Hour 28: A King is Crowned

I head to Thirk Mead Hall and speak to the Riekling Chieftain. I undertake a couple of menial tasks for him - recapturing a prized boar, and gathering up 10 samples of a particular plant. The plant (I can't remember its name) grows mostly in the ashy southern parts of the island, between Tel Mithryn and Fort Frostmoth. As I pass by Tel Mithryn I view it in darkness, which looks amazing:

Having thus ingratiated myself with the Chieftain, he asks for help wiping out the Nords which his tribe recently drove out the Mead Hall. Having nothing but disdain for these weakling Nords who allowed themselves to be defeated by a pack of diminutive Goblins, I agree to help him, and with my summoned legion we make short work of the cowards. The Chieftain then says he thinks I might be too strong, and might want to challenge him for leadership of the tribe. Well, yes, why not? I am Tharon-Zul the All-Powerful, and he is naught but a lowly and pathetic Riekling! No sooner has he uttered the words of challenge, than one of my skeleton thugs clubs him over the head and sends him to an early grave.

Therefore I become Chieftain of the tribe, and am able to have a Riekling follower. In addition, Rieklings sometimes randomly show up when I'm fighting an enemy. At first I baulked at thus turn of events, and considered wiping out all the Rieklings post-haste, but I decided that, as creatures of evil, carnage, and chaos, the Rieklings would make for convenient allies in my quest for world domination. Civilisation is anathema to them, and as Tharon-Zul shall destroy the current civilisation of Tamriel, they may as well come along for the ride.

One of my skeletons eyes its new companion with distrust

I've long thought that I need to improve my Enchanting abilities, and after completing this quest I set about the task, purchasing the Soul Trap spell from Neloth's apprentice. I also note that he has a bunch of other spells for sale which would be suitable upgrades for my ageing Skeleton spell - I purchase Summon Dremora Lord, Summon Seeker, and Summon Storm Atronach, all of which are permanent summons (finally I can have a proper Seeker horde!). This costs a huge amount of gold, however.

I head back to Raven Rock to check what soul gems I have and get to leveling up my Enchanting.