The Elder Scrolls IV
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FAQ/Walkthrough (for PC & XBox 360)
v1.00 2006-05-01
Copyright 2006 Barry Scott "PapaGamer" Will
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was developed by Bethesda Game Studios,
published by Bethesda Softworks and 2K Games and is copyright 2006 Bethesda
Softworks. This guide is not endorsed by, nor is the author associated with,
Bethesda Game Studios, Bethesda Softworks or 2K Games.
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
This includes a complete rundown of all the skills, races, attributes and
birthsigns in Oblivion, as well as many class templates for your amusement.
A premium version of this FAQ is available. It includes maps, screenshots,
hyperlinked cross-references and more. See
http://www.papagamer.com/
for more information.
*SPOILER WARNING*
This guide contains plot spoilers. You have been warned.
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!
Front Matter
Contact Information
Table of Contents
How to Use This Guide
*Sections without a code are incomplete*
Gameplay.............................................................GP00
Controls & Icons..................................................GP01
Game Mechanics....................................................GP02
Radiant AI...................................................GP02-A
The Leveled System...........................................GP02-B
Time, Waiting & Resting......................................GP02-C
Combat............................................................GP03
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
Fighter's Guild
Mage's 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
Thieves' Guild
Dark Brotherhood
Side Quests..........................................................SQ00
Quest Index..........................................................QL00
Alphabetical Index................................................QL01
City/Region Index.................................................QL02
Expanding Your Game..................................................XP00
PC Optimization...................................................XP01
PC Console Commands...............................................XP02
Mods..............................................................XP03
Version History & Credits
To quickly jump to a section, copy the section code, press CTRL-F and paste
the section code in the search box.
Oblivion is a huge game, and very much freeform. 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 sidequests 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 Quest: First up is a step-by-step walkthrough of the main quest. The
main quest 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
quest in any sort of time limit and you can take your time and do lots of side
quests during the main quest. However, the Main Quest 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.
* 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, signs, etc. is in a separate document, located at:
http://www.papagamer.com/faqs/oblivion_character.txt
The guide wraps up with Expanding Your Game, which covers optimzing 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~~
[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 move 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: a locked door or chest, you'll need to pick the lock or use a spell
or key to open the door or chest
* 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: inidicates 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.
* NPCs react to crimes. Enter someone'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.
* 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 to 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 clann-
fear, 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 Septims, a flawed jewel and some
day-old bread. Going through the same ruin at level 10 can yield a couple
hundred Septims, 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.
4) Use the Quest Reward Leveling mod (see the Mods section near the end of the
guide). This 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.
The calendar is just like the Gregorian calendar, albeit with different names:
January  -                         July      - Last Seed
February -                         August    - Heartfire
March    -                         September - Frost Fall
April    -                         October   - Sun's Dusk
May      -                         November  - Evening Star
June     -                         December  -
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 and Heartfire have 31 days, Frost Fall has only 30, etc. The game begins
the 27th of Last Seed, Third Empire, year 433 (7/27/433). 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 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
Fighter's Guild or Mage's 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 both a
Fighter's Guild and Mage's Guild.
[GP03]
As would be the case in any adventure/RPG style game, there is plenty of
combat in Oblivion. Combat can be generalized into three types: Melee, Ranged
and Stealth. You can use magic or weapons in any of the types--yes, there are
plenty of touch spells to use in an up-close-and-personal way. Before getting
into specific tactics for each type of combat, there are some rules-of-thumb
that apply to all combat in Oblivion:
| Divide and Conquer
+--------------------
The combat in Oblivion is real-time and based on simple physics: if you swing
at the right time and in the right place, you hit. If you aim your arrow
properly, you hit. If you don't do these things right, you miss. There are no
dice rolls going on "in the background". Nobody stands around "waiting their
turn". If you get surrounded by three or more enemies, you're dead.
