20 - Victoria - Back to Square One:

The need to acquire more gold... it seemed a perpetual concern of mine. Unfortunately I had never been paid for any of my tasks for the Mages Guild, and the rewards for advancement in the Arena had proved pitiful. Looking back, the only serious income had occurred through the sale of items procured from ruins, and I realised it was this that I should now turn to. I was spoilt for choice considering the number of ruins I had rode past on my travels, but had no way to determine which possessed the greatest treasure. All tombs being equal, I now thought back to my exit from the sewers, upon escaping the prison. A ruin had lain across the lake there, and it was likely the closest. In addition, I was curious to see what would have awaited me had I ventured across immediately upon escaping the prison, rather than advancing to the Imperial City, as I had.

It would be quicker to exit the City by the road leading to the Prison, and Shadow would serve no purpose for such a short trip – especially considering the rough terrain, and the fact that I would have to travel across the lake. With no reason to wait, I began the walk to where I had first emerged, the lay of the land bringing back memories. Finally I stood above the grille from which I had exited, and looked down upon the pier, and the ruins across the lake. The only visible activity were a few mud crabs, which brought to mind my first act upon escaping – summoning a skeleton to kill a mudcrab. Doubtless such a fight would be even more one sided now, due to my ability to summon forth lesser Atronachs, but I now had no need to test the ability of my summon, and determined instead to cross the lake.

When I had emerged I had been wearing these same assassins robes, but there were noticeable differences between the me then and the me now. I have now regained the greater part of my strength, and recovered much of my arcane ability – a week or so of uninterrupted training would surely solve any remaining deficiencies. More obvious perhaps is the presence of new spells in my repertoire – for I crossed the lake using a spell of water walk, disdaining the cold and leaden weight of the water. It is a strange sensation, not like walking on ice (as people often imagine), but more as if walking upon silk being dragged across a slightly uneven surface. For all that it is not difficult to balance, at least on these calm waters, and at a mere walk.

The day was overcast, a low mist hanging over everything, probably a consequence of the presence of the lake. Such conditions suited me perfectly – a detect life spell highlighting the presence of bandits from beyond the range of simple sight. That is, I assumed they were bandits – as it is rare for any other type of person to hang around such a location – not that it mattered, whoever they were, I would kill them all the same. I wasn't here to exchange social niceties, simply to acquire wealth. Clearly the more efficient way to acquire valuable items is to let the bandits do the harvesting for you – they then collect it at one convenient location (in this case, here), and then I can collect it with minimal effort. Well, minimal travel effort anyway – the concentration of wealth generally correlated with the number of enemies defending it...

Crouching behind the low slung walls I summoned forth a Daedric bow – more deadly than any other bow I had yet possessed, and with no weight. Unfortunately you cannot summon arrows in a similar fashion – however they can generally be recovered from the remains of your target. Such was my intent in this case, allowing me to minimise the number I had to carry around. Leaning around the corner, I observed that the presences my spell had detected did indeed appear to be bandits, meaning that the law was unlikely to frown on my actions. They appeared to have established a minor camp on the surface of the ruins, including a pair of bed rolls with coverings hanging above to protect them from rain. Oddly enough one of them had a clove of Garlic hanging above it – were there vampires in the vicinity, or was the occupant simply paranoid? I supposed I might find out in due course, but I dismissed that train of thought for now, focussing upon my target.

A man. Hardly surprising, they seemed to be over represented within the bandit ranks. I doubted my upcoming actions would change the overall sex balance that much however, as I am an equal opportunity killer – meaning it is unlikely there will be proportional changes in the relative balance between bandit males and bandit females... He wore fur armour, while his companion stood a short distance away, himself clad in leather. An inauspicious start then, for neither article was likely to fetch a price worth speaking of, but I would have to kill them all the same – I currently lack a spell of invisibility, and would have to go through them to enter the ruins. Besides, it made good target practise.

The first arrow was also the last as far as the fur clad bandit was concerned, as he fell chocking, the silver arrow lodged in his throat. Considering idly that the silver in his throat would provide protection from werewolves, complimenting the existing herbal ward against vampires, I turned to his friend. Well...former friend anyway, although they would be reunited soon enough – whether such would be a meaningful turn of phrase remained to be seen, but not by me.

