{ === + === }
Jake got stabbed.
We're at the mansion, there was a party, it was crowded, some dude stabbed him. There was blood.
Then the same dude tried to stab him a second time.
I think Jake flexed his blood and broke the knife? I'm not entirely sure. He didn't get to pull away before he got dogpiled.
Being captured by Warwolf is…unpleasant, if I do say so myself.
The poor assassin sits, tied to a chair. All of their senses pinched.
If it weren't for the sobbing I would've liked to interview the man on what it feels like to have absolutely no sense of (among other things) touch. Must be wild.
Like, pure darkness, no hearing, restrained, but can't feel restraints, sitting, but can't feel the chair, can't feel clothes, crying, but can't feel the tears…
I did pump him for information via charms before setting him up, but assassins are weirdly professional in that he doesn't know who did it, just that some middle-aged man made the request.
Still.
…Does the assassin's guild care about loose ends? Yes? No? I mean, they're weirdly omniscient in game, so it's probably safe to say that they have some shenanigans going on.
…I mean if the dude doesn't go home with the mission rewards it's a pretty clear sign that something went wrong.
Well, that aside.
The biggest thing that this little debacle has shown is that, well, we're still in need of a good, comprehensive anti-stabbing solution. Like, yes, if the first hit isn't significant, then no subsequent hits go through, but.
Magic?
…Magic…I mean, I still take super critical damage from magic, but at this point I'm surrounded by a layer of wards that I maintain with the same regularity as breathing, so there's that.
Have you considered crafting an enchanted item to deal with the issue?
…
FUCK
ME
RUNNING
…
For the record the thought struck me in the dead of night and I scared a lot of people when I went stomping into my shed/workshop, so there's that.
No, No I haven't considered the technical aspect of just crafting a fucking ring of goober, but hey, never a bad time to start.
It's been a year and then some.
I'm so embarrassed.
And like this comes on the heels of me not making any enchanted gear for Aria's dungeon trip either, so not only am I embarrassed I'm also feeling significantly guilty. The price of not practicing a trade for a long time, I know, but hell.
It's not like I haven't done any enchanting, but, uh, yeah.
…
[1 Week Later]
…
And my first trick is this immensely bad idea.
It's a ring with a pink-ish colored gemstone.
Experiment number one, getting reacquainted with magic, enchanting, and learning how to weave it along with more biological aspects of the body.
I call it the Ring of Horny. I did not know it was the Ring of Horny until T'nerem got her hands on it. Weaker types and variants, such as the Ring of Stiffness, have been (are planned to be) manufactured and sold to the brothel network, because when it comes to certain nobles with big purses, acting can only get the girls so far.
…to clarify, I've been using magic to make things and have created things that rely on magic to work, but those are…those are blacksmith items, not enchant items, if that makes sense.
Like, that giant sword Jake used, the Warship Cleaver, works by using magic to squish steel molecules closer together, via spending magic to offset the energy costs of dealing with physics.
It's an experiment, like all things I've made. An experiment that works.
Or, to put it in a different way, we're considering all items so far as 'Blacksmith' items because, even with the help of magic, they were specifically designed to provide a physics-based solution, whereas an enchanted item would provide a magic-based one.
Mmm…it's not like I have anything important going on, so I might as well put my back into this when not teaching.
Speaking of other things though.
Emperor Titus Mede's in Skyrim, will be in Skyrim about two weeks from now. I don't know what, don't really know why, but the attempted assassination on Jake's life has made us a bit jumpy. Again, it's been years and we don't remember the storyline too well, but assassinating the Emperor is definitely one of those missions, sooooooo…
Metagaming reasons aside, this is also worthy of notice because we've been recommended by Sid and other nobles that it would be a really good idea to attend.
Like, a good reason apart from the diplomatic clout that comes with being able to talk to the Emperor.
From what we know of Titus, he doesn't seem like much of a party person, so…eh? I mean, if we should be there we might as well be there…
…
[In Solitude, Some Two Weeks Later]
…
…I mean, is there a benefit to having the Emperor assassinated? Regardless of how much people like or dislike him a power vacuum is a power vacuum, and I don't know if I want to have yet another thing play out in the background as we slowly chew into the Alduin problem.
Anyways, participating in this event is me, Jake, and T'yanna. The other T-sisters more or less did not want to go, and we would've needed to drag Aria kicking and screaming into another party. T'yanna therefore is the compromise: I need somebody to shadow Jake just in case, and of the people in the inner circle (who wants to go) she has the most political experience.
In my case, I borrowed four girls from Maple, dressed them up slightly, and had them planted in the party as servants and ears.
Which means?
…Maple had some girls hired into the party as servants and I co-opted them into being pseudo-spies with a fairly large donation of money. Let's not pretend who really has the clout here, I suppose.
Anyways, the party is being held in one of the wings of the Blue Palace.
Incidentally, the Blue Palace is relatively similar to how it is in-game, size scaleups aside. The throne room is immediately accessible from the entrance, and it's plenty guarded and watched from multiple angles. The real difference are the parts of the Palace inaccessible to non-Palace personnel, and the wing that we're currently in–somewhere between the Palace and the roped off area for that one quest–is large, with many rooms, many hallways, and is functionally an isolated section of the Palace for entertaining guests.
There are as many guards here as there are guests, it feels like. There's a level of social and political finesse needed to navigate an event like this and I…don't have it. Jake's better at it by virtue of being more socially well-adjusted, but, again, Falkreath is kind of a backwater as far as Empire clout is concerned, and it shows.
As such, it's maybe…day three of five, before we're in position enough to actually get a word in with the Emperor. The party is over multiple days, with each day being more or less separated between a 'meet and greet' event and the actual schmoozing.
He's an aged Imperial, well dressed in finery, and has a friendly if reserved demeanor. Immediate judgment says that he does want to be here, just under different circumstances.
"Ah, you must be the Windcallers." The Emperor says. Friendly if formal. "I have heard of your exploits, and the Arcane University speaks highly of you." He directs the last bit at me.
"Long life to you, your highness." Jake says. Friendly, formal, deferential, as he is supposed to be. "We Windcallers are graced by your visit, and thank you for your kind words." He nods to me. "Our strength exists to serve the empire."
The Emperor nods. "Your words bring me much hope for the future of Skyrim, Jake Windcaller." We all know it's posturing, but hey, that's how the game is played.
When the meet and greet is done, we move on to the Schmoozing. Since we've now been formally introduced to the Emperor, it was now viable for other major nobles to talk to us. There's shenanigans and rules that go with Court, like all social gatherings.
My first opponent is an older member of the Arcane University, likely top brass of some kind. I don't know what branch specifically because eeey politics. "Ash Windcaller." He says with all the tone of somebody picking a fight.
I'm the lesser noble here, so… "That's me." I face him and politely bow. "To whom do I owe the pleasure?"
"You may address me as Magister Sable." The man says. "I would like to congratulate you on your title of Honorary Warlock, as delayed as it may be." He smiles slightly.
Sable is being serious.
I think he's fucking with me. "Thank you. It was unexpected, to be honest."
"Oh?" Sable raises an eyebrow. "Did you believe that your accomplishments did not merit such an honor?"
Sable does consider it an honor. He grew up in those political circles.
…I think he's being sarcastic, it's a touch hard to tell. "I do not know how the University ranks merit." I shrug. "It was surprising due to the speed of the reaction."
"Ah." Sable nods. "Certainly, news of magicks tends to travel at magical paces." He smiles again, briefly. "I come to you today to ask of you another matter."
Sable's body language is, if not necessarily friendly, then at least non-hostile. It's business.
