“Iron, iron as far as I could see!” Angven held up a lump of ore for us to get our eyes on. After a week in Seacrest, we’d headed for the Wharf, and taken out two of Bellin’s ships for prospecting. Jorn and Lodor had taken their father’s advice to heart, and done well preparing their crews. Today I was with Jorn.
“And you thought that old book was lying, said ‘I’ve grown up on this coastline my whole life! There’s no iron there!” I grinned to the captain. Jorn huffed.
“I didn’t say there wasn’t any, just that I thought someone else would have found it by now.”
“Yeah, someone did, and they wrote it down in a book.” I waved the survey at him. We were just past the coastal barrow, between Frozen Wharf and Seacrest, where a particularly large vein of iron ore supposedly snaked along the cliffs. Angven had taken a small party ashore with Harald, with ropes and picks to take samples.
“Angven! Come over here and explain in detail where the seam is for me.” I beckoned him back to the ship. I’d borrowed Lyanna for a scribe, she was properly educated, and had better hands for it than I did. We gathered at a table below deck, a magelight cast to help things along.
“There’s a passage between the rocks left of where we ran the ropes, about two men wide. The ice above is going to give when summer comes along, but we can have the mages melt it away before then, get rid of the risk. It leads down into a cave. There were some junk scraps, barrel bands, so I’m pretty certain it’s the spot your book mentioned. Two tunnels branch out inside, that’s where I broke this loose.” He set the big chunk of ore down, black with a handful of metallic sparkles.
“How big were the seams inside?”
“Huge. The tunnel walls all looked like that, so did the inland side of the cave chamber. I don’t know about how much iron was actually there, but if this whole rock is iron ore, must be quite a bit. All the rocks on the cliffs are grey and black.” Angven poked the ore again. Harald spoke up.
“The iron is great quality, two or three to one, with some pockets that look nearly one to one.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that for one pound of iron in ingots, we only need two or three pounds of ore. We’ll have to smelt it a few times to get everything out of it, but that’s why we’re building extra furnaces. With a seam like we saw inside, the mine could last years if it goes deeper. Just what I saw is thousands of pounds, even more.” Harald looked delighted with the prospect. We’d need every last scrap to pound out armor for everyone. My arms were going to be sore.
“Close by too. The sooner we get those miners, the better. This ship can carry a load back and forth once a day if they can fill her.” Jorn looked around the cargo hold. Iron ore was heavy, I wondered if the ship had the tonnage for that. The whole thing couldn’t have been more than ten.
“That won’t put you too low in the water? The swells are pretty nasty under the castle.” I’d watched them from the top of the keep, and from farther away back during our first boat rides, and then again this morning when Jorn had taken us back around the point.
“Not the way I’d load her. The spring storms can be bad, but if we keep it near the ice things shouldn’t be too dangerous. It’s such a short trip, we can avoid the storms that might blow in.” Jorn sounded confident. He was the local captain, so I’d trust him.
“Hopefully your brother is just as successful finding the corundum deposits. Lyanna, have you got this deposit marked out?” I turned over to her.
“Yes Champion, it shouldn’t be too hard to find again.” She showed what she’d been working on. It was a rough sketch of the coastline, with the rock formations done in detail, including the ropes Angven had used.
“Great. Jorn, do you have a banner or… That’ll do. If we can cut a few strips and tie them off to the ropes, that’ll make it easy.” One of the sailors offered over a blue tarp.
“I’ll tie them off.” Angven took the tarp and headed back above.
“Which site are we looking for next?” Jorn asked, nodding at the survey.
“The silver veins here. You didn’t go on foot for them yet, have you?” I opened the survey to the page I’d marked.
“No, we didn’t. Figured you would want to see them yourself anyways.” Jorn had a good sense for that.
“That’s right. We’ll keep going west and then turn in at Frozen Wharf for the night. Lodor should be back tomorrow, then we’ll have a good idea of what to start with.” The silver was a key factor in all of this. The book said it was a moderate vein, with the chance for a major deposit deeper down. I was hoping that it would be mostly above the surface, in the cliffs. If the vein went downwards, we’d have a hard time with the water, especially with the spring melts coming.
