Fortune Favors (QQ) Chapter 4 (Patreon)

I walk through the front door of a truly large building, it has a large tower that seems to... well... tower over the surrounding buildings by about twice their height, the inside feels warm and homely, a nice contrast in comparison to the chilled air just outside.

The second I walk through the door, a man with pointed ears looks up from a nearby table, he is dressed in fine clothing, like a fantasy noble would wear, with slightly yellowish skin and blonde hair.

"Welcome to the bard's college." He greets as he rises to his feet. "I am the headmaster here... how may I help you?"

I gesture to the case in my hand and look up slowly. "I found an interesting instrument in my travel and seeing as how I am not... musically talented, I thought I might as well bring it to the one place in Skyrim who would probably value it more than I do."

"An instrument? Hn... alright. Let's see it."

I walk over to the table and gently lay the case upon it.

I flick the latches open and gently open the case, within the wooden box-like protective covering is a short violin-like instrument... and by violin-like I mean... it's literally just a violin... maybe a bit smaller than normal, but there's no real difference between a fiddle and a violin. It has silvery accents and strings made of copper, looped in the top half of the case, secured by leather, is two things, the first being coils of wire of varying thickness to be used as spare strings, and the next, a little bow to be drawn across the wires.

"This is a Violin... or some call it a fiddle."

The man cups his chin as he looks over the instrument. "A... Violin you said? Hrn. That is- wait... are those metal strings?! Interesting! How do you play this? Is it like plucking a lute?"

"No. It isn't." I reply with a small headshake. I gently remove the bow from the case and pick up the lute itself, putting it on my shoulder. "It is played like this, by dragging the bow here across the strings, using the fingers of your other hand to adjust the notes by pressing the strings as you drag it across."

"May I?" The man questions.

I offer the instrument and bow to him as he looks over it.

He adjust his grip slightly and gently drags the bow over the strings, creating a slightly shrill noise that causes me to cringe slightly. my ears underneath my hat flatten slightly

"Hn?" He attempts again, this time, while not making a shrill shrieking noise with the strings, it doesn't exactly sound good quite yet.

He tries a third time, then a fourth.

Holy shit he is improving rapidly. What the fuck?

A small smirk appears on his lips as he continues to play, fingers dancing along the strings, as he creates a vibrant tune.

After around five minutes he lets out a small huff of amusement. "Alright. Color me interested. It can play notes at a much more rapid pace than a lute or flute... and the notes it can hit? Vastly different. How much?"

"I'm more curious how you managed to more or less master it in five minutes." I mutter, eyes wide.

"Oh, I have a blessing of Y'ffre... plus I have been a bard my entire life. There is a level of experience that comes with one hundred years of instrument playing."

"As for price, I was looking to get... hn... it's a unique instrument with metal strings, an oddity across Tamriel..." I cup my chin, looking over the instrument and the case.

"How does two thousand five hundred septims sound? I want to create a piece for the upcoming old-life and new life festivals and this would be the perfect thing to set apart my performance from the many traveling bards."

"Can you do three thousand?"

He seems to ponder for a moment. "Hn... that is quite a bit."

"Three thousand and if I ever come across any magical instruments, I seek out the Bard's College before I go to the College of Winterhold?"

"Ah, magical instruments? Hn. Very well. That's a reasonable trade. I will be getting the case for this violin, correct?" The man hums as he places the instrument back into its protective case.

"But of course." I nod once with a small smile. "What use would I have for a violin case and spare strings if I didn't have a violin."

He clicks the latches shut, seemingly admiring the case for a moment, I suppose that it is also quite the unusual sight here in Skyrim. "Come come. I'll get you your payment."

I follow him as he leads me through the school. "Apologies if the college is quite barren at the moment, we have just had our oldest class graduate, and the younger classes are at home for holiday."

"No, I get it, really." I state. "You wouldn't have a building this large if you didn't have students to fill it."

"I am curious, though... where did you find this violin? And your clothes, they are in a style that I have not seen before..."

