Skyrim Day 022 - Just Books?

6 Heartfire, 4E201

Whiterun

~~~

"Find Mirabelle" was the only task I had from the College's Arch-Mage before he left for Saarthal in order to speak with Tolfdir about the metal egg. So after another quick breakfast I started the day as I did yesterday: wandering around a largely deserted school.

I did not have to wander long before I nearly ran into Mirabelle inside the 'Hall of Elements'. I asked her what she knew of the Psijic Order and received information I already knew. She was even less helpful with the business underneath Saarthal and told me to speak with Urag gro-Shub instead.

Urag demanded to know why I had not returned with the 'Hanging Gardens' and I had to point out that I only learned of it yesterday and have so far been too involved with my studies at the College to allow for a trip to Morthal. He begrudgingly agreed and asked what brought me back to the library. When I told him I needed books about Saarthal he sighed and told me that he did not have any books on the subject.

But he used to. A former student named 'Orthorn' had taken several books from the College as he sneaked out some time ago seeking to join a band of necromancers practicing their art at a ruined castle called 'Fellglow Keep', near Whiterun.

On my way out of the College I was accosted by Ancano, the Thalmor which Faralda had warned me of yesterday. He wanted to know what Tolfdir and I had found under Saarthal, but the only response I had was the honest one: I did not know. He assumed I was lying and cautioned me about the consequences of betraying the Thalmor. I wonder what he would have said if I had told him I was already wanted by his particular organization.

The walk from Winterhold to Fellglow Keep was surprisingly without incident. I passed a large fortress apparently garrisoned by the undead and spoke with a patrol of Imperial Legionnaires for a few minutes, but was spared the bandits, assassins, and wolves my journeys are normally plagued by.

The exterior of Fellglow Keep was guarded only by a single necromancer and his Flame Atronach, neither of which felt the crossbow bolts that ended their lives. I could not open the main door to the Keep, but a few minutes of searching revealed a second door dug into the earth that, for some reason, opened into a small prison area. Why the Keep has a second entrance no more than thirty feet from the first one is a mystery, but it saved me the trouble of waiting outside until someone else's shift came up.

This entrance was guarded by another necromancer just as easily felled by a bolt, plus two giant spiders, each of which I sent tumbling down the stairs with more shots from my faithful crossbow. The jail cells were occupied by eerily calm vampires, all of which I was perfectly okay with leaving captive. Further on were more vampires, all dead and horribly mutilated. This was the group Orthorn hoped to win over with the gift of books.

I found the naive Orthorn in a cell of his own next to a cage of wolves. One does not have to wonder as to what his eventual fate would have been. He expressed relief at the College having sent someone to rescue him, but I replied that he had been written off by the College, I had only been sent to retrieve the books. He begged to be let free either way and I could not abandon him to dehydration or starvation. Freed, he promised to make up for his transgression by helping me fight the remaining necromancers.

As for the books, the leader of the necromancers who he knew as the 'Caller' were in possession of them, but for what reason he did not know.

Orthorn proved surprisingly skilled in a fight and was able to summon Atronachs of his own as well as wield fire and lightning magicka. Alas, he fell in battle against two foes after recklessly charging ahead of me into a room where he was cornered and overpowered before I could assist. I will report to the College that he fell bravely in battle, which is only the truth, after all.

This 'Caller' leader was waiting for me in behind a locked door in a room seemingly redesigned as a summoning chamber of some kind. She accused me of taking her hospitality for granted, which elevated her from 'deluded' to 'insane' in my eyes and then summoned three Flame Atronachs to distract me while she flung fire and ice all of the room.

I ignored the Atronachs as best I could and chased after her relentlessly. Every time I struck her she managed to teleport to another corner of the room, but eventually the sum of my blows started to tell and she collapsed, her Atronachs extinguishing as she did.

The books I had killed to retrieve were on pedestals placed around the room to some unknown purpose. One of the books is about Saarthal and its "Night of Tears" when the Elves attacked Saarthal only to be repelled with heavy losses on both sides. The book questions what reason the Elves would have had to provoke such an attack, but I do think Tolfdir and I have answered at least part of the question.

As always it was late in the evening when I stepped back outside and I decided to stay at Whiterun for the night rather than walk all the way back to the College in the dark.

Other than witnessing the end of a fight between a vampire and two guards the walk from Fellglow Keep was just as boring as the walk to it was. I paid my ten Septims at the Bannered Mare and will be returning to the College in the morning. I may make a brief stop near Morthal for Urag's book on my way there.

Oblivion Day 22 - A Simple Joke

18 Heartfire, 3E433

Bruma

~~~

It feels somehow fitting that my personal quest to gain entry into the University should be completed on such a pointless, ridiculous note. The Guild was still asleep when I called upon it early in the morning, leaving me with nothing to do but examine the Hall for clues as to what would be required of my recommendation here. I found nothing unusual to indicate what would be expected of me, but that's only due to not knowing how incompetent Bruma's guildmaster was.

Her name is Jeanne Frasoric, a Nord who owes her position due to her sociability rather than her ability. The other members see her as something of a joke and it is common knowledge throughout the guild that she still relies on a basic manual to cast even the simplest of spells. Not that it concerns me at all, I just needed her to write a recommendation so that I could move on. But the lack of respect the Guild has for her would influence what my task would be.

