(updated March 07, 2009)

Chapter ten

Last Seed 30, 3E433 (morning)

Waking from a very deep sleep, I slowly become aware of  the sound of rain outside my window.  It doesn't sound like a heavy rain, so perhaps I'll go check out the old ruins that Borba told me about yesterday. My trading wasn't nearly as profitable as I had hoped . . . it was like no one here wanted to trade with a stranger.  Well, that's not quite right, because they all seemed happy to trade with me, but they were not willing to give me much at all for my goods, while their own items all seemed way over priced.  Needless to say, I sold only the heavier items that I didn't really need and I bought very little, and I still barely came out even in the end.  So I still need to find a way to make some money, and ruins often have some valuable things just lying around.  Well, they're not just lying around unprotected . . . they're usually guarded by thieves or by some really nasty creatures. 

After stretching, I crawl out of bed, wash my face and put on my protective clothing (all my furry armored stuff). Then I carefully fold up my new clothes and leave them in the dresser in my room, along with all my non-essential items.  All I'm carrying in my backpack are extra arrows, my sword, some food, a few potions, and my bandages.  I considered hiding my gold under my clothing in the dresser, but this is probably not a safe place to leave it, and I really can't afford to be robbed.  So even though it will add some weight, I stuff my bag of gold Septums into the bottom of my pack.  Oh yeah, I also decided to leave my heavy bedroll in my room, since it's only noontime, and I figure that I'll easily be back by late afternoon. My intuition is saying "take the bedroll" - but I really don't want to have to lug the thing around all day. (This is not the smartest thing to do - since my intuition is nearly always right.)

Leaving my pack and weapons in my room, I stumble downstairs for some breakfast (I hope).  "Goodness, I'm still sleepy!  And I got to be very early last night.  Perhaps I'm just getting old . . . Nah, I'm still too young to be old!  Ok, so I'm no longer a sapling (Wood Elf term for youth), but my sap is still flowing strong.  Oh, I know why I'm so tired  . . . I bet I sill haven't completely recovered from the months that I spent in the Imperial prison.  Oh well, I'm certainly feeling a lot better than I was just a few days ago.  I'm sure that all I need is to make sure that I don't overdo it a few more days . . . and that I keep getting plenty of sleep until I'm back to my old hyper self.  Oh Arwen, you're talking to yourself again!  See, what happens when you spend months all alone." 

As usual, Dervera is behind her counter in the main room, so I murmur a sleepy good morning and sit down on one of the high stools at the counter.  "So what's for breakfast today." (I'm hoping that it early enough that there are still some actual edible things on the menu.) Well, today's selection is indeed much better, but it isn't exactly what I would call a breakfast menu.  I end up with some "mutton and radish pie" . . . yum ( actually, yuck is more what I'm thinking . . . I'm just trying to be polite . . . which is ALWAYS a good idea when you're dealing with a Dark Elf.)  Ok well, this is an integrated establishment, so I've got to just expand my tastes a bit (ok, a LOT).  After all the two Orcs at the next table seem to really be enjoying their M&R pie.  After chocking down my breakfast, I pay Dervera for another night's stay - that way, when I return after a day of adventuring, I'll know that I have a place to stay.  Besides, I want to leave a bunch of my stuff in my room, so it would be really inconvenient if my room had been rented out when I returned, and all my stuff was gone.

Now that I've finally had a good meal, I'm ready to see if I can find the ruins.  First though I have to run back up to my room and grab my gear.  Then I struggle into my pack, adjust my quiver of iron arrows, grab my old iron bow, and run back down the stairs and out  the door.  Before leaving Cheydinhal, I stop at the well by the footbridge to fill up my waterskin, which is getting pretty low.  One of the guards at the East Gate smiles and asks me if I need directions.  "Hey thanks, that would be really helpful!  So do you know how I can find my way to the closest mines or ruins."   But he only seems to know where things in the city are.  He has no clue at all about any mines. Or about anything outside the city gates at all.  Ok, so maybe he hasn't been stationed here for long. Or maybe he just doesn't get out much . . . his life must be sooo boring.  His day must be like: get up and have breakfast . . . go stand at the gates for hours . . . lunch . . .stand at the gates for hours . . . dinner . . . stand at the gates for hours . . . go back to the guard barracks, sleep . . . repeat.  That would like drive me like totally insane!

