Hehe, thanks.

Ok, some turbulent things happened last night...for one, I rose to the top of the DB ranks. It was glorious...I truly love the DB questline, and now I even have those cool 'listener'-robes. The whole charm of the oganization is that nothing is what it seems...there's this one place I've been regularly visiting, and I always met this guy standing there at night. I never knew wtf he was doing there, but I know now, oh yes. Erh, anyway....just to say that it's cool how NPC's can lead double lives. Same with the thieves' guild to an extent.

I also became...a vampire. Something I've been looking forward to. I didn't want to contract the disease too early in the game for a lack of ways to counteract it (zero restoration skillz and whatnot), but now I felt ready. I was doing a Thieves' guild quest which led me to a showdown with a rather weak vampire, so I let it hit me a few times and before I knew it I contracted the disease. I went about my business a few days, and then: the dreams started. I had become a creature of the night. I even sleep on a marble slab and carry around vials of blood, just in case. The plan is to do more action-oriented quests such as closing Oblivion gates as a full-blow vampire -ie a non-feeding one- with all the perks it brings (I feel like a God, it really rocks) and then feed regularly when doing more sociable things. Vampirism ftw!

Talking about Oblivion gates, I did the Kvatch one...omfgwtfbbq! That's HARD. Granted, I'm bad at combat, but dude...daedroths and clannfears kill me in 5 seconds if I'm not careful. I have to pull open my entire box of tricks; paralyze, sneaking, backstabbing, running past everyone. And that involves dying a lot, unfortunately. I also tried my hand at the Kvatch-clearing quest, but that seems hopeless lol...I step in for 20 seconds together with the guards, and they all just die (except the captain) and if I try to help I die too. Next attempt will probably involve running like a sissie. So, in short; Oblivion gates = EVAL! On the one hand I'm like "dudes, did it have to be this hard!", on the other I'm like "finally something that really scares me, makes me stay on my toes". You know? It is the plane of Oblivion, after all...not exactly a tropical water paradise.

I had the feeling that the Daedra are rather vunlerable to other elemental dmg than fire. Shock, frost, they don't seem to like it. They do like average weaponry tho. Anyway, i'll let you know when I clear Kvatch.

I also mopped up the Arena quests...defeated the Grand champ. *SPOILER* I loved how he wouldn't fight me cos he's half vamp...I was like "dude, I'm 100% vamp and I'm gonna tear you a new one! raaaaagahh"*SPOILER* Erh...or something. I have a fan now too, and I was looking to do something similar as the guy in Derf's vid but with my paralyzing staff. Gonna be fun to watch...I'm not sure how to get on the roof of that huge tower though.

Something rather unfortunate happened btw: I bought my Bruma house (yay!), but when the countess told me I should go to Novaroma (decorating store) for my furnishing, I was already thinking "uh-oh". Turns out I was right to do so: the owner was killed in a barfight a long time ago. I was there and watched it spill out into the street, but I didn't jump in to help because I figured I could loot his corpse afterwards (and his key and his store)...and I did, but now he's dead and I have no chance to furnish my house. hehehe. SO, my Bruma house is a nice empty building with stuff shattered all over the floor, a bed, and nothing else at all. Not that I mind, but I could use some containers for my book and ingredient collections.

Ooooh, another thing: I ran into this submerged cave system PACKED with a tribe of (wild) Argonions. Seriously, apart from oblivion gates I haven't been half as scared as in there elsewhere in the game. It was a living nightmare! So you have this complex of naturally eroded tunnels, some underwater, some not, and some open spaces, often with a 'pool' in the middle...not to mention the darkness (I can counter that with my night sight but still, don't always have the time to activate it when you're being chased by 4 ppl). Man, those argonians...they can breathe underwater as you might know. Suddenly, they'd pop up out of the water and come running towards you, sword swinging. Sometimes you managed to wound them or fend them off and you see them running away, diving into the nearest by pool. So either you wait in the dark for them to jump you from another corner, or you dive after them and try to finish the job. The last option is risky business...I have some water breathing spells and potions, but shit. I died so many times because I ran outta breath and couldn't find my away out anymore, or because 2 other lizardfaces popped out of the corners of the underwater caves. Long story short: DON'T MESS WITH ARGONIONS IN WATER. My kitty don't like water...hehe. (oh, the cave was full of nice stuff, so it was worth it, but so freaking scary)


Mm...that's all for now folks. I'll attach this pic, and then a vid. The vid is rather silly really. I was just having a bit fun with the Imperial Palace guards (you'll see my adoring fan geting paralyzed for a moment too cos he gets in the way). Nothing special, but really fun. "Then pay wi...*guard falls facedown, paralyzed*

haha great post ox!

