The days leading up to my latest conquest came and went quickly, and most of it was…boring, to say the least.

Don't get me wrong, I did accomplish a lot relatively speaking. I raised my archery and smithing skills three levels each, bring them to 10 and 5 respectively, and I even nabbed a nifty little perk for my smithing skill with my last remaining Perk Point.

Forged by Fire: You receive no damage handling hot metal while you are forging

I found it while scrolling through my available perk purchase list, a feature added to the system so I don't have to manually go through each individual skill and see what they offer. There were some impressive ones, mostly for axe and blocking proficiency as my highest skills. But as soon as I saw this, I knew I had to get it. I still don't know jack shit about forging, the most I know how to do is smelt ore and then fit them into ingot molds from all the time I spent helping Abelon, and even then the ingots I make are so sloppy compared to his. But once I do, I'll get to reap in all of the rewards.

Funny thing how this perk and the way Transmute functions work so well together~

But I don't care much for the training, I do it because I must not much so because I enjoy it beyond the satisfaction I feel when I see my numbers increase on my skill sheet. Not like there's much else to do in this world, unlike earth there isn't a lot to do outside of work beyond drinking and reading, and that's if you're literate. But the boring slog days are over! It's finally Loredas, and that means it's time to visit Sunderstone.

I had already made my way to bannermist earlier this morning with Umak and Kragrau and gathered up Guruk and his forces. Eight of us were equipped with our primary weapons and armor, and were stocked up with 4 healing potions each straight from Umak, who stayed behind at the tower to gather ingredients with his two underlings from the Moss Mother Cavern he never got to investigate. And to my immense satisfaction, Umak had given us each two potions he had recently discovered how to make: Magicka resistance potions. Granted, they're not that strong only being able to mitigate magicka damage by around 4% and only last for about 7 minutes, but it shows that he's learning and progressing, and it gives me pride to see that my trust in him is paying off. Once he gets more underlings, we can actually create a serious effort into potion crafting and research, a resource that will surely help out myland.

The trip was quiet for the most part, hushed talk filled the silence as we made our way towards the cave entrance along the rocky hillside as to not alert our presence to any wayward travelers, hunters, or imperial soldiers. But after a good 20 or so minutes of careful travel we eventually found ourselves overlooking the entrance from a good 20 or 30 feet above the entrance, carefully hidden behind some of the tall rocks as to not be seen. A small glance showed a random mook standing guard, no discernible features as their head was hidden by a long black cowl, their body with a classic blue mages garb. Crouching, I motioned for the group to huddle up. Everyone shuffled quietly forward as we formed a small circle.

I spoke softly, "Now that we're here it's time we go over our formation."

Brojlic scoffed quietly, "And why couldn't we have done this earlier?"

Because I didn't think about it. "Because I'm testing your ability to adapt to planning on the fly. You won't always have the chance to preplan an attack, or preplan a defense against an assaulting party, so doing it in a…well I wouldn't say controlled, but doing it in a supervised setting will help teach you this skill." My bullshitting skills never fail me.

Brojlic rolled his eyes in a dramatic fashion.

Guruk narrowed his eyes, "keep up the blatant disrespect of the boss like that Brojlic and there will be consequences."

Brojlic sighed, "Yes Guruk sir."

My eye twitched slightly, but I continued regardless. "I've already mentioned this before to Guruk but this is just as much of a test for all of you while it is a territory expansion for me. As such, you five will be the main fighting force of our little skirmish. Brojlic, Joric, and Erwans, you three are the frontal assault along with Guruk as you three are trained in close quarters combat, while the other two will hang in the middle as you both are archers, along with Kragrau as he provides support and acts as another means of long ranged assault."

Joric raised his hand slightly, "And where will you be?"

I smiled, "I'm mostly overseeing everything but don't think I'll be in the thick of it if I need to be. I'm focusing more on being a support role for this endeavor, so I'll come assist and defend if need be but most of the effort will be on all of you."

Joric nodded, appeased as he set his hand down. The others muttered and exchanged glances, Borjlic however looked the most annoyed and disgruntled, but dared not say anything untoward me in the presence of Guruk. Something to keep track of during the upcoming battles and for the future, but not of any importance right now.

