[Encanto] 23 – The Standing Stones

Whistling a nice toon as I stepped past the gates of Windhelm, I couldn't help but smirk at the chaos I caused, much to the annoyance of some of the Guards. As I promised, I did go to the Candlehearth Inn at the center of Windhelm and challenged whoever was day drinking to a challenge, betting my gold on the line, and in exchange, all I asked for in return was a chance to heal.

Of course, that caused a bit of reluctance at first, but with a decent amount of Septims on the line and my apparent young age, a few poor sods decided to give it a go, only for them to find out the hard way that they were not going to be able to outdrink me. This led to a vicious cycle, as those who watched thought they could beat me after I had drunken so much, only for them to fail too, though both sides left happy as I healed whoever challenged me, fixing old wounds, badly set bones, poor vision, and more for free.

After a few hours, the Inn was swamped by customers, Nord, Dark Elf, and Argonian alike, all seeking to either get a free heal or five hundred septims. This, of course, led to a few brawls between some Nords and the Argonians, which led to the Guards coming to break up the fights. While the Innkeeper did not like my presence at first, she tolerated it by the end, as I brought in quite a few customers for her. 

With that act alone, I gained the College a bit of respect, even if tiny, and built my reputation up a bit. Towards the late afternoon, I spent some time spreading rumors of Winterhold's situation slowly improving and that several mines were planned to be opened soon, along with obtaining a fishing ship that brought fresh food into Winterhold daily. I even mentioned that Winterhold was looking for labor to work the mines and on the fishing ship.

Of course, I mentioned that little tidbit in earshot of the sparse few Dark Elves drinking and eating nearby, which I was willing to bet would spread to other Dark Elves in the Grey Quarter, the section of the city where most of the Dark Elves lived. This would no doubt lead to some of the townspeople venturing off to Winterhold to investigate and see if what I spoke about was true.

Once I made it past the Talos status a mile outside of the city, I took flight, humming a song along the way.

Based on the sun's position, it was around 6 p.m., so I had at most an hour or two before it started getting dark and colder, and I did not want to find out if [Sun's Embrace] could fight off the cold. There's a reason I kept going to the College every night, refusing to go outside, as even then, I still felt the bitter cold waft into the tower where the students resided. 

I was still working on the spell component that changed the spell's duration, but at the moment, my efforts only made the spell more costly and more powerful the longer it was cast, which did give some of the other students a scare when I became a living inferno in the Hall of Elements after putting too much mana into the spell and letting it run for too long. While that wasn't helpful in keeping a consistent cost and longer duration, it was helpful in giving me a powerful tool that would provide me a...'fire aura' that acted as an AOE attack centered on myself.

So, I would rather not have to drain my Magicka reserves and stay up all night to keep myself warm, nor would I like to stay in Windhelm for the night, as it was fiercely...Nordic. The Nords hated magic with a passion, and outside of my expertise in Restoration, I would rather not wake up and find a shiv in my side or go to sleep and never wake up again. Besides, Whiterun was far more...friendly due to its honorable Jarl and neutrality. It was also home to the Companions, a group of Warriors hailing since Man first came to Tamriel by a Nord who had a colossal hate boner for all Snow Elves after his kids got murdered by them named Ysgramor. 

The Companions were an honorable bunch, acting more like mercenaries than true adventurers. They were good people despite their Lycanthropy, which plagued the members of the 'Circle,' the 'leaders' of the Companions outside the Harbinger. This was more of an honorary role than true leadership.

Part of me was tempted to give it a go myself and join them someday, but I had a bit of growing up to do before that could happen, but...I still wanted to go home. Maybe if I had the time, I could join them for a while, but my priority was getting home, and if I could do that, surely I'd be able to return to Skyrim if I wanted to, right?

Shaking my head, I focused on flying, soon passing by Kynesgrove, reminding me of the bitch, Delphine. 

Following the river south, then west past the Valtheim towers, a notorious area that Bandits like to inhabit and harass those who want to take the road east through the mountains to Windhelm, Kynesgrove, or Evergreen Grove, home to the Eldergleam, the oldest tree of Skyrim and personally blessed by Kynareth, with the waters in the place being known for their healing properties, was a popular pilgrimage site.

Of course, I did my duty and...took care of any bandits calling the old Nordic structure home by drowning the tower in fire. Besides that momentary divergence, I kept flying along the path of the river, stopping by the Ritual Stone.

All across Skyrim were Standing Stones. These stones provided unique buffs or powers, but the player could only have one active at a time. The Ritual Stone, in particular, if exploited correctly, gave the Player an ever-growing army of undead but required time and patience. I doubt that would work here, not to mention if the Standing Stones worked as they did in the game. In Oblivion, the Elder Scrolls game that came before Skyrim, the standing stones were replaced by 'Birthsign,' and these Birthsigns had their pros and cons, while the Standing Stones in Skyrim seemingly had little to no drawbacks. 

Floating down to the standing stone, I couldn't help but frown at the sheer number of skulls and bones that surrounded it. My frown deepened further when I saw a bright blue light coalesce around some of the piles of bones as multiple armed skeletons rose to Undeath.

Casting [Sun Bolt], a bolt of holy fire flew from my hands into the shambling bones rising around me, burning them to ash before they could even take a step forward.

Casting [Guardian Circle], a purifying circle of energy spread out around me from my feet over all the bones and skeletons, killing those remaining and stopping the others from being raised. It would kill any lesser Undead, but its effect was not as strong against stronger Undead.

Satisfied that I would not be attacked, I reached out to the Ritual stone with my hand.