Giorno woke up in his bed and did a long stretch. He got out of bed and changed. Once he finished, he heard a knocking at the door.
"It's me, Fugo!"
He opened the door. Usually, Fugo had to change in Giorno's room, but something changed. His armor was on.
"You're already dressed?" Giorno asked.
"Yeah. When I overslept yesterday, Trish changed her clothes while I was asleep."
"So you watched her undressed."
Fugo's cheeks reddened. "Whoa, no! All I did was look away. Anyways, did we kiss yesterday? It feels like a dream."
"No, that was real."
Giorno placed a hand on his cheeks and tenderly kissed him, looking him in the eye as their lips parted. Fugo leaned in, wanting another kiss and wrapping his arms around his body. The golden blond stepped into the room, making Giorno step back, eventually backing him up to the opposite side of the wall. As for the door, it slowly closed itself. Fugo tackled Giorno with kisses. However, when the door creaked open, they stopped. Trish stood at the door.
"Forgetting me?" she said. She walked and stood next to Fugo, looking Giorno in the eyes. "I love you, both of you."
She kissed Giorno and Fugo. Then she focused on kissing the blond, standing on her tippy toes. Giorno squeezed her. Fugo watched as they made out.
"Come on! I was kissing him," he whined.
"Hey, you kissed him first!" Trish said. "Let me have my moment with him."
They kissed for a while and then stopped. Giorno was hot, sweaty, and panting. As for Trish, she smiled, looked at Fugo, and kissed him.
"Let's go, guys," she said, leaving the room.
It was hot and humid in Leyawiin. Strands of hair clung to Fugo's sweaty face.
"Perhaps you should've worn something lighter," Trish commented.
"I don't have anything besides what I have underneath this heavy armor," he said.
Giorno fanned his face with his hands. "What about that green velvet outfit I saw you wear when we first met?"
"I didn't want anyone to steal it. And what about you? You always wear the same pink robes."
"All the robes you've seen me wear are different."
"Why do you have the same robes?" Trish asked questions this time.
"As a mage, I'm used to wearing robes. As for the color, you never see anyone wearing pink robes. Why is that?"
"Maybe you bought them all. Anyways, once I get into the Arcane University, I hope to get those same pair of robes you have, Giorno."
"You won't find these robes, but I'll happily give you them."
"Really? Thanks!" She got close to Giorno and gave him a peck on the cheek. "So, any clue on what the recommendation might be about?"
"No clue. For my recommendation, I had to help Dagail regain her sanity."
A clothing store distracted Trish. "Oh."
She stood in front of the windows. The display window showed a purple velvet dress that exposed the shoulders. Next to it was a matching outfit for men. Trish turned her head and looked Fugo in the eyes.
"Fugo, you're rich," she said. "You should probably wear something cooler than that rusty armor you have."
There was rust on his armor, and his glass sword had seen better days.
"I think you might need better equipment," Giorno commented. "What you have seems old. Perhaps we can find you some armor and a new weapon."
Fugo sighed. "Fine. Let's guy Trish some clothes first."
Trish squealed with joy. All three of them entered the clothing store. Despite Leyawiin having a largely poor population, this store was still running. The guard at the corner kept a close eye on them, primarily on Giorno. His stare made the Breton nervous and made him wonder if the guard knew he was a thief. Did Giorno look suspicious? He looked at his lovers, who were chatting. They didn't seem suspicious. Suddenly, Giorno remembered what Teekeeus said to them and realized he was the only one wearing robes. A yellow outfit behind the counter grabbed his attention. It looked like the outfit Fugo first wore.
"Hey, Giorno." Trish tapped on his shoulder. "Would you like an outfit? They have a spare purple outfit for men."
"Hmm, I'm not sure purple is my color. How about the one in yellow?"
The Imperial store clerk took off the displays' clothes. He placed them on the counter. "That would be 250 Septims."
"Fugo, wait," Giorno said. "Are you going to pay for my clothes? I'll pay for my outfit myself."
"Then you'll have to pay 150," he said.
"Why so much for the yellow outfit?" Trish asked.
"That was the last outfit."
The three took their clothes from the counter, placed them in their bags, and then left. Trish went to the guildhall while Giorno and Fugo went to the Dividing Line. Tun-Zeeus, an Argonian, ran the store. Tun-Zeeus was at the grindstone, sharpening a weapon. He stopped once the two stepped in and went behind the counter.
"You look like you need some new armor," the Argonian said.
Giorno browsed the light armor—chainmail, mithril, and elven—on display. Meanwhile, the only heavy armor sets were iron, steel, Dwarven, and Orcish. As for the weapons, there were only iron and steel swords. There was also a Daedric helmet on display, locked away behind a glass display case. Its glow indicated it was enchanted. A shame, though. Fugo didn't like wearing helmets. That, and Trish would've complained that his outfit didn't match.