Fortunately, the developers, for the most part, spaced enemies out so you
don't typically walk in on a horde that's just sat down for lunch. Most rooms
have only one or two nasties in them. Larger rooms may have three or four, but
widely spaced out. You need to learn to draw enemies to you one (or, at worst,
two) at a time. Use arrows, ranged spells or jump up-and-down to attract the
attention of the closest to you, then turn and run back a ways so your foe
will foolishly charge after you, not waiting for his/her/its compatriots.
Once you learn how to deal with enemies in *very small* numbers, combat
becomes a lot easier.
| Variety is the Spice of Survival
+----------------------------------
Don't restrict yourself to a single type of combat. Have different methods
(melee weapons, ranged weapons, spells) available to you. Some enemies are
much more difficult to kill in certain ways. For example, the best way to deal
with a mage hurling spells at you is Me Smash! Trading fireballs probably
won't cut it (unless you were born under the sign of Atronach and are using
the opposing spells to regenerate your own Magicka, but that's advanced
tactics and you better know what you're doing...)
| The Better Part of Valor
+--------------------------
Sometimes, sneaking past is the best way to handle the situation, even for non
Stealth characters. And, of course, you can always run away and return later
when you've got new, fancier equipment (with enchantments!)
| Melee Combat
+--------------
If you're used to the charge-and-bash "strategy" present in many RPGs, it's
time to re-think your tactics. Oblivion is much more akin to standard
first-person shooters (which it emulates in gameplay) in which you must use
your brains before your brawn, no matter how well you've crafted your tank.
Simply charging into a battle situation is a good way to end up dead.
Even as a primarly melee fighter, you need to have an arsenal of ranged
weapons and spells at your disposal. They don't have to especially effective,
just enough to either draw enemies to you or to put archers/mages off balance
while you charge. It also doesn't hurt to have some Restoration magic handy.
Use magic between battles to heal yourself, saving the potions for
emergencies--i.e., when you're in the middle of combat and about to die.
You do not want to neglect your inner sneak thief, either. When approaching
large rooms, sneak up to the doorway and try to identify the enemies within.
You may be able to single them out with well-placed arrows, thus keeping
yourself from being ganged up on by three or four beasties.
The watchword for fighters in Oblivion: Patience. Remember, it's a virtue.
| Ranged Combat
+---------------
Ranged combat can be accomplished with a bow or with magic--mostly Destruction
spells, as that is the school with the most damaging ranged spells. Ranged
characters depend on Agility and Speed to stay out of range of melee foes.
Acrobatics is a good skill for this type of fighting as it gives you the
ability to jump up out of the way of the swinging sword and pepper your foe
while they futilely try to reach you. This works better outdoors than in
dungeons, but even some of the bigger caverns and ruins have lots of ledges
and cubbyholes where you can stand and fire away.
You'll want to invest some time in leveling up your Block skill and carry a
shield if using spells (archers can block with their bow). This will be your
fallback if you can't get away from the big nasty with sharp, pointy claws.
You'll not want to wear heavy armor, as it slows you down too much; you may
even want to stick with enchanted robes.
If you go pure archer, you'll tend to be at a disadvantage. You will want to
consider having some melee weapons to use in case of emergency--you can't
snipe everything in this game. Mages will be a little better off as there are
plenty of spells that can do as much, if not more, damage than the typical
melee tank.
| Stealth Combat
+----------------
Some players prefer getting the drop on their enemies, rather than trying to
duel everyone they meet. If you attack someone undetected, you score
additional damage--up to six times as much damage using an undetected melee
attack. Add poison and/or enchantements to your weapon, and you can rack up a
lot of one-hit kills this.
The downside? You must have a lot of patience, diligently level up your Sneak
skill and take your time going through every dungeon. Stealth fighting is not
for those who just want to get things over with. You also can find yourself at
a disadvantage if you get into a scrap with multiple foes. Since your fighting
abilities are designed for taking out one enemy as quickly as possible, being
surrounded puts you in a world of hurt.
