It suddenly strikes me that in Hour 6 I vowed to murder the foul Orc in Cheydinal who called me a "little fly". In fact I vowed to murder all of the Orcs in that particular Inn, but I said I would murder him most of all. Back then I was weak and ill-prepared for violence of any kind, but now I'm the head of the Mages Guild and an active member of an assassin death-cult, with an inventory full of arcane and deadly artefacts. No longer can the Orc's offensive comment go unpunished! I travel back to Cheydinhal and find the inn - Newlands Lodge. The Orcs aren't there so I wait around, and before long the brutes come sauntering in. Here's the doomed one, insulting me to my face again as he stuffs his own with bread and mead:
I wait until the dead of night and break into his house. He's fast asleep in bed, but unfortunately he shares his room with another Orc. That doesn't stop me, though. I immolate him with magical flames and soon his pitiful life is snuffed out of existence. I turn to his friend to repeat the process, when all of a sudden a city guard bursts in and tries to arrest me!
What the hell? No one saw me break in. How is a guard here so quickly? I 'resist arrest' and run away. I run out of Cheydinhal and into the bleak night, with the entire city guard in pursuit. A series of strange events then ensues...
Firstly, as I sprint down the path away from Cheydinhal, I see the unicorn walking along the path. I haven't seen this beast in, what 25 hours? Why it's suddenly shown up now I have no idea. The timing couldn't be better, though, and I leap onto its back and gallop away.
Next, as I'm riding along a few minutes later, a Minotaur attacks the unicorn. Not so strange, perhaps - I've come across Minotaurs in the wild before. The difference is, though, all of the random wild Minotaurs I've fought have carried no weapons. The only ones with weapons were the three which guarded the unicorn - the first three I ever fought. And this Minotaur wields a weapon - a hammer - just like they did. That, and the fact that it ignores me and goes straight for the unicorn (which fights back) unsettled me somewhat.
Lastly, I dismount the unicorn further down the road when a lone Imperial Legion soldier tries to attack me. News travels fast, it seems, and now even the military want the Archmage dead for the oh-so-terrible crime of killing that worthless Orc. I easily slay the soldier, then use the Staff of Worms to resurrect him just to see what happens. To my horror, he attacks me once resurrected! What?! What good is the staff if my enemies attack me when I raise them? But Mannimarco didn't attack me when I raised him. How odd.
After slaying the soldier for a second time, I ponder what to do as I gaze upon the silhouetted White-gold Tower looming in the dark distance.
I decide to carry out one more revenge-killing - against the filthy Dunmer Alval Uvani who threatened me in Hour 7, in Bruma. It's also a good excuse to traverse the northern path and get into a few scrapes. Along the way, I encounter and kill a full-size Ogre (possibly my first? I'm not sure), two bandits with expensive weapons, two bears, and a mountain lion. Not a bad tally, and it's with relief that I reach the snowy walls of Bruma itself... only to be greeted by a furious group of Bruma guards swinging their swords at me! How on earth did news of my murder get here so fast? I dodge the guards and head into Bruma anyway, but Alval's nowhere to be found, and upon further research it turns out he actually travels all over Cyrodiil. Curses! I will kill the wretch one day, but it seems he's safe for now. Looks like I'd better track down Armand Christophe in the Imperial City now to see if I can get my bounty lifted (it's currently 2007 gold).
Friday, 17 October 2014
Hour 54: Renovation
One more old quest, I think. I picked up the quest 'Where Spirits Have Lease' many hours ago, so I might as well give it a go. I fast-travel to Anvil and speak to a nervous-sounding young man who offers to sell me his mansion for 5000 gold. Sounds like a bargain! It's a bit decrepit, but I purchase it. I take a look around inside after he gives me the key and scarpers - the place is a mess. I have a short nap in the bed, only to be awoken by violent ghosts! I slay the spectral assailants, but something's not right. There's a bad feeling in the house - it's cursed! I find an old journal containing the demented rumblings of a former occupier.
I track down the man who sold me the house (in the Imperial City) and he tells me of his grandfather who dabbled in necromancy and went insane. He agrees to help me lift the curse. We travel back to Anvil and re-enter the house, battling more ghosts and working our way through a seemingly endless cellar area (I think I kill about 8 ghosts all-told). Eventually, we reach a strange symbol on the wall, which he's able to use to open a secret passage. With trepidation, I head inside.
His grandfather is interred inside in a terrifying-looking tomb! His spirit asks me to reunite him with his skeletal hand (which I found elsewhere in the house) so he can be at peace and face judgement for the foul necromantic crimes he committed during his life. However, when I reattach his hand, he is engulfed in magical fire and bursts to life with an evil cackle, resurrected in a glowing mantle of war complete with helm, staff, and billowing cape. He spews powerful bolts of fire at me and kills me within seconds!
This 'lich' gives me more trouble than any enemy I've yet encountered. I have to re-load the game four times since he keeps slaying me. I eventually work out a method of summoning my Faded Wraith to bear the brunt of his spells, then darting in behind him to fire off a few Immolates / Kindlebolts. Even so, he does a lot of damage to me and it's only by quaffing tons of potions that I'm able to stay alive long enough to bring him down.
When he finally dies, the curse is lifted, and the mansion is restored to order. Here's a shot of the outside:
I climbed onto the roof and took a shot of the Main Street of Anvil:
This mission took the best part of an hour, due to my repeated failures at trying to kill the Lich. I spend the remaining part of the hour strolling round Anvil and talking to the mad preacher near my house.
I track down the man who sold me the house (in the Imperial City) and he tells me of his grandfather who dabbled in necromancy and went insane. He agrees to help me lift the curse. We travel back to Anvil and re-enter the house, battling more ghosts and working our way through a seemingly endless cellar area (I think I kill about 8 ghosts all-told). Eventually, we reach a strange symbol on the wall, which he's able to use to open a secret passage. With trepidation, I head inside.
His grandfather is interred inside in a terrifying-looking tomb! His spirit asks me to reunite him with his skeletal hand (which I found elsewhere in the house) so he can be at peace and face judgement for the foul necromantic crimes he committed during his life. However, when I reattach his hand, he is engulfed in magical fire and bursts to life with an evil cackle, resurrected in a glowing mantle of war complete with helm, staff, and billowing cape. He spews powerful bolts of fire at me and kills me within seconds!
This 'lich' gives me more trouble than any enemy I've yet encountered. I have to re-load the game four times since he keeps slaying me. I eventually work out a method of summoning my Faded Wraith to bear the brunt of his spells, then darting in behind him to fire off a few Immolates / Kindlebolts. Even so, he does a lot of damage to me and it's only by quaffing tons of potions that I'm able to stay alive long enough to bring him down.
When he finally dies, the curse is lifted, and the mansion is restored to order. Here's a shot of the outside:
I climbed onto the roof and took a shot of the Main Street of Anvil:
This mission took the best part of an hour, due to my repeated failures at trying to kill the Lich. I spend the remaining part of the hour strolling round Anvil and talking to the mad preacher near my house.
Wednesday, 15 October 2014
Hour 53: Purple Haze
Whilst in Cheydinhal, I decide it's high time I completed the 'A Brush With Death' quest. I think this was the first quest I received, after exiting the sewers at the start of the game. Everyone in town's always talking about Rythe Lythandas, a missing painter, so I head over to his house and his wife lets me into his studio. I then magically enter one of his paintings, and find them there. He needs help retrieving his magical (Daedra-enchanted) paintbrush, which allows him to paint from inside the canvas, from a thief. I traverse the beautiful dreamlike terrain:
It's filled with 'Painted Trolls', drawn by the thief. Although I'm given some turpentine by Rythe to help slay them, I kill them easily enough without this. It takes 1 Kindlebolt and 2 Immolates to bring them down, or 5 (!) Immolates without Kindlebolt. I retrieve the paintbrush and all is well.
Whilst I'm completing old missions, I may as well finish the 'A Brotherhood Betrayed' quest, which I started back in Hour 8 (Vampire-Hunters and Thieves). I return to Bruma, and to Olav's Tap & Tackle. In Hour 8 I wrote that I was unable to persuade Olav to give me the key or any more information, but I find I already have the key now, so I must have gone back at some point and forgotten to mention it. In any case, the quest involves tracking down the murderous Raynil Dralas, who used 'vampire-hunting' as a ruse in order to kill two of his friends, so that he could claim for his own a magical amulet which they'd discovered. All the detective work in this quest was quite enjoyable, and in the end I tracked down Raynil and enacted swift fiery justice upon him.