"Before we start, let me express that we're aiming to disarm and subdue the enemy, not kill. If an enemy wishes to surrender, or not to fight at all we capture them peacefully. Only kill if necessary or if you believe your life is in danger if you don't attack with lethal force."

I grinned, "If this goes well, we'll be sure to storm Knifepoint within another month at most."

That certainly riled them up. Excited glances and grins exchanged from the assembled crew as they closed off from Guruk and I to discuss tactics and strategy. Leaving us to talk alone.

I leaned back slightly, my eyes still on the excited men in front of me. I tilted my head towards Guruk, aiming my question at him. "Any reason that Brojlic seems to be…difficult?"

Guruk huffed, "We sometimes get into arguments about when we're going to storm Knifepoint, he's very impatient about it."

I nod my head absently. "So, he's attributing our lack of action against them to me, viewing me as a sort of roadblock to his true goal?"

A hum of agreement sounded from Guruk. "That's a rather good way to put it."

"Do you think this will be a problem for the mission ahead?"

Guruk shook his head, "No, he won't jeopardize the mission just for some misplaced grudge. Don't worry Ragnar, I'll set things straight after the mission. A mindset like that can't continue to develop otherwise he might strike out on his own, and with him I'm sure others would follow."

I grinned cheekily, "Are you sure it's because of that or is it because would you miss your new underlings if they decided to leave?"

A squawk of embarrassment escaped Guruk's mouth as I snickered.

(-)

The outside guard was dealt with easily enough. Brojlic, Joric, and Erwans got the drop on him and easily subdued him before he managed to shout out a warning to anyone inside. We tied him up with some of the generous amount of rope I brought in my backpack and slipped silently inside.

The narrow passageway made it a bit difficult to move as a unit, but we got it to work. The path was only wide enough for two people to move at a time comfortably, three if we squeezed it, so we paired off into 4 pairs of two and made sure to stay close but far enough to move about without restraint. Our guard was up immediately but relaxed slightly when we turned a corner and noticed down the slope two people asleep by a faintly glowing firepit.

Unfortunately, as we tried to get closer one of them started to try and push themselves up, likely from the heavy steps of our armored feet. With no time to lose, Brojlic and Joric rushed forward and swiftly took them out of commission. We tied them up and continued on, but not before Kragrau summoned two spectral wolves to guard over them in case they came to and tried to escape. I grinned, my men were performing even better than I expected; Guruks training combined with my Gifted Training perk made these guys fairly powerful, not to mention that Kragraus own training has also made him a more powerful wizard.0

We passed by two more rooms, if you could even call them that. It was just two poorly dug out sections in the halls that had large log traps and a couple of reanimated skeletons. It was laughably easy to dodge the log traps, and the skeletons went down with one strong hit, but eventually we made it to a large, long room. A long hallway with oil splashed all over the ground with vines and moss running down the stone walls. Oil lamps hung from the ceiling, lighting up the area but also proving to be a dangerous safety hazard if the leaking oil was any indication.

Moving further in we could see wooden pathways built up the wall, and I could see the giant spiked iron bars trap further in, but only because I already knew it was there. That fucking trap has killed my character so many times…Of course, I quietly mentioned it to the Brojlic and the men, so they could avoid such a fate.

We crept closer and closer until we could hear the faint echoes of people talking, and once we got closer I counted at least six different voices, but we wouldn't be sure until we closed in on them completely.

Once we managed to get successfully avoid and pass the pressure plate that swung the giant wall of spiked metal, the men burst into action, quickly attacking and surprising the mages that had not expected such a strong and violent assault. Their frail mage bodies fell quickly, not even able to cast a single spell.

I grinned, despite their ranged advantage over my men, the mages were simply too weak and unprepared for my hostile takeover. Not to mention that the very cave they hide themselves in hinder themselves from any largescale spells they could know that would do massive damage, like fireball. Otherwise not only would they risk hurting their own men, either with the spell itself or from all the oil on the floor that would surely be set ablaze, but also because a spell of such magnitude could cause the roof to collapse from the force.

