I was lucky enough to catch the old man before he left on his cart. Apparently, he had spent all the money I paid him before, so he was going back to work.
That was his life, he would take travelers here and there, then shack up in the latest Tavern, spend all his coin and do it all over again.
I can't really blame him either, that sounded like an easy-going life.
It wasn't very hard to convince him to go to Whiterun, originally, he was going to Windhelm, but a bit of gold changes his plans easy enough. Though we did pass by and I saw it at a distance. I would like to check it out at some point.
That being said, I did take a note of how much gold I had left, about a couple thousand Septims, the currency they use here. One gold meaning one Septim, obviously. I wasn't quite sure how much gold I would need, I met that weird guy earlier and he was searching his sources for any blue glass. And gods know how much that is going to cost, and I was also on the lookout for any other materials that caught my eye.
Well, I just pushed such thoughts to the side for now and cracked open one of my books. It would take a little more than half a day to reach Whiterun, so I may as well learn the basics of enchanting here.
The text was a bit dry, but there seemed to be a lot of similarities between this and what I was used to.
Even Runes made another appearance, albeit not in the farm I was familiar with. One of the most common methods to craft a Mystic Code was to carve runes onto the object, my cane sword being one such example, here they do things a bit differently.
Runes are carved onto an 'enchanting table' and then used to imbue an object with their concepts as opposed to being used directly.
It made the enchantments somewhat weaker than what I compared to my memories, but it made it so almost anyone could pick up the craft without much trouble. What an interesting method, I'll have to do experiments with this when I get back home.
One of the key ingredients, a 'soul stone'.
On the surface, this thing seemed repulsive. I wasn't against using 'things' as materials to further my own goals, but even I wouldn't take someone's soul and use it for crafting…..normally.
Anyways, these were a bit different than what I expected on the surface. The name was apt, they housed 'souls' but not anything sapient. These stones absorbed the souls of defeated foes like rabbits, deer's, bears things of that nature.
And it didn't even consume the soul to use, they acted more like batteries than materials in of themselves. After being used, the souls would simply dissipate from the stone, returning to the natural cycle of the world without any harm done.
The runes and enchanting table made use of the soul's power to both apply and even recharge enchantments on items.
It was a simple, yet robust system they created. I was genuinely impressed at the ingenuity.
The basics were easy enough to understand, I felt confidant enough to put them to use later, but now I was curious about the next levels. Was it just more of the same, but harder enchantments, or were there other steps that needed to be taken?
It was questions for later. I just wanted to finish this book for now before arriving in Whiterun.
***
"We're here, lad." I felt a hand lightly pat my shoulder.
I opened my eyes and saw the old man standing over me. "Already?"
"You were fast asleep there, didn't even wake up when I pulled into the stables." He laughed. "Now hurry up, I want to head to the Tavern and I can't get going until I make sure my horses don't run, so that means you need to move."
"Yeah, yeah." You old drunk, there wasn't really any venom in his voice, just his personality.
Didn't even realize I fell asleep; it was a nice little nap.
I stretched my body as I took in the view. I could see a large building poking over the walls that surrounded the city. It was impressive, for what they had to work with. The town in general looked a lot livelier than Winterhold, but it was also much warmer.
"Greeting." I waved at the guards who were watching over the entrance. "I don't suppose I could ask for directions to the Companions?"
They both looked at each other before one stepped forward. "You lookin to join the Companions, son? Their annual recruitment ended two days ago."
"Oh no, I'm just here for a job and to see if a friend of mine was able to make it."
He shrugged, stepped to my side. "You see that path there." He held out his hand, pointing towards the inner city. "You're gonna wanna follow that path and you'll come to an open market, if you keep going and take a right, you'll see a building with an overturned boat on top, that's the Jorrvaskr, the Companions mead hall and residence."
"I appreciate your help, here drinks are on me tonight." I handed him a few coins.
"You're alright, lad." He slapped my shoulder and laughed.
Always a good idea to be friendly with the resident law enforcement.
It was a nice stroll through a little hamlet, children were much more active here and people just kept coming and going.
Yeah, there were quite a few more people here, many more shops and things to look at. I pulled out the job description that had more detailed instructions.
So, I'm supposed to enchant some weapons for the Companions, basically these super mercenaries that are like celebrities around here. To do that, the College actually has a contract with the local enchanter. It may seem odd that I would be using another person's enchanting station to enchant objects for a job in the city they preside, but it looked like the actual enchanter there is out of Skyrim for the next few years and his daughter is looking over the place.
So, we just pay a small fee on an annual basis, and she lets us use the enchanting station when we come around. It saves time and money from the clients sending their items to us and potentially get backlogged that way.
Honestly, the logistics just seem like a nightmare everywhere, but what can you do in this age.
Finding the 'boat' building wasn't hard, it was exactly as described, a building using a boat as a roof. Pretty neat, I don't' know the history behind it, but all the same it looked important.