Fugo looked at the Orcish armor. "I think I'll have this." He brought the armor to the counter.
"That would be 2,360 Septims," Tun-Zeeus replied.
"Let me pay that for you, Fugo," Giorno said.
"Do you even have enough? Also, I need my sword repaired."
"I still have plenty. I probably don't have enough to buy a horse, however."
Giorno handed Tun-Zeeus the coins. Fugo took his armor, let the Argonian repair his weapon, and the two left, heading to the guildhall.
Inside, the two saw Dagail panicking around Trish.
"You don't need those two!" the elderly High Elf shouted. "They'll only hold you back from your true talents!"
She then turned to face Fugo. Fugo thought Dagail was a nutty old bat. When he set off to get his recommendations, she said something he didn't understand. "Shadows surround you," she had told him. Whether she was talking about the Dark Brotherhood, he did not know.
Dagail got closer to Fugo and placed her hands on his face. He swiped them. "You think you're a part of the shadows, but they don't like you, and they will hurt those closest to you."
"Could you just get on with it?" Fugo said. "What does Trish have to do?"
"A swarm of zombies killed a traveling merchant on the road," she explained. "Giorno, do you remember where you stopped Kalthar? There! It is in there! You must slaughter these zombies!"
"Then to Fort Blueblood," Giorno said.
The sun was setting when they arrived at Fort Blueblood. The fort looked different than what Giorno remembered. The land was marshy and full of life, but everything around it was dead. Zombies roamed around the fort, moaning.
Fugo, Trish, and Giorno hid behind the trees.
"Trish, how do you want to handle this?" Fugo whispered.
"By going"—she moved away from the tree and cast a fire spell at one of the roaming zombies—"loud!"
The rest of the zombies charged at her, but her lovers took care of the rest. They ran inside the fort.
Inside, they were in the hallways, and the paths separated.
"If we go to the right, we will—what's with the bars?" Giorno said.
"Were they there before?" Trish asked.
"No. Well, it looks like we'll have to take the other way."
"If whoever was here blocked the way, we should prepare for any traps they reset," Fugo warned. "Do you remember what the traps were?"
"There were some swinging mace traps, but that was it."
"Do you think they would've placed more traps?" Trish asked.
"Possibly. I doubt the necromancer replaced the treasure in the chest. Anyways, there's this small empty room ahead. Be ready for a fight."
Up ahead were two zombies, one of them headless. The three stood behind a couple of crates while the zombies roamed freely. Before Giorno, Trish, and Fugo could engage, the Imperial remembered what Dagail had said to Trish.
"Are we holding you back?" he asked her, whispering.
Trish turned to him. "What? No. I do have one thing to complain about, however. I can handle myself in a fight, but I don't know many offensive spells. I rely too much on my fire spell, and it's weak. Giorno, you taught me how to use clairvoyance. Is there something else you can teach me?"
"I can't teach you how to cast a powerful fire spell, but maybe I can teach you how to soul trap something," he whispered. "Do you have a soul gem?"
"No."
Giorno tossed her a couple of them. "The biggest one I gave you is a greater soul gem while the smallest one is the lesser. The other one is a common soul gem. I don't carry petty gems, but the grand soul gems are too valuable to give away. Also, stay clear of black soul gems. Now, for the soul trap spell, it's difficult for me to tell you how to cast it, but I shall demonstrate it. I'm going to soul trap the zombie with the head. Watch and learn."
Giorno stepped away from the crates and cast a spell at the zombie, grabbing its attention. The zombie charged, and then he killed it with a fire spell. Its soul went into the gem.
"Ah, I get it now!" Trish said. "At least I think I do. Let me try."
The headless zombie tried to run towards Giorno but tripped on the other zombie's body. As it tried to get back up, Trish cast the soul trap spell and killed it with her staff. She showed him the filled common soul gem.
"Excellent! If your staff runs out of power, you can use the gems to recharge it, but it'll get consumed in the process."
"That spell took a lot of magicka."
"It's an apprentice-level spell, and you're just a novice. With time and practice, you'll get used to it. We should move on."
They were in another hallway, and Trish managed to step on a stone plate, triggering the blades on the floor.
"Whoops, I'm sorry," she said.
"Well, that's new," Giorno commented.
"I see the lever, and I also see more traps. They're runes," Fugo mentioned.
"Let me deal with this," Giorno said. He summoned a scamp and then knelt to talk to it. "Alright, I need you to go to the end of the hall. If you can try and pull the lever, that'll be great."
The scamp avoided the saw blades and activated the rune traps. However, it still lived and pulled the level, deactivating the traps. The three made it safely across the hall and into a larger room. A zombie and two rats were ahead, but Trish defeated the zombie with her staff. As for the two rats, Giorno's scamp took care of them.