Hour 52: Deadly Guest
My next assassination mission for the Dark Brotherhood was unusual. It involved travelling to a mansion in Skingrad and being locked in there with five other guests. They were all under the impression that we're there to look for treasure as part of a mysterious game. What they haven't been told is that I've actually been sent to murder them all. This quest is very content and dialogue-heavy. Since your only task is to kill all the guests, you could do that as soon as you walk in (they're just four civilians and one retired soldier). However, if you like you can spend a long time talking to them about themselves and what they think of the other guests, and even manipulate them into suspecting each other of murder as you secretly kill them one by one.
I opted for a middle-ground. I enjoyed talking to them and seeing what they had to say, but I didn't fully explore all of the possibilities and dialogue they had to offer. Since you can kill them in any order, there must be a lot of different reactions and outcomes you can stumble upon based on who's left at the end. I saved the retired solder (Neville) and the drunkard (Nels the Naughty) til last, then convinced Neville that Nels was the killer all along. He cried out:
I opted for a middle-ground. I enjoyed talking to them and seeing what they had to say, but I didn't fully explore all of the possibilities and dialogue they had to offer. Since you can kill them in any order, there must be a lot of different reactions and outcomes you can stumble upon based on who's left at the end. I saved the retired solder (Neville) and the drunkard (Nels the Naughty) til last, then convinced Neville that Nels was the killer all along. He cried out:
He actually shouted the word 'Aaaaaiiiieee!' It was awesome. I let him kill Nels, then I robbed him of his life with a well-aimed spell.
Even though I didn't exhaust all the dialogue, I spent well over half and hour all-told on the quest. I reported back to the Cheydinhal Sanctuary and witnessed a conversation between two of the Dark Brotherhood members in which one of them described slaughtering an orphanage, and how he thought it was funny when the children tried to defend themselves. Talk about grim!
Afterwards, I pottered around Cheydinhal for a bit, admiring some of the scenery. I felt like getting more in-character, so I bought a book from the nearby bookstore (entitled Varieties of Daedra), rented a room the the Cheydinhal Bridge Inn, and purchased some food from the bar (a steak, a sweetroll, and some grapes) I then retired to my room to read the book, which is on the table along with my food:
Monday, 13 October 2014
Hours 50 - 51: Killing Spree
I decided to devote the next two hours to completing as many Dark Brotherhood quests (i.e. assassinations) as possible. I fast-traveled as much as possible,and didn't hang around much. The only exception is that I did spend a bit of time talking to my fellow guild-members about some of the assassinations, as they mostly had something interesting to say.
The first two missions went by smoothly. Each mission requires you to assassinate a target, and there is an extra stipulation for each mission which, if fulfilled, will earn you an extra bonus. I managed to do six missions in the two hours. The first involved killing a pirate captain, and the next staging an 'accidental' killing. I failed to avoid detection and lost the bonus for that one.
Next, I had to break into the Imperial Prison and kill an inmate - and kill no guards. I gained access through the extensive sewer network. My 'drain life 100' spell proved invaluable here, as it allowed me to kill the numerous rats and mudcrabs which infest the sewers with virtually no hassle and no mana expenditure - they die to one cast.
Once I entered the prison, I began to sneak around, but always got seen and attacked by the guards. I reloaded from the prison entrance a few times, until I had the thought of simply sprinting my way past all the guards, using my increased speed and agility to avoid their blows. It worked! I ran all the way through the prison, with about give guards hot on my heels, but they just couldn't keep up with me. I reached the target, cast Immolate, and then before the guards knew what had happened I had jumped back over their heads and was on my way back to the sewers. I soon lost them. This earned me a nice bonus - the Scales of Pitiless Justice, which provide permanent stat boots just by being in my inventory! I also earned an amulet called Cruelty's Heart from the next quest, providing a large boost to Willpower and Strength.
I haven't posted a summary of my character since I was level 6, ten levels ago, so now seems as good a time as any.
Level: 16
Health/magicka/fatigue: 152/330/239
Days passed: 91
Quests completed: 51
Creatures killed: 523
People killed: 219
Places found: 93
I forgot to take a picture of my 'Skills' page, I will try to remember to include that in a future entry. I would like to have more magicka - I am often depleted after a few spells, but overall I am happy with my stats. My personality is drained by the Scaled of Pitiless Justice, but that doesn't mater since I can Charm anyone 100% with a spell. I do remember that my Illusion skill is only at 45 (just 10 higher than when I was level 6) and it needs to be 75, I think, before I can start making use of Paralyze spells. Something I will try to work on.
I completed the next three assassinations with no trouble. I'm enjoying the Dark Brotherhood so far, and it's providing a nice change. It's also given me some much better equipment already than what I got from the Mage's guild. I sell off most of the 'stealth' equipment I gain, though, as since the prison mission I am not really bothering with it - I can rely on my speed, and my healing spells to heal myself if any stray blows connect as my pursuers try in vain to catch me. I can imagine it might be quite fun to do a 'speed run' of Oblivion some time
During one of the missions I paused to observe the night sky, which I'd never really paid attention to before. Behold!
The first two missions went by smoothly. Each mission requires you to assassinate a target, and there is an extra stipulation for each mission which, if fulfilled, will earn you an extra bonus. I managed to do six missions in the two hours. The first involved killing a pirate captain, and the next staging an 'accidental' killing. I failed to avoid detection and lost the bonus for that one.
Next, I had to break into the Imperial Prison and kill an inmate - and kill no guards. I gained access through the extensive sewer network. My 'drain life 100' spell proved invaluable here, as it allowed me to kill the numerous rats and mudcrabs which infest the sewers with virtually no hassle and no mana expenditure - they die to one cast.
Once I entered the prison, I began to sneak around, but always got seen and attacked by the guards. I reloaded from the prison entrance a few times, until I had the thought of simply sprinting my way past all the guards, using my increased speed and agility to avoid their blows. It worked! I ran all the way through the prison, with about give guards hot on my heels, but they just couldn't keep up with me. I reached the target, cast Immolate, and then before the guards knew what had happened I had jumped back over their heads and was on my way back to the sewers. I soon lost them. This earned me a nice bonus - the Scales of Pitiless Justice, which provide permanent stat boots just by being in my inventory! I also earned an amulet called Cruelty's Heart from the next quest, providing a large boost to Willpower and Strength.
I haven't posted a summary of my character since I was level 6, ten levels ago, so now seems as good a time as any.
Level: 16
Health/magicka/fatigue: 152/330/239
Days passed: 91
Quests completed: 51
Creatures killed: 523
People killed: 219
Places found: 93
I forgot to take a picture of my 'Skills' page, I will try to remember to include that in a future entry. I would like to have more magicka - I am often depleted after a few spells, but overall I am happy with my stats. My personality is drained by the Scaled of Pitiless Justice, but that doesn't mater since I can Charm anyone 100% with a spell. I do remember that my Illusion skill is only at 45 (just 10 higher than when I was level 6) and it needs to be 75, I think, before I can start making use of Paralyze spells. Something I will try to work on.
I completed the next three assassinations with no trouble. I'm enjoying the Dark Brotherhood so far, and it's providing a nice change. It's also given me some much better equipment already than what I got from the Mage's guild. I sell off most of the 'stealth' equipment I gain, though, as since the prison mission I am not really bothering with it - I can rely on my speed, and my healing spells to heal myself if any stray blows connect as my pursuers try in vain to catch me. I can imagine it might be quite fun to do a 'speed run' of Oblivion some time
During one of the missions I paused to observe the night sky, which I'd never really paid attention to before. Behold!
Also, during the fifth quest (The Lonely Wanderer), I encountered the target's girlfriend, who turned out to be by far the most attractive (in fact the only attractive) looking female character in the game!
Sunday, 12 October 2014
Hour 49: Hail Sithis!
As the new Archmage, I can instruct several of the lesser mages in the University to follow me (only one at a time, though). That could be fun, and I resolve to try it out some time. Another perk is that I get an enchanted chest which duplicates any ingredient ten times. This could potentially be quite a nice money-spinner - I'll have to investigate how lucrative it could be. For now though, I want to start the Dark Brotherhood quest-line, as I already have a fair bit of gold - over 15,000, I think. Back in hour 35, I murdered a vampire-hunter, and Lucien Lachance paid me a visit. He gave me the Blade of Woe and told me that if I kill a man by the name of Rufio, I will be accepted into their ranks.
Rufio is staying in the aptly-named Inn of Ill Omen. I creep into his unlocked room and murder him in his sleep. I then return to the Imperial City. I decide to walk back and enter it, for the first time, through its main entrance. On my way, I encounter quite a few Minotaurs, and stop to clear out Horn Cave, which also has a few Minotaurs and Wisps. Fighting these raging bulls in the narrow confined of a cave is more scary than outdoors. At one point, I have to escape the wrath of two of the beasts by using my water-walking boots to good effect and floating on an underground lake, where they can't get to me. I then pelt them with soul-sapping fireballs.
