As the group sat around the makeshift table while talking Gila spoke up and addressed Sabrina. "Sabrina what did that old woman ask you?" Gila asked a Sabrina downed another glass of mead before sitting down the bottle before speaking. "Apparently her son named Thorald went missing and according to her she suspects the Battle-borns did something to him and they practically brag about it to her face and even try to threaten her into silence." Sabrina said clutching her fist so hard that she broke the glass mead bottle in her hand. "Anybody who tries to bully an old woman deserves to have a bullet in their ass, seriously fight someone who can actually fight back anybody who picks on someone who can't fight back are unworthy of respect and deserve to just be butchered, not even given the dignity of defending themselves..." Sabrina said with a look of hatred in her eye making it clear that this was personal for her. "I assume she wishes for us to get evidence of the Battle-born's involvement and by doing so find the location of Thorald and find where he is?" Shadow-step asked as Sabrina nodded. "Indeed, I need you to infiltrate the Battle-born homestead and look for any evidence of where that lady's son is.'' Sabrina said as the Nightingale kahjiit nodded. "I'll go at sundown, I can enter and exit that building if I go alone I should be back within an hour an hour and a half at best." Shadow-step said as he gathered his equipment made all the preparations needed for an infiltration job. He made sure all of his lock picks were clean and ready carefully stuffing them into his lockpick pouch and locking them into the pouch on his belt of his Nightingale armor he made sure the twin ebony daggers Karliyah had left him called Nocturnal's talons, and the single dwarven dagger attached to the shoulder harness were sharp and ready to go. He also checked his elemental arrow the fire, frost, and lightning arrows that he learned how to make from her due to the recipe and instructions she left behind before she died. Making sure he had at least twenty of each he carefully placed them inside of his quiver swinging over his shoulder and locking it into place on the harness as the arrows poked out from the quiver each one had a different feathers so he could tell which one he was grabbing just by touching it while his eyes were locked on his target. After a grand total of five minutes of making the appropriate preparations for the infiltration job Shadow-step gave the group a nod signaling that he was making his way to Whiterun to do the job. After getting the approving nods he made his way out of halted steam cave and started walking towards the gated city of Whiterun.

(Shadow-step pov)

I silently creeped over the walls of Whiterun through the back side I waited for one of the guards to go by so I could creep nearby I then went to one of the nearby thieves guild caches there was closest and investigated inside of it being extremely content seeing plenty of rare valuable loot however none of that caught my interest so I left it for any other thieves that might be creeping nearby as my gift to them I may have been a thief but I am not greedy enough to deprive others who might desperately need this equipment. I carefully observed the Battle-born residence using the detect life spell that I picked up a while back to see if anyone was currently home because it was currently around midnight I was satisfied to see that the entire household was asleep so I could easily slip in with ease. After hiding the bushes making sure that the guards were nowhere nearby or anyone to witness my break-in I carefully picked the novice lock on the front door before creeping inside the home mentally laughing at how the self-proclaimed most important family in Whiterun couldn't afford a better lock. As I walked into the home I decided to be petty and steal the Sweet roll that was sitting on the table and I ate it as I continued searching the house thinking that if I was going to hide a secret document that I didn't want other seeing it would be in an office so I made my way to the master bedroom where a man and a woman were fast asleep. I quietly crept my way past them over to the door on the far side and began to carefully pick the lock I was quite content with this lock as it was an expert lock which made me wonder why would the idiots have a novice lock on the front door and a expert lock on this door unless they seriously wanted to hide something. Due to my expertise in the art of lock picking I easily opened it however I kept a paralyze spell ready in case they woke up and I needed to detain them I wasn't a master thief because I was careless, I was a master thief because I took no chances and I made sure to prepare for every possible contingency whenever I infiltrate a home or building. I immediately came out into the office and immediately noticed the desk on the far left side of the room as I quietly crept over I closed to the door behind me to make it look like I wasn't there. Once the door was closed I quietly made my way over to the desk and picked up the imperial massive on the table and began to read through it and what I found was very interesting which ultimately proved the Battle-born's involvement as it read.

It has come to my attention that inquiries have been made as to the whereabouts of one Thorald Gray-mane. It is my duty to inform you that Thalmor agents have taken possession of the prisoner and have escorted him to Northwatch keep. I don't think I need to elaborate it is in everyone's best interest if the matter is dropped entirely. I trust there will be no further inquiries as to this matter Gen. Tullius

With all the information I had right here this was plenty enough to publicly humiliate and dishonor the Battle-born family as well. I quietly put the book along with every other piece of evidence I could get my hands on into my satchel before quietly slipping out deciding to leave a bit of a spiteful message I decided to use the ink from the quill and left a little message that read

"next time you try to threaten someone into silence don't do it in public stupid ass!"

