Kothet's Story, A dremora in Skyrim, and his housecarl. Options

[Acadian]

Yay, Elisef! And G’wen sneaks back in as well.

Let’s see. . . Torygg, Ulfric, Tulius and the Emperor all out of the picture. The future of Skyrim is wide open. The primary remaining power players appear to be the Thalmor, dragons and the Dragonborn.


Nit: ’We'll need to figure out whether I make an [a] sudden or gradual recovery.’

[Renee]

Mm hmm, three subjects, one bed...I can see where that scenario is going too. Mm hmm. Some polygons gonna do some smashing, mm hmm.

I did some Wabbajack quest (or quests?) in Skyrim but this happened was so long ago. Love all the Sheogorath bits, and the perspective your dremora has with his knowledge of daedric feats and general lore fits well into this story.

This post has been edited by Renee: Mar 26 2017, 11:13 PM

[ghastley]

Acadian: I think I originally wrote immediate and then edited badly.

Dragons are the big imponderable going forward. Kothet is trying to ponder, but he's in the middle of it.

Renee: Sheogorath just fit that part of the story in so many ways, Kothet had to do that quest, even if the quest itself was an irrelevance. It gives Elisif her excuse, It gives Kothet some insights, and generally moves it all along.

-----------

Previously G'wen arrived at Kothet's Tower, on her way to rejoin Titus.

-----------

35 - Words

I became aware that the women were treating this as a competition, and I was the playing field. It shouldn't have surprised me. Dremora are naturally competitive. It's our only avenue for improvement, as we can't just leave it to the next generation to correct our mistakes. And mortals, too, will compete, for much the same reasons.

It seemed to be one of those games where there weren't any losers, so I didn't really care, except to worry if I'd made myself enough potions to restore my endurance.

---

Lying there with an arm wrapped around each of them as they dozed, I found myself comparing the two of them. One small and mortal, one larger and immortal. One new and intriguing, one ... and there I stopped, as the only mortal word I knew - familar - had all the wrong connotations. Our relationship - no, that was a inappropriate mortal word too - connection(?) wasn't based on reproduction, and the structures associated with that. The term "camaraderie" didn't go far enough, and everything beyond that seemed to go towards families again.

Zahra and I worked well together because we fit each other's needs, and covered each other's limitations. We each seemed to know what the other wanted, and wanted it too.

Which all should have left G'wen as a bit disappointing, but it hadn't. Zahra's "unfair" advantage hadn't made things one-sided at all. She was adaptable, and a quick learner, as she needed to be in her chosen career as an assassin, and she'd done well.

So now I was thinking about the differences and the similarities again, as those were features I admired in Zahra, too.

And my thoughts wandered off along the linguistic thread, too. Did the lack of terms I found in mortal language mean that they couldn't understand immortality, and its consequences? Was this in some way related to why dragons couldn't comprehend Dragonrend? That brought me back to wondering, as I'd done before, how I could understand it. But G'wen had just reminded me that I had a lot in common with mortals, so perhaps it wasn't so impossible. I did seem to be uniquely positioned in between men and dragons, and thus able to live in both worlds.

And that thought suddenly made me realise why Dagon had left me here on Nirn. If he recalled me to the Deadlands, he could never send me back. If he wanted any representation here, he'd have to leave me, and any others like me who were here when the Gates closed. Letting me summon Zahra doubled his numbers, but he couldn't go beyond that. It also pleased me to understand that he couldn't risk splitting us apart for that reason. If he tried to substitute anyone else, I would not accept that, and he'd have one fewer dremora here.

That was a pleasant thought to fall asleep on.

---

I woke in the morning with another revelation. Pondering mortals and immortals had somehow improved my understanding of "Slen Tiid Vo". And somewhere in there was the hint that it was partly the complement to Dragonrend, which I could understand, but dragons couldn't. Was that why only Alduin used that shout? Was he different from the other dragons, but more similar to me? I wasn't too happy about that idea, as I saw nothing to admire in him.

---

My nose told me that the competition between the ladies had moved on to the provision of breakfast, as there were way more delicious smells of cooking wafting up than usual. I went down to find a significant spread on the dining table.

Now it was clear that they were waiting to see what I chose first. By carefully watching the reactions when I moved toward one item or another, I managed to fill my plate equally with contributions from both, and leave the "result" undecided. I probably could have guessed most of them without watching the cooks' faces, as G'wen had a bias to meat dishes, that Bosmers never seem to lose.

And it was a good thing to have a substantial breakfast, as we'd be travelling all day, and not really passing anywhere to stop for another meal. The most direct route to the landing, where we'd put G'wen on the boat, avoided any towns.

---

It probably started because the giant thought the dragon wanted to eat his cow. And when we passed by, the dragon thought we'd joined the giant's side of the dispute. Whatever the beginning, the end was a dead giant, and a dead dragon. The cow probably had the sense to run away, because we couldn't find it after.

I was reluctant to try it at first, as I wasn't sure what the result of a failure would be, but I shouted "Slen Tiid Vo" at the dragon's bones. Glancing sideways a moment to make sure I hadn't resurrected the giant, I looked back to see the flesh re-forming around the huge skeleton, and the familiar swirl of light as the magic happened.

A number of other dragons had heard me shout, and by the time this one raised his head once more, there were a circle of others to help him with his confusion at being restored by someone other than Alduin. I only caught a little of what they were saying, but "Dovahkiin" came up a lot.

Paarthurnax' name was mentioned, and I got the impression that they were taking this one to talk with him. That made sense, as who knew the whole story better? They all circled above us in salute before heading off towards the Throat of the World.

---

The rest of the trip was without any major incident. There are always wolves, of course, but we didn't even pass any bandits or Forsworn. They've generally learned not to tangle with us anyway.

The boat was waiting exactly where we'd sent off Titus a week or so before. I peered out sea, but as usual, visibility wasn't too far, and I couldn't see any waiting ship. We waved to G'wen as the sailor rowed her out into the mist.

---

When we reached the Tower again, we found Paarthurnax perched on the rocks near the top, where we could comfortable converse with him from the platform. He asked me when I'd learned the shout, and how.

I still didn't understand the how, but I'd heard Alduin use it several times, at Kynesgrove, and later at a couple more dragon mounds. So the words were familiar, and I'd participated in his final defeat in Sovngarde, where I might have picked up some of his knowledge of their meaning. And G'wen and Zahra may have helped me understand more.

"The words themselves are but a small part," Paarthurnax agreed. "Or else I would be restoring my fallen comrades to Skyrim. And there are few other shouts that I do not know. Dragonrend, of course, and perhaps this one is its kin. A Shout not made by the dov, but by someone else, perhaps Akatosh himself.

"And I fear that like Dragonrend, this is a shout I cannot learn. Perhaps no dovah can, although clearly Alduin was an exception. But he was first, so perhaps he was different from the rest."

"While Alduin was lost in time, there was none capable of restoring a defeated dovah," I reminded him, "and so the dragons disappeared from Skyrim for centuries. Only you remained, isolated on the top of the Throat of the World, where none but the Greybeards could go. If Dagon decides to recall me to the Deadlands, that can happen again.

