Interlude: Back to the Rift
With the Dragonstone in hand the group headed up the stone steps that were leading to another secret passage, one that required someone to pull a lever to activate, only to find that it was a short walk to a short ledge that they could jump off of, as there was a flat area just a short fall in front of them. Capper found another chest along the way and looted it as the rest of the group joined him, finding that it held a pouch of gold, a silver ingot, and a circlet that was made of copper and had a ruby set in the center, which was worth collecting. With those items in hand they headed out through the cave opening in front of them, where they discovered that it brought them out on another side of the mountain, though there was no safe way down, not without using a few stone ledges to reach an area with half buried skeletal mammoths. Midnight was the last one to emerge from the cave, where she stuffed some herbs into her bag with a smile, as she found some inside the hidden chamber, meaning when they got back to the fort she would be able to start her experiments in making potions, along with poisons if she was lucky.
As they exited the cave, however, Capper found that it was the early morning, as the sun had not yet risen and the moon had yet to fully go down, but it did tell the group they had been in the barrow for longer than they thought, meaning it was about time for them to get some sleep before worrying about anything else.
"I didn't realize we were in that barrow for so long... we really burned quite some time in there." Capper remarked, as the depths of Bleak Falls Barrow had been far larger than what he and Midnight had experienced in Angarvunde, which told him that there were 'major' ruins and 'minor' ruins, the former being massive and the latter being smaller, causing him to move to their left, as it looked like they were in a familiar area, "Come on, let's get back to Riverwood... maybe we can rent a room or two for a few hours, get some sleep, before we head back to Whiterun."
"We're going to have to use the longer path to get back to Riften, now that the Legion or bandits are scouring Helgen for any items of use." La'nari added, as they had used that path because it was the shortest route between here and Riften, but due to the dragon having wrecked Helgen, and that would likely draw the attention of many people for some time, they had no choice but to use the longer path to reach their main destination, "Farengar, from what you've said, doesn't seem like the type to give a reward... much less a reward in gold... and the Jarl is likely going to hand over a piece of armor or a weapon, so there's not much of a reason for us to head into Whiterun again."
Sharva looked like there was something she wanted to say, but decided not to, like she was enjoying her time with them and didn't them to go their separate ways, so instead she focused on the path that was ahead of them as they headed back in the direction of Riverwood. Capper found that they were on the other side of the river they had passed earlier, because he could see the Guardian Stones in the distance, before he and his companions found a small house that had no door and was where an old lady seemed to be sleeping, so they decided not to bother her. As they followed the river they spotted a group of bandits coming their way, aggressive ones by the looks of it since they drew their weapons upon noticing them, to which La'nari readied her bow and loosed an arrow as her friends readied themselves for battle. What Capper found was that none of the bandits were heavily armed, most had leather or fur armor and their brute only had iron, so La'nari's arrow found the heart of the fur armored bandit, a mage who dropped dead on the spot, while Azure cleaved through the iron bandit.
He and Sharva dealt with the other two, each of them using one of their blades to stop an incoming attack before using the other one to put down their target, where Midnight looked around and collected a few more herbs, there was plenty for her to take, while Rarity kept an eye on things as Capper looted the bodies of everything they had. His reasoning was due to the fact that the Riverwood Trader was near, so before they left he was planning on selling what the bandits had on them, since it wasn't out of the way and would earn them a bit of gold in the process, plus one even had a ruby that he added to what was inside the Vault. With the items stored away in another pouch, since one of the bandits had one of the magical ones that was like the group had, they continued down the path in front of them and found a shallow spot where only a tiny bit of their bodies, as in their feet, would get wet, allowing them to cross over without delay. The guards didn't seem surprised to see them return to the small village, especially since they had left their wagon in their care, but this was good since it meant the horse and the wagon were untouched, though after checking it out the group headed into the inn to see if they could get a room or two for the night.