The impressive grand entrance bridge to the Imperial City, with the Wawnet Inn on the left. Behind it, you can see White-gold Tower and the walls of the city itself. This entrance would be even more amazing if there were guards and crowds of people coming and going. If Oblivion has 10x the amount of NPCs that would be a start - I hope this is something which TES: VI is able to rectify, with the enhanced capabilities of the PS4 / Xbox One.
Lucien will visit me when I next rest in a location he deems secure. What better place than my very own Arch Mage's quarters? Sure enough, he visits me and bids me to enter the Dark Brother sanctuary in Cheydinhal.
I enter the old Abandoned House and reach a forbidding-looking door in the basement:
I give the password and am granted entry. The guild chambers are full of all manner of assassins from every race, and I take the time to speak to all of them; not from a 'completionist urge', but because I really want to; as usual, Oblivion's dialogue and characters are far more engrossing than Skyrim's.
Hour 48: King of Worms
Only I can now defeat the looming menace of the King of Worms. Perhaps I missed something, but my quest marker tells me exactly where to find him, and I'm not sure how I know this. Shouldn't there be some investigation required? Anyway, I head off to Echo Cave the slay the brute and put and end to his insidious cult of Necromancy. There's a necromancer outside the entrance called Bolor - I slay him and take the key to the entrance from him. Great plan, Wormy - lock the door and place a guard with the key right outside it, waiting to be slain. The Necromancers in the previous mission sealed their door with magic, why didn't you?!
Not only is the cave populated by Necromancers, there are also indigenous undead creatures. Here's a shot of my summoned Faded Wraith doing battle with a skeleton:
It looks like something from The Predator. It's larger than an Ogre and pretty terrifying-looking. I really feel Oblivion could do with some massive creatures. Apart from Mehrunes Dagon at the end of the main quest, the biggest things (I think) are Minotaurs, followed by these crab-things and then probably Ogres. Compare this to Dark Souls, which boasts numerous gigantic beasts. Even Skyrim only has Giants and Mammoths as large beasts, and they're not that big either.
Not only is the cave populated by Necromancers, there are also indigenous undead creatures. Here's a shot of my summoned Faded Wraith doing battle with a skeleton:
The skeleton (I think it's called a Skeleton Hero or possibly Skeleton Guardian) is glowing red because it has been hit by some sort of spell by the Wraith.
Eventually I reach Mannimarco himself (after crossing a cool unique-looking bridge with spiky bony protrusions). He engages me in haughty conversation, telling me he will reanimate me after my death so he can study the source of my power, then attacks me. His onslaught is ferocious but I rush in and cast Immolate a few times. He goes down surprisingly quickly, after a few casts, and his summoned minion/s (not sure if there were more than one, as I was focused on bringing him down) crumble with him.
I was expecting something a little more taxing from the so-called King of Worms. For his insolence, I strip him of his robes and staff. Here I am with his gear:
The Staff of Worms is even cooler looking than the Goblin Totem thing I had a while back. It can reanimate slain opponents for 30 seconds. Hmmm, if only there were a fallen, disgraced corpse lying around for me to reanimate. Oh, wait...
Not so tough now, are you, you insolent fool! Perhaps I'll study the source of your power. Oh that's right... you had none! Bwahahah! Now dance! Dance for your master, you wretch!
The staff looks like it could come in pretty handy in future (provided the reanimated corpse will fight for me, which remains to be seen). I return triumphant to the Arcane University. I have completed the Mages' Guild! I finished the Recommendations after 18 hours, and now, 30 hours later, I have finished all the guild quests. Of course, there were many distractions along the way, and I even started another guild for a while. Overall, I'd say it was a satisfying and epic-feeling experience. There were 7 Recommendation quests and 11 regular quests, most of which were enjoyable, and I felt this was a good amount and provided enough content to feel like a real progression from novice to Arch mage. Could it be improved? Definitely - it is only 11 quests, after all, and I could have completed them much more quickly. I'd love to see multiple sub-plots and maybe a branching quest system which could lead to enhanced replayability - imagine 20+ quests, which branch after 5 and 10 quests, giving you essentially 4 completely different quest-lines to complete, based on your choices. What if I could have joined Mannimarco's side and played another 10 quests trying to bring down the Mages' Guild? That would have been amazing.
But of course, it's easy to say all that. More content would always be appreciated, but the quest-line I completed was still fun. The only other thing I'd really want from the quests would be some kind of ability progression unlocked by them. Most of the quests did not require me to even be a mage at all, and whatever power increase I gained after unlocking spell-making and enchanting after the Recommendation quests was really all my own doing. I would have liked some stat bonuses or better equipment, so that a mage who has done all the Mages Guild quests is really more powerful than a mage who hasn't.
I decide to head to the Arena and partake of a fight. I am given a choice of opponents - I choose the hardest set, two Ogres and a Land Dreugh. They go down easily. I've never seen a Land Dreugh in the wild - what the hell are they?
Hours 46 - 47: Rising Through the Ranks
I must next retrieve the Necromancers Amulet, which has been stolen by guild members. Upon tracking them to a cave, I speak with their leader, Caranya, who reveals that she is in league with Mannimarco. I kill her with relative ease. I find a book called The Mystery of Princess Talara, Part IV, and read it. It's quite long, in face - about 20 pages or so if I recall correctly. I'll definitely keep my eyes peeled for the other parts of the book. I think having books like this (and in Oblivion, there are well over 200 of them!) adds so much to the game. You can quite easily go through the entire game without reading a book, but knowing they're there to peruse from time to time creates a lot of immersion. Certainly they're not the most astounding pieces of literature, but it's a nice touch all the same.
I then fight my way back out of the cave with the Amulet. The mages / necromancers fall to one, or sometimes two, casts of my 'Immolate' spell. I don't have much need of my Faded Wraith.
Upon my return, I am promoted to Master Wizard - the highest rank! Unfortunately, I still get this response when talking to the other wizards who bustle past me in the Arcane University (apologies for the massive amount of screen-glare):
It's a little annoying. There's so much depth and so many nice touches in Oblivion that it feels churlish to complain, but when it comes to things like this I'd be so much happier if the responses of NPCs were multi-layered, and they responded to you differently as you rose through the ranks. It's similar in Skyrim, where you can, for example, be a high-ranking member in the Fighters' Guild, but still be sneered and and spoken to like a new-hire ("so you're the newest member, huh? So what do you do, bring the mead?" or something like that). It ruins the immersion a little. Bethesda giveth, and Bethesda taketh away.
As Master Wizard, I am sent on a dangerous assignment - to retrieve an enormous black soul gem from the clutches of the Necromancer cult. If Mannimarco gets his hands on it, all hope is lost. This mission is quite nice as it adds in something a bit different - I meet with three fellow mages and we lie in wait to ambush the group of Necromancers. Based on their preference for magic or combat, I have to decide whether they should wait near to the entrance (closer to the fray) or hang back. Errr... not exactly a complex tactical decision, but it's something different, at least.
After we defeat the first group of Necromancers, however, I am shocked that my comrades instruct me to enter the Necromancer's hideout to find the gem - and then don't come with me! Thanks a lot!? I battle my way through without much trouble (picking up a lot of potions on the way - I love Necromancers) and finally encounter Falcar - the ex-head of the Cheydinhal Mages Guild, who tried to have me drowned during my initiation! He's a pushover, though, and I nab the soul gem.
I return the gem to Archmage Traven, who explains that it will protect me against Mannimarco's influence. He then kills himself and his soul is transferred into the gem! Noooo!
I strip him of his robes to add them to my collection. Since, as per Traven's final instructions, I am Archmage now (!) I want to look the part. Unfortunately, his robes aren't enchanted or anything. He looks a bit too ripped for an old wizard, don't you think? He has a six-pack! Then again, I suppose wizards would just use alteration on themselves.
I settle into my new quarters. Traven's room is nice, with it's own altar of spellmaking and enchanting, a large double bed, and a teleporter to reach the mages' lobby. I then flounce around town for a bit - many of the mages now recognise me and call me Archmage (hooray!) and sell off my wares for a pretty penny, before readying myself for the final battle against Mannimarco - 'The King of Worms' (gross!)...
Thursday, 10 July 2014
Hour 45: The Bloodworm Helm
I return to Traven, and he asks me to return two artefacts which were stolen by guild members in their panic to find ways to combat Mannimarco. The first of these is the Bloodworm Helm (I think Lady GaGa wore one of these at her last show...). I head off to an abandoned fortress in a distant, gloomy corner of the map. I have to footslog a long way to get there, and the terrain is murky and filled with large boulders:
These boulders prove to be a great help, though. I encounter my first Spriggan, but with my increased Acrobatics I am able to jump atop many of the boulders and stay out of close combat. The journey to the fortress actually takes quite a while as I encounter two Spriggans, a Troll, and an enraged 'Hedge Wizard' (?).
