Aria nodded along as Serena grasped the situation perfectly, and the driver let out a slow whistle. It would be a hellish task, but it’d pay off.

“It’s Fort Sungard. It borders Balgruuf’s territory, but he sees this as an opportunity to rid Skyrim’s people of a serious threat. Try to get any other Jarl to focus on anything but the war... they’re all paranoid, and guarded. No one will spare any military force, and so... We’re your girls,” Aria explained, “I mean, ...and guy, if you’ll be covering us? There’s gold in it!” She added, smirking at the driver.

The Nord looked back with a raised brow and shrugged, “Miss, this is suicide... I’ll have my bow handy,” he agreed, with a satisfied grunt. He drove the horses on. By dusk, they’d arrive.

“I just hope they’re not the types to capture instead of kill, having my fingernails peeled off sounds nasty.” Aria shuddered.

(You may time skip it if you wish, sir!)

"Just make sure to keep the cart out of sight of the Fort. If things go south we might need to make a hasty escape." Serena said, setting her sword against her shoulder and calmly waiting, trying to still her mind in preparation for the coming battle.

"The inner beast grows restless. There will be bloodshed tonight, and it knows it. Here's hoping this stays it's hunger, if only for a short time..." Serena thought to herself, closing her eyes to meditate.

----------------

Time passes, and the Cart reached it's destination, the sun beginning to dip below the horizon, Serena immediately hopping out to seek a vantage point and survey the area.

"Now then... What are we working with here in terms of force distribution...? Since it's dark out, some folks will be calling it a night." Serena muttered to herself, her eyes sweeping the walls and such to see who was where, crouching down to minimize her visibility.

"If you two go on ahead, do what you can quietly, I'll move around outside the walls, get eyes on any guards. They spot you while you thin their numbers, and they'll go down before they can wake their kin," the cart driver suggested. He had a homemade bow, but the arrows in his bag were tipped with barbs - enough to push through light plate. If he hit any of those wandering guards, they were likely doomed, even if the shot wasn't a kill.

Aria gave a nod, and pulled the orcish dagger from her boot, and left her sheathed katana with the man. The glint of the runes couldn't give her away. "We'll find a dimly lit part of the wall. One of us boosts the other, that one pulls the other up. I want everyone on the outside dead. And after that, we go inside to deal with the rest. I eh," Aria cleared her throat, whispering, "I'm not the best with strategy. I feel like making this up as we go along~..."

"Some semblance of a plan is better than none." Serena said, fixing her greatsword into place on her back, creeping over to the walls, taking care not to make too much of a ruckus. Thankfully her travelling clothes allowed for that part to be easy, save the massive sword strapped to her back. Once she'd reached the walls, she knelt down beside it and held her hands together, ready to give Aria a boost.

"You first, then I pass the sword, then climb up. If I try to climb up with it, it's going to make an unwelcome racket." Serena said, nodding at Aria, ready for her to make the climb.

"Push comes to shove, I'll call out an Atronach, but here's hoping it doesn't come to that."

Aria hopped up as Serena pushed her, then pulled herself up onto the dark section of the fort walls. First, she looked around in the immediate vicinity. All she could hear was snoring, somewhere below in the fort - whoever was supposed to watch this area, probably. She grinned, and turned around to Serena, taking the sword from her. As Serena handed it over, Aria's arm dropped a little - this thing was damned heavy! The redhead wondered what it'd be like to see her new companion fight with it, but brushed the thought aside; she'd get to see that soon enough. She gently rested the sword against the stone, and swung her arm back down to clasp Serena's.

"Target one, right below us. Shhh~..." Aria whispered, grunting as quietly as she could as Serena began to pull herself up.

Once Serena had took hold of Aria's hand and been pulled up to the wall, leaving the greatsword where it lay, she promptly took notice of the sleeping bandit below, and, turning to look at Aria, the Odd Jobs boss could see the gears turning in the swordwoman's head as she calculated how best to handle this situation without waking up the entire fortress.