"Alduin could not be defeated here in Skyrim, which is why dragons could never be eliminated by the Akaviri. Only when Alduin was cast adrift on the currents of time, could they do anything. I do not have that degree of permanence, except by Dagon's whim."

"Are the lesser Daedra that tied to their Princes? I thought that Seducers could be found in more than one of the Oblivion Realms."

"The Kyn, too. But each individual has to depend on a patron for restoration, and mine is Mehrunes Dagon."

"And is that immutable? Cannot another Daedric Prince take his place? Do any others court your allegiance? Have you done any favours that could be repaid?"

This post has been edited by ghastley: Mar 28 2017, 07:29 PM

[Acadian]

I very much enjoyed Kothet’s reflection on the pair of beautiful ladies and his relationship with the larger jiggly one vs the smaller long-eared one.

How revealing of Kothet to bring the vanquished dragon back to life and the subsequent conversation with Paarhurnax.

As a traveler in ESO’s Tamriel, I can attest that the lesser daedra can indeed inhabit differing realms. Plenty of winged twilights working under the patronage of several Daedric Princes.


Nit: ’We each seemed to to know what the other wanted,’

[ghastley]

Today would have had Kothet start Azura's quest, but I didn't like the way it was going, so I'm re-writing. The presence of Dremora inside the Star with Malyn Varen has always suggested Mehrunes Dagon's involvement to me, especially as corrupting the Star itself needs more power than Varen probably ever had. I mentioned that in Clark's version, too.

That makes Azura the perfect choice to adopt Kothet as her Champion, as she'd appreciate the extra revenge offered by taking one of his own.

What derailed the story is my trying to tie up the loose end of Aranea, who's left without visions, and not much to do. Kothet doesn't want another follower, but he'd feel a duty to repay her for the disruption he's caused, in some way. I have some ideas, but they'll take a bit of working out.

[Renee]

It seemed to be one of those games where there weren't any losers, so I didn't really care, except to worry if I'd made myself enough potions to restore my endurance.

Ha ha this made me laugh! He's drinking endurance potions just to keep up!

And that thought suddenly made me realise why Dagon had left me here on Nirn. If he recalled me to the Deadlands, he could never send me back. If he wanted any representation here, he'd have to leave me, and any others like me who were here when the Gates closed. Letting me summon Zahra doubled his numbers, but he couldn't go beyond that

I love this part. Because it almost seems like you just discovered this fact about Kothet as you were gaming, or maybe as you were writing this. Moments like this always add to the RPing experience, broaden it, and so forth.

[ghastley]

Acadian: The post-Alduin fate of the dov is one of Skyrim's untidiest loose ends. In-game they keep respawning even after he's gone, without any explanation of the source. Now it's Kothet, and eventually they'll all be on his side. Aranea's a lesser, looser end, and we'll deal with her next.

Renee: It may have looked sudden on my part, but that was decided when I started to write Kothet's story. I suppose it might have been sudden then.

----------

Previously: Kothet was beginning to understand words, even if he'd never understand women. In particular, "Slen Tiid Vo", the shout that raised dragons. He'd discussed this with Paarthurnax, and decided he needed some insurance that he could continue to restore them in future.

--------

36 - Azura

Paarthurnax had a good point. If I could get myself adopted by one of the other Daedric Princes, perhaps I could ensure my continued existence here. Although I knew that Dagon would be reluctant to recall me to the Deadlands, and lose one of his few representatives here, the temptation to disrupt the dragons would be a big one for him.

So who were the candidates, and how do I go about making contact? I knew of a few of the other Princes' shrines. Meridia and Azura had statues that could be seen near Solitude and Winterhold, and I'd heard that Boethiah had one, too. If any of the others had shrines, they were hidden away, and I didn't know where to find them.

I had something in common with Meridia: a hatred of necromancers. But I doubted her ability to stand up to Dagon, if there was any dispute over me. Azura, on the other hand, was no friend of Mehrunes Dagon, and I know he respected her enough to defer.

So it wasn't a hard choice to make. It just remained to be seen whether she'd respond to my request.

---

Azura's Priestess, Aranea Ilenth, a Dunmer with a serious expression but sparkling eyes, was expecting us. She'd seen our coming in a vision that Azura had given her. I got the impression that she was disappointed about that, so I asked.

"Usually, when Azura gives me a vision, it's in a dream. She sends men to me to ask about their future, and if they make me tired and satisfied, I dream vividly, and tell them all about it in the morning. It's an arrangement that suits me well, and getting the dream without the ... preparation ... was a bit of let-down this time. But I can see why it happened that way." She looked over at Zahra, and I knew what she meant.

The vision involved a "fortress endangered by water, yet untouched by it" and finding an "elven mage able to turn the brightest star as black as night". Aranea told us that she believed the fortress was the town of Winterhold, and the "star" was none other than Azura's Star, the fabled indestructible soul gem that had been lost for decades. She believed that Azura wanted me to find that lost artifact, and return it.

Winterhold was hardly "untouched", but the destruction had been caused by the tremors and landslides in the aftermath of the eruption of the Red Mountain. The water was far below the town, and waves beat in futility on the cliffs. We had no idea who the elf would be so we decided to ask at the tavern, and the patron we chose to ask turned out to be the one we were looking for. Nelacar knew all about Azura's Star, as he'd been working with Malyn Varen at the College when the latter got possession of the gem.

The senior mage had been dying of some incurable disease, and had seen the Star as a possible way to preserve himself. If he could only adapt the Star to hold his own soul, he could effectively become immortal, he thought. Nelacar thought that this desperate attempt was what drove Malyn insane, or perhaps Azura did that, in revenge for what Malyn was doing to the Star. Whichever it was, he'd killed a student as part of his research, and got himself thrown out of the College. He'd taken most of his other students to Illinalta's Deep, an abandoned fortress at the edge of the lake in Falkreath Hold. Nelacar hadn't gone with them, but he'd been ejected from the College, too.

"Whatever you do, don't take the Star back to Azura. She'll drive you mad, too, just like she did to Malyn Varen. The Daedra are evil, ..." Nelacar had just noticed that he was talking to one, and his argument wasn't working.

---

Illinalta's Deep had been abandoned, because it was sinking into the lake. The door must have been submerged long ago, but there was a trapdoor on one of the towers that looked like it might lead somewhere. The water level inside wasn't as high as it was outside, so it looked like we'd be able to access the rest of the building without having to swim.

We knew that the place would be full of necromancers. Zahra has a justifiable fear of necromancers, as they have spells that can banish her back to Oblivion. So she treats them in much the same way she does spiders, which is to blast them with fireballs, even after they're dead. I didn't have to do much to help her, until we got to the stairs that led up the final tower. I had her wait behind me, as I feared that the blast from her spells would scatter everything, and if the Star was here, I didn't want to risk burying it in debris.

