Save File
http://www.box.net/shared/vfkik4m0vtLog
Immediately upon arriving in Aldrhun, I head over to the Rat-in-the-Pot. I quickly enlist in the theives guild and receive my first task: rob an empty mages guild and grab an enchanted sword. When I get it, it turns out it's not really empty, there's a guard in there. After dispatching the guard, I loot the entire building. If you happen to go by there, don't sell them any ingredients. They'll mistake them for the ones I stole and attack you.
Anyway, so I get another job. Steal this fancy helmet from Arobar Manor. It's out in the open, but that doesn't make it easy to steal. There's two people watching it. I talk to them so that they are facing away from the helmet. Then I hide as close to the pillar I can while still being able to grab the helmet. I casted chameleon to boost my hiding skill and... Success. I get the helmet.
On my way out, I ransack the place and loot myself a fancy new outfit. It's an exquisite shirt which has one of the highest enchantment ratings in the game (for a shirt anyway), so don't sell it in case someone decides to make themselves a shirt of feather or slowfall or something.
I level up while I'm at it. Here's the options I picked. I head back to the inn and collect my fee for the helmet. He gives me another quest: acquire the something-or-other pillowbook for Arobar manor. That chest is level 75, I can't handle it yet, so I put it off for someone else to do.
While I'm selling all the clothes I stole to the clothier conveniently located within the shell, she mentions that there's a man who bought stuff from all the local merchants on credit and never paid up. So I go out to find this guy. He says that he doesn't have money to pay them back, and he's not giving the stuff back. I've got two choices now, kill him or leave him alone. I pick leave him alone, and then notice the religious text on his table. I pick it up and start preaching to him. He gives me all of his ill-gotten goods and then swears to give up his life of being a huge prick to serve the temple. How noble.
Since he didn't ask for his book back, I just went and sold it. Then I returned the goods. The shopkeepers were all happy that I didn't kill him. I get a decent discount at all of their stores (read as 40 point disposition boost) and a free reputation point. Cool.
Oh yes, this lady. She has a portal to hell in her basement locked behind a door. That means it's okay to kill her. So I do. Free house. She's a dreamer, apparently she controls the minds of all those annoying people in Balmora who wander around and whine about the 6th house later in the game. By killing her I freed one of them... somewhere. If you can figure out which one it was, there's a free reputation point to be had.
I return to Balmora to dump some of my new stuff, mainly clothes and a brand new set of journeyman level alchemical equipment, all given to me free of charge courtesy of the fine people of Aldrhun.
Since I can't advance in Aldrhun anymore because of my low skill, I head over to the Balmora corner club. There I get a few easy quests: find a diamond, fetch a key, and grab some artifacts out in Hla Oad. The dwemer artifact quest is the only one of any interest, so it's the only one I'll talk about.
First, I have to get to Hla Oad. If I thought Aldrhun was a stuffhole - and it is - wait until you see Hla Oad. I went a bit over my 4 day limit just to get myself out of there so the next player didn't have to start there and try and find their own way back.
You're probably wondering why I posted a picture of a river. It just so happens that easiest way to get to Hla Oad is to swim all the way there on a river. Pretty lame. I get there and the bastard won't give me his artifacts. So I kill him and take them. I return to Balmora (one boat trip and two silt strider trips).
Once there, I realize it's time to finish up my turn and prepare for the next turn. I unlock all the chests and stow away all of the random clothes and armor I forgot to sell (by the way, save the 4 pick axes in the chest, someone in Solsthiem will need them). I sort all non-essential gear onto the shelves for the next person to pick out what they need. All of the alchemical ingredients are in the jewel box - except for the large kwama eggs and 20 pounds of rat meat that were to big to fit in there.
I went out and buy some useful spells. I don't know how many you'll actually be able to cast, probably none, but I did remember that I found the spellbook woefully short, so it's a bit bigger now. You can always practice some spell casting.
Then I remember my biggest complaint. We have no skill in light armor so the whole suit was giving like 2 armor. So I went out to Caldera and bought some nice armor. You can see it in the picture. I think it's made of steel and silver.
The save is in Balmora, in the house Marcem took over.
Final notes:
o There's some "poisons" on the lower shelf by the door. You can't put them on a blade, you'll drink them and hurt yourself. Sell them to creeper or something. I just made them to level alchemy.
o You've only got two weapons now: a sparksword and a steel saber. If you happen to like to carry around enough weapons to field a small army, creeper has a flamespear he'll sell you for 111gp or something like that. He's also got an imperial broadsword which is pretty good.
o I added notes to Aldrhun and Balmora. Keep the tradition alive and annotate the hell out of the map. Use it as a travel guide, and write more for the next player.
Poll