"Allow me to welcome you to my humble abode. I've not had the chance yet to truly furnish it, but you're welcome so long as you remain in Mundus. If you like, I can put a house together, I simply require a list of what you desire." Not gonna lie, I actually like playing the distinguished noble role. Here's hoping I can earn a shred of good will from her though.
"It's…. Cozy." I sigh at that.
"You don't need to sweeten your words. It's a step above living in a cave and I know it. I was hoping that after we agreed to each other's terms we could head to the surface and get the supplies to fix that." I wave at the table I set up in the impromptu dining room and drop a few blocks of stone out of the inventory before transmuting them into a chair for my new guest. "You mentioned you had expectations?" I pull up a seat and take a glass bottle of water out of my inventory and toss it to her, which she deftly catches before taking her new seat.
"I do. I'll lend you a hand where you require it, but I am not your employee or servant. If you ask me to do something I find distasteful I'll refuse." I nod my head.
"I can agree to that. I was mostly going to ask you to run errands up on the surface for me, maybe acquire a few supplies we couldn't otherwise get down here such as spell books, or hunting the odd bear or mammoth for food." She grimaces at that.
"So you'd have me be an errand girl?"
"If you were willing, yes. I can go to the surface myself, but without a sufficient disguise, I'd draw unwanted attention to the area. If you'd prefer to not do that, I do need to scout out the surroundings, find camps of falmer, and generally map things out while I take care of fortifying what territory I've already got."
"Draw attention?" She hums softly in thought. "I take it that involves you being the last of the Dwemer. How'd that come about?"
"Ah that tale… Would you prefer the long or short version of the story?"
"The short version will do for now."
"Fair enough. The short version is that my ancestors erased themselves from existence three eras ago due to playing with the heart of a dead-ish god in hopes of taking it's divinity for themselves. My memory of back then is foggy at best, but I remember being part of the faction against the act."
"Eras?"
"It's this world's largest method of measuring time, usually by events that change the world a great deal. The Dwemer disappeared in the early first era, and it's currently the fourth era from the book's I've found." She spends a moment thinking on that.
"If that's the case, how did you become the 'Last Dwemer'?"
"Truthfully, I blame one of the princes, who I will not name because names have power. The lot of them are meddlers, but there are a few decent ones. But to answer your question, I woke up in a building I've since taken down, missing most of my memories except a few core ones, basic knowledge, and a magic system that makes me suspect which prince in particular is responsible."
From there it's question after question as I introduce new concepts to her one after the other. Aedra, Daedra, the major factions on the surface that I'm aware of, the general status of the world at large, and after that we discuss thing's she wants, most of which I can't provide for the time being. Quality wine and a home of her own? Easily doable. Quality literature is less so, but I can make a trip to the college eventually. Teaching her magic is trivial once I find some spells I'm willing to teach her. Actually…
"Hey Cinder, how willing are you to learn magic? Cause I've got a Staff you can use for now, and you should be able to learn how to cast the spell by mimicking the mana flow it uses." Quickly realizing what that sounded like I pulled the staff of chain lightning from my inventory and held it out for her. "This should help ease you into using destruction magic." She eyes the thing warily.
"Is that…"
"Yeah, it's a staff made up of Chaurus chitin. I'll have to learn proper enchanting before I can make you a proper enchanted weapon, but by then you'll probably have the spell figured out." I toss the thing to her. "I'd offer to let you test it on me, but frankly It'll punch through my ward like its wet paper, why don't we head to the wall and do some target practice?" She gives it an experimental twirl, easily getting over her mild disgust.
"I think that might be fun. You wanted to clear out a building not far from it didn't you?" I bow my head lightly as we make our way outside.
"Aye, it looked to be an old guard outpost, and I'm expecting there to be a good number of Falmer to be hoeld up inside. That staff of yours should help greatly with clearing the place out." I set up automated pathing and bask in the surprise Cinder radiates as the road widens slightly with each step.
"You mentioned destruction magic, but you didn't say what this was enchanted with."
"Ah, I didn't did I? It's got a spell of chain lightning on it. Little over a hundred foot range, and its effect will spread about thirty feet from the point of impact…. I feel I should warn you that it'll likely disitigrate anything killed by it. So when you use it, make sure you keep the living Falmer in your mind as enemies."