I didn't do that quest for the arena so I had to actually fight him, but he was still pathetic And I did warn you Kvatch was hard! It was bad enough with Clannfear Runts and Scamps, but if I'd had to do it with Clannfear and Daedroth running around... eugh!

Oh and I love your vid, my evil char will so have to try something like that And btw, I found 3 bottles of Skooma in a cave last night

lol, great post Ox. And wonderful video. That's some funny shit.

Damn, I need a new video card...

How the hell can you record that?

When i try using Fraps, i get like 4fps in-game.

@ Pev: 3 bottles? I carry like 40 on a permanent basis, hehe. Yet to find moonsugar tho.

So, after my last post I managed to beat the battle of Kvatch...it took me a loooooooong time but I did it. Man, if that captain wasn't a protected quest character I would have been if for some serious problems...he kept going unconscious all over the place. In the end he was fighting in nothing but his underwear and with a sword I had thrown on the floor, all his gear was just broken from the repeated pounding he got.

The way I did it in the end was doing every monster one by one...which took a long time but hey. What also helped was that Daedroths won't pass through doors (God knows why) and flame atronachs, dremora and the likes will. That helped a lot, I could just sneak in, backstab, sneak out, back in, backstab, etc...works like a charm. The flame and frost atronachs are fairly easy to bring down with their huge elemental weaknesses. And dremora get the paralyze+bum-attack treatment. Byt shit, those daedra really fucked up Kvatch! That was some crazy shit inside that castle.

After Kvatch I continued the main quest a bit, closed another Gate somewhere along the way, and then wandered off again to do some side quests. I really enjoy keeping myself busy, beit by wandering into a random cave or doing some more guild quests. On that note I did the final (I think) Thieves' Guild quest, and dude! that rocked so much. I'm not going to spoil too much but it truly is a 'great heist', something the people of Tamriel will be talking about for years. Oh, and bring a fucking bow. I had to trail back to Tamriel to buy a freaking bow. Still, great great quest. Really has that magical feel.

I've also been going ahead in the mages' guild, and I reached a point that made me go "dude!". Let's just say someone very powerful pops up..someone I've come in contactwith back in the days of Daggerfall. It'll be interesting to see how this works out, or if I get to meet him at all. The reports I heard from a certain guildmate were very frightening, hehe. I'll be wetting my blade and fists.

Speaking of which, hand to hand is SO underpowered. I'm at 93 or something, have a good 75 strength (vampirism helps) and I still can't hit shit. For real fights I just HAVE to use a blade, preferrably with heavy enchantments. It kinda sucks...right now I only use hand to hand for opponents that can't really kill me but have a lot of HP. Or to take out human casters, they're usually pretty weak. (but they can cast bad-ass spells) Anyway, Beth needs to tweak that, or else I'm gonna mod me some gloves of bad-ass unarmed asswhooping.

Aaaaanyhoo...I've been exploring and enjoying vampirism most of all. The powers you gain (both lesser and greater) are really awesome. Sight of the hunter has recplaced my khajit's night eye in the #1 slot as my primary skill. (it gives both night sight and detect life for a while, can be cast unlimited per day at 5 mana cost ) The detect life thing is really great, especially combined with the night sight...top notch ability that.

But maybe I should explain how vampirism 'works': once affected, you have stages within the condition. Depending on how often you feed (or don't feed), you become 'more vampire'. Ie, you gain more pro's (increased strength, speed, skills and extra powers and resistances) but you also take more damage in sunlight and are more vulnerable to fire, and most ppl refuse to talk to you. I tend to keep well-fed when in cities, simply because of the social aspect, and partly because the sunlight damage can be a real bitch. It's ok at first, but if you're a full-fledged vamp it's KILLER.

I have been caught in the sun once, while not having fed in a while...very painful business. Basically I had taken something from a cave (quest item) , ran out and jumped on my horse. I was pacing it towards town, when I suddenly started to notice I was slowly taking damage on my HP....I'm like "shit, I need to get out of the sun!" But the cave was packed with dudes that could own me...still, I had no choice but to go back in and meet the enemy. I managed to defeat them after a tough battle and could wait for nightfall to go back out in the open. They also add this heavy bloom effect to the environment when you're taking vamp sun damage; makes it look like you're really blinded, very cool. Btw, I once decided to use the "wait 1 hour" ability in town during noon, bad idea. One dead vampiric kitty.

