Capper and Rarity, joined by a pair of guards, discover an artifact that teleports them to a new land that is full of conflict... and full of opportunities to start a brand new life.
Capper and Rarity, in the middle of searching for a way to settle the former's debt to Verko, travel to the old Castle of the Two Sisters and are joined by a Solar Guard and Lunar Guard, where they find a mysterious artifact that teleports them to a strange and unusual world, to a land that is in the middle of a civil war. In this new land they discover plenty of opportunities to start a new life, ranging from being a student of magic to being an adventurer of ancient ruins, or dealing with bandits to being a grand thief, and everything in between. With that freedom in mind the group will tackle whatever this strange world has to offer, even dealing with the various gods if need be, as they finally take control of their fates at long last.
(MLP/Skyrim Crossover) (Standalone story, not tied to a series)
It was a strangely peaceful day in the Everfree Forest, as the timberwolves seemed to be silent while most of the creatures were either sleeping or were doing whatever it was that they did, something not a lot of ponies knew about since most of the population of Equestria were scared of this place. With that in mind Capper had gone to Ponyville to find one of the few ponies he had become friends with, because he had heard rumors and stories about how some or all of them had, at one point in time, gone into the forest to find the 'Elements of Harmony', powerful artifacts to stop Nightmare Moon. Of course one of his companions, Rarity to be exact, had confirmed that the tales were true, even the ones where her sister and her sister's friends had come into the forest to do stupid things, all to figure out their Cuties Marks, though usually the trio in question had to be saved from their antics. He had been sure that he could convince one of them to come with him, show him to the castle, and then he could track down a couple of items to use to settle his debt with Verko, because while his debt had been lessened significantly the mole insisted on him paying a small fraction in the end.
When he told Twilight that, since she insisted on being told all of the information on what he wanted to do, she ended up using Spike's fire breath to send a scroll to her mentor to tell her about what Capper was up to, where he suspected that she was hoping to get some backup to stop him.
To Capper's surprise he ended up watching a magical exchange of letters between Twilight and Celestia, one writing down a response to the other before sending it once they were ready to go, and he, of course, had to provide more information than what he gave Twilight earlier. What he learned was that both of the princesses of Canterlot, as Luna was present for the exchange on the other end and must have been interested in what her sister was doing, were interested in his odd request, but, at the same time, were more than willing to grant him his request. He suspected that it was due to the fact that he had aided Twilight's group in their quest to defeat the Storm King, and the fact that they likely felt that he hadn't been properly rewarded for his efforts, so this, in their eyes, was a way to square the remainder of their debt to him. With that in mind the sisters had sent one final letter informing him and Twilight that two guards, one from both divisions, were on their way to Ponyville and that they would be there within the hour, to escort him and anyone who was joining him to the castle.
Rarity, who had come in during the end of the exchange, asked if it was okay for her to join the group and Capper figured it was okay, since they would have guards with them this time around, though they didn't have to wait very long as one of the chariots, like what brought Twilight here once upon a time, brought two new guards to Ponyville. The letter had explained that the Solar Guard was Azure Blade, who seemed to be much like the rest of the members of his division, while his Lunar companion, Midnight Rose, seemed to be having fun already, if the smile on her face was any indication. From what the pair learned a fair number of guards, from both divisions, had been brought before the pair of princesses and these two were picked above all of the others, though while both were happy to be off guard duty for once, only one seemed excited by the idea of heading into the Everfree Forest. Azure informed them that the princesses weren't expecting them to run into any trouble while they were heading through the dangerous forest, but it was better to be safe since there was no telling what the group would discover once they started their trek.
Sure enough Capper found that the princesses had been right, the trek had been uneventful with no timberwolves or even the massive bears that were said to be in the forest, in fact it looked like he had picked the right time to even suggest such a thing, since he and his companions were able to reach the castle without anything attacking them.
"So, this is the ancient castle... only thing we have to be careful of is crumbling walls and creaky stairs." Azure commented, though while this was his first time actually seeing the structure in question, which was as rough and worn down as he had heard, he knew it was only a matter of time until something collapsed and the entire place came crashing down, or at least the rest of it anyway.
"Whatever. I'm just glad to be doing something that's not guard duty." Midnight remarked, where Capper found that the Lunar Guard seemed more adventurous than her Solar Guard counterpart, as Azure was more like the rest of his mates, focused on serving his princess to the letter, but even then he also appeared to be grateful for something new to do, instead of guarding the Princesses all day.
"I'm glad to have offered you two something new." Capper said, even though it was a little weird to hear the guards talk, as the ones back in Canterlot seemed to be silent and did whatever their patrons asked them to do, but at least the pair were having some fun as they looked around the castle, before he glanced around for a moment, "Now, where is that path that Princess Luna mentioned?"
The area they were currently in was the main entrance of the castle, which once brought ponies and visitors to the thrones that Celestia and Luna used to sit on and rule from, though while the area that was to their left seemed to be broken, due to the collapsed walls, the right was perfectly fine. Midnight, having received instructions from her boss before they set out on this journey, beckoned for them to follow her as she headed into the passage that was to the right of the entrance, where Rarity found that the path brought them to the library and the hidden stairs her friends had discovered once upon a time. After that they headed down the stairs in question for a time, eventually reaching an underground area that Rarity and her friends had told no one about, save for writing it down in the journal Twilight kept of their adventures, before they headed down to their right for a time as the Lunar Guard followed her boss' instructions. Such a thing allowed the group to see that there were a number of lights that magically ignited as they got close to them, some of them revealing doors to other rooms, ones Rarity didn't know about, before Midnight stopped in front of a door with a gem icon on it.
Midnight produced a silver key from her bag that she slipped into the slot and unlocked the door, where Capper opened the door once she was done working on it, revealing a decent sized room that had chests that were full of gems and some that were full of gold coins, a small treasury that either the sisters kept hidden or one of them had kept from everyone, including their sister.
"You know, I was expecting it to take some time to find this place... it's nice to be surprised." Rarity remarked, where she had to guess that this was all Luna's treasure from when she lived in this castle, since it was her key that opened the door, and as they walked into the room she picked up a sapphire with her magic, "These gems are magnificent."
"Yes, they certainly are." Capper stated, where he pulled out one of the sacks he had collected previously, before traveling to Ponyville to look for a guide, and collected a number of the finer gems, because they should be enough for him to deal with his debt, and maybe leaving him with some to spare, though while he picked up a few gold coins he noticed that Midnight and Azure had followed them in, and were looking at something else.
That 'something else', as it turned out, was an odd golden statue that seemed out of place, as it was small enough to fit in his hands as he looked at it, like a brick or even a totem, though it resembled the chaotic creature known as Discord and it held a gleaming gemstone of some kind in it's hands that was shaped to look like some sort of lens, and right now it was resting on a pedestal of sorts.
"Must be an artifact of some kind... I wonder what it does." Midnight commented, as she knew that both Princesses kept all sorts of magical items under lock and key, including the Elements of Harmony when they had been recovered, so finding a lost and forgotten artifact made her curious, all while Capper picked it up.
"Well, we can ask Celestia and Luna when we get back to Canterlot, since leaving this here might be a..." Capper started to say, though as he handled the statue for a few seconds, to get a better look at it, he noticed that the eyes were now glowing, meaning the magic that was inside the artifact was activating before their eyes.
He, Rarity, Midnight, and Azure barely had time to process what was going on as the artifact burst open, as it literally broke apart and released a torrent of chaotic energy that wrapped around them, before transforming into a vortex of energy that pulled all of them into it as they wondered what might be on the other side of it.
Capper groaned as he finally came to, though as he started to move he discovered a few things, the first being that he and his companions, who he was sure were near him, were now outside since he could feel the ground beneath him, before he opened his eyes and found that they weren't in the ruined castle or the Everfree Forest anymore. It appeared that the vortex had dropped them off in an area that was covered in snow, as the trees and mountains definitely had snow on them, plus, from what he could see, there was a worn out dirt road a fair distance from where they had landed. As he thought about that he glanced down at his body for a moment and found that there really didn't seem to be anything wrong with him, as he was still an anthropomorphic brown cat, a term Princess Twilight had used to describe him and his people at times, complete with his dark indigo hair. He was also wearing his red open coat, where he found that his bag of gems was inside it, though below his coat he discovered that he had on what appeared to be ragged clothes, something beggars would wear when they couldn't afford nice things, which he instantly wanted to get rid of.
A groan next to him caused Capper to turn his head and discovered that the others were alright, though all three of them were no longer ponies, rather it looked like the magic that had brought them here had given them the same height that he was used to living with. In addition to that he could see that their new legs ended in hooves, they still had their tails and their pony ears, and their bodies were the same color that they had been before the vortex sucked them in, with Rarity having white skin, Azure's was a light blue, instead of the white a Solar Guard usually had, and Midnight had a light gray body. All three of them were dressed the same as him, as in they were wearing ragged clothing that might be good for a day or two, though the armor that both of the guards had been wearing was gone, likely left behind by the very magic that had brought them here in the first place. In addition to that he found that Azure's hair was a vibrant shade of blue while Midnight's was more of a dark violet, and while the Solar Guard had no wings and no horn, indicating he was an earth pony, his Lunar counterpart had a pair of dark leathery wings that were like a bat's.
Capper honestly wasn't sure what sort of species Midnight was, though for the time being he focused on making sure that all of them were alright as he gently roused them, finding that each one let out a groan as they opened their eyes and took in the world that was around them.
"Where... are we?" Rarity asked, because at a glance she would have assumed that they were somewhere near the Frozen North, near the Crystal Empire to be exact, before she glanced down at her body and found that she, along with both of the guards, were in the same situation as she paled as she noticed what she was wearing, "Wh... What happened to me? What am we wearing?!"
"I have no idea... honestly, I have no idea where we are or what happened to you guys." Capper said, though he was happy to see that, despite their circumstances, none of them seemed to be hurt or in pain, since he was able to get up and walk just fine, which made sense due to the fact that his body seemed unchanged, "As for what we're wearing, I would imagine that the vortex gave these rags to us... maybe to help us fit in with the residents of wherever we are?"
"We... We can't go out looking like this... we need something nicer to wear." Rarity replied, where she wished that she had some of her materials with her, because it would have helped her create something to replace what they were wearing at the moment, while at the same time she and the guards started to try out their strange new bodies.
As Capper thought about what to do, however, he heard something and ducked down low for a moment, though that was when he noticed that there were some bushes in front of them and moved so anyone looking their way from the road would be unable to see them. Rarity, on the other hand, stayed still for a few seconds before pulling herself over to where he was positioned, which Azure and Midnight did as well, allowing the group to discover whatever was on the road while trying to remain unseen, so if someone was coming they would be able to remain undetected for some time. It wasn't long before they discovered the source of the noise, three individuals were coming up the road and two of them seemed to be talking, about what neither of them knew, while the third seemed preoccupied with glancing around the area every now and then. Based on what Capper could see none of them were like him or his companions, as they had no animal features to speak of, though he could see that two of them were well dressed, meaning they had have some valuables on them, while the third was wearing what looked like the attire of a soldier.
Behind them was a horse, similar to the ponies that Capper was used to seeing but without the abilities or intelligence he was used to seeing, who was hooked to a carriage of some kind that had a number of crates stacked on it, where he had to assume they might find some gear on it, though as he shifted his stance he found that Midnight did as well.
"Midnight, what are you doing?" Azure whispered, because he really didn't know anything about the Lunar Guard that was observing the carriage at the moment, mostly due to the fact that they worked different shifts and he almost never saw her around Canterlot, but even then he knew of Capper's reputation and suspected that they were up to no good.
"Simple: we're going to try and take the carriage, or maybe just some boxes and see if they have better clothing to wear, so we're better prepared for this land." Midnight replied, also keeping her voice low as the carriage got close to them, since Azure had done the same when he spoke up, mostly because he likely didn't want to be attacked, before she glanced at Capper for a moment, as if there was more she had to say, "That is the plan, right?"
"Yeah, that's exactly what I was planning on doing." Capper said, which was impressive in his mind, as she had figured out the plan in the span of a few seconds, so that, combined with the fact that she was already ready to do some sneaking, told him that Midnight must have been a thief before becoming a guard, while he could see that Azure was frowning over what they might do next.
Rarity stared at the pair for a few seconds, weighing their options and debating whether or not they should be doing this, before lowering her head as she gave him and Midnight a brief nod, allowing them to do whatever they were going to do, while she and Azure kept an eye out for additional trouble. Capper, used to his body more than the others were, decided to keep himself low for a time as the trio started to move by the area they were in, allowing him and his companion to silently observe the wagon. Apparently the nobles were coming to this end of the 'empire' for a wedding, as that seemed to be what the pair were talking about, where the male seemed to indicate that they were on their way to 'Solitude' and that the bride was someone called 'Vittoria Vici', a cousin of the Emperor, and, more importantly, the gifts they were hauling to the wedding were their gift to the bride. Fortunately the male noble reminded his wife of the expensive stuff that was inside the crates, such as all sorts of jewelry, clothing, potions, and other items, like the trio were hauling a small fortune with them, though Capper did think it was strange for them to not be riding on the wagon since there was an area for people to sit on.
As he thought about that both he and Midnight paused as the steed stopped and nibbled on the bush, like it was hungry or something, and, to their surprise, it didn't seem to freak out as it stared into both of their eyes, allowing him to gently brush it's face for a moment as the trio kept going further and further up the road. When the nobles were a fair distance away, still unaware of their idiocy, Capper raised his other hand for a moment and beckoned for Midnight to move, where she carefully got up and made her way to the back of the wagon, making sure not to trip since that might alert the figures to what was going on at the moment. Of course, since she wasn't used to her body, it took her a while to do so, a minute or two based on what Capper counted, but she was able to reach the back and looked at the crates that were back there, each one labeled so the nobles could remember which one contained which item, causing her to open the food one and pull out an apple. With that in hand Midnight handed it to Capper, who, in turn, gave it to the horse, who seemed to enjoy the offering, which was when he nodded and his companion climbed onto the wagon without wasting time, allowing him to carefully move the horse in a way so it was facing the way that it had come from, doing so slowly since he didn't want to ruin everything.
After a few more moments he found that the nobles and their guard still had no idea what was going on, causing him to climb up onto the front of the wagon, while at the same time allowing Azure and Rarity to take the back as Midnight took the seat to his right, and once they were all on it he silently got the horse moving, only to come to a stop when he found a curve in the past, providing them with some cover.
"I can't believe you guys did that... nor can I believe that it worked so well." Rarity remarked, though she wasn't sure how she should feel about this event, that they had just stolen a small fortune from some people who make the mistake of not riding their wagon like a bunch of normal individuals, but her focus was on the crates as she found the clothing one and opened it, finding what looked like the very clothing that the nobles had been wearing, "Out of curiosity, do you guys have a color preference?"
"Not really." Capper replied, which was followed by Rarity handing him a brown suit and pants that he was sure went with his coat, while she had picked a light blue dress that had blue pants with it, while Midnight was given a brown set that was more like the male noble's, though Azure refused and went with a more plain white shirt and brown pants, likely a set that the guard would wear later.
Capper had to admit that the clothing would only provide them with some protection against the weather, even though they weren't in a blizzard or anything, but this was better than the rags they had started with, though they would have to get something for Azure later, once they knew more about the land they were in.
"Well, what do we have here? Four bandits, possibly thieves, scoring a big haul." a new voice commented, where the group found a female cat creature, similar to how Capper looked he wagered, who wore dark brown armor on her body, arms, legs, and her feet, leaving her head exposed, revealing her light gray coloration to them, "Unfortunately, you might be out of luck: there's an Imperial patrol further down the road, about fifteen minutes away... however, I have a proposition that will benefit all of us. How about I join you, as another member of your 'guard'? The patrol won't even give us a second glance if they see that we're a group of nobles with their guards, then we can continue on to the fort that my clan calls home, where I can convince the bosses that you guys are new recruits and make sure you get a bigger cut of the spoils."
Rarity resisted the urge to groan, as this wasn't what she had envisioned when she and the guards agreed to help Capper out, though her companion seemed to be considering the offer the cat was giving them, especially since they were in a land that none of them knew anything about, and it wasn't long before Capper and Midnight nodded.
"Sounds fair to me. I'm Capper, and this is Rarity, Azure Blade, and Midnight Rose." Capper said, taking a moment to move his hand towards each of them so the cat knew who was who, before he held a hand out, which the other cat shook with a smile on her face, which was fair since this was an easy payday for her since they had done the hard work of stealing the wagon and it's various treasures, causing them to climb up onto the wagon once more, "So, what do we call you?"
"La'nari. It's a pleasure to meet you." the cat replied, where she reached into the pack she was carrying on her back and pulled out a wooden bow, plus a quiver that was full of arrows, meaning she was going to present herself as an archer type guard to whoever happened to get in their way, while Azure and Rarity sat in the back with the crates as Midnight sat next to Capper, "Well then, let's get underway."
Capper nodded as he got the horse moving again, allowing them and their new companion to settle in for a trip since they had no idea where La'nari's base was located or what path needed to be taken, but it only made him all the more eager to see what the world had to offer them.
While Capper directed the horse down the path that was in front of them, following the directions he was given, Rarity just spent her time checking the crates that were in the wagon, to see what else they had stolen from the nobles, as Azure sat across from her with a frown on his face. It was clear that the Solar Guard wasn't too happy about watching Capper and Midnight break the law like that, but, at the same time, he didn't say anything since they were in the presence of someone he didn't trust, even if Capper seemed to. As they did that both Midnight and La'nari focused on the road as they kept an eye out for danger, since none of them wanted to lose the contents of the wagon, though as they did so the latter made sure to point out things to the former, so she knew what to keep an eye out for. It was clear that she knew none of them were familiar with the roads of Skyrim and was doing her best to make sure they appeared like they were familiar with all sorts of things, to help them pass as traveling nobles when they encountered the patrol she had mentioned.
Sure enough they found that the other cat had been right in her previous statement, there was a patrol heading their way, at least ten soldiers who were wearing the same attire that the guard of the nobles had been wearing, with one wearing a finer set of attire, likely a captain or general. La'nari found that Midnight was the first one to point out the other group and quietly told her new companions to keep calm, because there were times where soldiers would stop a wagon or even a traveling caravan, to either inspect their goods, to buy, or to arrest those they knew to be thieves. Interesting enough the group found that the soldiers didn't seem to care about them at all, rather they got out of the way and allowed them to continue on their way without interfering with their journey. While they passed the soldiers Capper found that some were like the nobles they had seen earlier, plus one or two more cat people and even a lizard person who seemed proud of serving in the army, plus one or two individuals who had pointy ears.
Since they weren't stopped by the patrol the group was able to continue down the rest of the road without any problems, a fact that allowed La'nari to explain a few more things to them, since it was better than blindly traveling through Skyrim like they were travelers. Apparently there was an ongoing war between the Imperial Legion, who served the Empire and it's Emperor, and the local Stormcloaks, a rebellion whose leader just happened to be one of the Jarls who ruled over the land, one of nine to be exact, though the size of the provinces wasn't fair between all of them. Four of the Jarls were on the Legion's side, since the Empire also ruled over Skyrim, while at the same time four of the remaining five opposed them, standing with Ulfric Stormcloak and his forces, leaving one Jarl, who ruled the central province of Whiterun, as a neutral party. With that in mind the war was basically at a standstill, as both sides were trying to convince Jarl Balgruuf to join them so one side would have control of Whiterun, and gain the advantage over the other side, while the patrols that both sides sent out were more like scouting parties.
