With their business in Leyawiin concluded, and both the Mace and Shield of the Crusader acquired, Nightmare and Shadow began their journey back to the Priory of the Nine. They followed the road this time, as they didn't want to head into the wilderness and get lost on their way back to where the fallen knights were waiting for them to return. By staying on the road they knew that they wouldn't run into any of the bandits that roamed the wilderness, as Nightmare's reputation would make them think twice about attacking them. Shadow, on the other hand, was pleased with their progress, because all he needed was the last piece of the set and he could finally call himself the Divine Crusader, a title that he never thought that he would ever have the opportunity to take on in his entire life.
Nightmare didn't have the heart to tell her friend that he was missing another section of the armor, because she noticed that Shadow was missing the Greaves that should have come with the chest piece, but she had the feeling that they would find it before she decided to tell him that they weren't at the finish line yet.
Eventually the night was upon them before they could reach their destination, so the two of them set up a small camp by the side of the road for the night, though Nightmare made sure to have a barrier surrounding their camp to prevent any enemies from harming them. This was similar to what she had done before they had taken Martin to Cloud Ruler Temple, though at the time Nightmare had wondered how he had noticed that the barrier had been there. Now, however, she knew that he was destined to be a powerful emperor of sorts... if they actually survived the ordeals that were ahead of them at the moment.
She would never tell Shadow and Rend the truth, because they needed her help to save Nirn from destruction, but the more time she spent in this world the more she started to miss her own home. She couldn't believe that she, the Queen of Knights and the Princess of the Moon, was actually feeling homesick at the moment. She sighed as she looked up at the night sky, once again trying to determine which of the stars was Equus and wondering, for maybe the hundredth time since she arrived in Nirn, if Celestia even knew that she was no longer trapped on the moon. Even now she could muster the anger to be angry at her sister, which made her wonder if Shadow was beginning to rub off on her more than she even realized.
When early morning arrived Nightmare was up before Shadow was, which she thought was odd considering that her companion had changed his lifestyle after becoming a vampire. They were fortunate that she could access her storage area from this world, something that she still didn't understand, but that didn't help the urges that she knew that her friend had to be resisting at the moment. She considered lowering the barrier for a moment, but as she prepared to do so she noticed a group of bandits smacking it with their weapons, almost as if they were actually trying to get in and rob them.
She grinned as she lowered the barrier and picked up her battleaxe, beckoning the bandits that were so eager to meet their deaths forward, to which they charged at her. She swung her battleaxe at the first one that reached her, severing the person's hands from his body before she kicked him away from her so could could turn to the other ones. Two of them came at her at the exact same time, to which she parried their attacks with the length of her weapon, though before they could back away she twisted her battleaxe around and cut one of them down. She then repeated the same process with the third bandit, cutting him down where he stood, though that was when she stopped smiling as she discovered that the bandits that had been watching her had disappeared.
"Cowards," Nightmare remarked, letting out a sigh as she gathered up the coins from the dead.
It was some time before Shadow emerged from his tent, again making Nightmare wonder if there was something wrong with her companion, but she decided not to ask they gathered up their camp and got on the road once more.
It was evening when the duo arrived at their destination, the Priory of the Nine, though when they arrived they discovered that the place had been cleaned up and repaired in the time they had been away. It was kind of odd that this would have happened, considering that the only people who lived there were the fallen knights that had sent them on their quests, but they were prepared for anything when they entered the actual building. Inside the building they found quite a number of new faces, or rather old when Shadow realized that they were the people that had helped them recover the various relics that he was now wearing, before he spotted someone that neither him or Nightmare knew.
When they approached the redguard, however, they discovered something that would likely hinder their progress in figuring out where the final relic had been hidden.
"Sir Knight! Thank Arkay you're back. I have terrible news." the redguard said, though they could tell by his expression that whatever he had to tell them had to be as bad as he claimed it was, "Sir Roderic... I think he's dead."
