Skink-in-shades-tree gave me the walking papers for Trebonius, which said that he was to step down as position of Arch-mage, and retire the position to me. and I had had a few run-ins before, and had always given me the impression that he was a total incompetent fool. Apparently, that's the way the rest of the Mage's guild felt about him, too.
I arrived in Vivic and walked straight to Trebonius. He was busy giving one of the mages a silly quest to count all of the forks and knives in the entire island of Vvardenfell. Why? Just because. I wondered why he didn't include a count of all the spoons, but figured he might have either had that information already, or that he was such an idiot that he had simply forgotten to have the mage include them in the report.
He did not seem to be in good spirits, and when I handed him his retirement papers, he seemed in even less good spirits. His years of mis-using his position had finally caught up with him, and now his position was being stripped away by a single piece of paper. He was quiet at first, but then his mood grew cold and bitter.
We glared at each other. This would not be pretty.
He read the paper several times, as if he were looking for some kind of error. It was from his superior, Occato, and the signature and seal was proper. There was just no way out of it. He was being told to step aside, and that I should be given the title of Arch-mage without battle or question on his part. He was being graciously allowed to keep the title of Arch-mage in retirement. Even so, this was not enough for him. "So, you're the new Arch-mage, are you, outlander?" "It says so right on the parchment, sir." I said, trying to be my best diplomatic self. Throwing another diplomatic bone in the pile, I decided to add: "I would be happy to consult with you on your expert opinion concerning matters of the Mage's guild, considering your vast experience over these many years." He frowned. "You're being patronizing, and I don't like being patronized." I replied "I'm not being patronizing sir, I'm recognizing you for the experience you have as an Arch-mage."
Trebonius wasn't buying it, and the air around him started to crackle with electricity. I became stronger in my voice, saying "Look, Trebonius, you have been removed from your position by your superior. You have been told to peacefully step-aside, and that's all there is to it." "And what if I don't?" he replied. I didn't want this to turn into a battle, but felt that as Arch-mage, I had to stand my ground. "If you do not wish to be retired peacefully, there are alternatives, though I do not wish to use them."
"Ha!" he exclaimed! "I defy you to use those so-called 'alternative' methods. I have years of experience in the arcane arts. I know you have come up through the ranks quickly, Breton, but even with your high intelligence, I could kill you with but a thought." The other mages in the area began to back away, not wanting to get into the "blast area" that was about to happen.
I quickly formed a frost shield over me, followed by a shock shield, which turned out to be a good idea, as Trebonius attacked me with a shock spell. My astrological sign came in handy: most of that spell was absorbed into me and added to my own magic casting ability.
He then struck me with a fireball spell. I absorbed some of it, but the fire effect hurt me; I am vunerable to fire. I cast a fire shield around me to prevent future attacks from hurting me too badly.
I struck back with some fire of my own. I struck back with the spell of God's Fire, a favorite of mine. It hurt him badly, and he used his powers of restoration to prevent himself from being burned to a crisp right there.
I added an another protection sheild against his physical attacks, he was now running out of magika, and just relied on his magic staff to wear me down. His staff did damage, but not enough. Just one of my home-made restore health potions kept restoring me for almost 60 seconds, healing me almost immediately after each blow.
He hit me again with a spell to destroy my willpower and intelligence. The effect was not enough to make me ineffective, but enough of them in succession would make the use of magic futile.
I hit him with a spell of Medusa's Gaze. He resisisted it, laughing at me. I did the same spell again, and this time, it froze him in place, including his laughing face. I hit him with another God's Fire and then added God's Frost spell, then added a Toxic Cloud spell for good measure. The former Arch-mage went down for the count, and when the smoke cleared, several of the other mages clapped and cheered that the village idiot was finally out of their hair. I was now officially Eldorf the Wise, Arch-mage of the Mage's Guild.
When I first arrived here, I was attacked by a member of the Dark Brotherhood. I tried to go to the city of Mournhold, on the mainland, to investigate, but was told by a guard that it was not safe for me there.
He was right. I was new, fresh out of prison, and didn't have any skills to defend myself to speak of. Now I would return to Mournhold, not as an experienced fool, but as Champion of the Figher's Guild, and Arch-Mage of the Mage's Guild. However, I would not be going to Mournhold to investigate these Dark Brotherhood people just yet. I had a different mission in mind. Someone had told me that in order to get a set of glass armor, just bring enough raw glass (that I had found in an abandoned mine) to Morunhold and seek out the best armorer in the land. He would make me a set of glass armor that would be strong and light. I had tried to find such armor, but was not successful in my search. The only people that had it were already wearing it, and I had no reason to kill them for it. I picked out my best robes for this trip, and decided to bring along a symbol of my status, the Wizard's Staff. I was told it would not be of much use to me as a levitation device, since the god-queen Alamaxia, who lived there, had cast a spell making levitation above ground impossible. The rumor is that she did not want anyone to rise above her.
The nice lady in the castle of Ebonhart teleported me back to Mournhold.
I asked the guard where the best armorer was, and he said to go to the part of the city called "God's Reach".
I left the reception area and walked into the courtyard. The air was fresh, and there was a gentle breeze blowing. The sweet smell of flowers filled the air. It was beautiful, and this was just the courtyard.
I found the door to God's Reach, and walked in. There were lot of homes here, as well as several guild trades, including the one I was looking for.
I found the man I was looking for. His prices were high, but considering what I was asking for, not unreasonable. He gave me his price list for several different types of armor. I checked it over, gave him some of my raw glass and started the process of obtaining a really nice set of glass armor.
I was told by his assistant that each piece would take one day to finish, and that if I intended to have a full set made, I should probably find a room at the "Winged Guar", the local inn just nearby. I thanked the orc for his suggestion.
I stayed at the Winged Guar Inn, as suggested. Each night was 10 gold pieces, and I had plenty of that, so there was no problem seeing this project through to the end.
After several days, I finally had the full set of glass armor. I went back to the palace reception area and asked the nice Argonian to teleport me back to Ebonhart. He asked me how things were in Vvardenfell, now that the Mage's guild had gotten rid of the village idiot. Apparently Trebonius' reputation had preceded him.
Once arriving in Ebonhart, I used the amulet of recall to zap myself back home. Once there, I tried on my new armor, and it fit perfectly. That guy does good work! I had the helmet enchanted to provide night vision. Glass doesn't hold much of a magic charge but it was enough to help me see in the dark. Very helpful in those dark dungeons and tombs.