"Fortunately for us the soldiers don't care about bandits or thieves, they simply ignore us and go about their days like we're not even there." La'nari remarked, which explained why the patrol had basically ignored them, no doubt believing that they were just nobles and guards moving to another part of Skyrim, though she did glance back for a few moments to be sure no one was coming after them, "Though there are a few things that we do have to be careful of..."
"Including other bandits and some wild animals?" Capper inquired, which made sense when he thought about it, since it made sense for one group of bandits to steal from another that was moving through their land, which was why he kept an eye out for potential danger while they followed La'nari's instructions.
"You got it. By the way, take the next two rights, then a left when we near a stone bridge. Treva's Watch is where my clan has set up our base of operations." La'nari said, informing them that they had a few forks in the path to keep an eye out for, which was good to know since they were unfamiliar with this land, but as they continued down the road she seemed to think about something else as she glanced at the pair, "You know, since you guys are new to Skyrim, we might be able to use that to our advantage... no one knows who you are yet, so we might be able to present you are merchants and sell a bunch of our loot in one of the nearby cities, like Riften since it is the closest. I'm sure that Brurid and Bek-Kajin would be excited by the idea, since we could offload a lot of the stuff we steal without anyone realizing what's going on."
"I'm sorry, who?" Rarity asked, because while she was sure that they were leaders of the bandit clan they were going to be meeting soon, based on what the cat, a khajiit as she recalled what the race was called, she knew it would be best to ask so she and her companions didn't make fools of themselves when they finally reached Treva's Watch.
"Our leaders. They're the ones that brought us to the fort and lead us in overtaking it from it's previous owners... who, as I found out later, were another group of bandits." La'nari replied, where she realized that she hadn't told them anything about the two chiefs that served as the leaders of her clan, so Rarity's question made sense when she thought about it for a few seconds, all while Capper slowed the horse as a bear wandered into the wilderness ahead of them, as he wanted to make sure it didn't come at them, "Both can be a little harsh at times, when someone breaks one of the rules, but they're better bosses than some of the greedy businesses that we end up stealing from all the time."
"You speak as if you have experience in such a field. Bad guild?" Midnight inquired, as it made sense to her, a bad group or organization would cause such a response from the khajiit, though as she said that La'nari had Capper bring the wagon to a stop and they realized why not a few seconds later.
As it turned out there was a deer or elk nearby, one that the bear had ignored as it went off in search of something else, where she pulled her bow out and readied one of her arrows, allowing them to watch as she pulled her hand back as she focused on her target. In the next moment she let it fly and they watched as it struck the elk in the side, striking it in the heart since it fell over not a few seconds later, but once that was done she and Azure moved to collect the elk, as she felt that he was the best option to help her out, while Rarity did her best not to look at it. La'nari's reasoning for doing this was simple, she wanted to bring the rest of the clan some fresh food as well, and the elk had been the best thing she had seen so far, so the group did their best to move some of the crates out of the way to make room for it. As soon as the elk was in position Capper returned to his seat and got them underway once more, while the others focused on the road to be sure they didn't draw any attention to them.
After that La'nari confirmed Midnight's comment, that she had been a member of the local Thieves Guild for a few years, giving her a fair number of skills that she could fall back on, but eventually she left due to the fact that the entire guild had been dying before her eyes. She further explained what she meant by that by revealing that many of the jobs that their superiors ended up assigning, ranging from the simplest to even some of their heists, ended in failure despite all of the planning that went into them, resulting in thieves being caught and gold being lost, and a loss of clients as well. Of course there were still those who worked with the remaining thieves, a number of which still had some skill, but the truth of the matter remained, unless things turned around the guild would die in the near future and an entire way of life would cease to exist. La'nari also told them that she had maintained contact with a select few of the Guild's members, mostly so she could trade some of the more valuable goods that her clan collected for a decent amount of gold, but other than that the group found that she preferred to ignore the dying guild since there was nothing she could do to help them out.
Capper asked what she meant by that and the khajiit was silent for a few seconds, either because she was tired of talking or because she needed time to think, before she admitted that no one in the Guild knew what was going on, rather each person had their own thoughts on the matter. Some thought it was just a string of bad luck, some believed that those who were caught were just failures in general, and then there was the more outlandish theory that one of the Daedric Princes was angry with them for some reason. There wasn't much more La'nari could tell them about those beings, she never bothered to read about them like the mages and scholars of the world did, so if Capper or the others wanted to figure out more about them they would have to seek out other sources. All of that information was good for them to gain, since it let them formulate a plan in their minds about what to do after meeting the bandits, though at the same time La'nari asked the group about themselves, since this was the first time she had encountered creatures like Midnight.
Capper explained that they were from an island continent that was far away from Skyrim, brought here by a magical spell that none of them had been expecting to be hit by, and the reason La'nari had no knowledge of their existence was due to a magic mist that was keeping their home safe from potential attackers. It was a lie, of course, but he knew that La'nari wouldn't believe him if he told her that they were from another world that was different from this one, though fortunately she seemed to think about his statement and believed him without asking questions. He didn't want to lie to her, after all of the truthful things she had told them since meeting them, but this was for the best, since she had told them that she wasn't a scholar, so learning this sort of thing might keep her curiosity in check, especially since she thought they were all thieves. Capper also knew that the others might not approve of this, but when he spared the others a glance he found that Rarity was conflicted on what to think, Azure seemed to appreciate keeping their truth a secret, and Midnight simply nodded her head, agreeing with his decision since he was the best at what he did.
Such a thing allowed him to focus on the path that was in front of him, while the others simply relaxed while keeping an eye on their surroundings, even though they were also trying to find the fort that La'nari had mentioned, since it would let them know they were getting close to their final destination.
Other than the bear there wasn't much for them to worry about as they continued down the path that was in front of them, a fact that eventually brought them to the bridge that La'nari wanted them to use, where the ground quickly found that there was a large stone fort on the other side of the river that it crossed. Sure enough they found a few individuals standing on the walls and roofs of the structure, some wearing armor that was like what their khajiit friend was wearing, some wore just fur armor, and there were a few wearing metal gear, no doubt the ones who served as the warriors for the clan. Each of them were armed, that was easy to see since a few had bows and others appeared to have melee weapons, like swords or even axes, and some were suspicious of people that were coming towards their domain, but upon realizing that La'nari was with them the gate guards eased up and opened the main gate. While they did that, however, Capper noticed two people who seemed different from the rest, one that seemed to be a nord in some fine steel armor and had a battleaxe as his main weapon, while the other was a lizard creature, wearing the same armor, though he looked strong due to his buff body, and he had a brass greatsword on his back, or what Capper assumed was brass.
He had to assume that those two were Brurid and Bek-Kajin, the chiefs in charge of this bandit camp, though at the very least it seemed like they were pleased with what they were seeing at the moment, especially since the argonian jumped off the wall he was standing on and landed near them, without hurting himself in the process.
"La'nari, it is good that you have returned... and with new recruits, I trust?" Bek-Kajin commented, though the group found that he was definitely interested in them, despite the fact that the rest of the bandits were noticing what was resting in the back portion of the wagon, showing that while Capper and his friends were interesting, due to being unique, the bandits were more interested in the potential loot.
"Four novice thieves that managed to score a good haul, which we might be able to sell for once... and some food, since I know our stores were a little low earlier." La'nari replied, where she got up and helped the hunters of their clan lift the elk off the wagon so they could carry it inside the fort, while at the same time she found that Bek-Kajin was looking at some of the containers, opening one every now and then to see what was inside them, while Brurid joined them as a couple pieces of jewelry, rings and necklaces, were pulled out of one.
"We encountered two wandering nobles and their guard that weren't paying attention to their wagon, so, while they were focused on arguing, we calmed the horse down and made off with the goods." Capper said, because that was the basics of what they had done and hoped that no one asked for more details, since there wasn't anything else to add besides their lack of formal winter clothing, even though this area wasn't covered in snow and meant their current clothes would work for the time being, "We were talking with La'nari about the idea of slowly selling this stuff off, giving us gold for food and other items, which is what everyone wants, right?"
"You are as La'nari says... the girl is a novice, totally unsure of the world, but you? You, khajiit, are definitely a thief... and I like the idea." Brurid stated, showing them and the other bandits that he liked what he was hearing, in fact Capper could see the gears in his head turning as he glanced at more of the haul and those that were looking at it right now, before he focused on the group for a moment, "The dark one is a thief as well, you can see the look in her eyes, while the other is a warrior... a lookout, no doubt. What are your names?"
"I am Rarity, and this is my friend and teacher Capper." Rarity replied, because if the bandits were going to think that they were all thieves, and that she was the novice while Azure was the lookout, she figured that it would be best to go along with the story and not challenge them in the slightest, hence why she made sure to call Capper her 'teacher', "Along with his partner in crime, Midnight Rose, and our lookout, Azure Blade."
Capper found that the bandit leaders glanced at each other for a few seconds, clearly thinking about everything they had just learned, especially with the loot that had been brought to them, before they watched as the pair turned their focus back to them without delay.
"I see. For the time being the four of you will be working with La'nari, who will teach you the rules of our clan." Brurid said, showing them that he was more than willing to accept them into the clan without asking any questions, especially after the haul that had been brought to their fort, which was a good thing in his books since they didn't have to worry about proving themselves to the clan, "La'nari, do you still have your guild attire?"
"...Yeah... I do. You want me to take some of the items to Tonilia?" La'nari inquired, though Capper could tell that the name had to belong to someone in the Thieves Guild she had mentioned earlier, where it was hard to tell if she was dreading meeting up with an old ally or if she was indifferent to the entire thing.
"I do. I want to make sure these items are good for sale... and you might as well pick up some gear for these four." Brurid said, where it was easy for the group to see that he was imagining all the wealth that was inside the containers that were in front of him, something that might allow them to retire as lords if they lived to see all of it sold, "For now, you five ought to join the others in offloading the loot and store it in the storeroom for the time being, then you can show these our new friends to the rest area. Bek and I will determine what to send with you tomorrow."
The group nodded their heads for a moment before getting off the wagon as La'nari directed them to pick up some of the crates, which they did without delay, as she claimed one herself and the rest were picked up by a few more bandits, who proceeded to head inside the fort by using a side door near the lever that activated the main gate. Once they were inside the structure the group followed La'nari as she brought them to an area to set down their crates in, where they passed by an eating area, a kitchen of sorts, an area that some bandits were using to prepare the elk, and even an indoor training area. The khajiit told them that there were two other significant areas for them to know about, the first being the secret path that some of their fellows had been tasked with guarding, as their leaders were sure someone would come through there at some point and try to attack them, mostly since they might be assigned there at some point. The second area just so happened to be the bed chambers, where they and other members of their clan could sleep when they were off duty, even though there were all sorts of other things for them to do to improve their skills.
Along the way they found where to set down the crates and did so without delay, where La'nari assured them that the rest of the clan would stay away from them, as Brurid and Bek-Kajin ran a tight ship and wouldn't tolerate anyone stealing the loot that another had collected, especially since it would benefit all of them once everything was sold.
"Like I said earlier, we're fortunate to have them as our leaders." La'nari remarked, once more confirming that the pair that guided this clan were definitely well respected by everyone else, where Capper had to wonder if that included all of the other Bandit Lords that ruled over the various other forts and caves that were scattered across Skyrim, before she beckoned to the room she stopped near, "I know it isn't much, but I doubt you guys will be in this part of the fort for very long... after a haul like that I would expect either Brurid or Bek-Kajin to elevate all of you to a higher position in the clan."
"Won't that annoy some of the others who have been here for a lot longer?" Midnight asked, because passed on what she had seen in the past she knew that there were members of an organization, and could have been with them for years, who would get annoyed if a newcomer or group of newcomers suddenly shot by them in the rankings.
"Depends on the group, honestly. My former Guild, for example, didn't seem to care too much... but most of the clan will look the other way if our leaders decide to promote you." La'nari replied, once again telling the group that the clan really respected the pair, which was always good to see in Capper's eyes, before she rubbed the back of her head for a moment as she thought about what she needed to do next, "Now, if you would excuse me, I need to go make sure my former guild attire is ready for tomorrow."
Capper nodded and the group watched as their khajiit friend disappeared into the heart of the fortress once more, causing him to let out a sigh as he and the others moved towards the back of the room, to give them some space in case more of the bandits showed up to talk to them, though he highly doubted that since no one had followed them so far.
"I cannot believe we are doing this. Midnight, we are royal guards!" Azure stated, keeping his voice low so that only Capper and the others could hear him, since he knew that telling the bandits this information might cause them to attack the group before they could figure things out, but he couldn't contain his disbelief at everything that was going on right now.
"No, you aren't... not here, at least. We're strangers, and no one will believe us if we say we're from another world, much less a mythical land like Equestria." Capper said, where he could tell that Rarity was still staring at the beds while Midnight just nodded her head, though as he said that he found a large blade resting nearby, either iron or steel, he really had no idea, and dragged it out so Azure could grab it, who raised an eyebrow in the process, "Here, we're nobodies... you two aren't guards, Rarity's not a heroine, and I'm not someone who fought evil to save the day... as far as everyone else is concerned we are a band of thieves from an unknown and mysterious land. Based on how the other bandits have acted, they seem to take one's actions as their word, and we're shown that we have the skills to steal things... that means..."
"...that we're thieves." Azure finished, though he found that he hated how Capper seemed to understand everything that was going on right now and knew the situation they were in, before he was able to do so, causing him to let out a sigh of frustration as he grasped the handle of the weapon and took it from the cat.
"That's right. That means you and Rarity are stepping into my world, the one Midnight has some experience in." Capper continued, as he understood that this was going to be tough for both Rarity and Azure, especially since this meant that the latter had to fight on the other side of the law that he was used to being on, working as a criminal and not a royal guard, but this was the hand they had been dealt and they needed to deal with it, "Look, I will do everything in my power to teach you guys every trick and tactic I know, to make us into the group that we told the bandits about, and we must be careful, since one wrong move can likely ruin all of our hard work."
"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll do fine. I mean, we have one of the best teachers around, don't we?" Midnight remarked, where it was easy for Capper to see that she was perfectly fine with this set up, in fact she seemed to be at home with the idea of being a thief and him being their mentor, causing her to glance at Rarity for a moment as they noticed that she had been silent since entering the room, "You okay with this, Rarity?"
"Not really... do they honestly think we should be sleeping on these things? I can hardly call them 'beds'." Rarity said, because while she was still coming to terms with the fact that they were joining a bandit clan and were going to become thieves, at least for the time being, her immediate focus was on the terrible beds that were in front of them, a frame with what had to be straw as the bedding and fur as the covers, "We can fix this, right?"
"We'll probably get better beds once we get promoted to a higher position in the clan." Capper replied, since La'nari made a comment about them not being in this portion of the fortress for too long, if their leaders approved of their deeds and the profit their loot would bring them, making it easy for him to assume such a thing and calm Rarity down for the time being.
Despite Rarity's focus on the lackluster beds, and Azure having to get used to breaking the law for the foreseeable future, all Capper could do was smile as he found that he was eager to see what the future held in store for them and the rest of their new clan, since there was no telling what this world might have to offer them and what challenges it might throw at them in the near future.
After talking about their plan, and what everyone was going to have to do, Capper did exactly what they had told the clan, he started to give Midnight, Rarity, and Azure a lesson on how to be thieves, or at the very least the roles they had given themselves before meeting the clan. He couldn't teach them some of the finer things, such as picking a lock or stealing from someone's pocket, as that would land them in hot water with La'nari and the rest of the bandit clan, but he could show them how to carefully sneak around for a time. In addition to that he made sure they knew how to silently listen to what was around them so they could accurately move through the portion of the fort their khajiit friend had brought them to, and since there were some bandits in the area they even got evaluated. Azure was a failure, they could see him easily, while Rarity had a tiny bit of skill despite her accidentally hitting something and revealing her presence to them, though Midnight, as Capper assumed, seemed to be somewhat skilled in hiding herself from the others, as she revealed herself when she thought it was time to do so.
Part of the reason for doing that was so they could gain information on the clan, not to be used against them, rather he just wanted to know the full number of members and the layout of the structure they were calling home, and they found that some of the bandits were more than willing to show them around while telling them about themselves.
That allowed them to discover that some of the bandits were definitely friendlier than one would assume, because there were a few members of the clan that were doing this because they were people accused of crimes and didn't have the gold to pay their fines, telling the group that those ones wanted to return to a normal life. Of course there were others in the clan that seemed to enjoy the act of killing and that they didn't want to be caught by the guards, so they fled the Hold that they were wanted in, though Azure wanted nothing to do with those bandits and forced himself to remain neutral for the time being. In addition to that there were also Skooma addicts among their ranks, a drug that was addicting and would ruin the life of whoever took it, at least that was their guide's opinion on the matter, and a number of gamblers who just wanted to make some gold to bet on the wolf matches. The bandit explained that there were a few dens where people bred and pitted wild wolves against each other, with people betting on who the winner might be, which was information they weren't expecting to gain, but none of them asked a question about it, rather they just decided to accept it as part of their new reality.
Capper also gained an understanding of the exact members of the clan, as there were fifteen warriors, seven archers, two mages, one thief in the form of La'nari, both leaders, and then the four of them, which made him realize that it was a good thing this fort was so large, since it had more than enough room for everyone.
Such a thing also explained why food was one of the top items on the list for this clan, hence why three archers and five warriors usually went out in the morning and hunted around the area, as it appeared that bandits would eat anything, even bears if they were lucky enough to bring one down. Stealing from others also allowed them to provide for the clan with ease, since most of the people that came by had food, in fact they occasionally brought down a group of soldiers and took their supplies, all while selling off the armor as if they had found the pieces in an animal's lair or something. That meant the rest of the clan had to stay and keep an eye on the surrounding area, as in the hill behind the fort and the road that rested on the other side of the river, just in case there were people to rob or individuals to worry about. It was an interesting thing for sure, especially when he found that even Brurid and Bek-Kajin came out to study the walls from time to time, and the various stations that the rest of the clan had set up to protect themselves from arrows or spells, while allowing them to keep an eye out for potential trouble.
Capper had asked one of the warriors about that statement, since 'potential trouble' was something they had to keep an eye out for as well, and he had to admit that the information he obtained was more interesting than he had expected it to be, as it was about the various heroes and dangerous people of the land. In addition to masters of their craft, like master assassins that could wipe out an entire camp on their own, powerful warriors that beat giants, or great wizards that could scorch their foes to ashes, there were people who seemed weak for the first few seconds before killing bandits that were greater than them. The warrior had told him that a number of the scholars called those people 'heroes', such as the Hero of Kvatch, a figure that helped save the world back during the Oblivion Crisis, who were seemingly ordinary people who had greatness thrust upon them, and those special people could do things that not even the masters of a craft could do, despite having less experience than a master. Capper then talked to a few more members of the clan and learned that no such individual existed in Skyrim, or at least they assumed so, but Brurid, who overheard him asking, mentioned the war that was ongoing and guessed a hero might show up to deal with it.
After getting back together Capper shared what he had learned with the rest of the group, who were interested in what could be learned from the clan, before they turned in for the night, where he made sure that there was someone keeping watch, just in case things turned south.
