Skyrim - Under Saarthal

The door closes behind me, and I find myself stood in a gloomy passageway, the only light coming from a few candles in the distance. Stenvar warns me that there are both treasures and traps in ruins like these - I can tell that he's becoming attached, despite his mercenary nature.

Tolfdir leads us through twisting tunnels, with large chambers setup with tables and chairs for the study of artifacts. Some students from the college sit and attend to various investigations as we work our way through. Tolfdir sets me an easy tasks by asking me to collect a variety of objects from around the main chamber we find ourselves in.

Most of the artifacts come freely, but an amulet I grab traps me behind a thick set of bars which slam shut, holding me tight in a small chamber. Naturally Tolfdir believes me to have touched something I wasn't meant to - he fidgets around for the release, and the trap is released.

He tells me to put the amulet on which I dutifully do, regardless of the fact the last order of his I followed resulted in me incapacitated behind bars with him scalding me. The wall behind where I was trapped begins to glow blue with magic, and I can tell that this isn't something Tolfdir expected. He tells me to cast some magic at the wall, and it breaks, exposing another chamber.

Entering it, I have some sort of... vision. A blue colour is cast around the chamber, and a figure talks to me. Apparently he is from the Psijic Order, which means nothing to me. But he does explain that due to the exploration of Saarthal, certain things have been set in motion and that there is danger. It sounds more like a warning than a threat. After a time, I am left standing there wondering what just happened, and I explain everything to Tolfdir.

Despite the warning, Tolfdir believes we should press on, and he sends me and Stenvar ahead to scout. What we find are draugr, and plenty of them. Most lay in their graves, or stand in burial chambes, only becoming active when I pass nearby. This requires that Stenvar and I sneak along so as not to wake them, for although one draugr is easily despatched, a room full of them is more of a problem. The sneaking allows me to pick the draugr off before they rise with accurate shots from my bow, letting the rest once more.

Some chambers we reach have a set of standing stones in them which are used as a key to access further parts of Saarthal. Though they test my mental fortitude, none present much of a challenge - the prehistoric Nords must have had smaller brains than the cleverer Imperial brain residing in my head.

I reach a large chamber, the largest yet, and am met by the sight of a large glowing orb floating in the middle of the room. It bathes everything in a soft green glow. So awed am I by this that I don't notice the ancient draugr called Jyrik Gauldruson sitting on a throne amongst it all, who dutifully arises to give me a swift seeing to.

Our attacks do not seem to have much of an affect on Jyrik, and it is only when Tolfdir catches up with us that the tide starts to turn. He alters the energy that Jyrik is using from the orb, and my attacks begin to hit home. Soon, the draugr is dead, once more.

While picking his corpse for useful bits, Toldfir tells me that it is vital that this news reaches the arch-mage. Of course this means that I have to head back to the college as soon as I leave Saarthal, but luckily I don't have plans to go anywhere else right now.

As I work my way towards an exit, I find another circular wall and learn yet another dragon word. These things seem to be scattered all over this land - I must find more of them. Stenvar doesn't seem to react at all when the rush of blue words hits me like a wind - does he even see it? We carry on working our way back through the ruins of Saarthal, and emerge into daylight.

Skyrim - The College of Winterhold

I attend my first lecture at the College of Winterhold. Tolfdir, the resident lecturer, rabbits on for a long time about magical application, but the other students are keen on learning something practical. He teaches me a basic ward spell, something to throw up as a shield should other mages use offensive magic on me. It drains my magicka quickly leaving me depleted, but Tolfdir is happy enough with my performance and today's lesson is over. Tolfdir asks me to join him on an exploration of a nearby ruin called Saarthal. I agree and Tolfdir leaves. Nothing is said of Stenvar's presence in the corner of the room.

After speaking with the other students, some of whom have either gotten themselves into a pickle or require my assistance, I exit the college and do what any new student would do after joining - head to the pub. I navigate my way back across the stupidly dangerous bridge, and back into Winterhold proper. As soon as I step off the bridge, the weather turns awful - a veritable blizzard blows through the town. Regardless of this, I run for the inn - The Frozen Hearth.

I speak with a dark elf mage called Nelacar. Apparently, he's a bit of an outsider around here. The Jarl hates the college and mages, thinking them responsible for the calamity which destroyed a large chunk of the town, while the college booted Nelacar from their ranks because some of his experiments went wrong. He doesn't seem overly cut up about it, but I choose not to pry.

I tell him that I have been sent to speak with him by the priestess of Azura. This seems to loosen his tongue somewhat and he tells me about Azura's Star, a strange daedric device used to trap souls. His previous master used to own it, and would experiment on it. This in turn deranged him, and he dragged some of his followers over to Ilinalta's Deep - a sunken fort where I will find the Star. He asks me not to return the Star to the shrine. I thank him for his information and leave.

Stenvar and I make our way out of the town, and head for the ruin of Saarthal. The path we follow is across an open plain of snow, and aside from the odd wolf attack, nothing of note happens in our traversal of it.

Saarthal itself is below the local sea-level, a fundamental design-flaw in my mind, but then I am not an architect. A scaffold of wood-work has been setup to ease the access from here to the main door, and Stenvar and I work our way down until we stand in front of the gates themselves. I know not what awaits us inside, but Tolfdir is already here, and eager for me to get stuck in. I enter the ruin.