Hey! Sorry for the sorta late update, I've been busy with my new job. Hours are 2pm-10pm, which was prime writing time for me. Updates might end up being less frequent than the first four chapters because of this, so sorry in advance about that.

(Ragnar, Falkreath)

"Oh thank you young man, these heavy crates would have taken forever to move on my own."

"No problem ma'am, you looked like you could have used the help."

"Let me at least give you something as a thank you, I may be a small produce stall but I can part with some."

"That's very kind of you Helena, I've actually been running low on apples and potatoes if you could spare a few?"

(-)

"Ah there you are Ragnar, did you get that firewood like I asked?"

"Do you not see the stack of logs in my arms right now?"

"Bah! Don't get smart with me laddy, these old bones still got some fight in them."

"Shitty old man."

"Upstart bastard."

We shared grins as I dropped the firewood by his forge.

"Why'd you need the wood for your forge anyways? I thought coal would have been much more efficient."

"Got a large order for arrows from the Jarl for the guards, the wood is more for making the arrows themselves than fueling my fire. Though, charcoal might not be a bad idea for any extra wood I end up having, thanks for the idea Ragnar!"

"Whatever, anyways I'm off Lod."

"Ah before you go lad, seein as you've been helping out other folks in town, there's an old man named Thadgeir who needs help with a delivery across town. You got time to help him?"

"Yeah, I'm here to buy food anyways for the guys and I. I don't mind helpin out another person here while I'm at it."

"Many thanks to you Ragnar, we appreciate the help a lot. The gods know we could use more of it."

"The guards don't help around?"

"Hmph, they only do when it's serious like a crime or something. Not that I can really fault them for that, it's their job, but some common decency would be appreciated! Just last week Helga had dropped a bunch of food she just bought because a guard bumped into her and he just kept walking away!"

"Sounds like an asshole to me."

"Aye! Ah, I shouldn't be taking up so much of yer time. Here, have these two new pickaxes I made. Amelie wouldn't stop bragging about that trade deal she has with you to the other craftsfolk, least I could do for helping me and the rest of the community."

"Thank you old man, I'll make sure they're put to good use."

(-)

+1 Lv to Birchskin

Birchskin (5/5) [Novice]: A spell derived from the oakflesh spell. Turns the surface of the caster or an object into birch for 30 minutes

Cost: 40MP

+2 Lv to Alteration [8/100]

+4 Int for mastering your first custom novice spell (WARNING: such a large increase will not happen again for other novice spells)

"FUCK YEAH!"

A voice called up from downstairs, "Oi Boss, why are ya yellin about?"

"Nothin important Umak!"

"…Alright, if you say so. Anyways, would you come with me on a forage for alchemical ingredients? I want to gather a bunch for potions for our trip to…what'd you call it again? Halldir's cairn?"

"I'll be right down!"

(-)

Would you like to complete your hunt?

Mmm…Yeah, I'm done for now.

Hunt has ended

6 wolves and 1 spriggain Killed

+3 Lv Axe Proficiency [16/100]

+2 Lv Blocking [12/100]

+3 Lv Heavy Armor Proficiency [5/100]

+170 EXP

You have leveled up! +2SP, +1PP

Choose which stats you would like to increase

Add both into dex

Allocating points…

Profile updated!

Name: Ragnar

Race: Nord

Level: 5

EXP: 60/300

Health: 160 Magicka: 180 Stamina: 140

STR: 16

INT: 18

END: 14 (16)

DEX: 14

SP: 0

PP: 3

I've done a couple of other hunts since my first one, but this is the first time I've encountered a Spriggain. I was lucky too, the wolves were already fighting it by the time I had found them, four were already dead, but the sheer numbers from the wolves was enough to weaken the Spriggain considerably before I had arrived.

I had charged into the fight and just hacked and slashed away at the weakened spriggain, the wolves were small fry at that point, I couldn't let the fucker heal itself like it does in the game. I took a considerable amount of damage before I downed the spriggain, but at that point it was light work to kill the wolves in quick succession.