As it turned out he didn't have to worry about the other bandits coming to do them harm, rather they had accepted them into the clan and had no desire to disturb them during their first night in the fort, though as everyone got up one bandit came by and invited them to breakfast. While Capper and his companions were used to the food in Equestria they weren't really ready for eating meat, cooked in a stew with vegetables and cooked potatoes, where he found that the rift had one last gift for them, which was the ability to actually eat the food of this world without gagging or getting sick. Sure, Rarity and Azure had trouble with that fact and did their best to make sure the bandits didn't see them as food wasters, while Midnight was more like Capper, they showed no hesitation, though he had to admit that it was actually quite good, which meant their chef had some skill. That was also considering the fact that there was bread and other pieces of food as well, which was interesting to see and all four of them enjoyed having it as well, meaning they would be ready for their mission to visit Riften, whenever the leaders of the clan decided that it was time to get going.
After their meal the group found that Brurid was calling for them to get ready, where Capper discovered that the wagon had a single crate in the back, allowing three of them more room to sit during the ride to Riften, and La'nari was standing by it, wearing a brown set of leather armor that was more suited for stealth work, and it even had a hood that she pulled back for a few seconds.
"I haven't worn this for quite a while... was almost afraid that it wouldn't fit at all, but then found that it fit just like when I first got it." La'nari commented, as she could see that Capper was interested in her attire, with the pouches and areas that she could hide all of her thief tools in, something she had used to great effect back when she was an actual member of the Thieves Guild, "Our leaders have loaded one of the crates up with some of the easier to sell items, jewelry mostly, so we should be able to get quite a bit of gold from my contacts... even after we buy some gear for you guys and some supplies for the clan."
"A test run of sorts, to make sure the goods are worth the effort? Sounds good to me." Capper replied, where he climbed up onto the sitting area at the front as Midnight and the others took the back with the crate, allowing La'nari to sit beside him once more, because she knew the ins and outs of the land, so having her at the front made sense.
Of course Brurid and Bek-Kajin had a few words for them, mostly to make sure La'nari understood that she was to get the best price possible for the items before they sent more to the city, causing her to nod before the pair let them depart from the fort, this time continuing down the road they had been on previously. Like last time La'nari kept an eye out for dangers and made sure Capper followed the main path that was in front of them, following a road that went around several bends as he noted that the signs indicated that they were on their way to Riften. Rarity, Midnight, and Azure stayed in the back and kept their eyes open for anything dangerous that might come up from behind them, since there was a chance that an animal or another bandit might try to come after them. Of course most of them were unarmed, mostly because some of them didn't have experience with weapons, so they were hoping that La'nari would be able to assist them, even though Capper suspected that Azure might be able to use his new greatsword if he needed to, as he had spent some time with the warriors to be sure he could use the weapon.
While they traveled, however, Capper and La'nari went over the plan one last time, as they were going to enter the city, track down someone called Brynjolf, who was basically the recruiter for the Guild while also being one of the few higher ranking members, and talk to him before selling the loot to Tonilia. It was rather simple, if Brynjolf remembered her as a former thief that had sided with the Guild, even though she left while it was declining, there was a chance he might listen to her when she came to sell him some of the items they had acquired, though it was always a gamble. It really depended on Mercer Frey, the Guild Master, because he wasn't big on forgiveness and usually had traitors executed, but she wasn't a traitor, not like Karliah, who had murdered Mercer's predecessor in cold blood, so she didn't have to worry about being put to death. What she had to worry about was him deciding that she was no longer an asset that was worth allowing his agents to work with, which would mean getting cut off from Tonilia and everything she could offer, something that would annoy both of the leaders of her clan, since it would make it harder to sell things in the future.
After talking about the plan for a time, since there was no one around to worry about, Capper found his focus shifting to a group that was coming their way, nords that happened to be wearing what appeared to be specialized fur armor that no doubt had metal underneath it all to protect them from harm, something that caused La'nari to sigh in annoyance as she raised her hood and covered her head.
"Stormcloaks... I was hoping to avoid them. Focus on the road and hope they go by." La'nari said, while at the same time also lowering her head more so that none of the soldiers noticed her, or rather the fact that she was a khajiit, because this force was racist against anyone, literally anyone, who wasn't a nord, which was probably why every other race was part of the Legion, including nords that were loyal to the empire.
Unfortunately it appeared that the group of soldiers had other plans as they got close to the wagon, where Capper and the others found that the Stormcloaks weren't too pleased with their existence, as most of them were wearing revealing helms, allowing them to see their faces and the disapproving looks on their faces.
"Great, more beast races thinking that they own Skyrim." one of the soldiers remarked, confirming that he and his friends weren't too happy to see the group, in fact one or two of them might be itching to grab their weapons for some reason, but at the very least they weren't attacking the wagon, otherwise Capper was sure they would be in trouble, "A word of advice, 'friends', turn back while you still can... your kinds have no place in this land. Skyrim is nord land, and she belongs to nords, plain and simple."
"Don't worry, we are fully aware of that fact. However, we are on our way to Riften to trade some items and do business, as ordered by our superiors, and business is good for everyone, yes?" Capper replied, where he knew that Azure and Midnight likely didn't care much for the Stormcloak soldiers, especially since Equestria was a place where everyone was treated far better than what they were seeing at the moment, as racism was fading in their home world, "Once we are done with our business we'll be heading back to Cyrodiil."
That was the 'official' story they had come up with, especially since La'nari had claimed that the people of Skyrim wouldn't bother to check out if their tale was the truth or not, so they didn't have to worry about being called out on it, where they found that the soldier growled before saying nothing as his forces continued moving. Capper made sure they were a fair distance away from them before he got the wagon moving again, though they now understood La'nari's thoughts on this particular force, but for the time being everyone focused on the path and what was resting at the end of it. There would be time for them to talk about the Stormcloaks later, once they were done with their mission, though there was another thing that stopped the group in their tracks, not ten minutes further down the road, something that caused the khajiit to sigh as she looked at the scene. It was a trio of figures that were wearing the same armor that La'nari was wearing, where she was able to identify them as members of the Thieves Guild, but she didn't know any of them, where Capper found that one body was a male dark elf, the second was a male khajiir, and the third was a female argonian.
If one looked at their clothing it was hard to tell what could have killed them, since they seemed to be unharmed, but the arrows sticking out of all three of their foreheads was a dead giveaway, plus a story was told as Capper found that each one had a sake full of silverware, plus a couple of gems and some silver cups.
"They must have robbed someone and got killed in the process of escaping." Capper remarked, where he climbed off the wagon after bringing it to a stop, which was due to La'nari climbing off to check the thieves for a moment, though he did take their sacks, since they might be able to sell the stuff as well, before an idea came to mind, "Midnight, why don't you and Rarity put on one of the uniforms?"
La'nari understood immediately, there might be more Stormcloaks on the road and this would allow them to hide their more unique features, especially since both of the figures in question seemed to have magic that was designed to assist them in hiding themselves, as the hoods were altered to fit their ears and the armor gained holes for their tails. Not only that, but it looked like Midnight's wings vanished as well, though she revealed that she could reveal them or hide them according to her will, making her wonder what sort of magic they had from their homeland that would allow such a thing in the first place. She was sure that Azure would do the same thing, the armor fitting his form if he put something on, but since he was the lookout they had to get some decent armor, which meant that the third set went to Capper, which he did as the others did, hid behind the nearby rocks while he changed. She did find that Rarity seemed freaked out by the idea of wearing someone else's armor, even if that person was no longer of this world, but for the time being she was forcing herself to not be freaked out by this turn of events.
When Capper emerged she found that he was wearing the thieves armor like it was something natural for him, making her wonder about his time in the land they came from, before they got underway once more, because they had a mission to complete and none of them wanted to disappoint the leaders of their clan, even if some had private objections to working with a clan of bandits.
Eventually they reached the city of Riften, after more time than what Capper was honestly expecting, as La'nari spotted the walled city long before they reached it and did what she could to make sure they were ready, though she was slightly surprised to find that the guards at the gate they approached were directing them to another gate. She told the others that Riften had three gates they could enter through, though one had been sealed off thanks to other bandits slaying far too many people in the past, which meant visitors could only use the southwest gate or the north gate. With that in mind Capper carefully moved them around the outer edge of the wall, which wasn't easy thanks to a rock wall that was close to the stone wall of the city, but in the end he got them around it and directed the wagon to their forced destination. He had a feeling that he knew what was going on right now, it seemed like the guards might have been paid off to direct people to one gate and were likely expecting an entry fee from everyone who dared to enter the city.
When they reached the north gate, stopping off to the left of it if one was approaching from the north, Capper brought the wagon to a stop so Azure could carry the crate into the city, before they found that one of the guards walked up to them, no doubt to stop them or to demand gold if Capper's guess was right.
"Hold there. Before I let any of you into Riften, to do whatever it is that you're here to do, each of you need to pay the visitor's tax." the guard stated, where it was clear that he was being greedy, as Capper was sure that he could have asked for a single payment, instead of asking for gold from all five of them, and now he could call the figure out and get them inside the city with ease.
"Sure, we could do that... however, we both know this is a shakedown." Capper replied, leaning forward as he said the last part, because while he wasn't sure how many people were in on this scheme he did know that it would be bad if too many people knew what was going on, even though for the time being they seemed to be the only visitors, so the guard didn't have to worry about the secret spreading too much.
For a few seconds the guard said nothing before lowering his voice as he told them to do the same, before indicating that he would allow them to come and go as they pleased, allowing them to enter Riften at last, where it was easy for them to see a number of people, mostly citizens by all of the casual attire, walking around. There was one person, a nord in steel armor, who was leaning against one of the pillars that was holding up the walkway or balcony of one of the buildings that was on their left, who took one look at them before nodding his head towards what appeared to be a market. That told Capper that he likely saw the four outfits that belonged to members of the Thieves Guild and likely assumed that they were members as well, meaning he was likely a lookout for the guild and that he would likely tell his superiors about them. In addition to that they found that there was a canal running around part of the city, creating the upper area that they were on and the lower area that had to be connected to the sewers, if such a thing existed in this world anyway.
As they walked, however, La'nari pointed out a nord that was dressed in fine clothing in the market, who seemed to be in the middle of closing his stall for the day, and she had the group stop for a moment as she walked over to him, where the figure seemed happy to see her again and chatted with her for a time, though it wasn't long before the pair returned and brought them to an area that was near the Dead Gate.
"So, you four are the newest recruits to join Brurid's clan? La'nari told me a bit about all of you." the nord, Brynjolf, stated, to which Capper nodded to Azure, who set the crate down so the thief could see what they had recovered, even though this was just the start of the items they had obtained from the nobles who didn't pay attention to their belongings, and he was pleased to see the smile on the man's face, as he pulled a necklace out, "Your haul is decent, I'll give you that... I'll be back with Tonilia, as she'll give you a fair price for all of these."
This was good news for Capper, as it meant that the mission might be a success, while at the same time Brynjolf walked over to a large stone coffin and tapped something that was out of sight, which caused it to move back silently and reveal a short passage down into the ground, a hidden passage that La'nari told them was only used by members of the guild. Since none of them were actual members they were forbidden from using it, as she knew there was some magic on the entrance that prevented non members from using this to enter the guild's hideout, causing Capper to nod his head, as it made sense when he thought about it. Fortunately they didn't have to wait too long for Brynjolf to return, and when he did he had a second thief with him, a female redguard who had to be Tonilia, a fence for the guild and likely a master at that, though she seemed to be less friendly than Brynjolf was, as she ignored the group as she investigated the loot. In addition to that there was one other person with them, a thief wearing a black version of the guild armor, likely to indicate that he was one of the highest ranking members of the entire guild, and Capper could tell he was a breton, though when La'nari stiffened he knew exactly who was in front of them.
This had turned out to be the worst case scenario, as this was Mercer Frey, the Guild Master for the Thieves Guild, and right now he seemed annoyed, no doubt because he had a group of thieves running around stealing stuff who weren't part of the actual guild and were trying to use some of their services as if they were members.
"Brynjolf said there were some new thieves in Riften... but if I'm being honest, I'm not impressed." Mercer said, which was to be expected from the Guild Master, who had years of experience and had likely stolen from the Jarls themselves in the past, so the jewelry and gems, which were likely a lower grade than he was used to, made him think they were small time thieves looking to make a quick bit of gold, "Are you sure that you robbed some nobles? Because these items look more like what you would get from a small time shop... not worth very much either."
"There's more where this came from, as the nobles had quite a lot in their wagon... which we stole, by the way," Capper stated, though he wasn't sure if Mercer was intentionally lowering the value of the items so the guild could make more in the end, since they seemed to be falling on hard times according to La'nari, or if he was in a bad mood right now and had no desire to allow thieves to operate in the guild's domain, "and let me assure you, the remainder of the loot is worth a fair bit of gold. We all want to make some gold, right? So why don't we make a deal and be on our way?"
"It is pretty bold of you to assume that you're in a position to make a deal." Mercer replied, showing them that he was of the opinion that he outranked nearly everyone in Riften, save for the Jarl and maybe a few officials, something Capper would have to ask about in the future, all while he approached the pillar that Capper had decided to lean against while they talked.
Capper chuckled a little as he withdrew one of the pure stones that they had taken from the vault that the Royal Sisters had allowed them to take a few things from, a vibrant blue sapphire that held no magical power, it was just an ordinary gem, which he handed to Tonilia as she approached them to look at it.
"A pure sapphire, the first of many gems we recovered from the foolish nobles." Capper said, because while he didn't want to give up such a gemstone, he knew it was necessary to show Mercer and his allies that they meant business, so by doing this, holding back an item of value and then showing it off, he could entice them with the potential of more riches.
Tonilia was sure she could get a good amount of gold from this gem on it's own, in fact she was willing to offer a thousand gold for it, which came as a surprise to Mercer and Brynjolf, though Capper nodded as the lady went about calculating the total price of everything that was inside the crate. While that happened Midnight and the others chatted with La'nari, likely on what supplies they needed from the shops so they could get to work once the gold was in their hands, though at the same time Capper discovered that one of the pouches on the back of Mercer's belt seemed like it hadn't been worked on, in the sense of maintenance, for quite some time. It didn't look like any of the thieves even knew how weak it was, since it picked that very moment to snap, somehow without making a sound, and even hit the ground without anyone realizing it had happened, causing him to smirk for a moment as he moved it behind the pillar with his foot, before returning to how the others had seen him previously. Eventually Tonilia handed over a sack of gold that she said was worth two thousand, which confirmed that some of the jewelry was a lower grade than Capper had been expecting, but he was happy to do business with them as the thieves had a few more come out to take the crate into the hideout, allowing him to hand over the sack to La'nari.
While the others went out to get the supplies for the clan, and the thieves went back into their hideout, Capper waited to be sure the coast was clear before collecting the pouch and opened it, discovering that there were a few expensive gems inside it, a hefty sack of gold, a letter about treasure being inside 'Angarvunde', and a brass key with a spherical end that seemed to be out of his world while still radiating power.
"What in the world is this?" Capper silently asked, as this was a rather curious find, especially since he wasn't expecting it to be in the hands of a Guild Master that was having trouble keeping his guild running, according to La'nari, and right now he didn't feel like returning it, especially since Mercer hadn't noticed it missing.
He really had no idea what this item was, other than it had to be an artifact of power, causing him to chuckle as he slipped it into his own pocket as he headed out to regroup with the others, because things were looking up and he was eager to see what else the rest of the day, and the week, had to offer him and his companions.
After making the deal with Tonilia, and trading the crate of goods for the payment, Capper let La'nari go out and purchase the items they needed for the rest of the clan, which involved purchasing a fair bit of meat, fish, and whatever items she had on the list she had been given before their departure. It was nice to purchase new items and help out their clan, though at the same time Capper found that his mind was on the odd key that had been in Mercer's forgotten pouch, it was a hard thing to just stop thinking about, especially since he could sense it's power now. He really had no idea what it was, no doubt due to the fact that he wasn't a native to this world, and while he knew that he could ask about it, since La'nari might know about it or could point him in the direct of someone who might know of it, but he decided against it for the time being. That was in the off chance that it might be an item of the Guild Master for the Thieves Guild, like a badge of office he guessed, and he really didn't want to invite unwanted trouble into their lives, so for right now he would keep the key's existence a secret, until he knew more about it.
As he finished thinking about that, however, La'nari and the others returned with a few bags that had to be the goods they needed to get for the rest of the clan, causing him to nod as they headed out to the wagon and loaded it up before taking their places and leaving Riften.
"We managed to get everything that was on the list, which will make our chiefs happy." La'nari remarked, where she took a moment to pull down her hood and wipe the sweat that had been forming on her forehead, as she had been worried that things would have gone wrong by now and was glad they were able to do this without any problems arising, "I'm just glad Mercer wasn't in a foul mood today... I honestly thought he was going to cut me off from using the guild's resources."
"Darling, he was most definitely in a bad mood. Trouble with contacts I imagine?" Rarity said, as it was frustrating that the Guild Master had lowered the value on their goods and forced Capper to hand over one of the gems he had pocketed during their brief time in the ancient vault, in fact she knew that her mentor and Midnight didn't like him all that much for that fact, and she could imagine why Mercer was annoyed.
La'nari nodded, as that was a good reason since the guild had failed a lot of jobs lately, hence her leaving in the first place, so it was only a matter of time until the remaining contacts started to sever their bonds with the guild, thus leading to Mercer being in a bad mood since less clients meant less gold. As far as she knew there was only one person in Riften that even had a need for the guild's existence, which was Maven Black-Briar, something they really shouldn't get involved with since that was a headache none of them wanted right now, causing Capper to bow to her wisdom on the matter. They stopped talking for a few moments as they passed by the other gate that allowed people to enter the city, in fact this time it looked like the guards might be ready to admit people from the southwestern entrance, likely due to Capper calling out their scheme at the main gate. Such a thing meant that the people who were coming this way in the future wouldn't have to go around the city, and potentially be attacked by bandits that might be watching Riften, which would be good for everyone in the future, both the citizens and probably their clan since it meant more people would be traveling.
As they continued down the road that was in front of them La'nari pulled out her bow as she noticed something that was just ahead of them, a group of bandits, four of them to be exact, though he could tell that none of them belonged to the clan that he and his companions had joined, due to the fang marks on their armor, and it looked like more were on their way across a nearby bridge.
"Damn... bandits from Faldar's Tooth, the fort closest to Riften... they must have seen the crate and realized that we might have gotten some gold from it's contents." La'nari remarked, though for her this was a terrible match up, because while the majority of them had some sort of weapon, since she had her bow and dagger while Azure had the greatsword and she was sure that Midnight had a pair of blades, but that left Capper and Rarity defenseless, "We're close to our base, but we cannot afford to send anyone to get reinforcements... they'll be picked off by the other clan before they can get too far."
"You've got me, remember?" Midnight stated, opening her wings for a moment as the bandits that were ahead of them just stared at them for a few seconds, though Capper could tell that they were getting ready for battle, causing La'nari to bring her hand to her forehead as she realized that fact, while at the same time Midnight handed Capper her weapons, "Hold them off for as long as you can! I'll go get reinforcements."
"Fly Midnight! We will fight these foes with all our might." Azure said, where he stared at the assortment of bandits that were in front of the wagon and drew his new weapon, because while Capper had been studying all of the ins and outs of their clan, and that even included the fortress itself, he had done what he could to learn how to actually wield his greatsword, even if it all he had learned was the basics.
