{ === + === }
So.
We have arrived at the rather underfurnished headquarters of the Warwolf Mercenary Company.
Let's say that the entrance is south, and you go north to enter the building. The layout is as thus: the entrance leads to a waiting room, which leads to a bigger great hall. North of the great hall is the kitchen area, where food will be prepared if we have any…do I have to cook? East and West of the hall are a set of stairs and rooms on their own. The east is the armory, and the west is pretty much an open access to my shop. We're thinking of fencing off the connection to have some more space. Also to the great hall's east and west are a pair of staircases leading to the underground level, which contains two barracks-style rooms. For some reason we have twenty bedframes and like, no beds.
…I guess the reason would be we never bought bedding material, but eh…
Anyways, me, Jake, Erik, Mell, and the four Pink Anime Catgirls enter the great hall and take seats around the table. The maid (I guess Jake hired one) serves us tea. Probably also a cook too.
…Not sure I like barley tea.
Anyways. "First off, who are you people?" I ask the Pink Anime Catgirls. Seriously they all look the same. It's freaking me out.
Girl A starts with a small bow. "I am T'mare. These are my younger sisters, T'ma, T'nerem, and T'yanna." She gestures to the girls in turn and they bow. I, for the life of me, cannot tell them apart. Also, I think I hear a T followed by a click, and I know I will get the names wrong.
"You're all sisters?" Jake asks for confirmation.
"We are of the same brood." T'mare nods. "As you can see, we are of Khajiit descent."
…I don't see it. I don't think any of us sees it. Well, I mean, ok, they have the ears, but…
Oh, also. Their ears are very cat-like in behavior: whenever one of us spoke, the four of them would turn their ears our way without really looking our way. When the cook (or maid) messes with a pot in the kitchen, one of them would rotate their ears towards the source of the sound like a cat.
Still. "I don't see the resemblance." I say. "Sorry for being blunt about it." As far as I'm concerned they're basically just cosplayers.
"It's understandable." T'mare says levelly, though she's probably not happy about what I said. I wish I could see their tails. If they have any.
Brief, uncomfortable silence.
So…"Do you guys plan to say anything about how you got to, y'know, look this way?" On one hand that is an incredibly insensitive question, on the other hand I seem to be holding that role this night, so…
"It is private." T'mare snaps at me. Minor note: she has that little raspiness going on with her voice that all Khajiit seems to have.
Also, private? Hmm.
Well, then let's start doing some guess work.
Fact number one: the four of them share an appearance. Reasons: Either Khajiit families bear their children in broods, or else the four of them were a rare quadruplet occurrence who also happen to be cursed at the same time.
…I can believe the cursing, but not the quadruplet thing.
While we're reasoning in our head, our eyes are resting on T'ma. After some time, she may or may not be progressively more interested in ripping off our face with her bare hands.
Hmm. "Well, if you're not going to tell me, then I'm going to tell myself." I stretch. "The four of you are sisters, yeah?"
"That's right." T…which one? The third one from the left says. "We are of the same family."
It is T'nerem.
"Ok, so the same brood…ish." I can't really say conclusively either way. "And…the folks in your home think you've all been cursed and that your continued existence would be a problem, therefore they kicked you out."
Momentary silence.
"That's…awfully specific." Erik says with a nervous chuckle.
"How did you know that?" The T on the right says. "Have we met before?"
T'yanna.
T'mare gives the girl a glare, which I take to mean that I'm right enough on the money.
Let's continue under that assumption. "Bingo, huh? So that means you girls are in Skyrim…looking for work?"
T'mare heaves a defeated sigh. "That's correct." I'm glad my love of tropes won out like this. "But as you are undoubtedly aware, work for a Khajiit is hard to come by, nevermind for a half-breed."
Noted. "Really? Hair color aside, I think you girls could pose as humans fairly easily."
"You think so?" Girl #2 (from the left) seems very…brightened, by the idea. Her ears flip up in interest.
…I am now very aware that all of them have the same 'Khajiit rasp' in their voice, which might make blending in a touch hard. "For better or worse, we tolerate you." I say. "So…tell me. How did you all meet Jake?"
…
[Exposition]
…
Hmm. Well, it's pretty straightforward. The four of them are of the same clan, and were branded as cursed because of their appearance and hair coloration. Normally, half-breeds tend to be predominantly Khajiit or human with none of the secondary specie traits appearing, so the four of them showing both traits was already unusual. And then the hair color pretty much sealed the deal.
Fortunately for them, their parents are fairly prestigious, and thus instead of being summarily executed they were merely exiled from their homes. However, because their parents were fairly prestigious, the entirety of the Elsweyr populace knew who they were, and thus they had to leave the region, rather than just the city.
…well, recommended to leave. They could have stayed and duked it out if they wanted to, but they didn't, so…
Anyways, they went to Morrowind first, had no real luck, then came to Skyrim. They were in Falkreath before coming up north through Whiterun, and had been chased to the farm that was Jake's mission by a group of slaver bandits. Jake and Erik corroborated the story from there and…well, here we are.
"Perversely, I rather liked that kind of attention." T'mare laughs of her journeys. "But…in the end, travel is difficult without food or coin, and the Guildmaster has deigned to give us a warm bed for the night." She nods, rather subserviently, to Jake.
…She says she's twenty, but that rasp is making her sound so much older. It's messing with my mind.
"We'd be glad to give him some other services too." Girl #4 (T'yanna) giggles. "He only has to ask."
Mell bristles. I roll my eyes. Erik may as well be salivating with sadness, if that's ever a possible thing.
"That may be." Jake says levelly. "Understand that I'm of the same mind as Ash, which is that I…we…don't trust you all that much."
"Not because you're Khajiit, mind." I add. It's funny, they look at Jake like he's the messiah and me as…markedly not. "The four of you are attractive, but the fact that the four of you just appeared out of nowhere and all look extremely alike is…very worrying."
Also, I have no reason to buy their story wholesale. I'm going to for now, because otherwise it's just a mountain of stupid doubts, but…
"Rest assured we mean you no harm." T'mare says with an eyeroll. "I understand that our appearance seems too unreasonable to be a coincidence, but…well, it is."
…Humans pick patterns out of coincidences, yes. "I will be cautiously optimistic." I nod. "Well, I'll go get stuff for your bedding." I stand, my girls stand with me. "Stay with uncle Jake, you two." I say gently.