I sighed as I downed a potion, it definitely wasn't smart of me to just charge in without any concern for my safety, I just really wanted the exp, and now I know that spriggains give out a whopping 50! That's the most I've seen so far, It'll just be a problem finding them because they're rather recluse, and they could be in any tree in the entirety of Falkreath hold, and there are literally hundreds of thousands of trees in the entirety of Falkreath, I wouldn't be surprised if there were over a million.

I waited a few moments, and like clockwork crunching of leaves and twigs and low grunting alert me to the fact that the bears showed up again. I swear to the nine these guys are just following me at this point. Regardless, I gathered the corpses together and delivered them to the bears in two trips. I boldly patted the mother bear on the head and got out of there quickly, just to be sure that I wouldn't get mauled to death for stepping out of our…whatever I should call this, I guess.

(Ragnar, end of the week)

"Alright, one final count. Does everyone have their shit, Umak?"

"Yep, I got plenty of potions and my knives are strapped to my sides."

"Good, Kragrau?"

"I got my stuff, boss."

"Excellent. Gavnuk?"

"Got my axes."

"Great, Morbrukk?"

"Mhm."

"Right..And you, Guruk?"

"I'm good to go boss."

"Excellent, now let's kick some magical draugr ass."

With my piece said, we all left the safety of our fort and trekked down to Halldir's Cairn. It took us not even 30 minutes to reach it, but we had arrived at the cave entrance. Two pillars rose from the ground, for what purpose, I have no idea, but around the entrance was several bunches of mushrooms that Umak was hard at work carefully extracting.

"Why is Umak taking so long?"

"Because, Kragrau, Umak is making sure to cut the stems of the mushrooms in such a way as to make sure that they'll be able to grow back. It's actually rather smart of him to do this, because we have no idea where else we can find these alchemical ingredients, so best make sure that the area where we know they can grow can continue to produce them."

"Oh, yeah that makes sense. Thanks for explaining that to me, boss."

"Eh, I just learned about it the other day when Umak asked me to help him gather blue flowers for the health potions we have. He explained most of what I just repeated to me then. Hey Umak, what'd you find?"

"I got some Imp stool and Namiras rot! I've never worked with either, so I'm excited to experiment with them."

"Imp stool? If I'm not mistaken then that has healing properties is prepared right."

"Where'd you hear that?"

"The old lady who runs the alchemist shop in Falkreath mentioned it, anyways, are you almost done yet?"

"Yeah, just give me a few moments, I'll be done soon. I pray to Malacath I brought enough bags for the ingredients!"

(-)

Stepping into the cave was challenging, not because of any actual danger, but because the ground was littered with mushrooms and flowers, and all of them were alchemical in nature. Umak stopped us completely just to make sure that he could gather everything around us, but eventually we got to the first room of the Carin. The cave opened up considerably from the narrow entrance, a vast room full of blisterwart, imp stool, and namira's rot littered the ground as a pile of rocks near the back were placed neatly together almost as if a pyramid with the bodies of 8 different people lying around it as a large purple beam of, what I can only assume to be, magicka swirled and rose from the rock formation up into the air and past the iron trap gate from above, the room where Halldir was.

You have entered Halldir's Carin

Defeat the boss and his minions and you will be able to claim this area as your own! [0/10] [0/1]

Rewards upon completion: 2SP, 1 Gacha Token, Halldir's Carin added to territory

WARNING! All XP gained will be distributed once the dungeon is completed.

"By Malacath, the amount of magicka in the air…it's almost as if the air itself is being weighed down?"

"Really Kragrau? I don't really feel any different."

"That's because you're not really magickally inclined, Guruk. What about you boss, do you feel it?"

Indeed I did, thanks to my secretive training with alteration magicka, I have been able to almost sense magicka in the air. I'm still a novice, of course, so I can only really feel it if I concentrate hard enough. But this cave is so full of it that even my novice levels of sensing can easily pick up on it without even trying. I wonder what it's like for Kragrau?

