Chapter IX: Restoration and the Lizard Wizard
After our little 'debate' we all headed for the tower of restoration.
The tower itself looked very simple on the surface, but its aura was the most beautiful when compared to the others, surrounded by a gentle golden glow, it gave me a feeling of peace.
The inside almost reminded me of a hospital waiting room, everything was orderly and clean, and there were even half a dozen residents from Winterhold waiting for some kind of treatment.
As we enter the classroom we are greeted by a short Breton woman, she is not quite young looking but there is certainly a vigor about her, the best way to describe her is that she is in such perfect health that it is noticeable.
She waits for us to sit down patiently and starts speaking in a calm voice "Welcome apprentices to your first restoration lesson, my name is Colette Marence, I am the resident master of restoration, and I also work alongside our Alchemy professor when he is coherent enough to do his job" she notices that she has started complaining and gives us an embarrassed look.
'That took a whole two seconds, just when I thought she wasn't as whiny as she was in the game'
"Anyway, forget that last part. What you will learn here is far more powerful than any firestorm, or enchantment. You will learn how to save yourself and others, how to stop bleeding, heal cuts and even regrow limbs. There are also some other important branches of restoration used for self-defense like wards and solar magic, the wards are taught by my colleague Tolfdir, as he has a fascination for them, but I personally teach solar magic. Now I am sure that at least some of you know a healing spell or two, would you care to show me?"
We all introduce what we can do with restoration, all of us can make a ward, but that is to be expected. When it comes to actual healing only Morrigan, the twins, and myself know the basic healing spell.
"Good, do you have experience using it or do you just know to cast it?" after our confirmation she points us toward a side room "There are some guards with minor injuries that didn't want to waste potions, you can heal them up while I show the rest the basic principles of healing spells, I do have a schedule to keep."
We enter the room and get to work, there are some seven guards covered with what looks like scratches and cuts made by wild animals.
As I get to healing the first guard I notice that the healing spell is not as draining as before, the Magicka seems to change its nature with more ease than when I was using it earlier, thanks Scorch. He sends me a smug-sounding chirp.
This time I focus on understanding how the magic works, while also looking at it directly. The positively charged Magicka seems to be working with the body to recreate the destroyed tissue completely, it doesn't split the cells, it creates them. After trying to guide my Magicka in a more precise manner, using the basic knowledge of medicine I have, the cost of the spell is reduced by almost a third, neat.
Quickly finishing up with the guards, who seem far more grateful to my human associates than me, fucking assholes, we get back to the main classroom where we see the rest of the class casting very flimsy versions of the heal spell.
Colette sees us and levitates us a couple of septims each, Morrigan and I just nod and place the money in our pouches, while the twins look at her confused. The master healer sees this and rolls her eyes "Always remember, we are healers, not priests." and, not waiting for a response, gets back to looking over the rest.
Sometime later, when everyone got the spell to at least an acceptable level, Colette resumes her lecture "As you could feel while casting the spell, the basis of restoration is channeling positively charged Magicka, whether you do it to heal wounds or harm things of a negatively charged nature matters little, the principle behind it is the same. That is the case for the lower-level spells in any case, the higher levels of healing specifically are more akin to permanent alteration of yourself and others, a true master of restoration can even reverse aging to an extent, but the requirements for this are immense, otherwise we wouldn't have idiots turning into liches."
Well, I know what I am gonna study.
After a short pause, she continues "Solar magic shares most principles with the destruction school, so I will leave that for later classes. When it comes to more advanced healing spells, there is a requirement beyond Magicka and control, you have to understand what you are healing, which means having a very advanced grasp of anatomy. If you wish to continue studying restoration you will have to spend much of your time studying bodies and what they are made of."
Most of my colleagues are not very enthusiastic about it, but I can already see who is going to be coming back here, Morrigan because of the money, the twins because it is their family tradition, and finally me, because dying is cringe.
She takes a bit more time explaining the basics before the class ends.
The tower of Mysticism's atmosphere is far more... well mystical, like there is something hiding in every corner, not in the scary sense, it felt like it wanted to show me things that are just beyond my sight. I dearly hope it wasn't "blessed" by Hermaeus Mora.
The inside of it seemed like it had been arranged specifically to produce some kind of mood, but the specifics of it evade me. We quickly reached the classroom and what I saw made me almost faceplant.
A tiny albino Argonian with blue lines accenting his scales, wearing a bright blue wide-brimmed pointy hat, and robes of the same color covered in golden stars and crescent moons.
The others' reactions are more subdued but everyone shows some level of surprise.
It doesn't end there, as soon as we quietly sit down we are assailed by the cutest fucking squeaky voice imaginable "Good day students, and welcome to my mighty domain! I am Shalazar the misterious master of mysticism!"
My brother in Dagoth who the fuck made you?
"Under my magnanimous teachings you shall learn to defy space, trap souls, ignore logic, and even bend time itself!" He waves his hands around like a conductor while explaining "But! First you must learn to protect your own essence, we can't have you getting enslaved by Daedra and the like now can we?" he raises an eyebrow of his oversized red eye.
"To explain our purpose for todays lesson we must first set a firm foundation in our minds, Mysticism, the art of the Psijik, the ancient way, all these are words used to describe a mix of magical manipulation, instinctual insight and symbolic ritualism. Mysticism is a school of magic meant to be lived instead of studied, you must let your mind wonder and find itself once more to truly set yourself on the path of a mystic."
He clears his throat and even that makes a squeaky noise "There are two main aspects of Mysticism that you will learn under my guidance, the first is the ancient art of manipulating Magicka, before some of you say something inane like 'oh glorious teacher we already manipulate Magicka' I don't mean it in the simple way, but in such a complex manner that you may teleport yourself or levitate in the air. The other aspect is the ritualistic arts, by holding a magical ceremony in a precise fashion you may bring permanent changes to your own nature." At this he points us to a corner of the room that no one noticed until now.
It is covered in a magical circle, I manage to recognize some of the symbols, and it seems to say something along the lines of: soul aware protect sense and more words that I still don't understand.
The now surprisingly serious lizard wizard speaks up again "Today, unless you are unwilling, you will go through the 'Essential Ritual' named as such for it guards your Essence, or soul, against outside influence lacking your consent." No one seems to be reluctant so he goes on "Keep in mind that rituals are a very precise art that comes with great risk, this one is among the rare exceptions, as it has ben reworked time and time again over the eras. This doesn't however, mean that you can relax, once you enter the circle you must feel your soul as soon as possible, and once you do you will be able to consciously reject almost any outside influence upon it."
