A changeling's visit to Skyrim

Stross and the mages strode onward down the hallways of Labyrinthian, more confident than ever after their victory over the dragon. But as they worked their way into the next room, they noticed it getting steadily colder, until it was almost freezing.

“Burr-r-r. What’s with the temperature this place?” Brelyna asked. At that point the group had to watch their footing on the icy floor.

“I sense a fell magic at work here, be on your guard.” Luna warned them.

“Hey, maybe we can ask those guys over there!” Stross pointed at a group of frost wraiths leaning against a nearby wall like they didn’t care about nothin’. In addition, each were wearing leather jackets and sunglasses, even though they were indoors.

“H-hey fellas. Can you do something about the cold in here, maybe turn down the AC a notch?” Stross asked them politely as Fenora face-palmed.

The wraiths each raised an eyebrow at the changeling before going back to loitering.

“No? Oh… okay then. Well can you at least let us past that door over there?” Stross motioned to the frost gate blocking their path.

One of the wraiths turned to him while the others scoffed. “Sorry bruh, no can do. You’re just… not cool enough.” And with that, the wraith turned his nose up and went back to ignoring him.

“D-did you just… give me the cold shoulder?!” Stross asked, stunned.

“Tis to be expected from frost spirits.” Luna commented “Such beings are said to have ice-water in their veins. Any suggestions on how to proceed?”

“I got this.” Fenora said and quickly plucked out one of Luna’s feathers, causing no short amount of complaints from the Princess. She then walked over to Stross, and tickled his nose with the tip of it.

“Fen no wait, I’m gonna… hhhe, gonna... Ah-CHOO!”

When Stross sneezed, a blast of fire came with it, melting the ice wraiths into puddles.

“Nnnnnooooo!” one of the wraiths wailed as he spilled down through the frozen grate in the floor “Mah coolness was so cool… it came full circle and made me uuuuuuunnn-coooooool! …Bruh.”

Stross stared at the disappearing elementals in silence for a few seconds and wiped his nose on his sleeve. “Uh… ‘scuse me.”

“The way is open! Let’s go!” Onmund called and beckoned them to the melting door.

On the other side of the frost door was a huge dripping cavern, with stone walkways all the way down. It was likely frozen over, but without the frost wraiths, it had already begun to thaw, and rushing water could be heard far below.

About half way through, they heard it.

“Wo meyz wah dii vul junaar?”

The voice was rough and cracked, ominous and evil sounding. But it was what it carried with it that devastated the group the most. A magic wind washed over them as the words came to their ears, and each could feel the magika being stripped away from them by it. For Luna and Stross, the effect was much harsher.

Luna’s hair stopped flowing in its magical breeze and instead whipped around her in the voice’s gale as she collapsed to her knees. For Stross, he felt like his stomach was being set on fire and ripped out. Fenora and Brelyna rushed to him as he fell on the ground, hacking and gagging.

“Hi lost daal, Aren? Dii wuth fahdon? Nivahriin muz fent siiv nid aaz het.” The voice continued to whisper as the wind ravaged them. “Dreh hi yah wah geblaan tol fos hi vust ni. Nunon funtaas sarran.”

“By the Gods, what is this?” J’zargo said as he tried to shield himself.

“What is it saying?!” Trixie yelled while trying to do the same.

“It’s asking about Aren… the Archmage from the college.” Fenora tried to translate “Something about returning to finish something he started, and cowards finding no mercy.”

The wind continued to sweep over them, but for a moment the voice paused.

“You do not answer.” It stated “Must I use this guttural language of yours?”

“Zu'u egnah hi kos nahlon, dur nau dii honiir! (I prefer you be silent, curse on my ears!)” Fenora shouted back, seeing that Stross was about to pass out.

The draining wind came to a sudden stop.

