Life is More Than a Game: Restart

Chapter IV: Off to Work We Go

Before we moved any further, I decided to hand the boys the two spears I'd collected with explicit instructions to only use them if necessary and not to rush headlong into battle. Victoria and I would handle everything. I don't know what the reward for keeping them alive was, but I wasn't about to let some two-bit bandits deny me vital resources so I could get back on my feet.

And so, they followed after us quietly, with Victoria taking point as we headed down the other path. The tunnel went on for some time but eventually opened up to the familiar underground lake. To our right would usually be the campfire where a couple of bandits were conversing.

The chamber they were in was about double the size it was last time I was here, with a cooking pot along one wall over a fire. A woman stood there, mixing it carefully and doing her best not to look at anyone else.

Further away, two men - actual men this time and not boys - were chipping away at a vein of ore. A Dunmer and an Orc watched them, and a Nord walked up to the woman, whispering in her ear and groping her behind as she tried to work.

There only seemed to be three targets, and Victoria looked very much like she would explode into action if I didn't.

I took a moment to figure out a plan of action. We stood on a sturdy, wooden bridge that connected the tunnel we were in to another, which I knew had a lever to work the bridge to our left. It was currently up, but that worked out in our favor. It cut off any reinforcement from further inside.

With that in mind, I pulled Victoria back a bit so that we weren't anywhere close to visible if anyone looked this way. "I think I can take out the two wardens with a couple of spells. Can you jump down and kill the other one?"

She nodded silently and drew her sword. There was no sound of steel against leather. At this point, I had to assume all of her equipment was enchanted with silencing magic or muffling, at least. It was handy, I had to admit.

I followed after her and prepared a couple of Firebolts. As soon as she had landed on the ground, I let them loose. The two guards hit the ground hard as the spells slammed into their backs. Though they didn't ignite, they still screamed in pain as their armor was melted or flash-seared to their torso.

The screams got the attention of the miners, who looked at the guards, then at us, and took the initiative. They went silent as two picks slammed through their skulls.

Looking towards Victoria, I noted that her blade was already through the chest of the Nord. The woman who he'd been molesting a moment before was on her knees, sobbing into her hands as his corpse fell from the blade to the ground.

This attack had been far from silent, though. A single woman near the lever, a fellow bandit by the look of it, seemed to have heard the commotion. There was a rather large opening in the cave over there that she could look through, and bolts of fire aren't exactly the first choice of assassins for a reason.

She had already pulled the lever controlling the drawbridge that led further into the mine. On top of that, there was a rather large instrument of some sort, very similar to a gong, that she slammed her club into alerting anyone who hadn't already heard us. "Damn… that'll be an alarm." I cursed under my breath even as I fired an ice spike through her skull.

Using so many spells in succession wasn't doing my MP any favors. Thankfully, I did have those beta bonuses still on this 'save file', so I pulled one of my MP potions out of my inventory and drank a bit of it before putting it back.

Victoria came back up the stairs and positioned herself on the bridge without any orders from me. There were more people this time, for sure, but we were better equipped for this now. Well, Victoria was.

Several bandits rounded the corner only to see an Imperial Officer and a mage behind her, with several prisoners cowering in fear. I didn't see any reason to give them the opportunity to double back. No use in letting them try to use their other prisoners as hostages. Not that it would stop me from killing them anyways, but Victoria might hesitate a bit.

My MP still wasn't fully recovered, even if the potion was causing the bar to increase quickly. While it did its work, I launched two more Firebolts, making sure to aim for the faces this time. No ignition those times either. This challenge was gonna take more work than I anticipated.

The other four watched in shock as their comrades' faces melted down to the bones. It was their fault for not wearing any helmets, though. At least then, it would offer some modicum of protection against the scorching temperatures and go from the sublimation of their flesh to merely boil their brain inside their skull.

It seemed that Victoria had zero intention of giving them room to mourn and leaped forward. A Khajiit wearing little more than chainmail found a new hole in his stomach. She kicked his body off and immediately beheaded the Argonian next to him with one swing of the blade. I decided to end the other two, though with Ice Spikes this time, to ensure I didn't accidentally sweep up Victoria in collateral damage.

You have reached Level 2!

You have reached Level 3!

The notifications, more than anything else, helped me relax a bit. By my count, there were still almost a dozen bandits left here - if the Redguard was correct. Still, I only got level-up notifications after a battle finished, so the others must not have heard the gong or were outside what the system was set to consider 'combat'.

"Looks like that's all of them for now," I said after a few more moments. Victoria looked down, eying the corpses at her feet before nodding.

"It would seem so. Do you need some time to collect yourself before we move on?" She was certainly antsy to move along, but I understood why.

"Just give me a moment to recover my Magicka." I requested. In truth, I didn't need to. Both my HP and MP recovered to full upon leveling up. I just wanted to clear my head a bit, and let my heart calm down.

There was… a certain rush to these fights. The time away from Skyrim made me forget that, even if it was short. Or maybe this was new. Actually, it was definitely new. What's up with that?

