It's been a long time hasn't it? I'm sorry about that, I haven't had a lot of time to write, but I stop working at my job on August 15th to start prepping for another year at university, so I'll have a lot more free time to write from then throughout the school year. Crazy how I have more time to write during the school year than summer innit?
"Oh Ragnar, what a surprise! What can I help you with?"
"Nothing Runil, just here to deliver on my promise."
"Is that…yes it is, that's my journal! Thank you Ragnar!"
"It's no problem Runil, my companions and I were going there already to gather the alchemical ingredients that grew there, I figured I could spare some time getting your journal. Speaking of, why was it even there to begin with?"
"Ah. Well, I take long walks through the woods surrounding the area to take my mind off things. I oversee all the funerals that go on in Falkreath as the only priest of Arkay, but there's so much grief an old elf can take before he gets overwhelmed yeah? So I often go out to clear my mind a bit, get some…well I would say fresh air but everything is outside anyways soo…"
"I…understand to some extent, my old job was the same. If I got too overwhelmed, I would step outside and take a breather if my superiors would allow me."
"Ah, so you can empathize to a degree. Anyways! I was out on one of my walks when I felt a large spike in magicka around the cave you found my journal in. I went in to investigate, but when I got to the top I found myself in the presence of a very powerful ghost. Only with the grace of Arkay was I able to escape through the trap door in the center of that room. I haven't the faintest idea of why he didn't follow after me, but I won't question it!"
"I did wonder how you managed to get out, the door had locked behind us when we entered the final room."
"Yeah…anyways, seeing as you got out you must have done the same thing right?"
"No, we dealt with the undead in the cave. We're actually turning the area into a sort of farm for our alchemist. It's perfect for growing the mushrooms that he uses for his experiments."
Boy that was a hard decision to make. The cairn only really benefitted two members of my…gang? Umak and Kragrau were the only ones who showed any interest in the place. Kragrau wanted it because of the history the place had with magicka, but Umak wanted it because the cave itself was perfect for growing his ingredients. When had raided the big chest, however, there were many old books pertaining to magicka. Most of them were stuff that Kragrau already knew, as the books were mostly pertaining to theoretical spells of the time they were written that were now spells that existed, like the fear spell he learned. But there were a couple of hidden gems in there, and Kragrau was eager to see if the rest of the crypt had any more secrets to discover.
In the end, I had to side with Umak. And to my relief, Kragrau didn't seem upset at all, Umak even offered that Kragrau could have the top floor because the room wasn't fit to grow anything other than Namiras rot, and he got permission to search the crypt for more secrets that Halldir may have hidden away.
"Really now? That's quite resourceful!"
"Yeah, it was a tough pick but I think Umak benefited more from the location than one of my other guys."
"That's great to hear! I hate to do this Ragnar, but I have to ask you to go. I have a funeral to oversee very soon. However! I want to reward you for getting my journal back so soon. Here, take a few silver septims and this healing spell book. I've already mastered it quite a while ago, no need for it to collect dust when someone else could use it."
"You don't have t-"
"I insist Ragnar, it wouldn't feel right of me to take advantage of your kindness without proper reward."
"Then I'll happily accept both. Thank you Runil, this is tremendously helpful to us."
"It's no problem, Ragnar. I must be off, but I thank you once again for the help, and if it's not an issue, could I rely on you for any future problems that come up? I would compensate, of course."
"You can count on me."
(-)
"That old priest just gave you a book of healing?!"
"..yeah?"
"By the gods themselves…"
"I really don't see the big deal here Kragrau."
"You wouldn't get it Ragnar! Restoration magick is a rare form of magicka in most of Tamriel, people who can preform these kinds of spells are highly sought after, and the knowledge to learn them cost a fortune!"
"If it's so valuable then why did Runil just give me something that must be worth hundreds of gold septims?"
"Hmmm…well it's possible that Runil was alive before the oblivion crisis happened. From the stories I've heard, restoration magicka was practiced more. But sometime after the gates were closed by the Hero of Kvatch, almost all of the knowledge and secrets of the art were…gone. Everyone speculates that it was Dagon's act of vengeance against mankind just before he was forced back into oblivion, but no one really knows what happened. Regardless, the practice of the healing arts has been practically wiped out. Hell, from what I hear, skyrim has only like three dedicated experts of restoration magick: a high priest of kynareth in Whiterun, and these two other Altmer that teaches at the College of Winterhold."