Marwyn raises his hand, and once Shalazar nods he asks "How do we know when we have felt our souls?"
The mystic shrugs and asks "If the ritual is made so you may touch your own essence do you truly believe that the feeling is something you can miss?" Marwyn seems dissatisfied with the answer but remains quiet.
Shalazar claps his hands and starts calling us one by one, I am among the last so I get to see what happens, and I will be honest it is really underwhelming, most of them are done in seconds and none seem to be in any distress.
Finally it is my turn, I sit down cross legged and channel my Magicka into the circle. I suddenly feel something touch a very deep part of me and said part seems to remain in my perception, and I feel that it will never go back to how it was.
[New system function created]
[Binding actions will now require a confirmation through system prompt.]
YES! Fuck you you Daedric dickheads, no tricking me into dumb bullshit curses for you! I didn't know what to expect from the ritual, but this did put a smile on my face.
After we are all done, the almighty and resplendent lizard wizard waves us all off and simply levitates through the window to do whatever it is he does when he isn't spreading his wisdom to the mortals.
We all quickly get out of our stupor and leave to heal our minds from whatever the fuck that was.
Chapter X: Dueling and insane Elves
[General pov]
Getting themselves together after experiencing what must have been a creation of Sheogorath, the apprentices left to spend the rest of the day studying or relaxing.
Reyvin was about to go do his daily Magicka grind when Bor interrupted him with an interesting offer.
"Hey Reyvin, I heard you got into some fights on your way here, you think we could get some practice in?"
Said elf raised an eyebrow and asked "And what would this practice entail?"
"There is a dueling room in the Hall of Refinement that allows us to have a magic fight without risks, I hear the wards stop any lasting damage."
Reyvin nodded in realization "Yes the Archmage did mention something along those lines, I am not surprised there is a room for it. Besides, the more combat-oriented among us need somewhere to get experience."
"Precisely, so you in?"
"Sure"
The two were quickly joined by Brienne and Morrigan who were curious about who would win, the Nord girl was sure that Reyvin was about to get turned into a popsicle, but Morrigan scoffed as if the idea was ridiculous.
They got to one of the combat halls, and just as they were about to begin an annoyance filled voice interrupted them "And what exactly are new apprentices doing in here? It hasn't even been a week, and you already want to blast each other to pieces?"
Behind them, at the door of the room was standing Faralda, the Altmer master of destruction.
Reyvin quickly responded to stop any misunderstanding "No, we came here for a bit of exercise, learning new spells is good, but if we cannot use them in battle they are useless"
The tall elven woman nods with a satisfied expression "You would be surprised by the lack of students who share this opinion, all of the idiots think that if they have enough Magicka they can just win without issues, well until someone stabs them that is. In any case I am curious as to your capabilities so I will stay and watch, do give me a good show" The smile she gave them implied that failing would not be wise.
The two nodded and turned to each other, slowly raising their hands.
[Reyvin pov]
As I was getting ready to blast my fellow student I was surprised by a quest prompt.
[Quest issued: Defeat Bor decisively][Reward: Str 0.4, Dex 0.6]
I was going to start going on morning runs and training anyways, but this is a nice bonus.
Well, no holding back then, I quickly cast oakflesh and prepare to make wards with my left hand, in my right I start summoning Scorch.
When Faralda signals us to start we both spring into action.
Bor summons his wolf and starts throwing ice shards at me, trying to conserve as much magic as I can I block them with the smallest wards possible, using my third eye to predict their path better.
This exchange goes on for a bit, his wolf seems to be holding back and waiting, I send Scorch to fly above them and start throwing firebolts to make them forget his presence.
We go back and forth, exchanging spells, I take the time to slowly get closer, until I decide to finish this and launch a wide flame spell to blind them both, Bor quickly shields himself and his familiar, but that is all the time I need to summon my saber and charge him, wanting to prevent any retaliation.
As I rush him he starts casting frostbite at me to slow me down and commands his wolf to attack, but at that moment my fiery companion that they thankfully forgot about, launches himself at them and detonates in a large fireball.
The wolf is dispelled immediately and Bor staggers back, but that is all the time I need to put my sword on his neck.
[Quest completed]
He seems irritated that he lost but still raises his hands in surrender.
We hear a slow clapping sound behind us, and turn to see Faralda with a satisfied smile on her face "Good, you both have some skill, at least enough not to shame us outside."
After she says this she gives us a bit of criticism "Bor, you need to show more aggression and use your familiar more, it cannot really die so better to use it like your colleague did. Reyvin you did mostly all right, but that last charge was unnecessarily risky, it would never be justified in a real fight, you might have cast some defensive spells, but all it takes is one lucky shot and you are dead."
I nod, if it wasn't for the quest I would have just ambushed him with Scorch when he got tired out, but it did require a decisive win.
Faralda tells us to sit at the side of the room, and turns to the girls "Now the two of you should give it a go, since I am here I might as well see what you can do"
Brienne is about to protest but the smile that covered the Altmer's face as soon as the thought entered her mind makes her shut up.
Their battle is far more drawn out, and not to toot my own horn, a lot less exciting.
Morrigan is able to keep Brienne and her wolf at bay with her cryomancy and entangling spells, but her own familiar is not very combat-oriented so she is basically fighting two-on-one. they exchange spells for some time until they start to get tired and Morrigan is quickly ambushed by the wolf, making it her loss.
Faralda gives them some criticism as well, mostly about conserving their strength and making distractions, so they don't just throw blasts at each other.
After she is done with them she calls us all back to the center of the room and speaks in a calm but ominous tone "You have all shown at least some promise in combat magic, so I will give you a free lesson that all battlemages must learn."
A sadistic smile spreads on her face and I know we are fucked "Your first lesson is... dodging"
And the whole room explodes into a storm of spells.
Two gods damned hours! She kept blasting us for two whole damn hours, poor Brienne looks traumatized, Bor is too tired to say anything and Morrigan regrets ever leaving her cave.
Thankfully none of us were actually hurt, since the room was made for this purpose, but we all felt every blow. We did actually start dodging a bit at the end, but I am sure that this was more for our 'dear' professor to blow of some steam than it was for our benefit.
The damn destruction mage gives us a cheery wave as we leave the dueling room, fucking madwoman.
