Log inRegister Remove this ad spaceCheck out our new sibling site focused on the alternate history genre: AltHistory.com!
Creative WritingEasy Mode (Gamer/Multicross/SI) Thread starterQuantumshard Start dateFeb 5, 2017 Tags gamer self insert crossover multi-crossover Not open for further replies.First Prev2 of 5Next LastThreadmarksStaff PostView content Remove this ad spaceThreadmarks Bad moon rising View contentQuantumshardFeb 5, 2017#14Life fruits were slow to spawn and scattered across the entire underground jungle, so I dug out some flat spaces to encourage them to grow in paths I could walk circuits through to search for them. I also began digging out the long tunnel I'd have Plantera chasing me through later, laying down campfires and my last few heart lanterns. The chlorophyte ore couldn't be mined until after I'd beaten Skeletron Prime, the most annoying of the three mechanical bosses. Then I'd be set. Hmm. I also needed to make a surface mushroom biome.
I walked one more circuit through the passages I'd dug, finding two more life fruits before returning home.
"Status."
*ping!*
Name: T͂̑̏̍ͩͩ҉̦a̭̩͓̱̍ͦͮ̚͜k̳̤͎̟̀e̸͍̻̤̫̭̒͒ͣ̆ͩ̂n̘̊ ̗̗̗̞̋ͥ̀ͅa̱s̫̯͈̞͋̅̊̽ͨ̋ ̤̺͙p͏͖̩͉̜̩͎ā͉̫̋̅̏̀y͕̜ͯ̍m̬̞̘ͧͦ͋͌̍̚̚e̙̥̳̾̊̍͊̃ͦn̠̻͔̳͚ͣͯ̔̐ͬͮt̷͉͌̀
Class: Gamer
Level: 46
HP 740 (240 + 500)
MP 1020/1020
Str 71 (21 + 50)
Dex 100 (50 + 50)
Vit 74 (24 + 50)
Int 68
Wis 53
Luk 51
Unspent skill points: 15
I hmm'ed to myself as I went looking for mushroom grass seeds. I only had a few. I also needed a lot of mud blocks.
The next few bosses would come fast and heavy. After Skeletron Prime, I'd go straight for Plantera, then the jungle temple...Golem. Then the dungeon would activate, and the Lunar Cultist would spawn. Killing him started the endgame. The towers and the Moon Lord.
Boss fights were different in 3d, but it was the 'glitching' whatever that was, that would make all the difference. As long as their behavior didn't change by much, I wasn't at all worried about Plantera, Golem, or even the Cultist. The towers and the Moon Lord would be unknown territory, the real danger.
So where to put my points? I was getting nearer a few milestones, so I might as well-
*ping!*
You feel the air getting colder around you...
What? No. No, it doesn't work like that. Fuck, the moon hadn't even fully risen yet. I ignored the plot I was planning and ran for the arena, and the chest of boss-fighting gear I'd stored there.
Ok. Everything is going off the rails and I have no idea what was about to happen. Screw it, not taking chances.
Vit>>>39
HP>>>890
I dove for the chest and began digging out potions. I gulped down the standard set as the air got damned cold as heat and light was sucked out of the world. The sky was dark, and the sun was distant and pale. I refilled my ammo, frozen in a moment of indecision as I took stock of the different varieties. Holy arrows, check. Bullets...Ichor.
The ground shook. Why the hell would the ground shake? This boss flew. He wouldn't change completely, right? I planted myself in the middle of the arena, and scanned the horizon.
A metal-plated skull rose over the horizon. Metal limbs slammed into the ground and carried it forwards like a kludge-built mechanical spider. The limbs floated, unattached...a flicker, and then they weren't, riveted to the base of the skull. And then they were separate once more. I raised the megashark, and the laser-limb fired at me from hundreds of feet away. The beam crossed the distance in less than a second and knocked me on my ass.
-40HP
Not too bad. As long as I keep my distance...
The cannon-arm fired, and I moved. When the shell landed, I was peppered with debris. The asphalt had been torn up, soil showing underneath. I looked back at Skeletron Prime to see his passage knock a tree down.
So it's going to be like that, huh?
The megashark howled, and ichor bullets left the metal skull pitted and scored. I could smell the acid doing its work, and I played the megashark across the flailing limbs, trying to apply the ichor's debuff to each part of the boss before switching to the stormbow. Arrows rained from the sky, and stars followed. Metal shrieked at the impacts and Skeletron Prime weathered a long hail of projectiles, the acid lowering his defense. As he got closer, I applied a fresh coating of pain and misery with the megashark. His buzzsaw arm and clamp arm were tearing up the landscape, and I backed up, heading for the nearest teleporter. Skeletron made no sound as it reared up, and I dodged a shell before I caught a glimpse of the buzzsaw arm rearing back. Another step hit a switch, and I was far away in a moment. I re-oriented myself and fired again.
Skeletron Prime glared at me, raising its ranged arms to protect the main skull-body, and brought its two melee-arms down to smash the teleporter I'd just went through.
I wish I could say I was surprised.
One hundred Dex allowed to me spin in place as I registered the glow in his limb, and a laser beam shot harmlessly through the space I'd occupied a split-second earlier. I'd swear the empty eye sockets were glaring at me somehow.
- - -
The lifeless skull fell to the ground, the half-dead cannon and pincer limbs falling with it. It decomposed before my eyes, metal rusting away and powdered bone carried off by the air.
*ping!*
The jungle grows restless...
I collected the hallowed bars and souls of fright that dropped, and looking back on the fight as I strode home from the arena, I understood one thing clearly.
This was going to be an absolute bitch to clean up.
- - -
Creating the surface mushroom biome after being interrupted, I forged a Pickaxe Axe and headed for the jungle. The stormbow was swapped out for a shotbow with cursed arrows, holy arrows being useless underground.
I ran the circuits, collecting a dozen heart fruits. Weren't they supposed to be...oh, right. Luck. I began exploring further, finding a new hive and slaying the Queen Bee inside in less than a minute. I expanded my network of hidey-holes, fortifications, and began laying down patches of asphalt and campfires. I was out of spare heart crystals, and I wasn't in the mood to wander the vast underground to look for more. I'd pull some of the heart lanterns from the surface arena before fighting Plantera.
Speaking of, I found a bulb not far from the temple as I was mining chlorophyte ore. I stayed well clear of it, marking the location and making adjustments to the arena. I lost track of how much time I spent down there, harvesting ore. Most of it would get turned into bullets, and after restocking I expanded the main shaft beneath my house, setting up a chlorophyte farm. If I remembered correctly, I would be upgrading to Shroomite armor next.
- - - - -
*ping!*
Hidden quest complete: Have a heart
Scattered across the game world, items exist that would increase a character's maximum health. Instead, they have strengthened your body and made you able to endure more damage.
Maximum HP increased from (Vit x10) to (Vit x15)
That was the last thing I'd needed to do before I started weeding. With everything ready, I brought the pickaxe down on Plantera's bulb and leapt away. It popped, and a standard message told me Plantera was active. Except...there was nothing there. No noise, no growling, nothing unusual about the jungle itself.
I stood in one of the wider sections of the arena I'd prepared, Megashark at the ready. A tiny 'pff' made me jump. I'd dodged the projectile without even realizing it, and followed it back to see Plantera emerging from the wall. Not burrowing through the mud, not sprouting from it. Just a pixelated blob and its feelers lazily passing through the landscape, a 2-d creature only semi-interacting with a 3-d world.
