My new character has a problem. Ceise decided that she was undereducated and underpowered for the world she's trying to live in, so... she went to the College of Winterhold. That wouldn't be a big deal, generally, but i'm trying to role play this as best I can. Anyway, by the time she got to the college, she was level 10, and already fairly well developed as an illusionist.

The problem... Well, she's now level 15, has an illusion skill of 75, a conjuration of 30, an alchemy of 21, and everything else is essentially at starting levels.Her spells are pretty much low level - Calm, Fear, Fury, Muffle, Conjure Flame Atronach,that sort of thing ...and she's broke. She's hunted around for the Financial Aid office to try for a student loan, but there doesn't seem to be one at the college. So then she went looking for work, and the Jarl wants her to fetch a crown from a fort load of bandits (that just is NOT gonna happen without gaining some serious power) and a professor wants her to get him some gems but she has no idea from where.

Earlier today, she made a foray out to a shipwreck to see if she could make a few coins, and only barely survived. She's now convinced that she cannot travel anywhere or do any sort of adventuring under her current circumstances. the bottom line is, she's just GOT to make some money to buy some spells. She's looked around the College, and there doesn't seem to be enough available ingredients to do much with alchemy, and nobody has offered her their soul for enchanting purposes, so she's seeking alternatives. Right now she's checking "Belethor's List" to see if there any "modeling" jobs available...

The point of all this is, I'm wondering if anybody has any ideas as to how to make some money without dying in the process. Bear in mind, this is a DiD character in a very, very, dangerous world (due to mods) so travel on foot is almost out of the question. Yes, she could fast travel, but that's kinda role-breaking, so I'd much rather not.

Any ideas?

Alchemy. College has an alchemy lab with lots of ingredients. Loot random barrels and sacks.

Eh, yeah, that might have worked, but I have "Real Needs" and a large portion of alchemy ingredients in barrels has been transformed into soul gem fragments, hinges, nails, iron fittings. and general junk like hides and pelts that can't be tanned. That's what I meant when I said there was not enough alchemy ingredients to do very much. I figure Ceise needs a minimum of 2,000 Septims to get outta town safely. With that she could buy "invisibility" and a little food.

Speak to Malur Seloth.

Not to go off on a tangent (except that I want to!), but why would a college have barrels full of hinges, nails, and junk?

Methinks it's a bit "off the wall" to install a mod that creates massive navigation problems for oneself, and then complain because one can't navigate.

I'll give it a try... I don't know who he is really, but I noticed him in the Jarl's place when I went there looking for work.

@ glargg Eh, navigate? The mod changes the leveled lists for all common barrels and such, so it's the same in Riverwood, or t the colege, or in a vampire den in... wherever. I'm not complaining, eh? I'm just looking for a way to make some money to get into a better position. (I woulda said bread, but then I'd have wanted to put it in that other thread...)

If I was complaining, I woulda said "WHY the HELL is there no financial aid office at this college? I'm gonna hold a protest that Bethesda is unfair to foreign students, and have a book burning in the Arcaneum..."

I don't think he's going to help much. I don't think he gives a cash reward for his "quest," does he?

Work? Who needs work? Steal everything that isn't nailed down. You're allegedly an accomplished illusionist, are you not?

I beleive their are some ingredients down in the midden. Perhap's not alot, but I recall some.. torch bug's, a couple mushroom's and a couple things laying around on tables, unless your mod's change that as well. Their are also a couple ore's around near the college. Their might be some other ingredients around the town, I never really looked hard.

I am... ( she is?) but she can't afford decent spells, and without a fence or belonging to the thieves guild in any case, how would she turn that stolen stuff into cash?

@ Areial

Good idea, I'll check out the Midden. I don't know exactly what to do with ore though, since there's no smelter in Winterhold that I know of and ore itself isn't generally worth much.

Yeah, navigate...you said your character couldn't travel, under the present circumstances.

I understood why the barrels' contents were all changed. I was just thinking about the logic of the mod doing that. Barrels are there to hold useful stuff, but now it's just junk everywhere you go. That would bother me. "Immersion" or whatever...

Actually, there is a lot of dialgue that indicates those barrels are for trash. Look in a barrel near Sven's house, and the old woman will start saying "Look, she's going through the trash... wonder what she lost besides her mind..." Similar comments occur elsewhere too... so it would seem Bethesda intended those to be trash barrels. I'd think of course that fish barrels or such would be different, and they are in the Bannered Mare at least.

Do you have a horse? Or can you use all that Illusion skill to travel stealthily? There's got to be a reason you've managed to level up Illusion magic and barely anything else.

If you can, get down to a lumbermill like Riverwood (not sure what the closest one would be to you) and cut some wood to make some quick cash. Seems tedious but it's safe work, though you might get some splinters or calluses I suppose.

Do like all college students in a bind do to get out of debt and resort to some back breaking labor completely unrelated to your career field. Unless someone opens a place to sell blood plasma near the College (or a "House of Earthly Delights"), that may be your best option.

Another option to quickly train Destruction/whatever your main attack skill is (and Conjuration) is get some summoning spell (start weak like Familiar) and attack the Familiar, kill and repeat a billion times, moving up to Flame Atronach when you think you're ready... Keep in mind after you hit the Familar/Atronach a few times, they will attack you, and since you play DiD, I don't want to be responsible for overestimating your attack/defense capabilities. Some type of mage armor spell might be a good investment too if you don't already use one.

She has muffle, and that helps, but it's hardly sufficient on its own to get by very much. Being Breton, she has a familiar, but I have a distinct feeling it would kill her off fairly quickly if she were to fight it. That's the thing, She's not meant to be a fighter so it's like asking a librarian to get into a mixed martial arts match...

Ha! I haven't thought of the "House of Earthly Delights" in a couple of years... that's a good memory.