There were only two rooms in the inn, as they soon discovered, and both rooms only had a single bed, but they were able to double up as long as one person faced the wall of each room, where Capper found that the lady who owned the inn was willing to allow them to rent both of them for twenty gold, ten per room. With the rooms obtained for a couple of hours, despite the fact that the breton lady claimed that they had them for an entire day, Rarity and La'nari took one room while Azure and Midnight took the other, as Capper was fine with sleeping in the back of the wagon, while Sharva joined him, as if she didn't want the comforts of the inn. He knew there was something odd about her, she wasn't like any of the khajiit they had encountered so far, but at the same time it really didn't seem like she wanted to open up about herself, rather she just laid at the front of the wagon, where Capper usually sat, and stared at the sky as she tried to get some sleep. Capper laid down in the back area and did the same thing, making him wonder if they could find or make something like what one of the showmares back in Equestria had, a carriage that was bigger on the inside than it was on the outside.
Such a thing made him wonder about his magic for a moment as he pulled out the Skeleton Key, thinking about the number of possibilities he might be able to do if he used the Key to tap into his inner sealed powers, especially after it allowed him to make a vault in the depths of Oblivion. As he considered his options, to tamper with himself like he was thinking or to just put the Key back into his pouch, he heard Sharva snoring and came to a decision as he moved himself into the outer area of his Vault, a useful power when he considered what the artifact could do. In the next instant Capper held the Key out like he had done previously, something that caused three icons to appear in front of him, looking like the Guardian Stones to reflect the aspects of his sealed potential, one for combat, one for magic, and one for thievery. What he found was that each had a slot that the Key could fit into, like he could turn it in an 'unlocking' fashion to release more of the power associated with that aspect of himself, and yet Capper smiled as he found that the thief one was already nearly totally unlocked, demonstrating his own innate skills in that regard.
With that in mind he slipped it into the warrior icon and turned it just a little, as he felt like working up his skills and this was a good way to help learn the basics, before doing the same with the mage icon a few seconds later, though once he did that Capper held his hands out and flames danced around his fingers, which he could fire off into the open area, just a little bit, before cancelling the spell.
"Fascinating. The power of the Key is definitely endless." Capper commented, though that cause him to wonder something for a moment as he glanced out at the rest of Oblivion, where he was sure that the Planes of the Princes rested, causing him to lightly chuckle for a moment as a ridiculous idea came to him for a few seconds, "Imagine me becoming a Daedric Prince... nah, I doubt I have that much hidden potential."
He knew that coming here to master the basics of whatever power he unlocked would be a good thing, so when he trained in the fort no one would be surprised when he asked to do such a thing, but for the time being he decided to make sure the loot they had acquired from Bleak Falls Barrow was properly stored inside the Vault. Such a thing amazed him when he took a moment to consider what the ancient nords had buried in a single barrow, there was a fair amount, which actually made him curious as to whether or not all the tombs across Skyrim were packed full of precious loot. If they were he knew he and the others would be able to retire as lords and ladies without having to do much in the future, save for visiting the rest of the world to plunder their tombs for all the wealth that was contained within them, and even if they weren't as rich as Bleak Falls Barrow he knew that any wealth was good wealth. As he moved the treasure into the Vault, thinking about the gold, ingots, and gems they had recovered so far, Capper noticed that the odd floating crystal seemed to pulse slightly, as if happy to see that he was happy, which only made him chuckle a little more as he realized that he really needed sleep.
Once his work was done Capper returned to the wagon and found that no one had noticed his disappearance, where he just laid back down on the flat portion of the back area and allowed himself to rest for a time, since he knew that when morning arrived they would have to make a decision on what to do next.
