Za'kera and her forces rode down the path that would bring them by Bruma, though her focus was on what else was going on in the province, as she could see all of the smoke coming from where Dagon's forces were marching and she could see the portal to Coldharbour opening off in the distance. Sure, playing that card now meant that the Dominion might notice it and plan around Molag Bal moving it over to the other provinces of Tamriel, but right now it was a good move that had to be made, showing their enemies that even the gods of this world didn't approve of what they were doing. She had to wonder if the person in charge of the Dominion's forces in Cyrodiil was quaking in their boots, seeing the sheer force that was coming to ruin their plans, before she considered how they were going to get into the city, as in the route that the beggars might have for those she sent into the city. Part of her knew that sending Amaryllis was a requirement, as her friend was one of the best assassins she had seen so far, and she was sure there were others that would be useful in retaking the city, though for right now there was one thing they had to do before they reached the city, which was taking Bruma back and liberating the citizens in the camps.
As she thought about that, however, they found a force of Dominion soldiers marching out of the city that was off to their right, where Za'kera raised a hand and gestured to the enemies that were coming their way, as it looked like a hundred foes were emerging from the city, where she suspected there were more emerging from Bruma.
Lydia and the other warriors smashed into the soldiers of the Dominion, surprising the Altmer force with the sheer power that they possessed, where Amaryllis noticed that a number of their enemies were actually afraid of Lydia, like they were scared that her bovine form would be passed onto them if she touched them. It was an amusing thought when she took a moment to consider it, not that they would have done that to the Dominion since death was the only thing they deserved right now, though it allowed Lydia to open the way for Za'kera to climb off her horse and join the battle. Sure enough the Dominion's archers and mages readied themselves as she approached the battlefield, showing that they understood that she was the cornerstone of the army, that taking her out would cripple their forces and divide them, though before those enemies could do anything Zoravoir swung her arm and lightning struck all of the ranged enemies, stunning them so their mages and archers could deal with them. Za'kera, on the other hand, drew her blades and watched the soldiers for a few moments, silently daring her enemies to come at her as her forces stood back, showing that they trusted her power and that it was unwise to get in her way, all while Amaryllis kept her weapons sheathed as they observed what was going to happen in the next few moments.
When one of the soldiers approached her, daring to strike her down, Za'kera swung her blades and moved slightly faster than the Altmer in question, cutting him down before he had a chance to hit her, before moving onto the next couple of enemies that dared to get in her way, all while a number of soldiers gathered nearby, forming a wall that she would have to fight through to get closer to Bruma.
"You should know not to get in our way," Za'kera commented, though as she said that she noticed that Alduin and all of his dragons flew out to the rest of the province, to conquer every Dominion held area while making sure not to burn the entire province to the ground, all while she focused her mind for a moment and stared at the enemies that were right in front of her, "Fus... Ro DAH!"
In that moment her Shout smashed into the wall of enemies and scattered them without wasting time, causing bodies to fall as pieces of armor and weapons were scattered everywhere around where all of them had been standing, opening the road to Bruma at last, causing her to step back as her soldiers moved forward. Even after seeing her power the soldiers of the Dominion held their ground and tried to push them back, to keep Bruma under their thumb, though as she watched that Za'kera noticed that Amaryllis had disappeared, no doubt heading inside the city to find the citizens who had been trapped in their homes or businesses. With them distracting the Dominion, keeping their attention on the eastern side of the city, she knew that her friend and a few of the other stealthy figures, as several others were missing based on what she was seeing right now, were heading into Bruma from the northwestern gate and that the Dominion wouldn't see it coming at all, not with the army literally at their gate. She was fine with that, as Amaryllis was an assassin and this was her strong suit, even if she was a capable fighter as well, and right now it was important that she played to her strengths, so most of her forces would continue to march towards the Imperial City while she kept Bruma's guards distracted, and once this city was safe they would continue to the south.
Amaryllis, on the other hand, silently moved over to the other gate that lead into Bruma and found several stealthy figures following her lead, causing her to briefly nod her head before they headed through the gate, finding that the Dominion's forces were definitely distracted by the army at their gates. Such a thing was fine with her, as it allowed her and the rest of the assassins to make their way through the city, leaving the thieves to see if there was anything inside the castle that they could use against the Dominion, though she changed her mind after seeing a rather powerful mage walking back to the castle, an Altmer mage to be exact. It was interesting to see that one of their enemies was choosing to ignore the ongoing battle that was outside Bruma's eastern gate, making her wonder what he might be up to, so while the other members of the Brotherhood went out to find enemies to assassinate, and the Guild members looked for important documents and items to steal for their war effort, she followed the mage. Based on what she was seeing right now he was heading for the castle, a stone structure that looked far more secure than most of the buildings in Skyrim, due to the fact that the houses were mostly wood, save for those in both Solitude and Windhelm, and it didn't seem like anyone else was inside it, which meant the guards were facing the main force and the captives were elsewhere.
