(continued from part 1)
Episode 42, part 2: The Source of Magic
It's dark and overcast, and it appears that the few wandering guards and the faint flickerings of candles through windows are the only sources of light. You head to Ghorak manor, knowing the way well. You step inside, but it is silent and at first nobody seems to be here. Odd. You were expecting to find a bunch of half naked orcs. Maybe they're all at the party? Curious, you head upstairs, and find the scamp exactly where you expected him to be.
:
"Psst. Hey, buddy. Wanna buy something? I need booze money."You pull out the bottle that Imare gave you at the party.
:
"Want this?"He grabs the bottle from you and takes a swig, joyful tears streaming from his face.
:
"Ahh, that really hits the spot. Thanks. You're alright."You blink a couple times.
:
"So, umm...creeper. What's your story?":
"Like I said, I'm here for booze money. Wanna buy some swag? I've got lots.":
"Actually, I came hoping to sell things."He rolls his eyes.
:
"Yeah, you and everyone else. You have any idea how hard it is to get ahead when everyone keeps offloading their trash on me? What do you guys have against a scamp trying to make an honest living?":
"So everyone comes here to sell stuff?":
"Yeah, pretty much. I'm seriously in the hole here, but what's a scamp gonna do? Vile keeps sending me money to keep this operation going, but that's not gonna last forever. Sooner or later the accountants will notice.":
"Vile?":
"Yeah.":
"Clavicus Vile?":
"Yeah.":
"...so, you're from Oblivion?":
"Yeah. What, haven't you ever seen a daedra before?":
"Actually...no, you're my first.":
"Happy to pop your cherry, dude. Now, you got stuff to trade or what?"You pull out your loot from your recent unplanned tomb run.
:
"I don't buy clothes, books or alchemy ingredients.":
"You don't?":
"Nope. Just weapons, armor, potions, magic and household goods like plates and bowls and things."Hmm. You'd forgotten that he doesn't buy everything. That's inconvenient.
:
"Also, if you wanna sell your eternal soul, I can make some calls, I know a couple buyers for that.":
"Umm, no, thanks. This is fine."Sold stuff20 Potion of cure poison
25 Steel tanto 25
38 Two poison potions
100 Cursed ring of athletics and drain health
You have a spare tanto at Caius'. You don't really need two, and you have that magic dagger if you get into combat in the meantime. Creeper is obviously giving you better prices than other merchants have been giving you, so you want to make the most of the trip. Though since he's apparently paying 19 gold each for those poison potions, you're pretty sure that you can bring a complete and total end to this money shortage problem you've been having. And thankfully, he was also willing to buy that cursed ring you bought from that guy in Seyda Neen a month ago.
That brings your current total to 758 gold. Enough to learn to channel magicka with extra to spare, but not enough to learn a spell school too.
purchase another "save our ass" scroll - Intervention is great.
I second getting a second scroll, provided it doesn't cut us off from other goals.
:
"Hey, Creeper.":
"Yeah?":
"Do you have any Divine Intervention scrolls?":
"Are you kidding me?!?! I'm a Daedra! You know holy stuff like that burns us to dust, don't you?!?!":
"Wow, really?":
"Nahh, dude, I'm just messin' you you. Sure, I've got a few. 63 gold."He pulls the lid off one of the crates behind him, and you sort through his wares.
You find a divine intervention scroll easily enough, ad buy it. As for the rest...it seems to be a lot of junk, mostly. Plates, silverware, random potions and scrolls, some armor, a few weapons. Fur, chitin, iron, steel...nothing very interesting. You think back to SexyWithers' pile in Ald'ruhn. Either she's a collector, or she doesn't know about Creeper. So where did this come from?
:
"Who sold all this to you":
"Oh, you know. People. Well, mostly people.":
"Adventurers?":
"Sure, I guess.":
"Awesomicus? Clover? ":
"I don't usually ask for names. Who are are you by the way? For that matter, you called me Creeper earlier. How'd you know that name? I never told you that was my name.":
"My name's Michael. And you, well...you're kind of famous."He smirks.
:
"Heh. I'm famous."Guessing that you'll probably see him again, you say farewell to Creeper and leave the manor. On the way you stop at a clothier and pawn the clothes he wouldn't buy for 51 gold. You're sure they're worth more than that, but on the bright side at least this vendor is willing to haggle.
Mercantile skill is now 10You return to the mage guild and head upstairs. The party is still going strong.