Once all the wizards were incapacitated, we moved on, though we ceased with the subtlety. That last battle surely would have been loud enough for anyone else in the base to hear, so we stormed up the wood stairs and crossed the log bridge, slamming open the wooden door and rushed in through the wide hall. Our intuition proved correct as the next room we entered had another five mages all ready to fight, hiding behind some pillars and the large human sized cages for cover. As soon as we came into view they started blasting spells; ice spikes, frostbite, flames, fire bolt, and a lot of others that I didn't even recognize outside of the established three elements from the game.

Brojlic rushed forward, gracefully dodging all of the spells and lashing out with his long knives, aiming to knock out rather than kill. Encouraged by his example, the rest of my men stormed forward, some managed to dodge, but none of them had the grace that Brojlic exhibited, and as a result some of them got hit by the spells and were stopped in their tracks. I rushed over and tended to those injured, grabbing their potions from their belts and using them while the rest surged forward.

The mages put up a good fight but once my boys got in close it was over, none of these mages were anywhere near proficient with close quarters combat, training their magicka but leaving their body out to dry, as it were. Once the wizards were subdued, we tied em up. We also put them in the cages just in case they managed to get out of their bindings, should hold them off long enough while we secure the rest of the base.

Brojlic continued onwards the second we finish securing the prisoners, the others scrambling after him to catch up. I frowned slightly, Brojlic hasn't been cautious enough and has been in a rush pretty much the entirety of our excursion here, I'll need to talk with him privately after this is done because that needs to change for the future.

We stormed the next room, ignoring the flame atronach and raced up the stone step to fight the remaining mages. Some of the men were blasted off of the stones and fell down, but most got up to the higher ledge and started facing off against them. I got to the downed men and gently made sure they drank some of my health potions. Once they were fine I made sure to guard them in case the flame atronach, bur curiously it did naught but stayed where it was, just floating around.

Once I heard the fighting stop I leisurely made my way up the steps and stopped at the table with the dead body on it, staring at the large wall behind it as were my men. Giant symbols carved into the stone all across its surface, looking suspiciously like writing. My men were gazing at it in wonder and amazement, Joric even running his hand along the smooth stone face.

Looks like I got my answer then…shame.

I ignored the wall and looked around and spotted the alchemist table I knew was here due to its proximity to the exit, but said exit was nowhere in sight. The room the table was in was enclosed with a stone wall, is it possible we got here before the men here had time to dig it out?

"Boss!" I heard Joric shout.

I turned my head, "What is it Jori-"

He held up a beautiful pink gem inside a golden case, "Look at this! It's so beautiful, we could get a pretty septim selling this off."

I stared at Joric, contemplating how I best handle this.

Grinning, I handed out my hand to Joric, "Yeah you're right, give it here I'll sell it to my Jeweler friend in Falkreath."

Joric gave a small grin back and handed me the Stone of Barenziah, I placed it in my bad, filling up one of my inventory slots and smirked to myself.

I grinned and clapped my hands to get everyone's attention, "Great work guys! That seemed to be the last of em, so we're good to go! Kragrau, take two of the men and gather together the captured men in one area so we can give them the choice as a group. The rest of you, stay here with me so we can see if there's anything else worth taking back to the base."

Kragrau nodded and took the two men whose names I still didn't know, leaving Guruk, myself, Brojlic, Joric, and Erwans behind to ransack the room. We got to work instantly, opening the sacks by the alchemist table, checking under tables, around the engraved stone wall. No corner was left unchecked, but nothing we found was of any value. I went back to the table where Joric found the Barenziah gem and pushed the body off to see if anything was under it, and I narrowed my eyes at a spot in corner where the table leg protruded, is that….

I pushed my finger into the spot, and it went into the table, at the same time, a section of the wall slid down and revealed an open passageway. I marveled at the sight, this wasn't in the game, so what must be beyond it?

I gathered the men and we walked down the long hallway until we reached a large room, easily the half the size of an indoor half gymnasium back from my world. Piles of skeletons with pickaxes and other assorted tools littered the ground in small clusters, illuminated by the torch lights that were on the walls, leading up to a small bed pushed into the top right corner of the room with a small side table resided. In the center of the back wall was a man hunched over a glowing blue and green table that I couldn't make out, but next to him was a tall bookcase.