As it turned out, there was nobody in the chamber, just a skeleton seated on a chair, with a book at his feet, and the Star on top of it. I picked them up, and read the contents of the book. It appeared that the skeleton was Malyn Varen's and he'd completed his work. Which meant that he was now inside the Star.

It looked very much the worse for wear. The crystal was cracked and chipped, as if it had taken a powerful beating to get Malyn into it. Perhaps it had. I had to take it back to Azura, though, whatever its condition.

---

Back at the shrine, Aranea was as horrified at the condition of the Star as I had been, but told me to lay it on the Altar, and ask Azura what could be done about it. The Princess told me that nothing could be done until Malyn Varen had been evicted, and I would be the one to do that.

"I can send you inside the Star," she told me. "And I will watch over you while you are there. I cannot send your companion with you, however. You'll have to do this alone."

Actually, she probably could have sent Zahra with me, but only by breaking the spell that bound her to me, and she was sure I wouldn't want that.

---

Malyn Varen wasn't alone in the Star, and I didn't believe who he had with him. There were three Dremora mages waiting to defend him. Something told me that Varen didn't do this without help, and Dagon was likely involved.

The mages didn't disappear back to the Deadlands when they fell, either. And fall they did, as their fire spells had little effect on me, but my war-hammer had a lot of effect on them. Varen retreated further into the depth of the crystal, firing shock spells at me as he went. I followed in no particular hurry, as he was depleting his magicka with all that lightning, and I could bide my time until he ran out.

When he could run no farther, he drew a pitiful dagger, and made a brief stand. Soon, though Azura was thanking me, and telling me to gather anything I needed before she pulled me back out. I took the hearts from the mages, in case I decided to make any more weapons and armor.

---

When I stood again before Azura's altar, the Star was whole again. The cracks and chips were gone, and it glowed in a way it hadn't before. Azura addressed me as her champion, and told me that the restored Star was mine to keep.

She'd spoken to Aranea, too, who told me that she'd been informed that she'd received her last vision from Azura. She wasn't sure what she'd do now. Did I need another companion? She'd be proud to serve Azura through her Champion.

I don't need any more than Zahra. Even if she hadn't been standing there listening, I'd have told Aranea that. But has anything really changed, I asked her. Pilgrims will still come to the shrine, and she's still the priestess.

"But the men come for the visions, to find out their future. What happens now?"

"What sort of visions, or dreams, did you have?' I asked.

"It varied, but generally it was treasure for them to find. Most of them, anyway, but Azura wasn't always fair. It seemed that the ones who treated me poorly, and only satisfied themselves, were told of the best treasures.

"There was one man I really liked, and he always treated me well, but Azura would only tell me about minor things, like a farm that was for sale at a good price, or a small amount of gold in a lost chest. Still, it did mean that he came back for more. The others came here once, and I never saw them again. I suppose that's because they got all they needed the first time."

"Or that those treasures you sent them to search for were well-guarded," Zahra suggested. "Did the same treasures come up more than once?"

"I'd not really given it any thought, but you may be right!" Aranea exclaimed. "But that means, they didn't get them, did they? And they didn't come back because ..."

"So perhaps a cheap farm, or a small amount of gold, could be a better reward after all," Zahra continued. "I think that your farmer friend got what he deserved."

"Gets. He's the only one that I see here regularly. And what do I tell him now? Sorry, Azura's all dried up, and there's no more for you."

"Perhaps he won't mind," I remarked. "He could be coming here just to worship Azura."

That was enough to make Zahra collapse in a fit of giggles. Aranea didn't understand what she was laughing about.

---

I wasn't concerned at leaving Aranea at the shrine, now that we'd learned that Azura had made provision for her. Her Dunmer farmer would be there tomorrow, if he kept to his usual routine, and we were sure they'd work something out.

[Acadian]

Yay, Azura! Excellent choice!

"Whatever you do, don't take the Star back to Azura. She'll drive you mad, too, just like she did to Malyn Varen. The Daedra are evil, ..." Nelacar had just noticed that he was talking to one, and his argument wasn't working.’ - -

Aww, nice to see that Aranea gets a happy ending.

And Kothet is the champion to a Daedra Lord who cares a little more about her followers than Dagon does about his.

[ghastley]

Acadian: There aren't a lot of choices among the Daedric Princes that aren't a case of frying pans and fires. Nocturnal's a bit inaccessible if you're not in the Thieves Guild. Meridia's a possibility, but Dawnbreaker doesn't suit either Kother or Zahra, and he's already found and avoided her beacon.

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

Previously: Kothet had collected himself a new sponsor, and a nice-looking Star.

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

37 - Brelyna

We went back into Winterhold, to spend the night at the tavern before deciding where to go next. We were surprised to find Brelyna, the young mage we'd met the last time we visited the College, sitting at the bar.

She'd only just found out where Orthorn, the novice mage who'd stolen the books she needed, had fled to.

"He's gone to Fellglow Keep, an old fort between here and Whiterun. Apparently there were a number of mages expelled from the College, and he went off to join them. When people get thrown out, it's either because they did dangerous experiments they weren't allowed to, or they were doing necromancy. In this case, I suspect the latter."

"And you're still here, because...?"

"Because if it was just Orthorn I had to deal with, I wouldn't have a problem. Now I know there are experienced older mages there, I don't feel confident in going alone. When we all went to Saarthal, it was different. I had you two and Tolfdir to help me, and we still only just managed to deal with Jyrik Gauldurson, working together.

"I've been practising my skills, and I can cast a better armour spell these days, and conjure stronger atronachs, but I still don't have enough magicka to cast destruction spells as well. And that's even with Jyrik's amulet helping me. I have to use a staff for that, and worry about the charge running out when I can't afford it."

Zahra seemed to be interested in the idea of hunting necromancers, so we decided to help her again. We wouldn't have Tolfdir, the Master Alteration teacher, with us this time, but with Brelyna's higher skills we should manage.

It should be a workable team, then," Zahra agreed. "We'll plan the route over breakfast tomorrow."


---

As we ate our morning sweetrolls, we talked about spells and alchemy and enchanting. Brelyna had told us that one of her big problems was keeping her staff charged. She had enough magicka to re-cast her atronachs and mage armour whenever they ran out, but once the staff ran out, she couldn't afford to cast offensive spells 'by hand'.

I gave her a handful of filled petty and lesser gems I'd collected. "I don't use these, as my war-hammer's not enchanted, and Zahra doesn't use a staff. I have a lot more unfilled ones, but don't know the spell to fill them."

"You should learn it," Zahra told me. "Now you have Azura's Star, it would be a waste not to make use of it."

Brelyna was suitably impressed that I had the Star. "I know that spell, but only on touch, and I'm always too far away, if I have any control over the situation. What you really need is to have it enchanted on your weapon, so you don't have think about casting."

"But if you enchant the weapon only with Soul Trap, what benefit do you get? You want extra damage on it, too," Zahra pointed out.

"Two enchantments? That's something the expert enchanters can do, but it's well beyond me," Brelyna replied.