Drunken revelers? Check. Somebody passed out beneath the table? Check. Girl dancing on table? Check. Altmer in pink floral dress....having some kind of stare-down dance-off...thing, with the girl on the table? Check, apparently.
:
"Woohoo! Dance! Dance! Dance!":
"Excuse me, miss?":
"Yes? Oh! your drink is gone!"She grabs a bottle from the table behind her and pushes it into your hand.
:
"There you go. All better.":
"Umm, thanks. Actually...I was wondering. Are you a PC?":
"No, I'm a nightblade! That means I'm a super sneaky assassin and I kill people! Isn't that neat? But don't tell anyone because it's a secret.":
"...ujmm, no. I mean...are you a player? Are you playing a game right now?"She burst out into a fit of giggles.
:
"What, me? Noooo. I don't even like girls in that way. I was dancing with Runa because she's dancing and I love to dance.":
"Runa, that's the girl on the table?":
"Yep! You interested? 'Cuz I could totally hook you up if you want."She leans in conspiratorily and whispers in your ear.
:
"Don't tell anyone, but I think she's a prostitute. Both her and Marelle downstairs are from Desele's House of Earthly Delights. I kind of borrowed them to help get the party started."Before you can reply, Imare suddenly shouts
"Cheers!" then taps her bottle against yours and upends it into her mouth. A few of the party-goers around her start chanting
"Chug! Chug Chug! Chug" as she proceeds to down the whole bottle, then throws both her arms unto the air and dances triumphantly. Everyone cheers.
You suddenly feel very out of place.
:
"Ok, well...thanks for...everything. Guess I'll see you around.":
"Ok, g'bye! Oh, and tell Eddie I said hello."Imare goes back to dancing with Runa and you make your way to the guild guide. Her cheeks are flushed and she has a bottle in her hand.
:
"Hi, umm. Forgive me for asking, but...are you ok, umm...teleporting me...while drinking?"She sways slightly.
:
"...waa...thissh? Nahh, s'ok.":
"...yeah, I guess I could walk.":
"No, reeellly, s'fine. Yer the *hiccup* second pershun I've sent today and nobody's blown up onna me yet."You apologize for interrupting her and turn to walk away. Balmora's south, right?
:
"Hey! C'm back her. I wanna teleport you."You raise your hands, trying to be diplomatic about it.
:
"No, thanks, really...I'll just walk to Balmora. I know the way.":
"Balmurra? Yeah, I know that one. Here you go....s'on tha house."An instant later you're in Balmora.
:
"Ha! Shee I nailed it. Now if'll you'll escoose me I think I'm gonna passh out now."That's interesting. That's the first time a guild guide has come with you on a trip. Usually you arrive on your own. Did she cast the wrong spell? Unfortunately, you're unable to ask, because she's keeled over in the plants, snoring loudly. One of the Balmora mages comes over with an amused look on his face and the two of you carry over to the sleeping area and put her to bed. Interestingly...
...Clover is no longer here. Hopefully she got your note.
prioritize getting back to Balmora and learning magic
Yes. You stop by the bookstore just outside the Balmora mage guild and pawn the book, Darkest Darkness, that nobody in Caldera would buy. You get 32 for it. That brings your total to 768. You rush to Fast Eddie's house and eagerly go in.
:
"Warm wishes, officer. Are you acting undercover today? Or perhaps you bring evidence of mage guild murder plots?"Looks like he hasn't forgotten your previous conversations, despite your change of armor. Eddie on the other hand, looks just like he did when you first met him. Grinding spells again. Though you notice that he has a stack of potions on the lid of the jar next to him that you're pretty sure weren't here before.
:
"Hi, Eddie. No, I'm just here on personal business."He keeps casting.
:
"Remember you offered to teach me magic?":
"Yes, of course. Did you recently strike it rich?":
"Well, not quite rich...but how does 750 gold for channeling plus one spell school sound?":
"375 each? That's much less than the price we discussed. I wanted 1000, remember.":
"Right, but you agreed on 500.":
"Yes. And i'll accept 500. I'll even accept 900 for channeling plus one school, if you can pay in full right now.":
"I only have 758.":
"So then you can afford to part with 500 for channeling training. Shall we begin?"You think about it. If you sold off all your alchemy ingredients, both your heal potions and maybe the tanto you have back at Caius' house, you might be able to put together 900. Maybe. Plus you have those two soulgems. And if it really came to it, you could sell your paper. That's probably worth 50. Yes, you could put together 900 if you were willing to sell a bunch of stuff and have no money left afterwords.
