SSE 31: The Guild, part 4: Recollection

Solitude sits on a cliff face overlooking the mouth of the Karth river. The location offers a near-perfect defensive position as well as access to waters deep enough to host trade from river and sea vessels. Both factors make the hold of Solitude the natural capital of Skyrim, though the sea trade likely suffered with the recent troubles with the Thalmor and Hammerfell. From the Blue Palace, the High King rules Skyrim backed by the power of the empire based in Castle Dour just next door. Sentiment for the empire here is high, and the imperial army is not shy to show their control - I entered the city just as a public execution was being conducted on a Stormcloak sympathiser.

But we're here on Guild business, not local politics; so I headed to the Winking Skeever Inn to find Gulum-Ei. I confronted him over his connection with the sale of the Honningbrew meadery, but he denied any knowledge of it and fled... which is kind of a giveaway, to be honest.

I tailed the Argonian to the East Empire Company warehouse. The warehouse is a natural water cave under Solitude, and is well guarded... but the natural structure and heavy stacks of goods also afforded ample places to sneak pass them for someone skilled.

In the end I found Gulum-Ei escorted by a mercenary bodyguard. Whoever’s dealing with him must know that he’s a weak link. Taking the bodyguard down without alerting the guards proved an interesting challenge. Once his man in dead, Gulum-Ei is easily convinced to tell the truth - our mysterious adversary is called Karliah. Kaliah. Gulum-Ei says it like I am supposed to recognise it... he didn't elaborate further when I gave him a blank look, but tells me that Mercer Frey will know that name. 

Gulum-Ei also says that Karliah left a message - that she will be waiting "where it all started". Well well...

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SSE 30: The Guild, part 3: Relationships

After taking over the meadery, Mallus gave me free run of the place. I found more letters from our mysterious adversary... not only is he (or she) behind the honey shortage at Goldenglow - but the business challenge from Honningbrew as well!

I return to Riften with the letter detailing the sale of Honningbrew to our mysterious adversary. Maven is understandably troubled by the discovery that someone had orchestrated a plan to take down her business, and demanded that the Guild end this threat.

On that front, Mercer's inquiries came up blank, but the letter I found might give a new clue... the writer mentioned using an agent who goes by the name Gajul-Lei. That's a name known to the Guild. Gulum-Ei, an Argonian working in the East Empire Company who sometimes fences for the Guild, also uses that name from time to time.  

Brynjolf says the East Empire Company has a warehouse in Solitude - Skyrim's Capital and the base of Imperial operations in the Stormcloak rebellion. There's a good chance I'll find Gulum-Ei within the warehouse there. The man’s mostly a coward, so he’ll spill the beans once confronted.

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SSE 29: The Guild, part 2: Rivalry

I found Mallus at the Bannered Mare in Whiterun, just as Maven said he will be. Mallus is a worker at the Honningbrew Meadery that is sick of working for Sabjorn - and he's enterprising enough to seek out Maven Black-Briar to work out an arrangement...

Sabjorn is launching a new blend of mead and will be hosting a tasting session with the Commander Caius of the Whiterun guard. The savvy businessman is obviously vying for an endorsement from the commander. But before that, Sabjorn has a skeever infestation at the Meadery he must take care. If the commander sees the rats at the Meadery, he would likely close the place down than endorse Sabjorn's new mead... and so Sabjorn is desparate for a rat hunter to help.

Mallus explains that I am to pose as a hunter who will take care of Sabjorn's skeever problem. Once I clear out the rats, I will have access to the brewery beyond, where I will dump some of the poison into the vats. We're using only enough poison to make the commander sick, but not enough to kill him, apparently. 

Mallus will also make sure that the doctored brew is given to Caius in the tasting. Once the commander tastes rat poison in the brew, Sabjorn will be incarcerated for sure - and Mallus will happily take over the newest Whiterun branch of the Black-Briar Meadery.

As devious plans go, this isn’t a half-bad one... as long as Sabjorn doesn’t implicate me I’m the poisoning. Still, Maven’s orders... I successfully convinced Sabjorn to hire me for his skeever problem, and it's a good thing I went into the warrens well armed - there's some bloke called Hamelyn conjuring skeevers and under the delusion that he can control his rat army... Anyway he's inconsolable over all the skeevers I killed and I had to put him out of his sad, deranged, misery.

