Under Saarthal
I felt a strong sense of deja vu from the previous day, as myself and my fellow apprentices descended the wooden ramp to the entrance of the Saarthal excavation site. Venturing out into the cold mountains of Skyrim to explore a nearby ruin with my three friends at the College. Except that, this time, it would be a lot safer. I hoped.
As an early riser, I got up first before the others. After downing my breakfast, I'd headed to the Arcanaeum to do a little bit of research on the Nord ruin, my curiosity piqued. Onmund had mentioned yesterday that it had been one of the first settlements of the Nords in Tamriel.
This was true, founded by Ysagramor when they first landed there. It had been sacked by the elves, specifically Dunmer I was a little ashamed to discover, in an event called the Night of Tears. It seemed old rivalries died hard. Only Ysgramor and his sons escaped from the attack and avenged its' destruction when he returned with the Orginal Five Hundred Companions. It had been left in ruins ever since.
I checked with Urag-gro Shub, the keeper of the vast library, about the excavation that was in-progress. It was being fronted by Arniel Gane, a researcher of strange magic at the College. Curious, I'd thought, wasn't all magic strange? They were particularly interested in finding out about the prevalence of magical seals on the tombs. They were apparently unique.
I'd thanked the elderly Orc for his time, leaving with a warning that I had better not have damaged the books and waited in the courtyard for Brelyna, J'zargo and Onmund. They arrived a few minutes later one-by-one and we set off together. I told them what I had learned about the ancient ruin and it's history, adding a further similarity to the events of yesterday, that I was the one that knew most of the place that we were going.
They all viewed the excavation differently: J'zargo saw it as an opportunity to find some more magical artifacts and a little gold too; Brelyna said that it was better than just learning about magic in the Hall of Elements; Onmund was rather indignant about it, feeling that the site of his ancestors should remain undisturbed. I hoped that we would find something worthwhile in there and that we would all just have a good time.
Tolfdir was already waiting for us when we reached the entrance. "And here we all are. Shall we step inside?"
"We're ready, sir," I told him. "Let's go."
"Alright. Please stay close to me while we're inside," he warned us, "it should be safe, but it's always better to be cautious." He opened the ornate iron doors and led us inside.
We descended down the narrow staircase into the ruin. It was a combination of natural stone combined with wooden supports and struts. The Nords had certainly been resourceful. Urns, intact and broken, lay scattered around the place, along with the bit of skeleton, a skull here and there.
So far, there wasn't anything of major interest. There were a few potion ingredients scattered around, some fresh ore veins but nothing magic related. Perhaps that would change as we ventured further into the ancient settlement.
As Tolfdir told us a little about the ruin's history, Brelyna sidled up close to me. "Good thing we already have experience in exploring Nord ruins." I laughed a little at that. "To think, our ancestors destroyed the homes of Onmund's ancestors. So much bloodshed..."
"It is rather shaming, isn't it?" I shrugged. "Oh well, it's ancient history right?"
"Yeah, you're right." She gave me one of those smiles that always made my face grow warm. "You always know just what to say, don't you?"
"You nervous about being here?" I asked.
She raised an eyebrow. "Why, because it's old and full of dead things?" Somehow, I knew what she would say next.
"Good point, I've been away from Morrowind for too long." She stifled a loud giggle, which she turned into a cough. She made a furious shushing gesture as Tolfdir turned to face the group.
"Well, are there any questions before we begin?"
"I'm fine with questions sir. What would you like me to do?" I stepped forward, hoping to be given something interesting to do.
"Ah, yes. Hmm," he stood for a bit, looking around the area. "Well, why don't you see if you can assist Arniel Gane?"
"The one fronting the excavation?"
He smiled a little. "You've been doing research then. Good lad. Yes, he'd appreciate any help in finding and cataloging any magical artifacts. Any enchanted items will do; the usefulness is irrelevant. If you do find something, the class can look it over.
"Now, what shall we have the rest of you do? Brelyna, my dear, why don't you search for warding magics. Anything designed to keep people out. Don't interact with them, just identify them.
"Yes, sir," she complied, "come on Onmund, you can help me."