…Should I treat him like an enemy? He's certainly starting to sound like one. "I'm all ears."
Sable shows some excitement. "If I heard correctly, the Windcallers are able to fly?"
…Hum. Well, all things considered that's not surprising. "I hesitate to call it flight." I shrug. "But we have some element of…omni-directional movement."
"Show me." Sable asks/commands. Dude is geeking out, I feel.
Dude is totally geeking out.
With that, we move to the garden outside…one of the gardens outside. Roof garden? Balcony garden? Some kind of outdoor garden-y area.
Now, both of us have perk-based flight, but I also have magic-based flight, because I like having excuses just in case.
It's not very impressive, mind: two tubes of skin spells and raw magic power get forced out on one end. It looks like those videos where people hover over the ocean via spraying water at high speeds.
It's not what I used against Potema, but I'm not going to bring out all the cool toys here.
We fly, somewhat shakily, up to the nearest roof level and do a few spins around the small garden.
Anyways, the show ends and I land. "Considering the recent issue in Solitude, I hope you'll forgive me for not showing you something flashier." I bow again to Sable.
"Oh, hardly." Sable waves me off. "Thank you for showing me something that the University could never hope to match." Uh oh. "I've heard that you are one of the candidates for training new battlemages in Skyrim, independent of the Thalmorian influences." Super uh oh. "I have high expectations for you."
Reason for uh oh: the Thalmor are of course in attendance.
"While I understand that we are of different minds," a Thalmorian noble says. "There is no need for such talk. After all, are we not allies? Brothers in arms against the incivility within Skyrim?"
"Incivility." Sable smirks. "Truly." If looks could kill.
I wonder how high he has to be to be that blase about not having to kiss Thalmor ass. Either way, I now like him a lot more than when this started.
While we're doing this, Jake is doing more standard Skyrim stuff, with a little more physicality to it. In some ways, it's easier to tell a person's personality after a good arm wrestle.
The party goes on and both of us make some good contacts. Nothing of any real value, but good tidbits here and there.
Of worth is that Titus's son is coming of age soon. Did he have any children in canon? I don't remember. Don't think so? I mean, he…well, I was gonna say he 'wanted' to die but I don't think that's accurate…there wasn't a fight, right? Something something for the good of the Empire please make it quick? In the Dark Brotherhood line?
So…yeah, dude hasn't really given up on life, so having kids is not that weird…Does that mean he's still going to get willingly assassinated?
Hrm.
That aside.
The Imperial Court, and Cyrodiil in general, is fairly ambivalent about the civil war. Like, yeah, the people don't like hearing about how the legions are getting smushed up north, but it's not as if it's their home legions, so any concern is mainly performative for other people to see.
There have been sightings of dragons in Cyrodiil, which is…understandable. The Dragons have made no real actions against cities in Cyrodiil, and the closest that came to the city of Bruma was repelled with no real difficulty. Wonder why that is?
The presence of Dragons is also why the Emperor is here, mind: Skyrim has the most complete records and histories when it comes to dealing with full dragons. That said, the Emperor himself is not here for dragons–the team responsible for that is elsewhere in the province.
…Huh.
I wonder if this is why Sid made such an effort to get us to come here.
For the record, we have not been quiet about our goals of dealing with Alduin any time the topic came up. We obviously know very little, and everything we have shared are the declassified bits–as in, can be traced by other people if they felt like it.
For example: we disclosed how the dragons may be weak to a Shout per our discoveries in Markarth, which can be traced by our ownership of the Rose Bell.
Which, of course, means that at the tail end of this party, we're now sitting next to the Emperor and discussing dragons. The topic at hand is the Dovahkiin.
"If we had their help, I'm not actually sure how useful they would be." I finish off my previous point.
"Reaching the target, I see." The man on the Emperor's left, a veteran of the guard(?), says. "You've thought about this in detail."
"Ballistae are no use?" The woman on the Emperor's right asks. I think she's a Thalmor dignitary.
"Ballistae…they're at the fun spot where they lack the tracking against a high speed close range target and the range and stopping power at distance." For emphasis, I bring out a ball of light and smack a goblet into the air. "Ideally…" it swings and swings against the goblet, juggling it a little over the table with the hits. "Something like that, but scaled up significantly."
"...I don't know how often you hear this, Windcaller." The Thalmor says. "But your magic control is splendid." She smiles. "Our mages could learn from you."
I sense daggers. "Thank you." I nod. "But, yeah, that's what I'm working on right now. Either dealing with range or dealing with speed."
"If we had the time, we'd love to visit your villa." The Thalmor says. "It sounds like the bleeding edge of Skyrim technology!"
"It wouldn't be the first." Another guest says, laughing. He looks vaguely familiar. "The Windcallers were behind the Rose Bell, after all!"
In this hall of Cyrodilic top dogs that name has zero brand recognition. Blank looks all around.
"I'm not familiar with the name." The Emperor says politely because man the dude looks deflated. "Is it a locality within Markarth?"
"That's right." The man says, rallying. He goes into a fairly abridged version of how the Rose Bell came to be and a fairly lengthy praise of what it's doing now, so I assume he's a part of the owning family. I don't remember their name or his face.
"That's rather impressive." The Emperor says when the man is done. He's only vaguely interested, judging by his body language. "You seem to be a man of many talents, Windcaller."
Idle praise. "Less my talent and more the talent around me." I nod to Jake. "I remember the handoff being rather difficult." I talk a little about the handoff period, mostly about how difficult it was to find people.
One of Maple's girls makes a gesture while in my peripheral vision.
A warning?
No points for guessing who should get priority.
We, rather clumsily, direct the conversation to our enchanting efforts. Anybody familiar with wordplay and grammar (so, the entire table) can tell that we're doing it for a purpose.
"...If you don't mind." I bring out a silver trinket. "Tools of defense."
The Thalmor lady gets it, examines it, nods, and hands it to the Emperor.
"I thank you for your consideration." The Emperor says, politely and politically.
BOOM.
Well that's not very assassination of you at all.
Four…six, six men clad in very obvious assassin-y clothes, plus Stormcloak colors, charge into the room.
For context: the room we're in has three long tables, set in a U shape. The Emperor is sitting dead center, facing the entrance. Jake and I are at the left table, a fair distance from him. There's one entrance, the one facing the Emperor.
The assailants barge through the entrance and…yeah, this is an attack that was meant to fail. There are eight guards in this room alone, not counting the rest of us that can fight.
Also, Jake.
Jake takes down one of the assassins and pins them to the ground. The guards move and intercept the rest, and none of them get close enough for the Emperor to even need to react.
Mega hmm. You don't pull shit like this unless there's a follow up.
"Apologies in advance, your highness." I say and snap my fingers. He gets covered by five layers of wards and skins. "There's shenanigans afoot."
…
Hmm.
Remember that ring Delphine showed you? The last time you were in Solitude for a party?
…How do I counter chameleon?
Shit.
Mana vision, go.
…Well, that's anticlimactic.
There's a person-shaped glob of magical power sneaking around the side of the room. "Sir Gavel?"
"What?" The Veteran snaps.
"Your left, one hefty punch, please."
The Veteran blinks, and slugs the glob of mana. There's the sound of someone hitting the wall, and the nearest guard rushes and bear-hugs the location. "Someone is here!" He yells.
A mild scuffle later, and the man, minus a ring of invisibility/chameleon, is tied up and gagged.
The man is…I don't feel like I would be doing him an injustice if I said he has a haircut, shirt, and pants. He's so bland it's uncanny. He's wearing completely immaculate leather armor that fits him perfectly, with no discerning marks whatsoever.
