Author's Note: Hi everyone! Here comes the start of part one which is the College of Winterhold. I haven't got much to say except tell you some recommendations. I've started a fic called Tales of the Dead, it's just poetry about important questline characters that die. My first one is Cicero. Also, look up Atronach by Adz 99.
Ok, ON WITH THE STORY!
PS: I have completed all questlines and know how they go so if you think I'm doing questlines wrong it's because I'm adapting it to suit my needs and wants. OK?
Part I: The College of Winterhold.
4. Mysteries in Saarthal.
"We would like to hire your carriage to Winterhold." I told the carriage driver outside Whiterun stables.
"50 gold. Climb on back." I tossed him a coin purse and we jumped onto the carriage. I relaxed and imagined Winterhold: Light, crisp snow covered the ground and the sun shone brightly. Children played in the streets of the city. In the centre, tall and proud, stood the College, majestic in the snow. I smiled and relaxed for the long journey ahead.
I couldn't have been more wrong.
Winterhold was barren. A wasteland! Houses were destroyed and there was little sun. Dragonsreach was larger! Me and Jenassa looked around, searching for the College. We came across a stone ramp that led up to a bridge and a large building. This must be the College! I thought excitedly. We went up the ramp and a High Elf with red hair tied into two pigtails at the back and dressed in robes approached us.
"Cross the bridge at your own peril! The path is dangerous and the gate will not open." She said fiercely.
"Is this the College of Winterhold?" I asked.
"Yes. If you seek admission, however, a certain test must be passed first. I am Faralda. I test those wishing to join the College and I also teach destruction."
"I am Highborn and this is Jenassa." Jen raised a hand in greeting. "I seek admission to the College. What sort of test?"
"Well, we won't take any old novice who thinks they can incinerate giants when they can't even incinerate their big toe. Adults of all races can heal needle pricks and boil water for a short period of time when they channel their magicka. It takes a real mage, however, to fry a sabre cat's vital organs with a firebolt or to-" She stopped as I vanished. I ran to a bush and hurled a firebolt at her and then walked up to her and cast heal other, healing her burns.
"Will that suffice?" I asked her, smiling.
"Yes, I think it will. Welcome, Apprentice!" I buzzed inside with joy. I was part of the College!
"Oh, one more thing. Jenassa is not in any way magical but I would like her to accompany-"
"No."
"Please? I don't want to leave her."
"If Jenassa can cast the firebolt spell, she can come in. But she will not be treated as an apprentice and will have to use a bedroll."
"Then I will try." Jenassa said. "Can you teach me the spell?"
"For thirty gold." Jen gave her the money and Faralda handed her the spell tome.
"Just think of it like drawing a bow." I told her. "Build up energy, then release." Thankfully, she was able to coax a small firebolt into the air.
"Very well." Said Faralda. "I'll show you across the bridge." We walked across the bridge with her and eventually came to a gate bearing an eye, probably the College's symbol, and it swayed open for us. The building was magnificent. Three towers formed a triangle and were connected above by a balcony. In the middle was a large statue of a mage. Faralda pointed to the door to the tower on our left.
"That is where you will be sleeping." Then she pointed to the tower on the right. "Most of the staff can be found in there. The other tower is the Hall of the Elements. Lectures and lessons take place there. While Savos Aren is the Archmage, Mirabelle Ervine is the Master Wizard and runs the day to day operations. Also, watch out for Ancano. He is the Thalmor representative and advisor to the Archmage. He doesn't seem trustworthy. First you will be learning from Tolfdir, the alteration specialist. Phinis Gestor teaches conjuration. Colette Marence teaches restoration. Drevis Neloren teaches illusion and Sergius Turrianus teaches enchanting. Go to the Hall of the Elements for your first lesson." We thanked Faralda for her help and went into the hall.
