Walkthrough And FAQ - Guide for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
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******************** ****************** ******* ***** ****** ***** ****** ***** ***** ***** ***** * **** 111 111 1 ***111 1 *** 1 111** 111 1 111 11 11 1 1 1 ****1 11***11 1***11 11 11 1 11 11 111 1 ***1 1 **1 *1**11 11 1 1 1 11 11 1 1 1 ***1 11 11 *1**11 11 1 1 1 11 11 1 1 1 **1 1 1 *1* 11 11 1 11 111 111 1111*111 1 111 111 111 1 ** *** ** *** ** *** * ** ** * The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Walkthrough and FAQ V.1.0 (Started 12-1-05)(Updated 3-29-06) By Corey Blanding This file is Copyright (c)2005,2006 Corey Blanding. All rights reserved. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Table of Contents +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Chapter 1 :Me Chapter 2 :This Guide Chapter 3 :This Game Chapter 4 :Main Story Walkthrough Chapter 5 :City by City Sidequests Chapter 6 :Character Creation Chapter 7 :Misc. Chapter 8 :Credits Chapter 9 :Copyright Notice Chapter 10 :Contact Info +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Chapter 1 :Me +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Howdy folks. Ok so this will be my first official FAQ/Walkthrough. Seeing as how that's so I'd like to thank you for giving this guide a chance. Now I'm a huge Morrowind fan and so I've been looking forward to this game for a VERY long time. In fact I started writing this in late 2005 so that I would have all this extra nonsense out of the way when the game finally came out after a small delay. I mean I even made the ASCII seen above, it looked better in my head. But yeah so the Table of Contents pretty much lays out the order this will be updated. I'm gonna fly though the main quest just for you guys, then I'll start over and exhaust every city one by one, finally after all that I'll lay down what I've gleaned of Character Creation, stat wise, no one will care what I have to say about nose placement. So now that you've seen the order I'm doing this in, "if" someone wants to go exhaust a town for me, do a quick write up and email it my way I'll include it giving you full credit, both good and bad until I have a chance to confirm it, then you 'll just get the good credit. Again that's just "if" you feel like it. I will never do an item or armor compendium, basic spells maybe but that's it. So don't ask me about where you can get what armor and which is better, I'll have an opinion but nothing factual for you, and I have a tendency to be a sarcastic ass when I get asked the same thing all the time, so unless you like being abused, don't. I'll try and be nice for real questions though. So yeah enjoy and I hope you find this helpful, if nothing else this will be a great reference guide for myself since I'll at least understand what I'm saying. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Chapter 2 :This Guide +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Version .01 12-1-2005 -Outlined Guide Structure -Wrote Chapters 1, 9, and 10 -Started Chapters 2, 3, and 8 Version .02 3-17-2006 -Added "Races of Tamriel" to Chapter 6 -Thought about adding "The Basics of Skill" but decided to sleep Version .03 3-18-2006 -Added "The Basics of Skill" to Chapter 6 -Added "What's Your Sign?" to Chapter 6 -Expanded upon "Races of Tamriel" in Chapter 6 Version .5 3-22-2006 -Began Main Walkthrough, "Prison Break" and "Welcome to Cryodiil" Version .6 3-26-2006 -Added "Into Oblivion", "Battle for Kvatch", and "Priory Surprise" -Cleaned up some spelling errors. Version .7 3-27-2006 -Added "Commentaries on the Mysterium Xarxes", "Mythic Dawn Shrine", "Spies, Spies, Everywhere", and "Dimensional Ingredients" -Corrected error about Beast Races, thanks again Jessi Version .8 3-28-2006 -Added "Azura's Vampires", "Tiber's Tomb", and "The Great Stone" -Added "Canvas the Castle" in Chapter 5 -Added NOTE about Sigil Stones under "Into Oblivion" Version 1.0 3-29-2006 -Corrected error about Imperials, thanks Duncan -Added "The Great "Evil" Stone", "Paradise Lost", and "Dragon Fires" -Added NOTE about "Aid for Bruma" optional quest -Corrected a whole bunch more spelling errors +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Chapter 3 :This Game +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Version 1.0 3-21-2006 -Original straight out of the package +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Chapter 4 :Main Story Walkthrough +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Okay so this is gonna start out a very rough outline of the story and it will include certain unavoidable spoilers so don't read ahead. I'll clean it up as I play through again and pay more attention to detail. Prison Break: You, whoever you may be and however you may decide to look, start out in jail, congrats. The guy in the cell across from you is a wonderful conversationalist and will surely have great things to say to you. After he is done insulting your wonderful little self you will hear voices coming down the stairs. Three guards and a rather fancily dressed man will appear outside your cell and be quite confused for a moment as to why you are there. As it turns out, fancy pants is the emperor, his three guards are members of the secret service like organization called the "Blades". Someone is trying to kill the emperor and so he's fleeing for his life, like any rational being would. Part of that fleeing involves escaping through a secret tunnel whose entrance is located on the side wall of your cell. Well apparently you are the man or woman of the Emperor's dreams cause he recognizes you and instantly trusts you, don't try and betray him, you couldn't kill him anyway, no seriously its impossible. But yeah so I recommend following them down the tunnel but hang back a step or two because they are gonna get ambushed and you're wearing rags, not much protection. One of the blades' operatives die in this ambush, you should pick up her sword for sure and any armor or clothes you can find. Then you should equip them. They will run off ahead of you, and unless I just sucked at following their tracks you will lose them and enter an underground cavern, lots of rats down here and a good number of goblins. This will walk you through the basics of combat, stealth, magic, and interacting with the world. Towards the end of the caverns you'll enter a rather large room, which if I remember correctly has two basic goblins and a rather nasty goblin witch, plus a few more rats. Although I didn't, I would recommend taking out the witch first, she has a sweet little staff that shoots lightening when she swings. Kill her, equip her staff, and fry her friends. After the witch you should catch back up to Septim and his bodyguards, you'll now choose your birthsign, you can look at