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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