Hour 22: Flight from Cheydinhal

I decide to get cracking on the Thieves Guild quests again, and am asked by Armand to recover the details of taxes which were wrongly levied on the peasants living in the Waterfront district. Strangely, one of them, Myrvyna Arano, is listed as 'exempt':

I wonder if this will be explained at any point. The quest goes to plan and I even manage to steal a few sets of armour from the guard barracks during the process. I sell these to Ongar in Bruma, immediately giving me enough 'credit' to be entrusted with the next quest. I must steal a statue from the chapel in Cheydinhal. This will actually be the first time Woodley Rhyme has set foot inside a chapel - I've had no cause to do so before now.

The chapel is a very impressive-looking place

In the chapel I see a man named Hill the Tall, who I've heard several people mention in random bits of dialogue. Take a look; he is certainly slightly taller than me, but I don't think he really warrants a height-based nickname - he's hardly a colossus:

You'll notice I am wearing dark green robes instead of armour. These are the robes I was given upon entering the Arcane University, and I've been wearing them since then, as they give a slight boost to my magic. Once I can enchant some armour to do the same (or preferably better) job, I'll most likely revert back to armour.

I break into the Undercroft of the chapel, and see a guard there. I'm under strict instructions not to kill anybody, so I wait for the guard's patrol to take her out of the way, the steal the statue. Unfortunately, stealing the statue releases a cackling Ghost whom I am forced to battle. The guard comes running back and I flee in dismay, clutching the statue. What's worse, the guard follows me out of the chapel! She evidently informs the city guard, too, as before I can reach the main gate they begin shouting at me and chasing me with weapons drawn!

Unable to fast-travel due to 'enemies nearby', I foot-slog it towards the Imperial City, with the guards in hot pursuit. Repeated castings of my newly-created 'accelerate' spell give me a slight edge in speed over them, and I gradually outstrip them. About halfway to the city, a mounted guard catches sight of me and dismounts. I lead him on a merry chase and circle back to his horse, steal it, and ride the rest of the way back to the Watfront district.

To my horror, the district is crawling with guards, and they're all looking for Armand! They catch sight of me a few times, but each time I manage to evade them. I eventually take refuge in the lake itself, where the guards seem unable to follow me. After waiting for a while and creeping round undetected, I learn from another guild member that Myvryna Arano is an informant. So that's why she was exempt from the tax! I am to stitch her up as the statue thief, and inform Hieronymus Lex, the captain of the guard, of her guilt. I plant the statue in her cupboard, but when I speak to Hieronymus, he immediately arrests me!

I pay the fine, go to jail to have any stolen items confiscated (I don't have any), then return to the Waterfront. Hieronymus and his goons are still bumbling round the place, looking for Armand, who they believe stole the statue, Their investigation technique consists of running from street to street repeatedly asking everyone if they've seen Armand. The fools! This does create a rather bizarre situation, though. The reason I was 'wanted' in the first place is because I was spotted stealing the statue by the chapel guard. I've now been arrested (some time later) for that crime, yet they're still hunting for the perpetrator?! I try not to think about it too much. 

On my return, I speak to Hieronymus again and persuade him to search Myrvyna's room. She's arrested, and Armand's off the hook. He directs me to Bravil to receive further assignments. Damn it, I was hoping to avoid that cesspit for a while longer!

Hour 21: Madstone & Glowdust

I fight my way through the tunnels and encounter some Ogre Groundlings along the way. They're not so scary, taking just four fireballs to bring down. I emerge onto the snowy Pale Pass, and have to traverse a meandering pathway which is littered with more Ogre Groundlings. It's at this point that I realise Ogre Teeth are worth 75 gold each (don't know how I missed that before), so I welcome the sight of each new Ogre as to me it symbolises nothing but cold hard white pointy cash.

I eventually reach the inevitable dungeon, and begin the search for the 'Madstone' which the Countess has gone ga-ga for. The dungeon is filled with skeletons called Undead Akaviri Warriors, which are actually tougher than the Ogres, requiring a full six fireballs to slay, and also being fairly nimble in combat. I'm a little worried at first, but I remember my 'Repulse Undead' spell, and so I manage to avoid ever being ganged up on. With judicious use of my 'ard-as-nails Zombie, and a few fireballs to the skull, even the deadly Akaviri become nothing more than an inconvenience in my hunt for the Madstone.