I dodged another seed, and started firing. Maybe it would start glitching after I brought its health down?
It did not.
- - - - -
*ping!*
Hidden quest complete
Defeat Plantera
Your level has increased by 1
*ping!*
Hidden quest complete
Artful dodger.
Finish a boss battle without taking a single hit.
Your agility has increased by 3.
Had I really? Huh. I guess I was finally taking advantage of my superhuman traits. Wait. What was the human baseline in stat terms anyways? I hadn't even picked up an acrobatics skill yet, even with all the jumping around I've done. Maybe it required conscious effort on my part to make new skills? After returning home and rolling around for a bit, a cartwheel got me a ping and a new skill notification. Odd. I'd have to study this. Later.
Once back at the jungle, I opened the temple.
The Grand Design left the otherwise-lethal traps littering the temple plainly visible, and I collected them as I went. Megashark fire made short work of the lihzahrds and flying snakes wandering the temple, and I tore up the wooden spikes as well, just for the sake of paranoia.
Not a single glitch all the way down. Not even the boss, Golem, deviated from his script. I took a few hits for making the mistake of trying to get fancy and reenacting my earlier achievement with Plantera, but otherwise it was a short and uneventful fight. I collected his drops, healed up, and summoned him a second time. Knowing what came next, I used all the summoning items I had and fought him a third and fourth time.
*ping!*
Your level has increased by 1.
- - - - -
A short trip to the dungeon confirmed what I expected. A group of robed cultists performing a meaningless ritual at the entrance. Killing them would summon the Pillars, and destroying the Pillars would summon the Moon Lord.
That would be it. Endgame. But I turned around and left. Not yet...
As the sun rose the next day, I shattered a Solar Tablet and watched the sky darken. Time to grind.362QuantumshardFeb 5, 2017View discussionThreadmarks Of ultimate destiny View contentQuantumshardFeb 5, 2017#15This would be it. I don't know how losing 'easy mode' would affect this world, but I didn't want to gamble on the fourth world offering something that would offset the loss of it.
I went through every boss-summoning item, every event-spawner, went after each mob in the game one by one. I took my time, watching and learning, rather than just blowing my way past them. I defeated the Eye without getting hit. I slew the Eater of Worlds and Brain of C'thulhu with only scratch damage as I followed their patterns. I upgraded my weapons, and layered the arena with new traps, after running around while shadow boxing to make sure they wouldn't be more of a danger to me than the enemy. I'd gathered, as much as my mangled memory could account for, almost every single weapon and accessory available to me at this point in the game.
And just because I could, I went back to Factorio to endure a little more isolation long enough to gather a lot of infrastructure. My home was ringed by enough laser and gun turrets to almost clear an entire event without my help. Almost. When the time came, I'd move them to the arena.
But the clock was ticking, and now I was just procrastinating.
"Status."
*ping!*
Name: T͂̑̏̍ͩͩ҉̦a̭̩͓̱̍ͦͮ̚͜k̳̤͎̟̀e̸͍̻̤̫̭̒͒ͣ̆ͩ̂n̘̊ ̗̗̗̞̋ͥ̀ͅa̱s̫̯͈̞͋̅̊̽ͨ̋ ̤̺͙p͏͖̩͉̜̩͎ā͉̫̋̅̏̀y͕̜ͯ̍m̬̞̘ͧͦ͋͌̍̚̚e̙̥̳̾̊̍͊̃ͦn̠̻͔̳͚ͣͯ̔̐ͬͮt̷͉͌̀
Class: Gamer
Level: 48
HP 750 (250 + 500)
MP 1020/1020
Str 72 (22 + 50)
Dex 103 (53 + 50)
Vit 75 (25 + 50)
Int 68
Wis 53
Luk 51
Unspent skill points: 25
Exactly enough. Let's go for broke, shall we?
Vit>>>50
HP>>>1500/1500
*ping!*
A new skill has been created by Vit being raised to 50
Body of Bronze
HP regen rate increased by 10%
Base resistances cannot be lowered past 5%
Physical Immunity skills can now be developed
Immunities capped at 5%
Immunities? Which were those? Oh, right. Bullet vaccination. It turned out that shooting myself in the foot did in fact give me a new skill. So after a few hundred HP of self-inflicted damage and reducing my foot to an angry little stump of pain, I brought up the skill menu.
Physical damage resistance (Level 0)
Reduces physical damage by 1% for each level
Current xp - 15.6%
On second thought, I put the flamethrower down. I think I'll let this skill develop naturally.
- - -
Shroomite Armor, check. Four thousand rounds of chlorophyte ammunition, check. Potions, regen items, mini-arena, check, check, and check.
Dungeon entrance surrounded by creepy guys in blue robes? Check.
Extra-creepy cultist in high-definition plague mask staring directly at me? Double-check.
I gunned down his friends in seconds and prepared myself for-
-120HP
-oh-
-60HP
-balls-
-80HP
-he's-
-200HP
-FAST!
I dived out of the killzone that was the enclosed dungeon entrance and flew into the air. The Cultist followed, ghosting through the walls and rising into the air, and I blinked away the spots in my vision from the storm of lightning he'd dropped on me.
A block of ice the size of my house flew through the air, and I threw a hook straight down to pull myself out of the way. It hit the ground a split-second after I did, and I kicked off just in time to outrun the icy shrapnel that rained down. Goddamn this-
-160HP
The Explosion knocked me on my ass, and I dodged the next two fireballs on sheer instinct. I chugged a healing potion as I dove into a small pool of honey, letting it sink into my skin and speeding health regeneration even further. I rose, turned, and saw a trio of cultists surrounding a symbol glowing in the air. I knew what that meant, and I flew towards him as fast as my wings could carry me.
Eenie...Which one of you is-
Mo!
I jinked left and drew the Terra Blade. It was a two-handed beast of a sword that best belonged in the hands of a spiky-haired jrpg protagonist, but it was good at what it did. I scored my first hit on the Cultist after getting pinballed by the hyperactive boss, and the summoning circle vanished along with the two fakes as the Cultist was sent spinning through the air. His robes flowed like water, sealing the cut I'd made, and he reoriented himself. But now I was close enough.
A trio of Deadly Spheres sprouted blades, spikes and barbs as they spun through the air and criss-crossed the Cultist's body, leaving a mess of mismatched cuts across his body. I hesitated for a moment as the Cultist showed signs of actual intelligence, flailing at the buzzing blades in a very human gesture of surprise, but it passed as soon as lightning began gathering in his hands.
He jerked in place as the megashark roared, and streaks of green punched into him unerringly. The first lightning bolt went high, and the second went wide as a Sphere slammed into his wrist at just the right moment. As I kicked off a floating block holding a campfire, a thought occurred to me. I'd always fought this boss at range, but with the way he was acting...
I couldn't remember the last time I'd been inside a dojo, and I really didn't want to try getting the Cultist into any kind of fancy hold, but the lessons filtered through. Even with what was probably superhuman strength, the Terra Blade was heavy and I'd have to fight momentum if I wanted to do anything fancy, so I simply threw my whole body into a spin and slammed the flat side into the Cultist's legs. This time, the blade didn't just pass through his form. The Cultist was flipped end-over-end, robes fluttering in the air as he visibly fought to right himself even as my minions continued to harass him. He suffered another long burst of Megashark fire as I settled on a platform to recharge my wings before leaping at him again.
