The Elder Scrolls IV
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FAQ/Walkthrough (for PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3)
V4.00 2006-02-17
Copyright 2006, 2007 Barry Scott "PapaGamer" Will
A premium version of this Walkthrough is available. It includes maps,
screenshots, hyperlinked cross-references and more. See
http://www.papagamer.com/content/view/28/39/
This FAQ/Walkthrough does not include a Character Guide. You can find my
Character Build Guide at:
http://www.papagamer.com/faqs/oblivion_character.txt
The Character Build Guide includes a complete rundown of all the skills,
races, attributes and birthsigns in Oblivion, as well as many class templates
for your amusement.
**Bethesda has released the v1.1.511 patch for both PC and Xbox 360. You
should download and install this patch as it fixes a number of quest-related
bugs.  Xbox 360 users can download the patch via Xbox Live. PC users can
download the patch here:
http://elderscrolls.com/downloads/updates_patches.htm
The PS3 version of the game should already be at patch level 1.1.511.
KNIGHTS OF THE NINE BOXED SET
-------------------------------
The KoN boxed set includes all the official mods released independently by
Bethesda during the course of 2006. Most of the mods were previously covered
in this guide, and that coverage has not changed with the release of KoN. The
official mods included in KoN are:
Horse Armor (DLC1)
Orrery (DLC2)
Wizard's Tower (DLC3)
Thieves' Den (DLC7)
Mehrunes' Razor (DLC9)
The Vile Lair (DLC5)
Spell Tomes (DLC4)
Knights of the Nine (DLC8)
Knights of the Nine has its own major section in this guide. Mehrunes' Razor
and Repairing the Orrery are listed under Side Quests. The other mods are
covered in Expanding Your Game, under Official Mods.
**SPOILER WARNING**
This guide contains plot spoilers. You have been warned.
~~The Elder Scrolls IV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CONTACT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OBLIVION~~
To contact me about the guide, send email to:
barry@papagamer.com
Please include "Oblivion FAQ" in your subject line so I don't auto-discard the
message. Also, please read the FAQ carefully prior to asking for help on any
part of the game. If you send me additional suggestions or hints for the game
and I find them useful, you will be acknowledged in the Credits.
If you found this guide useful and would like to contribute a small token for
my efforts, you may send money through PayPal by using the Donate link found
on my Web site:
http://www.papagamer.com/
Thank you, and enjoy the guide!
~~The Elder Scrolls IV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TABLE OF CONTENTS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OBLIVION~~
Front Matter
Contact Information
Table of Contents
How to Use This Guide
Gameplay.....................................................GP00
Controls & Icons..........................................GP01
Game Mechanics............................................GP02
Radiant AI.............................................GP02-A
The Leveled System.....................................GP02-B
Time, Waiting & Resting................................GP02-C
Travel, Horses & Quest Markers.........................GP02-D
Mini-games: Lockpicking & Persuasion...................GP02-E
Enchanting, Spellmaking & Soul Gems....................GP02-F
Combat....................................................GP03
Heavy Melee............................................GP03-A
Light Melee............................................GP03-B
Archer.................................................GP03-C
Magic..................................................GP03-D
Magicka Effects...........................................GP04
Frequently Asked Questions................................GP05
Main Story...................................................MS00
Tutorial..................................................MS01
Deliver the Amulet........................................MS02
Find the Heir.............................................MS03
Breaking the Siege of Kvatch..............................MS04
Weynon Priory.............................................MS05
The Path of Dawn..........................................MS06
Dagon Shrine..............................................MS07
Spies.....................................................MS08
Blood of the Daedra.......................................MS09
Blood of the Divines......................................MS10
Miscarcand................................................MS11
Bruma Gate................................................MS12
Allies for Bruma..........................................MS13
The Wayward Knight (Cheydinhal)........................MS13-A
Bravil.................................................MS13-B
Anvil..................................................MS13-C
Chorrol................................................MS13-D
The Battle for Castle Kvatch...........................MS13-E
Leyawiin...............................................MS13-F
Skingrad...............................................MS13-G
Defense of Bruma..........................................MS14
Great Gate................................................MS15
Paradise..................................................MS16
Light the Dragonfires.....................................MS17
Imperial Dragon Armor.....................................MS18
Fighters Guild...............................................FG00
A Rat Problem.............................................FG01
The Unfortunate Shopkeeper................................FG02
The Desolate Mine.........................................FG03
Unfinished Business.......................................FG04
Drunk and Disorderly......................................FG05
Den of Thieves............................................FG06
Amelion's Debt............................................FG07
The Master's Son..........................................FG08
More Unfinished Business..................................FG09
Azani Blackheart..........................................FG10
The Wandering Scholar.....................................FG11
The Fugitives.............................................FG12
Trolls of Forsaken Mine...................................FG13
The Stone of St. Alessia..................................FG14
The Noble's Daughter......................................FG15
