Lightening Thief

The Chorrol mages guild head asked me to do away with a woman annoying the mages guild by figureing out what she wants.. well long story short she asked me to retrieve a book called "fingers of the mountain" off a hill top north of town. (why is everything north of town?) I agreed and then told the mages guild head about what the annoying woman wanted. The head said "tell her you'll get the book and then bring the book to me, that way I can keep it safe." He spoke about the book as if it were a very powerful thing.. odd. OK. So I set out for the book.

 On my bright and shiny new steed I set off into the night with Val right behind. The steed does indeed glow wonderfully at night and though the glow doesn't illuminate very far ahead, it was enough for me to keep track of where the path is! I was able to head up the mountain without any trouble.

I found a very curious sight when I arrived at the place. Inside of a charred body was the book, which upon trying to read I found I could not open. I packed it up and got back onto my tricorn and left back for town. When I arrived back in town I gave the book to the mages guild head, not the annoying woman, because i'm loyal that way. He thanked me, trusted I was unable to open it "good" then said he'd hide it in a place for safe keeping. The more he talked about how powerful the book was and how important it was the more I wanted it for myself.. so I followed him! I'm not very good at being sneaky yet so he was a very gullable fool for thinking I was not up to no good when he saw me behind him. I found him comming out of his room.. which was very tiny with only a dresser and chest and so I waited until he went down stairs which he did immediately, before heading into the room, opening the chest and fishing the book out effortlessly. What a fool.. I chuckled to myself as I was walking out of his room with the book, once again trying to open it and failing. "Huh.." So I pocketed it, and headed back down stairs.
On the way down I suddenly realized, I could still give the book to the annoying woman who wants it if I want.. she did promise me a great reward for it. The book, though being neat, is pretty useless to me anyway since I can't read it.. It would do nothing more than look great on my mantle at home. So I decided with a smile to give it to the annoying woman.

When she accepted it she was so excited to have it! She said she'd give me my reward the next day. I was a little weary that she was bluffing, but decided even if it was a bluff I still had nothing to lose.

Val and I payed the inn keeper for a room for the night and headed up to our room. When I opened the door though I stopped dead in my tracks with a "o.O" look on my face when I saw a man standing inside... odd.. the inn keeper assured me this room was free for the night. I walked forward and spoke to him to see if he had anything to say, or would let on to why he was here... but he simply greeted me and offered the same boring chit chat. He didn't seem to be any threat, so I let him stay and slept for the night. He was still there the next morning! "you were here all night?!" I shrugged "ohwell, to each their own" and left. Luckily when I arrived later that night he had left. Odd fellow..

That day I went back to the annoying woman and she did indeed give me my reward... A part of the book that said I could recieve a great power at the mountain area I had gotten the book from if I did a couple things. Thing one was to have a welkend stone. Thing two was to shock the pillar on the mountain with a lightening bolt. I had neither lightening bolt spell or stone.. so I headed off to an Alyed(Spelling?) ruin to fetch one!
There were many skeletons to do away with! None of them provided any good loot though. Val mostly helped me with them as they were a bit tough for me.. but I held my own pretty well.

Val was useless and even a hinderance in the hallway with the swinging blades though. I could time it just right to run straight through without getting slashed.. but Val didn't even bother. He was down in one blow and unconcious for quite a while. I had to drag his body along behind me. It was very agitating.
Other then that hallway, Val and I had the best of luck though. That wasn't the only trap. During the hallway I had thought it stopped after just four blades, and so skidded to a stop on the other side of those 4 blades only to be surprised by a 5th blade swinging VERY uncomfortably close to my chest. I could feel the wind from it rustle my hair. O.O OK.. obviously this hallway is longer than I thought. That was very lucky of me to miss it though!
Also, there was an room Val and I rushed in to cockily with our weapons flailing at a skeleton that was fleeing from us!... Only to suddenly find ourselves faaallllliiinnngg.. through the floor! I gasped as it was a trap floor that lowered/fell when weight was on it, to a spike filled pit below.. The spikes swooped up in front of me and Val suddenly! Again I could feel the wind from the closest spikes as they were close enough to tear my clothes! It left me startled and dazed. :O I took a couple seconds to recompose myself before climbing out. The skeleton had died from it.
Once obtaining a stone, though, I quickly left!

