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xanthan posted:Well how is Oblivion described in lore? Is it pretty much that or was it like Cyrodiil in that they took something unique and interesting and made it generic and cool looking but boring or just annoying to go through? It's not that it's not accurate - it is accurate to this realm of Oblivion. Oblivion has multiple realms though, some of which are colorful and made of rainbows. Others of which are giant endless forests filled with the scariest largest beasts ever. But Bethesda picked 'generic Hell' for this Oblivion, which is honestly sad.
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May 1, 2013 05:00
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KittyEmpress posted:It's not that it's not accurate - it is accurate to this realm of Oblivion. It all hinges on which Daedra is in charge of the plane of Oblivion in question. I think there are books in-game (at least there were in Morrowind, and I know many of those books appear in Oblivion) that describe the planes of each Daedra in detail. Suffice to say, the one in charge of this plane, the Badlands, is the devil except with twice as many arms. So it's a fitting location really.
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May 1, 2013 05:23
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I realize it's the game's namesake but are these oblivion levels 100% necessary for completion? I didn't know you could even access them from this early in the game.
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May 1, 2013 05:49
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Sundowner posted:I realize it's the game's namesake but are these oblivion levels 100% necessary for completion? A good deal of them are optional, but Sterv's a good kitty and he's gonna close shut ALL the jaws of Oblivion! 
Scaly Haylie fucked around with this message at 05:54 on May 1, 2013 |
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May 1, 2013 05:52
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By the gods, he's gone mad! I vote Fire Flower in honour of that one stream that happened that one time. (Weapon, if it wasn't clear)
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May 1, 2013 06:15
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Burn it all with Fire!!! Definitely use it on your Weapon!!! Also, I have never played Oblivion before, so I am enjoying seeing where this is going! Keep the Kitty Killing!
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May 1, 2013 06:24
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Sundowner posted:I realize it's the game's namesake but are these oblivion levels 100% necessary for completion? I didn't know you could even access them from this early in the game. There are 100 possible locations for gates in the game, but only 60 can appear during a single playthrough, and only 10 of them are fixed. You only need to visit a handful for plot reasons, and the rest are optional loot dungeons. Sometimes the monsters are terrible to fight, and sometimes the loot is pretty good. The thing that makes it terrible is that there are only seven different map layouts for the optional oblivion gates. So you could go through several in a row that are identical except for the scaled aspects like loot and monsters.
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May 1, 2013 06:34
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Lizard Wizard posted:A good deal of them are optional, but Sterv's a good kitty and he's gonna close shut ALL the jaws of Oblivion! All of them? Even the crazy one in the middle of the bay? Nighthand posted:The thing that makes it terrible is that there are only seven different map layouts for the optional oblivion gates. So you could go through several in a row that are identical except for the scaled aspects like loot and monsters. Could be worse. Could be Dragon Age 2. Stroth fucked around with this message at 06:58 on May 1, 2013 |
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May 1, 2013 06:52
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Huh. Makes sense Sterv would visit them all. Curiosity killed the cat, after all. And always go with the Fire Weapon . Burn all the things! But I always go for max damage builds, myself. I like smash.
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May 1, 2013 07:00
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Also, though I'm outnumbered here, I vote fire armor. The weapon enchantment will lose charge soon enough but the armor enchantment won't, and either way you might end up selling this stuff when you upgrade soonish anyways.
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May 1, 2013 07:44
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Lizard Wizard posted:A good deal of them are optional, but Sterv's a good kitty and he's gonna close shut ALL the jaws of Oblivion! Those Sigil Stones are a min-maxer's best friend. Enchanting from anywhere? No need to pay gold for each enchantment? Yes please. Savescumming for specific effects is hands-down the easiest method of breaking the game over your knee. Anyway, voting for Fire Weapon. More damage is always good, and fire resistance just isn't that appealing.
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May 1, 2013 07:55
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I remember thinking I was the smartest man alive when I realized you could exploit the random generation of the effects on the sigil stones. Their effects are randomized (scaled, of course) the moment you pick them up, so you can save right before you grab one and re-load until you get the effect you want. I soon realized I'm an idiot who actually ruined the game for myself because after a few towers I was an invulnerable tank of destruction, and the game got boring as gently caress. I never played that character again  Voting fire weapon! Fire resist... so boring.
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May 1, 2013 08:08
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Neodymium posted:Those Sigil Stones are a min-maxer's best friend. Enchanting from anywhere? No need to pay gold for each enchantment? Yes please. Doesn't hurt that they are the best enchantments the game has to offer either. If you wanna play a mage, you pretty much want to deck out your entire body in sigil stones that give you more mana, especially if you are not already min-maxing.