“You… you are not Aren.” The voice echoed throughout the cavern without its magic wind to carry it. “Has he sent you in his place perhaps, to finish what he could not so many years ago? Tell me, did he warn you of how your own power would only serve to strengthen me?”

“I don’t know who you are or what, but I don’t care. We’re still going to destroy you!” Fenora shouted back back, and the other voice was silent for a moment.

“You are not alone. There are others with you.” it said in an eerily calm tone. “Then come, face your ends. Let the echoes of history ring again in my halls!”

Fenora could almost feel the overconfident smirk in the monster’s voice as it spoke. She couldn’t wait to wipe it off its face with the business end of her sword. But first… something much more important.

“Stross, Luna. Are you two alright?” She turned to her friends.

“I’ve certainly been better.” Luna said and rose to her feet with the help of Trixie “It was like arriving here from Equestria for the first time. I feel so weak right now…” she breathed heavily and wiped the sweat off her forehead.

“Stross? …How about you?” she placed a hand on him, feeling his jumpy and pained breathing.

“I could really use a sandwich.” He replied weakly with a smile.

Fenora would have laughed, but she knew Stross was in bad shape, trying to lighten the mood with humor so they wouldn’t worry. “We need to keep moving in case chatter-box decides to hit us again. Stross, I’m going to carry you but I need you at your best when we face this thing. So feel free to feed on me while we walk.”

“Nn… no. You’re drained too… It’ll… hurt you if I…” Stross tried to warn her.

Fenora sighed as she picked him up and put him on her back. “Okay, I’ll figure something out. Luna, can you stand?”

“I’ve got her!” Onmund called and rushed to help Luna up, slinging one of her arms over his shoulder and bringing his other hand around her side... a bit too high, to be honest. *Squeeze*

“J’zargo does as well.” J’zargo said and taking the other side and doing the same. *Squeeze*

Luna’s eye twitched as she stood between the two college boys. She opened her mouth, and without looking at either one, spoke slowly and clearly.

“Good sirs, release thine fingers from mine royal funbags immediately or have them broken off.”

The only way forward was a climb down the slippery stone walkways and into a collapsing aqueduct. Thankfully the voice hadn’t returned, as the freezing water seeping into their boots made life miserable enough for them. There were small bits of loot to be found, hidden in nooks and in chests half buried, which the mages decided to root through for anything useful. Sadly they only found small amounts of septims and inedible jewelry.

Once they made it out and onto dry floor, they found themselves in what at first appeared to be a dungeon, but they soon realized it was some kind of ritual chamber. The walls were lined with disintegrating tapestries, and strange stone spikes no bigger than most stalactites formed a circle in the center of the room.

A desiccated corpse in mage robes lay in the center of the circle, impaled though the chest on the central spike.

“Everyone, I really don’t like the looks of this place. Move through it slowly, and don’t. Touch. Anything.” Fenora instructed through gritted teeth. “I mean it.”

Everyone nodded and they began to make their way through the circle, being cautious not to touch the pillars, or even step on the lines carved between them. The air was tense, static even, and the silence didn’t help to ease anyone’s nerves. It was especially bad having to walk past the dead body of the mage, her empty sockets seemed to follow them when they made their way around.

Just as they were about to pass the last set of pillars, a light appeared, followed by its source. Each of them stopped in their tracks as the little green orb of spectral light floated between the spikes and blocked their path.

“Is that what I think it is?” Fenora asked in a whisper, having heard the legends before.

“It is. It’s a wisp.” Brelyna answered. “I’ve read about them; spirits of those who were lured to their deaths in the wild. Whatever happens, don’t follow it or you’ll be led to the same fate.”

“Ooh, pretty.” Stross said as he walked slowly towards the shiny blue light.

Fenora’s eyes popped open and she quickly checked her back.  “What? How did- When- Stross get back here!” she ordered as loudly as she could without actually raising her voice.

“Can’t. Must… touch… shiny…” Stross said while more of the orbs gathered around him and his friends began biting their nails.