"Fine," the Nord said, still disapproving of the whole thing.
"J'zargo will find something... worthwhile to occupy his time," said J'zargo, slipping away.
"All right, everyone. Let's be careful, but have fun!" I rolled my eyes a little at Tolfdir's words. What, did he think we were still children? I looked back at Brelyna and mouthed 'have fun' to her. She gave another giggle and playfully shooed me down the tunnel.
I ended up descending further down into the excavation site. Crossing over stone bridge into a side passage, I followed the way until I met a balding man in mage robes bending over a table nearby.
"It will take forever to sift through all this..." he was saying, sounding tired and a little frustrated. He certainly sounded like he needed the help.
"Excuse me, sir. Tolfdir sent me to help you."
He turned to me, large bags under his eyes from little sleep. "Oh, you must be one of the new apprentices then? Fine, fine just... don't make a mess of my work, all right? I've only looked through a portion of this section. You can, uh, search the area north of here. Can you do that?"
"Yes sir, I'll let you know if I find anything. Wouldn't want me running off with anything, eh?" The joke was lost on him. He just looked at me as I'd let him down somehow.
"Brilliant, a comedian.." he muttered. Then louder, he told me. "Try and be careful, all right? We don't want to damage anything."
"Of course." I inclined my head to him and started to look, casting a Candlelight spell to give me more light.
It took some time, but I found two enchanted rings. I didn't know the enchantment around them, so I intended to check later. Feeling like I could find at least one more, I headed towards an iron gate sealing off the next area. Just next to it on its left was a patch of carved wall with an amulet resting on it. Shrugging, I took the amulet of it's stand and turned to report back to Gane.
But my was suddenly blocked by metal spears that had risen up out of holes in the ground. What? A trap! And such a simple one! I cursed myself for being so stupid. I began to look around for some kind of release mechanism that would lower the spears, a chain, a switch. But there was nothing. Nothing that would open it.
"What in the world was that racket? Is everything alright?" I rushed to the bars to see that Tolfdir had arrived.
"Sir! I pulled this amulet off a stand and these spears rose up. I'm trapped in here!"
"Hmm... perhaps that amulet is important somehow. Is there some way you can use it?"
I down at the amulet clenched in my fist. It didn't seem to have a very powerful enchantment on it, but I didn't exactly have any other options available I put it on over my head. Immediately, I felt some energy surge through me. Somehow, my magic felt stronger.
"Did you see that?" I looked at the wall I got the amulet from. It had changed. "Some kind of resonance between you and the wall... it must be connected to the amulet!" As Tolfdir said this, I knew at once what I had to do. I clapped my hands together, formed a firebolt in the space between them and fired it at the wall. It crumbled away.
"Well, that's one way of doing it," I shrugged. I was a little disappointed that I felt the power fade, but beggars couldn't be choosers. As the dust faded, I saw that there was another passage behind the wall. Strange.
"Would you look at that?" I jumped slightly at Tolfdir's voice. The spears must have receded when the wall was destroyed. "This appears to lead somewhere. Let's see where it goes."
"Took the words right out of my mouth, sir," I said, letting him take the lead down the passage.
It led down a naturally formed cave, lit with torches, with patches of moss clinging to the walls. A prominent rock featured an embalming tool and a skull. So, there were bodies buried somewhere here. But, why seal it off? Was it for fear that the dead wouldn't stay that way? I voiced this to Tolfdir, who nodded in agreement.
"You're right. Why in the world would this be sealed off from the rest of the settlement? What is this place?"
"Could it be..." It sounded silly, but Tolfdir looked encouragingly at me, so I continued, "...perhaps it was built to keep people out. Or something in."
The old man suddenly looked alert. The passage had ended, opening to another room. "You may be right, my boy. Be on your guard, we're not sure what to expect here." I nodded and had the Flames concentration spell ready in my hands as we entered the room.
It wasn't very large, only just bigger than my dorm. A stone table was in the middle, several pieces of ancient parchment placed atop it, along with a few candles. Three stone coffins, one on each side, were propped against the walls. Thankfully, whatever was in them stayed in them.