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May 1, 2013 10:10
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Enchant an amulet and sell it. Cats like their septims. There's a demand for Oblivion Necklaces in the fashion circles.
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May 1, 2013 11:20
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Weapon enchant though honestly I wouldn't really wait on it. If you are levelling then you'll get better stones or enchant options easily enough, and the extra damage makes a huge difference right now.
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May 1, 2013 11:43
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So my old roomate played through all of Oblivion as a pacifist character. One quest bugged him out and he had to punch an npc, but that was his only count of violence in the game. It turns out with a high enough Illusion skill you can actually beat every quest in this game (except the one bugged mages quest where he had to punch the guy) without even hitting anyone. It was the best playthrough of any game I've ever seen. Also just fyi if you have more than 100% fire resist and water walk on you can totally be healed walking on lava.
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May 1, 2013 11:52
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You want a burny weapon. It is the superior choice.
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May 1, 2013 12:58
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Lizard Wizard posted:A good deal of them are optional, but Sterv's a good kitty and he's gonna close shut ALL the jaws of Oblivion! There are two ways I'm taking this- one is pretty normal, the other is don't do it, man, it's completely insane. Also burny weapon.
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May 1, 2013 14:46
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Sky Shadowing posted:There are two ways I'm taking this- one is pretty normal, the other is don't do it, man, it's completely insane. Well, you could've told me that before I started this LP. 
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May 1, 2013 15:33
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The best defense is a good offense, as they say. Make your weapon set enemies on FIRE. 
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May 1, 2013 15:39
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Lizard Wizard posted:Well, you could've told me that before I started this LP. I thought they were infinite, continuously spawning more in till it just starts opening old ones again once it runs out of locations.
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May 1, 2013 15:44
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Drakenel posted:I thought they were infinite, continuously spawning more in till it just starts opening old ones again once it runs out of locations. Nope, there's a cap.
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May 1, 2013 15:53
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Please levitate through most of them. Nothing interesting happens or will ever happen through most of them. Just show us you going in, then grabbing the sigil stone. Everything in between we will simply assume you did it legit, but please don't burn yourself out so hard 
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May 1, 2013 16:43
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death .cab for qt posted:Please levitate through most of them. What do you think this is, Morrowind? But yeah, I'll keep the screenshots on the Oblivion Planes scarce unless some kind of amazing new thing rears its head while I'm in there.
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May 1, 2013 16:52
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Lizard Wizard posted:What do you think this is, Morrowind? But yeah, I'll keep the screenshots on the Oblivion Planes scarce unless some kind of amazing new thing rears its head while I'm in there. Console fuckery will get you where you want to go, IIRC
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May 1, 2013 16:54
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death .cab for qt posted:Console fuckery will get you where you want to go, IIRC I'm not gonna be doing any of that, but fuckery will eventually be afoot. Just not console fuckery.
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May 1, 2013 16:56
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I'm of the group that'd toss the enchantment for fire resistance on a ring or necklace since they don't need to be repaired, last far longer than armor would (leather scrubs won't stick around long if you start getting chainmail) and 5 fire damage would get old later on when you have more enchantments to throw around.
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May 1, 2013 17:05
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TiamosLoren posted:I'm of the group that'd toss the enchantment for fire resistance on a ring or necklace since they don't need to be repaired, last far longer than armor would (leather scrubs won't stick around long if you start getting chainmail) and 5 fire damage would get old later on when you have more enchantments to throw around. I did say that whichever enchantment we wind up going with, I'd wait until I get slightly better equipment than the starter stuff I have now.
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May 1, 2013 17:07
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Lizard Wizard posted:I did say that whichever enchantment we wind up going with, I'd wait until I get slightly better equipment than the starter stuff I have now. Fair enough, but it would allow you to repair the armor you would've enchanted otherwise (delaying the necessity of having a high Repair early in the game). And equipment quality in neck/ring slots only matter if you're selling it. Still, a lot of votes for fire weapon, so a moot point for the time being.
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May 1, 2013 17:12
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C-Euro posted:It all hinges on which Daedra is in charge of the plane of Oblivion in question. I think there are books in-game (at least there were in Morrowind, and I know many of those books appear in Oblivion) that describe the planes of each Daedra in detail. Suffice to say, the one in charge of this plane, the Badlands, is the devil except with twice as many arms. So it's a fitting location really. In my opinion, not really. One of the cool things about TES lore is that it tends more towards eastern Asian, Mediterranean, African and Native American mythologies instead of Manchiean Heaven / Hell / Good / Evil Christianity. I can't say too much more without spoiling stuff, but there's more to the 'dude in charge of this place' than being the evil opposite of a single God, like the Christian devil.