I poisoned the vat as decided and our special brew is presented to Caius. Commander Caius immediately tasted the poison and things go pretty much as planned. Poor Sabjorn's thrown in the cooler and Mallus takes over the running of the meadery "temporarily".

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SSE 28: The Guild, part 1: Reconnoitre

Goldenglow Estate is indeed heavily guarded. It's also located on an island in the middle of Lake Honrich. Luckily everyone was too busy trying to stop the burning bee hives I left in my wake to bother with watching the side door... the Estate building itself is expansive and richly decorated, but nothing too far out of the ordinary. 

In the cellar I find a letter giving clue behind the honey shortage - Aringoth, the owner of Goldenglow had sold the bee farm (!), and the new owner had diverted the honey to other buyers. The buyer seemed to be after Maven Black-Briar's business. The mysterious buyer only identified himself / herself with a dagger mark - maybe Mercer or Brynjolf might know who it is...?

I left the estate still in disarray and returned to the Flagon to report what I found. Mercer Frey was noticeably worked up when I told him someone is working against Maven Black-Briar. He is certain that the mysterious buyer of Goldenglow Estate is trying to wreck the Guild's gig and tear a rift between us and the Black-Briar family. Neither Mercer nor Brynjolf recognised the mark on the letter though, so Mercer decided to make some inquiries about it. 

Meanwhile Byrnjolf set me up for another job - Maven Black-Briar has need of someone from the Guild to carry out a task.

I met Maven Black-Briar in the Bee & Barb. The Guild's patroness went straight to the point: The Honningbrew Meadery in Whiterun has been giving the Black-Briar brand of mead a run for its money - and worse yet - the owner, Sabjorn, had refused to sell the operation to Maven. The matriarch will not suffer competition - and already has a plan to ruin Sabjorn. She just need someone to do the deed. 

I am to find her contact Mallus Maccius at The Banner Mare inn in Whiterun, where the details to her plans will be shared.

Before heading back to Whiterun, I decided to also check in on Sibbi Black-Briar - who's locked up in a surprisingly luxurious cell - to asked about his deal with Louis Letrush. Sibbi said he had taken Louis' money and promised to sell one of his mother's prized steeds, Frost, to him. But his mother found out and was cross enough to use her influence with the Jarl to imprision him, just to make sure he can't see the deal through. 

Sibbi explained that now I'm there, I can help complete the transaction... All that's needed is to steal the horse (called Frost) from the Black-Briar Lodge just outside Riften and pass him to Letrush, along with the breeding papers certifying Frost's lineage from the Lodge itself. With the horse stolen by a "third party" and the money already paid for, Sibbi might have a way to worm his way back to him mother's good graces again.

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SSE 27: Racket

The first target is Haelga from Haelga's Bunkhouse. The bunkhouse... bunks... houses... the employees of the Black-Briar Meadery, mainly. Haelga has a reputation of being friendly with men, but she had skipped payment to the Guild regardless. I persuaded Haelga to hand over what she owed after she found her statue of Dibella in my hands.

The second is Keerava, the tough proprietor of the Bee & Barb inn. I heard that Keerava had a weakness though - she's always worried about her family, so I convinced her to pay up, or the Guild would have to make a trip to Argonia to find her family...

The third is Bersi Honey-Hand from the Pawned Prawn. Bersi loves his Dwarven flask that he puts on display in his shop. It'll be a shame if someone would knock the flask over and break it... though I didn't need the threat - Bersi coughed up the money immediately when I showed up.

With the deed done, Brynjolf gave me my share of the profit, and a bit extra for not resorting to violence (the threat of violence though...). He thinks I'm ready to try something more challenging, so he introduced me to the guild leader Mercer Frey, who's looking for someone to take on a new job.

I can tell that Mercer isn't someone that's easy to impress. He nonetheless agree to Brynjolf's assessment of my skills and gives me details of what I am to do: recently the Altmer called Aringoth who owns Goldenglow Estate had been missing his shipments of honey meant for Black-Briar Meadery. The Guild's biggest payer - Maven Black-Briar (no surprises there) wants to find out what's Aringoth up to. 

