Part 33: The Elder Updates XXXII - Road to Recommendation, Part 3

Road to Recommendation, Part 3


Last update, I neglected to mention something. Note the stone with the glowing red runes, which is near the campsite we leveled up at.


Hmm...this stone glows.


Does it have power?


You bet your ass it has power. This is a Doomstones. They grant us a Greater Power spell when touched at night. There are two kinds of Doomstones: Birthsign Stones and Heaven Stones. You can only have one Birthsign Stone power at a time, and they overwrite each other. For example, if we had gotten the power of the Mage Stone and then activated the Warrior Stone, the power granted by the Mage Stone would be overwritten by the one we got from the Warrior Stone.


The Jode Stone, however, is one of the Heaven Stones. With few exceptions, all of the Doomstones give buff-type powers much like this one, but Heaven Stones are unique in that once we gain a power from one, we have it forever; that is to say they don't overwrite each other like Birthsign Stone powers. Each Heaven Stone requires a certain amount of Renown, a hidden stat equal to the sum of your Fame and Infamy.


Anyway, having said stone enough times, let's go towards our next Mages Guild quest.


The roads are so dangerous lately!


Time was one could travel without being beset by bandits and bears.


But I am more than prepared to defend myself. With spell, blade and my own two legs, I can get to where I need to be. Easily.


See?


Now, where is the M-


Ssssssure.


^_Weirdo.
Glarthir's quest is sort of interesting, but since I couldn't really get it to work properly I'm going to pretend I didn't waste any time on it. If someone else wants to show it off, great, but I just don't have the patience.


Here we are.
We're not missing out on any cool loot, either. just gold.


Hello.
What? Who are you? Oh...who cares. I'm Druja. You want something? Or you just practicing your Cyrodilic?
Er...a recommendation?
Oh, no, that's Adrienna's job, not mine. If you ask about it, don't be surprised if she gets annoyed. She doesn't like being interrupted.
I'll keep that in mind.


Druja's spells aren't much to write home about. Flash Bolt might've been worth picking up, but we can always make our own version.


Hmmm! Khajiit has an idea. But later.
However, one of the other mages has Disintegrate Armor. We'll be needing this for shenanigans.



Here's yet another guild mage's spells. Not buying anything from him, but I just wanted to show the fact that most of these spells are too Magicka-heavy for us at the moment. This will become less of a problem with more skill, though.

In any event, quest time!


Khajiit seeks a recommendation.
I'm afraid I haven't given it much thought. I'm rather busy, you understand. My research occupies nearly all of my time.
That is unfortunate. What busywork needs doing?
Now that I think about it, I do have a small problem concerning Erthor. He's one of the guild mages here. Think you can do something about it?
I can and will.


You might want to ask around, and see if anyone can be of some help. Let me know when he's back, and you'll have your recommendation.
This is all? Very well.


Have you seen Erthor?
He hasn't shown up here in a while. I assume he was still out at Bleak Flats Cave, where he usually stays.
Hmmm! And where is this cave?
I don't remember where it is, honestly. I know it's west of Skingrad...Druja could probably tell you. She has a better memory than I do.
Good to know. Thank you.


Yes, it regards Erthor. What do you know of him?
A nice enough guy, I suppose, but there was that awful scamp incident last year. That's when Adrienne told him he needed to practice somewhere else.
Sterv thinks he knows where. Bl-
"Somewhere else" meaning somewhere far away. So he settled down in Bleak Flats Cave. Did all of his work there, and came back to town twice a week to check in. Hasn't been around lately, though.
I thought so. Where is Bleak Falls Cave?
Oh, dear. I just can't seem to remember where that is. What a shame.
...indeed.


Sterv assures you he will not.
Fun fact: this is the guy Adrienne points you at to find out about Erthor if you ask her about him. Backstory's more mission-critical than actual help, right?


I must fetch Erthor.
I haven't seen him in some time. But then, this isn't the first time he's been away, so I wasn't really that concerned.
He is at Bleak Flats Cave, yes? Where can I find it?
It's just northwest of Skingrad. Here, see it on the map?
Ah, there it is. Very good.
That's where Erthor wound up, after Adrienne told him he couldn't practice in the guild hall anymore. She probably doesn't even remember that.


