Sunset's Adventure in Skyrim

by Blackdrag-rose

8: Saarthal

The group of five mages, being escorted by Bjorn, left the College of Winterhold and walked across the bridge, entering the ruined city for a few minutes to stock up on supplies. The moment that everyone had everything that they needed for the journey, and the excavation of the ruins of Saarthal Sunset mentally added, they left the city and walked up into the wilderness. Sunset and Bjorn bid farewell to Lydia, who promised that she would be at the inn until they were ready to move on, before they fell in behind the rest of the mages. As they walked Sunset also noticed that Tolfdir was pleased to have someone like Bjorn escorting them, though she wondered if it was more that he was grateful to have someone else to protect them.

As they walked towards the ruins Sunset noticed that several creatures came up to them in an attempt to stall them, such as wolves, an ice wraith, and two trolls.

Sunset was pleased to note that her fellow apprentices were quite skilled with the basics of magic, or at least the offensive forms since none of them bothered to throw up a barrier to protect themselves. She realized that in this world, where most of its citizens were violent and didn't care about others, many mages likely learned how to inflict harm, instead of learning some ways to avoid it. It was in this school of magic that she had the advantage over them, as she had some skill in using barrier magic and could easily protect them from the lesser forms of magic that were out there.

When they finally got to Saarthal Sunset discovered that it had, as she suspected, been buried under the snow and earth, as there was only a single opening into the ancient nordic settlement. They approached the door and Tolfdir beckoned for them all to follow him inside, though Bjorn nodded to Sunset and remained outside, setting up a small camp area for himself. She hated that he would be sitting out here all alone, but she wanted to judge her fellow apprentices and was sure that they would have no trouble with whatever was waiting for them. As they entered the ruin Sunset also learned that the reason it had been destroyed was because a group of elves had sacked the settlement in an infamous event known as the Night of Tears.

Once they reached the bottom level of the entrance area Tolfdir started to give them all assignments, telling the other apprentices to study any residual magic and gather some artifacts while he had Sunset travel further in and find the teacher that was studying the other relics they had acquired. Sunset nodded her understanding and walked deeper into the ruin, walking down the structures that the other teachers had created before entering what appeared to be a dead end with one mage waiting near the end. As she approached him she realized that he wasn't very eager to have a new apprentice bother him, but he quickly sighed and told her to search the area for any artifacts that they might have missed.

What she found in the immediate area was three enchanted silver rings, an area that looked like i hadn't been searched at all, and what appeared to be an enchanted necklace attached to a statue. The moment that the necklace was removed the chamber was sealed with iron bars, but Tolfdir came running and decided to ask her what happened. She quickly informed him of how removing the necklace opened the trap and he began to wonder what the necklace's importance was, but after he said that Sunset realized that if she wore the necklace then something had to happen. The moment it was around her neck she noticed an aura wrap around the statue it had been removed from, to which she responded with a small gout of flames that tore the entire structure to pieces.

"A secret passage," Sunset commented, a grin appearing on her face as the trap on the chamber's entrance was lowered, "Hmm, I wonder what the nords that lived here had to hide from everyone else."

As it turned out none of her fellow apprentices were going to accompany her as she wandered into the hidden passage, as only Tolfdir was willing to follow her. She decided that a Master Wizard was better than a few apprentices, so the two of them walked into the passage and came to an area with three coffins resting against the walls. The moment they entered the chamber Tolfdir stopped moving and time seemed to come to a halt around her, before a mage wearing strange yellow robes appeared before the middle coffin.

"Hold, mage, and listen well..." the spectral mage said, staring right at her and ignoring the frozen Tolfdir altogether, "Know that you have set in motion a chain of events that cannot be stopped. Judgment has not been passed, as you had no way of knowing. Judgment will be passed on your actions to come, and how you deal with the dangers ahead of you. This warning is passed to you because the Psijic Order believes in you. You, mage, and you alone, have the potential to prevent disaster. Take great care, and know that the Order is watching."