Mystery at Harlun's Watch.................................FG16
Information Gathering.....................................FG17
Infiltration..............................................FG18
The Hist..................................................FG19
Expelled From the Fighters Guild..........................FG20
Mages Guild..................................................MG00
Anvil Recommendation......................................MG01
Bravil Recommendation.....................................MG02
Bruma Recommendation......................................MG03
Cheydinhal Recommendation.................................MG04
Chorrol Recommendation....................................MG05
Fingers of the Mountain................................MG05-A
Fingers of the Mountain, Part II.......................MG05-B
Leyawiin Recommendation...................................MG06
Skingrad Recommendation...................................MG07
A Mage's Staff............................................MG08
Ulterior Motives..........................................MG09
Vahtacen's Secret.........................................MG10
Necromancer's Moon........................................MG11
Liberation or Apprehension?...............................MG12
Information at a Price....................................MG13
A Plot Revealed...........................................MG14
The Bloodworm Helm........................................MG15
The Necromancer's Amulet..................................MG16
Ambush....................................................MG17
Confront the King.........................................MG18
Mages Guild Suspension....................................MG19
Thieves Guild................................................TG00
May the Best Thief Win....................................TG01
Independent Thievery......................................TG02
Untaxing the Poor.........................................TG03
The Elven Maiden..........................................TG04
Ahdarji's Heirloom........................................TG05
Misdirection..............................................TG06
Lost Histories............................................TG07
Taking Care of Lex........................................TG08
Turning a Blind Eye.......................................TG09
Arrow of Extrication......................................TG10
Boots of Springheel Jak...................................TG11
The Ultimate Heist........................................TG12
Cast Out of the Thieves Guild.............................TG13
Dark Brotherhood.............................................DB00
A Knife in the Dark.......................................DB01
A Watery Grave............................................DB02
Accidents Happen..........................................DB03
Scheduled for Execution...................................DB04
The Renegade Shadowscale..................................DB05
The Assassinated Man......................................DB06
The Lonely Wanderer.......................................DB07
Bad Medicine..............................................DB08
Whodunit?.................................................DB09
Permanent Retirement......................................DB10
Of Secret and Shadow......................................DB11
The Purification..........................................DB12
Affairs of a Wizard.......................................DB13
Next of Kin...............................................DB14
Broken Vows...............................................DB15
Final Justice.............................................DB16
A Matter of Honor.........................................DB17
The Coldest Sleep.........................................DB18
A Kiss Before Dying.......................................DB19
Following a Lead..........................................DB20
Honor Thy Mother..........................................DB21
Whispers of Death.........................................DB22
Dark Exile................................................DB23
Knights of the Nine..........................................KN00
Pilgrimage................................................KN01
The Shrine of the Crusader................................KN02
Priory of the Nine........................................KN03
Nature's Fury.............................................KN04
The Path of the Righteous.................................KN05
Stendarr's Mercy..........................................KN06
Wisdom of the Ages........................................KN07
The Faithful Squire.......................................KN08
The Sword of the Crusader.................................KN09
The Blessing of Talos.....................................KN10
Umaril the Unfeathered....................................KN11
Epilogue..................................................KN12
Side Quests..................................................SQ00
Quest Index..................................................QL00
Alphabetical Index........................................QL01
City/Region Index.........................................QL02
Miscellaneous Adventures.....................................MA00
Home Ownership............................................MA01
Skill Training............................................MA02
Vampirism.................................................MA03
Alchemy...................................................MA04
Expanding Your Game..........................................XP00
PC Optimization...........................................XP01
PC Console Commands.......................................XP02
Mods......................................................XP03
Version History & Credits....................................VH00
Legal........................................................LG00
To quickly jump to a section, copy the section code, press CTRL-F and paste
the section code in the search box.
~~The Elder Scrolls IV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OBLIVION~~
Oblivion is a huge game, and very much free-form. You can spend 100 hours
playing the game and never touch the main quest. You can play through the main
quest a half-dozen times and never do the same side quests twice. In addition,
some dungeons and quests are randomly generated. There's no way to write a
typical linear walkthrough for this game.