This dungeon is actually my favourite so far. It feels different to all of the previous ones, and I think it looks different too. There are a lot of green glowing flames like this one:

The corridors are often quite long and spacious, and the design and layout don't seem to just be rehashes of previous ones. I might be wrong in that respect, but I nevertheless thoroughly enjoy battling through it. As I reach my goal, an ominous sight greets me:

Fortunately it's just a demented apparition, and I don't have to fight it. I grab the Madstone and return to the Countess. I'm rewarded with a ring called Vipereye, which is worth 2000 gold. Nice! Or rather, it would be, if I could find anyone to buy it. As it stands, when I return to the Imperial City to sell my loot, no one will buy he ring! I take the opportunity whilst in the Market District to hunt down some Glowdust from an alchemy shop. I'll need it if I'm to speak to Azura at her shrine, which is something I intend to do soon as the reward she grants was useful even to my Warrior character, and should prove invaluable to my Mage. I also buy some Cyrodiilic Brandy, in case I ever run into Sanguine's shrine again.

Hour 20: Desperately Seeking Sentinel

I travel to the location of the diary only to find another thief there trying to steal it! Rather than sneaking about I simply run to the desk in which it's stashed, grab it, then run back out again and fast-travel back to Armande. Not very thief-like, admittedly, but it won me the task.
After being allowed into the Guild I speak to Armande and am glad to learn that progression through the storyline will be subject to actually committing independent thievery, which will eventually earn me the right to accept special commission jobs which presumably will also advance the story. That's how a Guild should be! It makes you feel part of an organisation - a henchman trying to work your way up. In Skyrim, the Thieves Guild basically send you on one job before you're thrust into the main Guild storyline and you become practically their most trusted and reliable member after about 2 hours. It felt rushed and tacked on. I can already see that Oblivion's guild will be much more rewarding.

I head off to do some 'independent thievery' (not that independent since the map tells me where to go, but still). One thing I don't like is that I'm told to go to Bruma. This excessive travelling about the map is also common in Skyrim and for me it slightly ruins the immersion and sense of scale in the game. I'd prefer it if long journeys like this, which pretty much require fast travel unless you want to double the length of your game-time (I won't be travelling everywhere in slow-mode from now on, unless I particularly feel like it or want to explore an area), were more limited and quest-lines concentrated on a certain area before flinging you around the map. I'm supposed to be in a huge country, would I really travel to the far north, a journey which should take days in the game, just to commit a petty thievery job?

Bruma is growing on me. Here you can see the sturdy-looking castle in the background, and the Scandinavian-esque buildings of the town itself.

When I get there, I realise I have to go and speak to a particular Fence called Ongar, so it's not as silly as I first thought... but my point still stands! I wait until nightfall and break into some houses. As I wait, I'm interrupted by a messenger who says that that Countess in Bruma would like to see me. Sounds interesting, but it will have to wait for now. I steal just over 50 gold's worth of items. Time to head back to Armande! Or, it would be, if I wasn't I intrigued as to what the Countess wants.

I level up then head to the castle. The Countess wants me to locate an ancient Akaviri artefact for her collection. Sounds easy enough. However, I soon become frustrated trying to find my way. I travel to a landmark called Dragon Claw Rock, and have to head due West to find a second landmark, a statue called The Sentinel. However, I get confused by the I description of following a 'winding narrow path' or something along those lines, and kee trying to follow various roads which lead vaguely West. I spend a good twenty minutes looking for this damn Sentinel, even mounting the Unicorn and galloping around like a maniac in frustration at one point.

I somehow end up on top of a mountain, which is nowhere near where I need to be, but gives a spectacular view over the landscape.

Eventually, I dismount, fast-travel back to Dragon Claw Rock, and walk slowly in an precisely due-West direction. Lo and behold, practically within spitting distance of the Rock is the Sentinel. I stifle a scream. The pathway leads me to a tunnel through the mountains, and I head inside with trepidation.

Hour 19: Taking Stock

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

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

I nervously anticipate my first fight.

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

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

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

 

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

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

Summary of what has happened so far:

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

Hour 18: Anvil

I stare at the distance on the map for a bit. It's such a long way to Anvil, so I decide there's nothing for it but to fast-travel there. I don't want to spend another hour just getting there! When I arrive, I take some time to explore for a bit. I had forgotten how much I like Anvil.

This picture definitely doesn't do it justice.

 It has a sun-baked Mediterranean air to it, and it looks warm and inviting. I don't think I've ever seen it rain here. I'd also forgotten its charming waterfront section, with ships, shops, and a lighthouse.
The Recommendation is straightforward; I have to kill a rogue mage. The twist is that the mage turns out to be the woman that runs the nearby inn you must stay at. She's actually very powerful, taking off nearly all my health with a couple of blasts and leaving me in fear for my life. However she eventually succumbs to my icy grip.

On my way back to Anvil I traverse a large hill which gives a view over the whole town:

It looks so small! Just one row of houses and a cathedral. But when you're in it, it doesn't feel that small. The spacious, breezy streets seem to stretch out in the heat like a lazy sunbather. You also can't see the docks from that hill, I suppose.

I have completed all the Recommendations! I waste no further time and fast-travel to the Arcane University:

Behold!