In order to minimize your chances of being mobbed, you'll want to invest in
some ranged Destruction spells or the Marksman skill. You can use arrows or
spells to draw a single foe to you, then go into Sneak mode and take them out
from hiding. You should also invest in light armor skill, so you're not
totally defenseless if Sneaking fails you.
[MS00]
~~The Elder Scrolls IV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MAIN STORY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OBLIVION~~
[MS01]
This "starter dungeon" is your tutorial for the game. It covers most of the
basics. You start by choosing your race. Later you'll choose your birthsign
and class. You'll be given the opportunity to change all of these at the end
of the tutorial.
| Imperial Prison
+-----------------
Wander around your cell, playing with the chains and listening to the dark elf
across the way taunt you. Soon, Uriel Septim himself, accompanied by some of
his blades, will show up and give you a way out. Follow them down into the
escape tunnel. You'll soon reach a place where the emporer is attacked and
Renault is killed--stay out of this fight, as you don't have a weapon or armor
and you can't change the outcome anyway.
Loot Renault's corpse for her sword and a torch and search the assassin bodies
for miscellaneous stuff (mostly potions). From this point, you can't follow
the Emporer's party, but there's a convenient hole in the wall to the
southeast.
Jump through the hole and watch out for rats. Thoroughly search this large
cavern. There are a number of corpses--one has several lockpicks and another
has a key to the exit door. The exit is to the southeast; the lock can be
picked if you haven't found the key. (The body with the key is near the door.)
| Imperial Substructure
+-----------------------
There's a zombie at the bottom of the slope leading out of the first room.
This will be the strongest foe you've faced thus far. Other than that bit of
excitement, you're mostly just fighting rats and collecting loot. Near the
exit is a goblin early-warning system consisting of skulls hanging from the
ceiling.
| Natural Caverns
+-----------------
Soon after entering the caverns, you'll get your first lesson in sneaking. You
can just sneak past the goblin, but might as well sneak up to him and give him
the business end of your weapon. Around the next corner is a tripwire. You can
jump the tripwire and then fight the goblin beyond it; or, try to run through
the tripwire and speed past the goblin, who will then take the brunt of the
swinging maces. Don't try this unless you have a Speed rating of 40 or higher.
You'll then want to advance carefully through the caverns, fighting each
goblin as you come upon it. Don't rush or you'll get two or three of these
nasty beasts on you at once and then it's reload time. Near the end, you'll
come upon a pile of logs at the top of a slope. Activate the logs to take out
the two goblins at the bottom of the slope.
Advance slowly down the slope to a very large cavern. There will be three or
four goblins in here, one of which is a shaman with a staff that shoots
eletricity. Use a bow or ranged spell to draw the weaker goblins to you, then
bull-rush the shaman. The tunnel exit from this room eventually leads into the
Imperial Subteranne.
| Imperial Subteranne
+---------------------
You come out on a high ledge looking over Uriel Septim and his bodyguards.
Jump down into the room and Septim invites you to join the party. During the
conversation you'll select a birthsign. Don't worry too much about your
selection, you'll get to change it later. Follow the emporer and guards,
helping with the assassins as they attack. You'll eventually reach...
| The Sanctum
+-------------
Soon after entering the Sanctum, Baurus and the other guard go to scout ahead,
leaving you to guard the Emporer in a side room. Uriel Septim initiates
another conversation with you, this time charging that you take his Amulet of
Kings to Jauffre, who will know where to find the last remaining son of the
Emporer. As soon as you have the amulet, a Mythic Dawn assassin jumps through
a secret door and kills Septim.
[MS02]
| Sewers
+--------
Baurus and the other guard return in time to help you deal with the assassin.
You can then talk to Baurus about Jauffre. Seems Jauffre is the Grandmaster of
the Blades--the Emporer's personal guard--and he bides his time at Weynon
Priory outside Chorrol.
Baurus also iniates your first chance to choose a class. Don't spend too much
time on it now, you can change it later (along with your race and birthsign).
He'll then point you through the door the assassin came through, saying it
leads to the sewers and freedom.
