Humbled

Michael looks over the two new sealed artifacts he'd gathered, or more accurately stolen, from Clavicus Vile. He'd gone through many books and records on the subject, and quickly concluded the coin the cult was planning to use to destroy his tower was called the 'Collector'.

It was apparently one of Clavicus' stronger creations, only under Umbra and Barbas. It was deep in the Daedric Prince's authority, granting those who possessed the coin incredibly charisma and situational wisdom... However, it also possessed the user over time, eventually fully taking them over and sending their soul directly to Clavicus Vile.

Clexto, the cult leader, didn't actually have a soul for Michael to steal, meaning he'd had the coin long enough to be completely under its thrall... Michael honestly wondered if the man wanted to create a cult in the first place, or if the coin had directed him to do it.

While the coin itself possessed no destructive capabilities, using the souls it'd drained as a power source, self-destructing it could very well have felled his Spire... If they got lucky.

Regardless it was out of their hands now. All that was left to do was deal with Clavicus, which was turning out to be harder than anticipated considering he was holding Tabitha's soul hostage... Breaching into his realm in Oblivion was a thought, but a bad idea when further investigated. He couldn't die but imprisonment was always an option.

The only good thing was the fact that Clavicus had little to no resources left in Tamriel other than Tabitha, so he was a non-threat. He could take as much time as he wanted to solve the problem...

He rubs his face and tosses the book detailing vague information on Daedra to the side, leaving and sealing the room behind him to make sure no one got access to the dangerous artifacts within.

"Michael." Saeko's voice behind him brings him out from his thoughts, he turns and finds not just her, but Surtr lingering some distance behind her... He was ALOT taller than last he saw him, not to mention that dragonbone armour... And was that Wuuthrad on his back? He'd certainly been busy!

"Yeah? What's up, and long time no see, Dragonborn." he greets, hiding his confusion on why the guy was even here.

"He wanted to ask you about Elder Scrolls. I've brought him so my work is done." she dismissively says before walking away, leaving Michael with the burden.

He turns to Surtr and finds the Dragonborn staring at Saeko's ass as she exits, the man catching himself staring when he notices Michael's glare. "Huhm, she already told you. I heard from a scaly friend of ours that you possess some Elder Scrolls, I need one to access a shout to defeat Alduin." he cuts to the point.

Michael folds his arms, "Unfortunately for you, none of the scrolls I have would help you with that..." Surtr shouldn't have even been here, in canon he'd ask the College-... Ah, the collapsed College... "Wait, Paarthurnax told you about me?"

Surtr shakes his head, "No him, a smaller dragon with extra arms and blue scales. Called you 'brother' for some reason."

Illococoo...

"How do you know your scrolls wouldn't serve me? Forgive me but I never took you as an expert in the matter... Are you some hidden Moth priest?"

Michael shakes his head, "It's just something I know... I can help you though," he pauses, recalling the crazy hermit who possessed the key to retrieve the scroll in Blackreach. "North from here there's a hermit in a cave who possesses an artifact that unlocks the path to the elder scroll you need... I don't know if he's still out there, but that's the best place to look... If not, we'll have to figure out some other way."

Maybe his Wynningbaldr runes would be able to break the container holding the scroll... The Dwemer were geniuses, but enough brute force could solve almost any problem.

"Are you sure? I've been sent on enough errands to last several lifetimes, that's without wading through the North seas in search of some frozen cave..." Surtr tiredly says.

Michael shrugs, "I'm just telling you what I know, whether you listen is up to you. But, by the sounds of it this is pretty important..."

Surtr lets out a sigh as he nods, "It is, I just wish that the task of saving the world involved less walking and more fighting." he shakes his head, "I'll begin looking North then, I suppose. Thanks again, Michael..."

"No problem, besides, I live on this world too. It'd be boring floating alone out in space."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Surtr leaves and begins on his journey after acquiring the necessary materials and preparations. He couldn't sail across the ocean due to most of it being frozen over, the previous paths the Thalmor had opened having sealed up mere days after they were made.

Thankfully, the weather was forgiving, the recent blizzard ending just as he set out... Three days pass, three days of cautious walking, fighting bears, horkers, and even one dragon, until he finally found the cave he was looking for.

It was fairly noticeable up close with the wooden door sealing it, but once he reached into its depths he was confused to find the frozen corpse of the mage he was looking for... The mage was leant against a large Dwemer make-looking wall, dead from starvation if he had to guess.

Thankfully, in the corpse's hand was a spherical device which looked vaguely like the thing that Michael had described.

"This better be worth-"

*Doguuuuuuuushhhhhh...*

The world around him pales and slows to a crawl, a water droplet freezing in place as it descends to the floor all but declaring that some shenanigans were afoot.

"Dragonborn." a sagely voice echoes from the entrance of the cave, revealing a man in monk-like robes looking down at him.

...

"Give me one reason to not break you in half, elf." he growls, furious at being affected by some unknown magic.