"Yeah, I can easily sense it if I focus for a second, what's it feel like to you?"

"I just can't ignore it, I wonder what it was like for that priest you encountered. I'm only an adept user of magicka at best, he must be that level too, or possibly higher."

"Mmm. We should move forward, Runil had mentioned that he had taken care of most of the enemies when he went to explore this place, but the undead tend to not stay dead for long when in places like this."

I made my way passed the bodies of the dead bandits and went to the shut iron door. Tried as I might, I couldn't open the door at all. Strange, why would the undead lock the door again?

"Door's locked. Fuck, we should search the bodies of those bandits, surely most of them will have a lockpick on hand, we could use that."

"I thought you nords had a thing about respecting the dead?"

"I honestly never gave a shit about any of that Guruk, the dead are dead, simple as that. It's not like they take their belongings to the afterlife they go to anyways, it would be more of use to us than them."

With that said, Guruk and I pillaged the bodies. Snatching up anything of value that they had.

"Hm? What's this…"

"What is it boss?"

"Some kind of Journal from one of the bottom bandits. Let's see here…apparently they were all from the knifepoint gang but left due to some sort of disagreement.. yada yada yada…apparently they all, killed themselves? It was a voice in their head commanding them to do i- that must have been Halldir! Quick, has anyone been hearing anything unusual?"

A chorus of noes echoed the room.

"Okay good, these guys seemed to have stayed here what seemed to have been either hours or days here, the journal doesn't do a good job describing the time, so we should hurry and get rid of Halldir. If he's making random people just kill themselves for him, then he can't be up to anything good."

"Aren't you planning on killing the Jarl of Falkreath?"

"Oi, that's not the point Gavnuk!"

"I dunno boss, sounds kinda hypocritical, doesn't it?"

"Guruk, you literally shouted your approval for my plan."

"Aren't you also planning on killing anyone who doesn't comply with your plans?"

"This is mutiny I tell you!"

(-)

The gang and I cautiously made our way up the old wooden spiral stairs into the old Nordic ruin that was above the initial cave. Opening the door was rather simple, Morbrukk apparently had a skill in lockpicking. Where he picked that up? I have no idea, but that doesn't matter right now.

I led the pack, shield raised and axe at the ready. It was agreed that I would be in the front due to me being the only one with a shield, so I would be the most safe. Behind me was Guruk, greatsword tensely held in his hands. Kragrau was flanked by both Umak and Gavnuk. As our only magicka user, he was vital for the group, so he was near the back. At the very back of our group was Morbrukk, with his skill with the bow and arrow he would round up our entourage. Besides, with the way we were going about this, we had no worry about anything coming at us from behind.

We turned to our left and slowly approached the door. Two draugr laid dead on the ground, but I kicked their sides just to make sure they weren't pretending. Nothing happened after a few baited breaths, so I raised my foot and kicked the door open. Nothing came out, and we shuffled through once more. A groan caught my attention as I spun around and slashed at a draugr that was sitting in a chair next to the door. It's glowing eyes staring straight at me even as it's head snapped to the side. Guruk, not a beat behind, swung his mighty sword and decapitated the draugr. That was…surprisingly easy?

Another draugr in the room falling to the ground dead sounded off. I turned around and saw that the draugr died by the combined handiwork of Umak and Gavnuk, who were both letting out a sigh of relief at the sight of the dead enemy. I congratulated them, and we continued our journey forwards.

(-)

We had passed many Nordic tombs full of mummified and wrapped ancient nords, more than our fair share of them were actually Draugr though, but they were all easy to take care of. But we were finally at what I could tell was the entrance to Halldir's final room; the 'Boss Room,' as one would call it.

A large spacious place with a small indent into the ground, forming a large circle in the ground, the center of it housing the iron trap door we saw earlier from the first cave, the purple beam shooting up through it proved that. Four tall stone pillars shot from around the circular center into the ceiling above us, behind the pillar rested a throne, I couldn't make out much more than that though, the purple beam of magicka blocked my full sight of it, but there was a giant chest next to the throne that I could make out.

