Skyrim: Orebane

A thousand deaths was nothing at the height of the great war as hundreds died over the span of weeks but during a single battle? That number stung. Additionally the pain of that lost of life was mitigated because the death toll on the other side was also not small. In this battle though? The Thalmor lost a thousand soldiers and didn't even manage to kill a single person. The Thalmor were arrogant, not blind. The moment this matter is known my designation will move from dangerous but viable to extreme danger do not touch.-

At least if they aren't absolute idiots.

There was a more immediate benefit to killing all of these soldiers however. The amount of forces the Thalmor have in Hammerfell aren't actually that large. If I had to guess this thousand soldiers was maybe one tenth of the total here. That doesn't sound like a lot for a force that was forcefully occupying the province but you had to remember the Thalmor were cruel fuckers and would absolutely slaughter civilians if they spotted an actual army approaching. If out of nothing but sheer spite.-

This forced the resistance to work on a guerilla warfare basis and limit the fighting to squads and the occasional small skirmish when troops were moving. The Thalmor was basically choking the resistance with the minimum amount of troops this way. Now however with this thousand totally purged from the province the resistance just got a huge moment to catch it's breath. I also didn't waste the loot from all these kills and used [telekinesis] to strip off armor and collect weapons. It was ironically during this I actually found a few still breathing soldiers that I finished off.-

I did end up losing one or two though like I thought as they pulled runners while I was too far away to stop them. Honestly I had been pretty thorough all things considered. I missed out on close to three quarters of the possible loot though. Kinda just the way that goes with mass destruction attacks. Still I had close to half a ton in just Aldmeri alloy armor pieces and weaponry. More than a few of these soldiers also had their money on them, some of it at least, so I earned a solid three thousand four hundred and twenty eight gold. In my opinion though the real prize was the ebony Warhammer that the commander used.-

Feeding it to my blade darkened the whole thing by a good bit so it was less brightly colored and more muted even if it was still rainbow colored. The hammer was also enchanted with an impact enchantment that while great for a hammer was rather redundant for a sword that was made for slashing and stabbing rather than smashing. Still a new enchantment was a new enchantment. With my looting done I summoned my toad that looked at me and then the field of corpses cooking under the harsh desert sun and promptly decided complaining about the blood covering me from head to toe was not in it's best interest.-

We moved fast across the sand and after a couple hours came within sight of Karghistan. I slowed my approach and sent my toad away before walking the rest of the way under the gaze of the guards that stood in awed silence. -

"Let me in. I need a bath." I said calmly.

Jergal snapped to attention and pounded on the gate rhythmically, a different one than the one he used when I first came to town I idly noticed. The gate moved open and Morghul was standing there with an appraising gaze.

"The army?" he asked without pretense.

"Mostly dead. One or two runners." I replied evenly.

His gaze went to Jergal behind me and his eyes dilated at what he saw before a wide fanged smile covered his face.

"HAHAHAHA! Good!" he laughed with clear joy at the news.

"I need a bath and then I think you owe me a drink." I say with a grin of my own.

He pats me on the shoulder with a huge grin "Aye, I'll buy you a whole fucking barrel of ale!" he says and clearly means it.

"Good man, I'll hold you to that." I say before walking towards the inn to get cleaned up.

The whole town stares at me as I pass by and the innkeeper shivers at the sight of me.

"Sorry for the trouble but could you point me to the bath? I have a bit of self cleansing to do." I say apologetically.

"Through the door at the back. You'll have to pump your own water." he said nervously.

I nod "Thank you." I say before walking that way.

I could use magic to clean myself but I honestly want a bath after that battle.

The bath room was in truth just a room with a large wooden wash basin and a hand pump to draw water. I use [telekinesis] to get the water filling the basin as I peel off my sticky and stiff clothes that I cast a quick [cleanse] spell on to clean and ready for reuse. The only thing that didn't need it was my hat that was suspiciously clean and thus didn't even need to be taken off for long. Just long enough to wash out my hair and scrub the dried blood out of my scalp.-

After that I just sat in the was basin with my feet out on the rim as I used some magic to heat the water to a high temperature. Not boiling but hot enough that most people would burn on contact. For me though it was just right to soak in. I of course also scrubbed off all the blood and sand on me and cleansed the water that turned dark red and brown. Once it was clean though I just let myself soak in the warm waters.-

Alontar burst into the room without any concern for my state of dress about thirty minutes into my soak.

"You foolish boy! How could you do something like that!?" he demanded but there was no anger in his tone, just concern.

"It was my fight. Your honor is intact and your mind can be at ease. The choice was made for you and not by your will. All is well." I say without opening my eyes.

"You could have been killed! What would I tell your mother then? That I sat on the sideline uselessly while it happened?" he demanded with a tinge of anger.

"I wasn't though. Rather than worry about hypothetical deaths should you not be celebrating my victory?" I asked calmly.

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