Urvel was anxious to get this job over and done with so we could get out of here.

"The Shrine, it should be behind this door." he said.

I stopped him before he could open the door. "You remember what the Archcanon said?" I asked him. "The Profane guard that place. Since we haven't seen any out here, they must all be in there."

"What must we do?" he asked.

"You must wait here." I said. "I'll go in and make sure it's safe."

"But they are lich." he replied. "They are so dangerous."

"Just you wait and see." I said, comforting him. "I've dealt with liches before."    

With that, I gave him the usual instruction to wait here until I returned.

I activated the Amulet of Shadows and headed inside the Temple area.

I quietly headed down the slope into a large reception area. There, patrolling back and forth, was one of the evil creatures I was looking for.

A lich, and undead wizard, one of the Profane, was guarding the entrance to the Temple proper.

It turned it's hollow gaze directly at me, sensing something, but not knowing for sure what it might be, not sure if it heard the sound of my footsteps, or if it was just a rock falling from the roof of the tunnel.

Rather than take chances, I hit him with Medusa's Gaze, which the lich promptly ignored.

He charged my position, based on where the spell came from.

I hit him with another paralyze spell, and this time, it froze him in place.

Properly held, I hit with the Ring of Leaches. Before it finished it's effect, however, the lich healed himself.

Well, if he wanted to play, I'll let him play with 4 or 5 creatures.

They seemed more than capable of taking care of this lich.

I checked the lich for weapons or anything of value, but he carried nothing that I would want or need.

From the reception area, I made my way up the ramp, opened the huge door there, and found the temple we were looking for.

I also found about five liches. As they charged me, I summoned the Wall of Fire. As that one lit up, I started a second wall 20 feet in.

However, all was not well. One of the liches seemed determine to make it through that first wall.

One of the liches broke through, and ran to attack me.

Quickly, I used the Ring of Weapons, bring shield and longsword to bear.

The lich clawed at me, but I blocked the attack with my shield.

I swung hard with my longsword. It had the strength of ebony, but the weight of a feather, and cut the lich in two. He joined his brothers in Oblivion.

I let the fire spells burn out, then decided to check the rest of the temple area, and make sure it was safe.

I looked cautiously around the Shrine of the Dead. There were a number of now seriously dead liches, but figured I'd better check the rear section of the shrine.

Sure enough, two more of the Profane saw me, and attacked.

Several shots of the Ring of Leaches finished them off. After another check of the entire area, it was determined that I had killed them all, and it was now safe to bring Urvel in to do his work.

Urvel was very happy to see me alive. "Oh, I thought they had eaten you alive, all that screaming in there. I thought it was you!"

"Well, I'm glad it wasn't me." I said. "Let's get in there and get the job done."