I turn to my companions and say with the last bit of energy I have "I think I will recommend some dueling practice to all the rest of our class, if we suffered this the rest aren't getting excluded." Everyone shares a devious smile and Morrigan cackles a bit madly.
We quickly get back to the dormitory and, ignoring our friends' worried looks all rush to our rooms and crash into our beds.
Why is half of the damn college filled with madmen? What should I expect next, a fucking muscle wizard?
Before I close my eyes I check on my progress in the past couple of days
[Str: 7.1 =7.5]
[Dex 9.4 =10]
[Vit 8.5 =9]
[Mind 16 =16.5]
[Mag 140 =145]
[Destruction-apprentice: +Sparks]
Chapter XI: Change and Lies
The next morning after the torture session disguised as an impromptu lesson passed peacefully, I spent some time chatting with the twins about the holds of Skyrim and the geography of the province, never know when the information might come useful. The two were somewhat knowledgeable but they mostly spoke about Dawnstar and its surroundings.
The rest of the morning I spent trying to finally levitate, and I did manage to get myself a meter off the ground! Only to faceplant a second later after my concentration fell, but progress is progress.
Our first lesson for the day was alteration and defensive magic that Tolfdir was teaching, I remember liking him in the game. I always did find it odd that he was passed over for the position of Archmage after the college questline, from what I learned since coming to the college, a couple of words from a psijik monk is nowhere near close to getting one to become Archmage, not to mention who in their right mind would allow another organization to influence their internal structure?
The alteration tower was a lot tamer when it came to the openly magical effects or its aura, there was a feeling of constant fluctuation and change to it, but nothing too imposing.
We all took our seats and not too long after the old man entered the classroom, he looked much like he did in the game, average height, white hair and beard, the usual old Nord look. But when I looked at him with my ability he felt like a huge and indestructible rock more than he did a human being.
He gave us a cheery smile and started talking in a kindly voice "Welcome, dear students. I am Tolfdir Ebon-frost, the master of alteration and defensive magic, I am glad all of you managed to get up for classes today" At this he looks at the four of us that suffered yesterday, I guess that rumors tend to spread fast in a small place like this. We all nod, traumatized.
After our 'Enthusiastic' agreement, which he seems to not notice he continues "Alteration is the magical art of changing the material world" He takes a coin and turns it into dirt "It is also the school that deals with manipulating elements of a less destructive nature" At this he controls the dirt to form into a needle and uses a wind blast to launch it at the wall.
'Terramancy and aeromancy, I always did wonder why there was no word of them in the game.'
He goes on "The most important in my opinion, is the ability to defend ourselves, alteration is capable of being your armor and your shield" At this he casts an ebony-flesh spell and demonstrates by failing to pierce his hand with a steel knife.
After that, he summons some kind of wind spell around himself and explains with a proud smile. "The wind-ward spell is one of my own making, it makes a cocoon of wind around you and shields you from most physical projectiles"
"You might be wondering why I am showing you all of this, the answer is simple, while I know most of you will never focus on alteration on a more permanent level, being able to survive in this dangerous world will let you actually learn what you wish, you can't do what you want if you are dead. I am not saying this because this is my class, but I recommend all of you to come back again to learn how to protect yourselves."
And I believe him, he really does sound like he just wants us to be safe.
He gives us a couple of seconds to think about his words and resumes the lecture "The other part that I will be teaching in this class is wards. Wards are as you all know magical constructs that are primarily used as a personal shield against magic, I cannot stress enough that you should learn at least a steadfast ward before you leave for any journey. While this part of them is important, know that there is much more to wards than that.
Combining them with ritualism and enchantment wards can be made semi-permanent or even permanent depending on the catalyst, and the effects can range from large shields, to lie detection, to even temporal dilation in extreme cases."
"For today's lesson, I will teach you how to cast the oak flesh spell if you don't know it, and to those that do I will teach you a trick that lets you use it to strengthen yourselves in battle."
The class passes quickly after that, with Tolfdir patiently explaining the novice spell, pointing out mistakes, and showing us how to channel the spell more thoroughly through our muscles.
I leave the class with a smile on my face.
[Alteration-apprentice: Empowering oakflesh]
We all take a break between classes, and since apparently I am the one with the most experience with becoming a tree man everyone starts asking me for tips about the spell, I don't mind this and help anyone who needs it.
It's a low level spell and they might pay the favor back some day, or not, honestly I don't care all that much. They are a bunch of kids and this might help them not get gutted.
The time soon comes for our illusion lesson. The tower is as trippy as when I first saw it, it is really fucking with my senses, at one moment I am in a tower, the next I am floating above the sea of ghosts. I turn off my perception as to avoid showing everyone what I had for breakfast.
We all sit down, and start waiting... and waiting... and waiting. Until finally a white haired Dunmer appears at the teachers desk and winks at us "Ah good you are all just in time"
Everyone gets annoyed at this and Morrigan tells him, her voice dripping with irritation "We have been waiting for almost half an hour, how are we just on time?"
The illusion professor smirks "You thought you were waiting for that long, but in truth you were sitting there for a whole minute." Many gasps are heard.
"Indeed, this is the true power of illusion, the ability to lie to one's perception." He fake-gasps "Oh by Azura I didn't introduce myself, Drevis Neloren, master of illusion at your collective service" He gives us a mock bow.
'I really don't like him'
"Now let us begin, what is illusion magic?" I almost think he will go the same route as the Archmage did but he quickly cuts off my thoughts "It is the skill of using Magicka to cheat the perception of either the world, or a number of individuals. Indeed, if one is skillful enough, one might convince someone that they are dead and thus make it so in truth." He raises his hand up high, as if he is preaching.
'Fucking drama queen.'
"But you all are much too young for such deeds, so we will start you all of at the basics. Today I will teach to you the two core spells of the illusion school, the calm spell and the enrage spell. One will keep you out of a fight, and the other will help you start them. Come now lets get to it" He snaps his fingers and there is a copy of him in front of every one of us.
Every single 'clone' seems completely autonomous and able to explain things to us, but I note that they don't seem corporeal, still useful tho.
The spells themselves are rather basic, you channel an emotion you wish replicated, basically ram it into a weaker-willed person, profit. We spend about an hour getting the spells down until it is time for us to leave.
Drevis looks at me with suspicion, and a bit of hate. I guess he learned my full name, thankfully he is forbidden from spreading the information or I would be getting visits form the woodsman's guild real soon.