“Nom.”

“Om, nom. Nom.”

“Mmm, donuts.”

Fenora and company just stood in shock.

“Did… he just?” Trixie began with her jaw hanging open.

“Yeah. I think he did.” Fenora slumped “Stross… you starving IDIOT!”

A chill filled the air, and a ghostly wind seemed to replace all the air in the room. Then from the ever darkening shadows came a voice.

“You… ate MY BABIES!”

Suddenly the room was flooded in a ghostly light, and the Wispmother appeared along with at least two dozen more of the ghostly orbs. The tattered ghostly cloth covering her was whipping around furiously as she grabbed Stross up by his throat and bared her rows of jagged teeth in his face.

“YouAteMyBabies!” she spat.

“I’m sorry!” Stross cried “They were delicious!”

The Wispmother shrieked like a banshee, causing Stross to scheme right back in terror. The wind picked up and the ground started to shake as this impromptu screaming contest went on for another full minute without either of them taking a breath.

“…RO DAH!” Fenora interrupted them, sending the Wispmother flying into a wall and proving once and for all that no one out shouts a dragonborn, even when said dragonborn was not supposed to be competing.

“Stross, are you alright?” Fenora rushed to him as the others took defensive positions.

The changeling grabbed onto her tightly and refused to let go. “I’ve seen the face of death, and it told me to go on a diet!” he screamed.

The wispmother had recovered, and immediately started throwing her precious babies at them like bombs, screaming at our heroes as they scattered and took cover behind the ritual pillars to get away from the explosions of frost spikes. “You… ate… my… babies!” She repeated like a broken minstrel with each throw “Do you know… how many unfortunate travelers… I had to lead to their deaths… to make those?! They’re mine! Only I get to eat them!”

“This bitch is crazy!” Onmund shouted as he took cover. “Princess Funbags, can you do something?!”

On that que, Luna got hit in the head by a thrown wisp and was comically encased in a block of ice.

“Fear not fellow sorcerers!” Trixie stood up and posed heroically “For the Great and Powerful Trix- Gah! The Great and Powerf- Ah! TheGreatAndPowerfulTrixieShal- Ehah! Stop interrupting the Great and Powerful Trixie’s great and powerful speech!”

“STOP SHOWING OFF AND BLAST IT!” everyone else pleaded before they got another dusting of frost.

“Guh, alright fine. Taste the power of the Great and Powerful Trixie!” And after finally getting off a lengthy one-liner, Trixie summoned up a barrage of multicolored fireworks that smashed into the Wispmother.

Disoriented and slightly weakened, the Wisp had to cease throwing her suicide bomber children. She instead began focusing her energy, and called out in a haunting echo, “Cool-guy wraiths, to me!”

And then nothing happened.

Everyone waited for a while, and then a puddle with sunglasses sloshed up beside the Wisp. “Sorry boss, but we’re just not cool anymore. The competition was just too hot to handle, and now I guess we’re just… washed up.”

The Wispmother hissed. “Those fools. Time for plan B.” she brought her hands together and crossed her fingers, gathering a huge amount of power until the air reverberated around her. “Kage bunshin no jutsu!” She screamed, and five shades identical to their master appeared in battle position, and each summoned twelve little wisps of their own to use.

And so the fight was on! The shades and Wispmother let out piercing shrieks, pointing at our heroes and ordering their minions to attack.

The mages began frantically blasting at the glowing orbs of oncoming death flying straight at them. Fenora tried knocking them out of the air with her sword, but the little things were quick and agile, able to dodge almost all of her swings only to swerve hit her in the back. Out of ten swings the elf took, maybe one or two actually connected.

One finally collided and smacked the wisp orb away, where Stross caught and quickly shoved it in his gaping mouth.

“Stross! Ignore the snacks and get Luna unfrozen! We need her in this fight.” Fenora instructed before she began hacking a path through the oncoming wisps and to the Wispmother and her clones.

