time he looted Thoron's body, because he had a number of alchemy items that he handed to Midnight without delay, a pair of journals he pocketed, four tomes that seemed to be summoning tomes which went to Rarity, the odd helmet, an enchanted ring, and a staff that the mad wizard didn't have a chance to use, before he glanced at the trapped artifact, "Why don't you guys head down the other passage and check if it's an exit, and that the coast is clear? I want to be sure we have an escape route for when we retrieve that blade."
La'nari nodded as she and the others headed down the other passage, the one that seemed to be Thoron's escape route, to which Capper checked where the mad wizard had been sleeping, finding another journal, a jar with a bug inside it, a couple of potions, and an amber ore molded into the face of someone else, likely the Prince that Thoron was obsessed with, before he focused on the greatsword.
Behold, the Sword of Jyggalag, the Daedric Prince of Order... note it's perfect symmetry. a voice said, causing Capper to turn his head to the left of the root heart and found the mysterious specter that had spoken to him previously floating near the weapon, though the interesting thing was that she was more vocal than before, why he had no idea and he wasn't about to ask, not yet anyway, Yet it's power to allow one to see the past, present, and future, as they flow as one within it's edge, will drive those who aren't used to the raw power of a Daedric Prince mad. I cannot help you in my current state, as I would need a physical body to manifest the power to counter the blade's power and blind it... for a short while.
"You mean that you need a physical body, in addition to my physical body?" Capper asked, where he was glad that he had sent the others away for the time being, otherwise they would either think he was insane or realize he had kept a secret from all of them, but that still presented a problem, especially since it didn't look like the specter could possess bodies, so Thoron's was out, "Well, unless you can tell me how to make one... which is crazy, when I think about it... then I'm afraid that I'll have to try my luck."
I can show you... it would require releasing the golden icon to fifty percent, but you would benefit greatly in the end, you can trust me on that. the specter replied, causing Capper to focus on her for a moment, because it seemed odd that she would bring this up now, after being silent for some time, and yet, despite how strange and mysterious this sounded, part of him felt that trusting her was the key to retrieving the sword, I give you my word, from one Prince to another, that I only have your best interests in mind... you will benefit far more from this than I will.
In the end Capper decided to put his trust in her, there was something about her that suggested that she wasn't trying to do harm to him or his friends, to which she had them return to the Vault, or the outer area where he had dropped the dragon skeleton when the wagon passed by the ruined watchtower previously. Following that the specter had him recover two items from the Vault, an ingot of whatever metal he desired and the crystal that was the core of her essence, which raised a few questions that he decided to keep at the back of his mind for a time as he retrieved the items. He discovered that the crystal that was the core of the Vault didn't even resist his touch, rather he was able to touch it and pull it down without delay, and as soon as that was done he focused on the ingots and went with silver, a counter to the edge of the artifact. With those two items in hand he returned to the area that was in front of the Vault and let them float nearby as he pulled out the Key once more, where the specter watched as he slipped it into the newest icon, turning it until she told him to stop, causing a surge of power in his body once more.
Once that was done the specter told him to magically link the crystalline core and the ingot with the dragon corpse, where her power would override the essence lingering on the bones, and once the three were connected Capper needed to make an image of a new form in his mind. Such a thing would allow him to make a new physical body for her to use, and once the sword was recovered she told Capper that she could teach him everything he needed to know, because whether he liked it or not some Princes might consider this to be a proper Plane of Oblivion and come bother him, so there were things she had to teach him before that happened. Capper said nothing to that as he focused on the three items that were in front of him, allowing the magic he had felt and used previously as he considered the form he wanted weave them into, and yet his mind kept coming back to Spike and the other dragons he had encountered before coming to this world. In the next instant an image formed in his mind, merging the form he was used to seeing and the new form he had encountered, before his magic reacted and the items swirled into silvery spiral in front of him, the specter disappearing as she was pulled into it.
The spiral turned into a vortex of energy for a few seconds, likely the specter's power finally waking up, before it died down and condensed into a smaller form, a humanoid form with dragon components, such as the horns, wings, and tail, which was when Capper found that her new body was just as tall as he was. He found that she had digitigrade legs and that her feet had four main claws with the fifth up on the inner side, like a werewolf he guessed, and her hands had five fingers like a person did, plus he noticed that her scales were silver with a silvery blue undertone. The membrane of her wings just so happened to be a faint golden color, like she was inspired by his wealth, and while her tail didn't have anything dangerous at the end he knew that it was powerful enough to do some damage if she struck someone with it. She also had the snout of a dragon, complete with sharp ivory teeth or fangs, while the short horns on top of her head seemed to be a silvery blue as well, making her imposing like a dragon, and her eyes were a vibrant golden color.
In the next moment he confirmed that she had a feminine body, meaning her power had overruled the bones he had used, before the lingering bits of magic formed a sapphire blue mage outfit over her body, like an Arch-Mage or something, and the intricate portions of it were a mix of gold and silver.
"I... I..." the figure said, where it was clear that she wasn't used to talking, as she had to cough a few times as she got used to having actual vocal cords again, before she took a deep breath and seemed to enjoy having actual lungs, in fact she seemed happy with this situation, even if the body wasn't what she was expecting him to give her, "It feels so good to breathe again! It might have served me well, but being trapped as a specter was unbearable."
"I'm... glad to be of assistance." Capper stated, as he wasn't sure if this was a good idea or not, especially since he had no idea who she was or what her true intentions were, but he guessed things weren't too bad since the figure seemed fine with the situation she was in, before he focused his mind again, "So, are we good to deal with the sword? Also, do you have a name, or do I need to think of one?"
"Yes, I am able to assist you now." the figure replied, though in the next instant she brought her right knee to the ground as she crossed both of her hands over her left knee, her left hand resting between her knee and her other hand, before she bowed her head, like she was showing respect to someone that was greater than her, "As for my name, there is only one that matters right now, my Prince: Ithelia."
Capper wasn't too sure why she was addressing him as if he was a Prince of Oblivion, he didn't believe that one bit, but right now he knew he required her assistance and held his hand out, where Ithelia nodded, stood up, and took his hands as he used the teleportation power to bring them back to the sewers. She informed him that only a few moments had passed during their time in his realm, as time worked differently in Oblivion, so they had plenty of time to do the deed before the rest of the group showed up to report their success in finding an exit. With that in mind Ithelia turned her power on where the Sword of Jyggalag was resting, where Capper found that her magic was either cancelling the Sword's power or keeping it contained, but he wasted no time in grasping the handle, after making sure not to get in the way of Ithelia's magic, which was a cross of silver and gold energy. He found that nothing happened when he grabbed the handle, thanks to what his new ally was doing, to which he drew the artifact out of the root heart and the cave shook once it was out, the connection that had been established had been severed, causing Ithelia to nod as she made sure he could use the weapon without causing harm to himself.
Once Ithelia was sure that everything was in order, and she had Capper return her to the Vault so she could start planning her lessons, as she was serious about that part, causing him to sigh as he wondered what he was getting himself into as he placed the artifact on his back, all while worrying about whatever the future held in store for him and his friends.