Follow the hall to the sewer entrance, then advance through the sewers. Soon
after entering, you'll come to a large room divided by water. There are two
exits. The left--north--exit leads to some loot guarded by goblins. The
right--southeast--exit eventually leads to the long tunnel out of the sewers.
About halfway down the tunnel you'll come to a gate. When you Activate the
gate, you'll get a menu allowing you to change your race, birthsign or class
or exit the sewers.
*SAVE YOUR GAME*
You may even want to use the console command SaveGame to create a
specially-named save. Never delete this savegame. Whenever you want to start
the game over with a "new" character, just load this savegame and change your
race, birthsign and class, then exit the sewers. You never have to go through
the starter dungeon again. (Well, unless you go through the Dark Brotherhood
quests, but that's different.)
When you're happy with your choice of character, exit the sewers. You find
yourself looking out over a river toward some ruins. Behind you rises the
Imperial Prison and, beyond that, Imperial City itself.
| Imperial City
+---------------
You can, if you like, immediately Fast Travel to Weynon Priory; however, you
will probably want to stop in Imperial City and sell off any useless items you
collected in the starter dungeon. The main story beckons, but so does the
entire land of Cyrodiil. To quest, or not to quest, that is the question.
There are several reasons for starting the main story right away and leaving
everything else until later:
1) Several times during the main story you will be required either to protect
an NPC or fight a pitched battle against hordes of daedra with the help of
other NPCs. If you wait until you are higher level, the daedra you fight
will also be higher level. Alas, the NPCs around you will not. Once you get
into the late teens in level, the daedra you fight will have your allies
for lunch and come looking for you as dessert.
Fighting a mob of mid-level daedra isn't healthy. Not at all. You could
wait until your power rivals the Nine (around 35th or 40th level), at
which point the daedra you face simply can't keep up and you'll mow them
down with ease. That doesn't necessarily help in the "protect the NPC"
quests, though.
At low levels, the daedra that spew forth from Oblivion are also low-level
and your allies can pitch in and actually do more than contribute to some
demon's indigestion. In this case, the leveled system works as intended and
keeps the tasks challenging, but not impossible.
2) If you do a little bit of the main story, up to taking Martin back to
Weynon Priory, you'll start the part of the game where random Oblivion
gates pop up around Cyrodiil. If you get up to that point in the main
story, then go side questing for a while, your way will eventually be
impeded by all the daedra roaming the countryside. Better to get to the
end of the main story and clear all that up.
3) When you finish the main story, you are proclaimed the Champion of Cyrodiil
and everyone loves you. Literally. You get a big Disposition increase with
all the NPCs, which makes all the side quests (many of which require a
high Disposition score with an NPC somewhere along the way) much easier.
No mucking about with the Disposition mini-game, or Charm spells or any
thing like that. Just chat with the people and they'll do whatever you want
or tell you anything you want to know. Makes the side quests a breeze.
4) A lot of the rewards for side quests are special enchanted items that are
keyed to your level. The higher your level, the more powerful the item. If
you collect all this junk at low levels, that's exactly what they will be--
junk. (PC users can download a mod that fixes this problem. See the Mods
section at the end of this guide.) Better to do all these side quests later
and get the uber leet gear instead of the fancy baubles.
Of course, you can ignore the voice of reason and go off side questing, in
which case, just skip on down to the section you want to see. For those of you
with a bit more wisdom, Fast Travel to...
| Weynon Priory
+---------------
Weynon Priory is located southeast of Chorrol. You can Fast Travel there from
the beginning of the game. Jauffre is typically found upstairs in the main
priory house, usually sitting at his desk. Talk to him for a history of the
kings, the dragonfires and Oblivion. He'll also point you to Septim's lone
surviving heir, Martin, who serves as a priest of Akatosh in Kvatch.
Jauffre will take the amulet and charge you with finding Martin and bringing
him to Weynon Priory. After, ask Jauffre about assistance. He'll open his
chest and you can loot it for better armor, weapons and other things.