I knew from the game that the player character was locked in this room once he stepped inside, but then how would have Runil had gotten out? I can only assume he dipped from the trap door in the center of the room if he didn't make it out the way he came, or maybe he just sensed the great danger he would have encountered if he had gone straight through, but either way I wanted all of us in this room in case we got locked out.

I shuffled in slowly, followed closely by the rest of my crew. As soon as Morbrukk crossed the threshold, an iron gate descended from the gateway we just passed through, locking us in the room with Morbrukk. I waited with baited breaths for the ghost to appear, but after what seemed like minutes but was only seconds, nothing appeared. Confused, I looked around to see if I somehow missed him, but no, he still never appeared. An ugly thought reared in my head; that journal from earlier had mentioned that Halldir wanted blood sacrifices to become alive again…

Had we arrived too late? Was Halldir already among the living and had left before we even had the chance to get here?! No wonder we never found any ghosts in this place, he must have attempted to revive his followers before resurrecting himself!

"Ah, finally. The last mortals I need…Step forward, adventurers, and become something greater than yourself."

Startled, I looked around trying to find who just spoke. No one was here other than us. Suddenly, Guruk stepped forwards.

"Yes, that's it, step closer young man."

"Yes…lord Halldir."

Acting quickly, I slapped Guruk in the back of the head to snap him out of whatever was controlling him.

"Ow! What the fuck was that for Ragnar?!"

"Halldir had gotten into your head, I didn't know how else to snap you out of it. Everyone! Arm yourselves, Halldir's still here, we have to get rid of him."

"Ah, your group is more resilient than the last couple of people to come here. Must we do this the hard way? Hah…very well."

The sound of bones cracking filled the room, I could faintly make out the outline of something rising from behind the beam of magicka. It walked forwards until a rotten foot stepped through, followed by the rest of a hunched over corpse. Blackened flesh connected to bones and ligaments that somehow managed to move forwards, most of his chest had little flesh to speak of, however, showing a very empty intact ribcage covered by old Nordic armor. His right decayed hand clasped tightly around an old Nordic sword that glowed with a mysterious power, his other skeletal hand primed with powerful magicka. His head…it was truly disgusting. A dislocated jaw dangled by partially torn flesh and skin; teeth yellow as the sun itself as a black mist sprawled from its mouth. Sunken eyes revealed nothing except two piercing blow orbs of magicka that swirled madly in the empty blackness of his eye sockets. The abomination took a few staggered steps forwards, speaking in our minds as he moved towards us.

"You five are all that I need to walk the lands of Skyrim once more. Rejoice, for once I drain your life force from your bodies, you'll be forever remembered as the mortals that allowed me to roam free again."

"…Yeah, fuck that. Guruk you're with me, we're gunna charge this mother fucker."

"Got it boss!"

"Morbrukk you stay behind and provide cover fire, get in as many shots as you can if you can safely hit him."

"…understood."

"Umak, Gavnuk, stay behind and guard Kragrau. Kragrau, provide assistance whenever you can. You mentioned you could use conjuration magicka, use it!"

"You got it!"

Orders given, Guruk and I charge forwards, an arrow sailing in front of us courtesy of Morbrukk. Snaps and cracks rang from Halldir as the broken and hanging pieces of his undead body snapped back into place. With his body fixed, Halldir met our charge, offhandedly deflecting the arrow away with his sword. His other hand fired what I assume was a firebolt right at Guruk, but I stepped in the way and blocked the spell with my shield, and without wasting a moment I crouched and raised my shield. Guruk understood immediately and leapt onto my shield. I heaved upwards as he jumped, and Guruk used his elevated height to spin into a horizontal swing right into Halldir's side. Halldir tried to block the greatsword with his Nordic weapon, but the force of the swing combined with Guruk's immense strength proved too much for Halldir's undead muscles. Halldir's sword was forced out of his hand, taking a mighty slash to the chest in the process. The sword spun in the air and landed on the ground behind me. I backed up quickly and kicked the sword back even further towards Umak and Gavnuk. Without his sword, Halldir has become somewhat less of a threat, but not by much.