My mental image of him is alternating wildly between Expert Assassin and Civilian A, and that's definitely on purpose.
Also he's dead. Poison pill.
Healing!
And now he's no longer dead, Hope he doesn't have any brain damage.
He's looking around, wide-eyed and confused. "Hey." I tap him on the head for Charm. "Why are you here?"
"We got paid a large amount of money to dress like Stormcloaks and crash the party." The man says, his initial confusion dying down in favor of subsequent confusion. "We were just told to go into the Silver Room and do a little carousing, that's all."
Silver room, huh.
"The Silver Room is near on the other side of the map." Gavel says, incredulous. "Lad, what in the hells are you talking about?"
The…man? He's still very covered by clothing. Hard to tell his age. "That's not right, we have a map and it said the room is right here." At this point my charm wears off. "Charm, I see." He seethes, and physically bites his tongue.
I heal him up again. "My guy, trust me when I say this. I can stop you from whatever the fuck you're trying to do to yourself, so be a good boy and talk."
He spits out the blood from his tongue. "I'll tell you nothing." There's a slight hint of a Thalmor accent.
Gavel moves to flank the Thalmorian mage lady. Said mage lady looks absolutely furious.
I sigh. "The first one's a little rough." I tap his cheek. It paralyzes his mouth. I then tap his throat. It paralyzes his entire body. I learned this as a replacement for general anesthesia. Much more efficient than using two dozen soul stones.
I then tap his head.
Then man, frozen, nevertheless flexes and becomes even stiffer.
Fun fact about the human body: everything is a system, and all systems have parts. Understand the parts, and you understand how to subvert the system.
From the smallest strand of hair on his head down to the nails of his feet. All pain receptors fire off with no counter response (i.e. endorphins). Hurts like a bitch.
Really the pain itself isn't much, it's just the lack of a defense mechanism that makes it significantly worse. I test it on myself, and as far as I'm concerned the worst part is the feeling of the body being totally bewildered at the lack of a self-defense response.
After I determine that he's gone back to normal, I snap my fingers and the spells wear off. The man, rather understandably, backs away from me real quick.
I smile at him. "So, are we gonna play nice?"
…
In the end, he tells us everything he knows, no charm necessary. No additional torture necessary, either. Still, it is information gained under duress, so the jury's out on how reliable it is.
Anyways. Everything he has said seems to have grounding and some evidence, about how they were just told to do a bit of roughhousing despite being given a false map. He's not an assassin, per se, more just a spy–the idea was to false flag an attack on the Emperor and pin it on the Stormcloaks.
Which…y'know, is a little odd, because the balance of power right now is even, if not a little on the Stormcloak side.
The Thalmorian lady then helpfully, if angrily, pointed out that the Thalmor have factions who want different things. One of them, she assumes, is behind this.
Conveniently they do not belong to her faction, but eh.
I assume, then, that the faction behind the attack is looking for a quick, if bloody, end to the Stormcloak rebellion…but that means they're both anti-Imperial and pro-Imperial at the same time. And that is silly.
Like, the Empire consolidated and at its height is more than a match for the Thalmor. If this plan worked, it would throw the country into political disarray while focusing all of the Empire's military might on smushing the Stormcloaks. That results in a situation where the actors of the plan (the Thalmor) and the benefactors (probably also the Thalmor) have a very limited window to get stuff from the Empire, changing from their current situation where they have an unlimited window of time to get stuff from the empire. Which would be silly.
…I suppose there's a situation in which their gains from a confused empire would be higher than a slow burn, but…
"They may be Insane Nihilists." The Thalmor lady says.
This is two, three hours later.
We've been discussing the issue at length. The assassin has been tossed into the dungeons.
She continues. "Rumors abound of the Oblivion Crisis, and of the Emperor Martin Septim. I surmise their backers may have wanted the dragons to burn everything to the ground."
The Veteran's not buying it. "What drivel." He scoffs. "The Thalmor have done everything they can to turn the Empire inside out, but the moment dragons are spoken of, they want to burn the entire world to the ground? It's laughable, that's what it is."
"I did say they were insane." The Thalmor lady laughs. "Though I am curious as to how a team of assassins made their way this deep into what should be the most heavily defended location in all of Skyrim at the moment." She glances at the Veteran.
"Aye, that is strange." The Veteran mulls it over. "Captain." He addresses the Blue Palace's Captain of the Guard. "Why does the palace lack countermeasures against magical infiltration?"
The Captain stands to attention. "Magical defenses were handled by our Thalmorian mage compliment." His eyes are fixed entirely on the Thalmorian lady. "We were assured that they were of the highest quality, skills or otherwise."
"Of course." The Veteran sighs. "Windcaller, are you able to train mages in Life Detection?"
I shrug. "Don't know, haven't tried."
"Please do so." The Thalmorian Lady says. "We'll send some arcane university trainees to you as soon as we are able. It is inexcusable that their…our, defenses failed in such an embarrassing manner." To her credit she does sound legitimately angry and ashamed about this.
Also, that seems…unwise, in many ways. "Alright, time out. Why is letting me handle it a good idea?"
"Because of all of the mages we know, you have the least amount of political interest." The Thalmor Lady says with a light laugh. "Or would you prefer if I recommended some of my trusted Thalmorian Instructors for the task?"
Ha. "Were there no mages from the Arcane University that could help out?" I want to say something about why she didn't help out, but from her self introduction she is a career diplomat and not a mage, so I shouldn't overtly judge.
The Veteran sighs. "As you may be aware, the Arcane University is currently split into factions of its own. Has been like that for a while. While we refer to it as one entity, it is very much for appearances. Students may be able to study there and the level of education has not changed much, but any delegation of responsibility, especially to royalty, will be stopped by the opposing faction."
Make sense. "Don't see why I'm still in the middle of this, but fine, I'll do what I can."
…
The discussion drags on a bit more, but it becomes rather clear that we're talking in circles, so all parties adjourn for the night. I was stuck talking to bigwigs, Jake spoke with the guards, and T'yanna with some of the minor nobles.
Verdict: the expected amount of shock and awe from all members involved. The guards are quick to blame the Thalmor for fucking up, the Thalmor blame the guards for not doing their job right, the nobles are more interested in who can be the best at pearl-clutching…
…All in all, a weirdly high amount of belief that they are not the ones in danger.
I'm not exactly skilled in disaster response, but I feel like there should at least be a certain level of 'that could have been me' kind of concern. Maybe it's because there were no fatalities? A few guards were injured but not badly.
Hrm.
Well, I don't care about the Emperor, but doing nothing now that we're involved would be a bad look all around.
Ugh.
…
The remaining days of the feast are canceled, and the Emperor's schedule is expedited. The second half of this event is him touring the troops stationed outside Solitude. Following the last hideous defeat…
…what happened?
Hang on. Let me get my story straight.
…
So, depending on who you ask, either a full legion was pulled from the InsertLocationHere Guard, depending on who's doing the talking, or units from multiple Legions were pulled piecemeal and transported to Solitude to cobble together a full army. I try not to be a part of the internal power structure of the Imperial army, so this is what I have based on public knowledge and my information network.
Which…if I had to guess, I'd say that the idea of units pulled piecemeal seems more reasonable. If the issues that exist in Skyrim stems from internal corruption, then getting dudes from all over would weed that out to some extent.
…So why the fuck am I here?
We are accompanying the Veteran as a part of his entourage.
"Ash, your unit scored numerous accomplishments in the last campaign, as failed as it was as a whole." The Veteran asks as we walk. "What do you feel are the weaknesses of our army?"