The fortress is overrun with Necromancers. Strangely, there also seems to have been a Daedra incursion, and many of the Necromancers are being attacked by Flame Atronachs and Clannfear demons. The Necromancers are a piece of cake, but the Daedra less so. Eventually I take to my heels with a mob of Daedra in pursuit. I arrive at the end of the fortress into a large 'pit' area. To my relief, I'm able to jump out of the pit, whilst the Daedra remain stuck. Two Clannfear, two Atronachs, and a Dremora, no less! It's a simple matter then of summoning my Faded Wraith into the pit a few times, who makes short work of them.
I return the Bloodworm Helm to Traven. I picked up a lot of loot from the fortress, including potions, and sell the gear for a few thousand. One item I won't be parting with, however, are the Water-walking boots I stole from the corpse of one of the Necromancers. Here I am, floating on the surface of a lake and enjoying the view:
These boulders prove to be a great help, though. I encounter my first Spriggan, but with my increased Acrobatics I am able to jump atop many of the boulders and stay out of close combat. The journey to the fortress actually takes quite a while as I encounter two Spriggans, a Troll, and an enraged 'Hedge Wizard' (?).
The fortress is overrun with Necromancers. Strangely, there also seems to have been a Daedra incursion, and many of the Necromancers are being attacked by Flame Atronachs and Clannfear demons. The Necromancers are a piece of cake, but the Daedra less so. Eventually I take to my heels with a mob of Daedra in pursuit. I arrive at the end of the fortress into a large 'pit' area. To my relief, I'm able to jump out of the pit, whilst the Daedra remain stuck. Two Clannfear, two Atronachs, and a Dremora, no less! It's a simple matter then of summoning my Faded Wraith into the pit a few times, who makes short work of them.
I return the Bloodworm Helm to Traven. I picked up a lot of loot from the fortress, including potions, and sell the gear for a few thousand. One item I won't be parting with, however, are the Water-walking boots I stole from the corpse of one of the Necromancers. Here I am, floating on the surface of a lake and enjoying the view:
Hour 44: Bruma Burning / The Spellslinger
I speak to Archmage Traven and he asks me to go and check on the Bruma guild, as they've gone quiet. When I get there, the guild hall is on fire and infested with wraiths!
I can take on the wraiths, but they do a lot of damage both at range and in combat, and are in groups of three, so it takes me a long time to whittle them down. Fortunately they're very stupid so I can focus one down at a time then retreat to a distant corner of the building to heal and rehearse my magicka, and they don't follow me.
The khajit J'skar is the only survivor of the Bruma guild, and he says he will head to the Imperial City. I follow him out of the city and realise he is actually physically walking there right now, so I decide to walk with him through the wilds. We're going on an adventure!
Unfortunately it isn't long before TWO bears come charging out of the woods and attack us. Well, me anyway. No worries, I suppose J'skar will help me out? No, he turns invisible and runs off. I am left fighting two angry bears, with my mana drained due to my Weakness to Fire spell repeatedly missing. I resort to simply fleeing, but run straight into a band of goblins with pet zombies. Annoyingly, the bears and goblins appear to be on the 'same team' and they all pile after me like an angry mob. This little touch is quite frustrating, as it makes no sense, and if the bears had attacked the goblins it would have been much more satisfying.
They chase me half the way back to the Imperial City, but I eventually lose them since I can take short-cuts by jumping over large rocks, and they can't. Once I return to the Arcane University, Traven says the guild must adjourn once more in light of my findings, so I decide to have another crack at the Arena while they do so.
I plough through a few more opponents, though it seems that perhaps my messing about with rapidly increasing skills and levelling up may have come back to bite me, as many of the opponents are very hard to bring down and I have to waste a lot of potions, as well as hide on a pillar fairly often to heal myself. The most interesting match, though, is against a fellow spellcaster, who also fights in melee, and whose shield makes him invulnerable to spells (shame you're not allowed to loot the corpses after an Arena battle). I have to attack him in combat, and I only have the piddly Blade of Woe (oh yes! I forgot to mention - having 'murdered' one of the vampire hunters a few hours ago, I was visited by Lucien Lachance of the Dark Brotherhood, who gave me the aforementioned dagger and asked me to join their assassins' guild. I haven't taken up his offer yet but will do so in the future. Here's a shot I took of Lucien's wicked visage:)
I eventually bring the pesky Arena battle-Mage down by distracting him and summoning a Dremora behind him to do hack mercilessly at his back while I attempted to block his blows with my shield.
For the final Arena battle, a boar called Porkchop was sent to aid me in a fight against three enemies. In truth, he did most of the work, killing two of them while I pranced around missing with my spells and trying to heal myself. Porkchop survived the battle - here he is striding victoriously across the field of fallen foes:
At last, I got to challenge the Gray Prince for title of Grand Champion. I chose to be called The Spellslinger (a name I now regret, but oh well). The fight itself was a non-entity because he forfeited and asked me to kill him, due to my having completed the Crowhaven quest earlier. Despite this obvious match-fixing, the crowd went wild as I struck his deathblow, and I was named Grand Champion.
I can take on the wraiths, but they do a lot of damage both at range and in combat, and are in groups of three, so it takes me a long time to whittle them down. Fortunately they're very stupid so I can focus one down at a time then retreat to a distant corner of the building to heal and rehearse my magicka, and they don't follow me.
The khajit J'skar is the only survivor of the Bruma guild, and he says he will head to the Imperial City. I follow him out of the city and realise he is actually physically walking there right now, so I decide to walk with him through the wilds. We're going on an adventure!
Unfortunately it isn't long before TWO bears come charging out of the woods and attack us. Well, me anyway. No worries, I suppose J'skar will help me out? No, he turns invisible and runs off. I am left fighting two angry bears, with my mana drained due to my Weakness to Fire spell repeatedly missing. I resort to simply fleeing, but run straight into a band of goblins with pet zombies. Annoyingly, the bears and goblins appear to be on the 'same team' and they all pile after me like an angry mob. This little touch is quite frustrating, as it makes no sense, and if the bears had attacked the goblins it would have been much more satisfying.
They chase me half the way back to the Imperial City, but I eventually lose them since I can take short-cuts by jumping over large rocks, and they can't. Once I return to the Arcane University, Traven says the guild must adjourn once more in light of my findings, so I decide to have another crack at the Arena while they do so.
I plough through a few more opponents, though it seems that perhaps my messing about with rapidly increasing skills and levelling up may have come back to bite me, as many of the opponents are very hard to bring down and I have to waste a lot of potions, as well as hide on a pillar fairly often to heal myself. The most interesting match, though, is against a fellow spellcaster, who also fights in melee, and whose shield makes him invulnerable to spells (shame you're not allowed to loot the corpses after an Arena battle). I have to attack him in combat, and I only have the piddly Blade of Woe (oh yes! I forgot to mention - having 'murdered' one of the vampire hunters a few hours ago, I was visited by Lucien Lachance of the Dark Brotherhood, who gave me the aforementioned dagger and asked me to join their assassins' guild. I haven't taken up his offer yet but will do so in the future. Here's a shot I took of Lucien's wicked visage:)
I eventually bring the pesky Arena battle-Mage down by distracting him and summoning a Dremora behind him to do hack mercilessly at his back while I attempted to block his blows with my shield.
For the final Arena battle, a boar called Porkchop was sent to aid me in a fight against three enemies. In truth, he did most of the work, killing two of them while I pranced around missing with my spells and trying to heal myself. Porkchop survived the battle - here he is striding victoriously across the field of fallen foes:
At last, I got to challenge the Gray Prince for title of Grand Champion. I chose to be called The Spellslinger (a name I now regret, but oh well). The fight itself was a non-entity because he forfeited and asked me to kill him, due to my having completed the Crowhaven quest earlier. Despite this obvious match-fixing, the crowd went wild as I struck his deathblow, and I was named Grand Champion.
Monday, 7 July 2014
Hours 41 - 43: All Crows go to Haven
Who am I kidding? I'm not ready to cease my wanderings yet. I'm just getting started with the altar of spell-making! I also spend a while doing some research online about the 'best' way of increasing skills. I have it in mind that I want to be able to jump high - and I don't want to wait for the Boots of Spring Heel Jak either. I'll need a high Acrobatics level. I 'cheat' a bit and follow some instructions which basically say that if you can find somewhere to stand where your head almost touches the ceiling, you can repeatedly press jump and each jump will only last a split second, but you'll still get a 'point' for each one. As recommended, I stand on a book-case in the Chorrol Mages Guild, and it works very well. In what seems about fifteen minutes I level up my Acrobatics about 12 times. It could have been less than that, I'm not sure - but it got very boring of course and I stopped when my Acrobatics reached level 60.