His back still turned, he called out to us. His deep accented voice echoing off the walls slightly, "Is that you again Corelion? I told you not to bother me with trivial matters."

"No idea who that is."

"Hm?" The man turned around, his figure illuminated by the torch light. He was tall, easily 6ft (182cm for those who the metric system) fair skinned man with a full head of smooth dark brown hair that reached his shoulders. Narrow gold-colored eyes stared inquisitively at us, sharp nose and neatly beard and mustache that connected to it. He wore something like a cross between made robes and leather armor, a combination of leather and silk to form this elegant wizard garb that fit his slim form. A brown and midnight blue motif with gold trimmings, a belt securing some pouches at his side and a sword strapped to his side.

"Some new faces hm? Who might you be?"

I grinned, "I'm Ragnar, who're you?"

"Ah, I'm Ferack, a wizard from High Rock originally but now I reside here."

He turned around and hunched over his table again, "Now that we've been introduced to each other you may go, I'm much too busy with this to deal with anyone right now. Have Corelion show you around I guess, I don't really deal with them."

Brojlic bristled, "Can't really do that when everyone has been captured."

His head came up, surprised. "Is that so?"

Brojlic nodded.

Ferack turned around to face us and grinned, "Finally! I can work in peace. Those lot get so loud when they're experimenting with magicka, so hard to concentrate I tell you."

Brojlic stood still, shocked at the callousness Ferack showed. "You don't even care we took down your friends?"

Ferack snorted, "Friends? Hardly, we barely know each other, they just came here by chance as I was carving this place out maybe a month ago and I let them stay when they asked. At best we're acquaintances with similar interests but I'd never go as far as to consider them 'friends'"

I took over before Brojlic could do anything, stepping forward so I could face Ferack fully, my back to my men. "So what you doing back here for? Must be pretty important if it requires this level of separation from the others."

The man raised his eyebrow, "A Nord wishes to learn more about the mystical arts? Color me surprised."

I shrugged, "Magicka is apart of life, it's stupid to ignore it just because of some misplaced pride and superstition about it."

He grinned, "Now that's something I can get behind, but I'm going to have to decline sharing this."

I shrugged, "Doesn't matter to me, I'll get what I want eventually. But will you answer me one thing?"

Ferack shrugged, "If it gets you to leave faster then I don't see why not, ask away."

I gestured around the room, "These bones, undead I would presume, and judging by the equipment they dug out this whole room, perhaps the entire cave base. How'd you get so many bodies in such a short amount of time to do it?"

He hummed, "Oh that? It was easy actually, there were just a pile of bodies at the bottom of this hill next to the big mountains to the west of here."

Brojlic, Joric, and Erwans went still.

"Naturally it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up, but I'm not that strong of a mage to control what was 20 fresh corpses, so I had to take them all five at a time, it's why this cave took so long to dig out. But eventually I got em' all here, and by that point they had decomposed enough to where I just turned them into skeletons."

He laughed lightly, "Controlling skeletons is far easier on the mental strain than controlling corpses, twenty skeletons, while difficult, is manageable. Unfortunately, they don't last as long." He waved his hand dismissively at the bodies, "I won't be able to get that many again so easily I'm sure, but such is life. But at least they were put to good use while I had them eh?"

Unnoticed by me, Brojlic started to shake with unbridled anger.

I nodded my head in fake understanding, "Totally dude. Hey listen, you seem like a pretty powerful dude, what say you join my crew? I got a buddy named Kragrau that would love to pick your brain about magicka."

He shook his head, "The offer is interesting but I'll have to decline, I doubt you can help me accomplish what I'm trying to do here."

"What if I said you can have access to a restoration tome we have?"

Feracks eyes widened with excitement, "You have a tome on Restoration magicka?! To think you had something so incredibly rare! Sure, I'll come with you and see what you guys ha-"

Brojlic snapped and sprinted past me, his two friends shouted out to him but he ignored them. My eyes went from calm to shocked in a matter of milliseconds as Brojlic charged forwards out of my reach, weapons drawn and eyes wide in fury, his teeth clenched and grinded together as he zeroed in on Ferack.

