Into Skyrim, Elder Scrolls 8 Nirn's Beta-Chapter 99: A thousand steps

Climbing up the mountian was much, much harder than expected. Viree had just finished killing yet another Ice Wraith. "Damn, how many does that make?"

Stephan shrugged, "Do you mean those frost snakes? or just creatures we have had to kill?"

Viree put away Volendrung while responding. "I guess in total?"

I sighed, "That would be the 23rd."

Illia let out her own sigh. "Why did I chose to come along?"

Everyone was looking drained from the climb up. "Let's take a break."

With that everyone except Kyne dropped to the snow. He shook his head, "Sitting down will make your legs hurt more when we start climbing again."

Viree let out a moan of pain, "Vek? Can you carry me?"

I laughed, "Fuck no, I can use healing hands on you though."

Viree gestured as she spoke, "Gimmie, I need it."

I let the golden light wash over Viree as she let out a deep breath. Stephan raised an hand, "Can I get healing too?"

Illia also raised a hand, "I would like some healing too."

I began healing everyone else, even Kyne. The fact restoration magic was effective on muscle pain was interesting. Why did people not charge for this?

Viree looked out toward the way we traveled. "How tall is this mountian?"

Illia answered, "The second largest mountain in the known world. The throat of the world is the tallest mountain though."

I looked up the mountian and nodded, "Thankfully High Hrothgar is only half way up the mountain though."

Stephan got up, "We should start walking again."

Kyne paused, "Wait, I'm going to have to make this trip several times aren't I?"

I nodded, "I only have to make it at least twice!"

Stephan and Kyne frowned at me. "We will push you off this mountain."

I shrugged, "Not my fault."

Stephan looked at Illia and tapped me on the shoulder. "Let's walk behind a bit, I got some questions for you."

It seems he understood Illia was in the dark. I let myself fall back as Stephan joined me. He looked at me, "Yesterday I never asked about your level."

I nodded, "I'm level 78, I feel it doesn't need to be stated that it gets harder to level up the higher your level is. Eventually you need to spread out the skills you learn."

Stephan nodded, "Yeah, I've pretty much maxed out one-handed."

I looked at Stephan, "I assume that's not what you want to know though."

Stephan nodded, "Was there a max level in the original game?"

I thought about it, "Generally, there was a max level, but it wasn't actually a set limit. Its a little complicated, but generally most people ended up at level 81ish. If you legend no skills, but maxed all of them that's the level you would end up at. However you are wondering if we are leveling rather fast? Extra perk points?"

Stephan nodded, "It feels almost random with how many skill points I get. Once I got a total of 5 on a single level up. Another time I only got one perk point."

This time I shrugged, "Same, I have a theory. However I can't really test it, or could just be correlation rather than causation."

Stephan nodded, "What's the theory though?"

I sighed, "Basically its innate skill. We have the skill trees, but we can do things outside the system." I pulled Sable Wave out to make my point. "My sword is essentially proof of that. After making it, I received more perk points. However the amount is lost to me since I had leveled up multiple times."

Stephan paused, "Actually... That makes sense. When I got those 5 perk points it was after we killed our first dragon. Some kind of hidden feat of strength perhaps?"

I nodded, "Exactly. The problem is you can't really test it, because what if every level up you have a random chance to receive 1-3 perk points naturally and everything else is from random skill level ups. What if other things give you perk points like being a werewolf and eating hunted prey? That's how you leveled up the werewolf skill tree in the old games."

Stephan nodded, "I see your point."

I shrugged, "Best to do your best and hope perk points flow in."

Stephan paused, "It's all good, on a different note. What did you mean by... uh... Hermaeus Mora wanting Kyne? and why should I hide from his sight?"

I expected this to come back up, "Hermaeus Mora is the daedric prince of knowledge and secrets. He will collect knowledge at any cost, no matter what the knowledge is either. This drive to gather knowledge brought him to employ a dragonborn named Miraak. When Hermaeus Mora becomes aware of Kyne he will want to replace Miraak with a newer, fresher dragonborn."

Stephan frowned, "That is obviously bad..."

I laughed, "Bad is an understatement. Which is why a complex plan needs to be put into place to trick such a god."

Stephan paused, "I guess that's why you are helping? You clearly lit up when you realized you didn't have to do the main quest. I still remember that, so the reason why you are helping now isn't out of the goodness of your heart."

I frowned, "Am I that obvious? Yes though, creating a scheme to out wit the daedric prince of knowledge and secrets would no doubt give me something special. Even if it isn't from the god themselves."

Stephan's expression crinkled in thought. "It's a daedric god of knowledge and secrets, wouldn't he learn about a scheme against him?"