Downstairs, talk to Prior Maborel, who will offer the loan of his horse.
Accept, with thanks.
You now have some decent equipment and a horse, the world is yours! Or you can
get on with your mission to Kvatch.
[MS03]
| Outskirts of Kvatch
+---------------------
When you reach the outskirts of Kvatch, you find the city in flames. To the
south is a refugee camp, where you get the full story of daedra spewing forth
from an Oblivion gate. Questions about Martin lead you to Savlian Matius,
captain of the Kvatch guard, who is holding the line against the demons at the
entrance to Kvatch.
Wind your way up the hill and find Matius and a few troops fighting daedra.
(The specific type of daedra depend on your class level.) Pitch in, if you
wish. When the fighting is over, talk to Matius, who tells you Martin is holed
up inside the chapel in the city. Your only hope is to find out how to close
the Oblivion gate, so the soldiers can retake the city.
[MS04]
| Oblivion: Kvatch Gate
+-----------------------
Welcome to your primary task in the main story of Oblivion. You will soon grow
to hate Oblivion gates. Ah well, no better time than the present. Step up to
the glowing portal and Activate it and go to hell.
Literally.
Fire resistance is a good thing. Fire spells--not so good. Almost everything
you encounter in Oblivion is resistant to fire, but weak against shock damage.
Load up on shocking spells, or shock-enchanted weapons. (Funny--you would
think the weakness would be to frost. Anyway...) If you start encountering
Flame Atronachs, you can use frost against them. (Similarly, use fire against
Frost Atronachs. Against Storm Atronachs, use anything other than shock.)
As you enter Oblivion, you'll find a Kvatch guard under attack by daedra. If
the guard survives--his name is Ilend Vonius--talk to him and either send him
back to Matius, or ask him to come along and watch your back. Ahead of you
(north) is a bridge blocked by a gate. To the east is a dead end. Your path
lies to the west.
First note about Oblivion: these areas are all very linear. If you get lost,
just look at your map. There's usually only one way you can go.
Wind your way around the west side of this island, until you reach the
northwest section. Then you head back south--and a little east--eventually
reaching the large round tower in the center of the north sector of the
island.
This is a Sigil Keep. You'll get to know these well. This particular keep is
called Blood Feast. Lovely, ain't it? All Oblivion towers follow the same
basic layout:
* The tower is hollow in its center, with a Sigillum Sanguis at the top. To
reach the Sanguis, you have to climb through one to three side areas.
* Most Sigil Keeps have two side areas: Rending Halls and Corridors of Dark
Salvation. These areas are relatively small, feature a few daedra, and the
occasional trap.
* In between the side areas, you'll climb some ramps around the central hollow
center of the tower.
First up in Blood Feast, as in most Sigil Keeps, is the Rending Halls. Enter
and climb the ramp, which takes a 90-degree turn. At the top, kill the daedra
and use the Blood Fountain for some health regeneration. Re-enter the tower
core through one of the two doors to the south.
Climb a ramp around the tower core to reach an entrance to the Corridors of
Dark Salvation. Wind your way up the ramp to a large room and dispose of the
daedra. The only unlocked exit from this room (besides the hall you just came
through) is to the west. This leads to a bridge over to a smaller tower.
In the small tower (Reapers Sprawl), climb the ramp and kill the Sigil Keeper.
Take a key from his body. Inside a cage is another Kvatch guard--still alive!
Talk to him to learn what you must do: enter the Sigillum Sanguis at the top
of the tower and remove the sigil stone. That will close the gate.
Go back to Blood Feast. You can now leave this room through either the north
or southwest door. The southwest door eventually leads back to the tower core,
but on a dead-end balcony. There is some loot here (in bloody hunks of meat
called "The Punished"). The north door leads to a ramp that curves to the
east.
At the top of the ramp, you'll see another ramp going down to the east and a
door to the south. The door goes to your objective. The ramp going down
eventually leads to another small tower, with some minor loot. Leave through