Ferack just snapped his fingers, a large yellow magicka array spawned on the ground just as Brojlic took another step. As soon as he did, the array glowed an ominous yellow and started to spark. Brojlic, not expecting this, looked down, eyes wide in surprise, his face illuminated by the ever-increasing light of the spell.

"MOVE!"

I shoulder tackled Brojlic out of the spells array, but I ended up getting caught I the spells effect. Lightning exploded from the circled array, coursing up through my leg and into my body. I shouted in pain, my leg spasming. I tried to stand, but my leg refused to support my weight and I crumpled down to the ground.

Ferack snarled, hands glowing with power, "I offer to come with you in good faith, yet your men come to attack me?! How dare you!"

His teeth gnashed in fury, arms raised high glowing an ominous purple, "To think I allowed myself to lower my guard in the face of a Nord, I knew I shouldn't have trusted your words, you're just like the rest! And like them, you'll die by my hand!"

The gathered Magicka in his hands exploded, a pulse spreading throughout the room we were in. My men and I, unaffected, but the piles of bones glowed with purple light and started to rise, skeletal hands once still started to move, their arms untangling themselves from the others and pushing themselves up from the ground. Soon, my men and I were surrounded by twenty skeletons, all armed with pickaxes and swords dressed in mining clothes.

Ferack drew his sword, his other hand glowing with more magicka. "My minions, kill them all! But leave the bodies intact, I'll be sure to use them later."

The skeletons made some clacking sounds, as if in understanding as they charged. Guruk rushed to my side and raised his greatsword up in my defense, Joric with him as he covered my other side. Erwans rushed to Brojlics side and stood back-to-back as many of the skeletons enclosed around them.

I snarled, what in the fuck Brojlic! I had this guy ready to come peacefully and your stupid ass decided to attack him?! When we get out of this he's going to pay so much for this.

The skeletons rushed in, but Guruk and Joric handled them rather easily. Despite us being outnumbered, the skeletons were very weak, well weak compared to Guruk. Joric was keeping up, but he couldn't deal with them nearly as effectively as my commander. I heaved myself up to kneel up, I glanced at the other party and saw them struggling. Unlike Guruk, Neither Erwans nor Brojlic were equipped nor trained enough to deal with overwhelming numbers. Yeah, they managed to hold the skeletons off, but they were getting closer and closer to the pair. I stood up shakily, my leg still spasming but I leaned heavily on my right side so I could stand.

"Joric!" I grounded out.

He batted away another skeleton swing and bashed another with his steel mace, "What is it boss?!"

I brandished my shield and axe, "Get over there and assist your dumbass friends, I'll assist Guruk and take these weaklings down."

Joric hesitated but listened to my orders and parried another pickaxe strike. Using that opportunity, Joric bolted to assist Brojlic and Erwans while I leaned against Guruks back for support, truly back-to-back and fighting them off.

Ferack was not idle, however. He rushed in and tried to stab me in the heart but I blocked it easily. I bashed his sword away and smacked him with the butt of my axe, tossing him away but he landed on his feet. Snarling, he snapped his fingers again and a circle appeared under Guruk and I. With no time, I shoved Guruk as hard as I could, throwing us both out of the way as the lighting exploded from the array. I fell to the ground and struggled to stand, Ferack rushed forward and prepared to stab me while I was down. A shadow covered me and the sharp pang of steel on steel rang out as Guruk blocked the attack with his greatsword. Guruk used his superior strength to fight him off and away from me.

I felt arms drag me back and rest me on one of the walls. Joric was in my face, crouched down and fumbled around with his belt, grabbing a couple of health potions and handing them to me. I drank them both, feeling better but my leg still didn't feel under control, so I grabbed one of my magicka resist potions I hadn't used and drank it. I immediately felt a bit of control over my leg return, and I slowly stood up with Jorics help. I stumbled a bit, but he caught me and helped me upright, where after a moment of carefully applying pressure I managed to walk with a very heavy limp, but that didn't matter as the battle was all but over.

