(updated March 07, 2009)

Chapter Eight

Last Seed 28, 3E433 (very late at night)

I'm exhausted, dusty, hungry, and on the verge of tears.  Mostly I just want to sleep for days (or at least half a day), hopefully in an actual bed . . . but at this point, I'm ready to roll out my bedroll and crawl into the lumpy thing . . . and sleep right here, in the middle of this road.  Although this wouldn't be a very safe place to sleep, as some evil robber would likely kill me within the hour . . . unless one of those dumb guards on his plodding horse trampled over me first.  Ok, I'm getting a bit grumpy, but do you blame me?  I've been trying to follow this dumb road northeast for hours . . . half of the time in the dark, with a flickering torch that barely lights my path enough for me to see where I'm going.  Notice that I wrote "following" and not "traveling on."  The thing is that there has been so many guards traveling on this road all day, that I spent more time off the road than on it.  And it takes a very long time to get anywhere when you spend much of your journey bushwhacking through the woods, which is why I didn't get here until the middle of the night.  (Ok, so there was that little delay in looting the fort and all, and I did spend too much time soaking in the pond.) 

But I did finally get here.  Although I'm still not entirely sure where "here" is.  I'm hoping that the gates that this roads I'm foends at belong to the town of Cheydinhal.  There is a large, well stocked stable off to my left, just outside the walls.  The stone walls are tall and solid looking, and have heavy wooden gates, so where ever "here" is; it's clear that I've arrived at a pretty large town - perhaps even a small city.  This wasn't at all what I was expecting to find out here in the middle of the woods.  I had been hoping to come upon a small settlement at best - and here I was at the gate to a very large town.  Could this actually be Cheydinhal? I had pretty much given up on making it to that city tonight - but this has to be Cheydinhal. So this journey worked out better than I hoped.

There is however, one tiny problem. Large towns are not as easy to just walk into unnoticed, because they have locked gates . . . which are manned by Imperial Guards (which are exactly what I've been avoiding all day).  Ok Arwen, time to come up with a new plan. If there were a bunch of people heading for the gate right now I might be able to make it through with the crowd.  But it's really, really late.  Everyone else would have entered the town several hours ago - I'm like the only one left out here.  It's just me, the guard, and the horses on this side of the gate. There's like no chance that I'm going to get past that guard unnoticed - since blending in is NOT an option. And I still have these darn iron "bracelets" on my wrists.  If that guard notices them, I'm dead - literally. Oh, I won't be killed immediately . . . at first I'll just be arrested.  But once the Amulet of Kings is discovered among my possessions, I will be dead.

Ok, like thinking about THAT helps! How am I supposed to come up with a plan under this kind of pressure? Come on girl, focus!  Well it's really late, and I'm very tired, so I need to either get through that gate now or find a place to sleep out here.  And I really don't want to sleep out here with the horses.  My only hope of being able to sleep in a real bed tonight, is if I can somehow get through that gate. Hmmm, what if I wore the fur gauntlets that I took from the bandits?  They should hide my wrist irons. And I can put on that ugly iron helmet. So after putting on the gauntlets and helmet, and carefully tucking my hair up in it out of sight, I'm ready.

I guess my only real plan is to just go with the direct approach. Let's see . . . I should probably have some sort of a cover story.  Ok, I know - I'll be a tourist.  Except that I'm dressed pretty poorly to be a tourist, but I have . . . let's see . . . over 900 in gold now.  Hey, that's pretty amazing . . . since I had like 0 gold when I left my cell two nights ago. So I can easily afford to stay at an inn and I can afford to buy a nice dinner there, just like any other tourist. This could actually work. Ok, so my trip to Cyrodiil wasn't exactly planned.  And there's that minor detail about me being brought here against my will, by a bunch of Imperial Guards. Goodness, I just thought of something . . . I hope I'm not expected to know some secret password or something!  Ok, here goes nothing . . .

So I walk right up to the very large Imperial guard, give him a big smile, and say, "Hey, how's it going?" The guy smiles back, which is a really good sign. But he seems just a bit too friendly, which could mean big trouble for me.

[My attempt to blend - Ok, so I still stand out, but at least the wrist irons and pink hair are out of sight.]