The only other thing that he tells me is that the Red Queen drinks at Newlands Lodge. "Excuse me, but who's the Red Queen?  And why does this queen drink at the budget inn?"  But he won't tell me anything else, or even let me ask him any more questions.  This is like sooo not helpful!  "Never mind . . . I do have a map and compass you know . . . I can figure out which way to go on my own."  I think.

Once I'm through the gates, I decide to spend some time checking out the area around the city walls.  Mostly I just wander around collecting ingredients from plants for making potions later.  My alchemy skills are really rusty, so I feel like I should put in some serious effort in getting better.  After all, when you're out battling bandits and wilderness creatures, having some good potions can keep you alive.  I guess that I could just buy the potions that I need, but the better ones are fairly expensive.  If I whip up my own potions, I'll not only be able to save some gold, I can make some gold by selling them.  That reminds me, I need to buy some better alchemy equipment. All I have is a Novice Mortar & Pestle.

After a bit I find myself back at the East Gate. "Let's see, if north is that way, and I'm standing here, then the ruins should over there. Or maybe they are up that way."  Oh bother!  I'll just follow the Blue Road . . . which, by the way, isn't blue at all.  Ok, so why is it called blue? (And I'm certainly not going to try to ask the guards about this.)   I'm pretty sure that Borba said that one of the mines and the old ruins were east along this road.  The road immediately goes steeply uphill, climbing up into the Valus Mountains.  According to this map, the Morrowind border is just beyond these mountains.  If I just keep walking west, I would be back in Morrowind.  I'll admit . . . I am tempted to just pack up my belongings and return to my home.  But I made a promise to the Emperor . . . and I'm going to try my best to keep it. 

The early morning rain has let up and the afternoon has become clear and sunny.  And surprisingly warm for a fall day.  I soon get very warm in my heavy leather and fur outfit.  "Whew! I really need to find some lighter, light armor - I feel like I'm wearing a sauna!  I can stand the rest, as I need the protection, but this fur helmet has got to go!"  After stuffing the sweaty helmet into the top of my backpack, I continue hiking up the road.  After just a short distance the road sort of peters out until it's more of a path than a road. 

"Ok, so this is really disappointing!"  I had just expected that this road would continue for miles, being that it's a main road and all.  So much for just following it on to Morrowind.  No wonder I'm the only person on this road, as it doesn't actually go anywhere.  You know, I'm surprised that the East Gate is even a gate.  I mean, a simple doorway is all that is really needed, since there's like NO ONE on this road, or path, or whatever I'm suppose to call it now.  But the road ends right at some old ruins. Goodness, this was sooo much easier than I expected.  I had just figured that this was going to be a very long walk. 

"Yikes!", I yell, as a very large timber wolf suddenly lunges at me, and sinks his teeth into my left leg.  (Ok, I did a bit more than just yell, or I wouldn't still be here, writing about what happened).  But the first thing I did was yell.  Then I grabbed my long sword, and killed the beast before he could rip me apart.  Then a second wolf came at me, but this one was younger, and one arrow from my bow was enough to scare him off.  Ok, so there are no people on this road, but wolves seem to like traveling on it!

Being this close to the city, I seriously doubt that there will be much of anything left here - at least not anything worth much.  But I did climb up here in that hot sun, so I'm going to spend some time checking the place out - just to be sure.  I climb up the steep hillside, and scramble up to the remains of the highest level to get a better view.  This place is so close to Cheydinhal that I'm actually looking right down on the city.  These ruins are rather overgrown, but it is easy to pick out the old entrance, through the large stone archway.  I climb back down and go through the archway, but the area inside the walls is just a pile of broken stones and bushes.  Then I notice that there's a large wooden door set into the side wall - the wall that is built into the steep hillside.

