A changeling's visit to Skyrim

“Alright, let’s see here; Notebooks, charcoal pencils, leather strips, a few healing and magika potions for emergencies…” Stross started to list off the plethora of items he’d laid out on the table, ranging from potions and bottled water to emergency supplies and alchemy reagents. Next to them was the small knapsack he planned to stuff it all into, plus a few small pouches to bring back any souvenirs.

“You can’t be serious.” Onmund walked over, adjusting the new robes he’d gotten from the college, just as the others had “All that for a simple field trip?”

“It never hurts to be prepared.” Stross shrugged and continued checking his inventory. “And that reminds me, spare robe.”

“J’zargo believes the bug has the correct idea. However, those bags will be much too full to carry back any valuable treasure.” J’zargo said as he folded a giant sack and stuffed it into his shirt.

“J’zargo, this field trip is to learn about the ancient Nordic ruins and the magic powers hidden within them. It’s not a treasure hunt.” Brelyna scolded him.

Before they could start arguing, Tolfdir descended the staircase and called to them. “Alright then everyone, if you are all ready, the ruins of Sarthaal await us to the southwest. Onward!” And with that he practically skipped out the door.

Stross was walking through the courtyard with the others, almost to the bridge when he realized that they were missing one of their group, a difficult task indeed considering the flowing star-pattered apparel she always wore.

“Hey, what happened to Trixie?” he asked, looking around.

“She decided to stay behind during this expedition; something about experiments of inner magic with Princess Luna.” Tolfdir told him “As for your Dragonborn companion, she said she would be in our library researching the history of the ancient dragon war.”

Stross slowed his pace for a moment, and finally came to a stop. “You guys go on ahead, I’ll catch up in a minute!” he called as they reached the bridge. He didn’t bother to see if they heard him or not, and made for the hall of elements. Once inside, he caught a glimpse of Mirabelle and a group of other mages gathered around Luna and Trixie, most were working with alchemy reagents and drawing intricate chalk circles around the two, while others were preparing various wards.

“Alright!” one of the mages yelled “Now we try this again! Just balance those plates of oranges on your heads like so. And, three… two… one…”

A large gooey explosion rocked the floor as Stross descended the stairs.

“Well everyone, looks like this myth is… Busted.” Mirabelle concluded.

“Are you people even scientists!?” Luna yelled.

The college library was little more than a dimly lit basement lined wall to wall with shelves full of dusty and musty tomes from ages past; it was mostly decrepit and its collection far from complete, and yet it was still the best place to find information about anything… assuming it happened a long time ago at least. In a literal sense, everything was silent save for the shallow footsteps of the librarian and custodian as he walked through the shelves and put the frayed and crumbling books back in their proper places, but you could still feel the deafening sound of pure concentration as Fenora sat at a desk in the center of the room, reading through book after book like she had been since the early hours of the morning.

She closed another of the larger tomes and set it atop the growing stack beside her with a frustrated sigh. “Are you sure there isn’t anything else here on the dragons?” she asked gro-Shub as he passed by to collect the stack.

“This here is all the books we have on the late Mereithic  era.” the orc told her in his gruff voice “If you’re looking for anything on dragons, you could also check our section on myths and legends.”

“Yeah right. When did that ever save the world?” Fenora groaned and glumly face-planted onto the desk and buried her head in her arms.

“Hey Fen,” came a soothingly scratchy voice as something poked her shoulder “any luck?”

Fenora rolled her head around and gave Stross as much of a smile as she could muster. “Not much. There isn’t really anything more than what we already know. Alduin led the dragons in a genocidal campaign against humanity, Paarthunax and a few others joined the fight on the humans’ side, they taught them how to use the thu’um and then they won. But what it doesn’t say is how!” she lightly pounded her fist on the desk.

Fenora sat up and rubbed her eyes. “There are all these stories about the great battles, and what cities got burned to the ground, and how many brave warriors heroically gave their lives to slay even a few of the big bad dragons, but it never gives specifics! It never says what weapons they used, what tactics they tried, what did and didn’t work. It never even tells how Alduin was beaten in the first place!” Fenora let out a tired sigh “What, did they throw bricks at his face until he ran home to mommy?”

