Before leaving the ruin of Bthardamz, the group took their time to figure out what they actually found in there, including the Staff of Recollection, the relic they were sent to recover on behalf of Torvesad. However, Nerk decided to further cement the group’s possibility of having a safehouse. Thanks to the knowledge acquired through the cube he had found in the study, Nerk managed to figure out how to enchant his own mirror and overrode the security system of Bthardamz, turning it into his own workshop, or the headquarters of the HAS within Skyrim.
Upon leaving Bthardamz, the group teleported back to Skyrim to negotiate their next step with Torvesad. The group expressed their intent to go deal with their Markarth quarry, while Torvesad would plan his next move. However, on his part, Torvesad was adamant that Ithelia’s release was the absolute top priority, pointing out that they would have an immensely powerful ally for whatever adventure they intend to go on. After a lot of back and forth, including Torvesad providing a lead to an interesting tidbit about the leadership of Whiterun being a dragon-cult, the group agreed to join him and see this through. Not wanting to give the Dremora the staff he wanted, Morag used the Staff of Recollection to locate Ithelia’s prison; a beam of light shone to the South East. Torvesad teleported her up to a higher point to allow her to see where the beam pointed at; close to Skingrad in Cyrodiil, according to Torvesad, whose eyes were glowing the same bright yellow as the Staff. Soon after, the group was teleported to a location off to the East of Skingrad, where they found an ancient ruined Ayleid village atop a hill. Here Morag, with the aid of Torvesad, activated the Staff of Recollection at the center of the ruin, which started to open a rift in the sky.
Suddenly, through the dark green landscape beyond the opening rift, an inky substance started to flow into Tamriel, as the visage of Hermeaus Mora himself formed in front of the group. At the sight of his former ‘master’, Bralen Droves, who had tagged along with them to offer his aid, was absolutely dying on the inside, judging by the amount of sweat pouring out of him. Questioning their intent, the Daedric Prince stated that what they were planning was folly and that they still had time to make the right decision. While the group was still thinking on what to do, and Hermeaus Mora took his time to drone on about how Ithelia’s return would bring only doom, calling her the Last Tomorrow, Torvesad was still channeling all his magical power into the staff to bring his mistress back. A sphere of gold ended up being pulled out of the rift, which later started pulsing in time with the energy of the staff. After a few seconds, the sphere shattered, revealing the lost Daedric Prince to the group. At this point, seeing how they had not made the ‘right’ decision, Mora stated that he could let this happen, and summoned three powerful mages to stop them.
