บท 32: Information
The past few days had been relatively routine for Rictus. He would start the day off training Ma'randru-jo in the ways of alteration magic. Then he would work on healing the people in the dumps while Ma'randru-jo did more independent practice. After that, he would review the gathered intelligence for the day and get in some weapons training. Finally, he would end his days either getting to know the new editions to the Restored or hanging out with the Companions.
Ma'randru-jo had been progressing rapidly. He was already an above average mage, now he was probably one of the more talented mages out there. Ma'randru-jo was particularly talented with the defensive spells and with the Leap spell. Leap allowed him to jump to ridiculous heights, and it also let him rapidly move across the ground if he focused on lateral movement more than vertical. He could often be seen skipping around to practice the spell. It looked ridiculous as each skip could easily cover the distance 4 or 5 feet without him trying too hard. Rictus was convinced he could get over the walls of Whiterun without any problems. It was interesting to note the defensive spells also reinforced the khajiit's claws. While sparring, Ma'randru-jo's preferred way of fighting was jumping around and casting lightning bolt. If someone got too close, he would then switch to his reinforced claws while rapidly leaping in and out of combat. Rictus was quite proud of how well everything was going with his Minion.
Thinking of minions, emphasis on the lowercase m, the work on healing everyone was progressing faster and faster. Rictus had continued to provide money for food which had allowed the people to start looking less malnourished. He also had been rapidly improving with his alter body spell work. It was interesting to note the people who seemed to have higher mana reserves had an easier time being healed. Testing would need to be done on someone who actually had decent magical potential to fully confirm this finding. All the people who had originally accompanied him here had been fully healed. Almost all of them chose to stay with Rictus and work under Ken. A few had decided to go try their luck elsewhere, but they were the exception not the rule.
All the work with the spell had left Rictus wanting to work on ways to improve himself. He had an okay understanding of human anatomy before coming here, but the constant spell work had elevated his knowledge greatly. He had now begun some experiments to better his body. These experiments usually involved altering his body in a way like other species. The first one was to improve his eyes.
Ma'randru-jo had volunteered as a reference. The Khajiit were naturally better at seeing in the dark compared to others. Rictus decided to try and replicate this ability for himself. It took a little tinkering and one exploding eyeball, but he was able to alter his own eyes eventually to be just as good as any Khajiit.
At times, Rictus was a little disappointed in his abilities. Sometimes he felt as if he should be able to simply use his imagination to get his magic to work on the world, but this was not always the case. Yes, it did work to a degree, but it was usually lacking something. Rictus could almost feel the Will of the World working to undo his magic faster the less he understood something. It also took significantly more mana.
His alter body spell was a great example. He was able to imagine altering his eyes to be able to see at night, and it worked to a degree. The problem was it was not permanent, it cost ridiculous amounts of mana to maintain, the pain of the transformation, and the lacking potency. Also, if he focused too much on being able to have night vision, he would lose his ability to see in the day light since his thoughts were too specific. Altering something important without fully thinking about all the repercussion was something Rictus would have to spend countless hours practicing. That was why he had only practiced on one of his eyes at a time. When he studied Ma'randru-jo's eye and worked to alter his eyes into a proper working copy, it took less magic, allowed him to see significantly better, and resulted in a permanent change to himself.
These temporary changes could still be extremely useful in the right situations regardless of cost. Rictus just preferred the ones which were permanent. The temporary changes were still useful for swindling others, but he tried not to do that too often. Trading a full set of ebony armor to a traveling merchant who was known to be corrupt and exploited the poor was still a fun experiment. The merchant's face would be priceless when the armor he spent his life savings on turned into dried and molded cow manure. Despite the alteration taking Rictus's entire mana pool and lasting less than 20 minutes, it was totally worth it.
The next major body alteration Rictus was working on making was to gain the regeneration ability of trolls and the explosive power of a sabre cat. Those were the ones he could think of off the top of his head. He was hopeful to find more sources of inspiration of how he can alter himself. Maybe he would suddenly get input from other people which would give him more ideas.... He was also considering upping his eyes to the level of a hawk or something but was not sold on that just yet. Rictus had used Ken to get in contact with some shady dealers to order both a sabre cat and a troll. Their arrival could take awhile, but that was the price to pay on smuggling vicious animals into a city.
Reviewing the compiled information had actually been very fun for Rictus. He was not normally one who cared about other people's business, but he found this to be riveting. Apparently, not having television and video games made reading even more fun. Yes, he had magic to play with, but it was always a good idea to take some breaks as not to get burnt out. Reading gathered intelligence reports while eating a sweet roll was quickly becoming a favorite relaxation technique. There was a lot of information as well.