"Wait, if the knowledge was lost then how does anyone know how to perform the arts at all?"
"It's not like the knowledge was ripped from our collective minds, it was just that almost every book and scripture of the art disappeared. You must understand, Ragnar, restoration magicka wasn't as valued back then as it was now, no matter how stupid that is. But after the disappearance, their value as practitioners of a lost art skyrocketed. Hammerfell and Summerset Isles even created special schools dedicated to the art due to their lands having the highest number of practitioners. They now hold a monopoly over contract healers, and they charge an exorbitant price just to hire them."
"Okay…I guess I understand the gravity of the gift now, but why would he give me the spell book in the first place?"
"My best guess is that he just didn't understand the value of what he gave you. He's an old elf based on your descriptions of him, you also mentioned he had white hair. Elves live for a very long time; they don't get white hair until they've hit at least three to four hundred years old. I wouldn't be surprised if he was around long before the oblivion crisis started. To him, a basic restoration spell like healing wouldn't be seen as valuable."
"That's…certainly possible. I would guess that would also depend on how long he's been in Skyrim. Nords never really practiced magicka anyways, so the loss of the art wouldn't impact them nearly as much, so it's entirely possible that Runil could just be unaware of the scarcity. That's probably not true, it was just the first idea that comes to mind."
"That's certainly an interesting guess. Regardless, what are you going to do with the book?"
"I figured you could learn the spell and then teach me."
"…You'd really let me learn the spell first even though it's yours?"
"Well, yeah. I believe you deserve it."
Kragrau gripped his staff, a grateful smile painted on his face. "Thank you boss, you have no idea how much this means to me!"
I patted him on the shoulder, "It's no trouble at all Kragrau. You're a valued member of my crew, and you deserve a reward for the hard work you've put in for our motley group. Say, how long do you reckon it would take you to learn the spell so as to cast it?"
"Oh! Uh, well my best guess would take about…a week or two of study? It would depend on the quality of the tome. Then some days to practice the spell itself, but it would take one and a half weeks minimum by my guess. Why?"
I let a smirk grow on my face.
"Because Kragrau, we're about to get some new members to our band of miscreants."
(-)
The boys and I sat around at our makeshift war table. It was really just the dinner table, but no one wanted to mention it. Regardless, a large map of the immediate area was laid out. Between my meta knowledge of the surrounding area, combined with Morbrukks scouting we drew up a map that stretched from the wood mill run by those vampires all the way to the bastions that were stationed in the mountains above Falkreath. Little symbols were drawn in areas where I knew important landmarks were, like the Twilight Sepulcher and the Knifepoint ridge. Of the six of us gathered around the table, Guruk was the first to speak.
"What's up boss, why'd you call us all over?"
"Well, mostly it's two things. Umak, it has been a few days since you have been given reign over Halldirs cairn, has there been anything of worry? No draugrs we missed or anything?"
"Nothing yet boss, I'll be sure to let you know if I need any help with the cairn. But I've started on growing more of all the types of ingredients we got from that cave, it's just a matter of time before the mushrooms start growing."
"Do you know how long it will take before we can harvest them?"
"Well, normally it would take 3-5 days depending on the mushroom, but Kragrau hypothesized that because of Halldirs magickal influence over the cave, that they might grow faster and that their quality would be much better. The samples I took from the first time we entered seem to support his guess, but I wont know for sure until I can harvest them. I'll be sure to check on them every day."
"See to that Umak, and let us know if you run into any trouble, I'll come over with Guruk and we'll get rid of any undead problems you run into."
"Thanks boss."
"Don't mention it. Anyways, my second reason for gathering you all here was to inform you of our next target."
"We're doing a raid?"
"In a sense, we're going to be attacking here." I pointed to a symbol of a tower nestled in a large rock, diagonal from knifepoint ridge. "This right here is an abandoned Nordic tower called Bannermist Tower,"
"You mean the tower that the Bannermist bandits run?"