Capper really didn't have experience fighting, as most of the time he was working in the shadows and letting others fight if it was a necessity, even though he did help take back Canterlot and used Spike as a flame spreader to take care of a group of guards, but in that moment he readied himself as he and Azure removed themselves from the wagon. While they did that Midnight took to the air and headed back to their base of operations, while at the same time La'nari nocked an arrow as she turned her focus on the clearly melee bandits that were in front of them, leaving Rarity to keep an eye on the bandits that were near the stone bridge that was close to their position. The pair getting off the wagon seemed to trigger all of the foes that were in front of them, as the four bandits that were close by rushed them, causing Azure to steel himself as he took a step forward and brought his weapon down, slashing open the chest of one of their foes, as he wasn't wearing armor at all, a bad move for sure. As that one was dropped La'nari loosed her arrow and it struck the calf of another bandit, slowing her down in the process while the third came at Capper, who steadied himself as he parried the incoming axe with both of the blades that had been left with him, though the fourth got by them and rushed at Rarity.
He knew that was bad, as Rarity was definitely not cut out for battle, due to the fact that she used ribbons and whatnot to deal with her foes, items she didn't have in this world, and he could see her freaking out over the idea of fighting someone, but the bandit had another weapon on his belt, a steel rapier that slipped out of it's sheath, causing Rarity to throw herself at it before driving it into the bandit's chest.
"Well what do you know... there's hope for her yet." La'nari remarked, though at the same time she loosed a second arrow and dealt with the bandit she had struck, taking her down before she could do anything else, allowing her to what as both Capper and Azure finished off the last one that was in front of them.
As they took down the first group two things happened, the main force of enemies, at least another ten bandits, stepped off the bridge and approached their position, while the second was that Midnight landed near Capper and Azure with a smile on her face, telling the group that her mission had been a success. Sure enough they could see Brurid and Bek-Kajin, along with at least half of their clan members, approaching the enemies from the backside, surprising the forces of the other clan in the process, allowing La'nari and Midnight to tend to Rarity, who was still shaking, as Capper searched the slain bandits. None of them seemed to have much on them, that much he could see, but he was able to collect a number of things, such as thirty gold coins in total, a few low quality gems, a few lockpicks, and their various weapons. He was only collecting the weapons because it would be nice to have some spares in the fort, just in case they needed more if one broke or new people joined them, both of which were possible, and he knew they could get away with this since La'nari wasn't worried at all.
The reason for that was because Bek-Kajin was leading the assault on the other clan, their warriors cutting down those that dared to move against them, causing the surviving trio to flee, allowing Brurid's portion of the group to claim more loot from the deceased before clearing the way for the wagon to move forward.
"This land is definitely very exciting." Capper remarked, where he returned to the front of the wagon and resumed moving towards the fort, though this time around he made sure to go at a slower pace so the rest of the clan could place their loot in the back, while La'nari focused on Rarity, who was definitely feeling a little sick after taking someone's life, causing him to turn to Midnight as she walked nearby as he passed her the note he took from Mercer's pouch, "What do you think of this?"
"Treasure in a ruin? Sounds promising, provided it hasn't been looted yet." Midnight said, in fact it might be a fun time, just see if there was more loot to add to their collection, while letting Rarity come to terms with what she had done, which she knew Azure and La'nari could help her with in no time, before she frowned as she noticed something, "Only... I have no idea where this 'Angarvunde' might be located."
La'nari overheard their conversation and mentioned that the ruin in question was just up the road from their base, in fact it happened to be a recent project that someone was working on and there was a chance that workers might still be moving stones out of the way so the ruin could be accessed at last. Of course she had no idea what this 'treasure' was that the note spoke of, but she had to assume that it was a bunch of gold or items that could be sold for a profit, before she informed the pair that if they wanted to go exploring they had to clear it with their leaders. La'nari was sure that both Brurid and Bek-Kajin would be okay with them exploring a bit, because of the large haul they had brought with them, meaning they might expect more treasure to be brought and shared with the rest of the clan. Capper then found that their new friend was right, both of their leaders were fine with the idea, so when they returned to the fort he let Azure handle the wagon, while Rarity stayed with La'nari, causing him to hand Midnight her blades before he acquired a blade of his own, steel from one of the bandits that attacked them, and the former Lunar Guard also took a bow with some steel arrows.
With their preparations complete the pair departed from the fort as the rest of the clan looked into the crate of items they had purchased from Riften and started to pass stuff around, though Capper found that La'nari's information was right, the passage to Angarvunde was literally ten minutes up the road, allowing them to enter an area with wooden scaffolding as they spotted an annoyed dunmer turning towards them.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't hear either of you enter this place." the lady said, where Capper and Midnight found that she wasn't even remotely prepared to be a treasure hunter, she was wearing casual clothing, like some of the citizens of Riften, and she had a steel dagger as her weapon, before the lady sighed and tried to calm herself down, "Sorry, I'm just annoyed by the fact that my cowardly work force ran off at the first sign of trouble, especially when we were on the verge of great wealth."
"What could have made them run off? The only things left in these places are corpses, right?" Midnight inquired, mostly due to the fact that she and Capper had no idea what to expect, this was the first time they were visiting one of the ruins that seemed to dot Skyrim's landscape, and based on what she was seeing the lady didn't even catch the fact that they had no experience in dealing with places like this.
"Well, yes, but they probably haven't seen the type that can get back up and wander around... draugr, to be exact." the lady replied, something that allowed Capper to understand that the lady had assumed that Midnight was referring to both the still dead corpses and those that were still moving, but this was good information to know for the future, since it would give them something to build off of, "There are three draugr standing between me and the treasure, but I need more manpower to clear the way so it can be claimed."
"Maybe we can work out an arrangement of sorts? We take care of the draugr, and also open the way to the treasure, and we can split it evenly?" Capper inquired, because he knew that the lady would want some of the wealth that was said to be in this place, otherwise it was a waste for her to come here in the first place, so by offering to split the treasure they could get some and she could get some.
The lady, identifying herself as Medresi, figured that allowing them to head into the ruin was better than her searching for a whole new crew that was capable of fighting the undead, though she also handed over a key that she claimed was for two doors that were deeper in the ruin, or so her notes claimed. With the key in hand both Capper and Midnight crouched and continued down the passage, finding that it changed from the scaffolding to a rocky path that brought them to the start of the ruin, a chamber of smashed pots with one that was intact, one that had a few golden coins and a ruby inside it. After Capper pocketed the loot they carefully moved into the next chamber, larger than the first one, before discovering three of the walking corpses that had been mentioned, draugr to be exact, which seemed like ancient warriors brought back from the grave, despite their lack of armor and their crude weapons. Instead of engaging the undead in a fight Capper and Midnight found some good vantage points, allowing Midnight to silently draw and ready an arrow that she loosed into the chest of the closest draugr, causing it to look down at the arrow before collapsing into a heap.
Once they confirmed that the undead stayed dead, after extinguishing whatever magic was keeping the first one alive, the pair turned on the other two that were patrolling the area, where Midnight struck down the second with an arrow as Capper stabbed the third in the back, tearing through it's weak armor as he brought it down.
As Midnight collected her arrows, and the arrows of the archer she had struck down, Capper found that there were definitely more doors in the area, two to be exact, so he had his companion backtrack to tell Medresi that the main chamber was clear as he made his way to the door on their left, opening it with the key they had been given. The passage on the other side of the door happened to be devoid of enemies for the time being, allowing the pair to study how the ruin was constructed, as it made the ancient nords look like masters of their trade, before discovering a hole that lead to a lower area. Midnight loosed an arrow into the head of the draugr that was in the way, clearing the immediate area so they could drop down into the lower passage, though as she dealt with all of the enemies that were in their way Capper checked out the urns, pots, and any chests they walked by. So far he wasn't too impressed, most of the containers had a few coins here and there, so he had to hope the treasure that was in this place was worth the effort that he and Midnight were putting in, especially since none of the draugr seemed to have coins or gems in their possession when they checked the fallen out.
While they continued down the passage Capper did find a chest that had a trap attached to it, there was a mechanism on the side that he could actually unlock, though while Midnight kept an eye out for trouble he discovered that when he moved to pick the lock the brass key from Mercer's pouch appeared in his hand. He raised an eyebrow as he noticed that and quickly returned it to his bag, only for it to reappear in his hand when he turned back to the lock, causing him to realize that this was a lockpick of some kind as he slipped it into the lock. Such a thing was followed by a secondary discovery, this lockpick had incredible durability, because part of him had wanted to test it out and actually tried to unlock the trap in the wrong area, only for him to discover that it wouldn't break, causing him to let out a light chuckle. An unbreakable tool was amazing and it made Capper realize how Mercer could become the best thief in the province, if he had such a powerful lockpick like this in his possession, and it wasn't long before he undid the trap and opened the chest, finding a few good quality gems, a ruby and a sapphire, with a small pouch of gold nearby.
After claiming the treasure he and Midnight got moving once more, where they moved into a chamber that had alcoves in certain places, some of which had draugr sleeping in them, something that caused Midnight to take point by loosing some of her arrows into the sleeping undead, leaving Capper to gather the loot. She knew that while he was okay with fighting, given his involvement in freeing Canterlot from the Storm King, it was better if they divided the workload between them, she being the fighter, in a sense, while he focused on tracking down the loot and gathering it. Capper was okay with this and offered to point out a few things to her while they carefully moved through the ruin, as he noticed a few traps along the way, pressure plates, or in this case stones, that would activate something and do harm to intruders, so he showed her how to get around them without triggering anything. Midnight nodded as she focused on taking out the undead that were in front of them, all while making sure that both of them were hiding in the darkness of the various rooms, as the draugr didn't seem too bright and sometimes they walked right by both of them without noticing them.
From what Capper could tell there was no real reason for the miners to have been worried about this place, because so far the draugr seemed to be kind of worthless, meaning Medresi could have hired someone to aid the miners and clear the way so they could work, but her decision was going to benefit them more than it would benefit her.
Eventually they reached the end of the passage and entered an area that had a lever, one that undid one of the barriers, a pair of iron gates, that seemed to be blocking the way into what had to be the treasure chamber of the ruin, meaning once both levers were thrown they should be able to head into the final area. While they dropped down into the central chamber the pair found that Medresi had walked down into the area to see how they were doing and was now standing near the pair of iron gates while she waited for them to open the final door. With that in mind Capper and Midnight crossed over to the other pathway and he used the key that had been given to them to unlock the door, allowing them to enter the next portion of Angarvunde, which had some stone tables and benches that they walked by. The interesting thing about this section of the ruin was that it seemed to be a loop, they had to make their way deeper into the area and then use another passage to reach the other side of the iron grate that both of them passed by, which likely had a lever to unlock the door that was on the opposite side of the room in question.
Much to Capper's surprise there wasn't too much difference between this section and the first one, other than the layout, so he allowed Midnight to clear out the undead that were in the way while he tracked down all of the loot, mostly gold with a few scattered gemstones, plus a few small potions that were red, blue, and green colored, and eventually ended up in front of the final lever.
"At last! The treasure of Angarvunde is mine! It's all MINE!" Medresi stated, consumed by the fact that her target was within reach as the last door opened, causing her to rush into the final chamber like she had gone mad or something, though as the pair dropped down into the area she had been in they were able to see that she stepped on a trap.
That trap, as it turned out, was a moveable section of the floor that pushed her up into the air and into a cluster of spikes that were on the bottom of another portion of the trap, killing Medresi instantly, though as both lowered their gaze Capper found that the floor portion remained in place, revealing a staircase leading down into another area. Both of them quickly checked out what they had assumed was the treasure room and found that the only chest had a small pouch of coins and a shattered steel sword, a trap to kill greedy individuals while protecting the true treasure chamber. As such both of them carefully moved forward and discovered that there was nothing down here for them to worry about, there were no draugr waiting for them and only a short path to the final chamber, where they found a large wall with a dragon design on it that had all sorts of writing that neither of them understood. Next to the wall was a large chest that had a few more spoils that were more worth the effort, a larger sack of gold that made both of them smile, a spell tome of sorts that might be worth a fair bit, a few brass swords, and a dull green spiked shield.
"Not what I was expecting, but we can make some gold off of this." Midnight commented, where she pulled out her pouch for a moment and deposited the items inside it, as it appeared that adventurers and certain people had containers that could store a large amount of stuff, which was why La'nari had purchased one from the vendor in Riften after they talked with the thieves.
As Capper nodded and they turned to leave, however, he sensed something and glanced back, finding that Midnight kept moving towards the staircase, meaning she was unaware of the transparent lady who was floating in front of the wall, who had silver runes of sorts on her throat and arms.
...d Capper... you must... find me... the figure said, where it was hard to tell if she was speaking in an urgent manner or if this was something Capper could put off, though he had to wonder if this was due to the fact that he was in possession of the mysterious key that had been in Mercer's possession until he took the pouch it had been stored in, The key... will aid you... You must... locate me... before... He...
Capper found that whatever message he was hearing was cut off, leaving him with little to do but sigh as he caught up to Midnight as they focused on leaving the ruin, as there was much he had to think about as he and his companions looked forward to what the future held in store for them and their clan.
It didn't take Capper or Midnight very long to emerge from Angarvunde, where they found that the sun was still in the sky, though it was in the afternoon now, thus allowing them to walk down the road they had traveled after first meeting up with La'nari and return to the fort that was their main base without wasting too much time. There they found that the rest of the clan was in a good mood, due to the fact that they had taken down a number of the bandits from Faldar's Tooth, not to mention the fact that they were able to loot the fallen enemy bandits for everything of worth. From what Capper could tell the enemy clan had some wealth on them, which was either due to their location in relation to Riften or the fact that one of them must have made good bets in their gambling area, since they forced wolves to fight for their entertainment. Of course all of the collected gold from the bandits was gathered, counted, and then given out fairly to everyone in their clan, which wasn't all that great since each of them roughly got about ten coins apiece, but this was the way Bek-Kajin preferred to do things, as equal rewards meant no threat of being overthrown.
Of course that only extended to the gold they acquired, as everything else that might be of use was either given out to those that needed it, like an upgrade to an item or piece of armor, or was added to the collection of items they would be taken to the city to be sold to the local merchants, but they would give bigger rewards to the highest contribution of whatever was going on, to insure everyone did their best.
"Everyone has one more reason to celebrate: with the forces residing in Faldar's Tooth weakened, our leaders have talked and have decided it's time to strike them down." Azure commented, speaking to the pair as they returned to the area that had been given to them when they first joined the clan, though Capper knew that Azure was only putting up with both of the bandit chiefs because it meant he could punish more bandits, and they discovered that he was wearing steel armor now, "I will be joining the vanguard, charging into the fort with the others, though I'm sure they'll ask both of you to join us... since both of you did prove yourselves in that last battle."
"Well, I'll probably be focused on collecting the loot for counting and distributing later, but Midnight will be a good addition to the assault team." Capper said, which was the truth, Midnight was more suited for combat than he was, though at the same time he noticed that Rarity was sitting on one of the beds and seemed to be hugging herself, no doubt still dealing with the fact that she had killed someone, even though it was in self-defense, "I take it she'll be staying here?"
"Not quite. Brurid wants her to join us... not to fight, but to watch. He knows she's more sheltered than the rest of us and is trying to help her get used to the world in a more crude way." Azure quietly replied, as if he was worried that someone else might overhear them talking about one of their leaders, though Capper was starting to see a difference in the two leaders that ruled over this fort, causing the former Solar Guard to sigh for a moment, "This land must be harsh if everyone is so used to people dying all the time... it's so different from the land we've called home."
Capper and Midnight nodded, as Skyrim was definitely beyond what they were expecting and they had only seen a portion of what it had to offer, and that even applied to the people, there were rules and events that Skyrim's people were used to, while their group was only coming to terms with taking a life. He and the two former guards were different from the rest of the population of their home world, as he was used to stealing from all sorts of people and seeing the consequences if one failed to uphold a bargain, while the guards were used to fighting enemies and protecting the citizens of Equestria. Rarity, on the other hand, was a hero due to her being able to wield one of the Elements of Harmony and her involvement in taking back the capital from the Storm King, but even then this was the first time she would have done anything like this. It was only natural that she wouldn't be used to this sort of thing and needed to come to terms with it if she wanted to survive in this harsh environment, which Capper knew had to be Brurid's reasoning for having her come along for the raid, to help her get over what she was currently feeling.
With that in mind he and Midnight headed out to find their leaders, who were in one of the halls of the fort and they quickly showed off the loot they got from the nearby ruin, causing the pair to glance at each other before shaking their heads, as all of it belonged to those that had looted it. That told Capper that Bek-Kajin had an interesting set of rules that he lived by and he expected a few of them to be respected by his clan, even his fellow leader, especially when it came to the loot that had been obtained by the members of their clan. From what he could tell the argonian preferred to share the loot taken from the fallen and spread it out among the rest of their large clan, to help them survive and thrive, but when it came to the loot that was inside a ruin, however, he preferred that the loot went to those who claimed it, since they put in the hard work to even claim the items in the first place. Both he and Brurid did expect them to trade their loot for other items, if they really wanted to share it with the rest of the clan, an interesting set up in Capper's mind, but for the time being the pair returned to the chamber that Azure and Rarity were in, to rest up a bit before the raid.
As it turned out they didn't have to wait too long, as Bek-Kajin called for everyone to gather and Capper found that most of the clan was gathering outside the fort, though instead of giving them a speech or something he started to make his way down the road, leaving Brurid and a few of their clan mates behind to defend their own base.
Capper was still surprised that they were coming down this route again, so soon after traveling up and down this stretch of road twice already so far, but he kept that to himself as he, Midnight, and the rest of their forces reached the bridge that had been used by the other bandits. This time around there was a guard on the road and he stopped for a moment as he found the force moving, though a single statement from Bek-Kajin caused him to turn around and calmly walk away from the area, no doubt because a bandit clan war was something he didn't want to get involved in. With that in mind they walked across the bridge and approached the large fort that was on the edge of a lake, and had a good view of Riften, though as the group walked forward they found that whoever was in charge of the fort called for the others in their clan to come out. That was when a few archers appeared on the wall facing their direction and they readied their arrows, causing the clan to scatter and take up defensive positions, some using shields to protect themselves from arrows while another group tracked down an entrance to use.
As that happened, and Midnight used a few of her arrows as well, Capper noticed something that would help them out, as part of the stone wall happened to have an iron cage door that seemed unprotected, to which he rushed forward and found that the enemy bandits were freaking out, but they reacted too late as he quickly picked the lock and opened the door.
"Guys, I've opened the way forward! Go get them!" Capper stated, where the rest of their clan mates noticed the now open door and started to rush over, quickly finding a set of stairs leading them up to where all of their enemies were located, a fact that caused the bandits of Faldar's Tooth to turn on them without delay.
Unfortunately for their enemies Azure tore through their defenses and opened the way for the others to join him, where he was joined by Midnight, who was the first to ascend the steps, before the rest of their assault force caught up with them, a fact that made it impossible for the Faldar Clan to recover. While they did that Capper checked out the area and found a wooden path leading up to a tent, one that had a locked chest inside it, causing him to pull out both a sack to place the loot in and the strange key he was beginning to like, as an unbreakable lockpick was a great thing to have. The chest had a sack of gold coins, which the clan would appreciate, and a few potions, though he made sure to take the gold that was resting on the table above the chest as well, before making his way down to a locked door that seemed to be part of the higher section of the fort. Since they had cleared out so many of the enemy clan before the assault, and were devastating what remained of them, he found that there were no enemies to worry about and discovered another locked chest that he unlocked without wasting time, before reaching the highest point of the entire fort, which seemed to be the domain of the chief.