Feracks skeletons were all destroyed, ashes in the proverbial wind as they started to turn to dust, with Brojlic and Erwan standing morosely in the center of it all. I gazed back at Guruk and he had Ferack pinned to the ground, his greatsword poised to decapitate Ferack if Guruk so wished. Sighing, I shuffled over and peered at Ferack over Guruk's shoulder.

Ferack spat to the side and glared, "You damn Nords…"

I sighed, swallowing my pride and bowed my head in apology, "I'm sorry about that Ferack, I honestly didn't know that Brojlic was going to charge in."

He snarled, "As if I'd believe your words. Go on, come do what you planned to do."

I sighed and motioned for Guruk to tie Ferack up. As he did, I snarled and made my way over to a distracted Brojlic. Erwans noticed me a bit too late, and before he could warn his companion, I grabbed Brojlic by the shoulder and spun him around, his head snapped back from the whiplash. His absent gaze met my furious one.

"What the FUCK was that Brojlic!"

"I couldn't help it he-"

I cut him off by shoving him back, his friend catching his stumbling form, "NO!" I swiped my arm through the air, "There's no gods damn excuse for what just happened. We had a person about to come with us peacefully and your retarded ass decides to ATTACK him!"

He glared at me, his hands clenched in anger, "You don't understand!"

"Enlighten me," I spat out.

He gestured his hands to the dust piles on the ground, "These skeletons…they were our friends from the knifepoint mine…and he talked about it so callously! I jus-I just snapped."

I snarled, "I don't give a fuck who he used that doesn't excuse what you just did!"

"Bu-"

"BUT NOTHING!" I shouted, "What you did just endangered the whole group! Or did you not care for the fact that both your friends were here with you? Did you not care that Guruk could have been put into harms way? I'm not going to even ask about myself, because it's clear you don't give a shit!"

"I-I-" He stuttered.

I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself down, unsuccessful, but I did manage to keep my voice down. My angry gaze making him flinch,

"You're on thin fucking ice, Brojlic. Your blatant disrespect to not only myself, but also to Guruk, your lack of patience, and now this?! You're lucky I don't kill you right here! I swear to the nine above if banishing or killing you wouldn't have caused your friends to leave, I would have done so!"

I snorted, "Instead I'll leave your punishment to be decided by Guruk, now get the fuck out of here before you mess anything up. Again."

Brojlic kept his head down and swiftly made himself scarce, his hurried form leaving behind Guruk even as he tried to talk to him. Erwans scrambled after him, calling his name as he chased after him.

I stayed in place and took a few deep calming breaths to get rid of my anger. It took a minute, but I finally managed to get myself under control. I sighed, but stumbled as I lost my balance a bit, but a steady grip caught my shoulder as I lost balance.

"Thanks…" I mumbled.

"No prob boss." Joric quietly said.

I hummed in appreciation, "Guess we're done here. But before we go, take me to the table Ferack was at earlier, I wanna see what it is."

"Sure thing Boss."

With Jorics help I managed to get close enough to the table Ferack was hunched over and my breath escaped me in excitement. It was a large black table with a flat top in the shape of a pentagon with 6 symbols inscribed into it. Two little dragon heads protruded out from the two back sides of the table, with a little shelf for a bunch of candles to rest on top of it, a sea green crystal ball held on a little resting bowl that was on top of some creature's skull. I knew exactly what this was…

"Holy shit an enchantment table?"

That caught Feracks attention, who was tied up and leaning on the wall behind us. "You know of enchantments?!"

I turned my head around, "Yeah, why?"

Ferack gaped, "You? A Nord, knows about the lost art of enchanting?!"

Lost? "Yes?"

A chuckle escaped Feracks lips, "I just can't believe it, a Nord having knowledge to anything magicka related."

A small grin spread on my face, "I'm not like other Nords."

He grinned back, "Guess you're not." He sighed, his head slumped down. "Sorry about earlier, my rage took over."

I waved him off, "It's fine, my guy attacked you first, you were within your right to retaliate." I winced, "But damn my leg feels numb."

Ferack hummed, "You didn't take the full brunt of the attack so you should be fine, I would estimate it would take another 20 minutes before you regain feeling in your leg again."