When morning arrived sometime later, a few hours by his reckoning, Rarity and the others joined them outside the inn, and they had food, as they were able to purchase some from the bartender in the inn, where La'nari shared her opinion that the Dragonstone should be dropped off in Whiterun, before they headed back to Helgen. Capper asked about that, because all of them had thought that heading back there, so soon after it was destroyed, might be a bad idea, and she had agreed when it was mentioned previously, but she had thought about it for a time and came to the decision that she might have been wrong on the matter. It was true that people would be investigating the area at some point, or bandits would move in when they were sure it was abandoned, but before that happened she was sure that they should be able to quickly pass through the destroyed town and get back to the Rift before anyone else arrived. Rarity, Azure, and Midnight didn't have a problem with the idea, as in if Capper wanted to try Helgen again they were fine with it, or if he wanted to go around the mountain they were fine with that as well, while Sharva just sighed as she tore into her breakfast.
"I'm going to miss this... adventuring with you guys. Maybe we'll meet up when the Jarl is done with me?" Sharva asked, as she had a feeling that her experience escaping a dragon was going to make both the court wizard and Jarl Balgruuf give her more work when she returned with the Dragonstone, and part of her just wanted to put it on the table and walk away so she could run to join the group.
"There is one thing I have learned: never say never. We'll meet up again, I'm sure of it." Capper replied, as Skyrim was big and there were plenty of people that needed help, something Sharva could provide to them with her incredible skills, so it was only a matter of time until she caught up with them, plus she knew where they were going and might just seek them out as soon as she was done with the Jarl.
Such a thing put a smile on Sharva's face as they finished eating their breakfast, made sure the horse was ready to go, and then set off from Riverwood once more, though this time around Capper decided to try La'nari's new option, head back in the direction of Helgen. With that in mind Sharva got her stuff ready so that they would be able to pull into the stable area for a few seconds before doubling back to Riverwood, where it was easy for them to see that she was steeling herself for the next step of her life, like she was getting used to deciding her own path through life. Fortunately it didn't seem like anyone else was up right now, save for the guards, so they were able to reach their destination without delay, though as Sharva climbed off the wagon they found that there was someone getting ready to leave, Aela the Huntress had been hired to look into Helgen by Jarl Balgruuf. She asked them if they were heading back that way and even tossed Capper a pouch that had twenty gold coins inside it when he agreed to take her there, since they would be passing the area anyway, allowing her to take Sharva's place as Capper turned the wagon around.
While they traveled Aela asked why Sharva wasn't coming with them, learning that they were simple delivery people with a few bodyguards and the ashen khajiit was a hero in the making, and this was her tale, but Capper found that Azure asked about the Companions, meaning he might check out Jorrvaskr when they next returned to the city, and that Aela was happy to answer his questions.
It took some time to reach the now empty town, as there were no flames and most of the houses were either ruined or just about ready to fall apart, Capper found that the second gate they had moved through previously was still open and that the first one was also unlocked, with nothing to stop them from leaving. With that in mind he paused for a few seconds so Aela could climb off, though she did look at Rarity for a few seconds before wishing all of them well, though it partly sounded like the majority of it was directed at Azure, no doubt because she was hoping he'd join the Companions at some point. Once she set out to explore the ruined town, to see if there was anything that could be useful to the Jarl of Whiterun, Capper got them underway and headed through the other open gate, allowing them to start retracing their path back to their fort, and to Riften. Such a thing allowed the others to relax a little as they started to head into the mountains once more, because it meant they would be heading into familiar territory and wouldn't have to worry about new dangers, though La'nari kept her eyes open for anything that might be useful for their clan, food and other essentials.
As it turned out there was nothing on the road this time around, no deer for some reason, meaning either the bears were being a real problem or the deer were hiding, especially since there was a dragon and they might have seen it, meaning they were able to reach their fort without anything stopping them.