"I'll help." Erik shoots up to his feet. The two of us head out and visit a farmer who is selling hay a little deeper in the Clover. It takes us a while, but eventually we get the bundles of hay back into the guild to build four more beds.
So…
To put it politely, everything here worries me. I think I'm just being paranoid.
…
[Next Day]
…
Whether it's because I was more worried than normal or for some other reason, I woke up early today. Which meant I get to spend some more time at my forge. I'm not really doing anything, mind, just focused on my UI.
The Surgery yesterday gave me a grand total of 134 points to spend, but also turned the entire UI red. I'm trying to figure out what the sudden change in color means before I start spending the points.
Moreover, my mana seems to have entirely emptied and is not recovering (again). It's weird, because I'm pretty sure I didn't spend my pool putting Saffir together.
Either way, I have a lot of points to spend, and so I'm going to take my time and think about it.
So what's actually happening?
I'm being blocked from taking minor perks and it's very detrimental to the path of becoming a walking deity. It sucks.
…I can take major perks though, and I have seven of them.
Let's see.
I take Greatest Crafting support (double crafting xp, half all other xp) and realize just how much experience I would have gotten if I went pure mage. Like, fuck, if I got 134 points while receiving 25% of total xp gained with magic…but that's a what-if.
Finishing the crafting master tree gives me…nothing. Why nothing? Jake had…Jake had a finishing effect after taking a secondary tree.
Hmm.
…
I take three ranks (Great/Greater/Greatest) of Forge Master. The three ranks in total "increase crafting result" by 50% (10, 15, 25 per step). I don't know what it means but on the surface it looks promising. Having my stuff be 50% better is usually not a bad thing.
But more importantly, taking Forge master gave me THREE finishing effects!
First one: Elemental Forgemaster. Which…the wording tripped me up, but by the looks of it…the equipment that I craft will lose enchantment at half speed. By which I think it means that if I were to, say, make a ring, and somebody else (say, Aria) enchants that ring, then the ring will lose power at half speed. Neat, though likely not very useful.
Second one: Deep Forge. This perk lets me burn ingots to improve the results of metal items. There's no numerical value given, but I assume the conversion rate has a decreasing rate of return. I hope this at least translates to better weapon durability because I think I would cry if I spent a hundred ingots in a dwarven dagger and it explodes on contact with a dragon.
Third, and probably the most broken of the bunch: Pocket Weaver. This one has the simplest explanation and is probably the most fucked up powerful boost of the bunch. It simply says: crafted gear gains 1 more enchant slot.
I went giddy when I saw that, not gonna lie. I'm going to experiment with stacking two of the same enchant on an item to see what happens. If it doesn't work I'm gonna be slightly sad, but not very. Because we're friends with Aria, and Aria is the dragonborn.
The Dragonborn's final enchantment tree perk adds another enchant slot onto all items she works on (if the game information remains accurate) so anything I give to Aria to enchant will have three enchants. Eeeeeeeeeeeee I am so looking forward to this
…If I can get Aria to go down that path. If I can find Aria at all. Where the fuck is she? I hate being an NPC sometimes.
But um, Elemental Forgemaster required Forge Master and Magicka Breathing. Deep Forge needed Forge Master and Combat Support (I expected a finishing effect for this combo, though not Deep Forge specifically). Pocket Weaver needed Forge Master, Magic Channeling, Infusion, and Combat Support. Understandable considering how bonkers it is.
And I still have three major slots...although…
We scan the trait tree again.
…is it just me, or do I have more stuff here than before? And some of these seem really shifty. Am I starting to get into min-max territory? Let's avoid taking min-max perks to help continue being able to do everything.
…Ooh, I like the look of these. It's two ranks, so let's take 'em.
So we do.
I have just taken the perks 'Objective Endurance', of the minor and major flavors. Both grants a 25% bonus to "crafting result range", which I take to mean that the thing I make can be…shittier, or better, depending on circumstance.
This gives me more incentive to become better at what I do regardless of my perk and major perk strengths, because if I fuck up now I really fuck up.
…which means I just lied and took a min-max perk. Oopsy daisies.
As we plan out our Major perks and minor perks, T'mare exits the Warwolf guild hall through the side door.
"Good morning, guildmaster Ash." She says…stiffly. Also, what?
"Beg pardon?"
"I heard from Jake that you are the co-head of the guild and share in its responsibilities." She bows slightly. "While I do not like you, I do at least respect your position."
Girl number…I don't know, follows her eldest sister. "Yeah, if you play your cards right then you'll be half as cool as the real guildmaster." She says with a wink.
Ha. "Am I being mocked?"
"Oh good, you picked up on it." Girl…a third one, says with a smirk.
Ok yeah this is not going to work for me.
We go into our house, get four large strips of cloth, and dye them the proper colors.
I can't use magic, but it's good to know the perks work at least.
"What are those for?" Girl 4 asks.
It should be pretty obvious. "Y'all look the same to me and I can only tell slight differences after careful scrutiny, so I need to do this to tell you girls apart." I show them the four ribbons. "Also I don't really remember names, so this will help. I'll make you the bells later."
T'mare folds her arms. "Are we being mocked?"
"Yes." I grin. "Here you go." I give her the blue ribbon. "You can wear it however, as long as it's visible."
"Well, th-oh my." She changes her tune as soon as she puts her hands on the ribbon. "This is incredibly soft." She gathers her hair into a side-tail and wow she is good at that
She works the foot-or-longer ribbon into her hair into a trio of crosses (from our viewpoint). It's too short for her to do anything else, so there's a half-inch or so left over that dangles in an unfortunately jarring way.
I should have some scissors around here.
"Which one's mine?" Girl…three? Says. Stop moving around, jeez. She seems to be the funny one.
"This one's for you." I give her the orange ribbon.
She rubs it on her face. "Ooh, they really are soft." She ties hers around her neck.
It resembles a bell and ribbon, and she's like doubly cuter as a result.
"How are these made?" Girl…two? Four? Asks, examining the ribbons in closer detail.
Of course, I'm not going to just tell her. "Trade secret." I hand her the purple ribbon and she wears it around her waist, tying it off to one side in a pretty-looking tie.