It turns out that this Fort Farragut (an old abandoned fort) and is not even one of the places that Borba told me about.  The door is probably just an entrance into a storage room, but what if most of the fort was actually underground?  Maybe no one has bothered checking out this place, as it looks more like an overgrown a pile of rubble than a fort. So there could actually be some goodies in there . . . even it it's just an old storage room.  But that old heavy looking door could be a major obstacle for me.  Hey, this door isn't even locked!  Not that it matters, because I'm sure that it's rusted shut after all these years of without any use.  But when I give a good tug, the heavy wooden door gives a long, noisy creak, and opens quite easily.  Ok, so much for my pessimism . . . and so much for years of nonuse theory . . . and so much for my sneaking in quietly.  

Yikes, it's very dark in here! Oh, right - there aren't any windows or anything.  But it's also nice and cool (which feels great).  Moving away from the door, I immediately run right into a wall. "Ouch!" Ok, I can either stumble around in the dark for hours, bumping into things, or I can light one of my torches.  (I never go anywhere without a couple of torches . . . well, hardly ever.)  I'm going with the torch, as I've already bruised my knee - and, no, it's really not because I'm afraid of the dark.  (It's actually because I'm afraid of what might be hiding in the dark.)  Yuck! There are huge spider webs everywhere.  And this place smells like something died in here.  Great.

Now that I've got my torch lit I can see well enough to tell that this is no little storeroom.  So my second guess could be correct; and this might be the main part of the fort.  Or, at the very least, it's the main part of the fort that survived.  Time to start exploring.  But I'm going to be very cautious - as I seriously doubt that I'm alone in here.  That means that I'll use a torch only when I can't find my way without one, since any critters will also see my light.  Being cautious also means that I have to walk very slowly, and that I need to stay next to walls or remain in the shadows.  So that means that exploring this place is going to take me forever!  Why, oh why did I leave my bedroll behind at Newlands? Exploring is going to take me a very long time at this pace.  Well, it's too late to worry about it now. I'll just have to explore what I can today and come back another time. 

This room must be the entrance to the fort, which is really more of a wide hallway than a room.  The hallway continues down a dusty stone stairway, where I can see some kind of eerie light in the distance.  I really don't like the looks of this, but so far I haven't woken anything up.  So I put out my torch, take a deep breath, and slowly sneak down the stairs.  I'm trying really hard not to make any noise, which is usually easy for me . . . but these big clunky boots aren't cooperating.  Then I notice the iron gate at the end of the hallway.  Beyond that is a large room. The strange light isn't bright enough to tell exactly how big it is - but it's very large.  But the iron gate (which reminds me of my horrid prison bars) won't budge.  There's got to be a way to open this, or some other way in.

Since I'm on this side of the gate, and any critter much be on the other side, I figure that it won't hurt to use a torch.  But, even with a torch, I can't find a keyhole, or a handle, or any way to open this gate.  Then I turn around and notice a lever thingie on the floor, at the base of the stairs.  When I pull on it, it moves slowly - and the gate raises, which makes a LOT of noise.  Oops!  I've just rung the doorbell, or maybe the dinner bell . . . depending on what lives in here.  Better put out this torch, so I won't be an easy target.  And, if I hear anything at all, I'm pulling that lever again and dropping the gate (hopefully, it works in reverse).  So I stand there, completely still, with my hand on the lever, and try not to breath.  But I don't hear any sounds at all.

Whew!  I guess it's ok to breath again.  Maybe I timed my visit right and no one's home today. But I seriously doubt that I'm going to be that lucky.  So I'm guessing that the resident bad guy is off in another section of the fort, doing whatever it is that bad guys do, when there aren't any good around guys to attack, or torture, or whatever.  Since this section is current unoccupied, I'm lighting up my torch so that I can take a good look around.  (You know, it's a really bad idea to be overconfident when you're exploring a strange underground place.) 

