Into Skyrim, Elder Scrolls 8 Nirn's Beta-Chapter 105: The first Crisis

Getting down the mountain was as easy as falling down it. I had landed back at High Hrothgar and bursted into Main Hall. Everyone was already gathered, but it was Illia who spoke first. "Did you feel that!"

Kyne responded, "We all did, the question was what was it?"

Arngeir shook his head, "Something down below. Vek, you were at the peak of the mountain what did you see?"

I frowned, they didn't see it. High Hrothgar was on the southwest side of the mountain. I sighed, "It was the College of Winterhold. A massively powerful artifact is there and someone is setting it off. It is basically a magic nuke waiting to happen."

Stephan whislted at the mention of a nuke, "Are you sure? I mean I felt the explosion it rocked the earth, but no atmospheric shock occurred."

I laughed, "That was the artifact activating."

Stephan's face shifted, "Oh shit..."

Viree smirked at me, "Let me guess, you know how to fix it."

I nodded, "Of course I do, and me and Paarthurnax have decided not to trust the individuals involved. Which leaves me to fix it, Paarthurnax is waiting outside to take us to where we need to go."

Arngeir blinked in astonishment, "The Grandmaster is acting? Is this that big of a threat?"

I paused and decided on my words. "We have differing opinions. However Paarthurnax believes there is a small chance that Alduin may try to acquire the artifact and bring it to the throat of the world to detonate. Which would result in a serious cataclysm."

Arngeir shook his head in disbelief, but it was Kyne who asked the next question. "Paarthurnax is the grandmaster of the greybeards right? How is he going to transport us? and does that mean all of us?"

I paused and nodded, "Well he suggested I bring you to the college just in case. If any dragons act, he believes you should stop them. If Alduin shows up, he has told me to teach you the shout of mortal men."

Arngeir who had lost his focus snapped back to me. "You know the shout of mortal men? How? Why wou-"

I cut him off, "Doesn't matter, Paarthurnax suggested it. I prefer not to distort destiny, but if I must at the request your grandmaster I will. The more important thing is if everyone is ready to go."

Viree nodded, "I grabbed my shit the moment the earth shook."

Stephan and Kyne nodded as well. While Illia shrugged, "I don't carry anything extra."

I opened the door to the courtyard to reveal the face of Paarthurnax. The reaction was not great... Stephan shouted, "Dragon!" All the while an Ice spike and an Arrow flew toward Paarthurnax. He spoke a whisper and he became ethereal.

Arngeir shared my words as we both shouted. "Stop! That is the grandmaster!"

They froze and Paarthurnax let out a small chuckle, while Viree broke the awkward silence. "So are we going or not!"

With no more hesitation I ran over to Paarthurnax, he bowed his head. "You will all have to hold on tight."

Viree climbed up behind me followed by Illia, Kyne and Stephan. Paarthurnax looked at Arngeir, "Be safe, with me away from the mountain you never know what may happen."

Arngeir nodded and Paarthurnax took off. I briefly worried about Philip my horse being left behind. However I could always send someone to go get her, and the carriage. My thoughts snapped back as the air flew past us. I grabbed onto the scales of Paarthurnax for dear life. He flew incredibly high making the air thin. I heard someone behind me groan and I felt Viree digging into my ribs.

Despite the height I watched the world below. I could see all of skyrim up here. I studied the world below and made mental note of several landmarks. Suddenly though I jerked backward, and I heard Viree scream in my ears. Well, it was more like that was all I heard as Paarthurnax dove down.

And it was over, Paarthurnax halted in a massive gust of wind. I heard him speak and fire ignited the air. He was killing the trolls that lived around the Labyrinthian. I heard something fall and looked behind to see Stephan had dove off Paarthurnax while Kyne stared in amazement at his friend.

I also watched in some awe has I watched Stephan throw up a week's worth of meals. Paarthurnax landed beside him. "Sorry about that, I normally don't have passengers and forgot how many mortals get sick from such heights and speeds."

Stephan gave a thumbs up, "Its okay, that was like a roller-coaster... Just without the safety measures."

When I got off Paarthurnax I had difficulty. Viree's hands were denting my armor, the amount of strength she could muster was astonishing. I pulled her from me and she was shivering slightly. I held up a hand and casted several spells on her. She coughed, "Thanks, I uh... I don't think I like heights."

I shrugged, "It is a perfectly normal fear."

Illia nodded, "You say that, and yet other than Kyne you seem the least effected by our ride."