Full disclosure: the ribbons are not all of the same length.
"I'm last, then?" Girl…last one, holds out her hand. She gets the last, red, ribbon, and ties it roughly around her right hand. "Thanks." She says tersely, but sincerely. It looks a little like boxing tape.
No points for guessing why we used those colors. What are those ribbons, anyway?
They're a mix of silk and velvet that I made with transmutation before yesterday. I wanted a material I could use to make better dresses with and this was a…not a great result but also not a bad one. There wasn't enough material to make anything specific, so I figured that tearing it down for ribbons seems like a good use of the material.
I have enough for two more, smaller, ribbons. They're both dyed sky blue, because I like sky blue, and practically glow in sunlight because I Replaced a little wax into the material.
Speaking of which, Big Sister is staring at T'Mere's ribbon while hiding behind a…darling get out from there you don't know where it's been
She's hiding behind the pile of dragonbones.
"What's on your mind, little one?" T'Mere notices the attention and smiles warmly at Big Sister. "Do you like this ribbon?" She asks. Big Sis nods slowly but shies deeper into the pile of dragonbones.
"Don't hide in the dragonbones." I cut in. "It's bad for your health. Come here, girls."
Big Sister takes the long way around the dragonbone pile (away from T'Mere) and jumps into my arms. Little Sister is remarkably less reserved and cut a path right through the four T-sisters before oh shit
She jumps into us at a run and we all fall down.
Owie.
Let's see here… "T'mare, come here for a sec. I could use some advice on how to do their hair." I have no idea how to handle a girl's hair so…yeah. I've only ever brushed their hair.
"Aye." T'mare replies with a very overt laugh. "You struck me as many things, but a doting father isn't one of them." She comes over. "They are very well-kempt." She remarks as she looks over the girls. "I've never seen any of the working caste as clean as this. You're no mere smith, are you?" She takes one of the ribbons I have reserved for the girls and looks over Big Sister.
"I do many things." I say as T'mare gets to work. "What was Jake's final decision?"
"We're employed with Warwolf as…'interns'?" T'mare says. "We're going to accompany him on the next mission."
First: Ahahaha they're unpaid interns. Second: "The one where you go off to find some redguards?"
"That's the one." T'yanna (Orange) nods.
Hm. "And I assume you all will be needing gear?"
"Is it going to be expensive?" T'nerem (Purple) asks. "At this point, we don't have much money."
"We don't have any money." T'yanna corrects her. "And I'm pretty sure you're not going to accept a rowdy night in exchange." She is suddenly genuinely curious. "…would you?"
I assume she means sex. "No."
"Bah." T'yanna pretends to be disappointed.
I am curious though. "Is that how you girls got around?"
"Occasionally." T'ma (red) nods. "You'd be surprised how much money we could make by spreading our legs once in a while." Considering the derisiveness of her tone, I assume it's not nearly as straightforward as that.
The more important question is, though… "So what kind of combat experience do the four of you have?"
Awkward silence.
Well balls.
"We can strike a man when he's unprepared." T'ma says with confidence. "We may not have a Khajiit's claws, but our nails are hard enough."
Hm.
"To speak frankly, I am not sure we will be of much service in an offensive role." T'mare says. "I've hunted with a bow, but…"
Hoo boy. Jake's got his work cut out for him.
"…Finished." T'mare says and lets Big Sister go. She gave Big Sister a ponytail, with the ribbon acting as the tie and bow. It's very conspicuous…and very cute. I approve. I should redo this but with a much more anime-sized ribbon. One that's like twice the size of her head.
I get to know the combat records of the four T-sisters as T'mare does Little Sister's hair. It is not very impressive.
Between the four of them, they have, at best, a dozen kills. It seems that most of their survival strategy relied on hiding and being away from points of danger, which…all things considered is the best course of action in like 99% of the time. If we're talking proficiencies, then they're very proficient in stealth ambush and grabbing and running, less so direct confrontation.
T'mare is finished.
Little Sister has less hair, so her ribbon ends up being used as decoration for a pair of braids that frame her face. It's a little bit asymmetric, which just makes her cuter.
"Their hair is extremely easy to work with." T'mare observes when she finishes. "You'd never think they would be the children of a working man."
Hehehe.
…Anyhoo.
We do our daily work (with the T-Sisters going back to the guild), and come the afternoon the T-Girls + Mell + Jake visit my workshop. Why as a group though?
Jake brings presents in the form of a sled of iron ingots.
Fuck yeah ingots. "Alright, what am I making?"
Jake grins. "four sets of armor, two shields, four short swords, two greatswords, a bow, and a pair of daggers."
…You motherfucker.
Jake grins harder upon seeing our expression.
I sigh. "And you need them all by…"
"Tomorrow." Jake winks. "Good luck."
I throw an ingot at him, which he catches with no real issue. Goddamn perks.
Jake got 3 points for his wolf-killing, which he puts into missile awareness for better anti-flying object action. He's also got another 30 points stashed, which I don't remember where he got, but he's got it, and he's holding off on spending it for now.
He does take another major perk (the second level of Appraising Eye) which means he's better at judging items.
"I think it works better if I know more about items in general." He says. "Because right now it doesn't help all that much."
To that end, he's going to go on a tour of the market and just…learn to judge stuff for a day.
Oh well.
Let's see here…
We get a rundown of their equipment loadout.
The short swords are standardized equipment for everyone. The great swords are for T-red and T-purple. The shields are for T-orange and T-blue. The bow is for red, and the daggers are for purple.
"Son of a bitch." I sigh. "Ladies, can you go get me some wood? I think Jake forgot." I need wood for the base of the shields. "Also, leather." I don't have enough iron to make a full plate of armor, and frankly I don't have the time if they plan to ship out to-fucking-morrow.
"We don't have money." T'mare the Blue says. "So…"
I know. "Mell?"
Mell is not too happy that Jake's spending the day with Erik, so she leads the four T-sisters to the shops in the Clover that sells wood and leather with no small amount of grumbling. They bring back enough material and I'm down 150 gold, plus another 50 for Mell's bribe so she'd actually do it.
I don't think I'll be able to make everything by tomorrow, so let's
"Oh, can you make me some more underwear?"
Mell says as we're planning things out. She gets a bit of a disbelieving stare shot her way by all of us.