The entourage is like thirty people. One chunk Emperor's people, one chunk Thalmorian, and one chunk Skyrimian. Skyrimese?
Either way, good to mind my words. "Apart from the expected variables? A lack of intel."
The Veteran chuckles. "So I've heard." He throws a glare at the Thalmorian people, daring them to speak up. "As a man of many talents, I assume you have thought about fixing this issue?"
I nod. "Some. Possible, but not probable." I shrug. "I can do small unit tactics. Campaign strategy is beyond me."
The Veteran…has an interesting look on his face. "Campaign strategy, eh?"
The group stops at a table with a map. Note to self: shut the fuck up.
"Amuse us, Honorary Warlock." The Thalmorian lady laughs. "What would be your plan for pacifying Skyrim?"
…sigh.
Ok, so why is this happening?
The Emperor's entourage planned something like this to either showcase Skyrim's strength or its weaknesses, depending on who gets roped into it. We just happen to, again, have the least amount of political baggage and are thus the best toy.
Uuuuuuuugh
Of course we are not politically savvy enough to know that.
Fine, fine…let's see.
The map is more or less the same as it was before, despite all bloodshed to the contrary. A few smaller forts have exchanged hands, but not enough to dramatically change the line.
"Assuming we just have the Legion to play with, and it's a full one…" I don't have any markers and I'm lazy as shit and I can tell this is just stupid sooooo "Without siege engines, first Riften, take the waterways, lay siege. With engines, run at Windhelm and hope for the best."
Some chuckles.
The Veteran laughs lightly. "Hope for the best, is it?"
Bro. "If the supply line was there I'd say take Dawnstar, take Winterhold, and choke Windhelm via the water, but there isn't, so there can't."
There's a glint in his eye. "Oh? Is that so?"
"A Legion's meant to do a lot of things, none of it asymmetric." Fuck. This shutting up thing is hard, huh. Oh well. "Asymmetric combat is when two forces are very obviously dissimilar, so a standard line of battle won't or can't work."
Nervous pause.
Then, the Thalmor Lady speaks first. "Care to elaborate?"
There really isn't much I'm going to say about this topic. For obvious reasons. "It's nothing impressive, really. Big armies are slow, little armies are fast. Pretend to be big, lock movement, make the other side do predictable things," I clap my hands for emphasis. "Smush."
"A man of many talents, I see." The Veteran says. I think he's being genuine with his praise, but it's probably not given for the sake of being nice. "With your leave, your highness." He says to the Emperor, plus a little deferential bow.
The Emperor nods. "Go ahead."
I really, really should have just shut up.
Sigh.
Fine, I get to show off a little and it feels nice, so whatever.
The Veteran takes out a bag of coins, and takes out a handful. He sorts it, more or less, into two groups–one big, one small. "Show me."
Well, let's see how much of a mistake this is, shall we?
We absentmindedly flip and sort the coins into heads vs tails groups as we talk.
"First off," I group the big group of coins. "This is a road. Armies love roads, because it's the fastest way to get from A to B." I kind of arrange the 15 coins into a column. "Armies need food." I take a coin and put it behind the column. "Baggage. Maybe it has its own guard, maybe not." I put some coins on the sides. "Smaller unit, hit smaller things."
I clash a tails coin with the baggage train coin.
"Armies still need food. Forage en masse, hit a village, whatever." I separate the column, then meet it with tails coins. There's like 5 tails coins in total. "In an equal fight, defenders have the advantage." Now the column is smaller. "Do enough damage, and then you can hit the main mass." I shrug. "Straightforward."
"It…" The Veteran has a bemused expression. "I do not know how often you hear of this, but…for a man who studies magic extensively, your understanding of military tactics is superb."
Yay wikipedia. And videogames. Mostly videogames. "I consider myself a layman, but thank you for the compliment." In retrospect that was very much a 'you're tall for a short guy' kind of complement, huh?
"If you are a layman, then Skyrim's populace must be full of men such as yourself." The Thalmorian Lady says with a sidelong glance at the Skyrim People and oooh my god that's so fucking clever of her, I hate it.
How can it be the Thalmor's fault if there are So Many Others Like Him?
The Skyrim Lead Noble, looking rather glum, manages to flash a professional smile. "It is talents like him that our situation, as isolated as we may be, is not so grim."
Good recovery.
Yes, and The Many Others Like Him is why we're not dead.
Note to self, for the hundredth time: difference in moral code, different in language code. Adapt to politics, or keep getting tossed around like this.
The worst part is that I like tabletop games and wargames like this so I can't even help it. Bleeeeh.
…
The conversation sticks to the topic of wargames, mock battles, and so on, for a little while, and then the group moves on to the training fields. There, the Veteran talks with the Centurion on duty…he calls him a Centurion, the man introduces himself as a Captain, I'm not sure either one is correct, but hey, that's not why we're here.
Much of the talk revolves around explaining what the Emperor likely already knew, which is the unit organization and how the troops fight. The…Capturion, I guess? Is doing a pretty good job of adding in the political optimism required when talking to top brass, but he's just a little too salt-of-the-earth, and it ends up being a fairly accurate assessment of the situation on the ground rather than pointless advertising.
Namely, too much reacting, too little defenses against magic, etc.
This was a chance for the Empire's magic people to show off a little, and they do, talking at length about wards and spells to defend against magic. Most of it is irrelevant, all of it too jargon-y for a soldier to use. The Thalmor group does seem to understand it, though, so I guess that's one job accomplished.
"Do you have anything to add, Honorary Warlock?" The Thalmorian Lady says after about half an hour of…one guy presenting his thesis, it sounded like.
I shrug. "Nothing in particular. My magical skills are more or less self taught, so I have to admit that most of the language escapes me."
The Lady's face falls a fraction, but she rallies. "How exceptional. I'm sure there's a trick or two you can tell the Captain here? Every little bit matters at a time like this." I'm surprised at how genuine she sounds, not gonna lie.
Eh, sure. Politics aside she has a point. "Aiight. Can I borrow your shield real quick?" In rather hushed tones, I talk with the Captain on how to do a cheap and easy ward. This is one of the sub-type wards I got to work with Aria and the new students' help. Experimentation. Target Practice. Whatever.
It's not as complex, nor does it require much kneading. It's basically the ward equivalent of chaff n'flares. For people that don't use magic, the spell takes their entire mana pool and throws up a wall for like five seconds. It takes one magic hit and goes poof. That's it.
It doesn't defend very well against streams of magic, or, y'know, a second hit, but it's meant to be a charging kinda thing, so that's what it does. For magic users, especially someone like Aria who soaks up and integrates knowledge like a dry sponge, it means she can reflexively defend herself against incoming magic for as long as her mana holds out without having to focus on putting up a ward, which means in a one-on-one scenario Aria will never lose to a mage ever again.
Honestly right now Aria can do things with magic that I can only be envious of, and all it takes is me describing to her what the end result should look like. It's really not fair.
After getting the hang of it, I have a few exchanges with the Captain, so he can get a hang of how the spell works. It's straightforward, so he gets it after a few rounds. The Captain thanks me politely and professionally, and we go on our way.
The rest of the day goes by without incident. The Thalmor Lady jabs where…she feels like she should. I'm not politically savvy enough to catch all the intentions and moments. The Veteran, and to a lesser extent the Skyrim Lead Noble, parries and counters whenever she does. I get dragged in occasionally and I'd like to say I made a good case for myself, but I really don't know.
Overall, judging by the whispers between the Skyrim Nobility, it seems like the Thalmor were successful in making a good case for themselves in front of the Emperor.
