HP: Sacred Gear Chat Group (2) - Chapter 46 (Patreon)

Chapter 46 - Saarthal

“And here we all are.” Professor Tolfdir, probably the second most skilled mage at the College of Winterhold, said as we arrived.

That guy had some serious experience.

In the original College of Winterhold storyline, he would have ended up taking the position of Master Wizard after Mirabelle Ervine, the current Master Wizard, and Savos Aren died.

From what I had heard, the only reason he wasn't Master Wizard or even Archmage right now was that he simply didn't want to be. He would rather dedicate his time to studying magic than take on the additional organizational workload that came with running the College.

Honestly, he was a smart guy.

And he was right.

Here we all were, indeed.

Although there were more people than I had expected. I sent a deadpan look towards the armor-clad figure already waiting down there at the entrance to Saarthal, wearing a wide, excited grin. Like a kid waiting for his Sweetroll.

“Ah, you're joining us too? I didn't expect to see you here.” Tolfdir addressed the original Dragonborn, remaining calm and collected. He seemed completely unbothered by the unannounced addition to our little excursion.

Agnar, that lazy bum, must have ditched his responsibilities and left others to handle the diplomatic talks for a temporary truce in the Civil War.

“I am! I wouldn't miss exploring the oldest Nord ruin in Skyrim for anything in the world!” Agnar let out an excited laugh, making no attempt to hide his enthusiasm.

Tolfdir simply nodded, not giving it another thought. His mind was already wandering towards the upcoming excursion. He then turned to address all of us.

“All right, please stay close to me while we're inside. It should be safe, but it's always better to be cautious!”

As Tolfdir took the lead, I stepped beside Agnar and whispered to him, “You ditched the talks, didn't you?”

“No, no, my friend! This is just an honest Nordic break! They're only discussing those stuffy details anyway.” Agnar denied it as we approached the entrance to Saarthal.

“Sounds like you ditched them.”

“That is just a matter of perspective. I wasn't needed there in the first place. There's no smashing or dragon slaying involved. Did you perhaps talk with Arngeir?” He suddenly asked.

“No, why? Did he need something from me?”

“Oh, no reason. You just sound a lot like him.”

I could hear Astoria giggle at that remark.

...

He totally ditched the talks.

Inside, we found what appeared to be a typical ancient Nordic ruin, at least in the entrance area.

“Like our friend already mentioned, Saarthal was one of the oldest Nord settlements in Skyrim. It was also the largest.” Tolfdir continued explaining as he led us and his other students deeper into the ruin.

Besides us and Agnar, there were, of course, the unnaturally sexy Dark Elf Brelyna, the Khajiit sorcerer J'zargo, and the Nord sorcerer Onmund, who stood out among the otherwise rather generic-looking apprentices from the College.

We all followed behind Tolfdir as he led us deeper into Saarthal.

I could hear J'zargo whispering to another student I didn't recognize.

“Who knows what we may find in here?”

Accustomed to hearing his students whisper among themselves, Tolfdir continued his lecture without missing a beat.

“Sacked by the Elves during the infamous 'Night of Tears', not much is known about what happened in Saarthal.”

Thanks to the lore I had picked up from the various games, I probably knew more about Saarthal than most scholars.

“This is an exciting opportunity for us. To be able to study such an early civilization and the magic they used...” Tolfdir added enthusiastically.

And I could only agree, although perhaps not for quite the same reasons as him.

“Well, are there any questions?” Tolfdir asked as we finally reached the deepest area the College had managed to uncover. The group came to a halt.

Of course, Mom had a question.

“What is it that you want to find in particular down here?”

“We're particularly interested in the prevalence of magical seals placed on the tombs here. It's rather unlike anything we've encountered.” The wizened professor explained patiently.

And what an understatement that was.

It wasn't just the tombs. With my Magic Power Eye, I could see layer upon layer of magical seals riddling the entire place. Every wall had some form of seal layered upon it.

From my rudimentary understanding of what I had learned about this world's magic system so far, most of these seals were meant to suppress the magic from leaking out of the ruins.

Which explained why no one had managed to uncover the Eye of Magnus's true location. An artifact supposedly overflowing with an unimaginable amount of Magicka, it had remained hidden down here, untouched for thousands of years.