As my bow evaporated in my hands I summoned forth my flame Atronach, allowing her to deal with the remaining foe. I suppose being consumed by fire could be considered a cruel way to die, but at least it was a swift death – relative to the earlier bandit at least, who still lay choking, as his friend's corpse swiftly ceased struggling and began to smoulder. His armour would have even less worth now, scorched as it was, and I turned to my earlier target, his eyes staring at me desperately, pleadingly. I approached, running my hands over his shuddering frame. Unfortunately he possessed nothing of value, besides the silver lodged in his throat. That at least was easily recovered, and I tore it forth with a twist, a bubbling exhalation accompanying it from its previous owner. Wiping the arrow upon the grass I turned towards the entrance to the ruins, hauled the doors open, and entered.

As with earlier Elven ruins, illumination was provided by glowing stones, casting a chill light upon the cold stones. The upper levels contained only bandits, however I was in luck – the occupants wearing chainmail armour, and Mithril. Such should sell for a good price, and indeed I even considered wearing it myself for a moment. However doing so would obstruct my casting abilities, as I was relatively untrained in its use, and I therefore simply secured it for later sale. Besides this I collected a number of items, none of singular note, but all of which would provide at least some income – aside from the Welkyd stones, which I again chose to keep.

The deeper I delved into the ruins the colder it became, until at last I saw no more bandits – and began to suspect that the lower levels might be populated by the undead. Would a detect life spell illuminate them, being dead as they were? The answer seemed to be a yes, as I perceived the lumbering shapes of zombies and skeletons through the thick stone walls. Perhaps here even greater treasures would be hid, and while I had been forced to use a relieve burden spell, I still thirsted for more. Indeed this spell of relief proved of some irritation during my exploration, as I had to recast it every couple of minutes before it wore off. Here clearly was another spell I had to create at the University Alters – a longer lasting and greater magnitude spell of relieve burden.

The undead proved more fearsome opponents, absorbing large amounts of damage before finally collapsing in a heap. Indeed I found that headless zombies seemed to be tougher than their more complete counterparts – perhaps a selective process caused this, although it threw aside the myth that only damage to a zombies head would kill it. I myself consider fire to be the most deadly tool – and employed it both myself, and via my summoned servants.

The lowest level of the ruins contained a number of traps, including pressure plates which released more undead guardians. However the most notable trap proved to be a large section of floor, which would fall away into a spike pit following pressure. Fortunately I had perceived it, using it instead against the mindless undead who advanced upon me, however it was clear that something was being protected. It was here that frustration struck – I came up against doors which I could not unseal, lacking both the spells and ability to do so. Such was another cause for my need to train, and acquire a residence to do so within. It was clear then that I could advance no further, and I reluctantly began the ascension.

The most valuable fruits of my labour were a pair of enchanted gauntlets (the "Infiltrators Gauntlets"), and a Dwarven Claymore (which had weighed me down significantly). Having returned to the city proper, I sold both at the Fighting Chance, along with the armour I had acquired, and any other items I felt welling to sell. Ultimately the sale increased my wealth to forty seven hundred gold – just shy of the quantity needed to secure the purchase of the Manor I had been considering. The slight shortfall didn't concern me greatly, I felt confident that I could acquire such an amount during the long journey to the west.

However as I was about to head for the city gates, and my horse, I heard footsteps behind me. It was an Apprentice from the Arcane University, judging from the green robes and naive expression. He bore a scroll which he handed to me wordlessly, before departing as swiftly as he had appeared. Cautious, I probed the paper with my native magical perception, wary of any traps as might have been implanted by Raminus Polus, or those of a like mind.

Detecting nothing, I at last opened the scroll, scanning the page in a swift glance. It was unexpected, in that it claimed I had inherited a property, but expected in that it was surely a trap. However, the fact that it was a Wizard Tower caught my attention, perhaps I will talk into this trap with eyes open, it would certainly prove a fitting residence...