So here's how the walkthroughs are organized:
* Main Story: First up is a step-by-step walkthrough of the main story quests.
The main story does advance in a fairly linear manner, so each step along the
journey will be laid out. Of course, you do not have to complete the main
story in any sort of time limit and you can take your time and do lots of side
quests during the main story. However, the Main Story walkthrough will concern
itself only with the quests that are directly connected to the main story.
* Guild Quests: There are four guilds in Oblivion--Fighters, Mages, Thieves
and the Dark Brotherhood (assassins). Each guild has numerous quests
associated with it, and each has its own section in this part of the guide.
* Knights of the Nine: This mini-expansion to Oblivion includes previously
released material through Bethesda's official mods store (both for PC and
X360). The main KoN quest is described after the guild quests; other KoN
content is scattered through the Side Quests and Expanding Your Game sections.
* Side Quests: Everything that doesn't fit into the previous categories is
organized here in alphabetical order by quest name.
Before all the walkthroughs is a rundown of basic gameplay in Oblivion,
including the controls, how the Radiant AI works, combat hints and frequently
asked questions.
At the end of the walkthroughs is an index of every quest in the game, with
the section number where you can find the mini-walkthrough for that quest. The
index is organized both alphabetically and by city/region.
A complete breakdown of the character system in Oblivion, including all the
skills, races, birthsigns, etc. is in a separate document, located at:
http://www.papagamer.com/faqs/oblivion_character.txt
After the quest walkthroughs is Miscellaneous Adventures, which covers buying
and furnishing houses, vampirism and training your skills (including the
Master Training quests).
The guide wraps up with Expanding Your Game, which covers optimizing your PC
to run Oblivion well, using console commands (on the PC) for that extra edge
and mods (mostly for PC, but some for X360 as well).
The main point of Oblivion is to explore, have fun and immerse yourself in the
world. The game simply cannot be adequately covered in words; you have to
experience it for yourself. But, if you get stuck, feel like you're in over
your head, or just can't figure out how to do that one little thing...then
this guide is here for you.
[GP00]
~~The Elder Scrolls IV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GAMEPLAY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OBLIVION~~
*SAVE EARLY*
*SAVE OFTEN*
*KEEP LOTS OF SAVES*
Oblivion, like any major, western-style RPG, has its share of glitches and
ways things can go wrong. Frequently, the only solution is to go to an earlier
save. You should make a new save at least every 15 or 30 minutes and keep at
least 15 to 20 savegames. The number of savegames is limited only by your hard
drive capacity and many people keep hundreds of saves. (That's probably a
little over-board; but, still...) It's easy to find that a decision you made
three or four hours ago, playing time, was a bad one and you will want to go
back and fix it. On the other hand, you don't want to go back to a several-
hour-old savegame if all you need to do is get around a glitch that just
happened.
*SAVE EARLY*
*SAVE OFTEN*
*KEEP LOTS OF SAVES*
It can't be repeated too often.
[GP01]
These are the default controls for the game:
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ACTION                 | PC (keyboard/mouse)+   | XBOX 360*              |
|------------------------+------------------------+------------------------|
| Movement               | W, A, S, D             | Left stick             |
|------------------------+------------------------+------------------------|
| Camera                 | Move mouse             | Right stick            |
|------------------------+------------------------+------------------------|
| Activate               | SPACE                  | A button               |
|------------------------+------------------------+------------------------|
| Jump                   | E                      | Y button               |
|------------------------+------------------------+------------------------|
| Run                    | Left SHIFT             | Movement speed is      |
|------------------------+------------------------| controlled by the      |
| Always Run (toggle)    | CAPS LOCK              | force on the left stick|
|------------------------+------------------------+------------------------|
| Ready/Sheath Weapon    | F                      | X button               |
|------------------------+------------------------+------------------------|
| Attack                 | Left mouse button      | R trigger              |
|------------------------+------------------------+------------------------|
| Power Attack           | Hold left mouse button | Hold R trigger +       |
|                        | + movement key         | move left stick        |
|------------------------+------------------------+------------------------|
| Shoot Arrow            | Hold left mouse button | Hold R trigger to aim, |
|                        | to aim, release to fire| release to fire        |
|------------------------+------------------------+------------------------|
| Block/Bow Zoom         | Right mouse button     | L trigger              |
|------------------------+------------------------+------------------------|