"Oh, I'm from... quite far away. You probably wouldn't have heard of it." I explain.

"Try me." The man smirks. "I am quite well versed in the world. During my early years I walked all across Tamriel."

"Gensokyo." I admit casually.

"…"

He shoots me a confused look. "I... have not heard of that place before."

"Oh, you wouldn't have. It's a fairly small island that has an incredibly powerful archmagi more or less keeping outsiders away... would not recommend going there, however. The vampire population is... let's call it more lively than over here... and while rare, outsiders can slip into Gensokyo... the thing is, the rules of the land don't necessarily apply to outsiders, thus they are typically hunted for sport if they are outside the main town."

"Interesting... and what of the people? The cultures?"

"I'm honestly a bit of a hermit, so I don't really talk much with others. I just know the top percent of people there are strangely all female and each horrifyingly powerful. Rice is a fairly popular dish there, I suppose. I do know of one festival we have, besides the obvious harvest festivals and new year festivals, of course. It's called the Night Parade of one hundred demons."

"The night parade of one hundred demons? Fascinating." He sounds genuinely intrigued. "What is the purpose of this festival?"

"It's just a celebration, supposedly a few hundred years ago hundreds of demons marched across the island, pretending to be man instead of beast. Celebrating the mind of men who had given birth to their forms. I'm not too caught up on the history, mainly because I've been traveling elsewhere." I admit.

We come to a door which he opens, a fancy office of some sort. It looks quite nice, all things considered.

He gently lays the case down on his desk then wordlessly opens a safe with a key, a sack of coins residing inside.

"Ah. Here we are." He fishes out three strange looking coins. "Three Malachite coins."

He offers them to me.

Ping

Congratulations! You have made a total profit of 5000 dollars! You have been given a random benefit to one of your current 'affinities'. ​

"Thank you." I nod once with a small smile.

"Speaking of magical instruments, could you please be on the lookout for something called a 'Dragon Horn'? I have heard tales of it in my travels, from what I have heard, the horns were magical artifacts of great power during the first and second eras, supposedly they were carved from the horns of dragons and held power over them as a result. It is unlikely, as I haven't heard tales of one existing in nearly one thousand years... If you can manage to find one, I will pay you a king's ransom for it. A truly great sum that will make what I gave you today look like a mere sack of copper septims in comparison."

"Hn." I lowly hum. "Don't expect anything, I'm not a miracle worker, but I'll see what I can do."

Now... Solitude has an alchemy shop, right? I wonder if they have any books!

**Linebreak**

I let out a slow breath I shove a large basket through the hole in reality, it was a tight fit, but it worked out in the end.

I hit up two stores before I left. The first, 'Angeline's Aromatics', the resident alchemy shop of solitude... then after that, I went to 'bits and pieces'. A general store to collect a few additional items that I wanted.

Books are fucking expensive. I'm glad I managed to sell the violin for so much, otherwise I probably would have only been able to buy like... three or so books. Plus it got me to my next milestone... and speaking of said milestone...

Green Thumb:
when looking over the value of a plant, you can more carefully determine the most valuable portions
and the first time you set your eyes upon a unique plant- that has not been harvested yet-, you are given the knowledge of one of its possible alchemical uses. ​

That is... both interesting and fairly useful all things considered.

I have gotten quite the haul during my time scouring the alchemy shop and the general good store.

I crawl back into my home, allowing the rip in reality to seal up behind me, letting out a quiet breath as bask in the safety of my abode.

I stand up to my full height letting out a hum as I open the basket containing my newest purchases.

Books!

Firstly, I've got the 'Herbalist's Guide To Skyrim', a useful little book that was well worth the one hundred and fifty septim price tag. It'll help carry me throughout skyrim's ingredients, telling me things that it is possible my green thumb perk skips out on.

Next, after that I got a book titled 'A Bit of liver, a saber's eye. An Alchemist's guide to the valuable bits of creatures.' It was worth two hundred, seemingly being a bit rarer than the Herbalist guide and it tells what its name implies, the most valuable parts of animals and stuff.

