Part 66: The Elder Updates LXV - Reality check

Reality Check


While selling some shit on our way out of Bravil, I decide to see just how well our Chameleon set would work for, well, burgling purposes.


ALARMINGLY well is the answer! I'm pretty sure we could steal anything at this point if we were so inclined.


I also get my first glimpse of the skooma den, which these fine fellows are trying to gain access to. They won't stop chugging skooma for anything while you're talking to them, which is just the best.

While that's amusing enough on its own, armoredgorilla made his own interpretation of this which I believe anyone and everyone reading this update should click on.


Anyway. We continue on to Leyawiin without incident, unless you count the sky being an eye-searing shade of bloom due to our vampirism flaring up.


Our goal, lest we forget, is to infiltrate a dinner party and cast the spell "Stark Reality" at Castle Leyawiin.


Looks like it's guarded, though.


And no one gets in the room even after it's prepared, unless they're on the list. And even if they're on the list, they'd better be dressed for it. This is important to the Countess, and no one is going to muck it up. Got it?


So clearly, our first step is to wait for the proper time of day and speak to the guard then!


Khajiit is here for dinner. I am sufficiently dressed, yes?
I don't know who you are, and I'm not all that sure about you.


But, you're dressed for it. Can't imagine dressing up for any other reason. Go on in.



We cast the spell, and...











Aaaaand that's the bitch of this quest. Stark Reality removes all items from the dinner guests, and is hard-coded to remove ours as well. And gold is very much an item, so we either have to serve time in jail or run the fuck away.



Jail time can reduce your skills, so I opt to cheese it into the nearest Oblivion Gate.


My plan, such that it is, is to find enough gold in here to pay off my bounty through the Thieves Guild.




This is actually one of the easier layouts to rush through. Just jump around the big honking metal gate and presto!


We're not so lucky in terms of gold (as you can see in the lower right of the inventory window), but the Sigil Stone is pretty goddamn fantastic, as it turns out! Out of curiosity, I decided to look up Sigil Stones in the process of writing this update, and as it turns out, there's an Absorb Magicka flavor. Want to guess how much magicka a weapon enchanted with such a Transcendent Sigil Stone would absorb?

-50. That's negative five zero. It would actually RESTORE magicka to anything it strikes, making it pretty much useless. So be glad we didn't get that.



...anyway, the NEXT gate is more generous, giving us whoops I died better reload.





Well, at least we've got that to look forward to when we get out of this pickle!


Y'know what, maybe turning in this quest will sort things out for us.


I need to not be deprived of my possessions and chased by the law but okay



The Sanguine Rose is an interesting little item.


It functions as a staff...


...which summons a random Daedra! It's liable to attack YOU once it's done smacking the nearest enemies, but that's not a huge problem as they only stick around for 20 seconds. Pretty useful, really!


And speaking of staves, we should really get to this at some point. Not today, though!



Wait, no, game crashed.


Rrrrrrrrreload! We head up to Sanguine's shrine to turn in the quest once more, but not before resting at the White Stallion Lodge. And hey, we still have that Fortify Magicka stone.


Right, bounty paid off, shit gotten back. Let's not fuck around.


A debt?
I'm afraid so. My father had a bit of an issue with gambling. I'm afraid he built up a rather large debt. Now that he's gone, the debt is mine.
How much is "rather large"?
A great deal, over 1,000 septims. My father was quite a gambler. Quite a bad gambler.
Few excel at gambling. What became of your father? Where is he?
Gone. Dragged from our house in the night. To pay the debt, I'd like to sell the sword and armor of my grandfather, or I might be next!
Hmm...
They were buried with my grandfather in the family tomb. The sword and cuirass were enchanted, and should cover my debt. Please, get them for me.
No. No need. Khajiit has more than enough coin. Take it. Pay your debt.



Well. That was satisfying, wasn't it?


On our way back to Chorrol, I decide to mop up another Daedric quest. Kill a unicorn? All right, cool.



It was guarded by minotaurs, but ultimately fell to our staff.


And we got its soul.


This is our reward. It's got a 25% Resist Magic enchant on it which is nice, but at the same time, it's not heavy armor, so we're putting it in the "sell" pile.


And hell, why don't we do Clavicus Vile's thing while we're at it?



Well, I'll tell you why not, and I'll spare you the dialog that pointed us to this dungeon. The short version is there's this sword called Umbra let's go get it.


Now, y'know what that blur effect is? That's damage. Do you know what it's coming from? A poison gas trap. When an Everscamp dies in poison gas, that's a problem. As soon as the game tries to RESPAWN an Everscamp that died in poison gas, that's a crash.
And Umbra's one of the most powerful swords in the game, too. Highest base damage out of any one-handed weapon. You read that right: to get one of the more powerful weapons in the game, I would have to give up the Everscamps.

Oblivion's Not That Bad Score: Oblivion's Not That Bad Points: STACK OVERFLOW ERROR