This time he saw me coming, and I escaped the lightning with only a light singe. Then I was close enough to reach out and grab his arm, twisting it and sending the second bolt of lightning he'd readied away from me. I fired the Megashark at him point-blank and one handed, and closed my wings. I dragged him down, pulling him close enough to feel his mask on my shoulder, and twisted so that he was underneath me. Normally, mobs didn't take fall damage.
The resulting crater made me think otherwise. I lifted myself up, planted a foot on each of his arms, and fired down at the prone form even as my Spheres darted in and out to hit anything they could reach. Whatever his strength score was, it was slightly less than mine, and he almost threw me off in his struggles. Almost. It was an explosion that finally dislodged me, as he detonated a fireball in each hand. By the scorches on his robes, if seems friendly fire was a thing now too. I let him fly up just long enough to drink another healing potion before resuming fire.
The Cultist launched something new, but the projectiles were shattered by my own. This was it. He was all out of tricks, now.
*ping!*
Hidden quest complete
Defeat the Lunatic Cultist.
You have gained 1 level
*ping!*
"Celestial creatures are invading!"
As I looked out over the distorted horizon, I just knew I'd sleep for a month after all of this was over with.
- - - - - - - - - -
*ping!*
"Impending doom approaches..."
This was it. I hefted my Vortex Beater, the Megashark 2.0. My home was now a fortress, its defenses facing inwards towards this arena. Everything rode on this last battle. I'd already kicked myself for wanting to fight an Elder God even though I strictly didn't need to, rewards be damned. But I was set on this, stupidly so.
The wait stretched on...until the world warped like crumbled paper before snapping back into place. The Moon Lord had arrived. He was, to my great relief, pixelated. But there was something else behind him, something immense that made my blood freeze and my vision swim. It was...impossible. Undefinable. But whatever it was, it was far away in some distant place out of space and time, and I could feel it raging as it clawed at the barrier between us. I understood, in a wordless way, that what I faced was only a tiny, pixelated shadow of a far greater being, a mask, a shadow, an...extrusion worming through a tiny crack between here and there.
My reaction was sluggish, and a pop-up told me I was being hit with some kind of insanity-based debuff. The words were a little hard to make out. I squeezed my eyes shut and mashed the trigger. The Vortex Beater was loud, even more than the Megashark, and I fired blindly as I ran. Little flares of pain told me that I was being hit by something, and I ran face-first into one of the walls I'd set up. The pain stopped for a moment, and I tried to open my eyes, keeping my gaze low and away from the avatar of madness floating above me.
My turrets were firing on-target, backed by video-game logic and behaving as they should, firing on the only places on the Moon Lord that would take damage. His hands were launching some kind of small semi-homing projectile, and I ducked in reflex as a beam of something swept the battlefield. Both were blocked by the walls I'd put up. Then I was bowled over by a projectile that had gone through the walls, and I nearly rolled into the open. I began firing again, trusting the chlorophyte bullets to make up for my disorientation. Something big and white swept through the walls again, and I ran for a honey pit.
I had taken less damage than I'd expected, and was quickly regenerating. My new pets, Stardust Cells, were clamped around the Moon Lord's third eye and were busily corroding it. A mental alarm told me my turrets were being damaged. There were enough projectile being thrown around that some went for my structures, and the extra lights and power lines I'd built as decoys had already been destroyed. As I watched, a cannon turret broke apart and fell. I began tossing out capsules that unfolded into laser-toting drones. With no way to control my minions, all I could do was to throw more out as they were destroyed when I had a free moment.
With most of the Moon Lord's attacks blocked by walls, it was only a matter of time before the eye on his right hand was destroyed. The smaller projectiles stopped, but the eye detached and began chasing me, passing through walls. Worse, the presence of the boss grew a little stronger, and my eyes watered when I saw the shadow of the greater being's real hand now superimposed over the pixel-arm. I ran and focused on the head, madly firing through the squint I half-hoped would protect me from seeing more than I should. It wasn't long before the third eye on the forehead shattered, and another half-a-minute before the last eye on the left hand broke.
An opening appeared on the Moon Lord's chest, and his beating heart was exposed. Then a wave of something indescribable pushed my to me knees, and the True moon lord pressed against the walls of the world, gaining some measure of control over its false pixel skin. Its arm, its real arm, moved in tandem with a fake to grab my leg with the toothy wound left behind when the eye had been cored out. The arms could pass through walls while I was left solid, and I was used to bludgeon down at least three walls before he lost his grip. I drank a potion on reflex as soon as I stopped rolling and checked my health.
1063/2250 HP (1500 + 50%)
Too low for comfort. I started running for the nearest teleporter and was zapped to a nearby mountain. More honey, more capsules, more potions. The Moon Lord wasn't far behind, the pixel-body practically picked up and hurled through the air by the shadow of the real that hovered above/behind/beyond. I fired as it came, dodging a swipe of an arm at the last moment and getting peppered with tiny projectiles. I lured it back into range of the few turrets still operational, and the heart nearly disappeared behind the mess of impacts, minions and projectiles being thrown at it.
The pixelated arm rose up to protect the heart, but nothing changed until space bent as the real Moon Lord covered the heart with his real hand. Projectiles were turned away by the appendage-shaped distortion, and I flew for cover as the other arm gave the pixel-skin a measure of solidarity once again and tried to hammer me into the dirt. A few of my summoned minions had oozed around the finger-shaped distortion and were latched on to the heart, but it would take forever for them to kill it on their own. My Factorio-capsules flew aimlessly and fired sporadically, whatever AI that drove them likely having as much trouble as I was dealing with an extra-dimensional element.
I needed something...hell, let's try it. I had one other weapon, forged from Solar Fragments. I knew the Solar Eruption would pierce blocks and hit things on the other side, and I didn't have the time to dig through my armory for weapons to test against this new defense. It wasn't as accurate as I'd like, but it was all I had, and I charged in and slashed with the flaming blade/flail/whip.
The weapon passed through the true hand without resistance. Pixels met pixels, and the heart burned.
The arm swung outwards and passed through me.
I was...elsewhere. Elsewhen. Spread out, larger than my body, extending into the ?nebula/stray thoughts? I floated among. The Gamer sent notices, the pings garbled and the windows glitched. I was everything but a body of flesh as I turned, uncontrollably, to look at-
Continuing on its course, the arm passed through me. I was sprawled in the dirt, a window announcing that I was the luckiest of bastards and I stood with the feeling that something immense and horrible had missed me by a hair's breadth. I was brought fully back to reality-HA!-by the sound of gunfire. A last lonely turret stubbornly firing. I raised the Solar Eruption once again, and focused on a half-remembered proverb to center myself.
Kill it with FIRE.Last edited: Feb 5, 2017369QuantumshardFeb 5, 2017View discussionThreadmarks Epilogue View contentQuantumshardFeb 5, 2017#16*ping!*
World quest complete!
Kill the Moon Lord.
You have gained 2 levels.
You have gained 1 Freebie retention point.
I...didn't really remember doing it, but the massive, glittering bones that were breaking down into ingots of Luminite around me and the other items told me the boss was dead. Of course it was dead, it had dropped loot.
And thus, the world made sense again.
I pulled myself out of the crater I was in, collected the dropped items, and left the shattered landscape to shamble home.
Flopping into bed, I chased the bouncing exclamation mark in the corner of my vision to my inventory, and pulled out the book I'd found with me when I'd first arrived in this mess.
Congratulations! It was a little dicey there at the end, some people just aren't willing to play along for the sake of a good game, but you sure put him in his place! He'll be slumbering for a few thousand years, so you don't have to worry about him coming after you for revenge. Well, not anytime soon.