A third book, 'Identifying Alchemical Reagents and Reactions' by Vorian Direnni. Worth one hundred and fifty septims, it's something that I desperately need to memorize, as skyrim materials are one thing... what happens when I strike out into the multiverse and find some new interesting reagents? I'll be forced to figure them out myself which is why this book is vital to me.

The fourth and final book. 'Atronachs, their salts, and how to deal with them.'

Two hundred and fifty septims... that was well worth it, as it seems to be sort of delving into some conjuration territory.

Ohoho. Then came my general good store purchases...

Spell tomes.

Glorious, glorious, spell tomes!

The first thing I got my hands on would be 'Flames' for four hundred septims. A good starting point for Destruction magic... plus I can see uses for being able to start fires whenever I want. Next? I got 'Healing'.

Sixteen hundred septims...

Fucking SIXTEEN HUNDRED-

Ugh.

That price tag punched me right in the wallet. I can see why restoration isn't a very learned magic type. Its main gimmick is fucking EXPENSIVE to learn.

Like, I totally get it. Instantaneous regenerative healing. That's badass shit. But ugh. Sixteen HUNDRED septims.

After that I picked up a spell tome for lesser ward for seven hundred. Ugh. Pain.

Oh, and back at the alchemy shop I picked up a mortar and pestle for fifty septims... and a basket for five copper because it was sort of a pain to carry around a mortar and pestle and seven fairly thick books.

I'm left with roughly one hundred and fifty dollars...

But a lot of knowledge!

Besides, I bet I could totally sell these books to like... Patchouli at a later date. She'd probably be interested in the spell tomes at the very least... and unlike a certain blonde witch, she's far more likely to pay me!

Less than two hundred dollars remain, I've got no taxes, infinite water from my magic shower, infinite food from my wishing table... I don't actually think I really need to go out any time soon. At least until I've read through each of these books at least once.

"Neet life here I come." I whisper under my breath as I grab the first of the books.

**Linebreak**

I float above my bed as if sitting on an invisible chair, book in my lap as I continue to try and memorize the words within.

"The common Blue Mountain Flower, otherwise known as the 'Ar-ulunnil', or 'Mana-Bloom', is a plant that you can find in almost all of the Mountainous holds within the entirety of Skyrim, it's safe to say that if you were to go outside right at this very moment, you would find one of these flowers. They are tough, resilient, and can grow almost anywhere with enough sunlight and water, regardless of temperature. The sheer commonality of this ingredient has led to quite a few discoveries to be made about it, along with the other common mountain flowers. The reason why some call this flower the 'Mana Bloom' is because that is exactly what it does, when combined with a Blister Pod Cap, it can create a potion which not only restores magicka, but also fortifies it, increasing your reserves temporarily to allow you to cast spells you ordinarily might not be able to! Of course, the method of doing so is quite extensive and expensive. Perhaps it would be better to make two potions from ingredients that are much less rare, Fennel and Flax seeds. It may take slightly more time cleaning and preparing the ingredients, but the general cost of the ingredients is sure to go down."

Pretty interesting, all things considered.

The past twenty days has been fairly relaxing.

Study, float, peek back out into skyrim to see if the door is anywhere close to Winterhold, have seggs, repeat.

The only time I went out, would be a short trip into the fairy tale world... I met the three little pigs. They are living happily as apparently the 'Big Bad Wolf' that I killed was the same one that tormented them in their story.

That was interesting.

Not much I could sell or buy from them, though... I mean, really. What sort of dumbass lives in a house made of STRAW?! Of STICKS! Sticks that weren't even woven together! Just stacked precariously!

Ugh. That wasn't worth the hour of looking around. I could have been reading during that time.

On the plus side during these twenty days, floating has almost become second nature to me.

Yes, I still need to vaguely 'focus' on it, but it's not genuinely exhausting anymore. Just mildly tiring. Like I am jogging instead of sprinting as fast as I can.

