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Warning: potential DLC quest (Knights of the Nine) spoilers ahead!

From Garn’s recollections:

Facing Off

The entirety of the order of the Knights of the Nine met outside of the ruins of an old Alyeid stronghold called Garlas Malatar off of the Gold Coast. The Prophet believed this was where we’d find Umaril the Blasphemer and from the scouting report Sir Brellin brought us back he was correct – Aurorans were seen guarding the entrance.

“Assembled for battle.”

Once everyone was prepared I gave the call and we charged into the ruin. A few of the knights immediately took up positions to overwatch the melee with bow and arrow while the rest of us went for the guards by the entrance. The Aurorans were no easy match for my knights, most of them still relatively inexperienced, but with our superior numbers we won fights we might have otherwise lost. Inside the mostly intact lower levels of the Alyeid ruin we found yet more Aurorans. Easily more of them than I’d ever encountered at one time before then. Vicious fighting filled the corridors and chambers with the sounds of sword on steel echoing all around us. It didn’t take long before we realized that something was amiss – it seemed as if more and more Aurorans were appearing no matter how many we slew.

“Despite being electrocuted 57 times each the Knights prevail.”

When we reached further into the stronghold I spotted it – a strange glowing black sphere floating on a platform above us. There was no doubt in my mind that its magics were affecting us somehow, possibly by summoning these Daedra. While my brothers were engaged in a particularly thick fight, distracting all nearby Aurorans, I made my break to look for a way to access the orb. Soon I found a stairway to a higher level and found myself standing in front of the artifact. With all of my strength I struck down on it with the Sword of the Crusader, smashing the sphere into a thousand tiny black shards. As an energy waved burst outward a hidden staircase revealed itself, lowering into the floor in front of me.

“Umaril and the Crusader face off.”

It was only a matter of moments more before I reached Umaril’s throne room. Perhaps recognizing Pelinal Whitestrake’s garb, or perhaps well aware that I was on my way all along, he drew a massive Elven longsword and wasted no time charging at me. In the rare instance while I was on the offensive most of my blows seemed to glance off of his ornate Alyeid armor and the rest of the time he was absolutely tireless with his vicious strikes against me. If I had been using anything but the blessed Shield of the Crusader it would have been hacked to pieces within seconds. Despite Umaril’s ceaseless assault I still found time to cast the occasional spell and quickly noted that lightening seemed particularly effective against him. I worked into a routine of dodging his blows, blocking them, and occasionally managing to push him back with a heavy shield slam, giving me a moment to hit him with a bolt of lightening before he lunged back towards me. Unable to adapt quickly enough he soon laid dead at my feet in a golden armored heap.

“Goin’ up to the spirit in the sky!”

My battle was not done however. After taking a moment to my equipment and to cast a few healing spells on myself I invoked the Prophet’s Blessing of Talos and was almost instantaneously whisked away. My first thought was that this part of the Outer Realms looked much more like Tamriel than expected, then I looked down and realized that I was in the sky high above the Imperial City. I panicked and began to scramble madly for something to grab onto only to discover that I was somehow floating in place, in no danger of falling. Looking back up, a confused and very angry Umaril again raised his sword to charge me. Wasting no time I assailed him with a volley of powerful consecutive lightning blasts sending him tumbling off of his feet and falling downward towards the city below. In an instant I, too, was falling, and that was the last thing I remembered before waking up.

Upon stirring the spirit of Sir Amiel spoke to me. He said that his vows finally completed, he and his fellow spirits of the original Knights of the Nine to rest could now finally rest in peace. Thanking me and praising me as the new Crusader the ghosts vanished before me in wisps of fine white smoke.

“Victory celebration!”

I dusted myself off and walked out of the crypt to be almost immediately intercepted by Sir Thedret, sword in hand, coming to investigate the voices he was hearing below. Overjoyed at seeing me alive he explained that after he and the rest of the knights had cleared out the last of the Aurorans they set out to track me down only to find my lifeless body laying beside Umaril’s in the Alyeid king’s throne room. Assuming I was dead they brought my body by dark of night to the order’s crypt to keep my passing secret from our enemies, and there I was, alive! Before I could get much of a word in edgewise he ran back upstairs to tell the others. As I slowly followed him out of the priory I found him giving a speech to the rest of the assembled Knights of the Nine in the courtyard.

