Things started off slow for my merry band. I’d intended to hit the ground running, but that just wasn’t possible. The twins were prolific hunters, the fieldcraft of which lent itself well to scouts and light infantry, but they weren’t soldiers. Riga was neither hunter nor soldier, and I was possibly the weakest of all in the skills we would need. Somehow I’d become the head of the bandit extermination effort, with no real knowledge of the bandits, the land, the people, or the skills we’d need.

Jorman put me on my back three dozen times by the end of the first week of training. The twins caught me twice as many times as I caught them in our jaunts to the foothills, and most of the times I’d caught them were generous, to say the least. Riga’s instruction was going the best. In two weeks I’d gotten the hang of three spells with her help, Healing, Lesser Ward, and Flames.

Jori had come to the Jarl’s hall twice for more advanced instruction, he was frankly astonished at how quickly I’d pick up the rudiments of magic. He corrected Riga and I in a few of our mistakes, taught us tricks, and the Sun Fire spell. Sun Fire was a bit more advanced than the others, it was specifically for dealing with the undead. Whether those undead were skeletons, draugrs, raised corpses, or vampires, he told us it didn’t matter. It would burn them like fire, and keep burning them for several seconds. The spell operated on a deeper level than raw physical damage too, it had some sort of effect on the binding that kept undead anchored in the material plane.

They were unnatural abominations, that defied the laws of the nine divines, so keeping them manifested was the primary purpose of the magic that necromancers cast. Vampires had a different reaction to the spell, but were just as heavily effected by it. Jori had tried to explain the difference as best he could, but the amount of magical technicalities involved flew over our heads. I’d eventually stopped him and just asked if it would kill a walking corpse for good, which he’d confirmed. He told me that we’d need more than a single spell to go after the necromancers, but he’d declined joining our band for now. He had made some sort of breakthrough in his studies and needed more time.

He planned to visit us when he had the time, but otherwise told us to keep practicing and learning on our own. Jori had left us with a gift at least, a tome titled Frost Runes: A Cryomancer’s Guide. It filled a niche, the runes were effectively explosive traps that had an effect corresponding to their element. Jori seemed to think that Frost Runes would be extra powerful with all the snow and ice influencing ambient magic in the environment. The book didn’t mention anything like that so far as I’d read it, but I’d trust the formally trained mage.

Jorman had scoffed at the mention of the magic Jori had offered, and instead told me to put my faith in steel. The second week of training with the Guards had gone better. I still hadn’t beat Jorman. He was a forty something year old veteran soldier, past his physical prime, but at the top of his game in experience. He wasn’t the only guard I fought either. Rolvar, Tolin, Mikel, half a dozen others put me through the paces, as they did with the twins. It was all exhausting work, but it would keep us alive for the trial to come.

The first week of the new year came with a speech from the Jarl. He gathered up the townspeople to tell them that the bandits, the necromancers, the monsters and the shit economy were on notice. It was the standard politician’s spew, but he actually had proof for his efforts. He formally introduced me as the First Ranger, he brought Galteir forwards when he presented a new bounty scheme for the dangerous animals that had become too bold, and a signed deal with the Jarl of Riften for meat and furs in exchange for vegetables, wood, and tools. It gave him the PR victory that he’d been desperately needing, but all of it would take time, months, to go into effect.

It wasn’t the only big news of the new year. My training had paid off with several levels, several large bumps in the skill ratings my windows displayed, and something I’d been expecting as more memories came back. It was the evening after the speech, and another hard day of training, that I looked over the summary window.

[Name: Johannes of Fuck Know’s Where]

[Title: First Ranger]

[Age: 27]

[Race: Nord]

[Birth Sign: The Warrior]

[Level: 10]

[Health: 275/275, Stamina: 300/300, Magicka: 125/125]

Perk List

[Perk: Plate Skin]

[Description: Heavy armor is like a second skin to you. Your heavy armor fits better, feels lighter, and is 15% more effective.]

[Perk: Marksman]

[Description: You can take carefully aimed shots, focusing your concentration to hit vital points. To activate this perk, simply concentrate while aiming with a bow. Your accuracy will improve greatly while concentrating. Over usage of this perk can lead to rapid exhaustion.]

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[Perk: Bleed Like A Lamb]

[Description: Your strikes with two handed weapons, especially axes, cause immense bleeding to the target. Bleeding causes rapid damage over time, but only effects living beings.]

[Perk: Traceless]

[Description: You leave little evidence of your passing. Mundane means of tracking you prove exceptionally difficult, and only the most skilled of hunters can follow your trail. The effect of this perk increases with the skill rating of Sneak.]

