The Duke of Blades believes she has discovered the tenor of Molag Bal’s plot in the Imperial City. The Daedric Prince has been searching for the mysterious Dragonfire Cathedral in order to destroy the Sublime Brazier, an esoteric relic whose destruction will somehow ensure that the Dragonfires can never again be relit, meaning the people of Tamriel will forever more live under threat of daedric invasion.

For our efforts across the districts of the City we have learnt not only of the plot, but also the location of the Cathedral itself, and stolen the key to unlock its doors. Father Egnatius has almost finished deciphering the ancient scroll, he just needs a little more time. That suits us well as Captain Caudex is gathering his soldiers, and the Drake has heard the Rat has left her an urgent letter out in the sewer tunnels. Retrieving the letter gives me the opportunity to scout the sewer network that runs beneath the city, and see what there is to see. And what a menagerie it proves to be.

Not only did I find the expected, blood-sucking hoarvers, rats, skeevers and spiders, but also plenty of Daedra both bestial and Xivkyn. I did not expect to find a whole vampire clan however, nor a company of Alessian ghosts re-enacting their final moments over and over. All these perils and yet the foolish banner adventurers still brave the tunnels to traverse the capitol underground. I witnessed numerous groups of adventures from all alliances travelling in both stealth and open defiance to reach their objectives.

The archaeologists dig their Aleid and Dwemer delves, Nord and Dunmer tombs, Argonian and Khajiiti temples, but for what? Coins, broken armour, and fragments of pottery. It is in the dregs and dross of a city where an archaeologist discovers how a life was truly once lived. The trivial odds and ends that were once discarded by their owners as rubbish, is now as valuable to the scholar as gold and gems. Indeed it seems that the larger the pile of junk you leave behind, the larger your legacy. And what bigger piles of scrap and jumble are there to be found then in the sewers of a great city. I wonder in a few thousand years what the archaeologists of tomorrow will unearth of what we did here today.

S.K