Victorious in my battle against Umaril the Unfeathered I was greeted by the applause and cheers of the rest of my order. This was the moment I had been hoping for since escaping my damp cell in the Imperial Prison so long ago. I still didn’t know exactly who I had been yet I somehow knew then that whether I had been questing for the Crusader’s Relics in my previous life or if I had simply been destined to be a Knight of the Nine all along, I was in the right place. I also knew what my next quest would be. There was no more running, I needed to face up to the responsibility that I had been putting off for so long and do my part to restore order to the Empire. I needed to go to Weynon Priory.

Fun fact: I made all of the Knights of the Nine NPCs “essential” so they’d make it through the assault on Garlas Malatar to hopefully serve as useful companions later on. If I hadn’t the majority would have been slaughtered.

Warning: potential DLC quest (Knights of the Nine) spoilers ahead!

From Garn’s recollections:

The Tainted Blade

Upon reaching the Priory of the Nine we were greeted by Lathon, squire to Sir Roderic, the knight who I had encountered in the original pilgrimage I embarked on after first meeting the Prophet. After I sent Carodus to begin his initiation Lathon told me of the grave news regarding Sir Roderic. Sir Roderic had completed his pilgrimage and begun his own quest for the relics. After a vision in which he saw the corruption of Sir Berich he sought out the traitorous knight’s tomb in the wildness to the southwest of Bruma. Although he and Lathon were able to recover the Greaves of the Crusader, Sir Roderic was slain by Sir Berich’s wraith, who Lathon swore was wielding the legendary Sword of the Crusader itself. Thankfully Lathon was able to escape with the greaves and handed them over to the order’s possession.

“Lathon reveals my next task.”

With Lathon’s information I knew where next I was to travel. I equipped the now completed set of relic armor and gathered the few knights who were at the priory to announce that a pivotal moment was now upon our order: we knew where the last of the Crusader’s Relics was located and what we must do retrieve it. I then dispatched riders to recall the rest of the knights as well as to attempt to locate the Prophet before setting off north with Lathon as my guide.

“How did this get here?!”

The seasoned squire lead me to Underpall Cave which, at first, seemed like any other cave around Cyrodiil that was large enough to be inhabited by humans. Once I reached the main chamber, however, there was some kind of a ruined fortress built into the back half of the cave which, I had properly imagined, was built far back into the rest of the cave system. The keep itself was large and maze like and infested with all manner of undead. The structure took me quite some time to fully explore and I slew and turned many a foe but eventually I located what seemed to be the last and largest chamber of the system. It was a cavernous room filled with stalactites and stalagmites with a small underground lake occupying the bulk of the space. The thick scent of the musty air was almost choking and my meager torch did little to illuminate the massive room around me but this was the least pressing of my concerns.

“Impromptu funeral pyre.”

Shortly after stepping into the room the shade of a spectral warrior materialized. I dropped my torch and drew my Daedric longsword but then another appeared. As I engaged the first spirit yet another appeared over my shoulder. Soon I was completely surrounded by these ghostly warriors, each raising a weapon and coming at me with vicious ferocity. The aggressive attacks of this company of specters had me pinned into a corner in short order. I was holding my own with blade and spell but I had to frequently cause diversions that would give me enough time to heal myself. After cutting through about most of the apparitions I spotted what I knew had to be Sir Berich’s corrupted wraith watching me from afar. Suspecting that it might be controlling some if not all of the spectral warriors I sent an arc of lightning cracking at it. The hit seemed effective but not enough to take down the wraith alone.

“Err, run?!”

Soon I had exhausted my arcane energies and found myself having to resort to martial combat alone. More troubling, I had to fumble through my vials of healing potions several times to keep my wounds from overwhelming me. Thankfully the Crusader’s Relics proved a powerful defense with their numerous ancient blessings and enchantments. Eventually I employed a tactic of luring as many of the remaining spirits as I could into a side chamber to finish them off one at a time with sword, shield, and a little trickery. When I emerged back into the main cavern I found the wraith waiting for me again, the corrupted Sword of the Crusader glowing angrily in its hand. I raised my longsword to my eyes and began the duel. With my other enemies gone the wraith was no match and soon I had the last relic in hand. Before leaving I returned to fetch Lathon so that we could recover Sir Roderic’s body for a proper burial.

“We don’t tolerate your kind ’round these parts!”