…well, fine. "Uuugh." Or not fine. I'm not sure how I feel about this. "Fine, go get the materials you want it made from."
Mell does so and we turn back to our planning.
Ok, so…let's start with the swords. Easiest to mass produce and everyone needs it.
"You make underwear for women?" T'ma asks judgmentally.
"Sometimes." I say, because that is indeed true. "I don't advertise it. If you want me to make you a set then I'd have to get measurements."
"I'll pass for now, thanks." She says with a small laugh. Note how she's staying well beyond the ten-foot-pole radius of personal touching.
Ok, let's get down to business.
…
[Work, Work]
…
It takes me the whole rest of the day. By bedtime I've finished all the bladed weapons. By dinner time, I've made everything but the armor plus Mell's new undies.
The short swords are bog-standard Iron Short Swords. They're a little stubbier and bluntier compared to a market piece, but I figured if they're going to serve as primarily defensive weapons then they should be on the durable side.
The greatswords are a bit claymore-y rather than Skyrim Great Sword-y to save on material. Also the girls requested for a weapon that was easier to swing around. I should note that the girls don't have much arm strength, but their wrist strength is pretty impressive. In that regard, the more flexible claymore should allow them to whip it good on some occasions.
The daggers are good for stabbing and are also point-weighted so they can also be thrown.
The bow…I don't have that kind of experience and I definitely don't have the time to make a crossbow, so I farmed the work out to a bowmaker. I got a modified short bow at the end of the day. It has grips reinforced by a layer of twine so the girls don't dig into the wood with their semi-Khajiit nails.
So much shit I still need to do.
And Mell…
Wanted something that "accentuated her figure", which I take to mean that she's planning on seducing Jake in the near future. We did what we could. The end result is…passably…I mean, it's like looking at a picture of lingerie in low resolution: the idea is there, but the execution is kind of…not.
She brought in some good cloth, but I was kind of hoping for something that was of higher quality.
Well, whatever. After dinner I need to hammer out the parts for the armor. I farmed out the armor manufacturing and got back four crude but serviceable suits of leather, so all I need to do is to adjust them to the girls' size and reinforce them with iron, and then I'll be set.
I'll be doing this tomorrow, when we're setting out on our mission, because of course we will be.
Ugh.
…Also, I didn't gem any of the weapons because I didn't feel a need to. Also because I can't find my jewelry box today and wasn't very interested in trying.
We found it sitting on the bed when going to sleep. The girls were playing with it.
…
[Next Day]
…
We set off! By we, I mean: Jake, Erik, Mell, Myself, my girls, and the T-sisters. We rented a cart and two horses. Jake and T-Blue walk, Erik drives the cart, and the rest of us are being carried by said cart.
Why are the girls here?
Given the current circumstances (read: they can't talk) it seems dangerous to leave them at home by themselves. I've shown them the basics of working with bandages and they, like everyone in Skyrim, innately knows fire magic, so they'll be able to do some basic prep work for me if I need to, say, heal literally everyone.
…Please don't make me heal everyone.
…Anyways, we're traveling by wagon to a small village between Rorikstead and Whiterun. It's…somewhat southwest of the fortress that you'd hit if you follow the road forever. Apparently the Redguards are holed up nearby. By "The" Redguards, I assume the post implies 'some' Redguards, since, again, there seems to be multiple groups at work here.
"It's a fine day to travel, isn't it?" T'mare says. It is overcast and very depressing, but she sounds genuinely happy, so I don't know if I should take her words at face value.
"Better than if it snowed." Jake nods. There's still some snow on the road and the surrounding grasslands, which just means we have a lot of mud to deal with. I've modded the wheels by hammering in larger pieces of wood for better force dispersion, so we're not losing too much time to the mud
The wagon wheel hits a rock.
Fuck
Ow
I also need to make seat cushions because this shit just hurts way too much. My tailbone is not in the best shape from sitting down forever in many different locations.
Anyhoo. The girls' armor. Since we're on the march, I don't have the time to fully measure the T-sisters. As a result, the leather armor's strappier than normal so they can adjust it after fitting. I'm thinking of making further adjustments as we go along, but…actually.
"Jake, why the hurry?" I really should have asked this question before we left Whiterun.
"Apparently, the Redguards are worried." Jake says. "According to the ones they've arrested, the main groups are planning on moving very soon, so it's in our coffer's best interest to hit them hard before the time runs out."
Eeh…in other words, there's a substantial bonus for capturing them and he doesn't want to miss out. "You sure about this?" I jerk a thumb to T-Orange. I don't remember their names very well, if you can't tell already.
She goes "hey!"
Jake shrugs. "I was planning on heading out regardless of the situation, so having a bunch of tagalong girls doesn't change things."
Wow, ego much, sir? I mean, he's earned it, but still.
…
[Travelling]
…
At noon, we break for lunch. It wasn't really noticeable from the beginning, but the road conditions are poor enough that we've lost a rather substantial amount of time overall. Also the walkers are tired and are on the cart again, which makes it slower still.
Anyways, we break for lunch. Jake takes this time to get the girls used to live combat.
So, I've been giving this some thought. It seemed rather odd that the T-sisters, who have supposedly spent their entire lives on the run, would be noticeably less skilled in combat than Erik, who…comparatively speaking, has not spent as much of his time being screwed by the gods. I mean, yes, they have been hiding/running, but skills gained from staying out of danger would still be skills.
"I uh…Rorikstead sees a lot of mercenaries pass through, so I'd bother them to teach me a few things when I was younger." Erik explains sheepishly when I bring this point up. "But yeah, I do find that weird, too."
"Not all vagabonds spend their time flitting about the wilderness, Erik." T-purple says. "We spent a few times camping out between towns, but…" She points to her hair. "Being out in the wilderness means we let our guards down more."
…and that's all she said. I assume it means something to the effect of "we fucked up a few times and learned our lesson." By that logic, they stay as close to the towns as possible and only escape when detected? But if that's the case, then they should still be pretty good at putting a knife where it hurts…
Anyways, they're…well, let's be fair here. They're not totally novices when it comes to wielding their weapons, but they're definitely not great. T-orange and T-blue get shields, T-red and T-orange get greatswords, and T-purple gets the bow and daggers.