the character creation section for an idea of what each one has but it tells you in game too. So now you stay with Septim and the remaining two Blades. You'll be ambushed a few more times and this time the baddies know you're against them and they know your an easy target, so fry them or hack them but keep your finger near the tab button as that will pause the game and allow you to access a potion from your inventory, unless you hotkeyed your potion sin which case just keep a finger ready to hit the magic number. You shouldn't have too much of a problem though. You're group will eventually reach a locked gate, they decide to try door number two which is of course another ambush. This time your party doesn't fare so well, you'll lose the jerk Blade and the Emperor himself, though not before he passes on his last words and his Amulet of Kings to you. Clean up the last baddie or two then the only other survivor in your party will talk to you. He tells you about the priory you need to head towards and also helps you pick your class, specialization, and primary skills and stats. Then he takes away that sweet blade you had picked up off the first dead blade and sends you on your way. Fear not though, if you made it past the witch ok the rest of the sewers are nothing special. You'll come to a final gate, through which you should see daylight, SAVE YOUR GAME BEFORE GOING THROUGH THE DOOR. When you click the gate it gives you the option to change anything about your character setup from its appearance and race to its birthsign to its class. If you make a save file here then from now on you'll never have to go through those first, rather dark hours of the game. After saving and perfecting your character head through the gate. Welcome to Cryodiil: You are currently located right outside the Imperial City, heads on in and find some equipment, some quests, and any other goodness you stumble across. Then look down at your compass, turn till you see a red arrow, and start marching in that direction. I cut through like the crow flies but for those of you who think following "roads" might be more your style, then you want the Black Road, heading west towards Chorrol. I ran across a Khajit Highwayman on my way, he wanted a hundred gold, I said no, it was a tough fight but I killed him. Eventually you'll find Chorrol and the monastery, go in and talk with Jaffur or something like that, give him the amulet, tell him your story, talk to him until all the options grey out indicating he has nothing new to say. He wants you to find Martin the bastard son of Emperor Septim, who is a priest in Kvatch. Make sure you talk with both the other monks in the monastery about "assistance" one gives you a book that improves block the other offers use of his horse. Now you can follow the roads back towards the imperial city then switch over to the Gold Road, or you can travel off the beaten path, again I went as the crow flies. When you reach Kvatch, which will appear as a large fort on top of a hill surrounded by a few farms and what not, you'll notice a big red flaming gate blocking your way. Join the guards who are already there in the fight against the fiends from Oblivion. Afterward head back and talk with them, if you bring up Martin you'll learn he's trapped inside the city, but you can't get in unless you somehow turn off the gate, from the inside. Save, rest up, invest in fire proof armor(I'm just kidding here, although it would be useful if you could find some). Then head on in. Into Oblivion: One of your first sights upon entering the flaming, demon spewing, giant gate, is a scorched corpse lying on the ground in front of you. This is immediately followed by some "leveled daedra", which means my level 1 orc, got to smash stunted scamps and your level 13 whatever, gets to fry something a hell of a lot more deadly, but then again, you'll be a badass anyway by then. So yeah you kill some monsters, then find a live Kvatch guard, he tells you his friend was taken up to the tower then tries to skip town on you. You can let him or you can ask for his help. He never lived long for me, but then again I typically use companions as meat shields. On the plus side he has nice light armor, for those of us who are level 1 or 2. You and him have to weave your way to the tower, avoiding rock slides, and firery proximity mines and of course killing off all the mobs you find. When you reach the tower, save, then head in, for me there were two leveled monsters in the first room as well as two mana shrines, which essentially just cast restore magicka on you and then die. You'll work you way through one of the doors into the rending halls, then move on to the blood feast, and you'll continue working your way up through the corridors of salvation and through the blood feast a few more times before you reach the "top". There is a locked door along the way, but it has an easy lock or you can cross the bridge to one of the side towers and kill the daedra there for a key. When you reach the top you'll have a slightly tougher leveled monster and then you'll see a glowing stone, once you take the stone, you are cast out of Oblivion and the gate closes, so make sure that you've looted the good stuff first. NOTE:: the Sigil Stone which now resides in your inventory can be used to enchant weapons and armor and clothing. When you hover your mouse above it two spells will show up on the side, the upper spell is applied to weapons on strike, the lower is applied to armor or clothing as a constant effect. I got a helm of constant nighteye doing this, which has been incredibly helpful in the early game, since I no longer need torches or need to waste magicka casting light, or nighteye. Also, you can not fail to enchant an item. ::END NOTE Battle for Kvatch: Once out of the oblivion gate, go back and talk to the guards, he'll ask if your ready to storm the city with him. I typically sell my loot and repair my armor in the encampment first but that's up to you. Agree to go with the guard, charge the city, get swarmed by leveled mobs, kill them, enter church. Don't be too concerned with the swarm you have 3, maybe 4, guards who come with you. In the church you can find Martin, tell him that he isn't really a bastard and he will agree to come with you. At this point you can tell Martin to sit tight and you can rejoin the guards to finish off expelling the daedra from the city, or you can leave with Martin for now and come back later. The plus side to having Martin sit tight is an enchanted Kvatch piece of armor with a bonus to its armor rating too. I'm going to assume you like enchanted armor. Tell Martin to wait, tell the guard your ready, run out and kill lots of mobs, soon you discover your locked out, but conveniently there is another way in. Run back to the chapel, talk to