Skyrim: Band of Thieves

by Blackdrag-rose

Clan: Helgen Business

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.

Comments

[Xalok]

Someone new might have joined the party.

[Dinojo]

From the description of your story I was pretty intrigued but then I saw one of the tags was anthro and I lost interest completely

[Night_Moon60606]

Well, that was interesting, makes me wonder just who will be claiming the name of Dohva...

11888751
Technically speaking, all pony fiction is anthro, it's just most of it is Level One anthros...

[Blackdrag-rose]

11888751 I'm sorry to hear that.

[Keyblade of Light]

11886873
Well I have a funny and cool idea for Rarity bat wings if she gets them. Like Rarity has a pair of bat wings growing out of her back and they start out kinda small the more powerful she becomes and just the longer she is a vampire in general her wings start to grow in size until their about as big as Midnight's wings maybe even bigger than Midnight's wings.

[Blackdrag-rose]

11889702 It's possible that such a thing could happen over the course of the story.