Ri'saad's report covered a lot of things going on around Skyrim. There was more mundane information such as safety of trading routes, which cities were wanting what materials, outlooks on some of the non-Khajiit trading caravans, food shortages, surpluses, and things of that nature. Some other interesting information did stick out. Rictus already knew about the moot taking place in Solitude, but he did not realize the scale of the thing. Apparently, the people were hoping the moot would be able to stop the civil war which was already brewing. Rictus knew differently. This would be the catalyst for open warfare between the different factions.
Markarth was also in a troubling situation. Nothing was explicitly wrong as of yet, but the signs were there. The city guard had apparently been harsher than normal and was heavily recruiting and training everyone they could get their hands on. It seemed they were expecting a lot of trouble and soon. Surprisingly, the Forsworn had been relatively quiet for a while. It seemed they had just recently started raiding again, but the reports were not exactly clear since most of the new raiders appeared to be wearing strong heavy armor as well as having top of the line weapons which were not usually associated with the Forsworn.
Riften seemed to be suffering from an uptick in high value thefts. The Khajiit claimed the thief's guild seemed to be undergoing some internal conflicts, but they were still better than what they were before. Rictus figured one of the Skilled had to have gone to the guild and was the cause of all this. He was a little worried about the Skeleton Key, but he hoped Nocturnal would still reclaim it soon.
Most of the news regarding the other holds was not as interesting. Dawnstar still was struggling with sleep at last check. Winterhold had next to no information about it since few traders went there. Solitude was having the moot. Windhelm still had racial tensions. Whiterun was the same as always. Falkreath was unremarkable since the pass towards Cyrodiil was still blocked. Morthal was quiet and the people acted distant, but the Khajiit were not as familiar with it, so the treatment was normal for them.
There were a couple more pieces of news which interested Rictus. It seems there has already been an uptick in bandit activity. A very large bandit group has been gaining more traction than normal, but so far no one has done anything about it. The group is located down in the Rift. It seems the Rift was becoming more and more lawless with those bandits combined with the thief's guild. The information did not mention any extra guards or anything like that, so it seemed the lawlessness would get even worse once open warfare started or the dragons showed up.
Two migrations had also seemed to be going on. It was getting rarer to spot giants apparently. Their usual camps and migrating spots were empty. The giants were going somewhere, but no one was sure where that was exactly. Sightings had happened more frequently near the mountains in the north, but that was not confirmed.
The other group was hagravens. This was mostly hearsay, so Rictus knew not to put too much stock in it. The hagravens seemed to be leaving their covens and heading towards the Reach. Speculation was they were going to join the forsworn, but no one really knows their motivation. They just know the hagraven dens in the East, North, and South were not nearly as numerous as they once were.
The final interesting bit of news was falmer sightings. More have been seen closer to the surface than normal. They also seemed to be moving in larger groups than they had previously. Again, no one knew why these creatures were acting differently than before, but there was plenty of speculation. Most didn't make sense, but Rictus agreed with the one about them mobilizing after some threat. What the threat was, people didn't know. Exploring the depths of Skyrim had become even more dangerous than before. There was even one wild rumor about dwarfs returning and taking over Blackreach.
Overall, Rictus was quite pleased with his transactions with Ri'saad. He would get large information packets every couple of weeks from the Khajiit since time was needed for traveling, and they were not always in Whiterun. With all the craziness in Markarth, they may look to taking their trade to another city though so they would be visiting Whiterun more frequently than normal.
Though not as important, the information gathered by his new minions in Whiterun was just as entertaining to read. It mostly focused on town gossip and little things. Such as, who has the best prices on things, fights, who insulted who, and other small things people usually overlook. Rictus now knew exactly where Jon Battle-Born and Olfina Greymane went to be together. Always a good idea to have some blackmail on the two families. Rictus was also aware of most newcomers into Whiterun like how there was a group of Redguards which had been looking for someone in the outer city. There were rumors of Ysolda having secret meetings with an orc out in the warehouses. Heck, he even knew Braith's most common ways of bullying Lars.
A lot of information was making its way to Rictus. He was extremely glad to have Ken filtering out most of the junk. It was a lot of trust to place in a near stranger, but Rictus didn't mind too much. He would periodically get the full reports anyways just to glance through the trash information some people tried to provide them. One traveling beggar even claimed to have seen a beautiful hagraven animatedly talking with a giant while a majestic goat was dancing around the giant's child. Some people really needed to lay off the skooma.
