The Ravages of Age

Master Tolfdir is a brilliant man, most of the time.  Nobody knows Alteration magic like he does, and he has a keen and curious mind that is always fascinated with discovery.

Again, most of the time.  I fear that the old man may be becoming senile.

See, we went to Saarthal yesterday, like we planned, to explore the dig site and see what we could learn. Tolfdir was there waiting when I arrived, and after a brief conversation about safety and what we should look for, he suggested we all go inside.

I stepped into the excavation site, and down the long staircase into the ruined chambers, and started looking around.  The ruins were fascinating, though Onmund seemed to resent the whole project.  I poked around for a bit, checking out the collapsed structures and whatnot, but after several minutes passed without further instruction, I didn't really know what I was supposed to be doing.  Where was Tolfdir?  He was supposed to be directing us.  I searched all around the excavation for him, but he was nowhere to be found.

That's when I realized that Tolfdir had never even entered the ruins.

I ascended the stairs and stepped back outside, and he was not hanging around near the entrance either.  Had he forgotten about us and just wandered off somewhere?

I recently learned a clairvoyance spell, so I fixed Tolfdir in my mind and cast it.  I felt the gentle tug of the magic guiding my mind to the south, and the sense of distance.  Then images of Dragonsreach and the Gildergreen drifted before my mind's eye. *

Whiterun!  Tolfdir was near Whiterun?  How in the name of Talos did he get to Whiterun in a few minutes?  I mean. . . he IS a wizard, I guess. . .

With an exasperated sigh and my clairvoyance spell to guide me, I set off through the mountains to find him.  If the old man had gone off his nut, I couldn't very well let him wander the world until he got hurt or something.  I caught up with him near the Forsaken Cave by Lake Yorgrim.

Brelyna was already with him, praise Akatosh.  She too was looking after him, as he wandered aimlessly about the province.  I tried to ask Tolfdir what he was up to, find out if there was a method to this madness, but he wouldn't speak to me.  He just kept plodding along the road, mercifully in the general direction of Winterhold.

What else could Brelyna and I do but follow?

Tolfdir's wanderings took us past an old fort, where we were attacked by several hostile mages.  In his addled state, Tolfdir didn't have to good sense to flee, so we had no recourse but to fight.  After the attacking mages were dead, Tolfdir seeemed to regain some awareness of his surroundings, and started talking to me again -- but confusingly, he seemed to believe we were still under Saarthal. He told me to go assist Arniel Gane.

It took us until late at night to make it back to Winterhold, and we were attacked by vampires twice. But by this time, at least, Tolfdir seemed to be back to his normal, lucid self.

I'm turning in now, to get a few hours of sleep before heading back to the excavation in the morning. I directed a healing spell at Tolfdir before we parted ways.  I don't know if that will help at all.  I can only hope this surreal incident is not a routine occurrence.



* : This is a fictionalized way of saying that I checked the quest marker on my map, as I was supposed to be following Tolfdir.

Saarthal.  Tolfdir goes missing, found near whiterun with brelyna. Attacked by necromancer s on way back.