The Elder Scrolls IV: Knights of the Nine Download PC

Knights of the Nine's quest begins as the player approaches the Chapel of Dibella in Anvil. The Chapel was recently abused; everyone there has been killed in a dark ritual. The player proceeds to consult a prophet near the scene of the attack, who is preaching about it. The prophet reveals to the player that the one responsible for the attacks is Umaril, an ancient revenge-seeking Ayleid sorcerer-king, who has escaped from his prison in Oblivion to destroy Cyrodiil. Umaril can only be defeated by the prophesied Crusader, favoured by the gods, bearing the relics of Pelinal Whitestrake, the man who originally slew Umaril, and banished his spirit to Oblivion.

The player then makes a pilgrimage (because the character may not use any artifacts of the Nine unless they have an infamy of 0), and receives a vision from Pelinal Whitestrake, who reveals the location of his tomb, which is beneath the lake surrounding the Imperial City. Inside this tomb, the player discovers the Helm of Pelinal's armor, as well as the corpse of Sir Amiel, one of the old Knights of the Nine. His diary reveals the location of their priory, which houses the Cuirass of Pelinal. Before the player can claim it though, he/she confronts eight spirits of the old Knights of the Nine, including Amiel, who had all given into corruption and been killed. They assist the player, who soon gathers all of Pelinal Whitestrake's relics. During each leg of the quest to retrieve the relics, the player meets a priest, knight, or pilgrim of faith, each of whom pledge to aid the player, each representing one of the original eight divines. After a final blessing from the prophet, to represent the ninth divine, Talos, the player leads the knights against Umaril's stronghold, defeating the Ayleid King, and then pursues Umaril's spirit, destroying him utterly. The player then wakes up in the Priory, with the knights believing him/her dead. After realizing that the powers of the gods resurrected him, the player rejoins the knights.

Development

Prior to any announcement regarding Knights of the Nine, Bethesda had pursued a somewhat novel plan to distribute downloadable content through micropayments, priced from US$0.99 to US$2.99, instead of the more common practice of releasing expansion packs. The program was initially met with criticism by customers due to its alleged low value, but later releases—at a reduced price, and with more content—proved more popular. The releases, in addition to stirring controversy, raised questions regarding Bethesda's future content release plans, and as to whether expansion pack releases were necessary at all. In August 2006, one Bethesda employee wrote in a post to Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls forums that the company had "no plans to make an expansion for Oblivion". Further questions were raised by a product listing found on game retailer GameStop's website September 11, 2006, listing a Knights of the White Stallion Expansion Pack for Oblivion. The game had a listed shipping date of November 21, 2006. The title was kept on the website only briefly—removed after gaming news site GameSpot sent Bethesda a request for comment on the product.