I wasn't too concerned. The war-hammer did quite enough damage the way it was. My smithing skill had seen to that, and every time I got the chance, I checked to see if I could improve it further. Still, being able to intimidate enemies with an obvious fire or frost effect, that they could see when I hit their comrades, would be a nice bonus. I think I'd prefer fire, as then Zahra's spells would stack more fire on top.

I made a mental note to look out for those enchantments on the lesser weapons I usually discarded. When I started out, I'd collect those, just for the added selling value, but lately I'd stopped concerning myself with mere gold.

---

Since we weren't going back to Azura's shrine, the road took us past Fort Kastav. We saw a skeleton patrolling the walls, and when it saw us, it raised its bow to take a shot at us. That didn't happen, as both Zahra and Brelyna hit it with fire and shock before it could release the arrow.

However, that brought necromancers running out from inside the walls, and one of them hit Zahra with a Banish Daedra spell.

We'd talked about it after the first time, back in Sunderstone Gorge, and Zahra had told me to summon her straight back into the fray, so I did. And that gave her the satisfaction of returning the compliment. Of course, nobody would be restoring the necromancer!

When the place was cleared, Brelyna asked me about it. "I thought you told me you didn't have much conjuration skill. But you can conjure a dremora mage?"

"She's special. I'm not so much conjuring her, as helping her return. She's my housecarl, which is more than just a summon. And more than just a mage, too. Much more."

---

There were wolves on the road, too, and bandits. Enough to slow us, so we wouldn't reach the Nightgate Inn before dark. Just before we got there, however, I noticed the smoke of a campfire on the other side of the road. "Why would anyone camp out, when they're that close to the Inn?" I wondered.

"Bandits, perhaps?" Brelyna suggested. "Someone who wouldn't be welcome at the Inn, anyway."

"Should we investigate?" Zahra asked me. I saw no reason not to, and now I was curious.

The two we found at the campfire weren't hostile, as we'd expected, although they weren't entirely happy to see us. Salma and Been-Ja didn't want to share the treasure they were sure was inside Ironbind Barrow with anyone else.

"So why haven't you gone in and collected it already?" Zahra asked.

"We were just asking ourselves the same thing," Salma told us. "Beem-Ja's being too cautious."

"We must gather our strength. Who knows what's inside?" the Argonian replied.

"Consider it gathered," I told him. "We're going in, even if you aren't."

That was enough to get them rushing in ahead of us, fearful that we'd get to whatever treasure the place held before them.

We found spiders guarding the ice tunnels near the entrance, so of course there were a lot of fireballs flying from Zahra. Fortunately, the Redguard and the Argonian weren't so far ahead that they were close to the spiders when they struck, but I did have to remind Zahra that these two didn't have our resistance to fire.

It didn't matter, as we were soon at the entrance to a Nordic tomb, and looking for a way to unlock the grating. Brelyna found a handle hidden in an alcove and turned it, and the grating opened without a key. No sign of spider webs beyond the next door, so perhaps the fireballs would be tossed more calmly as we proceeded.

Beem-Ja was delighted. This was looking more and more like the "Gathrik's Tomb" he'd hoped to find. Presumably he'd researched the place, and had some idea of what was ahead of us, and what treasure he expected to find, but he wasn't sharing the information with us.

Some of it didn't need telling. This was a Nordic tomb, so we were encountering draugr. And the usual traps, with spears thrusting out of holes in the walls, floor, and ceiling if you trod on the wrong stone, or picked up the wrong helmet.

I was a bit surprised not to find one of those puzzle doors, with its dragon claw key. The corridor we were in looked just like those that usually led to one.

The chamber beyond it had a word wall at the far end, so my guess was that we'd arrived at our destination, and I was expecting the next draugr to be a powerful one.

What we found, however were skeletons. Two archers, and a mage with the usual frost spells. We had them outnumbered, and they quickly fell.

That's when Gathrik finally took notice. The draugr got up from his throne facing the word wall, and came towards us, brandishing an ebony longsword. I moved to intercept him before he got to Salma. She was clad in steel plate, and her sword was steel, too. This draugr was likely more than she could handle, so Beem-Ja's reticence to come in here was justified. I, however, wear legendary daedric, as is my war-hammer.

He blocked my first blow with his shield, but the others all hit him with spells. All but Salma, who was thankfully holding back at this point. That prevented him from dealing much of a riposte, and I had a second chance to swing. This time he went down.

And got back up again. Raised by Beem-Ja, who clearly wanted everything here for himself. Zahra and Brelyna turned to deal with him, as I renewed my battle with Gathrik.

He wasn't as tough the second time around, although I did have to block a couple of swings of his sword. I looked down to where the others had cornered Beem-Ja, just in time to see him fall, too.

Salma was devastated that the Argonian had turned on us. "Father never trusted Beem-Ja," she told us. "Now I know why. Take anything you want. I'll just spend a while getting myself back together, and I'll be heading home."

I approached the word wall, to find out what this one would teach me. More of Become Ethereal, it turned out. The chest nearby had a few minor items in it, and there were more behind Gathrik's throne. The steel battleaxe didn't look too inviting, but Brelyna thought it was something special.

"It's got just the enchantment you need!" she told me. "A single enchantment that has both a soul trap effect and fire damage."

"That's one enchantment?" Zahra queried. "It sounds like two."

"No there are a few special ones like this. Such as on my robes. I have fortify alteration, and regenerate magicka together as a single enchantment. It's stronger than I can manage, as these college robes are made by more experienced mages, but I've found the same on the plain black ones, at lower levels."

"So is there a way to transfer it to my war-hammer?" I asked

"Yes. It means destroying the current axe, but I don't think you care about that. Once I know the enchantment from doing that, I can apply it to any weapon. I do need to use an enchanter's bench, though, and there isn't one here."

I kept the axe. We'd find the apparatus somewhere on our travels, I was sure.

This post has been edited by ghastley: May 23 2017, 02:11 PM

[Acadian]

I love how you brought the MG into this via Brelyna. She is such a likable character. As they talked about soul trapping, firery soul trap came to mind. When you mentioned Ironbind Barrow I really smiled.

That is so good that Kothet can resummon Zahira the Jiggly – bet that was a big surprise to that pesky necrodude!


Nit: "Kother, and Zahra.” - - Spelling of Kothet.

[ghastley]

Acadian: I'd already brought Brelyna in about ten episodes ago, when K&Z had got directions to Septimus' outpost. She was supposed to go looking for Orthorn then, but it apparently took her all this time to find out where he went. I'd forgotten that they helped her in Saarthal, but I can't account for them forgetting, too. This episode may need a bit of adjustment.

Edit: changed the opening so they know each other.

This post has been edited by ghastley: May 2 2017, 06:15 PM

[ghastley]

With all that fixed, we can continue...

-----------

Previously: Brelyna had asked Kothet for help in her mission to retrieve some books for the College.

-----------

38 - Fellglow

They didn't have one at the Nightgate Inn, but they did have food, drink and a comfortable bed - for one guest. Zahra and I put our bedrolls on the floor, and let Brelyna have the bed.