You'd think I would know better by now - but I walk right out into the large room, waving my torch in the air . . . and, about two steps into the room, an arrow hits me in my left shoulder, spinning me around.  Major Ouch!  Do you have any idea how painful an arrow is?  It hurts so much that I get nauseous, when makes my vision blur.  I put out my torch, and make a run for the gate, but another arrow hits me in the same shoulder before I reach it.  Hey, I was in some very dark shadows, so whoever shot that arrow must have night vision or something, which just doesn't seem fair at all.  I mean, I never even saw who was shooting at me, so how did they see me?  Whatever.  I do make it back and get the gate closed, but I'm not doing too well, as you can probably guess.  But no one tries to follow me, so it looks like I'm safe in here for the moment.  I collapse on the cold stone stairs in a heap.  I come to after a bit, panting loudly, with my heart sounding like it's about to beat out of my chest.  But after resting for a bit my vision clears, and I'm able to cast a bunch of Restore Health spells to heal my wounds.  Being skillful at Restoration means that I'm a healer - which is sort of like being a doctor, only that I heal with magic.  This time I was really lucky that my injuries didn't result in much blood loss, as I probably would have just passed out and bled to death.  "Ok, now I'm freaking myself out again . . .  time to give my morbid thoughts a good long rest."

You know, this leather cuirass didn't seem to help much at all - both arrows went right through it.  And I'm really not happy about that. Why am I wearing this uncomfortable stuff, if it's not even protecting me?  But what if I wasn't wearing any armor at all? Would I have been hurt even worse?  And even worse would have meant that I would have likely been killed.  Well, no sense taking any chances - I'm leaving this stuff on for now.  In fact, I think I'll try to repair it before going back out there - just in case.  Before opening up the gate, I take a good long look out through the bars, trying to spot the shooter of those arrows.

Finally, way on the other side of the large room, I see a movement.  Someone is slowly walking toward me.  "Ok, calm down Arwen. I'm probably safe, just as long as this gate is between me and the bad guy.  Besides, I'm standing here in the dark, so no one can even see me."  But then I remember that whoever shot me seems to have some kind of night vision or radar or something.  So I'm probably very visible to whatever that is . . . even standing here in the dark.  Then that thing walks right up to the gate, and just stands there . . . which totally freaks me out.  Notice that I wrote "thing" instead of "he." There's a really good reason for that.  And I wasn't just trying to be politically correct or anything.  You see, that thing, which is only a couple of feet away, staring through the bars at me, isn't human. 

Wait a sec . . . I don't think that it actually sees me . . . it's searching for me.  Maybe it heard me breathing, or maybe it smelled my blood, and is just trying to figure out where I am.  Goodness, that thing is really creepy looking!  And it smells absolutely horrible!  It's a walking skeleton - wearing some sort of black armor cuirass and some weird thigh-high boots.  And it's carrying a really big Elf-bashing war hammer.  Whew!  It finally gave up and just walked away.

Hey! That thing doesn't even have a bow.  And whatever shot those arrows into me had to have a bow.  So there has to be more than one of them in there!  And I was nearly killed by just two arrows from the other one, which is still out there, waiting for me.  Somewhere in the dark . . . where I still can't see it.  Getting by just one would be hard enough.  I'll never be able to defeat both of them at once.  Ok, so now what do I do? 

Perhaps I should just call it a day and had back to the city.  It's obvious that I'm out of my league here.

Notes About MODs:

Realistic Fatigue: When I first played Oblivion, I was very disappointed that my character could regenerate fatigue while running, and she could do so even when she was carrying a heavy load.  I could make and buy fatigue potions, but I never needed them. And my character could load herself up with stuff, without hardly any negative effects at all, until she reached her encumbrance limit, when suddenly she couldn't move.  This just wasn't at all realistic.

This mod, which is the creation of Donovan Baarda (better known in the modding community as ABO) does a really great job of fixing the way that fatigue works, but it does much more than just that . . . it also fixes encumbrance.  After installing Realistic Fatigue, running, fast swimming, jumping, and swinging a weapon all drain your fatigue (well, technically your stamina is what is actually reduced when you get tired, but the game calls this fatigue) - so the amount of fatigue in the stats bar goes down while you are engaged in these activities.  When you are are doing less active things, your fatigue slowly goes back up.  Endurance and encumbrance are now tied in with fatigue, so the more your character tries to carry, the faster they get tired - just like in real life. And when you are injured, you also lose fatigue faster.  In this chapter, just running back to the gated room drained my fatigue completely and my character does actually "collapse on the cold stone stairs in a heap" - where she remains unconscious for a second or two. Then she staggers to her feet again.  She also pants and her vision blurs (the screen gets double vision).  All this is very well done and looks really cool (but at first I thought that she had died from her wound).  [The pounding heartbeat was also real - but that is caused by Duke Patrick's SCA Combat mod - which I'll be covering in a later chapter.]