What about just straight-up 'fortifying' my Acrobatics? I have a Fortify Attribute spell option, but not Fortify Skill. I look it up and it turns out I have to do the Gray Prince's quest to unlock this. So off I head to Crowhaven. The dungeon's a walkover and even the Vampire at the end falls to just one spell. The Gray Prince isn't happy with what I discover, but he trains me as thanks for helping him, and I unlock Fortify Skill. Via some fiddling around at the altar of spell-making, I create two spells which can run simultaneously and push my Acrobatics to the mid 130's, for 20 seconds. I'm pleased with the result - I really can jump incredibly high - not enough to jump clean over a building, but easily high enough to jump over people and some walls. One interesting perk is that because my Acrobatics is so artificially high, I can 'walk' on water (I can jump on it as if it's land). I mess around on water for a bit and then notice that from time to time, if I jump of the water but land on land, I'll stay stuck floating in the air like this:
From this position, I can 'float' above the ground and hover wherever I want, until I either pass over water again, or bump into higher ground, at which point I drop back to earth.
I also create several 'Drain Skill on Self' spells for various skills which I may wish to have training in. I cast 'Drain Restoration 95' on myself, then get an extra 5 levels of training from a woman in Cheydinal for a grand total of about 150 gold. Not bad! I level up, then do the same with Acrobatics, as there also happens to be an Acrobatics trainer nearby. I've been casting a lot of low-level spells whilst wandering about too, which has caused my Illusion and Conjuration skills to skyrocket. Due to all these shenanigans, I reach level 15:
I think it's peculiar how it states that 'there's no one stronger in Tamriel'. Really? At level 15? This is supposed to be your peak? I would have thought you're still supposed to be relatively fresh-faced at this stage. My character certainly feels it.
I've frittered away at least three hours - possibly more, I lost track of the time - fiddling around with various spell configurations and whatnot. Creating all these spells has drained my coffers and I only have a couple of thousand gold left. I'm also getting tired, and wary, of 'fiddling the numbers' on my skills and stats. That's it then, time to take on some more missions at last!
What about just straight-up 'fortifying' my Acrobatics? I have a Fortify Attribute spell option, but not Fortify Skill. I look it up and it turns out I have to do the Gray Prince's quest to unlock this. So off I head to Crowhaven. The dungeon's a walkover and even the Vampire at the end falls to just one spell. The Gray Prince isn't happy with what I discover, but he trains me as thanks for helping him, and I unlock Fortify Skill. Via some fiddling around at the altar of spell-making, I create two spells which can run simultaneously and push my Acrobatics to the mid 130's, for 20 seconds. I'm pleased with the result - I really can jump incredibly high - not enough to jump clean over a building, but easily high enough to jump over people and some walls. One interesting perk is that because my Acrobatics is so artificially high, I can 'walk' on water (I can jump on it as if it's land). I mess around on water for a bit and then notice that from time to time, if I jump of the water but land on land, I'll stay stuck floating in the air like this:
From this position, I can 'float' above the ground and hover wherever I want, until I either pass over water again, or bump into higher ground, at which point I drop back to earth.
I also create several 'Drain Skill on Self' spells for various skills which I may wish to have training in. I cast 'Drain Restoration 95' on myself, then get an extra 5 levels of training from a woman in Cheydinal for a grand total of about 150 gold. Not bad! I level up, then do the same with Acrobatics, as there also happens to be an Acrobatics trainer nearby. I've been casting a lot of low-level spells whilst wandering about too, which has caused my Illusion and Conjuration skills to skyrocket. Due to all these shenanigans, I reach level 15:
I think it's peculiar how it states that 'there's no one stronger in Tamriel'. Really? At level 15? This is supposed to be your peak? I would have thought you're still supposed to be relatively fresh-faced at this stage. My character certainly feels it.
I've frittered away at least three hours - possibly more, I lost track of the time - fiddling around with various spell configurations and whatnot. Creating all these spells has drained my coffers and I only have a couple of thousand gold left. I'm also getting tired, and wary, of 'fiddling the numbers' on my skills and stats. That's it then, time to take on some more missions at last!
Hours 38 - 40: Mastering Magic
I devoted the next few hours to tinkering with spell creation, testing out the spells, and returning to the University to tinker some more. On my wanderings I happened upon a distraught man whose wife had been killed by Goblins - I avenged her by slaying the tribe who killed her, and returning her necklace to him. After a while I settled on several custom spells: Weakness to Fire (100%) for 20 seconds (a stand-alone spell), 'Soulfire' (25 fire damage x3 seconds, soultrap - I made both a ranged and 'touch' version), and 'Immolate' (25 fire damage x3 seconds, Drain Life 100 over 3 seconds, on touch). I also created a pure Drain Life x100 spell.
My tactics now consist of casting the Weakness to Fire from a distance, then when the enemy gets close I cast Immolate. Over 3 seconds, this should do 150 damage to them, and at the end of the 3 seconds they'll die if they have less than 100 health remaining, due to the 'bonus' 100 damage that Drain Life does. It effectively, then, does 250 damage, although if they survive it then they get the 100 'drained' health back. I am not sure, but from what I've read it seems that 2+ castings of Weakness to Fire should stack - if this is true, it should do 325 damage if they had been hit by two castings of the Weakness spell, although this would enormously drain my mana reserves.
The basic Drain Life 100 spell is enough to kill almost any weak enemy (such as rats, and some goblins). Everything else goes down very quickly if hit by one cast of Weakness and one cast of Immolate. I prefer using Immolate (which is a 'touch' spell) to a ranged spell because, although not extortionate, these spells cost a lot more to cast than my previous ones. Each spell which misses is therefore a much bigger blow, and ranged fireball spells are fairly difficult to get right every time, especially as many enemies dodge and weave about.
I bought 'Summon Gloom Wraith' (I'm now an Expert in Conjuring), upgraded my Turn Undead spell, and with my new-found magical prowess decided to see if I could take on Howling Cave this time. I returned, and it was still difficult (I died again initially) but the difference was apparent immediately - I was still vulnerable to being mobbed, due to my low defenses, but if I managed to get a few spells to connect, my enemies crumpled. My new Feather spell proved useful in allowing me to carry an absurd amount of loot back to the Imperial City.
Above: the Market District: my favourite District of the city. It's packed with quaint shops, some tucked away in the corners.
To make a bit of pocket money (and help pay for the spells I'd created) I ploughed through a few more opponents in the Arena. Nearly all of them fell to one or two castings of my spells - I am beginning to feel like a truly powerful mage now. A couple of them gave me trouble - they were very fast, and were able to dodge even my 'touch' spells at close range, which left me quickly drained of mana and fleeing from their swinging weapons, but if I managed to stick it out, all it took was a couple of good hits and they went down. At one point I resorted to climbing up on a pillar to let my mana rejuvenate.
My tactics now consist of casting the Weakness to Fire from a distance, then when the enemy gets close I cast Immolate. Over 3 seconds, this should do 150 damage to them, and at the end of the 3 seconds they'll die if they have less than 100 health remaining, due to the 'bonus' 100 damage that Drain Life does. It effectively, then, does 250 damage, although if they survive it then they get the 100 'drained' health back. I am not sure, but from what I've read it seems that 2+ castings of Weakness to Fire should stack - if this is true, it should do 325 damage if they had been hit by two castings of the Weakness spell, although this would enormously drain my mana reserves.
The basic Drain Life 100 spell is enough to kill almost any weak enemy (such as rats, and some goblins). Everything else goes down very quickly if hit by one cast of Weakness and one cast of Immolate. I prefer using Immolate (which is a 'touch' spell) to a ranged spell because, although not extortionate, these spells cost a lot more to cast than my previous ones. Each spell which misses is therefore a much bigger blow, and ranged fireball spells are fairly difficult to get right every time, especially as many enemies dodge and weave about.
I bought 'Summon Gloom Wraith' (I'm now an Expert in Conjuring), upgraded my Turn Undead spell, and with my new-found magical prowess decided to see if I could take on Howling Cave this time. I returned, and it was still difficult (I died again initially) but the difference was apparent immediately - I was still vulnerable to being mobbed, due to my low defenses, but if I managed to get a few spells to connect, my enemies crumpled. My new Feather spell proved useful in allowing me to carry an absurd amount of loot back to the Imperial City.
Above: the Market District: my favourite District of the city. It's packed with quaint shops, some tucked away in the corners.