With that encouraging thought I head to do my you master routine in the Hall of Refinement, and after finishing that I check out a novel in the library, might as well enjoy an old hobby.
Chapter XII: Battle magic and the breath of Kyne
We spent most of the next morning trolling each other with the illusion spells we learned, that is until the Master Wizard heard of this and basically dragged us all to our destruction lesson, the four of us that experienced Faralda's "training" earlier knew we were fucked.
Our little group of victims started brainstorming a way to escape from our dire fate, but unfortunately by the time anyone had any kind of good idea we were already in front of the tower.
We marched inside, as if awaiting our funeral, the remaining three students blissfully unaware of what awaited us, knowing that they would join us gave me a bit of petty satisfaction honestly.
The inside of the tower looked rather simple, not less opulent than the other towers, just a lot more robust. The aura on the other hand felt like a raging thunderstorm somehow combined with an inferno.
The classroom lacked any chairs, and was instead equipped with practice targets, obviously enchanted to high hell.
Faralda was already inside waiting for us, she nodded to Mirabelle who soon left, and then turned to us "Good you are all here, I am glad that some light exercise wasn't enough to stop you"
'I know she is fucking with us, but I really want to kick her shit in'
"I will explain everything quickly so we can get to the practical section of the lesson." Aaand there is the sadistic smile.
"Destruction is the magical discipline of using unstable elements to cause damage, it is in it's application the simplest of all the magical schools, you point at something, channel and boom! problem solved." She scoffs "At least that is what idiots believe, destruction is an art like all the other schools of magic. While the base application is in fact rather simple, using destruction magic efficiently during combat, which is it's main purpose, is something that must be honed like any blade."
"Learning destruction spells is by far the easiest among all schools, but learning to cast them in a respectable timeframe while not wasting Magicka under the pressure of combat is by far the most difficult. Being a master of destruction doesn't mean being a scholar of magic, but being akin to a swordmaster in the magical sense."
Nodding to herself, like she just crossed something of a list, she turns to us and her aura changes to the one I remember "Now let's see if I can make respectable war mages out of you"
Surprisingly she didn't go for the torture routine this time, well to some of us it was torture, but I train my Magicka daily so repeatedly expending almost all of it while trying to channel my spells as efficiently as possible was already routine, and that is exactly what she had us do, for three hours.
I could hear some grumbling about no fireballs from Tiberius, but he quickly regretted it as he received the full attention of our teacher for a whole twenty minutes for that remark. I will remember you my friend.
Everyone else chose to keep any complaints to themselves after she used the non-magical side of her destruction skill to make the poor imperial almost cry, dude will be avoiding mirrors for some time.
During the lesson I did manage to solve a problem that has been bothering me for some time. When I asked Faralda about my lack of progress with ice magic she explained it rather easily.
"What you are having an issue with is that you have been casting mostly out of instinct until this point" At my raised eyebrow she continues "There is an issue that is known to plague some talented mages, they tend to cast spells using feelings or instincts, while this is not a bad thing for the spells you have an affinity with, attempting to cast a spell if the opposite affinity will have very poor, if any, results. What you need to do is cast the ice spells mechanically, without any influence except pure mental instructions."
It is true I have been trying to 'feel the ice' while casting, simply cutting off my usual habits in casting felt very counter-intuitive and took me almost the entire lesson, but by the end of it I did manage to let loose a weak, but steady frostbite spell.
Everyone who knew of my problem congratulated me, even our sadist of a teacher seemed satisfied, and I left the class a happy mer.
[Destruction-apprentice: +Frostbite]
After the class we all took a break to grab something to eat, even if I did persevere through the whole thing it was still exhausting. Marwyn looked almost dead, Tiberius was dead inside, and the rest of us were differing levels of tired.
I left some time later to do my usual daily grind. This time I tried focusing on my familiar bond while using fire or restoration spells, it did make things a bit more efficient, but nothing too world breaking for now.
The evening I spent on the walkway on the college's walls, meditating on the words of power.
I knew that learning even the simplest of shouts would take time, I am not a Nord, and I am certainly not the dragonborn. Thankfully my family is known to have some affinity for 'music' which in this universe usually means tonal magic, something that the thu'um falls into, so I still held out hope even with my lack of progress.
After some time getting nowhere in my meditation I decided to stop wasting time on 'TIID' and try going for something I understood on a more instinctual level, Faralda did say I did things mostly by feeling so this might be worth a try.
I breathed in and out slowly, getting more relaxed and started meditating on the meaning of fire, how it felt and what it represented, I went through all the metaphors I ever heard about it, simply letting them float through my mind, while at the same time I focused on the feeling the aura of fire gave me.
It took me some time until I took one final breath and spoke, somehow knowing that shouting at my level was a very bad idea.
"YOL"
The air around me shimmered and heated up, a small but potent flame leaving my mouth.
I immediately felt myself get exhausted and my breathing grew heavy, but I proved to myself that I could do it even if the effort that I had to invest would be immense.
Realizing that I could barely move, I sat down on a nearby chair and started dozing off while looking at the sea of ghosts, Scorch sitting down on my lap to warm me up.
Thankfully the college wards stop any harsh winds or the cold air from getting in, otherwise I would be spending the next month in a sick bed.
Chapter XIII: Visiting the town
I was woken up by someone lightly slapping me.
Opening my eyes I saw Morrigan looking at me with a mix of worry and annoyance.
"Did you finally get a visit from Sheogorath that made you decide it was a good idea to take a nap on the college wall?"
I took a second to fully wake up and grunted "I may or may not have exhausted myself to the point of not being able to move while practicing my Thu'um"
She looks at me incredulous "Your what now?"
"The Thu'um, you know Dovahzul" At her still confused look I say "The language of dragons?" still nothing, I sigh "Nordic shouting magic" This time she gets it and nods.
"And how by all the gods did you manage to almost knock yourself out by 'practicing'?"
"Awww you worried about me?" She scoffs but doesn't deny it, I smirk "It is a very demanding magical, or some might say divine power, the reason I took a premature nap is that using one word, not even fully, exhausted me more than Faralda's lesson did"
She raises her eyebrow "Did you at least manage to get something useful out of it?"
I scratch my head "I made a bit of fire?"
And now she is looking at me like I am an idiot.
"Do you not make more than a 'bit' of fire every day?"
"Why yes I do indeed, thank you for noticing" I say drily "But this wasn't me using Magicka to cast a spell, this was me using the strength of my soul to command the world to create fire"
I get a confused look "Isn't that just adding a lot of extra steps to something that you can do anyways?"
