Hours 67 - 68: Now You See Me

After researching how to obtain a 100% chameleon outfit, I set about starting the main quest (!). I track down Joffre and then head into the Oblivion gate outside Kvatch. Immediately I am set upon by two horrifying Spider Daedra and have to quaff litres of potions just to stay alive. They have a very nasty lightning spell - a few hits from that and I'm on death's door - as well as the ability to heal themselves. This is the first fight in a long time which presents a real challenge.

I progress through the trippy plane of Oblivion. I'd forgotten how depressing this place is:

The landscape is scorched and full of lava, the sky is red and violent, and the majority of the combat takes place inside foreboding Mordor-esque towers full of horrible fleshy decor and heads on spikes. All of the daedra I come up against present something of a challenge. It's basically essential that I soften them up with a Weakness to Fire spell first before burning them - if I do this, they go down in two or three casts. Actually hitting them with the Weakness spell proves tricky, though, as I only have a ranged version, and many of the daedra are nimble and weave hither and thither. I can handle one daedra with ease, but when two or more come at me the fights get quite intense. It's nice to have some challenging combat, at any rate.

I battle my way to the top of the tallest tower and claim the Sigil Stone which will shut down the Oblivion gate. Oh Mehrunes Dagon, you fool! Had you simply stationed ten Spider Daedra, ten Daedroths, and ten Dremora Kynreeves in the chamber with the Sigil Stone, then neither I nor any of the NPCs in Cyrodiil would have a hope in hell of ever claiming the Sigil Stone. Instead, you stationed one Dremora Kynreeve in the chamber, whom I dispatched with ease.

Before claiming the stone, I save the game, as I want to make sure I get a stone with Chameleon as a passive effect. I then begin the real meat of the mission - endlessly reloading the game and reclaiming the stone after if it doesn't have the desired magical properties. I get very close to giving up as I have to reload the game over 20 times, but eventually the chameleon stone is mine!

I then proceed to 'clone' the stone using the scroll duping glitch. I had no idea this glitch existed and to be honest would probably prefer if it didn't, but now that I know it does, there's no way I'm going to spend hours trying to get my Illusion skill up to 75 when scroll duping will get me to 100% chameleon in under an hour. Sue me. I make several copies of the stone and am able to enchant the following items:

I subsequently enchant some trousers as well so that I can wear the Boots of Spring Heel Jak whilst invisible. It's pretty cool how your character actually appears 'invisible' on-screen if you view in 3rd person. I have never done this before, so my first act is to do what any decent person would do - I kill a town guard. 

The next hour is spent roaming around Cyrodiil, picking on defenseless Ogres and bears, and trying (and failing) to climb Castle Bravil and Castle Anvil with my super-high jumping skills. Now that I've obtained the chameleon suit so quickly (I forgot that you got a Sigil Stone so early on in the main quest) I feel like this is a natural point to stop, for now. I don't have (and have never played) The Shivering Isles, so I will probably order the GOTY edition in the near future and give that a go, but for now, I think I've had my fill of Oblivion. I've finally completed three of the guild questlines, a bunch of side missions, and got the chameleon suit. For now I am quite pleased with Woodley's adventures, and it's a testament to the game that it still feels like there's a lot more to do when I decide to return, even after 68 hours. I'd guess there's another 10+ hours of side-quests, and 10+ hours in The Shivering Isles, so I may get to 100 hours one day.