One word to describe the ruins of Saarthal was dusty. Another word would be dank and the other creepy. Farryn was still trying to rub dust out of her eyes as she and the mages followed Tolfdir into the tomb. She was walking behind J'zargo who was muttering about the potential gold that could be found here. Farryn nodded at his words. Looking down from the raised walkway, Farryn could see multiple shelves with burial urns that would surely have gold in them. Nudging J'zargo with her elbow, she discreetly pointed to the urns and was met with a faint smirk and a nod of appreciation. They continued on with Farryn and J'zargo sneakily filling up their pockets with gold. However, they were not completely hidden since Onmund kept sending disapproving glares their way. Farryn shrugged off his indignance. She had no qualms about taking what she could from a Nordic tomb even it was a part of her history. In her mind the dead had no use for gold.
The small group finally settled on the ground floor where they gathered around Tolfdir. He assigned each one of the apprentices a task. Brelyna was instructed to look for any wards, Onmund had to search for any residual energy, alive or dead and J'zargo was to look for any tampering with the tombs. Farryn was sent to Arniel Gane to look for enchanted items or other magical artifacts.
Farryn happily made her way deeper into the ruins searching for Arniel. This was what she was waiting for when she came to Skyrim; an adventure filled with magic and wonder that would increase Farryn's knowledge of the world and beyond. Farryn was not naive enough to believe that her goal was going to be peaceful and safe and that she was going to sit on her butt all day reading over ancient texts and practicing spells. Knowledge and power came at a price. A price that usually was harmful or fatal.
As she continued to walk into Saarthal, Farryn came upon the sight of a man hunched over a desk with piles of paperwork on spread everywhere. The man, who Farryn assumed to be Arniel Gane, had a deep look of concentration on his face. His back was turned to her and Farryn did not want to interrupt him. She took one step forward and garnered his attention by clearing her throat.
"What do you want?" Arniel asked irritatingly. He had turned his head slightly to acknowledge her and was now fixing her an annoyed glare.
"Tolfdir sent me to help you," Farryn replied. She wanted to get out of his way as soon as possible. Scholars could be assholes when bothered.
"Ah yes, now I remember," Arniel said. He did not sound very excited. "Well, try looking in the chambers north of here. Try to be careful. We don't want to damage anything."
Dismissed and feeling offended, Farryn walked in the direction north. She looked for any enchanted items that could be seen in this dimly lit tomb. She saw a red glimmer in the corner of her eye and turned left. She looked down and saw a ring with a faint red glow on the ground. Mentally pumping up a fist, Farryn bent down and picked up the first enchanted item. She looked it over and realized that it had a Fortify Health enchantment. Slipping it on her left ring finger, Farryn continued on and found two other rings with same enchantment. She was just about to head back to Arniel when she saw a closed gate. Curiosity getting the better of her, Farryn walked closer and saw an amulet mounted on an engraved wall. She could feel something strange emanating from it. The amulet looked like any other ancient Nordic amulet that Farryn had seen in books. She picked it up and immediately heard the clanging sound of a spear trap. Turning around, Farryn saw that the way she came blocked by spear gate. Turning around again, she looked at the closed gate in front of her.
She was trapped. Fantastic.
Farryn glared at the amulet in her hands. She wondered if putting the amulet back would free her. Before she could do this, She heard Tolfdir ask what that noise was. Farryn walked up to the closed gate and called him.
"Master Tolfdir!" She called. "Help, I am trapped here."
"How in the world did you manage that?" Tolfdir asked walking up to her.
Farryn showed him the amulet. "I just pulled this off the wall and it opened a trap." She was beginning to panic. She had not felt trapped in years and she was now remembering that she did not like the feeling.
"Hmm. Maybe the amulet is important somehow. Try using it and see what happens."
Well, of course the amulet is important somehow. It's what got me in here in the first place. She examined the ancient amulet in her hands and then the wall she picked it off of. It was radiating a red glow. Farryn put the amulet around her neck and felt its effect on her magicka core. It was the same effect as her robes. Summoning sparks to her hands, she aimed at the wall and blasted it apart revealing another passageway and opening the gates she was trapped in.
Farryn turned back to face Tolfdir who had rushed in.
"Did you see that?" She asked.
"Yes, yes I did," Tolfdir replied. He had a contemplative look on his face and was staring intently at the new opening.
"You are not thinking of going in, are you? Farryn asked. She had a bad feeling about this.
"Well, of course! How else are we supposed learn?"