As if to prove my point, Halldir was suddenly surrounded by a cloak that coated the surrounding area in a blanket of frost, outright freezing the more wet rocks around him. Guruk took some damage, but he managed to get away quickly enough that the worst he got was a light coat of frost on his arms.

"Stay back Guruk and watch his movements. I'll face him for the time being, and when you see a moment you fucking take it."

"Right!"

I charged forwards, shield raised in front of me blocking a dual blasted frostbite spell. Without losing speed, I crashed shield first into Halldir, his arms pinned upwards by my shield. Grinning, I bore through his frost cloak and swung my axe and struck his left upper left limb, just below the shoulder, slicing through a good deal of hardened flesh and hit his bone. Not that mattered too much, given his undead nature, but if I could just hit that area repeatedly…

A howl echoed throughout the room, and suddenly a ghostly wolf lunged and snapped it's spectral, yet apparently corporeal jaws around the left shoulder of Halldir. I glanced over at Kragrau and nodded in appreciation and was given a thumbs up in return. Focusing back on Halldir's snarling face, I attempted to swing again, but fire suddenly blasted outwards from Halldir, forcing me to backpedal away so I wouldn't get burned. The conjured wolf, however, held strong. Snarling and shaking his mouth full of undead flesh. Halldir directed a bout of fire and it washed over the specter, blasting it with so much fire that the pillar beside them blackened from the heat.

Four arrows struck the draugr. Three in the chest, one in the leg. Annoyed, Halldir attempted to strike Morbrukk with lightning, but he managed to duck and roll behind one of the pillars just in time. With his attention on Morbrukk, Guruk charged in as quickly and quietly as he could, and cleaved his sword through the air and into Halldirs back. A mix between a horrifying screech and a howl pierced the air as Halldir cried out in pain, and he suddenly disappeared. I grimaced, this was the tough part.

The others were confused until three ghostly apparitions of Halldir suddenly appeared in different areas of the room, all donning a different cloak of magicka.

"Don't worry guys! These ghost fuckers aren't as strong as the main body. I'll take on the one that uses frost magicka, Guruk and Morbrukk can take the lightning one while the rest take on the fire one!"

"Oi! Why do Morbrukk and I have to take on the lightning one?!"

"Because lightning magicka depletes the targets reserves, that's literally Kragrau's only method of attack. Anyways, the real Halldir won't appear until all three are defeated, so that means if you're finished with your opponent before the others, help out someone else. Anymore questions?"

"How are we supposed to his these gho-"

"No questions? Great!"

I charged towards my opponent shield first, frost magicka assaulted my shield. Frost spread along the surface and around it, the cold dancing against my fist closed around the shield's handle, but I pushed through it easily and bashed into it, to my immense surprise. I wasn't sure that I could even hit the bastard, but I'm not going to question it!

The ghost let out a hollow screech as it stumbled back from my blow, I hefted my axe and swung it down like a hammer. I slashed through the ghost's spectral flesh, surprisingly I met a little resistance as my axe cleaved through it. It screeched and blasted me with frost magick. I grinned as the cold washed over me, dealing minimal damage to me as I tanked through the frost and snow. It's howling grew more panicked as I kept hacking and slashing with my axe. In a last ditch effort to save itself, it charged up what I can only assume is a dual casted ice spike. Just as it seemed ready to fire I bashed my shield into it's face, disorienting it and causing the spell to fly wildly to the side, missing me entirely. I let a smile with perhaps a just a bit more teeth than I intended and cleaved my axe from it's chest to it's hip. The ghost screamed as it wavered out of existence.

