Arms for the poor

Rictus had gotten up early to visit the market when it opened. He bought all the meat from a butcher named Anoriath and had it delivered to his house where he could discretely place it into his storage. Anoriath was quite pleased with the deal since he sold all his ware and got to go home after being there less than an hour. He also told Rictus if he needed anything else, to look for him in the Drunken Huntsman.

Rictus also made sure to get him that fresh sweet roll. He could never have enough of those.

With his food purchases out of the way, Rictus started making his way back towards the dump of Whiterun. It was now time for him to start working on gaining the trust of the people there. Rictus was quite hopeful for this endeavor. The people of Skyrim seemed quick to trust. While they may trust easy, they also hold a grudge. It was an interesting trade off which Rictus was different than what Rictus usually experienced. Maybe he was just a pessimist, but Rictus did not trust easy and almost expected someone to break his trust, at least early in the relationship.

As Rictus was about to leave the inner city, he stopped while looking at the blacksmith's shop. He had been considering stopping here for quite some time to test a theory of his. It would be a decent time to at least get the rest of the materials.

Warmaiden's was an impressive establishment. There was a large forge on the side of the building which was partially enclosed. This allowed it to limit some of the noise Rictus already heard coming from the area. The shop itself was quite large. The walls were lined with weapons and shields while there were armors hanging from racks and mannequins spaced throughout the shop. Rictus did not know much about blacksmithing, but even he could tell they were of high quality.

"Welcome to Warmaiden's. now don't let the name worry you, we got plenty o' steel for fighting men."

Rictus was greeted by a bear of a man behind the counter. He was tall and extremely muscular. He wore heavy steel plate armor as if it was nothing more than casual wear. There was a large Warhammer on his back which also had seen some use.

"Good morning. I am looking for various samples of ores. Would you by chance have any? The rarer the better please."

The man seemed to think about it for a second.

"Hmm we usually don't sell much ore since that is how we make our wares. For the right price, I may be able to part with some of it. Wait a minute as I get what we have from the back. You are in luck. We just got a shipment in from the Khajiit with a bunch of ores we don't typically use."

It didn't take to long for the man to return with a large box. He set it down on the counter and opened it up for Rictus to see. Rictus was quite pleased with what he saw. There were other ingots, but the Rictus was interested in the steel, refined malachite, and dwarven ones. There was also a special treat of a single ebony ingot. Rictus quickly paid the price for a single ingot of those 4 types. Rictus thanked the merchant as he made his way towards the slums.

Rictus had been wanting to get some of the refined ingots for a reason. He had been thinking about his transmute spell. He was easily able to go between iron, silver, and gold. He struggled trying to make anything else though. He had been partially successful in some experiments, but the metal always turned back to its original soon after. He theorized the reason was due to his lack of understanding of the different metals and the Will of the World rejecting his alteration. The Will of the World was a curious thing which Rictus did not fully understand the limitations of just yet. The basic idea was the world already had a will for how things should stay. Alteration magic would change this will, which was why there were so few alteration spells which were permanent. The Will of the World would always win out in the end. Transmutation seemed to be different since it permanently changed the composition of a metal. Rictus knew that figuring out more about the Will of the World would be instrumental in his magic as he continued to grow as a mage.

For now, Rictus was going to try and study these metal ingots. He figured his earth bending/manipulation would be a great help in learning more about the composition of these ingots being able to freely transmute them like he could do with the iron, silver, and gold. He wanted to eventually be able to also transmute any material, like stone, but that was still a work in progress. The stone was surprisingly difficult to alter since most stones were made up of a large variety of different minerals.

Rictus's musings quickly brought him back to the dump. He already noticed a different feel to the air around here. It was not really a feeling of hope, but it did not give off the slight sense of foreboding it did when he first traveled these parts. He even noticed more people moving around. They were still very nervous looking, but they were not hiding quite as much.

Rictus was surprised to find the helpful old man sitting by the road staring at him.

"Well, it seems I was mistaken about you boy. I am glad to see that I was wrong. I am also assuming you are the one we have to thank for putting down Klipple and his scoundrels?"

Rictus was happy to have so easily found the man. He was planning on searching for him and this saved a lot of time.

