Tensei Skill Shop Chapter 5

Tensei Skill Shop

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 5:

Since I was in the cart with the person destined to be the Last Dragonborn, I quietly observed the person in question. He had dark hair and pale skin, and had a shortly-trimmed beard. It took me a while to recall those features as those of a Breton, one of the many races in the Elder Scrolls universe.

As expected, Lokir the horse thief was complaining about how he wouldn’t have been caught if not for the Stormcloaks, only for Ralof to counter with a comment about us being brothers and sisters in binds.

“Shut up back there!” The cart driver snapped over his shoulder.

Ralof scoffed, but didn’t retort.

Lokir continued to speak, “And what’s wrong with him, huh?” He asked, jerking his head at the other Nord seated across from him.

The person in question had a fur cloak over his shoulders, and his clothing was of higher quality than the rest of us, but most prominently, he had a gag over his mouth. He just stared back at Lokir impassively.

“Watch your tongue,” Ralof warned, “You’re speaking to Ulfric Stormcloak, the true High King.”

It took a moment for that info to sink in for Lokir, and he soon realized what lay ahead for him. As he began muttering in denial to himself, I turned to look at Ralof, who took notice of my attention on him.

“You two share similar features,” He spoke frankly, “Are you two family?”

I glanced at the Dragonborn, who looked at me equally confused, and we both shook our heads. Come to think of it, I guess my looks are similar to a Breton’s.

“Guess I was wrong. Where are you from anyway? You too, horse thief,” Ralof raised his voice to get Lokir’s attention as well.

“What do you care?”

“A Nord’s last thoughts should be of home.”

“...Rorikstead. I’m from Rorikstead.” 

“Ivalice for me,” I added. I’ve lived there long enough to count.

We all looked at the Breton, even Ulfric, but before he could reply, there was a call from up ahead. 

“General Tullius, sir! The headsman is waiting!”

Turning to the front, I saw the structure of a town’s gate. The one who had spoken earlier was one of the guards standing on the top of it.

“Good, let’s get this over with,” One of the men riding at the front of the other carts answered.

Lokir began praying to the gods, even as we passed through the gates. Ralof noted that there were some Thalmor there as well, and I stared coolly at the Altmer in robes watching our procession. We soon went past them, and he began talking about how he recognized the place as Helgen, and his memories of it. Glancing around, I could see other onlookers, probably the villagers who lived here. One of them told his child to get back inside instead of watching. 

The carts finally came to a stop, and we were told to get off. Lokir continued to plead his innocence, though it fell on deaf ears. The captain just told them to move towards the headsman’s block when their name was called.

Hmm… I should run when Lokir does… but I missed the chance to steal Ralof’s line earlier, so… I looked at the man known as Hadvar, who stood in front of our group, carrying a writing pad.

First Ulfric, then Ralof, walked off when their names were called, but when Lokir’s was called, his nerves broke and the man tried to run. Unfortunately, there were archers, and Lokir didn’t have the same ability I had prepared for my escape, so his arrow-riddled corpse hit the ground several meters away.

“Anyone else feel like running?” The female captain glared at those of us still remaining.

There was a moment before Hadvar spoke up, looking at the two of us waiting. “Wait. You there, step forward.”

I glanced back to meet the Breton’s eyes, and shrugged. He was worried too, but stayed silent. I moved forward first.

“Who… are you?” Hadvar asked me.

“Notton Derliste,” I said with a straight face.

He looked down and started writing. “You from Daggerfall, Breton? Fleeing from some court intrigue?”

Hadvar looked back at me briefly, expecting an answer, but I just shook my head. 

“Just here to see the College, actually.”

“Hmph.” He turned to the woman in armor next to him. “Captain, what should we do? He’s not…” Hadvar trailed off as the false name I gave him sunk in, then looked back at me. “Ha ha, very funny,” He said dryly.

I couldn’t help smirking. “Took you long enough.”

Hadvar scratched away the fake name in his pad. “What’s your real name then?”

“Rick, from Ivalice.”

“Ivalice… never heard of that place.”

“Yeah, I came from pretty far away to visit the College. I could tell you all about the cities we have there.”

“Forget it, you’re going to the block,” The captain snarled.

Hadvar looked at me apologetically. “I’m sorry. As per our captain’s orders. I don’t know if we can return your remains to this… Ivalice, but we’ll give you a proper burial.”