"The best approach would be a silent one. We rouse the whole fortress, even half asleep, they still have weight of numbers, and even the best of warriors can buckle under those odds... To that end, I need a dagger. My own blade would make too much noise for what I plan to do." Serena whispered to Aria, perching herself on the edge of the wall, waiting for Aria to hand her the aforementioned weapon, staring down at the bandit, blissfully unaware of what was about to transpire.

Aria flipped the Orcish dagger in her hand, and held the blade as she offered the grip to Serena. There wasn’t even a hesitation, she wanted to see how the swordswoman worked. She gave a faint grin and a light shrug as she looked between the snoozing bandit and the dagger.

“First blood is all yours,” she whispered, with a wink...

Without saying a word, Serena took hold of the dagger, and immediately dropped off the wall, landing on top of the Bandit, and as if with practiced ease, slammed one hand onto the Bandit's mouth as she landed, muffling any noise they might've made, driving the dagger through the throat shortly after, keeping herself steady as they writhed beneath her, until the Bandit's life was spent. Wiping the dagger off on what could essentially be considered the bandit's clothes, she took hold of the handle with her teeth and dragged the body out of plain sight, before sneaking back up to Aria, retrieving her greatsword and passing the dagger back to it's owner.

“Like art,” Aria complimented as she took back the dagger. She nodded over to a campfire, where a pair of bosmeri bandits were discussing quietly over the skeever they were spit roasting. They didn’t have any reaction to what was going on at the outer wall. Aria then pointed to the keep.

“We’ll go in and look for whoever runs the show, right after we off those two and hide them somewhere. You see anyone else, take them as quiet as you can, or hide.” Aria explained, creeping along the wall toward the light of the fire. She’d stop for a moment, and point a finger at an emplacement ahead. A woman with a silver hand axe was sat on a chair, looking out over the road. Beside her, a bow and quiver.

Aria looked back at Serena and motioned a slit neck with her thumb. With that, she very quietly dropped down below, and continued moving toward the happy campers...

Taking that as her cue to dispatch the guard watching the road from Aria, Serena crept over to her unsuspecting victim. As she didn't carry a dagger of her own, and her greatsword would make too much noise, Serena opted for a more hands on approach; Taking a deep breath, she slipped up behind the woman, and in one swift motion, would place one hand over the guard's mouth, and then promptly, but quietly snap her neck with the other. Hiding the body from sight, she then turned to glance at the Bosmer pair, then to the bow and arrow, and a plan began to form. Taking hold of the bow, pulling an arrow from the quiver, she took aim at one of them, making sure her shot would strike the unlucky soul in the head. From there, she would wait for Aria to make her move, and then let the arrow fly.

Aria glanced up at the sniper’s perch, and gave a faint smirk. Serena was no stranger at all to this kind of work - she had yet to see her in a real fight, but this was too perfect for now. She refocused, and crept ever closer... Close enough for the bosmer opposite her to gasp and reach for his weapon. By the time he was alerted, the one Aria had slithered up behind already had a hand over his mouth, and a dagger plunged into his heart. She had no worries about the other - he was already dead in her eyes.

Yet, if they had taken the initiative to scream ‘intruder!’, this could have gotten bad, quickly. Silently, Aria thanked whichever god that the bandits were so lax...

The other bandit would soon find himself falling off to the side before he could call for help, or even be in a position to take a swing at Aria, as an arrow pierced his skull, weapon half-drawn as he hit the ground, Serena having since gone back to the quiver to fix the remainder to her back, stepping back into view as she affixed the bow to her shoulder, giving Aria a thumbs up before surveying the immediate area for any other threats. Last thing they need is a horde of angry bandits swarming them.

Taking a cautious approach, Serena crouched down and began to creep over to Aria, taking care not to make any sudden noises, keeping a firm hand on her sword to keep it from scraping against the floor, as well as be able to draw it quickly should the need arise.