A general guide to: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: Knights of the Nine Version 1.00 -------- Contents -------- I.How to get Knights of the Nine II. Disclaimer III. Intro IV. Walkthrough A. Pilgrimage B. The Shrine of the Crusader C. Priory of the Nine D. Stendarr's Mercy E. Nature's Fury F. Wisdom of the Ages G. The Path of the Righteous H. The Sword of the Crusader I. Umaril the Unfeathered V. Legal Stuff --------------------------------- I. How to Get Knights of the Nine --------------------------------- Knights of the Nine is a downloadable plugin from www.obliviondownloads.com for $9.99. I think that it is also available in hardware form at some stores, but I am not sure, so don't take my word for it. -------------- II. Disclaimer -------------- Please keep in mind that when I played Knights of the Nine, I was a level 33 fighter and a master of blade, armorer, and heavy armor. Therefore, some of the fight difficulties, enchantments, and characteristics found in this guide may be slightly different. I am fairly certain that the enchantments on the Crusader's armor and weapons are leveled, and that the ratings of the armor and weapons depend upon the current armor of the player, and the players armor, blade, and blunt skills. To sum up, I will give you my versions of the enchantments, etc., but they will probably be different depending on your skills and level. Also, I am skipping over the quests The Faithful Squire and The Blessing of Talos because they are merely connectors to give you an item or spell and send you on to the next quest. ---------- III. Intro ---------- First off, thanks for reading my guide. Now, before we plunge into the walkthrough, know this: This is a general walkthrough that shows players how to get through the game, not an in-depth strategy guide for every single inch of the story. Therefore, I will move quickly past the straightforward, baddie-ridden parts of the game, and spend my time on the parts where people may have issues. ---------------- IV. Walkthrough ---------------- A. Pilgrimage Unlike other plugin quests, KotN doesn't begin immediately. Instead, you must search for rumors of an attack on the Anvil chapel. Once you hear of these, go to Anvil and ask around about the attack or the prophet who preaches doom and destruction in front of the church. Your quest prompter should pop up and tell you to talk to the prophet about what has happened. Essentially, the Prophet explains the background of the KotN and that Umaril, an evil Ayleid sorcerer-king has returned from the spirit realm and is wreaking vengeance on the mortal gods. He says that the only way to defeat Umaril is by collecting the Relics of the Crusader, Pelinal Whitestrake. He asks you if you are a worthy knight to go questing for this cause. Pick any of the "no" answers and he will tell you that you first must cleanse your soul by visiting the wayshrine of each of the Nine. He gives you a map to get started. Just follow the map, and when you pray at the last shrine, you will have a vision in which the ghost of Whitestrake fills in more of the story, and directs you to his tomb/shrine for further clues. Also, for visiting all nine wayshrines, you get the greater power Pilgrim's Grace, which is a combo of each god's blessings and your infamy rating is reduced to zero. B. The Shrine of the Crusader As it turns out, Pelinal's shrine is buried underneath the waters of the Niben. This dungeon is fairly straightforward; just fight your way through the undead that block your path, and grab the Helm of the Crusader. This helm is handy to have, boosting your Restoration and your Personality. Wearing it also gives you the lesser power Serene Beauty, which is a Calm touch spell. Now that you have the Helm, leap over the railing to the skeleton below and grab Sir Amiel's diary and ring. The diary tells of an order called the Knights of the Nine that are devoted to finding and protecting the Relics of the Crusader. Your quest log prompts you to visit this priory, as the diary claims that the Cuirass of the Crusader is stored there. C. Priory of the Nine The priory is mostly deserted, but if you activate the Knights' seal in the floor with Amiel's ring, you will be allowed into the basement and eventually the undercroft of the priory. In the undercroft, the ghosts of eight of the KotN appear and block the exit. To win your life and the Cuirass, you must defeat each of them in single combat. If you are decently leveled and well armed, this shouldn't be too hard. Once you beat all of them, you can take the Cuirass, which will boost your Health, Restoration, and resistance to normal weaponry. Next, you must question the Knights to find the whereabouts of the remaining relics. You recieve info on the Gauntlets, the Boots, the Mace, and the Shield. I will deal with these relics in the most logical order. A Brief Note: At some point after this section of the story, Bravil's chapel is ransacked in the same manner as Anvil's. D. Stendarr's Mercy (The Gauntlets) Sir Casimir tells you that the Gauntlets are located in Chorrol's chapel of Stendarr, but no one seems to be able to lift them from the floor. Once at the chapel, you learn that Sir Casimir's cursed descendant, Kellon, is living in the chapel hall. After some conversations with Kellon and Areldur, the chapel's priest, you find out that the only way to retrieve the gauntlets is to show mercy and take Kellon's curse upon yourself. Do so; the curse slows down your fatigue regeneration, but it is not disabling. Now you can get the gauntlets, which will fortify your Restoration and give you disease resistance. Also, the gauntlets give you Merciful Touch, a lesser power that will heal another on touch. E. Nature's Fury (The Boots) You learn that the boots' location may be gleaned from a group of Kynareth's worshipers located southwest of the western terminus of the bridge to the Imperial City. Kynareth's priest tells you that you may have the boots if you can pass Kynareth's test in the Grove of Trials. The Grove is due west of your position and is marked by a circle of white-barked trees. After a few seconds, a forest guardian will appear (a giant grizzly bear in my case) and begin to attack you. Under no circumstances should you attack it! If you do, you fail the test and the guardian will most likely kill you. If you do nothing, you get a message saying you passed and the guardian will stop its attack. A door will appear in the large rock nearby which leads to a cave containing the Boots. The boots are perhaps the most valuable piece of armor in all of Oblivion, because in addition to fortifying your Restoration, these boots give you the ability Woodland Grace, which will allow you to walk unharmed among some normal critters (I