"Of course," I hadn't known that but no need for them to know that "Our little group has been fine for the past couple of days, but it's time to officially start our grand expansion. Halldir's carin was a good start for us, but we will be stretched a little bit thin between all of us taking care of both locations on our own. I can attempt to bolster our numbers to a degree by attempting to recruit some homeless I've seen in falkreath, but-"
"There's no guarantee that they would willing to join us on our more…aggressive actions, I presume?"
"Right in one Gavnuk, while recruiting them would be a fine option for our mining front, it would be better for our group if we just take over existing, weaker bandits. Which leads to my current goal for us, we're going to attack and subjugate the bandits that are currently holed up in that tower. Not only would it increase our numbers, but we'll have a foothold into the more northern territories, and a better location to conduct some hits on passing merchants.
"We're gunna start doing raids again?!"
"Yes, Guruk. I was even thinking about having the tower be under your command when we take it over. I think it will be a good opportunity to test your ability to lead a small group of bandits on raids before your eventual duty of commanding all of them. But it's entirely up to you."
"I would accept in a heartbeat boss, don't get me wrong, but isn't the tower kinda far from here? How will I be able to communicate my plans and reports with you?"
"It's about hours walk there, but I get what you mean. We'll discuss more about it later, communication between both locations will be important…but as I just said, we can figure out everything later. Back to the upcoming attack, we can't leave this place unguarded. Gavnuk, Umak, do you two mind staying behind?"
"That's fine with me boss."
"Same here."
"Good, that leaves the rest of us to deal with tower bandits. The tower itself isn't too large, so I wouldn't expect more than maybe four to five members. What do you guys think?"
"…I would expect at most seven. Their location means that they should have a majority of archers, it would be stupid of them to not have invested their time into it."
"Good thinking Morbrukk!"
"…thank you, Kragrau,"
"Yeah yeah, but they would also need to have some frontliners to protect their archers right?"
"That's true Guruk, but we can deal with them easily. Morbrukk and Kragrau can distract the archers while we deal with the close quarters opponents."
"When are we going?"
"We'll need to prepare a bit before going, I would say we can leave tomorrow morning, so take the rest of the day stocking up on supplies and getting ready. But we've still got some daylight left, so let's get some shit done while we can."
"You got it boss. I'm gunna go digging in the mine, the constant swinging Is a pretty good workout. You wanna tag along, Gavnuk?"
"Sure Guruk."
"…I'll go hunt some game."
"I'll just go make some more potions I guess?"
"And I'll practice that spell you gave me!"
"Alright then, break!"
(-)
"Hey Kragrau?"
"Oh hey boss!"
"I just wanted to ask something before I head upstairs to practice something, am I interrupting anything? Honestly it could wait, it's just been nagging at the back of my mind."
"Nah it's fine Ragnar, I was just sorting through my findings from Halldirs chest. I was planning on starting the healing tome you gave me, but I could answer a question or two."
"If you're certain…"
"It's honestly no problem boss. So, what'd you want to know?"
"It's just…back when we were talking about the rarity of restoration magicka, how'd you know so much about everything?"
Kragrau went silent after that.
"Honestly you don't have to an-"
"No no, it's fine boss! I was just caught off guard for a second. I'm honestly not that shy over it, it's just that no one has ever asked me before."
"Really?"
"Who here besides you do I have a reason to talk about the history of magicka with?"
"…huh, touché."
"Regardless, the reason I know so much about what happened is actually because of my mother."
"I didn't realize an orc could live that long."
"My mother isn't an orc, Ragnar. She was a high elf impregnated by an orc from my stronghold."
"…"
He took my silence as a que to continue, "Normally, a birth between an orc and a female of any other species would have resulted in that child being exiled from the stronghold due to them not being an orc, but I was different. I'm part of the small group of children born between two different species that end up being the same race as the father and inheriting traits from the mother. That's where my skin tone and eye color come from. Anyways, my mother was allowed to stay to raise me until I was of age to stand for myself, and I was taught the wonders of magicka by her and its history. She was actually alive during the oblivion crisis, that's why I know so much about the history of restoration magicka."
"You said your mother was a high elf, is she…?"
"Dead? I have no idea, she was exiled from the stronghold when I turned ten, that's when the tribe deemed me man enough to take care of myself. I haven't seen her since."
