When I arrived at the Ceporah Tower, I went to Sotha Sil, to inform him of the events in Evergloam. He explained to me why the Crystal Tower was the subject of so much conflict. "With the Heart in place, it can amplify the energy of the mortals inside it, making it a weapon that any Daedric Prince could use against the others. It would also be a portal between realms that was completely controlled by one of them, so armies could travel in one direction only. The holder of the Crystal Tower could eliminate their rivals, one at a time, with impunity."
"And those rivals include us," I surmised.
"Exactly. I managed to strike a deal withe the majority of the Princes that gave Mundus an equivalence to the other Realms. They can't manifest in our Realm with any of their extra powers, and then only by invitation. Similarly, we can't visit theirs without permission from someone already there, and even the Tribunal are subject to the same limits."
"But not all of them agreed?" I queried.
"No, but the majority did, and were able to jointly impose their decision on the dissenters. That must have rankled, and it seems the triad have been looking for a way around it ever since."
"Did the Crystal Tower exist back then?" I asked. "Or was constructing it part of an earlier plot?"
"It did exist. It may be as old as the Direnni Tower, or any of the others. It has probably been rebuilt from time to time, or repaired in a different style, so appearance is nothing to go by. The building is a shell, not part of the function. It just marks the boundary, not creates it."
"The part I'm having troubles getting my head around is unlocking the entrance. Does that need to be done in each Daedric Realm, or just once, and it's open everywhere?"
"The latter. The entrance is either open, or it's not. And because the interior is part of Mundus, daedra from another Realm can't just flood in without invitation. If you were a daedric cultist, however, you could permit passage from your Prince's realm into another."
That all left me feeling a bit easier about what Clavicus Vile and Mephala had proposed. Vile wouldn't get use of the tower, just because we unlocked it from his realm, and Mephala would only have Leythen on the inside. Although Veya and I were working independently, I felt we had Leythen covered adequately.
I didn't fully understand Meridia's motives, however. Nocturnal had told me she was vehemently against necromancy, and would probably get involved because of the Sload. They were out of the scene now, but Darien was still on-stage, and getting more involved all the time. Still, I couldn't see her being an ally of Mephala and Clavicus Vile, so perhaps she was just trying to prevent the same disaster independently.
We arrived in Vile's realm out of sight of the Tower, and he claimed that was so that Nocturnal wouldn't see us coming. And that's why he hadn't cleared his Skaafin from our path to the tower, or even bothered to let them know that we were his guests, not invaders. But the opportunity to cheat on an agreement is always too much, isn't it?
We did reach the tower, and the Diamonds unlocked the entrance for us. Before we entered, Mephala warned us that getting inside wasn't all the Diamonds were required for, and fused them into a Resolute Anchor that would ensure the stability of the Tower around us, otherwise we might get it pulled from beneath our feet, leaving us lost between Realms.
"So this will keep us connected to the Tower, if Nocturnal tries to move it?" I asked.
"Yes if you all stay together. The further you stray from the anchor, the weaker its grip."
I couldn't check this information with Nocturnal herself, and I hoped that Mephala couldn't sense me wanting to do so.
The inside of the Tower was not in bad condition, at least here at the bottom. I knew that Veya had made a start on restoring the place, and she'd logically have begun at the base, as everything else rests on it. So I was expecting more evidence of damage as we progressed up the Tower.
What did surprise me was resistance from undead, specifically Sapiarchs. Apparently this was left over from the Sload invasion three centuries earlier. Necromancers like to raise their foes as undead allies, and a lot of them were still here. Another possible reason they had sealed the Tower instead of clearing it and guarding it from within?
Our passage through the Tower was dealing with that problem, but as Nocturnal reminded me, we were also creating another. Leythen and Darien weren't on her side, and so they needed to be eliminated, or at least disconnected from their respective Princes, at some point. She found it promising that Leythen and Darien were prepared to work together against her, as two sides were easier to manage than three. Still, she'd be looking for opptunities to peel one of them off of the group when she could.
"I may have to use Veya for that," she told me. "I haven't told her the real reason we're taking control of the Tower. She just thinks I want it for myself. She's loyal enough that she'll go along with that, and take on my enemies for me. I need to make sure her focus is on one of you at a time."
So a little further along, we cam across a gate blocking our path. There was a pedestal on our side of it, and someone at the pedestal could open the gate, but it would close again if they left the pedestal to go through the gate themselves.
"No problem" Leythen told us. "I can work the gate, and once you're through, I can transport myself to you. I don't actually need to pass through the gate itself."