I'm to sneak into the farm to find any clues I might gather, and destroy some of the hives for good measure as warning. Security around the estate had doubled. Vex - another Guild senior - had already tried and failed - and nearly got caught. So they'll know I'm coming. Great.

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SSE 26: Riften

The reputation of Riften precedes it. A pleasant-enough town set by the scenic lake Honrich, Riften is home to the Thieves' Guild. While not exactly rampant with crime, Riften nonetheless attracts the wrong sorts. It does not help that the Rift is next to the Dunmer homeland of Morrowind, where many Dunmer fled from when the Red Mountain erupted. It's said that the Jarl herself is under the pay of one of the richest families in Skyrim - the Black-Briars, of the Black-Briar Meadery fame. Even the guards try to hustle me for money on the way in. 

I headed to the Bee & Barb Inn to get local news. Jarl Laila Law-Giver is said to be under the pay of Maven Black-Briar - a rich matriarch of the Black-Briar Meadery and other suspected nefarious operations. The Jarl also thinks that the Thieves Guild is a nuisance but hardly worth the trouble to hunt down - a sentiment not shared by her common folk. Laila supports Ulfric Stormcloak in his rebellion; her eldest son Harrald does as well. But her younger son Saerlund supports the Imperials, thinking that Ulfric is a hypocrite that has half the world fooled. Dinner at the Jarl's table must be... interesting. 

The inn is busy with all kinds. A balding man named Louis Letrush eventually came up to me and offered a job - to find out what happened to Sibbi Black-Briar, son of Maven Black-Briar. Letrush had made payment to Sibbi to buy the purebred stallion Frost off the Black-Briar - but Maven Black-Briar caught wind of the sale and - obviously peeved by her son back-dealing the family assets - had the Jarl lock up Sibbi on trumped up charges. Letrush wants to know what happened to Sibbi and his money.

A man called Brynjoft also approached me in the crowd - he says he "knows my kind" and identified me from the way I walk... and has a proposition for someone of my skills. Brynjoft needs help framing someone - Brand Shei, a local trader, is in need of a reminder of who runs the town before he mouths off against the Thieves' Guild - so Brynjoft decided to lesson is in order. This could be my in to the Guild. While Brynjoft distracts the crowd, I am to steal a ring from Madesi's stall and plant it in Brand-Shei's strong box. This is obviously a test of my skills - so I decided to show Brynjolf what I can do. 

The plan went off without a hitch, and Brynjoft thinks he can use on me for more delicate work. He told me to meet him at the Ragged Flagon, which is a bar tucked in seedy underside of town.

The bar is a gathering spot for the Thieves Guild. The Guild had fallen on hard times recently due to unnaturally bad luck. The members had persevered and found work with certain patrons in Riften. I find Brynjoft amongst the rogues, who gave me the lowdown of my next task - I'm to hit three establishments in Riften who'd neglected to pay their dues. The money is not the issue, but the Guild would rather keep everyone in line without exceptions. Blood is not good for business, so Brynjolf would prefer that I keep things... civil, if possible.

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SSE 25: Yngvol's Barrow and the Search for Isbella Romaine

I returned to the College to place Shalidor’s writings in the library. In the musky vaults I also found the rings tied to the curious mechanical arm in The Midden, so I headed there to see what to make of it. The rings were restored to the arm, and a Daedric spirit who calls himself Velehk Sain appeared. 

Velehk Sain. Famed pirate of the Abecean. Rumours say that he's Daedra - now the ritual shows that it is the truth. The students must have summoned Velehk, but had not expected someone so powerful, and so failed to banish him back. They died paid for their mistake with their lives. Before me, Velehk offered a deal - the ritual of summoning was complete generations ago and I have nothing to do with it. Release him from the ritual, and Velehk will return to the Abecean and continue his life as a pirate lord. Or I could fight him and try to do what the students had failed to.