"…do you wish to see her again?"
"If given the opportunity I would love to, but I honestly don't have any expectations of that happening."
I paused, mulled over my thoughts before coming to a decision.
"If she's out there Kragrau, we'll find her."
"…that means a lot, Ragnar."
I patted Kragrau on the shoulder and left to go upstairs.
(-)
I sat on the floor of my room, legs crossed under me as I rested an oak log on my lap, hands gently clasped around the sides of it. Every day since I've started, I've been getting closer and closer, I can feel it in my bones that I'm almost there, I spent too much time the last couple of days hunting down spriggain and dealing with wolves so I could level up to not do this.
Status
Name: Ragnar
Race: Nord
Level: 9
EXP: 30/ 500
Health: 200 Magicka: 240 Stamina: 160
STR: 16
INT: 22 (24)
END: 18 (20)
DEX: 16
SP: 0
PP: 7
Land Controlled:
-Cracked Tusk Keep (+2 END)
-Halldir's Cairn (+2 INT)
People under your leadership:
Happy: 5
Neutral: 0
Unhappy: 0
I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and got to work. I closed my eyes and concentrated, following the steps that Devas had graciously written down in his journal combined with my own lackluster experience. I willed my magicka to flow into the log in my hands, gently guiding it mentally from my core, through my arms, and passed my hands and into the log itself. I felt it all, and reigned in on the magicka inside the log that tried to dissipate too early, I refused to let it loose as I could feel the oak changing, transforming into something new but familiar. Minutes passed as I willed my magicka to do my bidding, that's when I felt something click in my mind. I let go of my control, and opened my eyes.
In my lap sat an innocent log of birch wood. I picked it up and placed the log onto the ground next to its failed brothers and sisters, grabbed my axe, and split it down the middle.
"Holy shit."
Alteration spell learned: Transmute [Adept]
Transmute (1/10) [Adept]: A spell created by Devas Erevan. The user can transmute ore or wood into different materials. The spell lasts for one hour unless heat is applied.
Available Materials:
Wood: Pine, Oak, Birch
Ore: Iron, Silver, Gold
Cost: 80 Magicka per level of transformation
Transmute added to Alteration spells list
+8Lv to alteration tree (16/100)
+3 INT for learning new Adept Spell
I stared silently at the now fully birch log that laid around its fallen brethren. I quietly stood up, took a deep inhale, flung my head back, raised my arms into the air, and shouted at the top of my lungs.
"LET'S! FUCKING! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
If anyone was in the base, they might have thought me crazy. I wouldn't have cared, and even now, coming down from my high of success, I readily admit that I still don't! I now had access to a spell that no one knew (to my knowledge), and ideas on its applications were swimming in my head.
I felt good. Really fucking good, I deserve something for all my hard work. Accessing the inventory, I pulled out that Gacha token I had gotten from gaining control over Halldir's cairn. I picked up the token from my hand and examined it. It looked like a large golden doubloon with a fancy G in the center.
I rolled it between my fingers in amusement. System, how do I use one of these?
You simply flip the coin into the air
And how does this work? Is it like the lottery from before?
No. Unlike the Lottery from before, there is nothing negative that can be gained from the Gacha system, although there is one roll that can be argued to be a bad roll. How the Gacha system works is that a 100 sided dice is rolled, and depending on the number you land on decides what you get.
0 = Nothing
1-20 = Common
21-40 = Uncommon
41-60 = Rare
61 – 80 = Epic
81 -100 = Legendary
This gacha system will only draw items that are universe friendly, so you won't be getting anything that would break the world you are on. For example, if you got a legendary roll you wouldn't be getting something like a devil fruit, or Titan spinal fluid. You would get something more akin to a Daedric/Aedric artifact, maybe even a blessing. You can still get out of universe items, but only if they won't break the world you're in.
Oh good, so no chance to get anything detrimental or something stupidly broken. Grinning, I flipped the coin in the air.
Rolling 1d100…
Rolling…
Rolling…
43 Rolled!
Rare item selected: Glamoured Iron Armor
Glamoured Iron Armor [Rare]: Wearing this armor applies a +3 to DEX. Twice per day, you can speak the command word "Disguise" to have the armor assume the appearance of a normal set of clothing, or a different type of armor. You decide what it looks like, including color, style, and accessories, but the armor retains its original bulk and weight. The illusionary appearance lasts until you use the command word again or when you remove the armor.
