Mission in the Imperial City

The Skirmish in the Sewers was a covert operation conducted by the Blades during the Oblivion Crisis in an effort to identify their enemy, the Mythic Dawn.

Prelude
Following the Battle of Kvatch and the subsequent attack on Weynon Priory, the Blades began gathering intelligence to determine just who had murdered Emperor Uriel Septim and was assisting the Daedra in their invasion of Tamriel. Jauffre, the Blades Grandmaster, assigned the eponymously named Hero of Kvatch to aid Blades operative Baurus in hunting down the assassins. The Hero took off to meet up with Baurus in the Imperial City.

After finding Baurus at Luther Broad's Boarding House, the Hero helped him fend off an attack by yet another assassin, Astav Wirich. Baurus then informed the Hero of what he had learned: the assassins were a Daedric cult known as the Mythic Dawn. On Wirich's body, they found a book called "Commentaries on the Mysterium Xarxes". Intrigued by this, Baurus told the Hero to consult Arcane University librarian Tar-Meena, who was a reputed expert on Daedric cults. From Tar-Meena, the Hero learned that the Mythic Dawn worshipped the Daedra Lord Mehrunes Dagon, who was conducting the invasion of Tamriel. The "Commentaries" were known to Tar-Meena, and she lent the Hero the second volume. She suggested looking for the third and fourth in the Imperial City's Market district.

At the bookshop First Edition, the Hero confronted Gwinas, a scholar interested in joining the Mythic Dawn. After the Hero explained just what the Mythic Dawn were up to, Gwinas surrendered the third volume of the Commentaries, and said that he was due to meet the Mythic Dawn's "Sponsor", who would give him the final volume. The Hero returned to Baurus with this information, and the two Blades left to meet the Sponsor in Gwinas' stead.

The Battle
Baurus took point and led the Hero into the Imperial City's sewer system, where the meeting would take place. Due to Baurus' knowledge of the sewers, they made it through with little trouble. Once they reached the meeting place, Baurus proceeded to the small table set up for the meeting while the Hero entered a passage from above to be ready when Baurus gave the attack signal.

At the table, Baurus was met by the Sponsor, Raven Camoran. And from the passage above, two more Mythic Dawn Agents appeared. At first the meeting went well, but after a time, the Blades were recognized, and the fighting began. The Mythic Dawn summoned their bound weapons and armor and launched into attack. Baurus and the Hero countered, and killed the two Agents before finally putting the blade to Camoran himself. From Camoran's corpse, they recovered the fourth volume of the Commentaries on the Mysterium Xarxes. The two Blades left the sewers, then parted, Baurus heading for Cloud Ruler Temple, while the Hero remained in the Imperial City to study the volumes. With the help of Tar-Meena, the Hero was able to use the Commentaries to discover the hidden location of the Mythic Dawn's headquarters and shrine to Lord Dagon.

Behind the Scenes

 * The skirmish is seen the quest "The Path of Dawn".


 * It is possible for Baurus to die while fighting the Mythic Dawn, as at that point he is no longer essential to the main plot. This prevents him from helping in the quests "Defense of Bruma" and "Light the Dragonfires!", where he is very helpful.


 * Raven Camoran will be seen later in the quest "Paradise", along with his sister Ruma and his father, the Master of the Mythic Dawn Mankar Camoran.