La'nari had them stop for a few moments as she spoke to Brurid and Bek-Kajin, who had been worried about them due to the roar that sounded yesterday, meaning everyone near Helgen, plus the surrounding area around where the beast had shown up, must have heard it, causing her to tell them that they would share the tale once Maven was dealt with. With that in mind Capper got underway once more and continued down the road as the sun moved above them, once more finding that there was nothing getting in their way, which was a nice change of pace when the group thought about it. The oddest thing came when they neared the mill that they had been attacked by previously, where a thundering voice shouted out a single word that was stretched out into three fragments, that being 'dov-ah-kiin', but what it meant none of them knew, not even La'nari knew. While they traveled Capper kept his ears open and found that there were no sounds blasting through the air, no dragons and no other words or titles causing the earth to shake, which was good since it meant the horse remained calm for the rest of the short journey.
"Hail travelers. What brings you to Riften?" a guard asked, as the ones posted on the southern gate now seemed to be more normal, more in the sense that they were allowing people to enter through this gate at long last, in fact the speaker had also waved at them before they made their way around to the northern gate.
"We are returning from a delivery for Maven Black-Briar." Capper replied, where he found that the mere mention of Maven's name caused the pair to nod their heads and usher them into the city without wasting time, though as they climbed off the wagon one guard made sure that the horse was looked after while they were inside the city.
As they headed inside the city it was easy to see that the market was busy, though it was hard to tell if they were worried about the dragon or if this was just an ordinary day for them, but Capper did spot Maven and she beckoned for them to follow with a nod of her head. Such a thing confirmed that she was used to people following her every whim, though none of them argued as they followed her into the inn, where the argonian innkeeper and barkeep said nothing as she told them that she would be upstairs for a time and that they didn't require anything, simply nodding as she walked by. It was simply amazing the amount of power Maven held over the people of Riften, so many were terrified of offending her that they just bowed their heads and listened to her demands without question, meaning that if she wanted something done it got done, no matter the cost. With that thought in mind they followed her upstairs and watched as she sat by a table that was in one of the corners, allowing her to keep an eye on the stairs in case someone tried to interrupt her, while the guard who followed her remained by a wall in case things went south, either for Maven or for the group.
Of course it was easy to see that she was slightly disappointed in them, no doubt because she expected them to be back far sooner than when they had actually arrived, meaning they could kiss some of their payment goodbye, since she was one of the people who demanded perfection in all things.
"You're late. You better have a good reason for arriving late." Maven stated, confirming Capper's thoughts without delay, as he had more than enough experience with people like her and knew how they acted, so it was easy for him to read her and figure out her mood without giving anything away.
"Our apologies, but we were assisting the Jarl of Whiterun in recovering information about the dragon that showed up all of a sudden... I take it news of Helgen's destruction has reached Riften?" Capper replied, once more acting like everyone else, someone who acted in Maven's best interests and made sure she was appeased, while they found that Maven sat there for a few seconds before nodding her head to confirm that she had heard the news, causing him to produce the bags of gold from all three of the inns they had stopped at, "We had delivered the mead to Helgen and received the payment, as instructed, and were halfway to Riverwood when a black dragon destroyed the town... we then helped someone who had information on the attack to Jarl Balgruuf, before assisting them in recovering more vital information. While we did that we were able to deliver the rest of the delivery to the inns of Whiterun's capital and acquire the payments for the mead, plus I spoke with Mallus and acquired the note you asked for."
"The khajiit caravans also told us about the Saints and Seducers." La'nari added, since they were important, given that they or more of Maven's people might go down those roads in the future and would be harassed by the two bandit clans, while at the same time the lady took the letter and silently read it.
"Yes, well, we'll get to that. As for your payment, I've taken some of your payment as punishment... any later and I would have taken more... and a small bonus for the letter." Maven said, which Capper knew was coming, because while La'nari had said that the lady wouldn't be annoyed with them for being late, since they would arrive with everything she wanted, he knew Maven would have been cross with them no matter what happened, while she handed him a smaller bag and an even smaller one a few seconds later, "You may return to your fort for the rest of the day. Tomorrow I expect you to return early in the morning for another job... you might have been late, but you show real promise in completing my jobs to the letter... plus this is more than you'll make as simple bandits. If you know what's good for all of you, you'll be there when I say so."