I reached the mountain where Fingers Of The Mountain was with Val and with the stone in hand, and a very cheap lightening spell I'd bought from a store, aimed my hand at the stone and zapped it! In the very same instance I did so I was stumbled backward by the sheer power of the four bolts that regurgitated above me from the stone to all four stornes sorrounding! It was such I could feel the pressure in the air change and heat up just like a near by lightening strike! I was left agape at it. I had never before done this part of the quest in all my years playing Oblivion so this was new to me, and exciting!
I checked my inventory and saw I did indeed have a new, powerful lightening spell in my posession.

Shock damage 20 points. That's not SUPER powerful, but much more than any other spell I would have at my current level! It's a great start!
I also Just had to enjoy the view.

Epilogue: The mages guild head still doesn't know I took the book. When I chatted with him next he said "odd, the book has gone missing. " but doesn't suspect me. He speaks to me as if I'm the most innocent, pure soul he ever knows. Meh..
It's not like I have anything stolen in my inventory...


And now... lets play What's Val Saying!

And when told I prefer magic....

Screw horses and game Armor

While walking through Anvil collecting herbs and plants for my alchemy I came across this rather curious looking hole behind someones house. I stopped and stared at it for a moment, scratching my head and thinking to myself "huh.. I wonder what that's doing there." So I decided to go and find out. I entered the persons' house, spoke with them a minute just to not seem rude, and then proceeded to their basement.

Turns out this woman is keeping rats as pets. "Are you crazy?!" I thought to myself as I wandered around her basement observing her three pet rats (one was dead due to disease) and the food area she had set up for them. "Rats should be eaten for food..." The food area can be seen to the very right of this picture on a rug.

A little further into the basement and I came across the culprit. Apparently some rats had decided to escape at one time and she boarded up the hole.

The Anvil mages guild head gave me the task of going to this inn north of Anvil and posing as a merchant there. Supposedly a rogue mage was killing merchants. On the way out I decided to try and boost myself a new horse, a faster and more pleasant looking one. I thought this horse was beautiful and couldn't help but snap a picture. However, because it wasn't officially my horse even though nobody seemed to care I took it, the horse would walk back to the stables once dismounted. This definately wouldn't do. I like my horses to stay where I put them so I can come back to them. I tried three times, mounting and dismounting, to get the horse to stay but he just wouldn't. Eventually my annoyance grew and I just thought "screw it... I'm getting my very own unique steed.."

That is when I downloaded this tricorn. I instantly fell in love with it on the web site and he had to be mine! I can summon him whenever he isn't where I want him to be, he's super fast, and beautiful! He is a peaceful tricorn though, and doesn't attack others even if I could use some defnending, unfortunately. One thing that makes up for that though, is that he casts a light (he glows) so maybe I will be able to travel at night now. We'll see.

Val and I stayed the night at the inn as instructed and the next morning set out, pretending to mind our own business when we were attacked by the rogue mage. From the bushes the other guild members rushed in to my aid and attacked the rogue, putting a stop to her murdering forever. Nobody knows why she turned crazy, that's the price you pay for killing first and asking questions later. I felt a little sorry for her though as several people and their summoned help ganged up on her all at once. She didn't stand a chance. 

I stopped then at the docks of Anvil, ocean side, so I could sell some of my loot for some extra cash. On our way out of Anvil Val collapsed for a moment and I grew very worried about him.

He's not lookin so well...