Either he's been waiting for me to show up - as in there's a big reward out for me, or he's just been out here alone for way too long  . . . or he took my friendly greeting to mean a LOT more than I intended it to.  By the way he's acting, I'm pretty sure it's the latter . . . which means that now I've got to talk with him some more, or he'll stop being friendly, be all put out because I didn't give him enough attention, and will start asking all sorts of nosey questions - which is what I really don't need right now. So I chat with the guard for a while (he's actually really nice) and I learn some things about the place. This is indeed the city of Cheydinhal and it's fairly large and quite prosperous.  There are two inns, a smith, a bookstore, a general trader, the Chapel of Arkay, and Castle Cheydinhal. Trying to gracefully end our conversation, I explain that I've had a very long walk and that I'm famished and tired.  The guard suggests that I stay at Newlands Lodge, which he says isn't at all fancy, but does have decent food.  (Ok, so you noticed that I'm not wearing an expensive outfit.)  I thank him and he opens the gate for me.  Whew - I'm in!

Right as I enter the city, the chapel bell tolls 12 times.  Goodness, it's even later than I thought.  No wonder I'm so tired!  Newlands Lodge is really easy to find, since it is just inside the West Gate. The night is warm, so I remove my helmet and let my hair down, before I pass out.  Hopefully my pink hair won't get me in trouble, now that I'm inside the city gates.  I want to explore the town, but it's way too late for anything to still be open, and I'm way too tired.  Besides, it's best that I stay out of sight until I get rid of my wrist irons.  After all, I can't go around wearing full armor all the time, just to hide my wrist irons.  Well, might as well see if anyone is still on duty in Newlands.

Climbing up the stone steps, I open the door and enter the inn, which is very quiet since everyone is likely in bed by now.  Hopefully there's at lease one room left and I can still wake the innkeeper.  I find my way to the back of the main room and the Dark Elf behind the counter comes over.  She says she is Dervera Romalen, the owner of the Newlands Lodge.  If there are no room available, I'd better leave and try to find one at the other inn in town, so I ask her if she has any. She has one room left, which she'll rent to me for 10 gold a night (which seems to be very reasonable).  After paying for my room, my stomach gives a loud growl, reminding me that I haven't had anything to eat since lunch.  It's not like I ran out of food, as I still have a number of things in my pack to eat . . . I was just too preoccupied earlier in trying to get to Cheydinhal. 

So I ask if it is too late for me to order a meal. The innkeeper tells me what is left from tonight's dinner menu. I select some ham, a loaf of fresh warm bread and a couple of sugar cookies.  Just the idea of a hot meal is making my mouth water like crazy, which is not surprising since all I've had to eat in months is cold prison food, which is so bad that it doesn't really count as food in my book.  My diet did improve a bit after getting out of my prison cell, but warmed up rat meat, old cheese, moldy fruit wasn't a huge improvement.  The only hot food that I've had was last night's burnt crabmeat.  Brings over my meal and I immediately dig in and am in in heaven . . . until I look up and notice that Dervera is staring at one of my exposed wrist irons.  I  nearly chocked on my food, and quickly pulled my gauntlet back over it, but it was too late - she had definitely seen it.

To my great relief, she was totally cool about it, and quietly told me that Terlia Viducia, the smith over at the March Rider, could "take care of those" for me. I stammered my thanks to her, recalling that this was the smith that the trader Relian told me about. She said that she was glad to help - that she's not fond of the Imperials - especially the ones here in Cheydinhal.  Dervera chatted about the local politics, and then asked if I had heard about the assassination of the Emperor.  I told her that I had been traveling all day so I had heard very little . . . which was the truth. (But I wasn't about to tell her that I was there, standing right beside him when he was killed.) She gave me her copy of the 'Black Horse Courier', which was a special edition written all about the assassination. I thanked her and quickly read the entire paper, looking for anything about an escaped prisoner.  But there was nothing at all about me . . . the Blades had covered it up. Whew again!

After I finished my meal, I sold some of my surplus food items (plus some potions) to Dervera. And I was very glad that she was willing to buy the rat meat as well . . . all 4 smelly pounds of it!  Then I excuse myself and make my way upstairs to my room.  There's a small basin and a pitcher of water on the dresser, so I'm able to wash up before climbing into bed. The room is a bit run down, and the bed spread is rather soiled and full of holes. But the inner bedding is fairly clean and the old lumpy, creaky bed felt wonderful compared to what I had been using! I had forgotten how comfortable a real bed was . . . it has been months since I had last slept in one. It wasn't long before I drift off to sleep, feeling very satisfied at how well things had turned out for me this evening.

