Sonata's Crazy and Wacky Adventure in Skyrim

by Sonata Blaze

15: Assault on the College

"I owe you some answers, don't I?" Delphine asked a minute or two after Sonata laid on the ground, which only annoyed her because she wanted to rest, "Go ahead. Whatever you want to know. Nothing held back."

Sonata moaned for a moment, because all she really wanted to was relax and regain her energy from the fight with the dragon they had just finished... the corpse was still smoking from her lightning. The old woman clearly didn't care that she was low on energy and needed to rest, as she wanted to get underway with any information she could hand to Sonata before she asked about the Queen. She knew that Delphine was going to ask about the Queen the moment she was done handing information over, which meant that she would have to think of something to tell her that wasn't too important.

"Fine, I give up." Sonata replied, getting into a sitting position before she faced Delphine, while Lydia and Kree stood nearby so they could hear everything as well, "Who are you and what do you want with me? Let's start with that."

"I'm one of the last members of the Blades." Delphine explained, crossing her arms as she leaned against the rock she had been hiding behind earlier, "A very long time ago, the Blades were dragonslayers, and we served the Dragonborn, the greatest dragonslayer. For the last two hundred years, since the last Dragonborn emperor, the Blades have been searching for a purpose. Now that dragons are coming back, our purpose is clear again. We need to stop them."

"And the Blades are?" Sonata asked, mainly because she had absolutely no idea who the faction was thanks to her brief time in Skyrim, but she figured they had to be important.

"Exactly. Nobody even remembers our name these days." Delphine huffed, as if she was completely annoyed by that sole fact, "We used to be known across Tamriel as the protectors of the Septim Emperors. Those days are long gone, though. For the last two hundred years, we've been searching for the next Dragonborn to guide and guard, as we are sworn to do. But we never found one. Until now."

"Sure, it has nothing to do with the fact that I'm not originally from Nirn." Sonata said, sighing as she considered what to ask next before the woman started asking about the Queen, "Actually, now that I think about it, that was the same dragon that attacked Helgen and burned it to the ground."

"Interesting. Same dragon..." Delphine commented, before her expression became angry for a brief second, "Damn it, we're blundering around in the dark here! We need to figure out who's behind it all!"

"So, what's our next move then?" Sonata asked, curious as to who the woman thought was behind the dragons returning, though she was personally beginning to suspect that they were missing something important to the puzzle.

"The first thing we need to do is figure out who's behind the dragons." Delphine replied, beckoning behind her as if she was pointing to a building that none of them could see at the moment, "The Thalmor are our best lead. If they aren't involved, they'll know who is."

"What makes you think the Thalmor are bringing dragons back?" Kree cut in, because she had seen how General Tullius acted around the Thalmor and wondered why the woman believed that they were behind all of this.

"Nothing solid. Yet." Delphine answered, sighing for a second before closing her eyes, "But my gut tells me it can't be anybody else. The Empire had captured Ulfric. The war was basically over. Then a dragon attacks, Ulfric escapes, and the war is back on. And now the dragons are attacking everywhere, indiscriminately. Skyrim is weakened, the Empire is weakened. Who else gains from that but the Thalmor?"

"So, we need to find out what the Thalmor know about the dragons. Any ideas?" Sonata asked, somewhat amazed that they had managed to bypass the entire topic of the Queen and prepared to leave the moment they were done with the conversation, knowing that the moment it ended Delphine would ask about the one thing Sonata didn't want to mention at the moment.

"If we could get into the Thalmor Embassy..." Delphine started, but then opened her eyes to see a confused Sonata staring at her, "it's the center of their operations in Skyrim... Problem is, that place is locked up tighter than a miser's purse. They could teach me a few things about paranoia... I have a few ideas on how we can get in there, but I'll need some time to pull things together... Meet me back in Riverwood. If I'm not back when you get there, wait for me. I shouldn't be long. Keep an eye on the sky. This is only going to get worse."