Hour 17: Enter Sandman

I must travel to the 'Dreamworld' to save Kud-Ei's friend. Once there, I navigate 4 tests which vary in nature. None of them are difficult but they're all quite fun. In one, I face off against two Minotaurs in an arena. I mange to frantically scramble atop one of the pillars where they can't reach me, then easily defeat them with spells from above.
I get decked out in a sweet set of chainmail armour:

...but don't get to keep it- it's only a dream after all. I also pick up a lightning-shooting mages staff.
With the mage rescued from his diabolical nightmare, I set off for Leyawiin. The Unicorn is conveniently stationed outside of Bravil so I ride off at speed.

As I leave I notice a man who would rather sleep outside the city than inside that pit of disease. I don't blame him.

I decide not to stop for anyone or anything. No less than four bandits leap out from the roadside and swing at me clumsily with double-handed axes (these unwieldy weapons seem to be the weapon of choice for Oblivion's brigands, for some reason), but I outstrip them with my skiey speed and press on southwards.
Upon arrival I commence the Recommendation immediately. It's an interesting one, possibly my favourite, as it involves both a fair bit of conversation with various characters and a fetch-quest with a boss at the end- the boss is one of the guild-members who was tracking me the whole time! I battle

my way through a fairly succinct dungeon and face off against brigands along the way (they're 'Marauders' now). I complete the quest with ease and prepare myself for my reward- the Arcane 
University- but suddenly remember I forgot one town! Anvil, the port town, aaaall the way over the other side of the map. Eaugh!

I am anxious to be allowed into the Arcane University now, so I decide to head straight to Anvil to get the final Reccomendation. Consequently I don't really look around Leyawiin much. My impression of it is that it's quite drab, a sort of Bravilified Cheydinhal. It has Tudor-esque buildings, and big open spaces but the buildings 
are quite shabby, and the place 'feels' damp and a bit dirty.

Hour 16: The Last Unicorn

On the way to Bravil I cut across the countryside and discover Fort Roebeck. Outside are two Conjurers whom I slay with ease. I decide it might be worth exploring the fort, as if it's filled with Mage types then I could get some useful loot, and even if I don't then the mages seem to each drop a health potion and a magicka potion, so this seems a good way to stock up on those.

As I progress deeper I kill a few mages and eventually come up against my first Daedra - a Clannfear Runt (I've always thought 'Clannfear' was a great name and they're one of my favourite Daedra as well). This thing slices through my Zombie with ease before turning on me. Fortunately the Zombie has weaked it sufficiently that I can put it down with a couple of Frost Touch spells. Fortunately there's nothing else difficult in the fort, and all the mages die to one or two of my spells. By the time I'm done I have a good store of potions.

Further along the way to Bravil is the strangely-names 'Inn of I'll-Omen'. I investigate it but find nothing amiss. Outside it there is a woodsman practicing his archery. I watch him for a while and amazingly he shoots several arrows at the target and then when he runs out goes and gathers them all up again before resuming his practice! I stand in front of the target and he stops shooting, looking at me with an annoyed expression. He doesn't even give a quest or much dialogue - it's just an awesome little touch they've added.

I continue across the countryside and a symbol on my compass I've never seen before catches my attention - it looks like a mountain. As I head towards it I see a brawny figure loping towards me in the distance - it's a Minotaur! I summon a Zombie to greet it and begin frantically tossing fireballs in its direction, managing to miss with most. It wields a huge warhammer and its savage blows make short work of the Zombie. However it doesn't have a ton of health itself and only manages to land a single blow on me before my hasty Frost Touches drain all of its health. 

I discover I am in a place called Harcane Grove. As I continue, I discover two more Minotaurs guarding a Unicorn. I manage to lure the Minotaurs out individually and slay them with relative ease. They aren't nearly as tough as I feared. One of them has a Dwarven warhammer, which is worth a good bit of gold. After the brutes are dispatched, I actually ride the Unicorn all the rest of the way to Bravil!

Bravil basically looks like a shanty town and I have no desire to hang around here. I quickly head to the Mages' Guild and set about the Recommendation quest. It involves travelling to the Imperial City to retrieve a lost staff. It seems I'll be returning rather earlier than I anticipated. I don't hang around though, and for the first time I decide to fast-travel there and back (this is my first real use of fast-travel; previously I have only used it to travel short distances like back to a town from a nearby mine, and so on).

The Imperial City makes Skingrad look like a backwater

I steal the staff back rather than buy it back, and so save myself 200 gold (I have to break into a basement and a locked drawer to find it. Can't wait to get some better lock-picking spells!). I quickly return to Bravil and return the staff, then turn to leave, intending to set off at once for Leyawiin and the final step before being allowed in to the Arcane University. However, as I turn to leave, the guild aster Kud-Ei entreats me to stay and help her. She actually has a pained, distressed expression on her Argonian face, and cries out "you're the only one who can help me!" I find myself caving in and unable to leave, and agree to help her locate her missing friend.