I laughed softly, "Thanks for the info." My laughter trickled off, but my good mood stayed, "Would you still like to come back with me?"

Ferack hummed, "I suppose I'd be willing to come with you, but I'd love to take my table with me, and believe me, it's quite heavy."

I smirked, "Well that's fine with me. Guruk, Joric! Go get the table and carry it out with us."

Joric shifted a bit next to me, unsure. "Are you sure boss?"

I smiled, "Yeah, go help Guruk I'll be fine."

Joric left my side as Guruk passed me and they got on either side of the enchanting table and picked it up, gently carrying it out of the room and eventually out of the cave.

I shuffled over to Ferack and grabbed the knife strapped to my thigh and cut the ropes loose. Ferack stood up and rolled his shoulders.

"What's stopping me from just blasting you with magicka right now?"

"Because if I don't come out within the next ten minutes Guruk the men will surely storm in and gut you alive."

He let out a small hum and glided over to my side, allowing my arm to rest on his shoulder.

"As much as you Nords disgust me, I shall make an exception just this once. Here, let me help you out, or until you regain feeling in your leg."

I took him up on that offer as I basically hobbled my way out of the base with Ferack in tow. Once we got near the entrance, I stopped us and experimentally put weight on my left leg. It held strong, and I took a couple of steps without stumbling. It was weird, like my entire leg was asleep and felt like a sandbag, but I could walk on my own, so I did.

Recruiting the fallen mages was difficult at first. After we had healed them with the potions we brought they were initially resistant, but once Ferack announced that he was coming with me the rest soon followed. And once they had agreed…

Your men have defeated 20 mages, and 15 Skeletons. You have defeated 5 skeletons.

[NOTICE: Your subjects lead the raid in your name, you have been awarded 60% of the EXP normally gained from enemies they defeated]

+655XP

+Sunderstone Gorge added to territory (+2 INT)

+You have gained 20 followers!

You have leveled up! +2SP +1PP

Choose which stats you would like to increase?

Both into DEX

Allocating points…

Profile Updated!

I dismissed my stat sheet before it could pull up and started getting everyone untied. Once that was done I did a bit of questioning to my new mages and split them into two groups, one of them coming back with myself and Kragrau to the base while the rest stay with Guruk to train. In the end, seven were coming back with Kragrau and I while the other thirteen are going to stay and train. The walk back was silent, and once we got back to the tower I said my goodbyes to Guruk and Joric as I hefted the table with one hand, laughing at their gawked expressions as I headed back to the base with table in hand. Once we had left the presence of the others, Ferack and the mages became more conversive, talking excitedly with Kragrau about a bunch of junk I don't understand about magicka and it's nature.

Once we got back to the base I traveled with Kragrau and Ferack back to Kragrau's little study, placing the enchanting table carefully in the corner and left as they got down to business.

It was by chance that I happened to stumble into Gavnuk as I made my way to Umaks potion hut to place my unused potions back on the rack, and he mentioned to me that Morrbruk wanted to speak with me. I looked around and found him sitting on his bed, reading some book I couldn't make out.

"So.."

My voice caught his attention as he peered up, a small smile appeared on his lips as he gently shut the book and set it down on his nightstand.

I shifted around, leaning against the empty door frame, "You wanted to speak with me?"

He nodded, "Yes boss."

"Well?"

He grinned, "I saw the White stag in the mountain range, if you leave right now you can make it before it turns night."

A savage grin spreads across my face.

"Take me to it."

(Guruk)

I waved Ragnar away as he walked further into the woods, the weird table going with him as they slowly disappeared into the foliage. The new men and women behind me shuffled nervously, while my boys stood tall and at attention, barring one. My eyes narrowed at the thought, but I buried the disappointment and turned around, eyes sharp.

"All right, to you who are new my name is Guruk and you are all under my care. I will be in charge of whipping your sorry asses into shape and making sure you all grow stronger under my command. I expect the best from each and every one of you every day, am I understood?"

They all just nodded.

I snorted, "I did not hear a 'Yes sir'!"

"Yes sir!" they all shouted.