Sunset had never heard of something called the Psijic Order, but she was well aware that there was always something dangerous in each of the nordic barrows and ruins, so she wasn't too surprised by that fact. She was also amazed that this order was willing to say that she had the potential to prevent disaster, as she had no idea if he was referring to the disaster that she had accidentally set in motion or the disaster that would be following Tirek. She couldn't get the answer out of the mage, as the moment he finished speaking he had disappeared, restoring time and allowing Tolfdir to move once more. The Master Wizard was worried about her vision and the mention of the Psijic Order, but he quickly mentioned that they move on and find out what she had been warned about.

Walking past the pedestal in the middle caused the three coffins to open, revealing the draugr that wanted to keep their home safe from invaders. Her magic flared and she smacked the draugr on her left right in the chest, setting his rotting corpse on fire as he collided with the wall and crumpled into a heap. Tolfdir did the same thing to the one that stood in from of him, but instead of dropping dead the draugr got back up and came him once more. Sunset ran her sword through the third undead and then, once she was sure her opponent was dead, she turned her magic on Tolfdir's foe and threw a fireball into its chest, blowing it into the wall.

Sunset moved into the next passage and found a large circular chamber waiting for them, with both walls having what appeared to be six coffins lining each wall. The moment that they entered the chamber the gate shut behind them and each coffin opened, allowing all twelve draugr to awaken and draw their weapons. Sunset was amazed that each of the coffins opened, as she knew that some of them could remain closed no matter what walked right by them, but she prepared herself as their enemies surrounded them. One draugr came at her, but she swung her sword around and smacked it in the head, before igniting her hand and causing a second enemy to explode.

Several of the draugr came at them at the same time, but Sunset backed up and sheathed her sword, drawing her staff out and igniting the floor in front of them. Three of them crumpled under the fire almost immediately, telling her that they were extremely weak, before she turned her attention to the remaining draugr. The remaining enemies came at her at the same time, giving Tolfdir the opportunity to attack them from behind, but she held her ground and hacked, slashed, and blasted her way through them before she and Tolfdir were the only ones still standing.

It was then that she learned that she would be the only one advancing further into the ruins, as Tolfdir wanted to study the coffins some more and the apprentices were still near the entrance to the ruin. Sunset sighed and moved towards the sealed door, pulling the two nearby levers that released the iron bars and allowed her access to the rest of Saarthal. As she silently walked deeper into the ruins she made sure to watch out for anything, or the draugr she mentally added, that could wake up and seek to do her harm. She was glad for her caution, as when she entered the next chamber she found what she assumed was an elemental rune, a fire one by the color she noted, and stopped before she got close to it.

She picked up a small stone and tossed it over the rune, hitting the wall behind it and allowing the sound to echo a bit, though as she wondered if any of the draugr would wake up one pulled itself free of its coffin. The best part was when it touched the floor ahead of Sunset, as the edge of its foot touched the rune and it was quickly engulfed in a fury of flames. As the first draugr fell three more walked out of their coffins, though Sunset was amazed that they were actually mages, as the moment they spotted her they summoned their magic and threw chunks of ice at her. Instead of burning the ice to pieces she summoned a ward and allowed the magic to hit it, smashing the ice to pieces until she was sure that they were all gone.

Once the deed was done Sunset called on her magic and charged at the draugr, throwing fire in their faces and setting the ground before her on fire as well. She limited herself to the flame and firebolt spells, as well as her barrier from time to time, but she wanted to conserve as much magic as she could, so she would have enough leftover for when she found whatever was buried at the end of the ruin. The three draugr came at her, but she managed to cut one of them down and blew up the other two with her magic, clearing the immediate area until she walked up to the second floor and found another one waiting for her. Instead of wasting more magicka she simply charged at her latest opponent and swung her blade at it, cutting into its ancient armor before she put it down.

She opened the door behind her latest enemy and walked into the ancient hallway, where she found a large number of the dead buried in the walls. As she progressed she discovered that the majority of them were actually dead, as in they wouldn't come back to life like the rest of the draugr, and that allowed her to relax just a little bit. Knowing that she didn't have to fight a swarm of ten to twenty draugrs, based on the number of holes that she found, gave her the opportunity to calm down and form her own plan. The only draugr that woke up were the two at the end, though she cut them down moments before they could realize that their intruder was ready and waiting for them.

