Once at the door, Father placed his ear against it. Unfortunately, there was no keyhole. Aside from residential housing, structures rarely used locks. The reason was simple; they were far too easy to pick. Compared to a modern equivalent, locks were highly simplistic. They often only blocked those who did not have basic lock picking skills.

Additionally, locks were only as strong as the door for anyone determined to enter. When it came to this fort, they had opted for a barricade. A key lock required brute force to get through but could only be locked from the inside. Luckily, the door did not seem barricaded.

After waiting several seconds, father motioned to the other two. One for certain straight ahead, another potential to the right, others unknown. Following several additional hand gestures, the three got ready at the door. Father prepared to open, and Mother prepared her bow. In a usual manner, Father opened the door, which swung to the outside.

Sitting at a table as he went over some paperwork, the mage glanced up only to be met with an arrow to the temple. At the same time, when Mother fired the arrow over his head, Marcus did a roll to stay low, looked to the right, and fired on the other mage who had reflexively begun casting a spell. However, the mage never completed that spell. 

Marcus quickly glanced around the room and confirmed no one else was in it before he walked towards the back left corner cabinet. As he approached, a nearby bucket suddenly shook. Given that the bucket was his target, Marcus quickly brought up the System Interface to check his inventory. He was elated when he found the Spell Tome: Bound Bow in his inventory. This spell tome would be vital for his plans as it was centered around his future combat style. 

While he would always keep a bow on his body, Marcus planned to fight using this Bound Bow. Part of the reason he decided to start his life in Ivarstead was to obtain this magical bow early and for free because it was extremely powerful. 

The base damage of the Bound Bow was slightly worse than its daedric counterpart. Marcus had a perk that increased all his bound weapons, making its base damage the second-highest in Skyr*m. Of course, this was only the base damage. As it was a bow made of magic, it could not be improved by a blacksmith. Instead, the damage increased based upon the caster’s conjuration level. While it was theoretically possible to obtain a physical bow that would become stronger, it would only be in the hand of a blacksmith that likely did not exist. In addition to grinding his conjuration and archery skill with the bound bow, the weapon would grow with him to a frightening degree.

Additionally, along with the spell came conjured arrows which were the same in power as their daedric counterpart. These arrows would automatically be conjured on the bow once the string had begun to be pulled back, from a conjured quiver, or conjured in an empty physical quiver. The first had the advantage of having a faster firing rate, while the last allowed for poisons. The arrows would be coated automatically if the bottom of the physical quiver contained poison.

The only apparent downside to the bound spell was that the bow could not be enchanted. However, thanks to this being reality and not a game, and with the help of a few mods, Marcus was sure he would be able to create a similar effect. However, now was not the time for such thoughts. 

Thankfully, there was no level requirement to learning spells, just the perks associated with different tiers. Unfortunately, Marcus couldn’t learn the spell immediately, lest he read the book at least once. Given that the spell was at a tier higher than his respective level, he might have some difficulty, but only to the effect of an extended learning duration. However, he suppressed that urge after Mother motioned to express that three people were down the stairs, which led to the prison.

Quietly, the family of three made their way down towards the prison but found no more mages. Instead, they found three battered stormcloaks, each with wounds consistent with damage caused by magic spells.

“You… You’re not one of those mages.” A middle-aged Nord said as the three of them came into sight. “Two wood elves and… Their child? What are you doing here?”

“Passing through,” Father replied as he took a key and unlocked the cell. “Tell me what you know.”

“Oh, thank Talos. Of course, I will tell you everything. Not but a few hours ago, we were hit by a surprise attack of those filthy mages. While they all come from several disciplines, several necromancers were among their ranks. We only had a skeleton crew here because the imperials do not have easy access to this area, which is not a high target. We lost over a fourth in the initial attack, and our fallen brothers and sisters picked up their weapons and attacked us in turn. In less than 10 minutes, we lost.”

“I see. Then why were you spared?”

“Spared? Not a chance,” Another man said. “They took us as prisoners to be experimented on. It seems that part of the reason they took this fort was to obtain the facilities and equipment necessary for some of their experiments.”

“Experiments on what?” Mother asked.

“We don’t know for sure, but it might have something to do with necromancy.”

The two parents suddenly frowned when they heard this news. Necromancy wasn’t illegal, but it was highly frowned upon.

“Are you serious?” Father asked.

“Indeed. I am uncertain if they still have any bodies at their disposal, as I am unsure how necromancy works.”

“We’ve come this far. Why stop now?” Marcus asked.

The three captives looked at the boy in front of them with a confused look on their face.

“Are you sure?” Mother asked tentatively.

“We will be fine.”

Father turned back to the three captives. “We are going to clear out the remainder of the fort. What are your plans?”

“We are going to get out of here. As far as I know, we are the last survivors. Much less being severely outnumbered… Well, our wounds leave us unable to fight back. I don’t believe they touch the horses, so if you could help us secure them, we would go to the nearest camp to make our port and ask for reinforcement.”

“Then let’s do so, quickly.”

“Good. Oh, may I enquire the names of our rescuers?”

After the two parents shared a glance, Mother whispered in the nord’s ear, whose eyes shot open at her words. He was about to respond but reflexively stopped and only gave a nod.

Marcus didn’t know what his mother had said. However, given his parents’ skills, knowledge, and levels, he already knew they were not ordinary.

The two groups quickly came to a concordance and exited the prison. No other mages had exited the fort during the few minutes they had been inside, so it was a simple matter to reach the horses and send the stormcloaks on their way.

The whole interaction amused Marcus. The stormcloaks were not present in the game, which meant that events could differ. The variability was worrying because it meant that there would be unstable factors in the future. However, it was also comforting that life wouldn’t be predictable.

As these thoughts mauled about in Marcus’s mind, the three of them reached the main door of the fort.