There were a few enchanted pieces in the area, they had runes on them that suggested such a thing, and a large chest that had a decent amount of coins, a few gems, and a few items that could be sold to the people of Riften, so he made sure all of the enchanted items were inside it before letting some of the stronger bandits carry it off, allowing him to focus on a book that spoke of 'proper lock design'.
"This will be useful for helping Midnight and Rarity." Capper commented, though at the same time he noticed an interesting passage, the author talking about how all of this would be rendered useless if someone happened to be in possession of what he, or possibly she since the author seemed to be an unknown individual, called the 'Skeleton Key', "And I might want to read it later... it might have some good information."
With the book in hand Capper headed down into the lowest portion of the exterior, as Azure, Midnight, and some of the other bandits were going to head inside and see what else this place had to offer them, and since he seemed to be their best lock breaker it was clear that one of them wanted him in the party to help get the loot. Rarity was with them as well, since this was to help her get used to the idea of killing people without falling ill every single time, and she stayed near the back of the pack as they delved into the depths, allowing the others to focus on fighting and looting. One thing Capper found was that there were cages with wolves trapped inside a few of them, being trained to be attack animals for the gambling that was taking place in this fort, where some of the bandits opened the unlocked cages and put down the wolves. Of course there were also a few more members of the Faldar Clan down in this portion of the fortress, unaware of the assault that had taken out the majority of their people, but Capper allowed the others to focus on them as he carefully picked the locks on a couple of chests and doors.
From what he could tell the real loot was coming from the slain bandits themselves, as some of them did carry more loot on them than what he and some of the others from his clan were expecting to discover when they looted the bodies, but this just made his clan happier than before. In addition to that there was the gambling den, where a lot of gold was located, not to mention a large chest that was behind a locked door, so while the clan dealt with the remaining enemies Capper did what he did best, he unlocked it and added a few more items to his bag, more gold, odd pearl colored gems, a few books that had magical runes on the front, and a few more potions. He even tracked down a room that had a table that seemed to be the location that one of their enemies had been gathering their winnings, or had been counting them in front of those who had lost a bet earlier, and he collected one hundred gold coins in the process. By the time he and everyone else reached the end of the fortress, allowing them to head out into the area that he had unlocked the door in, Capper was feeling good about the amount of gold they had obtained just now, and was even excited by the potential profit they might gain from selling all of the excess items that he recovered from the various chests and containers.
He also found that Azure was pleased with their deed, he really didn't like bandits and was keeping his opinions bottled up around their clan, while Midnight had found a better bow, dwarven to be exact, to replace her old one and had a few more arrows in her quiver, before discovering that Rarity was nowhere to be seen.
"Strange, I thought she was right behind us." Capper commented, though before Azure and Midnight could say anything on the matter they discovered where their companion had wandered off to, she had apparently moved out to check out the rest of the fort, areas that had been cleared, and had found another enemy bandit that must have been lurking away from the rest of the clan, one she had killed since her rapier was in her hand and she was huffing, "We should check on her."
As it turned out the bandit that Rarity had killed was a dark elf of some kind with an odd red attire that was different from what all of the others in this fort had been wearing, and the reason Capper thought of it as another type of dark elf was due to the small fangs that were in the slain bandit's mouth, partly covered in blood, but it was hard to tell whose it might be since they missed the fight.
"Rarity, are you alright?" Midnight asked, because while it looked like their friend was more used to death, she wasn't in the process of throwing up or anything, it was clear that she must have exhausted herself to make sure this foe didn't kill her, meaning he must have been slightly stronger than all of the others.
"No... I mean, yes. This ruffian attacked me, no doubt thinking I was an easy target, and I'm sure his teeth made contact with my neck, but I fought him back." Rarity replied, where she withdrew a piece of cloth and cleaned the edge of her blade, since she didn't want it to rust or anything, though the rest of the group wasn't surprised by her doing that since she had taken the article back while they were in their base of operations, "I don't know if I'll ever get used to killing people, but for the time being I'll do my best to keep my thoughts on the matter to myself... wouldn't want the others to think I'm soft and expel me at the worst possible moment."
Capper nodded and told her that if she wanted to talk about it he was sure that all three of them could assist her in coming to terms with what she had done, though at the same time he noted that it didn't seem like there was any damage to her neck, despite Rarity's thoughts on the matter. He could only think of three reasons for such a thing: the first being that she had been able to push back the dark elf before he tore into her neck; the second was that she had already healed the wound with one of the weaker healing potions that were in their possession; and the third one, the more unrealistic one, was that she had been wounded and her body healed it without her noticing. Either way there wasn't much they could do about this turn of events, other than looting the slain dark elf of his valuables and handing those to Rarity, though as they started to head down to where the others were gathering, to march back to their base, Capper found that someone was watching this fortress from afar. What he could tell was that the pair in question, as there were two people off in the distance, happened to be wearing plate armor, stronger than steel based on what he had gathered so far, and it appeared that they were in the middle of discussing something as they headed back into Riften.
Capper couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to come from them taking down the Faldar Clan, since this would open the way for some of the guards in Riften to retake the fort to better protect the roads around their fair city, but there was nothing he could do about it as he and the others rejoined their clan.
"All of you did well, taking down an enemy clan and looting everything of value that they had." Bek-Kajin remarked, where it was easy for them to tell that he was pleased with their actions, especially since this meant they were now the only clan on this side of Riften, since Capper knew that there was another one on the main road that stopped at the main gate, "And let us have some cheers for our newest members, who have shown that they are worthy to be called friends and allies... even that includes Rarity, who protected herself and others from a shadowy assassin that could have hurt us."
As the members of their clan cheered, however, it was hard to tell if he was weaving a false tale to make Rarity feel at home with them or if that was how he saw the situation when it unfolded, but for the time being Rarity seemed fine with this as she offered some smiles to the rest of the clan. While that happened they headed back to their base of operations without delay, as it was getting dark and there was dinner to be had, in fact there was more food than they were expecting since a few of their fellows had claimed everything that was in the kitchen area of Faldar's Tooth. With what they were carrying it sure looked like they might be able to feed a small army for weeks, maybe even a month or two, without having to worry about food being a problem, which would please Brurid when he learned that piece of information. While they walked back to their base Capper told Bek-Kajin about the loot he had recovered in the fort and that really put a smile on the faces of the rest of the clan, because gold talked and so far everyone had realized that this venture was turning out to be more profitable than they could have possibly hoped.
When they got back to their fort it was easy for them to see that Brurid was pleased with this turn of events, the destruction of another clan and them claiming all of the treasure to be distributed among the rest of their people, so Capper followed him to the area that they stored the unsorted loot in and deposited the share for the clan inside it. Because he was a thief, a specialist that was gathering more loot that would make everyone rich, both Brurid and Bek-Kajin were fine with him taking a larger share of things, like two hundred gold coins and even a few gems, like a ruby and a sapphire, which he gladly took since it meant they saw him as a higher rank in the clan. In addition to that supper, as it turned out, was meat and potatoes with some of their companions drinking mead, something that the group decided not to worry about for the time being, but Capper was happy to see that everyone was having fun, no doubt thinking about their bright futures. Capper also found that they would be returning to Riften in a day or two, as there was loot to sell and their superiors were expecting them to bring back another good haul, especially since half of the gold from the previous visit went to him and his team, where it had been divided into five shares.
When night started to fall, however, Capper excused himself and made his way to the highest peak of their fort, the tower to be exact, and found that no one was around for the time being, where he pulled out the book he had taken from Faldar's Tooth and opened it to the passage he had found that piqued his interest.
"Fascinating." Capper remarked, as the passage spoke about the 'Skeleton Key', a wonderful lockpick that was said to be neigh unbreakable, though there were sections of the text that had been ruined, either due to the book's age or due to the drunken nature of the bandit who had the book before him, but there was something that caught his interest, "What's this? It can unlock 'anything'?"
That intrigued Capper as he pulled out the odd key, which could very well be the Skeleton Key now that he thought about it, as he considered how he could go about testing it's power and seeing if it worked as advertised, though it was hard to just land on a single thing to test out. The concept of 'anything' wasn't just limited to the world around them, such as locks and vaults, rather it likely meant that it could open doors that were better left sealed, such as making a mortal into a god, sort of like how Twilight Sparkle went from a powerful unicorn and transformed into a far stronger alicorn. If that sort of growth was possible for her, and was possible for the villains when he recalled the tales of Tirek and Queen Chrysalis, it made him take a moment to wonder what sort of power he could awaken if he tried to use the Key for such a thing, or what his companions could unlock if he shared this with them. He also debated whether he should be doing this or not, since there was a chance someone could feel what he was about to do and come to investigate the true usage of the Key's true power, though that was followed by him making up his mind as he held it out in front of him.
Instead of focusing on himself for the time being Capper instead focused on all of the wealth they had collected before he and his companions had been teleported to this world, that he didn't want to lose anything else from their world, and the Key seemed to respond to his decision as he pulled it down and opened a portal in front of him. The area on the other side, as it turned out, was a small flat area, roughly about the size of the room he and the others had been given, in what had to be the depths of space, or 'Oblivion' as the mage of their clan had called the area in question. It seemed to be devoid of any hostiles, rather it was just a flat area with a silver, almost crystalline, floor, where he found a silver crystal floating in the air in front of him, like the figure that had called out to him, but nothing happened as he stared at the object. With that in mind he carefully placed the bag of coins he had taken from the vault previously and set them below the crystal, though once that was done he stepped through the portal and closed it with a thought, only to reopen it a few seconds later and discovered that it brought him back to the same place, causing him to smile for a moment.
He now had a secret vault to hide their true treasure in, to keep their wealth safe from those who might seek to steal it, that only he knew the way to, even though he had to add some walls to make it an official vault, though it only made him even more eager to see what the future held for him and the others.
The day following their assault on Faldar's Tooth, and the utter destruction of the clan that had called it home, Capper and his companions found that their own fort was a hive of activity as their leaders focused on dividing all of the loot that had been claimed from the other clan. As it turned out there was an excessive amount of items to be distributed among their ranks, as there were new weapons to replace old ones, better pieces of armor to be had, armor resources that went into improving things around their fort, and even the pieces of furniture were brought in. Capper heard that Bek-Kajin was a little annoyed that they couldn't tear down the actual forts and move the materials to their base, it was too time consuming and the amount of manpower would leave them almost defenseless, if he was serious about tearing it down. For the time being he focused on removing what they could and had it all hauled back to their base, which was what Capper's wagon was used for, transporting the resources to their base, with Azure and Midnight keeping watch over them.
Since his job during that time was to be a lookout, to help the others keep an eye on things, it allowed him to consider his new private vault, how he might go about accessing it without drawing attention to himself, and when he should tell Rarity and the others about it. He knew that keeping such a thing a secret was crucial, since there was a chance that someone might find a way to get to it if they knew it existed, but at the same time they were his friends, people he trusted more than everyone else, and knew he'd likely tell them about it when he was good and ready. What he found to be interesting was that Midnight had decided to hand him her bag of loot from the vault of the Royal Sisters, as she didn't want to lose items from their home world, something that actually caused Azure and Rarity to do the same. It was clear that all of them thought the same, which was a good thing in his mind, and he had double checked his vault early in the morning before being assigned to this mission, allowing him to deposit the bags next to the one he had placed in it during his test.
Such a thing did make him think about Rarity, who was definitely getting used to this world as best as she could, though after taking out that odd dark elf many of the other members of their clan had taken to talking with her, but it was hard to tell if she was suffering from the battle she had experienced while they were clearing out Faldar's Tooth.
One other thing he discovered was that the guard they had passed on the way to the now empty fort was eager for them to be done with the fort, no doubt because his superiors wanted to garrison it so they could better protect Riften from the rest of the dangers that existed in the surrounding area. Capper really couldn't assure him of when they would be done, since he had no idea when that would be, but he was pleased to see that the guard knew he didn't stand a chance against the group that was moving between the forts and stayed out of their way. He suspected that the guard might be able to call on more of his fellow guards, to potentially outnumber them if he really wanted to, but it was possible that he was under orders not to engage until he was given the command to do so, meaning they were free to do whatever they wanted. Other than that he found that nothing seemed to stop them from moving the items out of Faldar's Tooth and bringing them to their base, to be distributed to the rest of the base and put to use, allowing them to put up better protective walls on the outside and lightly improve the living conditions inside the base.
In addition to that Capper spent some time with Rarity and Midnight, teaching them how to improve their sneaking skills so they wouldn't be seen, since they were still thieves in the eyes of the rest of the clan, and with the couple of chests they had recovered he was able to lock each one and test their lockpicking skills, starting with the most basic of locks.
"Capper, I know you are the most experienced thief among us, but you certainly make this look easy." Rarity remarked, as she knew it would take her a lot of time and effort to figure out exactly how to do what Capper was able to do in a matter of seconds, while Midnight seemed to have a better understanding of how to do this.
"Well, it certainly helps that being a thief was how I lived my life before things happened." Capper replied, as he knew that his life before Rarity and her friends stepped into his life was why his skills were as good as they were, thus allowing him to teach the pair more about how to sneak, how to pick locks, the art of speaking and steering things in their favor, and even the art of picking pockets.
While they were training Brurid tracked them down and informed the group that they would be traveling with La'nari in the morning, to return to Riften and sell more of the items they had taken from the nobles, some of the more expensive items this time around, so he was expecting them to make more this time around. Capper understood that fact, because now that all four of them were outfitted, three of their number wearing light armor and Azure wearing heavy armor, that meant some of the coin didn't need to be spent and could be brought back to the clan to be spread out. With that thought in mind he made sure they were aware of which goods were going to be placed on the wagon, just so they could sell them well when they reached Riften and found Brynjolf, mostly to convince him that they weren't wasting his time. Such a thing did cause him to hope that Mercer wouldn't be present for the buying this time around, since he had cut into their profits last time and didn't want a repeat to happen, but they would know whether he was there or not when it came time to sell the items.
When morning arrived the group met it, even though they were getting used to a world where the sun and moon rose on their own, before having a light breakfast and then joined La'nari outside the fort, allowing them to climb onto the wagon so they could get underway once more. Sure enough Capper found that the trip back to Riften was dull, which was no doubt due to the fact that their clan had wiped out another one and the area that the Faldar Clan had been in control of had been freed from their clutches, meaning they wouldn't have to worry about encountering them again. They did, however, spot a large figure off on their right that seemed to be attacking a settlement with wooden walls, causing La'nari to sigh and tell her friends that what they were seeing was a giant harassing an orc stronghold, though before they thought about rushing over to get involved she also warned them that orcs hated outsiders. Capper translated that to mean that the orcs would either ignore them and force them to prove that they were worthy of entering the stronghold, or they would attack on sight if they got too close, so for the time being he focused on getting them to Riften, especially since it looked like the orcs didn't need their help dealing with the giant, as the figure collapsed as they resumed their journey.
Capper found that this time around the guards at the southwest gate were more than willing to let them into Riften, which was either due to the fact that their scheme at the northern gate had been silently called out, or because that scheme had been put on hold to allow more people into the city, but he wasn't about to complain.
"So, will our friend be in the market again, or will he be somewhere else?" Capper asked, where he and La'nari walked into the city while Midnight and Rarity carried the container, leaving Azure to watch over the wagon while they were gone, as he was curious as to where they might find Brynjolf this time around.
"We'll either find him in the Bee and Barb, keeping an eye out for potential targets and potential recruits for the Guild, or in the market, trying to sell one of his 'specialty potions'." La'nari answered, as she knew the figure well enough to know that his time in one of the market stalls was mostly a front for the few missions that took place in that area, and the 'potions' he sold were just things mashed together to make a convincing item, which was due to there being no real alchemist in the Thieves Guild, "I doubt he'd be down in the Ragged Flagon, since he's trying to find recruits to put the Guild back together... Mercer ought to be doing something as well, but he usually stays in the depths of the Guild, only leaving for a special mission that only he can accomplish."
Capper lightly nodded his head as he heard that, as it made sense that Brynjolf would be looking for people that would help turn around their bad fortunes, based on what La'nari had told them in the past, before turning his focus to the market area for a few seconds, finding that the merchants were already out and about. While many of the others were getting ready, as there was an argonian setting up a jewelry stand and a nord warrior in leather armor trying to sell her other gear to the rest of the city, it was easy to see that Brynjolf was still checking out everyone that happened to be in the area. Once he noticed that they were back in Riften, however, he removed himself from where he had been standing and headed over to where the Guild's secret entrance was located, allowing them to stand in a nearby corner, out of the way, as he fetched Tonilia. With how quickly she had valued the loot the last time they were in the city Capper was sure that she would be able to quickly do the same this time around, meaning they would be on their way in no time, they just had to wait for her and Brynjolf to come and evaluate their loot.
Sure enough it wasn't long before the pair emerged from the hidden passageway, where Capper nodded to his friends and they set down the crate that contained all of the loot they intended to sell today, allowing Tonilia to pull some of it out while calculating what sort of price she would offer them for all of it.
"Brynjolf told me you guys robbed a pair of nobles, and now I see that you were telling the truth." Tonilia commented, where her tone made Capper wonder if she was jealous of them being able to do such a thing, though at the same time she was more interested in the wealth that these items would bring to the Guild once she was able to sell them to her contacts, as she had a smile on her face, "You know, Brynjolf, you could always recruit them into our ranks... we might be able to make some progress at last."
"Wish I could, but they're part of Brurid and Bek-Kajin's clan, and you know they won't give up their members lightly... so I'm afraid there's nothing we can do." Brynjolf replied, though he agreed with her, at the very least two of the bandits that were in front of them could very well be the answer to their prayers, the key to saving the Guild from the downward spiral they were suffering right now, "How much do you think we can get for these pieces of jewelry?"
"Not much, I'm afraid." a new voice said, where Capper found that the speaker was a female nord that was dressed like she was a noble of some kind, or someone who seemed to think her way was the only path available to everyone else, plus her arrival caused the three thieves to pale for a moment, all while the lady stepped up to the crate and studied the items that were inside it, "These are hardly better than what you can find in the market right now... and a few pieces look like they were carelessly made, ready to break after a few uses. Best I purchase them to reform the garbage into real jewels."
"Garbage?! These are wonderful items, sturdy and true, not..." Rarity started to say, though a motion from La'nari stopped her as they found that the lady seemed more annoyed with her for speaking out of turn, allowing Capper to see that even the thieves seemed to fear the lady's power.
"Forgive us, Lady Maven, but these four are new to Riften and are not familiar with whose in charge of the city." La'nari said, which all but confirmed that the lady in front of them had more power over everyone than what even the true leader of the city, the Jarl, had, especially when he noticed a guard in the distance turn around and walk the other way once he noticed who was in the area, causing La'nari to turn towards the group, "This is Lady Maven Black-Briar, who owns the Black-Briar Meadery and pretty much runs the entirety of Riften... a single word from her would cause someone to spend the rest of the Fourth Era in prison, if she wanted such a thing."
"I understand. We are fortunate to have caught the eye of such an influential figure." Capper stated, putting on a smile as he presented himself like a gentleman, while at the same time Rarity and the rest of his group backed off while he did his work, though he refrained from snapping at the lady, since she reminded him of Verko far too much, "Shall we do business?"