| Cast Spell             | C                      | R button               |
|------------------------+------------------------+------------------------|
| Grab                   | Z press-and-hold       | L button press-and-hold|
|------------------------+------------------------+------------------------|
| Sneak                  | Left CTRL              | Press left stick       |
|------------------------+------------------------+------------------------|
| Journal                | TAB; You can also open | B button               |
|                        | a journal tab directly |                        |
|                        | F1 - Stats             |                        |
|                        | F2 - Inventory         |                        |
|                        | F3 - Spells            |                        |
|                        | F4 - Map/Quests        |                        |
|------------------------+------------------------+------------------------|
| Hotkeys                | 1 - 8                  | D-pad                  |
|------------------------+------------------------+------------------------|
| Assign Hotkeys         | Press-and-hold 1 - 8   | Press-and-hold D-pad   |
|  w/Inventory Open      | and click item         | and select item (A)    |
|------------------------+------------------------+------------------------|
| Game Menu              | ESC                    | Start                  |
|------------------------+------------------------+------------------------|
| Wait                   | T                      | Back                   |
|------------------------+------------------------+------------------------|
| Switch View (1st/3rd)  | R                      | Press right stick      |
|------------------------+------------------------+------------------------|
| Vanity Mode            | Press-and-hold R       | Press-and-hold rt stick|
|------------------------+------------------------+------------------------|
| Quicksave              | F5                     |                        |
|------------------------+------------------------+------------------------|
| Quickload              | F9                     |                        |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
* Xbox 360 Controls list courtesy of Styck and GOSFreak from GameFAQs.
+ The PC version does support gamepads; however, there are some problems with
the default control setup. Find your Oblivion.ini file (typically in
My Documents\My Games\Oblivion) and open this file in a *text* editor such
as Notepad. (Don't use Word or WordPad or other word processing program.
Stick with a simple, plain text editor.)
Find these lines in the section headed [Controls]:
fMouseSensitivity=0.0020
;X = 1, Y = 2, Z = 3, XRot = 4, YRot = 5, ZRot = 6
iJoystickMoveFrontBack=2
iJoystickMoveLeftRight=1
fJoystickMoveFBMult=1.0000
fJoystickMoveLRMult=1.0000
iJoystickLookUpDown=6
iJoystickLookLeftRight=3
fJoystickLookUDMult=0.0020
fJoystickLookLRMult=0.0020
These are the default movement (left analog stick) and camera (right analog
stick) controls. Specifically, the Look (i.e. camera) controls may not be
set properly for your joystick. If moving the right analog stick has no
effect on the camera, change these two lines:
fJoystickLookUDMult=0.0020
fJoystickLookLRMult=0.0020
Increase the value of 0.0020 to something significantly larger, such as
0.5000. If the camera still does not respond or is sluggish, increase to
1.0000 and so on until the camera responds to the right joystick in a way
that works for you.
Additionally, you may find the camera movement does not correspond
correctly to the joystick movement: i.e. the camera moves up and down
as you move the stick left and right. In that case, switch these values:
iJoystickLookUpDown=6
iJoystickLookLeftRight=3
so that you have:
iJoystickLookUpDown=3
iJoystickLookLeftRight=6
You may also need to change some of these values completely depending on
your controller and your controller's drivers. You can set the buttons
within the Controls Options of the game.
| Icons
+-------
When in first-person perspective, the center of the screen is occupied by a
crosshair. When you mouse over a target, the crosshair changes depending on
the target.
* Face: NPC, Activate the NPC to talk to him or her
* Crown: plot critical NPC, Activate the NPC to talk to him or her
* Open hand: a loose item, press Activate to take the item
* Closed fist: something that can be manipulated (such as a door or switch),
press Activate to...well...activate the item
* Pottery jar: container, press Activate to open the container
* Door: a door, Activating may open the door or take you to another area
depending on the door
* Lock: this icon appears in the lower right corner of the screen when a door
or container is locked.
* Moon and stars: a bed, Activate to sleep in the bed
* Book: a book or note, Activate it to read the item
* Stool: a chair, bench, etc., Activate it to sit down, press Activate again
while not targeting anything to stand up
* Horseshoe: a horse, press Activate to mount the horse, press Activate again
while not targeting anything to dismount
* Bat: NPC, Activate the NPC to feed on him or her (can only be used when you
are a vampire)
* Eye: indicates you are in Sneak mode
Sometimes icons display in red. When you see a red icon, don't touch the item
or you'll be accused of a crime. Unless, of course, you're trying to commit a
crime, then go ahead and touch away...