I pushed the large doors open, walking inside. Most eyes in the building turned to me, but one in particular was familiar.
"Will!" The voice of Thorum echoed out.
Jeese man, if you look so excited to see me, I'll get embarrassed. "Thorum." I greet the large man who came over and practically enveloped me in a hug. Okay, I was happy to see him too, and with how he was treating me I couldn't help but smile. I didn't have many friends, so this was always welcomed.
"I had heard what happened in Riften and feared the worst." He said, giving me a once over.
"I never actually made it to Riften." I chuckled. "Rumors started spreading right before I left, no carts wanted to take me, so I headed over to the College instead."
"A stroke of good fortune then." He nodded.
"What about you, I guess you managed to join the Companions?"
"Aye, I've been a Companion for about two days now. Come! Take a seat, tell me how you joined the College."
He gestured me over to a seat, there was a bar or something it didn't seem like anyone was 'bartending' as it were, but he walked up behind the counter and grabbed a couple drinks, setting one infront of me and sitting down.
I noticed a few more people in the room, taking quick glances our way…curious. Were outsiders allowed in here? I mean, Thorum wasn't showing any signs of discomfort, and I doubt he would disobey rules like that.
"I made my way to Riverwood after well…." I look around.
"No need for that, I've already told my brethren my story. We are brothers in bonds who had fought and escaped unjust capture together."
I just shrugged, if it trusted these people, I would trust his judgement. "Alright, so I arrive Riverwood, not much happened the Cart driver tells me stories of a Dragon in Riften, you know anything about that?"
"Yes, even Kodlak Whiteman, the Harbringer of the Companions has been going to meetings with the Jarl to discuss this." He explained, shaking his head. "Riften was hit hard, almost half the town was burned down before the beast flew away. They say that not even one warrior managed to pierce that dragon's black hide."
I guess Harbinger was some kind of leadership position. Well, he knew I wasn't from Skyrim, probably gave the full name and title for my benefit. The dragon bits were interesting too, seemed to align with what I knew about dragons.
"Dragons.....crazy. Are the Companions looking to get in on some dragon slaying?"
"There had been talk, but so far we don't know if more dragons are going to start showing up. There haven't been any more sightings since, but everyone is on edge."
I nodded and continued. "I picked up some supplies and headed towards the College, the trip wasn't too exciting, it was nice to get a view of the Skyrim countryside. But when I arrived, the town was under siege."
"Bandits?" He questioned.
I shook my head. "Ice Wraiths."
"Those scaly ice-things from further north?"
"Yup, scary little bastards. They're elementals, highly attuned to their element so they can use ice-based magic with ease."
"It's that time of the year." It wasn't Thorum who spoke, but a woman who walked up behind him.
"Ah, Will, this is Aela, Aela this is Will."
"Pleasure." I smiled.
She grunted. "I was there a few winters ago, had an job and we stayed and helped."
I turned back to Thorum. "She's right, the guard captain, Svord, explained that it was the time of the year that they produce offspring which involved taking people and dragging them off to who knows where."
"I assume you joined the defense." Thorum asked.
"Indeed. Svord the guard captain, and the other guards were quick to act as the wraiths came, forming a strong shield wall to stop their magics from a distance. It gave me enough time to create about a hundred illusionary guards to draw their attention."
"And that worked? Aren't Ice Wraiths…erm, magical?" He said without much confidence. I couldn't blame him; he probably didn't know much about how magic worked.
"I had taken a few guesses myself, I'm not quite familiar with Ice Wraiths either, but they didn't have normal senses, no noses, eyes, ears or what have you, so they had to be able to sense their prey somehow. My first thought was some kind of Heat sense, but they completely ignored things like torches, so I guessed they could sense 'magic'."
"Are all the guards at Winterhold Mages?" He tilted his head in confusion.
I shook my head. "Every living person has magic inside of them, whether they use it or not. I assume the Ice Wraiths sought that out and the magic I put into each illusion was enough to trick them."
"Fascinating." Thorum looked at me in awe, and it didn't seem like he was being condescending, he took a genuine interest in what I was saying. "I wonder if i'm capable of maigc."
"I think everyone is capable of it, just the extent of talent. I wouldn't advise you against learning a basic healing spell or maybe even conjuring a quick flame for fire in Skyrim's weather."
Thorum let out a laugh. "Aye, those would be handy."
"Well, in the future, if you're hunting Ice Wraiths, maybe take a few Magicka potions with you and use them as traps or distractions? It may or may not work." I shrugged; it would need more testing in the future. "Those illusions, along with the guards keeping them off me, I was able to cast a large fire spell and turn them to ash."
I took a drink of my ale, wasn't as good as the mead I've had previously, but it was decent. "It was a good party afterwords, tried my first Nord Mead too."
Thorum snorted in laughter and I saw Aela chuckled too.
"I guess we can't call your friend a milk-drinker then." Aela slapped Thorum's shoulder.
