Day 47

Almost two months have passed since my quest to save my business, and so far, my brainstorming and trial runs have so far been unsuccessful. Conjuration magick seems to hold no awe with the general populous, neither does destruction nor illusion magick. Trying to spice up my business with a little flare has proven to be a fruitless endeavor, I must think of something else. If only I could just sell something other than iron!

Day 56

It's been a little more than a week since my last entry, but I believe I've been struck with a brilliant idea! Instead of trying to sabotage my opposition, or spicing up my own business, I could instead come up with a way to use magick to artificially alter what I sell. The idea came to me when one of my faithful mercenary customers mentioned using ironskin to survive a tough encounter with an Ogrim Titan. That's when it hit me, if us mortals can use alteration magick to turn our flesh into wood and minerals, then why can't I do the same with actual ore?

Day 67

I have little time to finish my work before I'm forced to shut down, I've been running out of money and have been forced to draw from my saved funds. The difference between theory and practice has never been more apparent than now. I imagined that it would be difficult, but 11 days without substantial results is demoralizing. I can't give up though, this is my last shot at retaining my business!

Day 72

I've decided to start smaller than using ore right off the bat. Instead, I've decided to try turning wood into different varieties. Hypothetically, it should be much simpler than turning iron into something like gold. Trial runs will begin once I get my hands on some common firewood.

Day 74

Finally, some progress! I've taken inspiration from spells like oakskin and ironskin, and attempted to reverse engineer a spell inspired from the same basic concept of those spells. I've created two new spell called 'willowskin' and 'bulokeskin' based on two different varieties of trees found in Valenwood. Willowskin appears to be much weaker than oakskin, but I've noticed it takes less magicka to cast. The opposite is true for Bulokeskin, it's far stronger than oakskin, however the cost is higher.

Day 74 cont.

I've noticed that the spells work much like the spells they're inspired from, they only alter the surface of the firewood, and not the whole object. I must continue trial runs and experiments. Perhaps If I charge the spell longer, and spend more magicka it would prove more effective?

I've tried it, and it's in theory possible to accomplish what I set out to do. However, it's highly impractical. I charged up all my magicka and was barely able to increase the area the spell affects. Theoretically, given enough magicka and time it could be done, but it's infeasible in practice. It's simply too much magicka one person could possess in one lifetime.

Day 87

I've attempted a new method and I've been met with relative success! Instead of manipulating my magicka as a sort of cloak around the wood piece, I've instead saturated the wood in its entirety with my magicka by holding it in my hand and focusing intently. When the spell took hold the entirety of the wood appeared to have changed, and when I cut it open it proved to be true. However, the spell doesn't last long. At most, the spell can sustain itself for 1 hour before it's reverted. More tests must be run before I can transition to iron ore trial runs.

Day 95

I've learned that both the magicka requirement to use the spell and the duration of the spell has decreased and increased respectively the more I practiced it. The wood stays transformed for more than two hours now. I've transitioned to iron ore test runs. Attempts to create moonstone ore and quicksilver ore have proven to be failures. The reason why remains a mystery, but perhaps they're too complicated for simple iron ore to transform into. Must test further with different types of ore if given the opportunity.

Day 98

I HAVE FINALLY DONE IT! My first, true success after months of work have finally happened. After multiple days of testing, I have found that iron best transforms into silver ore! It takes the least amount of magicka, and the least amount of time. I've also found that I can then turn that silver into gold, but the magicka cost and rate of failure is too high to be considered a lucrative business transition. Back to the silver, there was a major concern when it came to the time it would take for the spell to run its course. The iron would only stay as silver for 1 hour, but I have found a way around the spells limitations. For some reason, smelting the ores into silver ingots bypasses the time restraint. I hypothesize it has something to do with the heat application to the spell, but if it works then it works. I'm not 100% confident that it's right, but the ingot has stayed as silver for over a day now. I'll keep it on my desk for a week, just to be sure.

Day 105

The ingot has not turned into iron after a week since my last entry. I'm now confident in my spell and it's longevity. Throughout the months, I have been digging in my mine as to make it appear as I'm still diligent at work, when in actuality I have been doing this to not draw suspicion for when I 'stumble' upon silver veins.

Day 106

I am very proud of my progress and accomplishment, so I have decided to name the spell. Transform is not grandiose enough for my creation, so I have decided to dub it 'Transmute.' Fitting, no?