think just bears, wolves, and mountain lions). F. Wisdom of The Ages (The Shield) You learn that the shield was lost in Fort Bulwark. Once you get there, you will find that the place is full of Conjurers. Fight your way through them; the appropriate switches for all of the bridges and gates are in plain sight. You will meet an imprisoned fellow knight, who tells you that "When the eyes of the Guardians are upon you, Julianos will show you favor." Journey a bit farther in and the meaning of this will become evident. In an apparently dead-end room, there are four statues facing outward, which are the first set of guardians. Activate the cranks at the bases of the statues until they all face the center marker and stand there to open a stone door. The next area is a room lined with more guardians facing the wall with stone chests at their bases. In the center is a larger chest that randomly spawns items belonging to some guy (I think his name is Rothan or something similar). To get the guardians to turn around and face you, you must place up each item in its associated chest. I cannot remember the specific order, but every now and then, an image of the correct item will appear above its chest, and you can figure out the rest by trial and error. You've made the correct choice when the chest turns white and the statue turns. When all of the statues have been turned around, a door will open that leads to the Shield, which has a powerful Reflect Spell enchantment. I'm fairly certain that the only shield better than this one is Spell Breaker. G. The Path of the Righteous (The Mace) For the last challenge, you must go to the Leyawiin chapel undercroft, kill any undead that await and kneel in front of the statue of St. Kaladas.You will be transported to a ledge that faces a pillar with the mace on it. Ordinarily, you would fall into the void and be transported back to the undercroft, but when you wear the Boots of the Crusader, a path of mist will form and you can walk across to the mace. Both the mace and sword have powerful Fire Damage and Damage Magicka enchantments, and each gives you an ability that boosts your blunt or blade, respectively. Also, when I got the sword at level 33, the only sword that was better was Umbra. When you return from the undercroft, Umaril's servants, the Aurorans, are attacking the chapel. Once you have killed them, your quest log will direct you to return to the priory, where you find that many people from your KotN quests and from abroad have come to join the KotN; accept their help, as they will accompany you to Umaril's lair.Also, a knight's squire, Lathon ,has come to the priory to tell you that his master found the Greaves and the Sword, but was slain by Sir Berich's ghost in Underpall Cave. Lathon brought you the Greaves, which fortify your Restoration and Destruction and give you a Shield other on touch lesser power. However, Berich has turned the sword to evil, and you must go to Underpall to reclaim it. H. The Sword of the Crusader Once you get to Underpall Cave, go into the Underpall Keep. After fighting through some undead, you will eventually reach the Underpall reflecting pool area. Now you must kill the Ghost of Sir Berich, so make sure to have something magic, silver, or daedric. Once Berich is dead, take the sword, but DO NOT equip it. If you do, you get the curse of Sir Berich, which stops magicka regeneration and gives you 100% weaknesses to all forms of magicka and poison. Now, you must go to Cheydinhal's chapel of Arkay to reconsecrate the sword. When you get there you find that, surprise! the chapel is under attack by Aurorans. The easiest way to deal with them is to run in, reconsecrating the sword by activating the central altar, and hack the enemies to ribbons with your powerful new weapon. Reconsecrating the sword also removes your curses. Once all the Aurorans are dead, return to the priory. When you arrive, you find out that the Prophet is rallying the new generation of KotN in the Priory Chapel. Go inside and speak to the Prophet, who, after much long-winded chattering, will give you the Blessing of Talos lesser power which, in addition to fortifying your Strength and Endurance and lowering your Speed and Agility will allow you to follow Umaril into the spirit realm after you have destroyed his earthly body. I. Umaril The Unfeathered This is it, the final assault! Fortunately, you have eight companions to assist you in hacking through the Aurorans. Umaril's headquarters is in the Ayleid ruin Garlas Malatar, on the coast north of Anvil. Once inside, slash your way through the Aurorans with your knights and enter the next section of dungeon. In this section, there should be a room with an impenetrable barrier and a large glowing orb on a platform. It is vital that you immediately run up the stairs and smash said orb, or else the Aurorans will never stop spawning. As you smash the orb, the barrier disappears, along with the Aurorans and your surviving knights (It is my opinion that smashing the orb stops time, since the orb's fragments hang in the air). Follow the corridors of the ruin and you will finally come upon Umaril himself, who shouts at you in the Ayleid tongue and promptly attacks. Watch out! he has a huge claymore that has a powerful shock damage enchantment. However, if you can avoid or weather his attacks for long enough, you should be able to kill him rather quickly if you use the Sword or Mace of the Crusader. Once his physical form is dead, cast your Blessing of Talos spell to be transported to that same vista where you spoke with Pelinal Whitestrake. There, you must kill Umaril again, but if you did it once, you can do it again. Once he is dead, you are transported to the undercroft in the Priory of the Nine, where the ghosts of the KotN thank you for your service and ascend to heaven, leaving you with the reward that you can now use the tomb of each knight as a wayshrine to their respective god. Also, you can talk to the now-redeemed ghost of Sir Berich before he ascends. When you leave the undercroft, one of the knights runs down to greet you and fills you in on what happened. Apparently, the surviving knights found your body next to Umaril and thought that you had gone the way of Pelinal Whitestrake. They therefore buried you with the other knights in the undercroft until you woke up. He runs outside to tell the others the good news, and you now have an entourage of eight (the dead knights have been replaced by generic "Knights of the Nine") soldiers who can be ordered to follow you around and fight with you. Congratulations! You are a Crusader of the Nine! -------------- V. Legal Stuff -------------- This document is Copyrighted 2006 to Culver Redd This may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright.