You see I’m a security guard (really) but I don’t work at a prison, so let me lay down the events that happened as I would see them from a guard’s perspective.
1) Due to a clerical mix-up a dangerous (and in Grom’s case deranged) criminal is placed in a cell that should never be occupied.
As a guard in the EMPERIAL PRISON I figure I’m not just some moron so a day or two after he’s placed in that cell I have the following conversation with my superior:
Me: “Um, boss? Can I have a word with you?”
Boss: “Sure, what’s on your mind?”
Me: “You know that cell? The one that’s supposed to remain empty by decree of the emperor, there’s a prisoner in there.”
Boss: “Yea, and?”
Me: “Well I figure an imperial decree is pretty important, and we should adhere to it. If we don’t have any other empty cells, why don’t we just make him share a cell with another prisoner? Put two beds in there and all that?”
Boss: “I don’t get paid enough for that, and I’m not risking any more guards to move that manic. Do you know how much trouble it was just to get him in there? It took six pairs of shackles and 3 wizards constantly draining his fatigue just to get him calm enough to move in there, and he still bit 2 guys! That decree is as old as this prison and no one even knows why it’s on the books. Unless I hear something from the warden or the emperor himself, that guy is going to rot in that cell for all I care”
Of course, that explanation only makes sense for Grom. Try applying it to your character and see if it fits. If your character was a nicer person who spent the entire game helping the poor and smiting evil, one even wonders why he was in prison to begin with. Which brings me to the first problem I have with oblivion, why does my character have to be an ex-con, and an escaped ex-con at that? Why can’t I just be a commoner born under a special sign that the emperor needs to see? I’m just saying it’s hard to justify being a good guy, if your journey starts out with you being broken out of prison (I think there’s some subtle social commentary there, but I’m too lazy to analyze it). Ok, where was I? Oh right, yes, the day’s events. Let’s continue.
2) The emperor and his elite guards demand to be allowed admittance to the dungeon (assuming that the EMPERIAL PRISON is fairly large and has multiple dungeons they are going to the dungeon where the cell that is supposed to remain empty by royal decree is located) and say that no one may escort them. They then disappear for an hour. This is more than enough time for the guards to have heard about the emperor’s sons being assassinated and one could easily surmise that the emperor is either hiding in that cell or it’s not an ordinary cell.
Continuing on the vain that the guards here aren’t complete IDIOTS, should all know that the aforementioned cell is supposed to remain empty, and by now should know that there is a prisoner in there, No one bothers to check the cell after an hour or so passes? I’d check that cell after about 15 minutes. Remember, there’s a violent, dangerous criminal in that cell and my emperor just went there. When I discover that the emperor, his guards, and the manic prisoner have all DISSAPEARED I’d tell my boss who would probably alert the town guard, and the whole city would be looking for this psychopath. With that said, let’s see what happens when Grom goes into the prison.
“Grom get REVENGE!”Nothing happens! This totally blows, Grom just walks up to the head guard and asks to see a prisoner, and no one wants to put him back in jail! This is total bull. The only dungeon that they have has 5 unoccupied cells and one prisoner, who isn’t the same guy from before, raising even more questions about the prison’s design.
No, Grom no get revenge.
While drunkenly stumbling in the direction of Weynon priory, Grom starts picking flowers.
Personally, I like alchemy, It’s one of Grom’s main skills I like it so much. It’s hard to justify making Grom an alchemist so it seems like meta-gaming, but observe my mad rationalization skills; Grom isn’t an alchemist because he studies alchemy, he’s an alchemist because he eats anything remotely edible he finds on the ground, this reveals the magical effects of the items on the body, thus increasing Grom’s knowledge of magical effects of food and other “edibles”, thus increasing Grom’s knowledge of alchemy, so there. Also, flowers are pretty.
By the time he arrives at the priory, Grom’s already sobered up, it took him that long to run there. By he meets Jauffre and gives him the amulet. Jauffre in turn tells Grom to go to kvatch and find brother martin. The prospect of more running is not making Grom happy, but he decides to do it, because he still has nothing better to do. You know Grom, we can just teleport there.
What? Why not? It’s instant travel, no more running!
That’s complete bullsh-
Fine! Whatever, I guess Grom’s just going to have to run everywhere.
It appears that Grom has leveled up. Killing hostile wildlife, eating anything you come across, and constantly running will do that I suppose. However, this does bring me to my second problem with oblivion; why can’t I rest outside? From a game balance perspective it makes a little sense I mean in morrowind I used to just find a safe spot while in a dungeon and rest all my Hp back. But this is easily fixable by just removing Hp gain from resting while outside and keep it if you rest in a bed. To remove resting outside of towns seems like the developers just wanted players to rest in towns and buy houses. It’s a cop-out and a stupid one at that. Anyway, He arrives at Kvatch and, things are looking pretty Grim.
Grom, before you charge wildly through that demonic looking portal, don’t you think we should talk to those guards first? You know, find out what’s going on?
Next Time:
Part 3: “The door to oblivion” or “To sleep, perchance to dream”.
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