The hallway following the one she was in had an iron gate at the end, but as she walked through it she discovered that each side of the tunnel had a set of pillars, rotatable ones like the ones she had seen in Bleak Falls Barrow. She discovered that, by looking behind each of the pillars, she found the animal that was supposed to be facing the tunnel and immediately began to turn them. On the hallways left side she turned the pillars until they read eagle, snake, and whale, while the three on the right side read whale, eagle, eagle, before she pulled the lever at the end. For a moment she wondered if she had done something wrong and should have turned the pillars to what the picture had been opposite of them, before the gate opened and allowed her to progress once more.

The following chamber only had one enemy for her to fight, though Sunset was amazed to find that the enemy was actually a female draugr, as all the rest of them she had come across had been male. As the draugr noticed her Sunset was able to get an understanding of the armor and weapon that she was carrying, which only made her worry about her chances. The undead was wearing the same armor as the rest of the draugr wore and carried a wicked looking black battleaxe, though it had a look in its eyes that told Sunset that it was going to come and kill her if it was the last thing it did. Sunset summoned her magic and formed three fireballs, knowing that she was going to have to pour most of her magic into this one fight so she could either defeat her enemy or get away from it to get reinforcements.

The first fireball smacked into the draugr's chest, knocking it back just a bit, but it got back up and roared at her, clearly upset that it had been hit with magic. Sunset moaned and backed up almost immediately after watching the draugr get back up, allowing the battleaxe to miss for a moment before its bearer came after her again. As she backed up into the hallway she threw both of her remaining fireballs forward, both of them colliding with her target and forcing it backwards just a bit, but to her disappointment the draugr got up and gathered its weapon once more.

"Your as bad as the Guardian of Bleak Falls Barrow," Sunset shouted, summoning another fireball as the draugr came towards her, waiting until the best moment to threw her attack and knock the enemy backwards.

As the draugr stumbled backwards Sunset drew her staff once more and used every inch of magicka that it still had inside it, channeling the magic towards her enemy. She fired as many fireballs as the staff would allow her to fire, hitting the draugr multiple times and forcing it backwards with every hit, before she exhausted the staff. The moment the staff was out of energy she ran towards the undead and drove it right into its rotten heart, tearing through the unprotected area of its armor and coming out of its back. For a moment she thought she had failed, as the draugr continued to move, but then its arm went limp and she breathed a sigh of relief, glad to have defeated such a hard opponent.

Before she moved on she tried to move the battleaxe, but she could barely move it and decided that she could bring Lydia back once she was finished up here. The next area she entered had more of the dead lining the walls, but as she walked she quickly noticed that none of them were waking up and assumed that they were all lifeless. She eventually came to another puzzle, with four rotatable pillars, and she tested it by moving the pillar that was closest to the iron gate on her left, which moved all four of them at the same time. She continued to move the pillar until it showed the whale symbol, where the one before it she spun until it showed the snake symbol, before she moved to the other side and rotated the pillar near the gate to show the eagle symbol before she moved onto the fourth pillar and had it show the whale symbol.

Once the combination was placed she pulled the lever and opened the gate, allowing her to move deeper into the ruins before she heard someone speak behind her.

"I thought it was time that I caught up with you," Tolfdir said, a smile on his face as he caught up with her, where he handed her a blue potion, "Here, you look like you could use one of these."

Sunset, while annoyed that the Master Wizard had chosen to stay behind until she had cleared the majority of the ruin, which she had been sure she wouldn't be able to do at times, but she was glad that he would see the end of it with her. She was also grateful for the magicka potion, as it gave her the ability to use some of her more powerful spells after pouring everything she had into the fight with that draugr. When she opened the iron door in her way and gazed at what awaited them she would have sworn that her heart may have started beating much faster, though she wasn't looking at the draugr that was wrapped in a green aura, but rather at the object that was floating in the air behind it.

The object was a massive light blue sphere that almost looked like the pieces of it could pull themselves apart, though what Sunset felt was the vast amount of magicka that the object contained. She knew that, if Tirek siphoned even a fraction of the orb's power, that he could very well have the power to decimate what remained of Winterhold. Though the moment they entered the chamber she noticed that the draugr, who had been sitting in the chair the whole time, had finally gotten up and was staring right at them. Toldfir summoned his magic and smacked the undead with lightning, but it rolled right off the creature and allowed it to start coming right at them. While the creature looked at Tolfdir Sunset ran to the table the undead had been sitting behind, grabbed the staff with her free hand, and drove her sword towards its chest, only to find that no harm was inflicted on it.