Paarthurnax nodded, "I am also impressed, but I cannot stay. I've handled what I could... When you wish to leave. Vek, you should call a different ride. It will be good practice."

He was referring to Maarnid, that made sense. Illia paused, "Wait, yo-"

I cut her off, "He can't leave the mountain for long. It is a complex situation for him."

Kyne nodded, "That is fine, it sounds like Vek has a different method to leave this place."

Paarthurnax nodded and yanked himself into the sky. I got into motion as soon as he was into the air. "Stephan! Kyne! Go check that building of there. Remember that mask I gave you? That building is the place you can figure the rest out. Once done, Join me in the Labyrinthian."

I pointed at Illia, "That over there is Shalidor's maze, go solve it. Kill the dremora at the end and bring me his circlet."

She was about to object, but switched tracks. "Why wouldn't I join you in the Labyrinthian? I can understand sending me to discover the leftovers of Shalidor. Except are you really sending me in there for a circlet?"

I was in fact sending her in there for a circlet. However I figured this might come up when I decided to send her away. "The dragon priest who is inside the Labyrinthian has power over the entire ruin. With the ability to drain people's mana and manifest entities made from said mana."

She nodded, "I see, that is a fascinating magic."

Kyne shook his head, "It is a thu'um, isn't it."

I paused and laughed, "Actually yeah, but it isn't one identifiable since it happens across the entire city."

Stephan blinked, "City?"

I nodded, "Bromjunaar, or something like that. Remember we don't realy have the time to stand around." I paused as I began to turn. "Oh, Kyne don't forget to enter Shalidor's maze yourself. There is a word wall there that might give you some insight."

He looked toward the maze and nodded. We separated quickly, I didn't have the time to dilly dally. Viree followed behind me, "So? What else? I know you aren't telling them everything."

I smirked, "Just ready your hammer and aim for the neck." She stared at me as I walked up to the locked gate. Sure enough without the handle you couldn't get in. I rolled my eyes though, despite such a complex locking mechanism. It still had the same old failings as every other lock.

I started with Farengar three magic spells. From there I manipulated the the material of the door with transmute. Several blotches of silver and gold began to form within the door. Once the door over all was weakened I placed a hand against the mechanism. This was the first time I was using the conjuration spell Tide Bell. Summoning water into existence was an interesting spell.

The mechanism as a whole was flooded and water was dripping from several parts of the door. Which just left the last step. I blasted the door with Frostshock and the the door shuddered, crack and ice expanded from the door.

The door fell off the hinges and I jumped back. Viree smirked at me, "Impressive."

I smirked back, "Who needs lockpicks?"

We entered the Labyrinthian and as soon as we entered I noticed a table covered in books. They were old, but I recognized them. The spell books for Telekinesis, Waterbreathing, Detect Life and Iron Flesh.

I swiped them while we moved forward. "Get ready to follow me in, this gate will close behind us."

Viree looked at the lever and nodded. I yanked the the thing to the side and the gate opened for us. Stepping through I felt magic trigger and I smirked. The alarm spell triggered a conjuration spell that resurrected several skeletons in the room. Including a dragon's soulless husk.

Viree whistled, "No wonder you said ready my weapon."

I pulled the staff of Panoply quickly and with a single attack lightning struck and obliterated all the skeletons in the room except for the dragon. It moved like it was attached to strings with jerky motions. It swung one of the skeletal arms forward and I jumped over it.

I didn't want to damage the skeleton so put away the staff. Using a spell I hadn't used yet I struck the dragon with the earth it self. Well, at least I thought that was what would happen. Instead the dragon jerked to the floor and was slammed into it. It seemed Earthen Strike was not you manipulating the earth to strike the target. Instead manipulating the target to strike the earth. Like a very specific form of telekinesis.

Viree slammed Volendrung onto the neck of the dragon. The bones shattered and the life that the skeleton had disappeared. She smirked at me, "Nice job pinning it!"

I shrugged and moved to quickly dissect the dragon for its bones. I took the skull, several wing bones, four ribs and several vertebrae in the spine and tail before I reached the limit of my carrying capacity. Well the amount I was willing to fill, I had other items I would need to pick up.

Viree stared at me, "You are going to totally make me carry that skull later aren't you?"

I shrugged, "Move along, we need to hurry this up."

As soon as we entered the hallway several ghosts appeared before us. Viree stopped, "Whoa what is th-"

I passed straight through one of the illusions and kept walking. "It's an illusion spell to mess with the survivor of this place. It is a whole thing and honestly I find it stupid."

