It was well past midday when Lena, Hauk and Jowan finally set off from the Imperial City towards the Niben. It was foggy and cool, and they were able to make good time jogging and walking along the Ring Road, crossing the Upper Niben and turning off to the Yellow Road going South East. They passed by Cropsford where they were greeted as saviours by the Bretons who now managed to build their houses on that land. A very warm welcome indeed, but no, you’re not getting any food here, and neither can you spend the night. Oh great.

So they continued along the road hoping to stay at the Crestbridge Camp, only to discover that no such camp any longer existed. Oh, there was an abandoned campsite, sure, but no tents, no fire, nothing. It was nearing 9 p.m.

“So, what do you want to do?” – asked Lena. “We can go and clear out the fort over there” – she pointed to the other side of the Corbolo River – “or walk around in the wilderness hoping to find another campsite, or else pick up the pace and aim for the Imperial Bridge Inn – we should probably get there by midnight.”

“The inn” – said Hauk and Jowan in unison. “Don’t want to wander around in the wilderness in the middle of the night looking for a campsite that might or might not be there. And that fort – we’ve been there already, it took forever to clear out and didn’t Garrus nearly drown in that one? Or was it somewhere else?”

Lena couldn’t remember in which fort it was exactly, and Jowan didn’t want to find out, and so they marched on aiming for the Imperial Bridge Inn.

The inn was welcoming and accommodating as usual, with a wide selection of alcoholic drinks to accompany the meal. However, their heads were still slightly buzzing from the mead they had consumed the night before, so they thanked the publican and focused on the food. There were just the two single beds free, but plenty of floor space. Against his protests, Jowan was thrust onto one of the beds – “You still need to rest!” – and Hauk took the floor, for a little while at least.

25 First Seed

“Explain this to me” – asked Jowan at breakfast. “Are you two lovers?”

Lena and Hauk looked at each other, then Hauk answered: “Officially – no, unofficially – may be.”

“What?” – Jowan was confused. “How is that?”

“Well…” – Lena started, not so sure what to say.

“We are friends, first and foremost” – said Hauk firmly. “And we’ve been travelling together for, what? – half a year now?” Lena nodded. “And things happen in travels.”

“Things that don’t happen off travels or with other people” – Lena added, blushing slightly.

“Wolf is not ready to make any choices or decisions, it’s not the time” – continued Hauk. “No, we’re just friends” – he smirked and winked at Jowan. Lucky for him, he was already wearing armour.

…

Mackamentain was a bit odd.

“Tombs of the Undead?” – Lena read an inscription above the door. “I’ve never come across undead that would still be entombed…”

And sure enough, they were not. Wraiths and zombies raised by the necromancers perhaps, unless the necromancers were just visiting.

The next door was even more interesting: “Necromancer’s Asylum”.

“Well, let’s hope Mr. Umbacano likes them bloody” – said Lena pointing at an Ayleid statue. “I certainly don’t want to know where this one has been” – she added stashing it in her pack.

…

Going East from Mackamentain, they found Deserted Mine that wasn’t actually deserted but occupied by bandits. It provided quite a bit of gold and had a Minotaur Lord locked in behind some rickety planks.

“What does a beast like this do in the deapths of some forgotten mine, barricaded like that?” – wondered Jowan.

“Who knows!” – said Hauk. “Minotaur are supposed to be intelligent, sentient even. Although I think this one might have been touched by Sheogorath. The bandits probably put up the barricade for their own safety.”

“Yeah, except that I was able to break it down with a single punch” – interjected Lena. “Perhaps it’s rather the bandits who had been touched by Sheogorath.”

It didn’t really matter, because they were all dead now. Lena, Hauk and Jowan stayed in the mine for the night.