To make a bit of pocket money (and help pay for the spells I'd created) I ploughed through a few more opponents in the Arena. Nearly all of them fell to one or two castings of my spells - I am beginning to feel like a truly powerful mage now. A couple of them gave me trouble - they were very fast, and were able to dodge even my 'touch' spells at close range, which left me quickly drained of mana and fleeing from their swinging weapons, but if I managed to stick it out, all it took was a couple of good hits and they went down. At one point I resorted to climbing up on a pillar to let my mana rejuvenate.
Above: the blood-soaked passageway leading from the training rooms out into the Arena.
With my magic proficiency seriously improved, I feel ready to cease my wanderings and continue with some more quests. My weakness at the moment is taking damage - I wear robes and have no decent protection spells of items. That's something I'll have to look into.
Hour 37: Halted by Howling Cave
I roam through the countryside for a while, looking for creatures to battle. In the countryside to the east of Skingrad there seem to be a fair few trolls. Panicked at first (it's been a while since I've seen one), I relax when I see the ease with which my new custom spell (which I've labelled 'Punisher'...) brings them down.
Eventually I come upon Howling Cave. It looks fairly ominous:
Eventually I come upon Howling Cave. It looks fairly ominous:
What on earth is that glowing cauldron? I head inside and am initially disappointed as it appears to be populated by nothing but rats. However, when I head into the deeper levels, I see that it's a haven for necromancers. Well, better them than vampires I suppose. Unfortunately, they seem to outmatch me. At one point I open a door and two necromancers await me, as well as a couple of skeletons, and both the necromancers summon headless zombies. Try as I might, my own Skeleton Guardian is cut down in moments by the throng, and I am constantly forced to retreat. I can't get past the press of undead in the narrow corridors to get to the Necromancers behind them (in hindsight, I should have used by Repulse Undead spell... but I forgot about it) and even if I can get a spell through to them, they heal faster than I can damage them. I give up and decide to have a think about creating some different spells.
After checking online, it looks like the Weakness to Fire in my spell is largely wasted, as it doesn't combine with the initial damage. Since I only made the Weakness last 1 second, it would only come into play if they get damaged again by fire within 1 second. This likely happened to the trolls, since I summoned my Atronach to aid me, but often would be wasted. It seems that there are more efficient ways to create damaging spells. I also think it might be worth finding and adding a 'paralyse' effect into a damaging spell.
Hour 36: Mothmen
I roam the countryside near the Shrine for a bit, and spy a secluded chapel in a clearing through the trees. What could it be?
Apologies for the bad picture quality. I am playing in the daytime, and it's almost impossible to avoid massive amounts of screen-glare. For that reason there will be less pictures for the time being. I head over to the chapel and it's called the 'Temple of the Ancestor Moths'. Sounds interesting. There are three buildings tucked away here - the Temple, the monks' quarters, and the crypt. All of them are locked. I break into the Temple and have a snoop around, reading through a dusty tome which explains the beliefs of the monks. They tend to their sacred moths, and eventually go blind, where they are locked away. I guess they're in the crypt.
That's where I head next, and at first it appears to be deserted. After navigating some lonely corridors, though, I am startled when two old men rush out to attack me! Both are blindfolded, and one is armed with a katana, which he swings wildly in a frenzy. They are joined by more blind monks with katanas, and although I try to fend them off, they're too much for me. I manage to get away and flee from the community of mad moth-monks. I am sure this will come up as a mission at some point later in the game.
Time now to upgrade my spells. I purchase some Expert-level destruction spells - a fireball which does 70 damage, a frost touch which does 80, and a couple of others. I also head to the Arcane University again and make a Feather spell (100 pts for 120 seconds). I decide to create my first 'proper' custom spell by combining a few properties. I make a fireball (40 damage) which also had Soul Trap (1 second), Absorb Health (15 points) and Weakness to Fire (100%). Hopefully this will do a total of 95 damage as well as healing me 15 points and capturing a soul if the target dies.
I decide to roam around for a bit a test out my new spells. Before I do, though, I remember to visit Roland Jenseric in the Imperial City Temple District, and give him all the vampire dust I've gathered - all told, I make a couple of thousand gold from him. I now have over 8000 gold even after spending a few thousand on buying and creating spells.
Apologies for the bad picture quality. I am playing in the daytime, and it's almost impossible to avoid massive amounts of screen-glare. For that reason there will be less pictures for the time being. I head over to the chapel and it's called the 'Temple of the Ancestor Moths'. Sounds interesting. There are three buildings tucked away here - the Temple, the monks' quarters, and the crypt. All of them are locked. I break into the Temple and have a snoop around, reading through a dusty tome which explains the beliefs of the monks. They tend to their sacred moths, and eventually go blind, where they are locked away. I guess they're in the crypt.
That's where I head next, and at first it appears to be deserted. After navigating some lonely corridors, though, I am startled when two old men rush out to attack me! Both are blindfolded, and one is armed with a katana, which he swings wildly in a frenzy. They are joined by more blind monks with katanas, and although I try to fend them off, they're too much for me. I manage to get away and flee from the community of mad moth-monks. I am sure this will come up as a mission at some point later in the game.
Time now to upgrade my spells. I purchase some Expert-level destruction spells - a fireball which does 70 damage, a frost touch which does 80, and a couple of others. I also head to the Arcane University again and make a Feather spell (100 pts for 120 seconds). I decide to create my first 'proper' custom spell by combining a few properties. I make a fireball (40 damage) which also had Soul Trap (1 second), Absorb Health (15 points) and Weakness to Fire (100%). Hopefully this will do a total of 95 damage as well as healing me 15 points and capturing a soul if the target dies.
I decide to roam around for a bit a test out my new spells. Before I do, though, I remember to visit Roland Jenseric in the Imperial City Temple District, and give him all the vampire dust I've gathered - all told, I make a couple of thousand gold from him. I now have over 8000 gold even after spending a few thousand on buying and creating spells.
Hour 35: Starbearer
I track one of the vampire hunters down to the fields outside Skingrad, and burn him to a crisp. Before he dies, he tells me I should take up my grievance with their leader, Eridur. Under the veil of darkness I travel to the inn where Eridor slumbers, and break into his room. However, rather than killing him straight away, I engage him in conversation, and by mentioning the fact that I've already killed the vampires at Bloodcrust Cavern (I show him the vampire dust I've collected as proof), he agrees to leave and take his band of merry men with him (minus the unfortunate fool whom I have incinerated, but Eridur doesn't know that, and if you don't tell him neither will I). What a nice little extra, having the option to persuade them to leave, rather than being forced to fight them.
I report back to the Count who agrees to reveal his information now that I've helped him. A powerful Necromancer called 'Mannimarco' (not a very dread-inducing name...) has returned, and is trying to take over Cyrodiil. I rush back to Traven and inform him. He must consult with the Council (bloody red tape...) so in the meantime I must occupy myself.
I feel it's high time that I acquire Azura's Star, as it will allow me to gather limitless souls to recharge my staves, which otherwise would cost me a lot of gold. I travel to Azura's shrine:
I report back to the Count who agrees to reveal his information now that I've helped him. A powerful Necromancer called 'Mannimarco' (not a very dread-inducing name...) has returned, and is trying to take over Cyrodiil. I rush back to Traven and inform him. He must consult with the Council (bloody red tape...) so in the meantime I must occupy myself.
I feel it's high time that I acquire Azura's Star, as it will allow me to gather limitless souls to recharge my staves, which otherwise would cost me a lot of gold. I travel to Azura's shrine:
She requires me to clear out a cave of... vampires... before she will gift me with the star. Vampires seem to be coming up an awful lot, and I'm getting rather sick of them, not least because they're usually quite powerful. As it happens, there are only five vampires in the cave, but for the first time in a long time, I die (twice!) to them, having to reload from the start of the cave both times. Eventually I just start saving the game every time I kill one. I use fire against them, as I know they're weak to it, and it doesn't take that many fireballs to bring them down, but they're fast, and one of them, for example, Silences me (meaning I can't cast any magic) and then rushes at me and chops me down in about three hits.
Eventually through careful use of my Flame Atronach, and focusing down the vampires ones at a time, I get the better of them. They drop some good loot (some expensive armour, and a glass war-hammer worth 1600 gold (although I won't get that much for it). Altogether there's too much for me to carry, though. Looks like I need to create a Feather spell for situations such as this. What's more, due to all the battling I've done over the last couple of hours, I've advanced to level 12, and am also an Expert in Destruction magic. Time to improve my arsenal of spells, it seems...
Hour 34: More Bloodsuckers
After returning to the Arcane University, I am instructed to speak to the Archmage himself, Hannibal Traven. It appears they forgot to edit his 'rumours' speech, for when I ask him about rumours, he gives me a similar speech to the rest of the Mages, and so references himself in the third person:
It's possible to view this as an eccentricity of his speech, but I think it's far more likely to just be an oversight.