Inside there were three other mages, a Khajiit, a Nord and a Dunmer, facing an old man who must have been Tolfdir. They looked at me as I walked up to them. Since Jenassa was not an apprentice, she could not attend so she went to the dorms to eat and use whatever facilities were there. If there was an alchemy station, she'd be gone all day making various potions and poisons. Tolfdir spoke.
"Now, let's begin! If you don't know, my name is Tolfdir, I will be teaching you." He rambled on about magic being volatile and dangerous and we all pleaded with him to do something practical. "Very well, wards are shields against magic. Do any of you know a ward?"
"I do." I told him.
"Thank you, young lady. And you are?
"Highborn."
"Thank you. Now, Highborn, can you stand over there and defend yourself with a ward for me?" I nodded and walked over to where he had indicated. The others' eyes widened as I threw up a greater ward and Tolfdir's firebolt dissipated harmlessly against it.
"Well done." Tolfdir said, smiling. "I think it's time to go on a little trip. We will go to Saarthal, a Nordic ruin close to here. I will wait for you all at the bottom of the bridge. Any questions?"
At the same time, me and the Dark Elf said "Are there any Frostbite Spiders in Saarthal? Tolfdir chuckled.
"And you are?"
"Brelyna, sir." She replied.
"Rest assured, there are no spiders in Saarthal." We breathed sighs of relief and the Nord spoke.
"My name is Onmund, before you ask. Is there somewhere I can borrow a book?"
"Yes, in the Arcaneum take the door over there." The Khajiit had something to say also.
"J'zargo would like to use an arcane enchanter before we set out."
"Of course. There is one is the Hall of Countenance." We all went our respective ways and eventually met Tolfdir at the bridge. I hadn't bothered to get Jen, she would be too busy exploring and I would never find her. We set out for Saarthal and found ourselves there soon enough. We all entered the Nordic ruin.
After walking down some steps Tolfdir stopped us.
"We need to find Arniel Gane, he's doing some research and could probably use some assistance." After wandering some corridors we found him and he asked us to find some ancient rings. Brelyna, Onmund, J'zargo and I split up while Tolfdir and Arniel talked. I happened upon a stone wall displaying an amulet. I took it and a gate came up, blocking any way of escaping. Tolfdir and the others ran up to us. I saw that all three of them had discovered a ring.
"Ok, stay calm. What happened?" Tolfdir asked. I explained and a thoughtful look crossed his face. "Try wearing the amulet." I did as he instructed and the iron bars forming the gate sank back into the ground. The wall which I had found the amulet on started pulsing. Tolfdir shot a magelight spell at it and it collapsed inwards. "Put on those rings, the enchantments will help you." He told Brelyna, Onmund and J'zargo. "There might be danger ahead."
We came to a room with three coffins. Suddenly, everyone froze (literally, like time had stopped) and a faint blue light enveloped the room. A man in strange robes materialized and I yelped in fright. He spoke.
"You have set in motion a chain of events that cannot be stopped. The Psijiic order knows this. Judgement will not be passed on what you have already done, but on what you do in future." And with that, he vanished.
"What happened?" Tolfdir asked. I informed him of my vision and, after a brief admittance of puzzlement, he decided to open the coffins. As he stepped closer, I connected the dots. We were in a Nordic ruin and there were coffins. That could only mean one thing.
Draugr.
I readied a firebolt as the tombs burst open and the draugr inside flew down the passageway behind it from the impact from my spell. Brelyna felled one with lightning bolt while Tolfdir used paralyze on the other, allowing Onmund and J'zargo to defeat it with frostbite and sparks. We carried on, watching for danger. We came to a large chamber and draugr stormed us. Chain lightning arced through most of them and they fell dead. Tolfdir told us he would stay behind and we carried on into the depths of Saarthal.
"What are these pillars?" Brelyna asked us. There were three on each side of the chamber. There was a gate and a lever at the end. It reminded me of the golden claw puzzle Faendal and I had solved in Bleak Falls Barrow, which meant that if we got it wrong, when we pulled the lever it would spring some sort of trap. I leaned against one and it turned. There was a snake, a hawk and a whale.