The idea of banishing Velehk is most tempting, but the Abecean is far away, and I have no quarrel with the Daedra. So I decided to let him go. As a show of his gratitude, Velehk left behind instructions to a cache of booty he had hidden near Winterhold. 

That bit of business settled in the College, I headed to town. I ran across Birna, the owner of the trader's shop. She's struggling to make ends meet in Winterhold, but had sunk too much of her money to the shop and cannot leave. She’s willing to sell me a claw that she bought in her younger days - she says it's related to Yngol's Barrow - she fancied the idea of exploring the ruins in her youth, but never got around to it.

The claw looked like the one I came across for Bleak Falls Barrow near Riverwood - so I decided to buy it off Birna and got her to tell me where Yngol's Barrow is. The barrow lies on the south bank of the inlet leading up to Windhelm.

Glowing orbs followed be throughout the barrow, but they prove to be harmless... at the end of the barrow, the spirit of Yngol still guards his tomb.

I also picked up a story about Ranmir, the local drunk in Winterhold. Apparently Ranmir was a happy lad not too long ago, until his beloved Isabelle Rolaine left him not too long ago. Ranmir tracked her to Riften, where he failed to convince her to come back to Winterhold. The lad had been drowning his sorrows ever since.

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SSE 24: Azura's Star

On the way back to Winterhold I caught sight of a massive statue on the mountain peak near Winterhold. The shrine of Azura is managed by one lone Dunmer priest. She introduced herself as Aranea Ienith, the last of her group that still tended to the statue. Clad perpetually in snow, the task must be most daunting, and Aranea's faith must be that much more devout... She claimed that my appearance is prophesized by Azura - and that I am her champion, fated to find Azura's Star and return it to her.

That sounds rather convenient, doesn't it? But then again, Azura isn't a malevolent Daedric Prince - more mysterious than malicious... helping her might bring about some worthy reward. Azura communicated directly to me - the stone is obscured from her sight (well, Daedric Princes have no sex - but they do have a preferred form they appear in; and Azura prefers the female one), but she knows that the Star’s fate is tied to the fate of a mage called Nelacar. If I find this mage, he might have a clue as to the whereabouts of the Star.

Nelacar. I've seen him lurking in The Frozen Hearth inn in Winterhold. The mage is still there, so I asked him about the Star. He shared the story of his teacher - Malyn Varen, who had come into possession of the Star in his studies. The Star is a soulstone, unique in that it cannot be expended like a regular stone - it can be filled, emptied, and refilled, endlessly. There was a caveat though - the soul stored in the Star cannot be sentient. This limits its power as a soul stone - the strongest soul stones are harvested from the souls of the powerful.

Malyn however was trying to store his own soul in the Star, in clear violation of its intended use. The act warped Malyn Varen, apparently, and Nelacar is convinced that his mentor is corrupted by it. Nelacar had abandoned his master then, but he had heard that Malyn Varen had gathered others to his side to continue his experiment.

Malyn's little cabal had removed to a sunken imperial fort by the northern shores of the lake in Falkreath, called Illinalta's Deep. Wet conditions and the ever-present threat of becoming trapped in the leaking derelict structure are more perilous than the necromancers that guard it. I had expected a fight with their leader, but instead only find Azura's Star on Malyn's skeleton corpse, along with the mage's journal. The Star seemed dimmed and dulled. The journal's final entry suggests that Malan might have placed his soul on the Star successfully.

Not knowing what else I can do, I brought the Star back to Azura, who confirmed that Malyn had indeed stored his soul in the Star. I must fight him inside the Star to cleanse it... or I can wait a few hundred years for the Star to fade back into Azura's realm and she can cleanse it herself. She said she wanted me to have the Star, but it's useless in its current state. Waiting a few hundred years might also be a problem... 

...so it's really not much of a choice. I agreed to cleanse the Star. Azura sent me into her Star, where Malyn is waiting. I cast Malyn’s soul into Oblivion from the stone once and for all to receive my reward.

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SSE 23: Tasks at the College

As Arch Mage, my first order was to send out runners to calm the folk at Winterhold and assure them that everything has been restored to normalcy... it helped our case a bit that we explained that the danger was caused by a Thalmor mage, whom the College had dealt with.