the guard with the key, he'll lead the way. At this point you should also be joined by a squad of Imperial Legion soldiers. Bring them along, run through the underground passage, and across the open area your guide will probably die, lift the key from his body and keep going. A side note, should a legion soldier die, and your character happens to be a heavy armor build, then you should definatly borrow his suit and hope it serves you better. But yeah, get into the castle, open the main gate, your old squad will rejoin you and you'll be bum rushed by daedra. Kill them all and work you way back to some grand hall. The wimp of a guard will tell you to go ahead and he will guard your back, luckily the legionnaires go with you. You eventually make it to the Count's room, he's dead, lift his signet ring and return to the guard, trade the ring for the enchanted armor. Now go back and get Martin and its back to the monk house. Priory Surprise: I recommend fast traveling back, mainly because you and Martin will never want to move at the same speed otherwise. You arrive, some farmer comes to you to whine about being under attack, he stops talking and you will most likely be hit instantly. Finish up the attackers, these are the same type of guys who killed Martin's daddy. Jauffre is hiding out in the chapel, go save him. He says they came for the amulet and runs off to see if its missing, surprise, it is. You now need to secure Martin and Jauffre somewhere safe. Jauffre recommends Cloud Ruler Temple, a Blade stronghold, again fast travel cause its a long way, and not worth struggling with your two companions and possibly a horse, you can walk it later to see the pretty sites. At Cloud Ruler, they welcome and hail Martin, Jauffre sends you off back to the Imperial City to meet up with Barus, the only surviving blade from when the Emperor was attacked. Commentaries on the Mysterium Xarxes: Upon reaching the Imperial City, you should follow your lovely red arrow to Luthor's Boarding House, Barus should be seated at the front counter. Talk to him. He tells you to sit down and shut up. Do so. Now he explains that he is being tailed and he wants you to follow the guy following him. He gets up and heads to the basement, the man in the corner gets up and follows, you get up and follow him. You're gonna want a torch here cause its dark and you don't want to knock Barus unconscious by mistake. The tail will transform into the heavily armored cultist that he is, and be slain by the combined might of you and Barus. Search his body and you will find a book titled, Commentaries of the Mysterium Xarxes Volume 1, take it, read it, it'll up a magical skill. Now talk to Barus, he'll tell you to talk to one of the mages at the academy just outside town. She will tell you about the book you hold and the cult you are being hunted by, she will also give you the second book, which increases a different magical skill. She will also recommend visiting the first edition to find Volume 3 of 4. The bookstore owner tells you he has the book, but it isn't for sale cause he already sold it and is just waiting for the guy to pick it up. At this point you could persuade and bribe the bookstore owner for the book or you could wait for the other guy, Gwinas, to show up. Wait for Gwinas. Not only will this save you 100 gold but you have to talk to him anyway. When he shows up let him finish his transaction before approaching him, if your good you can convince him to give you the book for free. He will also tell you how to get book 4. Report back to Barus. Book 4 can only be gotten from a cultist. Luckily Gwinas already had a meeting set up. Travel with Barus into the sewers and follow him until you arrive at the door outside the room with the table. You'll know you are there cause Barus will stop walking and tell you so. Now it's time to decide who goes where. Barus wants to go to the table, leaving you crouched upstairs as his backup, but you can argue so that you get to sit at the table. I'm not aware of any particular benefit, except that whoever stays upstairs will be confronted by two cultists, while the guy downstairs only faces one at first. But it will come down to a fight, 2 on 3. Keeping Barus alive should be a chief concern here as he will award you three free skill points, one in block, blade, and heavy armor when you speak to him back at the Temple. Also the downstairs cultist has an enchanted ring, that grants a low grade fire shield as a constant effect (this may or may not be leveled loot). Get the book follow Barus out of the sewers, return to your mage friend and she'll give you a hint about how to find the shrine using the books. The trick is to read the big red letters and then partition them into words. They read "GREENEMPERORWAYWHERETOWERTOUCHESSUN" aka "Green Emperor Way, where tower touches sun". "Green Emperor Way" may sound familiar, its an area right outside the Imperial Palace filled with tombstones. "Where tower touches sun" is less a location and more a time of day, i.e. noon. Your mage friend will eventually tell you all that if you ask her on four separate days for help. Wander around the cemetery till you find a large Princes tomb, on the side opposite the tower you'll find an engraving, now wait till noon, the engraving lights up and gives you the location of the Mythic Dawn Shrine. Mythic Dawn Shrine: You will need to travel via horse of foot to reach the shrine, which is buried in some caves. There are two ways to do this part of the quest, A) Large and in charge or B) Deceit and thievery. Both work, and depending on your class, and the level of certain skills you may be tempted in one direction or another. Route A involves killing everything you see once you enter the cave, but remember once you've killed one cultists, all his or her brothers are gonna come at you on sight. These are the guys who transform into the big armor with the big spiky maces. If you decide to follow Route B, you will have to sacrifice all your weapons, items, armor, and gold, unless of course you "accidentally" drop all of it in a well lit corner in the room where you meet the first cultist, but you can't drop the gold. Either route you will work your way to the main cavern where the "Master" is speaking, he has the amulet, you can't take it from him, what you can take however is the Mysterium Xarxes itself though, the "bible" of the Mythic Dawn. How you get the book varies according to route, you can just take it via route A, or you can complete the sacrifice, and wait for everyone to leave the room before pilfering the book. Touching the book immediately puts all cultists to hostile, and don't forget to recover all the goodies that were taken from you by killing the cultist who took them.