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Oblivion is the first game i ever had that was just mine. Got it for my birthday i remember the guy at GameStop totally tried to keep my mom from buying it for me. Screw that guy. Anyways. Very nostalgic game for me, however, there’s actually a lot of the game i never played through. I always did the arena, and the thieves guild, and the main quest. And by the time that was all done, i would just go back and do a new character. For me the character creation was like 50% of the fun. I did the dark brotherhood (assassin) quest line a couple times, but i always stopped when you had to kill your friends.
So I’m replaying it now. And I’m having a great time. One of the things that kept me playing this game over and over was the ways in which random things can occur that really make each character feel like a different person. I’ve been browsing the wiki some and a decent amount of the time things will just not happen in the way they are supposed to, but in an interesting way that makes sense within the fiction of the game. Here’s how my playthrough is going.
I am an imperial man named Francik. Locked in prison for an unknown crime. There has been an assassination attempt on the Emperor, and he is fleeing for his life. Through secret tunnels that just so happen to pass through my cell. The guards threaten me, but do not stop to impede my escape. I wind up joining them in combatting assassins, and with his dying breath the Emperor, voiced by Patrick Stewart, tells me of his secret heir and sends me on a quest to retrieve him.
I exit the tunnels and ignore his request. Instead i make a beeline to the east, eager to escape the Imperial City and its legions of guards. I make my way to the city of Cheydinhal, stopping along the way to fight some bandits and flying imps. When i get to town, i am in need of work, so i join the fighters guild. They put me to work fighting rats and woodland creatures. One of my fellow guild members teaches me a few spells, and i begin to practice them while i am out.
Inevitably, the Cheydinhall branch runs out of jobs for me, telling me i should head down to Anvil in the southwest corner of the map for more work. And that’s not gonna happen, so i head to the mages guild to see what they’ve got for me. I can’t help myself and i steal a shiny gem on a shelf. A guard sprints towards me and gets up in my face. I’m thrown in jail. I sleep out my sentence and go back to the mages. They don’t care that i stole from them. They send me on a few small quests, then I’m back out on the road.
I’m wandering aimlessly through the woods when i come to a small glade. In the center stands a unicorn and three Minotaurs. I do not know this yet, but this is the last unicorn in all of Tamriel. I unsheathed my sword to slay the Minotaur, and to my surprise, the unicorn comes charging at me. I dodge and deal with my other foes. Then i start running. I want the unicorn to calm down, because if i can sneak up behind it, i can ride it as a horse. This goes very poorly. It is faster than me. It stabs me repeatedly. Eventually i find a cave to hide in. When i exit, it is waiting outside, but has not seen me yet. I creep up and mount it. I think to myself this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
I ride to the south to the town of Bravil, do a couple jobs in town, then head back out to retrieve my steed. To my surprise i find my unicorn murdering a local guard. I unsheathed my sword to protect my friend, and as soon as i do, the guard is slain and the unicorn turns on me. This is when i discover that my unicorn is only my friend so long as i have no weapons equipped. So i run away again.
Now that i know the deal i get into a rhythm. I ride from town to town, stopping here and there. And occasionally, i forget to put my weapon away and i run for miles with the unicorn chasing me. It is fun. I complete jobs for the mages guild, snaking my way through the empire. Until i reach Anvil in the southwest. I get to town and standing outside the gates are a pack of rogue mages. A local guard has engaged them in combat. I dismount to help in the fight, and quickly realize my mistake. The unicorn get involved in the fight. We make quick work of the mages, but the fool of a guard is now coming for us. And by us i mean the unicorn, who is mauling him. He calls for backup and it’s bad news. I think i can flee and return later. I try hiding out in a cave. I wait a few moments then i come back. Slumped in front of the gate is the bodies of four guards, and the corpse of the last unicorn.
I vow vengeance on the mages that instigated the fight, and declare war on the entire town of Anvil. I will not rest until this has been made right.
I continue on my path, progressing though the mages guild, trying to earn a spot at the prestigious arcane university. I am training in destruction magic, shooting flames and lightning and ice. In the town of Lewayiin in the far south I am told to check in on a woman whose house reeks of death. I enter to find an annoyed looking woman and four stunted scamps. Scamps are like a goblin crossed with a satyr. They come from the daedric realms (hell kind of) and are usually hostile. These guys are just chilling. I talk to her and yadda yadda yadda she summoned them with a cursed staff and now they follow her everywhere. I act like I’m doing her a favor and offer to get rid of the staff. I have no intention of doing this.
From now on, everywhere i go, i am accompanied by four little gremlins. If you kill one, it falls dead, then a few seconds later in a puff of smoke it is back. So I’m using them as training dummies, as (non)human shields, as target practice, and most of all as company. My skills are progressing nicely and people have stopped commenting on my scamps. They just accept that we are a package deal. I still have not bought a horse after losing the unicorn, so it is nice to have some company on my long walks from city to city.
In addition to my mages quests, I’ve picked up more work from the fighters guild. For some reason, any time i go to jail, no matter what city, when i get out there are three fighters guild members from my very first quest with them standing outside. They always say it’s nice to see me. I imagine they’ve paid my bail or something.
The thieves guild scouted me out after my last visit to the inside of a prison cell, so I’ve been doing some jobs for them and fencing stolen goods for gold in each city i pass through. I scrape up enough to buy a little shack in the imperial city waterfront, where my thieves guild contact also lives. In my shack there is a bed i sleep in infrequently and a chest where i store everything i have ever owned. It is quite cramped with me and four scamps inside, but it is home.
I’ve finally earned a spot at the Arcane university. They are teaching me more advanced magic, and sending me on a quest to root out evil mages, necromancers. Not so coincidentally, the same type of mages responsible for the death of my unicorn. I defeat them and they’re hoarded of skeletons and zombies with pleasure. But there are always more. Rumors are spreading of the return of a powerful necromancer, Mannimarco. I’ve been tasked with discovering his whereabouts, but no luck as of yet.