"We're almost there," Giorno said. "I wonder if the necromancer raised Kalthar."
Before they could continue, they had to cover their nose. The stench of the dead was behind that door. Fugo went in first, then Trish, then Giorno. A zombie that had a bluish-green mist around it greeted them and attacked. Fugo thrust his sword through the zombie's chest, and then Trish used her staff to kill it. More zombies approached, some freshly raised and some exposing some bones.
"Trish, you've never seen me cast a spell, have you?" Fugo asked.
"Huh?" She was more focused on the horde of zombies that approached them.
"Watch this."
He sheathed his sword and had his arms out. Once the zombies got closer, he roasted them with a powerful flame spell. Some of the flesh melted off their rotting skin.
"Good grief," Giorno commented. "Remind me not to piss you off."
"Ugh," complained Trish. She looked ready to vomit.
"We should get out of here as quick as possible," Fugo said. "Trish isn't looking so good. Are we done?"
Giorno examined the room. There were tables and alchemy equipment that wasn't there when he was here the first time. He walked towards the bookshelf, searching for who the necromancer could be.
"Giorno, what're you doing?" asked Fugo.
"Trying to figure out who the necromancer is. I don't want them to attack more people."
"Let me help you."
The blonds searched for any information while Trish went into another hallway. The zombies from before must've activated the traps, or the necromancer was too lazy to reset the mace traps. Either way, she continued forth, ending up in a big room. There were dead bodies in a pile and more bodies resting on top of a few tables, all stripped of clothing and some missing organs. Trish burnt their bodies so nobody could disturb their rest.
Wanting to explore, she noticed there was another room downstairs. She went down and saw a body lying there. She also noticed the floor wasn't paved with stone but with dirt. As for the body, she noticed the man, likely a Nord, wore blue robes and was slightly rotting. Suddenly, the body started to move.
"Uhh," he moaned.
Giorno and Fugo were behind Trish.
"Trish, where did you go? We were—Kalthar!" Giorno began casting a spell, but Kalthar was quick and threw a rock at the two with telekinesis, knocking them unconscious. It broke on impact.
"Giorno!" Trish yelled
"Giorno…" Kalthar said. He then looked at Trish. "Die."
Kalthar cast a spell on himself, but she wasn't sure what it did. She used her staff on him, but his spell absorbed it. The hideous Nord cackled. Trish sighed and conjured some gauntlets, boots, and a dagger, still holding her staff in her other hand. She charged toward him and began hacking and slashing, slicing his robes a part. Kalthar grabbed her arm, specifically her gauntlets, and burnt her with a smell, causing her to emit an ear-piercing scream. She tried to pull away, but he had a firm grip despite being undead. There was a smirk on his face as he continued burning her. She tried using her staff on him, but the spell absorption was still in effect. She dropped her bound dagger, conjured a helmet, and then headbutted him. He let go, and she resummoned her blade and plunged it into his neck. Kalthar no longer moved, and Trish fell to the ground, panting.
Giorno and Fugo woke up moments later.
"What happened?" Giorno asked.
"He's dead. All the zombies are gone. I'm tired. I want to go home."
Trish collapsed.
"I'll carry her!" Fugo said. "She's easy to carry."
"Oh, poor dear," Dagail commented, looking at Fugo with Trish on his back. "Well, when she wakes up, make sure you tell her she has earned a recommendation."
"Thank you, we'll tell her once she wakes up," Giorno said.
The three left the guildhall.
"So," Giorno said, "where are we sleeping for tonight? It's getting late. I assume we're sleeping at the Three Sisters' Inn."
"Yup! I rarely visit this place. Let me try to find it on my map."
"Can you see? It's dark out. Here. Let me try to lighten the place up." Giorno cast starlight.
"I could've done that myself, but thanks."
And then a voice spoke. "Fugo, is that you?"
He recognized that voice and looked away from the map. Prosciutto was there, standing a few feet away from them. He wasn't wearing his shrouded armor but his burgundy linen shirt and pants. The older blond got closer to them.
"Is this someone you know?" asked Giorno.
"Unfortunately." Fugo had a sour look on his face.
Prosciutto got closer to them. "Shouldn't you be somewhere?"
"I could ask you the same thing." The Imperial glared at him. He never liked him due to his harshness.
"So much has passed since you've been avoiding us."
"I've been busy."
"So have I. Shouldn't you be up north?"
"I didn't know I was on a time limit, but whatever. Hold your horses."
"I would say it was a pleasure, but it wasn't. Goodbye."
Prosciutto walked away, disappearing into the night.
"What was that about?" inquired Giorno.
"Nothing. It's nothing. Let's just head into the inn. I'm tired."