I found the Archcanon in his office, grumbling about something that needed to be done at the behest of the Goddess herself, and what sounded like him arguing with one of his people about who should be doing this important mission.

The conversation clammed up once he saw me at the door.

"Ah, yes." he stated, as soon as he hushed up the other person in the room. "You are the one that Hler mentioned. You are to be of service to our Lady. It is essential, and all would be displeased were you to fail."

"I see." I replied, seeing as how I was being pretty much drafted into all this. "How may I be of service?" I asked.

"Um, yes, well, beneath this Temple, there is a large sewer system, built around the ruins of Old Mournhold. You smell like you may have spent some time there." he said.

"Well, yes." I replied, "In fact I had just finished a mission for ....."

He held his hand up to stop me. "Regardless," he continued, "in these ruins, there lies a shrine. this shrine has been corrupted."

"You are concerned about a shrine in a sewer?" I asked, almost laughing.

"It is called the Shrine of the dead." he replied. "It was once a place of great power. It served as a channel to the ancestors, allowing the faithful to learn about them...to harness their power. Over the years, it has been forgotten, and it has grown sour."

I mused over how a shrine of any kind in a sewer system could go sour, but decided to keep that silly question to myself.

"The power that radiates from the shrine has drawn hordes of the undead to it." he continued. "The Shrine of the Dead must be cleansed."

I almost asked if I was going to have to bring a mop and bucket, but decided to keep my odd sense of humor over this mission to myself.

"So, I would I cleanse this temple?" I asked.

"Oh, no...certainly not by you." he replied. "No, sir, this task falls to one of Almalexia's chosen. You will escort this young priest, Urvel Dulni, to the shrine. Protect him well, Eldorf the Wise. His experience is limited, but he is necessary to complete the ritual. The Shrine is protected by the Profane, powerful liches who feed from the power of the shrine. You must destroy them for Dulni to perform his duties."

"Well, of course, I have escorted people before....." I started, but he interrupted me again.

"I stress again...protect Dulni at all costs. It is he who must perform the ceremony. If he is not able, there are no others."

I wanted to ask about the guy who taught Dulni, but decided not to.

"What can you tell me about this Shrine of the Dead?" I asked. "Where is it to be found?"

Gavas seemed glad that I was showing interest, at least. "As I said," he replied, "It holds immense power to speak with the ancestors and harness their power. The Lady Almalexia wishes to use this power for the good of Morrowind. I realize that ancestor worship falls a bit...outside traditional Temple doctrine, but the Lady knows best, and her will is law."

"I see." I replied. "And to find this shrine?"

"To find the Shrine," he said, "enter the sewers through the Temple basement. Then head east to the ruined Temple Gardens, and south to the Shrine of the Dead."

I walked over to where Urvel Dulni was standing.

"Do we, uh, have to, um, you know, go right now?" he stammered. I could see he was more nervous than a bride on her wedding night.

"It is late in the day." I replied, and I am not going down into the sewers in these good robes. Get a good night's rest, and we'll leave early in the morning."

He seemed grateful that he didn't have to go yet, but seemed like he was wondering why this mission had been issued to him, rather than one of the more experienced priests.

None-the-less, I decided to give both of us a night's reprieve before heading back into the lovely sewer system of Mournhold.

I headed home, had a great meal at the Winged Guar Tavern, then went to bed. During the night, I had a thought cross my mind: "Boasting of one's accomplishments, and parading around as if one were a god could get one into trouble, if one was not careful. There will always be enemies lurking in the shadows, just beyond one's sight..."

I have no idea where these thoughts come from, but it was definitely good advice.

I got up, and a quick bite to eat, then headed out in my smelly robe, still fresh from yesterday's romp in the sewers.

I arrived at the temple, apologizing to everyone within 20 feet of me for the odor.

Urvel Dulni was waiting for me in the Archcanon's offices.

"Did you get a good night's sleep?" I asked.

"Uh, no." he replied. "I, um, couldn't sleep a wink."

I could see this was going to be two missions: One was to get him down there, and the second was keeping him from soiling himself in the process.

We made our way to the basement of the Temple, where we found the trapdoor, just as we were told we would.

"Must I follow you down there?" he asked.

"Well, I'll tell you what." I replied. "I'll go down first, and make sure that it's safe for you to follow."

"Ok," he said, "I'll watch your back from up here."

"Good." I replied. "And if I'm not back in 10 minutes, you'd better come looking for me."

He gave me a look of horror. That is, until I gave him a grin and a wink, indicating I was just joking with him. I could already see this one was going to be a handful.

I guess it was a good idea I went down first.

Faded into the smelly mist was a half-visible Ancient Bonelord, and a rat.

I used the Amulet of Shadows, but he still saw me.

What resulted next was a battle of spells. He shot a few at me, and I returned the favor by shooting a few back at him. A number of our spells met in mid-air, resulting in a huge blast of fire and ice.

Oh, and the rat came over, trying to bite my ankle.

The bonelord came closer, creating a shield around himself.

I hit him with a shock spell. He took a swipe at me with two of those four bony arms of his. The rat was annoying me as well, taking one bite after another.

I could hear Urvel shouting down from the trapdoor, "Mr. Dragonmeal? Is everything ok down there? I thought I heard some noise or something...."

"I'm a little busy, Urvel, hold up a second."

"Oh, ok, I'm right here if you need me. You know I've got your back." he shouted back.

{sigh}

I hit the bonelord with a spell of Medusa's Gaze, but it ignored the spell. I tried it again, and this time, it worked. The spell caught the rat, too.

I used a health potion to restore myself, then hit both the bonelord and the rat with God's Fire. In fact, I hit the thing twice, just for good measure.

When the fire had cleared, I saw that behind the Ancient Bonelord, a skeleton warrior had also decided to join in on the action. Both of them were destroyed by God's Fire.

Oh, and the rat died, too.

I ran on ahead, finding a few more skeleton warriors waiting for us, and a few sun-burst arrows got rid of them quickly.

I instructed Urvel to follow just a little bit behind me, and not get involved if there was a fight.

"I don't want you getting in front of a deadly spell, no matter WHO it's from, ok?" I asked.

"Oh, sure, you don't need to worry about me." he replied, apparently quite willing to stay behind me and watch my back.

I used the Ring of Weapons to bring forth a longsword and shield, and also gave me a little more night vision. I was already using the Belt of Night-Eye, but this place was just so dark, I needed all the help I could get.

I had cleared this entire of deadly creatures, so it turned out there was nothing left to fear in this section of the sewer.

We finally came to another door, Temple Sewers East.

I figured I'd better go and see if anyone (or anyTHING) was waiting for us on the other side.

I instructed Urvel to wait for me by the door, and to NOT run off unless something was chasing him.

After about 3 minutes of reassuring him that I had cleaned the entire section of monsters, he agreed to wait until I returned.

Using the Amulet of Shadows, I crept into the next section, and found someone WAS waiting for us (or just anyone that happened to pass by).

It was a member of the dreaded Black Dart Gang.

What was nice was the fact that he hadn't seen me.