"I believe I can do that. Is there anything else I should be aware of before engaging with them?" I hum in thought as I pull my own staff from my inventory.
"Well, they are blind so we needn't worry about light or standing out, but their ears and nose are fairly sensitive so moving quietly is paramount, can't really do anything about our scent though, best we can do is hope it's masked by my minions." She grimaces at that and I can't really fault her. "Don't worry, I'm planning to get soap made as soon as we finish with this. There should be an inn not seven miles from the lift's exit."
"And you're fine with spending the night there?"
"Aye, I can write myself off as an Altmer that messed up a potion easily enough, and a night there shouldn't cost more than five septims a piece. I thought you might also appreciate the opportunity to acquaint yourself with the local culture as well." She hums softly at that.
"It would be nice to get a glimpse of what things are like out there. I trust what you've said but there's a difference between hearing and seeing."
"I'm glad we see eye to eye on the matter." It doesn't take us long to reach the end of the road which runs straight into the wall I've put together. I grimace at it before clapping my hands to the side, a set of stairs melting out of the inside wall. "Right, we're going to want to be quiet from here on. The Falmer might be blind, but they are decent archers." She nods her head and we quietly ascend the new stairs while most of my Falmer make their way to stand in formation behind the wall.
We stand there for a few minutes studying the building in question. Almost two miles to the south, two stories tall, almost entirely intact save for a mushroom growing up the side and rubble up against the other, the occasional Falmer patrolling the area. Cinder pulls out her scroll and gets a better look at the thing, the muted sounds of a shutter closing repeatedly as she takes pictures before nodding her head and heading down the stairs with me right behind her.
"Nifty piece of tech you've got there. You mind if I look at it later?" She sends a small glare my way before slipping the scroll back into her sleeve.
"I would actually."
"Fair, thought I'd ask. Anyways, how many did you spot outside? My eyes aren't the best, but I spotted at least two Chaurus and half a dozen Falmer."
"There were closer to two dozen if you looked at the surrounding area, as for the Chaurus…. I'd say a little less than twenty? Their surface blends in particularly well with the ground."
"They do. There's a spell out there that lets you detect the life, or unlife of a target though most barriers, it's on the list of spells I'd like to get from the college if you're willing to make the trip."
"That would be useful. What's the plan for attacking the location then?"
"Right, so this is going to be a bit odd. System, Invite Cinder Fall to Party." Her eyes widen as I see the crimson window pop up in front of her.
"Is this that 'unique magic system' you mentioned?"
"It is. I don't know why I received it, but I would be lying if I said it wasn't helpful. I take it you're familiar with it?"
"Enough." She taps the confirmation and I get a general status bar added to the upper right corner of my HUD. "That's…. Peculiar. Helpful, but certainly peculiar."
"How so? I admit I'm unsure what features you would gain access to as a member of the party." I watch her eyes dart around, focusing on things I can't actually see.
"I can see my sheet, skills, everything you would expect from a video game…. Ah, I can see why you didn't place that somewhere. Quite immature, but particularly useful. Do you mind if I?"
"By all means, if you're referring to the vending machine in my inventory feel free to use it as you wish. That said since you have access to my inventory I ask that you be careful with things." She nods her head at that, a moment later pulling out a bottle of… Pomegranate juice? And takes a sip from it, a small smirk working its way onto her face.
"It may look ridiculous, but it seems to have quality in mind."
[Cinder: Oh this is quite useful isn't it?]
There's a chat function?
[Lethaius: I actually hadn't found this feature, and I must agree. The ability to speak… This counts as telepathy doesn't it?]
[Cinder: It serves the same purpose yes.]
"Right. I believe I've got the basics of things. Shall we storm the keep?" I tilt my head to the side for a moment before nodding.
"Aye. These guy's can't really 'storm' anything, but they should be there within twenty minutes. I'll hang back and direct them since I'm not an active combatant as it were."
"Really now? A man like you is afraid of a little skirmish?"
"I can walk about as quickly as the zombies and my only real ranged weapon is a revolver with limited ammo." She lets out a put upon sigh, but I can see a smirk on the edge of her lips.