Some in the College - my College - still need help. The orc librarian Urug gro-Shub wanted me to track down some writings by Shalidor - the College's founder. The shipment carrying the manuscript was waylaid on the road from Falkreath to Whiterun. Heading there might reveal some clues...

Searching the road, I came across an innocent-looking cottage called Pinewatch. On closer inspection though, Pinewatch is not what it seems - the cottage is in the middle of nowhere and there are no clues as to what the residents of Pinewatch do by trade - no mill, smelter, nor farm adorn the grounds. The cottage itself seemed empty. Nobody exited or entered the building the whole day.

I eventually sneaked into the property to find a bandit at the basement. Strange. 

I detected a draft coming from behind a storage shelf. A secret button releases the contraption to reveal a tunnel. Aha. The plot thickens.

The hidden cave complex is swarming with bandits. Their leader - Rigel Strong-Arm - is also exceptionally cunning for a bandit. The the entire base is riddled with traps and the bandits are always in groups, making ambushes that much tougher... still, I eventually confronted the leader and brought her career to an end... in her sleep. Rigel seemed to be running from some man-slaughter (well, cat-slaughter, since the letter specifically mentioned Khajiit) charges at home and had set up shop at Pinewatch. 

Her band probably attacked the caravan carrying Shalidor's writings intended for the College. I collected the book and helped myself to her loot. 

I also came across a guy who's trying to raise the dead - except that it wasn't working. He said he was descended from mages and insisted that the staff his ancestors passed down would make him a powerful mage as well... but the boy doesn't have a lick of magical talent. I convinced him to turn over the staff before he hurts himself. 

The College believed in keeping dangerous magic out of the hands of the untrained - and this fits the bill almost too perfectly; and a good thing too - the staff he was carrying is called the Staff of Zombies.

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SSE 22: The College of Winterhold, part 7 - Saving the College

I rushed back to Winterhold with the Staff of Magus. The barrier around the Eye had grown to emcompass the campus... I found Tolfdir in charge - he said that Mirabelle was killed, and the masters had given up holding down the barrier, focusing instead on evacuating the residents of Winterhold, and keeping them safe from the mana spirits that had awoken with this concentration of magic in the air.

The Staff did its magic (or anti-magic, rather) and dispelled the barrier. We rushed in to confront Arcano, who is still in the Hall of Elements, connected to the Eye.

In this state, Arcano is impervious to damage. Eventaully, we figure that if we use the Staff to interrupt the Eye, the barrier will be disrupted momemtarily - long enough, we hope, for the rest of us to stop Arcano. 

Arcano's last words sounded like a man mad with power. Perhaps he had miscontrued the College's general distrust into an agenda to deny him access to study an artefact of obviously great power. Still, this just raised questions whether the Thalmor mage was working for his masters or himself when he seized control of the orb.

We picked up the pieces at the College as much as we can while the Psijic Order arrived to claim the orb. Tolfdir, stating quite plainly that the College had no means to contain the Eye, gladly gave up the artefact. He also informed me that since I'm holding the Staff of Magnus, I should now take on the mantle of Arch Mage - especially since the masters of the College did not wish the burden of leading the school.

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SSE 21: The College of Winterhold, part 6 - The Staff of Magnus

I returned to find the College to find it in chaos.

Arcano had somehow tapped into the orb and enacted a barrier preventing anyone from coming close to him - worse, Arch Mage had already tried and paid his life for it. Mirabelle Ervine had taken over and is holding the College masters together while she comes up with ways to slow Arcano down. The barrier is growing by the hour. The entire College and whatever's left in Winterhold is at stake, if not the whole of Skyrim.

Mirabelle tells me that Savos had passed instructions in his final moments. I am to inherit his amulet, he instructed that I be told that the amulet was from Labyrinthian (!). The dying Arch Mage assured Mirabelle that I would know what to do...

Indeed I do - I headed to Labyrinthian, now sure that the Staff of Magnus will be found there. Labyrinthian is a Nordic ruin often associated with Shalidor, the founder of the College of Winterhold. Shalidor had built a massive labyrinth to test his students there - the ancient maze itself sits over the even older ruins of the settlement of Bromjunaar. 