Their party is as thus: T'mare the Blue is the Defensive frontliner. Her job is to be uninspiring with a shield and sword and hold the enemy at bay forever. She shares this job with Erik.
T'ma the Red is the Damage output. Her job is to swing that claymore around and be mini-Jake.
T'yanna the Orange is the Gadget Fighter. Her job is to either help T'mare and Erik to hold a front line, or else to flank and be mini-Jake with T'ma.
T'nerem the Purple is the Stealth Archer minus the Stealth part. Her job is to be uninspiring with her bow and deal entirely subpar amounts of damage because she doesn't get Stealth bonuses like the dragonborn does.
Anyways, Jake puts everyone through their paces, because that's what he wanted and frankly we all could use the practice. The focus is still to get the T-sisters used to fighting, so that's what he's doing.
…
[T'mare and T'yanna]
…
As defensive frontliners (technically) the two of them have the job of maintaining a line that the enemy cannot cross. Both of them have a strong sense of balance and are therefore very good at redirecting power. Jake made some rather strong swings against them and they were able to keep on their feet afterwards.
Their problem, though…
We watch as Jake makes a chain of hits against T'yanna and knocks her down with his sheathed great sword. He finishes her off with a light tap to her head.
They're very reliant on their shield and have a tendency to put their weight on their back foot, which could cause trouble later on. They're also very keen on not attacking, though I feel like it's more because Jake is scary than anything else.
Jake swaps himself out for Erik. He faces off against T'mare and T'yanna with a wooden club, and after a little bit of scuffling 'kills' both of them.
…Yeah, they don't really have a good attacking sense. This could be trouble.
…
[T'ma]
…
She's the vanguard, so it's her job to hit for like a million points of damage. Jake puts out a piece of lumber to test that fact.
T'ma stands a good twenty paces from her target. Upon Jake's "Go!" she charges with her sword. She thrusts, misses, trips over the wood, and flails ahead for ten steps or so before regaining her balance.
…she can't really hit for a million points of damage. Her aim is good when she's not charging, but uh…yeah.
As a result, Jake just has her practice some charging strikes.
…
[T'yanna, again]
…
As a gadget fighter, it's her job to also use the claymore. Her grip strength is impressive, so she can actually one-hand her claymore. For the record, T'ma could also one-hand her claymore, but she's all for damage, so she can't take the accuracy hit…not that she has the spare room for it.
Accuracy in the sense of 'how do you swing your weapon when your grip is poor and can't transfer force well'.
T'yanna puts the claymore over her shoulder and uses it for primarily downward swings. Thus, she has great reach while also shielding up, but uh…the shield restricts her movement, and downward swings get predictable after the first one, so she's extremely predictable. Like, the force of all martial arts come from the waist and a good, solid stance, but T'yanna's one-handed grip means that there's only so many ways she can swing and have that transfer of force be consequential for only the enemy.
…
[T'nerem]
…
As the archer, her job is to hit the target. She can hit a nonmoving target without issue, and her cat-balance is good enough that moving and shooting results only in a slight loss of accuracy.
…So Jake throws her against me to practice against moving targets. She has ten wrapped arrows, and I have a hat to protect my face. It doesn't protect my face.
Jake gives us fifty step's worth of distance.
I cross and hit her, I win. She hits me, she wins. I'm not allowed to use magic (I got my juice back after a day of rest, though the UI is still red). Without magic, I'm basically a subpar melee unit with no advantages and a malus of being insta-gibbed by magic. I should have rebuilt my crossbow.
…Oh well.
Either way, T'nerem isn't the best shot, but I think I can see why. Her aim is great if she can plant her feet and fire, and it's still great if she has to turn a little. If she has to turn a lot her aim greatly suffers, and the more I make her make upper body motions the worse her aim gets.
So…
Obviously this isn't the best or even the actual solution, but…
"Do you girls not wear bras?" I think I noticed them bouncing, but since all of yesterday and today were spent making sure my work got done…I didn't pay them too much attention.
"Nobody is willing to make them for us." T'mare says. "We're…well," She gives her chest a soft pat. "Also not exactly normal in that regard."
…That's actually a good point. "Mell, can you take their measurements for me real quick?" I ask and get out the cloth.
…
[An hour of sewing passes]
…
I make bras for the T-sisters. They are…not really reinforced, per se, but I've put extra material into making sure they keep in place. Knowing their measurements also means I get to adjust their armor to be a bit more snug, so they don't have to spend extra energy unnecessarily.
"This is so nice." T'yanna says while fondling herself. "It's so warm."
Good. "I'm glad you like it."
"I had you pegged for a craftsman." T'mare says. "But the breadth of your expertise surprises me. You don't plan to specialize, do you?"
Eh. "No. I like being able to do a lot of things, even if I'm not considered skilled in any specific thing."
"If it means you can make things like this, I approve." She says. "We'll pay you after the mission."
Right, the mission. Upon that reminder, the four girls went back to their discussion with Jake about how best to proceed with their formation.
At least, that's what I think they're talking about. As the hour continues, the conversation is skewing more and more to an interview about Jake's personal life.
Eventually, we arrive at our target destination…kind of. There's a small town to the southwest of Whiterun, population…200 or so, maybe? It's a quiet village set to a scene of forests and mountains behind it. The amount of practice targets and game carcasses tells me that this place focuses on hunting.
Per Jake's orders, Erik guides the wagon to the village inn (or its local approximant) and we enter after securing the wagon.
Upon entering the inn…well, it's a standard Skyrim inn. The fire pit in the middle is half burned out, and a group of…eight? Redguards are busy warming their hands around the embers. Apart from them are an Innkeeper, two young-ish servant girls (his daughters, maybe?) and one guard.
Hmm.
Jake makes a beeline to the Redguards with absolutely zero hint of hesitation. "Hello there." He says warmly.
"Fair winds to you." The Redguard lead(?) replies warily. "To what do we owe this interruption, stranger?"
"I'm looking for a group of Redguards." Jake says with all the intention of issuing a challenge. "Whiterun has placed a bounty on a group of would-be murderers who nearly killed a woman.
The Redguards look at each other in…shock? "Is that so?" The Redguard leader says slowly. "I can vouch for our innocence." He folds his arms. "Why do you believe that we are the ones responsible?"
"Oh, I don't." Jake shrugs. "But I am looking for answers."