"To be fair I was at first trying to learn the first word of the slow time shout, but obviously manipulating time in any way is far more demanding than making fire, so I thought I might as well start with baby steps, spew fire today stop time tomorrow, or something like that"
She shrugs her shoulders "Whatever, that is not why I found you anyways, Edrasa and I were going to visit the town for a bit, she wanted to show me around and I thought you might want to come with"
"Sure, let me just take a quick bath, didn't really have the time for it yesterday"
She doesn't say anything, but if the wrinkling of her nose is anything to go by she most definitely agrees.
I get up feeling oddly energized with Scorch jumping on my shoulder while giving me an annoyed glare because I woke him up, and I start walking away while checking if I got anything for my stunt yesterday.
[Trait gained]
[Aspiring tongue: You have taken the first step on the road of a tongue, an ancient art lost to most. Kyne blesses all who follow her teachings, even if they aren't her creation]
[Vit: 9 = 10]
Hell yes!
After freshening up I left my usual clothes for washing and for the first time actually wore my college robes.
They were very basic, being a simple light blue robe with the college emblem on the back, no weird poncho thing on it either. There was a weak heat regulating enchantment on them alongside a basic Magicka conductivity one, nothing too wild, just there as a teaser to make us work for more I guess.
Finishing that, I called Morrigan and Edrasa and we left for the college gates.
Today's 'gate guard', I still don't know why they do that if they have wards, was Tolfdir who greeted us with his kindly smile and asked us to deliver an enchanted sword to the captain of the guard, as he was too busy doing whatever it is he had to do while guarding the gates. Finding no reason not to, we accepted and went ahead.
Seeing as it was the weekend most of the townspeople were taking some time off, making the town look a lot more lively than when we first arrived.
We spent our time visiting the different shops, and I got to experience once more the grueling torture that is waiting for women doing clothes shopping, dear Robert take me back I desire this new life no more!
After what felt like hours, but was really just twenty-ish minutes they finally decided to get one thing each, out of the fifteen they tried... My left eye was twitching violently, and by the look on Morrigan's face she knew very well what she was doing, so I chose to have a bit of revenge.
Casting a quick enrage spell on her I made her immediately shout angrily at me, making everyone look at her like she was a wild-woman, and immediately after that I cast a calm spell, making her look even more unhinged, everyone started slowly stepping away from her, with Edrasa looking incredibly embarrassed.
Morrigan shook the spell of after some effort and started looking at me like she was about to teach me all about what they do to their Briarhearts in the Reach, but I simply rose my hand with a new enrage spell and she chose peace.
We spent some more time walking around, waiting for Morrigan to cool off until we sat down at the inn to have lunch and some drinks.
The locals for the most part didn't seem too put off by our presence, but there were still some drunks spitting or just talking shit in general, however one reminder that they were in pyromancing distance made them bugger off while whining about unnatural mages.
After our meal the two started discussing clothes again so I decided to complete the little errand Tolfdir gave us and headed for the Jarl's keep.
The inside of the stone structure was very cozy, the main hall had one big fireplace surrounded by tables, with the far end being occupied by the Jarl's throne, upon which the previous lord's widow was currently presiding over some minor dispute.
I approached one of the guards and he pointed me to a side room, inside I was greeted by the sight of a tall Nord wearing a more decorated guard uniform, the normal uniform being a steel lamellar armor covered in a Winterhold tabard while this one had some glowing runes on it.
After noticing me he waved me forward and introduced himself "I am Hjolmir Ebon-frost, the captain of the Winterhold guard, how can I help you mage?"
"I am Reyvin, a new apprentice at the college. Master Tolfdir told me to deliver this sword to you." I introduce myself as I hand him the weapon.
He nods in satisfaction while checking out the blade "Ah good! I have been waiting for my blade for an entire week, how is the old man these days?"
I shrug "I only really met him during our lesson, but he seemed lively." He smiles and I continue "I hope I am not being too nosy, but seeing as you two have the same clan-name are you perhaps related?"
He waves his hand as if to tell me not to worry "It's no real secret, the old man is my great-grandfather, the Ebon-frost clan has been one of Winterhold's staunchest protectors since before even the Septims took the Ruby Throne"
"Interesting, and are you a clan of mages or is it mere coincidence?" I ask, noticing his rather strong magical aura with my perception.
He raises a surprised eyebrow "Oh, and what makes you think that I am a mage?"
I smile and say nothing.
He snorts "Again, it's no real secret, yes the Ebon-frosts have been mages for a very long time, Tolfdir is the current patriarch but he really doesn't spend much time outside of the college. In any case, since you did us a bit of a favor is there anything you might need?"
I scratch my chin for a bit "I did start neglecting my melee skills since coming to the college, you think I could join some training?"
He nods "Sure, you wouldn't be the first mage to ask for training with us, we hold training sessions most days at dawn, if you want to join us simply show up, I will give you a pass for it. Anyway what do you want to train in?"
"I am competent with a sword, but I also want to learn the spear"
He nods and writes it down "Sure, ill be seeing you on Morndas, tomorrow is a free day."
I nod and give him a wave as I leave.
Rejoining my two colleagues I am pleasantly surprised that they have moved on to more interesting topics, like ending lives through magical means, after enjoying that particular topic for a bit Morrigan speaks up "Edrasa has been talking about her father's tower, and she asked if we'd like to visit one of these days"
I turn to Edrasa "The master won't be bothered by us visiting?" I know how Telvanni mages can be so better not step on any toes.
She waves off my concerns "He can be a bit grouchy, but I don't think he will mind"
With a shrug I say "Sure, it will be interesting at least"
Better get my levitation up to snuff.
Chapter XIV: Spears and Drugs
(General pov)
The day after their outing passed with Reyvin following his usual routine, he did try meditating on the words of power again, and this time chose to try whispering the word instead of speaking it, it did help as he didn't fall on his ass immediately but even a whisper was still exhausting.
He did get into another practice duel with Bor, this time they were thankfully not interrupted by their destruction teacher, he came out the victor once again, with no rewards for it unfortunately.
Focusing a bit harder on his levitation spell, he managed to keep it up for a good five minutes, which was enough for him to get the spell on his menu.