He knew exactly what was going on, Maven likely knew that some of these pieces were actually better quality than some of the others, and she would be right since Capper had seen a number of the items before departing from their fort, but she didn't want to pay for them like a normal person would. Instead she was hoping to buy them for cheap from the Guild, as it seemed like she was the reason that Brynjolf and the others were able to operate without the guards arresting them for all of their crimes, so since they were in her pockets she felt that she could do whatever she wanted. Such a thing meant that by buying these for cheap, and only giving the Guild a fraction of what the items were truly worth, she deprived them of gold and that meant they would have no choice but to go on the missions and tasks that she had for them, to further her various schemes no doubt. If he was right that meant that the Guild would never get out from under her thumb, in fact he was sure she'd pay them meager amounts of gold when they completed her jobs, meaning she was just like Verko and he disliked her almost immediately, but he didn't let that show as they talked.
In the end he was able to get a few hundred gold for the items and another few hundred for the Guild, since they were why Maven was even getting the items in the first place, and once the transaction was complete the steel armored bodyguard she had brought with her hauled it off as she headed off to do something else, allowing them to breathe a sigh of relief once she was gone.
"I have to admit lad, that was impressive." Brynjolf commented, as most people either backed down or paled when Maven talked to them, afraid of what she might do to them if they failed to do whatever she told them, but Capper had managed to keep his cool and made sure both parties got some coin for their effort, about two hundred for the Guild and three hundred for the clan, "We could use someone like you in our outfit... tell you what, if you ever feel like leaving the bandit clan that you are attached to, come find me and I'll convince Mercer that we would only benefit from making you a member."
"I'll consider it." Capper replied, because there was no harm in keeping a door like this open, since there was no telling what the future held, especially in a world like this, and he could tell that Brynjolf understood, even though he clearly wanted to induct the group into the Guild, just to give them some individuals that might be able to undo their misfortunes, though once the gold was counted he slipped the pouch into his bag, "For now, it was a pleasure to do business with you. We'll be back in a few days with the rest of our haul from the nobles."
"And we'll be waiting. If that haul was that good, enough to make Maven undercut us like that, I can only imagine what the rest of it might bring us." Tonilia remarked, as wealth was the only thing she really cared about and she knew that the items she was buying would fetch them a high price once she sold them, so it only made her that much more eager to see what else the group might have stolen from the nobles.
Capper agreed with her, it would be interesting to see how much they could get for the rest of the items that were back at the fort, though for the time being he wished the thieves well as he and his companions returned to their wagon, as it was time to head back home. The guards said nothing as the group rejoined Azure and started to leave the city, though he could tell that no one was very happy about their visit to Riften this time around and figured it was best if he didn't ask about it, as it would likely only make things worse for them. Capper decided to turn his attention away from Maven as he glanced out at the surrounding area, like the manor or estate that had been built in the center of the lake, on a number of close pieces of land since they were connected by bridges, causing him to wonder if Maven owned it or not. The meeting with such a figure had told him much more about the state of affairs in Riften than he was expecting to discover, and just how low the Thieves Guild had sunk if Maven was cheating them out of their gold, causing him to think about the bigger picture and what it might mean for them.
He had been hoping to go without meeting someone who reminded him of Verko, but he guessed such a thing was simply impossible once he thought about it, meaning that if they did join the Guild in the future they might cross paths with her in some manner, something he decided not to worry about for the time being.
"Just so we're clear, it would have been nice to have some warning about Maven's existence." Midnight remarked, keeping her voice low so that only the rest of the group could hear her, since she didn't know if any of the guards were in Maven's pockets and didn't want to give her anymore reason to hunt them down.
"Honestly, I was hoping to avoid drawing her attention... had I known we had caught her eye, well, I would have spoken up on the way to the city." La'nari replied, as she knew it was her fault that they could have walked right into a situation that would have ended with them being thrown in jail, since none of the others knew about Maven before meeting her, but she was impressed with Capper's resolve and unflinching nature, "What's done is done. We can only move forward and hope that our leaders aren't too annoyed with us for failing to secure more gold for the clan."
Capper said nothing to that as he continued down the path that was in front of them, eventually bringing them back to the entrance of their fort, because there were no enemies on the road in question for him and the others to worry about, due to taking out a rival clan and apparently scaring off the more dangerous animals. What they discovered when they returned to the fort, however, was that there was a new group standing outside the main gate, at least ten by his count, and the majority of them seemed to be outfitted in the same attire that some of their clan mates were currently wearing. Two of them were wearing better armor, normal steel to be exact, and seemed to be the ones in charge of the others, though at the same time it was easy for them to see that Brurid and Bek-Kajin were talking to them, the former smiling as the latter studied those that were outside their base. In the following moments the group noticed something interesting, some of the other bandits had small crates of items that seemed to be offerings that they made to the leaders of the clan, similar to what Capper and his friends had done when La'nari encountered them.
"It would seem that word of our war against a rival clan, and our victory, has reached some of the lesser groups that also call this Hold home." Midnight commented, as it seemed like they were gaining quite the reputation, or at least their clan was based on what they were seeing, so it made sense that the lesser clans were hoping to be taken in by the victor so they could all prosper together, instead of the lesser clans being wiped out, "They're also presenting offerings to our leaders, no doubt hoping that they'll accept them into the clan... but if this continues we won't have enough room for everyone."
"Then it's a good thing we took out a rival clan... maybe we can convince our leaders to expand and take over the other fort, thus expanding our territory?" Rarity remarked, though it would mean that moving everything out of Faldar's Tooth would have been for nothing, if they just took it over and moved some of their forces into that location, but she was sure that both of their leaders had a plan in mind for all of the newcomers that might be coming their way.
La'nari said nothing to that as they finally brought their wagon to a stop, where she looked at the items that were currently being offered to their leaders, as some of the bandits had lackluster items, stuff they had acquired from Faldar's Tooth to be exact, but a few had items of worth. Those ones happened to have some good pieces of jewelry and one even had a sword that was enchanted, which he was willing to offer to the leaders, and she was surprised to find that one even had a crate of Black-Briar Mead to offer to the whole clan. That offering made her nervous, because if Maven realized that part of one of her shipments had been stolen there was a good chance she could rain destruction down on those responsible, which could be what the bandit making the offering was aiming for, but without evidence there wasn't much she could do on this matter, only hope she was wrong. Capper, on the other hand, briefly pulled Bek-Kajin aside and explained the low amount of coins that had been brought back from Riften, where the argonian sighed and pinched the bridge between his eyes, showing him that they might have had experiences with Maven in the past and always lost out in the end, but decided to leave the coins in their possession.
Capper nodded and rejoined the others, who would be happy that they got something out of their efforts, though he agreed with La'nari, there was something about the newcomers that he didn't trust, causing him to prioritize the creation of his vault while waiting to see what the future held in store for them, and hoping that they were simply imagining things.
As night fell on Treva's Watch, and the new clan members settled into the various rooms and positions assigned to them, because some were joining the night watch to keep the fort safe, Capper returned to the tower he had used previously, as it was private and he would remain undisturbed for some time. Once he was sure that he was alone Capper withdrew the Key and channeled it's power once more, allowing him to open the portal to the vault he had created and stepped through it, entering the area that was just a crystalline floor in the vastness of space. With the Key in hand he closed the portal and just looked around for a few moments, as he knew this wasn't much of a 'vault' since it was just the floor, and a pillar with an odd crystal floating above it, as there were walls and a ceiling that were needed to make the area complete. In addition to that he guessed he would need to move the portal itself, because warping directly into this place seemed a little awkward, so he was thinking of warding off the entire vault from anyone who might think to do such a thing.
His reasoning was due to the existence of the 'Daedric Princes', godly beings who saw mortals as toys and tools for their various schemes, and who ruled from the various Realms of Oblivion, of which he was building his vault in, so while there was a chance they might not be interested in this place he wasn't taking any chances. Fortunately the Key was the best item for him to do what he wanted, since it unlocked the knowledge that was in his mind and allowed him to understand the topic he was interested in, hence why he raised his other hand and made a rising motion at the edge of the vault. Such a thing caused a stone wall to start to rise before his very eyes, leading to him to nervously chuckle, as he never imagined that he would be able to do such a thing, simply creating from nothing or creating from the space that was around this area. The stony nature of the vault's walls really didn't seem very impressive, so he took inspiration from the floor and made both the walls and the new ceiling that he added out of the same material that was below his paws.
As Capper worked he pulled out the gem pouch he had filled back in their home world and had a strange idea as he tossed all of the gems into the air, catching them in certain positions around the vault and utilized the power of the Key to turn all of them into thick pillars that connected the floor and ceiling.
"I've got to admit, this place is coming together well." Capper commented, though he also noticed that he added a number of golden runes onto the crystalline walls, no doubt to keep the area safe from those who might try to warp into this area, a fact that caused him to chuckle again as he looked around his private vault, "I can't believe I'm even going this... Twilight and the other Princesses would have a fit if they saw me doing this."
With the current vault to his liking, since he might make alterations later on, Capper turned around and faced the wall that was behind where he started, finding an ebony ring around the center that he could step through, like it was transparent or turned into a liquid that he could easily pass through before turning solid once he was outside the vault. Once he was done with that he thought about what he wanted to do and the power he was relying on moved the portal to the exterior of the vault, though he also found that there was ground outside the structure, smooth stone for him to stand on. Such a thing meant he could stare out at the vastness of Oblivion, where he was sure there were actual spheres that represented one of the major realms, the domains of the Princes, and yet it looked like no one had noticed what he was doing, which was good news for him. He didn't want to bother them with his presence and it looked like they really couldn't be bothered to see what was going on in the vastness of Oblivion, where he turned the Key over again before opening a portal back to where he had been before heading into the vault.
As he did that Capper found that no time had passed since his departure, or at least it didn't seem that way to him, causing him to close the portal and head back down to their portion of the large fort, finding that the others were getting ready for bed, causing him to do the same.
When early morning arrived, however, Capper found that Rarity was the first one awake and noticed that something was off about her, her eyes were now blood red and there was a small pair of fangs in her mouth, though other than that it didn't seem like there was anything different about her. In fact she was glancing at herself like she was expecting more changes than what she had seen so far, but seemed confused as to what to do with what had happened to her body, something they would have to deal with, in addition to everything else they had discovered so far. Of course this did mean that the figure that had attacked her had infected her in some manner, meaning her neck must have been bitten or there was a secondary power they had all missed when Rarity fought her foe, something they might have to ask La'nari about later. There was also the fact that none of the others were awake, meaning Rarity would have to tell them what had happened as well, but for the time being she seemed fine and in control of herself, though Capper had to rethink his assessment as he spotted La'nari standing against a wall.
"It would seem that you turned. You're a vampire now, but... you're taking it a lot better than most people." La'nari said, as that fact surprised her, the figure that had been infected, without telling anyone about the illness that lead to this sudden transformation, was far too calm for her liking, but at least it meant they didn't have a raging monster to kill.
"Darling, remind me to tell you about the town I called home... this is nothing compared to what happened there weekly." Rarity replied, which was the truth, every bit of madness and magical mishap that she and her friends had experienced in Ponyville was far more than her simply changing eye color, growing a pair of fangs, and having a strange craving that just reminded her of when they turned Fluttershy into 'Flutterbat', "Just promise me you'll tell me what you know of this strange condition, so I don't do something stupid."
La'nari nodded and said she would do so later, on their way to Riften, because there was something else they needed to do, which was actual training in the art of being thieves and she had a way for her, Midnight, and Capper to get some training in the art, so they could be of better use to the clan in the future. This interested Capper more than he wanted to admit, as he and the others would be able to see how an actual thief in this world went about her job, or her previous job since she had quit after seeing her Guild fall into disarray, and while she didn't seem to care about this he could tell that part of her was likely pleased to practice her skills once more. Azure and Midnight, waking up when they heard her talking, were able to see Rarity's changes with ease, though since she was going to be told everything on the way to Riften the pair listened to what they were going to be doing today, the former not caring while the latter was excited. The more interesting aspect was that none of their clan mates overly cared about Rarity's changes, rather they seemed overjoyed to have a vampire in their ranks, as if that meant their fighting power had suddenly gone up despite her power remaining the same.
Capper had to smile at the scene in front of him, as the people who had been here at the start were overjoyed to see such an improvement in their lives and were simply enjoying themselves to the fullest, and even the bandits that had joined the clan after the Faldar Clan had been terminated were happy to have been accepted with little questions.
Once breakfast was over Capper and the others climbed onto the wagon and headed back to Riften once more, which was when La'nari explained vampirism to Rarity, since that was the most important thing for her right now, or at least what she knew on the subject, since she didn't know everything, but she was happy to see that Rarity was just fine and that she wasn't freaking out about the sun. Capper listened while directing the horses towards the city, where he and the others found that vampires survived by drinking blood, plus there was the fact that the creatures in question had far superior magical powers to some mortals, which was one of the reasons that people wanted to become vampires, not to mention having a longer life than before. After explaining what she knew about vampires, which was a fair deal, La'nari also told them about what she wanted to do in Riften, there were times where the guards would be tasked by Maven to act as targets for thieves, practice dummies in a sense so she could see who had potential and who was trash. Naturally this meant they needed a way to identify themselves from the guards who weren't part of the training, usually a scarf or something, but it changed all the time and she had no idea what it might be this time.
Capper found that to be very interesting, as it meant that he, Rarity, and Midnight would have to keep an eye out while they were in Riften, though as he glanced out at the rest of the path that was in front of them he found that they were able to get to the city without anything delaying them for once.
When they reached the city it was easy to find that the merchants were still out and the guards were keeping an eye out for potential thieves, while at the same time Capper noticed Maven sitting on her balcony, allowing her to glance out at the rest of the city while she sipped on something. It was hard to tell if she was waiting for the show to start, to see if there were any thieves out there that were worth keeping an eye on, or if the lady had no desire to watch and it was a simple coincidence that she was out here, along with a thief that looked like Brynjolf standing nearby. As he looked around he instantly noticed something on a couple of the guards, there was a black band of sorts right below the left arm portion of chainmail, which had to be what they were looking for and he quietly pointed it out to La'nari, who tilted her head slightly and made no move to let anyone else know that he was right. Of course she was hiding her surprise that he had found out the key so quickly, from just observing the area and the people, and it made her wonder what else Capper might have to show them further down the line, as his skills seemed to be far above both Rarity and Midnight's skills.
In addition to the guards there were a few other shady individuals who seemed out of place, some male, some female, and all of them of different races, most of them wearing leather attire that made them look like bandits, while the remaining few were dressed as beggars and citizens.
"There are thieves from all over Skyrim, itching to get in on the action." Capper commented, as that was the only reason for what they were seeing right now, something that caused La'nari to nod her head as she looked at them as well, though he suspected that one or two of them might be more skilled than the others, "Rarity, Midnight, I would observe them first so you know what not to do."
It wasn't that he didn't think the other thieves were skilled, rather he knew that observing and learning from the failures of others, or even successes, would be the key for the pair mastering their abilities, or learning new skills in Rarity's case, and it wasn't long before some of the other thieves started to move. Capper found that some of them weren't very good instantly, as the thieves in question started to sneak around the market area and the walkways that were around it, following some of the guards, though each one was stopped before they could even do anything. Such a thing just confirmed that either these people were those who didn't have talent or there actually was some sort of curse on the Guild that was affecting people who weren't even members, where he considered the latter to be odd given everything he had learned so far. One khajiit had a little more luck than the others as he was ignored by the guards, meaning they didn't even notice him lurking around the area, though when he attempted to pick one of their pockets he was found out instantly and surrendered as the guard knocked him to the ground, ending in him being taken to jail.
Capper found that this was definitely a sort of bloodbath, the rookie thieves were being wiped out before most of them had a chance to even get close to the guards, causing them to either sit back and watch or just give up entirely, and Rarity gave up instantly, because she sincerely doubted that she'd do any better with her current skill set.
Midnight, on the other hand, definitely had more skill than most of the other rookies, as most of the guards didn't detect her as she got close to them, allowing her to actually see what sort of items they had on them, something that caused the rest of the rookies to watch her closely, just like Rarity did. For the most part it didn't look like she was taking anything from the few guards that had the special marking, rather she took a coin here and there when she thought she could get away with it, a fact that caused La'nari to nod her head, showing that this was a good test of her skills. Capper, however, didn't wander out and start his practice immediately, like some of the others did, rather he wandered around the market area for a time, just getting the lay of the land and the patrols that all of the guards were using, both the test ones and those that weren't part of the test. While he did that he decided to stop at what appeared to be the blacksmith and noticed something that caught his attention, what appeared to be a pair of rocks that were, in fact, pieces of ore that seemed different from what they had seen back in their fort.
"What are those?" Capper asked, directing the nord blacksmith's attention to the pair for a moment, as one seemed to be a crystallized drop of amber and one seemed to be darker with yellow lines on it, like the item itself was mad in some manner, and while he knew he needed to focus on the guards he was still interested in the items the smith had.
"One is amber ore, and the other is madness ore... some traveler sold them to me, but I've been unable to shape them into weapons or armor." the smith replied, sounding annoyed by the fact that he was unable to do anything with the materials that had been brought to him, since that meant they were a waste of gold on his part, causing the man to sigh as an idea came to mind, "Tell you what, I'll sell them for ten gold apiece, if you're interested in them."
"Maybe later." Capper said, where he had to wonder where the materials had come from and why they were in possession of a smith that had no knowledge in turning them into something else, before he turned to the market and found that most of the rookie thieves were starting to call it quits already, "Well then, I guess it's time for me to get to work."
La'nari's eyes widened as she, Rarity, and Midnight watched Capper work his magic, as none of the guards seemed to notice him approach them, either they were preoccupied or they really had no idea he was sneaking around the area, and when he left the area that a guard was in that individual noticed that their coin pouch had gone missing. He even greeted some of the guards and struck up a conversation with them, asking about Riften itself and the surrounding area, as he pulled out a map and let his targets point things out to him, thus allowing him to walk off with more information and more gold than before, an interesting tactic in her eyes. The most amusing fact was that none of the guards seemed to realize that the person who stole from them was Capper, rather he seemed to be acting like he had nothing to do with the thefts and continued about his day like nothing was wrong, convincing the guards that he wasn't worth worrying about as they focused on the other thieves in the area, keeping a closer eye on them in the process. It was as if Lady Luck herself had blessed Capper, given how he was able to steal from every guard with a black band before they even realized what was going on, making her wonder if he held the key to saving the Guild before it completely collapsed.
Capper, however, stopped below the balcony as he stretched, making it look like he was on his way to a job or something and was preparing for a busy day, all while his ears perked as he heard Maven talking, which meant he would be able to get a few bits of information out of her before they left Riften, without having to pay for it anyway.
"Brynjolf, why haven't you recruited that thief into your ranks?" Maven inquired, because out of everyone that was present right now she was only interested in the khajiit that had realized how important she was, which had made her interested in him, though after getting a glimpse of the market area, and how the guards reacted to their gold being stolen, she realized that there was a new gem in the city, one that had to be in her possession at all costs.
"Because he's part of Brurid and Bek-Kajin's clan, and you know they'd be cross with us if we took their members." Brynjolf replied, which was the truth, the bandits at Treva's Watch were fiercely loyal to their leaders and the leaders were the sort that were better off not crossing, like how Maven was someone that no on wanted to cross, and right now he didn't want to invite disaster into Riften, since he knew the figures would invade to get their people back, "Trust me, if they were free to do whatever they wanted, I would offer Capper a position in the Guild without wasting him... skills like his are hard to come by these days."