And with that I quietly made my way out of the office but not before stealing anything of value and locking the door behind me and quietly creeping out of the house. Once I arrived on the outside of the home I immediately hid in the bushes as a Whiterun guard walked past once he was gone I made my way over to clan Gray-mane's home and gently knocked on the door leaving all of the evidence at the doorstep along with a letter assuring that the one called Thorald would be rescued as soon as possible and to do with the evidence what they will whether it be to publicly humiliate their rival clan, or keep it as evidence for a legal battle was not my concern. I immediately hid on top of the tree in the middle of the square and watched as the old lady opened the door and picked up the package and brought it inside smiling at a job well done I quietly made my way back to halted steam camp to report my findings and to tell them what I found. I carefully slipped my way over the wall and quietly made my way through the thick marshy meadow dodging saber cats, wolves and the occasional cave bear before making my way inside the mining camp where the group was taking shelter. After I made my way through to the room where we were all congregated I sat down with the others before delivering my report. "Sabrina you were right the Battle-born's were indeed responsible, I found a document letter by General tullius himself saying it will be better if the matter was dropped entirely because Thorald Gray-mane has been taken to Northwatch keep by the Thalmor. I left the evidence I collected at the front porch of house Gray-mane to do with what they wish since they're little squabble with their rival clan is none of my concern." I said crossing my arms before rubbing my temple. "I know of Northwatch keep, it's basically the Thalmor prison here in Skyrim and what makes this even more dangerous is that the Thalmor embassy is barely an hour away from there so if we go there and anybody escapes, we risk the entire Thalmor forces on our tail or God's forbid the Thalmor elite team." Asadelf said as she put down her tankard of wine and sighs before speaking again. "My magic still hasn't recovered from using that gate spell, by the time we get to there it'll be fully recovered and then I can use it as an immediate getaway if we need to however we will require somewhere that's already been cleared out where we can set up shop for a while and preferably somewhere not between there and the embassy where we can easily be spotted." Asadelf said crossing her arms trying to think of any good places nearby the area since attacking the embassy would prematurely start another great war even if the renegades were already highly sought after by the Dominion. "How about Volkihar Castle? It's its own Island and we'd have a full all round look at whatever is coming." Gentu suggested due to his time with the dawnguard he was aware of the place before Tully spoke up. "Bad idea, even without their patriarch Lord Harkon to lead them anymore they are still a threat to be reckoned with even for us." Tully reasoned as Serana nodded in confirmation even though she knew Tully wanted nothing more than to get back at them for ordering her exile. "Well I certainly wouldn't mind butchering a couple of those vile blood sucking monsters, oh no offense you two." Vladbram said apologetically towards Tully and Serana. "It's all right, just don't let it happen again otherwise I might get hungry." Serana said sarcastically which I chuckled at as Gila put down the map and started moving her finger around the surrounding area. After Asadelf pointed on the map where North watch keep was just along the shore of the Sea of ghosts off to the northwest side of the map of Skyrim I walked over and gently traced my claw over the nearby places that could be most hospitable for us to take refuge in. "Hey I have a vampire hunting camp nearby there and a cellar of an old abandoned house that I converted into my personal mini base it's not big enough for everybody but I can get a hold of some equipment that would be useful." Vladbram said pointing to the general area of where it was but to the groups discomfort it was practically nearby the backyard of the  Thalmor embassy. "Hey how about right here it's perfect it's called Rimrock burrow, it's on the smaller side compared to what we usually commandeer, however it's on high ground which means we will have full view of Northwatch keep, which gives us the high ground and the tactical advantage," Gila said pointing on the map and sure enough she was correct it was on the peak of the mountain overlooking the dominions prison which meant it would be ideal for tactical purposes. Being able to see our enemy from a high vantage point meant that we would be able to launch powerful arcane and arrows upon them if the need arose it gave us the tactical advantage rather than the Dominion truly a genius plan. "Okay, it's settled we will set up camp at Rimerock burrow and then we will proceed from there, everyone prepare to move make our way through labyrinthian tomorrow morning then we will head north northwest until we arrive at Rimerock Burrow." Ebon-shi spoke as we all eat the delicious Mammoth steaks that Gila prepared. After we all ate we proceeded to do our own individual things I noticed that Gentu and Zed were checking out the map and we're talking about something apparently it also attracted Sabrina's attention when they mentioned something about a mad alchemist. I didn't quite understand what was going on so I sat down and started doing maintenance on my bow carefully tracing the intricate markings on my Nightingale bow. Once I was done doing maintenance on my equipment I decided to call it for the night as I lay down on my bedroll and crossed my odds behind my head to rest as I closed my eyes and went to sleep.