But I feel the advantages of vampirism outweigh the problems, providing you stay well-fed and don't have any moral problems with killing and/or feeding. Besides, you can perfectly live as a vampire without hurting the innocent. Oh, and in case you wonder: the plane of Oblivion doesn't have "sunlight", not being earthly. So you can go there as more animal than man (well, cat) vamp incarnation and kick their sorry daedra butt.

Mm, what else do I have to say...I acquired the Anvil house, and I even have made it my home from home..it's nice and peaceful and away from all those nasty Oblivion gates and dangerous caves. Anvil ftw! Lacking a bit in stores however, but there's the imperial city for that. Ooh, and I love hanging around the Arcane University. Making spells, enchanting items, making potions...gotta love it. That place is pretty sweet for your average dabbler in the arts of magica.


Erh, anyway...I should really post more often so I remember what I've done...it's all a bit of a blur now, except for the most important quests. Btw, did anyone run into an ogre carrying 'Jumbo potatoes' while in the wilds? I still don't know wtf I should do with those.


Only two pics this time, but one I really like: me standing over an unsuspecting feeding victim, wearing my Black Hand robes. The pic title kinda gives the "feel" of it.

Other pic was when I lockpicked the Bruma fighters' guild's display cases...turns out it's all fake stuff, worth nothing more than 1 septim...did I pick a "very hard" lock for that?!!!

It'd be a right bummer having to wait ages for this tweak. I wish you luck.

I just wish my character would meet yours in-game so i can crush your evil ass!

awesome post ox! hehe. My next char (the murderer) is gonna be a vamp too, whether full, partial or swap regularly I don't know yet. hehe. Post more biatch.

Not found any jumbo potatoes yet. Mole has a mysterious quest item, as do I (though I know where mine came from, just dunno what the quest is, but given the nature of the item, its gonna be an evil quest I'm fairly sure).

Oh and I believe all the armour/weaps in fighters guild are 'dummy' ones, for display only.

I havent even been to the imperial city yet.

Death comes for j00.jpg is strangely one of the most disturbing screens ive seen so far.

Hehe, why is it more disturbing than most others?


Been playing a bit more, but not a LOT. Too much travelling and boozing kinda delayed my progress...I'm still kicking myself in the head for taking a cab home two days ago too, cost me 15 freaking euros...might not seeml much to you but to me that was the last cash I had. Gonna be a fun few weeks.

Aaaaanyhoo...the main quest is still kinda waiting for me, haha. I accidentally did another small part of it though...I stepped into a bar in the imperial city because I was looking for the best thieves' guild fence who lived in the area. (I actually still have no clue where the fence went...he's never in his house, and never on his 'spot' in the city where he used to be. I'm thinking I killed him, but how and when? beats me ) So, I get in, address some people, and turns out I was talking to the blade fella, Baurus. (on a sidenote: I refuse to join the blades) So I adress him and the MQ is advanced a bit...but only a bit. That's really the entire progress I made, haha.

Other than that I've been closing the odd gate to Oblivion. It's actually going better and better. My hand to hand has reached mastery now, and with the help of potions I can survive long enough most of the time to get in close and give the majority of opponents the beating of their lifetime before they can kill me. It's also good for my light armor rating. No, but it seems hand-to-hand damage is VERY dependent of strength. At elast that's the feeling I get..ever since I've been investing in it a bit -low weight allowance is a bitch- and became a vamp my strength has hit a nice rating and suddenly hand to hand isn't pointless anymore. The main problem remains my low HP (30 Endurance ) so I gotta get the quick or sneaky kill. Not always easy. But I found some very nice items like a glass shield that reflects 19% of all damage or something = 1337. And I'm planning on enchanting my current glass armor with all kinds of resistance effects; fire and magic come to mind. Oh, and to make a sword of some sorts with a frost damage effect...(most) daedra HATE frost.

Btw, I've got mixed feelings about fighting those Xivilai (?) creatures...they seem like some sort of vampiric daedra. They're not THAT tough but they have some bitchin' tricks up their sleeve. Summoning a clannfear is one, major fireballs is another, but most of all: they often knock me back 4-5 meters with some insane claymore swing. Anyway, I need to remember to bring more grand soul gems...I never seem to have enough.