Several Hours Later
The silver vein was middling. Sometime between the book being written and now, it had been found and mined. Nobody had any idea when exactly, but the scraps of cloth, an old skull, and a rusty imprint on the stone that looked like a pick said it had been a hundred years or more. The take had been minimal, but it also showed they’d dug out the upper layers first, like I’d hoped to do.
“Well, it’s something.” I frowned at the ore lump. We didn’t need very much silver, strictly speaking. Just enough to lace the steel and get some effect on target with the weaponry we’d be forging. I’d hoped that there would be enough to mint silver ingots, and make the whole operation pay for it self. The quality of the ore and the difficulty we’d have mining it said that wasn’t going to happen.
“You mentioned a second deposit off the coast, hopefully Lodor finds it.” Jorn tried to find the silver lining to the situation.
“A small one, that will need its own work crew, a route in dangerous waters, and strain our ships. If we can pull a few hundred pounds of silver out, it’ll be worth it, but this one was the better bet. It would probably be better to just focus on this one.” I weighed my options.
“I took enough ore here to smelt it out, I’ll be able to tell you more about the quality then.” Harald hefted the sack at his feet.
“About that, remember that I asked you to build a furnace separate from the rest, to blow the smoke easterly?” I eyed the ore with disdain.
“Yes, we finished it a few days ago.” Harald seemed a bit confused by it still.
“Good. This silver, make sure that you only smelt it in that furnace, and don’t handle the ore without gloves. It’s lead-silver, and the lead will cause all sorts of health problems. I don’t think magic can fix them either, unless it will pull the lead out of your body.” The lead was going to be a bitch to deal with. Sadly, knowing the idea behind a gas mask, and being able to actually build a functional one were worlds apart. I doubted there was any way to get a mesh fine enough to catch lead particulate with the technology available.
“If you say so Champion.” Harald didn’t put up any resistance. The nords had already dealt with more than a few outlandish claims from me, that pretty much all ended with just fucking do it this way, alright?
“I do say so, lead poisoning is a bitch to deal with. I doubt that a cure disease or cure poisoning potion… huh… maybe that would work.” I trailed off, Lyana’s quill scribbled something down.
“I can make a poison cure potion. Not great, but good enough to be useful.” She offered with a smile.
“That’ll be helpful. We still don’t want to smelt the silver ore in the normal furnaces, it’ll blow the lead all over the keep. The land east of the keep is going to get contaminated either way, but I can’t do anything about that.” At least there wasn’t a river, I caught my self again. The White should be far enough away that the lead wasn’t an issue, and it ran south to north anyways. A few hundred pounds of lead spread out over thousands of square miles, it’d be fine. The miners were the ones I was worried about.
“I didn’t know that lead could poison people.” Harald shrugged.
“It’s not like a spider or snake bite, but it’s poison all the same. It’ll make you crazy, give you cancer, all sorts of nasty shit. Hopefully the poison cures work.” It wasn’t the same weight that I felt going into the barrows or hunting bandits. A good plan there could alleviate a lot of the danger, but mining lead and smelting it? If the poison cure potions didn’t work, I’d be consigning the miners to an almost guaranteed slow decline into insanity and major health issues. Then again, I did have that new perk about healing disease and poisons, maybe that would help. I was getting really tired of the shit options I had to work with.
Frontal attacks against the undead, torturing information out of crazed cultists, capturing vampires… And it was going to get worse before it got better. Fucking dragons man. I’d been in my head a bit too long. Harald waved his hand at me to snap me out of my thoughts.
“Alright Champion?”
“Yeah, just thinking about other ways around the lead thing. Adalvald or Jori might have some ideas, maybe even the men from Dawnstar.” I got back to the point at hand.
“My father might be able to help too. We might make a new kind of furnace to stop the lead from swirling around so much.” Harald offered.