The instant that Delphine handed Sonata a copy of her key to her hidden basement, and turned around to collect her pack, Sonata and her friends got up and immediately bolted down the hill before she turned around. When Delphine turned around she noticed that the three of them were gone, to which she facepalmed as she realized that she had been played.

"Damn it all to Oblivion, she got away before I could ask about the Queen." Delphine commented, sighing as she collected her pack and headed down the hill, "Oh well, I'll be sure to ask her about the Queen when we meet back up in Riverwood... provided she doesn't die along the way."

------------------------

Sonata didn't stop running until they reached the bridge that would take them into Windhelm, but she didn't cross it and merely came to a stop the instant she reached it. She couldn't believe that she had gotten away from Delphine before she had been asked about the Siren Queen, to which she smiled as her friends caught up with her. She knew that Kree deserved the truth about the Queen, and so did Lydia for that matter, but she didn't want someone that she didn't trust to overhear what she had to say... especially since it appeared that Lord Grul knew about the Queen as well.

"So what's next on our agenda?" Kree asked, wondering where they were going to go next, as she had no desire to stay near Ulfric's city or speak with his guards.

"We're going to Winterhold," Sonata said, picking herself up and moving down the road, to which her friends followed her.

"And why are we going there, my Thane?" Lydia asked, walking beside Sonata as the three of them followed the road that would eventually take them to their new destination.

"When we were in Morthal I had a dream about my sister Aria," Sonata explained, recalling what she had seen at the end of her terrible dream or vision, she still couldn't decide what it had been, "She had been wearing what I assume were robes from the College of Winterhold, to which I'm assuming that if she and Adagio went there during their time in Skyrim, before their sudden disappearance, then I might be able to figure out where they might have gone next."

"Your reasoning is sound," Kree commented, thinking about what Sonata might have seen in the dream to make her want to visit the College, besides seeing her sister dressed in mage robes, "Maybe one of the instructors knows something about your sisters and can help us figure out where they went."

Sonata nodded and they continued on their trek, to which they found that the wolves of this region didn't want anything to go with them at the moment. She noticed that there a couple of dead wolves scattered about the place with the other wolves in what appeared to be a state of mourning, almost as if something had come through and carved their way through the wolves. She also noted that there were heavy footprints following the same path that she and her friends were taking, though by the amount of them she could only assume they were following one of Lord Grul's armies.

When they reached a small lumber mill they found that one of the people living in the area was hiding up with the saws, though she was definitely terrified of something at the moment. They stopped for a moment while Kree moved to speak with the terrified woman, though when she returned Sonata knew that something was definitely happening.

"A group of orc warriors, numbering between twenty to forty members, marched through here not thirty minutes ago," Kree told them as they got back on the path they had been following, "That lady hid when they approached the settlement, but as they marched through she swears that she heard them mention something about Winterhold. Sonata, could it be possible that Lord Grul knew that your sisters visited the mages and had decided to take them out before you connected the pieces yourself?"

"I'm starting to think that Lord Grul knows more than what we think he does," Sonata answered, hoping that the orcs weren't on their way to attack the College of Winterhold, or the people living outside its gates, "He had guards stationed at Fort Amol after we cleared it out, had a group waiting to ambush us out in the marsh, had another group approach Morthal after we arrived, and had a third group waiting to intercept us on the road. None of these are coincidences at this point... somehow, Lord Grul knows where we're going before we do and he's playing some sort of sick game with us."

"Then how do we stop him?" Lydia asked, her hand moving to the battleaxe she had claimed as a prize.

"We find him and put him down." Sonata answered, because it was actually the only way that they'd be able to stop Grul... and whatever game he was playing.

As Kree and Lydia nodded they came to the sign that told them about a split in the path, to which they turned in the direction of Winterhold and continued moving. It wasn't long before they spotted what appeared to be a fort built into the mountain side, but as they approached they immediately noticed that whoever had been living there had already been slaughtered. There were signs of a struggle, but other than the dead mages it was impossible to tell who had attacked them... though Sonata had a feeling she knew who was responsible for this act.