"I am glad you were wrong as well. I did not appreciate what they tried to do to me and simply returned the favor."

The old man let out a dry raspy laugh only old men seemed capable of doing.

"Haha you sure did. Although, I think they used to just take an arm or leg while you took their head. No matter, this place is better without them. I do have to ask, what are you doing back here."

The old man's mirth seemed to quickly be replaced by suspicion. Rictus had been expecting something like this. Nothing to do but power through.

"Well, I actually have some things planned. See, I felt bad about everything which happened to the people around here, so I wanted to do something to help. I have a certain spell which I could use more practice with while the people around here would greatly benefit from it. It is a win win. Would you like a little bit of a demonstration? I can guarantee you will not regret it."

Rictus felt as if he was giving off sleazy salesman vibes, but it seemed to be working. The old man seemed to be hesitating. It made sense for a mage to want to practice his magic, but what could the spell be? Eventually, the old man agreed to Rictus. He figured it would be better to test the spell on him first than harm the other people here.

By this point, a crowd had gathered around Rictus to observe what was going on. They were close enough to hear, but far enough away to run if they needed to get away fast. Before the old man could change his mind, Rictus reached out an grabbed the old man's remaining hand. He was missing two fingers on his right hand which would be great for a demonstration of his power. Rictus quickly channeled his magic as he altered the old man's body in order to restore his fingers.

The man pulled away from Rictus as he felt pain flow through his hand. Surprisingly fast, the old man pulled a large knife out of no where to point at Rictus. As he was staring down Rictus, he noticed how well the knife seemed to fit in his hands. He spared a quick glance at the knife before he let out a surprised gasp.

He had all his fingers. The knife fell from his hand as he stared in wonder at his returned fingers. Besides looking cleaner than the rest of him, they were a perfect match. He flicked each of his fingers as he continued staring at it with disbelief. The crowd around them also stared in wonder at what had just happened. If this mage could restore fingers, could he do more than that? Suddenly, Rictus could feel the desperate stares on him from the surrounding people. Even if they were not missing any body parts, they all knew or cared for someone who had suffered under Klipple and his gang.

A smile crept unwillingly to Rictus's face. It seems as if his demonstration worked perfectly. Things would be getting a little busy for a while.

The old man finally came out of his stupor as he turned his gaze back towards Rictus. He asked the question he needed to know but could barely dare hope to get the answer for.

"….is this real? Are you able to restore more than just fingers?"

Everyone seemed to collectively hold their breathes as they waited to see how Rictus would answer. Would he be the answer to their prayers? Rictus decided not to draw it out any further.

"It is real. I should be able to restore almost any lost body part. Before you all get your hopes up too much, it is not without some cost. It will take time as most of you are too weak or frail to instantly gain everything back but with some work, we should be able to do it if you are patient."

The crowd experienced a wave of emotions. They could finally be whole once again. They were afraid the cost would be something much greater than their time or some work. Hope for a better future filled their hearts and minds. The old man was the first to respond.

"Tell us what must be done then. We are more than willing to do whatever it takes to be restored."

Rictus patted the man on the shoulder.

"I will go to Klipple's hideout. We can change the negativity so many experienced to one of positivity and help some of the trauma. It will also provide a decent area for people to gather easily and let me heal what I can do."

Some of the people seemed nervous about returning to that place but knowing Klipple was dead and having hope to restore their limbs allowed most to overcome their fears. The old man followed along right beside Rictus as parts of the crowd followed them and other left to spread the word.

When they got near the hideout, Rictus could hear arguing and fighting coming from within. He quickly made his way inside to see what was going on.

The fighting was between what must have been the remaining members of Klipple's gang. It appeared they were fighting over who would become the new leader of the group. They didn't even see the blade which decapitated all of them. The last of Klipple's Cripples had been delt with.

The group which had followed Rictus were amazed at his magic. Normally, they would be wary of mages, but Rictus had used it to defeat the people they hated most in this world. Maybe magic was not as bad as they believed.

The old man was quick to command the crowd to start cleaning this place up. They also stripped the bodies of all valuable before disposing of them. Rictus was amazed at the vigor of the people working. The desire for restoring their limbs may have been greater than he was expecting. Hopefully, everything would still go smoothly and nothing bad would happen.

