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Lore:Undertow Cavern

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Undertow Cavern
Type Cave
Continent Tamriel
Province Cyrodiil
Region Blackwood
Appears in Oblivion, ESO
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Undertow Cavern circa 3E 433
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Undertow Cavern circa 2E 582

Undertow Cavern is a network of caves located north of the city of Leyawiin in the Blackwood region of Cyrodiil. Its location along the banks of the Niben River has led to the lower levels being victim to severe flooding.

HistoryEdit

Like all natural caves, these tunnels once served as the capillaries of Nirn, pulsing with the divine essence of the Aedra.[1]

In its earliest known accounts, Undertow Cavern was one of many minotaur lairs in Blackwood. Home specifically to the well known and feared minotaur Hruum the Red. This beast was the target of the minotaur hunter Phalevon Vero and the two would soon meet and do battle. They would prove to be equals and would both meet their ends in this fight. A crack was made in the cave wall during this battle through which the river would pour, flooding the subterranean lair from that point onwards.

Upon finding the aftermath of this battle the people of Leyawiin erected a mausoleum for Vero above the entrance to the Caverns. [2] However, sometime in the First Era an earthquake caused the tomb to fall into the caverns beneath and its location was lost for several centuries.[3] The caverns status as a tomb would not be rediscovered until the Imperial scholar Amalia Vasatoln set out to find relics of Phalevon Vero to prove that Undertow was his final resting place.

By this point the caverns had become home to a tribe of goblins who were embroiled in a fight with a clan of local minotaurs. This, coupled with the flooding the cavern was suffering forced Amalia to enlist the help of a mercenary to recover the relics. The relics of Phalevon were recovered and the inhabitants were left to fight over the quickly flooding cavern.[4] Undertow would still be around in the Third Era. The lower levels however had finally been lost to the Niben and were inhabited only by slaughterfish. The uppermost levels had become home to outlaws known as the Black Bow Bandits who used the caves as a hideout. No trace of the tomb remained at this point.[5]

NotesEdit

  • Undertow Caverns were once home to a rare species of torchbug. Several specimens were rescued by an insect enthusiast before the flooding caused their extinction.[6]

See AlsoEdit

ReferencesEdit