** Once you get the book you need to get back to Cloud Ruler Temple and talk to Jauffre, then give the book to Martin, who apparently dabbled in the darker arts before becoming a priest. Spies, Spies, Everywhere Jauffre has a new job for you while we wait for Martin to figure out the Xarxes. Apparently they have spotted some spies casing the Temple, its you're job to find them, figure out what they are after, and eliminate them. If you talk to Captain Steffan about the spies he'll tell you they have been spotted around a "Doomstone" just outside the castle. If you go there at dusk you'll probably find at least one cultist, she's not really sneaky and will charge straight at you. You will lift a key off her dead body, which unlocks someone's basement. Nearby is a cavern, which you can wander through looking for the other cultist. This cavern will eventually lead back into Bruma and into someone's basement. The other way to go is to talk to Captain Burd of the Bruma guard or any beggar on the street of Bruma (beggars are always good sources of info) to find out that one of the residents has been seen with someone "strange". You can go to this person's house to try talking with her about it, but she will attempt to kill you, luckily she was a spy anyway and the plans are down in her basement. Return the plans to Jauffre after you dispatch both spies. Dimensional Ingredients Martin has had time to study the Xarxes and has figured out that the book is the instructions of how to enter the Mythic Dawn's "Paradise". The first ingredient in the spell is the essence of a Daedric Lord. Sounds tough right? Luckily you won't need to find and soul trap a Daedric Lord for this, their essence is imbued into their special items, and so offering up one of the items is like offering up the lords essence. Now you have a wide selection to choose from here and choose you must because anything you offer up can not be brought back. Martin recommends a book for you to read that contains the location of one of the Daedric Lords' shrines, Azura's. For the sake of this guide I will assume you go there, because A)it's easier, and B) the shrines have level pre- requisites, Azura's is only a level 2 pre-req. Visit her shrine, you need to offer her some glow dust at dawn or dusk in order for her to talk to you. Glow dust can be harvested from those floating yellow Wisps in the area. BUT regular weapons won't do any damage, you WILL need something magical or daedric or Silver to get it. I used a bound weapon from a scroll to kill mine. When you offer up the dust Azura will talk to you. She will tell you a story about some loyal followers who while trying to cleanse the area of Vampires fell victim to the disease instead and how they are now locked away. She offers to open the door that binds them if you will kill them all for her and let them rest. Your reward is Azura's Star, a reusable soulgem that can house even the strongest of souls. If you feel this is too valuable to use as an ingredient, find another shrine. Azura's Vampires: Technically this doesn't have to be the shrine you used, but since its the one that is found first I'm gonna write it in here. Ok, so to prepare for this quest you need two things, first you need a potion of cure diseases, which should be saved until after you have killed the last vampire, second you should have a magic, silver, or daedric weapon, cause vampires have a resistance to normal weapons. If your weapon does fire damage on strike, that is helpful too. So there are 5 vampires in the gutted mine, and one ball and chain trap, in the very beginning. There isn't a lot to this quest, if you go in prepared, you'll walk out in good shape, just remember to pay attention to if you get infected, and drink your potion after you complete your quest. Also the heavily armored vampire, has a note on his body, which may or may not be required to complete the quest, upon further consideration I don't believe it is. Either way return to the shrine, you don't have to wait for a special time, just click the shrine and listen to Azura's little speech, then take the Star and head back to the temple where you will deliver it to Martin. Tiber's Tomb: First and foremost, I'm well aware it's not really Tiber's Tomb, its closer to being a shrine, but that's irrelevant. Ok so, this "tomb" is filled with ghosts and skeletons...I don't recall any zombies but they may be there too. I'm also pretty sure the mobs here are leveled, the point of telling you there are ghosts though is so that you realize you need a "special" weapon, i.e. magical, daedric, or silver. Luckily one should be lying on the floor next to an actually dead skeleton. The goal here is to free the four ghosts of Tiber's Blades, combined they will overcome the magick of the Underking and lower the barrier blocking you from Tiber's armor. All four blades skeletons' have an enchanted item, for me, I got two enchanted swords an enchanted shield and an enchanted necklace. Tiber's armor is also enchanted, but you have to give that up. Return to Martin when you finish, give him the armor he'll give you the quest for the next ingredient. The Great Stone: The third ingredient is a great and powerful magic stone. Which is buried in a long lost city of an ancient civilization...ohh and guarded by a powerful and dead king. So this quest is a tad cliche, but it has secret passageways so that makes up for it in my book. Ok so yeah this quest has skeletons and goblins and zombies and the dead king, who qualifies as a ghost, which means you still need your "special" weapon. What's funny is that the goblins and the undead don't get along, so they will fight each other for you, in fact they like one another less than they like you so they'll fight each other first then turn on you. But yeah, so you'll wander into this underground city and quickly discover that all the doors seem to be opened from somewhere else, but that there is no lever for you to pull anywhere. You'll need to jump off a bridge to find the lever, which is actually a button, press the button then work your way up and back across the bridge to the next room, again its find the button. Then you progress again to the next area, I believe there were only two buttons you needed to find before your way was clear. When you see the great stone, and it will be great and glowing, grab it. This will prompt that undead king to spawn, kill him and his zombie friends. Now you could work your way back how you came or you could enter that room the king came out of, the raised tile opens a secret passage when you step on it, follow the passage kill the zombies, loot the coffins, you eventually find another raised tile which opens a second passageway, which lets you out directly at the entrance to the underground city. Take the stone back to Martin. He has now figured out the last ingredient. NOTE:: Optional