Just go to Fast Eddie and be done with it.
:
"Ok. 500 for channeling.":
"Excellent. Let us begin."(Two days later)
New known stat: Willpower is 40New known stat: Magicka is 69/69WowYou can
feel the sun. Hot, blazing....
sun. How could you have not noticed this before? It's
everywhere. Even in the dead of night the sun is a massive shining orb of luminescence permeating
everything. Magicka is everywhere. In everything.
Literally everything. The ground, the air....your body. It's like everything is made of sunlight. Sunlight that you can't see, but that you can
feel.
You cry a little bit to yourself. It's like...no matter what you can never be alone now. It's like there's a perpetual partner in the sky, in the earth, in your self...flowing through all of Mundus, that nothing can stop. Even in the dead of night, with the whole planet in the way...it makes no difference.
Magicka is everywhere.
Level 7
Health 59/59
Magick 69/69
Armor rating: 4
26.9 Strength (20)
34.9 Speed (30)
36.9 Agility (30)
39.8 Endurance (30)
42.4 Intelligence (40)
40 Willpower (40)
44.0 Personality (40)
56.0 Luck (50)
Numbers in parenthesis are starting values
30 Acrobatics (0)
22 Athletics (5)
6 Armorer (0)
6 Block (0)
7 Heavy Armor (0)
5 Medium Armor (0)
21 Light armor (0)
9 Unarmored (0)
5 Blunt Weapon
12 Hand to Hand
5 Longblade
6 Shortblade
8 Spear
7 Alchemy (0)
5 Enchanting (0)
20 Speechcraft (10)
10 Mercantile (0)
* Cruel Viperblade
* Chitin shield
* Colovian fur "helm"
* Chitin left + right gauntlets
* Chitin greaves
* Chitin cuirass
* Chitin left + right pauldrons
* Chitin boots
* Combat belt
* Commoner's shirt
* Commoner's pants
* Interior coinpurse, containing:
* 50 gold
* 2 Standard restore health potions
* lockpick
Backpack (Worn)
Main compartment:
* Tennis shoes
* A strange note that reads 'Remember, we are watching you.'
* Letter of introduction from Ranis Athrys
* Yellow notepad with 54 pages left
* 1 pen
* "20% cooler" Rainbow Dash t-shirt,
* Denim pants
* a cellphone and wallet with picture ID and $30 in cash
* 2 soulgems of uncertain size
* 30 Whickwheat(?)
Small compartment
* 218 gold
* 8 empty bottle
* 2 Ampoule Pod
* 1 Black Anther
* 18 Bonemeal(?)
* 1 bread
* 7 bungler's bane
* 5 Chokeweed
* 3 Corkbulb
* 1 kwama cuttle
* 25 Heather
* 3 hypha facia
* 11 luminous russula
* 4 Racer Plume
* 1 Rat Meat
* 8 saltrice
* 1 Scamp Skin
* 2 Stoneflower petals(?)
* 5 spore pod
* 6 violet coprinus
Blades, Novice
Imperial Legion, Recruit
Fighter's Guild, Associate (1 quest completed)
Mage Guild, Associate
* Steel tanto, with scabbard and carrying straps
* Imperial steel Cuirass
* Apprentice mortar and pestle
Alit Hide [1]Resist Poison
Ampoule Pod [1]Restore speed
Black Anther [1]Resist poison
Bread [1]Restore Fatigue
Bungler's Bane [1]Drain agility
Chokeweed [1]Drain health
Coda Flower [1]Restore luck
Comberry [1]Drain health
Corkbulb Root [1]Restore luck
Crab Meat [1]Restore fatigue
Gravedust [1]Burden
Green Lichen [1]Night Eye
Heather [1]Poison
Hound Meat [1]Poison
Hypha facia [1]Drain speed
Kwama cuttle [1]Restore health
Luminous russ. [1]Paralysis
Marshmerrow [1]Resist common disease
Muck [1]Poison
Racer plume [1]Levitate
Rat meat [1]Poison
Roobrush [1]Restore intelligence
Saltrice [1]Restore endurance
Scale [1]Swift swim
Scathecraw [1]Paralyze
Spore pod [1]Paralysis
Sm. Kwama Egg [1]Restore Fatigue
Violet coprinus [1]Water Walking
Willow Anther [1]Water Breathing
What do you do?