But I digress. It's time to move on, to bigger and more exciting things. Specifically...drum-roll please...Normal Mode! Yes, the next three worlds will be quite normal. So normal that some of the items you've collected may not work the same anymore. Now, these worlds won't have specific World Quests for you to clear, so getting Core Skill points requires a bit of initiative on your part. All you have to do is...anything really, as long as it's suitably significant! Conquer a nation? Slay a god? Whatever it is, impress me, and the points are yours!
As for your last reward, you've got a point that will allow you to retain one of the several Easy-mode bonuses I so generously provided you with, since you went all-out at the end there!
I and everyone else watching hope you'll continue to entertain!
Good luck, Gamer!
...
"Skills."
*ping!*
Blessing of steve (temporary)
Increase Str, dex and vit by 50
A permanent boost to these stats.
A hundred and fifty points? Nothing to sneeze at, but I'll be exercising anyways...
Grants Minecraft-style inventory and hotbar
Recieve an inventory screen, which can be improved over time.
Hmm...
HP system
Continue to use an HP system instead of wounds, as if you had Gamer's body (Lvl MAX)
Would help keep me alive, but if I can get it eventually anyways...
Instant Crafting
Can you make it? Boom! It's done! No tools or time required!
Could be handy...
Do not require sleep
Who has time to sleep when there's adventure to be had?
FUCK no.
My hand hovered over the menu, and I tried to think of every game and fantasy scenario I could remember to help me make my choice. Considering my situation...
*ping!*
You have gained a new skill
Inventory (Level 1)
Creates a tiny pocket universe for storage of items. Items within are held in a state of stasis. Trained by holding items within over long periods of time. Requires the commitment of 1 MP per (Kilograms x skill level) stored within.
Current maximum capacity - 1020 kilograms
- - -
I stood in front of the portal. Its menu helpfully listed ???? as the forth world, and Observe did nothing to spoil the surprise. My new inventory was mostly-full of food. The rest was potions, a backup weapon, and some gold and gems in case I needed currency. I'd gone back and forth, tidying things up, finishing little things, setting my affairs in order.
I couldn't help but wonder. If another person got dragged into this mess, would they find the things I'd left behind? Would my buildings stand forever in a static world in some distant dimension? Or was this all constructed for my benefit, to be erased like an old save file when I was gone? Well, there was no reason to dismantle anything I'd built. If someone else did get tossed out here, at least they'd have things a little easier.
I stepped through the portal, receiving a notice of my temporary perks being removed and a strange feeling of solid-ness. The air was terribly cold and there was nothing but snow-covered trees and barren rock outcroppings as far as the eye could see. My movements were sluggish, and I was hit by a sudden wave of exhaustion that nearly made me black out. I had to fight to stay awake as I trudged towards what might have been a dirt road that stretched into the distance.
All in all, I felt fantastic.
------------------------------------------------
Spoiler: Current Status
As I said, I've no idea if I'll continue this. Maybe.
If I do, Normal Mode will take me to the following settings. While they were too small to really be considered hints, readers familiar with the settings may look back and realize how things I've collected in the first three worlds can interact with (cause mayhem in):
Spoiler: Normal modeLast edited: Feb 5, 2017367QuantumshardFeb 5, 2017View discussionThreadmarks New Game + View contentQuantumshardFeb 8, 2017#28The cold had seeped into my bones, but that wasn't what was making me shiver.
A small town stood at the end of the road. A squat keep and walls of rough stone and logs protected it, and my binoculars told me the inhabitants were human.
I was torn. On one hand, real people.
On the other...real people.
I shuddered and began walking on, removing my helmet to break the shroomite armor's invisibility effect. As I got closer, I saw a pair of guards flanking the gate and the tilt of their helmets that told me they saw my approach. I recognized their armor, from...somewhere...but the memory escaped me.
"Hold!"
I paused as much in shock as in reflex.
"Name your...self?"
The guard trailed off as I began laughing. I wouldn't have known what to do if they didn't speak english. I hadn't even considered it! They glanced as each other as I fought to control myself and keep the laughter from turning into sobs.
"I...I'm sorry..." I nearly gagged, rubbing my throat, my voice rough from disuse. "Its been...a long time since I've heard another man's voice. Excuse me. W-where exactly am I?"
I got a frown in response, and a bit of pleading crept onto my face before the other guard answered.
"This is the town of Helgen, in the province of Skyrim. From where do you hail, traveler?"
Wait...what? Oh no. I...what could I say?
"I...I'm not exactly sure. I've been in the wilderness for...years, maybe. I can't even remember my own name...ever since...I...I've been fighting for a very long time..."
I didn't see it, but one guard's expression showed sympathy as much as the other grew suspicious. They shared harsh whispers with each other before one stepped into a door next to him, waving his arms, and a group of soldiers came out.
"Let me fetch a priestess to tend to you. But first..." With the other guards shuffling into a line behind him, hands on hilts, he stepped forwards and extended his hand. "I'll ask you to leave your weapons at the gate."
The guards tensed as I looked at them, and I forced the thoughts down. These were men, not mobs. Carefully, I pulled the Terra Blade off my back, scabbard, strap and all. It was smaller than I remembered, and it didn't have a scabbard last time I checked, either. I handed it and my shotbow to him, not noticing the how the guards spread out around me. They needn't of bothered.
I made it three steps into the gate before falling unconscious.
-
I awoke on a simple cot, a cloth over my forehead and my armor gone. I was out of bed and reaching for a weapon before I remembered where I was. I was also naked. Not really a concern, but I didn't like being unarmed.
"Inventory."
*ping!*
I ran my fingers down the page. A hallowed pickaxe, a good tool and a serviceable weapon in a pinch was pulled out. I heard footsteps outside, and I put it away.
Men, not mobs, I repeated to myself.
The door opened to let in a woman in plain earthen robes, who exclaimed upon seeing me awake. She swept in and pushed me back into bed, chattering all the while. I only caught most of it, along the lines of 'you're awake, don't get up, praise the divines.' She replaced the cloth and sat down on a stool, leaning over me and cupping my face with her hands.
"...Ah, hello?"
She smiled and pulled the blanket up to cover me.
"I'm sorry. But you've been asleep for days, and we were all quite worried. How do you feel?"
"Like I need more sleep. What day is it?"
"The tenth of Hearthfire."
I had no idea what that meant.
"No, I mean...the year. I mean...what's been happening lately?"
The woman's expression grew distant and sad, and she clasped my hand in hers.
"It's 189, and the empire is at peace. You've nothing to fear. Now stay in bed, I'll send a someone up with a meal for you."
She squeezed my hand and gave me a comforting smile before leaving, a guard peeking in as she left before shutting the door behind her. I was left alone, and...confused. Sure, I wasn't really acting. Not entirely. But I was missing something about that conversation that took all the sense out of it.
This was the Elder Scrolls universe, I was sure of that much. I was in Skyrim and a dragon hadn't landed on me yet. I let my head fall back onto the pillow. I still wanted that month of sleep.
-
I was interrupted by a knock a few minutes later, and a younger priestess entered carrying a bowl of food. While she helped me sit up and eat, the door opened a second time and a young soldier stood in the doorway.
"Greetings. My name is Hadvar, I'm assigned to the Imperial garrison here. Up for answering a few questions?"
I answered with a grunt around a mouthful of potatoe. The priestess glared at the solder, who shifted uncomfortably.
"The guards at the gate said you couldn't remember your name before collapsing."