[GP02]
Most of the basic gameplay elements are dealt with during the tutorial. How to
pick things up, how to drop them, how to equip weapons and spells, how to
Sneak, etc. But, there are a lot of things going on under the hood that the
tutorial never mentions. This section covers all those extra game mechanics.
| Radiant AI [GP02-A]
+---------------------
Radiant AI is Bethesda's name for its NPC scripts. NPCs in Oblivion are
supposed to "act like real people". At first, this really seems to be the
case. After a few hours invested in a city, you'll see it's just another bunch
of scripts strung together with some pseudo-random events to give the feel of
actual intelligence.
Here are some of the things the Radiant AI does:
* NPCs keep a schedule. Their schedule is occasionally randomized, but, for
the most part, these characters move around eating, working, sleeping and
other activities at different times of the day on a regular schedule.
* NPCs react to crimes. Enter one's house uninvited and they'll call for
the gendarmes. Hit someone and they'll scream, "Assault!" Etc.
* NPCs talk to one another as they pass on the street. After spending a
couple hours in a city, you'll have heard every variation on conversation
there is. (Since everything in Oblivion is voice acted, the number of
conversations is quite limited.) Sometimes, hearing these conversations
opens up a new topic for you, often leading to a quest.
Here are some things the Radiant AI does not do:
* Force you to keep a schedule. For the most part, if someone tells you to
meet them at midnight tonight or else, you can show up at midnight three
weeks later and they'll be there waiting patiently for you. There are very,
very few quests in Oblivion that actually require you to act within time
constraints.
* React to assaults on allies. The vision/hearing of every NPC in Oblivion
must be impaired. If you have two enemy mages on opposite sides of a large
room, you can blow one of them to smithereens while the other wonders
aloud about the rats. This does help with combat since you don't want lots
of bad guys swarming you, but it is kind of ridiculous.
Example: right after killing the captain of a ship, two sailors barged into
the cabin. The PC was hidden in the back room. Seeing the captain dead on
the floor, the sailors proceeded to engage in a random conversation. The PC
steps out of the back room and fires a spell at one of the sailors. That
sailor charges and is dispatched. The other sailor, still behind the
partition at the front of the cabin, complains about the loud noises made
by the rats.
That's the Radiant AI for you!
* Care much about the world around them. There are scripted instances where
you can't get help from someone because of an Oblivion gate nearby, but,
for the most part, while the big, bad demonic invasion is happening, most
NPCs still just want you to kill (or protect, depending on the situation)
the rats in their basement.
So, don't get your hopes up too high over the Radiant AI. The NPCs in Oblivion
pretty much act like the NPCs in every other RPG, except they don't just stand
around waiting for you to show up (unless you're in the middle of a quest
requiring they just stand around until you show up--in which case they'll wait
for months).
And, even if a quest-target NPC is moving around, the convenient objective
marker on your map will always show you where he or she is.
| The Leveled System [GP02-B]
+-----------------------------
Oblivion uses a system that matches enemy levels to your PC's level. It does
this in two ways:
* Changes the type or number of creatures you face. For example, at low
level, the daedra you fight inside Oblivion are mostly scamps and the
occasional clannfear runt. At higher levels, you'll start seeing dremora,
adult clannfear, atronachs, etc.
* Increases the level of the enemy. This is mostly used on boss creatures.
For example, the opponents you face in the Arena are always the same, but
their level, skills and equipment increase in power as you increase in
power.
The leveled system means you never get in over your head. Whatever challenge
you face is always scaled to your level, so you can do anything at the
beginning of the game. This is also a drawback, as being able to complete any
quest even at level 1 is somewhat unrealistic.
The leveled system also means you never overpower your opponents. There are
never any "easy" fights against overwhelmed opponents. When you encounter
bandits at level 1, they are clad in fur and wield rusty daggers. If you
encounter them at level 20, they are clad in mithril and wield enchanted glass
short swords.
Treasure and store inventories are likewise leveled. At level one, you can
fight for your life through a three-level ruin, dispatching dozens of undead
and come away with a grand total of 32 gold, a flawed jewel and some day-old
bread. Going through the same ruin at level 10 can yield a couple hundred
gold, some soul gems and an enchanted weapon.
The leveled system also affects quest rewards. Finish Fingers of the Mountain
at level 3 and the spell you get is, to say the least, underwhelming. Finish
it at level 25 and you get one of the most powerful spells in the game
(assuming you have the Magicka to cast it). A sigil stone collected at level 5
is a lot less powerful than a sigil stone collected at level 15.