“Maybe. Maybe not.” I walked ahead, lining up behind the Stormcloaks already waiting to be executed.

Behind me, I could hear him asking the Dragonborn his identity as well, and I kept my ears open for the answer.

Huh, so his name is Lernen then? I’ll have to remember that. 

I waited for the captain to walk past me, to where the dark-skinned General Tullius was speaking to Ulfric. He talked about how Ulfric used his Dragon Shout to murder the king, and cause Skyrim to be plunged into chaos. 

“And now the Empire is going to put you down, and restore the peace!”

There was a faint echoing roar in the background, causing all those present to look around for the cause. That’s when I acted, breaking into a sprint away from the group.

“He’s trying to escape! Archers!”

Skill, don’t fail me now! My feet continued to eat up the distance between me and freedom, even as I heard the sound of bowstrings twanging.

[Block Arrows]

My body just moved automatically, just like when my job persona was in control, turning around and bringing up my bound wrists to deflect the arrows that were about to hit me. With the adrenaline running through my body, I could see in slow motion as the sharp arrowheads left small slices in the cords. Not enough to free me entirely, so I spun back around to continue running.

“Keep firing…!” I heard the captain order, more faintly now that I was a good distance away.

This time I couldn’t hear the arrows being fired. Even then, my body reacted, and while a few of the shots missed, enough of them were accurate enough to finish the job. 

I jerked my arms and broke free of my bonds, and continued towards the gate. Some of the guards there had noticed, and were coming down. I also heard the roar sound again, this time much closer.

“Halt! Halt, I say!”

“Nope, sorry!” I don’t want to be here when Alduin shows up. “I’ll be borrowing this!”

Once again, my equipped skill worked wonderfully; even as the guard swung his sword threateningly, I was already within range, and my [Steal: Weapon] left him empty-handed. 

“Wha-? Where did my sword go? Wait, is that my sword he’s-? Give it back!”

I just continued to run. Up above in the sky, a dragon was already flying in, and I heard the crash as it landed on one of the buildings behind me. 

Then with a sound like thunder booming, dark clouds began to gather overhead, and the storm descended upon Helgen.

“Nope, nope, nope~” I said to myself, doing the smart thing and getting as far away from that place as I could.

Let the Dragonborn handle this whole civil war and slaying the World-Eater, I would just get the things I was after, and get the hell out.

…

Once I was a good distance away, I slowed down to a walk, reviewing my status screen and the skills I brought along for this adventure. 

The thing I considered the most important for my presence here was my own survival, so I had a bunch of skills geared towards that purpose. [Cold Resistance] for the chilly weather here, [Local Map] to help me make my way around, and a few other knowledge-based ones that would help me live off the land if necessary. 

There were more than just those, of course. I got a few skill growth boosters so I could master the skills I had my sights on faster, but they weren’t that important now. 

First, I needed to get to one of the cities in this place, and then I could work from there. According to the map I had, that location would be Falkreath, the capital city of Falkreath Hold. And it was a few hours away on foot, so if an Imperial soldier on a horse beat me to that place, my criminal status would be known.

That would be troublesome. I’m sure I could pay the bounty though, I just had to-

“Stop right there! Hand over your money, and we’ll let you keep your life!”

Oh, what fortunate timing! My pace slowed, as two scruffy bandits stepped out from the bushes and into my path. Time to get some money.

One of them was using a rather rusted and chipped sword, while the other had a heavy wooden club, and neither was wearing any armor. In gamer terms, these guys were starting mobs. My fighting experience in Ivalice allowed me to pick out the openings they had, and I quickly moved to take advantage of them.

It wasn’t until I had left their ransacked corpses lying on the side of the road, far back behind me that I realized how desensitized I was to fighting and killing. The former was a given, due to the battles I engaged in while I was in Ivalice. After all, the Judges would just revive the losers afterwards. Not so much for those in the Jagds though, and I had my share of experiences there too. 

I eyed the sword in my hand, twirling it slightly. It’s so easy to just take a life like this. Just… stab, or slice, and that’s it.

Shaking my head, I decided to put that thought behind me. I’ve come too far to worry about it now. More importantly, I didn’t have a sheath for this sword, so the chances of me being stopped by the guards was high. The amount of septims I managed to get from those bandits weren’t enough to pay a bribe.

A few hours later, when I finally reached Falkreath, I was proven right.

“How did you come by this Imperial sword?” The guard questioned me.