"I...can't. I've tried. I've been...lost. For years. Fighting. Running. Hiding. It's all a blur."
"Running from what?"
"Half of Oblivion itself, I'd say. Not a day went by when there wasn't something chasing me. Over and over again, something would crawl out of the night. Never alone. Swarms of...of..."
I gripped the edges of the bed as memories of pain and near-misses raced through my head.
The priestess laid a hand on my shoulder, and glared again at the soldier, Hadvar. He nodded to her and stepped out. The door closed, but I could hear murmuring from the hallway.
"-don't think he's faking-"
"-seen veterans broken like-"
"-the thalmor have no business-"
I tried not to let my eavesdropping show as I ate the rest of the meal. Hadvar was arguing with someone - several someones.
When the voices faded, I tried to focus on what I remembered about this setting. I was in Skyrim, in the city where the storyline started. But there was no Ulfric, no Alduin, no Dragonborn of indeterminate race and sex waiting to begin their adventure. That the town was still here was proof of that, though I had no way to know how long that would last. So as much as I wanted to stay and get my bearings, I needed to move. I had no idea what butterflies my presence here might cause, and I didn't want to risk getting the dragonborn executed because I altered things.
After just a little more sleep.
-
It took a few days before I was allowed to move around freely, but I was able to piece together what no one wanted to say. They assumed I was a veteran of the great war suffering from shell-shock. They certainly didn't let me near any weapons, and either a priest or a soldier was always watching me as I stretched my legs and explored the town.
The Empire had surrendered to the Aldmeri Dominion years ago, and I caught the name Ulfric Stormcloak in an arguement between two nords. There was discontent, but no mention of rebellion. That meant...huh. I had no idea where in the timeline I was, but I guessed I had at least a little while before the events of the game.
It was...good, to engage in a little mundaneity. Helping the priests with their duties and reading whever I could get my hands. It helped me focus. I was far from chatty, not that I'd ever been a social person to begin with, but eventually the guards didn't tense up when I came into view. I suppose a few of them had nightmares of their own from the war.
But I was on a time limit, and the book in my inventory painted a messy picture of the gate I needed to construct here. A cage of Dwemer metal around a standing stone bearing alchemical reagents was needed to leave, and it was all rare, high-level stuff.
I had some adventuring to do.
I was almost two weeks before I was allowed to pick up my old gear. I'd been questioned about it, as the garrison's battlemages were quite interested in both the material and the odd enchantments placed upon it. The shotbow originally produced extra arrows without consuming ammunition, but now it created phantom arrows with every shot that faded from existence after striking something solid. The Terra Blade left trails of destructive magicka in its wake as it was swung, instead of the sword-shaped projectiles I was used to.
That gave me an idea, a potential 'in' with the mage college of Winterhold, which I'd planned to visit anyways. Joining would give me a place to set up and do work without looking suspicious. That and Helgen could get wiped off the map tomorrow for all I knew.
Slipping out wasn't that hard. The invisibility enchantment on my armor still worked, and it was just a matter of standing still and fading from sight whenever a patrol moved past. I left a note, of course, thanking the priests for their care and telling them that I was going to search for my family. That and I didn't want them to worry that a deranged ex-soldier was roaming the countryside.
Well, they'd probably think that anyways, but it was the thought that counted, right?
-
Heading north, my first stop was Riverwood. I considered staying the night, but the town was relatively close to Helgen and I didn't want any awkward conversation if word got out or someone came looking for me. I sold some gems for Septims, and got a nagging memory from a golden dragon claw resting in a case.
It wasn't until I was on the road out of town, looking up at a ruin across the river that it hit me.
Thu'um.
I could learn the Thu'um.
I did remember one shout. The most famous one.
Deep breath, and-
I choked back the first syllable and coughed out the air I'd been holding. Stupid. Remember what had happened the last time I'd screwed with magic that had been beyond my ken? I could just as well explode if I tried to perform a shout without training. I took a swig of water for my throat and shook my head.
Later. Get some information on it first.
-
The road to Whiterun was longer than I expected. Granted, this wasn't a videogame where everything was out of scale with tiny towns and convenient walking distances between them. I passed farms and homesteads, and resolved to buy a horse, or at least train my Inventory skill high enough to bring over a car from Factorio. Nah, that would get too much attention. I could get a wagon though. Why let carry limits stand in the way of looting everything down to the furnishings?
I spent the night in a barn, leaving a gem behind for the owners before I was back on the road.
Whiterun was appropriately larger than in the game, and the guards only gave me and my odd armor a cursory look-over before admitting me inside. Inside...tasted like nostalgia. The creek, the lonely, empty house for sale, and Warmaiden. Conveniently placed little store, I'd shopped there more than anywhere else when this was all behind a screen. I spent a few hours in the marketplace, selling gems and precious metals for more septims, and filling the gap in my inventory with a more varied diet and a change of clothes better suited to this land. Shroomite armor wasn't built for winter. I considered buying a house, assuming I could afford one, and decided against it. It's not like I could fast-travel here, so I'd have to pick my home base carefully.
While I was able to find a few books that pinged Logophage as edible, it turned out that Nords really were distrustful of magic - outside of the alchemist, not a single merchant carried anything of the sort. No soul gems, no reagents, and no spellbooks. For the latter, I'd have to go to the only mage in town.
-
"Hmmm..."
Farengar Secret-fire glanced over the list I'd brought, the ingredients needed to create the gate.
"It's not impossible. Difficult, certainly. Winterhold will have most of what you need. As for the rest, you'd need an expert in Dwemer history in Skyrim. One that doesn't mind breaking the law regarding the trade of Dwemer artifacts." He glanced at me, his eyes carefully neutral. "What did you say this construction was supposed to accomplish?"
"I didn't. But to answer your question, I found a few notes and a similar gate in a ruin I stumbled on. Supposedly they allow for easy, long-distance teleportation between each other. I want to build one and find out."
I'd practiced the lie before coming here, but the Nord was impossible to read. It didn't matter if he believed me or not, but I needed some kind of cover story.
"Well, it will be an expensive experiment. Tens of thousands of septims possibly, assuming you purchase everything yourself."
"Well before I go looking for work, Arcadia told me you're the only seller of spellbooks and other such things in all of Whiterun..."
*ping!* x 13
I spent the rest of the day taking lessons from Arcadia in alchemy. It was surprisingly easy to pick up, but the process took a lot longer than Terraria's select-items-get-potion approach. I finally felt like I was actually developing, instead of just picking up more stuff. The really hard part was suppressing my manic laughter and not flinging my new spells left and right.
I also resisted the urge to buy more stuff. I needed some place to actually put it, and my inventory had actually gone up a level, doubling in size, but it could only hold so much. Someplace large and secure...an ordinary house wouldn't do, I'd need room to work and I doubt a Jarl would look kindly on magical experiments within city walls. A cave or ruin was large enough, but would need to be secured. If I could find some kind of stone-shaping spell, make the place more livable...yes, that could work...
I continued to think about things as I sat in The Bannered Mare, enjoying my dinner. I'd checked, and the food I'd brought with me from Minecraft had been transformed into its closest equivalent. Which meant I had plenty of raw carrots and potatoes alongside plain bread and various cooked meats. Not really traveling food, I'd have to make myself some decent meals and shove them into my inventory.
"Observe." I whispered.
*ping!*
The Elder Scrolls
Vast amounts of drugs were no doubt involved in developing this setting's lore.
Time remaining: 353 days
"Spells."