"He is a polished gem, hidden in a pile of garbage... maybe I'll hire him for a job in the future." Maven remarked, which was news to Capper, that she was that interested in his skills, though since it seemed like this was all they were going to say for the time being he removed himself and headed back out into the city.
While he did that, however, he and the others noticed that there was a well dressed figure walking out into the market with a group of guards and someone who seemed to be a bodyguard, no doubt the Jarl as he considered things, which meant that the keep that was her domain was likely absent of guards. Such a thing caused him to mentally add another mark that would set him apart from the rest of the rookies, he entered the keep and found that while it did have a large fire pit in the center of the main chamber, with three long tables around it, there seemed to be no one around. With that in mind he walked over to the back of the room and found that the hallway was vacant as well, allowing him to head to the right and found a room that seemed to be the Steward's, before he found a few items of value to pocket, as in a few gems and a silver amulet with two expensive jeweled necklaces. Of course the jewelry were behind a locked container, but it was nothing before the might of the Key and his experience, allowing him to unlock it without delay and swipe the loot before closing the lid, making it look like no one had been in here for some time.
After that he headed up the stairs and found that it brought him to another door, leading to the second floor that had three new bedrooms, two that were smaller than the third that held his attention, since it had some of the more expensive items, even an elven greatsword on a plague, before he noticed a glowing red gem in a gold container off to the side.
"Another strange item... must be expensive, if it's in the Jarl's residence." Capper quietly remarked, where he swiped the gem and it's container without delay, along with a few nearby books that seemed to speak on the skills of a thief, more material for him to share with the rest of the group, where he grabbed the handle of the greatsword and slipped it into his bag, as it seemed like a good upgrade for Azure.
Once he was done checking out the Jarl's residence, and had collected a few coin pouches in addition to the rest of the items he had collected, Capper departed from the keep, walking like a gentleman that was out for a stroll, and once he was back on the outside he found that the guards were talking to some of the rookies, meaning they must have failed.
"Maven's going to be annoyed by all of these failures... but I wouldn't be surprised if she approaches you with some work in the near future, Capper." La'nari commented, which was the truth, he had stood out a little too much, to those that could see him while he was out in the market area to be exact, and it was likely that the most powerful person in Riften might seek him out for a job after this day was over, he was just that skilled, plus that wasn't even counting his visit to the keep, "Though don't be surprised if Brynjolf tries to invite you into the Guild again... after that display, he'd be foolish to let someone like you go, meaning he'll have to talk to our leaders to convince them that you're worth letting go so he can recruit you."
"Darling, considering how our leaders are, I don't think that'll be possible." Rarity remarked, as Brurid and Bek-Kajin seemed to like having Capper around, especially since it made things easier for them and their forces when it came to opening all of the chests and locked doors they were finding recently, another skill she would have to learn at some point.
La'nari nodded her agreement, she really doubted that their leaders would willingly allow Capper to be taken from them, especially after having proved himself to them since she brought the group to their fort, meaning the only ways Maven could get to him were to either hire him for a job or wait until someone destroyed their clan. It was known to happen, that either the Imperials or the Stormcloaks would wipe out a fort and secure it so they could have more control over an area that their forces were allied with, so there was a chance that the latter might come for them in the future. With their clan she doubted that such a thing would come to pass, they were well put together and well prepared for whatever forces might come to do them harm, but it didn't stop her from thinking of such a thing when she thought about the other clans that had fallen in the past. After thinking about that La'nari made sure to quickly purchase a few more things for the clan before they departed from the city once more, so they could regroup with the clan and see what their leaders wanted to do next, especially with all of the new recruits that had joined them recently.
As they departed from the city, however, Capper noticed the same phantom figure that no one else seemed to notice, but this time around he discovered that there was a crystalline greatsword, or the image of one, floating near her, like she was trying to tell him something.
You must... recover the Sword. the figure stated, where he was able to confirm that none of the others had noticed what he was seeing right now, since no one was reacting to the vision, meaning this was for his eyes only, and, just like the last time this happened, the images started to fade away like it was made of mist, Go to Solitude... claim the Sword before...
Capper really had no idea what was going on, and he hesitated to claim that it was a side effect of using the Key, but he had a feeling that finding the crystalline sword was a good step to figuring things out and seeing what the future held for him, his companions, and the clan, causing him to look forward to whatever the next few days held in store for them.
After returning to the fort, and seeing that everyone was still hard at work training or making their base even better than it had been previously, it was easy to see how the newcomers were integrating themselves into everything, making sure they were useful to Brurid and Bek-Kajin, just like everyone else. Some of their fellows were interested in hearing about what happened in Riften, even though they knew that Rarity would require more training to be able to fit in with being a thief, all while Midnight would have done well and one even knew that Capper was a prodigy in the making. Capper had to chuckle as he confirmed their thoughts, even though La'nari told their clan mates how he had stood out, doing far more than the rest of the novices combined, meaning there was a chance that he might be approached by Brynjolf again in the future. She knew that the Thieves Guild was in desperate need of good thieves that could turn their luck around and he had shown that his skills were beyond what anyone might have been expecting from that event, meaning they would be fools to ignore someone with his potential.
"There's also the chance that Maven might seek you out, if she saw your skills while we were in the city." La'nari added, a fact that told the group how things were likely going to change for them now that they knew people had seen Capper's skills for themselves, all while she brought her hand to her head for a few moments as she thought about all of this, "Listen, if Maven does show up, I'd recommend taking whatever job she offers, as she pays well and might have even more tasks for you in the future... the few that have turned her down in the past ended up regretting it to the end of their days."
"Darling, do you really think such a classy person would come all the way out here to offer us a job?" Rarity inquired, as it seemed unlikely that Maven would bother with such a thing, instead it was likely that she would keep an eye out for them and speak to them the next time they were in Riften, which means she would be waiting since their next visit would likely be in the next few days.
"She's Maven Black-Briar. If she wanted to she could show up this afternoon and hire us for whatever job she wanted... such is her nature and outlook on life." La'nari answered, as literally everyone in Riften bowed to her whims, even her children did from time to time, despite the fact that one of them happened to be in jail on his mother's orders, which she had no real interest to learn about.
"La'nari's right, it's not worth turning down Maven... not when she could bring an army to annihilate use if we refused any jobs she offered us." Brurid added, as he had been listening to the conversation while everyone else went back to whatever they had been doing before the group returned from Riften, while his tone revealed that he had some dealings with Maven in the past and that it was better to take her jobs, "Plus her jobs tend to pay very well, and completing them within her very specific conditions tends to make her give more jobs to those that please her, so it is worth listening to her and accepting any jobs she sends your way."
Capper glanced at the others before all four of them nodded their heads, as it was basically do whatever Maven told them or risk their clan being destroyed, if she came by to hire him and his friends for a job anyway, something he would keep in mind for later, just in case they were ever approached by the lady. With that in mind he found some of the other members of their clan coming forward to ask about how he tackled pickpocketing in general, as some of them were thieves before coming out here to be bandits and they figured that asking him might help them master an ability they struggled with. It was quite the interesting way to round off their trip and Capper was more than willing to help the rest of the clan master their skills, in fact one bandit was willing to be the target he would be focusing on, allowing him to show off his skills while he noticed that all of his temporary students seemed to be taking notes. Of course there wasn't a lot of paper for them to do such a thing, rather they were observing his motions and how he managed to take the coin pouch out of his test subject's bag without even him noticing, despite the fact that he had agreed to help him with a demonstration for everyone else.
What he discovered, however, was that when he was done with his lesson the members of their clan that happened to be in front of him dropped a small bag of gold on the table that had been to Capper's left the entire time, where Bek-Kajin told all four of them, him and his friends, that when one gave lessons they were usually paid for it, so their clan mates made sure he was paid for his important lesson. This was news to Capper, Rarity, Midnight, and Azure, as La'nari hadn't said a word on it on their way to their new home, but he didn't hold it against her as he collected the pouches and started to count the gold that was inside each one, coming out to fifty coins per bag, and for ten observers that was five hundred coins total. It was a good haul, all things considered, and he was quick to store it away in his bag for the time being, even though he would be storing it in the vault in due time, just to make sure it was safe and sound. Rarity and the others considered such a thing as well, even though Rarity didn't have any skills to offer since making dresses seemed like an undesirable skill in this land, and the former guards seemed lost in thought about this matter.
As they got ready to head inside, however, one of the lookouts informed their leaders that someone was approaching their fort, causing the group to get up on the wall and discovered that it was none other than Maven herself, along with her guard and one other plate armored figure.
"Bandits of Treva's Watch, I seek the one known as 'Capper'. I have a job for him and his associates." Maven stated, which meant that she had been observing them and that he had caught her eye, just as their leaders and La'nari had told them about upon their return to the fort earlier, where Brurid and Bek-Kajin glanced at each other before allowing the main gate to be lowered.
In the next couple of seconds Maven walked into the fort and made her way up to the table that they were positioned near, though no one stopped her from taking the seat, a chair, that was near it, rather everyone seemed intimidated by the fact that she was among them and feared that speaking out of turn might cause her guards to kill them instantly.
"Lady Maven, I am Capper. What is this job that you have for me and my associates?" Capper inquired, as he knew that she was interested in him and his skills, and had seen the others several times while they were in Riften, especially when she just stole everything from one of their shipments, but he wanted to be more like a business person since she was coming to him with a job offer.
"I require you to take a shipment of my mead and deliver it to two locations: the inn in Helgen, who are preparing for the arrival of General Tullius and Elenwen, and the two inns of Whiterun." Maven replied, where her tone told him that she was going to walk out of here with them agreeing to her demands, as it was her way or those who defied her died, meaning he had to think about the specifics of what she wanted from them, before she produced a large sack of gold, "You will be given three thousand septims upon agreeing to the job, and there will be another three thousand upon your return... however, I will expect you to deliver to me the payments from the inns for my mead, otherwise I will deduct it from the final payment. In addition to that I need you to check in with someone while you're in Whiterun, an imperial named Mallus Maccius who will be in the Bannered Mare during his breaks and who should hand you a note for me... delivered it sealed and I might give you a little more money when the job is done."
Capper kept a straight face while everyone else had stunned looks on their faces, as six thousand for a perfect delivery was quite a lot of gold, even split between five individuals since they needed La'nari to help them get to their targets, though this did tell him that she was expecting to make quite a lot of gold from the three locations.
"Sounds like an interesting job. Do you require us to get moving immediately, or do we have to wait for the shipment to be made ready for transport?" Capper asked, where La'nari was honestly surprised by his words, as he was one of the very rare few people that seemed to talk to Maven without being intimidated by her, and it was easy to see that Maven was smiling, like she approved of someone having some backbone while respecting her power.
"I would prefer if you left immediately." Maven stated, where she gestured towards the road and they found that there were a few exhausted workers that were setting the mead crates down on the ground, who must have been carrying them for the entirety of the trip while the soldiers near them made sure they reached their destination without delay, "Succeed in this and I might have more jobs for you in the future... fail... well, you'll wish you hadn't failed when I'm done with you."
Capper nodded his head in agreement and Maven handed over the sack of gold, travel expenses in her mind no doubt, to which La'nari and the others got moving as he tended to the wagon, directing the horses out of the fort so they could cross the stone bridge once more. Once he was on the other side of the bridge the others helped the workers carefully load the crates into the back, which was definitely packed full of bottles of mead, while at the same time it was clear that the soldiers, Maven's own no doubt, were eying them like hawks. It was clear that they were here to uphold her orders to the letter, that if she told them to murder the clan they would do so without delay, but for the time being they seemed to be passive and did nothing as the last of the crates was loaded into the back. The moment that was done Capper and the others returned to their seats on the wagon and made sure there were no other instructions from Maven, who simply moved a hand like she was dismissing them, causing Capper to get them underway as their leaders wished them well.
While they moved down the road, heading back in the direction they had used to first arrive at Treva's Watch, Rarity kept an eye on everything that was behind them while La'nari focused on the road in front of them, before they sighed after putting some distance between them and their home fort.
"Now I really understand what you had said about her previously... I really got the feeling that she could have ended us with a single command if she wanted to." Rarity commented, as being around Maven made her nervous, because the lady really had the power to install fear and respect into everyone that was around her, even hardened and seasoned bandits that had struck fear into the area around their base of operations.
"She could have, if she wanted to... though to be honest, I wasn't sure if she was going to be offended by your lack of fear, but she seems to respect your skills." La'nari said, shifting the focus to Capper once more, as this just confirmed her earlier comment about the khajiit showing off too much of his skills while they were in Riften earlier, the powerful lady wanted to put his skills to use, and no doubt this was just a test run of sorts, to see if he was trustworthy or not.
"Still, she has her own force to deliver her mead to those who are buying it... why call upon bandits for this?" Azure asked, as that part didn't make sense, because Maven likely had her own people who did this and it made him wonder if they were being set up, like she wanted them gone for a long time or something, "You don't think she's going to exterminate the clan to get Capper to join the Thieves Guild, so she can use his skills however she sees fit?"
"That might be too extreme, especially since having a bandit clan in her pocket might be useful." Midnight said, because she suspected that Maven could use them to hinder the transport of mead from any competitors that were scattered across the whole of Skyrim, or whatever businesses she wanted to put herself at the head of, but at the same time she couldn't fault Azure for thinking that, as she had considered it as well.
Capper wasn't sure which was the right option, if he was being honest after considering the information they had, so for the time being he focused on traveling to their first destination, Helgen, which seemed to be where those nobles had been on their way to before he and the others stole their wagon. With that in mind there was a chance that they would still be there, so they might recognize their wagon despite none of their stuff being on it, but he knew it was a risk that needed to be taken since the other path to Whiterun was down a mountain path, much more dangerous than what La'nari had planned. This was why he was grateful for her sudden arrival when they first stole the wagon, because her familiarity with Skyrim's vast landscape, no doubt thanks to her time as a member of the Thieves Guild, was saving them a lot of time and effort, which also meant that she knew the quickest routes to take. He also considered themselves fortunate that they had come this way not that long ago, as it meant that they wouldn't have to stop for anything or anyone, though he knew that they would have to buy some food in Helgen, since Maven insisted they leave without any real preparations, meaning she really didn't intend for them to make off with all the gold she was giving them.
His thoughts were interrupted a few minutes later as they found a group of bandits, wearing an odd assembly of leather and fur armor, blocking the way forward, though unlike their clan these ones seemed like they were done on their luck and had no real skills in being bandits, causing him to bring the wagon to a stop.
"If you want to use this road, you'll have to pay us a toll... and hand over your loot as well." one of the bandits, who had to be the leader, stated, showing them that he believed that he and his three allies had the advantage over the five people that were on the wagon they were trying to rob, thought the reality was that this was four on four, unless Rarity was good to go after her last couple of lessons.
"Sorry, this is the property of Maven Black-Briar, so move it or pay with your lives." Capper stated, though when he found that none of the bandits seemed intimidated by that statement, which might be since they were dressed like the guards that were seen around Maven whenever she was wandering outside the city, causing him to sigh as he nodded to the others, as it seemed like they would have to kill some people to continue moving.
Azure stepped forward and drew his greatsword, the elven one that Capper had given him since it seemed better than the old one he had been using, where he swung it and slashed through one of the fur armored bandits before he even drew his weapon, much to the surprise of his fellows. La'nari took advantage of their surprise by loosing an arrow into the shoulder of a second bandit, knocking him backwards for a moment, causing the other two to move once they realized that this might have been a bad idea, one that couldn't be stopped now that the assault had been started. The third one rushed at them from the side and Midnight blocked her incoming attack, as she had been training off and on in the fort and it appeared that her training had paid off, only to flip over the bandit's head and stab her in the back. Capper found that the fourth one just ignored him and went right after Rarity, though this time around she seemed more ready to fight back as she slashed at him and grazed the side of his arm, drawing blood in the process, something that seemed to make Rarity stall for a moment.
In the next instant something seemed to wash over her as she leapt onto the bandit, knocking him to the ground, before she bit into his neck and started to drink his blood before their eyes, causing her target to shrivel up, like she was greedily taking every drop he had, and when she was finally done Rarity let go of the corpse with a satisfied look on her face.
"Rarity... are you feeling alright?" La'nari asked, because while this was technically the pony's first feeding as a vampire, she was still coming to terms with how fast she had turned and the fact that she seemed just fine in the sunlight, this wasn't what she was expecting from their changed friend, as she had never heard of a vampire drinking all of the blood that was in their target in one go like this, hence her worry for their friend.
"I've never felt better darling. In fact, I feel better than before." Rarity replied, where she had to wonder if maybe she was a unique type of vampire that grew stronger the more she fed, as in the more blood she drank the more power she got, even though she had no desire to actually test and see if her thoughts were right, as she knew she needed control now that she was actually drawn to blood, before she noticed the state the bandit was left in, "Oh my, did I do that?"
"Yeah... it's not a pretty sight." Azure commented, though at the same time he followed La'nari's instructions and moved the shriveled corpse off to the side of the road before Capper looted the stuff that the bandit had, since they could have a few useful items in their possession, but once he was done La'nari loosed a bit of fire from her right hand and set the corpse on fire, "Um, why are we doing this?"
"To make sure he doesn't come back as a vampire." La'nari answered, though she was unsure if that was true or not since this was the first time she had seen someone like Rarity drain someone of all their blood, so it was hard to know if the bandit would have been revived in due time or if he would have remained dead, all while Capper finished looting the bandits of all their gold, arrows, and even a few lockpicks, useful items to have to help Rarity and Midnight train their new skills, "Those who are bitten, scratched, or even attacked by a vampire's drain attack have a chance to come down with the illness that turned you into a vampire... better that we make sure he doesn't come back as another threat to the people of this land."
"I... I see. I will have to be more careful in the future." Rarity said, as she had no idea the illness could be transferred like that, even though it made sense when she considered how she had been afflicted with it earlier, but now that she knew about the potential threat her feedings could cause she realized that all of her future feedings would have to be done carefully, all to avoid what La'nari was worried about.
Capper realized that Brurid's plan to get Rarity involved in the battle for Faldar's Tooth had done what the nord had wanted, as the constant spilling of blood, and all of the death she had been made to witness, had caused her to become used to how this world worked and how the people operated. This meant she was likely going to keep improving her skills so their leaders kept her around, even though he knew Bek-Kajin would let her stick around since having a person like her could open more doors for them in the future. At the same time he knew that Rarity's sudden change into a vampire might have caused part of her personality or morals to erode, to the point where she would willingly drain someone of all their blood like that, but for the most part it seemed like it had only benefited her in the end. There was also how she reacted to doing what she did, a sort of indifference that was unusual for her, because she didn't seem disturbed by her actions, and there was the fact that she claimed to be feeling even better than before, which only made him wonder what was happening to her and if they needed to be worried about her changes.
Once they were done with the bandits, and La'nari made sure to put out the flames so they didn't spread to the rest of the area, Capper got them underway once more as they continued along the path that would bring them back to where they had landed when they were brought to this world. It was kind of interesting that they were coming back this way, though Capper did have to wonder what sort of event would cause the leader of the Imperial Legion and the emissary of the Dominion to be in the same town, enough for the innkeeper to order some of Maven's mead ahead of their arrival. Something big was going to happen, that much he knew for sure, and while it would be interesting to stick around and see what that might be, to see what was happening to this land, he knew it would be in their best interests to be on their way before the pair arrived for their event. The only reason he considered such a thing was because Skyrim was in the middle of a war and this could very well be them discussing the potential execution of prisoners that might be passing through the area, which he and the rest of the group really didn't need to see, hence why his focus was on getting them to Helgen and then out with Maven's gold for the mead they were transporting.