So, this was all that wall had sealed off? A small burial chamber for the ancient Nords? I wanted to be relieved that it was nothing more dangerous and yet... I still had a feeling that there was more to this place. Something else was here. I could feel it in my gut. Or that may have just been indigestion, I ate my breakfast rather quickly.
I made my way to one of the closest coffins. I turned to Tolfdir, to see what he thought of all this. Then I noticed that it had gotten brighter, like someone had opened a window on an early morning sun. It got brighter and brighter, so much that I had to cover my eyes. When I bought my hands away, the room had a blue look to it. It was still bright.
I looked at Tolfdir but, to my astonishment, he'd stopped. Literally. Frozen in a position of examining the table. Had our actions done this? Was this some kind of powerful warding magic? If you broke into here, it freezes you in time? Well, Brelyna would certainly want to have a look at this.
"Hold mage and listen well." I jumped and spun around. An Altmer man dressed in the trappings of a mage was standing in the room with us. Where did he come from? He had to be the one doing this. I considered attacking him, but if he had the power to do stop time and transport himself, I didn't stand a chance.
"If I listen, will you restore the flow of time? I kind of need it." Apparently a sense of humor was something that was lost on all-powerful mages and scholars because he ignored me and continued.
"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."
"Danger? Wait, what danger?" He ignored me again.
"This warning is passed to you because the Psijic Order believes in you." Psijic Order! No wonder he was so powerful! "You mage, and you alone, have the potential to prevent disaster. Take great care and know the Order is watching." He gave a small smile. "Now, I shall restore you back into the flow of time. You will need it."
"Hey! Wait a minute-" But I blinked and he was gone. The blue tint in the world was back to full colour.
"I... I swear I felt something rather strange just now..." Tolfdir was touching his forehead, like he had a headache. It seemed that he didn't notice time stopping or feel it. He looked at me for confirmation. "Why, Sauron my boy, you're white as an ice wraith. What happened?"
"Sir! I just received a warning from a member of the Psijic Order! He told me there was danger ahead!" My father had taught me about the Order when he was still alive. They were a secretive order of powerful mages, with a history pre-dating the Empire itself. A long time ago, they'd simply vanished, along with their sanctuary They hadn't been seen for over one hundred years. Until now...
The elderly mage's eyes widened in surprise. "The Psijic Order? Are you sure? That's very odd. And danger ahead? Why, that doesn't make any sense at all. The Order has no connection to these ruins and no-one has seen them in a long time."
"I know, my father taught me about them."
"He did, did he?" he asked with interest. "Was he also the one that taught you magic?"
"Yes um... he discovered my talent and trained it," I said, but not easily. "He was um... a battlemage for the Empire."
"Hm, he must be a great mage."
"Yes... he was..." I couldn't help, but wince slightly at the memory of him. Tolfdir seemed to pick up on this and, thankfully changed the subject, giving me an understanding smile.
"Perhaps we should take a look in some of these coffins," he suggested. "Now, please be careful. Who knows what we're going to find."
"Yes sir. If we end up releasing some ancient evil, don't worry. I'll say it was my idea." I grinned at him and he gave an appreciative chuckle. Well, at least someone here had a sense of humor.
Focusing on the task at hand, I made for the coffin in front of me. No sooner had I taken two steps towards it, the lid fell forward and out stepped a Draugr. It turned it's glowing eyes to me and drew an ancient sword.
"I think you and I both know how this is going to- AGH!" I ducked as he swung his sword, snarling when he missed. Then, he flew backwards as I sent a firebolt into his chest, smacking the inside of his coffin. Why could they never take a hint. The smell of cooked, rotting meat made me cough a little.
I turned to see that Tolfdir was having trouble with an undead Nord of his own. I tried to send another bolt at it, but I didn't want to risk hitting him. He jumped back to avoid a blow and cast a spell at the draugr when it raised it's weapon again. It froze mid-swing and fell rigid to the ground. He finished it off with a stream of fire, making me cough more from the stench. By the gods, it stunk!