*ping!*
I went over my list of new spells. I had asked Farengar if there was a spell to summon a horse. Funnily enough there was, but no one ever used it. Without a convenient HUD to measure how long the spell would last, there was no way to know when the horse-summon would disappear and dump their riders on the ground. Bad enough at a trot, potentially fatal at a gallop.
Observe wasn't giving me a percentage on how safe the spells were to use. I'd have to find an experienced wizard and get some lessons, or eat a few books. Or risk casting the simpler spells.
I had a few new skills from books, too. Alchemy had finally progressed beyond level one, and I had a smattering of new magic entries. Summoning, alteration, air element affinity...If my head still wasn't a mess, I'd know why looking at those skills worried me.
I was jolted out of my thoughts by a lovely nord lady and her equally lovely cleavage wrapping herself around my arm.
"Well hello there, stranger. You look like you could use some company."
I barked out a laugh, and pulled her closer.
"Oh, you have no idea..."
-
"Mmm..."
I pulled the warm body tight, and buried my face in her hair.
"It's morning..."
"No it isn't."
"Yes it is..." Came the sing-song answer.
"You're breaking my heart, woman."
"You didn't pay me enough to love you past sunrise, dear."
"Then forget the nightly rate. How much just to buy you? Forever."
She laughed and began sliding away, adding some wiggling just to spite me, I was sure. At the moment, she was the most beautiful woman in the world, and I wanted nothing but to have her wrapped around me once again.
I've never realized until now how horrible, how completely...unnatural it was wake up alone, and I never wanted to experience it again. All I could do was watch her get dressed in what little light was streaming through the shutters.
I pulled myself up just as she reached the door, and embraced her for once last touch. She hmm'ed and gave me a kiss...and then her eyes went wide as I palmed a diamond from my inventory and held it up.
"That's...I...really, I-"
"Take it." I pressed the diamond into her hands, and held them shut. "I wasn't lying about needed the company. You...helped me."
I gave her one last kiss her and stepped to one side, pulling the door open for her. She left looking a little dazed, and I reluctantly closed the door behind her. I'd need a bath, breakfast, to plan my route to Winterhold, supplies, get a horse or travel with someone else...
"Status."
*ping!*
Name: T͂̑̏̍ͩͩ҉̦a̭̩͓̱̍ͦͮ̚͜k̳̤͎̟̀e̸͍̻̤̫̭̒͒ͣ̆ͩ̂n̘̊ ̗̗̗̞̋ͥ̀ͅa̱s̫̯͈̞͋̅̊̽ͨ̋ ̤̺͙p͏͖̩͉̜̩͎ā͉̫̋̅̏̀y͕̜ͯ̍m̬̞̘ͧͦ͋͌̍̚̚e̙̥̳̾̊̍͊̃ͦn̠̻͔̳͚ͣͯ̔̐ͬͮt̷͉͌̀
Class: Gamer
Level: 50
HP 0 (765)
MP 633/633 (1035)
Str 22
Dex 54
Vit 51
Int 69
Wis 54
Luk 55
Unspent points: 10
Gamer's Body (Level 2)
User's natural healing rate includes regeneration to the body's ideal state, replacing all lost limbs, organs and assorted bits perfectly.
Gamer's Mind (Level 2)
User gains eidetic memory and a vastly increased mental storage capacity.
Logophage (Level 2)
Absorb instructional information from electronic and magical storage mediums.
Observe (level 2)
Display information that is commonly known to the world or what could be derived from extended observation and testing.
Inventory (Level 2)
Creates a tiny pocket universe for storage of items. Items within are held in a state of stasis. Trained by holding items within over long periods of time. Requires the commitment of 1 MP per (Kilograms x skill level) stored within.
Current maximum capacity - 2070 kilograms
Hmm.
I pulled a knife out of my inventory and made a tiny cut on my arm. It hurt, and there was no notice of damage. No more HP. I had plenty of room in my inventory, and no excuse not to fill it up, even with just rocks or something. I think I'll need it as high a level as possible soon.
As I made my way to the bathhouse, I supposed that all things considered, my entrance into a new world went pretty well.
- - - - - - - - - - -
Status: Active (Observe) Low priority, Emissary level approval
Description: Male, Imperial(?), Mid-30s
Background: Unknown. First came to attention after appearing in Helgen, delirious and malnourished. Believed by Imperial garrison captain to be a First War veteran whose mind was unhinged during the conflict, but discrepancies arise. He arrived bearing armor and weapons of unknown material, each bearing unique enchantments unidentifiable to garrison battlemages, possibly daedric artifacts. Left Helgen unannounced, noted as traveling through Riverwood towards Whiterun. Paid for supplies with gems and bars of precious metals not found on his person when first searched. Currently on-route to the College of Winterhold, reasons unknown.
Operational Notes: Forward copy of report to operative at College of Winterhold, observe and gather information. Discern source of wealth if possible. Discern nature and origin of arms and armor, procure if determined to be of value to the Aldmeri Dominion.407QuantumshardFeb 8, 2017View discussionThreadmarks Back to school View contentQuantumshardFeb 12, 2017#42It was a three-day trip to Windhelm, skirting a line of mountains between the core of Skyrim and the Ghost Sea. It was cold enough that I developed a cold resistance skill, and this was supposed to be one of the warmer parts of Skyrim. It wasn't even winter yet. Observe confirmed that Nords really did have innate cold resistance, but how the other races endured the weather I couldn't imagine.
The College of Winterhold probably made a tidy profit selling resist-cold enchantments. I knew I'd be picking one up.
The trip was otherwise uneventful, the merchants I traveled with having brought along a few guards to dissuade any wildlife or banditry. The shock came at the end, when I realized who was in the city.
A younger Ulfric Stormcloak, Jarl of Windhelm, and future revolutionary.
If just being in Helgen had been uncomfortable, now I was utterly paranoid that I'd bump into him or say the wrong thing to someone and get Nirn eaten by Alduin. I did consider interfering somehow, like letting Ulfric in on some things, like the Thalmor's interest in dragging out the civil war - fucking Thalmor - or just giving whatever I could spare to his war-chest. It'd be great if there was no civil war at all, but I had a lot of time to think about it, and mead made me very thoughtful. I was a philosophical drunk, it seemed.
The Thalmor needed to be fought, wherever, however possible. If Skyrim broke away from the Empire, they'd lose influence here. And that would hurt them. Skyrim could even become a potential rallying point for the next conflict.
Well, that was something to consider for later. I was hardly in a position to wage a one-man war on the Thalmor, gamer or not. Well...
Not yet.
- - -
*ping!*
A new skill has been created.
Magical Theory (passive/active)
Understanding the hows and whys of magic itself. It is essential for spellcasting, creating new spells, understanding magical phenomena, and influences all other magic-based skills.
Chance of spell failure due to insufficient skill or outside factors is now displayed.
Full details of known spells now displayed
New spells can be created. Success requires sufficient skill in Magical Theory and supporting magical skills. Difficulty increases with power and complexity.
*ping!*
A new skill has been created.
Improvised Spellcasting (active)
Spell effects can be adjusted when known spells are unsuited for the task at hand. Spell aspects such as element, area, range, power and others can be freely altered as required. High chance of failure and backlash, reduced when the desired factors are part of known spells.
*ping!*
A new skill has been created.
Multicasting (active)
The art of dividing one's attention to perform multiple actions at once, applied to spellcasting. Some spells may interact or interfere with each other if cast simultaneously or at the same target.