[Mysticism-apprentice: Arcane Ascension, Levitation]
Morndas began a bit differently than what he got used to, instead of leisurely drinking coffee in the morning Reyvin went to visit the local guards for his combat training, the guards themselves were rather welcoming and some even praised him for not being a 'little milk drinker' like the rest of the mages.
The exercises were hard, but he managed to persevere, earning some more respect from the mostly Nordic guard force, after the 'warm up' as they called it he was given an iron tipped spear and they had him do basic drills and stances for a good hour, after that came some light sparring.
He did make a new friend, a young Nord lad named Thorfinn, who was incidentally his sparring partner for most of the time. He seemed very angry at everything, but after a couple of bouts he was too tired to be a whiny teen, so they struck up a conversation about Reyvin's adventures and shared a drink.
The tiresome morning didn't go without its rewards.
[Spearmanship-beginner]
[Str: 7.5 = 7.8]
[Dex: 10 = 10.2]
(Reyvin pov)
As I left the guard house while checking my progress I couldn't help but smile, my growth was going quite well, I should have a chance to not die instantly when dragons come. I jest of course, by the time ol' Alduin is here I am going to be ready to blow him to pieces...
Maybe...
Probably!
On my way back I grab some roast horker a young Nord was selling on the street, I've already spent most of my morning with the guards and today's alchemy class starts very soon, so no lunch for me.
I rejoined my colleagues in front of the lecture hall, the alchemy and enchantment lessons are both held there, as they don't have their own towers. Most of the students seemed to lack any kind of enthusiasm for this, and I don't blame them, chemistry was never my thing and this wasn't much different. Thankfully I already do have some basic alchemy skills, this doesn't however mean I like doing it.
Morrigan on the other hand seems super eager to get to it, the moment she learned she can sell some of the higher tier potions for ridiculous prices she was hyper-focused on studying it, I am not sure how she endured waiting for over an entire week but she did.
We were joined by our restoration teacher Colette, she did say she worked with the alchemy master, I hope she was overblowing the part where he was always barely coherent when teaching, but I will have to wait and see.
Not long after we arrived a Redguard man entered the hall, he seemed unfocused and smelt very heavily of... grass? Yeah I already see where this is going.
He slowly waddled to the teachers desk, with Colette already looking like she was about to cry, then turned to us and gave us a smile that only a man not really there can give "Hey kids, you wanna learn how to cook?"
I think I could hear crickets, somehow.
Judging by his face he must have imagined us giving a jubilant and enthusiastic response to his question "Excellent! Today I Hakan will teach you how to make that sweet blue liquid that we all know and love, the Magicka potion!"
At least it will be useful, how do they even let people like this teach?
"Right then, why don't you all grab those mountain flowers and ground them for a bit, after that you can toss that together with some lichen or spiky grass or something and boom! Magicka potion."
Not waiting for any response he pulled out a pipe filled with something that was definitely not legal and proceeded to light it up while completely ignoring us.
Colette facepalmed and started explaining the actual recipe, which was to be fair pretty much what Hakan had said, just with more details... let me rephrase that, just with actual details.
It took us all a couple of tries to get the ingredients in the right proportions, but we all managed it. After we were done we turned to the professor, but the man was out cold surrounded by a cloud of smoke.
His unfortunate colleague had to teach us the health potion on her own as well, poor woman.
I couldn't help myself anymore and asked her "How exactly is that" I point to the alchemist "Allowed to teach here?"
She lets out a sigh for the nth time since we arrived "He might seem completely worthless now, but the man is an absolute genius with alchemy, he managed to create about ten cures for obscure diseases and even perfected a regeneration elixir"
"Elixir?"
"A potion giving a semi-permanent effect"
Even if I don't learn how to brew those, it's nothing money can't solve, hmmm white phial plus elixir, interesting.
"Ah, I see now, I guess I will just treat him like an idiot savant or something, it will be easier on my psyche"
I join her in a collective sigh and return to my health potion, thankfully they decided to teach us the two most important recipes on the first lesson, because after this showing, I am definitely not returning for round two.
Most of the others seemed to share my feelings, even if they did learn something incredibly useful, this was a bit much for most people. Morrigan however, didn't seem to care in the slightest, I could almost see the dollar signs in her eyes...
Our grumblings were stopped when Hakan suddenly stood up, and abruptly walked to each of us to check on our potions and started giving out ridiculously precise criticisms of everyone's work, dude was able to identify how hard someone ground the flowers by looking at the finished product.
He spoke with such a manic intensity some of the others actually got scared, which made me laugh my ass of internally.
The alchemist noticed what he was doing and suddenly stopped and muttered to himself "Damn, my immunity is growing again, got to perfect the recipe." before he rushed outside to Dagoth knows where.
We were all dumbfounded for a solid minute, until we finally got out of our stupor and started packing. I spied Colette in the corner taking a swig of something that looked a lot stronger than mead, can't really judge her here, teaching restoration and dealing with this must really grate on the psyche.
An interesting thought did enter my mind as I left the hall, magic boosting cigarettes, definitely a project for the future.
Chapter XV: Morning talk and Enchantment!
I dodge a knife flying toward my face, the guards around me and my opponent cheering at our admittedly low-level fight. Thorfinn clicks his tongue and goes to strike me with his sword, but I am getting better and better at the subtle art of dodge.
We dance around each other for another minute until I grow bored and decide to cheat a bit, I thrust my spear one-handed to distract him, and with my other hand I stealthily cast the empowering oak flesh spell Tolfdir taught me, he seems to notice it but it is already too late, as I explode towards him and ram my full weight, which is admittedly not all that much, into him.
He falls to the ground and I place my spear's tip next to his head and go to help him get up.
"You cheated!" He seems more irritated at the fact he lost instead of at my use of magic.
"Is it really cheating to use all your skills in battle?" I say teasingly as I hold out my hand.
He shakes his head and grabs it.
The guards disperse and the captain approaches us and gives us a subdued clap "Good fight lads, Thorfinn you need to be more decisive, I know you don't want to take too many risks but if you don't press your enemy you won't be able to use any opportunity you make, as you have seen." The young man nods.
"As for you Reyvin, I get that you are a mage and all but you are here for combat training, and you also seem a bit too passive for my liking."
I shrug my shoulders "True, but it's not like I am wearing armor and I would have to cast that spell anyways if I ever wanted to get close to anyone in a straight fight"
He snorts "And the fact that the 'defensive spell' also boosts your strength has nothing to do with it?"
Ah of course he would know.
