I breathed deeply in the fresh air of Skyrim. Say what you will about this place, but the quality of the air was certainly nice.
The moment I heard heavy footsteps, I turned around to face the person seeking an audience with me. As I turned around, I looked upon the one who wanted to call himself high king.
"So, what do you intend to do now that we are free, Necromancer?"
I scratched my chin, going over my options. In the end, I decided on a certain course of action. "I have some personal business to do. Oh, and I can already see the recruitment pitch coming from a kilometre away. Therefore, let me reassure you that I will be joining you in Windhelm when I am done."
Ulfric seemed surprised. After a second, he smiled. "I see; that's certainly good to hear. I will be waiting for you. For now, God speed, Necromancer." As he said that, he once again offered his hand to shake.
Without a moment of hesitation, I gripped his hand, and we shook again. In the end, being on good terms with my future puppet could only help me.
Reputation modifiers
Ulfric Stormcloak: -5 to 25
Ralof: -5 to 25
Aria -5 to -35
Hmm, that's interesting... Why did all of them already have a -5 reputation? Then something came to me.
It would seem like they are all categorised as heroes. Perhaps Aria is not a fully fledged one, but I am sure if I were to leave her to her own devices, she would grow to be a true goody-two-shoes.
Too bad for her, that's not happening. In the end, I seek one thing. Absolute power, and not even the gods will stop my quest.
With that, the Stormcloak group made their way back to their capital, making sure to inform me that they would be waiting for my arrival. After they left, it was only me, the dragonborn, and my undead servants.
The moment my soon-to-be disposable tools left, I heard a metal clang. Turning around with a raised eyebrow, I watched as the dragonborn tried attacking me with an overhead swing of her Two-handed axe.
Tried being the operative word. I glared at her. Well, yes, I was going to betray her just a second later, and then she did it, but still.
As I stepped back, I made sure to order my undead mentally not to kill the bitch. Despite her inconveniencing me at this moment in time, I would still find an adequate use for her.
Plus, being half of a dragonborn sure beats not being one at all, doubly so with Alduin being back.
The moment she pushed the former bitch-captain out of the way, I let a few flaming skulls fly.
A second later, my eyes widened as she managed to avoid almost all of them with ease, smashing the only one she couldn't with her axe.
A note to keep in mind for the future: The fact that someone is over two metres tall and has bulging muscles does not mean they can't be swift.
As I sat on the sidelines, I cursed to myself. The moment I had the occasion, I should get myself some spells to buff my puppets.
It would seem like she was hell-bent on surprising me with her abilities. I scawled as the dragonborn turned one of my undead's heads into so much bone dust.
How the hell was she so strong? It simply defies all logic.
My angry thoughts were stopped as I received an animalistic snarl. Huh, I must have pissed her more than I intended to. Eh, no matter; soon her thoughts on me will not matter. Well, I did hope that the mind control spell was strong enough.
It's good that there is only one god, which is what creatures like Tzeentch would call their carbon copies. The last thing I needed were more scheming gods. Clavicus was already quite enough.
-47 hp
...ow. I probably shouldn't be drowning in my thoughts in the middle of a fight. I scawled at the woman responsible as I ripped out the throwing axe from my shoulder.
-3 hp
Ah, removing foreign objects from my body also does damage to my HP. Certainly something I should remember. Fine, she wants a real fight. Very well.
With that rage-filled thought, I threw the steal-life spell right in her face. As she was fending off an attack from the undead soldier she just knocked down, Aria didn't have time to react.
The sword she was barely holding back was now gaining strength. Even still, I was pumping her horsepower right from under her. The dragonborn grew weaker and weaker until she finally lost the strength to even hold her weapon.
The moment it crashed to the ground, she was hit with the flat of the blade of one of my undead's sword. Falling on her back, she tried getting up, but I slurped up enough of her HP to make her unable to even move her hand.
She glared as my soldiers dragged her to her knees before me. I smirked at her expression of hatred as I slid a finger across her chin. "I am not even going to ask why; we both know that if you weren't the one to attack me, I would try to fall on you."
As the ginger tried biting my finger, I took my hand out of her reach. "I saw the looks you were sending me, the stormcloaks, and your fallen imperial comrades. Truly, how can someone be so unsubtle?"
The dragonborn stayed silent. "No answer, eh?" Well, let's get to the fun part, shall we?" With a smirk, I reached for the power I was given by Molag Ball.
Pointing my hand, glowing with orange light, at my opponent, I let it go to work. To say that she screamed would be an understatement. The dragonborn screeched and struggled wildly to dislodge my soldier's hold on her.
Yet, with her failing strength and my men's deathly still grip holding the ginger nord-imperial hybrid.
Finally, as the light seemed to have fully seeped into her forehead, her emerald orbs rolled back. I waited a second or two before lowering myself to her level and snapping my fingers a few times.
The moment her eyes opened, I felt a bond akin to the one I had with my minions deep within me. Getting up and stepping back a few steps, I motioned for my soldiers to let her go but still be ready for an attack.
As nothing happened, I decided to act. "You may stand." As she followed my instructions, I heard a jiggle in my head.
