Skyrim: Band of Thieves

by Blackdrag-rose

Interlude: On the Road Again

After leaving Riften again the group returned to their fort, where they were welcomed back with open arms by the rest of their clan, as they had been gone for some time and many had been worried that they would have gotten caught up in all of the recent events. Capper informed them that they had seen the destruction of Helgen, after getting the payment for the delivery Maven had hired them to make, where many of their friends stared at them in shock and surprise, that the rumors of Helgen being destroyed by a dragon were actually true. In addition to that there was the fact that the Jarl of Whiterun now had a very skilled hero in the making that they had assisted, mostly to acquire something for him, but the reason they had left the figure to return the item on their own was because there was no payment for it, since the Jarl liked to give out armor and not gold. Plus they had raided Bleak Falls Barrow, so gold wasn't a problem since they had been able to acquire more wealth from the draugr, something that caused the other bandits to let out a roar of chuckles, as they weren't surprised by that fact, not from him and his companions.

One of their mages, a female breton called Vivle, asked Rarity if she was feeling okay, as they had finally noticed the change in her eyes and she told her that she was feeling fine, it was just taking some getting used to her unique vampire nature, even though there were some interesting benefits as she was slowly discovering.

"So, um... do you need to feed soon?" Vivle asked, because while it was interesting having a vampire in the clan, even if the one in question was only a few days old by vampire time, she also knew that there was some danger to it since they were always hungry for blood, some were just better at hiding it than others.

"I'm not sure how often vampires are supposed to feed, but I'm just fine." Rarity replied, as it seemed like vampires could go a few days before feeling the need to feed again, plus she had taken down two bandits and drained both of them of all their blood, which was different from what other vampires did according to what she had been told, so it would be some time before she really needed another bite.

Capper found that the rest of the clan was willing to get used to the fact that Rarity was different from the other vampires they knew about, while informing their leaders that Maven wanted his group to come by the city again tomorrow, no doubt for another job to deliver mead or to take on the two clans that were causing trouble on the road. Bek-Kajin told him that they had heard rumors of the Saints and Seducers from some of the travelers they had encountered before they joined the clan, about their weapons and armor, so if the job was to take them out he warned them to be careful. Capper nodded as he thought about what Maven might want from them, since it could be anything, before deciding to focus on hanging out with the rest of the clan for the night, get some actual rest in his bed, and maybe do some other things, but the first thing he did was make sure that Midnight and the others had their share from the job. Once the gold was equally divided among the five of them, with him getting the excess since the rest of the group thought it was fair due to him dealing with Maven, he made his way to the fort's tower and stepped into his private Vault again, depositing the gold and gems into the piles that were starting to form.

When early morning arrived Capper and his friends departed from the fort with a bit of food to serve as their breakfast, as they wanted to get to the city before anything else happened, and he discovered that they were able to get there without anything bad happening, allowing them to head into Riften and walk into the inn without delay, where they found Maven in the same area as last time.

"As you know, the main road between Whiterun and Windhelm is being plagued by these 'Seducers', while the path leading to Markarth is the domain of the Saints." Maven said, confirming that the job she wanted to hire them for was to eliminate the two clans that were hounding travelers and making it harder for people, caravans and travelers alike, meaning this was just to help secure the roads from the dangers that were plaguing the land, "Thanks to the leader of the khajiit caravans you now know where to find each camp, meaning you know where to strike to eliminate this threat. This time I won't bother with a time limit, but I am expecting you to return by the end of the week, as I might have another vital job for you, one that pays far more than the one you just completed... the payment for this job is two thousand gold, but if you really impress me I might boost your reward, though I wouldn't count on it."

"As you wish. We shall depart right away." Capper replied, where he got up and gestured to the others as they returned to where they had set up their wagon, as they used the north gate this time around, as everyone agreed that Maven was going to hire them to take out both the Saints and Seducers, so La'nari had suggested using the north gate for their departure, as it would point them in the direction of Windhelm.

