Hour 19: Taking Stock

I immediately set about creating my own spells in the Praxo...logic...something Centre. I create a spell to increase my magicka, and one to fortify my Intelligence, in the hope that this will give me enough magicka to cast the 'Summon Xivilai' spell being sold by one of the mages. Unfortunatly I'm still about 50 magicka off the requirement (it costs me something like 472 magicka to cast). I also completely forget that Summon Xivilai is a master level spell so I don't have a snowball's chance in Elswyr of being able to cast it anyway! Still oblivious to this fact, I run off to the Chiromasium to enchant jewellery with some newly-bought soul gems to further improve my magicka. I find that it costs over 2000 gold to enchant one item to my liking, though, and that's more than I have since buying the soul gems and creating a few spells (I also created a speed spell, and feather spell, and a charm spell). Looks like I'm not quite ready to dabble in the more impressive arcane arts yet - I am still a low level after all, so perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself.

To replenish some of my coffers and pass the time, I engage in a few fights in the Arena - I win three fights, advancing to Brawler rank.

I nervously anticipate my first fight.

For the first two melee opponents, I employ the same tactic used on the Minotaurs in the dreamworld (I think the Arena is the same design and layout just with a few minor cosmetic differences and different textures). I jump onto a column and rain fireballs down on their heads while they stand at the bottom swinging their swords in futile anger. It's a bit annoying that the AI isn't better, I feel, but who am I to pass up some easy kills? The third opponent is an archer and slinks off into one of the corridors at the edge of the Arena, actually refusing to come out, so I whip out my sword and shield and clobber him to death.

After three fights, I head back into the city and wander around for a bit, checking out some of the stores and architecture. I feel it's a good time to take stock of some of my stats and achievements, as I enjoy a welcome rest to do some sightseeing.

Level: 6
Health/magicka/fatigue: 108/280/178
Days passed: 25
Quests completed: 18
Creatures killed: 204
People killed: 58
Places found: 37

 

Looking at those stats, I can see that my Illusion skill could do with increasing - perhaps I'll focus on that a bit more. I am also wary that Blade is a major skill; I kind of regret this, as I'm rubbish at melee anyway yet every time my Blade skill levels up it's taking away from my magic proficiency, which I want to focus on. I prefer having the staff to fall back on rather than using my sword, and I wish I'd been more of a pure Mage than a Battle Mage. Oh well, it's still early days (relatively speaking), so from now on I'll try to make an effort not to use my sword, if possible. [Edit: my girlfriend suggested equipping myself with a blunt weapon, such as a mace, meaning I can fall back on hand-to-hand if asolutely necessary without negatively affecting my skills. Good idea!]

I don't want to continue with the mages guild just yet, and I keep hearing about this Gray Fox character, so I decide to meet him at midnight as suggested a while back. I've never done the Thieves Guild before so have no idea what to expect. Instead of the Gray Fox, I meet a man called Armande Christphe, who sets me my first test - stealing a diary - to see if I am worthy of joining the Guild.

Summary of what has happened so far:

In my first 19 hours, I have travelled to each of the cities in Cyrodiil completing minor quests in order to gain entry to the Arcane Univerisity, and usually completing one or two side-quests in each city as well, after doing a bit of exploring. For the most part, I refrained from fast travelling in order to create a more epic feeling and explore some of the caves and ruins along the way. That's pretty much it! I can't believe how much time has passed without me even starting any guild quest-lines yet, and I still feel as if I'm just starting out in the world even after 19 hours! Not many other games can boast such depth and scope - not even Skyrim in my opinion.