//------------------------------// // Chapter 34: The College of Winterhorn // Story: The Equine Scrolls: SkyFiM // by FireOfTheNorth //------------------------------// Chapter XXXIV: The College of Winterhorn “If you have the aptitude you should join the mage’s college in Winterhorn.” I’d heard of the mage’s college of course, but had never actually had a chance to visit. Other than the Arcane University in the Imperial City it was the largest educational institution to teach magic in all of the Northlands, and after the Arcane University closed down and split into two different institutions, the College of Winterhorn had become one of the few respectable places left to study magic. Frankly, I was surprised the college was still open. Winterhorn was Stormcloud territory, and I knew how much the Stormclouds despised unicorns and their magic. Yet, somehow the college seemed unaffected by the war, standing tall and proud over the town. As we approached, it seemed Winterhorn itself was not as lucky. According to the history books, Winterhorn had once been the largest city in Horizon. Not so anymore. The Winterhorn we stepped into was only a bit larger than Riverwood, its collection of earth pony buildings lining the unpaved road that led through town to the college. A few discouraging glances were sent our way as we passed through the settlement. “Here for the college, I presume?” A bright orange earth pony asked from the porch of Winterhorn’s tavern as we passed by, “Well we don’t need any more of your kind here!” “What do you mean?” I asked, fearing I knew the answer, “What’ve you got against the college?” “You unicorns and your magic, it’s just not natural,” he said, trotting down the steps to speak to me face to face, “Last thing we need is a school to teach you how to use your witchcraft. Nothing ever comes from that place but death! We know it was them what caused the Great Collapse, though they deny it.” “Great Collapse?” “Winterhorn used to be a great city, the jewel of Horizon. Then, without warning, half the city plunged into the sea. The entire northern half of the city was destroyed in an instant. That is, all except for the College of Winterhorn.” “I’m sure there’s an explanation-” “Of course there is! Their magic got out of control and obliterated half the city! Mark my words, the things they teach in that college you don’t want to know.” The stallion stomped off back into the tavern, leaving Steadfast, Mephalda, and I standing in the middle of the street. I didn’t want to believe any of the things he had said, but a small part of me wondered if maybe some of it was right. After all, the College of Winterhorn had been known to have much looser standards than the Arcane University. Was study of dark magic allowed? And if so, was it a good idea to fraternize with ponies who thought that such a thing was right? “Don’t worry Sapphire,” Mephalda said, placing a hoof on my shoulder, “I’m sure most of what he said was just the Stormclouds talking.” “That’s true,” Steadfast agreed, “And we’re just here for a book, right?” “Right,” I responded, shaking the doubts from my head. No more ponies tried to warn us off as we approached the bridge to the college, though we received a plentiful amount of disapproving glares. Standing at the entrance to the bridge was a sky blue unicorn wearing a set of mage’s robes. She looked bored, but snapped to attention as we approached. “Hold it right there,” she commanded, her horn glowing, “If you intend to enter the college I’m afraid I need to ask you a few questions.” “What kind of questions?” I asked. “We can’t let just anypony into the college,” she scoffed, “I need to know your intentions and if you’re skilled enough at magic to join us here.” “Alright, ask away.” “For what purpose do you wish to join the College of Winterhorn?” “Well, we were hoping to look through your archives for some mention of how the Tongues defeated Alduin,” I said, gesturing to Steadfast and Mephalda. “You do not wish to join the college?” “Not exactly.” “Well, I’m afraid that’s not how we do things around here. If you want to use our library you’ll need to be a student.” “How do I do that?” “Prove yourself to me.” “What?” “Prove your aptitude at magic. We’re not here to teach ponies simple household spells. Our purpose is to foster advanced studies and innovation in the arcane arts.” I tried to think of which of the spells I knew would impress this pony. Now that I thought about it, they all seemed pretty basic. Eventually I settled on casting a flame atronach, as it seemed to be the least mediocre of my limited collection. “Hmm,” the guard-pony said, “Not quite advanced, but still far beyond a simple fireball. I just don’t know if it’s . . . enough to justify your admission.” “That’s the most advanced spell I know,” I explained. “I was afraid of that. You have the aptitude perhaps, but as for what skills you can bring to this institution . . .” “Well, I do have the Voice,” I said, thinking of my other magical