Chapter 27: Bad Kitty
Rictus made excellent time coming back to Winterhold. A good hot meal and warm hearth went a long way to rejuvenating the travel weary mage. Flying made travel so much better and more entertaining, but it still was stressful and required lots of focus.
Jarl Korir was ecstatic at Rictus's return with the Helm of Winterhold. He immediately declared Rictus a Thane of Winterhold. The ceremony was quite short and informal, which was just fine for Rictus. The Jarl seemed a little embarrassed he could not assign a housecarl to Rictus. He was already short on guardsmen, let alone well-trained ones who would be of use to Rictus.
During the meal, Rictus brought up how he saw the mages from the college on their way to the cave. Korir was clever enough to figure out their objective was more the Helm than clearing out the necromancers who had been there for quite some time. While some would be happy about an ally trying to help, Korir was still skeptical about the new archmage and her agenda. Things had been going well so far, but things could change. Korir was determined to be exceedingly careful when interacting with the mages and to stay vigilant towards any additional machinations of the arch mage to gain influence over him.
Korir was very thankful for Rictus's sharing the information. He knew Rictus could have easily kept the information to himself to ease tensions with the mages. Instead, Rictus had warned him about what was going on. Korir seemed to be seriously deliberating about a decision.
"Rictus. I may have an opportunity for you in the future. The more I have interacted with you, the more I feel confident in the decision. Once I get back from the moot, I will have an important proposition which I hope you will accept."
Rictus already had an idea of what the Jarl may offer him. There was an open position in the Jarl's court which would be perfect for Rictus. He was relieved he would have some more time to consider it. He was not 100% sure he was wanting to settle down in one location, but Winterhold was growing on him.
Rictus nodded and told the Jarl he would think about it. The Jarl excused himself soon after since he would be leaving in the morning for the moot. Korir would be meeting up with Ulfric's caravan on the way to Solitude. He would then go ahead and make the proposal about relocating the dark elves and argonians to Winterhold. Korir also thought Rictus's suggestion to expand the guard made sense, especially if the relocation went smoothly. He was a little curious about Rictus's insistence on using ranged weapons more, but it wasn't a big deal and did make sense when dealing with mages.
Rictus was quite pleased with how things had gone. He did think it was time to start making some additional plans for the future, or at least think of some goals he would like to achieve.
1. Continue to improve magical abilities and learn all the new spells. Short term goal was to focus on the dispel, absorb, and reflection spells. They were simply too good to pass up.
2. Observe Morrigan and the College. There was a lot of changes going on at the College right now and no telling their impact. Rictus thought it was better to be prepared and see how it goes.
3. Gain more information. A lot was going on right now in Skyrim. It would be great if Rictus could gain more intel on what was going on so he could be prepared.
4. Survive the dragons. The final one was pretty obvious. While the dragons were not too difficult in the game, Rictus had a feeling it would not be the same here. The dragonborn couldn't be everywhere at once, and dragons were supposed to be fierce. If the battle against the dragon priest was anything to go off, there would be a lot of casualties across the land.
Rictus was also unsure about the civil war. Currently, Skyrim was not in open rebellion. There were lots of small-scale attacks and things like that, but no major fights or gathering of troops. That would soon change. Rictus struggled with the idea of just killing Ulfric now before things got bad. It could potentially prevent a lot of trouble across the land. He just didn't feel comfortable attacking or killing Ulfric before he committed treason though. It was one thing to punish someone but punishing someone before an action even happened was too far. Rictus felt those kinds of actions were a slippery slope.
In the end, Rictus decided to see how things played out. There was no guarantee things would still turn out the same as the game. If things deteriorated enough, Rictus would act. He was hopeful there could be a peace summit in order to face the large threat of the dragon crisis.
Information was Rictus's new main goal. He would have a lot of time before Korir was back from the summit which he could use to get a better picture of current events. Rictus felt the best place to start would probably be Whiterun. It was a central location and main trading hub for the entire region. Merchants were constantly coming and going which would provide great information about everything going on. Rictus was a little curious if there were information brokers already, or maybe there was room for a new information broker to emerge?
Rictus was content with his decisions. He would leave in the morning for Whiterun after the Jarl had left. Then, he would begin looking for information. Tomorrow was sure to be interesting.
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Rictus felt there was something wrong. It was as if his magic was alerting him to something. It took a moment for Rictus to fully wake up and take stock of his surroundings. He was still in his bedroom in the Jarl's longhouse. Nothing seemed to be the problem, yet something had alerted him.