Day 130

Business is booming, my business is getting richer by the day, but I've had to turn down people begging for jobs. It pains me to do this, but if they discover my secret, I have no idea what will become of me.

Day 157

I have noticed an increase in Imperial soldiers around the area my business runs. Call me paranoid, but I have a hunch they're here to check on me. I've noticed them trying to peer into my mine, but I own the land the mine is on so they cannot investigate.

Day 168

A particularly aggressive solider tried to strongarm his way onto the land. There's no question now, they're here to investigate the mine. Luckily for me, their partner reeled them in before they could do anything stupid, but it's only a matter of time before they discover my secret. I have to do something…drastic.

Day 170

I've blown up the mine, I believe that I've managed to disguise the cause as a gas explosion. It pains me to destroy the mine I've worked countless hours on, but I can always start anew. I've heard Skyrim has various mountains, perhaps I could restart there?

Day 180

I've been arrested. Luckily, those fools in the empire don't recognize a small illusion spell, so I've managed to hide away my journal on my person before they could take me from my home. I would have grabbed some sort of lockpick, but I figured this is more valuable. I can't let the empire find out about my magnum opus.

Day ?

I've been here for so long, but I've learned that those bastards in the empire have abandoned my people to the oblivion gates many, many years ago. I swear, by my dying breath they'll never get their hands on this journal. It's a miracle that it's remained hidden for so long, but Azura be praised no one has found it.

Day ?+3

I'm breaking out of here tonight. If all goes well, I should be able to make a break for the border into Skyrim.

Final entry

I've been struck by an arrow directly in the lung just as I made it past the border. I've bought myself time with quick application of restoration magick, but the arrow was poisoned. I don't have more than a day remaining, so I must act quickly. I've already changed some of my entries earlier in the journal, but I now address to whoever has found this journal. This is my life's work; I have listed detailed instructions on how to perform the spell and the necessary steps required to perform it well, along with some other tricks and tips I learned throughout the years I spent in that damn cell. I plead to you, dear reader, head my final request. The commander in charge of my unjust arrest is long since dead, but I seared the name of the worst offender in my mind. Commander Moro, how I loathe this man. Torture was his go to, sometimes for no other reason than to vent his frustrations. I beg of you, reader, bring this monster to justice. And never allow the empire to get their hands on this spell, that is my final act of spite. They'll never get the damn spell they oh so longed for. I can already feel my strength waning. I must get this journal as far away from the area of my death as possible. I must curse those imperial bastards once more, for they have denied me a proper Dunmer death.

Today, Devas Erevan joins Lady Azura in the realm of Moonshadow.

I closed the journal of Devas Erevan gently. The tome itself wasn't as big of a read as I initially thought. Most of the pages were filled with drawings, presumably from his time in jail, the rest being very detailed diagrams of how the spell worked. I skimmed most of the daily entries, as they were mostly just entries were Devas vented his frustrations, or just wrote about how his day went.

The empire did him dirty. I may not have known Devas at all, but the injustice he went through at the hands of the empire was…damn. Didn't Oblivion happen like, four hundred years before Skyrim starts? And Commander Moro couldn't have been more than maybe 40, he must have been imprisoned for more than three centuries!

I was already going to kick out the empire when I eventually took over Skryim, it's gunna be my fucking land, so I guess this just adds a little bit of incentive to do so. And if I ever find Commander Moro? He's dead. I was gunna do it anyways for what that fucker does to me in the Dark Brotherhood questline, and for the EXP, but now I guess I can add another reason to the list.

Quest Received: Peace to Devas

Objective: Bring justice to Devas Erevan by killing his torturer Commander Moro

Reward: +5 levels Transmute, +1 Level

Time Limit: None

Y|N?

My eyebrow rose in surprise. Quests were a thing? That could be big, though the rewards seem pretty small for what it's asking me to do. That's the fucking leader of the Penitus Oculatus. They're supposed to be the fucking guards of the emperor. There is no way in hell that Moro would be some pushover, he'll be a well-trained soldier, and most likely backed up by his men.

However, the task isn't impossible. He's stationed in Dragons Bridge right now right? To get rid of the Dark Brotherhood or something. I know exactly where he is, it's just a matter of when I go after him.

