The Elder Scrolls Travels: Shadowkey

The Elder Scrolls Travels: Shadowkey is a role-playing game developed exclusively for N-Gage in the style and scope of its fellow The Elder Scrolls games. It is one of four mobile TES games and is co-published and produced by TKO Software and Vir2L Studios, the sister company of Bethesda Softworks and released on November 11, 2004.

Plot
"Shadows are not an absence of light, they are reflections from another world.""

- Skelos Undriel, Shadowmage

The player is an unnamed hero, later to be called the Hero of Azra's Crossing, whose village has safely remained just out of reach of the War of the Bend'r-mahk, but now danger strikes from another direction. The player must save the village from marauders who are but pawns in the struggle to capture Shadowmage Skelos Undriel -- a piece in a darker and more sinister game. The player will journey through rugged terrain, despoiled temples, bandit lairs, and murderous caverns, fight many foes in his/her search for the power of the Shadowkeys and the Star Teeth, and the journey will lead the player to the Crypt of Hearts to face the ultimate test.

Shadowmage Skelos Undriel is on the run from Battlemage Jagar Tharn, driven from the heart of Tamriel by Tharn's agents, who are in dogged pursuit. Undriel chooses to flee to the Western Reach, an area in the throes of The War of the Bend'r-mahk between High Rock, Hammerfell and Skyrim. The Shadowmage hides himself in the chaos swirling about Dragonstar. Skelos Undriel then hatches a desperate scheme to collect the Star Teeth sown about the region hoping their power is sufficient to thwart Tharn's agents, and perhaps even destroy the Battlemage himself.

Setting


The game takes place around where the borders of Skyrim, Hammerfell, and High Rock meet. The player must travel between the three provinces regularly in order to find the Shadowkeys, and finally the Star Teeth. The terrain is heavily mountainous, and much of the game is spent navigating the high peaks of the Druadach and Wrothgarian mountains.

Notable locations within the game include:

Dragonstar - The northern most major city within Hammerfell that was formed by an organization known as the Merchant Captains and led by the Violet family of traders. In 3E 397 half of Dragonstar is also under the control of Skyrim forces (who are unaware that they are taking orders from Jagar Tharn). Most of the end game events of Shadowkey take place in and around this city.

Skyrim:

Lakvan's Stronghold - Named after the rogue military of the same name. This military post is located in the mountains on the Skyrim side of the Hammerfell/Skyrim border near the town of Snowline. It is the staging area for the military elements involved in trying to destabilize the northern regions of Hammerfell as well as a base of operations for Tharn's representative in the region, Asuul. Though they work together, Lakvan and Tharn do not like each other.

Hammerfell:

Snowline - A small town located dangerously close to the Hammerfell/Skyrim border on the Hammerfell side of it. While there are no military elements located in this town, representatives of both sides of the current conflict reside here trying to sway the population to join one of the two warring groups. Snowline becomes a hub for much of the mid game quests.

Fearfrost - An underground town of peaceful Goblins who (during the course of the game) are starting to notice that their leader is beginning to break their peace treaty between the Redguards and themselves. Important events to the main story take place here.

Azra's Crossing - The starting village for the player, this village is located in a small valley near the High Rock/Hammerfell border on the Hammerfell side. At the start of the game, this town will be under attack by an (at the time) unknown force of bandits and their army of giant Rats.

High Rock:

The Crypt of Hearts - a dungeon located on the border between Skyrim and High Rock. This is the site of the final battle.

Other locations
Hammerfell:
 * Delfran's Hideout
 * Broken Wing
 * Ghast's Pass
 * Earthtear Cavern
 * Loth'Na Caverns
 * Dragon Fields
 * Raiders' Nest
 * Twilight Temple

Gameplay
Gameplay is handled with the numeric touchpad on the right side of the N-Gage as well as the normal game action keys. Additionally, this game allowed (via Bluetooth) 2 player co-operative gameplay. The player or players could create or use characters from the Argonian, Breton, Dark Elf, Altmer, Khajiit, Nord, Redguard, and Wood Elf races in game (these are the names used in the game manual itself). The classes available are Assassin, Barbarian, Battlemage, Knight, Nightblade, Rogue, Spellsword, Sorcerer, and Thief.

 

Multiplayer
This game is one of the few games in the series that features multiplayer.