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May 1, 2013 17:55
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sector_corrector posted:In my opinion, not really. One of the cool things about TES lore is that it tends more towards eastern Asian, Mediterranean, African and Native American mythologies instead of Manchiean Heaven / Hell / Good / Evil Christianity. I can't say too much more without spoiling stuff, but there's more to the 'dude in charge of this place' than being the evil opposite of a single God, like the Christian devil. I think he was referring to Mehrunes Dagon as 'the devil' more in the evil and not particularly helpful for anyone (though even that doesn't quite work, give the multitude of real world religions) sense, rather than their supposed role in cosmological hierachy. As for the depiction of the Deadlands themselves, its actually semi-consistent with its portrayal within Battlespire, including lava, stony constructs, limited foliage, etc. So to Oblivion's (the game) praise, I would say they actually made it at least a bit more interesting with some different architecture, the violent plant life, the scorched surface, so forth. On the other, having now found this, I can't help but ask two things: 1) Why couldn't we have had floating islands? I mean, the aesthetic changes are one thing, but this at least gives you an idea that there is something inherently different about where you are, compared to being in Tamriel. 2) Where is my giant ballista as a method of transportation?!
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May 1, 2013 19:19
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The main issue I had with Oblivion was how it treated prior lore. Cyrodiil was no longer the Roman Empire in the jungle, it was Europe. Oblivion is portrayed as a singular place, rather than the diverse place it really is. But all credit to Bethesda, they reversed that trend almost completely with Skyrim. I was impressed at exactly how much they had included with regards to previous lore.
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May 1, 2013 19:42
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Well, at least I can be thankful I'm not playing Battlespire. Scaly Haylie fucked around with this message at 20:06 on May 1, 2013 |
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May 1, 2013 20:03
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quote:Oblivion is portrayed as a singular place, rather than the diverse place it really is. The game makes it clear you're only visiting one plane of Oblivion most of the time. Too bad the daedric quests for other lords that go to Oblivion are all the same area though. Skyrim does it way better though, especially with the vampire dlc.
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May 1, 2013 20:07
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sector_corrector posted:In my opinion, not really. One of the cool things about TES lore is that it tends more towards eastern Asian, Mediterranean, African and Native American mythologies instead of Manchiean Heaven / Hell / Good / Evil Christianity. I can't say too much more without spoiling stuff, but there's more to the 'dude in charge of this place' than being the evil opposite of a single God, like the Christian devil. Astro Nut posted:I think he was referring to Mehrunes Dagon as 'the devil' more in the evil and not particularly helpful for anyone (though even that doesn't quite work, give the multitude of real world religions) sense, rather than their supposed role in cosmological hierachy. Yes, Astro Nut get it. My wording wasn't perfect but I meant it to mean a malevolent force, not necessarily THE malevolent force as far as the Daedra are concerned. In fact, if you've played Morrowind there are four "bad Daedra" in that game, though they don't tie into the main plot at all.
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May 1, 2013 20:38
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C-Euro posted:Yes, Astro Nut get it. My wording wasn't perfect but I meant it to mean a malevolent force, not necessarily THE malevolent force as far as the Daedra are concerned. In fact, if you've played Morrowind there are four "bad Daedra" in that game, though they don't tie into the main plot at all. Technically speaking, all of the Daedra Lords are giant assholes, it's just that some of them are more intentionally evil than others. I want to post more about the ties between the Aedra (The Nine Divines), the Daedra, the Plains of Oblivion, and Tamriel, but I don't think I can really go into it much further without completely spoiling the huge setting reveal we get through the main quest. So I'll stop here unless Liz Wiz gives me the go ahead.
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May 2, 2013 01:30
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RickVoid posted:I want to post more about the ties between the Aedra (The Nine Divines), the Daedra, the Plains of Oblivion, and Tamriel, but I don't think I can really go into it much further without completely spoiling the huge setting reveal we get through the main quest. So I'll stop here unless Liz Wiz gives me the go ahead. Yeah, please hold off on that. Remember, a lot of people haven't played or beaten this game, with good reason.
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May 2, 2013 02:21
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Lizard Wizard posted:A good deal of them are optional, but Sterv's a good kitty and he's gonna close shut ALL the jaws of Oblivion! Hope your boosting that speed and acrobatics early, LW. The idea of actually fighting everything instead of tearing rear end through the gates leaping over every jerk scamp and dremora between you and the sigil stone at the end sounds like masochism, and I liked this game. As for the vote, fire resist! With the Oblivion gates in your future, more fire resistance will serve you better than some weaksauce sword that's gonna run out of charges after a hundred or so strikes anyway.
