Jauffre had provided me with the key to enter this place, but as soon as the door closed behind me, it vanished from my hands. I assumed it headed back to Jauffre's cabinet. I used the Amulet of Light to make things a little more visable in here. The stench of dead things filled the air, and as I stood still, I could hear raspy breathing, things walking, and what sounded like ghosts moaning in sadness.

I encountered a number of those things making noise. They turned out to be faided wraiths and gloom wraiths. There were a number of them clustered together, as if each of them were the only company they had against the loneliness of this once holy, but now evil place. Several of my summoned creatures were needed to clear out these wraiths. Further down, I could hear more creatures plodding up and down the corridors. I came to a closed gate. There was a lever next to me that opened it, but before I did, I cast a spell showing me where any life forms might be hiding. The spell showed me they were just around the corner from the gate. Skeleton Guardians - very dangerous. I cast Cloak of Shadows to go invisible, opened the gate, summoned several of my own creatures, and defeated the two guardians.

I continued down into the catacombs, finding one other wraith after another. I finally came to a huge hall. I could hear something walking on the stone floor. I figured it was another skeleton warrior of some kind. Going into the Shadows again, I approached the noise-maker. This thing, however, was different.

I got close enough to get a good look at this thing. It was not like the other skeleton warriors at all. It had an unusual glow, and a helmet that looked familiar. Suddenly, I remembered: this helmet was from Cloud Ruler Temple! The thing I was looking at was an Undead Blade. It had to be one of the four Blades sent here countless years ago!

I waited until the Blade was on his patrol across a small bridge, then shot a spell of God's Fire at him. By this time, my Cloak of Shadows spell had expired, exposing me to retaliation.

The spell started doing its work, draining off the creature's health, but it still retained enough health to continue running towards me, sword drawn, and not happy with my being there.

I shot a second blast of God's Fire at the undead Blade. The thing was so close that I was nearly blinded by the blast as the spell hit its target. The second blast of this spell accelerated the effect of the first, and the undead Blade fell into a clump of bones at my feet.

I was about to continue going deeper into the catacombs of this tomb when suddenly, I heard a noise from behind me.

I quickly turned around, wondering if the undead Blade was being revived somehow. Instead, the bones remained on the floor where they had fallen. There was, however, a ghost rising up from the fallen corpse.

The ghost of the fallen Blade walked over to me, drawing no weapon. I took that as a good sign. Suddenly, the ghost addressed me.

"At long last, you have freed me." he stated slowly, as if trying to remember how to speak. "Now I can finally complete my lord's last request."

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I was Rielus, loyal Blade of Emperor Tiber Septim." he replied, in a very sad voice. "I do not know how long I have been dead. It feels like an eternity."

"What happened to you." I asked.

Again, in a sad voice, as if this spirit hated himself for his failure, he responded. "My three companions and I were sent here by the Emperor Tiber Septim to discover what evil had defiled the holy catacombs of Sancre Tor. We did not know that the Underking, who was Zurin Arctus, had arisen to take his first revenge upon his former lord."

I had heard of this person from history class when I was a child. As I recalled, Zurin Arctus was once a battlemage of Tiber Septim. Apparenly, they had a falling out, resulting in Zurin, who (depending on who's story you hear) either died or became the Underking. Apparently, these Blades were being used as pawns in the Underking's revenge. (Note 1) (Note 2)

"What happened then?" I asked.

"The Underking defeated and ensnared us in his evil enchantment," replied Rielus, "and bound us here to guard forever the defiled Shrine of Tiber Septim."

"Is the Underking still here?" I asked, worried that if he could do such a thing to four Blades, what would happen to me?

"No." came the reply. "He departed long ago. But his evil will remains, preventing any from paying homage at the Shrine of Tiber Septim. Over the uncounted years of our slavery here, we have brooded over our defeat. I believe that we can undo the Underking's evil magic."

That sounded helpful. I shouldn't dare try to retrieve the armor if there was going to be some type of spell that would trap me here forever.

"I go now to complete my duty to my lord Tiber Septim." he said, now in a much more hopeful voice. "Free my brothers, and together we may be able to lift the Underking's curse. Farewell!"

The spirit of Rielus wandered off in the direction I was originally going to go. I figured I'd better find the other three undead Blades. I would need all of them to undo whatever evil spell still existed here. I found my way to the prison entrance. An undead Buard blocked my way, but a quick blast of God's fire made short work of him. Like the first ghost, he thanked me and headed off to join Rielus.

I fought my way past several more gloom wraiths, eventually finding yet another undead Blade. Again, the helmet and shield, along with an unusual glow made it apparent this was yet another victim of the Underking's curse.

As soon as he fell, his ghost appeared.

It was the ghost of Valdemar, the second of the four Blades.

"I know you." he said. "You freed me. Free my borthers, if they are still enslaved. Together we will cleanse the Shrine of the Underking's foul magic."

Short, sweet, and to the point. Valdemar turned and headed up the stairs, heading, no doubt, to the same place that Rielus had headed off to. I followed him for a bit, then headed off in another direction, looking for the other two Blades.