Hour 15: Overdue

I head to Fellglow Keep where the ex-student is hiding out with some 'summoners'. It isn't long before I find him, imprisoned by those he trusted. I release him and he promises to help me find the stolen books, which were taken from him by someone called The Caller. However, I stop for a moment and think about what Tharon-Zul would do. This wretch allowed himself to be imprisoned, so I certainly don't want or need his help. I'll find the books on my own, and simply immolate him immediately. I do feel a bit sad about this, but Tharon-Zul doesn't.

I then battle my way through the tower, which is surprisingly difficult. It's filled with mages who are capable of summoning Flame Atronachs, and all one-shot me with their spells. It takes me a good hour to battle my way to the top, with lots of restarts along the way. It's here that I start to properly utilise some defensive spells. I invest in the Mage Armour alteration perk, and swap the waterwalking boots for some regular ones. This doubles the armour I get from Stoneflesh, and my enormous pool of magicka actually allows me to also make use of my Ward spell, which finally comes in handy and does actually allow me to tank a lot of damage whilst summoning more of my skeletal minions.

Eventually, I reach the top and have to take on The Caller. This proves to be by far the most difficult battle I've encountered so far. I'm trapped in a circular room with her, and within seconds she summons multiple Flame Atronachs and starts raining down a barrage of spells that kill me instantly. After a few tries, I'm at a loss, but then remember something. Hermaeus Mora gave me the power to freeze someone for 30 seconds once per day! I make sure to have the Power ready when I enter the room, then after she finishes her speech I immediately freeze her before she can even summon anything. I then summon a horde of skeletal Ice mages (to counter any Flame Atronachs) to surround her, and wait for her to un-freeze (whilst frozen she's immune to all damage):

This actually works, and although it's still a tough battle, my numerical superiority simply overwhelms her before she can do enough damage. I love that Skyrim, like Oblivion, gives you the ability to acquire tools to circumvent problems in this manner, without having to necessarily rely on raw stats. And this was no cheap trick either - to gain this power I had to journey to a far-flung island and venture into the planes of Oblivion itself! I retrieve the books and head back to the College.