But, regardless, at this point, my part is done, and we're going home at full speed.
Tomorrow, because T'yanna partied too hard with the servant girls and they're hungover.
They all get fluffy beds because, even if they didn't play a major role, they still played a very pivotal one.
…
[3rd Person Camera, The Emperor's Private Quarters]
…
The Emperor, the Thalmorian Lady, and the Veteran relax, as much as they could.
"I must say, it's quite fortuitous for a man like that to just drop from the sky." The Lady laughs. "The Empire does have some good luck every once in a while."
The Emperor chuckles. "So it seems. I apologize for forcing you as an antagonist, Alisha."
The Lady waves him off. "We're the Thalmor, we're the bad guys, it's what we do." She turns pensive. "He's going to make your job harder, though."
"I expect as much." The Emperor nods. "Tell me, what are your impressions of Ash?"
"I don't trust him." The Veteran says immediately. "It's very obvious he's either talented or well educated, but he lacks immediacy, and that makes him easy to use."
"He most definitely does not trust us, either." The Lady agrees. "He's easy to lure into the moment, and gives willingly of what he believes is not important to his goals. It's therefore depressingly obvious what he cares about based on following his efforts." Apart from the half-Khajiit woman they brought to the party, she counted at least five spies he personally planted.
Ash had a tendency to look only at the things he cared about.
"That being said, he does care about the finer things." The Veteran sighs. "While we know of his personal spy network, cracking into it has been appreciably difficult."
The Lady huffs. "Too difficult. It's given our enemies back home ample opportunities to foist their work on us." She had half a mind to ask him about the code in her pocket during the afternoon, but given how he clammed up at the talk of coded letters and spy work she decided it would not have been fruitful.
The Emperor laughs. "Of course, ever the cautious pair, the two of you." He turns serious. "Then, do you see him as an ally or an enemy to our efforts?"
"To your dreams of a unified Tamriel, done without bloodshed…" The Veteran strokes his chin. "He would not be an ally." The Lady agrees with a nod. "On some levels, both he and his friend are pragmatists, and have achieved what they could through less than idealistic means. That in itself makes him dangerous to associate with."
The Emperor's smile doesn't leave. "More than your wife?"
The Lady stretches. "I can be the token Thalmor in the room, which makes my threat tangible and understandable." She frowns. "That's fundamentally the issue with the new Windcallers. They're dedicated to their goal of killing dragons, as far as we can see, but I'm concerned as to what they'll be persuaded to do with that power after they're done. Saving the world, as it goes, can come in many ways."
The Veteran nods. "The world isn't so simple that it can be…whatever the hell they think it might be, after the Dragons are gone. The problem is, they know that. So, if they're not willing to share, that makes them threats by default."
The Emperor thinks on it. "I am no stranger to unusual bedfellows in this world of politics."
"On that, we can both agree." The Veteran says. "Assuming he succeeds, a man with the power to kill dragons is a wonderful target."
The Lady follows up. "And let's not forget that in the world of politics, a dragon has multiple uses." She looks pointedly at the Emperor.
"I understand." The Emperor sighs. "We'll keep them in our sights until there is a better opportunity to judge their allegiances, lest we receive a knife in our backs."
The Veteran visibly bristles at that statement. "Speaking of knives."
"There is every reason to be careful." The Lady finishes, now fully on guard. Both are keenly aware of how…lax, the defenses were just mere days before.
"If it to be my time, then so be it." The Emperor says, as shadows emerge through the windows.
…
[Next Day, 1st Person Camera]
…
Welp.
The ol' one two punch, eh?
The Emperor's d…been assa…
…well, officially, the Emperor was attacked in the dead of night. He hasn't been declared dead or anything, which is in line with how politics work, but…
Now, the item I gave him will protect him from physical damage, but if his head gets lopped off there's no stopping that, sooo…
The main point is, all entry and exit out of Solitude is barred for the day™.
Except they can't, because logistics, so entry and exit to Solitude is barred for only the rich people, which…honestly? Change of pace. I expected the ban to only affect the poor. The guards are mobilized en masse and multiple units are assigned to the nobles that were near the Emperor for the past few days, which is a lot of people, including us.
Which…creates a bit of a secondary problem. I had Maple's four girls go with us back to our inn to debrief and it ran long, and sending girls out at night into the district most populated with horny and/or desperate dudes is…unwise.
Like, public security in that area is good during the day, and Maple has some kickass bouncers, but after dark is its own thing. I mentioned this before, but, again, pre-electricity cities are dangerous after dark, and the guard will patrol only areas that are worth patrolling with a skeletal crew.
So, yeah, they're now stuck here too. I imagine that my connections to Maple would already be investigated and the fact that she's my spymaster here in Solitude is a given, but I'm not interested in giving them concrete information to go on.
So you're now just a noble that "invited" four maids to your room after a meeting with the emperor?
Considering the circumstances, I have no issues with my reputation taking yet another hit.
…
So, the guards ask us some questions, we answer them, the guards try to be insistent that we are lying, but there's nothing to lie about. There's five of them. They stand, mildly threateningly, by the door. The inn's not very big–bigger than a ten-coin room, but still not big. Two beds, a table, chair. I'm sitting in the chair, very obviously in front of the four girls sitting on the farthest bed. Jake's standing by the window.
Sometimes they take it a little too far though.
"We can do this the easy way or the hard way." One of the guards says.
My response is to magically, and very loudly, lock the door behind him. Jake lazily closes the window.
"I'm personally a fan of the easy way." The guard says quickly with a light laugh.
"Do you try that with everyone?" T'yanna asks sweetly.
The guard shrugs. "Not really, only when I can get away with it." I'm getting really good with my Charms. It quickly wears off, and the guard nods. "You've made your point, Windcaller."
I smile. "Thank you. Will that be all?" My smile contains all of my annoyance and desire to vent it out on someone.
And that was all. I'm curious how much of this is an attempt to find someone to blame.
…
[Day Passes]
…
I thought about just flying away.
But it's not as if the work at home is any more time sensitive than it is now.
So we chill.
Incidentally, we've been cleared of suspicion by the Guard Captain, so we get to move freely. Maple's girls have also gotten some new information.
Namely: the Emperor is alive, but bedridden. Healers are attending to him right now, and a healer team from the Arcane University are coming to heal him. Supposedly.
The two others with him–the Thalmorian Lady and the Veteran–are dead. Apparently they were close friends of the Emperor, and tried to shield him with their lives. It's unknown how many people were involved with the operation, but seven bodies were recovered from the scene, with blood trails leading out the window and into one of the Blue Palace's storage rooms.
So the Blue Palace is locked down. Has been locked down. Nobody enters, nobody leaves.
Given how, y'know, all of this started because the Royal Guards were screwed out of their magical detection equipment, I'm inclined to believe this lockdown is for shenanigans.
…Well, what now? I'm kind of interested in whether if the Emperor will survive long enough for the healers to get to him, given how the message has like a million percent chance of being intercepted.
So what are your thoughts on the reasons behind assassinating the Emperor?
The Thalmor Lady did say…insinuate? That there were multiple factions at work, and I'm sure there are multiple factions at work with the Empire, too. But, we have too many missing pieces, so trying to look at this event logically is meaningless. I still think it's stupid, mind, I just don't know what might be the next few plays.
And what are we thinking about now? As we watch the Blue Palace from Maple's rooftop.
No official request has come, but the palace has sent summons to all healers in the city. Mine's on my bed. So the question is, how much do I want to get involved with yet another thing?
…the answer is yes.