Finally, Rictus realized what was going on. His alarm spell had gone off.
Alarm was a novice level spell which would normally alert the caster when something crossed a certain radius. Rictus had played with the spell for awhile after he had gotten back from Markarth. Rictus figured out a way to cast it like a rune instead of a normal spell. This changed the spell to work as a basic house alarm whenever he was out. It took awhile for him to adjust it to not be set off by small animals, but he had done it. This meant someone had broken into his home in Whiterun. Needless to say, Rictus was not pleased.
Rictus quickly scribbled out a note detailing his absence. He left instructions on how to contact him in case of emergency. He basically made a hole leading to a small underground chamber. The chamber had an alarm rune which would go off is someone dropped something into it. The alarm would then alert Rictus. It was not a perfect system, but Rictus thought it should work as planned.
After that was done, Rictus prepared to leave. He had already moved the teleportation glyph to be under the Jarl's longhouse so he could more easily get to it. No thief would be getting away today. Rictus had an angry look in his eyes as he teleported back home. Hopefully his meagre defenses were enough to stall the intruder till he got there.
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Ma'randru-jo had been very distracted recently. He could not get the image if the mage falling into the middle of their caravan out of his head. Ma'randru-jo had heard tales of how some powerful mages had been able to jump over city walls with a simple leap or float through the air as if in water. He had never met one until that fateful day.
Ma'randru-jo liked to think he was a decent mage, but he had no idea where to even start with that kind of magic. He was mostly self-taught since he had been part of the caravan for a long time. Not many respectable mages could be found outside the cities which was where the Khajiit caravans were required to stay.
Everyone in the caravan knew about Ma'randru-jo's fixation. They were all tired of hearing Ma'randru-jo talk about it. It was even beginning to hinder Ma'randru-jo's work. Finally, Ma'randru-jo could take it no more.
Ma'randru-jo knew the mages name was Rictus and lived in Whiterun. Ma'randru-jo decided he had to met talk to him again. Ma'randru-jo did not get to interact with Rictus much during the caravan ride, but it would be different now.
It had taken a long time of sneaking around the outskirts of the town and asking descrete questions in order to find Rictus's address, but he had done it. Under the cover of darkness, Ma'randru-jo snuck into the city of Whiterun. He had to avoid the roving patrols and scale the wall, but nothing would stop him. Besides, Khajiit were good at this sort of thing.
After sneaking through the town, Ma'randru-jo finally arrived at his destination. There were no lights on in the home, but Ma'randru-jo had come too far to be stopped now. Ma'randru-jo tried to discretely knock, but there was no answer. With no other option, Ma'randru-jo decided to enter through a window. Normally he would not do such a thing, but he was desperate. His curiosity had gotten the better of him, and now he had to get answers. Ma'randru-jo was sure such a powerful mage would understand his desire for knowledge.
Ma'randru-jo easily got through the window and into the house. It seemed deserted. Ma'randru-jo thought he felt the smallest jolt of magic, but quickly dismissed it. As he was taking a step, there was a flash of magic.
Ma'randru-jo's body completely locked up paralyzed. There had been a hidden paralyze rune under the window, and Ma'randru-jo stepped right in it. The forward momentum brought the hapless Khajiit face first into the floor. Ma'randru-jo felt another wave of magic as he hit the floor. Hardened ash began to quickly cover him.
Ma'randru-jo's breathing began to quicken. There was no escape at the moment. He was completely trapped. The paralyze rune had frozen him while the ash shell rune had encased him. There were no holes in the ash. Ma'randru-jo could feel the lack of air as he was stuck in this prison. He had no idea how long he would be here, nor if he could get out. If he was stuck long enough, Ma'randru-jo would surely suffocate.
Ma'randru-jo tried not to panic but was failing miserably. What was Ma'randru-jo thinking trying to break into the house of a master mage? Ma'randru-jo was feeling lightheaded as his breathing continued to spike while feelings of being buried alive intensified.
Ma'randru-jo heard a noise. Soon, a voice could be heard standing over the poor trapped Khajiit.
"Well well well. What do we have here?"
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Rictus was impressed his rune placements. He liked the extended duration of the over charged runes. While they cost a huge amount of mana, it was well worth it. Rictus also thought the paralyze rune combined with the ash shell rune was particularly nasty. Being paralyzed was already a terrifying experience. It made the person feel absolutely powerless in their own body which was horrifying. They would then be able to observe the ash shell encase their body completely without being able to move a muscle. The ash shell would trap them in total darkness while limiting the amount of air the person could breathe. Rictus imagined it would feel like being buried alive while there was nothing you could do about it.