He asks me to find a mage who infiltrated the Necromancer cult and is now believed to be in peril. I head to an Ayelid ruin to find him. So far, despite the limited number of types and designs of cave, I haven't really minded the caves/ruins much. There's certainly too much focus on delving underground into caves, as most missions seem to require this, but on the whole, I think I actually prefer these caves to Skyrim's. Sure, Skyrim's are better designed, mostly all unique, and graphically far superior, but a lot of them were a bit too long. The one thing they did better, though, was including a shortcut at the end of the cave so you can get out quickly. Oblivion offers few of those and you must usually, therefore, traipse back through the cave (stepping over the mutilated bodies of your enemies) to get out.
Whilst on my way to the ruin, a wild Flame Atronach attacks me in the woods. I summon mine to engage it, then continue onwards, thinking that even if mine does (can they even hurt each other though?) by that time I'll be so far away that I will have escaped. Surprisingly, once I'm inside the ruin the Atronach enters a short time after too - it must have followed me for quite a way. After I kill it I realise I haven't seen a dead one before, since mine disappears when it dies. Their bodies still glow even after death:
The ruin is fairly easily navigated and I eventually find the Mage, who has now been turned into a zombie. He looks exactly like every other zombie so it's anyone's guess as to how I know it's him, but the game tells me it is, so there you are.
I report my finding to Traven, who is most upset. He advises me that the Count of Skingrad (my secret vampire friend, unbeknownst to the guild) has more information about the necromancers. I go to see him, but he won't tell me anything until I've destroyed a nearby cave of vampires (they're attracting vampire hunters, which could compromise his identity) and slain the vampire hunters as well.
It's a hard slog to clear the vampire cave (Bloodcrust Cavern. Eww.), as these vampires just love to heal themselves up all the time, and are also adept at dodging my fireballs, meaning I often have to wade in closer to use my Cold Touch spell, exposing myself to their brutal close combat attacks. Plus, they summon a lot, and at times I have to fight two or three vampires as well as two summons (usually ghosts or skeletons). I manage to slay them all eventually without dying, though. Next to feel my wrath will be the vampire hunters...
It's possible to view this as an eccentricity of his speech, but I think it's far more likely to just be an oversight.
He asks me to find a mage who infiltrated the Necromancer cult and is now believed to be in peril. I head to an Ayelid ruin to find him. So far, despite the limited number of types and designs of cave, I haven't really minded the caves/ruins much. There's certainly too much focus on delving underground into caves, as most missions seem to require this, but on the whole, I think I actually prefer these caves to Skyrim's. Sure, Skyrim's are better designed, mostly all unique, and graphically far superior, but a lot of them were a bit too long. The one thing they did better, though, was including a shortcut at the end of the cave so you can get out quickly. Oblivion offers few of those and you must usually, therefore, traipse back through the cave (stepping over the mutilated bodies of your enemies) to get out.
Whilst on my way to the ruin, a wild Flame Atronach attacks me in the woods. I summon mine to engage it, then continue onwards, thinking that even if mine does (can they even hurt each other though?) by that time I'll be so far away that I will have escaped. Surprisingly, once I'm inside the ruin the Atronach enters a short time after too - it must have followed me for quite a way. After I kill it I realise I haven't seen a dead one before, since mine disappears when it dies. Their bodies still glow even after death:
The ruin is fairly easily navigated and I eventually find the Mage, who has now been turned into a zombie. He looks exactly like every other zombie so it's anyone's guess as to how I know it's him, but the game tells me it is, so there you are.
I report my finding to Traven, who is most upset. He advises me that the Count of Skingrad (my secret vampire friend, unbeknownst to the guild) has more information about the necromancers. I go to see him, but he won't tell me anything until I've destroyed a nearby cave of vampires (they're attracting vampire hunters, which could compromise his identity) and slain the vampire hunters as well.
It's a hard slog to clear the vampire cave (Bloodcrust Cavern. Eww.), as these vampires just love to heal themselves up all the time, and are also adept at dodging my fireballs, meaning I often have to wade in closer to use my Cold Touch spell, exposing myself to their brutal close combat attacks. Plus, they summon a lot, and at times I have to fight two or three vampires as well as two summons (usually ghosts or skeletons). I manage to slay them all eventually without dying, though. Next to feel my wrath will be the vampire hunters...
Hour 33: The Dark Fissure
The Mages at the University now trust me more and decide it's time I helped them investigate the insidious Necromancer cult which has sprung up since Traven, the Archmage, decided to ban necromancy. This mission starts as a pleasant 'research' diversion which involves me speaking to several people and finding information in a book. I never mind doing these sort of missions in Oblivion, because the dialogue is all so engrossing.
I learn that I must travel to the ominous-sounding Dark Fissure, in the mountains to the east, to learn more. It is, of course, overrun with foul necromancers. They give me a run for my money, especially when I come across more than one at a time. My Flame Atronach really shines here, able to blast the necromancers from afar and also damage the ghosts which are frequently summoned to aid them.
I get what I need (a note) after killing the first poor sap, but I decide to explore the cave system. A blood-stained stairway leads into the depths:
The cave has three levels and is quite sprawling. It has some unique features, such as these scary-looking grates:
Killing all of the necromancers is a challenge, but do-able. I find I'm having to rely more and more on potions, especially when there are multiple necromancers. Fortunately, they drop a lot of potions when they die. After some time, I emerge victorious. Here's the view from the mouth of the Dark Fissure, looking out across the forest of the lowlands, with the Imperial City visible in the faint distance:
I learn that I must travel to the ominous-sounding Dark Fissure, in the mountains to the east, to learn more. It is, of course, overrun with foul necromancers. They give me a run for my money, especially when I come across more than one at a time. My Flame Atronach really shines here, able to blast the necromancers from afar and also damage the ghosts which are frequently summoned to aid them.
I get what I need (a note) after killing the first poor sap, but I decide to explore the cave system. A blood-stained stairway leads into the depths:
The cave has three levels and is quite sprawling. It has some unique features, such as these scary-looking grates:
Killing all of the necromancers is a challenge, but do-able. I find I'm having to rely more and more on potions, especially when there are multiple necromancers. Fortunately, they drop a lot of potions when they die. After some time, I emerge victorious. Here's the view from the mouth of the Dark Fissure, looking out across the forest of the lowlands, with the Imperial City visible in the faint distance:
Sunday, 6 July 2014
Hour 32: Pillar of Wisdom
With the vampire business out of the way, for now at least, I continue on with the Mages guild. They send me to an ancient ruin which is being excavated. Once there, I fire spells a a magical pillar in the centre of the ruin, which unlocks a secret staircase. This actually takes a while since I did not have all of the necessary spells, so I had to travel to Skingrad to buy one of them (how did I know to go the Skingrad?! I looked it up on one of the incredibly useful online guides. I consult these guides from time to time in situations such as this; there's no point wandering round every city looking for the right spell).
I descend into the bowels of the ruins and battle some ghosts, retrieving an ancient Elvish helmet at the end:
It looks awesome. I haven't worn armour in a while so I'm not sure if it's unique; I have a feeling all Elvish helmets look like that. However it is encrusted with verdigris, showing its age, which I don't think is normally on helmets.
I take the helmet back to the Arcane University where they thank me and relieve me of it. A little disappointing - I leant nothing about it and I assume it will not be mentioned again.
I descend into the bowels of the ruins and battle some ghosts, retrieving an ancient Elvish helmet at the end:
It looks awesome. I haven't worn armour in a while so I'm not sure if it's unique; I have a feeling all Elvish helmets look like that. However it is encrusted with verdigris, showing its age, which I don't think is normally on helmets.
I take the helmet back to the Arcane University where they thank me and relieve me of it. A little disappointing - I leant nothing about it and I assume it will not be mentioned again.
Friday, 16 May 2014
Hours 29 - 31 - Daybreaker part 2
Yes, this blog entry covers thee hours. I don't know how it took so long, but it did. First, I travelled to see the witch. Take a look at the map:
The red marker is her location. The marker near the lake is a Daedric Shrine which I haven't been to yet, only been told about, so I can't fast-travel there. There is nothing to the south for miles - you can't see that from the map of course. So the nearest location I can travel to is Fort Magia, then it's on foot from there onwards. It's not all that far, of course - part of the wonder of Oblivion is that it makes the continent feel absolutely vast, when in reality you can walk most places in a matter of minutes - but it's still a fair old way, especially considering I am assailed at several points along the way by wolves and bears. In any case, it's a long way for Woodley, so although it only takes a few minutes it feels like an epic journey.
At one point I am attacked by goblins. I summon my skeleton to battle. Look how huge this goblin is:
That's a human skeleton it's fighting, so that makes the goblin at least six feet tall, if not more. I feel it's a bit silly - the larger greenskins should be 'hobgoblins' or something.