Back at the priory my brothers and I gathered around the tainted sword and debated how best to restore it. It was soon decided that we should attempt to reconsecrate the relic at the Chapel of Arkay in Cheydinhal. I chose to go alone as to not draw further suspicion to my cause. The trip to Cheydinhal was quick and uneventful, yet swinging open the door to the chapel I discovered another group of armored Aurorans in the middle of the now familiar process of desecrating the chapel and slaying anyone who would stand in their way. I managed to put down two of the Daedra though several others chased after a fleeing priestess and ran out into the city where several of the city guard joined the fray. A chaotic melee soon broke out in the Cheydinhal streets but the Aurorans were defeated by our combined efforts and surprisingly without anyone dying, though some chapel goers were quite seriously injured. Back in the chapel I placed the sword on the alter and, still somewhat of a skeptic in the power of the divines, asked Arkay to purify the relic. A strange glow swept over the sword and though I couldn’t say how I could tell that the blade had been changed.

“Virtual Church Simulator 2006”

When I returned to the priory I was met by Sir Thedret who told me that the Prophet had made his way there and that the rest of the order was assembling in the priory’s chapel to hear him speak. As we entered the chapel he had already started giving a sermon to the newly reformed Knights of the Nine. After the sermon concluded The Prophet spoke to me in private. He congratulated me on completing my quest and told me that my victory now was nearly certain providing I could pass the next challenge before me – if I could slay Umaril in the physical word he could arm me with the relic of the ninth divine, the blessing of Talos, which would allow me to travel into the realm of Oblivion and destroy the Unfeathered’s spiritual form and end his pack with the Daedric lords one and for all.

This actually turned out to be one of the more difficult quests in the game for me despite having a fully decked out character by this point.

Afterwards, when the Aurorans were attacking the Chapel of Arkay I actually had to reload several times so that I could concentrate my attacks on them in such a way as to keep them from running rampant all over Cheydinhal, murdering random NPCs that I’d prefer not to be dead for the rest of the game. Ugh…

Warning: potential DLC quest (Knights of the Nine) spoilers ahead!

From Garn’s recollections:

Spiritual Guidance

Wasting no time I set off to Chorrol where the spirit of Sir Casimir told me I’d find the holy Gauntlets of the Crusader. The Chapel of Stendarr in the west end of the city was where Sir Casimir had been when he was cursed by the gods for his misdeeds, causing the gauntlets to slip from his hands and remain, forever immovable. In the chapel I discovered the Gauntlets just as the spirit claimed. I spoke to a priest there, Areldur, who told me more of the popular folklore surrounding the now celebrated artifact. Unexpectedly, he also told me that an ancestor of Sir Casimir’s had made a pilgrimage to the chapel recently and suggested I speak with him down in the chapel hall.

“I wonder what other mundane possessions of Pelinal Whitestrake are now holy relics?”

Kellen was a sickly and miserable man who had come to Chorrol to learn more about the relic in an attempt to free himself from the pains of his ancestor’s curse. At first I could not fathom what I could do to help. I had well practiced and powerful magics to cure the sick and heal wounds but I could not possibly undo a curse of a god. That is, not without help from the god. I spoke more to the priest Areldur who, showing some considerable guilt, confessed that he indeed knew of a way to free Kellen but had not thought to sacrifice himself to perform it. I was taught a holy spell that could absorb such afflictions and with some assistance from Areldur I was able to free Kellen from his undeserved fate. The only problem was that I now carried Sir Casimir’s curse. I was stronger than Kellen and, though it weakened me considerable, could endure it. When I returned to the site of the artifact I discovered that my sacrifice had won me favor with Stendarr and I could now pick up the Gauntlets of the Crusader. A crowd gathered to see me wearing the gauntlets and cheer me as I departed through the city gates. It seemed like this quest of mine stood a chance of greatly increasing my renown throughout Cyrodiil but I was so focused on my goal I spent little time pondering the ramifications.

Next I journeyed to the west of the Imperial City to a hidden shrine to Kynareth that lay deep in the Great Forest. Sir Juncan fell before he could complete his quest so his spirit had little to tell me about what recovering the artifact might entail. I arrived at the shrine in the dead of the night but Avita Vesnia, a priestess of Kynareth, stood by vigilantly regardless. To my surprise she knew well of the relic I sought and, without any hesitation, directed me to a place she called the Grove of Trials in order to test my worthiness before the goddess. I planted a torch in the ground for light and stood with my sword and shield at the ready, not knowing what to expect.

“Bear bear bear bear bear bear bear bear!”

Suddenly I heard the quickening footsteps of a charging creature bearing down upon me. When I turned I saw the most incredibly massive bear I had ever encountered. Luckily I was able to raise my shield before it could maul me. Thinking quickly, I devised a plan to roll away from the bear and wedge myself between some boulders that rested on the edge of the grove. As long as my shield could hold out I could give myself some much needed time to come up with a better strategy. Before I knew it the bear ceased its attack. Confused, I slowly dropped my shield to find the bear calmly walking away from me. Of course! Kynareth was the goddess of the elements and therefore maintained a powerful bond with nature. Had I attempted to strike down the bear I would have no doubt failed in my test, or perhaps worse. Avita soon approached and directed me to a small hidden cave wherein I found the relic, the Boots of the Crusader, safely waiting for me.