The only real downside, as La'nari told them, was that there was a fort not an hour away from Riften, which sat on the main road since the road passed right through it, a fort called Fort Greenwall that was home to the Greenwall Clan, but she also knew of a side path, which also had a couple of bears on it. With that in mind Capper focused on the main road until they spotted the worn out side path that everyone seemed to be using recently, as there was another wagon heading towards Riften and the driver nodded to him as they passed each other, showing them that people preferred to avoid the fort and the clan that was there. La'nari told everyone that the Greenwall Clan wasn't as big as their clan or the Faldar Clan, but their position on the road allowed them to capture any travelers who didn't know about the side path, and from what she knew a few of their members were posing as drivers to bring unsuspecting merchants or people to their clan. Fortunately the side road was traveled so often that they didn't have to worry about bears, the main problem in this area, meaning they were able to reach Shor's Stone without delay, a little mining town resting beside a small mountain, but it looked like the miners weren't working today.

As they entered the area, however, Azure asked if they could stop and Capper did so, where the warrior got off and walked over to a couple of people who clearly called this town home, since they were dressed as miners, before one beckoned to the mine itself and Azure walked into it.

"Looks like they told him what the problem is and he's gone in to check." La'nari commented, though judging from how their companion was acting it sure seemed like he thought this was a problem that only one of them needed to solve, instead of all five going into the mines and endangering themselves.

"That's fine. It gives us time to check the information we've been given and plan accordingly." Capper replied, as he knew this was a good stop to make, because restoring the mine meant more people would come through this way and that meant a lot more gold would be flowing into Riften, and some might even use the road leading to their fort, so it was more gold for everyone in the end.

Fortunately they didn't have to wait too long as Azure emerged from the mine, after spending five minutes in there, and told the nearby guard something, causing him to go in and check before returning to announce that all of the spiders were dead, causing the local blacksmith to hand Azure a large bag of gold before he returned to the wagon.

"Seriously? Spiders? What was keeping the guards from taking care of them?" Rarity asked, though at the same time Azure handed Capper the bag and asked him to count it, because while he was sure it was a fair reward he really didn't want it, but took it to avoid upsetting the blacksmith, so he figured he could take a small portion of it and let Capper have the rest.

"They said it wasn't worth worrying about with the war going on." Azure replied, where he shrugged, because with how fast he dealt with the group of spiders that happened to be in the mines he was sure the trio of guards could have done it the same amount of time, but he guessed this was a good thing, since his tale would be one of heroism to the people.

Capper found that the blacksmith was fairly grateful for the mine being reopened, as there were one thousand five hundred coins inside the bag, to which Azure took a hundred of them and allowed Capper to store the remainder of it inside his Vault, though once he was ready to go they got underway once more. It wasn't long before they found that there were more foes on the road for them to deal with, namely bears by the looks of it, so La'nari kept her eyes peeled for danger and when she spotted one she had them stop so she could loose an arrow or two at the target from afar. Such a thing usually meant that an obstacle was eliminated before it could become a problem, as she knew that bears were highly aggressive and taking all of them out before one noticed them was the right way to go so the wagon could progress without slowing down. This time around La'nari also told them to not worry about the bodies they were leaving behind, as the other animals would no doubt find them and harvest the bears, plus a few people might claim a bear and cook it, plus her opinion was to make sure they weren't weighed down by all the excess weight.

Eventually they reached a fork in the road, the left path heading back in the direction of Whiterun while the path on the right was heading in the direction of Windhelm, to which Capper directed them down the right path, allowing them to pass by an orc that had killed some saber cats, so they nodded to him as they continued towards their destination.

As they headed down the path Rarity spotted something off on the right side and pointed it out, a large structure carved into the side of the mountain that seemed to have steam coming from it, to which La'nari had Capper go up the side path, which meant ignoring the stone steps since it would just slow them down. She informed them that this was a dwarven ruin, one of a number that were scattered throughout Skyrim, but the only one she knew the name of was Avanchnzel, due to the fact that it was close to their base, causing Rarity to rub the bad of her head, as every time they had passed by something else had demanded her attention. This one, by the looks of things, was locked, the main door seemed impossible to open, but at the same time Capper didn't pull out the Skeleton Key, as he suspected that this might be important later, though the same wasn't true for the outside structure, a storehouse that was unlocked. That caused them to enter the smaller structure for a moment, finding that it had a short diagonal walkway down into a central room, with a locked door to their right and a gate in front of them, which was also locked, but Capper did see something interesting on the other side of the gate, a glowing blue gemstone of some kind.

"It doesn't seem like there's much in here. Should we get moving?" Rarity asked, because it looked like this area might have been looted in the past and no one bothered with the gate or the door, maybe realizing that there was nothing else in the structure for them to take and sell off.

"Well, I'll check the gate and the door, then we'll get out of here. You guys are free to hang out at the wagon until I'm done checking the area." Capper replied, where he walked over to one of the shelves and picked up a few lockpicks, since a few had been left behind, though he knew that if Rarity was going to be a thief she needed to sharpen some of her skills, but he suspected she might walk a different path.

La'nari decided to head outside and keep an eye on the wagon, since there might be bandits nearby, where Capper found that the others decided to join her, leaving Capper to check out the potential loot as he unlocked the door to the right and found that it lead to a small room with two chests on the wall in front of him. In addition to that he found sixteen ingots that were of dwarven make, which seemed like bronze to him, while the two chests had a few pieces of jewelry for him to take, as while there were a gold necklace and a silver ring he also located a jeweled golden necklace among the treasure. With those items claimed, as he just moved the ingots into his Vault, he unlocked the second door that was in the small room and found that it brought him to the other side of the locked gate, another small chamber that confirmed this was the end of the area, but it held his prize. That being a blue crystalline shard that looked like it was a crest of some kind, cut from a larger piece, and he was sure it held some sort of power inside it, to which he stored it inside his Vault, along with a few more dwarven ingots, but he placed the enchanted battleaxe near the locked gate.

Before he headed outside Capper stepped into his Vault for a moment and picked up the crystalline shard, where he walked it over to where the odd crystal was floating and found that when he lifted his hands the new piece floated into the air, like it was orbiting around the center of the Vault, causing him to smile as he returned to the others.

"Got a few pieces of jewelry and an interesting crystalline shard... and this for you, Azure, if you want it." Capper said, where he handed the new dwarven battleaxe to the warrior of their group and found that he moved off to the side to test it out for a few seconds, before he shook his head and tapped his greatsword, showing them that he preferred swords over axes and maces, causing Capper to put it in the back of the wagon, "No worries, we can just sell it to a merchant later... probably get a bit of gold for it."

Once they were ready to go the group got back on the wagon and departed from the area that the storeroom was in, which meant returning to the main road before heading north once more, causing La'nari to focus on loosing arrows at the bears that happened to be in their way. Other than the bears it seemed to be a rather peaceful ride, though there was an area off to their left that was a giant's camp, as there was a large figure walking around a rather large fire, and near them wandered a mammoth, doing whatever it wanted to since the giant was it's protector. At the same time Capper noticed something else that caused everyone to go silent as he made sure the horse got them out of the area, there was a lone peak about ten to thirty minutes away from them that happened to have a dragon flying around it, as it had taken off after they spotted the lone giant. It wasn't the black dragon from Helgen, which made them wonder what was going on right now, while La'nari quickly pointed out that it was icy blue, likely a frost elemental dragon, though for the time being they focused on getting out of the area and remained silent.

Somehow they were able to get out of the area without the dragon noticing them, which was fine since Capper doubted that they would be able to bring such a beast down, causing him to focus on the road once more as he continued towards the city of Windhelm, even though they wouldn't be stopping anytime soon.