He shakes his head "In any case, it is good to get experience fighting mages, besides bandits crazy necromancers and the like are the usual pests we have to deal with. One has to wonder if they are coming out of the woodworks these days."
I scratch my chin for a bit and say "Well there are those necromancer cults that seem to be literally everywhere except the east of Tamriel."
Thorfinn interrupts "And why not the east?"
I hum and say "The Hist that the Argonians worship, or are a part of depending on your sources, is very controlling. To the point that they counter-invaded the Daedra during the oblivion crisis, so any necromancers would probably get slaughtered quickly." They both nod at this as it is widely known that Black Marsh kicked massive amounts of daedric ass during the invasion. "When it comes to Morrowind, we practice ancestral worship quite literally, so raising the dead is quite sacrilegious, there are s'wits that do it still, but they are usually visited by a rather well-equipped lynch mob."
The young Nord still seems a bit confused "Don't most peoples worship their ancestors in some ways?"
"They do, but not at the same level as the Dunmer, we all have shrines in our homes from which we can summon our ancestors for guidance, they can't stay long or they go mad but still we hold our dead in the greatest regards."
"Isn't that just necromancy though?" He asks in a careful voice.
I wave him off "Not really since the ancestors are willing, and it is a religious practice of honoring the dead instead of abusing them."
Hjolmir interrupts our conversation "While listening about our neighbor's traditions is riveting and all, I do have a job to do, see you lads tomorrow." and walks away.
The two of us sit in silence for a bit until I speak up "You should learn some low level spells you know, might save your life in the future"
He clicks his tongue and says sarcastically "Oh yea, with all the money I have saved up"
I roll my eyes "I was just going to show you a couple and give you the instructions, but if you are going to be a little bitch about it sure, ill just keep my wizardly secrets"
He gets up abruptly and gives me a light glare "Who are you calling a little bitch huh!?"
I also get my ass off the ground and summon my saber and grin while saying challengingly "What are you going to do about it little bitch?"
He gets pissed and we start another spar.
Since we have enchantment in the evening I chose to do my daily mana grind, as I started calling it, earlier this time. The channeling of Magicka through my body is becoming easier and easier, this does help with using it more efficiently but it is also slowing down my progress, I feel like I can boost my reserves quite a bit still, but there will come a point when using this technique will become pointless, my third eye seems to be sucking up more and more, I really hope that there will be a benefit to this later. Urag did say that everyone modifies the process as they practice it, I will have to do some reading later.
A bit later as I meditated on the word of power for fire, my thoughts drifted to a recent change I seem to have developed. Since I first started practicing the thu'um I have started enjoying open spaces and the feeling of the wind against my skin more and more. My guess is that the blessing of Kyne is more literal than what I originally thought... might help me with aeromancy when I start it out so I don't mind it one bit.
As we all funnel into the hall of lecturing, we are greeted by a bald imperial man of average height. He looks us over and notes something down on a parchment.
He talks in a very gravely old voice, like you would imagine a life-long heavy smoker having "Good evening apprentices, I am Sergius Turrianus the master of the art of enchantment."
He then asks if anyone present has experience in enchanting and we all answer one by one. Me and most of the others are capable of identifying modern enchantments but only Edrasa and Marwyn have actually enchanted something.
The master nods slowly and says "The two of you will help your colleagues out for this lesson. What I am going to be teaching you today is the basics of the enchantment process, I have found that the best way to get the first lesson through into the thick head of youngsters is some practical experiance"
"The main two ways in which enchanting has been done for the past millennia are the more basic rune carving, carving runes onto objects allows the user of said object to channel Magicka into it to produce an effect, like say a warrior's sword launching an arc of fire. The more powerful way of enchanting is through the use of soul gems alongside rune-carving or stitching runes in the case of clothing. By using a soul gem the artefact produces it's own power, and can even be used to boost the wearer instead of the other way around."
"What you will learn today is how to enchant a basic Magicka absorption power onto a necklace. What you need to do is carve the provided matrix onto the round surface of the jewelry and then crush the soul gem provided while channeling it's power into the item."
And almost as if on demand a silver necklace, some carving tools, and a common soul gem appear on our tables, alongside a diagram drawn very precisely on a parchment.
As we all get to work I take some time to look at the diagram and it's design. It seems to be written in the general arcane script and is made of the words essentially explaining how the absorption process works organized in a circular fashion, some of them repeating at multiple points.
I take my time slowly and carefully chiseling away at the necklace, coming to the realization that this is actually quite relaxing. The others seem to disagree as I see people straight up break the necklace by swinging too hard, poor Bor seems to panic but the master reassures him that they are easily replaced, and does exactly that by summoning a new one.
It takes nearly an entire hour for it but I finally get it done. Sergius notices this and nods in approval "Good, there are some minor misalignments but the enchantment will still work, now use the soul gem"
I nod and slowly crush the surprisingly soft gem above the necklace, grabbing the energy it releases with my Magicka is hard at first, but my unique perception helps me keep most of it contained as I channel it into the necklace. Sergius once more notices this "Good, excellent! You kept most of the gem's power and your channeling is very precise, keep going it will finish soon."
I do as I am instructed and focus on pushing the rest of the soul's power into the now glowing necklace, soon an ethereal sound is heard and the enchantment settles.
The master seems happy at my success "Most promising indeed, you may keep this necklace, I would hate for such a good seed to die to a random spell"
Magic shield get! I smile as I thank the old man and he goes to look at the other student's work.
Most of them are still stuck at the carving bit, and I do notice Morrigan giving me an annoyed pout while sitting in front of a butchered pile of silver. I chuckle as I go to help her out.
This enchantment business might actually be quite fun.
Chapter XVI: Choosing schools and visiting the staff maker
The rest of the week passed in relative peace.
I would visit the guard house in the mornings and work my ass off, thankfully I could already feel some results, abusing restoration to speed up training was apparently a thing and there were very few drawbacks.
I also managed to get the reason why Thorfinn seemed to be constantly pissed. Apparently, his father, who was also a guard, got ambushed by a group of pirates he was trying to negotiate with and now the kid feels powerless to take revenge. Hopefully we will hunt the bastards down, as if I needed any reason beyond looting the shit out of them.
Within the college, all of us got into a kind of routine. The more combative among us would spend some time dueling or practicing every day, while the more 'creative' were constantly trying to get better at their desired skill. Well everyone had a routine except Tiberius, the man was constantly trying to find any way to increase his Magicka capacity in anticipation of his glorious legion, as he called it.
