Treva's Watch

Rictus stood looking at the dragon's remains for a while after Mirajane left. Ideas fluttered around his mind on how best to utilize it, but more experimentation would be needed for some of the more interesting ones. The scales held a lot of promise for a project which should hopefully be nearing completion by now.

A loud boom rocked the courtyard as a fireball detonated right on top of Rictus, engulfing him in a firey explosion. A rough looking male Nord in hide armor was standing at the opened door to the keep. Lingering destructive fire magics could be seen swirling around his hands.

"HAHA! Now there will be no one to dispute my claim of killing a dragon! With this, people will fall over themselves at my feet, begging for my protection and becoming my followers. Hmm maybe I should have a little fun with Jaedya in memory of that milk drinker Stalleo…"

The man was a little surprised there was not even a body left after the fireball but shrugged it off. He had overcharged his spell and his target was probably greatly weakened after facing a dragon. His spell probably just obliterated him or threw his body behind the dragon's bones. A prideful look dominated his face just thinking of his power. Even the dragon could not have easily handled such a strong attack.

That same prideful look stayed on his face as he turned back towards the keep. A slight sound of scraping didn't draw his attention, nor did the pulling sensation along his waist. The prideful look did not leave his face as he felt a sense of weightlessness. The castle tilting on its side and growing taller did not alter his expression in the slightest. Nothing could ruin his good mood.

"Pathetic."

Rictus looked down condescendingly at the smug look on the bandit's face. A nudge from his boots sent the head tumbling down the stairs as he telekinetically tossed the body away as well. He shook his head in exasperation at the bandit ruining his previously good mood.

Right before the fireball had impacted him, his left arm manifested into a metal shield which blocked the damage. Then, he had immediately sunk down into the earth. While hidden underground, he located his attacker, moved behind him, took his sword telekinetically, and beheaded him with it. Barely any time was wasted at all.

Rictus had been expecting a significantly harder fight though. Any man willingly attacking someone who had just killed a dragon, even if he had help from the dragonborn, should have been a great warrior or mage. Instead, he was attacked by some arrogant weakling who thought a slightly above average exploding fireball would kill him instantly.

"Some people are just idiots."

Doing something he really should have done before, Rictus used detect life and mana as he looked around for any more surprises. There were a couple signatures further into the castle and a very faint sign of life hidden under some collapsed stones near one of the walls. The collapsed stones quickly flowed away like running water and revealed a broken and bloodied man barely hanging on to life. His leather armor had been slashed to rags and small cuts and burns covered his body. Both legs were grotesquely warped while his entire right arm was missing. Burn marks along his stump indicated his wound had been cauterized which likely was the only reason he had not bled out yet.

When all the stones were removed, a wet cough came from the man. He looked up at Rictus with burning intensity mixed with desperation.

"Save…family…in…keep…kill…Brurid…"

The man's eyes closed after weakly muttering those words. His breaths began becoming more ragged as he started succumbing to his injuries. Rictus stared at him a moment before pulling a couple large bottles from his inventory. He began pouring out the bottles on the dying man as he channeled a large amount of healing magic.

Health potions worked extremely similar to the games. They could heal grievous injuries in the blink of an eye. They tended to work better when ingested, but they still worked if poured onto wounds. Unfortunately, they had diminishing returns the more they were used. A couple potions could be used in quick succession, but more than that would be rendered ineffective.

The man's breathing became steadier after a few minutes of healing. Once he seemed stabilized, Rictus left to investigate whether the other two life signs he picked up were this man's family or more bandits.

"Seems miscellaneous side quests are just a part of life. Hopefully this one has a happy ending."

Fortunately, it did. Rictus was able to easily find the man's wife and son. The two had broken down into tears when they saw the state of their husband and father. Once they were assured he would live, Rictus got the full story of what had transpired.

The man he saved was named Stalleo Treva and owned castle Treva's Watch. He had gone off with a group of his supporters to fight in the war after the high king had been killed. While he was gone, his rival, a man named Brurid, defected. Brurid gathered a group of bandits and fellow deserters, then led them here to take over the castle while Stalleo was away. Stalleo had rushed back here after hearing of Brurid's desertion since he knew his family was in danger. Unfortunately, he was too late since the undermanned castle had fallen.

Stalleo then led the men under his command in an all-out assault against his ancestral home. The attack had already been going poorly when a dragon appeared. The blood and noise of fighting had apparently drawn its attention. Brurid retreated inside while the dragon killed everyone else there. All the while, he made sure to narrate what was going on to the captured family. After the dragon had been defeated, he had been the one who went outside and attacked Rictus.