(*NOTE*: PC users can download a mod that corrects this problem.)
The leveled system does present some problems, especially in the main story.
There are a few quests where you have to defeat hordes of enemies, and you are
given help; or, you have to protect someone from enemies. In these cases,
having a higher level PC works against you since your allies do not similarly
increase in power. The last thing you want is a dozen dremora overwhelming the
guards around you, then turning all their attention on you. No matter how uber
you think your gear, you're not going to survive that.
There are some ways to work around this system:
1) Increase your class levels slowly. If you work mostly with minor skills,
and only increase your major skills (and, thus, your class level) when you've
locked in +5 modifiers for your attributes, then you'll run far ahead of the
NPCs of similar level. For more info on the skill/class system, see the
PapaGamer Character Build Guide at:
http://www.papagamer.com/faqs/oblivion_character.txt
2) Play at a lower difficulty level. If a quest is just too hard, turn the
difficulty down until you complete the quest.
3) Use a modded leveling system (see the Mods section near the end of the
guide). This will allow you to level more reasonably without having to pay a
lot of attention to the math. There are also mods that affect enemy leveling,
which makes the game much more interesting.
4) Use the Quest Reward Leveling mod (see the Mods section near the end of the
guide). This mod levels up quest rewards with your class level, so you'll
always have a use for those special gifts.
| Time, Waiting & Resting [GP02-C]
+----------------------------------
Time in Oblivion passes at the rate of 30 minutes for every one real minute
spent playing the game (not in Pause). So a 24-hour day takes 48 minutes of
real time to play through.
NPCs operate on schedules during the game day. Normal operating hours for
merchants are 8am to 8pm every day. In the cities, most of the rulers hold
court from 8am to 6pm every day. You can find a lot of NPCs at dinner in the
local tavern or castle dining hall around 8pm to 11pm most days. Etc. If
you're looking for someone and you don't have a quest marker for that person,
you can assume that person will be at home, sleeping, during the night. Etc.
The calendar is just like the Gregorian calendar, albeit with different names:
Gregorian - Oblivion            Gregorian - Oblivion
---------   ------------        ---------   ------------
January   - Morning Star        July      - Sun's Height
February  - Sun's Dawn          August    - Last Seed
March     - First Seed          September - Heartfire
April     - Rain's Hand         October   - Frost Fall
May       - Second Seed         November  - Sun's Dusk
June      - Mid-Year            December  - Evening Star
Gregorian - Oblivion
---------   --------
Sunday    - Sundas
Monday    - Morndas
Tuesday   - Tirdas
Wednesday - Middas
Thursday  - Turdas
Friday    - Fredas
Saturday  - Loredas
The months have the same number of days as the Gregorian calendar, thus Last
Seed has 31 days, Heartfire has only 30, etc. The game begins the 27th of Last
Seed, Third Empire, year 433 (7/27/433--The in-game calendar displayed with
the debug console counts the months from 0 to 11, so August/Last Seed is month
7, not 8). You can see the current date by turning on the debug console (tdt)
and choosing page 0 (sdt 0).
What does all this mean?
Well, not much, unless you need to figure out an NPC's schedule. If a
character does activity X on weekdays, you know that means Morndas, Tirdas,
Middas, Turdas and Fredas. If it's currently Loredas, you've got to Wait two
days to catch the NPC. And so on and so forth.
At any time there are no enemies nearby and you are not trespassing you can
use the Wait command (default PC key 'T', Xbox 360 button 'Back'). You can
Wait in one hour increments up to 24 hours (one full day). Waiting any period
of time, even just one hour, fully restores your Health, Magicka and Fatigue.
This is a kind of cheap way to heal yourself up while spelunking--clear out
enough enemies and you can just Wait one hour.
You can also sleep, if you have a bed handy. The only times you have to sleep
are:
1) To increase your class level. Unless you're using a mod, or have turned on
instant leveling in your INI file, you must sleep in a bed to level up.
2) Certain quests require you to sleep in a bed; e.g. "Where Spirits Have
Lease" or during Dark Brotherhood quests.
An easy way to have access to cheap (i.e. free) beds is to join either the
Fighters Guild or Mages Guild. Just asking to join gives you a key to all the
guild halls, all of which have beds to sleep in. You don't even have to
perform any quests. Every city except Kvatch and Imperial City have halls for
both the Fighters Guild and Mages Guild.
| Travel, Horses & Quest Markers [GP02-D]
+-----------------------------------------
There are three ways to travel in Cyrodiil:
1) On foot, either walking or running.