Viree nodded and followed behind me. I reached the first obstacle, it was the ice door puzzle. This was a time for some practice, I shouted. "Yol!" The fire passed into the door and the magical ice faded into a skeletal ice golem.

Viree swung her hammer straight into its skull. The ice golem didn't even flinch as it charged me. Without its head though I dodged out of the way easily and stabbed it in the back with Sable Wave. Viree grunted, "It didn't die when I smashed its head."

This chapt𝓮r is updat𝒆d by ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom.

I shrugged and continued forward. Viree was about to speak, but blue wind that drained me of my mana shifted through the dungeon. Morokei spoke in Dovahzul, but I ignored him. He was trying to mock Savos Aren.

Once he was done speaking Viree laughed, "Are you just going to ignore all this?"

I shrugged and we came across the first draugr made from mana. Killing them was easy enough since, they were made from my mana. I grabbed the sword of one and the battle axe of another.

The blue wind filled the dungeon once more as Morokei spoke. Viree spoke over him and his ramblings, "You said these creatures are made of mana? Why don't you just drain your mana so they can be summoned?"

I nodded, "A good strategy, but as you noticed. They don't fade away when killed. This means the they are made from solidified magic. Frankly no clue how that works, but it does mean their weapons can be collected and studied."

Viree rolled her eyes, and looked up ahead of us. "Is that a wisp?"

I stabbed the floating ball as the wispmother revealed itself. I proceeded to walk up as it blasted me with ice. The magic had no effect on me even before I casted Grant Frost Resistance. I stabbed it in the chest and it burst into holy fire. I had forgotten Sable Wave did that.

I stepped over its corpse as Viree followed, "Not going to study the wisps?"

I laughed, "I had already casted Harvest. Everything they could give was already aquired."

Viree looked at me, "You... You prepared exactly to do something like this?"

I nodded, "Dungeon crawling is by far the thing I find most annoying. Skyrim is filled with dwemer and Nordic ruins that are filled with puzzles or traps. I am not a fan of either."

Viree nodded as I switched to a frost spell and blasted a door covered in fire. A flaming skeleton manifested and I blasted it with frostshock. Moving ahead I stepped over several draugr corpses that were killed by the previous visitors of the Labyrinthian. Which revealed themselves as an illusion.

I stabbed several ghostly draugr and eventually found one with a bow. I picked up the weapon and continued along without problems. Coming up to a room with flowing water I paused. Viree looked at me, "Why did you pause?"

I laughed, "Doing exactly what you mentioned earlier. I am draining my mana."

She stared at me, "I know you can cast magic without you know your hands. Except I don't see any magic."

That was likely because I was using the spell detect player and looking for Stephan through the walls. I saw a tiny spec of light above us and I shrugged at Viree's words. "Not all magic is visual. Detect spells are only visual to the caster."

She nodded and we started forward again. This time however none of the mana created draugr appeared. Morokei spoke though laughing, "So you drained your mana? So what! I can jus-"

I ignored his words as I rotated around a corner cutting him off. I came up to a locked door and gestured to Viree. She understood my gestured and with a clean swing Volendrung broke the lock on the door and opened it up.

I grabbed an ancient helmet that was sitting on a sword. The sword was meaningless, but the helmet was decent material, I also grabbed an ebony shield off to the side. Turning around Viree watched me, "Not going to grab the sword?"

I shrugged, "It's trash."

Up ahead was the word wall, I stopped briefly as I watched A draugr's corpse fill with magic. As soon as it stood on its feet, Viree clubbed it in the head. The blue wind filled the halls, but this time Morokei didn't speak.

The last room had no enemies within it either. Viree looked at me, "Do you think he is fed up with us?"

"I would say so." We came up upon where the last illusion spell should have appeared. However the ghostly memories didn't appear.

As we entered the final room where Morokei was imprisoned Viree gasped. "Oh!"

I looked over at her and her hair was lifting into the air like it was filled with static. She laughed, but was caught off by Mororkei. "You come for my staff don't you? You pests! I don't care if you weren't sent by Savos Aren or someone else! The moment you free me I will kill you!"

I smirked ignoring him, "We will now wait for the others to catch up. It shouldn't be long."

Stephan was about half way through the dungeon. Which left me and Viree to prepare. I began to take out items from my inventory. Viree paused and a devious smile appeared on her face. "Oh? How long do we have?"