I laughed, "Daedric god of knowledge and secrets, not omniscience. He has to collect knowledge and secrets. Sure he has a good chance to learn of things faster than other daedric princes. However even if said god found out of my plans, they would have no choice, but to pay attention to me rather than you. I can't say anything more than that. I'm sure even now I am being watched by someone."

Stephan nodded, "But what if some other god is watching you and tips the others off?"

I shook my head, "What better entertainment is there than watching a mortal try to get one over on another god in its own domain? Besides I think I did something that made several princes want to see what else I'll do." Speaking of, I have yet to hear from Meridia yet. Our deal is on going and Sable Wave may not be Dawnbreaker anymore, but the deal was to make dawnbreaker equal or greater than its former glory.

Stephan shouted bring me back to the present. "What in the fuck is that!"

A massive four armed troll jumped down from a cliff side. I guess the troll from old game was upgraded. It was an impressive beast, which clearly had some experience under its belt. Several arrows stuck out from the creatures back and the troll even held a large bone in its hands as a club.

The poor thing though, it never had a chance as several attacks were launched at the beast. Illia blasting it with an fire ball blew off one of its arms. With a little effort from me a flaming famlair exploded taking out one of its legs. Finally the fight ended when Viree and Kyne struck it with Volendrung and a two-handed great sword I recognized in the back of my mind.

Stephan laughed, "I guess I over-reacted."

I looked over the troll, "Nah, if we were alone this guy would have likely been a problem for anyone. The thing isn't dead from all that, It's even regenerating." I pointed to Viree, "Pass me that arm Illia blew off."

She picked up the fallen limb and threw it to me. I decided to test something I had always wondered. I chopped one of the creatures left arms and replaced it with the right. The new severed arm was placed against the Troll's leg while I placed the charred leg I had blown off where the troll's arm was.

Kyne frowned, "That's cruel."

I shook my head, "We are going to kill it anyway, besides how many travels did this guy kill. Trolls are odd little creatures, the fact this guy has four arms means he likely ate way more than other trolls normally ever had the chance too."

Viree nodded, "No competition for food if you are the highest on the food chain. The thing likely had no rivals to fight for territory either."

The troll's regeneration re-attached the misplaced severed limbs. It twitched as it tried to function, but the troll couldn't coordinate any more. It was fascinating, this trick likely would only ever work on this specific troll. As despite being attacked with fire the troll was healing the burned skin.

Kyne shook his head, "I'm putting it out of its misery, it can barely struggle."

I gestured for him to go ahead, "I just wanted to see how it regenerates."

Illia gave a curious nod, "I do find it fascinating how much it regenerated. Perhaps you should cut it open and check its stomach. It may have ate something that increased it's regeneration."

Kyne nodded, once he cut off the Troll's head, he turned and cut open the Troll's belly. It only took a second before he pulled out a pair of rings.

He tossed the rings to Stephan, "What are they?"

Stephan inspected the rings using the inventory system and frowned. "Wedding rings, they are enchanted though. Increases regeneration by 30%, increases Stamina regen by 30%, and grants lover's embrace when worn by two individuals. The enchantment only works when two people are in love."

I raised an eyebrow, "Really? Let me see."

He passed the rings to me and sure enough. They only worked on a pair of individuals. I paused and tried equipping them to my belt. However I gained no effect and I frowned. "The troll was clearly effected by the rings. Any guesses why it would work for the troll?"

Everyone took a second at thinking about the interesting question. However it was Illia who came up with an answer. "The troll had four arms, maybe that allowed it to benefit from the rings? One would need t-"

"Perhaps the troll ate its mate?" We all jumped up from the new voice. Everyone in the party snapped to the stranger.

Stephan shouted, "Who the fuck are you?"

I looked in horror at the creature before us as it introduced itself. "I'm just a simple courier... Are one of you Vek Mantis? I have a letter for you."

I frowned in disgust, "How did you find us here? How did you even... You came from up the mountian!"

The courier gave a tilt to its head, "Well, I have a letter for you."

I grabbed the envelopes from the creatures hands. It nodded, "Have a good day!" The courier began sprinting down the mountain like it was nothing.

Kyne frowned, "Normal Couriers are not like that."

Illia nodded, "What was that thing!"

I looked at them with a deeping shade of horror. "What do you mean they aren't like that! I've not met a single normal one yet! Even when I had letters to deliver."

Illia shook her head, "I've never seen or heard of a courier like that! They only ever deliver letters through towns and cities. Sure, the courier service has some unexpected efficiency at delivering letters. However to climb, no, wait you are right! It came from up the mountain..."

Viree frowned, "The courier I met in Riften was like that. At least when Vek was around."

Stephan shook his head, "I never had a courier act like that."

I frowned looking toward the direction the creature left in. Maybe I should ask Hano about this. I looked at the party, "Let's climb the rest of the mountain."

The party nodded and we began walking in silence.

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