I can move noticeably faster as well. Not quite at a level I could avoid something, but it doesn't take me minutes to go from sitting on my bed to my head touching the ceiling anymore. So that's good.

I'm unsure if I really want to go outside quite yet-

My entire house shudders.

"…"

I float forwards slowly and peer outside my door.

Where the fuck am?

Instead of the normal grassy lawn, I see... an entire new room with tatami mat flooring and several large chests and Bamboo tubes protruding from the walls and from the floor in some places.

"Huh?" I mutter.

Smoke billows from one of the pipes in the wall.

"Oh! Hello Argo!" Tsukasa smirks as she forms on the ground in front of me. "I can see you have finally noticed the changes to our abode."

I offer her a slow blink. "Huh."

"Yes! It's quite a bit larger now." The girl proudly smirks. "Now we have a place to store your things."

"Watch this!" She steps past me, and grabs onto the magic pot, the girl disappears into a cloud of smoke and flows into a nearby pipe.

She comes out a moment later without the pot.

"Where... did the pot go?"

"it's in the pipe!" She smiles brightly.

"We can do that?!" I mutter, eyes growing wide.

"Ah. Right. You don't know how to do that..." The Kuda Gitsune frowns. "Well, it's time to learn then! And after that... I believe we should make another luck spirit."

I let out a long sigh. "Alright."

**Linebreak**

I stare blankly at a group of soldiers as they march to a small quaint little building.

The men appear... unusual... to say the least, ghostly... almost see-through... and blue.

An older man steps outside. "Huh? Wh-"

"Give up the cloth." One of the spectral soldiers intones, his voice sounds... hollow... and a bit empty.

"W-What?!" The man gasps.

"N-No! I just traded that young man for it-"

"Give up the cloth or perish. We were sent to reclaim it." The one soldier who looks different than the rest continues, he wears slightly heavier armor and wears a plumed helmet.

"B-But- wait... reclaim it?! Then that horrid young man went back on the deal-"

The captain spirit, with one swift movement, he slashes his spectral sword through the man, cleaving him from hip to shoulder. "Hold your tongue vermin. You speak poorly of our king."

The older man lets out a weak groan as he falls back, his blood spraying across the grassy clearing.

"Retrieve the wishing cloth." The commander of the spectral soldiers orders, causing the six men alongside him to walk inside the building.

I slowly turn to stare at my companion, a yellowish blonde fox with bright yellow eyes.

She looks back at me.

We both sit there in a bush, waiting... observing...

I have taken on a... vulpine... form.

I'm a fox. A small black fox with red eyes.

I didn't know I could transform into one, but with Tsukasa's guidance I picked it up fairly quickly... if I had to compare it to something it would be like someone who hadn't ridded a bike in ten years getting back on one, you never truly forget, but in my case, I never rode said bike in the first place.

I look back to the man who is quickly bleeding out, the soldiers leaving the house with a folded tablecloth... one that has an enchantment that is almost the exact same as the wishing table back home.

How strange.

Is some witch going around making these tables and tablecloths?

I wonder what happens when I use both at the same time? Cover the wishing table with the wishing cloth.

But. From what I can tell here, apparently someone was here before and offered a trade... the wishing cloth for something of similar value. The thing is, he had the ability to summon a bunch of soldiers... somehow... he then turned around and told said soldiers to go and take back his object.

As a merchant... that pisses me off.

My eyes narrow in fury, my snout crinkling slightly as I bear my fangs.

I run forwards- slightly awkwardly as I'm still a little unused to walking on four legs- and come to a stop in front of the now empty house as the ghostly warriors walk away.

I look to the man on the floor, already dead and gone, then prance into his house to loot things.

With a small poof I am back to my humanoid form, I gaze around slowly a slight frown on my face.

There's... really nothing in here.

This guy was really living a minimalist lifestyle.

"Well." I whisper, gazing around slowly as Tsukasa comes to a half beside me, with a poof she transforms into a humanoid form as well.