Despite all of this, however, Capper found himself smiling as he looked at the road that was in front of him, as Skyrim was a land of opportunity and so far he was enjoying every moment of their stay in this land, a fact that only made him wonder what the future held for him, his friends, and their clan.
Capper and the others discovered that there didn't appear to be too much in the way of obstacles for them to worry about as they traveled to Helgen, save for a few wild animals every now and then, mostly wolves and a bear, though the latter did remain near it's lair and didn't chase after them. Such a thing allowed each of them to just relax and think about their job, or whatever they wanted to think about while they made their way to Helgen, the first destination that Maven wanted them to deliver her mead to, where La'nari was positive that they would arrive by noon at the earliest, if they were lucky. She told Capper that the route they were taking was definitely the shortest one possible, as traveling from Riften to Whiterun usually took eight hours at the quick pace they were using right now, so by starting from their fort they should be able to get to the small town in three hours, maybe four at the most. This was good information to have, especially since he could set a pace that wouldn't exhaust the horse that was pulling the wagon, even though there was a lot of things they needed to find out, especially in regards to who was in Helgen.
Unfortunately La'nari wasn't much help in this regard, as it had been years since she was in a position where she knew far more than an average person did, but what she did know was that General Tullius was the one in charge of the Legion's forces in Skyrim, directing the war against the Stormcloak Rebellion. If she had to make a guess on how the other figure was, Elenwen as Capper reminded himself, it would be that she could be a member of the Thalmor, an Emissary if she was going to be with someone of importance to the Legion in Helgen. That, of course, caused them to wonder why two figures of such importance to the Empire were going to be in the same place at the same time, before realizing that it had something to do with the Stormcloaks, causing their khajiit friend to nod her head as Rarity commented on the topic. La'nari had thought about it and determined that Ulfric Stormcloak, the leader of the rebellion, had to be near Helgen and they might be moving to catch him, because if they caught and executed him the war would end, as the head of the snake would be gone and the other Jarls wouldn't have the courage to stand against the Empire anymore.
Suddenly the pieces of the puzzle clicked into place in Capper's mind, the pair knew that Ulfric might be riding somewhere near the town and wanted to ambush him before he escaped, and if that was the plan they could be executing him before the end of the day and celebrate by night's end.
"The war's about to end, that's what's happening... we're delivering some celebration mead before they even capture their target." Capper said, because he imagined that if Ulfric had been captured he would have been executed immediately, as in on the spot where he was caught, all to prevent a potential escape and the prolonging of the war, which was why he was of the opinion that they were trying to catch the nord in question, causing him to chuckle a little, "I'm not sure how Maven knew that the pair would be in Helgen, when Ulfric likely has no idea he's riding into a trap, but she's definitely more connected than I thought she'd be... she's pretty good."
"Considering what we're hauling, I think you might be right." La'nari replied, though she couldn't fault Capper for thinking such a thing, as she was thinking exactly what he was thinking right now, the Legion had to be getting ready to capture Ulfric and execute him before his forces had a chance to save him, it was the only logical explanation she could think of, "Of course the solders in Helgen and the guards of Whiterun might give us some trouble, most of us look like thieves, but we should be able to convince them that we're making a delivery if we mention Maven's name."
This was good information for them, further confirmation of what they had been told previously, though even then Capper had to wonder if there was something they were missing, as it felt like there was a piece of the puzzle none of them had noticed so far, even though Midnight and Azure were focused on the road and Rarity was focused on her new power. He was still surprised by how Rarity had drained the bandit earlier, not stopping until every drop had been extracted, but even he had to admit that she was far stronger than she had been before that encounter, just how Azure was growing as a warrior as they fought more enemies. Of course Midnight lacked a field to go into, since Capper was the thief of their group, but she seemed to have a way around that as they passed by an abandoned alchemist shack and she got off for a few moments, only to return with a bag full of herbs and other items, as she had dabbled in alchemy in the past and she might be able to make some interesting potions with what she had. In addition to that Midnight decided to walk with the wagon for a time, as there were some good herbs nearby that La'nari said could be used in the process, which she knew thanks to the couple of alchemists she had spoken to over the years, and Midnight wanted to make sure she had then in hand for later.
Such a thing did make him wonder if he should use the Skeleton Key again, unlock more of the power that was sealed away within him, though not all at once since that would ruin everything, meaning he would have to think about this more so he didn't make any hasty decisions.
As they continued up the path, however, Capper and La'nari discovered something interesting, there was a group of Legion soldiers ahead of them, at least ten by their count, who happened to be heading in the same direction that the wagon was currently heading in. One of the imperial soldiers was a captain, he was wearing steel armor while the others wore leather that was lighter and easier for them to maneuver in, while his troop seemed to be a mixed bag since Capper could see that there were individuals of all races among the group. None of the imperials seemed annoyed by their presence, rather they seemed fine with having some new people to talk to since they had been marching in silence for a time, plus their spirits were raised somewhat when La'nari told them that they were transporting mead to Helgen as a job for Maven. Of course both she and Capper noticed that they were in an unusually good mood and that caused them to ask about it, since ll five of them figured that having good mead was only part of the situation they were seeing right now.
"Didn't you hear the news? We've captured Ulfric Stormcloak... he just rode straight into our ambush." the captain said, a fact that caught the group by surprise, as they expected him to have been executed after being captured, though it sounded like the local General wanted him brought somewhere so he could be publicly killed, to send a message no doubt, "He and his escort are being taken to Helgen, where the Headsman is waiting for them and will start chopping once their last rites are given to them. According to what I've heard there are a few others with his group that will be executed: a horse thief from Rorikstead, an imperial that likes to dress in dark colors and apparently uses maces, and the secondary prize, a khajiit with an ashen fur color who is said to have lines upon lines of Daedric lettering etched into her very skin."
"Really? You guys caught a daedra worshiper?" La'nari inquired, as this was news to her, even though she was thrilled by the idea that Ulfric was going to no longer be of this world in the very near future, but the existence of an ashen khajiit was what she was focused on, as it was the first time she had heard such a thing.
"Aye, and she was carrying two daedric swords with her... those will likely be kept by the General, until he hands them out to more worthy wielders." the captain replied, though he couldn't fault the group for being amazed by this information, since he and the others were still surprised by that fact as well, but his troop was in high spirits and he could tell that the group didn't seem to be Stormcloak sympathizers, so there was no harm in telling them anything, "According to what I've heard the ashen khajiit was either trying to murder the imperial or she got caught stealing from the woman in question... either way, some of our fellow soldiers caught and arrested them. I'm hoping that when we get to Helgen we can speak with the pair... Captain Alena is known for being too dedicated to her job, and she's likely to start to start chopping before we even figure out if the pair are guilty of anything."
Capper remained silent as they learned that particular piece of information, because while he understood wanting to quickly execute a rebel leader, to end a war before more lives were lost, part of him had to wonder why they might be moving Ulfric to a whole new area before executing him. It was also odd that they might be executing two potentially innocent people, as it seemed like no one knew anything about the noble imperial, because she sounded like an important person, plus they had no information on the ashen khajiit, other than she had daedric lettering on her body and carried two daedric swords, which seemed to be code for the people of Skyrim for a 'problem child'. La'nari lowered her voice and told Capper that there were some daedra worshipers in the past that tried to bring about the end of the world, or so she heard from the stories, so there were all sorts of groups out there, hunting down those who worshiped the Daedric Princes, to prevent that from happening again. That meant if the khajiit really was a daedra worshiper, like she seemed to be, it was possible she was trying to get the attention of her chosen Prince or was on a quest for them, and if that was the case killing the khajiit could prevent anything from happening.
Such a thing caused Capper to shift his head slightly so he could glance back at the others, where he found that Rarity and the former guards were in agreement, it was rude to judge a book by it's cover, causing him to wonder if they might be able to find out something about the khajiit because they weren't linked to either side in the war, before focusing on the path that was in front of them.
Eventually they reached the end of the first portion of their journey, where the sun was high in the sky, likely noon based on what Capper knew of this world, and everyone got a good look at their destination, which appeared to be a small town that had stone walls around it, two stone towers, and a stone keep, in addition to a few wooden houses. This was Helgen, as the troops that had been walking beside them confirmed that this was where Maven wanted them to deliver part of the mead shipment to, apparently called 'Helgen Homestead' as one of the soldiers told them. As Capper suspected there were a good number of soldiers in the town, which made sense considering what would be happening in the near future, but fortunately the troop they were with convinced the guards that they were just transporters, allowing them to enter the town. While they did so he spotted two figures that were in the middle of an argument, a middle aged imperial man in special looking red and bronze armor, befitting his position as the Military Governor of Skyrim for the Legion, while the other was an elf that had to be a member of the Thalmor, due to her dark robe.
Part of him wanted to know what they were talking about, but figured it would be best if they got their job done before they were dragged into the execution, causing him to follow the captain that had been talking for most of the trip and found that he brought them to an inn, located near where the execution would soon be taking place.
"Vilod, you've got a shipment!" the captain said, speaking to someone that was inside the inn, as the door was open and one of the workers was sweeping outside, where Capper found that the person who came outside was a nord warrior, or more like a retired one since he was the innkeeper for the town.
"We have your mead shipment from Maven Black-Briar." Capper stated, causing Azure and Midnight to remove two of the crates that had been loaded into the wagon earlier, as Rarity had found a pouch attached to one that had a note on how much was to be delivered to all three of their destinations.
The nord seemed surprised that they made it in time, as he had been worried that they would arrive at the same time as the rest of the Legion's soldiers or even after them, but that didn't stop Vilod from paying for the mead and having his sweeper move some of it into the inn for later. Capper was handed a fairly large sack of gold, which was easily a few hundred based on his estimates, that he handed to Rarity without delay, who nodded and stashed it away in the smaller crate that Maven had one of her workers put on the wagon before they departed from the fort earlier. He did wait for a few more moments, to see if there was anything Vilod wanted to place a shipment for since it would get back to Maven faster, but since he had no desire to do such a thing Capper called for the others to get ready to leave, causing them to turn the wagon around so they could head to Whiterun. While they did so all five of them noticed that the soldiers were getting ready for the arrival of their prisoners, in fact when the wagon passed by the gate they had entered through it was easy to see two more wagons coming down another portion of the path, containing everyone that had been caught recently.
Again Capper felt like sticking around to see the prisoners, to see the khajiit that everyone thought was a danger to the rest of the world, but decided to focus on getting on with their job so they could get back to Maven with good news, where they found that the soldiers opened the other gate, the one leading to the north, and let them through without delay.
"I didn't think that the escort would be here so soon." La'nari commented, all while breathing a sigh of relief as they headed out into the wilds of Skyrim once more, because she really didn't want to be anywhere near the execution despite wanting Ulfric to pay for his crimes, especially not after hearing about the Captain in charge of Helgen, who they were able to avoid meeting during their visit.
"Yes, it is a surprise... but not entirely unexpected, given that Ulfric is the rebel leader." Capper said, though as they headed down the road that was in front of them, with La'nari telling him to head to the left at the next fork in the path since it was the easier path to use, especially since it would bring them to the Guardian Stones, where he sighed for a moment, "We can only hope that General Tullius does the right thing and executes Ulfric immediately, instead of forcing him to watch as his soldiers are slain one by one."
Capper had gotten used to how this world operated, it was somewhat similar to how he grew up, just with more blood and death than even he knew, but there were things even he knew should be the highest priority right now, regardless if the ashen khajiit was a daedra worshiper or not.
"Still, I don't trust that Thalmor agent... something about her screams that she was here for another reason." Rarity added, because she had observed the elf in question during their very short time in Helgen and she found that while she seemed to dress well, or as well as one could with that sort of clothing, there was something about her that made her worry that she was a threat to what was going to happen in the town.
"Fair. As long as nothing stupid happens, the war will be over in an instant." Azure said, where Midnight nodded her head as well, they knew that Ulfric's death would be good for everyone and shared Capper's hope that the General did the right thing when the time came, causing them to focus on the path that was in front of them once more.
Capper found that there didn't seem to be anything blocking the path again, as in it seemed to be smooth sailing, meaning they were able to reach the path La'nari had mentioned earlier, allowing them to head down the winding road that would bring them to the Guardian Stones. At the same time he noticed that the mountain that was to the north of them had what appeared to be a nordic ruin, similar to the one he and Midnight had raided after their first visit to Riften, which was when Rarity froze after seeing dead people and Azure went with her to aid in her mental recovery. La'nari stared at it for a time as they continued down the road, trying to remember what it was called, before recalling that it was called 'Bleak Falls Barrow', something the local town of Riverwood would likely have more information on if they wanted to learn more about it. One thing many people agreed on was that the old nordic ruins had vast riches stored away inside them, still unclaimed based on what some treasure hunters have said over the years, which caught Capper's attention as he wondered if the tales were even a tiny bit true.
Such a thing made him wonder what sort of riches might be inside the ruins, especially the dwarven ruins and falmer caves, since La'nari said there were three types of areas that treasure hunters raided, though she also said that the nordic ones were what people preferred, as the other two were incredibly dangerous.
As Capper thought about that he brought the wagon to a stop as they reached their destination, a stone platform off to the left side of the path that had three stone pillars, each with a different design on them, the leftmost being a thief, the middle being a mage, and the right being a warrior. La'nari told them that some people generally touched the stones to try and get some sort of power from them, like a boost to their natural abilities, causing the group to understand what she was talking about, they could get a passive blessing of a sort from the stones. Azure stepped forward without delay and placed a hand on the Warrior Stone, causing a red glow to appear on the pillar for a few seconds before transferring to his body and quickly disappearing entirely, while Midnight touched the Thief Stone, causing a shadowy green color to appear. Rarity looked at the trio of pillars for a moment before touching the middle one, the Mage Stone, because she wanted to learn more about the magical powers she might be able to unlock in the future, be it from drinking more blood and gaining power or from any lessons she might have in the future.
Of course those that knew Capper weren't surprised by him touching the Thief Stone, it was in his nature after all, though as he did so the sheen twisted and contorted into a golden color, like it was trying to represent something, before fading away, even though he was sure that it had worked like when the others touched the pillars.
"Wh... What was that?" La'nari asked, because based on what she knew none of the Standing Stones, the collective name for all thirteen of the stone pillars that dotted Skyrim's landscape, used a golden sheen like that, though before anyone could say anything else the air shuddered as they heard a roar, a dragon's based on what the Equestrians knew from the past.
Capper glanced at the highest peak that they had moved around to reach Helgen and spotted a large winged beast, that had scales as black as night and rather jagged looking, with piercing red eyes and grand horns, and even had grand wings and sharp looking talons, even though it had a pair of wings and two feet, a wyvern to be exact. The beast landed on top of one of Helgen's towers and loosed a roar that caused their jaws to drop, as the sky tore open and fireballs, or maybe meteors, fell out of the sky before crashing into everything that was in Helgen, before he loosed another roar that seemed to kick up a broken wagon into the air. In addition to that the beast was capable of breathing fire on everything, setting the town on fire without even missing a beat, like it was taking great pleasure in destroying whatever it wanted, and based on how it flew all over the place it looked like it was fighting the soldiers that were there. Capper took a moment to glance at the others for a moment and they nodded, while there was nothing they could do to assist the people, in fact none of them knew how to fight such a beast, they suspected that they might be able to help people escape from the terrifying figure.
As they climbed back onto the wagon, and started to head up the path again, the beast smashed it's head into the fort and just destroyed everything that was in front of it, or at least that seemed to be what it was doing from their current position, before it seemed to have enough fun and flew overhead, torching the area around the fort before flying over Bleak Falls Barrow and disappearing.
"Great. As if Skyrim didn't have enough problems... now there's a wyvern on the loose." Midnight remarked, though based on the look La'nari had on her face she guessed they were going to have to call the beast a dragon, even though it was more like a wyvern, causing her to sigh as she turned her focus towards Capper for a moment, "What should we do?"
As Capper considered their options, to try and help the people of Helgen or continue onto Whiterun, he was interrupted by an interesting sight, a trio of bandits that happened to be heading towards a cave they had missed, one that almost seemed like an escape route for Helgen. If that was true it meant that someone was looking to take advantage of the situation and loot the burning town for all it was worth, all while killing anyone who might have survived the initial attack and the inferno, something that annoyed most of the group as Rarity, Azure, and Midnight were the first ones to get moving. As Capper got the wagon closer, however, an imperial lady wearing dark gray clothing emerged from the very cave they were making their way to, carrying a mace that she used to smash the skulls of the bandits that were coming towards her. When Azure took a step towards her the lady rushed off into the wilderness, instead of sticking around to see if they were friendly or not, which was just weird when Capper thought about it, something that caused La'nari to check the dead bandits for loot.
When the others tried to head into the cave, however, they were stopped by an imperial soldier that was wearing the lesser armor of a Legion soldier, just leather, though he was panting and seemed out of breath, causing Capper to quickly get off the wagon and have Azure stand guard over it as he approached the figure.
"I... I need your help. Sharva... she was attacked by that lady..." the soldier started to say, though before he finished Capper cut him off and told him to take deep breaths, all while Rarity and Midnight headed into the cave to see what they could find, even though they promised to return quickly since they had no idea if the cavern would remain stable or collapse thanks to what the dragon did.
Fortunately it wasn't long before the pair returned from the cave, where Capper found that the information that the soldiers from earlier had told them was accurate, the female khajiit had an ashen fur color, entirely unheard of based on what La'nari had told them on the way here, and her attire, the tunic of a beggar since her stuff had been taken from her, was messed up badly. The soldier that had been with her stated that she had been in the middle of a fight with a bear, one the imperial lady had triggered, explaining why she looked so bad right now, and when she won the dark lady struck her in the side of the head, knocking Sharva down and causing him, Hadvar, to find assistance. While they talked, and Rarity started to pull out one of their healing potions, Capper noticed that the other piece of information was true as well, there were lines upon lines of daedric lettering running up and down Sharva's body, not to mention spanning the entirety of her arms, legs, hands, feet, head, ears, and even her tail. Something about this told him that she wasn't a daedra worshiper by choice, in fact he had to wonder if she had been forced to sign her life away to a Daedric Prince, in some form or another, and while she didn't regain consciousness after Rarity had her drink the healing potion, at least her breathing became normal.
"Capper... this is madness. She's a daedra worshiper." La'nari commented, speaking to Capper as he found a small clearing that belonged to the bandits that tried to enter the hidden cave, allowing them to move the wagon over and set Sharva down on a flat surface for the foreseeable future.
"I get what you mean, but tell me: would someone like that go out of their way to save people?" Capper asked, as Hadvar had mentioned that the ashen khajiit, despite being bound and chosen for execution ahead of Ulfric, had done her best to save as many people as she could, no doubt so they could escape with the General, before following Hadvar, where La'nari shook her head for a moment, "Honestly, from what I've heard, Sharva doesn't sound like a bad person, just... unlucky, that's all... I just want to talk with her before we do anything else."
La'nari sighed and told Capper he could do whatever he wanted, since he was the leader of the group based on how Rarity and the others seemed to let him make the decisions, causing him to wonder what sort of mess they might be getting into, all while making him look forward to what the future held in store for them and the rest of Skyrim.