"You're very forward. I respect that." The Redguard leader stands up and extends a hand. "I am the leader of the 34th Alik'r Long Range Recon Task Force. My name is Kematu." Oh. Also, that task force name is strangely…modern.
"Pleasure." Jake doesn't show anything beyond polite indifference though I'm sure he also recognized the title's unique structure. "Jake. Master of the Warwolf Company."
"Given that we are under suspicion, our task force will accompany you back to Whiterun." Kematu says. "I would like to plead our innocence within the full view of the law."
…So this is very different from the game. Kematu (not Komatu, as I keep remembering it) in-game was basically a boss at the end of a tunnel if you chose to fight him after a dungeon of bog-standard bandits. Here, he's…y'know, different.
"Would you have a reason to attack a Redguard woman?" I ask.
"We…have reasons to find a Redguard woman by the name of Saadia." Kematu says. "However, we are fully aware that she is within the Bannered Mare, and thus would have no reason to randomly attack another person."
…well…"are there competitor groups working in Skyrim?"
"Potentially." Kematu nods. "But who are you, stranger?" He asks suddenly. Fair, I suppose.
"Ash, Head of Warwolf Logistics." I say. "I make things."
"I see…" Kematu frowns. "To answer your question, yes, there are competitive groups operating in Skyrim. Saadia was instrumental in destroying the resistance ability of many major houses in Hammerfell, with House Taneth being one of them. I am not so naïve as to believe that she was able to accomplish everything on her own, but she is a fundamental part of the effort." He looks at both me and Jake. "Understand that my orders, first and foremost, were to have her arrested and returned to Hammerfell. It would not reflect well on my professionalism to see her dead." He chuckles. "I would like to be promoted to a more comfortable job in Hammerfell when this is all done and over." He gets some laughs from his group with that.
Hmm…I'm curious as to whether if it's possible that he tasked a detachment for the job, since all Hammerfell folk look the same™ it's entirely reasonable that he can pin this action onto a rival group. To that end, if he goes and testifies against a rival group, he's basically scot free.
Super hmm…
Either way, Jake agrees to escort the Hammerfell folk to Whiterun. At Whiterun, Kematu turns himself and his unit over to the guards and agrees to provide any information that he has about the subject.
…Which means we have to go back out there, because we technically did not find and arrest (or murder) the people responsible for stabbing Saffir. We got a little bonus, though, which is nice.
To clarify: we're going back out tomorrow, since carting Kematu's band into Whiterun (under guard) took enough time that, if we were to sally again, we would basically have to camp an hour away from the city. As such, we're spending the rest of the day resting.
…Kinda, sorta. Upon hearing about my enchantment table, she got really curious and wanted me to enchant something for her, which I can't do, because I can't enchant.
"Really?" She had said. "There might be something wrong with your table then."
…Which…y'know, looking back, it has literally never occurred to me that a hand-me-down table no longer in use by the royal mage may have been handed down for a reason, like…y'know, being broken.
I am not very clever some times.
So now T'nerem is in my house, looking over my enchanting table.
"If I had to guess?" She says after some fifteen minutes of close observation. "I'd say that the lines are worn out." She gestures to the blue five-point star in the middle of the table. "It's made with a very special type of paint that allows magic to be channeled effectively. When a table is overused and gets old, the paint is used up."
Hum. "And…"
T'nerem gives me a shrug. "And, as far as I remember, there are only two workshops that are capable of producing enchanting tables in all of Skyrim." She says. "And I'm very sure there is no place that actually repairs tables."
That's new. "Why not?" You'd think there'd be people who would do these things.
"Because it's very hard to tell which lines on the star are exhausted." She says. "Too high of a discrepancy in the lines causes the magic to run inefficiently, which could cause the table to explode."
…I…I kind of want to see that, to be honest.
"As a result, if a table needs to be replaced then all of the paint would have to be replaced." She continues. "Since most of the cost of the table is the paint, it's basically just cheaper to buy a new table."
…So…what you're saying is…this is basically not a problem at all for me now that I know what the problem is? Neat.
We scrape off a part of the glowy paint with our nails and stick it in our mouth. T'nerem predictably goes "what are you doing?" in surprise.
It tastes like…if someone had a vat of mint extract and dipped a paint chip in it. I can legitimately say I'm not sure how to feel about it. The point behind doing this, if you're wondering, is to boost my understanding of the paint so that when I do my transmutation shenanigans I can get a higher efficiency on it, however small the bonus might be.
Either way, let's see here…
We channel our inner magic into some Flames and a small candle-like flame spouts from our pinky.
Ok, I have my powers back. Alright, next.
We don't notice T'nerem blinking in surprise.
I have some water and some sticky stuff. I transmute the sticky stuff into blue paint and mix it with the water, I then transmute the mixture so that it's more paint-y. Understandably, a lot of the material is lost due to inefficiency. I started with a bucket and now I have half of an inkwell.
…and here I have a problem, because while I understand that the paint is blue and has magic properties, I don't understand how the properties work *at all*. Transmutation and Replace are flexible, but they can't create something out of nothing. I can make my paint *like* the paint used to draw the enchanting star, but I have no guarantee that the paint does exactly the same things.
…then again, I know how to channel magic from soulstones to other sources, so maybe it works like that? Alternatively, I can just apply the paint and transmute it to be "of the same substance" as the paint it's lying on, see if that works.
We experiment for an hour on how to make the paint and how to repair the table.
Dinnertime. I have no idea if progress can be made at all, thanks to…well, to how many variables I have to account for just to test if a fix worked or not.
"It should work." T'nerem says (she's staying for dinner). "You have a control over magic that's comparable to a Journeyman, so it should be doable."
While I'm happy about the praise, I do have to wonder, though: where is her magic knowledge coming from? The four sisters were on the run ever since they were young, yeah? The information she's giving me seems like the kind that would only happen after reasonably extensive studying, and studying is kinda hard to do when you're on the run all the time. I mean, being more than functionally literate means that someone must've taught them.
…Then again, they never implied that they didn't get the chance to stay at locations for long periods of time, did they…
…Well, I'm not going to bring it up for the time being. If I find her in my bed at night with unnervingly long teeth (or teeth at all in certain places) then things are going to happen anyways.
