Negotiations

[A/N]: Extra bonus chapter to celebrate Christmas.

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The meeting between the Morrigan and Jarl Korir went smoothly. There was very little disagreements on some of the immediate projects to be undertaken by both sides. Rictus was impressed everything seemed to have gone according to plan, and both sides left feeling good about the deal. There would be many more meetings in the future, but it was a great start.

Morrigan readily agreed to enchant the guardsmen's equipment. There were two reasons why she was eager for it. One was as an apology for the troubles which happed during the Eye of Magnus incident. Enchanting weapons and armor was an easy way to get in the towns good graces. The second was for experience. Morrigan had already got some of the mages to become her direct disciples (minions). These people needed the practice of working with enchantments so having equipment readily provided was very convenient.

Working to improve the food situation went a little rocky but was overall a success. It would be a lot of work for the mages. Enchanting the areas to be better suited temperature wise would take a large initial investment while maintaining the areas would not be nearly as intensive. The people of Winterhold would be required to create the spaces and get everything ready while the mages worked the magic. The mages would get a discount on all their food should the project prove successful.

One of the locations was proposed to be for raising chickens, basically a large underground chicken coup. Korir's wife Thaena was actually the one to propose it. She even brought up how the mages could fill up soul gems with the slaughtered chickens. Morrigan was very excited about that.

In the game, it would be weird to get excited about petty soul gems, but reality was different. Soul gems were not all that common to begin with, especially the larger ones. On top of that, the most common filled soul gems were petty or lesser. Rictus figured this made a lot of sense. It was much easier to buy and kill a chicken than to go and fight a cave bear which would still only provide a common soul. It would be very convenient for the mages to have a ready source of souls to be able to practice their enchantments.

The largest debates revolved around warding key areas around the town. Large scale wards used a ridiculous amount of power. It would take around 1 grand soul gem a day to ward the entirety of the Jarl's long house. Permanent wards were not an option. Temporary ones had some potential. While a multidirectional ward was extremely complex and utilized tons of power, smaller wards directed in a single direction were much more affordable. If a gatehouse was built on the pass leading into Winterhold, the entire place could not be covered, but they could ward the gate from outside attacks temporarily.

There were a few places these wards were proposed to go such as the town entrance, the Jarl's longhouse, the barracks, the tavern, and the entrance to the College. While the mages would provide the labor, the Jarl would have to cover the costs of building and maintaining all the areas except the College entrance.

Towards the end of the negotiations, Jarl Korir decided to play one of his trump cards for the wards. They had a source of soul gems now. While Rictus had been searching for mineral deposits, he had taken a soul gem out on a whim. He was able to use it to find a decent sized geode deposit. Korir was more excited about this than the large iron and corundum deposits. The geode would be a good source of soul gems as well as precious gems. It would provide one more way to hold power over the mages. If Korir could be the main supplier of soul gems and souls to the College, he would have a much easier time in all future negotiations as well.

Morrigan could hardly believe what she was hearing about the soul gems. This could advance some of her plans significantly. While she was not excited about the Jarl having control over the supply lines, it was still a huge benefit to them. A lot of soul gems the College received were from blackreach by brave miners and adventurers. Lately, there had been a lot of disturbing rumors from the place, and the supply of soul gems had started to decrease. Not by a whole lot just yet, but it was a worrying trend.

Needless to say, Korir would be able to pay the College in soul gems for the wards as well as any future enchantments he wanted done.

There were also plans to work on a mutual defense agreement with the College. With an increase in rebellious action from the stormcloaks and bandit attacks, there was need for a stronger defense. Korir was not initially wanting anything like this, but Rictus kept insisting the help would be welcomed in the coming times. The specifics of the defensive alliance would be discussed in further details when Jarl Korir returned from the Moot.

The final part of the meeting was regarding the Helm of Winterhold. Morrigan had recently received information about the location of it by accident. There was a group of rouge mages which broke from the College because the mages were going too far in their necromancy. They were located in a cave system along the coast between Winterhold and Dawnstar called Hob's Fall cave.

Korir thanked Morrigan for the information, then looked over at Rictus questionably. Rictus thought it over for a moment before he nodded in agreement. While this would normally be a difficult and long journey, Rictus could make the trip fairly quickly since he could bypass most all obstacles. He could even ride his familiar and get there fast since Billy never ran out of stamina.

After talking about the Helm of Winterhold and promising to have more talks later, the meeting was concluded. Both sides were benefitting from the agreements made today. There was still some strain between the two parties, but it was getting better every day.

After the mages left, Rictus got a map from the Jarl detailing the surrounding lands. They were able to find the location of Hob's fall cave without too much trouble. It was not that far from Winterhold. The problem was the terrain. It would normally take a couple days of casual travel to get there. If one truly pushed their mount and encountered no difficulties, they could potentially make it there in about a day. If Rictus used his flying method, he would get there in less than a day. This was a good thing since he really wanted to get the Helm before the Jarl left for the Moot.