Current number of simultaneous spells allowed at current skill level: Two
Multicasting increases chance of spell failure at current skill level by: 60%
I couldn't keep the manic grin off my face, or the light from my eyes. It had cost me all but my last few coins, but I'd found a Dunmer mage of talent in Windhelm's grey district. I'd put off traveling when I recalled that I had to display some spellcasting skill before I could join the college, and thankfully the designated trainers from Skyrim the Video Game - not that I remembered who any of them were - were not the only ones who could teach an old dog new tricks.
He'd probably ripped me off, considering how distrustful the Dunmer here were of others, but it didn't matter. I had my 'in' with the college, and if this land was anything like the Skyrim I knew, there was wealth aplenty, just wanting to be claimed.
And just by looking at my new skills, I knew that wouldn't be an issue.
- - -
After the great collapse, Winterhold was a shadow of its former self. Already isolated, few had reason to travel there except those who passed through it on the way to the college. That meant I'd be making the trip alone. The wind off the Ghost Sea was freakishly cold, I woke up alone and thus miserable this morning, and there wasn't even any conveniently-placed caves or ruins to delve for treasure and warmth.
So I amused myself by redecorating the landscape.
Familiars paced behind me, light danced, fireballs dug craters in the snow. Blades were called to my hand from Oblivion, banished, and called again. My flesh turned to wood, the air turned to iron, snow turned solid beneath my feet and saw no tracks made. The crackle of magic was interrupted only by howls of wind and the ping of skill increase notices. It was a strange feeling, expending MP. Without the Gamer's inbuilt counter, there was only a growing, gnawing sense of emptiness. As the counter approached zero, it felt almost exactly like the exhaustion after an orgasm, but without the accompanying happy-brain-chemicals, and left me feeling increasingly disassociated. My own body didn't feel quite right, almost foreign, for a long time after I let the counter tick upwards and fill to the max. Hmm. I vaguely remembered something about eastern occult practices, something about chi and abstinence or something? Maybe they were on to something. But that would mean that magic existed in the real world at one point, wouldn't it? And what would that mean for my situation?
I suppose I could keep my status window open next time I found a bedmate. Ha. I really shouldn't forget there's more to studying magic that just getting bigger numbers in my skill window.
I had plenty of time to think, regardless. From Windhelm to Winterhold was at least a two-day trip, given the snow and declining quality of the roads. This was an area where even Nords would feel the cold, and the Jarls had long ago ordered waystops carved out of the mountains for travelers. Of course I'd brought firewood, camping gear and extra blankets, though they wouldn't keep me alive if I tried camping in the open here.
I'd made good time, and I found one in the early evening. A lonely stone pillar was the only sign, the road snowed over and the opening barely visible among the mountain face. I didn't know how far it was to the next waystop, so I trudged up and soon found the entrance to what once might have been a mine. After pushing open a broken wooden door and replacing the rock that had been keeping it shut, I headed further inside.
-
Whoever renovated this place had done a halfway decent job. The first, largest chamber was still cold, but each of the three branching passageways each had their own doors, looking solid and in much better shape. Steps had been carved out, slopes boarded over, and proper drainage ensured.
There was already a fire going in one branch, people muttering to each other. A bald Nord poked his head out the door and waved me over, and I gratefully sat down next to a fire in a much warmer section of the mine. Three Nords and an orc gave me wary looks from their places at the campfire, and I gave them a curt greeting.
I actually said 'greetings' and kicked myself for how corny it came out. Thankfully no one seemed to care. They each went back to what they were doing.
"Fancy sword there."
I glanced up at the Nord who'd spoken, hunched over a bowl with his beard in his soup.
"Just something I found in my travels."
"It's not elf-made, is it?"
"...This? No. Don't know who made it. I'm taking it to the college to let the wizards have a look at it."
The orc kept his eyes on the blade. The other two sat up a little straighter. The Nord who'd spoken looked up and set his empty bowl down hard. It didn't hide the sound of steel sliding along leather behind me.
A two-handed blade came down in my former seat. I drew the terra blade and flicked it in a horizontal motion, sending a wave of magic out that left a scorched line across the owner's arms and torso. I hopped back, raised the blade, and brought it down. A blonde had tried to tackle me with a dagger, and I left a gash across his back as he missed me and ran past. His twin pulled an axe and hunkered down behind a large shield, while the orc drew a mace and went to my right.
This was terrible.
I'd finally found a hidey-hole to rest in while traveling, and it was already full of mobs.
I should have brought blocks and made my own.
I raised my left hand, and fired off a water bolt. The mobs tracked it with their eyes, and I swept my hand to the right, firing as fast as I could. One Nord tried to slip between two waterbolts and rush me, but didn't notice the one I'd fired to my side. When he tried to close with me, the bouncing bolt struck his side, staggering him, and I cut his leg open. On direct contact, the energy the blade was wreathed with was enough to burn through the limb, and he fell.
The orc and the first one I'd injured were distracted by the bouncing spheres of water, so I summoned a minion. I should've had one out at all time, why didn't I? An injured mob was standing up, recovering from the knockback, and I set the summon on him. He disappeared beneath ghostly fang and claw.
I expected the orc to be strongest in close-quarters, so I slowed him with a blast of frost before knocking him off his feet with a low waterbolt. As he tried to rise, I drove my sword into his back, two-handed. The last mob came at me swinging, and I danced around him.
"Observe."
He was stronger than me, but much slower. He was also heavily armored.
Ichor.
The golden shower hit him square in the face. Flesh boiled and steel hissed. He could do nothing but scream and flail his arms in an attempt to shield himself for a few moments before he fell.
Huh. I didn't know this spell could stunlock mobs.
I decapitated the screaming mob. Then I stabbed it a few more times. ...Where were the drops?
*ping!*
You have gained 1 level.
-
I stacked the mobs...corpses...outside. After stripping them of everything of value. They didn't drop...have...much on them.
I sat in front of the fire, away from the pools of blood. I had planned to take the time to train my skills. Instead I sat and watched the flames. I couldn't bring myself to do anything else.
In the morning, it was a momentary shock to find a new snowdrift next to the entrance of the mine, and the frozen limbs poking out of it. I quickly looked away, and left footprints through blood-soaked snow as I walked back to the road to Winterhold.
- - -
I stopped halfway through the gate to Winterhold. The lone guard was staring at me.
"I don't know what the procedure for this is, but I was attacked by bandits when resting in the mine outside of Windhelm. I...killed them all. Four nords and an orc. I stacked their bodies outside of the entrance."
The guard...
...nodded.
"A group of bandits gave us some trouble a week ago. The steward has a list of stolen items. If you can present proof of your deed, there may be a reward."
I repeated myself to Malur, the Jarl's steward, and mimed pulling items out of my backpack, positioned so that my inventory window hovered inside. Eventually I brought up a piece of jewelry he recognized, and I was a small sack of septims richer. Bandits were always just a convenient source of stuff, weren't they? And I'd spent most of my money. I'd need more, a lot more.
I'd just have to kill a lot of bandits.
Could I do that?
- - -
The bridge to the college was crumbled and unsupported, and even with a lack of real architectural know-how, 'magic' was the only possible explanation to how it was still standing.
Stepping over a sigil, there was a flash from farther ahead and a woman stepped out to meet me.
"Who approaches the College of Winterhold?"
She was an altmer, robed and humming with power. I resisted the urge to reach for my weapon as she approached.
"I do. I wish to join."
"And what do you seek here?"
"Ways to improve myself and shape the world around me."
She hmm'd and I was taken aback for a moment. I'd answered without hesitation. Where had the answer come from?
