THROUGH A GHOSTGATE DARKLY:
THE SEARCH FOR KEENING AND SUNDER (Continued)

Darkness is all that greeted me. The Amulet of Shadows saved my life, however, as I sound found out that I wasn't alone in the darkness. As my eyes adjusted to the dim light (and I added the Belt of Night Eye), I could see three Liches on a platform in front of me.

 

As I crept closer, I could see Semuta.

"I smell blood." he said, sensing my presence. "That is good, for now I may feed."

Well, not on me, anyway. It was obvious Semuta was not going to engage me in any type of idle conversation. I would need to act quickly before the spell of the Amulet of Shadows wore off.

 

Quickly, I positioned myself in front of them, expecting a Wall of Fire spell to appear 10 feet in front of me.

I cast the spell, trying to time it to appear just as the chameleon spell wore off.

 

The spell fired up as soon as the chameleon spell wore off.

As expected, all three of them charged at me, just as the flames shot through the floor.

It captured all three of them, causing them to die from fire damage.

This place was evil, though, just as Laurenna had said. All I had to do was look at the green flames shooting up from the ground. Never before had I seen this effect. To alter such a spell in this way was beyond any experience I had ever had.

 

The other two liches had ordinary weapons, so they had nothing I really needed, but in checking the corpse of Semuta, I found something most interesting. Along with an enchanted sword and shield, there was a note, address, strangely enough, to myself.

Have no fear, Eldorf Dragonmeal. Unlike Drynne, I uphold the traditions.

I have arrayed my forces against you, marshaled my powers to defeat you. Shold you, instead, defeat me, you will have more than proven your right to the knowledge you seek. We are a pragmatic sort, most of my brethren and I. We respect power; those who wield it well are deserving of the claims they make on that which they've taken. Understand this about us, if you would understand us at all.

What you seek is obtainable, but only with the assistance of another of my kind. The Ritual of Becoming may only be performed by another lich. My old associate, Elijah, will stand in that role for the ritual for you.

Though many of us have heard tell of other methods of such transfiguration, on Vvardenfell, the Ritual of Becoming can only be performed in one place - a chamber known as the Hall of the Daedra. Seek it in the depths of the Massama glass mine, located just southwest of the stronghold Falensarano. The mine was abandoned by it's workers long ago. They feared - and rightly so - the deep darks of that place.

For the ritual to be successful, the supplicant must have the favor of seven Daedric Lords. To garner their favor, you must perform a task for each of them; I leave it to you to discover what those tasks are and, indeed, from whence they may be undertaken. At the end of each task, the Daedric Lord who gave it shall reward you with an item as a sign of their favor.

Those rewards, those tokens of favor, will most likely take the form of powerful artifacts. You will be pleased to have them. You will not wish to relinquish them. Yet, the Ritual of Becoming requires that you do exactly that.

The rewards granted you by the seven Daedric Lords must be sacrificed during the ritual. They will be consumed in an unearthly fire, forever gone to you.

And that is all. Gather the favor of the Daedric Lords, take their rewards to the Hall of the Daedra, complete your Trial, and speak to Elijah to begin the Ritual of Becoming. Nothing further is required, nothing else is asked of you - though you would do well to remember that a simple deed is not always so simply done.

I do not wish you well, for if you have reached this point, it is only over my own carcass. However, in the very point of having come this far, it is unlikely you need anyone's well-wishes to achieve success in your goal. You have, so far as our traditions are concerned, made of yourself my 'heir'. So know now and henceforth that if you fail to live up to the standards I set as your predecessor, I shall curse your existence from beyond death's shadowy doorstep from now until the end of time itself.

Semuta, lich of the 3rd Circle,
In her tower at Inverness.

 

Well, it was nice to know that Semuta wouldn't be holding a grudge against me for killing her. At least, not unless I failed to ever become a lich myself, that is.

I was starting to have doubts about this path. The Daedra Lords, rewarding me with artifacts of power, could prove useful in my battle with Dagoth Ur, but at what cost? I wondered how Laurenna would feel about me being an extremely powerful wizard with a skeleton face. I doubted she'd like it a whole lot.

Picking up the left-over prizes, I headed back out the door.

"What was in there?" she said. "That feeling of evil is gone now."

I smiled, and replied "Just a bunch of liches. I gave them a wall of fire to play with. It wore them out, and they're all resting peacefully now."

I showed her the sword and shield I had obtained, and asked her to hold on to them for me.

 

We continued down the pathway until we came upon the out outline of yet another Dwemer stronghold.

 

We moved in closer, fending off 4 blighted cliffracers along the way.

 

Several Daedric creatures tried to do us in. That new sword I found came in handy.

"This thing is pretty good." she said, admiring the sharpness of the blade.

 

We made our way to the entrance, the ashstorm almost pushing me off of my feet.

The markings on the door seemed to indicate that this was Tureynulal, Kagrenac's Library.

Imagine: the library of the guy who invented the tools that eventually destroyed the Dwemer themselves.

I hoped the librarian didn't mind if we checked out some of the books.

 

I told Laurenna to guard the entrance, then gently made my way from one door to another. Several of them were locked. No spell seemed able to unlock them, either.

Near one such trap door, I found the remains of someone who had come before me. Obviously, his luck had run out.

 

In one room, I found Dagoth Tureynul looking at several books in front of him. I decided to be rude and disturb him with several summoned creatures. While he was busy with them, I give him a blast of the Ring of Leaches, then another, and finally one more for good measure.

 

Except for a 6th House Amulet, he didn't have much on him. In any event, Dagoth Ur draws his power from his brothers, so one less Dagoth is an advantage for me.

 

Using a key I had found, I opened a lower chamber and found yet another Dagoth long-nose in a watery chamber.

Using the Amulet of Shadows, I crept up quietly and did a Soul Trap spell on him.

 

No, he wasn't happy with me doing that.

As expected, he shot off a poison spell in my general direction. I responded with one of my own, then another.

By the time the chameleon spell wore off, I had trapped his soul in a pretty, golden soul gem.

 

Searching the room, I came upon the remains of another dead hero.

So many had come before me.

So many had died trying.

Very sobering, indeed.

 

In an upper chamber, Dagoth Galmis was doing some sort of prayer ritual. Using the Amulet of Shadows yet again, I got close enough to disturb his peaceful quiet space and put him down as well.

Dagoth Ur was losing a bunch of his brothers. I would imagine he'll be pretty upset with me.

 

 

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