The wife, who was named Jaedya, profusely thanked him for saving them all from both Brurid and the dragon. She offered him anything and everything left in and around the keep which he gladly accepted.

After bringing Stalleo inside, Rictus gave the man another round of healing magic. The man's body relaxed further after the healing had been done. 'Maybe one more and he will just need some rest.' Rictus made sure to inform the family and then excused himself after warning them some of his followers would be arriving shortly.

He then went outside the castle before creating another reinforced underground room for teleportation. After a quick trip back home, he returned with Miruma, Illia, Rev, and a handful of soldiers. Orders quickly followed.

"Illia, set up a perimeter around the castle in case there are more bandits hiding around here. Miruma, you go inside and start cataloguing everything you can see which would be of value. Rev, I want you to go ahead and start studying the dragon corpse. DO NOT try and raise it yet. See if it is possible, but do not follow through with it. I am going back inside to check on the family."

Everyone quickly began moving as they followed his commands. Rev was the exception as he just stared at the dragon skeleton in awe. Raising an undead dragon was every necromancer's wet dream. He shook himself out of his stupor and began casting various observation magics while slowly moving around the corpse.

Once Rictus rejoined the family, he noticed Stalleo was laying down asleep. Jaedya turned towards him and began speaking again.

"We are truly grateful and deeply indebted to you. I do not want to think what would have happened if you did not show up when you did. I would gladly give you more if I could. The junk laying around here is not a fit reward for the lives of my husband and son."

She softly caressed her sleeping husband's face after saying all this. Her son, Hafnar, was looking at Rictus with curiosity and a bit of guilt as he tried to gather the courage to say something. Rictus beat him to it though.

"You can ask your questions. It seems like you have something you want to know."

The teen took a steadying breath before looking Rictus in the eyes.

"You said your name was Rictus. Does that mean you are the leader of the Restored? We heard rumors about some of your abilities. Is it true you can retore lost limbs?"

Desperation and hope filled the teens face as he waited for an answer. Instead of answering with words, Rictus moved closer to Stalleo as he channeled his magic. A soft glow enveloped the sleeping man as his arm began regrowing before their very eyes. The restoration was done incredible quickly. Rictus smiled at how much easier the spell had become. Lots of practice, increased mana capacity and sensitivity, and knowledge gained from working on the trolls allowed his mastery of the spell to flourish.

Jaedya and Hafnar stared in wonder at the now Restored Stalleo. Tears fell from their eyes noticing the disappearance of any remaining wounds.

"Thank you master Rictus. Words cannot express how grateful we are."

Both of them bowed lowly towards him in gratitude. Such kindness and good fortune had become foreign to them after everything which happened while being captives of Brurid. Before Rictus responded, Stalleo started stirring as he slowly woke up.

He pushed himself up from his sitting position as he took in the room. Jaedya let out a happy sob as she wrapped her arms around him. Hafner had tears in his eyes as he joined in hugging his father. Stalleo brought both his arms around embracing his family with a serene look upon his face. His eyes then widened as he realized what he had just done. The arm he had lost to the dragon was back. Standing up he moved his family out of his embrace as he knelt and bowed his before Rictus.

"There is nothing I have which could repay my debt. You have saved my life, in more ways than one. Therefore, I pledge my service to you from this day forth. Whatever you wish of me, I shall do. My magic is yours to command. My castle is yours to have. My loyalty is yours."

As he was speaking, his family also knelt behind him while bowing their heads. Rictus was a little taken back by the solemn turn of events. He was expecting gratitude, but not this. He stared at the man carefully for a moment. In a spur of the moment decision, he placed his hand upon Stalleo's head.

"I accept you pledge. In return for your dedication and loyalty, I will grant you a boon. Your magic potential shall be awakened. With it, I expect many great things from you."

Stalleo stared in shock as he felt something change within him. Magic flooded his system as he felt a power grow within him. Magical theories he had struggled with before seemed trivial now. His head was abuzz with new ideas and theories.

Rictus watched the rapidly changing emotions on the man's face as he pondered his choice. There was not an obvious reason for making Stalleo his 9th Alteration Minion. Stalleo was a strong mage, but there were other strong mages in the Restored already, not to mention other much stronger mages out in the world. For some reason though, Rictus had felt compelled to act as he did. Maybe it was the pledge, or the determined look in his eyes.

