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 (?!)