We left the inn the back way, and headed south down the trail. We'd have to cross the ridge before we got to Fellglow Keep, but the road went way too far east, so the climb was still worth the effort.

At the top, at a place called Shearpoint, we found another word wall, and perched on it was a dragon. This was the first one Brelyna had ever seen, and she didn't know what to expect. I wasn't sure any more, either. Was this one going to be hostile, or had it been brought around by Paarthurnax, and his allies?

It turned out that we had more to deal with than just the dragon, and perhaps the dragon priest that rose from the coffin by the wall had some influence over the great beast. We were met with a fireball from the priest's staff, and a blast of frost from the dragon.

I told the mages to leave the dragon to me, and to try and suppress the priest's spells. Dragonrend gave me all the advantage I needed, but I'd rather fight just the one battle. We went in opposite directions, following our respective opponents.

The dragon circled back to land in front of the wall, which was really the only level ground he had available. I closed on him, trying to make his end as quick as I could. And then before the others returned from chasing the dragon priest down the hillside, I shouted "Slen Tiid Vo" at his bones, and brought him back.

---

"You let him get away?" Brelyna asked me, as I watched the dragon fly off towards the Throat of the World.

Zahra corrected her. She'd seen me do this before, and knew what had really happened. "Sent him away, is more accurate. He's gone to be re-educated, if I'm not mistaken."

"Talking of education, I wonder what this wall will teach me?" I countered, walking towards it.

It gave me all three words I could use for a new shout, except that this was almost the opposite of a shout. If I decided to make use of it, it would make my voice, and that's my normal voice, not another shout, seem like it's coming from somewhere else. I decided to leave it locked for now.

---

We were soon at Fellglow Keep, where we found a couple of mages, and a flame atronach guarding the entrance. Flames don't bother any of us much, but one of the mages knew some frost spells. Brelyna sent a frost atronach to deal with her, while we ganged up on the others.

We soon found that the main door wouldn't open for us, probably barred from the inside, but there was another door that would let us in through the old dungeons. We headed inside.

Zahra was particularly disgusted to discover that the mage we met next kept spiders as pets. There wasn't a lot left of him (or his pets) when we moved on. I hoped we wouldn't meet any more spiders as we went deeper into the ruins.

No, the next mage was keeping vampires, and they were prisoners, rather than accomplices, and rather resented their captivity. I pulled the levers operating their cell doors, and stood back and watched the mages get what was coming to them. A few of the corpses we passed in the next room weren't so fresh, as some of the vampires had already become the conjurers' victims. There were a couple of ash piles there too, as they'd apparently tried to resurrect some allies.

I was starting to think that we had a mixed bag of all the College rejects here, not just a coherent band of necromancers like I first thought. That could mean that they wouldn't be as united against us as Brelyna had feared.

We heard wolves just up the corridor ahead of us, and expected yet another variant of prohibited practices. We couldn't tell, as they were caged either side of an Altmer prisoner, who was wearing College robes. We guessed that this was Orthorn.

After dealing with his guard, and the wolves that he released to harass us, we found out that it was indeed Orthorn in the middle cage. "Aren't you going to release me?" he asked.

Brelyna considered that. She didn't really trust him, even though he obviously had been betrayed or rejected by the mages he'd followed here. "I think you'll be safer here," she told him. "We'll come back for you when we have the books."

Orthorn warned us that the Caller, the mage who ran the place, was dangerous, and we'd need him. We didn't think so.

---

The next door would have led us in to the keep itself, but it was locked. Again we had to detour around through more of the dungeon, and again we encountered conjurers and vampires. The latter were being used for target practice, and one was already dead. We didn't find out the fate of the other, as we left the conjurers as smouldering corpses and moved on into the keep.

The mages in the keep didn't appear to be conducting any banned experiments, but I didn't know all the College's rules and regulations. They were aggressive, however, and uniformly attacked us on sight, so whatever they were doing, they knew it was illegal. Most of them were wearing the robes we'd come to associate with necromancers. It was almost like a uniform for them.

The woman in the final chamber was different. a tall Altmer mage with an apparently calm disposition. Her blue robe was tied at the waist to accentuate her figure, and she exuded charisma. She was presumably the Caller, the one that Orthorn, (likely infatuated with her) had followed from the College.

She demanded to know why we were here, and Brelyna answered.

"So you're just one of Aren's lackeys? That's disappointing. You show real promise. You come here, kill my assistants, disrupt my work... You've annoyed me, so I don't think I'll be giving you anything."

That's when she attacked, summoning a flame atronach to assist her. Brelyna countered with a frost atronach of her own, and I moved in with my war-hammer, as Zahra flung fireballs. When she fell, it wasn't over, as the pedestals the books were on summoned more flame atronachs when we picked up the books.

A key we found on the Caller's body let us take a short-cut back down the tower, and find a good deal of extra loot on the way. When we released Orthorn, we asked if he'd go back to the College and ask to be reinstated. "You'll be going back to the College, then? I, uhh... I think perhaps I'll wait a bit before venturing there myself. Let this whole thing blow over, you know. Give certain parties a chance to forget what I may have done. Still, you've gotten me out of that cage, and I won't forget it. Thank you again, and good luck to you."

Brelyna didn't think she'd ever see him again, but she wasn't that concerned. The books mattered a lot more than Orthorn, and one in particular - "Night of Tears" - was related to Saarthal, and might provide the clues she needed.

---

"There's something I've been meaning to ask you," Brelyna began. "Ever since I found out that Zahra's summoned, it's been worrying me. When I summon a frost atronach, for example, it's completely under my control, and has little, if any, free will. But I know that you and Zahra are, well, you know what I mean. Doesn't it worry you that it might not be as voluntary as it should be?"

I related to her the whole story of when I first got the spell, and how she wouldn't even talk to me for so long. Well, it seemed like a long time, but it probably wasn't. I didn't go into too much detail about what happened when she first got the chance to say yes.

"I think that's why it takes so little magicka to cast the spell," I told her. "When you summon an atronach, most of the power is used to control it.

"Besides, I'm not so much summoning her, as telling her it's all right to visit again. The compacts between the realms don't allow the inhabitants to pass between them without permission. I was brought here by the Mythic Dawn, back at the end of the Third Era, and Dagon left me here, as he could never send me back. Even a Deadric Prince can't just send an army where he wants it to go. But I can invite Zahra to come here, and that's allowed. You know that only the most powerful conjurers can manage a second summon, and I'm not among them.

"Dagon gets an extra representative here this way, so he helps it all along. I'm sure he had something to do with the creation of the spell, even if it's a bit more sophisticated than his usual schemes. It may even have been Zahra's idea in the first place, and he just added his power to make it happen."

This post has been edited by ghastley: May 22 2017, 08:55 PM

[Acadian]

Aww, nice that Kothet sent that naughty dragon off to Parthy’s school for wayward dovah.

Nice handling of Orthorn and the other misfits populating Fellglow.