With pleasure.
Druja: quite possibly the best person in the Skingrad Mages Guild.


He's in Bleak Falls Cave, you realize?
Oh, I do remember telling him to go there...hmm. Well, we'll just have to do something about that, won't we?


I'll be here when you get back. Good luck!


...well, at least they're being honest. Weak Fireball is notable in that it costs far less magicka to cast than if we had made an identical spell ourselves, but by this point in the game it's just not that great. We COULD base an offensive around spamming it, but that would be silly.


We'll be using it a little during this quest, though, since that's what the developers intended.


Well, it's easier on the eyes than Morrowind's area-of-effect spells, I'll give it that.


Another stone. I'll have to remember that's there.
That's the Aetherius Stone. I considered activating it, but chose not to because I wasn't aware of the distinction between Birthsign Stones and Heaven Stones. I'd like to get all of the Heaven Stone powers if possible, but for reasons that will become apparent next update, we need this one the most.


Hmm. Looks...cozy?


Time to find Er-








Yeah, so this is a zombie cave. The baddies in here are Deranged Zombies, which are specific to this quest and scale to our level. They're a little more durable than Headless Zombies, but don't hit as hard.


Zombies and fighting.


Fighting and zombies.




Rubbish spells and zombies.


Zombies that go flying in an amusing pose during a few frames, thus bringing a glimmer of happiness into the grueling process of going over raw gameplay footage of zombies.



Zombies that you cut with a Bound Dagger sometimes.


You are Erthor, no?
They're all gone? I can leave the cave?
The zombies? Yes and also yes.
Oh, thank you! I'm ever so grateful! You're heading back to Skingrad, aren't you? Could I...maybe come with you? It'd be safer, I think. So, what do you say?
Khajiit was planning on it.
Oh, thank you. You're just too kind.



This scroll is a nice touch, if only because it fleshes out Erthor a bit. Between this and the scamp incident Druja mentioned, the quest paints a picture of a mage attemtping powerful Conjuration spellcraft, but invariably losing control of whatever he's summoned. Zombies aside, this quest is all right.


Now let's blow this zombie stand.







And now for my little experiment.


I'm going to need hammers.


May as well sell some things before I go.


Now, to the Spire!


Remember those shenanigans I mentioned earlier?


What it boils down to is this: skills in Oblivion generally gain a fixed amount of experience whenever they're used at all.


Just as Alteration doesn't care if you're casting Shield or Feather, Armorer doesn't care if you're restoring one point of health to your armor or fifty.


And speaking of Alteration, here we have our first power-leveling spell.


Since Ding Armor is giving me experience in Destruction, I'm making sure we get the best Willpower bonus possible.



Eventually we run out of hammers, so it's time to pop on over to The Copious Coinpurse.


And the cycle continues,


until I realize I have Everscamps.


Who will also give me Heavy Armor levels as well as Block, if I like.



Meanwhile, Thoronir can't seem to decide whether he wants to fight the Everscamps or freak out.


Angry elf.


Scared elf.




We manage to hit Journeyman in like fucking everything, including Armorer. We're all the closer to being able to rely on enchanted gear now that we can repair it!



After that, we top off our level with a bit of Block, and rest at Vilverin. All in all, Disintegrate Armor is a handy little thing to know about if you're the kind of person that doesn't want to be cursed with Everscamps for all time.

And if you're that kind of person, get the fuck out of my thread.

Cat Stats

Class skills
Block: 43
Blunt: 26
Destruction: 61
Acrobatics: 68
Light Armor: 68
Marksman: 47
Speechcraft: 30

Not class skills
Armorer: 50
Athletics: 48
Blade: 48
Hand To Hand: 50
Heavy Armor: 51
Alchemy: 61
Alteration: 47
Conjuration: 36
Illusion: 34
Mysticism: 41
Restoration: 35
Mercantile: 20
Security: 39
Sneak: 51

Those little bars in the corner of the screen
Health: 184
Magicka: 174
Fatigue: 284

Shiny, clinky gold: 2025