Shadow looked at Nightmare for a moment, though it was painfully clear that neither of them knew who this 'Sir Roderic' was, so he took the only available path that was open to him.
"And who is Sir Roderic?" Shadow asked, because he was sure that some information would be better than merely guessing.
"A holy knight, like you, questing for the Relics at the Prophet's call." the redguard answered immediately, as if he had been expecting this answer and had come prepared, "I was his squire. I believed he was chosen by the gods to reclaim the Relics."
"So what happened to him?" Shadow inquired, though what little information he was given on the knight made him wonder if there was something else that he should have been told.
"At first things were going well." the redguard replied, letting out a sigh for a moment, "He prayed at all the shrines, and received a vision. A disturbing vision. 'The shade of Sir Berich spoke to me,' was all he said. 'We must put him to rest.' We travelled back and forth across Colovia. He was always asking about an old noble family, the Vlindrels. Finally he found what he was looking for. We went to Underpall Cave, and there... he fell."
"And what exactly was he looking for?" Shadow continued, though he had the suspicion that the item that Sir Roderic was searching for was the Sword of the Crusader.
"He said that Sir Berich's tomb was in Underpall Cave," the redguard said, though behind him Nightmare had to resist the urge to bring her palm to her face, "which is no cave, but some kind of buried keep. He had learned that Sir Berich had once been a questing knight, like us. He had found the Greaves and Sword of the Crusader, but then turned to evil. Sir Roderic hoped to find the Relics within Sir Berich's tomb. And he did. But we also found a terrible guardian -- the wraith of Lord Vlindrel -- Sir Berich."
"Then am I correct in assuming that you know where the relics are?" Shadow asked, though it was clear that he had forgotten that the Greaves weren't attached to the chest piece.
"Yes, my lord." the redguard replied, reaching into the pack that he carried for a moment, "And I brought you... Sir Roderic shouted for me to take them... the Greaves. The holy Relic. They're yours."
Shadow was impressed that the redguard managed to get the Greaves away from such a terrible guardian, one that he suspected was still guarding the other one, but he felt compelled to ask anyway.
"And the Sword?" Shadow asked, taking the Greaves for a moment, but he made no motion to put them on until he had all the information that he needed, "What happened to it?"
"The wraith. It used it against Sir Roderic." the redguard said, letting out another sigh in the process, "I don't know how that evil thing could use the holy weapon, but it did. it screamed as it struck... I'm sorry. I already failed Sir Roderic once. I don't want to fail him again. I remember he said something about the Sword, before we... He was worried that the Sword may have been turned to evil. That it would have to be reconsecrated on the alter of its creator, the Divine Arkay."
Shadow nodded his understanding, because now he knew exactly where to go to find the final relic that he needed to challenge Umaril the Unfeathered and stop him before he enacted whatever plot he was building up to. Before he and Nightmare could depart for Underpall Cave the redguard, who finally identified himself as Lathon, asked Shadow for the opportunity to become one of the Knights of the Nine. Shadow considered it for a moment, though he also took into account that the others that had helped him had also become knights in their own way, before he merely nodded and accepted the man into the order. Once that was done, and before Lathon could walk away from them, Shadow made sure to have the man mark the location on his map before letting him go.
With the location marked on the map Shadow and Nightmare departed from the Priory, where they began their journey towards their next destination and the final relic they needed to recover.
As it turned out Underpall Cave was near Bruma, and Cloud Ruler Temple as a result, though neither of them dwelled on that fact for very long. They had come here to recover the Sword of the Crusader, which they knew would involve trekking through the keep that Lathon had discovered and defeating the wraith that was waiting for them. As they walked into the cave the two of them drew their weapons, because they both knew that they would run into something that was going to fight them the instant they discovered it... while not counting the wraith that was at the end of this.
The first chamber they came to had a lowered area between where they entered and the path that would allow them to go forward, though there was quite a number of coffins scattered around the floor. They crossed to the other side and followed the path until they came to another opening, where they discovered that the story about a buried keep had been true. This area was actually much larger than the previous one, though they paid no attention to the group of tombstones that rested in the middle of the room and walked through the large iron door that was ahead of them.
