After a good rest at Nornal, Lena and Garrus decided to take a walk in the surrounding woods.

“Let’s go down to the Corbolo River and walk upstream to the source” – Lena suggested. “It’s been so long since I last went there.”

“I think the shores are quite steep, aren’t they?” – Garrus looked dubious. “We won’t see much.”

“Here, put this on” – Lena handed him an amulet.

“Oh, that’s a really pretty necklace, thanks” – Garrus was flattered but also puzzled. “But how is it going to help?”

“You’ll see.”

It didn’t seem to hurt to put it on, so he did. They went down to the river and Lena took a dive… no, she jumped and landed standing on the water as if it was solid. But she was a mage, they did the craziest things.

“Come on!” – she called.

“Well, I hope I won’t drown with this heavy armour on” – thought Garrus toning up his muscles. He took a step into the water, then another step… He wasn’t sinking. He was walking on the surface of the river the same way as Lena. “Oh! This is a Water Walking necklace!” – he thought. A whole new world was opening up to him.

“Oh those non-magical people getting so amazed at novice Alteration spells” – Lena thought with a chuckle.

They had a nice stroll all the way to the source of the Corbolo and Reed rivers – the Hill of Heros. The views from the Valus Mountains were magnificent. They saw a fort and walked up to it – Fort Scinia. A couple of bandits picked a fight.

“This is an Imperial fort and you’re not having it!” – Garrus was quite cross. “Let’s go in and clear them out!”

And they did. Bandits should really be more careful.

“I think we’re done here, Garrus” – Lena was wondering how this bandit managed to impale himself on three candlesticks, despite his ebony armour. “Are you sure this ebony plate is as strong as it looks? It didn’t protect this guy.”

“He had an argument with your clannfear” – replied Garrus, checking his own ebony armour. “I make it a point to be friendly to her.”

“And you are doing a much better job of it than Jowan who keeps hitting her with his spells and I keep having to banish her to prevent all of Jowan’s ribs being crushed at once” – Lena thought. But then ranged attacks were always more difficult. Garrus’ birthsign was Atronach, so he would normally just absorb stray spells and hardly even notice a thing. A great birthsign to have if you weren’t a mage!

It was well past midnight and they decided to stay at Fort Scinia for the night. There was food, drink and beds, so why not! They would return to Cheydinhal in the morning with their first pile of loot and see what Borba could offer them for it. Would it pay for Garrus’ armour or was he well and truly skinned?