They turned around the mountain side and spotted the College in the distance, but they easily spotted the smoke rising from it and knew that it was already under attack. Sonata ignored the tired feeling she had been having the entire time as she ran towards the already ruined city, following the trail of dead wildlife and bandits that brought her to their destination. It wasn't hard to spot the orcs at this point, mainly thanks to her armor, but as the three of them approached the back of the army Sonata quickly told her friends to use whatever they had left to get rid of their enemies.

Lydia pulled out her battleaxe and approached the back of the army, to which she tapped the first orc she came to on the should to get his attention. As the orc turned to face her, and the others around him followed suit, Lydia roared with all her might, using a tactic that only nords could use, and actually made some of them back off or run for a moment. It gave her and her friends enough time to move forward, to which Lydia swung her new weapon and took the head of an orc who was unaffected by her Battle Cry. As the orcs regained themselves and closed in on them Kree whipped out her arrows and started loosing them, making sure to either target the head area or the heart area.

Sonata, on the other hand, leapt over the orcs as she zeroed in on the stone bridge that was clearly falling apart, because she had seen several mages fighting orcs up there. As she got on the bridge she used her sword to cut off the hands of the orcs that swung at her, though at other times she had to blast several of them backwards with her slowly depleting magic. The woman at the sawmill had been right about the numbers, because there were at least thirty remaining enemies still trying to get all the way across the bridge. She pushed herself forward and kicked an orc as hard as she could, throwing him off of the bridge and sending him to his death below them.

"I'd ask if your a friend or foe, but now is not the time to do so," an elderly man said, summoning a fireball and blasting an orc back before it could hit Sonata, "That is also considering that your not attacking us at the moment. Oh, where's the Archmage when you need her the most?"

"I see the Dragonborn has come out to play as well," an orc said, to which Sonata recognized the voice of Aggronak as she turned to face the orc from her dream, "You weren't supposed to be here for another week, but it seems that even the Daedra are still trying to hide information from my Master... something that he'll have to correct. I'm sure that you are enjoying the destruction, but allow me to demonstrate a piece of my power."

A green fireball appeared in the orcs right hand, but instead of throwing it at Sonata he turned for a second and threw it at the College itself, where it expanded into a massive boulder and smashed through one of the supporting pillars on the outside. Before Sonata could react she found a fist in her face, knocking her to the ground as Aggronak stood above her, though he didn't seem to mind the old man and the other mages all that much.

"He would be annoyed if I brought him to you at this point in time," Aggronak commented, backing up for a moment as Sonata struggled to pick herself up, "I would have loved to destroy the entirety of this College, but we have completed the task that my Master has assigned to us... and we have some trophies to make up for not destroying this place. Remember your place, Mages of the College of Winterhold, because Lord Grul generously rewards those that work with him... and either enslaves or destroys those that oppose him."

Sonata groaned as she watched the army of orcs, how missing half of their number, retreat back the way they had came, though it wasn't actually a victory for her, her friends, or the mages. Aggronak, one of Lord Grul's top lieutenants, was watching his soldiers leave before departing himself, though he was leaving himself wide open to an attack. She moaned as she reached for her true power, ignoring the fact that her pendant was shattered at the moment, before she coughed up some blood for a few seconds and got onto her feet again. As she stood up she could feel the wind responding to her call, wrapping around her hands as she approached her target, who turned around not a moment later.

"And just what are you doing this time?" Aggronak asked, though he seemed amused that she was still trying to fight him as if there was a gap in their current level of power.

"Roaring... Cannon!" Sonata shouted, pressing the palms of her hands together, against Aggronak's chest no less, and released the wind in a blast that sent her target flying into the snow outside of Winterhold... before she collapsed on the bridge, "No doubt... he survived... that."

