The Scripture of the Word, First:
'All language is based on meat. Do not let the sophists fool you.'
Second:
'The third walking path explores hysteria without fear. The efforts of madmen are a society of itself, but only if they are written. The wise may substitute one law for another, even into incoherence, and still say he is working within a method. This is true of speech and extends to all scripture.'
Third:
'Do not go to the realm of apology for absolution. Beyond articulation, there is no fault. The Adjacent Place, where the Grabbers live, is the illusion of the vocal or the middle realms of thought, by which I mean the constructed. This is how I stole the certainty of the Chancellor of Exactitude, perfect to look upon from every angle. When you come out of the vocal, you can never be certain.'
Fourth:
'The truest body of work is made up of silence: as in the silence that results from no reference. By the word I mean the dead.'
Fifth:
'The first meaning is always hidden.'
Sixth:
'The realm of apology is perfection and impossible to attack. Thus, the wise avoid it. Trinity in unity is the world and word of action: the third walking path.'
Seventh:
'The sage who suppresses his best aphorism: cut off his hands, for he is a thief.'
Eighth:
'The clothes of the broken map are worn only by fools and heretics. The map is an exit for laziness. It is the dusty tongue, which is to say the given chart that most take as a story that is complete. No word is true until it is eaten.'
The ending of the words is ALMSIVI.
Grulmar tied a rope around Mahti’s waist and then took a few steps back. “Come on, go for it.”
The Riekling looked at him with a mixture of fright and reluctance. “Whyyy Mahtiii?” He asked.
They were standing on the beach under Tel Mithryn, right at the edge of the water and Grulmar sighed. “We’ve been over this. Y’are lighter than me and besides, if it doesn’t work I don’t want to get wet.” He then waved his hand, motioning Mahti forward. “Come on, just try it, at the edge here.”
“Mahtiii...noo sweeeem,” Mahti looked at him, pleading with his eyes.
Grulmar frowned and paused. “No sw- Ah, you can’t swim. Well, that kind of makes sense, considerin’ the only water ya ever got close to in yer life was a frozen lake.” He then crouched next to Mahti, looking into the Riekling’s large golden eyes. “Listen, shrimp, ya will walk just here, where the water is shallow. Even if it doesn’t work, I have this rope and I’ll just pull ya out. Alright? It’s goin’ to be good, just take a step in the water and ya will see. Yes?”
The Riekling grimaced reluctantly and took a step closer to the waterline, hesitating at the edge. He then growled and took another step into the water and Grulmar leaned closer, because it was very difficult to discern the results right where the water was meeting the dirt and ash. “Y’are doin’ good, keep goin’,” he motioned Mahti forward.
The Riekling took another step and Grulmar smiled. “It’s workin’, shrimp! It’s really workin’! Not that I doubted myself,” he laughed and Mahti laughed too.
The Riekling was two steps away from the waterline, quite obviously standing on the water. He took several more steps to the right, even jumping a little, but his feet stayed dry nevertheless.
Well, that wasn’t so difficult. He had found a mention of the water walking spell in one of Neloth’s books with a very rough description of it, so Grulmar had to fill in all the blanks. And so he theorized that if one could harden the magicka and air around oneself to create a protective shield it was quite possible that if he created a similar effect concentrated right at someone’s feet, it should be possible to walk on water.
Yet, that didn’t work out. So he had to change his way of thinking.
He devised a spell that was concentrated under one’s feet, but instead of hardening the magicka and air, it was transferring the energy into the substances right under the feet. On the ground, one wouldn’t really notice a difference - though Grulmar already got the idea of trying that spell out on snow or sand - but on water?
And it worked. Mahti was clearly walking on the water.
“Orc!” someone shouted from the cliff above them and Grulmar looked up to see Elynea there. Orc, he repeated in his mind and shook his head. How quickly he had become just an Orc again, even after everything that happened. “When are you heading to Raven Rock again?”
Grulmar sighed and rubbed his eyes. Yeah, ‘bout that… “Come on, Mahti,” he tugged on the rope, because the spell should be wearing out soon anyway. “Let’s go back. I’ll make Drovas cook ya somethin’ really good, alright? Ya deserve it.”
“Feeesh?” Mahti walked over the water towards Grulmar. “Mahtiii love feeesh.”
“Yeah, we’ll get ya a fish,” Grulmar smiled and untied the rope, wrapping it around his shoulder.
“So?!” Elynea raised her voice, making the Orc bare his tusks.
“Could ya stop shoutin’? I’m comin’ up!” he snapped, grimacing. He headed towards the cliff and focused on the ring on his finger, casting a levitation spell. Suddenly he chuckled, surprising even himself. Well, it’s just ironic. Not even a year ago ya would complain about havin’ to crawl up some stairs and now? Now ya just levitate up. He touched the ground next to Elynea who waited for him with her arms crossed over her chest.
“Took you long enough. So? I need to restock my supplies of ingredients,” she reminded him. Again.
He sighed. “How uncommon are they? I mean, isn’t there a chance I could search for them out-”
“Quite uncommon,” Elynea interrupted him.