The sudden laughter beside her immediately brought some light back to Fenora’s world.

“Hey, maybe Akatosh came down from the heavens all like ‘Now son, what have I told you about wreaking havoc on the mortals? You’re grounded for the next millennia’.”Stross joked in a boisterous tone “And no more worlds for dessert for a whole week. When your mother hears about this she’ll spank you until half your butt scales turn from black to red. We can play checkers with the ones that peel off.”

The two of them howled with laughter, wiping moisture from their eyes and holding each other up as their sides began to burn. Any wasted time or effort Fenora had put in was entirely forgotten as they shared a well-deserved moment of joy.

“Thanks Stross.” Fenora pulled him into a hug once their laughter finally died off.

“You’re welcome.” Stross hugged her back, a blush crossing his face.

“I just don’t know what we’re going to do now.” She pulled away from him and stared pacing across the room “I’ve read through every book on the subject that they have, most of them were only a few pages long!”

“I don’t write the books, I just maintain them.” gro-Shub casually chimed in.

“What about that one about old legends?” Stross asked “They had to have come from somewhere right?”

“I guess.” Fenora hummed “I’ll check it out and read it later. How’s Luna doing with those crazy mages?”

“Well…” Stross shifted his eyes to the door and another explosion rocked the ceiling, causing another collection of dust to sprinkle down on the room. “Yeah.”

“I might as well see if I can help, Luna’s magic would probably help us more than any old legend will.” Fenora said as she shoved the book into her bag and headed for the exit, “You wanna come too?”

“Maybe later,” Stross told her “I’m meeting Tolfdir and the others at Sarthaal for… something. Anything you want me to pick up on the way back through town?”

“Alcoholic beverages. Any variety, and lots of it. And something good to eat too; the conjured food here tastes like tree bark.”

Stross made a mental note as they reached the courtyard. But before he could set off to catch up with the others, Fenora stopped him.

“Hey Stross… there’s been something I’ve been meaning to ask you.” She told him, waiting until he turned around to fully face her “After this is over, the whole saving the world from dragons thing… you weren’t ever planning on going back to Equestria, were you?”

Stross paused and looked at the ground a moment. “Only if I had no other choice.” He told her the honest truth “No matter what Princess Luna says, there’s nothing but pain waiting for me there, pain and… bad memories.”

Despite the sad tone of Stross’s answer, Fenora’s expression became a bit brighter upon hearing it. “Then would you come to High Rock, and live with me? The farm isn’t much to look at, and I have to travel quite a bit for the plants I grow there, but I’d love to have you around if you’re okay with that.”

She didn’t notice that in those few short words, Stross had gotten inches from her face. “Can we get married?” he said, grinning ear to ear.

Fenora was seriously taken off guard by the changeling’s abruptness, but managed to recover. She smiled and cupped his cheek in her palm. “First things first, Stross. Help me save the world, and ask me again.” She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and left for the Hall of Elements.

Stross just stood there for a moment, frozen by something other than the cold for a change. He turned around and dashed out of the college gate with a leap of victory, filled with more hope and excitement than anyone had ever been after being told they had to save the world in order to get hitched.

After a few minutes of trekking through town, past the Jarl’s longhouse, and up a snowy mountain, nearly getting mauled by sabercats and goats along the way, Stross found his way to a shallow gorge that housed the entrance to Sarthaal. With the surrounding mountains blocking a good amount of wind, and the excavation scaffolding providing a secondary barrier, the immediate area next to the ancient doors was a good enough place to set up camp, if you didn’t mind the cold that is. The apprentice mages had set of a campfire and were roasting marshmallows while Tolfdir told them the lore behind the ruin.

“Oh hey Stross, you’re finally here.” Onmund greeted him.

“About time.” J’zargo added.

“I saved you some marshmallows.” Brelyna handed him a few of the sticky confections skewered on a stick, giggling at how he noisily scarfed them down.