Of course it's yes. I like healing. Let's fucking go.
I borrow T'yanna and a few of Maple's girls, ones who are inclined to learn about healing and have some magical talent. I don't remember if I mentioned this before, probably did, but this is one of the conditions that Maple had in exchange for doing spy service, that I help the girls find a job outside the adult entertainment industry.
I'm talking as if I'd be allowed entry to treat the Emperor just by explaining that I have some healing knowledge.
Danica Pure-Spring is here as a noble of Whiterun.
…Oh.
Well.
She's very well known in Skyrim and had already been called in to help him. The moment she sees us she taps us for healing assistance.
That's anticlimactic.
Oh well, we're in.
The Blue Palace is tense. Very tense. Guards are stationed at every entrance, every possible entrance, and every dead zone. Very boring for the Guard situated at Wing 13C or whatever, because he has to stare at nothing literally all day, but such is life.
The Jarl of Solitude, forget her name, did a good job in tempering the Palace's spirit so that there's a strong sense of camaraderie against an unknown outside invader, rather than a very dangerous internal fracturing.
Anyhoo.
The Emperor is currently unconscious and bedridden…and is pretty much dead? I mean, I'm not reading a lot of energy from the guy.
Also, he's not alone: Danica enters, with me and my party in tow, to a room occupied by at least fifteen other healers and five maids. And guards. At least two guards per window and door, for a total of ten.
The room is well aerated, clean, plenty of space…
Danica is allowed a look, and I'm allowed a look.
Ok, let's see.
…
Well, uh, hmm.
Not sure what I'm supposed to do to heal a dead guy. I'm not reading any vitals from him and he's giving no reaction from mana vision.
…?
Wait, time out, no reaction?
We take a closer look.
Yeah…yeah, that's very odd. Like, a cadaver will give off a faint (and I mean faint) readout in mana vision, I assume from the bacteria and the like that are living on the body after the immune system cuts. This guy has been like this for a day, and nobody (to their knowledge) has seen or detected a change.
We put our ear to the Emperor's chest, causing some of the guards to ready their weapons. Danica waves them off.
His heart isn't…is? Isn't?
"Get off the Emperor at once!" A guard yells before being Silenced by Danica.
SHUSH
A minute passes.
Hum. "I guess there's a beat, but hell it's irregular." I guess there's some other spell at work. Also, "Was he decapitated?" There's an extremely thin line around his neck.
Uncomfortable shuffles all around.
Explains why so many healers are in attendance. A necromancer's job is to keep a corpse alive and moving through magic, but if that's the case then he should be absolutely glowing in mana vision.
…Eh, his heart is doing its best, so let's say he's alive. If he decides to eat brains when he wakes up we can put him down again.
We stand back from the body.
Danica is the first to speak. "Do you believe that he can be healed, Windcaller?" She is calm and measured in tone.
I'm just confused. "Yeah, more or less. Question to the other healers: when did you guys find him?"
The most elderly of the healers (Breton?) pipes up. "The guards were alerted to a noise in the room and responded at once. I was the first to arrive and I did so as quickly as I could. I was the one responsible to putting the Emperor in his current condition, child." He says with all the tone of issuing a challenge.
Also, yeah, that explains a lot. "Alright then, Danica, team, help me out here."
First the head is oxygenated via Danica and a few soulstones. Incidentally: head is not sewn on. It's currently sitting off to the side by itself, much to the onlookers' dismay. I like how they just placed his head on his body.
…What did the priest do to keep him alive, then? Hm…
Second, the body…well, the body is actually pretty much fine, stab injuries aside. I bring out sewing kits for Maple's girls and tell them to clean and sew the wounds up.
After that's done, I sew the Emperor's head onto his body with mana thread, with an added dose of healing magic so the skin and muscles attach securely.
After that is just magic to circulate the blood, pumping in oxygen, and getting the system back up and running before jumpstarting the heart so it goes on its own. It's more of a time consuming process than anything else.
Yes, we ended up stopping the heart.
Way easier than that surgery on what's her face, that's for sure. Having staff is so nice.
…
All told, the process from start to finish took around eight hours, with the other healers swapping in for Danica or me in places as our mana pool ran low, or when attention was needed elsewhere.
But, the Emperor's chest rises and falls, and he is confirmed to be breathing again.
"Aiight, that's step one done." I step back to wash my face because I'm kinda exhausted. "Give me a moment to catch my breath and we'll finish the operation."
"If I may, Honorable Windcaller." The Elderly Breton says. "Is he not already healed, sir?" He's been super duper helpful, so hearing him be so deferential rubs me the wrong way.
"Almost." I point to the array of the soulstones. "In not so many words, his head isn't connected to the rest of his body, so all of that is doing a lot of the heavy lifting in keeping the body alive. The head's still aerated and energized so it won't die, but…yeah, we're not done yet." I look around. "Can someone bring me a few live chickens?"
"By your will!" The Guards at the door salute as the maids rush out.
Danica is loving all of this.
"Why chickens?" T'yanna asks. She's been soaking up the quasi-medical knowledge like a sponge. "Do they need to be alive?"
I shrug. "I guess it doesn't have to be chickens, but yes, they do need to be alive. Help me turn the Emperor on his stomach."
Many hands help and lay him face down as the chickens, baskets and all, are rushed into the room.
Alright. This part is, sadly, only for me, so I can only promise to explain it later.
But, in a nutshell, I make sure the spine is correctly aligned and Replace parts from the chicken's central nervous system to adjust for the difference.
Two chickens die in the process. It's very off-putting, as they just suddenly stop clucking.
Whenever that happens I reflexively go "I did that." It helps ease the tension.
After connecting the spine, I run mana from the brain down to the extremities of the body, using nervous material from the chickens to replace any damaged areas and, again, making up the difference.
It is the dawn of the next day before I'm done in earnest, and I run some guided Shock energy into the head to get it going.
Whew. Nap time.
With the adrenaline of the work gone, we immediately pass out.
…
[?]
…
I am now in a different room, on a soft and comfy bed, being attended to by T'yanna.
Updating information, please stand by…
…
Ok, according to T'yanna, I've slept for about four hours. The Emperor is awake, and the people are rejoicing. Per Danica's instructions, the news that the Emperor has awakened is being kept under the hood until both he and I agree to release the news.
"Alright, let's go take a look." Aaauuugh I want to sleep in more
But I gotta be an adult and it's just next door.
"What's the current situation?" I ask as I walk into the room.
Danica bows slightly. "His highness, though awake, does not respond to us."
'K. "Cool."
I sit down next to the Emperor and hold a finger over his eyes. His eyes track the finger movement, but only up to a point. I shine a light into his eyes. Again, the iris shrinks but only up to a point. I don't know if this is just his old age or if I fucked up his eyes.
Oh well.
I then put something into his hand, and his hand does curl around the soulstone. Ok, that's good.
"Your highness, if you can hear me, nod." He nods.
…if I give him a load of stem cells, the body will repair itself, right?
That's kind of a random thought. I don't know where stem cells are located in the body because medicine was not my profession five years ago.
Magic may solve all problems, but it's kinda useless when I don't know what problem I'm trying to solve.
That tangent aside, his basic responses seem good. "Look at me, your highness." I say, purposefully moving out of his line of sight. He turns his head slightly to look at me, and does focus on my face. "Can you say your name?"
He tries to make noise but not much comes out. Maybe he's just thirsty.
Actually, yeah, fair point. "Can you hand me that?" I gesture to the basket of fruits sitting on a table. The nearest girl–a Maple girl–takes it and hands it over quickly.
I crush it into a fine soup with layers of shields. "Open wide."