“Uh well…” I tried to give the impression of a slow, but honest person, “There wuzza bunch of guys… some ways back up the road… they tried to jump me… y’see?”

The guard stared at me, before realizing I was waiting for him to respond first. “Go on.”

Maybe I should have gotten a Speech-related skill to go along with this as well. “Well I didn’t like that, so… I beat them up… and took what they had… like this sword here…”

“And then?”

“Swords are dangerous, don’tya know?” I said earnestly, “Didn’t wanna just leave it lying around.”

The guard finally relaxed. It looked like I had succeeded in my Speech check.

“Well, if you’re not going to use it, best bring it over to Lod,” He advised. “He’ll take it off your hands.”

Lod was the local blacksmith, and the guard gave me directions to his place. It was similar to the one I had seen in Riverwood in the game; the forge itself was on a sheltered porch to the side of the house, and a muscular man who had to be Lod himself was busy at work there. He looked up when I approached him.

Despite his blunt-looking experience, it took a few false starts before I managed to convey my intentions. First, he thought I was trying to threaten him by approaching him with drawn steel, then when I mentioned the guard pointing me his way, Lod assumed that I was here to help him chase down this dog he saw outside of the city to adopt as his pet. 

I twitched when I realized that this was the quest hook for a Daedric quest, one related to Clavicus Vile. I wasn’t going to go against Sano’s advice about getting involved with them.

Eventually, I managed to come to an agreement with Lod about the trade in value for the sword, which left me with a good amount of septims and a nice pair of iron daggers. He also pointed me in the direction of the cart that I could use to travel to the other holds, and that was the end of his interest in me.

I glanced around to see if there was anyone who was watching, and it appeared that I was in luck, as no one was. Slipping around behind Lod’s back, I activated the skill I wished to try out, [Steal: Ability].

[Blacksmithing Learned!]

Lod straightened up and looked back at me. “Still here? Anything else?”

“Nah, just thought I’d watch to see how you do your stuff.”

He snorted. “I ain’t good enough to train you, but feel free.”

The blacksmith took a glowing ingot from the forge and began to hammer it, but paused after a few strikes. He looked critically at his hammer-wielding arm, then flexed it a few times before hitting the ingot some more.

“Feels kind of stiff today…” 

So I do steal away some of their original skill, but they can regain their original level with effort. Good to know. With my curiosity satisfied, I turned and left.

I don’t know if anyone would connect their missing items with the person who passed through the place a while back, but I wasn’t going to stay around for them to pin their suspicions on.

…

“Oh, you’re a great help,” The alchemist told me gratefully, “I’ve been getting requests for healing salves and potions, and I’ve been having a bit of trouble making them up to my usual standards recently.”

“Is that so? Well, then I guess it’s a good thing I happened to show up.”

“Would you consider working with me in my shop?”

“It’s a good offer, but I already made plans to head up to Winterhold,” I politely rejected.

“That’s a pity, but I wish you all the best. Here, take a little bonus for the road.”

“Thanks. Hope your skill with potions gets back to where it used to be.”

“I hope so too.”

That same scene had played out several times over the course of my journey northwards. Stealing something physical like gold would have drawn the attention of people, who would then go on to alert the guards, and make things even more difficult for me. So instead I stole some of their skills, and used those skills to create stuff to sell back to the vendors, thus earning me the septims I needed to fund my journey of skill acquisition.

And it was a very fruitful journey so far.  Sometimes it was spellbooks that I either learned myself, or sent to Sano directly, other times I bought enchanted items that I broke down to learn the enchantment effect for myself. But it was my unique stealing skill that provided the most benefit.

[Steal: Ability] was quite similar to how it worked in Ivalice; it only succeeded when the target had a level of skill that I lacked, so I couldn’t target those whose skill level I had already outstripped. Considering that I was starting from the absolute basics, I could gain a lot from a single person, in addition to my own efforts in practice. The latter was quite beneficial too, since I had a skill that boosted my learning speed. Then once I had gained all I could, I moved on, seeking the next target.

In the game, skills could be leveled up by actions that required them, like picking locks or sneaking around when there was someone who might notice, but there were perks as well, which cost points gained on leveling up one’s character. When I was inserted into this world at first, I didn’t have access to them. Only when I made contact with Sano and traded away some of the skills that I had collected, did that option become available to me. He used the data from that analysis skill I carried within me to understand how the world’s system could support such a thing, and made modifications to give me access to it.