I look to my hot fox second half and briefly ponder. "How do we do this?"

A smug and mischievous smirk appears on her face. "While in another time, in another place, it might have been us scamming this simple charcoal burner, I can't help but feel a little disgusted when a human gets such a big head. Thinking that they can act freely with no consequence."

She slowly lifts a test tube up with a smug smirk. "This human likes taking things, hn? So why don't we give him something? But seeing as how I don't necessarily want to waste much more of my time, why don't we just give him all of them."

Spoiler

"I've been meaning to ask. I get that these improve luck in exchange for life force that we take, but, like, what do we get out of that?" I mutter, finding my eyes drawn to her thighs.

"Oh. Physical strength and more magical power. Basically, the same increase other youkai get from eating humans, though a lot more efficient as we don't let any of their life force go to waste." She simply explains.

"I see." I mutter as I let out a quiet sigh.

I transform back into a fox and run back outside, my nose crinkling slightly as I sniff the air.

Metallic.

It smells of copper. blood.

I begin following the footprints in the dirt as I rush through the forest, Tsukasa trailing along behind me in her own fox form.

We trail after the group of soldiers for around thirty minutes, watching them as they make their way through the forest.

We watch as a young man stands there at the base of a tree, a small smirk on his face as he watches the seven summoned men walk towards him.

"We have accomplished the mission." The leader intones in his hollow and blank tone of voice.

"Great!" The man beams. "This is just too easy!"

My eyes scan his body.

I freeze as I fully comprehend what he has.

He has some out of place looking items on, they look old and a little dirty- excluding the tablecloth, of course- there is a hat which has a few holes in it, the edges frayed, a bag that has a few stains, a tarnished horn has a few dents in it.

The first item of note would be, of course, the tablecloth of wishing. It holds similar value to my own table. But that isn't everything.

After that, he has a hat which basically shoots a cannonball at whatever you swat it at, a horn which hits whatever is in front of you with a blast of force which probably wouldn't look out of place coming from the mouth of the dragonborn, oh, and it also apparently does 'ten times the damage' to inanimate objects.

Finally, probably the most impressive object... would be the knapsack at his hip. It is the origin of those ghostly knights. Tapping it once summons a soldier. Tapping it twice summons another.

You can tap it a maximum of seven times in quick succession. Any more does nothing, with the seventh soldier summoned being a commander which is stronger than the others. Not by much, mind you, perhaps twenty to thirty percent, but what it does have is superior skill in battle.

This power... is horrifyingly strong.

It has limits, yes, you can only summon so many soldiers per day, that number being twenty one, and may only have seven soldiers out at once, however any limitations after that? There are few.

They have their own faux intellect- or at least the commander does- so it can make slight alterations with its orders in the heat of battle to more effectively honor his 'king'. They also remain until they are killed. So it doesn't have a duration like most conjuration spells in Skyrim.

Each summoned soldier is brought out with a fierce loyalty to the summoner. as for the intelligent one, It doesn't care if it dies, as the next time a seventh soldier is called, it returns full force.

An impish smirk crosses my lips as I look over the bag.

The biggest haul.

I can already think of ways to abuse it.

Summon six, call the seventh, send the seventh to go die against something while keeping the first six close, boom. Now the bag summons six meat shields and fifteen commanders.

If it is the same person, couldn't you theoretically train him to become better as well? Couldn't he learn just like anyone else?

I watch the young adult who has all of these items take the cloth back from the commanding spirit, he has a smirk on his lips that makes me not feel bad about what I'm about do to. "Alright. I don't need you all anymore. End yourselves for me."

The ghostly figures, as one, draw their blades and run themselves through without another word. disappearing into motes of light that fade from existence.

He looks over the cloth, seemingly deep in thought for a moment. "Well. I am satisfied with this. I will return home and see how my brothers are doing."

Now I just need to wait for the right... opportunity.

**Linebreak**

"Cloth, be covered with merriment and cheer."