Not so wide, but eh, it works. I feed him the…uh, weirdly heated apple slurry, in small gulps.
My respect for doctors and nurses is unparalleled: this process takes forever, even if I'm using magic to shortcut a few steps.
He eats like four fruits worth before refusing any more with a polite smile. I'd say that he should be eating lighter food, but it's only been a day since his untimely demise, so it should be fine?
Each apple fits into our palm and we do not have exceptionally large hands.
But, yeah, we talk with the healers afterwards and they're going to put him on a diet for the recuperating infirm, so he should be fine.
Officially, Danica Pure-Spring was the one responsible for healing the Emperor, because we went into the castle under her name.
After another two days, the Emperor regained enough energy to talk, and he was officially declared as being alive.
And there was much rejoicing, etc, etc etc.
The important part is that, with the shenanigans finished, we can finally leave. We were invited to attend as a part of Danica's entourage, but we refused under the grounds that we're really not interested in having something else come up.
And thus, while the city parties, we leave.
Imagine if he gets stabbed a third time.
…
…
By the time we get back to Falkreath, the news had more or less solidified: there was an attack at the Blue Palace against the Emperor, by people paid to dress like Stormcloaks, and the Emperor was injured but is otherwise fine.
It…
Hm.
Well, it's too early for us to tell what kind of political fallout this will cause.
Best for me to just focus on my current task: armament for Aria.
My biggest obstacle right now is that I don't have good proof on how her Dragonborn-ness interacts with equipment. Also, just for the record: Aria has confirmed that she is Dragonborn to the inner circle, so it's public to an extent, rather than hazily private.
Given from what she remembered from her fight with that one dragon…Mirmulnir? The one that Tutorials fighting dragons, weapons wielded by her works even if she throws it, so there's a certain amount of ranged weapon capability there. We're assuming that there's either a maximum effective distance or a maximum effective time of a ranged weapon.
Between the three of us, only Aria has both downed and killed a dragon, but both Jake and I have been effective, which means that if we hit with sufficiently high alpha damage, we should be able to contribute, even against Alduin.
Ergo, railguns. Biiiiig barrages of railguns. I'd fly them around in a gunship if I could.
Speaking of which, I am working on a Catalina. It's the entire reason why the complex has a boathouse. It's also why so much of my time is sucked into the goddamn project, because I, in my infinite stupidity, decided to invent all the engineering that has to go into a flying boat at once.
This is on top of the other crap I have foisted onto myself.
But, fortunately, I am stupid. Because I am stupid, I have to start from scratch. Because I have to start from scratch, I therefore can teach from scratch.
To that end, T'nerem and T'yanna, and Mell, and to a lesser extent Aria, have been incredibly helpful.
T'nerem is being a full-on nerd. T'yanna is having fun learning new things. Mell is innately curious, and Aria…well, Aria tries, but since she was born with that…Protagonist? Dragonborn? ability of learning things exceptionally well in very specific circumstances, she's therefore kinda bad at learning outside of those circumstances.
…Well, that's not fair of me to say. She absorbs information from books just by scanning them, but whether she learns from those books is a bit of a tossup. Like, the books that give a point in a skill once read only gives that skill if she picks up on it, and the technical manuals I'm drafting on how to do any of this stuff…she doesn't pick up anything from them, because she's not sure what to pick up.
Which is wild, because if I ask her to make something specific, like a part for the engine, and I don't specify what part, she can miraculously make the correct item without even knowing how she did it. There are limitations–item can't be too complex–but she can do it. I chalk it up to the whole 'deliver 1 X' aspect of the quest thing.
Jake?
Jake is the most qualified to help, but if he's on site then it basically pegs the boathouse as being of supreme importance, even within the Windcaller mansion. The longer I can pass this off as just my pet project, the better.
Um…
Other things…other things…
Over the time frame of a month following the assassination.
Oh! Right.
Because the Emperor got injured, and nobody knows who did it, all of Tamriel is in an uproar. Initially the fingers went to the Stormcloaks, but, uh, everybody knows the Stormcloaks barely have a spy division, much less a dagger one.
And then the fingers go to the Thalmor, who were like "Hey the big man gave us what we wanted why would we knife him" which, y'know, is accurate.
As the investigation is ongoing…I'm not going to talk politics because eeeey backwater village. But from what we're hearing from the brothels in Falkreath, a lot of hitherto stagnant plots for carving up land are starting back up. Now, granted, the Emperor was incapacitated for the time equivalent of three days, but politics and nobility are about the image more than anything else, and this is being presented by some as the straw breaking the camel's back.
On the flip side, the deal for me to train Mages for the empire has been utterly forgotten. Woo!
Oh you sweet summer child.
The Trainees for Whiterun are already enough work for me. Magelets.
Speaking of brothels, one of my many other past times involves radios. 'Cuz I kind of need radios. I understand the basic logic–waves of energy being sent and interpreted by end nodes–but reverse engineering it is a pain and a half.
The communication stones I used during the campaign are cool, but they have a range penalty, and because they're magic based they're relatively low-tech.
Hell, a month after the assassination we're already seeing simple copycats being used all over Falkreath. As much as I'd like to pretend that the gag order on the troops was effective, at the end of the day they're levy, not crack troops with fanatical loyalty, especially now that some time has passed and alcohol is a great social lubricant.
Incidentally, because copycats exist, we've released the method of production to Sid and the Empire at large. They're now called 'Transcriber Stones'.
It's not difficult magic, and while limitations exist there are definitely smarter people than me who can make the most of it. Better to have some countermeasures now rather than risk having none later.
…
[One Month Later]
…
Correction on earlier. The Emperor was 'bedridden and infirm' until the healers from the Arcane University showed up, so while Danica got good PR for bringing him from the brink of death, she doesn't have to carry the target of being a kingmaker.
Good on the Emperor or his aides for thinking that far ahead. Tough for the people completely unrelated to any of this in disputes over clay in other parts of Tamriel, since him being ostensibly out of commission for weeks rather than days is why a lot of those plans got underway.
Also, Danica keeps rotating fresh healers to my mansion on 'vacation'. I put them through the wringer, and they leave more exhausted than they came. Not hard to guess why they're here.
This is becoming a thing, mind.
We do teach stuff, but it's very basic, because the fundamentals are not there to teach advanced stuff. The five from Whiterun is a thing, but until recently they were considered exceptions.
Well now healers get rotated in on a weekly basis so magic teaching is apparently considered normal. Anybody in Falkreath or have ready access to transportation via lake is coming to our village for a magical education.
We don't really have the time to set up a proper education plan, especially not for free–too many political issues if it's done for free–so the best I can do, and what I have done, is to make a library of reference books for wards, -skin spells, and magical theory. It works on the honor system of hoping nobody takes them off the premises.
So far we've had thirty six people try to take the books off the premises. I have not needed to get involved, and the amount of books on the premises have not changed. Most people who want a copy just, y'know, copy them by hand. It's not that complex or dense of a material.
I included clear definitions and a system of drawing shit that isn't just 'hey take a look at this and do your best.' Angles are amazing~
Fun fact: when we made the secondary notes for drawing magic circles, we racked our brains and did not remember there being a single documented case of geometry in the game.
Our non-Isekai days being years ago notwithstanding. Still, as long as people can follow instructions, learning simple self-defense is straightforward.
…
[Two Months Go By]
…
Cusp of Autumn! Man it gets cold here fast.
Well, good news and bad news.