"Ah, are you noticing it just now?" There was that annoying Voice again. "With the survival mechanics of Gamer's Body fixed, we can finally remove the limiting factors on it. So, you'll be able to feel the full rush of adrenaline, the pain of combat, the stress from mistakes, and the discomfort of disease. Of course, Gamer's Mind will keep you sane in the face of adversity and allow you to keep your calm, but your body will really feel immersed in the world now."

So it is new. More things to deal with later, though. For now, my heart seemed to be back to its normal pace. "Okay, Victoria, let's move on." I looked back at the prisoners. "You two, stay with them. All of you, we're going to head on and take out the rest of these people. We're going to try and save the rest of you as well.

"Based on our information, the other prisoners should be seven women and girls. Pick up some weapons and follow behind us at a good distance if you want to, or wait at the entrance for us, or run off. I'll warn you though, Helgen is under attack right now, so you won't find any help that way. Riverwood might offer some assistance, but we're heading there when we can, so you may as well follow us."

The men, who both looked to be in their late forties, hesitated a moment before nodding. They lost their picks in exchange for a mace and an ax off the corpses of nearby bandits. The woman was still visibly shaking but even picked up a club from the Khajiit Victoria had disemboweled.

"Stay quiet and follow us then," I told them. Across the bridge we went, perhaps making more noise than I'd have liked. If the gong didn't summon others, then they wouldn't either, though.

Rounding the same corner those six had, it became apparent why those further in may not have heard. The next tunnel was lined on either side with cells. I counted several occupants, some of the missing prisoners from our entourage.

The tunnel went on for quite some length and then had a very sharp turn, which went even deeper into the earth. The sound must have simply not traveled far enough.

In total, there were four prisoners. Well, those that were still alive, that is. There were a couple of corpses in varying stages of decay, which explained the awful smell the bandits all seemed to carry. I hoped beyond hope that it was simply a case of the smell clinging to them from proximity and that they weren't partaking in any sort of necrophilia. Considering the world I found myself in, though, that was always a possibility.

Seeing that there weren't any bandits in this section, I turned to the prisoners following us. "Were any of the people Victoria or I killed the ones with the keys to these cells?" The answer, unanimously, was a shake of the head. "We'll need to move further along if we want to free them then. We'll come back to free all of you, but we need to find the keys first."

There wasn't a response from the women. They merely stared ahead blankly. They seemed more like undead who hadn't had a chance to decay than people, now that I was able to get a good look at them.

Shivering at the thought, I told the others to stay behind and see if they could pry open the cells while Victoria and I moved on. If I'd had Burning Hands or Cold Touch, I could've taken care of things without any keys, but I needed to be at least Level 5 if I remembered correctly.

"That's the fate I might've had if you hadn't come along, Orpheus." The ex-Imperial Officer stopped before we rounded the corner and explained. She turned to me and seemed to be struggling with something before nodding to herself.

"I would've turned into something like that. It wouldn't have been quick either. Civilians break easily. They snap like a twig. I know. I've seen our interrogators at work. I've witnessed what the Thalmor can do without needing to dip into Illusion Magic. I've seen the depravity that outlaws can accomplish."

As if to illustrate her point, she looked past me. I followed her gaze, and it didn't linger on just the women, but the men as well. Interestingly, it focused the longest on the two boys. What could have been strong Nord men turned into nearly broken cowards.

"Man, Mer, and Beast are equally capable of this level of evil. It was only by chance that you came back and found me, the one who sentenced you to death without a second thought. And yet, you found it within you to save me, to spare me.

"Beyond even that, you gave me the opportunity to strike out at my captors and rid them of this world not once but twice." Victoria's grip on her blade tightened, and she let out a sigh. It wasn't borne of stress or dissatisfaction but seemed to carry with it a sense of relief, almost.

"I didn't have the misfortune of being put through it a second time, thankfully. And I know that you didn't necessarily save me out of the kindness of your heart, but out of a mutual enemy we had.

"Still, I've seen how easily you can erase your enemies. You could've incinerated me then and there when I was bound up in chains. Equally, you could've simply taken your turn with the bandits dead. I'm eternally grateful you didn't do either of those things.

"You seemed surprised that I'd still swear my loyalty to you even without that happening this time. You didn't seem to think I'd offer my sword and shield to you simply because this body wasn't tormented like that." Her eyes hardened and she seemed to be doing her best to look into my very soul as she continued. "I still remember those things, though. And those women… I know that's what I'd eventually turn into if you hadn't stepped in. Once I get my second revenge, my sword will once more be yours to do with as you please."

For a moment, I wasn't sure how to respond. Then I placed one hand on Victoria's shoulder and smiled. "I've done a lot of killing today, but I think I'll leave Vorkmar to you. How's that sound? I've got to take my Staff back from Ravaru anyway."

Ordinarily stoic, Victoria uncharacteristically returned my smile with a sadistic grin of her own. "It would be my pleasure, Orpheus."

And that's it!

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