I grinned, "Great! Now get inside the tower and take a rest. I'm not cruel enough to make you start heavy duty training right after you all took a heavy beating. But don't rest easy now, the tower is going to be a little cramped but don't worry we'll be moving to the cave near us soon, I already talked to Ragnar about it and he approved."

The newbies just shrugged, not understanding everything but got the gist of it as they shambled inside. My attention turned to my five oldest soldiers.

"Alright, you know the drill boys. Get into groups and start sparring, after we'll have a quick rest before doing some more hand to hand combat. Except you, Brojlic, get over here."

The men exchanged nervous glances, but ultimately listened to me. Each patting Brojlic on the shoulder as they passed. The man in question stayed still, head down as he stared at the floor.

I huffed, "Look at me when I'm speaking to you Brojlic, or is the floor more interesting than me?"

He flinched and lifted his head up to stare back at me.

We stared at each other for some time, but it was me who broke that silence.

"You know what I'm going to say right?"

He shuffled around nervously, his arms behind his back.

I scoffed, "Don't you start acting like a piss ant now, you're an adult Brojlic fucking act like it."

"Well excuse me for feeling shame at a time like this!"

I spat to the side, "Don't you give me that shit Brojlic, you don't get to play victim here!"

He grit his teeth but said nothing.

My eyes narrowed, "Your attitude was unacceptable today. I get that this is all new for you but Malacath above me I taught you better than this!"

"I-"

"No. Let me finish."

"…"

"Look, I can understand why you flew into a rage with Ferack, I can understand why you're impatient to start attacking the knifepoint gang. I understand all of it Brojlic but you do not get to act like a fucking child."

He stayed quiet.

"You put the group in danger back there, we had no idea of his capabilities yet you still rushed in and endangered the lives of your fellow warriors, and that's unacceptable. Not only that, Ragnar put himself in harm's way to keep you safe, this was supposed to be your moment to prove you could fight, and for me to prove that I could teach you all."

I took a minute to gather my words, "You've not only disappointed yourself, Brojlic, but you've disappointed myself and Ragnar. You understand right?"

"…yes."

I sighed, resolved. "As of right now, you're not allowed to join us when we attack Knifepoint."

His head whipped up, betrayal written all over his face. It hurt me, but I had to keep a straight face.

"Unless you've proven yourself capable before we commence our attack on the knifepoint gang you are hereby not allowed to join us on the raid. However, if you have proven yourself trustworthy again I will discuss with Ragnar the possibility of you joining us again, but not right now. Not after what just happened."

My eyes hardened, "Do you understand?"

Brojlic nodded his head, defeated. "Yes sir."

"Good, now get over there and start getting ready, you're sparring with me today."

He paled slightly but jogged over to the makeshift training grounds we set up. I chuckled at the reaction and strolled over to pummel the little shit into the ground.

Name: Ragnar

Race: Nord

Level: 13

EXP: 35/ 700

Health: 240 Magicka: 320 Stamina: 250

STR: 16 (17)

INT: 27 (32)

END: 22 (24)

DEX: 20 (25)

SP: 0

PP: 1

Land Controlled:

Falkreath: (›)

[+1 STR, +2 END, +5INT, +2 DEX]

People under your leadership:

Happy: 35

Neutral: 13

Unhappy: 4

That (›) next to falkreath in the status page is like a drop-down function in discord, so it won't just be a really long list of territories he has in that hold. The [] under it is the total stat buffs he has of those territories.

Wussup! Sorry for the long ass wait for this chapter, I kept thinking and thinking on how I wanted to do this, and kept getting unsatisfied every time, but also because I kept thinking of what I wanted to do after this expansion. So it was a bunch of wanting to do it but putting it off because I wanted to write what comes after instead of what came now.

Also, this is potentially the last time I will write out a take over of a "minor" territory like this. I say minor in the sense that there's no real significance to it, or it's small like this cave. This is so we can finally get the ball rolling to when the game officially starts, and I have some exciting plans for that~

And yes, to those who may have guessed, Forged by Fire is inspired by a skill from Coeur Al'aran's fic Forged Destiny. I highly recommend it. But I won't be using it the same way he does, but you'll have to wait and see~