More good character development as Kothet answers Bre’s question about the scope of his control over Zahra.


Nit - - ’If I decided to make use of it, it would make my voice, and that's my normal voice, not a another shout, seem like it's coming from somewhere else.’ - - An extra ‘a’ in front of another.

[Renee]

The mages in the keep didn't appear to be conducting any banned experiments, but I didn't know all the College's rules and regulations. They were aggressive, however, and uniformly attacked us on sight, so whatever they were doing, they knew it was illegal. Most of them were wearing the robes we'd come to associate with necromancers. It was almost like a uniform for them.

Ha ha yeah, you know?

I like all the action in these last two chapters, and Brelyna often adds a nice touch, companion-wise. The dialog is killer too, especially anything that has to do with learning about Zahra.

You should post us a picture, if you can. I'd love to see your character + Zahra.

[ghastley]

I thought I had, but looking back, there are only screenshots taken in first-person of Zahra. The only one that shows both of them is a bit bogus, as she's wearing armour (which she doesn't). I have more one picture of player+housecarl, but that was from another game with a female PC. They were the models for the pictures in the mod documentation, but those are all solo shots, and they both have outfits they never used in the story.

I'll want to add pictures to their story on my own site, so reloading their game and shooting some is on the to-do list.

[ghastley]

Acadian: We'll be giving Bre a way to understand it first-hand.

Renee: Here's a picture of Kothet and Zahra on the platform at the top of their tower. I had to fiddle with it a lot in post-production, as I wanted them in shadow to let the glowing eyes show, but then you couldn't see the rest of them!

----------

Previously: Kothet and Zahra helped Brelyna fetch the books from Fellglow Keep.

----------

39 - Study

Brelyna wanted to study the books before she took them back to the College. If for no other reason than to determine why Orthorn chose these three in particular. They all had some connection with "the elves" but it looked like they were all written by men, and ones that didn't make any distinction between Altmer, and Bosmer, and Dunmer. Of course, some of it was historical, and those divisions hadn't been quite the same in those days. The Dunmer were Chimer then, and the Ayleids were still around.

Elven history may just have been Othorn's own area of study, rather than anything else. It could also, of course, have been what brought him into contact with the Caller in the first place, and if he was as infatuated with her as Brelyna presumed, then he'd expect her to have an interest in the same books.

"We did find them all in her chamber," Zahra pointed out. "He got that much right, at least."

---

We ended up back at our tower. That was the place Zahra and I felt most comfortable, and it was secluded enough for Brelyna to study in peace. When we arrived, Zahra and I changed into our usual house-robes, and turned to see Brelyna rummaging in her satchel for a change of clothes.

She pulled a five-foot staff out of the ten-inch square satchel and peered into its depths. then she reached deep down into it and pulled out a piece of soft, but wrinkled silk.

Zahra was looking on incredulously. "You're a conjurer, and you still do that by hand?"

It seemed she was just as surprised that Brelyna let her clothes get all messed up at the bottom of the bag, too.

Brelyna explained that she'd put all her effort into summoning atronachs as allies. "They can buy me the time to find the right staff for the circumstances, so it's more effective that way."

Zahra wasn't convinced. The little magic it took to swap your equipment, whether that was your outfit, or your weapons, was always worth spending first, before you started summoning allies, or casting fireballs. "Do you at least know the spells to do that?"

Brelyna admitted she'd never learned them, because others had taken priority.

"Then we should do something about that. A conjurer will find these easy to learn."

---

It appeared that Brelyna wasn't easily trained. She had a good understanding of magical principles, but needed to practice a lot before spells went according to plan.

"So what exactly did you just do?" Zahra asked her.

"I took off my College robes, put them in the bag, pulled out the silk one, and put it on." Brelyna answered. "What did I do wrong?"

"Those were all the right steps, but in the wrong order," Zahra explained. "Even with magic, it takes time for it all to happen, so between taking off the one set of clothes, and putting on the other, you're not wearing anything. And I mean nothing. Don't you have any underwear? Or are you just doing that to tease Kothet?"

I didn't mind being teased like that. Really. But I didn't say anything. Apparently I didn't have to.

"Look what you've done to him already," Zahra said, pointing at me.

If I'd still been wearing my armour, they wouldn't have noticed, although it would have been rather uncomfortable in that rigid shell.

"First, you're going to get that spell right, and then you're going to do something about Kothet," Zahra told her, in a stern voice that I knew she was using to avoid laughing out loud. "Now, first you summon out the replacement outfit .. go on, do it ... then you swap what you're wearing .. now do that ... and then you put the other one away again."

It took quite a few minutes of practice before Brelyna did it consistently right. So I got teased a few more times, and by the time Zahra decided she'd done enough spell-casting, I was ready for something else.

"Now you should see to Kothet," Zahra told Brelyna.

"Should 1? I mean, may I? What about you?"

"Just get on with it before I change my mind."

---

Perhaps it was being back at our tower that gave Zahra the idea. "You remember the book you found here; the one that taught you to summon me?"

How could I forget? That was the best thing that ever happened to me, or at least the means to get it.

"Well, you may also remember that you had alternatives, and obviously chose the right one for you. But the others were real options, and there are two other dremora that were ready to come here if you made the wrong choice."

I think I detected a slight bias in the way she was describing it, but she was right.

"Let me try something," Zahra said, and began to concentrate. "There, back on the side-table."

I looked over, and saw what looked like the same book, back where I'd found it.

"It won't work for you again. You already read it, so you can't learn the spell twice. But Brelyna hasn't read it ... She'll have a different perspective when she chooses, too."

Brelyna didn't quite understand. She didn't know what the book was about, after all, but she was at least familar with the way spell-tomes worked.

"Oh wow! A new summoning spell! And I get a choice, too."

"Before you do, indulge my curiosity," I asked her. "I got three options, and chose Zahra. What choices are you getting?"

"Just two. Male, or Female. What would a third option have been?"

"Well when I had the choice, there were two female options: ally or companion. I was confident enough in my combat abilities to know which would be preferable."

"Does that mean that the male option might be a bit ... er ... unsuited to my tastes?"

"Just that he'd be primarily a fighter, and you'll have to train him yourself for anything else," Zahra assured her.

"You'll have no difficulty with that," I added. "but I do need to expand on that point. When you summon him, you won't be getting a fully-trained Valkynaz, encased in a complete set of daedric armour, like the summoning spell you've been aspiring to. He'll be a lesser rank, and ready to grow with you. When I summoned Zahra the first time, she didn't know a fraction of the spells she does now."

We'd obviously convinced her, as the book disappeared, and she eagerly cast her new spell.

We hadn't yet mentioned that where you cast it was important, so we had to deal with his initial disorientation. He - his name was Ranyu - was expecting to defend his new mistress from some imminent danger, and was not ready to find himself naked in someone's bedroom. At least everyone else was naked, too, and apparently not hostile.

I must say he handled it rather well. Especially as he had the further complication of being in the presence of a higher-ranking member of the Kyn, and having to reconcile his duties to his mistress with deference to me, and Zahra, as my companion. Still, I wish my introduction to Tamriel had been anything like this!