Quest completed
You have chosen to mind-control the dragonborn.
Quest completed
Congratulations! You managed to finish the tutorial.
Relationship changes have occurred.
The Empire: -5 to -25
You are now the enemy of the empire.
The Stormcloak Rebellion: 5 to 30
You are now trusted by the Stormcloaks.
The Thalmor: -15 to -35
You are now despised by the Thalmor.
Status changes have accured.
Status
Name: Erato
Title: The False Dragonborn
Level: 5
Health: 100
Magicka: 100
Stamina: 100
Class: Necromancer 2
Necromancer slot filled: 5/10
Jobs:
Conjuration: 6
Two-handed: 5
Destruction: 1
Perk points: 4
Title the False Dragonborn:
Through the vile power given to you by one of the daedric princes, Molag Ball, you have torn apart the gift of Akatosh. From now on, you are capable of absorbing dragon souls and learning dragon shouts as if you were a real dragonborn. The corruptive process left your power scared, however. To learn a word of a dragon shout, you require two dragon souls instead of one.
Class level up: Necromancer 2
Your Necromancer slots have been doubled. From now on, you are capable of creating undead beyond your cap. To do so, however, will require you to manually craft an undead from dead flesh and infuse it with a soul gem. Even then, the undead you create this way will be substantially weaker than your own personal guard. From now on, you can customise your slotted undead's equipment from a separate menu. To activate said menu, simply think 'undead equipment' while you point at the undead you wish to customise. Your Necromantic spells deal 20% more damage and heal 20% more health.
You have gained new Necromancer Spells:
Life force conduit: You gain the ability to heal the living and the undead by seeping out the life force from captured enemies. This extends to curing minor curses and maladies.
Curse of Necrosis (minor): During and outside of battle, you can apply a minor curse of necrosis and sustain it for 20 magicka. This takes 20 of your magical until the Battle ends. Outside of battles, the cost is one-time only. The curse seeps life out of the victim, applying constant necrotic damage, slowing them down, and somewhat tiring them. This does not work on opponents twice your level or above, nor does it work on undead.
Jobs milestones reached:
You will be supplied with possible perks from which to choose. Perks not chosen now can be chosen during the next Mule Stone event.
Conjuration 5
Path of Blood: You gain 10 magicka. Your summons deal 5% more damage.
Path of Stone: You gain 10 magicka. Your summons take 5% less damage.
Path of Shadow: You gain 10 magicka. Your summons deal 5% more Stealth damage.
Two-handed 5
Path of Blood: You gain 10 health. Your Two-handed attacks deal 5% more damage.
Path of Stone: You gain 10 health and 10% damage resistance when a Two-handed weapon is equipped.
Path of Shadow: You gain 10 magicka. Your Two-handed stealth attacks deal 5% more damage.
Seeing as my new puppet is obedient, I turned to the wealth of information I was just supplied with.
To say all this was ridiculously overwhelming would be an understatement. Although creating those "uncapped" undead might be much more resource- and time-intensive than I might think, so for now I will reserve my glee until I make sure of any possible second shoes dropping. Oh, and I guess the new spells are useful too.
Seeing as I have a wealth of perk points, I might just as well spend them all now. Although it's a shame I can't take all the perks at once, there's not much I can do about it.
Truly, there is no need for any of the two Stealth choices since I don't have any Stealth units and am not an assassin.
As for the rest, I chose the path of blood and the path of stone, respectively. I can just raise more corpses if my current ones perish. The second one is because, as my little adventure back in Helgen showed, stepping a step out of my undead's protective embrace is a foolish endeavour.
I am all good with hiding behind my men and throwing spells from behind their protective presence.
"Very well, prepare to march out. I want to reach at least the ambershaft mine by sundown." As I addressed my forces, I watched Aria. When she did what I ordered, I calmed marginally. I would still be watching her, you know, to be sure.
Let me tell you, the distance between the exit from Helgen and the stones was way bigger than what the game would have you think.
Unfortunately, we had to make a few stops along the way. Me and my undead were tiredless, but I didn't want to have Aria collapse from marching for too long.
For now, we made a camp near the three standing stones. While Aria slept and some of my soldiers guarded her, I and the rest of my forces went off to check out the stones.
Inspecting the three stones, I smirked. There wasn't much to think about, was there? True, choosing the warrior's stone might reinforce my armour, but in the end, we all know what I chose.
You have chosen to activate the mage's standing stone. Your magical jobs and classes gain 20% more XP. You can have one standing stone active at any time. To switch them, simply activate another one. When you do so, the one you had previously will be deactivated.
Watching the beam of blue light going up to the sky from the mage's stone I called for the tome of sparks from my inventory.
Opening the book I raised an eyebrow as a system window popped out.
Do you wish to absorb the knowledge needed to cast Sparks?
All right, a question system. Why hadn't this shown up in Helgen?
Because you weren't in a safe enough place to be able to relax for a few minutes. And I hear that question coming from a mile away so let me answer it preemptively. No, you will not be knocked out, and no, the book will not be destroyed. You will need to concentrate for at least 5 minutes, though.