"Its immune to damage!?" Sunset exclaimed, turning to the Master Wizard as she backed away from the undead, "We have to find a way to lower its protective barrier, otherwise neither of us will live to see another day."

Tolfdir nodded and ran up to the barrier that surrounded the orb, while Sunset continued to hold the creature's attention as she wondered how they were going to harm it. As the undead swung at her she backed away as fast as she could, preferring to keep as much distance between them until she had an idea of how to kill it. As she taunted the creature and kept it looking at her she spotted Tolfdir smacking the barrier with lightning, as if he didn't care what happened to her. Then, just as the creature turned around to look when Sunset was looking, the aura around its body shimmered and was replaced by an icy aura, which made her grin.

Sunset summoned her fire and ignited the undead, causing the burning creature to look at her in wonder, as if it was wondering how she had managed to damage it in the first place. As the creature walked towards her she continued her spree, igniting every part of its body until it was a walking pillar of fire and still came after her. Then Sunset took her sword and drove it into the draugr's chest, pushing hard enough to force it to fall to the ground, where she could use more magic to be sure it was dead. Once she was sure that she had killed the draugr she pulled herself off of it and started to approach the orb, but then turned around and snatched the necklace that her enemy had been wearing the entire time.

"So, what do you think this is?" Sunset asked the Master Wizard, curious as to what he might think the orb was.

"I... I don't know," Tolfdir admitted, staring right at the orb as if he couldn't take his eyes off of it, "but whatever this is I cannot leave it alone. Do you mind heading back to the College and telling the Archmage about this discovery?"

"Sure," Sunset replied, not seeing a reason that she wouldn't tell the Archmage, as she would be visiting the city to pick up her Housecarl, "I'll be sure to tell him."

She spotted the door behind the orb and decided that she had found the convenient exit that all barrows seemed to have, though when she opened the door she found a Word Wall waiting for her. She approached the Word Wall and took the word into herself, wondering what the word Iiz was supposed to mean and realized that she would need to take another dragon down to know what it meant. She spotted the large chest beside it and opened it up, finding another staff to add to her collection, a necklace without an enchantment, and a couple of books, one of which happened to be a spell. With her loot collected she continued towards the hallway that she was sure that would lead her out of the ruin and drop her somewhere near the entrance.

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Bjorn patiently waited outside Saarthal, watching the entrance as he waited for Sunset to show herself and tell her about what she had found inside the ruins. As it turned out Lydia, not wanting to be left alone with the strangers at the inn, had come running to the ruins and joined him at his camp, so they could wait for their friend. When the door finally opened the two of them were relieved to find that Sunset was the one who emerged, though she quickly collected Lydia and went back inside. Not ten minutes later the duo reemerged from the ruin, though Bjorn was pleased to see that Lydia was sporting an ebony battleaxe, replacing her worn out weapons.

Once they had the camp packed up they headed back to the city, where Sunset gave them the rundown about what had happened inside Saarthal, including her discovery. Bjorn had to admit that he was a little annoyed that she didn't come out for either of them, despite the fact that Lydia had broken her promise to stay in Winterhold and Sunset had no idea until she had left the ruins. He was, however, glad that she was unharmed and had another Word of Power to add to her growing collection of Shouts, sharing Sunset's opinion on having to hunt down more dragons.

Lydia, on the other hand, silently listened to their conversation while making sure that her new battleaxe was free of cracks and was well polished for when they needed it.

When they walked into the College Sunset waved to the Master Wizards that she saw, who waved back in kind, until they approached the main hall once more. Once inside she had Lydia wait by the door, promising that she would be back in a few minutes, before she and Bjorn walked into the staircase that would lead them to the Archmage's chambers. When they reached the top of that set of stairs and entered the room Sunset found a man standing in front of a large tree, though whatever he was doing came to an end the moment Sunset stepped into the room.

"You are new here yes?" the Archmage asked, turning around to face Sunset, to which she nodded, "I have not had the honor to speak with you yet. I am Savos Aren, Archmage of the College of Winterhold."