"Then I guess I'll perform my duties as your ward. They should be ready for you when you get there Milord." She crouches before leaping over the wall like it's nothing, her blip on my map rushing south at breakneck speeds. I just tilt my head back and run a hand through my hair.
"Why did it have to be her?" I shake the thoughts from my head before making a passage through the wall. "Right you heard the lady. Get a march on my minions." I start leading the horde south along the road, Ward spell in hand and at the ready should anything appear, but aside from a few Chaurus hunters that appear and get shot out of the sky and reanimated, there's not much.
[Cinder: I see why you considered them an infestation. The stench is horrible, and they have no sense of tactics.]
[Lethaius: Yeah, their one redeeming feature is that they are some of the stronger white souls. I'll have to get you some Gems and see about getting that spell for you.]
'Speaking of. Hey system, wouldn't I get that as part of Necromancy anyways?'
[[Soul Trap] is an advanced spell in [Necromancy], and will not be granted until you reach the required level.]
'Well that's gonna be a bit then. What level will I get it at?' I wait a few seconds but don't get a response. Right, guess it's not wanting to answer.
[Cinder: Spell?]
[Lethaius: Ah sorry, it's one of those 'common knowledge' things. Enchantments are fueled by the energy generated when a soul passes onto the afterlife. There is a spell to capture souls before they 'pass on' in crystals called soul gems so that you can enchant things in a stable environment…. Or well, that's how it worked from what I remember? I think?]
[Cinder: And these things have 'strong' souls?]
[Lethaius: Considering I can hear the sound of combat from here I have to applaud your ability to talk and fight, but yes. Souls are commonly classified in the categories Petty, Lesser, Common, Greater, and Grand, and then they are further divided by weather they are White or Black souls. White souls are typically found in creatures, so wolves, lions, mudcrabs, generally if it's incapable of higher thought it will have a white soul. Black souls however are found in thinking beings such as ourselves, Men, Mer, Argonians, possibly the Dov as well, but their souls are protected by one of the Aedra. Falmer are one of the rare exceptions though. They used to be the Snow Elves, who had black souls but…. Something must have happened to degrade them such, because now they have white souls.]
[Cinder: I wasn't quite expecting the lecture in the middle of combat, but it does explain a few things. They remind me of the Grimm somewhat, reacting mostly on instinct unless there's an intelligent one to lead them…. I assume you're wanting the Mage's intact?]
[Lethaius: Was that plural? Anyways yes, I'd actually like to capture them alive if I can, so if you're willing, I'd prefer you aim for disabling their limbs, but honestly as long as they aren't turned into piles of ash I can learn what I need to.]
[Cinder: I can- Fuck!]
The message abruptly cuts off as the entire east side of the building goes white for a moment and I hear the godawful Crack-Thoom of thunder and Cinder's Mana drains by more than seventy percent, and she takes nearly a quarter of her health in damage through her aura.
[Lethaius: CINDER! Please tell me you're Conscious?!]
"FUCK! Kick it into gear you dumb skeletons!" I curse my past self for getting my leg taken away as I do my best to speedily hobble towards the fight. There's no response for the longest time and the only reason I'm not going into full panic is because I can see her health slowly ticking up by a fraction of a percent every few seconds, and when I finally see her next message I can feel the relief flood through my veins.
[Cinder: I thought you said these things couldn't talk! One of them summoned a damned lightning golem and I wasn't prepared for that.]
It takes me a few moments to process that before I can send off a reply.
[Lethaius: They shouldn't be able to talk. To my knowledge they are little more than intelligent animals, but if one talked to you…. No that's for later. Are you alright? I saw your health drop a good deal.]
[Cinder: A bit singed, but fine. In the future we're testing enchanted weapons before fighting.]
[Lethaius: Ah…. I'll admit my fault in that. I'm almost there.]
It takes me a few more moments to work my way over the small hill, but when I crest it well…. The scene I come upon can best be summed up as a massacre of Itachi-ian proportions. Hunters are agility tanks, and it fucking shows. The Falmer use heavy armour, and admittedly it's decent for being as shoddy as it is, and the more advanced stuff was just a bit worse that fucking dragonbone in the game, but in the face of a trained Hunter? It means nothing.
