Gaming News - July 2006

Rockville, MD (July 11, 2006) - Bethesda Softworks today the Vile Lair download for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

From Bethesda Softworks:

This underwater hideout provides your infamous character with safe haven. Those willingly inflicted (or shall we say graced?) with vampirism will find a means to feed, and if necessary, a means to cure their infliction. Hire evil minions, pray to the dark god Sithis, and a host of other functions await.

One of the most notorious vampires of times long past, Greywyn Blenwyth, had joined the Dark Brotherhood with the intention of one day converting all of his fellow brethren into his kind. He realized that although vampires are accepted within the ranks of the Dark Brotherhood, the notion that it could be a future requirement could anger existing members or possibly dissuade others from joining its ranks. By carefully forging an alliance with several key members of the Dark Brotherhood at the time, Greywyn was confident he could either sway the rest of the members into adopting his ways, or dispatching those that didn't. He spent the better part of a year "turning" opponents to his side, and using his allies to rid the Dark Brotherhood of the others.

He dubbed his splinter faction The Crimson Scars; a name derived from the unusually vicious neck lacerations left by his assassins and their jagged blades. The final turning point in Greywyn's dark plan called for the swift execution of the current upper echelon of the Dark Brotherhood in one massive, cautiously executed strike. Unbeknownst to Greywyn, one of the members he had turned, a Dunmer named Silarian, was not enamored by the thought of his newfound vampiric power, as it came with too high a price. By informing the Black Hand of the Dark Brotherhood of Greywyn's upcoming betrayal, Silarian was able to quell the rebellion before it started. The second purification in the history of the Brotherhood was executed that night, and the entire sanctuary died in a sea of blood.

Greywyn somehow escaped the carnage and retreated to a cave he had discovered earlier in his travels, which he aptly named Deepscorn Hollow. From this lair, Greywyn, now alone, devised a way to bring his plan back to fruition. He sent messages across Cyrodiil, seeking those who would join his cause, but to no avail. Within the Hollow, he constructed a Shrine to Sithis and prayed for absolution and a way to bring his quashed dreams back to reality. Many a mortal died at the hands of Greywyn in the following days, all in an attempt to appease his Dark Master. Finally, his prayers were answered, but Sithis demanded a price. Sithis would approve of the Crimson Scars, only if Greywyn would renounce his vampiric ways and become mortal once again as a punishment for the betrayal of his brothers.

With a heavy heart, Greywyn labored to create a cure for the disease in his veins. Finally, a musty tome recovered from a ruined fort bore the answer: Purgeblood Salts. Greywyn spent months roaming the land gathering the ingredients he needed to complete the salts and to refine them properly. When all his preparations were complete, Greywyn approached the Shrine of Sithis for one last prayer. As he intoned the first verse of his dark prayer, he felt a piercing pain explode across his back. The Dark Brotherhood had finally tracked him down.