The task sounded similar to Skingrad's: find a missing mage, J'skar, before anyone outside of the guild (somehow...) realized that Jeanne could not keep track of her own people. The guild boasted the smallest roster of individuals of any of the guilds, so asking around did not take long. The Altmer Volanaro agreed to help me if I would first help him play a prank on Jeanne. All I had to do to find J'skar was to fetch Jeanne's Manual of Spellcraft from her desk and deliver it to Volanaro. He taught me an Alteration spell to unlock simple locks, but it was beyond my capability to cast, simple though it was. My only skill lies in Illusion magic, but a Khajiit with a lockpick is better than any spell. I sneaked into Jeanne's room, picked the lock on her desk, pocketed the volume, and was back in front of Volanaro with no one else the wiser.

For his part Volanaro told me to come back at ten o'clock at night to find out where J'skar was, which irritated me a little bit, but if all I had to do to gain my recommendation was to wait, then that was fine. It did provide me with the question of what I was to do with the rest of the day though. No one at the Guild was interested in teaching me anything and none of them had any Illusion spells to purchase, so I left the Hall and wandered out of town.

My vague plan was to mount up and ride east into the wilderness in an effort to find an Oblivion gate to close. I have been finding so many of them lately that it seemed that if I picked a direction and rode long enough I would find one. That turned out to be completely true, though after a great deal of riding.

The gate led me nowhere new, though I found myself facing a great deal of Dremora and Clannfear in place of the Scamps I have grown accustomed to. Nevertheless, I closed the gate without much difficulty, as is usual.

Near the expired gate lies an ornate tower, but when I approached I found it to be completely abandoned. I wonder who resided there.

I wandered around a bit more looking for more Gates, but found none. When the sun started to dip below the horizon I judged it late enough to head back to Bruma in time to solve the mystery of J'skar.

It was not much of a mystery. I arrived back at the Guild at about half past ten and Volanaro was true to his word. He bade me wait in the living quarters for a few minutes, then returned, apparently alone. But with a single incantation the Khajiit J'skar popped into existence next to him, having been invisible the entire day. This was their strange idea of a joke.

Funny or not, my work was done and I was able to report to Jeanne that I had located her missing Khajiit. She was not at all interested to hear what had happened to him and assured me that my recommendation was practically on its way already, adding that she hoped I would remember her in the future. 

And with that I am done with my required recommendations. Tomorrow I shall ride back to the Imperial City and hopefully find my way into the University unbarred. Then I can find out what these stones are and maybe pick up some Illusion spells as well. Once I am more skilled in combat and magic I can once again pick up with the Blades and fight off these increasingly threatening invasion.

Morrowind Day 22 - A Calm Day

6th Hearthfire

~~~

Spent a fitful night in the magical chamber of Berandas, waking up exhausted, but no longer bleeding. I dragged myself out of the Berandas chamber of Swirling Colors and continued plodding towards Ald'Ruhn.

Travelling along the coast, I came across another Dunmer fortress tucked among the hills, but this one did not appear to be in nearly as bad of shape as Berandas, being much larger and built-up.

I cautiously entered the smaller of the two buildings and confirmed my suspicions. This fortress had a similar chamber of magic as Berandas does, though still no clue as to the purpose. Transportation perhaps? I should ask around the Mages Guild when I reach civilization again.

The reckless, foolish part of me wanted to explore the fortress, but the pitiful remains of my equipment prevented me from undertaking anything that might result in further damage.

The giant rats that seem to be everywhere are normally skittish creatures, but I was attacked by three of them today, all of the showing strange growths on their bodies. The dreaded Nix Hounds have always been stupidly hostile, but the one I slew today also appeared to be very sick.

It seems other people were having troubles of their own with unusually aggressive animals. I was flagged down on the road by a Dunmer woman named Drulene Falen. She owned a small farm just off the side of the road, hidden by the swells of the West Gash plain. She explained that she had lost several of her Guar to hostile mudcrabs already and another was just dragged off this morning by the determined creatures. She was fretting about losing her farm and moving back to her hometown on the mainland.

I agreed to help her, from one immigrant to another I suppose. The mudcrabs managed to somehow drag the guar up the steep hills separating the West Gash plains from the humidity of the Bitter Coast  and when I finally managed to climb the hills myself, the humidity and stench of swamp welcomed me back. The mudcrabs were easy to find and instead of pretending to be a rock as they usually do, both of them advanced on me, snapping their pincers. Brave, but only foolishly. The guar was already dead, but Drulene offered me some hackle-lo leaves for my efforts. A simple reward for a simple task.

A second task came upon me quite strangely. I encountered a finely dressed Argonian named Rasha further down the road who asked if I was heading to Ald'Ruhn. After I told him I would be passing by, he asked me to deliver several shirts of his to a clothier there. I agreed to deliver the shirts since I was going there anyway and found out then that the delivery included the shirt he was wearing. I left the shirtless Argonian on the road as I stuffed the shirts into my pack.

The clothier, Bivale Teneran, gave me a belt she called the "Belt of Iron Will". She claimed it would increase my chances of successfully casting spells, but the belt I received in Vivec has so far turned out to be quite useful. It would be rude to sell the belt to someone in Ald'Ruhn, so I'm carrying it with me for the time being. Bivale did give me a fair amount of coin for the amulets and and mundane rings I had gathered. which I put to use purchasing supplies to repair my armor with.

The repair of my armor was as time-consuming as it was miraculous. The condition of my armor is by no means perfect, but the repairs managed to put it back into 'serviceable' category  The repair of the Admantium was far more complex than the Imperial chain armor supplementing it and I took my time, not wanting to permanently damage the nearly irreplaceable armor. 

It wasn't late by my usual standards when I completed my repairs, but it was late enough that starting anything new would simply drag into the next day. With that in mind, I've retired to the Ald Skar Inn earlier than usual and I'm planning on greatly enjoying the additional rest.