Chapter 16: Giant Solutions
Sleeping in your own bed after being away is an amazing feeling. Rictus was taking his time just leisurely lying-in bed. There was no rush today for him to do anything. He did plan on continuing his journey to the college, but he wasn't sure how he wanted to go about it yet. Did he want to take any pitstops on the way, or would he rather just get there as fast as possible. Rictus was starting to find it kind of enjoyable to travel around Skyrim. It was a beautiful place after all. Plus, being out in the world gave him many chances to practice different magics as well as get inspired for trying out new ways to use magic.
Setting up a couple more teleportation glyphs wouldn't be a bad idea either. So far, he only had 3. There were located under his house in a hidden room, hidden underground room outside of Dawnstar, and a near the lake outside of Markarth. [(A/N): He put one there after he got the spell, did not go into detail about it though].
Rictus figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to place a few more near some of the other holds. Near the college of Winterhold would be a major one to place. He also considered putting one a few hours outside of Windhelm since that was an important location and the road to Winterhold passed near it. The other major holds would have to wait a little while before he could place the glyphs since he had no reason to go to them just yet. Rictus was also pretty sure he didn't want to go near Riften since it was infested with thieves. The other locations would come with time.
Rictus finally got out of bed to eat some breakfast and go to the bathroom. Whiterun was lucky in the sanitation department. It had a type of sewer system. It was similar to ancient Roman restrooms where it would fall down and be washed away by a river which ran under the town. There was a collection area outside the town where all the sewage would be collected. The Jarl paid some people to manage the waste area and keep build up to a minimum. Ever so often, some mage would go and burn it if it ever got to out of control.
The downside was that unless you were part of the rich, you had to go to communal bathrooms unless you just used a bucket. Rictus simply made himself a small bathroom area connecting to the sewers because he could and didn't want to have to go to the outhouses.
After taking care of business, Rictus contemplated what he wanted to do today. He wasn't going to go out into Whiterun since he didn't want to risk someone of the Companions seeing him. Aela and her group were probably still a day away from being back. Although he doubted it would happen, he didn't feel like trying to explain anything if it did.
Rictus couldn't initially decide if he wanted to do anything regarding the giants plaguing the farmers of Dawnstar. He liked the giants overall as a people. They were not the dimwitted beasts as they were so commonly portrayed. The giants were a simple folk, not a stupid one. Rictus believed he could solve the problem but didn't know if he really wanted to go to the trouble. Giants are still dangerous after all.
Before he came to a decision, he looked at his new mask. He was a little hesitant on calling it Vokun. Seemed a little pretentious to name a mask something like that, but many enchanted items were called interesting names. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw some goat horns laying on the table. Those were there in case he wanted to add some wall scones to the place. His "grandfather", the one who had originally owned the house, also worked with goats so it made sense he left some of them in the house.
Without thinking about it too much, Rictus went over to look at the goat horns. They were still in great shape and even inlaid with gold carvings. They were not the full horns of the goat, just the last 5 inches of the sharpened tip. He could tell based off the horns it would have been an impressive specimen for a goat.
'Hmmm blue and gold kind of go together, I think. Besides, Billy has been good to me…'
Focusing his magical might upon the mask, he began adding the horns to the top of it. This was only possible since the mask was made from metal. He made two divots at top of the mask and fitted the horns into them. He caused the metal to flow back over the base of the horns to lock them into place. Rictus was overall satisfied with the result. The mask now looked like he had fused Loki's helmet with the dragon mask, the horns were not quite as long as the horns on Loki's helmet.
And so, the Legendary Mask of the Goat Herder was created.
Rictus shook his head at the mere thought. Just because the Companions joked about him being a goat herder, did not make it true.
Rictus felt more prepared than he had been in a while. He was now wearing his black mages robes with his grimoire attached at the hip, and his staff of fireballs in his hands. He debated about wearing the improved Vokun but decided against it for now. Once he was on the road, he would wear the mask again.
In the end, Rictus decided he would try and resolve Dawnstar's giant problem. As Uncle ben once said, "With great power comes great responsibility."
Also, giant camps were usually filled with all kinds of good loot. They didn't really care about the stuff so if Rictus needed to take some of it off their hands, he wasn't going to complain. It wasn't as if they would be able to use the human sized equipment. Rictus already had a couple ideas on what he could do with all those materials.
This also provided a good time to test the limit of his teleportation glyph. He didn't want to show up to the giant's camp with no gift, so Rictus planned on trying to go buy a cow or goat to take as a peace offering.
Rictus originally wasn't going to go out to town, but now he had a reason to go out. Besides, if any of the Companions cared enough to ask, he could always say it was magic. He wasn't too worried though. His new robes had a hood which would work well enough at a distance and there were not many Companions which would recognize him.
Rictus left his house and went towards the market district to find a someone selling livestock. After asking around for a few minutes, he was headed out of the walls and towards some farms which often sold surplus animals cheaply.
Rictus was still surprised at the size difference between Whiterun from the games and this Whiterun. It made sense to be so much larger than what the games portrayed. It would not have been much of a city with only 50 people in it. This was a city of thousands with all the infrastructure to support such a large place.
Rictus was very impressed by the massive barns/warehouses on the farm. Felden's farms was supposed to be the place to go around these parts for livestock. Felden apparently was quite adept at breeding animals and was now one of the largest suppliers in the region, if what that butch said was true. Rictus approached the small building nearest the road with the sign showing it belonged to Felden's farm. The inside of the building was very plain. There were a few chairs along the wall, a table with some flowers on it, a few paintings of different animals, and a large desk opposite the entry with a door leading out the back. A young male Bosmer was behind the desk. He smiled and greeted Rictus once Rictus was inside.