"I am Faralda, and you are welcome to join. But before I can admit you, the college requires that you demonstrate a certain level of skill with magic."
I looked around and settled on a lonely tree sticking out of the cliff. I pointed at it and a stream of golden liquid shot out and struck the trunk. I grimaced as the wood shrieked, popped and burst, the tree falling to the shoreline far below.
"Interesting. That's a spell I've not seen before. What are the principles?"
We talked shop, as much as my limited knowledge of Elder Scrolls terminology allowed as we crossed the bridge to the college. It was smaller around than I expected, a mostly vertical construction. Wizards did love their towers.
Faralda gave me a brief tour of the college. It was completely unlike my memories of it from the game, and she gave me a stern warning not to enter the lower levels, which I heeded. Poking around the things dwelling below wasn't a priority. I was introduced to the archmage, and I drew a crowd when I demonstrated golden shower and waterbolt. Transcribing those spells into tomes for others to learn would later earn me a few favors with the college.
There were also quite a few more people here than I expected. This included a smug Thamlor - fucking Thalmor - who would not stop pestering me about my 'primitive yet curious' equipment.
I offered to give him a demonstration.
He accepted.
I asked him if there were wizards in residence with enough skill to regenerate a lost foot.
He said there were.
He was pretty talented. The ward he projected was supposedly top-notch. But the projectiles from my rod of magic missile could be guided to dart around obstructions to hit from the side or even beneath a common warding spell.
I spent the next hour showing off some of the items I'd brought with me, after a few wizards had helped the irate Thalmor hop over to the infirmary. I received quite a bit of interest, along with little words and looks of subtle approval for getting one over on the arrogant 'advisor' assigned by the college.
I intended to milk their goodwill for all it was worth. Not that I wouldn't have passed up the chance to kill the little shit on general principle. I knew enough of the Thalmor's actions before, during, and after the war. But offing Arcano would draw attention, and that would complicate things.
So instead I awkwardly hobnobbed and made plans, asking questions and picking out the experts I'd need to consult with later. Historians and alchemists, tutors both magical and martial. There were so many things I needed here, and just as many things that made me want to jump up and down and clap my hands in glee.
As I settled into my assigned dormitory, warm but sadly alone, I giggled as I pulled the blankets up. Things were going perfectly.
- - -
A few floors down, his ruined foot swathed in foul-smelling bandages, Arcano manipulated a ghostly square of paper with a twirl of his fingers. With all the magic thrown around the college, few would give the slightest attention to the tell-tale tingle of a clairvoyance spell. Reading it only brought confusion. He'd been tasked to observe the imperial, but his farseeing had revealed nothing but a mess, magical gibberish unconnected to any system or school the Altmer knew of.
Really, what form of ritual could possibly require so much Dwemer metal?387QuantumshardFeb 12, 2017View discussionThreadmarks Diggy diggy hole View contentQuantumshardFeb 14, 2017#48The College of Winterhold didn't have anything resembling a set schedule. It had cliques, not classes. Mages gathered in groups based on their current interests, assisted each other, learned from their elders, and performed tasks of one sort or another in exchange.
I was something of an exception. I was new, and had shared some interesting things with the college as a whole, so technically it was in my debt. I could request something from anyone, even the archmage, and my 'credit' would cover it. Of course, they weren't required to hand over anything I asked for, and there wasn't any kind of fixed rate for favor-to-goods. I imagined I'd earned as much for hobbling Arcano than for the artifacts and spells I'd shared. I'd have to find a way to support myself, through money, work, or further favors soon. So I prioritized.
Task zero. Find out where I stand in this world.
Task one. Locate Dwemer ruins to loot for metal, and acquire the reagents needed to complete the gateway.
Task one-point-one. Either locate or acquire the means to create a safe place to assemble the gateway. A cleared-out Dwemer ruin might be a good choice.
Task one-point-two. Assemble the gateway. I could probably handle the masonry with a little practice, but I'd likely need a smith skilled enough to work Dwemer metal.
Task two. Research the unique powers of this world. The Thu'um. Sword-singing. Tonal Architecture. Lycanthropy? Vampirism? Immortality did have its appeal.
Task two-point-one. Attempt to acquire those powers. Prioritize based on likelihood of acquisition, weigh gains vs possible consequences and available time left in world.
Task three. Loot. Everything.
I began by asking around. Several Dwemer ruins in Skyrim were documented, though I couldn't remember enough of the game to pick out any I may have visited while playing. I did remember the massive cavern of Blackreach, and that it was connected to several other cities, but that was it.
This was getting annoying. I really needed to find some kind of memory-recovery spell.
Only a few ruins had been actually visited. The Nords had no love of the Dwemer and their works, and the Empire still technically banned the sale of Dwemer relics. 'Archaeology' was allowed, and I got the distinct impression that my cover story of trying to re-create a Dwemer experiment wasn't fooling anyone. At the same time, everyone would accept it as polite fiction and ignore my actions unless I was caught causing trouble somehow.
Calcelmo of Markarth was renowned as the foremost expert on all things Dwemer in Skyrim, that Markath was built on top of a Dwemer city made it seem like an excellent place to start...but at the same time, the local Nords would be a constant presence I'd have to work around.
There were two Dwemer ruins not terribly far from the college. Alftand to the south, and Mzinchaleft to the west, just past the city of Dawnstar. Isolated, more dangerous, but offering more privacy.
As for the alchemical ingredients, I'd need multiples of quite a few things. It seemed like the gate needed to be wreathed in smoke from a mixture of certain things each time I wanted to use it. Other than a bit of nirnroot, which was quite rare, the things I'd have to burn wouldn't be terribly difficult or pricey to acquire. The stone menhirs the Dwemer metal cage hung off of each required caps of different metals imbued with different kinds of atronach salts - fire, frost and void. And each had to be refined in a particular way. According to the mages I spoke to, I'd require a fair amount of each, and the services of a master alchemist.
-
I spent my second day here doing research and eating all the books I could purchase - languages of Tamriel, notes of the Dwemer language, local looting laws...I also put my Observe skill to use, comparing myself to the guards and mages around Winterhold. As far as I could tell, at least on this planet, fifty was pretty much the limit, the mark of an exceptional individual. My strength score of 25 left me merely 'strong' though I didn't know how I'd stack up to Dwemer constructs and Falmer in the dark. Oh, note. Get some potions or a ring enchanted with night-eye.
On the third day, I got some practice in. The Gamer let me develop skills quickly, and I'd fought plenty of things in Terraria, but I'd never had the chance to sit down and actually compare myself to another fighter. Which was why I was on the floor looking up at the College's sole Redguard resident, his scimitar at my throat. I'd asked for a spar, and got one. Even if I was one of the fastest people on Nirn, I'd still gotten thoroughly schooled. My skill levels had shot up just from a hour of instruction on how to properly use a sword.
J'zargo was happy to blast away at me, and while the skill gain was minimal, I did learn a lot about the intricacies of fighting another mage. It all came down to timing and rhythm, the tempo of offense and defense, raising defensive wards, gathering magicka, and firing off spells without leaving openings for your opponent.
I was headed to my room that evening when I was pulled aside by a Bosmer named Enthir.
"So, I hear you're be off soon? Do you have everything you need?"
"Everything but food."
"You do know that Dwemer animunculi hunt by magic, yes? Your armor, interesting as it is, won't hide you from them." He chuckled and leaned closer. "Then there are the Falmer, notorious for haunting Dwemer ruins."
"So? I'll just...arg. Falmer are blind."