Advancing in Potions and Fungi

As part of the duties I wanted to complete before I headed out of the Whiterun area, I went to Redoran's Retreat to retrieve Amren's Sword. Amren, a citizen of Whiterun, requested it of me because bandits stole it and his wife was seconds from leaving him if he tried to get himself killed by bandits. However, the cave only had about four bandits within it. There was additionally a great number of mushrooms-- White Cap, Imp Stool, Namira's Rot, Mora Tapinella... essentially, all of the basic mushrooms, but no glowing mushrooms. There were one or two specimens of each kind, providing a wide sampling. It might be worth heading back inside if I find myself in the Whiterun area again, which I no doubt will, since the tundra is also home to cotton, luna moths, and torchbugs, as well as mammoths and other wildlife.

I made more potions to advance my skills, and lucked upon some new effects--

Torchbug Thorax and Purple Mountain Flower, in addition to Restore Stamina, also have the effect of Lingering Damage Magicka. They make an excellent poison, though I will have to make sure to take nightly trips to gather the thoraxes. It will be helpful against magicians in particular, since they are never long on stamina anyway, so wearing out the restored statistic will hardly be a problem. On that note, I really must find some way to combat my magicka loss during battles-- which herbs would be best at Restore Magicka, or should I look into enchantments?

I proceeded from there back to Whiterun, but it was evening and none of the shops were open. I was able to drop the sword off with Amren, but I headed back out to Halted Stream Camp. Along the way, I found a large number of Mudcrabs, who appear to enjoy the streams and pools in the tundra, some Nirnroot along the water, and various fish and dragonflies. The dragonflies, Dartwings, are very difficult to catch.

Halted Stream Camp is situated directly over Halted Stream Mine, which is an iron mine with many veins of ore-- very useful for mining iron. Additionally, there is a gold ore vein near Halted Stream Camp, about two cursors west, near a stump and a Dwemer ruin where bandits have set up Silent Moons Camp. There were only eight bandits in Halted Stream, but it was very difficult for me-- it might be worth getting a companion of some kind to help fight. I did, however, manage to kill them all by careful use of stealth. However, leveling bow and stealth are not what I'm aiming for. I definitely need a companion.

Bleeding Crown - Weakness to Fire
Blisterwort - Damage Stamina
Imp Stool - Damage Health
White Cap - Weakness to Frost
Namira's Rot - Damage Magicka