2) By horse. Horse travel is faster than running (unless you have a very high
Speed attribute), but somewhat unreliable. You cannot fight while you're on a
horse, they're difficult to steer and they sometimes wander away while you're
dungeon delving.
There are seven horses or types of horses available (the Speed attributes in
these lists are somewhat misleading, as horses can move a lot faster than
humans, so only compare the Speed of a horse against other horses, not
humanoids):
* Paint: Speed 23, Combat 40, Attack Damage 10, Health 300
Paint horses are available in Bruma, Leyawiin and from Prior Maborel as part
of the "Find the Heir" main quest. Paint horses are the slowest, least combat-
worthy horses in the game. However, they are sturdy (300 Health), cheap and
you can get one free two minutes after you leave the tutorial dungeon.
* Bay: Speed 26, Combat 30, Attack Damage 10, Health 250
Bay horses are sold at the stables outside Bravil and Skingrad. They are not
as sturdy as Paint horses, but are faster.
* Chestnut: Speed 29, Combat 20, Attack Damage 10, Health 200
Chestnuts horses are faster; but, not as hardy as the Bay. They are sold in
Chorrol.
* White: Speed 29, Combat 50, Attack Damage 12, Health 400
The white horses of Anvil are the sturdiest regular horses available. They're
also pretty fast.
* Black: Speed 33, Combat 60, Attack Damage 15, Health 325
Cheydinhal's black horses are good combat companions and the fastest regular
horses in the game.
* Shadowmere: Speed 33, Combat 50, Attack Damage 20, Health 500
You obtain Shadowmere during the Dark Brotherhood quests. He is as fast as the
black horses of Cheydinhal and a better fighter, plus, he can never be killed!
(He just falls unconscious.)
* Unicorn: Speed 29, Combat 70, Attack Damage 45, Health 350
The unicorn is the target of a hunt instigated by the daedric lord Hircine.
While a fearsome combatant, he's not particularly suited to be your regular
mount. He doesn't like drawn weapons and will attack even you if you show
steel in his presence.
3) Fast Travel: while outdoors, open your World Map, choose a location and
click its icon. As long as there are no enemies nearby, you'll be asked if you
want to Travel there. Choose yes, and hey! There you are. Some caveats about
Fast Travel:
* Except for the city markers and a few quest-related locations (Weynon
Priory, Cloud Ruler Temple and a couple of others) you must have actually
visited the location to Fast Travel there. Even though someone marks the
location on your map, you must still get there by foot or horse first. Once
you have "discovered" a place, you can Fast Travel there as much as you want.
* If you own a horse, the horse Fast Travels with you (and is used to
calculate time passed, see below) even if you aren't mounted on the horse.
When Fast Traveling to a city, your horse is automatically stabled outside the
walls. There's no fee for stabling your horse.
* Time does pass when you Fast Travel, based on whether you're on foot or on
horse. It's not a large amount of time. Traveling from Cheydinhal in the east
to Anvil in the west takes only 11 hours on foot or 5 hours on a black horse.
* If you use the console to turn on all map markers (tmm 1), you can Fast
Travel to every marker.
QUEST MARKERS
---------------
Of course, all these travel options don't mean jack if you don't know where to
go. That's where the quest or objective marker comes in. On local maps, world
maps and your HUD compass, you'll see either a green or red arrow marker--
provided you have an active quest. This marker shows you the location or
direction in which your current objective is located.
This is why, many times in this walkthrough, you are told to go through
certain steps. You could, conceivably, skip some of the interrogations and
move straight to the target; however, without questioning people, you won't
get the quest marker on your maps and you'll be trying to find a marble in
oatmeal.
A red quest marker indicates the target is *not* in the same area as you. A
green quest marker indicates the target *is* in the same area as you. "Area"
in this sense does not mean the small "areas" loaded by the game as you
travel. You are in the same "area" if you are in the same world-space. This
means a target that is in the world-at-large is in the same area as you if you
are both outside cities and outside any building/dungeon--even if you are on
opposite sides of the map. Multiple arrows mean there are multiple targets--
i.e. more than one enemy you must kill or more than one location you must
visit.