I never bother really fighting most of the inside of the daedra towers to be honest, I just run past everyone to the top while healing the damage I take, run up to the sigil stone and the loot bags (well, flesh pods and the punished ), grab them them and run around till the gate's closed. The only problem afterwards is that I sometimes end up in full sunlight once the gates closes, and have to run for my unlife to the nearest cave, farm or town. And i'm not even talking about the daedra roaming around them gates.

Apart from all that I've been doing a little dungeon delving and reorganizing some of my inventory. I've decided that my house in Anvil is to become my nr. 1 stash, so I've been able to lose a lot of unwanted encumbrance. I'd like to bring along my black hand robe and hood for sneaking purposes, but with my HP I really NEED a decent armor. Ah well. And I've been restarting my book collection...I should make a list of what I have already so I know which books to steal or buy on my travels. I'm sure that in one of the books I can find more info on those Xivilai daedra, on daedra shrines in general or on vampirism. TES is cool that way.

Oh, I also (really) wrapped up the thieves' guild questline..I said before that I did the final mission, but I didn't really 'finish' the storyline yet...I have now. Let me just say that it's cool. And the artifact you get is the ultimate burglaring item and even comes in handy in most dungeons. It has a 200-pt constant effect feather ability, that's why. But for...some reason it's not useful in plain open city daylight, hehehe.


Plans for the future now are:

-enchanting my armor (I've got 25k and a few grand souls)
-finding and doing more daedric shrine quests...I can't wait to find more artifacts I used to have in the past. (Daggerfall and Morrowind) There's a book that handles on them all, want me to check my librabry and tell you which exactly?
-doing the MQ some more
-continue the mages' guild quest...now that that famous character moved to the front plan it became a LOT more interesting.

Btw, question for you all: the blades, are they a full-fledged alternative questline? Or do you just advance as a blade through the MQ? Just wondering.

Oblivion is so freaking massive. I've been doing so many little things, and I still haven't got the feeling I've quite seen everything just yet. I'm also purposefully staying away from the fighters' guild and blades so I have new things to do with my next char.

No vids for you this time, I'm sorry. Only a small pic but it's not even that impressive...it's just kinda funny. I was walking through the Jerall Mountains when two brown bears attacked me and Shadowmere (my horse). I paralyzed them both and they started rolling down the mountainside completely ridiculously, with my horse running behind them kicking them in the collective groin. It's all good.

I think blades is like mage and fighters guild, not too sure, havent seen a whole lot of the members but i think its kinda like the knightorder of white stallion in leyawin, its there but you dont need to be a member to complete the game i think. But i really dont know, as i said, i havent even been to imperial city yet.

lol ox.

Not had too many dealings with the Blades; I've joined them as part of the MQ but I have yet to see any quests with them, so I don't think its a full guild as such. I'm part of the Order of the White Stallion too, not done anything with them yet though; just have the key to the lodge.

I'm getting like you on Obliv gates, especially now I'm advancing the MQ (hope that doesn't spoil stuff lol). Now I have no fighting skills to level up, fighting the daedra is just a waste of time, since only the Valkynz(sp?) have any decent loot on them usually. Not to mention that of the random gates, I've already completed the same one twice. Exactly the same layout, just a different monster spawn. So I'm guessing theres probably 16 (one for each prince) different possibilities and then they just loop round. Kinda bleh.

Good stuff.

Nah, ive not done anything for the blades yet, so i wouldnt know.

Hehe, k...so Blades are still a bit vague. And I haven't even ran into that knightly order pev, only thing I heard about was the blackwood company providing competition for the fighters guild. (I read it in the black horse courier )

Finished the mages guild quest yesterday, with an ultimate showdown with that famous person..I was somewhat disappointed though, the ending was almost....unreal. BUT, it did land me an AWESOME staff, haha. I'm gonna have a lot of fun with that baby, you watch me. Btw, once you get to the top of the mages guild you get an awesome chest...no more searching for ingredients, hehe.

After that I travelled to some shrines and picked up a few quests...even though I seem to be stuck a bit in one of them. Well, not bugged out or something, just haven't figured out yet what I'm supposed to do in it.

Been expanding my book collection too, and jumping and lockpicking myself into place I'm not supposed to be. Good fun.

So, basically, I haven't got a lot to say atm but I did take some pics and vids. Hope you like em.