What I found particularly noteworthy was how the sealing spells had been layered. Not through some advanced enchantment method, but rather through a fairly basic technique. As far as I could tell, every stone used in the construction had been enchanted with the same sealing spell. By naturally layering the stones during construction, the seals would become incredibly dense.

However, as simple as this technique was in concept, it must have been incredibly labor-intensive.

This must have happened sometime after Ysgramor and his 500 Companions had beaten the living hell out of the Snow Elves in revenge for the 'Night of Tears'.

They must have wanted to hide the Eye of Magnus down here.

The question was, how much did they actually know? And how much had the Snow Elves known? Why would both sides resort to genocide over an artifact that people today barely knew anything about?

"There's no chance anyone in authority approved this. Our ancestors should be allowed to rest in peace." Onmund, the Nord sorcerer, said unhappily as we took in the sight.

"To think, my ancestors destroyed the homes of Onmund's ancestors. So much bloodshed." Brelyna commented with what I could only assume was feigned sympathy.

Okay, I couldn't read her at all. Who knew what she was thinking?

Meanwhile, I could hear J'zargo discreetly whispering to his friend, although he was utterly failing at keeping his voice down.

"Do you think there's treasure here? Something to make J'zargo a powerful wizard?"

Ah, such a wonderful display of character diversity!

"Oh, like a crown that would make me not only powerful but look awesome too!"

Wait, when had Astoria gotten so chummy with J'zargo?

Well, their personalities certainly matched. Astoria was like a mischievous cat, and J'zargo was... well, a cat person.

Seeing how the students' minds had started wandering towards other matters, Tolfdir decided to speak up.

"All right! How about we let you assist with the excavation to gain some real hands-on experience? What should I have you do?"

That was my cue to speak up.

"Professor Tolfdir?"

"Yes?"

"I'm interested in ancient magical artifacts. My main interest is in enchantment, so getting a chance to study some of them would be really helpful. Is there anything in that particular area I could help with?"

"Oh, yes!" The man's eyes lit up as he immediately thought of something. "How about you go and see if you can assist Arniel Gane? I expect he'd appreciate some help locating any additional magical artifacts here in the ruins. That should give you a chance to get a first look at them. Any enchanted items will do; the usefulness of the enchantment is irrelevant. Once you're done, the class can take a look at whatever you find."

Perfect.

"Why are you following me?" I sighed in mild annoyance.

The plan had been for it to be just Ghislaine and me.

As my sword and shield, Ghislaine wasn't particularly interested in magic unless it could help her with her swordsmanship. She had only agreed to come along as muscle.

The others, meanwhile, were here as backup in case anything went wrong and I needed help. They were genuinely studying under Tolfdir. Even Mom, who had befriended the professor, was interested in exploring these ruins herself. She would keep Tolfdir occupied while we were away.

Yet it wasn't just Ghislaine and me.

That muscle-brained, lazy bum who had ditched his responsibilities just to have some fun was following me as well.

"Ahahaha! I'm here to support you, my friend!" Agnar laughed happily, completely ignoring the dirty look I was throwing his way. "If you're interested in something here in particular, that means there's an adventure waiting for us! A little good combat to get my blood pumping!"

I kept staring at him, thoroughly unimpressed.

"Don't worry! Whatever you're after, you can keep it. Just take me along for the adventure!" He laughed, seemingly not caring in the slightest what I thought.

“Fine...” I sighed after a few moments.

He was strong, after all. Having him around would certainly help us deal with the army of Draugr waiting for us on the other side.

Besides, I wasn't even sure I could get any deeper into Saarthal without him in the first place. After all, in the games, he was the one who triggered the entrance. Whether that had happened by design or was simply a coincidence was something I had wanted to find out.

It could have been because he was a Dragonborn, which I technically was as well. Or perhaps the place had been intentionally designed for him, with someone having foreseen his arrival centuries ago.

The College had been here for quite some time, studying and researching the ruins, yet they had never discovered the sealed entrance. It was only when the Dragonborn arrived that anything happened.

“Fine, but you stay behind me and let me examine whatever we find first.” I warned him.

Not because I wanted to protect him, but because I was still curious to find out the truth behind all this.