Now I could easily see my list of perks in my status screen, and allocate the points I earned. Those perks could be extracted and traded away as well, though it left me temporarily feeling weaker afterwards and needing to grind back up to my original strength.

That’s not to say that I didn’t meet my share of troubles; there were two times I had to leave early. Once was when the villagers grew suspicious too quickly, as expected of those who lived in an isolated place like Morthal, and I decided to leave when Idgrod the Jarl all but accused me of being the cause. The second was in Solitude, when one of the Imperials there actually recognized me as the guy who escaped at Helgen. I was lucky to have the Pacify spell to reduce his sense of alarm, as well as the way with words to convince him that he was mistaken about me. I left the city rather than risk staying there any longer.

I think I should leave this world after I’m done with Winterhold and the College. I barely glanced back as I paid the cart driver the fee he asked, and settled in for a long ride.

Several hours in, just as I was starting to doze off, I heard a very recognizable roar, and snapped to full alertness.

“What was that?” The driver asked, looking around.

“Dragon.” I reached down and picked up the weapon I had prepared for such a situation.

He didn’t believe me, not at first at least. After all, dragons had been dead and gone for centuries, and the rumors of their return were just that, rumors. 

So it wasn’t surprising that the driver froze up, gaping at the winged lizard soaring across the sky towards us.

“Move!” I shoved the man’s shoulder, snapping him out of his daze.

“R-Right!” He flicked the reins, and the horse sped up into a gallop. “Can you do anything?”

“Not at this range!”

I continued to observe the approaching dragon, holding tightly onto the cart in case of a sudden stop. Several things soon became obvious. First, it was hunting us, given how it was altering its course to follow our movement. Second, there was no way we could outrun it given the speed of its flight. Plus the route we were on didn’t have any good tree cover alongside that we could use either, so that idea was out. Which led to the third thing; fighting was inevitable. 

“Stop!” I said suddenly.

“What?”

“I said stop!”

“Are you crazy?! It’s gonna catch us!”

“Stop or we’ll crash!”

The driver glanced at me, panicked. “You better be right!”

He pulled on the reins just as the dragon flew past overhead, causing the horse to rear with a loud whinny, but our speed dropped to a fraction of what it was. Just in time, because the dragon turned upwards to ascend, then dove downwards to land in our path. If we had continued at our pace, it would have flattened the cart and all.

It eyed us, making a few idle snaps of its jaw. At this distance, I could see that its eyes weren’t those of a beast’s; there was a sadistic intelligence in them, compared to the various wolves and feral cats I had hunted down in my time in this land.

“Stay behind the cart,” I told the driver, hopping off the side of it and onto the ground. Ugh, I’m all stiff from sitting for so long. I really don’t envy my chances.

I hit myself with a burst of Restoration magic to deal with the worst of it, before settling into a proper stance with my spear in hand, sharp point aimed at the dragon in front of me.

Ever since I knew that I was going to have to deal with dragons, I thought that the Dragoon skills I had collected would be very useful. It was a bit odd that very few people in Skyrim even thought of using them, so I received a few odd looks when I made my first one.

The dragon seemed almost amused, letting out what sounded like chuckles before crawling- no, rampaging was a more appropriate term- towards me, its wings smashing into the ground as its body undulated almost serpent-like in its motion, while its head remained eerily still, locked onto me.

Perhaps that was why it didn’t see the attack coming; an explosion of purple flames appeared between me and the dragon, and a Flame Atronach materialized from that spot. The moment the dragon’s head came within range, it executed a backflipping kick, knocking that reptilian head skywards.

“I am here to help!” 

I spared a glance in the direction the voice had come from. “Good! Let’s deal with it together then!”

[Jump]

With its attention on the Flame Atronach, the dragon wasn’t able to react in time when I descended from above, slamming my spear into its back. Bracing my feet on its scaly hide, I ripped the weapon back out, and jumped clear. Not a moment too soon, as the newcomer fired off a burst of electricity that scorched the beast’s head. 

Looks like a full mage. First Conjuration, now Destruction. I reset my stance, and landed a few stabs into the hind leg nearest to me, before dodging the retaliation. Woah! Gotta watch the tail.

“YOL!” The dragon sent a burst of fiery breath at the enemy closest to it, which did only middling damage to the Flame Atronach.

The physical attacks, such as the bites and the wing slaps, were more effective, and I heard a shouted warning to stay away from the Flame Atronach. A few more attacks later, I realized why when it exploded spectacularly, scorching its surroundings.