Quest, "Aid for Bruma" will make the next quest easier. It involves visiting every other major city and speaking with the Count or Countess, and getting them to send some soldiers to Bruma. They will all ask that you first close the Oblivion gate that stands outside their own walls, except for Kvatch, they will just agree to send soldiers as you already closed that gate. Jauffre offers this quest::END NOTE The Great "Evil" Stone: As the first two ingredients were opposing forces, so too are the last two ingredients. The magic in the stone you just received finds its opposite in an Oblivion Sigil Stone, but not just any sigil stone, no in a Great Oblivion Sigil Stone, a stone that anchors the Great Gates that the largest of war machines from Oblivion pass through. Martin has decided that you and he must allow the Great Gate to open outside Bruma, then while he stays to defend the city, you will enter into Oblivion once again and try and get to the stone before the Daedric Siege Machine can destroy Bruma. You also get the honor of explaining Martin's plan to the Countess of the city he is using as bait. So that's your first step, go talk to the Countess of Bruma, tell her to meet Martin in the Church. She goes, they talk, and when you speak with her again your real quest begins. If you did the "Aid for Bruma" optional quest noted above, you'll get a few more companions to help guard Martin while you wait for the three lesser gates to open and then the final Great Gate. Head on into the Great Gate when it opens. This time you have a time limit, but don't be too concerned my Orc, fully decked in heavy armor still managed to move fast enough to finish this with time to spare. There is a straight bridge in front of you leading to the entrance of the main tower, but the giant insect looking weapon is wandering down that so enter into either the left or right tower nearest to you and take the high road to the next tower, then the low road to the next tower. There was a bit of a gap in the road on the left side, but again my novice jumping Orc made the jump so I'm confident you can too. There is a gate blocking you from the main tower, but the lever is conveniently located what I'll call the third tower. Pull lever, run through gate, kill baddies, climb main tower. If you've run a few Oblivion gates you should be use to this by now, but enter the rending halls then the central portal area, then the corridors of dark salvation, then the center portal area again, then head into where the sigil is kept at the very top of the tower. As expected you'll find a few more baddies so dispatch them and grab the Great Sigil Stone, thus closing the portal and somehow killing the siege weapon. Return the stone to Martin and then prepare for a relaxing trip to paradise. Paradise Lost: Return to Martin when you are fully rested and stocked for your trip, unlike with the Oblivion gates the portal to Paradise does not stay open, so once you enter you have to finish the quest. So head on in, and...holy crap, nothing is on fire in here...it looks...peaceful. But looks can be deceiving, go ahead follow the brick road laid out for you, you'll hear our good friend the "Master" taunting and talking to you throughout your travels in Paradise. He is the great and powerful man behind the curtain in this land and will see everything you do. But yeah back on the brick road, and you following it. If you talk to the people at the top of the hill you'll learn that they hate it here, immortality isn't fun when everything around you kills you again and again on a daily basis. Head back down the hill get back on the path and work your way to the forbidden grotto, which only the "chosen" can enter. The grotto is guarded, but the guard is a decent type, he'll let you through if you kill him, or if you do him a service. My build was combat oriented so I just killed him, but you're more than welcome to try doing him a service, I will when I work my way through again. Once you get the bands, make your way to the door to the grotto, equip them and head in. The bands have a 50% weakness to fire, and as luck would have it they are stuck on you. As you wander the grotto and kill the hostiles you'll be approached by a man who says he wants to help, and who claims to be able to remove your bands. Since as it turns out the bands keep you from ever leaving the grotto. He asks you to play along with him and act like a prisoner when the warden comes, this involves climbing into a cage and being lowered towards a lava pit, but rest assured, you'll be safe. I assume you could also just kill the warden, but I didn't try that yet. The man says he will meet you further into the caves, after you get released to the other side of the lava river. You'll find a door you can walk through and your friend will be on the other side. He will remove your bands as promised. He will also follow you out of the grotto if you agree to his help in killing the Master. I recommend you take it, unlike other allies, this one is immortal. But yeah work your way up to the Main building here in Paradise, both the Master's children who you are likely responsible for killing will meet you at the entrance and lead you in. Go talk to the Master, hear his spiel, then talk to him again and he'll get all defensive about the amulet and dare you to take it from his cold dead fingers. This is a tough fight mainly cause it's really chaotic and your in a cramped room with a lot of bodies, and because the Master is really quite good with the restorative spells, but eventually you'll kill him and take the Amulet of Kings and be transported back to Cloud Ruler Temple as Paradise crumbles around you. Dragon Fires: With the Amulet returned to him there is only one thing left to do, head back to the Imperial City and talk with the High Chancellor. Just as you are preparing to head out to relight the dragonfires, you get besieged by Oblivion gates inside the city. Your job is to get Martin safely to the temple so that he may relight the fires and close the oblivion gates. When you get to the temple district where the dragonfires are housed, you will find a lot of Gates, and a lot of enemies, including a very special enemy. When Martin sees this enemy he will despair, but after talking with you will move on, get him into the temple and be prepared for a spectacular fight, feel free to remove your armor so that you may watch this divine duel more comfortably. When the fight is over the High Chancellor will find and talk to you. You are the Champion of Cyrodiil and will have a suit of Dragon Armor that is typically reserved only for the Emperor made for you. Congratulations you have completed the main storyline, now go forth and enjoy the rest of Cyrodiil that you worked so hard to save. **Reminder about getting