"Its a pleasure to meet you sir," Sunset said, politely bowing to him for a moment before standing straight once more, "I am Sunset Shimmer. Before you ask, yes, I am not a resident of your world. And no, I am not a dremora seeking to learn your secrets so I can turn them against you."

"Ah, it is good to know," Savos Aren replied, a light smile appearing on his face, "I would like to take some time one day and ask you some questions about your home, but that can wait for another day. Tell me, what can I do for you?"

"As you wish sir," Sunset said, wondering how much she'd tell him when he finally asked him, "Tolfdir and I found some sort of magical orb inside Saarthal and he wanted me to tell you about it."

"Very well," Savos Aren commented, pinching the bridge between his eyes for a moment, "Go see Urag gro-Shub, our librarian, and see if he has anything that could tell you about this orb. Maybe we can figure out what it is and begin studying it, or find a way to lock it away without someone discovering that it was found in the first place."

Sunset had to resist the urge to tell the Archmage that the orb had been sealed away until they had decided to head to Saarthal for a lesson in magic. She had been warned by a member of the Psijic Order that danger was ahead, which she assumed was linked to the orb they had discovered. What she was worried about was Tirek finding his way to the College and discovering that they had located a magical orb that contained a vast amount of power, to which she knew he would try to absorb the moment he found it. She needed to find Tirek and stop him before he did something dangerous, but the trace had lead her to the College and it was clear that he wasn't here at the moment.

She was beginning to worry that Tirek had already absorbed enough magic to mask his own presence, which would hide him from everyone's radar until he was ready to reveal himself.

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While Tolfdir, Arniel Gane, and the apprentices were away in Saarthal Ancano walked into the Midden area of the College, something he had learned about while listening in on Tolfdir while he was talking to someone else. One of the other 'Master Wizards', as the instructors called themselves he noted with disdain, had commented on feeling something strange in the Midden earlier that morning. As such he decided to see what secrets the Mages were hiding from him, so he could take note of whatever it was and report it to his superiors at the Embassy. The few creatures that he found inside the first area of the Midden proved to be no challenge for him, as he breezed through them with ease.

In the second area he eventually found two passages, one of which was blocked by an iron door while the second led to an area that had been used for a ritual at one point, but was not what he was looking for. He continued into the frozen tunnel and found something that he wasn't expecting, the form of a person resting against the frozen wall as if he or she was asleep. Ancano was sure that this was where the trace ended, but he was also sure that a mere mortal, one that appeared to be dying by his reasoning, could not be what he was searching for. Lightning cracked around his hand as he approached the dying man, he'd be sure to remove whoever was resting before him and get back to his real work.

As he brought his hand down on the man he suddenly found that his arm had been stopped, and that the man was now standing with his hand gripping his arm... and his spell being drained before his eyes.

"Ah, the elf known as Ancano," Tirek chuckled, looking up into the elf's eyes, "I know that we are both seeking power, so I am willing to cut a deal with you. Sunset Shimmer has discovered something powerful that will allow you to do whatever you wish and grant me the knowledge that I require. Help me acquire what I need, and I shall let you have whatever she found, all to yourself... or say 'No Deal' and I will drain you of all your magic!"

"I'd say we have a deal," Ancano replied, which was followed by him being released, and then having a look of greed fill his eyes moments later, "Partner!"

Comments

[Iacs]

Situation is slowly changing from bad to worse...

[Sonata Blaze]

Ancano, I know the promise of power is great... but you do NOT make a deal, in any way, shape, for form, with Tirek.
Its exactly like making a deal with the Devil, and soon he'll come to regret it.

[Heidao]

6766175 In another perspective, take the deal or die where he stood

[Vigilant of Stendarr]

And the situation is getting even worse... I'd like to kill Ancano, but I'll leave that for Sunset to do.

[The Apprentice]

7000282 Forget leaving something for her to find beyond a minuscule pile of ash. preferably one that's been burned, then burned, then burned. and maybe melted. After all, everything burns when you get it hot enough. same thing about melting.

[HeartfireFirebrand]

"Its a pleasure to meet you sir," Sunset said, politely bowing to him for a moment before standing straight once more, "I am Sunset Shimmer. Before you ask, yes, I am not a resident of your world. And no, I am not a dremora seeking to learn your secrets so I can turn them against you."

It's important to clarify.