[ghastley]

Previously: Brelyna learned to summon her own dremora, and she likes him.

----------

40 - Ranyu

We found out the following day that he was an archer. He wore the lightest of dremora armour, which delighted Brelyna, as she got to see his muscles all the time. I recalled when I was hoping I had that effect on Zahra. That wasn't all that long ago. How far we'd come in so little time!

The women sent us out hunting for fresh meat. Ranyu would probably do most of the work with his bow, but I had one, too, and knew my way around better than he did. We could stay in the hills, and hunt goats, or go down to the valley, and look for deer. I asked before we left which we needed, as that would give me an idea how long they wanted us gone.

Naturally, the first creature we encountered was a cave bear, and I had to summon my heavy armour and war-hammer for that. Bear meat's not the best, and we had enough pelts, so we just took the claws. They're light, and Brelyna would know if she wanted them for alchemy. I couldn't remember what they were used for, as it was a long time since I made any potions.

I think that was the last kill I made that day. Ranyu could see farther than I could, and was more accurate with his bow. I drew a heavier one than he did, but once you have enough strength to make the kill, anything else is wasted. I used mine for combat, not hunting, so I didn't much care.

And I could carry more of the meat and horns, so I did. When we got back, it looked like he was the hunter, and I was just the porter. Brelyna apparently thought so, anyway.

---

Zahra had been talking to Brelyna about how she'd have to adapt to Ranyu. She wouldn't be able to summon an atronach without sending him back, so she had to lose that habit quickly. And then there was the problem with her accommodations at the College, and the lack of privacy. With her Dunmer proclivities, and his eagerness to impress his new mistress, nobody wanted her to get thrown out for being disruptive.

Brelyna didn't think she'd be spending much time at the College, anyway. She had the impression that the orb that they'd found at Saarthal was going to become her main item of study, whether she wanted that or not. She'd been sent on this mission to fetch the books already, and was expecting more of the same when she got back. Which should be soon, or the Archmage would be getting annoyed with her.

"I can teleport myself back to Winterhold, but will Ranyu go with me?" she asked.

"If I don't, just summon me when you get there. That's what the spell's for," he reminded her.

I pointed out that Winterhold was a lot colder than here, so they'd both better remember to cover up a bit before they left.

"And remember how to cast that spell properly," Zahra added. "You don't need to tease him."

---

"There was something different about Brelyna , when we got back from hunting, but I can't quite put my finger on it." I looked at Zahra with a questioning expression.

"New hairstyle, for one. She wears a mages's hood most of the time for the enchantment, and so she wants a style under that which won't let it tangle. But when she takes it off, she wants a different style that looks good. So I taught her how to use alteration magic to change it."

"You're becoming quite the teacher. Should I take you to the College, and get you a job there?"

"Then the lack of private quarters would be our problem, as well as Brelyna's, wouldn't it? And I prefer the job I have, and I like it well enough here."

---

We had a visit from Paarthurnax a few days later. He was concerned about the "disturbance in the currents of time" that he could feel. He didn't have a clear picture of what was going on, but it involved me, and a lot of magic, and probably that Dunmer girl, Brelyna, and the College.

So her re-appearance on our doorstep at the end of the week wasn't a complete surprise. The pair of them looked different. Ranyu had a light cuirass on, apparently no longer needing to display to her, and she had a new robe, that didn't look like College issue.

And no hood, so her hair was more attractive than usual. She noticed me noticing, and explained.

"When I got back to the College, I found a Psijic monk waiting to speak with me. A real one, not a mystic vision. And after he had, I found this robe hanging in my wardrobe. It's got a much stronger enchantment than the College one, so I don't need to wear a hood any more. And the design on it is similar to the ones the Psijic was wearing, so I think he brought for me.

"Anyway, the monk told me to go talk to the Augur of Dunlain, who was down in the crypts under the College, and he sent me back to the Archmage, who sent me to Mirabelle, who sent me to Mzulft."

"And when did you find time to learn that new hairstyle?" Zahra asked her.

Brelyna looked a bit embarrassed about that. "It was supposed to be the style you taught me, but I got it wrong. Ranyu said he liked it better this way, so I kept it."

"But you've already been to this Mzulft and back?" I asked.

"Yes, but that accounts for just about all the time since we were here last. Everything else happened in the College itself, including the explosion that killed the Archmage."

"That sounds like things are getting serious. Paarthurnax' premonitions were right."

I had to explain who Paarthurnax was. I'd probably mentioned him to Brelyna before, but Ranyu needed to know, too.

And Brelyna needed to explain to us about the Eye of Magnus, and Ancano, and all the rest of it. She was full of praise for Ranyu's archery against the malevolent magical anomalies that had been spawned by the release of energy from the Eye. And he was just as effusive about her staff-wielding.

But they both felt that the next mission needed reinforcements. The Staff of Magnus, which was apparently powerful enough to control the magic of the Eye, was buried in Labyrinthian, guarded by who knows what.

"We hoped that you two would join us," Brelyna pleaded. "I've been learning frost spells, since I won't have a frost atronach for that, and this robe lets me use stronger wards and armour spells. But although I have one of the best possible archers by my side, or behind me, wherever he's supposed to be, I could still use help with melee and fire magic."

We took a lot of persuading. Not because we were reluctant, but because ...

[Acadian]

Not sure how I missed an episode but catching up now. Thanks for the screenshot of the Dremoric Duo! Their appearance leaves no doubt that they hail from the other side of the planar vortex.

Yay, Bre got a Dremora BoyToyArcher of her own and (finally, thankfully) a more becoming hairstyle. And wardrobe conjuring is a skill every young lady needs! Nice how we learn that the MG questline has progressed.

Wow, Bre, Ranyu, Kothet and Zahra would be quite the fearsome foursome!

[ghastley]

Acadian: Yes, they're a well-balanced team, with a bit of everything, as well as a good opportunity to compare Kothet/Zahra against Brelyna/Ranyu.

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

Previously: Ranyu had demonstrated his archery prowess during a hunting expedition, while the women talked hairstyles and clothes and other women stuff. Paarthurnax warned of troubles ahead, and Brelyna returned to confirm them.

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

41 - Labyrinthian

Brelyna had a strange torc that was supposed to be the key to opening the main door, so that's where we headed. A couple of frost trolls decided they wanted to stop us, but then they decided they didn't like fireballs and tried to run off again. Ranyu made up their minds for them with a couple of long-range arrows.

The torc fit into a curved slot on the door, and the ends connected with something that opened the door for us. It was rather Dwemer-like in its operation, but we didn't see any of their characteristic metal used anywhere, so it can't have been. Perhaps the ancient Nords learned something from them. That might account for the blade traps in some of these ruins, too.

The large hall we entered had a few glowing figures standing at one end, which appeared to be the ghosts of a group of mages that had come here looking for treasure. In particular magical artifacts that were rumoured to have been buried here in the age of the dragons. I started to suspect we'd be meeting one of those dragon priests.