Your quest journal has three tabs: active quest, open quests and completed
quests. Quest markers only show for the active quest, and there can be only
one active quest at a time. To change active quests, select an open quest and
click it. The open quest you selected becomes the new active quest and quest
markers change to reflect the new quest.
If you have no active quest, and you get a new quest, it automatically becomes
active. If you have an active quest, and you get a new quest, you are asked if
you want to Continue or Make This My Active Quest. Continuing adds the new
quest to open quests, but does not make it active. The second option,
obviously, marks the quest as active.
| Mini-games [GP02-E]
+---------------------
LOCKPICKING
-------------
Whenever you Activate a locked door or container, the lockpicking mini-game
starts. You'll see a stylized rendition of the internal workings of a lock.
Through the middle runs a hollow bolt into which your pick is inserted. This
bolt is held in place by from one (very easy locks) to five (very hard locks)
tumblers.
You may attempt to automatically open the lock using the Auto Attempt button,
or you may pick the lock manually. Move the pick under a tumbler and push up
(move your mouse up or press up on the control pad) to push the tumbler out of
the bolt. The tumblers are spring-loaded and will pop back down either
immediately or after a one- or two-second delay. While the tumbler is still
seated in the up position, LEFT-CLICK or press the right trigger to set the
tumbler. If you click at the wrong time, the tumbler falls back into place and
breaks your pick. Depending on your Security skill, other tumblers you have
already set will also fall and you'll have to set them all over again.
Security controls the lockpicking mini-game in three ways:
* Higher Security provides a more likely chance of success if you use the Auto
Attempt button to try to pick the lock.
* Higher Security keeps set tumblers in place when you break a pick by failing
to properly set a tumbler.
Novice:     all set tumblers fall
Apprentice: up to three set tumblers fall
Journeyman: up to two set tumblers fall
Expert:     only one other set tumbler will fall
Master:     no other tumblers fall.)
* Higher Security causes tumblers to drop back down more slowly.
You can figure out when to set a tumbler into place in one of two ways:
* Keep pushing it up and letting it fall and watch the pattern. On more
complex locks the tumbler's pattern can be quite long. For example, an easy
lock might have a tumbler with a pattern of short-long-short-short. A more
complex lock might have patterns like short-long-long-short-short-short-long-
short-long. Once you've got the pattern, click to set on a long segment of the
pattern.
* Listen to the sound of the tumbler moving up. There is an extra, very quiet
click when the tumbler is going to stay seated for a second or two. That's
when you can set the tumbler. Once you learn how to recognize that little
extra click, you can pick locks very easily.
There are two ways to get around this mini-game:
1) Work on your Alteration skill and use Open Lock spells.
2) Perform Nocturnal's quest (as soon as you reach level 10) and get the
Skeleton Key. This unbreakable lockpick allows you to pick any lock just by
clicking Auto-Attempt until the lock opens.
PERSUASION
------------
Each NPC has a Disposition score that indicates how likely they are to give
you important information or Haggle with you (if a merchant). You can increase
an NPC's Disposition using a Persuasion mini-game. In some cases, getting or
continuing a quest requires you to get a high Disposition score with the
target.
*NOTE* You can also increase Disposition by using Charm spells, the Imperial
ability, "Voice of the Emperor", or the vampire ability, "Vampire's
Seduction".
To play the Persuasion mini-game, click the Persuade button (face icon on the
left of the conversation menu) during conversation. A segmented wheel opens
next to the NPC. There are four segments: Admire, Boast, Joke and Coerce.
During each round of play, you must perform each action once.
To perform an action, select it and LEFT-CLICK or Right Trigger. Of the four
actions, the NPC will love one, like one, dislike one and hate one. You can
tell the NPC's reaction by examining his or her face when you select the
action. Inside each action's segment of the wheel is a wedge. After each
selection, the wedges "rotate", changing their position.
There are four wedges: 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%. They always rotate clockwise
and their order will differ from round to round. The actions the NPC loves,
likes, dislikes and hates will always be the same, so you only need to test
them at the beginning of the mini-game.
Basic gameplay involves choosing liked or loved responses when they are filled
with a medium or large wedge and choosing disliked and hated actions when they
have only a small wedge in them. All the while you're deciding which action to
pick, the NPC's Disposition is falling.
First, get a blank sheet of paper and sketch four large X's on it:
\    /        \    /        \    /        \    /
\  /          \  /          \  /          \  /
\/            \/            \/            \/
/\            /\            /\            /\
/  \          /  \          /  \          /  \
/    \        /    \        /    \        /    \