By the time He and I made it out of the city of Anvil it was storming out (again) which made everything very dark. It's not quite night yet, but it's still dark and I was caught breathless when I saw how my tricorn glows. It looks celestial! I'm so happy to have it! n.n

Val and I had a peaceful and eventless journey all the way back to the Imperial City where we began. There I decided if I'm going to get my very own steed, I might as well look the way i'm supposed to too. We stopped at the Apacchi Goddess store so I could buy myself some clothes. On the way through I caught sight of another beautiful view of the land.

Outside the store I gave Val all of my armor and weapons because I was about to get some new. Val looks quite handsome in it I must say. He seems to appreciate it too.

Inside the store I was "aww"'d by this cute little chihuahua the store owner had! It's adorable!

Here is the armor I chose to wear. I chose the highest protection I could find and the highest rated weapon too. It will soon be replaced by a staff once I get far enough along in the mages guild, but this will do for now, and raise my blade skill. My armor is called "gate closer armor" which suits me for I will in the far future be closing the gates of oblivion across the lands of Cyrodiil. I can't help but think it makes me look tough and cool though! I was lucky enough to also find the store owner sells mandrake root which cures disease. I kept two for myself and gave Val one, as well as a cure disease potion or two also bought there. Hopefully he'll be wise enough to eat or drink one and cure himself eventually.

Below is a snapshot I took of my arms. It seems I have grown some muscles from swinging my sword around so much (even though i've got no skill with it) and I didn't even know it.

Next stop: Chorrol.

Anvil

After getting the reccomendation from the Skingrad mages guild head my next stop is for Anvil. Anvil sits on the very west coast of Cyrodiil and you can see the ocean from the city. The town of Anvil is well paved and all of the buildings are built from stone making it look neat and clean, not to mention all of the homes there are rather large. I believe Anvil is a wealthy city, but it is very far from Skingrad.
The trip there was only a little less than miserable as it stormed the whole way. We also got attacked by a few bandits along the way, but I can't decide whether that's bad luck or good luck. On one hand I get to practice my blade skill, get a chance to gain some more loot to sell later.. but on the other hand getting attacked and fighting when I'm not very good at it yet and getting saved by Val all the time isn't so good.

One of the bandits who asked me to hand over my loot was a khajiit and I really hate to kill fellow cats so instead of simply attacking him I convinced him I was a member of the blades. He bought it, and apologised because he was scared, but I told him to hand me 100 septims and he could go, which he did fleeing into the distance as you can see in the above picture.

I also experienced some fog along the trail, which was really neat!

Just before reaching Anvil Val and I stopped to rest and barter with some traveling merchants. Val isn't feeling so well. He had caught a disease from battling some zombies with me in a cave earlier. Poor guy. I'm trying to find him something to cure his disease as soon as possible. Even though he can't die from it, it still hinders his fighting ability.

When I reached the city gates of Anvil I saw a really cool looking person walking out wearing this armor. They were some sort of secret blades member or something.. I dunno. But I wanted it, so I spoke with the person. They immediately tried to arrest me, and of course I resisted.. I don't want to go to jail! I didn't swing my sword or lay a hand on the poor person though, killing her was not my intention. Val on the other hand, to protect me, did. When she had died I looted her body. The stuff I didn't use braught me a fair amount of septims to buy more food with.

When I entered Anvil I made a B line for the chapel so that we could get Val healed.. but upon entering I found a massacre! There was dead people, and blood, everywhere! Even in strange writing on the floor... nobody's gonna get healed here. :T The good part of this is since everyone is dead there is no one around to catch me if I steal. I looted the whole chapel, mostly of food. They don't often have valuables. Yay food!

Walking around the chapel also boosted me up a level. These are my stats now. My next task given to me by the Anvil mages guild head is to go to an inn not far from Anvil and spy on a fellow mage to see if they're up to no good.

On to the next town.

