VenusGaming

As I returned to Oblivion, I also returned to the somewhat methodical stealing from houses in the Imperial City. I was quite amused when I picked up a copy of “Mastery of Lockpicking” from one house. Anyhow, I quickly reached my 400 gold fenced mark, and began the quest for the Lost Histories of Tamriel. So it was off to the Skingrad dungeons I went. The toughest part of the quest was avoiding the guards helping Amusei escape; particularly going out into the courtyard, where I was met by a guard going up the one set of stairs I needed to go down! None the less, it was done, and time to move on to my last S’krivva quest: eliminating Hieronymus Lex.

Of course, this isn’t the Dark Brotherhood, so there’s no murdering involved. Instead, we get to go through the complicated tasks of taking the letter, getting it forged, getting the forged letter sealed, and delivering the letter to the Countess before letting Lex know of his new assignment. The first two tasks are rather easy - and I level while waiting for the forger - but getting the letter sealed is another story. While I could try the dining hall (a very easy lock), I seem to have better chances going through the actually officer lounge door - which is a very hard lock. And, unfortunately, my Security is only around 30 at this point - so it’s off to steal and train before I come back.

Now, amusingly, one of the very hard locks I picked along the way contained nothing but shears and tongs. I laughed bitterly about this, but once I got my skill up to about 40, I went back to the guard’s room.It took a lot of saves, and even more luck, to finally get into the room without a guard sitting in it, and get the letter sealed. However, along with a bunch of nice loot, I got a rather nice dagger to use:



Successful, Hieronymus Lex heads to Anvil, and I get moved up to Shadowfoot. Which means, yes, I finally get to meet the Gray Fox! It took a few times at resting in the Imperial City before a messenger appeared, but finally, I got the summons, and got to meet “the man” himself.



We get to steal a very special stone from the Temple of Blind Mushroom Growing Dia-Katana Wielding Monks (uh… that is the temple dedicated to the retired Moth monks, but all facts mentioned are quite true.) The temple is far in the north east corner of the Oblivion map, so it’s a long trek by foot. I must admit though, traveling up the mountains, late at night while it’s snowing, with the music playing, was truly a mystical experience. Eventually I found the road that led to the temple, and met with Brother Holger - who had voice change issues. I wonder how many voice actors did his voice, or whether they just had one really, really bad voice actor!

Down in the Temple of the Moth’s catacombs, I found plenty of mushrooms, three copies of the Argonian account, and a number of blind monk prelates, all blindfolded and wielding dai-katanas. I wish I could make this up. When I finally reach the bottom, I find the purplish glowing stone that the Gray Fox is looking for. . . and a violent guardian crystal. Believe me, when it first attacked me, I ran in fear and shock! Once the cowardice of the crystal subsided, I also ransacked a chest and found a very interesting note:



Mysterious. . . but the Gray Fox doesn’t deny it when I reach him.


Well, the mission was successful, despite this little mystery. I have my theories. It’s back to town to rest up, level again, and await the next messenger. . .