After mentally selecting yes, I got out of bed and stretched, feeling the oh so satisfying feeling of my back cracking as I did. Yawning, I got on my armor and went down the stairs. I grabbed an empty food sack from the kitchen and went to the basement to grab some rope. Coming outside to the courtyard, I found all the ingots we're planning on selling stacked neatly on the workbench. I passed by Guruk and Morbrukk as I made my way to the forge, who were practicing on some dummies again. I filled the food sack with all the ingots and tied the top with my large piece of rope and hung it over my shoulder. With my makeshift backpack ready, I waved goodbye to Guruk and Morbrukk as I made my way towards Falkreath. Shouldn't be too long, right?

(-)

"Jesus Christ," I whispered.

I stood at the entrance of what was apparently Falkreath. What used to be a small cluster of houses and a Jarl longhouse was now a massive town. While the area was still somewhat contained due to the mountains the town was situated between, there was still A LOT of room for hundreds of homes. All made of wood, with only some having stone walls. The average house was the size of the fucking Jarl longhouse from the game, able to house anywhere between two and three full families of 4, possibly 5. Speaking of which, Siddgeir's longhouse was massive. Easily triple the size of the original building.

Shops and businesses were scattered everywhere, but most of them congregated by the entrances to the town, better for tourists I imagine. Business too, as I imagine that besides lumber trade, the economy is stimulated by the tourism the town gets. I took my time getting a layout of the whole place, but also to just marvel at the sheer scope of everything. I knew that Skyrim would be bigger in real life, but this place easily must house thousands of people!

I weaved through the crowd of people around me, my large frame making it easy to pass through the comparatively smaller citizens of Falkreath. Okay, let's make a game plan. First, find a Jeweler to sell the silver to. If they try to swindle me, I'll just leave. After that I'll head to the alchemist shop to buy the seeds that Umak wanted, they'll probably be the cheapest to get along with blisterwart. From there, we'll head to the blacksmith to get the rest of the shit other than the magic tome for Kragrau. Speaking of which, that must be the most expensive thing to get, so that will have to be saved for last.

It took me searching until late morning, and asking a lot of locals, but I finally stumbled on a Jeweler's store, and true to the game, the store's name was darkly themed: The Sunken Ship. Weird name, considering that, to my knowledge, there isn't even an ocean anywhere near here. Regardless, I stepped inside the store. Inside was…interesting. Dreamcatchers filled the walls and hung from the ceilings, with psychedelic paintings and murals hung everywhere as well. The faint smell of lavender filled the room from a small incense that rested on the countertop where the Breton store clerk was sitting, book in hand as they took small sips of what I could only assume was some sort of tea.

The sound of the door opening alerted the Breton to my presence, giving me an unrestricted view of the lass. She had long, curly chocolate brown hair settled just below her chest, which was complimented well by her shining green eyes. With her roundish face, button nose, and a resting smile on her face she gave off that cute girl next door energy.

"Haiya! Welcome to The Sunken Ship, My name's Amelie! I own the place, so just let me know what you need, and I'll help you to the best of my ability." She looked up at me, "Though you're going to have to get stuff from the high shelves."

I grinned, "Tis the sacred duty of every man who is tall to get stuff from the top shelf for the short and unable."

She grinned back, "Good to see a man who knows their purpose."

"Oh you have no idea."

"Ominous! Now, what can I do ya for?"

I hefted my sack and placed it on the table. "Well, I've got some silver ingots to sell and the locals said you were a Jeweler so I figured that you'd be willing to buy them. Though, I didn't expect a jeweler's shop to look so…"

"Awesome?"

"I was going to go with interesting personally, but whatever floats your boat. What's up with the decoration anyways?"

"Well, I'm sure you've noticed that Falkreath is really gloomy. By Kynareth some of the locals here take pride in how we have the largest cemetery in the land. I just figured the place could use some cheer and levity, know what I mean?"

"Well the place certainly does add a bit of flavor to this town. Gotta say, I didn't expect a place looking like this to sell jewelery."

"I'm a bit of an artist and craftsman, or craftswoman, I guess. I made all the stuff you see in the store."

"That's pretty cool."

"Right?! Anyways, you mentioned you had silver to sell?"