I woke up today thinking "ahh.. what am I going to do today?" and gathered my thoughts about where I was in my life. I just finished the guild quest at Leyawiin and my next destination is the next city. Since I started and finished Bravil that city would be Skingrad. I pulled out my map and looked at it. Skingrad is a LOOOONG way away. We have a long journey ahead of us Val.

Val and I stopped by the local Inn for some breakfast. We then proceeded out of the town of Leyawiin only to be stopped just outside the city gates by a man in leather armor. He said that he was a policeman(guard) in disguise and had been trying to catch the men running a skooma den just up the hill. I smirked to myself thinking "ah huh.. and you think i'm going to help you with that?" but I amusedly listened to what he had to say. He said since the men recognise him already and run away when he goes near he asked if I would go catch them instead.. Not wanting anything to happen to a dear fellow skooma addict let alone those that help supply me with it I eagerly agreed with the intent to make sure nothing happened to them. The guard didn't know that though *grin*.

Val and I set off down the road toward the little cottage not far away. It was still a very difficult hike though and we had to stop and rest once along the way. It was pretty much a straight path, but through dense bushes, around forest trees and over large moss covered boulders.

We arrived and me with a smile on my face. As we entered the cottage we were met by a man who wasn't too keen on us being there.. but when I told him that a guard had sent us and I wanted to leave him alone he quickly loosened up. I asked for his ring to show the guard and he happily agreed, and said in return he would offer me skooma any time I wanted it (YAY!!!). With a grin and a spring in my step, practically humming to myself, Val and I turned and stepped off the porch after we exited and began our trek back to the guard at the city gates. The trek back was just has hard and long, but happier this time! The guard happily accepted the ring as proof of the death of these skooma dealers. "Well, my job's done!"

My next stop was at the Leyawiin stables to see if I could get a better horse now that I'm in a little bit of money. They only had this horse though, very slow but still faster than my stupid nag. This is my new horse.

After I bought her I observed an odd glitch.. XD

The one who sold me the horse seems to be walking on air!
On the way out of Bravil I stopped by the skooma den i'd helped save and spent a couple hours there... first passed out on the floor due to skooma withdrawl because I had not been watching myself correctly and resting from it, next to buy some from the guy who promised me some. Ah.. this is the life!

It was now past dusk and I was nearly to Bravil when I saw a strange sight up ahead that made me pause for a moment on the bridge. I figured out, after a few seconds of watching, that it is something... two creatures or two people.. or something.. fighting! The light display was quite pretty and exciting to watch! It was red bolts against blue bolts.

After arriving in Bravil, of course the next task is to find a room to bed for the night since it was night. I hate traveling at night, even though I can do it, because I can barely see the road. It takes forever to get somewhere because I always lose the road and end up going several minutes out of my way.. and I can't even back track half the time because I can't find the trail I took to get where I am! Anyway.. at the inn I was able to talk the keeper into letting me stay for a night for free. He and I had a short converstaion when I arrived and he grew to like me. It certaintly wasn't because I'm pretty! Because right now as you can see in the previous pictures I don't look like much of a lady.. I probly smell horrible too! XD

The next day was beautiful, not like the usual rainy. In most of Cyrodiil there is no snow so the winter becomes the rainy season, and right now it is in early winter. But just look at the view I got along the way to Skingrad!

The pictures don't do it justice. I had decided to go off the trail and make a B line to Skingrad instead of using the road because it was windy and would have taken longer. Val didn't like the idea because the wilderness can be scary, but i'm on a horse and nothing attacks horses! Muahahahah! XD

I didn't do much yet after arriving in Skingrad, but I did realize after buying the horse, and a few herbs from dealers along the road that I had absolutely very few Septims left. I tried to beg some food from the local Skingrad inn but they refused. Food always costs 20 septims. I went to the inn basement to see if I could find and steal some from there but found the basement occupied with a man selling herbs and looking for ninroot. I bought from him as much food as I could afford which brought my septims to 0 but at least i'm not starving now.

Aaaarrrgh!