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May 2, 2013 05:23
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Wolfsheim posted:Hope your boosting that speed and acrobatics early, LW. The idea of actually fighting everything instead of tearing rear end through the gates leaping over every jerk scamp and dremora between you and the sigil stone at the end sounds like masochism, and I liked this game. Surely it won't be THAT bad. And on that note, the next several days are going to be chock-full of finals goodness, so I'm just gonna close the thread for now. See you in a week or so. Scaly Haylie fucked around with this message at 18:41 on May 2, 2013 |
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May 2, 2013 17:49
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Welp, looks like we're making a fire weapon! ...unfortunately, I recorded this batch of footage at such a time as I didn't have internet to read the votes with, so you're all going to have to be furious with my not making a fire weapon over the next few updates. Quit Yer Kvatching  The gate is closed.  The survivors of Kvatch are safe for now, but I can do more.  I'm going to need hammers.  Sterv ain't just whistlin' Dixie. Our gear's seen some abuse, and as you may have noticed, we already used up five hammers repairing the Steel Longsword! Note that even though the Bands of Kwang Lao are broken, we're still getting the full hand-to-hand bonus from them.  I have to help. And practice Alteration, of course.   LET'S SAVE KVATCH GO GO GO   Not pictured: earlier dialog where the guard captain asks you to help save Kvatch.  As you might expect, what follows involves fighting lots of daedric creepy-crawlies. It's a bit of a slog, so I'm gonna have to slip into italics for a bit.  Well, holy poo poo. The enemies here are semi-randomized, and it looks like we got the Clannfear jackpot.  They're dinosaurs from hell, which about sums it up, I should think.  The guards are along for the ride, and they brought their go faces. Let's see if we can get a more interesting spread of enemies.  okay yes that qualifies   I...game, where do I begin? Oblivion's Not That Bad Points: -6 +   This involves letting the people in the chapel know the way out of the city is clear.  Yaaaaaaay, you're saved, this whole thing is a setpiece.  This guy's dialog cursor is a crown, denoting him as an essential NPC. You're gonna be important, but not yet!  We can get buffs from the Nine at chapel altars, provided we've visited the deity's wayshrine in the overworld. We pick up a Willpower boost from Mara, and a Strength boost from Talos. Unfortunately, the blessings only last for about five minutes, so their usefulness is...dubious. The wayshrines have an important role to play, though.  It's as if he's reminding me how long this segment feels.  We're mostly gonna let the guards handle this.  Whoop, we've got poo poo to do. We're gonna have to go under the chapel, past the temple heart and through the Shrine of the Silver Monkey so we can open the portcullis.  But hold on, we've got spellcasters up there on the castle walls.  Hang around long enough for the Dremora to get some Hurtmores off...  And boom, free armor. It's a mild upgrade from our leather stuff.  So it's back to the chapel with us, where we're joined by three concerned and upstanding soldiers of the Imperial Legion.  Oh, and this important Kvatch guard who knows where the key to the gatehouse is. I'm not gonna complain about the backup.  ...uh, hi there, overt use of leftover assets.  Before too long we arrive at our destination.  Our meatshields are a little worse for the wear, though.  We now join Sterv's brain, already in progress.  Patience.   Now!  I...think I'll just stand back and let you work.  Aw. Poor Altmer.  No sense leaving this perfectly good bow behind.  JESUS loving CHRIST, HELLO CAMERA. I was tempted to take a point off for this, but it's so circumstantial that I really can't call it a major design flaw. And let's face it, it's hilarious.   For Kvatch! This isn't so hard. Not with allies, at least.  ...eurgh. This just peels right off. Daedra skin has to be good for something, though.  Hah! Incompetence abounds among the enemy forces.  Matius and his men will hold the entryway of the castle. I press on with the Imperial archer to find the count.  ...um.  Where is my archer?  I do not blame you.   These are daedra. I'm going to need any edge I can get.  Such as a venomous edge. Poison will weaken my enemy. It will fight with me from inside.  It is a good ally.  What he said. Seriously, if you're having trouble with the enemies in this game, use poison.  Onward! Let's go!  I'll strike them down with everything I've got!  I don't care WHAT magic you use!  And I don't rightly know what magic this guy was using either!  ...oh dear. The Count, I presume?  Well, I'm certainly not lugging his corpse back. His ring should be proof enough. One brisk walk later...  Lying face-down in a pool of blood!  How dare you mock him, even in death! Had you not been instrumental in getting this far, I'd put you down where you stand. And I would be forced to defend myself. Where is the Count's ring? Do you have it? Yes, here it is. At least this is safe. Thank you; I shall make sure it is protected, for the time when a new Count is crowned. ...don't you mean ringed?Unfortunately, there's no option to pocket the ring and keep it for yourself. Oblivion's Not That Bad Points: -7 +  Many thanks. We do, however, get the enchanted armor off Matius' back which is worth thrice as much as said ring, so it's all good.  Oblivion's Not That Bad Points: -6 +
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May 8, 2013 17:14
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