At the entrance, I find a hint behind Savos Aren’s past with Labyrinthian. A vision of the past appeared as I crept into the old ruins. Years ago and much younger - Savos Aren led five other mages into Labyrinthian. He was not Arch Mage then, and together with his colleagues he was seeking to challenge the secrets of the dungeons within.

And what a challenge it was - behind the first door is a Bone Dragon and an army of skeletons. The skeletons are easy to deal with, but the undead dragon is tougher than most, and has lost none of its vigor in its undeath.

Behind the dragon, the halls of old Bromjunaar are guarded by draugr. Along the way I picked up more visions of Savos’ expedition - despite proven confidence in their their power (the party survived the Bone Dragon with only one dead), they were whittled by ambushes and traps until only three of them remained. They resolved to push on, nonetheless, probably fearful of what might await them on the way back.

A voice also taunted me as I ventured deeper. It mistook me for Savos, and dared him to come ‘finish your work’... The voice is profound and leeches the Thu’um - a formidable opponent awaits at the final chamber. I eventually got there to find that the spirits of the remaining two mages that accompanied Savos are holding down a figure with their magic.

I released the two spirits from their vigil and and broke their hold over Morokei. Thus freed, Morokei came for me - I fought the master of these ruins, guant as a draugr that server him, but far, far more deadly than one.

After an extended battle, I finally defeated Morokei with a combination of potshots, nimble feet, and smart use of architecture to block his attacks. On his corpse were many powerful objects - the most enigmatic being his mask. Further into his chambers I also found a dragon wall that taught the power to slow time. 

At the exit of Labyrinthian, the story of Savos' expedition also comes to an end. In their explorations, they had wandered too deeply and freed Morokei. Sensing the great evil behind the mask, Savos probably decided to sacrifice the spirits of his colleagues to imprison Morokei in a bid to stop the ancient terror from escaping. No wonder the Arch Mage wanted to hide the truth about what happened...

I also encountered a Thalmor mage who calls himself Estormo, waiting for me at the end. Apparently he was under orders from Arcano to stop me - the Thalmor obviously has its own plan for the Orb. The Thalmor agent proved barely a nuisance compared to Morokei. 

I rush back to Winterhold, fearing the worst.

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SSE 20: The College of Winterhold, part 5 - The Oculory in Mzulf

The Synod is a body of magicians loyal to the empire. Relations between the Synod and the College of Winterhold is cordial, if not exactly warm. They are based off Cyrodiil and had ventured to Skyrim from time to time.

The expedition to Mzulf is therefore not unique. The sprawling Dwemer (dwarven) ruins lie to the far east of Skyrim. The Dwemer were a race of atheistic elves who put greater faith in their knowledge of the world than the Aedra and Daedra. They prefer the underground and had built vast complexes under parts of Skyrim (and beyond) - yet their civilization had suddenly disappeared thousands of years ago, leaving their settlements all but empty, guarded by their cunning and artifice. Probing these places is dangerous but also rewarding. The wealth in dwarves metals alone makes it worthwhile... if one survives.

Things obviously had not gone the way the Synod had planned, though, since I found the research team's leader gasping his last as I entered the ruins.

Mzulf is at least partially taken over by... something. These degenerate-looking elves are blind (which hasn’t affected their combat ability!) and primitive. There are signs of skirmishes still between these primitives and the Dwemer mechanical guards. The Synod had either found themselves prey to either party, or just caught in the cross fire.

I found the sole survivor of the expedition, who had locked himself in a room. When I introduced myself as a member of the College, Decimus Paratus accused the College of trying to take credit for his research... but grudgingly accepted my aid to solve the riddle he had found himself in.

The room he had locked himself in is dominated by a large device of moving metal arms and lenses - an 'Oculory', to use his words. Decimus suspects that the light from the device needs to be focused with a missing central piece - a piece I had unknowingly picked up from one of the Falmer leaders I encountered. Once set on the central frame, the focusing device needed to be tempered by frost and fire spells to the right temperature to focus the beams to the lenses as intended... the lens arranged in 3 concentric rings at the ceiling also needed to be aligned to reflect the beams back down...