Rictus finally looked up from where he was sitting. He was still impressed with the progress they had made here. No one would have imagined finding such a place inside the dump of Whiterun. While a lot of the big work was done by Rictus's magic, the people had really made this place come alive. It was still no mansion, but it was better than most these people had ever seen. Decorations and discarded materials had been reclaimed and restored to make the place feel more alive than before. People would come here to relax and get away from their normal squalid surroundings. There were offshoots now which led to sleeping areas better than many had seen in their life. It was not quite a tavern, but it was similar. Minus the throne Rictus was sitting on.
He let out a sigh while sitting here. It was kind of fun the first time, but the people's insistence to get him to sit there as he was doing things was a tad annoying. It was extremely comfortable after all the work they had put into it. Rictus had also finally molded the base of it to fit his body perfectly. He couldn't help but smile as he sunk back down into his chair.
The people he had saved which decided to 'follow' him had even named themselves. They were called the Restored, which was kind of fitting for their circumstance. More people seemed to join them every day. Some of the people Ken had wanted to show up were already here. Rictus was surprised at the number of middle-aged warriors who had been seriously injured that lived in or near Whiterun. It made sense though. A great war had just been fought not too long ago. Who would have thought a war would produce so many crippled warriors looking for someway to restore what they had lost and be eternally grateful for their restoration...
The sound of people sparring was music to Rictus's ears. He had not really planned to have a group of warriors at his command, but it seems to have happened anyways. They were no Companions, but they were fiercely loyal. They were still adjusting to their bodies being whole again, but they trained with gusto. Others of the Restored joined them in their training. Many did not want to suffer powerlessly as they had done before, some just wanted something to do and be near the free food. Even Rictus would train with them each day. He was a mage, but it was always a good thing to be prepared for the case where he may not be able to use his magic.
The other gangs in the poorer district had not tried to fight them or encroach on their territory. Apparently, having a leader who is a mage that single handily took out the old gang, who also restored lost limbs was a major deterrent. The other gangs had even paid tribute to them as a way to stay in Rictus's good graces. It was a little funny that Rictus had come down here to try and find some people to provide information, and now he was basically the gang boss for the entire lower city.
Rictus was a little surprised no one had investigated the change in leadership. He was expecting a lot more people to come looking for him, but it had not happened yet. Secretly, Ken had been working overtime to keep those people looking away.
Ken had done an excellent job so far and was thriving in his new environment. This had turned the worst part of his life into the most fulfilling his life had been in a long time. Ken did not understand why Rictus had him looking for as many crossbows and bolts he could find, but there was a lot he did not get about the mage. Rictus had claimed the crossbows would be easy for anyone to use, and there were approaching threats which would require sacrifices from everyone. Ken didn't care too much about the approaching threats. There were always threats. He did worry about how serious Rictus was about it though. He knew Rictus had killed all Klipple's gang as well as a necromancer without a single scratch. If a man who could easily defeat all of them was worried and getting Ken to focus long range weapons anyone could easily use, Ken was more than willing to get those things. Crossbows were not as common as bows, but they were still out there to be found.
Rictus considered making his way back to the Companions, but he was not as motivated tonight. He had been going and hanging around there almost every night. While many seemed rather simple, the Companions knew how to have fun at a party. Few questioned Rictus while he was there, especially after he beat down a drunk Torvar who had been mouthing off at him. Rictus usually hung out with Mathred and Ria. Aela would join them as well, but she was a lot busier and was often tied up in Circle business. They had apparently been busy fighting with the Silver Hand recently. Aela had left earlier today with Mathred, Ria, and some other Companions on a mission, so Rictus's favorite people would not be there.
Rictus had another thought in his mind though. With how things were progressing, he thought he may need to get a base outside of Whiterun. He had heard about a bandit group which had recently took over a cave system called white river watch. It may be a good time to go see about collecting a bounty on them and getting a new base. It was in a good position right outside of Whiterun with a commanding view of the surrounding area. It seemed like much too good a spot for some small-time bandits. His Restored would make much better use of the area.
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[A/N]: I thought this was a fun little development personally. I really was not planning on making him similar to a faction leader/underground information broker. It just sort of happened, and I thought it was cool. He will still be going on solo adventures and things like that, but he now has more options on what he can do and influence.
If you have any ideas to make this better, let me know.
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Pepey_LePew
Pepey_LePew Hope you have been enjoying the story so far. If you have any tips on how to make it better, let me know. I really do appreicate all those comments. Don't worry, we are getting closer to "canon" but it is still a ways off. To those still reading past this part, I don't know what to think of you. Your continued reading is noteworthy, but it comes off a little clingy at times. I don't know what you are expecting to get from reading these notes, but it won't be a spoiler. It will be a fact which could pertain to you. Eproctophilia is sexual arousal caused by farting. You know who you are.
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