I didn't dare to take out my journal of things from the game I had hidden in Oblivion. I could only search through my fuzzy memories of that topic to try and find the right option. Nothing too heavy but also not small enough to insult the prince. The aspect waited patiently for me to make my decision which wasn't terribly surprising for the god of hunting to have a good sense of patience. Eventually my mind niggled out a thing that would be rather useless at the moment but would make my life a thousand times easier later.-
"There is a blade. One in a forgotten Akaviri stronghold in the reach. Dragonsbane. I want to know it's enchantment, the one that would allow even a normal iron weapon to splinter dragon scales." I eventually said respectfully.
"Spoken like a true hunter! Where others might ask for petty trinkets or powers you seek an edge in your future hunts! You continue to impress me mortal! I look forward to seeing your growth and future hunts! Take this boon and go with my favor! So says I,Hircine!" The aspect said grandly as before bursting into blue light that flowed into my head.
In my mind a crystal clear understanding of the enchantment I asked for lay quietly where moments before there was nothing. There was something else as well, a spell that left me surprised, [Summon hound of Hircine]. The spell was obviously of the conjuration variety but far more powerful than anything I currently had. I clearly must have greatly pleased the prince with my request for him to slip in a little extra like this. Not to say this was unprecedented or anything like that because it VERY much was not.-
Most of the known daedric princes have tales of doing similar things if they find the actions of a mortal particularly pleasing. Hircine in particular was well known for honoring those he deemed excellent in some regard. The greatest example of this was one of his most coveted artifacts, The Saviors hide. He personally crafted this unique leather cuirass to honor the only mortal to have ever escaped his hunting grounds. It was enchanted to make the wearer considerably more resistant to magic and all but immune to poison and disease. A powerful piece of armor but also one that all but tells anyone you meet that Hircine favors you, not exactly low-key.-
The spell from what I could tell would allow me to temporarily summon one of the werewolves that reside in Hircine's realm to aid me for a time. As for the enchantment I had asked for he wasn't wrong about my motivations for it. The enchantment was unique even in the game as you couldn't de-enchant the weapon to learn it. Assuming this held true in reality as well the weapon would prove only useful to me when I fed it to my blade.-
By asking for the enchantment itself however I could start putting it on arrows and ballistae bolts when I prepared for the dragons to return. Like he had said I was preparing an edge for hunting dragons in the future. Naturally I'd still enchant some other weapons with the enchantment to layer it on my blade as well but I mostly wanted it for the people of Skyrim. I didn't bother skinning or butchering the werewolf corpse because even if it was a monster it was also a person. I had no plans on treating another persons skin like a trophy taken from an animal.-
I summoned my toad and set off for Shor's stone again and this time actually made it about mid day.
"You return victorious I hope?" Ra-Do asked with a hint of concern when I showed up in tattered clothes covered in blood.
"Yeah, the bandits weren't a problem. Ran into a werewolf on the way back however that WAS a problem. Also dead." I said reassuring him.
"Do you require a change of clothes?" Dar-La asked and I shook my head.
With a flex of my magicka I opened a small portal to my storage realm and took out a new set of clothes.
"Perks of being a wizard, I always have my wardrobe with me." I said with a grin.
I created a small changing room from stone and swapped out my destroyed clothes for the fresh set before rejoining the rest of the caravan. Naturally they wanted to know about my little adventure and I chose to share most of it. The hind on the way, my dispatch of the bandits, the word wall on the summit and finally the ambush of the werewolf. I left out my conversation with Hircine as daedric princes make for poor topics of conversation.-
"Do you perhaps think the werewolf was there hunting the hind and found you first?" Do-Ra asked curiously.
I considered it bit and had to agree it made sense. If the werewolf had been hunting for the Hind to earn more of Hircine's favor then it wasn't an unreasonable leap of logic that it may have decided to kill me on the off chance I too was hunting the beast. Such coincidences were known to happen on occasion after all. I wasn't nearly arrogant enough to assume the world revolved around me like it seemed to the player in the game.-
This was a living, breathing, moving world and while I was one part of it there were trillions or more others that were doing their own things and I didn't mean just people either. Animals, monsters, plants, daedra, the list was nigh unending. I could accept that my path just happened to cross the right set of others at just the right time for this all to happen. The only part that I was scolded for really was when I showed off my new scars. Dar-La felt it was foolish of me to take such a gamble while Do-Ra just nodded along in agreement with my own assessment of the situation.-
I sold my loot in the village while Do-Ra looked a little TOO happy with the suit of armor I'd gifted her. She spent most of the remaining daylight polishing it to a high shine and scuffing out any burs. I cooked up a pot pie from scratch in my Dutch oven for dinner and turned in for the night. The next morning we all packed and got ready to head for Kynesgrove which was a full four day journey.-
Before we could head out however two strangers showed up at Shor's stone. One was a middle aged to older Nord man with a heavily scared face and one blind eye from what looked like a sword wound. His hair was short and thinned up top with a greying coloration to it. He wore a heavy armor set that was of a steel of some sort with wolf depictions on it and fur lining. The other was a wild looking Nord woman with dark red hair grown down to the middle of her back with claw war paint across her face. She looked to be mid twenties, youthful but not freshly grown. Her body was like a tightly wound spring of agile predator muscle definition that gave the illusion of her being petite and fragile if you weren't paying close attention, barely concealed beneath leather clothes tight on her form.