“Grrrrffgh!” The dragon made a disgusted noise, and began to push off from the ground, seeking to escape to the skies.

Nope, not going to let you! I [Jumped] again, and this time I slammed down onto its head.

With the smaller landing area, my spear ended up slightly off, failing to penetrate the scales. But instead, it left a painful scrape across the left eye. The dragon’s flinch sent me flying off, but I recovered enough to land safely on my feet. 

“Face… DESTRUCTION!” The mage had used the opening to charge up a spell with both hands, and released it as a thick bolt of lightning.

Wait a minute… that guy looks familiar, I realized, before focusing back on the dragon. It’s close to death already. Just need to finish it off quick. And I’ve got just the thing.

Howling in pain, the dragon locked its eyes upon the mage, and made a definitive lunge to chomp on the source of its agony. 

“[Wyrmkiller]!” I intercepted it mid-charge.

Compared to the previous two times I used a skill to attack, the wound my spear left was a gapingly large one, penetrating nearly all the way through its neck; it was an obviously fatal one, and if death wasn’t instant, it would be fast approaching. Sure enough, the look of shock in its remaining eye quickly faded to the glassiness of death.

I drew back the spear and examined it. Yeah, this one’s about to break. Some weapons just aren’t suited to skills.

“Hey, aren’t you…”

I looked at the mage, then blinked as I recognized him as well. “You? You were at Helgen too, right?”

“Yes, and so were you.” Lernen nodded. “Oh, hold on.”

I didn’t bother to ask why; the dragon’s corpse was glowing and parts of it were peeling off, turning into streams of light that were sucked into his body. When it was done, only the bones and a few loose scales remained of the dragon.

“Dragonborn…” 

The two of us turned to look at the cart driver, who was staring at us in awe.

“...yes,” The mage confirmed, “That’s me.”

He ended up joining us on the ride to Winterhold, provided free of charge by a grateful driver, and we filled in each other on what had happened since the events of Helgen.

As expected, Lernen had been about to be executed when the black dragon appeared and destroyed Helgen. He escaped through the underground passage of the keep, making his way to Riverwood, then on to Whiterun to convey the news of what had happened. As for after that…

In the course of my journeys, I had heard the tales of the Dragonborn’s return and his deeds, though there were some obvious exaggerations mixed in that made me doubt which were the real ones. The few I was sure were true was that he had helped slay a dragon near Whiterun, another one near Kynesgrove, and was summoned to see the Greybeards on the top of Mount Hrothgar, which Lernen helped to confirm. Naturally, there wasn’t any need to ask about how he absorbed the souls of dragons, considering what I had just witnessed.

Aside from that, he told me about how he encountered a few other dragons besides those, while debunking those that said he was a brave member of the Companions or a member of the College of Winterhold. I didn’t bother to mention the one that said he blew a giant clear across the horizon with a magical shout.

“I thought of joining the College,” He admitted, “Need stronger spells to beat the dragons.”

“That’s… actually a good idea.” Basic spells won’t cut it against the stronger ones.

For my side of the story, I told him how I had focused on escaping, making my way to Falkreath, and wandering around Skyrim while steering clear of places where the Imperial Legion had a presence. Compared to his deeds, mine were nothing remarkable.

Lernen looked at me, mildly shocked. “I’ve never seen anyone fight a dragon like you do.”

“Let’s just say I picked up some skills in Ivalice.”

“Skills that allow you to jump like that?”

“Among others.”

A silence settled over the group as the cart continued its way towards Winterhold. 

I noticed that Lernen was rather short-spoken, rarely speaking up and preferring to keep to short sentences when he did. Given what Hadvar had said about Bretons being related to court intrigue, I could assume that side of his character was why he had come to Skyrim, as he didn’t seem suited to politics at all.

It was just a strange twist of fate that led to him being hailed as the Dragonborn, I supposed.

I suspected he wanted to ask me to join him in his quest to stop the return of the dragons, but was having trouble actually speaking up. Unfortunately for him, I already made up my mind not to offer my help, not unless he really asked for it. Instead, I changed the subject to ask more about him.

Lernen’s interests lay in magic, and he admitted that he had been planning to visit the College, just that events conspired to throw off the plans he had made. So now when I just happened to cross his path on the way there? Well, he wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity.