As the mage pulled out a blue crystal, which looked like a device to communicate or use a powerful spell, Amaryllis did her job, sneaking up into the area behind her foe before slicing open his neck, making sure to kill him before he had a chance to do whatever it was that he was trying to do, and with that done she pocketed the crystal, as Ma'jera or Zoravoir might be able to figure out what it was, before heading outside.
What she found when she returned to the other shadowy figures was that there wasn't anything important inside Bruma, in terms of information that would help them taking down and route the Dominion's forces, but the assassins found some enemies to take care of, before they could hurt the army. In addition to that they found out where all the captives were being held, as they were stuck inside the Great Chapel of Talos, both ordinary people and the guards, which told them all they needed to know, the Dominion imprisoned and killed those who weren't useful to their plans, as hostages to use to make the rest of a city work in their foul camps. With the guards freed from the chapel, and the citizens were safe, she and her allies assaulted the backside of the Dominion's forces, or at least she did as she switched into her melee form for the time being, leaving Nazir and the others to make one final sweep of the city, for information, while the guards followed her as she smashed into the backside of her enemies. It was a pincer attack, trapping the Dominion's soldiers between their two forces and didn't give them anywhere to go, where Amaryllis kept an eye open for anyone who might surrender after seeing how screwed they were, but, sure enough, the Dominion's forces didn't seem to care about their own lives, as if all of them were preparing to throw their lives away for whoever was leading them.
In the end it didn't take them long to bring down the Dominion's soldiers and liberate Bruma, while finding that a portion of the main force had found the nearby camp and decimated their enemies as well, freeing the people from the cages they had been stuffed in, allowing her to regroup with Za'kera.
"It's a shame we can't take hostages... getting some information from them would have been useful." Za'kera said, where she glanced at the bodies of the fallen Dominion soldiers and wondered how they could be so blinded by their purpose, to the point where none of them saw right from wrong and convinced them that dying in battle was better than living to see another day, before she glanced at Amaryllis, "I don't suppose you have good news?"
"Well, I found the leader of Bruma's invaders, and he was carrying this crystal," Amaryllis replied, taking a moment to pull it out as she watched their soldiers getting ready for the next stage of their march on Cyrodiil, even though the smoke that was coming from the east and west told them that the two Daedric armies were having some fun.
"A communication gem, no doubt to be used to tell someone about our forces," Ma'jera commented, taking a moment to stare at the crystal that had been acquired, which she collected from the assassin and found that it was connected to at least seven others, no doubt the other provinces of Tamriel, and she added a bit of her power to seal it off, so the rest of the Dominion's forces didn't figure out what was going on.
"I have some news." a voice said, where Raven stepped out of the shadows and stopped near Za'kera, which made sense due to the fact that she had disappeared after they started to march on the Imperial City, causing the others to gather for a moment so they could listen to what she had to say, "According to those I spoke to, without our enemies learning that I was in the outskirts of the Imperial City, there is a secret passage that hasn't been sealed yet... it is the same passage that Emperor Uriel Septim VII used before the Oblivion Crisis occurred. Of course it won't lead directly into the city, but we can use it to get close to the walls, meaning a small force should be able to sneak inside while our main force surroundings the rest of the city."
"A distraction, causing our enemies attention to remain on us while our allies find whatever information they can, free the hostages, and then crush their leader," Za'kera said, showing that she understood what was being said and that they were going to have to do something to take control of the Imperial City, before she turned her head for a moment, taking a few seconds to glance at Amaryllis, the Brotherhood members, and the rest of her new stealth force.
Amaryllis nodded as she set out, as she knew what Za'kera wanted of her and she would see to it that they captured the enemy commander, because he had to have some information on what the rest of the Dominion's forces were doing, not unless they found something inside his quarters that gave them more knowledge on their enemy's movements. She found Nazir, not to mention the rest of the Brotherhood and several of the Guild members, were following after her as Raven did the same, the Demiprince of Nocturnal having summoned a horse made of shadows to ride on, meaning she was going to direct them right to their destination. Amaryllis was fine with that, since it meant she could focus on potential enemies all of them might encounter on the road, patrols wondering what happened to their forces at Bruma, where Raven told her that they would be heading down to the south a little, past the ruins of Vilverin, where they would be able to cross over to the island that the Imperial City was built on. From there it was a simple matter of heading to the north a little and finding a sewer entrance that would lead them into the passage that Emperor Uriel Septim VII used, even if he died trying to leave the city, slain by the Mythic Dawn, where she hoped that they would be able to enter without being seen by their enemies, otherwise things would go from bad to worse for the people inside the city.