The longer I stay in Tamriel (the name) the more I despise it. Every day seems to be a struggle and I long for the life when everything was easy. I was rich, every physical exertion was performed with ease and I could reach any room and any height due to my skills. Sneaking was a snap as well... and I could talk anybody into anything! Now life is just one big struggle. Luckily Val is always by my side the whole time and helps make it easier to cope. There have been more than a few times now when he has saved my butt in battle.

My stats so far, not very impressive yet.

The head guild member of Bravil also asked me for a favor. Her husband was trapped in a dream world of his own creation. He'd planned to go there to train, but got stuck and asked if I'd help. I really didn't want to, but due to me trying to be a good person I reluctantly agreed. It didn't help that when I looked over at Val he batted his lashes at me so to speak.. Darn do gooder... Upon arriving I found myself naked! And stripped of all my belongings except for the amulet that brought me here. Eeek! Val came too but was not naked and didn't seem to look twice at me. I must admit my first thought when I realized I had nothing was "Oh no! What am I going to do if I start to go through skooma withdrawl?!" I panicked a little bit..XD

This place felt familiar (I've done it once before, a long time ago) but couldn't remember anything so it was an adventure for me. All of the tests were really easy actually, I easily figured out the hint scrolls at the beginning of each. Along the way Val got seperated from me but we found each other again in the end. He really was just along for the ride. There were no enemies to kill and I could figure everything out on my own. We eventually got her husband out of the dream world, yay for me!

Our next stop was the city of Leyawiin in the deep south. Leyawiin is settled in a boggy, marshy, swampy type land where the air is thick and musky. It's always unpleasant to my nose. In Leyawiin first stop was to the church to see if they would cure myself and Val of our diseases.. which they did! Yay!

The mages guild head asked me to retrieve for her an amulet. To do this I had to enter a fort, FINALLY a dungeon crawl! We had to kill many bandits through the fort, but eventually retrieved what we came for. Val kept attacking the bandits in a crouched "sneaking" stance the whole time which really slowed him down and made him look stupid.. but whatever floats your boat man...(sorry the pic is hard to see because its all blue due to my night vision. Val is a small dot in the middle just above the flickering torch on the floor.

The big boss of the fort was too hard for me to battle. I died once actually when trying to fight him by myself. The second time I learned from that mistake and let Val take over, which he gladly did! The boss only wanted to kill me since I was the holder of the amulet though, and so I simply ran in circles around the room healing myself constantly while the boss hacked and slashed at me constantly.. all the while Val is chasing the boss and hacking and slashing at him! In the end the boss keeled and Val and I were able to leave with new armor. I must admit though the armor works well and keeps me save, its very cumbersome and looks silly, all too big on me. I'm always hefting it up and adjusting it and what not.

The exit through the dungeon was almost as difficult as the entrance! I had gathered so much "loot" that I couldn't carry it without toppling over. I carried as much as I could (I was still panting heavily the whole time and could barely walk) while piling the rest onto Val to carry like some shopping maniac who dragged her husband along. Val was also panting pretty heavily and couldn't fight well because of it all. The exit involved us barely dragging ourselves out, panting heavily the whole time, so heavily we couldn't hear anything but ourselves.. and tripping and stumbling and falling all over the place. I must say the skooma did help a lot with it though. The only downside is when I go into withdrawl i'll get clumsy. There was one point where Val and I were approaching a door and I stumbled and fell against it, hitting my head. Of course I was alright, it just told me "ope! Time for some more skooma!" We eventually made it back to the town of Leyawiin, into the armorer and sold him the items we couldn't use. Val got some new items to wear for himself as well. This is what he looks like now.

I also gained another level and some gold. It's not much, just a little over one thousand, but hopefully it'll be enough to keep us fed and disease free. The whole ordeal has seemed to soften Val up toward me. We didn't fight through the whole thing but worked together well, and he seems to like me much more now. I must admit after he's saved my life a few times he seems less annoying to me, also. We even had a couple of amusing conversations during one point in the dungeon when we were in a nicely lit rest area by ourselves without any enemies. We were able to have a good nap there a couple of times. We were in the fort all night so sleeping while going through it wasn't that surprising.

