*Breathe In*
*Breathe Out*
“Today is a good day”
Septimus had stopped for lunch; he sat on a rock overlooking the lake, chewing on overcooked rabbit chunks.
The journey had been smooth so far; walking along the shore proved to be much faster than he expected.
Not having to walk around obstacles or worry about tripping on roots really helped cut down on the travel time.
‘I wonder how fast I’m going.
I’m pretty much power walking, and with these long legs it’s probably faster than some people jogging.’
He had landed in a very good body; Septimus did not know what the previous tenant used it for, but the stamina was off the charts when compared to his old world, even compared to the warriors he met while traveling with the caravan; he was a cut above.
Packing up his lunch, Septimus restarted his journey.
While for some, walking through nature may be bland, for him it was quiet and enjoyable.
‘I always wanted to go out on survival trips and stuff like that but never had the time; this counts as a dream fulfilled for me!’
While he really enjoyed the experience, being alone in the wilderness did cause one’s thoughts to wander; Septimus was no different.
As he gazed towards the lake, awed by how some fish were jumping up from the water like dolphins, he stepped on a particularly slippery rock.
When his foot pressed down on it, the stone moved, causing Septimus to lose his balance and almost fall.
“Damn it!” He quickly balanced and turned around to see what he had stepped on, only to be met by a pincer as thick as his thigh coming right at him.
Without hesitation, Septimus threw himself backwards to avoid the attack, which caused him to fall to the ground, landing on his side.
‘Ahhhh, stone to the kidney!
Damn it, what was that!’ Reeling from the pain, he saw the pincer and its wielder rushing towards him.
‘Did I step on a freaking mudcrab!?’ Getting up, Septimus ran away from the crab, but seeing as it was very slow, its max speed compared to a person walking, he stopped and turned.
“Hmm, you gave me a scare, you little shit!” Deciding to kill it, he quickly cast Summon Familiar; the cast time was already down to three seconds.
“Kill it!” The summoned wolf obeyed and charged at the crab, biting onto the shell.
The summon and the mudrab began a deadly duel against each other, with the wolf jumping around and landing hits against the crab’s shell while the crab flailed around trying to hit the familiar.
Sadly, the encounter did not last long; the summon, unable to injure the crab, failed to dodge a pincer and got its head crushed, instantly causing it to be unsommuned.
‘As expected, it won’t be that easy.
In the game, the characters just smacked the air around the crabs, killing them fairly easily, but here they have strong shells!’
Septimus pulled out his bow and walked away from the pursuing crab, turned around, and fired one arrow; it just bounced off its shell.
‘Yeah, I expected that.
“How do I deal with you?
Rushing in with a weapon seems like a bad idea on account of your claws, big guy; at least you’re about angry turtle speed, hmm, turtle?”
Septimus felt a lightbulb light up inside his brain; he resummoned his familiar.
“Don’t bite the shell, go from the side and turn it upside down!”
The familiar obeyed; it no longer tried to kill the crab.
After a few moments, the wolf got its snout underneath the crab and lifted.
The pinching menace resisted, but it was futile; it ended up upside down on its shell, clicking away at air with its pincers.
“Good job!” Septimus walked closer, aimed his bow at the upside-down crab, and let loose.
The shell covering its belly was much softer than the back, so the arrow easily pierced through; the crab stopped moving.
“Hit it a couple times, make sure it’s dead.”
Seeing as the crab did not move even as the familiar spun it around with its paws, Septimus told it to stop and approached.
Pulling out his knife, he tapped the shell; it felt like stone.
‘I wonder what it tastes like.
It’s still a crab, so the meat from the pincers should be edible.’
After a slight struggle, he managed to cut off the claws; they were filled with a murky translucent meat.
“Eww, doesn’t look great, but it’s probably good to eat, if only I had a pot…”
With the claw meat stored for future consumption, Septimus continued on his way.
‘Really interesting creature that mudcrab, in the game they were quite obvious, but here, with the shore covered in stones and pebbles they camouflage extremely well, better keep an eye out’
It was not long until he ran into a second mudcrab; it also received the turtle treatment, and he now had 4 portions of crab meat.
A third and fourth crab followed; they both faced the same end.
By the fifth one, Septimus just walked away, not even bothering with them.
By the time the sun started setting, he had encountered at least two dozen crabs of different sizes, some small enough to kick away, while others were large enough to be confused for boulders.
‘I’ll make camp here tonight, seems like a good spot.’ Septimus found a tree growing close enough to a boulder to form a natural V shape large enough to sleep in; it would help deal with the cold Skyrim winds.
With the camp set up, the surroundings scouted by his familiar and the surprisingly tasty crab meat cooked on a hot stone, he fell asleep.
====================
Waking up to another freezing morning, he had a quick bite of food, packed up, and kept walking.
By the afternoon, and after encountering at least another two dozen or so mudcrabs, Septimus noticed that the lake was narrowing down; if he squinted enough, he could make out the opposite shore.
I can’t wait to meet the people there; maybe I’ll steal the golden claw if I feel like it, sounds fun!’
With evening fast approaching, Septimus finally encountered his first sign of civilization in three days.
‘Are these old fishing lines?’ An old fishing net sat there, washed up on the shore.
‘This means I’m approaching civilization, neat.’
Not finding any good spot to set up camp, he kept going; only tonight there really wasn’t any even half-decent spot, there were barely any trees, the rocks were small, and he had nowhere to take shelter from the wind; sleeping in the open was like asking to die from hypothermia.
While worrying about what to do, the sun had fully set, and the Skyrim sky showed itself in its full glory, a canopy of stars with the aurora in the distance; Septimus guessed that direction was North.
Still following the shore, debating whether to stay awake and continue his journey throughout the night, Septimus spotted something strange shining on the lake.
‘What is that over there?
The water is reflecting an orange light; it’s a goddamn fire!’
The light was coming from behind a large boulder; if he hadn’t seen the light, Septimus would’ve probably avoided it by going around.
He approached slowly, trying to avoid any noise that could alert whoever it was that made the fire; after all, this was still Skyrim, and the person or persons on the other side of the boulder could be fishermen, hunters, bandits, or even necromancers.
Having sneaked his way to the edge of the boulder, he leaned on it and listened closely.
Septimus could tell that the fire was just on the other side; all he could hear was the crackling of flame in the silence.
‘No voices or sound of movement, maybe asleep?’
Slowly peeking over to the other side, what he saw almost made him gasp.
‘Is that a freaking head!’ Next to the fire stood a decapitated head, staring straight at Septimus; the body it originated from was nowhere in sight.
‘This is fucked up, why is there a human head just lying there!’
With his heart almost beating out of his chest.
Septimus took his eyes off the head and examined the rest of the camp.
‘A leather tent, sleeping bag, firepit, a drying rack with fish on it and a fishing rod, fuck, someone killed the fisherman, who the fuck was it!’
Just as he was about to turn around and leave, wanting nothing to do with the situation, Septimus heard footsteps approaching.
He pulled his head back and pressed closely against the boulder.
*BUUUURRP*
A wet, bubbling rattle echoed from whoever just showed up.
‘There’s no way, this isn’t what I think it is!’
Risking another peek, Septimus took in the appearance of the thing on the other side.
Spooked by what he saw, he retreated behind the boulder.
‘Yup, that’s a cannibal alright!’