"Look for clues to what the pillars should have displayed on their fronts." We spread out and looked around. Something caught my eye behind a pillar. At a closer look, I saw it was a plaque showing the right animal. I told the others and soon the gate had lowered and we came face to face with a strong looking draugr. We all conjured a flame atronach and it was easily disposed of.
We carried on past draugr and another, more annoying puzzle and came upon a corridor with an alchemy lab. Then I remembered my gifts from Gerdur. I looked around in my bag and found my case of poisons. I still had all three paralysis, all three stamina, all three magicka and two basic (I used one on a bear I had encountered.) My hand drifted about unsurely until I decided on magicka. Onmund cast me a questioning glance.
"When you find an alchemy lab in a Nordic ruin with no hostile draugr in the same chamber, there's probably something dangerous up ahead." He nodded in understanding. J'zargo rummaged in his bag and brought out a small phial of poison. I turned to Onmund and Brelyna.
"What alchemy components do you have?" Brelyna produced a Briar heart and a nirnroot while Onmund presented canis root and nightshade. The briar heart and canis root made a small paralysis poison for Onmund and I used the other two to give Brelyna some basic poison. "I trust that you have at least a dagger or a bow?" I said, dipping a steel arrow in the poison and readying it in my bow. To my surprise, they each produced a hunting bow and did likewise.
"Wait!" A voice yelled. Shocked, we drew our bows and Tolfdir nearly got impaled by our arrows. At first he looked puzzled at the fact we were using bows and then realised.
"Poison?" We nodded. "Good idea. It's about time I caught up with you, be prepared. There's something ahead. " We nodded and silently moved forward to the door.
We opened the door and came to a chamber filled with an unearthly turquoise glow coming from a large orb. A draugr sat in a throne down some stairs with a similar glow coating him. Brelyna and I went to the left of the top part, bows pointed at it while J'zargo and Onmund did the same at the right. Tolfdir descended the steps and, as he passed the draugr, it rose up from the chair. Tolfdir cast flames at it and, to our dismay, the draugr didn't even flinch and just used frostbite on him. Then a purple aura surrounded it and Tolfdir's flames got through. We took our chance and released our arrows, injuring him and, thanks to Onmund's poison, fell over for a few seconds, allowing Tolfdir to start casting spells at the shield surrounding the orb and allowing us to nock another arrow. There was just one small flaw.
The draugr had noticed us.
He picked himself up and the glow coated him once more. We gave up on our bows and four flame atronachs appeared once again, surrounding him. While the others tried to stop the cloak of light - which appeared and disappeared at regular intervals - from returning I jumped down to the throne the draugr had been sitting at and looked for something of use. There was a staff on a table with a gem at the top. The words 'Jyrik Gaulderson' were engraved on it. That must have been the draugr's name. The same purple aura surrounded Jyrik and I charged the staff.
"Jyrik!" I yelled, hoping he would remember his name. He turned and a bolt of lightning shot him in the face, killing him and launching his corpse backwards. I ran up the stairs and checked his body. There was an amulet (which I put on and felt extra magicka flow into my body) and a piece of paper that I decided to read later. Tolfdir approached us, matching our grins with a smile of his own and motioned towards the giant orb, now barrier free.
"You four did some good work today. Get back to the College for a well deserved rest." As we ran down the steps, Tolfdir stopped me. "I need you to inform the Archmage about this. I have to stay here and watch...whatever this is." He told me. I nodded and ran through the door where I came upon a wall similar to the one in Bleak Falls Barrow. Once again, energy flew into me and a strange chanting filled my head. There was one thought in my mind as I walked out of the ruin.
Jenassa would be so annoyed that she had missed this!
Author's Note: Teehee! You thought it was going to be serious didn't you? But I got you good! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHAHA! Anyways, hope you liked it, PLEASE REVIEW! Have a nice day yackity shmackity bye bye!