“That’d be a good idea. Jorn, I think we’re done here. Go ahead and take us back to the wharf.”
9, Sun’s Dawn, 4E 201
“Took you long enough to get back Lodor, sight seeing?” I chuckled as he found a seat at the table. Jorn had put us up in his family’s house while we waited. We’d been about to leave and go looking for Lodor’s ship when it was spotted coming back in.
“Something like that. We found two barrows off the coast. One was small, we cleared it out and took the treasure inside.” Lodor threw his chin over to the crates that some of his men were stacking. I looked to Anglin, and raised an eyebrow. He shrugged, but opened his cloak to show off a new axe, a purple glow on the blade. That made for two teams taking initiative of their own. The bug had bitten them all it seemed, knowing how much wealth was to be had in the old tombs.
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“What’s the take look like?”
“Four thousand septims in coins and gold, a few enchanted weapons and rings. Anglin seemed to think that we’d be keeping most of it.” Lodor had a suspicious tone around his words.
“He’s right. Angven found another barrow last week, took a few of ours to go check it out. The deal we made was that the company gets a quarter share, with a preference for magical items. Soul gems, enchanted items, potions. Things that we can’t just go and buy easily. He did mention that part, right?” I looked at the crates. Lodor nodded.
“We didn’t find many soul gems, but there was a rack of enchanted weapons. Should be three left, and only our tested fighters got one.” Lodor nodded to the four men that had come in behind him. They’d all fought at the river and Yngdaril.
“That’s fine by me, show me what you’ve got.” I gestured at the weapons. Lodor pulled out a steel sword from his belt. It had a thick spine, a single edge, the blade bulged a bit at the end, and frosty air seemed to drip off the cutting end. Fitting for a captain.
[Chilled Nordic Cutlass]
[Description: An ancient weapon of fine manufacture, this cutlass will cause flash freezing when it cuts flesh.]
“Not a bad weapon. Don’t cut yourself with it, you’ll lose the finger to frostbite.” I turned to the axe Anglin had.
[Sparkblade Steel Axe]
[Description: This axe calls lightning to smite the foe, electrocuting them and disrupting the flow of magic within their body.]
…
…
…
“Powerful. What about the second barrow?” I got a good look at all their weapons. The men had a mix of ice and lightning enchanted swords and axes.
“It looks larger, like a fortress almost. We fought on the steps and killed a few skeletons, but it isn’t like the other ones we’ve found. Yngdaril was large, but it was pretty clearly just a mass burial. I don’t know what this one is. We pushed into the first room, and heard a voice from deeper in the barrow, promising glory. That was bad omens writ large, so we stopped and ran back to the ship.” Lodor explained.
“Smart, I wouldn’t poke that place again if I were you. Maybe if I can find the time, we’ll go back and investigate it. What about the ore deposits?” I turned to the most important matter.
“We found a deep corundum vein on the island with the first barrow. Iron too, plenty of it just sitting on the surface. The silver wasn’t as good as we hoped, the rock face it was supposed to be in collapsed at some point, and now high tide washes over the spot we’d need to mine from. A storm would wipe away any camp we built there. We picked over it and took what we could before the tide came in. I don’t think it’s worth the trouble.” Lodor walked over to one of the crates, and pulled out a hunk of silver.
My mind started tingling looking at it. Lead had been bad, this one was a sulphur compound according to the knowledge I’d inherited from Prospector. The more I thought about it though, I knew how to get it without some awful cloud of sulphuric acid forming. That was actually pretty unlikely, but the refining would smell like shit. Salt water, copper ores, and… fucking mercury. That was how to refine it. My face must have betrayed me, because Harald spoke up.
“What’s in it this time?”
At least Jorn got a laugh out of it.
12, Sun’s Dawn, 4E 201
“Champion, I think we’ve got our first pack of newcomers.” Hania pointed towards the open gate. Ten men, half as many women, a few kids too, leading a few dogsleds and goats. They looked a bit haggard, but who wouldn’t be after trudging through knee deep snow? I let my mace fall back into its ring, and motioned for Grimvald to take over the training we’d been doing. Kalor was already walking out into the street from his house.