your stuff back courtesy of Jukka** +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Chapter 5 :City by City Sidequests +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Because I've gotten several emails on this I'll add it for the time being. Chorrol: Canvas the Castle: The Countess is distraught cause someone stole her painting of the late, great Count. You get to be her outside Investigator, a role you'll play in several quests throughout the game. She gives you a list of suspects and a list of people who might know something. Lastly she gives you a key that opens most doors in the castle so you can do a physical search. Do you're talking first. When you talk to people always play the persuasion mini game first or charm them, that way you make sure to get all the info. The countess' steward has nothing useful to say but speak to him anyway. Then move on to Orgnolf, he's an ass, but he'll speak in defense of himself and tell you that he was yelling at some delivery boy for breaking all his booze, when the boys horse slipped in the rain. Chanel is next on the list, she will defend herself by telling you she was outside star gazing, then retired to the west tower to make notes on what she saw. Clearly one of these two is lying. Orok is next, he informs you that he didn't see Orgnolf or Chanel because he stayed in his room all night cause it was raining. Bittneld has little of note except that he had seen Chanel in the west tower, supposedly working on her spell book. So that's the basics of the interviews, you should have a good idea by now who did it but you need physical proof. First stop should be the west tower, head down to the lower part of the tower through the trap door and visit the other side of the boxes to find a "strange" painting and a pallet of paints. Next head to the dinning room just off the great hall, if you check the rug you'll see paint and find a footprint. Finally head to Chanel's room, wait for her to leave if you are a clumsy fighter, then look in her lectern to find stashed paints. Suspicious much? You have enough evidence now to accuse someone, if you choose correctly then you win the prize, choose wrong and...I don't know actually I choose correctly. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Chapter 6 :Character Creation +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ If you've played Morrowind, you will recognize all of the character races and many of the character skills, although I believe several have been combined, i.e. short blade and long blade are no longer separate skills, just one big "Blade" skill. But yeah here's the basics for you as I understand them so far. I could have just "borrowed" what was written on Bethesda's web page but I find my definitions so much more colorful. Enjoy. ---------------- Races of Tamriel ---------------- Argonian: Beast races in Oblivion have changed since Morrowind, they can now wear boots and helms.** They still have the same bonus skills and abilities though. Argonians are not a strong combat race, it can be done, just not as easily. Argonians are much better suited to magic and mischief making, or some combination of the two. They get points for originality and style, but not my cup of tea. Initial Stats: Male Female Intelligence: 40 50 Willpower: 30 40 Personality: 30 30 Agility: 50 40 Speed: 50 40 Strength: 40 40 Endurance: 30 30 Luck: 50 50 Skill Bonuses: Athletics +10 Security +10 Alchemy +5 Blade +5 Hand-to-Hand +5 Illusion +5 Mysticism +5 Merits/Flaws: Resist Disease 75 pt. Constant Effect Resist Poison 100 pt. Constant Effect Water Breathing Constant Effect Breton: This is the race of choice for many hoity-toity mages. They are humanoid, which means they could wear a full set of armor if you were so inclined to deck them so. But, there is no question that this is a mage race, again, can be played any way you desire but it will be easiest as a mage. Despite my love for the flair of magic, I have to admit that the uselessness of magic in Morrowind kinda turned me off of using these guys. Initial Stats: Male Female Intelligence: 50 50 Willpower: 50 50 Personality: 40 40 Agility: 30 30 Speed: 30 40 Strength: 40 30 Endurance: 30 30 Luck: 50 50 Skill Bonuses: Conjuration +10 Mysticism +10 Restoration +10 Alchemy +5 Alteration +5 Illusion +5 Merits/Flaws: Fortify Max. Magicka 50 pt. Constant Effect Resist Magicka 50 pt. Constant Effect Shield 50 pt. Daily 1 min. Dark Elf: I'll put it on the table now that this is my race of choice, so expect me to be biased. A jack of all trades race, these guys can successfully be played whether they be armed to the teeth, have a spell book the size of Texas, or are too busy stealing everything that isn't nailed down. Essentially the main race in Morrowind, I understand them to be in far less abundance in Cryodiil. Again with the right skill set these guys can be played any way you like without extra difficulty. Initial Stats: Male Female Intelligence: 40 40 Willpower: 30 30 Personality: 30 40 Agility: 40 40 Speed: 50 50 Strength: 40 40 Endurance: 40 30 Luck: 50 50 Skill Bonuses: Blade +10 Destruction +10 Athletics +5 Blunt +5 Light Armor +5 Marksman +5 Mysticism +5 Merits/Flaws: Resist Fire 75 pt. Constant Effect Summon Ghost Daily 1 min. High Elf: These dudes are the Bretons of Elves. Magic users through and through, and probably even more arrogant. Being elves, they have a natural inclination to both the arcane and the shadow, and can be played either way without too much of a problem. Not a first choice for combat but like with everything else in a game as free and open as Oblivion, it can be done. Initial Stats: Male Female Intelligence: 50 50 Willpower: 40 40 Personality: 40 40 Agility: 40 40 Speed: 30 40 Strength: 30 30 Endurance: 40 30 Luck: 50 50 Skill Bonuses: Alteration +10 Destruction +10 Mysticism +10 Alchemy +5 Conjuration +5 Illusion +5 Merits/Flaws: Fortify Max. Magicka 100 pt. Constant Effect Resist Disease 75 pt. Constant Effect Weakness to Constant Effect Fire 25 pt. Frost 25 pt. Shock 25 pt. Imperial: I'm gonna call them the Human Jack of all Trades race. Though they tend to shy from the really heavy tank build, these guys can definatly fight. For that matter they can do pretty much anything, just to a lesser degree as everyone else. As their name implies, they are the race running the show, especially in Cryodiil. So the easiest way to have your character get along with the NPC's in this game will probably be being an Imperial. Initial Stats: Male Female Intelligence: 40 40 Willpower: 30 40 Personality: 50 50 Agility: 30 30 Speed: 40 30 Strength: 40 40 Endurance: 40 40 Luck: 50 50 Skill Bonuses: Mercantile +10 Speechcraft +10 Heavy Armor +10* Blade +5 Blunt +5 Hand-to-Hand +5 Merits/Flaws: Absorb Fatigue 100 pt. Daily Charm 30 pt. Daily Khajiit: The second