I stepped into hell. At least, that's what it looked like.

Thunder, lightning, blood-red sky, foul-smelling clouds of gas billowing up all around me, lava flows everywhere I looked.

Up ahead of me, a bridge, dead bodies strewn everywhere, and in the distance, several very tall towers. One of the towers had a large slit in it that seemed to be aimed directly at the Oblivion gate behind me.

I went invisible to survey the area and see what I was up against.

A number of creatures, it seems, that I had encountered in several of my cave-diving days while looking for loot.

An Xivilai kept watch towards the towers, unaware that I was looking right at him.

And another creature, one of which I had learned to summon, stood nearby on a bridge. These daedra spiders were very powerful, able to issue shock spells, as well as create little baby spiders, each of which as deadly as their mother.

Suddenly, two soldiers jumped out from behind a rock, attacking the daedra spider. The Xivilai I had seen earlier quickly joined in, shooting fireball spells at the soldiers.

I had no choice but to join in the battle. These solders were outnumbers in a moment as the spider daedra created little replicas of herself. The Xivilai summoned a daedroth. I summoned a few creatures of my own in an attempt to even the odds.   

When it was all over, however, I was too late - both solders lay dying of their wounds. I summoned a clanfear to stand watch while I checked the soldiers to see if there was anything I could do for them.

One soldier, lying near a pool of lava coughed, gaining my immediate attention. I ran to his side, but he was beyond my aid. He looked up at me, turned towards the two towers in the distance, and said "They took Menien...to the tower. Save...him."

All of the solders sent through the gate had been killed. All, except one.

What could they do with him? Why not just kill him, like the others?

Perhaps it had something to do with keeping the gate open.

I tried gaining access across the bridge, but the gate was locked, and seemed to open from inside, so that way was useless. I tried going around to the right side of the bridge, but ended up at a huge flow of lava.

I made my way back to my starting point, finding a passage to the left side of the bridge. I encountered a number of strange plants, which I decided to keep for alchemy sessions later. One of the plants actually struck out towards me, scratching me on the face. A healing spell fixed it, but I decided to be a bit more wary in the future. A different plant proved useful for alchemy, but as I was taking some of the leaves, it gave off a poison gas. I staggered back, almost falling unconscious. Another healing spell, and I could breath normally again.

Another group of Xivilai were found behind the towers, and again, invisibility helped me gain a position where I could fight them through summoned creatures and shock spells.

I encountered a Xivilai with a bow and arrows. Using invisibility once again, I managed to sneak up right behind him, and struck him down with my short sword, paralyzing him. I could see Xivilai in the distance, but they were not aware of my presence, being too far away from me to notice.

I had made it to the door of one of these two towers. The other tower had a bridge to it several levels up, but there was no door at the base, so this had to be the only way in.

Quietly, I crept up the stairs, touched the door and felt it push away from my hand. Taking another deep breath, I stepped inside.

I had seen many amazing things in my life, but never the likes of this.

In front of me was a huge pool of lava, it's energy swirling around madly, drawing up into a pillar of fire that went directly up into the shaft of the tower. In the background were two Xivilai, and I knew that while I might be able to handle one of them, two would be very difficult indeed.

I would need some help.

I looked at the pool of lava, then at the pillar of energy being pulled up to the top of the tower. Whatever was there is what kept the Oblivion Gate open, so that was my next destination.