Good news is that the village…town, of Lakeview has grown, somewhat exponentially. I'd say there's a bit of magic-focused gentrification going on as well. Some of the inns have been near permanently rented out by middle class-ish Falkreath families. They have enough money to want to pursue a more detailed education but not enough to go all the way to Winterhold, or else hire tutors for extended periods.
So, yeah. There's a pair of apartment blocks being built to support these newcomers. Two stories tall, long building, separated into small rooms of no more than a bed and a chest. Enough floor space for fifty people per building. I'm pretty proud of it, even if they're kinda eyesores.
Space is becoming a bit of a concern, especially since building out of the town premises is a bad idea with harvest season here, so I had to do some shenanigans to get leaner buildings that are also rated to handle the cold.
Which will invariably draw people who want to study architecture.
We're importing a lot of food now, so work has to go into expanding the aquaculture. Again, not something any of us have knowledge with, but existing efforts seem to be doing something, so, y'know, improve on what exists.
I have a lot of ideas on what to do with the town when I have the time for it. We have a dedicated construction team who build things and record how they build things, so I'm not manually involved in a lot of things.
Now, bad news.
Dragons have become active. Significantly so.
…Or, alternatively, they've become active in ways that can no longer be bureaucratically hidden or dismissed.
Last week, we had: a pair of dragons sighted over Solitude, a hit on Markarth, and the destruction of a minor Stormcloak Fortress and the Cloud Ruler Temple in Cyrodiil. Altogether, casualties are estimated in the thousands.
…honestly Markarth was probably 99% of that, because two breaths in and the entire lower city was a goddamn inferno. The Bell survived, because it's the Bell, but…yeah.
Seems kind of low, that estimate.
Living in a place where a small fire turns into a blaze means a lot of people have ways to protect themselves if their building goes up. It's not great, but the estimate is in line with the city's spirit.
Either way, yeah, Dragons are now front and center. People are afraid of birds. I won't be surprised if a chunk of the people living here are from our reputation of being vehemently anti-dragon.
What's the most pressing about this is that, prior to now, dragons could be chased away. If they were pretending, doing shit, whatever, they left after meeting resistance. In the attacks listed above, the Dragons only left on their terms, regardless of how much damage the defenders piled on them.
So, now, we have two things happening: one, some of the damaged goods from dragons (claws, blood, scales) have been collected, and thanks to my whole 'we're here to kill dragons' shtick, I've received many of those samples to analyze. Two, the search for a Dragonborn has gone into overdrive. We know Aria is one, and she's not keen on letting everybody know just yet.
There's a lot of detail I can go into with regards to the responses to the dragon attacks and the responses to those responses, but to summarize, blame is being tossed everywhere because the sense of life-threatening camaraderie is just not there.
Actually, we've had a chance to talk about it, and Aria is…well, she's not a people person in the first place, and being blamed for being too slow to respond to a dragon attack when it's not even in her ability to respond in time doesn't sound like a good time for her.
Long story short, it's up to her to handle her own personal information. She say nothing, we say nothing.
Aria aside, there are efforts in place–I've received one such request–to make a spell that can detect the Dragonborn.
I said I'll try my best.
About the materials, though…the greatest benefit to having a big town with a lot of talent is that they can see things I'm not used to, and we've managed to learn a few things about dragons in general.
Also, do note: the following is information that we have released to the public. May have made the rush for a Dragonborn worse.
Now.
Dragons are high magic creatures. Magic permeates their every being, and they live with it at a concentration astronomically higher than a human, or most other beings on Tamriel.
Magic is a type of energy, a means by which one thing interacts with another. In the same way that an object of incredible mass starts to bend the world around them, magic of high enough densities will bend physics around itself.
Which is why we can have giant spiders and things that would otherwise break the square cube law. Or, rather, the law is not being broken, there is just something else at play in addition to what's already observable.
So, a dragonscale not connected to the main body will release all of its magic and become just plain matter. It's good stuff, but not superb. Dragonscales infused with a lot of magic (and I mean a lot of magic) are, theoretically, able to prevent all incoming damage. Physical damage would just stop being physics, and magical damage can't match the concentration needed, so won't pierce. It's conceptually equivalent to the idea that a dragon just decides that 1+1 = 3 on Tuesdays when it's raining, and we don't get to disagree.
Theoretical because while we're able to give scales the density it needs, we can't maintain it for longer than a few seconds of observation. The kneading required to get that density is high without intense practice.
Dragonborns are special because they can get past that, but we don't know how special.
Lastly, myself, Aria, and Jake have all tangled with a dragon and survived. This is not necessarily common information, but it's common enough that nobody tries to dance around the details.
…
Alright, now for the fun stuff. Only a few people are aware of the following information. Theories, mostly.
First off, dragons have highly concentrated mana. As they get stronger, the mana gets denser. The assumption we're making is that the anti-dragon Shout is able to disturb the mana density in some way. Per the game, you had to fight Alduin normally after yelling at him, so that's where we're coming from.
Alduin, being the final boss, is also plot protected, since you had to fight him twice. Also, I observed Alduin and distinctly remember him being a wee bit insane in terms of his mana density.
My assumption is that Alduin's mana density is high to the point where dimensions are being twisted around him. What with the whole 'I came back in time to fail at killing the dragonborn' thing. In effect, you need the shout to get him to break down a bit, so he stays in one spot temporally, and then stab him a bunch.
Alternatively, as we've seen, getting into a Dragon's blind spot or having them not pay attention will let us hit harder. Alduin should be immune to this.
In other words, in order to put Alduin in a scenario where we can stab him a bunch, Aria can either learn the shout, or we can make weapons of incredibly high mana concentration that they tear through his innate status. In effect, stabbing him a bunch from a long distance.
Or, at least, that's the initial analysis. The one I did before Aria reminded me that she could hurt a standard dragon even without shouts.
Which…y'know, her concentration is great for a person, but it's not so high that it rivals a dragon's.
Reminder: current weapons are designed for Aria to use on a dragon. I just got carried away after the analysis of the dragon scale.
So, in practice, no changes have occurred. Tee hee.
In order to get us to calm down after the whole Dragon Scale Incident, Jake had to pile drive us into the lake.
Still, analysis is all fine and good, but I need a chance to put it all into practice. The Catalina's done, too. It flies reasonably well and is stable, and Aria's Air Combat Equipment is ready, too.
Named: ACE Gear.
ATM Machine. ACE Gear, same difference. It…there's an anime, with something similar…
…I guess it's not an anime, technically? I don't remember it being animated. Point being, the ACE Gear design philosophy came from that anime, which itself drew from Gundam, but it's a personal gear rather than a mobile suit gear, so, credit where it's due.
Either way, we need a chance to test it against a proper target…but the Catalina is honestly too slow and lumbering to dodge a dragon attack.
Does the Catalina have a name?
Formi. Because I lack creativity.
Related: the prototype anti-dragon radar is also complete, and is mounted on the mountain/hill/whatever the fuck immediately south of the town. It scans magical signatures in the air and alerts us if there's anything in range. It's the only one of its kind and the range is kinda poor, plus there's obstructions like that mountain range to the north of us. Still, the radar covers pretty much Falkreath, with only some dead spots. Plus, it only handles things of a sufficiently high mana concentration. Upon detection it…
…it makes a noise.
Bip bip bip.
Yeah, like that, when it detects a potential target. Once acquisition is obtained, the tone is more solid.
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Like that.
…
Well ask and ye shall receive I suppose "Aria! Jake! We're heading out!"
.
.
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{ === + === }
Author Notes:
I want Armored Core VI to be so commercially successful following the footprints of Elden Ring that Bandai or Modders turn it into the Gundam Build Fighters game that should have existed already.