... to reveal a map. Whatever this is, it's not the Staff of Magnus. 

I said as much, and Decimus says that this is the first time he heard anyone from the College mention the Staff - he suggested that if I wanted to Staff, I should search the ruins of Labyrinthian, not in Mzulf. Hmm. If the Synod was not looking for the Staff - why did the Arch Mage say they were? Why send me to the wrong place? ...what is he hiding?

Before I could make more sense of this mystery that the Arch Mage had set, I received a message from the Psijic Order - something is happening at the College, and that I was needed there. Urgently.

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SSE 19: The College of Winterhold, part 4 - The Eye of Magus

While I was out hunting books, the mages had moved the orb into the College tower and taken to calling it the Eye of Magnus - Magnus being the god of magic. 

I reported to Tolfdir my findings - The Night of Tears attributed the destruction of Saarthal to the Falmer, who were envious over an artefact of great power discovered buried in the city. This must refer to the Eye. And that would mean that the Eye must be that source of great magical power...

Arcano interrupted our musings and informed me that a member of the Psijic Order had appeared in person, requesting to speak with me. I am summoned to the Arch Mage's quarters to meet him. The Thalmor agent is obviously not happy to be a messenger boy.

The Psijic mage Quaranir was waiting for me. He told me - via "time stop" again - that the presence of the Eye had interfered with his ability to communicate remotely with me, so he was forced to come in person to give me a clue as to where I am supposed to go next - he said I should seek out the Augur of Dunlain, who resides in the College.

Quaranir left hurriedly after passing his message. To Savos Aren and Arcano, no time had passed and they are mystified by what happened - did the Psijic Order send a monk just to look upon the face of one of the College students that they’d asked by name, and then leave? Arcano was particularly suspicious, for there is no love between the Thalmor and the Order.

Later, I asked Tolfdir in private where I can find the Augur. He revealed that nobody in the College who knows of the Augur wants to talk about it: a long time ago, a mage had studied the source of magic that seem to flow throughout the College so deeply that he became part of the source that powers the building. The steps he took to become such was never documented, and nobody could undo it. Since then, the Augur has been treated as a pointed lesson about going too far in one’s research... Eventually the name of the mage was forgotten, and everyone merely referred to this sentient power as the Augur. The Augur had accrued much knowledge over the years but is had been content to reside deep in the dungeons under the College - in a complex known as The Midden.

Deep in the Midden, I find evidence of dark rites being conducted, away from the scrutiny of the College masters. Left undisturbed in the dark of the Midden, there’s no way to date these rites... The College itself might frown on unethical practice of magic, but there are certainly students who are more lax in that regard.

In one room was a summoning circle with a Daedric mechanical arm in the middle. The report found on a table here suggested that nobody knew what the arm was, except that it was obviously Daedric. A sign of Oblivion on the palm says as much. It was also recorded that the students who participated in the summoning did not survive, and the rings that came with the arm were stored in the College for further study. Perhaps there is something more about this rite that it appears.

Deep in the Midden, I found the Augur - it told me that events had already overtaken all chance to avert disaster - but I must find the Staff of Magnus if I were to effect the best outcome possible. The Augur also mentioned that Arcano is mistaken on his views about the Eye... Increasingly, it would seem a confrontation with the Thalmor cannot be discounted in the future.

I reported to the Arch Mage what the Augur said. Savos Aren was surprised that I found out where the Augur is, and even more surprised by mention of the Staff. The Staff of Magnus is a legendary of the god of magic itself. Its best known ability was that of absorbing magical power, supposedly allowing Magnus to roam the mortal realm by preventing his overflowing magic from affecting it. 

The Arch Mage said that the Staff was associated with many powerful mages in history, but the current location is unknown - though possibly out of sheer coincidence, mages from the Synod had come to the College recently asking about the Staff, Savos Aren shared that they headed off to the Dwemer ruins of Mzulf, thinking that the Staff might be found there... Odd - that a staff associated in history with magicians in recent history would be in Dwemer ruins abandoned thousands of years ago... still these Synod mages presents the best clue we may have about the Staff of Magnus

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