I also spent a bit of time every evening meditating on the thu'um, my progress was minuscule but it was there, and the whole meditation part of it was getting more and more relaxing which helped me with the stress of constant study and training.
Finally, Fredas (Friday) arrived and we were going to choose the three schools we would study for the first year. Everyone was a bit dissatisfied by the limitation, but the Archmage was apparently very adamant about this so we could only accept it.
While understanding why it was in place, I was also irritated by the limitation. There were many things I wanted to learn, but realistically I knew that it would take maybe a month to burn myself out by studying everything.
After pondering this for some time I chose to focus on doing my damn best to survive, the more complex and esoteric schools can come later, well I at least thought so at first but remembering the ease with which I managed to enchant my necklace I just had to choose enchanting as one of my schools.
As for the others...
Illusion was a no-go, it would be useful and could help me avoid fights, but at my skill level it wouldn't be too helpful, it was always going to be a side thing for me.
Mysticism was very interesting and I could already see the mad shit I could potentially do with it, but I also know that truly understanding mysticism is a very time-consuming process and better left for when I have the luxury to study it patiently.
Conjuration was absolutely busted from what I understood, being able to summon a squad of magical monsters at a whim is definitely a very enticing idea. However unfortunately when I think of being powerful I imagine personal power and conjuring a bunch of minions while being a squishy weakling myself is just a massive turn-off for me, I had my flaming bird of death in any case, or was it life?
Alchemy, while it could be interesting at point was an instant rejection, I would probably be able to ignore the professor's bullshit for a couple of weeks maximum.
While I did want to study restoration at first, with Scorch's help I could be more powerful in using it, I realized that it would also be a very time-consuming thing to study. Currently, I have enough skills with restoration and alchemy to keep myself from dying like an idiot, so restoration is also getting delayed, unfortunately.
Alteration is a definitive yes, the defensive spells and general buffs are the perfect addition to any kind of battle strategy I am used to, and Tolfdir also mentioned that he would be teaching us how to use alteration to mold metal for our enchanting if anyone was interested, after hearing that it wasn't really a choice anymore.
And finally destruction... While placing myself under Faralda's 'gentle' care was not an attractive prospect, the school itself wasn't merely learning new spells and throwing them in a straight line. She would teach us battle tactics and how to fight other mages and that was invaluable considering the turmoil that was going to hit the province... Besides, being a wizard without a fireball is just sad.
I spent the rest of the day discussing the choices everyone made with my colleagues, unsurprisingly Morrigan went for the full money-maker route choosing alchemy, enchanting, and alteration, with everyone else also focusing mostly on their initial ambitions in coming here.
The next morning after finishing my training, instead of heading back to the college, I started walking toward the Telvanni tower looming at the edge of town.
We have finally decided to visit Edrasa's father's tower, mostly to check out the staves in my case, but visiting a massive mushroom was also a fun prospect.
I met the two in front of the tower, apparently named Tel-Moabain after the master's clan, they were currently animatedly discussing something until they noticed me.
Morrigan looked at me with a raised eyebrow "Are you sure it is wise to go in just after you finished your training with the brutes?"
I roll my eyes "They have baths at the guard house, I am not an idiot"
Edrasa interrupts us, hoping to stop a potential bickering match "While my father has been informed of our visit, he will most likely not bother with us for too much"
Our talk is interrupted by the annoyed and pompous voice of an old mer "Oh and why exactly would I not bother with interesting new visitors to my tower?"
Edrasa's eye twitches but she hides it very quickly, she turns toward the presumed Telvanni and introduces him to us "Allow me to introduce my father Dyrren Moabain, master of the house Telvanni" and then speaks to him "I thought you might be busy with another one of your retainers, I didn't want to disturb you" she says with in a fake-sweet voice.
The old mer glares at her for a second, gives a fake-cough, and completely ignores what was said "Who have you brought to my home, daughter?"
She shakes her head and starts introducing us "This is Morrigan, a reachwoman, apparently she didn't like the living arrangements and decided to leave" Said young woman looks very irritated by her story being spread randomly but says nothing except a subdued "Greetings" to the master of the tower.
The old wizard looks at her with interest "Oh, how very intriguing, if you have some time later I would love to learn more about the reach mages, what do they call them... ah yes, the hags... or something."
Morrigan seems somewhat unwilling, but not being an idiot, she agrees rather quickly.
Edrasa then turns to me "This is Reyvin, another of my colleagues, he seems to be the most talented among us new students, I even heard some teachers praising him when they thought we weren't listening"
I interrupt with a raised eyebrow "This is the first time I've heard of this"
Edrasa giggles "Well of course, you spend every waking moment doing some kind of training or study"
I scratch my cheek "I do, don't I" and turn toward the Telvanni master giving a slight bow "It is an honor to meet you serjo (noble sir)"
He seems very satisfied by my proper conduct "Quite, it is good to see more young Dunmer seeking true power, far too many spend their days on lesser pursuits these days" The last bit is said while giving his daughter a light glare.
"Well we did lose most of our farm tools in the recent years" I say jokingly, trying to diffuse any potential family drama.
He chuckles for a bit "Indeed" and then waves us toward the tower "Follow me inside, I will have a meal prepared and we can discuss a bit about your studies"
Edrasa seems surprised by how welcoming her father is but still follows along.
We are shown to a dining room at the bottom of the tower, Dyrren quickly orders one of his retainers to get a meal ready and we all take our seats.
We spend most of the afternoon partaking of some imported kwama dishes and talking about our studies, at my mention of my apparent enchanting talent Dyrren interrupts me with a glint in his eye "When you are done with your initial studies, you can visit me for a lesson or two in staff making"
Before I can answer I am interrupted by a telepathic message 'Naturally there is a price for this, you will do your damnedest to keep my daughter from getting herself killed on one of your college's idiotic outings'
I ponder for an entire half of a second before nodding "I would be honored serjo" There might be tension between them, but he is still her father.
He hums for a bit and gets back to listening to Morrigan complain about the alchemy master.
Later on we are shown around the nearby staff shop that Dyrren owns, the staves are pricy but their effects are many and powerful. Having spied one I like, I decide to save up for it in the coming months.
Our little group leaves the tower in the evening, all of us mentally exhausted for different reasons. While listening to Morrigan complain about the three hundred inane questions about hagravens she had to answer I call out Scorch to my shoulder and start scratching his head while pondering the coming trials.