“Hello!” I raised a hand and walked towards the group. A few raised hands back, some were turned to the new headman.
“Kalor.” I nodded to the older man. The men of the group had all turned to look at me, wearing my mostly repaired armor, sans helmet. “Here for work?”
“Aye, are you the champion, the one that killed Korir?” A larger, scarred man asked from the lead. He looked to be about forty.
“Kill one Jarl and it’s the only thing they know you for… That’s me.” I muttered the first part mostly to my self. The scarred man grinned.
“I’m Koljan, this is my clan, what’s left of it. We’re mountainfolk. Bandits attacked us some weeks ago, burned our holding. The new Jarl in Winterhold said that there was a place here for people willing to work.” Koljan looked over the town, and the castle.
“There is. Kalor here is the Headman, we’ve chosen some spaces around the village for new houses, and plots farther out for farms if that’s your trade.” I looked over the men, they didn’t seem like farmers. They were too hard, too weathered, even for nord farmers. Koljan’s answering smirk said I’d gotten it right.
“Headman. My clan is wasted in a farm field. Jarl Bellin said you needed smiths, miners, warriors, and had the coin to make it worthwhile. He also mentioned that you hunted the bandits that burned our home. Did you kill them all?”
“To the last. We chased them to the White and charged them down. We killed another set of them in an old ruin. I haven’t heard back from the west yet, but a thegn named Molnen was going to go hunting for another gang of them held up in the mountains. We haven’t gotten our forge running entirely, we need to find the miners to get the ore first. If you’re willing to fight…” I pointed back up to the castle, and the men that could be seen through the gate. “There’s plenty of open bunks in our barracks.”
“We trade steel with the smiths in Windhelm, our holding was built atop a small mine. Show me the place, and we can do the work.” Koljan put his hand out. I took it.
“There’s a man you should meet then, he’s the captain of the ship that will be hauling the ore back here. We’ll find places for you to stay in the meantime. A meal’s cooking now, let’s get out of the cold.” A lucky break. If I could convince the men in the Whistling mine to give up their claim, we could really get things started.
----------------------------------------
[Level Increased, 22->31!]
[Multiple Skills Increased!]
[3 Challenges completed!]
[4 Perk Points Available]
[Quest Completed: Death March]
[Quest Assigned: Ancient Depths]
[Quest Completed: Ancient Depths]
[Quest Assigned: Divine Judgement]
[Quest Completed: Divine Judgement]
[Quest Assigned: Call To Arms]
[Multiple Quest Rewards Available!]
The windows were pissed, that was my assumption. I’d tried to swat them away as usual when I went to sleep, putting it off, but it wasn’t to be. The windows appeared in my vision even when I closed my eyes, swore at them, told them to piss off, they refused to leave.
“Why now? What is so pressing that I need to deal with you immediately?” I grumbled as I sat up in bed.
[You refuse to learn how to use this gift, and so it must be forced on you. It is a refreshing change from those who constantly beg for help, but no less irritating.]
The response from the windows caught me off guard, they’d never done that before… had they? Usually I sent them away on reflex as soon as they appeared. I rubbed my eyes, and looked at the message again.
“How long have you been able to talk?”
[From the beginning. You would have noticed if you hadn’t slapped, spat, and sworn these messages off. It’s a miracle you’ve survived this long. Accept the rewards, and do read the quest notes this time.]
“I’ve asked questions before! Where were the answers then?” I angrily sputtered.
[Instructions and answers have been swatted away, spat or cursed at 97 times.]
“…Woops. Sorry Stuhn.” Everyone made mistakes. I didn’t know anyone that had made the same mistake ninety seven times, but who was counting, right? I swatted that window away and turned to the answer.
[I am not Stuhn.]
“Then what the hell are you? Why does nobody else have this?” I waited for a while, but no answer came. “Hello?”