Grulmar rubbed his eyes in frustration and took a deep breath, because gods help him, Tel Mithryn’s mycologist was certainly getting on his nerves. “I won’t be headin’ to Raven Rock anytime soon. It’s not an option right now.”
“But I need-”
“A slap,” Grulmar growled, his hand twitching.
“Excuse me?”
“Excuse yerself,” the Orc clenched his hand into a fist and then extended his forefinger to point at Elynea. “Raven Rock’s out of the question for now. Later. We have plenty of food for at least a month, if we tighten our belts. ‘Less it’s absolutely neccessary for the settlement’s survival, I’m not goin’ to Raven Rock. Want those ingredients? Then grab a tuskin’ backpack and ya can go buy them yerself!”
“And risk the wildlife? No, thanks!”
“And I’m allowed to stick my neck for ya out there? Why? ‘Cause I’m just a stupid Orc?” Grulmar felt the blood boiling in his veins. “This is my last word and ya can bitch about that all ya want.”
She set her jaws, giving him a hateful stare. “I’m going to tell Neloth,” she scoffed, turning around.
The Orc snorted at that. “Yeah, sure. Ya do that. Just don’t be so surprised if Neloth actually sends ya, instead of me. ‘Cause last time I heard, he actually needs his apprentice around.”
She stopped in her tracks, her back turned to him and he could hear her sigh, before she continued walking towards her house. Grulmar just shook his head, taking a deep breath to calm himself.
What was he supposed to do? Things went south with Mogrul and Grulmar certainly didn’t feel like provoking that Orc again, especially by sticking his Telvanni nose into Raven Rock. He knew he would have to go there one day again, to fully restock, but until then...he was determined to stay clear of Mogrul. Maybe once Redoran threw the tusker out or something, maybe then would Grulmar pay the town a visit. Plus, if Tel Mithryn was in that desperate a need for food, Grulmar was thinking about trying the Skaal. If they would be willing to trade. It was worth a try if the food actually started running out.
Mahti finally appeared and came running towards him. “Feeesh?” he asked and began jumping around Grulmar. “Feesh, feesh, feesh!”
“Hey, calm down, shrimp,” he grabbed the Riekling by his ear to stop him. He pointed towards the kitchen. “Go tell Drovas that I sent ya then, tell him ya want fish.” The Riekling’s face then turned sour, as if his excitement was just drowned by Grulmar’s words. “Oh, come on, don’t give me those puppy eyes. Want a fish? Ya have to know how to ask for somethin’. So go tell Drovas what ya told me.” Mahti scurried towards the kitchen and Grulmar could only shout after him: “And tell him I sent ya!”
He shook his head and headed towards the circles of stones with a sigh, focusing his mind on magic again, pushing all the distractions away.
All the things he had thought about before, they all worked. Pushing objects up from the ground, pulling the objects to a focal point as well as pushing them from each other. All that worked. But the collective weight of the rocks was still Grulmar’s biggest problem.
And that’s where good old Third Era spells come on the scene, he thought with a smirk. He had run into spells that dealt directly with the weight of objects in his research. Burden and Feather as they were called back in the day. Spells that changed an object’s weight without altering its mass. Grulmar wondered how was it that he completely missed out on those?
The possibilities of his use of Alteration pretty much doubled for him. As he experimented with the spells, he found out that Burden was a much easier spell then Feather. And it made sense. Making something heavier was easier than making something lighter.
He figured out he could make a simple rock almost five times heavier than its original weight, while Feather allowed him to reduce an object’s weight bay at least half.
Grulmar walked towards the outer circle, which had the biggest rocks. They were pretty much the size of his head, very difficult for him to lift them even with his hands, more so with telekinesis.
But that could be easily solved. Casting a Feather spell closely followed by telekinesis. Though why make it so complicated? Why not combine two spells into one?
He reached out, drawing on the magicka, and he intertwined the two spells into each other, almost like two snakes wrapping around each other, making it hard to discern where one begins and the other ends. The rock rose from the ground and Grulmar groaned, baring his teeth. Just making the rock lighter didn’t mean it was any easier to hold the spell.
He then pushed against the rock, sending it flying through the air away from Tel Mithryn. As soon as he released his hold, he noticed the rock quickly descending towards the ground as it regained its original weight. Grulmar guessed it flew approximatly ten steps before hitting the ground. Which was a very important thing to remember. Ya can lift somethin’ heavy by makin’ it lighter, but as soon as ya release it, the reality will push back. So whatever ya throw, it will start quickly descendin’ the moment ya release the spell, the laws of Earthbones kickin’ back in.
Yes, the possibilities...
Imagine a hail of arrows comin’ at ya. Cast a focal point in front of yerself, pull them all together.
A warrior in full plate charges ya. Cast a Burden spell on his boots and he won’t be able to take a step.
Take a knife, push against it, and then cast Burden on it, makin’ it pack much more punch.
A heavy stone blocks yer path? Make it lighter and push it out of yer way.
Y’are surrounded? Cast a wide area feather combined with telekinesis pushin’ up, disarmin’ all yer opponents while also throwin’ them off balance because of everythin’ they wear.
The possibilities just blasted through the roof.
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