Chapter 22: Morrigan
[A/N]: huh it seems there was a bonus chapter this week. That's cool. Guess the cliffhanger didn't last very long.
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"You know about the game?"
Morrigan continued to stare expectantly at Rictus, who only looked a bit confused.
"Well yeah…I would have figured all of us Skilled would know about it."
Morrigan shook her head.
"That is not the case. Dante has no idea about it. I have dropped subtle hints about a few things, but he has not acknowledged any of them. He seems to be just what he says. A Vigilante of Stendarr. That is all he knows. I am not certain, but I think he inherited the Skill from someone from our world. He mentioned something about a crazy dying man he had tried to save from some draugr before he had some kind of dream about becoming one of the legendary Skilled. I met him not too much longer after that, and he has been with me ever since."
Rictus was stunned. He knew this was a dangerous world, but he figured the other Skilled would be able to survive just like he had been doing. It was interesting to know the Skill would pass on to others though. He was not sure how it passed. Would the skill go to whoever was closest upon death, could you kill one and then get their skill, did the skill have to make the challenge and fail, or was there some other way it was decided? Rictus did not plan on figuring this out though. He hoped he would never come in conflict with another Skilled, and he really hoped he didn't have to kill one.
"That is very interesting indeed. I guess we should be careful of the other Skilled in the future. Don't want them thinking we are crazy or anything like that. Not all of the Skilled are one of the Transferred. Regardless, I am still curious as to why you didn't try and change how the story line went. Wouldn't it have been easier to just kill Ancano in his sleep? Or even do something to save Savos?"
Morrigan turned her head away in shame. She was not proud of what had happened.
"Well…I am actually not very well versed in the game. I have only played it a couple times, and both of those was mostly only the College questline. My roommate used to play it a lot, and she got me to try it out. I didn't change anything because I thought I knew exactly how things would turn out. There were some little inconsistencies, but most things were similar enough to ignore. How things ended was one of the better outcomes in my opinion. Things could have gone very bad if I messed anything up and Ancano or some other bad person gained control of the Eye. I am not proud of what I did, but I did what I thought was best. Savos was a great mentor to me. I will miss him."
A couple tears were falling down Morrigan's face. She seemed genuinely upset about Savos.
Rictus understood her reasoning though. He was honestly not sure if he would have done the same or not. There were pros and cons to both sides. Changing the story was unpredictable. Maybe Morrigan could have changed things for the better, but she could have made things worse. As sad as all the deaths were, how things ended really was not as bad as it could have been. The Eye of Magnus falling into the wrong hands would have been horrible.
Rictus reached over and patted Morrigan's hand to comfort her.
"I understand. I am sorry for your loss. Things will get better though. You are the new archmage. You have the chance to change things for the better here, especially with dragons on their way."
The words seemed to draw Morrigan out of her slump.
"Thank you. Speaking of dragons, where are they? I was expecting them to already be here and attacking Skyrim. As I mentioned, I only know some of the major parts of what really went on in the game. I preferred enchanting items and pretending I was more of a trader while playing the game instead of going on adventures to save Skyrim."
Morrigan seemed a little embarrassed at that last part. She preferred that slice of life aspect than running around and doing quests.
"Well, the dragons should be showing up soon. From a couple rumors I have heard, Ulfric has not yet killed the high king. There are some little rebellious acts going on, but it has not become a full-blown civil war as of now. I think it will be happening soon since I have heard there was a moot about to happen. There is no shame in having a preferred way to role play in a game. I am not a huge lore junky myself, but I have played significantly more than 2 times. I don't remember names and dates or anything like that off the top of my name, but I do know the gist of what will happen."
"That makes sense. I mean how many people actually memorize those things from a video game. I bet most people who play games don't. I bet even people who write about the games have to constantly check the wiki about things just to make it seem like they know what is going on."
A comfortable silence fell upon the two out of place people. There were still a couple thing Rictus wanted to know though.
"Morrigan, what are your plans for the College and yourself moving forward? You are now responsible for the mages here."
Morrigan let out a groan as her head sunk into her hands.
"Not you too. That is all Tolfdir and the other masters will talk about. I have read more reports and listened to even more reports than ever before. Quite frankly, I don't know. There is a lot going on here and managing the College is a lot of paperwork. I had no idea there were so many outside forces trying to contact and ally with the College before now. There are missives from various factions in Cyrodiil trying to get various things from us. Mages are widely distrusted around Skyrim, and many mages decide to join their own little groups and stake territory like a gang instead of joining us here. I naturally want to improve upon the College and grow it into something even better than it is now. I have actually been here for quite some time, but it took me a little while to adjust and figure out how things worked."