[Perk: Rugged Works]

[Description: Equipment that you craft or maintain rusts less, holds its edge sharper for longer, and is less likely to fail. You must have had a hand in crafting the equipment, or maintained it last for this perk to take effect. Equipment is 10% more durable, this bonus improves by +1% for each ten points of Smithing skill. Equipment that you have taken the mastery perk for gains double the bonus. Current Effectiveness, +12%]

[Perk: Steel Smithing Mastery]

[Description: This perk gives you the knowledge of a master Steel Smith. It does not give you the skill of one. You will need to practice your trade before you are truly understand the nuances of this type of equipment. Your knowledge allows you to improve steel equipment twice as much as your skill rating would imply.]

[Perk: Hunter’s Senses]

[Description: Your senses have sharpened to a razor’s edge, increasing your visual acuity, hearing sensitivity, among all the others. This perk increases its effectiveness as you increase your level. Current Effectiveness, +10%]

[Perk: Haft Parry]

[Description: When you successfully block an opponent’s strike with the haft of your great weapon, it throws the enemy off balance for a moment, opening them to a swift counter strike. The degree to which your enemy is effected is dependent upon your Two Handed skill. Current Effectiveness, +17%]

[Perk: War Cry]

[Description: You have an inspiring effect on those you would call your party members. Once per day, you may unleash a bolstering war cry, increasing all of their combat skills by 10%. For every five points in the Speech skill, this bonus is increased by +1%. Current Effectiveness, +17%]

[Perk: Righteous Strikes]

[Description: The undead cower in your presence. Every strike against the undead or their masters deals additional Sun damage, and leaves a burning effect. This additional damage receives double the bonus from any damage modifiers against the Undead. The additional damage is derived from your Restoration skill. Strikes against the undead now grant Restoration experience regardless of the method. Foul creatures know of your nature as soon as they lay their eyes on you.]

I’d loaded heavily on combat skills, though I had opted to try the Steel Smithing Mastery. I’d gotten to looking at my steel armor, and saw a thousand little problems with the protection. Gaps in the plate, weak points in the stitching, thicker sections where they weren’t needed, among others. I didn’t have the workspace to make any modifications, but part of the tools the Jarl had ordered was a full smithy’s assortment. They were due to arrive by wagon from Windhelm within the month. Hopefully I could play off my sudden skill as memories being jogged by the tools.

The real killers in the new perk line up were Haft Parry and Righteous Strikes. Haft Parry’s counter attack ate up stamina from what I could tell, but the split second it added to a foe’s reaction time opened up all sorts of dirty tricks. I’d broken Rolvar’s nose with a quick elbow, and even managed to dump Jorman to the ground with a quick step into his guard, not that it slowed him down. I caught his shield to the face and gotten my own nose broken for the trouble I’d made.

The twins had been commenting on the fact that I’d gotten better at covering my tracks too. Not much, but they’d noticed. My sneak rating was at twenty nine, and growing quickly with each day. If I had three months to train like this, I’d be something dangerous, but it wasn’t meant to be. The Jarl was making noise about needing results, and he’d get them soon. Our preparations were nearly complete by the ninth of the new year. The twins had spent some of their well earned pay to buy a sled, a dog team, and one of Karliene’s litter mates, Icefoot.

The two wolves had great fun with each other during our training sessions, and I was eager to see what they could do. The sled dogs weren’t exactly trained for combat, but with the wolves to lead by example, we had a pack of blood thirsty hounds. They made up for what we lacked in manpower to an extent, and sadly, the sled dogs were expendable to a degree. I’d bought two more my self to match the twins, and had a wooden shield mounted to the front of my sled for Riga. The idea was that we’d use them like chariots for fast raids, with one of the twins shooting arrows, Riga throwing ice spikes or shooting arrows of her own. The bandits wouldn’t be able to match our mobility, so we could dictate the terms of an engagement.

My immediate goal was to wipe out a vast swathe of bandits, and force them onto the backfoot. If our raids were successful, it would force them deeper into the mountains, a dangerous place to be, or it would see them congregate in one camp, which the Jarl could launch a proper attack against. If we failed, we’d probably end up dead. Once I had some success to show for my work, I’d start looking for more recruits. A few men had showed interest in joining us, but the wide opinion still held me as an outsider. A good, friendly one, but an outsider all the same. Men wouldn’t follow an outsider into the ice.

That was fine, because I didn’t have time to train, or the money to equip another few sleds worth of men right now. I still had plenty of my own personal money, but that was my fund for things going to shit. The Jarl had told me that I would need to equip my warband on my own if he was going to pay the sum we’d agreed to, which was reasonable. That cost meant that most of the men would need help to buy a reasonable set of equipment, or we’d need to capture a lot of gear from the bandits.

The twins and Riga had provided some help there. Their fathers had the knowledge and the materials to put together a decent outfit of warm, light armor. I’d bought three chainmail vests from the Jarl’s armory, and put my new steel smithing mastery to use. The result was several padded white vests, a layer of chainmail sandwiched between a white top and thick linen, with furs on the inside for warmth. The twins carried shields on their sled, Riga had her ward spell. We were finally ready to get a move on, much to the Jarl’s delight. Next stop, Bandit Country.