Bodies of both Falmer and Chaurus litter the ground, limbs separated at every gap in their armour that can be seen, the stumps charred, each and every arrow wound smoking. Then there is the environmental destruction, still smoking craters from where lightning melted the stone and soil, chunks of shattered masonry, brass pipes with holes in them venting steam onto a few unfortunately boiled bodies.
I finally lay eyes on Cinder, the edge of her right sleeve smoking a bit, and her hair a bit frazzled, but in relatively good shape.
"... If I ever piss you off may I have a warning first?"
"Have you thought of not pissing me off?" I tilt my head to her at that.
"Point, I'll endeavour to not piss you off if I can avoid it. I know you said you're fine, but are you sure you don't need a potion or anything?"
"If I needed one I'd have asked. Now are you going to do your thing, or not?"
"Yeah It'll take a bit of time though." I could go on about how dismembering them like this makes my job harder, but honestly I'm not gonna push it. "Right, you lot! Start collecting parts!" I get a bunch of faint inarticulate groans and they do all get to work collecting body parts, and I'm unsure why, but it almost seems like Mage is directing them. It's actually a bit fascinating to watch because to my knowledge each of them are mindless husks, but Mage retains its ability to use magic… "Where's the mage?"
"One of them turned to ash along with a squad of archers and some of the warriors, but the other mage is…" She scans the battlefield for a moment before gesturing at a corpse separated from its head. "That was the one who summoned the golem. I'm just glad the thing died with it's master." I hum at that and make my way over to the body.
"Made of stone, looked like a living storm cloud?" She nods her head. "That, was an atronach, or one of the elemental daedra. How one of these formed a contract with them, I'll not know for a good while. That said, I do have a scroll to summon one, but I'm not it's contract holder so it's not bound to listen to me."
"Where'd you find something like that?"
"In the lab of a long dead elf. I'm hoping to give the man a proper funeral once things are stable here, and if I'm right the atronach would like to be present." I shake my head a bit and inventory the body. "Also in the future, please dont just chop heads off of bodies. It's effective, yes, but I'll have to fix that later."
"Ah, my apologies then. You only mentioned not turning them to ash."
"You didn't know, and I didn't say anything so the fault is mine. Truthfully I need to study their bodies anyway to advance my craft, so this is somewhat fortuitous. Now, how about we clear out the building proper while my minions do their work?" She nods her head and I pull out Ace before making my way to the entrance and sealing it with transmutation.
"That's quite the useful trick you've got there."
"It is. Though I paid a hefty price to learn this method. I may be able to teach you how to do it the old-fashioned way though." She is right though, this is by far one of the more useful skills I've got, which is just proven more right as I clap my hands to the ground and we start to rise on a freshly made scaffold.
"Old-Fashioned?"
"What I do is create a circuit within my body and use my magic as energy to fuel the transmutation, the original way this was used was by creating alchemical circles to produce a reliable effect while using tectonic energy as fuel. To do things like I do…. You'll have to break a universal law and give up a part of yourself that's usually ironic. A man who wants to see his nation thrive becomes blind, a woman who wanted to be a mother lost her reproductive organs, everything has a cost that must be paid, and it isn't always worth the price." That kills most of the conversation because it strikes right at Cinder's main character trait, her desire for power.
I make an entrance into the building through the roof and we get to clearing out the few inhabitants, mostly falmer just milling about carrying things around or even sleeping in one case. It's not even really a challenge for either of us and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but by the time we finish I've figured out what this building actually was. It was a god damned maintenance depot.
The top floor is what appears to be a set of living quarters, joint bedrooms, a general rec room with shelves built into the walls that have all been scoured clean. The 'ground floor' is a workshop that's seen better days, stone workbenches, gas lighting, a forge that's gone cold long ago, several broken automatons lying around, entire spiders, a few spheres, and one Centurion that's disassembled on a large stone work table with a massive slagged hole in the center of it's chest.