skillset, though it was technically not the same as unicorn magic. “The legendary earth pony skill? Let’s see it,” the guard said, crossing her forelegs. I Shouted, using the new Word Paarthurnax had recently taught me. The guard had obviously not taken me seriously, and her eyebrows flew up in amazement as my breath ignited. She stood stunned for a moment before shaking her head and returning to reality. “A unicorn with the Voice,” she mused, “Oh, the teachers will love this!” “So, am I in?” I asked. “Yes, of course. Follow me to the college proper.” “Though, I’ll have to ask for your companions to stay behind,” she added as she began to head up the bridge. “What?” I asked. “Well they’re not unicorns,” she said, turning back around to face us, “There’s nothing they can contribute to the college.” “But they’re with me,” I protested, “And they won’t cause any harm.” “I’m afraid I can’t take that chance. We can’t let outsiders know our secrets.” “I can’t go without my friends. I won’t go without them.” “Listen. If you were a long-time student perhaps I could take your word and allow it, but I just don’t know you that well yet. How am I supposed to place my trust in them if I don’t know if I can place my trust in you?” “What will it take for you to trust me?” I asked. “Well, if you could prove your devotion to the college, I suppose that would be enough. A few rogue students set up a necromancy den a while back in Freshwater Cave. If you were to go clear them out, restore the college’s honor, I guess then I could let all of you enter.” “So if we take out these necromancers,” I asked, making sure I understood, “Then you’ll allow us all in.” “That’s the gist of it. Will you do it?” “Which direction?” I asked, answering her question. ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ Freshwater Cave wasn’t far from the College of Winterhorn; a short trot along the rocky beach got us there in no time. An unassuming cave entrance opened up in the coastal rock right where it was marked on my map. There was no marker to prove it was Freshwater Cave, so we just had to hope we had the right one. Mephalda led the way into the cave, her bow at the ready. Since we were dealing with ponies using dark magic, we’d decided it would be best to try and catch them unawares, hopefully taking them out from a distance before they could cast any spells on us. Ergo, Mephalda, with her razor-sharp reflexes and unparalleled accuracy with a bow, would be leading our party’s initial strike. Two ponies in dark robes came into sight as the tunnel we were in let out into a more expansive cavern. Drawing her bow, Mephalda let an arrow fly. The shaft buried itself in one of the necromancers’ heads, causing them to drop to the floor. As the other one wheeled around toward us I began shooting ice spikes at her. Most shattered against the far wall, but one managed to pierce her hindleg, causing her to kneel down to the ground. From another passage came three more unicorns. One immediately cast a ward, deflecting the blast of lightning I sent shooting at her. Another failed to raise hers fast enough, and Mephalda’s arrow went sailing through, piercing her neck and causing her to fall down to the cave floor. Three now remained, and the one not keeping a ward up or removing a shard of ice from her leg cast a spell on a dry pile of bones lying nearby. With a rattle the pony skeleton stood up, the slight glow of magic around it. Retrieving a rusty sword from the floor the skeleton began to approach us. Before it could reach us Steadfast returned the reanimated pony to its death-state with a swing of his warhammer. The necromancer I’d injured before sent a blast of lightning at him as he moved to intercept the skeleton. I did the same, and the bolts met in midair, releasing a crackling discharge that made Steadfast’s hair stand on end, but did no further damage. Changing her approach, the necromancer shot a blast of lightning at me next, which I was forced to jump out of the way to dodge. As I did so I shot more ice spikes at her, but she was too quick to be hit with one again. The same didn’t hold for arrows and, as she dodged me, she jumped right in the path of one of Mephalda’s deadly shafts, knocking her to the ground. The one holding up a ward dropped it as Steadfast closed in on her. Drawing a long, thin blade from within her robes, she held him off while the necromancer behind her cast another spell. From his horn he sent magic arcing into his recently fallen companion. The corpse of the necromancer Mephalda had just ended stood back up and charged toward us with a sword of her own drawn. The reanimated corpse’s blade met mine as I drew Calcion’s Cleaver. Lightning arced down the blade, causing the necromancer’s magic to fizzle, but it didn’t seem to affect her at all. As I swung around my sword again, the corpse sluggishly brought its own blade up to block. The zombie seemed to act more like an awkward puppet of a pony than a pony itself, so I took advantage