beast race, and generally more popular than Argonians because these guys have a drug habit just like the people who play them. That was a joke. But seriously Khajiit will constantly be displayed as druggies and prisoners, I have rarely seen a Khajiit who wasn't on the wrong side of the law to some degree. They make excellent thieves coincidently enough, sneaking, back- stabbing, stealing, whatever they need to do to feed their habit. They also make decent warriors, though think light armor, short blades, and a quiver of arrows, cause these can't go toe-to-toe with a hardened warrior like an Orc or Nord. Initial Stats: Male Female Intelligence: 40 40 Willpower: 30 30 Personality: 40 40 Agility: 50 50 Speed: 40 40 Strength: 40 30 Endurance: 30 40 Luck: 50 50 Skill Bonuses: Acrobatics +10 Hand-to-Hand +10 Athletics +5 Blade +5 Light Armor +5 Security +5 Sneak +5 Merits/Flaws: Demoralize 100 pt. Daily Night-Eye 30 sec. Nord: Speak of the devil. Nords are warriors. I repeat Nords are warriors. Say it with me now, Nords are.... Good. That being said, Nords also make interesting battle mages, especially if you want to RP off the whole cold, giant like aspect of Nords. I've played a Nord thief before, it was kinda fun, I'd backstab one guard, steal his armor and weapon and then charge in through the back door and slaughter the next 7 moving things I saw. A fun class to goof around with and very good for beginners, no one likes you but your bigger than everyone so it doesn't matter. Initial Stats: Male Female Intelligence: 30 30 Willpower: 30 40 Personality: 30 30 Agility: 40 40 Speed: 40 40 Strength: 50 50 Endurance: 50 40 Luck: 50 50 Skill Bonuses: Blade +10 Blunt +10 Heavy Armor +10 Armorer +5 Block +5 Restoration +5 Merits/Flaws: Resist Frost 50 pt. Constant Effect Frost Damage 50 pt. Daily Shield 30 pt. Daily 1 min. Orc: Not a beast race, though ugly enough to be. They can wear the helms and boots. Anywho, Orcs are warriors. In fact just think of Orcs as green Nords, only even Nords hate you. I don't recommend magic or stealth as an Orc, I recommend big blunt objects, gotta play to the stereotype, right? But yeah you can dabble in some destructive magic, just know that your big club is gonna be your best friend. Initial Stats: Male Female Intelligence: 30 40 Willpower: 50 45 Personality: 30 25 Agility: 35 35 Speed: 30 30 Strength: 45 45 Endurance: 50 50 Luck: 50 50 Skill Bonuses: Armorer +10 Block +10 Blunt +10 Heavy Armor +10 Hand-to-Hand +5 Merits/Flaws: Resist Magicka 25 pt. Constant Effect Berserk Daily 1 min Fortify Health 20 pt. Fortify Fatigue 200 pt. Fortify Strength 50 pt. Drain Agility 100 pt. Redguard: Redguards are less your Nordic barbarian, and more your regal black knight type of warrior. Proficient with any weapon you can think of and some you can't. The typical Redguard can double as a shotty thief, if only because he'll kill you before you can call an alarm after his stumbling wakes you. Another good class for beginners, and generally more well liked than Nords. Initial Stats: Male Female Intelligence: 30 30 Willpower: 30 30 Personality: 30 40 Agility: 40 40 Speed: 40 40 Strength: 50 40 Endurance: 50 50 Luck: 50 50 Skill Bonuses: Blade +10 Blunt +10 Athletics +10 Light Armor +5 Heavy Armor +5 Mercantile +5 Merits/Flaws: Resist Poison 75 pt. Constant Effect Resist Disease 75 pt. Constant Effect Adrenaline Rush Daily 1 min. Fortify Agility 50 pt. Fortify Speed 50 pt. Fortify Strength 50 pt. Fortify Endurance 50 pt. Fortify Health 25 pt. Wood Elf: The last of the elf races, and indeed the last race on this list, Wood Elves are rangers and rogues. If you played Morrowind you probably loathe all Wood Elves based on the fact that the first whiny character you meet is a wood elf and almost all the other wood elves are whiny too. Wood Elves are hippies without the drug habit, maybe they'll earn some respect back in Oblivion. Initial Stats: Male Female Intelligence: 40 40 Willpower: 30 30 Personality: 30 40 Agility: 50 50 Speed: 50 50 Strength: 30 30 Endurance: 40 30 Luck: 50 50 Skill Bonuses: Alchemy +10 Marksman +10 Sneak +10 Acrobatics +5 Alteration +5 Light Armor +5 Merits/Flaws: Resist Disease 75 pt. Constant Effect Command Creature 20 pt. Daily 1 min. **Info on change in beast races from Jessi** *Correction on Imperial starting skills from Duncan* ------------------- The Basics of Skill ------------------- At this point I should just tell you to hit up the Elder Scrolls website, as they have pretty pictures to go along with their skill descriptions but whatever. Combat Skills: Armorer: Lets you repair your weapons and armor. Dull blades and dented armor just don't look as pretty or work as well. Attribute: Endurance Athletics: Run, swim, and breathe. This skill makes you better at all these things. By breathe I just mean you'll lose stamina slower and recover it faster. Attribute: Speed Blade: If it has a pointy end and you're trying to make someone bleed with it then you want this skill. Long blades, short blades, daggers, etc. More skill equals more effective attacks. Attribute: Strength Block: ...umm Blocking. But seriously this used to be a passive skill but is now an active skill which means you have to do it yourself. So the higher the skill the less damage you will actually take when blocking with shield or weapon. Attribute: Endurance Blunt: Large, heavy objects are blunt weapons, kinda like how blade works this just makes you more effective with them. Think maces, hammers, mauls, picks, axes...I woulda called that a slashing weapon but whatever. Attribute: Strength Hand to Hand: Turns you into a brawler. In morrowind this did fatigue damage first, then once you were beating their unconscious body it did real damage. The skill just improves the effectiveness of your hits. Attribute: Strength Heavy Armor: Makes Heavy Armor worth wearing, especially if you're a warrior of some kind. The higher this skill the higher defense you get out of Iron, Steel, Dwarven, Orcish, Ebony, and Daedric armor. Attribute: Endurance Stealth Skills: Acrobatics: Whether you purposely jumped off the roof of that building or someone pushed you, this skill will help you either avoid damage when you hit the ground or successfully make the jump to the next building. Jumping was also the fastest way to get around Morrowind, sans cheating. Coincidently Acrobatics was also the easiest skill to raise quickly. Attribute: Speed Light Armor: Makes Light Armor worth more than its weight in gold to all thieves and light infantry types. The higher the skill the more defense you glean from Fur, Leather, Chainmail, Mithril, Elven, and Glass armor. Attribute: Speed Marksmen: What Blades does for swords Marksmen does for bows and arrows. Lots of fun for picking off guards from a rooftop they can't jump to to slash you up. Though they might