I nodded, opened my bag and stacked all 12 silver ingots on the table. Amelie hummed as she grabbed out a loupe looking thing and examined the silver. I have no idea what that'll accomplish, but I didn't voice my thoughts as she thoroughly examined each ingot of silver. Minutes passed by, and eventually she placed the loupe thing down and grinned at me.

"You got some high-quality silver right here; I could definitely make some beautiful Jewelry with this stuff. You sure you're not just pawning off silver-blood silver on me are ya?"

"Nah, my boys and I started digging into the mountain west of here, we got some silver and I figured that I'd come down here and see if I could sell em. You lookin to buy?"

"Hell yeah I am, and not only that I'd be willin to set up a contract of sorts if you're interested?"

"Oh? What are you proposing?"

"It'll just boil down to you giving me exclusive access to the silver you mine and in return I pay you a little more than I normally would for that exclusive business. We could hash out the details now if you'd like."

I glance towards my ingots and silently activate Observe

Silver ingot

Base value: 50 Silver Septims

As expected, I assumed that the currency wouldn't just be regular gold coins like the games would be. This just made everything so much more impractical for me. System, could you give me a rundown of the currency exchange rates?

100 Copper Septims = 1 Silver Septim

1000 Silver Septim = 1 Gold Septim

1000 Gold Septim = 1 Ebony Septim

The very fact that Ebony Septims exist is fascinating. There are people so rich that they needed a higher form of currency so that the gold septim would be traded back into the economy? I'm getting off track here, if the lass wishes to trade, I'd be happy to, but I will not be swindled.

"How much would you pay?"

"Let's say…30 silver septims per individual ingot, and if you sell me 10 at once I'll pay 350 instead of 300?"

"Try again, these ingots are worth 50 Silver septims individually. 45 per ingot, 475 per 10."

"That's outrageous! 35 per individual, 400 per 10."

"Fine, 42 solo and 440 per 10."

"38 per single ingot, 400 per 10, and that's generous."

"40 per individual, and we'll keep it 400 per 10, how does that sound?"

"Deal!"

We shook on it, my hand practically wrapped around hers and we struck an accord.

"I'll be right back with some parchment and a quill; would you mind going to the steward and asking her to come with you? She'll be our official overseer of our agreement. I'd choose someone else personally, but I figured you'd feel more comfortable with a hold official facilitating our trade agreement than with someone you don't know you could trust."

"Yeah, that's fine. But why do we need someone to oversee a trade agreement?"

"Are you kidding me? With a item as valuable as this we need the added security of someone else knowing the agreement between us. That way, neither of us can screw the other over. And in case of any disputes or problems that could arise between the two of us, a third party who knows the terms of our contract could resolve anything."

"Okay yeah that makes sense, I'll head out now."

I grabbed my sack of ingots and made my way out the door towards the center of the town, where the largest and most official looking building resided, aka the Jarls longhouse. I stepped inside and was met with a very spacious main area, with Siddgeir's throne at the end by a very large table, likely a court room of sorts. Sitting on the throne was the Jarl himself, lounging on his throne with reports in hand, eyes lazily skimming through the contents as a guard was giving their report. His eyes caught mine, not knowing what to do I just nodded respectfully to not cause some kind of scene. His gaze held mine for some moments before his focus went back to the reports in his hand. Sighing, I looked around the room hoping to find the Altmer steward. What was her name again…Nyan? No, Nia? No….

"May I help you?"

I look up one the side stairs where I heard the voice that called for me. Leaning on the railing was a high elf dressed in standard Skyrim fine blue clothing, complimenting her golden hued skin and her straight ivory white hair that reached down to her shoulder blades. Her golden green eyes and neatly trimmed eyebrows, paired with her high cheek bones added to the serious no-nonsense aura she gave off. Her sharp elven features did little to dissuade from her beauty, in fact it seemed to enhance it.

"Yes, I'm here to speak with the steward of Jarl Siddgeir"

"Well you've found her. Steward Neyna, at your service. What do you need..?"

"Ragnar."

"What can I help you with Ragnar."

"Amelie and I were wondering if you could oversee a trading contract between the two of us."

"And you need the steward for this? I assume this must be something of value. Would you mind if I see the trade in question? I would like to see if this would be something worth my time."

I shrugged and reached in my bag for an ingot as she walked down the stairs. Once she reached me, I handed her the silver for her to inspect. After a few minutes of looking at the ingot at various angles, she handed me back the ingot.