Morrigan seemed to stop for a second to collect her thoughts.
"There are more than 100 mages here at the College, with plenty of room for more. I would like to grow our number and maybe even make satellite locations at the various holds like an actual mage's guild. I want to have better relations with the town of Winterhold and maybe make it a haven for mages. There are not many people here, but mages are a great force multiplier. I would also like to gather the other Skilled. The ones with magical Skills to be specific. I know we can take disciples which will create more powerful mages. I have found even if we do not make a person our disciple, we are able to teach people about our Skill so much faster than anyone else. Even our disciples seem to be able to teach better. If we could do this will all the Skilled here, the College would become a powerhouse. There are some other things, but those are my main hopes."
Rictus was a little impressed. He was very interested in the information about teaching. Such a thing would be extremely useful somewhere like the College. If Morrigan could convince the other Skilled to gather and teach here, the resulting mages would gain knowledge and power quicker than most anywhere else. It was definitely ambitious. There was a little thing bothering Rictus.
"I thought we could have minions, not disciples?"
Morrigan smiled.
"Disciples sounds much better than minion. Not many people line up to be a simple minion."
Made sense to Rictus. He would rather not be a minion if he could help it either.
"It definitely sounds like you have a lot planned. I really wish you the best in accomplishing them. I would be willing to help you out as well. I don't mind teaching a class on occasion, but I don't really want to do it full time. There is still so much I want to see and do here to tie myself down like that, at least for now. Sounds like a great retirement option. I may even be able to help with your other objectives. I have a really good relationship with the Jarl already. I own a house in Whiterun already, so I could help set up a place for mages there as well."
Morrigan nodded along. It was a good start.
"I really wish you would stay here full time and help with all the coming troubles. I want you to know you will have a place here whenever you desire it. I will give you some times when we usually allow guest lectures, and you can let me know which works best for you. I will have to set up a meeting with myself and the Jarl as soon as possible as well. There is a lot to talk about and try and make up for. Hopefully we can come to a mutually beneficial agreement. The expansion to other holds will probably take a week or more to set up with the other Masters. Hopefully by then, we can at least send out official recruiters to find aspiring mages and escort them here even if we do not set up new locations."
Rictus could see Morrigan was starting to fill her role as archmage well. Hopefully, she will continue to learn and improve as time goes on.
"Sounds like a good plan to me Morrigan. Just keep me updated. If I do leave town, I will let you know how you can contact me. I think I may go check out your library though. I could use a new book."
With that, Rictus stood up to leave. Morrigan stood up and held her hand out to Rictus.
"We do have a wonderful library. I am hopeful for a long and prosperous working relationship. If there is anything else I need, I will be sure to contact you for it. I look forward to working with you."
With a sturdy handshake and nod of his head, Rictus left the archmage's quarters. It was time to visit the library. Rictus was filled with anticipation on what he may find there.
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Morrigan sat back down in her chair and began drumming her fingers. The meeting had gone better than she feared, but worse than she was hoping. It was good to confirm her suspicions about Rictus being one of the Skilled. She was hopeful he would have taken a more active roll in joining her here at the College, but there was still time. She thought she had left a good impression on the man.
Rictus was a fairly interesting man. He seemed comfortable in combat and able to think on his feet. He was well educated based off his actions. He was extremely physically fit, especially for a mage. Morrigan did think he gave off the occasional lazy vibe, or that he would be prone to acting based off a whim instead of meticulous planning. This did not make him unintelligent though, just a bit harder to predict.
Morrigan could faintly feel the power rolling off him. It was a lot more than Dante and even more than she would normally possess. Morrigan thought Rictus must have reached the level 100 skill mark based off his magical presence alone. She was very curious as to what he received for his bonus. She had a good idea given his use of earth magic, which was a surprisingly rare and costly use of magic.
Morrigan considered her own level 100 boon as she pulled the glove off her hand. There was a large black symbol tattooed onto both sides of her right hand. It looked almost like a lowercase N with the top flattened and a solid dot inside of it. It was easily recognized for the symbol of conjuration and Oblivion.
A large amount of mana began pooling into the symbol as Morrigan focused on what she desired. The symbol seemed to give off a shadowy red light as a small orb began manifesting itself above Morrigan's hand. With more magical power added, the stone continued to grow to about the size of a softball. The orb appeared mostly black with lava red highlights flowing around it. Once the mana stopped being channeled, the orb plopped down into Morrigan's hand.