I see, I think I can see the advantages of a sentient system. I haven't asked this before, but what do you want for all you are giving me? How did you even come to be?
The second question first then. You see, as you know the space is ever expanding. The process is flawed however. Too much energy is generated. If it were to be used all at once the entirety of existence would implode from overpressure. Here is a simpler analogy. Take a cup and poure an infinite water source into it. Eventually it is going to overflow. So, to counter it the cup is growing too. Unfortunately, it does so way slower then the water is poured. Now imagine that something like that is happening in multiple multiverses at once.
So, all that water had to be used for something. And so, here I am. As for what I want. I want you to grow as much as possible. We are fused from now on. Therefore, as you grow in power so do I. Although, I have to admit, I possibly got the best partner for the task, what with you perusing ultimate power and all.
I see, it's certainly good to have a system that appreciates you. I remember reading horror stories of gamers and their systems fighting each other constantly.
Indeed. So, do you wish to absorb the knowledge needed to cast Sparks?
I, for once laughed good naturedly. Yes, please. As the knowledge seeping into my mind, suspiciously looking like what absorbing a dragon soul looks like, continued on, I closed my eyes. It was time to learn my first destruction spell.
In the morning we set out to the embershard mine. Who knows what useful trinkets we will find there. Well, I for once would like to get the tome of Clairvoyance. Studying something like that will be a pure pleasure, even more so if it works better then the game might imply.
As we approached the entrance to embershard mine I had my only unarmoured undead shoot the guard with an arrow.
The redgard didn't even know what killed him. As we walked past what was left of him I noted that the arrow perfectly pierced his throat.
If normal undead are this procise I might want to get myself a pure undead Archer. Who knows how procise something like that would be.
As the Five of us decended down into the mine I made sure to alert my forces to the trap. Stepping over it we crept forward.
"Aren't you worried someone will wander in here?" You have no idea just how many times I heard that dialogue.
Well, I suppose it's time to check my curse of necrosis out. Moving my hand, I drew an adequate rune in the air. As the arcane skull I drew in the air started spinning, I observed the fruits of my labour.
One of the bandits started coughing. At first, a mere few coughs left his throat, but after a few seconds, he was lying on the floor, trying to spit his lungs out.
Well, if I am already testing spells, let's go all the way through with it, shall we? Reaching within myself, this time for the far more destructive feeling, I pointed at the second bandit.
As the stream of blue lightning flew forward my opponent had mere seconds to react. As you might have guessed, he failed to do anything as he sat there paralised.
When my spell connected with the little metal he was wearing, a scream resounded in the mine. As he convulsed next to his dying friend, I made a note. Remember, this spell seems to cause more pain than actual damage.
Although this does not seem to change the fact that when electrocuted, human muscles lock up and one is not able to move much.
"Put him out of my misery, would you?" I turned to my dragonborn. She nodded Silently, her blank eyes sliding to her soon-to-be victim.
Before she could do much else, I heard the sound of falling wood behind us. Turning around, I saw two other bandits charging us, one with a bow aiming straight at me.
For a second, the world was still. How could I have been so reckless? Was this where I die before my quest can come to completion?
As a metal clung resounded, the speed increased once again. I ran my hands across my body in search of a piercing arrow, and I sighed in relief when I found nothing.
Looking up, I spotted that one of my armoured soldiers managed to block the arrow with a cait shield she picked up back in Helgen. I even think that's the imperial captain.
With their moment of surprise wasted, I had my forces rush them. It was brief and brutal, with both of our adversaries lying on the wooden walkway, bleeding out.
Unfortunately, it would seem like I lost the unarmoured soldier in the process. Oh well, that's their purpose—die in my place.
Necromancer slot filled: 7/10
Looking at the freshly raised corpses of my attackers, I smiled. It would seem like the task of getting myself an Archer succeeded.
Looking back, I saw that even with us being attacked, the dragonborn executed the downed bandit. Good, it means my control over her is sufficient to have her kill for me.
Now to get rid of everyone that's left.
As we advanced, I made sure to take the tome of Clairvoyance through the little window the bandits had left.
I sent three of my undead to clear out what was left in the open portion of the cave, keeping the captain and Aria protecting me.
I decided to look through the chest in the little guard room. As the iron bars melted before me, I facepalmed. Yeah, I sent the one with the key forward.
I know, I know, I have a habit of spacing out. Unfortunately, there wasn't much in the chest. A few copper septims, a silver ring, and an iron sword I would have no use for it beyond just selling it.
When I heard the heavy footsteps of my returning soldiers, I stood back up after looking inside the chest.
"I presume you are done?" When one of them nodded, I raised an eyebrow. So, it would seem like my puppets are at least somewhat sentient.
"Very well, the two of you, gather any corpses into a pile in the middle of the cave. You, go over all the chests and other hiding places and bring all the valuables you find." I say pointing first to the two armoured men and then to the archer. It's time to see just how sentient they are.
As I walked into the cave, I sighed. Well, I suppose we can stay here for a little rest. After that, I suppose we should go to Riverwood to sell all the loot I managed to gather.
For now, let's check out this tome of Clairvoyance, shall we?