I pointed to the two ghostly mages. "Until we kill those two, the barrier that is trapping him won't go down."

Morokei stared at us getting close. "What are you doing? What is this?"

Viree helped me with covering up the magical dome to block Morokei's view of us. Once he couldn't see I began to set up some oiled rope to fall on top of the dragon priest along with the covering. It wouldn't stop him for long, but unequipping the staff of Panoply from my belt once again. I began laying runes down onto the ground.

Putting the staff away once more, Viree looked at me. "What's next?"

Morokei shouted from behind his trapped barrier. "I can sense your magic! I know you set up runes you fools! Your next step is to set me free so I may kill you!"

From behind us Stephan spoke, "What the hell is happening here?"

I smirked, "Ah, this is the big boss."

Kyne looked at the messy trap. "Is that a dragon priest? Will he have a mask?"

I nodded, "Where is Illia?"

Stephan shrugged, "She was still in the maze when Kyne was absorbing the word wall."

Kyne pointed behind us, "I got the word wall back there too. We also found this spell book. You want it?"

He tossed the spell tome for Equilibrium to me. I pocketed it, I had the spell, but having things was nice. I pointed to the ghostly mages holding up the barrier even with the covering over it. "Kyne and Stephan should kill those guys. When they die, as I told Viree. The barrier that holds Morokei here will break. After that I will handle the rest. Viree, hold my back."

She nodded as Kyne and Stephan got into position. Purple magic surrounded me as I preformed the necromatic ritual spell. It was a little bit of a silly spell since it empowered all conjuration summons not just necromancy. I gave a thumbs up and Stephan and Kyne freed the mages from their eternal spell keep.

Morokei roared as the barrier broke. The cover and rope fell onto Morokei. That was the moment he was doomed as summoned three flaming familiars. They jumped into action and ran straight for Morokei.

As soon as they made contact with him, fire exploded forward. It engulfed Morokei even as he tore away the messy rope covering. He roared out once more, "You dare! I wi-"

His words were cut off as I fired a bolt of Lich's Bane into his face. His mask went flying and he slammed into the wall. His grip on the staff of magnus remained though. It was almost impressive, I unsheathed Sable Wave.

Morokei weakly raised the staff, "You... You monster, die!"

Pure Mana fired from the staff and I ducked out of the way and sliced forward with my sword. I smiled as I received a level up in Acrobatics. Morokei scoffed, "Even if I die, I will live on. Tell Savos Aren that I will meet him in the afterlife."

My smile grew wider, "What do you mean? Unless I kill him... I don't think you will meet him again."

The mummified face of the dragon priest contorted. However the purple magic of Soul Trap washed over him while I stabbed him in the chest. Sure enough his soul was extracted into the star prison and I received a new spell. I hadn't really expected that to work, but when the dragon priest didn't die... I simply had to test it.

Viree stared at me, "Did you just Soul trap him?"

I broke from my sadistic joy of trapping an ancient priest. "Ah, yeah. What about it?"

She shrugged, "Was just wondering." She pointed to the Staff of Magnus. "That is the artifact we needed from here?"

I picked up the Staff of Magnus along with Morokei's hand still attached. I pulled the mummified hand off as Stephan and Kyne walked over. "Yo, that the artifact?"

I nodded, "Did you get his mask? I blasted it away."

Kyne raised it into the air. Stephan nodded, "It has a good effect on it."

I nodded, it was a good item for Kyne to have. It normally increased mana regen and was supposed to reduce shout cooldowns. However this version of it likely still had the mana regen, but most likely empowered shouts.

Viree pointed, "What does it do? You are able to tell aren't you?"

Stephan nodded, "Increased mana regen, allows mana empowerment of Thu'um. So I guess it makes Kyne's shouts cost mana, but get stronger."

Oh, that was good. Kyne didn't really use mana so the empowerment effect was useful for him.

"We should leave, we are on a timer. We can talk about the rewards we get from all this later."

The group nodded and I lead the way forward. I paused just before the door to leave though. I gestured and Viree acted. Stephan and Kyne looked confused, but they followed her lead. They stood to the side of the door and I opened it.

A thalmor agent stood outside the door and I raised my hands. "Whoa there bud, no need for the magic. Illia are you fine?"

Illia nodded as the Thalmor agent responded. "Don't move! Either of you, the moment you do I will kill her."

This guy, his name was... "Estormo right?"

He froze, "How do you know my name."

I used A Wardrobe's Theater and shifted my race to that of an Altmer and even changed my gender. The more powerful I could make my speechcraft here the better. "Can I take off my helmet?"