Farryn sighed. Curiosity was a powerful thing. Following Tolfdir through the hall, Farryn hoped that they would not encounter any draugr. It seemed that the Nordic tombs in Skyrim were so concentrated with magic that the dead would come back to life. The dead were easy to kill, but large numbers of them could overwhelm anyone. Farryn was fortunate that she did not have to deal with that at Bleak Falls Barrow.
Farryn and Tolfdir entered a burial room. All she could see was coffins. She was turning around to ask Tolfdir what they should do next when everything seemed to freeze. A blue-white glow had settled over the room and a man dressed in hooded mage robes appeared before Farryn.
Farryn stood gaping at the apparition.
"Hold, mage, and listen well...know that you have set in motion a chain of events that cannot be stopped. Judgement has not been passed, as you had no way of knowing. Judgement will be passed on your actions to come and how you deal with the dangers ahead of you.
This warning comes from the Psijic Order because we have faith in you. You, mage have the power to prevent a great disaster. Take care and know that the Order is watching."
As soon as the warning was made, the man was gone in a flash of blue light and everything seemed to unfreeze.
Farryn continued to stand there in the middle of the room with swirling thoughts and a strong urge to flee.
"I swear I felt something strange, just then. What happened?" Tolfdir asked.
Farryn turned to stare incredulously at the wizard. He didn't hear the warning or see what happened?
"Some ghost or apparition appeared. It spoke to me." She said.
"Really? I did not see a thing. What did it say?"
"It said something about danger ahead, and the Psijic Order.
"Danger ahead? Well that doesn't make sense. And the Psijic Order? It doesn't make sense at all." Tolfdir said. His face creased in thought. "The Psijics have no connection to these ruins at all."
"Then why did they warn me? If they had no connection, then why did that man appear?"
"I do not know." Tolfdir replied. "Let's look inside in these coffins and see if we can find any more information."
Farryn knew. She wasn't going to ignore a warning that could save her from potential death even if it was from an old Order that seemingly had no ties with the ruins.
Walking toward one of the coffins, Farryn cautiously let a hand reach out toward the lid. She immediately jerked back when the coffin door burst forward and a draugr appeared with a swinging war axe.
Farryn immediately sent a blast of magical sparks at the restless dead. It did minimal damage and Farryn moved back to put a little distance between them.
As soon as she had moved back, the draugr was hit with a torrent of flames sent by Tolfdir. The master wizard was positioned a little ways away from the enemy and was glowing a faint blue. Farryn briefly wondered what spell that was but hastily ducked an attack by the draugr. Switching spells, Farryn attacked with fire and their combination finally destroyed the draugr.
"Huh." Tolfdir said after cancelling his spells. He was looking at the new opening that the draugr appeared.
They continued on, battling restless Nords until they came upon a large circular room with several coffins and a spear trap blocking the next section.
"Wow," Tolfdir remarked. "The size of this room..."
Tolfdir's awe was short lived because the sound of opening coffins and the groans of the offended dead were heard.
All around them, draugr emerged and rushed toward them with raised swords, shields, and other ancient Nordic weapons. Farryn summoned a Flame Atronach and along with Tolfdir managed to defeat them.
Breathing heavily, Farryn wiped the sweat that had accumulated under her hood and faced the locked gated door. Noticing the two chains on each side, she was just about to pull one of them when Tolfdir said he would stay behind to study the room.
"Are you sure?" Farryn asked. "There might be more draugr and traps behind that door. I shouldn't go alone."
"Oh, I'm sure you will be fine. From what I have seen so far, you can surely handle yourself. I will catch up to you once I am done." Tolfdir replied.
Farryn turned around and stifled a sigh. She pulled each chain and the gate opened, revealing a closed door. Farryn pushed it open and entered the new section. She encountered more draugr and traps that really made her wish she had more powerful Destruction spells. She did not want use her Conjuration spells because she wanted to become more familiar with other schools of magic.
Farryn was standing before a large door and was just about to push it open when she heard footsteps steadily approaching. Farryn whirled around with arms raised ready to electrocute the oncoming enemy when Tolfdir's wise face appeared. She got out of her attacking stance and breathed a sigh of relief.
"I told you that you would be fine." Tolfdir said. "Now let's see what is behind that door."
Muttering under her breath about optimistic teachers, Farryn pushed the door open and stepped inside. She was immediately struck speechless at what she saw inside. A gigantic spinning orb sat in the middle of room surrounded by a blue swirling energy barrier.