"A valuable good indeed, just give me a moment to put away some documents I was overseeing. Could you wait outside for me?"

"Yeah, no problem."

(Neyna)

As the large, admittedly attractive Nord walked out of the building I turned to look at my Jarl. As expected, his full attention was directed towards me, same with the captain of the guards. Both had stopped talking the second that Ragnar had mentioned a trade agreement. Thank the gods that I managed to grab all of Ragnar's attention, or he could have noticed something was off.

"My Jarl,"

"I heard and saw everything, Neyna. Good thinking holding the ingot high enough for me to inspect as well."

"Thank you, Jarl Siddgeir, your praise is greatly appreciated."

"That was some high-quality silver too, quite a big deal indeed. Captain Melrun, did you see that Nord come in through the gates alone or with an entourage?"

"He came alone, sir. I had assumed he was an adventurer."

"So that rules out him coming from Markarth, there's no way he could have survived alone on that long of a journey. The Forsworn would have ripped him apart. Which gate did he come from?"

"The east gate, my Jarl."

"So that also rules out the northern regions and Riften, which can only mean that this Ragnar has established a silver mine on Falkreath land. I assume he must have dug into the mountains near the border with Hammerfell, it's apart of the same mountain that those silver-bloods dig into after all, it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that that's where he's started digging."

"My Jarl, what are we going to do about this? An unapproved mine set up right under our noses? We can't let a precedent like start to manifest, we need to go through the formal process and enforce tax-"

"Peace, Neyna. We shall do no such thing."

"My Jarl, may I ask why?"

"…Jarl Igmund has developed quite the spacious ego over his monopoly over silver trade. The bastard won't shut up about it, and worst of all his boasting is backed up by unbelievably high-quality silver. That nord, Ragnar, starting a silver mine could kickstart a new export for Falkreath. He couldn't have started no earlier than a week ago, otherwise we would have gotten a visit from him earlier than today to trade the silver. After all, what good is silver if you can't even use it?"

"I understand my Jarl, but why can't we establish with Ragnar that he has to pay taxes in order to use our land to mine that silver?"

"Demanding taxes now will possibly run him off, better let him think that he can mine away all that he wants for now. We'll wait two months or so before demanding tax. At that point, he'll have dug far too much to just give it all up. Besides, he'll not survive that long anyways. The werebeasts of the land will tear him apart, easier to just let him lay the groundwork for us."

"Speaking of the werebeasts, they're starting to become a very significant problem. Do we have a plan to deal with them?"

Siddgeir tapped his chin, "I figured that we could strike a deal with that Jeweler, Amelie, right? Anyways, we could offer to lower her taxes in exchange for 2 ingots of silver for every 10 she receives. And offer an incentive to have her give us more ingots for even lower taxes, we could also offer to help pay for the ingots for a set portion of them, we'll hash out the exact details when she agrees. We can then commission Lod to make us silver weapons to deal with the werebeasts."

"And what about our growing bandit problem?"

"Leave that to me, Neyna, I have it under control. Now, you better get going. Wouldn't want Ragnar to get impatient now, would we?"

"By your leave, my Jarl."

(Ragnar, at Sunken Ship)

"Okay, since rings and amulets are some of my better selling merchandises, I would like it if you could deliver at least 5 ingots every 1-2 weeks. I can already make a lot with the 12 ingots you sell to me today, so this agreement can start at the end of the month. You could come to me earlier than that if you wish to, but you're in no obligation to do so."

"Sounds good to me, I don't have a lot of men to dig up the silver anyways, and we haven't gotten that far into the mine yet so this will give us ample opportunity to get a head start."

Nenya cleared her throat, "You both will need to decide on what will need to occur in the event that either of you cannot fulfill the agreement, and what circumstances would constitute as an acceptable excuse for said events."

Amelie and I looked to each other, "I guess if you can't deliver the silver on time I could buy them for less than what I agreed on when you do get here?"

I nodded, "And if you can't give me the amount I'm owed, I could take something small for free? Like some of those incenses you have or maybe an amulet?"

Amelie put her finger to her chin, tilted her head and stared at her desk. Eyebrows frowning in concentration. Then, she nodded once, smiled, and looked back up at me.