If one was a mage, they could break out of the ash spell if they knew a strong enough spell. They would have to wait for the paralyzing effect to stop before they could do anything. Most people would be panicking by that point which would interfere with the spell casting. Overall, a very effective method to stop someone from ransacking his belongings.
Rictus took the would-be thief into the basement he had carved out. He then carved out a small cage of stone to place them into. Next, Rictus raised a pillar he would stand behind as he cast a supercharged mage light on one side. This effectively made a spotlight which was directly aimed at the cage. Rictus would be able to easily observe the prisoner while they would be blinded by the light. To play it safe, Rictus added a layer of stone around the trapped thief. The master necromancer was able to bust out of the shell so if this was a mage there was always a chance they could too.
With everything in place, Rictus decided it was time to interrogate the thief. He slowly peeled back the part covering the thief's face. It took a couple seconds, but loud gasping noises could be heard as the prisoner could finally take full breaths again. In this time, Rictus observed the intruder.
It was a Khajiit with white to grey fur. His ears were white on the inside but black on back and around the edges. He seemed to have a faded brownish mane down the back of his neck and additional hair where a mustache was typically found on a man. His eyes were steel grey and looking around wildly. The panic was clear to see on his face as he tried and failed to look around. The bright light greatly hindered his ability to see anything. Rictus thought he looked a little familiar, but could not place him. The Khajiit's beathing began to quicken again in panic at his situation. The current set up did not bode well for his future.
Rictus observed him for a moment longer before beginning to question him. Hopefully, Rictus would not be forced into more…persuasive measures.
"Who are you and why did you break into my home? You would do well to tell the truth and tell it quickly."
The Khajiit took a few moments too try and identify the speaker but couldn't see them. The bright light shining in his eyes stopped him from seeing whoever was behind there.
"This one is called Ma'randru-jo. Ma'randru-jo was searching for the one named Rictus. This one traveled alongside Ri'saad when Rictus fell from the sky into the camp. Ma'randru-jo thought that if he could find him, Rictus would teach Ma'randru-jo the secrets to being one with the sky."
Rictus stared at the Khajiit. His explanation of where he was from made sense and explained why he looked familiar to Rictus. Ri'saad's caravan accounted for basically every Khajiit in Whiterun. Most cities did not allow for them to live in the city proper. Rictus was a little impressed. This guy had to have snuck into the city all on the chance of asking him to teach him more about magic. If the guards would have saw him, Ma'randru-jo would have been forced out of the city or taken to jail. He had to have scaled the walls and snuck all the way to the house mostly unseen, at least enough people couldn't tell he was a Khajiit.
Rictus considered what to do as Ma'randru-jo stayed silent. Rictus believed Ma'randru-jo was telling the truth. He would still need to confirm it, but his gut told him Ma'randru-jo was not lying. This led to a few different outcomes. Rictus could charge the Khajiit with breaking an entry and take him to jail. He could release him and let him go back where he belonged. Finally, he could actually teach him. Each one had some merit to them.
It could be beneficial to have a merchant owe him. If Rictus did take Ma'randru-jo as a minion, Ma'randru-jo would already have a good relationship with the Khajiit caravans which were a great source of information due to their extensive travels. It also could be good to personally test out how having a subordinate actually worked.
Regardless, Rictus decided he needed to double check Ma'randru-jo's claims. He dimmed the light so the prisoner could get a better look around and approached him.
"It seems you have found me. I will be going to Ri'saad to confirm everything you are saying. If it holds up, then I believe we could come to some kind of deal. If you are lying to me….well lets just say that would not be healthy. There are lots of magical experiments which would progress much faster with a living specimen."
Ma'randru-jo could only nod his head and gulp. He really hoped Ri'saad would be truthful and not try and hide their relationship. There was hope though, even if this whole thing did not turn out how he expected.
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[A/N]: Hope you readers are doing good. I just wanted to warn you all the next few chapters will be taking place in Whiterun again. They will also have more original content than before. I didn't plan it that way originally, but it just sort of happened while I was writing. So if you have any critiques, please let me know. I have mostly stuck to in game quests so I could use the advice.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Pepey_LePew
Pepey_LePew Well this is the first chapter of the new year, so that it cool. I hope you have enjoyed the story so far. If you have anything to add to the story, please let me know. I love more motivation and ideas. To those who still are reading these notes, I truly do applaud you and your sincerity. It warms my loins you care so much about these notes to take the time to read them despite nothing interesting going on in them.
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