"It was after the party that things got a bit more interesting as well. I get woken up by some arrogant ass who is 'interested' in my spells." I scoffed.
"That's just wrong, you don't' wake a man after drinking through a celebration."
"Yes, Ancano, the Thalmor Emissary." I rolled my eyes. It was weird, as soon as I said that the place got deathly quiet. "Something wrong?"
"You had a run in with the Thalmor?" Aela questioned.
Jeese does everyone here hate the Thalmor? "Just some pompous mage who couldn't go through a single sentence without using his status as a Thalmor Emissary to make himself seem special." I looked around the room and people were now paying a lot more attention. "I'm still not very familiar with Skyrim, how hated are the Thalmor here?"
"We don't get involved with politics." Aela stated, I guess she was meaning them as 'mercenaries'. "But we would happily join in any battle that was opposite the Thalmor." There were several cheers and woops inside the room.
Well, guess that answers that question. Screw it, I'm onboard the fuck the Thalmor train. Even what i read about them makes them seem like completel assholes.
"Yeah, he mentioned something about 'the Thalmor giving Skyrim a strong, guiding hand' or some such nonsense. Got everyone in the tavern all pissed at him."
"Aye, that sounds about right." Thorum even looked unamused. "Please tell me he didn't get away with something like that."
"Of course not, I couldn't let the people who fought beside me get insulted like that. I was a mage he was a mage, I did the obvious thing." I took another drink. "We had a duel outside of the town, I think most of them were watching as well."
"Good man." Thorum gave me a solute with his drink I heard a few grunts of acknowledgement.
"Well, he gave me some nonsense like 'Cast your spell, I won't do anything until then'. And to be honest…..I really had to resist the urge to walk up and stab him with my sword."
That got a reaction out of them, I saw Thorum crack up, holding back the drink he just took.
"But well, I had my own pride as a mage." I withdrew a coin from my ring and held it up. "Put a hole in his stomach about that big."
"You should have killed him." I heard a gruff voice join up next to Aela.
"I was tempted, but we did put restrictions on the duel, no killing, maiming, or hurting spectators. I didn't want to taint my own honor." It was true, I had my pride I wouldn't allow anyone to step on it, a few looked disappointed but it got better. "But what I didn't tell you is that we also put stakes on the outcome." They leaned in and I just smiled. "I of course healed him up, I didn't want him to forgo his end of the deal because of injuries. He had a long walk back to the college, without any clothes."
There was a small bit of silence as they processed before laughter erupted from the hall. I guess the Thalmor are really fucking hated if this gets everyone so happy. Then again, the Thalmor did 'outlaw' the worship of one of the Nord's deities.
"That's all my adventuring for the past few days, what about you Thorum?"
The man calmed down, still a fit of giggles though. "My time hasn't been as exciting, I joined a couple days ago it wasn't too difficult."
"The guard at the gate said the Companions do an annual recruitment, shouldn't there be more people here if it wasn't difficult?"
"Well –"
"Not every recruit is willing to punch a Companion in the face after the first meeting." Aela mused.
"My jaw is still sore." The man next to Aela said, in a good natured way, and looked at me. "It was my turn for the recruitment this time around, I just insulted them all and wanted to see if any had that fire in their bellies. Thorum here is the only one who had the balls to do anything about it."
Thorum chuckled. "He insulted my mom, so of course I swung. He explained it was just a ruse though, no hard feelings are kept."
"Thank you, brother."
Thorum nodded. "Oh, Farkas, this is Will, Will this Farkas."
"It's good to meet a friend of Thorums." He gave me a nod. "Especially one who put a Thalmor on his ass."
"Ah, that reminds me. While I did come here to check up on Thorum, I also took a job dealing with enchantments for the Companions?"
Aela looked at me and then to Farkas. "I had forgotten about that, after the last one that came by I thought the College was ignoring us."
"Sorry I don't know anything about that." I shrugged.
"Scrawny little mage came in, acting like we should worship the ground he stepped on." Farkas grunted.
"I can guess how that went. And when he went back, probably told some bullshit story about you guys." I just sighed, while I doubt they were blameless it seems like things just escalated on both ends. "Well, I wouldn't mind doing the enchantments you lot need."
"If dragons are really going to be popping up, it's probably a good idea to get our weapons and armor in the best condition." Aela answered. "Its just….we didn't expect anyone to come after a while, several of the inner circle are still in a meeting with the Jarl."
"I don't mind waiting a day or so, I'm in no hurry." I waived her off. "I wanted to do some shopping and exploring anyways."
"Oh, why don't I show you around Whiterun, what are you looking for?" Thorum looked happy at my comment.
"I was going to craft my own magical foci, but I'm not too familiar with specific metals and their properties, though maybe I should stop by the blacksmith in town and see what's what."
"Actually…..my Da was a blacksmith, I know a thing or two if you need a hand."
I just blinked looking at my friend. He really is a nice guy, I'm glad to be friends with him.