I calmly walk out of the underbrush, eyes locking onto a man who sits alone, a large cloth spread out on the ground before him. It glows brightly, a large spread of food appearing before him.

He pauses seeing me walk out of the bush.

My entrance was carefully timed. Just slow enough that he would summon his food without knowing I was here, and just fast enough to see the magical effect in person.

My eyebrows rise, a small smile forming on my lips. "A magic cloth? Hn... now I have seen everything."

The man gives me a cautious gaze, a frown resting on his face. "What of it?"

"I have been traveling a long time." I begin quietly. "Looking for my fortune. It looks like my good luck is finally kicking in."

"This wishing cloth is mine." The man frowns.

"Oh, don't worry, I won't just simply take it from you, I propose a trade!" I beam brightly.

"A trade?" I can see greed flash deep within his eyes, a small smirk appears on his lips. "And what do you have that might be of equal value to my cloth?"

I slowly lift the corked test tube. "In this bottle... is the combined luck of sixty people. The main issue with this bottle is that I cannot use the luck on myself. I propose that I infuse you with all of the luck... in exchange for the cloth."

"Hn... alright. That sounds reasonable. Give me the luck, then." The man demands.

I pop the cork from the test tube and cause the white ghostly wisp to slowly sleep from the bottle.

I cast my hand forwards, causing a nigh endless torrent of white energy to shoot for the man who just sits there with an annoying smirk on his face.

He looks over himself briefly, then takes off his hat and swings it to the side.

A large hunk of steel smashes through the base of a nearby tree, it begins falling towards him, but the upper part of the tree turns on the stump, the way it had been broken causing it to spin slightly.

The tree falls and crashes to the ground in between us, cutting the clearing in half.

"So... it's true." He turns his gaze to me slowly. "Leave or I will kill you."

"What about our deal?" I frown.

"I don't really feel like following through with it." He shrugs.

"…"

"Fine. Whatever." I sigh, relenting as I turn and begin walking away. "I can't survive whatever that magic hat is, so I guess you pulled one over one me. Woopty doo... congrats. I hope you realize if you keep doing things like this nobody will trust you."

"Who would be foolish enough to earn my ire... I am a god."

An evil smile forms on my face as I shake my head slowly. 'One who will be dead in mere days, if not hours.'

I pause just at the edge of the clearing and glance back. "Alright. When this all bites you in the ass... remember my words... Karma's a bitch. And you... my friend? You are already dead."

I quickly dash away as fast as I can, at speeds that would make most Olympic sprinters green with envy.

After around two minutes I transform into a fox and dive into a nearby bush.

I turn my head, seeing a blonde fox already sat there, gazing at me with her yellowish eyes.

We both prowl back to the edge of the clearing, spying on the young man as he seems unbothered by my threat. Fool.

Just like how you don't make deals with devils or fae, you shouldn't take a threat from a mysterious luck commanding wanderer lightly.

He flips a sole copper coin in his hand. "I command you to land on heads."

It does so.

"Heads."

The coin lands on heads again.

"Heads."

The coin, once more, lands on heads.

"It works." He gasps. Eyes growing wide.

He begins messily eating a smug smirk on his face. One that will be thankfully wiped from it when he dies.

I pause, fox-like eyes blinking slowly. When... did I become so hostile? So evil?

This man might be deplorable, bit it is still a human life. One which I have doomed to die.

"…"

He...

He will be better off if he is dead.

He is too greedy. He holds the lives of others at no value. He is a lying, cheating, snake who goes back on his deals to others. Not caring of the lives he ruins.

I can see Tsukasa staring at the side of my head, amusement passes through our slight link... then satisfaction and mischievousness. It seems like she is trying to gaslight me into being happy that this man is dying, if even for a moment.

As he continues to eat, absentmindedly flipping that copper coin in one hand. I... hate to say that her little emotional prodding is working... honestly... do feel a little glad I will be getting my hands on his items.

I see small flecks of grey begin to appear in the man's hair, wrinkles begin showing up at the corner of his eyes.

All I need to do... is bide my time and wait.