"Welcome to Felden's farm, my name is Elis. What can I help you with today?"
"I am looking for a goat of good stock, if I don't find one I like then I will get a cow. What do you have in stock?"
Elis seemed a little put out. "Just a single animal? And we have all your domesticated animals in decent quantity. You will get a better deal the more you buy."
Rictus shook his head at the offer. "Only need 1 for now. May need more in the future but not now."
Elis let out a little sigh as he got out of his seat and motioned Rictus to follow him out back to the barns.
They entered one of the smaller barns which held some of the goats. There were probably about 20 goats in the barn separated into 4 large pens. As they made their way fully into the barn, something peculiar started happening. All the goats started approaching the gates of the pens and stared at Rictus, almost hopefully. They then all let out a single bleat, and laid down without making another sound, never breaking eye contact with Rictus.
Elis had never seen the goats react in such a way to any person before. He looked over questioningly at the man standing beside him.
"Are you some kind of magical goat herder? I have never seen the goats act like this before, and I was raised on this farm."
Rictus started to blush at the man's comment. He shook his head and started quickly making his way out of the barn.
"I am NOT a goat herder. I don't want a goat any ways. A cow is what I need."
Rictus was a little unnerved by the goats' actions and had no idea why they reacted that way. The way they stared at him also made him feel reluctant to use any of them for the teleporting experiment or giving them to giants to eat.
As they were getting near the cow pens, Rictus heard a distinctive noise.
"Was that a mammoth cry?" Rictus asked incredulously. He didn't think anyone but giants raised those massive creatures.
Elis seemed to perk up at that.
"Why yes, it is. A hunter recently brought us a baby mammoth he found wounded. We are not too sure what we will do with it yet honestly."
"Well, how about I but it off you?"
Elis seemed to think for a moment.
"I will have to ask my father about that. He may not want to sell it. Plus, it would be very expensive if he does sell it. Exotic animals always cost more."
Rictus just smiled at that. He money was not a problem for him. Transmutation was more overpowered in a realistic setting compared to the game.
An hour later found Rictus making his way out to the countryside surrounding Whiterun with a mammoth following along. Rictus had to summon Billy to keep the mammoth under control and shepherd the beast out of town. Once they were sufficiently away, Rictus began his plan.
Rictus cast paralyze on the little mammoth to keep it still during the whole process. He didn't need any distractions. Next, Rictus kept the tradition alive of creating an underground safe room. Once he had the mammoth underground, he started making the glyph directly under the beast. After that was done and his mana was back to full, it was time to test it out.
Rictus sat on the prone mammoth as he began channeling magic for the teleportation.
"Here goes nothing."
...
The experiment was a success.
Rictus felt a little nauseated due to the huge mana cost. Casting the teleport already took a lot of mana, but adding something the size of a mammoth, even a baby one, made it cost significantly more. It drained almost all his mana in one go.
Still, Rictus was confident he could teleport one person with him without much problem. Two people would still be doable, and three would be about the same result as the mammoth. Rictus did not really want to find out what would happen if he tried anything more though.
Experimenting with magic is great but can be dangerous. Usually when casting a spell, if you run out of mana, the spell will cut off. If you do not have enough mana, the spell will fail before even casting.
Glyphs, or runes, were a little different. Glyphs could be made outright with magic which would make them single use and activated by touch, these were more commonly known as runes. Glyphs were carved into the ground and could have a wider variety of functions. This allowed a mage to reactivate it by injecting mana into the glyph. It greatly cut down on the cost of the glyphs since the mage did not have to add enough mana to keep the markings stable by magical force alone but took much more time and preparation.
Runes were not often used due to their large mana requirements. They cost about twice what their normal spell counterparts did. Glyphs were not used as much due to the complexity of making them, the time spent making them, and their fragility. A single break in the glyph could cause it to not work or malfunction.
Rictus believed he could handle most malfunctions. A master level glyph which delt with ripping a hole in the fabric of space, was not something he wanted to risk malfunctioning. Rictus was lucky and felt more comfortable about using glyphs simply because of his earth bending spells. He could quickly and easily make the glyphs, and they would be much sturdier since they were made of hardened stone.
Now all Rictus had to do was find the giants and convince them to stop attacking the farmers. Should be easy to find them at least since giants are not exactly known for their stealth abilities. Convincing them may be a little more difficult.
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The giant stood with a mammoth flanking him as he watched the man head back towards the human town. He was surprised by the man and his actions. The man had walked into their camp as if he belonged. After paralyzing a few of the more eager defenders, the giants realized he was not there for a fight.
After a long couple of hours "communicating", the man had gotten his point across. He had given a baby mammoth as a peace offering, which was a very large offering in the eyes of the giants. Mammoths were their trusty companions. Giving away a baby mammoth showed great respect in a giant's ability to raise and take care of them. He even used his magic to help the hurt giants and mammoths which was just a bonus.
Groknok had been told of a strange man by his brother Grok. He had apparently gifted his nephew an impressive goat. He did not believe this to be true, but now he believed he met the same man.
Maybe Grok was right about the world changing. Maybe he should answer the call of clans. There were tales of a new matriarch trying to become High Chieftain. If tales of the strange man were true, maybe this one held some truth.
Groknok scoffed. No way was this matriarch defeating challengers with a single swing of her club, and able to crack mountains with one swing.
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[A/N]: Hope you didn't mind me skipping over the interaction with the giants like that. I honestly wasn't sure how to write it, so I improvised. I think I liked having the perspective of the giant more anyways.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Pepey_LePew
Pepey_LePew Hmm will this matriach make an appearance latter on? Only time will tell.
Thanks for reading my story. If you have any thoughts or ideas, please share.
If you are still reading this note, then you must be really bored. Maybe try going outside or something?
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