 |
| College of Winterhold Dragon 2 |
After whipping up a bunch of potions, instead of an enchanting night, we spent an unsettled night in my dorm room at the College while that lunatic
Arcano, the Thalmor Advisor/Spy remained barricaded behind a magical barrier he had spawned around him and the
Eye of Magnus. The next morning a second Dragon hit the College...no problem.
Before leaving Winterhold I decided to give
Azura's Star to
Nelacar. If you remember the choice was: give it to
Aranea Lenith the Daedric Priestess (at the
Shrine of Azura) or Nelacar, the exiled Mage of the College, who told me whatever I do, don't give it the the Priestess! Thinking of my experiences in Cryodiil, I was generally not happy with Daedric Gods and the chaos they represent, hence my decision.
Azura's Star is a Daedric artifact/weapon used to collect souls, but after Nelacar researched it, he declared it was broken and inhabited by
Maylen Varen's soul, the original mage driven slightly insane experimenting with it. Nelacar wanted me to send my soul in there and chase him out. He assured me that if I defeated Varen, I'd come out alive, boy... no, not right now. I'd do this before taking on the Thalmor Advisor at the College.
 |
| Labyrinthian Dungeon |
To defeat Arcano we needed the
Staff of Magnus, rumored to be located in the
Labyrinthian. We fast traveling to a ruin east of Morthal and found it along the road between Solitude and Morthal on the north side of the mountains. Labyrinthian is a huge sprawling ruin, inhabited by trolls.
 |
| Ghosts or Vision? |
Just outside the inside entrance, we bumped into a a bunch of ghosts or it was a vision of past events when a group of mages including
Savos Aren, (former Arch Mage of Winterhold College, now deceased) led an expedition inside the ruin. I could not interact with them, but it appeared they were acting as guides.
 |
| Labyrinthian Bone Dragon |
A big reception awaited us in a large columned chamber consisting of a bone dragon and multiple bow equipped/frost mage skellys. I ran around the perimeter of the room and down some stairs, losing Lydia in the process. The vision/ghosts were there, however I could not proceed without my Lydia. Sneaking back up and moving from column to column I was able to snipe every skeleton in the room without drawing excessive aggro. I summoned Sparky, Lydia appeared, and then we made quick work of the bone dragon.
 |
| Tunnel of Death |
The next encounter was against
Wispmothers (tough opponents), followed by a seemingly impossible hallway filled with fire and frost. I'm speaking of a freezing spray followed by violent one-explosion kills. This energy came from soul crystals mounted along the sides and at the end of the hall. After dying multiple times trying to traverse this passage, I volunteered Sparky. Either she dislodged the soul crystals or they exhausted themselves trying to kill her. In either case they went inert and I was able to collect them. After the fact, I'm thinking that shooting these crystals with arrows might have been an option.
 |
| Morokei |
Walking into the final chamber we found two mages streaming energy into a magic bubble surrounding
Morokei, one of the eight
Dragon Priests in Skyrim and one tough dude. After an extended fight it fell dead allowing me to seize the
Staff of Magnus. I also retrieved a really ugly mask that regenerates magic at a 100% faster rate. I'd wear it but only in combat. Exiting, we were confronted by
Estormo, a Thalmor agent. He was mostly annoying and smacked down easily.
 |
| Morokei's Butt Ugly Mask |
Popping out of the dungeon, we explored the rest of the surface ruin and found more trolls and an entrance to an area called
Lost Valkygg. Inside, I faced toughest single creature in Skyrim (so far), a
Drauger Death Lord with a nasty dragon shout and one-shot-kill bow. Lydia fell behind as I retraced my steps back through multiple chambers repeatedly spawning Sparky, refreshing my health and mana pool, and staying out of his aim as I was pursued! Damn I wanted that bow, but after a very extended fight, when the Lord finally fell into a lifeless heap, there was nothing special about his equipment. A chest in the final chamber held something called
Meridia's Beacon and a sinister Daedric-sounding voice told me what it expected me to do with this item. I placed the quest on my "to-do" list for consideration.
After facing a full strength Dragon Shout in combat, I knew some tough challenges laid ahead and was concerned about achieving this ability myself. My target Shout would be "
Marked for Death". I had one of the words, but needed two more.
 |
| Autumn Watch Towers & Dragon Word |
Not to sound distracted, but I mentioned getting married in a previous post and although I have no specific marriage prospects in mind, I had picked up the
Book of Love Quest when I was in Riften, which would allow me to get married. Killing two birds with one stone, we stopped in Iverstad to help a couple in love (told them to elope; the marriage quest) and then moved on to
Autumn Watch Tower south of Iverstad for one of the Dragon Words I desired, which also involved fighting another
Blood Dragon. This was my second fight were I tried to take on a dragon from a tower roof. It was tougher than usual as I kept getting cooked, ran down the steps to heal, and then back up into the flames again! Fortunately I survived and it finally died.
 |
| The Kid Wants Vengance! |
The final
Marked for Death Dragon Word was associated with the
Dark Brotherhood, a group of assassins. I was not sure I'd be up for their quests even if it did get me access to the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary, where the 3rd Marked For Death Dragon Word was supposed to be located. It especially bothered me the lead-in quest was awarded by an orphan in Windhelm, who had a grudge against the mean orphanage custodian, and wanted her murdered! I don't considered children the best source of fair, mature thinking, but I took the quest and hoped that I could stomach it. After all the needs of the empire might override one person's life, that is if I could resort to murder.
No comments:
Post a Comment