Day Twenty-two: Sweet new home

Some loose ends are tied up, and I am settling down for my first night's sleep in my new humble abode; my extremely humble abode. Yesterday when Ranis said that I probably had a lab set up in some backwater I think she underestimated just how far into the backwater I was headed. When I told people in Balmora I was living in Seyda Neen the response was usually "that damp little squat? Why would you live there?" I can only imagine their response to 'on an island off Gnaar Mok'. An appropriate setting for a shipwrecked mariner perhaps, so just as well that I kept my change of locale to myself.

I left Balmora this morning just as heavily laden as I arrived, but with a much different load. Among the smiths of Balmora I am very popular, having provided them with the black armor that has them all still fascinated. I made the rounds, and ended up at the Fighter's Guild hall where a Redguard known only as Wyan manages the armory. When I presented my half dozen blunted spears he laughed and boomed in a voice accustomed to being heard over the ringing hammers of a smithy, "Arvil, you don't get to town often enough, and if your visits get any rarer you'll need a slave to carry your spears!" Today I carry only two spears, having traded the rest for an assortment of smiths equipment after spending the day learning to use it under Wyan's watchful eye.

While Wyan described what he gave me as 'portable kits' I find that without his great strength they are more like 'remote site kits', and have set up my own little armory on the deck outside my shack. I lugged it all from the guild hall to the strider port this morning, then down to my old shack in Seyda Neen. That was as much portaging as I plan to do, and I left it piled on the floor for the day. The last task I had set myself before the big transport to Gnaar Mok certainly didn't call for excess weight!

My new status as a journeyman mage will definitely take some getting used to. After hearing about my various difficulties Marayn presented me with a solution to one this morning. He is becoming a good friend, and awakened me early saying "Get up, I want you to have time to learn this spell before you have to catch the strider." He taught me a powerful levitation spell, which enabled me to float up to the ridgeline of the mountains I had described as impassable. He said that while he agreed it was far better to be embarrassed than dead, having a journeyman of his guild wandering around talking about mountains as being impassable was more embarrassment than he was willing to suffer.

I took my supply of soul gems to Galbedir, selling her all but one and hoping to get my new spell enchanted into my boots. It is a bit complicated, and if it wears off while I am far from the ground the certainty of having it enchanted into an item has a certain appeal. She was frostily respectful, throwing in at least a dozen 'yes journeyman, no journeyman, as you would have it journeyman' and the like. Then she quoted me what seemed an astronomical price for the enchantment. I thought I would get some help from Ranis, who was passing by at that moment, but she just raised an eyebrow and said "That seems a fair price. You are a journeyman in the guild, if the price is too high for you just enchant it yourself. There's more to being a mage than running about cracking crabs with a spear."

Alchemy lab, enchanting lab, armory, roll upon roll of maps; do these people realize I'm just one guy living in a little shack? Ah, but among those maps there is a thorough survey of the mountainous highland flanking the mouth of the Odai. They are not impassable for a journeyman mage!