Skyrim: A Sorcerer's Tale

Chapter 141: Chapter IV: Descending Down Familiar Halls

Chapter 141: Chapter IV: Descending Down Familiar Halls



I leave Phineas' tower with a mix of excitement and dread. When I asked him for his anatomical research I expected a singular large tome, maybe two considering his possible experience. What I most assuredly did not expect however was twenty four-hundred page tomes describing in painful detail every single experiment he had ever conducted.

When the flames in his eye sockets brightened ever so slightly at my gobsmacked expression I could swear that the lich gave me everything just to fuck with me. And I couldn't even be mad!

I made my way to my mansion to deposit the mini library I had just acquired into my vaults when the sound of annoyed yelling drew my attention from the dining hall.

Draping myself in shadows and shadow-walking through the slightly opened double doors I stood in one corner of the room and observed the unfolding drama.

My three guardsmen, whom Scorch had generously dubbed the Scorched, were quietly snickering at the sight of Edrassa hissing at Davos "What do you mean I have to trudge through caves with you?!"

Davos' smug look of superiority didn't leave his face for an instant as he explained "Our Lord has commanded that all of us are to accompany him in the expedition. Besides, can you honestly tell me that you do not wish to unearth one of the greatest cities of Dwemereth outside Resdayn?"

I am quite sure he learned the ancient names of the Dwemer Kingdom and Morrowind just to annoy her further...

She throws her arms up and groans "I am a mage, not a miner, I have things to do here!" Davos shakes his head 'in disappointment' "My oh my Edrassa, you wouldn't be referring to Lord Dagoth as a miner now would you?" He was having way too much fun with this.

She sighs and slumps back into a nearby seat, waving him off "Whatever, it isn't like I have much of a choice, is it?"

"That's the spirit!" Davos cheers.

I leave the room and shake my head with a chuckle, it seems my jumpy agent of a vassal was finally fully embracing the art of trolling.

Later that day I visited the guard house to catch up with my buddies in the guard, we had a few drinks and talked about the happenings in Skyrim. Well, I say we but it was mostly them pestering me to tell them the tale of my adventures, something they greatly enjoyed.

I even got to witness the scene of Minthara sparring with Thorfinn, the young man apparently got curious about a person I chose to train, and after an obvious refusal from Marco who was busying himself overpreparing for any situation like a paranoid little gremlin, Thorfinn challenged my pet demigod.

The spar started fairly evenly with the both of them using alteration and probing their opponent with light attacks, and then Minthara started swinging... Her rapid hammer strokes completely overwhelmed Thorfinn within moments and both he and the observing

guardsmen were openly gaping at the display.

I merely cackled at them.

Thankfully my apprentice was a good sport about it and the two developed a quick friendship, much like Thorfinn and I did over a year prior. We spent the rest of that day carousing and exchanging tales.

The following day and a half were spent in heavy preparation, I made sure everyone in my household had a variety of scrolls to use, and when that failed some well-made digging equipment and plenty of rope. I was not about to lose anyone to a Divines damned accident.

I made sure to brush up on terramancy and spent most of my free time practicing the art of shaping stone on a larger scale, I wouldn't be overturning any mountains anytime soon but being able to turn the terrain against our enemies while in a cave was bound to be powerful. Finally, I grabbed a clairvoyance spell guide from the Arcaneum and pestered Shalazar to give me some advice on using it. He spent a good couple of hours explaining how to differentiate myself from the visions I might get and also cautioned me to move step by step as even he was unsure of what kind of reaction my third eye may or may not have with scrying magic. I swore to myself I would be careful, I was not about to let myself turn into another Ravencrone.

head.

"Ah, but is it enchanted to keep magic in I wonder?" I mutter and surge as much Magicka as reasonable into my metaphysical eye, casting clairvoyance at the same time.

The amount of information I receive is almost overwhelming, for the briefest moment I get

the picture of a long network of hallways filled to the brim with thousands of Falmer and hundreds of Dwemer automata but then something seems to react to my presence and my sight is pushed back into my body.

I grunt in pain but blessedly only a minor headache followed "It is an entire Dwemer base in there" My voice turns into a whisper "Well over a thousand Falmer as well, some kind of settlement at the end, I didn't get the whole picture before I had to cut the spell." Tolfdir is seemingly unperturbed and starts muttering plans of our advance. Phineas on the other hand cackles with glee "Good, I finally get to have some fun."

"I thought you said you take great care of who you raise?" I ask with a raised eyebrow. The lich scoffs "Don't play coy with me Dagoth, I am not about to advertise my immoral practices for all to hear." He seems far more animated than I had ever seen him be. "That is fair" I nod an turn to Tolfdir "So, do we go in adventurers first or do we let our lively

friend have his fun?"

Surprisingly Tolfrid rolls his eyes and waves me off "I have no love for these monsters" He looks at Phineas with something I had never expected to see on the old man's face, pure malice "Make them suffer." He grinds out.

I stand completely stunned for a while before Phineas' skeletor-esque cackling break me out of it, I look at Tolfdir who had returned to his grandfatherly smile and he merely tilts his

head. Then it strikes me, Tolfdir had no doubt lost a lot of friends and family to the Falmer over the centuries, something like that could no doubt bring wrath even to Winterhold's genial grandpa. I give him a nod signaling my understanding and his smile turns sad for a moment.

Soon it is decided that Phineas would go forward by himself, quickly followed by myself and my group and finally by the adventurers. The lich had no fear of dying, even if the Falmer managed to get around his complete immunity to poison he would just reform if his body was

destroyed.

And so it was that after briefing my guards on what was about to happen, it took me very little to convince that necromancy wasn't blasphemy if it was used on the enemy, we followed after the great necromancer, what followed gave me an entirely new perspective on the school.

I feel like I should have saved the diggy diggy meme for this section of the story...

Well whatever, not like more mining could be bad amirite?

DIGGY THOSE STONES BROTHERS!

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