When I reach the witch's cabin, she give me a veritable shopping list of ingredients to find for her to make the 'cure vampirism' potion. Blood of an Argonian, ashes of a powerful vampire, and several plants and herbs. I decide to get the vampire ashes first - I must head to an abandoned, sunken fortress far to the east. The distance from the witch's cabin to this fortress makes the distance pictured on the earlier map look tiny. It's easily twice as far, and there are literally no waypoints to fast-travel to on the way. I must never have been to this region of the country before.
Along the way to the fortress I fight several imps. I actually love coming across imps now - I treat them like a mini-game. They always engage from a distance with ranged spells (often fireballs), so
I do likewise and we play a game of 'dodge the fireball' - it's fun to try to land a direct hit on them whilst also strafing to avoid their spells and trying to factor in the imps strafing as well.
On the way to the fortress I see a Daedric Shrine map symbol, so diced to have a look. It's a shrine to Peyrite and the worshippers are stood in a circle in a trance:
What's that,man Argonian? Don't mind if I cut you with this enchanted dagger to collect a blood sample, do you? No? Fortunately neither the Argonian nor any of the other worshippers noticed me stab him, so deep was their trance.
The fortress is a pushover, with just a couple of relatively weak vampires within and a boss vampire at the end. The strangest thing is, once I enter the room with the boss in, he doesn't attack me, but instead runs throughout the whole dungeon back the way I've come. I gave chase, pelting fireballs after him. Eventually he reached a corpse and picked up a dagger from it, and began to attack me. How odd.
The fortress seems to be unique in that it's partially sunken, and it also has some nice vampiric touches like the above candle-lit coffin.
Well, the first two ingredients are done; now for the easy ones right? As it happens, most of the next two hours is taken up with searching for the other ingredients. In the end I resorted to the internet for help, but even then it was still time-consuming. The garlic was easy enough - there are a couple of houses you can break into which have numerous cloves lying around. I also needed nightshade. And blood grass (which is a Daedric plant I suppose). Likewise I bought all the nightshade I needed at The Main Ingredient in the Imperial City. But that shop only had 1 clump of blood grass, and I needed two. As I haven't opened the Oblivion gates yet, I had to rely on vendors. I travelled round many cities looking for blood grass. Sometimes I was simply unable to find an ingredients vendor (even after scouring the Mages Guild), and the rest of the time I found one but they had no blood grass
Bear in mind that all of the aforementioned travelling and faffing was made much more tedious as I frequently could not fast travel due to my vampirism being too advanced - I would then have to wait until nightfall, or break on somewhere and feed on then to rejuvenate myself.
In desperation, I returned to The Main Ingredient, only to find he had restocked on blood grass. Damn you! With all the ingredients gathered, the potion was created and I was cured at last!
The Count also gave some to his wife:
He also rewarded me with 1000 gold for my efforts. I can't believe that lifting the vampire curse has taken four hours. Along the way I also picked up a couple of side quests which I'll pursue at a later date, but for now I'm disease-free and ready to continue with the Mages guild.
Hour 28: Daybreaker part 1
I did a bit of reading of some of the dusty tomes gathered online and learned that as part of the quest I'll need five empty grand soul gems. I find two whilst poking round the Arcane University, and manage to procure three more from the merchants at various Mages Guilds across Cyrodiil. In the course of my travels I get to thinking about my lacklustre repertoire of spells, and blow a good amount of gold upon acquiring some more. I upgrade my Turn Undead spell to Repulse Undead (or is it the other way around) which will now work on Undead up to level 15. I buy some Fear and Frenzy spells, as I've never used them before. Lastly, I go for some new Summons: Flame Atronach, Dremora, and Skeleton Guardian. Here's the Atronach:
Sweet! I'm guessing it shoots fireballs rather than melees, as that's what the ones in Skyrim do, so I hotkey it in the place of my Scamp (which I never used much anyway, as the zombie was more useful for tanking melee opponents). Speaking of which, it's probably time to say goodbye to the zombie too, since the Skeleton Guardian not only looks cooler and lasts 10 seconds longer, but I'm willing to
bet it's tougher too. I shall miss the zombie, though. Perhaps I'll raise him from time to time to look at some views with me.
As an aside, I do think it's a bit silly that zombies and skeletons are created from nothing as part of a summon spell. You should be able to raise dead enemies as zombies or skeletons, and only summon spirits and Daedra out of nothing.
I should really get a more powerful damage spell, but the only ones on offer seemed to require a Destruction Magic skill of 75, whereas mine is 73.
Traipsing around looking for the soul gems and messing around with spells takes the best part of an hour. I head to Castle Skingrad, where the new retainer keeps me waiting around for a bit for the Count. Here's the impressive main entrance hall:
I've thought of something which I think would greatly improve the game-playing experience for me: Tightening up restricted areas. As it is, the castles and palaces are ornately designed and often quite sprawling, but ultimately empty shells. You can break into the living areas of them (or in some cases simply walk right in) with relative ease, and if you're caught, you are simply warned 'you shouldn't be in here', giving you a chance to leave before the guards are called. In this entrance hall, for example, I can run around and run up the stairs, go right up to the doors, jump off the balcony, etc. If the castles had their own full-time guards, preventing any tom-dick-or-harry from prancing round like a ninny, if feel it would create a much more immersive experience. Sneaking past them could then be a genuine challenge, and getting caught in a restricted area should trigger a full-scale alarm/man-hunt. Perhaps have some valuables scattered throughout the castles to provide an incentive to break into them, should you so desire. Incidentally, this immersion-destroying 'empty sandbox' phenomenon affects Skyrim's castles, too. There's obviously only so much they can put in the world, but creating the illusion of reality by enforcing restricted areas would go a long way to making the world feel more huge, I feel.
Anyway, I meet the Count eventually, and he sends me off on my quest, to find a witch by a river. It turns out I'll be helping him too, because he wants to cure his wife of vampirism. Onwards, for honour and glory (?!)
Hour 27: Darkness Rising
The goblins turn out to be Sharp Tooth tribe, and they are Skirmishers. What this means, as far as I can tell, is that they are huge. No longer the little runts I used to terrorise with impunity, these goblins are actually much larger than me. In fact, they can't be that much smaller than a troll, and they attack with almost as much ferocity. A passing Imperial Soldier helps me slay the two guarding the entrance, and I head in alone with some trepidation.
The cave (well, it's the Derelict Mine, actually - I think I've been here before, but it must have been repopulated since then) is crawling with the blighters, and what's worse is that they seem keen to hang around in pairs. It's a hard slog but I manage to kill them all and escape without using too many potions.
I then head into Skingrad under the veil of darkness and check into the Two Sisters Lodge to get some rest and level up. Little did I know that the darkness not only veiled the land but also dwelt within me... As I settled down in my bed to rest, expecting to see the familiar 'level up' screen, I was instead greeted by this:
The cave (well, it's the Derelict Mine, actually - I think I've been here before, but it must have been repopulated since then) is crawling with the blighters, and what's worse is that they seem keen to hang around in pairs. It's a hard slog but I manage to kill them all and escape without using too many potions.
I then head into Skingrad under the veil of darkness and check into the Two Sisters Lodge to get some rest and level up. Little did I know that the darkness not only veiled the land but also dwelt within me... As I settled down in my bed to rest, expecting to see the familiar 'level up' screen, I was instead greeted by this:
I read it with increasing alarm. This cannot be! What have I done? I have to check myself, and sure enough I see my eyes are now red and my face twisted.
I am a vampire, a foul foul vampire! It's then I remember that whilst battling Seridur's cursed cronies a while back, I was scratched by one of them and infected with the disease. I forgot to cure myself, and now it's too late! I consider reloading, but the nearest save will set me back quite a while, so I decide to press on. Whether I will regret this decision remains to be seen...
I continue with the quest at hand - I must speak to Count Skingrad. However, his advisor makes me wait a day before I can see him. Waiting causes me to progress to the next stage of vampirism - where I take damage from being out in the sunlight! It damages me slow enough that I can keep my health topped up by healing, but it's clearly no good! I take shelter in a guard tower until nightfall, then creep out and sneak into the Mages Guild, whereupon I slake my unholy thirst upon an unsuspecting Argonian Mage.
I then meet with the Count's advisor again, but he had tricked me and didn't want the Mages Guild interfering in Skingrad, as he was in league with the necromancers. He and two Necromancer goons attempt to slay me, but the Count comes to my rescue.
I speak with the Count, then return to the Arcane University to report my findings. I've already resolved that I must cure my vampirism, as taking rapid damage in daylight is too much of a hindrance for me - fortunately, Raminus Polinus has dialogue about curing vampirism, so I start that quest - which entails me heading all the way back to Skingrad to speak with the Count again!
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