After dinner, I get the girls bathed and put to bed, and continue my attempts to repair the table. I'm pretty sure I've still made no progress by the time I have to go to bed.
…
[Next Day]
I have some time before we head out again, so let's see if the repairs we did accomplished anything.
We make breakfast for the girls and then bring the table out.
It's a very nice day today. Cold as balls, but nice.
Alright.
We set a trio of stones on the magic table and one of the swords we had stashed around.
…Oh.
The channeling happens near-immediately and the edge of the blade begins to flicker with flames.
Oh wow.
It feels like I'm pouring magic into this thing. This is so easy.
I get the feeling that I've been basically pushing on a pull door like a fucking idiot.
…
Oh, or not.
As soon as I break my focus, the magic just runs out of the sword and dissipates into the air. I'm trying to put in a Fire based enchantment, which makes the air around the sword warmer, but as soon as I drop the enchant the power is gone.
Hrm. Ok, let's review. Now that the table has been…modified (I don't know if I've really repaired it) the sword is basically another cog in the chain. The enchantment basically gets to pass into it without any issue, but now the problem is that I have no way of stopping the magic from leaving.
But it's progress. I wonder if this means I can dynamically enchant weapons as I go?
…but first, I need to get ready for part two of our "let's go hunt some dudes" journey. I should bring the book along again for another read. Maybe I missed something.
…
[We Set off Again]
…
This time, we're headed towards Riverwood.
"There's a group at Riverwood?" T'mare the Blue asks. "That's rather far from Whiterun." Gotta make effort. Remember the names.
Jake nods in agreement. "Yep, which is why we're going there. Someone who's tried to murder another person would be trying to escape as quickly as possible, and ever since Helgen was destroyed…" he pauses to think over his next sentence. "…It strikes me as likely that the ruins of Helgen would be a good place to hide."
"I see your reasoning." She nods. "And I concur. Lead on, guildmaster."
And then we proceed to sit in a wagon for three days.
Fortunately no. I forget how long it took us to make this trip last time, but this time it takes us just one day. I attribute this speed to the lack of a wounded horse and, more importantly, to the willingness to continue moving for two more hours after sundown.
"We have good eyes, don't worry." T'yanna the Orange had said when Jake made the decision. "We'll keep everyone on track."
Which is nice, because it meant we basically had a pair of eyes for each cardinal direction.
Also: nighttime in the woods is terrifying because it is very dark.
Also also: my girls (and Mell) have surprisingly powerful grips and tense at every sound. My arms are a little bit red. I forgive my girls. Mell, less so.
Why yes I am biased, why do you ask?
For the trip I basically sat and experimented with the paint, with drawing five-point stars (very small stars) and doing what is basically a pseudo-enchant circle to see how far I would get.
Spoilers: not very far, though I think I've gotten a handle on how to channel the magic in such a way that the enchantment effect shows. I've made five attempts to put Shock into five different strips of iron, and each time the daggers exhibited very clear signs of…shock-i-ness. The effect stops as soon as I stop putting power into it, but it's very heartening to see progress being made.
…
[Sometime during the trip]
…
"Is enchanting supposed to be hard?" I ask T'nerem.
"Yes." She says without hesitation. "Enchanting is a complex field of magic. Outside of Skyrim, a good enchanter is always in demand." Her eyes flit down to the circle I was using. "Would you like an assessment on your abilities?"
No but yes. "Please."
"You'd be a top candidate for a court mage once you get enchants to succeed." She says. "From what I've seen, the flexibility you have with magical power is easily unparalleled in all of Skyrim."
…but I still can't get anything to work. "Thanks." Still, it's good to know that I'm making progress.
"Where did you acquire this magical knowledge?" Mell asks curiously. "For someone on the run, you're very well-versed."
"There was a time when it was possible for me to have settled down." T'nerem replies with a casual shrug. "A court mage back home took notice of me and wanted to make me his wife, but unfortunately he didn't want the rest of my sisters along." She grins. "Unfortunate, considering that I was rather fond of him."
Mell frowns. "Elswyr has an age limit on their court mages, correct?"
"Aye." T'ma (listening in) says. "The man was 44 years old and she was 13."
…ew. Nobody else (sans Jake) seems to mind, but still, ew.
"If only it had worked out in our favor rather than just mine." T'nerem shrugs. "Anyways, I learned much about magical theory by living in his house."
Suuuper ew. The fact that nobody except me and Jake are batting an eye at this…is kinda normal, I guess. Doesn't make it any less ew, but…yeah.
"Speaking of magic…" T'nerem takes a book from her satchel. "Think you can learn this?"
…Can't…can't everyone? "I was under the impression that magic was basically learnable by everyone." I say slowly.
"That is very optimistic of you." T'yanna laughs.
I take the tome from T'nerem. It's clean, all things considered.
We skim over a few pages.
Holy fucking shit this is dense. "What spell is this?" There's a lack of a title and it worries me greatly.
"No clue. I stole it from a wagon before coming into Whiterun." T'nerem says.
As far as I remember there exists no spell in Skyrim that has an inherently negative effect, which is basically saying that the book I have in my hand right now is the first one.
…Well, either way, it'll be fun to learn.
…
Some hours later, also known as "the present".
…
The book's main cover was too damaged to read, but going by contextual information and what I've read so far, this is Fire Cloak. Cloak of Fire. Cloak of Flames. Flame Cloak. I don't remember the name ('cuz I basically never use it) but it is that spell. My basis is due to the fact that the book describes how to make a wrapping cloak of fire that burns shit.
I've read through half of it so far, and I have to say: the language is fucking flowery as all hell. It's very difficult to tell which parts are the spell and which are not…though, given my experience with previous spellbooks, everything in the book has something to do with the spell. Either way, someone with only a working knowledge of the written language (read: almost everyone) learning higher level spells would be…difficult, though certainly not impossible.
"Have you tried to learn this?" I ask the T-sisters. All of them nod.
"To varying degrees of effect." T'ma says. "It's more draining than simple Flames with no appreciable quality difference for us, and therefore we do not include it in our arsenal."
Makes sense. New learned spells are always more expensive than ones you've been using for a while, and if you don't have a good grasp of the spell the cost spikes rather harshly.
Still.
We cast the spell, and a burst of flames wraps itself around our hand.