We arrived at Winterhold when it was already dark, and the snow was falling pretty hard, so the two of us agreed to spend the night in the inn before trying to enter the College. Luckily, the cart driver was doing the same, so he led us to the place after his horse and cart were stored away in the stables.

Once again, I am very grateful for [Cold Resistance]. I thought as I followed the shivering men down the snow-covered street. 

The cart driver pushed open the door of the place, and glanced around. I noticed his attention fall on a pair of men at a table across the room, but instead of interrupting them, he just headed over to the counter on the far end of the room. Instead of following, I went to stand in front of the firepit in the center of the room, warming myself up by the flames.

The two men’s conversation could easily be overheard from where we were. One of them was wearing a mage’s robe, while the other had the rustic appearance of a local, leading me to conclude he was the innkeeper.

“I’m sorry, could you describe the smell?”

“Like some horrible monster was turned inside out, and then exploded. What did you do?”

“It was a minor miscalculation.” The mage gave as an excuse. “I’ve already calculated it for future experiments.”

“This,” The innkeeper said exasperatedly, “This is why people have a problem with your college, Nelacar.”

He went over to the counter, where the cart driver just paid him for a room and went off down the corridor. Seeing him look at Lernen and I expectantly, we approached him as well.

“If you’ve business with the College, you’re welcome to stay here,” He informed us, “It’s where most of our business comes from, in fact. I’m Dagur, owner of The Frozen Hearth.”

“I’d like to rent a room.”

“I’d like the same.” Lernen added.

“That will be ten gold, each.” Dagur nodded after receiving the money. “I’ll show you two to your rooms.”

Apparently, we were lucky enough to grab the last two available rooms, and Dagur told us to let him know if we wanted anything.

“Dinner together later?” I asked Lernen.

“Alright.”

I made sure to lock the door, before settling myself down on the rough bed and reaching out to Sano. 

“One moment.”

I blinked. That’s new. Wonder wh-

Instead of the blank space I was so used to, this time everything appeared to be cast in a weird kind of shade.

“What’s with this new decor?” I asked Sano, who was sitting in his usual place.

“Just taking precautions to avoid being noticed,” He replied blandly.

“But you didn’t…” I trailed off as I made the connection in my head. “Oh, one of them is close by, isn’t it?”

He just nodded. “So even with this concealment, it would be best if you kept things short.”

“Alright. I was thinking…”

As it turned out, leaving the world and returning to it at a later time wouldn’t result in me coming back years afterwards, though the more weeks I waited to come back, the more time would pass in Skyrim, since Sano could only adjust my point of entry so far each time. That was a relief to hear, because it would suck if I missed some plot-relevant stuff due to that.

The other query I had wasn’t a problem either; I thought about transferring the analysis skill over to Lernen, in hopes of getting access to Dragon Shouts. Sano quickly examined the skill, and informed me that there was no problem with that either. When Lernen had absorbed the soul of the dragon we slayed together, being in close proximity had provided enough data to understand the process. He made a few quick modifications to the skill, and sent it back to me.

I checked my status screen to confirm that it was still there. “That’s all for now, but I’ll be contacting you again once I’m done, to return to the shop.”

The god only nodded in response, and I found myself back in the room.

So I just have to find a time to pass the skill to Lernen… Maybe after dinner? 

There was a knock at the door. “It’s Lernen.”

“Coming.” I opened the door to find the mage standing there. “Ready for dinner?”

“Yes.”

Dagur served us a small meal of meat and bread, and we quietly dug in. In between bites, I took looks around the room. As expected of a place whose business was dependent on the College, there weren’t many others present. Halfway through, Lernen called Dagur back over to order some mead, while I asked for some milk instead.

“So, is there some group event planned?” The innkeeper inquired.

“What do you mean?”

“With the two of you, that makes the third Breton mage here.”

Oh right, my clothes don’t look like armor, so I can pass for a mage. “There’s a third one?”

“He’s sitting over there. So far he’s only been drinking though.”

I started to have a bad feeling, realizing just which of the Daedra was in the vicinity. Sure enough, when Dagur pointed the Breton in question out, the man took notice and swaggered over.

“You look like someone who can hold their liquor,” He waved a tankard at Lernen, “How about a friendly contest to win a staff?”

“Who are you?” Lernen asked him.

“The name’s Sam. Sam Guevenne.”

Afterword: This feels like a good point to end this chapter. It really has the feeling of a hook that makes you want to see the next chapter, wouldn’t you agree?