Knightfall
The Cheydinhal Oblivion Gate brings another sad story how ill-placed valour and blind courage can lead to many unnecessary deaths. In this case, the Knights of the Thorn.
After leaving the settlers at Cropsford - and promising to stop by in a couple of weeks - I spent the morning following the road to Cheydinhal. The road was surprisingly quiet and I was able to reach Cheydinhal shortly after noon.
Most of the citizens I spoke to told me that the town was not safe anymore and that they would leave if things did not get better. Even if I already knew where it was leading up to, I decided to visit the count of Cheydinhal, a Dunmer. The castle was nice enough, but he refused to even talk to me. His son, with a few fellow self-declared knights, had entered the gate two days ago, and had yet to return.
The entrance to the gate was free of Daedra, the city guard was doing a decent job, having set up a perimeter and patrols on all side of the portal. After a few last words with their captain, I entered Oblivion.
The guard captain had warned me that most of these so called knights were all talk and no skill, but I would have hoped that they lasted longer than just through the gate. Yet, only a couple of metres away, I found the first body, torn apart by Clannfears it seemed.
How could I tell it was a Clannfear? Well, the fact that about half a dozen of these anachronistic beasts roamed the sides of the mountain was a rather obvious clue. In the end, I carefully made my way down the slopes, avoiding the twisting mountain path and its Daedric guardians.
At the foot of the mountain, I arrived in time to help the two remaining Knights of the Thorn against more Clannfears. Out of seven knights, only two had survived the initial onslaught of Daedra and after that remained trapped between the mountain and the Daedric citadel.
One of the two was the counts son, Farwil. In my very humble opinion a thickheaded braggart who has no idea how to fight, yet alone lead an assault on Daedric stronghold. But what could I do. He was the counts son, after all, and he immediately took charge of the situation, ordering me to join his attempt at closing the gate.
He did this with the now immortal words:
Alas, the rear flank is not as safe as it used to be. While fighting our way across the large bridge leading to the citadel, we were attack by several Dremora warriors. In the ensuing chaos, Farwils campanion, Bremman, was killed. And he was the more sensible one of the two as well.
The citadel itself was just as any other I had seen. However, there were more Dremoras than in all other citadels combined. In the first room alone, Farwil and I faced four of them. And true to my original impression, Farwil fell. While not necessarily troubled by this - I had told him to leave, after all - it seemed like a true waste that he had led six others to their death as well.
Alone and unhindered, I continued, most of the time fighting two or three enemies at once. And it was not that I could try and hide in order to keep them at a bow shots distance. They were true battlemages most of the time, a fact that I learned at a rather inopportune moment when one of them summoned a Daedroth. Fortunately, just as I was counting teeth on the inside of its throat, the poison I had poured on my arrow killed the summoner.
In the end, it was just the Dremora captain standing between me and the Sigil Stone. After facing all the hordes in this realm, he proved no threat. With the Sigil Stone and the signet ring of Farwil in my hands, I was returned to Cyrodiil.
The count was saddened by the news of his sons death, but he himself admitted that Farwil had brought it upon himself. As a token of gratitude for attempting to save his son - and for closing the Oblivion gate - he granted me the signet ring that once belonged to Farwil. In addition, he promised to send his best soldiers to help in the defense of Bruma.
More on playing tag with Clannfear, Daedroth dental hygiene and a ten setp program to build your own arboretum coming soon.
After leaving the settlers at Cropsford - and promising to stop by in a couple of weeks - I spent the morning following the road to Cheydinhal. The road was surprisingly quiet and I was able to reach Cheydinhal shortly after noon.
Most of the citizens I spoke to told me that the town was not safe anymore and that they would leave if things did not get better. Even if I already knew where it was leading up to, I decided to visit the count of Cheydinhal, a Dunmer. The castle was nice enough, but he refused to even talk to me. His son, with a few fellow self-declared knights, had entered the gate two days ago, and had yet to return.
The entrance to the gate was free of Daedra, the city guard was doing a decent job, having set up a perimeter and patrols on all side of the portal. After a few last words with their captain, I entered Oblivion.
The guard captain had warned me that most of these so called knights were all talk and no skill, but I would have hoped that they lasted longer than just through the gate. Yet, only a couple of metres away, I found the first body, torn apart by Clannfears it seemed.
How could I tell it was a Clannfear? Well, the fact that about half a dozen of these anachronistic beasts roamed the sides of the mountain was a rather obvious clue. In the end, I carefully made my way down the slopes, avoiding the twisting mountain path and its Daedric guardians.
At the foot of the mountain, I arrived in time to help the two remaining Knights of the Thorn against more Clannfears. Out of seven knights, only two had survived the initial onslaught of Daedra and after that remained trapped between the mountain and the Daedric citadel.
One of the two was the counts son, Farwil. In my very humble opinion a thickheaded braggart who has no idea how to fight, yet alone lead an assault on Daedric stronghold. But what could I do. He was the counts son, after all, and he immediately took charge of the situation, ordering me to join his attempt at closing the gate.
He did this with the now immortal words:
"You'll lead the assault and we will guard the rear flank."
Alas, the rear flank is not as safe as it used to be. While fighting our way across the large bridge leading to the citadel, we were attack by several Dremora warriors. In the ensuing chaos, Farwils campanion, Bremman, was killed. And he was the more sensible one of the two as well.
The citadel itself was just as any other I had seen. However, there were more Dremoras than in all other citadels combined. In the first room alone, Farwil and I faced four of them. And true to my original impression, Farwil fell. While not necessarily troubled by this - I had told him to leave, after all - it seemed like a true waste that he had led six others to their death as well.
Alone and unhindered, I continued, most of the time fighting two or three enemies at once. And it was not that I could try and hide in order to keep them at a bow shots distance. They were true battlemages most of the time, a fact that I learned at a rather inopportune moment when one of them summoned a Daedroth. Fortunately, just as I was counting teeth on the inside of its throat, the poison I had poured on my arrow killed the summoner.
In the end, it was just the Dremora captain standing between me and the Sigil Stone. After facing all the hordes in this realm, he proved no threat. With the Sigil Stone and the signet ring of Farwil in my hands, I was returned to Cyrodiil.
The count was saddened by the news of his sons death, but he himself admitted that Farwil had brought it upon himself. As a token of gratitude for attempting to save his son - and for closing the Oblivion gate - he granted me the signet ring that once belonged to Farwil. In addition, he promised to send his best soldiers to help in the defense of Bruma.
More on playing tag with Clannfear, Daedroth dental hygiene and a ten setp program to build your own arboretum coming soon.
posted by JE.P. | 22:03
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home