At the end of the day I chalked this day up to being.. exhausting. I don't even want to think about it. I just want to collapse onto my bed.

Life Gets Serious

In Bravil the more I walked around the worse I felt about things. Things wearn't looking good, and what I mean is the amount of disease around. Not to mention most everyone seemed to be down in the dumps (No pun intended) all the time. About the only ones friendly to me were the guards and my fellow mages guild mates. Upon joining, Val expressed his pleasure at being a member of the mages guild. He's automatically in with me since he's my partner. He always seems to have the worst luck in stepping in things though! It cracks me up.

My first task was to fetch back a mages staff for one of the guild members. So Val and I set out for the Imperial City! I got a chance to ride my dinosaur for the first time. I rode it all the way to the city! I must admit, it looks awesome.. but the ride itself is very rough! The dinosaur sways heavily from side to side and it's neck is always in the way. It was annoying as heck and so after reaching the city, I quickly ditched it.

Just thought i'd share this amazing view with you! The picture does it no justice.

Val and I went into the house of the man who had the staff, he was having a little get together with his friends. I politely spoke with him for a bit then asked for it back. He refused and refused to give it up to me, saying he payed for it. I spoke to his wife about it then and she seemed annoyed at her husband for doing such a silly thing anyway. So I "tsk'd" thinking "fine i'll get it myself"  and just stepped past the group of people to the mans basement and stole it from there. He didn't seem to notice or care. On the way out I stopped by the stables to see if the horses were working yet, and sure enough they are finally visible! Yay! I fixed it! But one of the  horses seemed to be floating in the air in an odd position. This thing is common in oblivion. Silly horse.

I was going to just steal one of the horses, but as I walked forward to do it Val quickly recognised what I was about to do and stopped me. He begged me not to steal the horse.. and suddenly remembering I had a couple of vouchers in my pocket for a free horse I reluctantly agreed. I walked into the stables building and asked for the horse, she said she would see what she could do. I walked out to greet my new horse.... and its a nag.. a NAG?! I stood around grumbling to myself for a moment but every time I glanced over at Val his eyes pleaded me not to do anything dishonest.. so I accepted the stupid ol' nag... Sure she's pretty... but she's DANG SLOW.

I mounted her like an expert.... and felt like a dang fool riding off at a pace I could easily keep up with myself on foot.. Val wasn't even breaking a sweat running behind me!

Along the way I stopped and stripped some of the corpses of their leather curasses so I could sell them later. I hadn't taken them when I'd killed those people because they really aren't worth that much, about 33 septims each and I normally never take anything under 50. But with so few septims I was beginning to hurt and can use anything I can get my hands on. The catch to this was I had caught a disease stripping corpses that had been laying in the dirt for so long, so I am expecting some heavy coughing and fatigue in the near future.

It was getting dusk so val and I decided to stop by a little Inn along the way to weather the night. When I arrived though, I found some stupid guy(probly a guard of some sort) had parked his horse on the door step... WTF.. guys don't know how to park around here!

Inside Val and I spoke with the bar maid for a few hours while the sun set outside. We spoke about mundane ol' things you wouldn't want to hear about. I managed to snag us a room for free instead of having to pay, which is really good because I had very little money left, barely enough to buy a snack to eat. As soon as I entered my room Val stopped and turned to me.. and gave me a talking to about how important it is to stay a good, honest person. He was speaking from his heart I could tell, because he began to talk about how he and his family grew up honest people. How he would never steal from anyone... It got me thinking about it a bit, and maybe he's right. Maybe I should watch myself more. I do have  a heart after all.

By now I'm at level 3. I'll do my best to remember to post a picture of my stats in the future.