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.