The part that makes this all worth it though? In the game the building looked like they carved out the surrounding stone to build the place, but that's just stupid. No, all of that's rubble because fucking cave ins, and under one part of that rubble was a hatchdoor to a basement that was practically filled to the brim with raw resources. Shelves filled with ingots of various metals ranging from copper all the way to a pair of Ebony ingots, raw gemstones like rubies and sapphires, multiple drums of oil, nine filled soul gems. When Cinder coughs to get my attention I'm pretty sure I do my best impression of a kicked puppy on accident.
"I'm sure you're dying to get to work on all of this, but I believe you promised we would be visiting the nearby inn?" I don't pout at that.
"Right, I did say that didn't I?" I pull away and try to compose myself a bit more properly. "Very well. Let's make our way outside, and I'll seal the building up behind me." We make our way out and I seal up the building before reanimating what bodies are still intact enough to do so and put the rest in the inventory. Once that's done we make our way to the great lift, which thankfully works with the use of my attunement sphere.
"Right so, it's gonna be roughly ten miles straight to the Inn and neither of us have winter clothes. I've got linen and can make us some cloaks but well…. I won't tell you how to dress, but if you want, I have a pair of enchanted leather boots and pants in the inventory you could use." I'd grimace too at that prospect.
"I can see your point. Are…. Will you be alright with your leg like that?"
"That…. Is a very good point actually." Fuck, how hand't I thought of that? "Well, you should be able to equip the pants and boots through the inventory and they should resize, but do you want a better top as well? I should be able to manage something quilted for a bit of extra insulation, but it won't be dyed."
Neither of us are particularly happy with this turn of events. Cinder and I both appreciate nice looking clothing, and being forced to wear clothes that are only slightly better than roughspun fabric is less than pleasing. I'm also ninety percent sure the only reason I can turn these bolts of linen into decent clothes by our standards, is due to my years of tailoring for the sake of cosplay and renaissance fairs that I went to with my friend. The worst part is that it all comes out as a fairly uniform beige that clashes with both of our palettes, but with a bit of creative semblance use on her part we get the cloaks a lovely charcoal black.
On the matter of my leg…. Well I had to settle for wrapping it in fabric and widening the cup around my stump to add some insulation. I did have one idea that was particularly hairbrained but got us to the Inn quicker. I wound up essentially making us some ski's, which wasn't exactly a smart idea considering I've got one leg that I can't maneuver, but it worked! The trip would normally take an hour or two at my pace, wound up taking a handful of minutes because it's almost entirely downhill from the lift to the Inn, even if I did need to use Cinder as a crutch. The barkeep gives us an odd look once we make our way in, but that fades away once we pay the man twenty septims for a pair of rooms for the night then grab a bench near the fireplace and dig into our bowls of stew.
"Heh, so h-how are you liking Skyrim?" She glares at me over her steaming cup of wine.
"I'm wondering why we left home. It smells, but at least the place is warm." I concede that point and pop off my leg, letting it rest by the fire.
"Aye, it's cold here, but it's got a charm of its own. I'm going to enjoy the warmth here for a bit, but feel free to have a look around the village."
[Lethaius: I look close enough to an Altmer that they will be at best neutral to me. You're Human so you might be able to get some information from the locals.]
"Hmm. I do need some new gear." She nods her head. "I'll be at the smithy old man, try not to get hurt while I'm gone."
[Cinder: If they ask, what's our relationship?]
"Yeah yeah, I might be old but you still work for me." I snort a bit at her cheek. "See if you can get a good price for some pelts while you're there, I've been wanting a new cloak for awhile now."
[Lethaius: The truth is the best, you're my adventurer/bodyguard after all. I'm just a crazy old man who's been studying Dwemer ruins.]
"Any preference?"
[Cinder: Understood. Do I have a budget?]
"If they have any bear I'd be willing to pay handsomely for that."
[Lethaius: I trust your discretion on the matter. Worst case, see if the smith is willing to accept metal in trade.]
"I'll see what I can do." With that she gets up from her spot and heads outside, leaving me alone in the quaint little tavern where several of the patrons are eyeing me warily. Ah, the joys of cultural racism. To be a mage and an 'Altmer' in the heart of skyrim is wonderful isn't it? I finish off my stew and slip my leg back on.
Right, now to see if this little village has any books I could borrow without getting lynched.