Once I thought I decoded the madness laced spell tome I naturally double checked my work just to be sure. It was a good thing I did too as I almost missed a well hidden cross void limitation sequence. In layman terms, the thing that prevents you from accidentally summoning whatever was near the thing you were summoning. Usually not terribly important but if you are summoning a pack creature you might bring it's friends with it without this bit of information. Once I finished triple checking my work because caution keeps you alive I was finally satisfied.-
I followed my own instructions and pointed my finger at the other side of the room as I prepared to banish whatever came in case I made another mistake somewhere. The purple portal was correct and when it vanished a member of the exact species I was after stood in the room. It's raspy breathing and twitchy movements were off putting but not unexpected. It made no movements but just stared at me with those two small beady eyes filled with ravenous desire that it couldn't act on with my command seal in place.-
Success.
I sent the creature back to wherever it came from before casting the spell again three more times on the off chance it was a fluke. I was satisfied with this matter after that and yawned as time had passed by without me even noticing. The "sun" of the isle had vanished and in it's place a star filled night sky lit up with an aurora and a single white moon. I left my room and headed down the stairs before helping myself to the kitchen area of the inn. The woman was still standing behind the counter asleep on her feet. -
Ignoring that I took out my cooking tools from my storage plane and got to work making burgers. I chuckled at how useful magic was in this regard as I flash thawed a block of ground beef and sprinkled on my seasoning blend before kneading it into the beef. Once that was done I cleaned my hands with a quick spell and moved on to dripping the liquid butter I had in a sealed bottled into a pan that I had heated on the wood burning stove. Using [telekinesis] I split up the beef and formed it into perfect patties that I laid into the pan.-
While that got to cooking I took out a premade loaf of bread I'd made previously and began to slice it up. I then lathered up a few slices of that with my homemade spicy mayo. I added lettuce, tomato, onion and homemade pickles along with some precooked Horker bacon. I flipped the patties and let the other side and middle cook a bit before plating up the food and setting a burger down in from of the innkeeper before gently nudging her awake with [telekinesis].-
"Hmm? What's going on?" she asked drowsy and confused.
"I made food. Thought I'd offer some since I don't think you've eaten." I said with a smile.
"Oh, how nice of you. Thank you." she said with a yawn.
I showed her how to eat a burger since she was uncertain. She seemed to liven up just a little as she ate which I took to mean the food was quite good. I finished my meal first and returned to my room for the night. I myself yawned this time as I flopped onto the bed and let sleep claim me. -
I dreamt of playing basketball with Sheogorath using a severed head as the ball. Honestly not that bad since it was Ancano's severed head, kinda cathartic actually. In the morning I left the inn quietly and followed the path outside the town that went up towards the tall walls of the fringe where the Gatekeeper guarded the way into the isles proper. I collected a few more samples of the mushrooms growing along the road as I walked up. Finally I stopped at the edge of the large clearing with neat stone flooring and curved stairs that led to two ornate gates. One was bright and covered in happy symbolism. The second was dark and had screaming faces all over it.
The doors to Mania and Dementia respectively.
Pacing in front of these stairs however was a behemoth of magic and might that was more fit for a horror movie than reality. Rough shape wise it was almost like a person. Two arms, two legs, one head. That was where the similarities ended. The thing was at least nine feet tall and had a body covered in binding runes as well as stitched up areas. It's body was filled with dense powerful muscle and it's right hand was entirely replaced with a massive serrated black blade. -
It's head was the most haunting part though as it had no eyes, no mouth, no ears and no detail. It was like you put a perfectly smooth oval on a human body. Despite the lack of any holes the monster seemed to breath a deep rumbling breath as it's powerful form paced the area on permanent guard duty. If you ignored it's obviously powerful form and attuned your senses to the magical side of things you'd notice it's magicka was also incredibly dense and powerful.-
I approached calmly and definitely without making any moves that could be misunderstood as hostile. The massive thing paused it's pacing and stared at me with it's blank eyeless face as I strolled calmly past it and towards the nearest gateway, the one for Mania. The gate thankfully opened without any issue and as I crossed the threshold I felt a familiar buzz in my soul as the knowledge of a new spell entered my mind. It was a special variant of a [frenzy] spell from the illusion school of magic called [Blessing of Mania]. What it did was release a pulse of frenzying magic at a target I can see within thirty feet of me.-
Perhaps not the most useful of spells but one that definitely had serious strength to it. It was a spell that would make anyone in a group nervous to know existed as all it took was a pointed finger for your best friend to go on a bloodthirsty rampage against whoever was closest to them at the time. The only way to counter it is with an equally strong [calm] spell or by knocking out or killing the one affected.