Chapter II: Setting out

A/n: I give my deepest thanks to Holosagewolf for their most generous support on patreon.

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The three apprentices are joined by Tolfdir after waiting for a bit, the old Nord sits down and starts reading through some documents, and after a minute or so speaks up "You three have requested to be given a task that would have you possibly engage in combat and risk your life, are you sure you want this?"

The three students nod seriously and the old man sighs "Kids these days, no patience at all! Very well, there is one such request from the Jarl himself. To the west of the hold, near the mountains a couple of homesteads have been raided by unknown attackers, they took no loot except some tools, but the most concerning part is that there were no bodies found and there are indications that prisoners were taken." He takes a moment to look at them for any sign of hesitation but is disappointed.

"You are to join the group of twelve guards that are being sent to investigate, they were going to go on their own but after some advice from the court wizard, and confirmation from Master Shalazar, it was decided that some mage support would be needed. Your mission is to investigate the disappearance and if possible recover the prisoners, naturally any perpetrators are to be put to the sword." He says the final part with surprising harshness.

"The reward for this request is five hundred septims each, alongside a public commendation from the jarl if you manage to recover the victims alive."

The Nord twins seem excited to help their people, probably hoping to prove to themselves and other Nords that mages can be a force for good.

Reyvin on the other hand is currently stuck brainstorming the possibilities, the only three conclusions he comes to are either bandit slavers, Falmer, or a Thalmor justiciar raid. The last one is soon crossed out as they are usually far more overt in their religious persecution, they like to make a point.

He scratches his chin for a bit, noticing a bit of stubble there with some surprise, before he speaks up "The only two realistic possibilities I can think of are either bandits or Falmer"

The twins seem surprised by the latter, but Tolfdir takes it more seriously "And what makes you think that Falmer might be involved?"

"Think about it, it is said that Blackreach is hidden somewhere beneath Mount Anthor, and the only living inhabitants of Dwemer ruins are Falmer, who are known to take captives and brainwash them into slavery"

Even Tolfdir shows open disgust at this "Indeed, what you say could be true, but we don't have the time to have Master Shalazar confirm it, all he did say was that mages would be needed."

Reyvin nods and says "We will need a lot of antidotes, provided to the guards as well if possible, I hope it's just bandits but if we are to be facing Falmer we need to be ready for poison and large numbers"

Bor asks, his voice skeptical "And how can you be so sure of this?"

The young elf shrugs "I am a massive nerd, what can I say"

All them chuckle for a bit before Tolfdir turns serious again "I will inform Hjolmir to have his men carry antidotes and extra potions, as for the two of you" he turns to the twins "I hope your restoration lessons taught you how to neutralize poison, because if you get into a lair of Falmer, antidotes won't be enough"

The two nod with some confidence.

"Good, I want all of you to stock up on some other potions as well, remember to not save them and use them whenever you feel like you might need them, your life is far more valuable than some ingredients."

He turns back to the elf "Now Reyvin, I am sure you already know this, but Falmer are known to be vulnerable to fire, I want you to abuse this and make sure you all come back alive."

Reyvin gives a reassuring nod "Of course, I will not allow any of the blind n'wahs to kill my friends" avoiding any mention of how the guards were completely ignored in the equation by the both of them.

Tholfdir seems satisfied with this and gives them each the documents to present to the guards and wishes them "Good luck" before leaving them to plan.

Looking over his colleagues Reyvin asks about their equipment and defensive spells. Thankfully both of them are from a warrior clan and came to the college with some medium armor, alongside basic weapon training.

They both chose the destruction, restoration, and alteration combination that they were already planning on, having been tutored in the basic spells since young they were already sufficiently competent at them, they weren't at Reyvin's level with destruction and alteration, but the Dunmer was blatantly cheating every moment he could so that wasn't surprising.

They spend a good hour strategizing and reminding each other of what they needed to take with them, all three scrounged up some money to have Reyvin enchant a poison resistance ring for all of them, even if they didn't get to fight Falmer these rings will always be handy.

Reyvin spent the evening with Master Sergius doing his best to make the rings as strong as possible, the enchantment teacher seemed very worried that the young mer was risking his life for 'no good reason' as he saw it, but Reyvin would not relent and the old man could only sigh and wish him luck.

The next morning they all said their goodbyes to the rest of their group, with Reyvin having to deal with an annoyed Morrigan complaining about him running off to save the poor children once more, but it was more of a routine at this point for the both of them.

He packed quite heavily, with multiple healing, stamina and Magicka potions, and an entire bottle of potent antidote, alongside some cold resistance potions, remembering the trip to Winterhold still made him shiver, he thanked every god he could think of for the enchanted robes he got.

On their way to the Jarl's keep he also bought a steel-tipped spear that matched his height, the smith that sold it even wished him luck and gave him a discount, apparently rumors spread here as fast as they do in Whiterun.

The group of young mages soon found themselves joining a group of guards in full heavy armor readying themselves to move out, they were all recognized from their training sessions and were welcomed to the group.

Holmir soon joined them and inspected their documents, after a bit of questioning and checking if they were prepared he pointed them to the short senior guard that was to lead the expedition whose name was Thorgrim, the gruff old Nord was polite enough and had them all fall into formation with the rest.

Not long after, they left the walls of Winterhold behind.

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(Just in case someone is curious Reyvin's current enchanted gear is : ring of minor magicka, ring of poison resistance, apprentice mage robes, quality necklace of minor absorption)

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