“Roger dodger!” Stross saluted and sprinted over to Luna, but not before slurping down a couple more of the wisps. He could feel his energy stores filling up every time he ate one. Plus they tasted like mint!

“Luna Luna Luna! I feel it’s time to really break the ice with you.” Stross said as he melted Luna out. And then his wings sprang out of his shell. “…You’re all wet.”

“Paint thineself a portrait changeling, it will last longer.” Luna said and got into the fight, blasting the orbs left and right as she rushed to aid Fenora in taking down the Wispmothers.

…

The mages were doing pretty well all things considered, their magika hadn’t fully recovered from the draining wind, but together they were able to hold the wisps at bay. Brelyna had taken it upon herself to sustain wards around them all while Trixie and J’zargo blasted away at the orbs when they drew near. The wisps had an apparent weakness to fire, and so a simple Flames spell was all they needed to drive them back.

Onmund had unfortunately taken a pretty bad hit when the fighting started due to a wisp hitting the ground and becoming a frost rune trap, and was in the process of treating a rather severe frostbite on his feet.

“Hey, you guys are doin’ great!” Stross said as he joined them, taking a second to snatch one of the wisps out of the air as it dived towards them. He began sucking on it until it shuddered and faded out.

“Yes, we’re fine without you!” Trixie shouted at him in a singular moment when the wisps relented “Go and bother somepony else!”

Just then a horrifying screech rang out, and a group of at least eight of the wisp gathered together and swarmed through the already crowded chamber. They flew spastically towards the ceiling before diving towards the mages like a group of rabid hornets, pulsating in a bright red light.

“Look out!” Stross yelled and grabbed hold of Brelyna, channeling his magic through hers and infusing the shields with his fire.

The several smaller wards melded together in a giant protective bubble of fire, which lit the berserk wisps ablaze as they bounced off in a failed divebombing. They landed on the ground and violently exploded in a huge blast of ice shards and steam.

…

Fenora breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Stross save the mages from her recklessness. When she cleaved through one of the shades, she had no idea that killing it would cause its minions to suicide. But it was also the quickest way end the fight if they could avoid the resulting explosion.

“Luna! Can you try and contain these things when they do that?!” Fenora asked and began fighting her way to the next shade, taking no small amount of hits along the way.

“Easier said than done, but I shall try.” Luna told her as she continued dodging and blasting away at the swarm of dozens pursuing her in the air.

“That’s all I need.” Fenora assured her and smacked away another wisp, giving her a clean shot at not one, but two of the shades. “Toor volusvaan yol-riin! (Inferno dissolving fire-wave)”

Flame erupted from Fenora’s mouth and engulfed the shades, as well as anything between them and where she stood. In a few seconds the flames evaporated, leaving nothing but a scorchmark on the ground and walls, and a silhouette of where the shades once floated.

Upon the deaths of their masters, nearly half the remaining wisps started glowing red and flying erratically. Luna immediately scooped up as many as she could in her magic and forced them all together before wrapping a barrier around them to contain the explosion.

The few that slipped out of her grasp detonated on the ground and walls, causing great spikes of ice to form. But it was nothing compared to what happened inside Luna’s sphere.

Trying to contain twenty of the wisps all at once proved to have been impossible, with disastrous consequences. The wisps were condensed like a pressure bomb, and the explosion was amplified nearly tenfold. Luna herself was thrown back, knocked out from the sheer magical backlash of her spell being blown apart.

Huge chunks of ice rained down like spear blades, and chunks of ice the size of fists were shot at bullet velocity in every direction.

One such ball of ice smashed through another shade, killing it instantly, and thus stating a chain reaction that sent the remaining wisps suicide bombing everything in a frenzy and killing the other shades, including the original Wispmother. For the next seven and a half minutes, explosion after icy glass-shattering explosion sounded out, until finally, everything was quiet.