A smile graced Rictus's face as another reason popped into his mind. 'Maybe I did it because of his restored arm.' He had noticed a couple pieces of something foreign lodged into Stalleo's shoulder when he started restoring it but paid it no mind. Part of his mind was still thinking about the dragon and what he could do with it after all. While normally such distractions were not a good thing, it had some unintended consequences.

He had wrongly assumed it was just some rocks or stones lodged into the arm. Instead, it was a few tiny pieces of dragon bones and scales. During the restoration, his magics had used these pieces to enhance the restored arm. The arm bones were definitely not on the level of true dragon bones, but they were significantly stronger than before. The skin also became slightly thicker and more calloused. Tiny patters could be seen on the knuckles and elbow which looked like scale shaped callouses while the fingernails had grown thicker and slightly pointed.

Such findings were incredible to say the least. If he could learn how to consciously make these changes, it would be a huge boon for himself and the elite forces of the Restored. Like always though, more experimentation would be needed though. Luckily for him, the generous dragon had graciously donated its body for science.

Realizing the Treva family was still kneeling before him, Rictus quickly left his thoughts for later.

"Now, there is no more need for kneeling like that. Stand up. There is a lot of work to be done still. Being one of my direct subordinates will keep you busy as there is a lot for you and your family to learn."

The family stood up with determined looks on their faces. After everything they had just been through, they would follow their savior to the end.

----

Rictus let out a sigh as he finally took a seat back on his overlook. No matter what happened, he always seemed to come back here when he got the chance. It was where he would get his best planning done while also remaining uninterrupted. The loud sigh from Ken as he sat beside him made him correct his previous statement from uninterrupted to mostly uninterrupted.

"I am starting to get too old for all this. Just when I think things can't get any crazier, it does. I am still shocked the dark brotherhood would target the Black-Briars. It's not really public knowledge, but they have been working together for years. I honestly thought the Black-Briars were off limits. Really makes me wonder why it happened."

They hadn't really had an opportunity to talk about what had happened at the party since Rictus was in a hurry to take Mirajane to Riften. He was similarly confused by what had happened. It was very strange the more he thought about it.

"I would also love to know the reason. It just doesn't make sense to me either. The ones killed were a Black-Briar and a high-ranking Thane with deep ties to the Thieves guild. If anyone should be safe from the brotherhood, it would be people like them."

He paused a second before speaking his thoughts.

"I have a couple theories, but I don't put much weight behind them. There could have been a change in leadership for the brotherhood. I do believe this will happen eventually, but no telling if it has already happened. A potential guild war could be going on between the thieves and the assassins. There could even be an internal conflict in the thieves guild and the brotherhood has chosen to back the side Maven isn't on. I am sure we could come up with a lot of things, but I don't know if we will ever learn the truth."

Ken let out a grunt at that.

"Thinking of assassinations, the emperor should be in Skyrim any day now. Do you still think he will get assassinated?"

Rictus shrugged his shoulders in response.

"Before the assassinations at the party, I would have told you yes. Now though, I am no longer so sure about it. So many things are changing in the world, and there are too many things to keep count of any longer."

There was no longer any guarantee the emperor will be killed by the dark brotherhood in Skyrim. Rictus still thought it would happen, but he had no idea about the how anymore. If a Skilled was part of the brotherhood like he suspected, they probably wouldn't get trapped like what happened in the game. They could just skip all that, board the boat, and kill the emperor. He would just have to wait and see what happened.

Ken's tone turned lighter as he spoke of a more happy topic.

"I must congratulate you on the new castle. It has a great position in the Reach and will be a good base of operations for the Restored in the area. Seems like you are getting more open to the idea of expanding in that area."

"We got lucky with that one for sure. Treva's watch is right along the river between lake Geir and Honrich. Good defensible location too. Leaving Stalleo there will be good since he already knows the area and the locals."

A bit of silence passed between the two men before Rictus spoke again.

"I am going to see what Dante wanted to talk about tomorrow. Hopefully, it won't be anything too crazy, though I fear it will be about the growing vampire attacks."

"It is good you are hearing him out. Despite the request, I think we should offer some assistance. He helped us, and we should pay our debts for such a thing. Repaying debts and keeping our word is the cornerstone of any lasting group."

Rictus agreed with Ken. As long as it wasn't something too ridiculous, they would pay back the favor.

"Get some rest Ken. I have a feeling that things are only going to get more hectic."

He then left to get some sleep for himself. He had a feeling he was going to need it for some reason.

---

[AN]: I was not originally going to include Stalleo as a true Minion, but while writing I thought it would be kind of fun. I always kind of liked his quest in the game so I thought I would include him.