I made my way up a steep, winding passage to the next level. Suddenly I heard the rumbling of a door sliding open. Immediately, I cast the invisibility spell, and took a cautious look around the corner. Something had just come down to see who's footsteps were making all the noise coming up the hallway (those would be mine, sorry). I looked through the doorway and saw an Xivilai looking for trouble.

A summoned frost and storm atronach (heavy hitters) along with a skeleton hero gave him plenty of trouble.

I found one of their handlers nearby, some kind of priest. Sneaking up from behind and hitting him with a paralyzing sword did the trick on him.

Another level, another pair of Xivilai to fight. I would be fine as long as kept out of sight.

I finally reached a level with three Xivilai and a few locked doors. I created a few summoned creatures (several times) until the room was clear.

Try as I might, neither an unlocking spell or my skeleton key would work. That meant that I had to find another way to the next level.

I checked a few of the doors available to me, and suddenly found myself on the bridge between the first and second tower!

I had no idea as to the significance of the second tower, but since I couldn't go to any higher level, I figured the answer might be found in the next tower.

It certainly wouldn't hurt to check.

I made my way into the second tower. The smell of stale blood was everywhere. The walkway went in two directions: to the left, it spiraled down to the base of the tower; to the right, it spiraled to the top of the tower.

Suddenly, a Dremora came running down the walkway towards me.

"You should not be here, mortal." he snarled. "Your blood is forfeit, your flesh is mine!"

This would have been one of the creatures that helped slay everyone in my home of Ald'Ruhn.

"I'll take one of those horns off your ugly head and ram it up your nose first!" I replied.

I then went invisible, running first down the walkway, then turning, running past him as he ran downward after me. He hadn't realized I had turned. I made it to the top of the tower in seconds.

I summoned my own Dremora Lord and went invisible again. Naturally, the two of them agreed to disagree about who had the better weapons and armor. I only had to re-summon my fighter once.

Suddenly, a voice cried out! It was one of the solders - the one that I was told had been taken to the tower.

It was Menien Goneld. He was trapped in some kind of cage.

"Let me get you out of this thing!" I said.

"No," he replied, "there is no door. I was teleported into this thing. There is no way out of here. It is designed to drop in a few seconds in a set of spears below. Thing 'thing' feeds on blood, and this is how they get it."

"What can I do?" I asked, feeling rather helpless.

"That Dremora you just killed." he said, pointing to it, "That's a Dremora Sigil Keeper. It has a key. Get the key."

"Then what?" I asked. "What about you?"

"Don't worry about me." he said. "Just listen! You must get to the top of the large tower. The Sigil Keep is what they call it. That's what keeps the Oblivion Gate open!"

"How do I use the stone to close it?" I asked.

"Just find the stone and remove it." he replied. "Once removed, the gate will close."

I checked Dremora's corpse and found the key.

"I found it!" I shouted.

Menien smiled. "Now, go! Get to that tower and remove the Sigil stone from whatever it happens to be doing. That will interrupt the energies keeping the gate open."

"But, you'll be trapped here!" I replied. "I just can't leave you here!"

"Don't worry about me." he said. "I'll survive. If I can find a way out of this, I will. But you have a job to do. Now go!"

I looked back at Menien, then back at the Dremora, then decided to keep a promise: I ripped off one of the creature's horns with my bare hands and rammed it up the monster's nose. Personally, I think it looked better there.

I ran as fast as I could across the bridge to the first tower. I finally had the means to put an end to this thing.