After the people had cleaned up a section, Rictus would go behind them and smooth out the ground as well as start raising some stone walls instead of just using the trash. It took a couple hours, but soon basics were done.

The ground had been smoothed out and changed to stone instead of dirt. The piles of trash were hidden behind stout stone walls ringing the area. There were stone chairs lining the edges as well as some wooden stools which were salvaged from the trash. In the middle of the room, there was a large fire pit filled with wooden scraps and flammable trash. Large amounts of meat were already cooking over the fire, causing the group to salivate at the thought of eating fresh meat.

The place gave off an entirely different vibe than the destitute place it looked before. Now, it was kind of presentable. Rictus was impressed by how hard and efficiently the people had worked. It was mostly thanks to the old man though. He was the leader of the group, and he directed them with an ease which indicated he had been a leader before. Rictus was curious about him and decided to find out more about him.

"Tell me a bit about yourself. You already know my name is Rictus and that I am a mage. What is your story? The way you lead makes it seem like there is more to you than I thought, especially considering how well you seemed to wield that knife of yours despite only having 3 fingers. Plus, despite your appearance, that knife looks extremely well taken care of."

The old man let out a sigh as he sat near Rictus.

"I go by Ken now a days. Used to be more but just Ken now. Not much to tell about myself really. I was fought during the great war. Made it all the way till the battle for the Imperial city before picking up these little souvenirs. Came back home to Skyrim and things did not turn out how I imagined. Not much use for a crippled solider so I ended up here. Been here ever since."

Rictus was surprised by Ken's story. He had wrongly assumed he had also been a victim of Klipple. Ken did not go into detail, but Rictus guessed he was probably some kind of officer or NCO in the legion based off how easily he directed all the people for setting up a place to stay. Rictus felt sorrow for Ken's situation. It was hard enough in the modern world when a wounded vet comes home from war. Rictus imagined it was even more difficult in a world such as this. There was no desk job or disability one could easily get here. Not many people would hire someone for manual labor who was missing an arm and leg.

"Well Ken, it is a pleasure to formally meet you. As the leader of this little group, I think I will start with you. Grab as much of that meat as you can get and start eating. That goes for the rest of you as well! You are going to have to eat as much as you possibly can for the spell to work. We will have to do this for a few days before everyone is completely healed up."

Ken did not question Rictus's orders and began shoving food into his mouth. Once everyone saw Ken get his portion, they all began eating as much as they could as well. There was not enough food for everyone to get as much as Ken did, but they all got some. For simply giving them fresh food, these people already felt indebted to Rictus. Not to mention how he had killed off their persecutors.

After letting the food sit for a bit, Rictus started doing what he could for the people. A lot of progress was made healing all the people, but there was still a long way to go, especially since there were more people joining at every moment. Rictus was able to get Ken's whole foot restored. He looked even skinnier than he did before, but he had his foot back. Ken refused to sit down and constantly paced and tapped his foot after being healed with a large smile on his face. It did take a while for people to get reacquainted with their restored parts, but it was a joyous time.

Rictus was exhausted after doing this for a few hours. He had spent a ridiculous amount of mana getting all of these people healed, but it was worth it. The people he had healed thanked Rictus continuously and also stood watch over him as if they were his guards. The restored did not allow anyone to make trouble and kept everything orderly. Ken played a huge part in this as well and did a wonderful job of keeping order and peace.

Rictus remembered he had told Ma'randru-jo he would start teaching him today. It was starting to get closer to evening, but there should still be time for some basics. Rictus asked if anyone here could go to the Khajiit caravan and show Ma'randru-jo the way here without being noticed by the guards. Needless to say, there was an abundance of volunteers to fill his request. Rictus got Ken's advice before selecting a couple people to go retrieve Ma'randru-jo. Rictus made sure to include a letter explaining to Ma'randru-jo so that he would actually follow the people sent to retrieve him.

The dump would serve as a good training place for Ma'randru-jo since the Khajiit were not allowed into the city proper. It would also be a good way of keeping prying eyes off him. Rictus was a little excited to start trying to teach Ma'randru-jo about the wonders of Alteration magic. Getting the first batch of information from the Khajiit was just a bonus at this point.