When it cleared, Tolfdir was looking through another passage that opened where the back of the coffin should have been. This place was one surprise after another. Noticing that he was already following the passage beyond, I rushed to join him.
"There may be more of them," he warned, "be prepared to defend yourself. Good spellwork back there, by the way."
"Thank you, sir. Likewise."
"I may be old, but I can still put up a fight," he said boldly.
"I never said you couldn't."
He chuckled again. "Too true, my boy, too true." Further up, after descending more stairs, there was a gate to the next room. A skeleton was hanging on the wall next to it, held by iron shackles. I tried not to notice that it's bottom jaw was missing and pulled the lever next to the door.
This room was certainly larger than the last one. A bridge was at the centre, surrounded by candles and crossing over a cage, showing the floor beneath. About a dozen coffins were placed in groves in the rock around the bridge, so that they surrounded us. I looked down through the cage floor and saw that there were rows and rows of coffins, descending into the dust and darkness. Was this the aftermath of the Night Of Tears? So many dead...
I heard the sound of several coffin lids hitting the floor and their occupants stepping out. Maybe not. I spun around and sent a firebolt at the closest draugr. It struck it and sent it down, but there were still four more around the room. Two were charging over the bridge with battle-axes, the other two shooting from afar with bows and arrows. One of them aiming at me.
I also saw a draugr charging at me, his battle-axe raised to lop off my head. I had to time this right. He raised his axe, the other loosed his arrow and-
"Meat shield " I pushed the battle-axe guy before my arrow. It struck him right between the eyes. I cooked him with a flow of fire for good measure. I then sent a couple of firebolts at the bow-wielding one. He dodged them both and prepared another arrow. I noticed that the second one had been beaten. I felt the next arrow sail past my head as I ran for it, scooped up it's bow and fitted an arrow in the string.
Why didn't I bring mine? I thought of it back in my dorm and raised it to aim. I couldn't swing a sword to save my life, but I was pretty good with a bow, though magic was my main weapon. I also had a small dagger in my belt if worse came to worse. I raised the bow, breathed in, aimed and fired. The head embedded itself in it's knee. It crouched, unable to support itself.
I walked up to it, pulled out my dagger and shoved it in it's throat. It gargled and fell backward, the light fading from it's eyes. Convinced it was dead, I turned to Tolfdir, who was looking through the floor at the ancient morgue. He appeared fascinated by it all.
"I've never seen anything like this before in Nordic ruins. Why, just look at all these coffins!" He looked back up at me. "This bears closer investigation. I'd like to stay a while and examine this."
"I suppose you'd like me to continue on?" I could feel that one coming. I understood why though. "I'll see if I can find anything like that Psijic warned me about."
He looked surprise that I knew what he was going to say. "Exactly. I'll catch up with you as soon as I can. But Sauron, if it is truly dangerous, please be careful."
"Of course, sir." I made my way to the door, pulling two chains to get rid of the spears and gate blocking my way. Cautiously, I opened the iron doors and ventured on inside. I hoped that, whatever I found, I could handle it. It couldn't be that dangerous... could it?
Another puzzle. Whatever was being kept here and whoever put it here, the Nords or the Psijics or whoever, they certainly didn't want to be accessed easily. I had fought my way through a quartet of draugr, then another two, solved a pillar puzzle, was almost shot in the head by one I couldn't see, almost lost my head to a battle-axe, had a close call with poison darts, had a magic fight with a Wight and now had jerky movements for a bit because I stood on a lightning rune that I didn't see.
Sighing and shrugging my shoulders, and again involuntarily (At least they wore off after a short time), I turned my attention to the puzzle. It was another one of those with rotational pillars, each with an animalon the three faces: a dolphin, a snake and a bird of prey. A falcon or a hawk, I could never remember.
The corresponding symbol was above the pillar and a lever was at the centre. All that had to be done was to rotate the pillars so that they matched with the right symbol, yank the lever and the gate would open. Simple enough. The problem with this particular puzzle was that three of the four pillars, when rotated, also rotated another two or three. I would have to turn them in the right order.