"But you need us on the other side to get there," I surmised.
"Yes, and I can't be the one that goes through, and transports you to me. It doesn't work that way round."
"Let's do that," Darien agreed.
As soon as Darien and I were through the gate, Veya appeared and tethered Leythen to herself, dragging him away from the gate.
"If that's the way you want it," Leythen declared, and he disappeared, taking Veya with hime.
"Where'd he go?" Darien exclaimed "We need to stay together, near the Resolute Anchor, in case the Tower ..."
Leythen then re-appeared, without Veya, but with an ominous dark aura around him.
"Um, why are you glowing?" asked Darien.
"I attempted to dump Earl Tundilwen outside the Tower. And I did succeed in breaking her tether, but I may have taken longer than I should have."
"Is there anything we can do for you?" I asked.
"You can't save me, but you can complete our mission, and stop Nocturnal. And tell Valsirenn what happened, when you get back."
"That was not the way I'd have wanted, but it was his own choice," Nocturnal remarked. "Darien will be more of a problem, as Meridia doesn't give him that much free rein."
"And don't worry about Veya," she continued. "I can protect her against anything magical. So if there's a fight, just use spells, and you can't harm her."
Of course, I couldn't stop Darien from using his sword. I did, however, have an idea how to mitigate that. Nocturnal agreed, and and a confrontation was set up.
"That's my sword she's carrying!" Darien exclaimed.
"It's not yours any more, and Meridia's magic is gone from it," Veya/Earl Tundilwen replied. "If you want it, you'll have to come and get it."
"We'll see about that," Darien shouted and rushed at her.
I joined him, and managed to knock her back with my shield before his blow landed. Veya was apparently stunned, so I followed up with a nice opaque fireball, so Darien couldn't see what was really happening. A bit of careful choreography from Nocturnal had Darien thinking we were beating her down, although she wasn't taking any real damage at all.
She was, however, exhausting her stamina, so this had to come to an end. I knocked the sword from her hand, or maybe she dropped it, aned Darien picked it up triumphantly.
At this point, everything went dark. Shadows flooded the room, and Veya disappeared in the gloom. Nocturnal laughed at us - she can do a really evil-sounding laugh when she tries.
"We're not finished yet!" Darien exclaimed. He started to glow, and Dawnbreaker started to glow with him. And then he began to fade again, while the sword continued glowing more brightly.
"Take Dawnbreaker, and finish this," Darien told me before he faded out completely.
"Is he gone?" I asked Nocturnal.
"Yes, Meridia has recalled him, and used his remaining power to recharge the sword. It would appear she thinks you and the sword will do better than you and Darien. And that's true, but not for the reason she thinks."
Through the next door, I encountered Veya again. armed with a staff, and ready to use it.
"That won't be necessary, Veya," Nocturnal told her. "It's all over."\line "What do you mean? We may have dealt with Mephala, and Meridia, and their agents, but what about him?" She pointed at me with her staff.
"Oh he's mine, aren't you Clark?" Nocturnal laughed.
"Or will be," I agreed. "I do still get confused about how time works. But didn't Veya know that already?"
"I couldn't risk telling her before, or Mephala, and Clavicus Vile could have figured something out. Meridia too, although she was always a step away, and distracted by Molag Bal and his incursions."
"So now would be a good to explain it all," I suggested. "I'm sure there are parts I missed, too."
"If you hear it from her, you'll get a rather biased version," said a voice behind me, and Azura emerged to join us. Introductions were made, as Veya didn't know her, and Azura picked up the story. And when she'd finished, I was still almost as confused as when she started.
"What happens next?" I asked, hoping that would give me a clue as to where this was all supposed to be going.
"Two things," Nocturnal replied. "The first is to have talks with the Summerset authorities, and get a new protection arrangement in place for the Crystal Tower. One that keeps it occupied with people who aren't in a cult, and will cooperate to keep those out. And I'm not just talking about daedric cults. The Psijics, the Altmer isolationists, and a lot of other exclusive factions are just as much cults to be avoided."
"We think the Guilds may be the key here," Azura added. "Their loyalities are much broader, and include the common people. And that includes the Thieves Guild, and the Morag Tong, and a few others you might not expect."
"The second thing," Nocturnal resumed, 'is to have a party! We need to celebrate, and there's a few loose ends that a good party can help tie up."
"It just so happens that this is a good time for Seryn to have a party, too," added Azura, 'but I won't spoil the surprise by telling you why."