Thanks to Raven's directions they were able to reach the area in question without too much delay, where they climbed off their horses and crouched for the last piece of their journey, finding that the main force was slowly coming down the main hill and would be distracting their enemies for some time.
Finding the sewer grate allowed them to slip into a section of the sewers that likely lead to the area that the Emperor had been assassinated in all those years ago, where everyone remained silent as they slipped inside the sewers, even though Raven did unlock the lock on the grate and replaced it once everyone was through it. From there they carefully made their way through the underground portion of the Imperial City, though while Amaryllis was expecting to find something, like a few skeevers or even some walking skeletons, like the tales claimed, it seemed like the area had been cleared, which made things that much easier for them. What she discovered was that most of the area they passed through looked like it might belong to the upper parts of the city, like the Emperors needed some sort of elegant escape route, though since a lot of people knew about this Amaryllis figured that it would be best if they sealed this passage off, if they succeeded in making Za'kera the Empress of a new empire. There was even a natural cavern that the path passed through, where they found that it used to be where some Goblins used to live, based on some thrown together fences that looked ancient, and, once more, they didn't have to worry about enemies, allowing them to reach the prison that was the end of the passage, where she found it odd that no one had sealed it after the Oblivion Crisis.
Amaryllis found that no one was inside the prison, meaning the captives were likely trapped inside their houses inside the main city, to which they made their way out of the cell and headed up the stairs that were in front of them, making their way into the circular area that surrounded the prison. Once they were outside everyone moved more quietly than before, as if they were shadows moving across part of the land, and when Amaryllis reached the gate she had the others pause as she flew up to the top of the wall, as she wanted to see what was going on with the rest of the city. What she could see at the moment was that every Dominion soldier was facing the north, where the main army was moving at the moment, and once she figured out that the way was clear she returned to the others, without making a sound, and they resumed their march, crossing the stone arch that connected the prison to the rest of the city. Normally one would see a force of figures moving across this path, in broad daylight no less, but thanks to Za'kera and the rest of their main force, including both Dagon and Molag's forces, it was easy for them to get inside the city without delay, where Raven silently opened the large door for them and closed it once everyone was inside.
From there they separated into smaller groups, one assassin paired up with a thief, that way one could find information while the other killed their enemies, though Amaryllis was left alone, as they had an odd number and she was fine with it, as it allowed her to focus on her main target. Based on what she knew about the forces of this world Amaryllis was sure that her target would either be inside the Imperial Palace, or the base of the White-Gold Tower, or maybe she'd find them on part of the wall, staring out at Za'kera's forces as they wondered what might happen next. Over the next few minutes she heard the sounds of something happening inside the Imperial City, as it sounded like the guards were now fighting all of the Dominion's soldiers that were scattered around this place, meaning the groups were either already finding people to free or they had seen the incoming army and were planning on defending their homes. Sure enough it lead to many of the Altmer calling for 'Ariantar' to be warned of what was going on, though she wasted no time in finding a pair of guards and separated them, so she could kill one and take his place with her powers, allowing her to figure out which section of the wall the enemy leader was on, even if she killed the other guard once she had what she needed.
It was all too easy for her to figure out where Ariantar was located, where he was issuing orders to his subordinates, all to prepare for the impending assault on the Imperial City, though he was surprised when he learned that the guards he had imprisoned inside the barracks were now revolting against his jailers. She observed him for a few moments, taking a bit of time to memorize his movements, before sneaking up behind him and sliced open his neck, dropping his lifeless body to the ground, though once that was done she played her hand as her power washed over her body. A few seconds later she stood where the fallen commander had been standing, where she made sure the body was hidden by some of her magic before taking a second to wave off in Za'kera's direction, something that was followed by a smile appearing on her friend's face as they realized what she had done. In the following moments she issued some insane orders in Ariantar's voice, as in she made it sound like they would be opening the main gate of the city, to lure their enemies into a trap, but she could see that Nazir realized what was going on and knew what to expect, as he and the other assassins moved into position, while the city guards readied their arrows for what was to come.
Her plan ended up working like a charm, the Dominion's soldiers were trapped between the main force and the now freed guards of the Imperial City, and as they fell she knew that the first important step to retaking Tamriel from the Dominion had been achieved, taking the White-Gold Tower and the Imperial City, making her look forward to what the future held for them and their army.