Now that they were in a proper keep area they walked down the pathway and came to a room that had a few skeletons walking around, though the instant the undead noticed them Shadow and Nightmare were already in motion. Shadow slammed the Mace into the one that was the closest to him, where he shattered the skeleton's skull and scattered the bones in one swift motion. Nightmare, on the other hand, used her battleaxe to smash her opponents with the handle, then flipped it around to finish the job by taking their skulls clean off. Once they had cleared the area they moved into the tunnel that was ahead and to their right, though after some time they found a headless undead that Nightmare merely cut in half.
They then followed the staircase until they came to a room that had two more undead creatures that were headless, to which the they got rid of them before they climbed the other staircase and continued forward. Their path ended with a door leading them into another section of the keep, where they found a crypt like area that had several undead walking around the place. It was easy for Nightmare to take out the ones that stayed at the back and used arrows against them, as all she really had to do was call upon her magic and strike them down from a distance. The moment the room was cleared they continued searching, following another passage until they came to a door that allowed them to cross over a walkway.
The next passage brought them to a small room that was guarded by a lone skeleton, which Shadow broke down with the Mace, before they spotted a locked door that was blocking their way, though Nightmare tore it out so they could press on once more. They found three more skeletons patrolling the area that the locked door was connected to, though the two of them easily destroyed their enemies and followed the path again. They passed through another door and walked out on the walkway that was above the large chamber that had allowed them to discover that Lathon's story had been true, though they discovered that this was a dead end and then retraced their steps until they were back at the beginning of the keep.
They found a door near the entrance they entered through, where they followed the passage and found two statues that were waiting on both sides of a staircase. While Shadow studied the area, to be sure that they were on the right track and weren't wasting time, Nightmare took care of the undead that revealed themselves. Once the dead were put back in their graves the two of them moved down the stairs and opened the door at that was at the bottom of them, where they encountered three more enemies that were waiting for them. Shadow took to the offensive immediately, using the Mace to scatter his enemies' bones while using the Shield to protect himself from any sort of harm.
When the area was clear they found an old wooden door that took them into what appeared to be a cave area, which told Shadow that they had to be closer to their true destination. They turned to their left when they spotted an opening and followed it until they reached an area that had a stone coffin, where they discovered Sir Roderic's body.
"We are in the right area," Shadow commented, after saying a prayer for the fallen knight, "We had best be careful, there's no telling where that wraith is."
The moment they opened the door behind the coffin Nightmare had them stop in their tracks, because further ahead of them was a ghostly figure that she knew had to be the creature they had come to kill.
"Or its right in front of us," Shadow amended, sighing as he held out the Mace and Shield for the moment, "Wait here... I'll take care of the wraith and then we'll get out of here."
Shadow walked into the area that the wraith called home and tapped the Mace on the Shield for a moment, to which the wraith turned and looked at him for a moment. He watched as the creature, who looked more like a fallen king than a fallen knight in his opinion, drew the desecrated blade and screamed at him for a few seconds. Shadow charged forward and met the wraith in the middle of the chamber, where their weapons clashed with each other and he forced the wraith back just a bit. Before he could launch an attack at his enemy the wraith swung the Sword at him, to which he raised the Shield and blocked the attack before it could hurt him.
Shadow then pressed the attack, using some of the basic moves he had seen Nightmare use during the time that she used a one handed weapon instead of her battleaxe. It was a good idea that he did so, because in the end the Mace brought an end to the wraith, which screamed as its unholy existence was brought to an end. With his enemy defeated he collected the desecrated Sword, knowing that there was one last thing they needed to do before they were done with gathering the relics.
"To Cheydinhal next," Shadow commented as Nightmare stopped beside him, who had an eyebrow raised at the moment, "there's a shrine to Arkay there... where we can restore this weapon and get to ending our fight with Umaril."