"You took care of him and that's what counts," the old man said, dropping to a knee as he helped Sonata back onto her feet, "Name's Tolfdir... who are you and your companions?"

"These are Kree... and Lydia," Sonata huffed, weakly pointing to her friends as they ran up the steps to join them, "I... I'm Sonata Dusk. You... you wouldn't happen... to know... Adagio or... Aria would you?"

"They told me and the Archmage that you'd be coming here in the future." Tolfdir said, smiling at her for a moment before noticing how tired she was, "Tell you what, when you've had some rest I'll answer any questions you have. Does that sound fair?"

"Yes... it does..." Sonata replied, before she closed her eyes and collapsed in Tolfdir's arms, though there was a small smile on her face as she realized that she'd get some answers at long last.

Tolfdir kept his smile on his face as he turned his gaze to the area that the orc had been blasted into, seeing the shadow of the orc who had led the attack on the College move away from the ruined city. He had no idea who this Lord Grul was supposed to be, though he knew that the orc was bound to torture the few instructors he had managed to get his hands on with this raid of his. Though he had heard rumors that the Dragonborn had appeared in Skyrim once more, to which he was glad that she had come here looking for answers when she did... otherwise he was sure that there would have been no one left to answer them if she had waited a few days or a week.

Lord Grul wanted something from the people he had captured, though whatever that something was Tolfdir had no idea... and he dreaded to wonder what the orc had planned at the moment.

Comments

[Blackdrag-rose]

So Grul either wants to eliminate the College before they can aid Sonata or he's simply collecting 'slaves' for some reason that hasn't been revealed yet... I'm betting he wants to destroy it.

[Crescent Glaive]

though he knew that the orc was bound the torture the few instructors

"The" is wrong here, it should be "to".
Just a nitpick.

Well now we see the power of a Lieutenant. Powerful and smart, atleast this one is. But too zealous, like he's under some kinda mind altering spell that's subtle yet strong, guiding him to think that Grul is a demigod of some sort that he believes will ascent to a true god like being.

Or maybe i'm over analyzing this...
Well it is almost 1:30 am...
Maybe i should start sleeping.... ugghh....

[Blackdrag-rose]

7363904 I'll say this, but Lord Grul and his Lieutenants remind me of Gul'dan and his Shadow Council from World of Warcraft. Both Grul and Gul'dan are orc warlocks, both have incredibly strong followers, and they have an orc army that does their bidding.

Besides, I'm kind of surprised that Aggronak assaulted the College of Winterhold, as if he believed that he was actually stronger than the mages that called the place home... though now I have to wonder who this Archmage is, because its apparently not Savos Aren.

[HB_DS2013]

flying into the snow outside of Whiterun

Whiterun Hold doesn't have snow until after the Loreius Farm, but the city is in the middle of a massive plain.

[Sonata Blaze]

7363904 Thanks for picking up on that... no idea how I missed it.

7364170 It was supposed to be Winterhold... but for some reason it ended up as Whiterun. Thanks for catching that error.

[Vigilant of Stendarr]

Aggronak failed to destroy the College... which means that his master will be displeased.

[Crazy the Clone]

aw man, Cicero's here, we found Baebette earlier on...I'm actually hoping that Nazir makes an appearance, since he's cool...I'm sorry, I just finished the Dark Brotherhood Questline. I've no regrets...save for the wedding. That one was the only one I felt bad about.

[Aria Blitz]

Well, this gives us more reason to hate Grul and his underlings.

[Guardian of Harmony424]

Well this isn't good. Let's see where this goes from here.

[Adagio Shimmer]

The orcs attacked the College of Winterhold...
Well, they got what they deserved... a beating by some mages that most of Skyrim hates.

[Pinkie Glimmer]

This is why attacking the College of Winterhold isn't a good idea, because the mages aren't friendly towards anyone that wants to kill or enslave them.