Realistic Health:  In addition to Realistic Fatigue, I'm also using this next mod (also by ABO), which graphically simulates my character's deteriorating health (like when she gets injured).  The result is "tunnel-vision-greyout fade and blur effect that start at 50% health (at default settings) and increase in intensity as your health gets lower."  Trust me, the effect is very well done (and a bit frightening when it first happens to you.)

The second aspect of this mod doesn't appear until your character catches a disease.  I've only been using Realistic Health for a few weeks, and I've not caught any diseases so far in my current game, so all I can do is cover what this mods is supposed to do (I cover this part in more detail after I've experienced this part).  In any past games, when my character contracted a disease, is was a bit scary at first, but no big deal really, as I just needed to seek out a cure, and there wasn't even a need to rush to find one (at least with the minor ones that I had to deal with).  What happens when you're using this mod is that your health and fatigue stats decline as a disease progresses -  at steadily increasing rates.  "Diseases reach their peak intensity after about eight hours of game time (not real time), when you will be loosing 10% of remaining fatigue and 1% of remaining health every second."  On top of all that, there are additional graphical effects that simulate the progression of a disease: "peripheral-vision color fade-in/fade-out and blur effect becomes noticeable within one hour (at default settings), and increases in intensity the longer you have the disease."  What this all means is that you can't ignore a disease, but have to drop what you are doing and seek out a cure immediately - which in my opinion is more realistic.

Darker Dungeons: The dungeons in Vanilla (unmodded) Oblivion aren't very dark at all.  This mod makes dungeons so dark that torches are actually needed - just to find your way.  Exploring any dungeon becomes much more of an adventure and feels a lot creepier to me now - which is exactly how they should feel. But torches also make me more visible to the bad guys, so getting through dungeons become a much greater challenge, and requires more strategy.

Role-Playing:

Guards at Gates: These guys really should be more useful - all they do is give you directions for some of the places inside the city itself.  Ok, I can accept that some of them might be new to town - but most of them really should know something about the area outside the city walls as well.  Plus, if they are going to stand guard at the city gates day and night, shouldn't I have to ask them to open the gates for me, rather than just open them myself?  And how in the world would my little Wood Elf ever be able to open those massive doors all by herself?  This sort of stuff really bothers me.

New Places:  Ok, so like I'm walking up the Blue Road, approaching some old ruins, and I suddenly get this message; "You have found Fort Farragut".  What's with that, and where did it come from?  How in the world would my Wood Elf suddenly know that this is Fort Farragut?  Is she psychic or something?  Hey, it's not like this is some popular tourist attraction with a big "Welcome to Fort Farragut" sign (although that would be more subtle than having a big message flash across my screen).  In fact, there are no signs here at all - not even an old one over the entrance (which would have at least been believable).  Give me a break Bethesda!  If I want to know what I have found, I can just look at my map - I really don't need a message popping up - totally ruining the immersion of the game.  Note to self: find a mod that makes these "you have found X" go away.  (I already have the Quest Popup Remover and the No More Annoying Messages mods, but apparently these psychic messages still get through.)

Armor Repair:  Don't get me wrong, because I like the way the armor gets damaged and you have to repair it.  What I don't like is that you can only repair it with a hammer, which would make sense if I was wearing metal armor.  Here's the problem: my light armor is made out of leather and fur.  You don't repair leather or fur clothing with a hammer!  And that's not all, in Oblivion there's just one type of hammer (in Morrowind there were 3 different hammers and 3 different tongs - each of which had different weights, different values, and different repair results).  Why do we only get one repair tool in OB?

Sneaking and Hiding:  I really like the way that sneaking works in Oblivion (it's much better than it was in MW) . . . until you shoot an arrow at an enemy.  Then it's like they have radar or something, because they always know exactly where that arrow came from.  In the next chapter, I'll cover a couple of stealth mods that really improves sneaking around.

continued in chapter 11

This is Sooo Not Fair!