of it by bringing my sword around faster than it could block. Cutting it off at the knees caused it to drop its sword, and I brought my own blade around for the finishing stroke on its neck. The sound of shattering metal met my ears and caused me to turn around to see Steadfast had destroyed the other necromancer’s blade. He followed up with a strike to the pony’s back, crushing her spine and causing her to die of shock. The last necromancer cowered behind a ward as Mephalda’s shots pinged off, chipping it away little by little. Steadfast finished him off with a quick strike to his head through the ward. “Think that’s all of them?” I asked. “Better make a check to be sure,” Mephalda said. Cautiously I trotted down the side tunnel the necromancers had come from. At the end was a smaller cavern where a few beds had been set up. When no necromancers popped out to attack, I decided it was safe enough to make a search. Looting the chests and tables yielded a significant amount of gold and potions, as well as a few soul gems, both of the regular and “black” variety. In addition, there was a tome on one of the tables with the title Reanimate Corpse. Normally I’d be eager to learn a new spell, but I wanted nothing to do with necromancy, and I tucked it in my saddlebags to bring as proof that the necromancers had been eradicated. Returning to the central cavern, I saw that Mephalda and Steadfast were stripping the robes off the bodies to take as additional proof. Once we were sure we’d scoured the entirety of Freshwater Cave we headed back up the beach to the college. ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ “Well well well,” the guard at the bridge said as we approached, “You actually did it?” “Sure did,” I said, passing over the robes and spell tome as proof, “So we can enter now?” “Of course, follow me. I’m Quicksilver, by the way, and when I’m not watching this bridge I’m the teacher for Conjuration.” “Do you teach necromancy here?” Mephalda asked as we ascended the ramps and bridges of stone that led to the college. “Of course,” Quicksilver replied without hesitation, “At the College of Winterhorn no study is forbidden unless it endangers those around you.” “So those necromancers . . .” I said. “Were former students of mine. But they intended to use necromancy to lead an uprising against Jarl Stormcloud. If their study were benign I would have allowed it. They were intent on using it for violence, something I could not allow to tarnish the name of this school.” It seemed that perhaps the stallion back in Winterhorn had been at least partially right. Anything was allowed in the College of Winterhorn, no matter how dangerous. I wondered where they crossed the line at endangering fellow ponies. I’d have to watch myself while I was here. As we traveled toward the college I could see the devastation of the Great Collapse spread out beneath me. It seemed like the entire shoreline had just broken off into the sea. All except for the cliff the college was perched on, that is. Unnaturally square stones poked out of the icy waters below, and bore witness to the fact that Winterhorn had once been a large and highly developed city. Before I knew it we were at the gates, which Quicksilver opened by inserting her horn into a hole near the center. They swung open onto an open courtyard surrounded on all sides by rearing towers of weathered stone. In the center was a pool that seemed to bubble with pure magic. A stone statue of a unicorn in mage’s robes hovered over it, sparks flying from the pool to its horn from time to time. “I’ll let you make yourself at home,” Quicksilver said, heading back down the bridge and leaving us alone. A few more unicorns wandered the grounds, and it was easy to get directions to the library. Up a flight of stone steps was the expansive warehouse for the College of Winterhorn’s records. Shelves stretched from wall to wall filled with priceless tomes. In fact, the shelves of books stretched up higher on the walls than anypony could possibly reach. Rolling ladders provided the means to reach them. “Where do we start?” Steadfast asked, looking at what were surely thousands of books. “I’m not sure,” I said, feeling a bit overwhelmed myself, “Look for the history section I guess.” Dividing the library up, the three of us searched for any book on the Dragon War, the Tongues, or Alduin’s defeat. Shelf after shelf, book after book we scoured, looking for anything useful. It soon began to seem like a hopeless quest. The books seemed to be arranged in no logical order. We’d have to search the whole library just to have a chance of finding what we were looking for, and even then we’d have a slim chance of picking it out from the thousands of other volumes. “Are you about finished rifling through my precious books with your blunt-ended pony legs yet?” a voice came from up above as I was about to give up hope on finding anything. A distinct rustling sound came from above, and I looked up to see an elderly griffin