Arniel Gane hadn't been particularly happy about having us assist him.

Typical career-minded guy. He probably hated having help around because he wanted to claim every discovery for himself and add it to his reputation.

Following his instructions, we found several enchanted rings scattered throughout the accessible parts of the ruin. Eventually, we reached the northernmost end of the passageways.

Our target was suspended in front of a brightly lit, arched section of the wall.

A small, unique amulet, also known as the Saarthal Amulet.

It was actually quite a decent item. Not only did it slightly reduce the Magicka cost of spells, but it also increased the power of all forms of magic.

Just getting my hands on that amulet to study would already make this entire trip worthwhile. If I could improve its enchantment, I might even be able to create an incredibly powerful magical artifact.

However, that would require some testing. Its enchantment enhanced the power of all forms of magic in the Elder Scrolls universe. I wasn't sure whether that would also apply to magic from other universes, which usually operated on entirely different principles.

Still, the fact that it enhanced all Elder Scrolls magic was already more than enough to make it worthwhile. After all, I had reached Master level in all the common schools of magic.

“Don't stand at the entrance!” I warned Agnar while making a sketch in the notebook I had started carrying around.

“Huh? Why? And what are you drawing?”

“Just come inside.”

As soon as we were all inside the small chamber, I took the Saarthal Amulet from its place on the wall, triggering a hidden enchantment that I had spotted with my Magic Power Eye and already sketched into my notebook.

I still hadn't been able to reproduce anything I saw through my Magic Power Eye. I simply lacked the necessary experience for that. However, having a few sketches to work from always helped when I eventually started conducting my own research.

My understanding of Elder Scrolls enchantment had also reached Master level, but that was mainly in relation to weapons, staffs, armor, and magical artifacts. Architectural enchantments like these, along with wards, seals, and similar constructs, seemed to belong to an entirely different field of study that I would have to explore myself.

I had already started looking into it during my tutoring sessions in the Wizarding World, even if my tutor was a bit of a stick in the mud.

The moment the enchantment activated, a spear trap emerged right where Agnar had been standing at the entrance.

“I see...” The armored Nord Dragonborn muttered before looking around. “But now we're trapped, my friend. Is that also part of your plan?”

“It is.” I nodded while putting on the Saarthal Amulet. “We're not going back. We're moving forward.”

And that confirmed it. The amulet was meant for a Dragonborn, as it resonated with the divine Dragon Soul that had begun forming inside me and bonding with my own soul.

I cast a single spell at the wall, which had started glowing. The moment my spell hit, the entire section collapsed.

The Saarthal Amulet had acted as a key to the wards protecting the wall, allowing my spell to pass through without resistance and shatter them in the process.

With the wards gone, the spear trap blocking our way back lowered itself into the ground, disappearing into the very place it had emerged from.

“Ah, that explains it. Lead the way, my friend.” Agnar nodded, apparently satisfied now that both the path forward and the way back were open.

The next section of the ruins led us deeper into some much older-looking tunnels beneath Saarthal. This suggested that the area we had explored earlier had been constructed on top of the original ruins of Saarthal.

Which made sense, considering the original settlement had been destroyed by the Snow Elves during the Night of Tears.

This must have been what remained of it.

A long, winding, dark tunnel eventually led us into another chamber. It looked somewhat like an altar room, with two coffins embedded in the walls.

The moment we stepped inside, I felt the magic in the room change. It was almost as if time itself had frozen around us. Through my Magic Power Eye, I could see dense amounts of Magicka filling the entire space.

Meanwhile, my Future Sight Eye, which I always kept active whenever I explored ruins in case something unexpected happened, had somehow stopped working. No matter how much of my Magic Power I directed into it, I couldn't see even a single second into the future.

That pretty much confirmed that some kind of time-related shenanigans were going on here.

At the same time, a figure began to materialize in front of us. Or rather, in front of me, since the other two weren't moving at all.

It was the ghostly apparition of a High Elf, dressed in a set of light brown robes I had never seen before in this world.

But I had seen them in the game.

For a moment, the apparition stared at me in confusion. Then he glanced at the frozen Agnar before turning his attention back to me.

“You are not who I was expecting to see here.”

[-- End of Chapter --]