Rictus borrowed some thick fur armor from the guards before he left. It was already cold this far north, and flying would only make it colder depending how high up he needed to fly. He also got some leftover food from the Jarl's table to have as a meal. With those little preparations completed, he set off to go investigate the cave.

An hour after Rictus left, Faralda visited the Jarl's longhouse. She was accompanied by a handful of other mages. She was looking for Rictus. She had intended to ask if Rictus would accompany them to Hob's fall cave. They were going there under the orders of the archmage. Morrigan had wanted to try and start cleaning up mages which were ruining the overall reputation of mages everywhere. If they could recover the Helm while they were at it, that would just be a bonus to get in the Jarl's good graces. Faralda was disappointed Rictus was not able to join them, but she had her orders and quickly set out.

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The trip to the cave was unremarkable for Rictus. Rictus was able to make great time there as his control with his magic seemed to constantly improve. He still had not quite mastered the new levitation spell he had found the other day in the library but learning about the spell had still improved his flying ability.

Rictus was curious about his increasing control. He had thought that when he reached level 100 in his skill that he would not really improve any more, but that was not the case. Rictus could tell his control over alteration magic was constantly improving. Naturally the spells he regularly practiced with improved, but Rictus could tell even spells he rarely used were easier than before. The total amount of mana he could manipulate had also grown since he had reached level 100.

It seemed the leveling system was not really capped at 100. The growth was exponentially increased until level 100, but one could still improve even after they reach this mark. Rictus viewed it almost as being power leveled until 100 and then everything is more on the level of a prodigy instead of a monster. Rictus thought the levels may even act as a tutorial to get the Skilled to the levels of a master as quickly as possible while gaining many valuable skills along the way. Being able to create new spells and learn ones not from the Skyrim game seemed to validate this theory.

Rictus was very happy with this development. He had been worried he had already reached the peak of what was possible, but that was not the case. There was still room for improvement and growth. Rictus was looking forward to continuing to improve his magic and grow as a mage.

It took a little bit of searching, but Rictus was finally able to find what he hoped was the cave. One thing which tipped him off people may at least be there was a woman slowly creeping towards the cave entrance while partially crouched. Rictus decided it wouldn't hurt anything to ask her if this was the right place or not. Rictus quickly dropped himself right behind the still crouching woman.

"….Is this Hob's fall cave?"

"TALOS'S TESTICLES!"

The woman screamed out as she tried jumping away from Rictus. She was not successful and ended up diving face first into the icy ground. She was quick to recover and turned around to see who had snuck up on her while blood was pouring out her nose.

Rictus could not help but laugh at the entire scene.

"Hahaha oh that was a great one…Talo's Testicles indeed. I will have to use that one."

Watching Rictus laugh temporarily stunned the woman. She then began looking around nervously before trying to speak.

"When did you sneak up on me? What do you want?"

Rictus slowly calmed down, but he couldn't help smiling still.

"Well, I only just got here and saw you awkwardly walking around and wanted to ask for directions. I am currently looking for Hob's cave. My name is Rictus by the way."

The woman cautiously grabbed Rictus's offered hand as he hauled her up off the ground. She quickly cast healing magic to fix her nose. She stood warily looking at Rictus.

"Hmm…well this is indeed Hob's cave. What do you want from this place?"

Rictus tried to gauge if he should tell the truth or not. He was not sure if the woman was a threat or not. She appeared extremely average. Most likely a Breton based off her looks, and the ease of which she used the healing spell. She was dirty and seemed like she had done a lot of hard traveling recently. There was a look of desperation in her eyes, as if she was desperately trying to catch a break. In the end, Rictus decided he would tell the truth but prepare for conflict.

"I am searching for the Helm of Winterhold for Jarl Korir. We received information from the archmage that the necromancers hiding here may have discovered it recently. I was asked to see if I could recover the Helm which has led me here. What are you doing around here? You do not give off the feeling of a necromancer to me. Are you trying to join them?"

The woman seemed quite shocked at the revelation Rictus was working directly for the Jarl. She was even more shocked to find out this was a den of necromancers. She just thought this was supposed to be an easy score from a couple novice mages.

"Umm no. My name is Isabelle, and I am not a necromancer nor looking to join them. An …acquaintance… of mine had told me about this place and how it could have a lot of interesting items here."

Rictus looked at the woman a little skeptically. Sounds a lot like she was a thief to him.

"Uh huh. Are you part of the guild or just striking out on your own? From what I have heard, some of these necromancers are quite powerful. You must either be brave or desperate to try and steal from them. Rogue necromancers are not usually the most forgiving of people."

Isabelle paled at his words. She was not sure how he was able to so quickly guess what she was here for. Isabelle was also nervous hearing about how these were supposedly powerful necromancers. She had a decent background with magic and knew enough to realize the potential horrors a rogue necromancer could commit. She was a decent mage, but nothing special. Under Rictus's piercing stare, her resolve finally crumbled. Tears started gathering at the corner of her eyes.