I stood for a while, thinking about the possible solution. One on at the back on the right rotated them all, the one in front of that rotated the two on the left, the one paralell to the former only rotated the one directly next to it and that one didn't rotate any of them. I'd have to get this done soon before my brain started to hurt.
Perhaps... this might work. First I rotated the all-rotational pillar so it faced it's symbol, listening to the scraping of stone as the others turned too. Then, the next one along. After that, the single-rotate pillar and finally the one that didn't rotate anything. So, in that order; dolphin, snake, hawk (or falcon) and dolphin. All were matched up right.
Feeling pleased with myself, I grabbed the lever and pulled it back. There was the sound of the gate opening and I knew that I had succeeded. Heading on through, I started to wonder how much deeper I would have to venture into these ruins and how many more surprises would be in store. I was just arriving at the bottom of a set of stairs when-
"Hold on, my boy! Hold on!" I spun to see Tolfdir running towards me. He stopped to catch his breath. "I thought it high time I caught up with you."
"Did you make it through alright, sir?" There might have been a small chance I'd missed some draugr on the way here.
"Yes, it was all quiet. You really are a skilled mage if you made it through all that."
"Thank you, sir. Shall we press on?" He nodded and we walked into the next corridor. A pressure plate, that I thankfully spotted, was at the entrance. To it's left was an alchemy lab. Odd place for one. We ignored it, followed the route and arrived at another set of iron doors. Proceeding with caution, we descended the stairs and we found... well...
"Well now... would you look at that." That just about summed it up.
We'd emerged into a grand, high-ceilinged room. But what got our attention wasn't the size of the place or the grand table below us. There was a formation of four tall pillars. These were engulfed in a flowing field of teal energy, like a tornado. At the centre of this was a gigantic, floating orb, glowing with the same energy and decorated with strange symbols. I could almost feel the power radiating off it.
This must have been what the vision was warning me about. This... whatever it was had been buried all the way under here, in a crumbling Nord ruin, behind a series of traps, draugr and puzzles, plus many miles of earth. And the most secretive order of wizards had taken time out to warn me personally about a great danger. I felt a little wary of it, a little scared. Tolfdir, however...
"I never imagined we'd find something like this," he said with awe and fascination. "Why is this buried so far within Saarthal?"
Keeping our eyes fixed on the orb, we headed down the wooden ramp towards it. We were so transfixed by this awesome sight that we didn't see a body propped in the throne at the head of the table. We didn't notice it's eyes begin to glow and start to rise. What I noticed was the movement out of the corner of my eye and the sound of a sword being drawn from it's sheath.
"Draugr!" I whipped around to face it, sending three firebolts at it. Two of them hit it... and had absolutely no effect. I tried again, watching as they hit him and exploded on impact but they did nothing. There wasn't even a scorching of his flesh or armor. Tolfdir and I leaped to avoid his sword as he bought it down.
The elderly wizard sent a stream of sparks, but they didn't work either. They crackled all over his body and did nothing to him, not even hinder it's attack or advance. It turned to me and sent a shard of ice flying from his hand at my head. I ducked and raised a ward as he sent another one, backing up as far as I could.
"Nothing's working!" I yelled. "I might as well be hitting it with a stick!"
"Keep it busy, I'll try to drain some of it's power!" Great, I thought, draugr-dancing. Well, I'd have to keep it's attention on me so Tolfdir could work his magic. Literally.
"Oi! Horn helmet!" The draugr turned it's head to look at me. "I don't know where you got your looks, but I think you should demand a refund." It snarled and charged with it's sword raised. My legs pumping, I jumped up onto the table. I hopped down the other side and tried to keep the table between it and me.
It kept trying to find ways to trick me, so it could run around and swipe my head off. Then it just did the same trick that I did and vaulted over the table, an ice spell in one hand and his sword in the other. I tried to make a run for it, but felt an icy pain in my leg.I looked down to see the shard sticking out of my shin. It was catching up, raising it's sword to strike-
Then, it stumbled backwards, surrounded by a purple mist. Where had that come from? Had Tolfdir's spell worked?
"There! Attack it now!" I wasted no time at all. I hit it with a volley of firebolts.
