This is part of an ongoing series. If you want to start at the beginning, go here.
It's early 2012 and I'm playing The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Why? Because I (finally) can. Join me on my path to glory and the stabilization of the status quo in almost-Tolkien-land.
Nornal is one of these ancient ruins
littering the landscape, built by some advanced ancients right on top
of a hilltop. It's also defended by marauders, which are as much as I
can gather, some type of elite bandits. There are two of them
outside, attacking Martor with bow and arrow and quickly falling prey
to his blade. Entering the ruins, it is noticeable that the place is
half-flooded, despite being situated on a hilltop. There are some
more marauders present but they are no match for Martor, not now that
his vampiric powers seem to be growing every day.
I search through the ruins for quite a
while, diving under water, noticing that I have once more run out of
lockpicks and searching for the secret area that, according to the
wiki, is supposed to contain a boss-level undead and my soul-gem.
Searching around quite a bit I finally notice the switches on the
walls and start opening up entrances of different types. My
girlfriend looks over my shoulder and muses that all of these
fantasy-games contain giant rats and I tell her that it's probably
the easiest way of creating somewhat believable enemies for places
such as this. I do like her completely un-nerdy observations of
videogames sometimes, as her only experiences with electronic gaming
is limited to Super Mario Bros. And games she has played with me
(Railroad Tycoon, The Patrician, Shadow of the Colossus and Guilty
Gear X 2 – she has NO genre clichés embedded in her as she has
never played two games of the same genre!). Anyway, I finally find
the right path and it leads to a chamber guarded by a skeleton
wielding an ax. Having read about „boss, undead“, I was prepared
for anything and am strongly disappointed as the undead monstrosity
quickly falls to my attacks. After the anticlimactic battle I find
the soul-gem. Two found, three more to go. As it is starting to dawn
outside, Martor has to wait the entire day in the entrance area of
the dungeon again. As the night is still young, Martor sets out to
the next dungeon on my list (an actual sheet of paper with notes on
all quest-relevant items and notes on where to find them, crossing
things out that I have accomplished), Crayfish Cave.
Fast-travelling to a nearby fort and
then getting in the saddle to find the place, Martor reaches said
cave and enters. As the name suggest, Crayfish Cave is home to quite
a wide range of crabs, but also some rats. As the place is rather
labyrinthine, I search around for a rather long while before finally
finding the third soul-gem in a secluded area of the cave. Back at
the entrance area, the sun is already shining through the shoddy
woodwork of the door. I'll have to play the waiting-game again. At
this point I finally notice that, having killed all enemies in the
closer area, I can actually use the wait-function of the game instead
of waiting 24 real-life minutes before moving on. Good for me.
I fast-travel to the witch-house, as
the third and last dungeon on my list is very close to it. From there
I run up the mountain until finding the Squandered Mine, the third
place that should hold a soul-gem. After circling around for a little
bit, I finally find the mine. Ready for anything, I go in.
The dungeon is populated by robbers, a
rather ethnically diverse group of people with rather good weaponry
and armor. After killing the first two, Martor picks up a steel
claymore, as the katana has become rather dull at this point. The
claymore is heavy and slower than the katana and, being two-handed,
doesn't allow for a shield. Still, it is a decent choice when it
comes to swords and it fits Martor quite well. The bandits, supported
by their pet attack-dogs, prove to be quite a fight for Martor as he
starts to actually sneak into the deeper parts of the caves. Using
the maps from the wiki I have no intention of completing anything but
the retrieval of the soul-gem, going right for it and nothing else.
Right before the chamber with said stone, Martor has his first
successful sneak-attack on a female bandit who had her back turned to
him. It's a one-hit kill, the screen telling me that I got 6x damage
from surprise. Impressive. If that is what stealth does in this game,
it might be worth-while to do it more often. As things are, Martor
grabs the last stone and sneaks back towards the exit.
At the exit, I have to realize it's
daylight outside. Crap. But it's not far to the witch-house. Not far
at all...
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