I wake up with a start and from the bright sunlight coming through my leaded window, it must be late morning. Yawning, I slowly stretch and my stomach grumbles. What I'm really looking forward to now is a big breakfast. It's time that I put some meat back on these scrawy bones, after wasting away in that horid prison cell for so many weeks.  I know . . . I should be focusing on finding Jauffre, and on saving the empire and all . . . but all I can think about is food right now.  Besides, it really doesn't make much sense to just dash off into the unknown unprepared, and totally out of shape. After all, getting myself killed isn't going to help anyone . . . doing so will also mean the loss of the Amulet of Kings.  No matter what happens, I'm staying in Cheydinhal for at least another night or two.  But first breakfast!  As I'm dressing, I can't help but notice what poor shape my clothing is in.  One of my top priorities this morning will be to do some serious shopping.  

The inn is very quiet this morning.  I'm guessing that all the other patrons (which really can't be many, since there are only a couple of rooms here) are likely out touring the town, or they have already left the city.  I hear a few sounds coming from downstairs, and once I'm out in the hall, I can hear the guy in the next room snoring loudly, so I'm not the only one who slept in this morning.  The reason his snoring is so loud is because his room doesn't even have a door.  Talk about not having any privacy!  I hope he at least got a good deal on that room.  I select a table in the corner, which has a book titled . Dervera is the only one downstairs, but that's just as well - I'll be able to have breakfast without attracting attention.  My mouth is watering as I sit down at the counter. I can't wait to see what's on the menu this morning. It turns out that there's not actually a menu here - Dervera just tells me what my choices are.  Apparently she hasn't gone to the market yet, because all she has left is the rat meat that I sold her last night!  That's it I'm outta here.  There's no way that I'm having rat burgers for breakfast.  Before leaving, I try to pay Dervera for another night's stay, but she says that I've already paid her. "No Dervera, I'm positive that I only paid for last night." But she won't let me pay her. Whatever. Even though the selection of food might not be great here, my room was alright.  And I really doubt that I can find a cheaper place to stay.  Plus it's my own fault for being so late in coming to breakfast.

Outside the air is still chilly, but the sky is a clear and the sun is warm.  It's so nice out that I decide to take a leisurely walk through the town, which is larger than I realized. There was a copy of "The Guide to Cheydinhal" in my room, and I read most of it before falling asleep last night, so I know a little bit about this city. The road from the West Gate runs through the market district, which has several shops. The first shop is Borba's Goods and Stores, so I figure that I might as well check it out.  Borba is an Orc, and Orcs can be rather unpleasant.  So it doesn't really surprise me that she's not very friendly.  In fact, she's downright rude to me.  But she does make a point of showing me her latest inventory item, which is soap (Ok, I can take a hint).  I purchase one large bar and head off in search of a private bathing spot to clean up.  Perhaps once I smell better she'll be a bit more friendly.

The market district ends just before the willow lined Corbolo River, where a cross road runs north up the hill to Castle Cheydinhal.  As I'm crossing the pretty wooden covered foot bridge, I meet a couple of people who tell me they are adventurers. Ok, whatever . . .  that sounds like a really nice hobby, but what you do for work? Oh . . . sorry.  They don't tell me exactly what it is that an adventurer does, just that they are not from around here.  And then they hurry off in the opposite direction. "Ok, I guess we we're done chatting then." On the other side of the river is the large stone Chapel of Arkay, that towers over all the other buildings in the city.

[This outfit is sooo not me - I really need to do some serious shopping today!]

 After passing the chapel, its walled in cemetery, and some homes, the road brings me to the East Gate. "Hey, I still haven't had any breakfast. I bet that I can find some berries in the nearby woods." The two guards greet me and open the gate, and I follow a path around the castle toward the south. I do find a bunch of different flowers and several different kinds of mushrooms on my walk, but no berries - in fact I find nothing at all to ease my hunger.  But I do find a deep pool in a secluded spot near the city walls. Having soap to wash up with makes all the difference in the world . . . I feel like I'm finally rid of my prisoner's grime.