Fortunately none of the others raised their voices, rather they followed Capper's lead and nodded their heads, showing her that they understood her wishes, even though it seemed like she was going to send them after the two bandit clans, instead of hiring mercenaries to do the job. With the delivery made Maven dismissed them with a wave of her hand and they left, Capper holding onto the bags to make sure none of it was lost, though while leaving he found Brynjolf nodding, showing that he approved of them working with Maven. After that they headed outside before making their way through the south gate once more, where Capper sat in back as La'nari got underway, allowing him to count at least one thousand five hundred gold coins, half of what Maven had said the original payment would be upon their return. The smaller bag had a few gemstones inside it, a couple of garnets and an amethyst, showing him that Maven had really cut into their profit from this venture, a reminder for them to pay more attention to what she said in the future, least she punish them in some manner.
He sighed as he put the bags away, as there would be time for them to divide the payment when they got back to the fort, though Capper was looking forward to relaxing with their clan and catching up with them before he and his friends worried about whatever the future held in store for them.
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No matter the time, or place, Maven will always be a ass.
as expected, our Solar Guard is headed for the Companions, though how he might take what happens in the Circle is another matter entirely. usually, when i play that quest line, i play as Kahjiit simply because i find the idea of a Cat turning into a Dog to be amusing...
11899057
eh, shes not a hard woman to figure out, shes interested in wealth and power, and has little use for morals or ethics should they get in her way of acquiring more of said wealth and power.
11899399 It is an amusing idea, a khajiit turning into a werewolf... which is also what I usually do, since I mostly play as a khajiit. And yeah, Aela is causing Azure's interest in the Companions to rise.
11899410
Also I think Rarity might play an important role in the Dawnguard story arc because she is a vampire. Also harkon might be interested in her because Rarity is immune to the negative effects of vampirism as in not taking increases damage to fire and not being weakened in sunlight. Obviously Rarity not going to join harkon and his scheme to block out the sun because Rarity still has her morality.
11899410
there is the small matter that, for all the Companions talk of honour and glory, they are still, at heart, mercenaries, and therefore primarily interested in coin...
11899427 That is very true, the Dawnguard is going to be interesting when we get to it because of what Rarity is.
11899434 This is also true. Aela even admits this when you first talk to her about the Companions, mentioning that her group arrives 'if the coin is good enough'.
11899453
mind you, the price might be high, but you do get what you pay for with the Companions, and they are willing to do most jobs, save for those where the Brotherhood or the Thieves Guild might hold more of a claim...
11899477 Aye, the Companions are willing to venture into bandit camps or even falmer caves to save those they've been hired to save. While the Brotherhood is willing to kill anyone, since they've fallen on hard times... and the Guild, well, they're thieves and they steal from nearly everyone in Skyrim.
11899495
the Guild takes contracts, just like the other two organizations, anyone can hire them to do a bit of 'resource reallocation' for them. the Brotherhood have always killed whomever they were paid to (except in Morrowwind where the Tong hold sway) but without a Listener, finding out about new Contracts is something more of a hassle.
11899575 Fair enough. I only mentioned the Brotherhood killing everyone because back in Oblivion you were killing a bunch of rich people, but in Skyrim you're offing beggars and old woman.
11899781
eh, the people of Skyrim have more money to throw around to off the folk they dont like, not that hard to figure out, a lot of those are also the smaller, cheaper contracts that dont have quite the big payout that offing, say, an Emperor would...
11899979 You aren't wrong on that front.
Also the voice that is telepathically talking to capper from the skeleton key. The voice belongs to karliah isn't it. Karliah is trying to warn Capper that Mercer is the real traitor of the thieves guild and he framed her for the death of the previous guild master Gallus. Even though mercer was the one who actually killed Gallus.
11901150 Actually, while that would be interesting, that's not whose speaking to Capper every now and then. It's not Nocturnal either, since she doesn't really care... it's someone else entirely.