"I didn't want this to be how things went. I was just trying to help my love. He has been struggling ever since we moved to Winterhold. His sister was always supportive of use, but he was beginning to chafe at being indebted to her. He was a miner, but the only mine in Winterhold is depleted. I thought maybe I could do something to get us some money. I contacted the thieves guild to try and find some scores. Vex warned me about this being difficult, but I didn't believe her about it and needed a big score. I used to do some pickpocketing before meeting Ranmir. I just want him to be happy with his life…happy with me…"

Tears cascaded down the poor woman's face as she finally vented some of her frustrations out. Rictus stared at the woman not really knowing what to do. He was not expecting for her to tell him her life's story that's for sure. The stress of recent events must have gotten to her, and she finally cracked. Rictus awkwardly patted her shoulder and gave her a small towel to dry her tears.

"It's okay. Things will get better. I also have some good news if this Ranmir was a miner. Winterhold will be having a couple huge mines open up really soon so he will be able to find some work. I don't actually know the true dangers yet, but I would not recommend you trying to steal from these necromancers. Not to be rude, but you suck at being sneaky. You should try your hand at another profession."

Surprisingly, the cliché words seemed to make Isabelle feel better. She was embarrassed by her sudden outburst and his critic of her sneaking abilities. He had a point about how bad she was if he was able to sneak up right behind her like he did. Hearing about the new mines definitely raised her spirits. There seemed to be some hope for the first time in a long time. Isabelle was not sure why she so readily believed this strange man she just met, but she did. Everything seemed a little brighter, as if his very words altered the world around her.

"Thank you. I don't know what I was thinking trying to steal from these necromancers. I was just so desperate. If what you are saying is true though, there is hope for Ranmir. I have been gone for awhile now, but I know he hasn't forgotten me yet. I think I may go back to Winterhold now. I am sorry I cannot tell you about what you will find in the cave. You already seem to know more than I do about that place. If there is ever anything I can do for you, please don't hesitate to ask."

With that, the woman began walking away. Rictus was still a little thrown off by the whole encounter. He found it all a bit strange and kind of out of nowhere. He was just asking for directions and instead altered the life of a random stranger.

'Oh well. I got more important things to deal with. I wonder if these necromancers will cooperate and trade me for the Helm. That would be really convenient.'

Rictus quickly made his way towards the cave. There was no one directly at the entrance to the cave so Rictus continued making his way inside. After walking a little bit, Rictus entered a large open cavern area. He could see some wooden spikes up on a ledge looking over the entrance with what appeared to be an impaled body on one of the spikes. There didn't seem to be an easy way up there and there was only one hallway leading further into the cave. Rictus was making his way over to the ledge to climb it when he heard voices.

"We have three fresh sacrifices waiting to be offered up to The Revenant. We are on the precipice of greatness! We will slowly grow in the shadows and revive the Order of the Black Worm! There shall be none who can stop us! Prepare the sacrifices! Leave the woman for last. Once she wakes up, her screams will nicely accentuate the ritual. Next, you will…."

The necromancer was sudden interrupted by a knocking sound. He looked over at his 4 subordinates to see if it was one of them. They also stared blankly around looking for the source of the noise. They then turned their attention towards the prisoners. They were all still unconscious, but they did see something strange.

Between the large wooden spikes looking over the entrance to the cave, was a large slab of stone which looked like a door. The necromancer motioned one of his subordinates to go investigate. As he was moving towards it, they heard the knocking noise again. The necromancers quickly prepared their spells as the door seemed to open out to them.

"I hope I am not intruding. No one was answering the door, and I really want to get home soon. Do any of you know if the Helm of Winterhold is really here? I would be willing to trade for it."

The necromancers stared dumbly at the stranger. Before the leader could say anything, the newest member of the cult answered.

"Oh sure. I found what we think is the Helm awhile ago. I'd be more than willing to trade you for it depending on what you had with you."

The young necromancer seemed quite friendly. He was really hopeful this stranger had some mead and fresh food. He never realized being an outcast necromancer would make grocery shopping so difficult. It wasn't like the undead were good cooks either.

Rictus couldn't help but smile at the poor boy. He had not idea what was about to happen. The old necromancer who seemed to be in charge was snarling at the interruption to his sacred ceremony. A large ice spike began to form on his hand as a couple zombies started making their way towards the intruder.

"I we will just take your items. Then we will sacrifice you to the great Mannimarco."

The necromancer was expecting the usual fear filled response filled with begging at seeing all the undead approaching. He was slightly unnerved to see a bright smile instead.

"Oh, I was so hoping that would be your answer."

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[A/N]: I am not sure if I am fully sold on what I said earlier in the chapter about the level cap and future growth. I may change the explanation in the future, not sure yet. The levels right now are acting almost like a tutorial where the character gets ridiculously strong.

In other news, if there is a specific character people want to hear from or have a brief snippet about, let me know. I have some of the background done for all but 3 Skilled so far so most anyone is fair game if they really want to know about it. If there is enough desire, I will try and add it to the next chapter I release.

If you don't want any of those perspectives, then that is good to know as well.