SSE 17: The College of Winterhold, part 2 - Secrets Under Saarthal

A cryptic vision greeted me as we entered Saarthal.

Nerein, claiming to be of the Psijic Order, warned that my entry into the ruins had started a chain of events that could not be stopped until their conclusion. Nerein would not say what events these are, but informed me that they would observe what I do... and keep in touch. Well.

The Psijic Order is an independent group of advance magician-monks who made the island of Artaeum their home. The island and order had disappeared years ago during the first age. Since then, the order had been know to meddle into the affairs of the empire as they saw fit from time to time. Their magic is most advance - my conversation with Nerein was only experienced by me - everyone else in our party did not realise that minutes had ticked by - or maybe it only ticked by for me and Nerein...

Regardless - we explored Saarthal and found a weak wall that we broke through... Many draugr await beyond. A draugr lord guarded the final chamber, armed with both magic and the Thu'um. He drew power from a curious orb that hovered on its own pedestal behind him, and the fight would have been lost without Tolfdir’s intervention.

Remains in the room suggests that the draugr lord was one Jyrik Gauldurson. According to Tolfdir, Jyrik was a son the Arch Mage Gauldur, who together with his brothers had terrorised Skyrim with their knowledge of magic.

It would seem that someone defeated Jyrik and bound him here. Upon his corpse lay a simple binding spell:

Be bound here, Jyrik, murderer and betrayer. Condemned by your crimes against realm and lord. May your name and deeds be forgotten forever. And the charm which you bear be sealed by our ward.

The charm in this binding likely refers to the fragment of an amulet I found on Jyrik. Further reason would be needed to determine the location and nature of the rest... We then turned our attention to the enormous orb crackling with arcane energy beyond.

Tolfdir says he had not seen anything like it. The orb is so significant he would have to guard it personally while I head back to inform the Arch Mage of our discovery. I also found a dragon wall (Ice) on the way out - just how are the ancient Nords related to the dragons... or is this something even older?

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