22 - Victoria - Frostcrag Spire:

Upon entering I was confronted with a curved stone wall. Judging from the scale of the tower from the outside, this wall blocked my path, but it appeared to have no particular features allowing for interaction. A number of glowing plinths lay in a half circle, each low upon the floor, while at the centre of the room a hand sculpted in ice held aloft a dark leather bound book.

I lifted the tome, its pages untouched by frost, and opened it. The book appeared to be a cross between a set of abridged memoirs, and information for me regarding this tower. The writing was jagged and shaky however, appearing rushed, and indeed the wording at times seemed...alarming. What circumstance had gripped the author as they wrote this? Something was not right here, but the immediate cause was not apparent to me. It was at this moment that the curved wall began to move, and I cast the book aside, readying myself for what ever awaited me in the next room.

Nothing, or nothing to cause alarm. Rather I beheld the ground floor of the tower. Although bare of furnishings, there were a number of items of note. The first of these was an elevated alter, which stood upon a raised dais on the opposite side of the room, flanked by two golden magical structures. Approaching, they were revealed to be alters of enchanting, and of spellmaking. This alone served to intensify my interest in this tower – what could be more convenient than my own private facilities? This would serve to sever my reliance upon the good will of the Mages Guild – which had previously been necessary for arcane development. However, both alters lacked the magical candles which fuelled them – I would clearly have to find these elsewhere.

The alter itself appeared to be one of summoning, replete with a slot for placing alchemical ingredients within. The memoirs had mentioned that Atronachs could be summoned forth with this, however my mind began to race at the prospect of...other...items, which I might use for summoning. Here, distanced from the populace of Cyrodiil, and the sadly regressive policies of the Arch-Mage, perhaps I could begin my own research. I cast my mind back to the black soul gems I had seen...they too were worthy of investigation. However I had yet to explore the remainder of the tower, and the teleportation portals beckoned.

The first portal moved me below the ground, into what appeared to be a storage facility, or vault. At least, that is the use that sprang to mind – it was currently bare, and I had no desire to simply throw my items upon the ground. The upper floor meanwhile held a small garden of ingredients, lit from a shaft high above. It was here that the living quarters had been housed, but again was now bare. It was clear I would indeed have to purchase furnishings myself, likely from the Imperial City. I also felt here would be the ideal floor to house an alchemy lab, and filed this idea away until I was back in the Imperial City. The obvious difficulty was how I could possibly bring bulky furniture here, if I so chose – particularly without publicising the location of the tower.

Also upon this floor was an exterior balcony, and here I found the other key feature of this tower – it allowed teleportation to each of the Mage Guild halls in Cyrodiil, in addition to the Arcane University. The teleportation fortunately appeared to be one way – meaning I would not received unexpected visitors. However this was a double edged sword – I had not forgotten the difficult journey required to reach here, and looking down even now I could see Shadow huddled against the shelter of the wall, from the biting wind. I could not remain here long.

One area remained, the roof of the tower itself, and I entered the final portal. The roof held its own mystery, or perhaps a cryptic answer to a previous one, for upon it lay the stripped corpse of a man. His age appeared advanced...to an exceptional extent. He looked older than I had believed an ageing mortal could live, sagging and wrinkled skin, appearing dry and chalky even in the storm, lay loose upon his body. His face too appeared unusual – his eyes were missing, as if they had rotted away. This all seemed strange, but as I reached across to touch his face I realised the body was still warm. Judging from the ambient air temperature this far to the north, and at such an exposed and elevated location, I judged that he must have been alive until at least the time of my arrival. Stranger still.

Lifting the light corpse slightly, I beheld a scroll lying beneath him. Opening it, I found it contained a spell of teleportation, which would allow the owner of the tower to teleport here instantly. The writing appeared different from that of the memoirs below, this time a crisp and flowing script. I could not waste time however, for it would not do to leave Shadow here, and I therefore lifted the body and, with some effort, carried it through the teleportation portal. I decided to place the corpse within the vault for now, before again studying the spell I had found. Judging from its composition, only the legal owner of the tower could teleport through the wards surrounding it, and after further examination I concluded that it was safe to use – moving me to where ever I wished to appear within, or upon, the tower.

Now I appeared to have the ability to travel both to and from my tower near instantly, which exceeded any reasonable expectations I had held prior to arriving here. It would be my home, I decided.

Exiting the main chamber, I approached the wall and whispered in Shadows ear. The words drew upon my knowledge of magic, although they were not magical themselves. In this case they were simple, providing instruction for Shadow to return to the Imperial City alone, and dwell in the vicinity until I called him forth. Finally, I took the saddle bags, and cast them into the main chamber of the tower. By now Shadow had departed, and I decided to use the portal to the Arcane University.

I achieved the purchase of my vault storage, book shelves and bed, in addition to some ornamentation, from the Mystic Emporium. Finally I had a rather specific request, which I made to Aurelinwae – my own alchemy lab. Despite the spells of charm I had used during this acquisition, the purchase of this enchanted laboratory consumed the remainder of my gold reserves – and I now held barely the amount I had exited the prison sewers holding. Nevertheless I had now achieved much of what I had set out to do – including acquiring entry to the Arcane University, and possession of a steed, and a residence – the latter two in particular having met my exacting standards.

The movement of the furniture was surprisingly simple considering the distances involved – I simply placed a hand upon what I wished to bring, focused upon where in the tower I wished it to go, and used the teleportation spell to move it there. Soon my residence seemed a deal less empty, although it remained deliberately Spartan.

Having purchased enough food to last nearly a month using the very last of my money, I finally withdrew to the tower, securing my possessions in the vault. I now look forward to an uninterrupted period of training, and perhaps, in time, research – and the investigation of the mysteries surrounding the tower itself.