We went a bit farther down the corridor, and found a closed gate with a lever nearby. I operated the lever, and the gate raised up, revealing a few skeltons patrolling a large hall. Ranyu fired his bow at the most distant one, to see if anything was lying in wait beyond the gate, to ambush anything coming through. We expected to see skeletons moving in from the sides to investigate, but we weren't expecting a skeletal dragon to rise up from the middle of the hall.

The gate fell again, just in time to block its icy breath. Since I was the one without a major ranged attack, I manned the lever, while the others prepared to send fireballs, arrows and lightning through the gate when I opened it.

"Ready? Three, two, one, now!"

The few skeletons that had approached the gate were either destroyed or knocked back by our attack, and unable to regroup before the gate fell again. This was worth repeating.

Pretty soon, the only adversary left was the dragon. It was way too large to reach through the gate, so its only means of attack was its frost breath. By taunting it into blasting the closed gate, we could open it while it regained its powers, and not be in any danger ourselves as we attacked.

We met up again with the party of ghosts. It seemed that there were fewer of them, and we heard one remark that they'd lost one of their number to the dragon. I wondered if it had been a live one when they came through, or undead even then.

In the Labyrinthian Chasm, my suspicions of a dragon priest were born out. A voice speaking in the dragon tongue, but not a dovah's voice, addressed us. A swirl of light enveloped us, and the women complained of having their magicka drained. I suppose it happened to all of us, but Ranyu and I are less concerned at that.
Brelyna's magicka was rapidly returning, thanks to the enchantment on her robe, but Zahra was not so lucky. Brelyna handed her a potion from her satchel, but she told her to keep it for later. We'd just wait here a little longer before we advanced.

As if to try and convince us otherwise, a frost spirit advanced from a frost-covered doorway to attack us. It was easily defeated, but some of Zahra's almost-depleted magicka had to be spent on a flames spell to open the door behind it.

And immediately after we passed through the doorway, the same draining happened again. The draugr we encountered didn't seem to have been drained, but their frost spells weren't a match for the war-hammer and bow the drain couldn't affect. And Brelyna had enough magicka back to cast some frost of her own. She handed her lightning staff to Zahra, and they both joined in.

The same would happen again as we descended, but somewhere along the way the voice switched to "this gutteral language of yours" and everyone could understand it. It seemed to believe we were Savos Aren, the late Archmage, come back to finish what he'd started.

The wispmother was a bit of an obstacle, especially with our fire-mage restricted by the fequent draining, but we passed her to encounter a flame spirit at a burning door.

---

Beyond this point, the draugr were spectral, and the traps began. Rune traps, spell-casting gems, fall traps in the floor. I used my Become Ethereal shout to clear them for my companions, but they slowed our progress nonetheless.

The dragon priest drained our magicka again, and Zahra was losing her patience. "I think I can see steam coming out of your ears, " I told her. Ranyu joined in with "Oh, no, won't her boobies deflate if the steam gets out?" We waited until her magicka regenerated, telling "My woman's so hot ..." jokes until Zahra couldn't keep a straight face any more. "Do you think Brelyna's are steam-powered?" I asked.

"Oh, no," Zahra replied. "I've seen Ranyu blowing them up the regular way."

We opened the doors before us to see a throne at the bottom of a flight of stairs, facing away from us, and towards a word wall. As we started down the stairs, a spectral draugr carrying a large axe rose out of the throne and headed up the stairs.

By the time he reached me, he'd been hit by a fireball (which had eliminated his Spectral Warhound companion), a blast of Shock from Brelyna, and several arrows. One blow of my war-hammer sent his bones cascading back down the stairs.

The word wall taught me a word of Slow Time, and we turned towards a corridor lined with columns.

"Wait a moment," Zahra requested. "This looks like one of those situations where that annoying dragon priest will do his drain thing again, and I'd like to get one step ahead of him."

She sent a huge fireball down the corridor, and several burning draugr emerged from behind the columns to confront us. As expected, the draining spell met us as we entered the corridor, but this time, we were ready. Zahra had Brelyna's staff, and Brelyna was using a cheap flames spell to capitalize on the fires Zahra had already started. She was regenerating her magicka faster than she was using it, so her depleted supply mattered little.

---

The party of ghosts we were following were down to only three now. One of them remarked that the final trial lay beyond the next door. "We're not going to make it, are we?" she asked Aren's ghost.

"We will if we stick together," he assured her. "and where else can we go but onward?"

---

We passed through the door to find a large chamber where two enthralled mages were holding an energy shield surrounding the dragon priest. It wasn't clear to me if they were protecting him or confining him. I suspected there wasn't a lot of difference, as we couldn't reach him, until the shield was stopped.

Trying to speak with the mages just turned them against us, and they stopped casting the spell that maintained the shield. I regretted having to kill them, but had no choice.

"No, I won't" Ranyu shouted, and he dropped his bow and ran back out of the room.

"Morokei's trying to control us," Zahra explained, as she, too ran after Ranyu.

Since he couldn't take over our summons, he produced one of his own, a Storm Atronach. It wasn't close to us, so I ignored it and ran to attack the priest directly with my war-hammer. Since he was using mostly anti-mage spells, I figured that his weakness would be plain old blunt force.

I wasn't wrong. He fled, and I was soon chasing him all around the chamber, while Brelyna, who had dealt with the stormie, took pot-shots at him with her staff. That made him maintain a ward, which stopped him using much of his own spells. He did, however, still have a staff of his own, and was using it whenever he got the chance.

The strange thing is that it didn't seem to harm me in any way. Maybe he was just draining the magicka I wasn't trying to use. With no effective offence, he was soon cornered, and beaten out of existence with my hammer.

Brelyna confirmed my theory about the staff. It was likely the source of the spell he'd used against us all the way in. The mask he wore was almost its antidote, providing 100 percent increase in magicka regeneration.

"Nice, if it wasn't so ugly" she remarked.

Zahra and Ranyu rejoined us, and we searched the room for any other items we might need. Brelyna was certain that she'd found the Staff she came for, but Morokei might have gathered other treasures.

We met Savos Aren's ghost once more on the way out, apologising to his abandoned comrades, and promising that their sacrifice was worth it.

And then we met a live one. A Thalmor mage named Estormo, who'd been sent by Ancano to make sure Brelyna didn't get back with the Staff. We let him make his little speech before Ranyu put an arrow through his throat, to make sure he didn't repeat it.

Brelyna tried to cast her teleport spell to go back to the College, but it wouldn't work. "We can reach Winterhold, though."

"We'd probably best all go with you, in that case," said Zahra. "Who knows what this Ancano is up to, if he has the College blocked off."

[Renee]

Well. Brel certainly is blossoming into full NPC-hood. And Kothet is enjoying peeking at her by the sound of it, but now her own summon has garnered some interest. My gosh.

I haven't read Labyrinthian yet, but I will. And thanks for posting those pics. I don't think I've ever seen anybody like Zahra, especially.