Morrigan studied her secret weapon. According to her grimoire, it was a type of sigil stone conjured from the realms of Oblivion. It allowed her to cast an enchantment without having to use a soul gem. She was also not restricted into having to use an enchanter's table with it. The only downside was it could only use 2 enchantments, one defensive or one offensive. She was not able to use an already created sigil stone to enchant something however she wanted. The one in her hand could either grant frost resistance or cause frost damage.
Morrigan reached down and picked up a pair of furred slippers as she applied the resistance enchantment to them. A good pair of warm shoes was always welcome in this cold an area. She was very pleased with her boon. The sigil stones gave her a way to enchant no matter where she was at nor be limited to soul stones and enchanting tables. It also supplied much more utility for her. Most of her enchantments from soul stones were learned from previous enchantments. She was working on custom enchantments, but they were still difficult to produce. During the creation of the sigil stone, Morrigan simply had to imagine the enchantment, and it would appear on the stone. T
The types of enchantments were still limited, since she could not create all powerful enchantments such as invincibility, but she could do more with it, like a cleaning spell which caused clothes to not get dirty and weapons not to rust. Morrigan also couldn't help but think there was more this stone could be used for, but that would take time and very careful experimentation. She knew messing with the realms of Oblivion could be extremely dangerous.
Morrigan couldn't help but wonder if the other Skilled would get such beneficial boons or how it even worked for other skills. Once Dante finally reached the max level, she would find out for the spell casters at least.
Thinking of Dante, Morrigan could only smile. She had grown to actually care for the man. He was the strong silent type without many ambitions which paired nicely with her. Dante even had an easily exploitable flaw of being devoutly against all "abominations" such as daedra, vampires, and werewolves, as evidenced by her getting him to leave the meeting so easily.
There was a knock on the door, as Dante entered.
'Think of the devil, and he shall appear.' Thought Morrigan.
Dante moved to embrace Morrigan with a smile on his face. Morrigan herself couldn't help smiling at her man. They stood there a moment and Dante gave her a quick kiss before asking about her meeting.
"How did your negotiations with Rictus go? Did you learn anything worthwhile?"
Dante was quite curious as to the motivations of Rictus. He seemed like the decent sort based off his willingness to help the town from magical abominations but looks can be deceiving.
"He is about what we expected really. Magically powerful and Skilled in Alteration magic. I believe he has reached the pinnacle in his skill just like I have. He seems more than willing to help us out in the times ahead, but he will not side with us completely. I have a feeling he is playing it safe in that regard to see what we will do in the future. I don't think he has any solid plans for the future and is simply seeing where life will take him. He appears to be above average intelligence, and I think he could be cunning in the right circumstances based off the way he fought. I don't see us coming into conflict with him, and I think he will be an asset in the coming times as long as we do not pressure him. I am not 100% sure, but he seems friendly with the Jarl, so that could be a point of contention. The plans for becoming the Jarl was a long shot, and if he supports the Jarl, then it is even less likely. Although with how busy I am just being archmage, I think I would prefer not becoming the Jarl. Controlling the biggest group of mages in Skyrim grants more than enough power to influence Skyrim for the better."
Dante seemed to follow along with what Morrigan was saying. The explanation was a little long but Morrigan was prone to talk a lot. He was apparently a good listener. Dante was glad the meeting with Rictus went well. It would not be a good thing to have someone so Skilled in magic against them. While he did not share Morrigan's ambitions and slightly disagreed about her becoming Jarl, he did care for her deeply. He was even contemplating presenting her with an amulet of Mara.
The two stood in companionable silence for a minute longer, just enjoying being able to relax for once and not be running around all of Skyrim. They planned to stay at the College for the foreseeable future.
There was another knock on the door interrupting the two lover's moment.
The work of an archmage was never over it seemed.
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[A/N]: Hope you liked a little bit of insight into Morrigan. She has her own things going on. If it wasn't clear, she has been here around the same time as the MC if not a little longer. She only focused on the College quest line without changing much at all to make sure she became the archmage.
I actually really liked her level 100 boon. It took a bit to come up with, but I liked it. I was honestly a little jealous the MC didn't have one that cool. I tried to keep it at least a little based off lore. It comes from the Elder Scrolls: Oblivion if any one didn't know. I may have really messed it up, but please ignore that for now if you don't mind.
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