call someone who can. Attribute: Agility Mercantile: Here's a skill for all the bargain shoppers who haven't realized that the five finger discount is even cheaper. You'll sell for more and buy for less, so I guess if you're inclined to be lawful or just plain greedy this may be beneficial. Attribute: Personality Security: I personally find it funny that a skill used to bypass locks is called security...but regardless, this skill will open many doors for you sooner rather than later, especially since I don't think this game has fully destructible environments so you can't really bash your way in. Attribute: Agility Sneak: Useful for allowing you to be where you shouldn't be without getting pummeled to death. Also supposedly helps with pick-pocketing though that was so damn near impossible in Morrowind that I gave up trying. Due to some new tweaks, your sneak score will get lighting and weather bonuses and penalties. So be smart in your sneaking. Attribute: Agility Speachcraft: Feel the need to be gifted with a silver tongue? Me neither. But this is helpful for pissing people off enough that they take the first swing. "I was only defending myself ocifer." Attribute: Personality Magic Skills: Alchemy: Brew potions and understand reagents. This one is interesting to play with but I don't know if I've ever seen someone really use it for anything other than making money in game. Though I can see the benefit to knowing what mushroom to eat to make you fly... though flying has been removed from the game.... The good news is alchemy is a great way to convert ill gotten ingredients into sellable potions that any vendor would be more than happy to purchase from you.* Attribute: Intelligence Alteration: You change the things around you, make them bend to your will. Don't feel like getting that spiffy robe wet? Just cast water walking and you'll stay nice and dry. Also home to the coveted open lock spell, for those of you who aren't a thief but want to pretend you are. Attribute: Willpower Conjuration: You're a summoner, be it of creatures or strange weaponry, if it exists in another dimension you can bring it to ours. Thanks in advance I partially blame you for the portals all these creatures are pouring out of. Attribute: Intelligence Destruction: You make things go BOOM!! If you're gonna play a magic man you're gonna want a nice healthy level of destruction skill. Fire, ice, and electricity will probably be your go to weapons of choice. Attribute: Willpower Illusion: Kind of like voodoo minus the doll. You can use illusion to paralyze and control others, to make it so they don't see you or fall in love with you if they do. Attribute: Personality Mysticism: This one deals more with the stuff you can't see. Absorb anothers' magic or trap their soul in a crystal where they will forever do your bidding. Useful for some things, but prized for the enchanted weapons created through it. Attribute: Intelligence Restoration: Possibly the only school of magic more often to be used than destruction, restoration heals you and makes you stronger. Attribute: Willpower *Alchemy hint via Olli* ----------------- What's Your Sign? ----------------- There are thirteen of these and most stop being useful within a few levels. Pretty much anything that fortifies an attribute or a skill is a waste with the exception of from an RP standpoint or to counteract your race's initial stats. The Apprentice Merit: Fortify Max. Magicka 100 pt. Constant Effect Flaw: Weakness to Magicka 100% Constant Effect The Atronach Merit: Fortify Max. Magicka 150 pt. Constant Effect Spell Absorption 50% Constant Effect Flaw: Magicka Regeneration Disabled The Lady Merit: Fortify Willpower 10 pt. Constant Effect Fortify Endurance 10 pt. Constant Effect The Lord Merit: Restore Health 6 pt. for 15 sec. Flaw: Weakness to Fire 25% Constant Effect The Lover Merit: Paralyze Daily 10 sec. Flaw: Lose Fatigue 120 pt. Daily The Mage Merit: Fortify Max. Magicka 50 pt. Constant Effect The Ritual Merit: Restore Health 200 pt. Daily Turn Undead 100 pt. 30 sec. The Serpent Merit: Damage Health 3 pt. Daily 20 sec. Cure Poison Daily Dispel 90 pt. Daily Flaw: Damage Fatigue 100 pt. Daily The Shadow Merit: Invisibility Daily 1 min. The Steed Merit: Fortify Speed 20 pt. Constant Effect The Thief Merit: Fortify Agility 10 pt. Constant Effect Fortify Speed 10 pt. Constant Effect Fortify Luck 10 pt. Constant Effect The Tower Merit: Open Average Lock Daily Reflect Damage 5 pt. Daily 2 min. The Warrior Merit: Fortify Strength 10 pt. Constant Effect Fortify Endurance 10 pt. Constant Effect +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Chapter 7 :Misc +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Coming Soon!! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Chapter 8 :Credits +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The following people, companies and things contributed in some way to this guide: Bethseda -Creating a game that I actually wanted to write a guide for Me -For actually starting this thing Jessi -Info on Beast Race changes Duncan -Info on Imperial Skills Olli -Info on turning hot goods to good potions Jukka -Reminder about you're belongings with regards to the Mythic Dawn Shrine This guide currently has permission to be posted on the following sites: -GameFAQs -GameFly (through association, thanks for the heads up GameFAQs) -GameSpot (also through association, you really coulda warned me) -Cheat Code Central -Neoseeker -GamerHelp.com -1up.com +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Chapter 9 :Copyright Notice +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ This file is Copyright (c)2005,2006 Corey Blanding. All rights reserved. This file is all my own work unless otherwise noted in the Credits section of this file. This file may NOT be posted, or sold (complete or in part), on ANY website or media without express written consent from myself. This file may not be altered in any way by anyone other than myself without express written consent. If this copyright is broken, action will be taken. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Chapter 10 :Contact Info +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Feel compelled to comment on this guide, or even be one of those "if" people mentioned above? Then just shoot me an email at the following address neo(underscore)terran(at)hotmail(dot)com I know it won't deter all spam but it's worth a shot. If you decide to send me something make sure "Oblivion guide" is the subject line, be it contribution, comment or question. Also in the email tell me where you found this guide, what version you're replying to, what version game you have(PC or XBOX 360, how far its been patched), if your using any plugins (official or not), and how you want your name cited in the credits section.