I turned around to see if anyone needed my help, and to my surprise Kragrau and his group were done before me, already in the process of aiding Guruk and Morbrukk, and if the ghosts wails were any indication, they were pretty much done already. True to thought, the last ghost dispelled. Magicka swirled around the room and coalesced in the center of the room, right in the beam of magicka, and condensed into Halldir's undead form, looking much worse than before. It wasn't an obvious thing, but his form slowly rising gave away that his motor skills were starting to leave him. His magicka presence seemed weaker too, that spell must have taken a lot out of him.

"You…you insatiable miserable whelps!"

Halldir lifted his head and stared wildly at all of us, his once bright blue orbs of magicka now have dimmed to a pale muted color, still swirling in his empty sockets.

"Do you have any idea who I am?! I am the great Halldir! Master of Magicka, the right hand to Ragnar the Red himself! I will not, can not, be defeated by the likes of you!"

"Hate to break it to ya, but there are plenty of mages more magically powerful than you."

"YOU DARE!?"

"Oh I dare, you're from a time where magicka was barely even practiced by Nords, ignored due to ignorance and arrogance. I'm sure in your time you were unrivaled in the mystic arts, but now you're at best an adept user in destruction magicka. Hell, Kragrau here could definitely pass you within the coming months if given the right resources."

"You really think so Ragnar?"

I smirked, "Meant every word."

Kragrau let out a pleased, if slightly embarrassed hum. I let my grin grow as I noticed Guruk getting ready, just a little bit more….

"I'll admit, Halldir, that you were talented. I mean, finding a way to come back to life from beyond the grave? I haven't heard of anyone doing that on their own. But face it, you're done. You can't tank another attack, you're on your last legs. Just give up."

"You arrogant little upstart! I'll have your head for that insult! DO YOU HEAR ME, RAGNAR THE FAKE?! I'LL DRAIN EVERY LAST DROP OF LIFE FORCE FROM THAT BODY UNTIL THERE'S NOTHING LEFT BUT A SHRIVELED UP COR-"

Guruk swung his greatsword and lobbed off the Draugr's head. The voice projecting into our heads ceased immediately. The undead body collapsed onto the floor, and the beam of purple magicka slowly dispersed until there was nothing left.

The guys and I just stared at the body, trying to gauge whether anything was going to happen, and we all collectively let out a loud sigh of relief as nothing happened. We all kinda just crumpled to the ground, catching our breath as we sat on the ground to rest.

You have defeated Halldir and his draugr followers!

Defeat the boss and his minions and you will be able to claim this area as your own! [10/10] [1/1]

+2SP

+1 Gacha Token

+Halldir's Carin added to territory (+2 INT)

10 Draugr and 1 mini undead boss killed

+4 Lv Axe Proficiency [20/100]

+3 Blocking Proficiency [15/100]

+5 Heavy Armor Proficiency [10/100]

+5 Light Armor Proficiency [8/100]

+700 EXP added

You have leveled up x2! +4SP, +2PP

Choose which stats you would like to increase

I should have six SP now, right? Hm….put 4 into END and the rest into DEX

Allocating points…

Profile updated!

Name: Ragnar

Race: Nord

Level: 7

EXP: 10/400

Health: 200 Magicka: 200 Stamina: 160

STR: 16

INT: 18 (20)

END: 18 (20)

DEX: 16

SP: 0

PP: 5

Land Controlled:

-Cracked Tusk Keep (+2 END)

-Halldir's Cairn (+2 INT)

People under your leadership:

Happy: 5

Neutral: 0

Unhappy: 0

I'll have to think about those perk points later, but for now?

"Hey, uh, does anyone want to just sit here for a bit? You know, to catch our breath?"

"Oh thank Malacath yes!"

"…mhm"

"Whew! Thanks boss!"

"Hahhhh, yeah, that sounds nice."

"Oh gods please!"

I wasn't super sure on how to go about the time skip, so I settled on doing a bunch of snippets of what I deemed relevant to Ragnar's progression, whether that be leveling or steps for his first goal i.e helping the citizens of Falkreath. What did you guys think? I thought it was a decently effective way to showcase everything, and I'll probably continue to do so in the future if people didn't find it too confusing.