Armor has been equipped to mannequin
A small flash of light shone in my room. What was in its place when it died down was a mannequin outfitted with a set of a standard Skyrim iron armor. A helmet fitted with downward curved horns, a breastplate over a brown vest, plated gauntlets over fur gloves, and thick greaves over heavy boots. A minor difference between this set and a standard one was it looked less...rough. The armor was sleek, smooth, unlike the rougher and coarser texture of the standard set. Like the one I was currently wearing.
That's…good, really good. Assuming there's no time limit for how long the illusion lasts I could trick people into thinking I was just wearing normal clothing when I go into battle, or something terrifying for a normal bandit to face: ebony armor. I could use dragonscale or dragonbone armor, but I have no idea whether or not the Dragons have already revealed themselves. I know I said I would have Falkreath by the end of spring to the guys, but honestly that was just a guess based on the state of the vegetation around me. I can safely assume that I'm of the year that the Dragonborn shows up, after all Halldir was still in his cave and Sinding is probably at Falkreath, but for all my fanboying over Skyrim, I actually have no idea what date the game begins. For all I know, Alduin is already razing Helgen to the ground and I would have no idea.
Regardless, I can't parade myself around in armor made from creatures that are thought to be long dead. Technically there's nothing stopping me, but I don't want to deal with any headaches that could potentially come from such an act.
I glanced out the oval shaped hole in the wall that acted as my window, it's getting late, I'll make the boys and I food while we discuss tomorrow's battle.
(-)
We had all decided that the best time to strike would be very early in the morning to stack the odds more in our favor, which is why I was waiting outside the base with my snazzy new illusion armor at the crack of dawn waiting for the rest of them. I decided to go a little deceptive for this operation, the same set of armor I usually wore, but the helmet I was wearing was instead looked like a long piece of cloth that appeared to keep my hair out of the way of my eyes. The thought process was simple: make my head appear to be unprotected so that they won't aim for my arms and legs to hinder my ability to fight.
A few minutes passed before I saw the rest of the group came out of the base, each rested and equipped for the upcoming battle. I grinned at everyone assembled and set off in front with Morbrukk, leading the rest towards our future abandoned tower.
It actually ended up taking only about 45 minutes to get there instead of the hour we had estimated earlier, but all the same we found ourselves huddled in the trees just beyond the tower, hidden by the large trunks. From what we could see, only two archers were awake at the top of the tower. Looks like our plan to attack at dawn was already proving to be advantageous, it would take time for the archers to alert everyone else of our sudden arrival, time that we can use to our advantage by storming the tower before the bandits can fully wake up and arm themselves.
I turned to look behind me at the rest of the group.
"Guruk and I will rush on three, you two stay here and provide long ranged support. If we need to, Guruk and I will lead them outside so that you two can bombard them with ranged attacks while we attack up close. Got it?"
A round of nods met my orders. I grinned and faced forwards again, holding my hand out with three fingers held up. I counted down, and when the last finger fell I rushed forward, with Guruk not far behind me.
Name: Ragnar
Race: Nord
Level: 9
EXP: 30/ 500
Health: 200 Magicka: 270 Stamina: 160
STR: 16
INT: 25 (27)
END: 18 (20)
DEX: 16
SP: 0
PP: 7
Land Controlled:
-Cracked Tusk Keep (+2 END)
-Halldir's Cairn (+2 INT)
People under your leadership:
Happy: 5
Neutral: 0
Unhappy: 0
Breh I wrote that beginning of the chapter three weeks ago. I've been adding a little bit here and there over the course of the few days I've had to update, which amounts to about 4 hours every couple of days when I don't collapse into my bed after work. I felt like I could do more with the chapter, but I felt it more important that I get something out to show that the story wasn't abandoned.
But in two days I stop working at my job in preparation for going back to uni! So I will be more free to upload more consistently like I used to.
I'm also a bit unsure over whether or not Ragnar's level jump was…forced? I don't know a better word, but I just don't know if I handled it well enough so that I could justify him getting the INT score needed to finish learning transmute.