“Sure, but try to look a little less happy about it, will ya?”

I returned to the Imperial City to rest and restock on supplies before returning to the Priory of the Nine to gather more information on the remaining relics. While there was no crowd to see me leaving Kynareth’s shrine, I was greeted by several people, including the priest Areldur from Chorrol, who had all heard of or been a part of my mounting success in the quest to retrieve the Crusader’s Relics and wished to join the reformed Knights of the Nine. I had not specifically sought to reestablish the order but I supposed that I could always use more assistance and, besides, someone would need to safeguard these holy artifacts after I was done with them. I set my new recruits to the task of attempting to clean and repair the old priory as well as recruiting craftsmen to help us with restocking the armories. This would be a suitable base of operations while I continued my quest for the relics of the Crusader.

The spirit of Sir Henrick told me of how he set out on his own to continue the search after the Knights of the Nine had collapsed. He was successful in recovering the Shield of the Crusader but rather than using the relic he and his men set out to safeguard it. Although he died before the renovations to the old fort were complete, Sir Henrick did at least know where it was located and soon I was on my way to the ruins of a Fort Bulwark near the Black Marsh border.

“Just when I was starting to miss killing mages….”

Even as I approached Fort Bulwark from afar there were signs that the site was occupied. I slew two mages who attempted to attack me on sight outside on the crumbling battlements and cautiously entered the ruins. Upon accessing the more intact lower levels of the fortress I discovered the passageways lit with the flicking light of freshly fueled torches. Sir Henrick had implied that he and his followers had planned for special defenses for the old fort and soon enough I discovered them: Traps lay in various intersections, deadly (though now unmanned) choke-points divided sections of the structure, and clever mechanisms such as mechanical drawbridges were placed to slow would-be invaders. This was far from the first trap filled ruin I had explored but these designs were devious indeed. Still, it seemed that the current group seeking to recover the long lost Shield of the Crusader were not your run of the mill treasure hunters and tomb looters and had already bypassed most of these obstacles. This, I discovered from some journals near one of their camps, was a group of rogue mages and conjurers. While I didn’t know their purpose in trying to recover the artifact it was clear from their violent demeanor they weren’t exactly holy men attempting to honor the Nine. As evident, I encountered a Sir Thedret locked away in a make shift dungeon they had constructed. Upon releasing him he told me how they had tortured him for information on the relic and were planning on executing him soon if he hadn’t cooperated.

“Paying my respects at a shrine to Julianos.”

Able to catch many of these mages unaware, I easily killed them. It was the last two secrets that challenged me and were indeed a tribute to Julianos, the god of knowledge and logic, in their cleverness. Eventually I succeeded unlocking the long unseen shrine that held the artifact and carried the powerful shield away to the next site.

“Heavy maaan…”

The Chapel of Zenithar in Leyawiin held the tomb of Saint Kaladas in its undercroft. The spirit of Sir Ralvas swore that the chosen few of those who would pray before the shrine would be given a vision. This vision was a test of faith, a gaping chasm that could only be crossed by those free of doubt. Some of the holiest crusaders in history, including Sir Ralvas himself, had attempted this challenge many times and failed. Indeed, when I arrived in Leyawiin I met Carodus Oholin, a warrior who had come to test his faith previous to my arrival and who had decided to stay to help protect the artifact. Thankfully, the rumors of the reestablishment of the Knights of the Nine were spreading and he eagerly let me pass without so much as an unkind word. In the undercroft I was granted a vision and in that vision I strode across the chasm, floating high above a void filled only with darkness, and picked up the Mace of Zenithar on the other side.

“Aurorans all up in my shit.”

All was not to be so effortless, however. When I returned from my vision and back into the main chapel I found Carodus Oholin and others besieged by heavily armored Daedra the priests called Aurorans. Servants of Umaril, they claimed, they Daedra seemed intent on stopping the relics from being assembled. It was a vicious battle and I regret that we could not stop the Aurorans from harming everyone in the chapel. Several died and several more wounded. Carodus Oholin, who was both greatly offended by the attack and impressed by my success in recovery of the artifact, vowed to return to the priory with me to join the order. We left Leyawiin with great haste not knowing what else Umaril the Unfeathered might have planned for those that might stand in his way.