"Well," Tolfdir said. He was gazing in fascination. "Would you look at that…why is such a thing buried so deep within Saarthal?"
Hundreds of questions flowed through Farryn's mind as they walked toward the magical anomaly. None of them would be answered because as soon as they started walking toward the orb, a draugr that was larger than most and wore a horned helmet rose from its seat and came rushing toward them. Acting quickly and cursing herself for not being more cautious, Farryn sent flames to the draugr. The torrent of flames did nothing to hinder it and the draugr continued on its path to Farryn and Tolfdir. Tolfdir had managed to stumble away, but Farryn had no time to dodge as the draugr came swinging his axe. Reflexively, she caught the blade in her left hand and immediately felt the sharp sting of pain travel from her palm to the rest of her arm. She felt the warm trickle of blood run from her hand and was about to give the draugr a face full of flames with her right hand, but was kicked in the stomach that sent her flying back into a wall.
Pain erupted in her back and Farryn groaned as she fell to the floor. Looking up through long strands of black hair, Farryn saw the draugr heading toward Tolfdir who was sending fireballs to the draugr. Despite the power behind the spell, the fireballs did no damage to it and the draugr was rapidly approaching Tolfdir. Farryn pushed her hair back and slowly stood up. Nothing seemed to be working. It was as if the draugr had some invincibility enchantment placed on him.
"Nothing is working!" Farryn yelled to Tolfdir. She conjured a bow to her bloodied hand and sent a few blood stained arrows toward the draugr. The arrows struck true and made the draugr pause for only a moment which allowed Tolfdir to put distance between them.
"I know!" Tolfdir replied. "I believe he is being powered by the orb. We need to drain its power. Distract him."
"Distract him?" Farryn muttered. "Of course, that's just too easy. No worries here, Professor." She cancelled her bow and summoned a Frost Atronach. It materialized in front of her and its giant form easily blocked her view of the draugr. She ran and hid behind the altar in the center of the room. She looked at her bleeding hand and focused. Farryn only knew one simple healing spell and she hoped it would be enough until Tolfdir could fix whatever it was that was making the draugr impenetrable.
"The connection has been stopped. Attack him now!" Tolfdir exclaimed from his position in front of the barrier.
Farryn got up just in time to see her Frost Atronach send an ice punch straight at the draugr's chest. The draugr flew back from the blow and Farryn used this time to attack it with fire. The flames consumed the draugr and it let out a sharp rattling noise. Farryn's Frost companion came hunkering towards the downed draugr and launched successive blows to every part of the enemy's dead body until it lay still and unmoving.
Farryn cautiously approached the dead Nord and slightly nudged it with her foot. Satisfied with the lack of response, Farryn dismissed her summon and walked to where Tolfdir was. He was standing in front of the floating orb, examining it with a critical eye.
The orb was a lot bigger up close. Farryn noticed it had strange glowing symbols imbedded on the surface. The whole orb reminded Farryn of a glass eye.
"What do you think it is?" She asked.
"I have no idea!" Tolfdir replied. "This is amazing. Absolutely amazing. The Arch-mage must be informed about this immediately. I don't dare to leave this place unattended." He turned to Farryn. "Can you return to the College and inform Savos Aren? He needs to see this for himself. Please hurry."
Farryn nodded in understanding. Even though a small part of her wanted to just forget about this mysterious orb and walk away, she knew that she could not. She took one last glance at the spinning glowing orb before making her way to the backdoor exit. Farryn stepped through and walked until she came upon a wall with familiar symbols. Like in Bleak Falls Barrow, she felt a force tugging her toward the word wall and as Farryn got closer the chanting increased and soon there was only one word being repeated in her mind: Iiz
Again, her vision went black and a moment later she staring at the walls of Saarthal. Swaying slightly, Farryn made a mental note to see the Greybeards. She was getting tired of these dizzying spells.
Farryn made it out of the dark ruins and breathed in the cold, freezing air of Skyrim. The familiar weather brought relief to Farryn's frazzled mindset and calmed her. Sighing, Farryn blearily trudged her way through the snow. She needed to return to the College, however, she was exhausted. It was a three hour walk back and her hand was still stinging. Farryn contemplated summoning a Flame Atronach to send a message to the Arch-mage, but decided she was too tired to gather magicka.
Farryn pulled her hood farther down her face. The wind was sharp and biting on her skin. She hurried her pace and hoped that she would make it back to the College soon. However, through the howling wind, Farryn heard the now familiar sound of great wings flapping against the sky and the unmistakable roar of a dragon.
