Chapter 2 – Missing Students

After I finished dragging the logs back to the mill, I told Temba, the mill owner, I was going to have to leave. I had brought in enough trees to last a month, maybe more, so she should be all right while I was gone. She just put her hands on her hips and glared at me. "I suppose I may as well start looking for a new wood cutter then, hadn't I?"

I grinned at her and admitted it, I wouldn't be coming back. As I went back to the inn to gather my things, I wished I could come back, but I've never been able to settle down for long. The collector was an odd employer, and getting a job by a dream was new, but it gave me a reason to travel again. As much as I may complain at times, being on the road, sleeping under the stars, and delving deep into ancient ruins is my life. I couldn't imagine anything else.

It didn't take me long to reach Riften, and from there I took a carriage to Dawnstar, even if it cost twice the normal amount, because there was not a return carriage. I enjoyed the ride, because I knew I would be doing quite a bit of foot travel over the next week or two. The trip was a long one, so I curled up and took a nap. It might seem a hard way to sleep, but I had slept in worst places. By the time we arrived in Dawnstar, I was well rested and ready to go.

The quickest mark on the map to locate was the one halfway to Winterhold, right on the coast. It was actually an easy one to find, despite the coast being much longer walk than it seemed on the map. Up ahead I had spotted several small fires, but no tents. I didn't see any signs of mages fighting either, no fireballs or the like. I still came up carefully on the site, watching for trouble, but other than a few sleeping horkers, there wasn't any problems. Several patches of brush and grass were still burning, which was odd since they didn't burn for long normally. The flames were in a circular pattern, and it took me a moment to realize the burning lump in the middle of the circle was a body. I carefully examined the body and found a necklace. This was definitely Yisra then. Nearby, I found a spell tome for something called Flame Cloak. Looking around, I was certainly not going to read the spell myself. The collector wanted the necklace, and I could sell the tome. I knew I could find a spell caster in Winterhold who would be interested.

The next closest marker was to the north of the college. I had heard of another shrine to Talos that was much closer, and thought it might be a good idea to check it out first. Not that I doubted a vision given by a nightmare, but if a Shrine to Talos was important for one site, then it might be a good idea to get the blessings of Talos before I searched for a corpse near one of his other shrines. I spent most of the day looking for the Shrine to Talos on the main land, and never did find it. I did find glaciers, with great ravines, blowing snow, and too many wolves and bears. I finally gave up on trying to go overland, and walked the coast, until I was at the northernmost edge. The sea was calm, and there was plenty of ice, so it was an easy trip over to the island. Not that the cold would bother me, but I didn't want my food stores to get soaked. I followed the coast past a tomb. I was certain it held great wealth, but without a patron willing to pay me for my troubles, I wasn't going to risk it.

As I followed the edge of the water, the coast took a turn to the North. Far ahead, I was certain I had seen something moving. It turned out to be another pack of wolves. They had been scavenging some dead skeevers, but thought I might be a better meal. They were wrong, and I added thier pelts to my collection. I could see the statue of Talos ahead, and what looked like a cage next to it. Getting closer I saw several dead skeevers, a lot of blood and a dead Khajiit. I also found a scroll for Calm near the body and for one for Fury in the cage. It didn't take much to figure it out. A cage full of skeevers, cast Fury, one skeever goes nuts and attacks the others, until they are all in a killing frenzy. Cage can't hold them, and a some very angry and partially wounded skeevers boil out of the cage. Khajiit couldn't read the Calm scroll fast enough. Everybody dies of blood loss, and the wolves eventually show up to scavenge. I took the pendant from the Khajiit, Ilas-Tei, and the scrolls, and one of those books about learning magic. I didn't bother reading it either, but I knew the mages would pay well.

I headed into Winterhold itself, and took a room for the night. After buying a round of drinks for everyone, I got some of the locals fired up and talking about life in the Hold, and living with mages next door. The hold had suffered a great loss when part of the town collapsed into the sea, and the people blamed the mages for the towns woes. Most of them didn't like the idea, but the students and teachers of the college, and travellers to the college, were the main income for the town.

The next morning, I set off for the third stop in Winterhold, one of two brothers, at a shrine near the town. Funny thing about maps, they don't show the gashes, crevasses, and impassable areas. I was on top of a ridge, when I spotted see a circular area with a couple standing stones far below me. By the map, it was close, but by walking, it took 2 hours. I found one dead mage, a book titled "Mannimarco, King of Worms," a couple soul gems, some flowers and a bowl of troll fat. I'm guessing the mage tried to summon something, that didn't want to be summoned. I never understood the idea of tossing some flowers, and dead body parts on a pedestal, muttering a few words, and expecting good things to happen. It didn't seem to work for Rundi either. I found his dagger, and head off to find his brother.

I had been to Journeyman's Nook before, and left a dead bandit behind. I recall there was a dead mage there, whom I had looted, but something small like a dagger, I would have left behind. I hoped that dagger were still there. Sure enough, both bodies were still there, preserved by Skyim's deep cold, and the dagger was close by. I remembered this place, because I had found a map to a chest near Valtheim in here. That chest had some good loot in it, and bought me a new suit of armor. I still wear that steel armor, although I had picked up better gauntlets since then. It's not often I got paid for a job, before I even took the job, but I still hoped the Collector had something else in mind.

With the last of the four items, I headed to Markarth, taking the roads and catching a ride with some merchants. It is a quick way to travel, even if it is boring. Guard the merchants from wolves and bandits, get fed, and we all get to our destination alive and well. I sold off my pelts I had collected from the wildlife that tried to hunt me down, and found a buyer for the mage's books, netting a good five hundred septims profit from the trip, and that was after I stocked up on healing potions. I'd done better in some crypts, but there really wasn't that much risk to this job. After a good nights sleep, I headed up the mountain to climb a tower.