As they moved along the path La'nari pointed out a group of travelers, adventurers by the looks of it, who stopped them and shared some interesting news with them, that the Whiterun guards had taken down a dragon, though in the chaos of the fight someone attacked the khajiit hero that was aiding Jarl Balgruuf. Capper and the others glanced at each other, because it seemed like Xylia was at it again, either seeking revenge for Sharva chasing her down or because her Prince wanted her tail to be eliminated before she continued with her task, but their battle made it impossible to tell who absorbed the soul of the now dead dragon. The nord adventurer said it was the power of the Dragonborn, a warrior of legend, but there was no way to know who got the soul, because both had run off into the wilderness and disappeared, meaning that many were thinking it was the imperial and some who thought it was the khajiit. That was all they knew on the matter, to which Capper informed them of what they had seen in the rocky crags, especially the dragon that was flying around, causing the adventurers to thank them for the information, in fact one paid him a hundred gold for it, since this might save their lives.

With their conversation down the wagon continued down the road, leaving the adventurers to talk about what they would do next, especially now that they knew about the dragon, though La'nari had Capper stop at the inn that was down the road for a few seconds, where she popped in for a moment and returned with food for them to eat. La'nari explained that most of Windhelm's nords disliked anyone else and some inside the city loved to harass the other races that called the city home, all while the Stormcloaks preferred to state that 'Skyrim belonged to the nords', almost as if they wanted everyone else to get out and go elsewhere. Right now she didn't want to go into the main city and be bothered by the nords, so she figured that a short stop at Kynesgrove, the inn they were passing by, would be more appropriate for them since they should be able to get to the first camp before night fell. She figured that, while it might not be the best option, they could take out the first of their targets and then use the camp the Seducers had set up, to get some rest before worrying about the Saints, or the long journey to get to where Ri'saad had seen the other bandit clan.

Capper agreed that her plan was the smart one, since they didn't want to be stopped by the racist guards of Windhelm, to which he focused on heading towards the city before turning to the left, passing by a large stone bridge that seemed to be the entry point for the city, which appeared to be fully made of stone, at least from far away.

Heading down the path to their left meant crossing over another shorter stone bridge, though that was easy to so as La'nari focused on keeping an eye out for enemies, though for the time being it just looked like a couple of wolves, which Midnight was able to take care of with a few swings of her blades. In addition to the wolves Capper spotted a trio of drunks off to the side of the path, causing him to set his food down when they stopped so he could see if they were in need of assistance, but the drunks just wanted to have fun and wished them well on their journey. Other than that he found nothing else on the way and that meant they were able to cross another stone bridge, passing by a clear waterfall in the process, before entering a small area with two houses and a mill, though it appeared that the workers were just hanging out, which might annoy their boss. Instead of wasting time on them the group continued up the hill and noticed that there was another waterfall off to the left, where someone was camping by a stream despite the fact that there was a settlement not even two minutes from the area he had picked out, but they decided not to bother him as they continued up the road.

As they drew closer to the fork in the road that would bring them to where the Seducers was located La'nari had them come to a stop and Capper did so, where everyone got off the wagon as she pointed at the top of the snowy hill that was to their right, where they found four figures, at least one nord, one elf, and two khajiits, waiting around a campfire. What they were wearing was an assortment of gear, as most wore two pieces of fur armor and one leather piece, but one wore a pair of black gloves, another had black boots, and one had a black spiked helm, and each had black weapons, meaning they had to be the Seducers. With that in mind she glanced at the others and nodded for a moment, because based on their position it looked like there would be no sneaking up on them, rather they were going to have to engage them and hope for the best, all while quietly asking Rarity if it was possible for her to bite the archer's neck. Her plan was rather simple, the four of them would engage their enemies and demand their attention, while Rarity found a way to bite and drain the archer, so with one less foe to worry about they could claim victory in no time at all, or at least that was her hope, causing Rarity to nod as they focused on their enemies.