“As I was explaining just before you showed up, Sarthaal was one of the first Nordic settlements on the continent of Tamriel.” Tolfdir continued his story with much enthusiasm and hand gestures “It was here that they befriended the local snow-elves, and built this once great city together. But then, for reasons unknown even to this day, the snow-elves attack the city, slaughtering those they once considered their friends and allies. Few survived this event, which would become infamously known as the Night of tears.”

“That sounds dreadful.” Brelyna commented “I hate to think my own ancient ancestors would do something like that, to their friends none the less.”

“Haven’t elves always thought they were better than everyone else, believing they could do as they please without consequence?” Onmund asked bitterly.

Brelyna was about to counter, but Stross interrupted “If it makes you feel better, one of the survivors of that night was Ysgramor, the founder of the Companions himself. He came back with the five-hundred and vowed to commit genocide against all elf kind for the massacre at Sarthaal.”

Both of them stared back in shock.

“I met the new Companions in Whiterun. The older ones like Vignar won’t shut up about it.” Stoss explained.

“Th- that… that doesn’t make me feel better at all!” Onmund struggled to get the words out. "That makes us nords just as bad as the elves if not worse!"

“Then don’t follow by their example. If you feel distain for something or someone, don’t use violence as a means to an end, and don’t use revenge or anger as justification for said violence.” Stross told him and breathed a sigh. “Sorry, species-wide vendettas kind of strike a chord with me. It’s just… it doesn’t do anyone any good to hold grudges for things long past. I wish my own race could accept that.”

Onmund nodded, realizing Stross was right. “Brelyna... I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have held anything against you, you’re not to blame for what elves everywhere else do, especially in the distant past.”

“I’m sorry too. Friends?” Brelyna held her hand out.

“Indeed.” Onmund shook it.

Tolfdir gave a small round of applause. “That was very nice, the world’s leaders could learn something  from you two. Now then, who’s ready to explore an ancient ruin?”

Stross held back for a moment as the others entered the old metal doors. He looked over the crumbling walls and old weathered carvings for a moment, taking in the gravity of the story behind them, and taking a moment of silence for those who died and all that was lost; the city, the alliance between men and mer… and any peace or trust between the two races for untold generations to come.

“Well,” Stross said to himself “if I ever wanted to travel through time to change history for the better, at least I know where to come back to.”

The world froze for a fraction of a second. “We already tried.” An echoy voice rang out through the time-locked landscape. “The peace resulted in a world far worse than what was brought by centuries of hatred.”

“Gah! What the- who are you?” Stross whipped around as his surroundings returned to normal and the snowflakes fell again. “Hello?” Stross breathed as he frantically scanned the cliffs and hills for any sign of life.

Upon finding none, he slowly and cautiously made his way to the entrance of Sarthaal to catch up with the others.

Once inside the ruin, or at least the part that was properly excavated and held together with enough scaffolding and supports to keep it from collapsing, Stross found the others receiving tasks from Tolfdir.

“Brelyna my dear, why don't you search for any warding magics. Anything designed to keep people out. Be sure not to interact with them, just identify them.”

Brelyna did as she was instructed, begining her sweep from one corner of the chamber and cautiously making her way to the other side, occasionally bumping into some of the scaffolding.

“Onmund, if you would please search that area over there. See if you notice any... residual energies; alive or undead.”

Onmund rolled his eyes, but searched some old sarcophagi, likely still holding their preserved corpses. On the way he muttered something about being disrespectful towards the dead, and how he wondered if draugr coming back to life was just their way of saying they don’t like graverobbers.

"J'zargo… hmm, what shall we have you do? Ah, I know! Why don't you verify that we're the first ones here? Look for any amount of tampering with the tombs.”

“You mean besides J’zargo’s own?” J’zargo asked with a cheeky grin.

“Yes J’zargo, besides your own.” Tolfdir deadpanned “Oh, and here comes the little peacemaker himself.” Tolfdir greeted Stross with a pat on the back “I have a special assignment for you.”

“Really?” Stross perked up.