This is…tentatively useful? In game it was basically a damage over time for all targets that were nearby. Given I usually played a stealth archer or a Dual Cast+Stagger mage this spell basically never saw any action. The spell operates like a combination of a -skin and Flames, where the magic is channeled in such a way that it wraps around a target body part and emits the applied magic outwards. Hmm.
We tweak the spell until the cloak of flames wrap around an empty space shaped like a stick, emitting from our hand.
Ok, this is a thing. It's cheaper than what I had intended to do, but…
We run the stick into the ground as Riverwood becomes visible in the distance. The stick vanishes into the ground but seems to do nothing else.
…the power seems to be highly lacking. The fire burns, but…yeah. I'll need to experiment with this in more detail before I can find a use for it.
…speaking of fires, is it just me, or is Riverwood not as bright as normal? Did it snow here a lot or something?
We get closer to the village.
…It's dark, but I can tell that the skyline of the village has changed. Something is missing.
Jake, I imagine, feels the same way I do. "Stop the cart." He says and hops off. "Ash, let's go. Everybody else stays put. Follow after at a slow pace."
"Aye." Erik replies readily, but with a bit of confusion. "Will you two be alright by yourselves?"
"Ash might be a problem." T'yanna says in good cheer. "But as a pair they should be fine."
I have a baad feeling about this.
…
The two of us cover the remaining two hundred meters or so and reach Riverwood proper.
Now that we're closer, I can see that the skyline is indeed different due to the lack of one of its major buildings. The Riverwood Inn has burned down.
When did it burn down?
Jake makes a 'stop' motion with his arm and we do.
There's quite a bit of cloud cover so the moonlight is unreliable, but going by the…I guess, the lack of shock? The damage done was quite recent.
"Keep pace, we'll waltz in." Jake murmurs.
"Aye." I nod and light a torch. The two of us then hurriedly walk into Riverwood in plain view and I think I see the problem.
There are five people in Elven Armor loitering around the outside of the Inn's remains.
I think I know what happened. Shit.
"Halt!" The lead Aldmeri dude says as soon as he sees our light. Going by his size, he might be the Jake of their unit. "Who goes there?"
"Travelers!" Jake calls back. "We've rushed against the night and are in need of rest!"
"Then you're out of luck, friend." Aldmeri Man B says with a rather audible sneer. "The Riverwood Inn is no more."
Why?
"Its leader is guilty of open treason against the empire." Aldmeri Man C says. "And we've brought her to justice!"
So…they found Delphine. Mother dick.
"Why are the two of you not surprised?" Man A asks suspiciously. "Could it be that you knew of her treachery?"
"I don't even know who she is." I say with a scowl. "What do you want, a medal?"
"Watch your tongue." Aldmeri Woman A snaps and I think I've made a mistake. "We are tasked with an immensely honorable task. Do not sully it with your lies."
…is it just me, or are they trying to find an excuse for a fight? I guess that means they missed Delphine.
"Just…just to be clear, here." He says slowly. "You guys found a traitor of the Empire in Riverwood?" If my ears do not deceive me, that is indeed the voice Jake uses when he is about to open a can of whoopass.
I get ready to throw spells.
"That's what I said, oaf." Man A sneers. He sneers so hard. "Or was that too difficult to understand?"
Jake mimes scratching his head, putting his hand closer to the hilt of his claymore. "Correct me if I'm wrong here, but last I checked, the Jarl of Whiterun was dead set against accepting Imperial support, yeah?"
"What of it?" Aldmeri Woman B says curtly.
"Well, that would mean that the five of you just attacked neutral territory." Jake says slowly. "And that's a problem."
"I'm sure." Man A unsheathes his sword. "But sadly for you, I do not listen to traitors."
Jake suddenly charges forward and, before any of us could react, behead the Man with one swing of his claymore.
…Ok I guess we're starting
We shoot two bolts of the most powerful Shock we have against the two furthest targets while Jake spins and murderizes the other two.
Jeez. "More warning next time?"
"I wish." Jake says. "Help me." He jerks a thumb to the ruins of the inn. We drag the five bodies to the burned down ruins to make it look more like an accident. Jake then loots the bodies while I wash away the blood on the streets.
I imagine he's doing this because
"Halt!" A woman yells.
…it would be nice if we were not found out. Obviously that's gone out the window now…
Jake stands, about to toss an Elven helmet that popped off of the corpse he had just moved, and sees a white blur charging at him. He draws his short sword and blocks the swing and that's Aria isn't it
It is. She disarms Jake within two strikes and has him decidedly on the back foot after four.
"Blue on blue!" If she's anything like how 100% of the populace plays Skyrim then she won't stop until all targets are dead "BLUE ON BLUE!" Oh shit oh shit oh shit
Our yelling gets Aria's attention enough that she stops long enough for Jake to back off, drop the helmet, and surrender.
She glares at the two of us. "Explain. Now."
"We just got here and we murdered five Aldmeri folk." I say with rambling speed. "So unless you're on their side we did nothing wrong." I mean, apart from assaulting an officer, or murder…
Aria sheathes her sword. "I see. I have some questions." We all hear the sound of people coming closer. "Let's talk somewhere else."
Yes, let's.
We all walk back to the cart, now only a hundred paces or so from Riverwood.
Mell's the first to notice our return. "Who's the…Aria!" She jumps off the cart to give our dragonborn a hug.
Also…now that I'm paying attention, Aria's equipment…uh…up-and-down-graded a bit.
I don't remember what she left with, so I'm assuming that the steel armor she's wearing on the bottom-most layer is her actual armor. It seems to be in pieces in several locations and the right arm section seems to be entirely missing. On top of her armor are layers of patchwork leather, fur, and…bits of dwarven plate? It all looks like a poncho.
…On one hand, it's very patchwork in its appearance, but on the other, the patchwork seems very…I dunno, clean? Like, yes, it's made up of disparate pieces, but the piecemeal status of the armor is not due to field repairs or constant wear-and-tear.
"So." I ask as we get situated in our cart (and roll into Riverwood like nothing happened). "What happened?"
.
.
.
{ === + === }
Author Notes:
You know how, when looking for that MacGuffin for the Greybeards, the twist at the end of the dungeon is a piece of paper?
Funny how things work when more than just the Dragonborn can go dungeon crawling, huh?