He nodded, "Keep your hands open though."

"Understood." I slowly grabbed my helmet and pulled it off my head. Revealing my new features, I heard Stephan cover his mouth. Thankfully though Estormo didn't notice. I spoke once more, "I work for Grand Sage Muril, I mean I worked for."

Estormo hesitated, "Who is this wench then?"

I laughed, "My slave obviously? Are you stupid? I need her alive though, and I need her happy. Good hands are hard to find."

Estormo nodded and pushed her away. "Go to your master."

She walked forward and I casted the spell Sync Mind and sent a telepathic whisper to her. "Keep your head down, don't act surprised. Hand me the Diadem of the Savant and say master when you do."

Illia acted as a decent actor, even as she shook in anger at being captured by a Thalmor agent. She pulled out the circlet and held it out to me. "H-Here you are master."

I took the circlet from her as she hid behind me. Estromo spoke again, "So you have the staff?"

I looked at him, "Yes I do, before Muril's death he wanted to acquire it to test its effects on... I don't know if you are clearance for all the details. So I will leave it at that, I don't know how much Ancano told you after all."

Estormo nodded, "That is understood sir, but what do I call you?"

I laughed, "You do not recognize me? I am Justicar Keltmra!"

Estormo stared at me, "Why are you wearing such strange armor?"

I rolled my eyes, "Do you know how hard it is to travel around in our normal garb? I've been nearly stabbed by 8 people before I sourced this armor from Ancarion."

Estormo blinked, "Oh! That's Stalhrim?"

I nodded, "Though it was all the Stalhrim he could get for now. Hopefully he will be able to source more and armor more of our agents and Justicars." I took a second to scoff, "We are off topic! Why do you need the staff?"

Estormo nodded, "My master Ancano wants me to acquire the staff to control an artifact the college of winterhold found. He currently is controlling it to prevent their interference. However a mage named Gwenn is trying to stop him."

I nodded along, "Has she left the college yet?"

Estormo shook his head, "No sir! She is stuck within one of the barriers Ancano set up along with all the mages of the College."

I gave a single nod, "Lead me to Ancano! I will lend him the staff to achieve his goals. I will still require it for my own tasks though."

Estormo nodded believing every word I spoke. The only speechcraft perk I hadn't gotten yet was the intimidation perks. However he was full deceived, to the point that I received another skill level up.

I pointed with the staff, "I assume you have a way to get to the college quickly. Estormo nodded and he took out a scroll.

"He gave me 5 scrolls of teleport as well as one scroll of mass teleport if I needed to acquire reinforcements from Eastwatch." Estormo was explaining everything so helpfully, to the point I didn't think I need to summon Maarnid. "Let's head outside. I need to acquire my horse."

He nodded and the moment he turned I stepped aside. This allowed Illia to launch a single Ice Spike into Estormo's head. His head exploded and his body dropped to the ground. Once Estormo was dead Kyne spoke. "How did you change your face? If we didn't see your original face we would've believed you were an Altmer."

I deactivated the power given by Amalgamate's Deception. "Just a daedric artifact I picked up. There is an artifact for everything, combine that with my speechcraft and I barely have to sound convincing."

Stephan laughed, "It surprised me that's for sure."

Illia kicked Estormo in the side, "Bastard got me as I stepped out of the maze. I couldn't even fight back since I wasn't sure about you guys."

I responded as I looted Estormo. "Well, you certainly got vengeance."

I finally equipped the Diadem of the Savant to my belt. Illia stopped me though, "I also found this on the dremora."

She handed me a book and I looked at it with some surprise. it was a book written by Shalidor, but it wasn't one of his insights. Illia shrugged, "I couldn't read it."

I looked inside and looked at it oddly. It was a language I couldn't recognize at first. It was in the Elder language. How the hell would I translate this? The elder language only appeared on the Elder Scrolls. I pocketed the strange book, "Thanks, I have no idea how to translate it. Let's get out of here seriously though."

I took out the scroll of mass teleport. This would be faster than summoning Maarnid. "Everyone has there boot straps on?"

They all nodded and I activated the the scroll.

----Wow, really really long Chapter. If you see any typos comment, I'll fix it. By the way I just got to the Blade in the Dark quest in my new playthrough of skyrim. Fuck that quest and Fuck Delphine. Worst fucking quest giver in the game while being the most glitchy. Needed that one off the chest, as I hate her so much.----