“Well, if by 'special assignment' you mean 'go assist one of my rather irritable collegues so that I won’t have to deal with him myself' then yes.” Tolfdir quickly explained that Stross was to be his scapegoat “Arniel Gane is in the chamber just down this hallway, he’s very particular and won’t let anyone help him for fear they’ll mess up his work; he even sent the last two people who tried to help him running home in tears. But don’t let that discourage you, go on in and give him a hand.”

After a friendly shove in the right direction, followed by quite a bit of stumbling and finding his way through a winding section of runed stalagmites, Stross found himself introduced Arniel, or rather… Arniel’s back. “Mage apprentice Stross, reporting for duty Mister Gane.” He gave a salute as he stood at attention.

“Oh great, another one.” Arniel said in an irritable tone “Why doesn’t anyone liste- look, just… uh, go over there and look for artifacts or something and bring them back to me.” he offhandedly gestured to a few adjacent rooms, not even bothering to look up from his own work.

“Yes sir, sir-dy-sir sir sir.” Stross aluted again and marched off.

“And don’t break anything while you’re in there, I’ve only sifted through a portion of this area!” Arniel shouted after him and mumbled something about useless rookies and spiders.

So as it turned out, the set of rooms Stross was meant to search were a collection of small alcoves and perhaps what was once a small storehouse. He quickly scanned them and easily found a few small rings laying amongst the shattered debris of some ancient pots and crumbled bits of wall, but the last room gave him pause. It was a pretty small area with only three objects of any real interest: a window out into the rest of the excavation site, through which he could hear the others complaining about their boring assignments, a creepy statue embedded in the wall, and a mysterious glowing amulet resting on a small pedestal across from it.

“O-kay?” Stross eyed the ancient looking pendent “I get the feeling something bad will happen if I try to move you. Hey Arneil! Mister Gane, sir? I think you should look at this.” he called, only to receive a mumbled dismissal in response.

Stross squinted at the amulet then looked around him, first at the statue behind him, then everywhere else, finally landing on the small round holes in the floor beside him.

“A-hah! Classic traps in Skyrim. As soon as I take this amulet, spikes will shoot out from the floor and trap me in here for who knows how long!” he expertly deduced “Well it’s not going to work on this changeling; I’ll just step over here, safely out of the room and grab it with my magic.”

Stross gave a confident smirk as he did just that, taking the glowing amulet safely into his claws.

To his surprise though, the floor spikes did not activate. Instead a glowing mass of ethereal tentacles shoot out of the statue and ensnared him, dragging him back into the room.

“Waahh! Lemme go!” he screamed. At that moment the floor spikes activated, creating a barrier that closed off the room like a cage. “Oh come on!”

“Is everything alright in here?” Tolfdir asked as he appeared on the other side of the bars with the apprentice mages “We heard what sounded like a rampaging wombat fighting a koala.”

“Everything is NOT alright! I’ve seen enough anime to know where this is going! They're getting in all of my holes!” Stross yelled as he struggled against the magic tendrils working their way into his arms and legs “Take it back!” he shoved the amulet into the glowing mass “I don’t want it anymore!”

As though the artifact could hear his plea, the statue exploded into rubble the second the amulet made contact, releasing him and lowering the bars as well.

“Stross, are you okay?” Brelyna rushed to help him up.

“Yeah, I’m good. Thanks.” Stoss said as he sat up “Still, what the heck was tha-“

“WHAT IN OBLIVION WAS THAT!?” Arneil screamed as he rushed in to the room, clearly worried more about the damage to the dig site than any of the apprentices “What happened to this priceless artifact?” he whimpered as he held a couple chunks of the statue in his hands. "I named it Steve."

“It wasn’t me!” Stross quickly defended. “That stupid rock brought it on itself.”

“Never mind the damage Arneil, look… look.” Tolfdir said in breathless wonder “This newly uncovered passage seems to lead to the catacombs, or perhaps some sort of ritual chamber.”

“Fine then, if you’re so excited about it, then you can go take a look. I’m going to find some glue.” Arniel stomped off.

"You heard him students, adventure and discovery awaits! Take caution, and let us proceed." Tolfdir said and led the way down the narrow tunnel in the rock, into the darkness of Sarthaal and towards the unknown.