peering through a hole in the ceiling. He slowly flapped down from his perch and landed in the middle of the library, eyeing each of us as he descended. Placing the book I’d been looking at back in its slot, I trotted over to where the old griffin had landed. “Ey?,” he squawked, “I asked you a question!” “Um, no, not really,” I answered. “Hmm, you don’t look like students, at least no students I’ve ever seen,” he said, stroking his feathery beard, “Why are you here?” “We’re looking for a book on the Tongues, the ancient earth pony heroes,” I explained. “So we can find a way to defeat Alduin,” Steadfast added. “Defeat Alduin?” the griffin laughed, “That’s one I haven’t heard before.” “You’re serious,” he said when we didn’t laugh along, “Well, I’m afraid to be the bearer of bad news, but you ask the impossible.” Reaching behind him with his tail, he pulled a book with a black cover and silver trim off the shelf behind him. I recognized it instantly. “And the Scrolls have foretold, of black wings in the cold, that when brothers wage war come unfurled,” he read from the book. “Alduin, Bane of Kings, ancient shadow unbound, with a hunger to swallow the world,” I finished for him, “I’ve read that one. But it’s not impossible to defeat Alduin. It’s been done before.” “Obviously not, or he wouldn’t be back,” the griffin argued. “He may not have been destroyed permanently,” I retaliated, “But somehow the Tongues were able to take him down, at least temporarily. That’s all we’re asking for.” “I don’t know,” the griffin said, “It seems you’re searching for something specific, some weapon or technique the Tongues used.” “A Shout,” I supplied. “Right,” the griffin said, thinking, “Chances are whatever this Shout is, it’s buried somewhere in some obscure tome. If only my assistant were here. She’s got a knack for complex finding spells that would come quite in handy here.” “We have visitors Narickh?” a voice asked from behind us. Standing in the doorway was a lavender unicorn in mage’s robes, her deep purple mane streaked with crimson. Upon her back was a set of saddlebags filled to bursting with books. She began to unpack them, floating them back to their places as she waited for the griffin, Narickh apparently, to respond. “Ah Mystic, just the pony I wanted to see,” he said, “Think you can work some of your magic to find a book?” “Certainly!” Mystic beamed, setting her horn aglow. Every book throughout the expansive library lit up in sync, surrounded by the same color of magic as her horn. “What do you need?” she asked as Narickh directed her attention toward me. “We’re looking for a book on the Tongues,” I said. “Hmm, something more specific?” she asked, though the number of books held in her magic decreased significantly. “We’re looking for a Shout they used.” “Better, anything else?” she asked, decreasing the possible books yet again. “If there’s mention of it, the Shout’s called Dragonrend,” I added. “Here we go,” she said, floating down a book from an obscure corner of the library, “The Life of Erik Hammerfall.” “He was one of the Tongues,” Mystic explained as I paged through the volume, searching for some mention of Dragonrend, “The book’s mostly a set of letters and memoirs written by him.” Flipping through, the word Dragonrend finally caught my eye, though I had to flip back a few pages to find it again. [A letter Erik wrote to his fellow Tongue Felicia Fire’s-fury upon the tenth anniversary of their defeat of Alduin] My Dearest Companion, It is hard to believe a full decade has passed now since that day, when you, Uris, and I stood upon the Crest of the World and beheaded the Dragon Cult. Yet that moment continues to eat away at me. Dragonrend worked, but at what cost? The darkness of such words I feel eating away at me even today. I know Uris has requested that the words we uttered that day never be recorded, so that our darkness may not corrupt another generation. Yet I feel that everything will go to waste if they are not preserved. That is why I have trusted one, and only one pony with this secret, for him to record and keep hidden until need arises. Please forgive me, but I know that Arias will keep our secret safe. Still, I would understand if you feel betrayed by this breach in your trust, and as such I will not be returning to Horizon. Give Uris my regards. -Erik Hammerfall It appeared I had gotten my hopes up for nothing. I knew nothing more about Dragonrend now than I had before I’d come here. Still, it had been recorded in at least one place, and though the chances of finding it were a million to one, I still had to try. “So, did you find what you were looking for?” Mystic asked when I looked up from the book. “Not exactly,” I said, passing the book back for Steadfast and Mephalda to get a better look at, “I was looking for the actual words to Dragonrend, not just something about it.” “That’s too bad,” Mystic said, looking around at the shelves of books, “I’m surprised that was the only mention of the subject.” “It’s