"Sounds fine to me, incenses cost like 5 copper septims a stick so we could just scale from there for how much I would need to give you. As for acceptable excuses? A bandit raid would be fine, same with anything else that would constitute as a danger to your wellbeing. Family troubles as well, or if something unexpected happens to the mine that would set you back. We can add more things if they come up, but that's what I think would be acceptable to me."

"And for me, if your store isn't making enough that week or something that's fine with me too. Or if your coin shipment gets raided and because of that you're unable to pay me that's fine. Family troubles will also be fine with me, same with something that threatens your wellbeing. Other than that, we can discuss more if it becomes necessary. Neyna, your thoughts?"

"If everything is fine between the two of you then the agreement requirements are met. I've already written down everything on this parchment, you both will just need to sign on the designated lines and then we'll be good to go."

A couple of signatures later and we were good to go. After signing, Neyna pulled aside two blank parchments and cast some spell that copied the writing onto both of them, giving us the two copied agreements while she took the original for herself to keep safe. Before leaving, I asked directions for an apothecary, blacksmith, and if Falkreath had any magicka shops. While I did end up getting directions for the first two, I was unfortunately told that Falkreath didn't have any magicka shops, which was frankly absurd. This place is fucking massive, and it's supposed to be a damn minor hold!

Amelie came to the rescue. Apparently, the general goods store might have one or two magicka tomes he bought from a wandering adventurer, and because no one was buying them I could possibly get a discount. I gave her my thanks, gave her the ingots, collected my money, and set out for the stores 480 silver richer.

My first stop was to the closest apothecary shop, a different one from the game. The owner was this sweet little old redguard woman who was very kind to me and gave me a little more than what I asked of her. As a thank you, I gave her 2 silver septims instead of the one I owed her and left before she could refuse my tip.

Next was the blacksmith, which was Lod's shop. I had to haggle him down from charging me 50 silvers, which to me was an outrageous overcharge, for just 80 iron arrows, a whetstone, some spare bowstring, and 5 packs of nails. I ended up paying him 30 silvers instead of the 50 he initially wanted, but I still left feeling cheated out of money. Fuck that guy, see if I seek him out for business after this.

My last stop was Gray Pine Goods, right on the street where my exit gate was, and right in front of the local inn. Unlike the games, the general goods stores were stocked with so many different items, most of them out on display. And not just Skyrim goods, there were a lot of things here that I didn't recognize that could have been from Cyrodill or Hammerfell, both are right next to Falkreath after all. I pestered the man behind the desk until he finally went to check the back of his shop for any magick tomes. Luckily for me, he had a single tome for the spell fury. He tried to charge me a whopping 230 silvers for it, but I haggled it down to 100 silver septims. Still way to expensive for my tastes, but I bought it all the same.

"Would you like anything else sir?"

I almost said no, but a backpack on the shelf behind him caught my eye. Nothing special about it, just a standard leather backpack that looked identical to the packs in the anniversary edition, but all the same it was better than carrying around a sack all day, and it would be a good place to hide my hand as I pulled stuff from out of my inventory. Hmm… Observe

Leather Backpack

Base Value: 20 Silver

Effect: Increases Inventory by 4 slots, items stored in bonus slots will stay in the bag when it's not equipped to the player

"Yeah, I'll take that backpack behind you. I'll give ya 15 silver septims for it."

I walked out of the store, backpack secured to my back, and made my long trek back to the base. Or, I would have, if I didn't happen to bump into an Altmer wearing Arkay priest robes.

(Guruk)

"Do you guys seriously not have a problem with everything?"

"Give it a rest Guruk, I honestly don't have any problems with Ragnar. He's been nothing but helpful to us all. Besides, he's only been in charge for like two days now, what do you expect from him?"

"Shut up Gavnuk that's not the point, haven't you guys noticed that he's never even brought up raiding any merchants on the road?"

"Well he did mention something like that whe-"

"Not now Gavnuk. Don't you guys see? He's trying to change our way of life! We're god damn bandits, and now he's trading our silver like a damn merchant! I don't know about you guys, but I'm sick of it."

"Gavnuk's got a point, Guruk. It's only been two days, it's unreasonable to expect Ragnar to talk about any of this yet."

"Umak I swear to Malacath. Both you and Gavnuk joined our crew late, but I bet Morbrukk and Kragrau remember us and Ghunzul getting kicked out of our strongholds just for being the weaker men, our plan of action didn't even take us 4 hours. We robbed a couple merchants blind and we were damn good at it. And now, our new boss comes in and we haven't done a single thing at all!"