Now there was an effect, the fire flickering on it's body as they exploded on impact. I even managed to knock his sword out of his hand. Soon, it was down on it's knees, overpowered by the flames. I didn't have enough energy for another bolt, so I grabbed it's sword off the ground, strode up to it and drove the blade through it's chest. It gargled, gave a death rattle and slumped to the ground, lifeless.
I threw the sword away, listening to it clatter across the floor. I never liked using those things. It had taken all my strength just to do that and it felt too.. personal. I found two other items of interest on the draugr's body. One was what looked like a piece of a magical amulet, though there weren't anymore. The other was a writ of sealing, a piece of parchment placed with the body to keep it from walking about or leaving the tomb if it did. Good to know they work so well, I thought. It read:
Be bound here, Jyrik, murderer, betrayer
Condemned by your crimes against realm and lord.
May your name and your deeds be forgotten forever
And the charm which you bear be sealed by our ward.
Interesting. This guy must have done something pretty bad to be buried with this. But Jyrik... the name struck a chord in my memory. It couldn't have been anyone I knew, but I'd seen the name somewhere before, perhaps read it in a book or maybe someone had spoken it with me nearby. Why?
I shrugged mentally. There'd be time for that mystery later, right now there were more important things to deal with the now-dead Nord ,I turned to Tolfdir and the orb. Whatever he had done had lowered the energy field, giving us access to the strange magical artifact.
"Well, this is absolutely fascinating," Tolfdir was saying as I approached.
"Sir, what is this thing? I've never seen anything like it before."
"Neither have I. I have no idea!" Great to know I was with an expert. "This is amazing, absolutely amazing. The Arch-Mage needs to be informed of this at once. He needs to see this for himself. I don't dare leave this unattended..."
"I understand sir," I said, nodding, "I'll head back and inform the Arch-Mage of this as quickly as I can."
"Good lad," he praised, "please hurry!" With that, I made for a door just behind the artifact and barged through it. I ran through the passage beyond, but not past what I considered to be my own reward. I came out into a larger room, with a door leading out and two things that were of interest to me.
Before I left through the next door, I looked in a chest in the middle of a cloud of mist and a growth of ferns to find some gold, a precious stone and a scroll. There was also a Word Wall, a series of carvings in the dragon language and one that was a new shout for me to learn. I translated the glowing runes as 'Ice, Ice Form.' I concentrated the power of the dragons in me on the word, felt it build in my throat and...
"IIZ!" The inside of my mouth felt chilled as icy winds were expelled. This would be useful, once I learned the next two parts of the Shout. I then exited through the iron door, pulled a handle that opened the gate and stepped back out into the excavation. The first thing I saw was someone working nearby, their hand glowing. The person looked up at the noise and jumped with a gasp.
"Hey, I'm not that scary," I joked, leaping down in front of Brelyna.
"Very funny, Sauron," she replied. She seemed to be trying to sound annoyed, but I could still hear a hint of amusement in her voice. "Where did you come from?"
"I followed another passage back up here. Any luck finding wards?"
"No, nothing." Her disappointment was obvious. "They've either already been broken or there were never any placed at all. What about you?"
"I found a few rings, an amulet, nothing too big... oh, and also a big floating orb guarded by a ton of traps and draugr radiating with power and no-one has any idea what it is, why it's here or who put it here." I said this all very quickly.
She looked at me oddly and laughed a little. When she realised I wasn't joking, well not entirely: "Wait, you're serious? Wow, that's quite a find!"
"Yeah, I know. I'm on my way to tell the Arch-Mage now." I started walking towards the upward ramp. "I'll talk to you about it later, but right now I've gotta hurry back."
"Okay, I'll hold you to that." With one more smile, I turned and ran back up the ramp to the door.
As I sprinted across the frozen ground, the snow crunching beneath my feet, my thoughts went back to the orb. Whatever it was, it was amazing, it was powerful and it was dangerous. We might be able to learn a lot from studying it, even learn new forms of magic maybe. But among all these thoughts, one thing kept coming to the forefront of my mind: whatever might happen, we would regret uncovering this in the end. That was certain.