[Quest Rewards]
[Death March]
* Blackfire, an improvement to your axe. A spike has been added to the backside. It is now an Ebony weapon.
* Karliene is no longer a simple wolf.
[Ancient Depths]
* Vengeance, Olam’s Mace is now an enchanted weapon, delivering powerful concussive strikes.
* Aura of Dawn, allies in your presence fight with unrivalled determination, foul creatures find it painful to exist near you. Effect increases with level.
[Divine Judgement]
* (1) Ascendant Perk
“What the hell is an Ascendant perk?” I wondered to my self. A new list appeared, showing about three dozen options. They weren’t simple things, like blocking a little better, or being a bit sneakier, or any of the other perks I’d picked so far. They were things that seemed undeniably superhuman. Sure, I’d already picked a few like that. Corpse Hunter was a supernatural power, no doubt about it, but it was fairly limited in scope.
Another difference of these perks, was that they were tiered. Some had five, others had three, a single one of them had nine. Some were physical, like Ascendant Physique, which promised a body to rival the gods if it was completed, another, Ascendant Wisdom, was focused on the mind. There were thirteen others, each devoted to one of the major birth signs, The Warrior drew my eye, as it had a golden outline, and one pip was already filled in it.
[The Warrior is your birthsign, you already benefit from the first tier of this perk, and require only two additional points to complete it.]
“Interesting.” The rest of the birthsign perks all had five tiers. Reading through the effect of The Warrior, it had ingrained some sort of instinctual knowledge, how to fight, how to make the best use of a weapon. It explained how I’d picked up the blade skills so fast. Jorman had been an excellent instructor, and I’d already known a fair amount about fighting hand to hand, but Hemjar should have flattened me.
Two months is nothing compared to twenty odd years, maybe more. A flash came through my head, of professional fighters being trounced by one time street urchins with ten times as many fights under their belt, because they’d been thrown into the ring once a week since they were eight years old. I’d always wanted to see the fights in Bangkok.
The memory nearly took me out of it, but I brushed it away. More nonsensical recollections served nobody… Though I knew the name of how I tended to fight now. Muay Thai would probably be devastating in a world that still fought primarily in melee. Nobody else had managed to keep up with me in hand to hand, not even Jorman. I turned back to the perks.
The two that called to me the most were Physique and The Warrior. I read a bit more deeply on both of them.
[Ascendant Physique]
[Description: Those who follow this path will gain the strength of giants, and the resilience of dragons. With each tier unlocked, you will become stronger, faster, and more durable, until you have reached a point nearing divinity. At the first level, most see their strength double, their height grown by a full head and can continue to fight with wounds that would kill lesser men.]
It was tempting. The carnage unleashed by the vampire that had killed Fenrik was telling. It had torn into the burly Nord like he was tissue paper, and thrown him nearly ten feet, all the while fighting, clawing and gnashing at the rest from what I'd heard. If I was planning to fight a beast like that, and to continue fighting things like Draugr lords, I needed to be stronger and tougher. Molsoraak had come very close to killing me, twice, and he was nowhere near the top of Tamriel’s food chain. The next phase of The Warrior was interesting too.
[The Warrior]
[Description: Those born to this sign find their trade in blades, armor, and other tools of war. They learn faster, achieve greater heights, and can perform unbelievable acts on the battlefield. Additional levels of this perk increase the maximum rating of all associated skills by (50) and the rate at which you learn them by (+50%) per level. All perks stemming from these associated skills have their effect multiplied by (2.5) per level of The Warrior]
“That’s not even fair…” I reached out a hand, trying to find the window that showed my skills and perks. I found Two Handed, it had increased to sixty three. One handed had made a massive jump to sixty eight. The effects of my perks were all hovering between twenty and thirty percent, not that it meant a damn thing to me. The definition of effectiveness had remained elusive. Then again, maybe I’d swatted the explanation away. Looking between the two perks, and not being able to make a decision, I turned to Karliene.
“Whatcha think girl? Give muscles to my muscles, or hit people with sticks better?”
Arrroooooo!