Capper signaled for La'nari to start the assault and she did so without delay, loosing an arrow that struck a Seducer right in the side of his leg, causing them to turn towards the group as everyone readied their weapons, leaving Rarity to slip into the nearby shadows as she focused on the archer. Capper found that the one with the sword and shield came at him, which had to be the leader since he wore the helm and gloves, causing him to parry the incoming attack with his blades and found that his foe was definitely stronger than he was expecting, as he was pushed back almost instantly. Midnight and La'nari were in the same boat as they realized that these bandits were stronger than they had assumed, while Azure used the edge of his greatsword to parry the incoming blow and slashed at his foe's chest, pushing her backwards instead. Rarity, on the other hand, found that she was able to sneak around the area and ambushed the archer as she readied an arrow, where she sunk her fangs into her neck and drained her without delay, making sure she died like those she had drained in the past, and as soon as that was done she got up and hurled a lightning bolt into the leader's backside.

The leader, stunned for a moment since he wasn't expecting such a thing, left an opening for Capper to use and he took it, removing the bandit's head before he could react, while the others opened similar holes in the defenses of their foes and cut them down as well,

"Not to ruin the mood, but that seemed... well, a little too easy." Azure commented, because the leader had been the best of their enemies, even though he could tell that the weapons and armor were definitely stronger than what most of their foes had used in the past, while Capper found a journal and opened it.

"That's because this was only the secondary camp... there's a main one further down the road, where the true leader of the Seducers is waiting." Capper replied, though at the same time he started to collect the armor of the Seducers, finding that there was enough gloves and boots, but only two helmets and a single chest piece, where he found that the last piece had been inside the chest that was part of the camp, "Kind of revealing, if you ask me."

"I don't know, I think it suits me... plus it's probably good for stealth." Midnight remarked, where Capper found that she had discovered a pair of dark daggers that matched the armor they had recovered, stronger weapons than what she was using at the moment, before he shrugged and allowed her to take the armor, even though he did notice that the helm morphed to fit her ears.

As the others collected the rest of the gear, La'nari switching her bow for the archer's dark one as she collected the arrows as well, Rarity made sure to set fire to the bandit she had drained once his items had been gathered, though Capper found a large cage in the area as well. Inside it rested a bug of some kind, likely from an entirely different world since it didn't seem like something that would naturally be found in this world, to which he unlocked the gate and found that the odd bug walked around him for a moment before resting to the side, meaning they now had a pet, a weird one at that. While he made sure the wagon was brought up here, to ensure no one got any funny ideas, he Midnight reported having found a number of new ingredients for her to experiment with, before he focused on the fact that there was one tent available, but found that none of the others seemed tired right now. In the end he told them to just relax for a while, to make sure they were ready to go for whatever the next camp had in store for them, while he counted up the gold that had been collected, and a few ingots made of silver, before adding more wealth to his Vault.

All of this made him all the more eager to see what the main Seducer came had to offer them and what sort of items they could take from them while wiping them out, which only made him all the more interested in whatever the future held for him and his friends.

Comments

[Night_Moon60606]

Dark Weapons and Armour, the Light Armour variants from the Shivering Isles...and one of the easier to learn how to forge and craft, only need a 70 in Smithing to get the Glass Armour Smithing Perk...everything else needs more...

edit: seems i tell i lie, Amber Amour needs the Glass Smithing Perk, Dark Armour requires Smithing 90 to get the Daedric Smithing Perk...

[Blackdrag-rose]

11903113 It's okay, I made a similar mistake when I was playing on my character and trying to make the armors. But yes, Amber gear requires Glass Smithing perk, Dark Seducer and Golden Saint gear both require Daedric Smithing, and Madness gear requires Ebony Smithing.