not your fault,” I told her, “The Shout’s words were never recorded on purpose.” “That’s not exactly true,” Mephalda reminded me, “It says here the words were recorded somewhere.” “Yeah,” Steadfast said, “But how in the Northlands are we supposed to find wherever this Arias hid it?” “Wait, did you say Arias?” Narickh asked. “Yeah, why?” Steadfast answered. “Arias was a famous recorder who lived in Unicornica around the time of the Dragon War,” Narickh explained, “Much of his work he kept secret, storing tomes filled to the brim with knowledge beneath his dwelling in secret tunnels.” “That is, until somepony found them,” Mystic cut in, “Works by Arias are extremely rare and valuable, both because of the easily accessible knowledge packed inside and the fact that he only ever made one copy of each book.” “So, you think maybe somepony found the book where Arias recorded the words for Dragonrend?” I asked. “It’s likely so,” Mystic said, “We’ve got a few of his books here, but none on Shouts.” “That’s too bad,” I said, “This place was our best chance to find any information.” “Well, there is one other option,” Narickh said. “Yes?” “We may not have the book you seek,” the old griffin explained, “But the Arcane University has a much larger library, and a much larger collection of Arias’s works.” “Of course,” Mystic said, facehoofing, “If any place has the book you’re looking for, it’ll be the Arcane University.” “Are you talking about the Arcane University in Unicornica?” Steadfast asked. “Of course,” Mystic said excitedly, “I’ve always wanted to go, and now I have a chance to! We can charter a ship to Anvil and be there in no time!” “I have to grab a few things,” the unicorn called as she galloped off, “Meet you in the courtyard!” “What just happened?” Steadfast asked me. “I’m not quite sure,” I said, “It looks like we’ve picked up another pony.” “Sorry about that,” Narickh said, bringing our attention back to the old griffin, “Mystic tends to be easily excitable. I’m sure you can find your own way to the Imperial City just fine. Don’t worry about her; I’ll break the news to her gently.” “No,” I said, “It’s fine if she comes along. It seems like she really wants to go, and it would be good to have a mage with us when we enter the University.” “Well, alright then,” Narickh said, “Just keep an eye on her, alright?” “Of course.” Mystic seemed to have somehow defied the laws of time and space and was already waiting out in the courtyard for us when we emerged from the library. “Ready to go?” she asked, nearly jumping up and down with excitement. “You’re the one with the plan,” I said, “Lead the way.” We weren’t even to the bridge before she stopped suddenly and scrunched her face up. As I turned to ask her why she’d stopped I saw that sparks had begun to arc over her horn. “What’s going on?” I asked. “I can sense disturbances in the magic field,” she explained, looking a bit embarrassed. Suddenly her body locked up and the sparks over her horn burst into full-on lightning. A cone of pure magical energy swirled around her horn, shooting up into the sky as her body shook with tremors. At last the sparks began to die down and Mystic forced herself to her hooves. “So, sensing disturbances in the magical field,” I said as I helped her up, a bit shocked by what had happened, “What exactly does that mean?” “I-I can sense when there’s a large magical change in an area,” she said, looking a little shaken up herself, “But I’ve never felt something like that before. Something huge just happened in Seclusion.” “Something huge like a dragon destroying the town?” Steadfast speculated fearfully. “I don’t know,” Mystic said, “Like I said, it’s never been that strong before.” “Well, there’s only one way to know for sure,” I said, fixing my sights on the west. ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ By the next morning we’d made it to Seclusion. It seemed fine from the outside; there was no damage indicative of a dragon attack at least. Within too everything seemed to be perfectly natural, with the townsponies going about their business. But, Mystic had said that something had messed up the magical field here pretty good. I didn’t want to start doubting her authenticity so soon after meeting her, but it certainly appeared that everything was fine. Unwilling to give up right away, I decided our best bet was to go to the Blue Palace and ask Jarl Radiance. If anypony would know about something big happening in Seclusion, it would be her. As we entered the Blue Palace’s throne room everything snapped into place. Jarl Radiance sat in her throne as she always had, though this time a smile graced her face, making her look more lovely than ever. And there, in the throne next to her, sat High King Shade. Level Up Health: 220 Stamina: 210 Magicka: 210 New Perk: Scrounger [Lockpicking] -- You will find considerably more potions in locked chests than usual. New Quest: The King is Dead; Long Live the King -- Investigate how High King Shade is now alive.