Morbrukk gave a short, curt nod. I could never tell if he was with or against me, but at least it seemed like he agreed with me even just a bit. Kragrau on the other hand, looked torn, the coward.

The door to our fort creaked open and out came the bastard himself, a small smile resting on his punk ass face.

"I'm back. I've managed to secure a trade deal with their local Jeweler, I still have the contract in my bag, we can all go over it later. Right now I got some stuff to hand out to you all, and an announcement."

Reaching into his new backpack, he pulled out a variety of gifts for us. Bowstring and arrows for Morbrukk, the seeds and blisterwart that Umak wanted, and he even got me the whetstone I requested.

"You're in luck Kragrau, the general goods store did have one last spell that I managed to grab."

Kragrau looked very pleased, maybe I was being a bit too harsh.

"Okay guys, like I said earlier I have some news. I ran into a priest of Arkay who needed some help, and I've agreed to have us get his book back before the end of two weeks. It's in Halldir's cave, we were gunna go into it anyways so I figured this wouldn't be a problem."

That's it, I can't take this.

"Are you kidding me?!"

"Guruk calm yourself-"

"Shut the fuck up Gavnuk!"

I slammed my fist on the table and glared at our new 'boss,' "I could begrudgingly accept making a trade deal, we needed the money. I could look past us not planning any raids-"

"You were just complaining about it earlier."

"-but this is the last straw! I did not become a bandit just to help some fucking senior citizen get his lost book back! You're making a mockery out of us, doing chores for the oh so good citizens of this dump of a hold. What the hell is your deal?! You come in here, acting so understanding and helpful when all you're really doing is tricking us to going straight!"

My outburst apparently had no effect on our new leader, and that just made me angrier. Fury coursed through my veins as I fucking snarled in barely contained anger, I stood up and marched over to him and stared defiantly into his cold blue eyes.

"Well?! What do you have to say for yourself Ragnar?! What're you really trying to do, what's your real goal? Because if we're just turning into glorified caretakers then I'm fucking out of here!"

Silence was met with my declaration. Gavnuk, Umak, and Kragrau looked shocked, and even a little hurt. My gaze found Morbrukks, and all I got was a small nod. Good, at least he's not a coward, we'll leave these three wimps with babysitter here while we do what we're meant to do.

A slow chuckle drew my attention back to Ragnar. That bastard, he has the gall to fucking laugh right now?! Barely composing himself, Ragnar looked directly at me, mirth in his eyes.

"Is that how you really feel, Guruk?"

"I told you not to call me that! And yeah, that's the deal. Same with Morbrukk too, we're out of here if you think you can turn us away from getting back at those rich merchant bastards!"

Suddenly, a cold, heavy feeling filled the room. A bead of sweat started forming on my forehead as I looked directly into Ragnar's eyes. An empty smile rested on his face as his eyes stared intensely into mine. I swore I could almost see waves of something rolling off of his form. He took one step forward, and to my eternal embarrassment I stepped backwards.

"Oh Guruk,"

That bastard has some fucking ner-

"you couldn't be further from the truth."

…what?

A hollow bark of a laugh escaped Ragnar's lips. "You have no idea how far my machinations lay on the path forwards, but if you really want to know what my plan is, I suppose I could share the first part of my grand scheme."

His hands slammed on the table we were all sitting at, his intense gaze met each and every one of our own.

"We're playing the long game, setting up connections and growing our standing in the main Falkreath capital. Little by little, I'm going to gain the publics trust, and eventually the trust of Siddgeir himself. It's going to take a bit of time and patience, but it's all part of the plan. Because by the end of spring?"

Ragnar let a slow, maniacal grin stretch across his face.

"Falkreath hold will be mine."

Name: Ragnar

Race: Nord

Level: 2

EXP: 25/150

Health: 140 Magicka: 110 Stamina: 120

STR: 14

INT: 11

END: 12 (14)

DEX: 12

SP: 0

PP: 1

Land Controlled:

-Cracked Tusk Keep (+2 END)

People under your leadership:

Happy: 4

Neutral: 0

Unhappy: 1

I got so excited to continue that I knocked this out in like 3-5 hours spread across yesterday night and early morning today.