Notes About MODs:

Bananasplit Better Cities: If the City of Cheydinhal in my screenshots looks different from the one in your game, that because I've installed Better Cities , which is a major makeover for the cities, making them feel much more alive and real.  Cheydinhal gets a lot more trees, shrubs and flowers; several additional houses; and a prison quarter (which is very gory - but there is an option to remove the added gore from the cities.  Personally I'm not fond of gore, but it is realistic for medieval type cities - so I left it in).  There is also a Better Cities Extras mod that adds compatibility patches for several other mods, plus it adds City Defenses - which is where the guard towers and archers manning the walls came from.  There's also an aqueduct now, that comes from the "Let the People Drink" mod, which I'll be coving in a later chapter.

Streamline: Better Cites is really a graphics demanding mod, so it will likely have a major impact on your FPS.  Cheydinhal is actually one of the most graphically demanding cities - and your FPS there can become a slideshow. There are ongoing efforts to improve this, but it is currently a major problem unless you have a really good PC - otherwise you my want to disable (or not install) some of the optional additions. My system is just barely fast enough to run Better Cities with all the optional add-ons, but my FPS was bogging down Cheydinhal and in the Imperial City Marketplace (especially at night, since I'm also using the window lighting mod, which is listed next).  I'm now using the Streamline mod in my game, which really helps in keeping my fps from bogging down.  You might want to give it a try but be warned that Streamline is still in beta.

Animated Window Lighting System and Chimneys: The image outside Newlands Lodge on my evening arrival shows the effects of this mod's window lighting.  Without this mod, the windows would all be dark.  The really cool thing is that the lights turn on and off, based on the time of day, simulating the normal activity within (if you're using the advanced script versions).  This mod is modular, giving you several meshes packs to select from. This mod is much more compatible with mods that add buildings to the game (like Better Cities) than Illumination Within, which I was previously using.

Salmo the Baker: Salmo, who is the Baker in Skingrad, now sell his bread, rolls, pies and other baked goods.  This MOD also adds Salmo's goods for purchase from merchants all over Cyrodiil. So I'm actually able to buy some sugar cookies at Newland's Lodge, and several other items that were not found in the unmodded game.  Update: A Coblized version of Salmo the Baker comes with Cobl (Common Oblivion), so if you use Cobl, you do not have to install the Salmo mod

Real Sleep Extended: When I finally crawled into bed in my room at Newlands, it was past midnight.  The warning message I was getting was that I "have been sleepy for four hours," so all my stats had dropped by 4 points (which was becoming a problem).  My health was down to 39, magicka down to 195, and fatigue down to 145.  So my character really was showing actual signs of exhaustion.  When I finally put her to bed, she needed 15 hours of effective sleep.  But I didn't want to sleep the next day away, so I only let her have 10 hours of sleep.  I'll just have to make sure that she gets to bed early tomorrow.

Role-Playing:

Guards and Gates:  Getting past the guard and through the gate was not actually a problem at all.  I didn't even have to talk with the guard to do so (but I did really talk to him in the game, since I was role-playing that it was part of the deal).  The city gate was not even locked - all had to do to was just open it (by hitting the space-bar) exactly the same way that I open any unlocked door.  It would have been a lot more realistic if the guards had to unlock the gates for you - perhaps someone will mod this in at some point.

Guy Sleeping: I didn't really hear him snoring - but he really was still sleeping in his bed when I left my room.  And his room didn't have a door - just a doorway.

Wrist Irons: Even though I left these on the entire time (and in plain sight), no one even notices them - including the guards.  It just seems like they should have had some real purpose in the game and they just ended up being forgot about (like so many other things).

Guide to Cheydinhal: There really is a book in the game with this name, and it does describe the city in the game very well (or should I say that the city in the game is a very good rendering of the city that is described in the book, since the book was written years ago.)  This is one of the things that Bethesda really did well in Oblivion - it's just too bad that they didn't include more lore in this game, as this is where they really excelled in Morrowind, and I miss it.

Searching for Breakfast: For some strange reason, just about the only food available for purchase from Dervera at Newlands Lodge that morning was the rat meat that I had sold to her the night before.  The funny thing was that there was other food on the tables - like strawberries and wedges of cheese.  And I did really take a walk outside the city walls, looking for berries - without finding any. (There are berries that you can pick in the game - I just didn't happen to find any that morning.)

continued in chapter 9

Totally Free Again