{"id":3318,"date":"2011-01-19T00:38:02","date_gmt":"2011-01-19T08:38:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=3318"},"modified":"2026-06-15T17:07:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T01:07:22","slug":"the-cyrodiil-look-cahmels-new-travels-lets-play-oblivion-part-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=3318","title":{"rendered":"The Cyrodiil Look: Cahmel’s New Travels (Let’s Play Oblivion, Part 16)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Today's forecast calls for low draw distances with scattered premeditated animal assaults.<\/p><\/div>\n

When we last left our dedicated hero, he was wandering around the countryside looking for hostile life forms\u2014that is to say, life forms. Yeah, I\u2019m about as likely to find a nonthreatening man, animal, or manimal in the Cyrodiil countryside as I am to find a 7-11. We\u2019re talking vast ecosystems, economic models, and criminal syndicates based solely on harassing that one guy who occasional wanders out to pick flowers and bum around mountain ranges. Alternately: squatting in a depressing, vermin-infested hole in the ground and waiting for him to show up.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t believe me? Explain the next drabyrinth I came across: an old, abandoned fort full of necromancers. What, exactly, were they doing there? I can buy caves full of bandits\u2014bandits need some place to crash, not to mention store all the illicit yarn and calipers that nobody in this country will buy from them. But necromancers? Yeah, I know, blah blah Mannimarco blah blah cult blah\u2014you can definitely argue that this makes sense. It just seems a little silly at first blush, like when you try to imagine their weekly itinerary:<\/p>\n

Monday: Wake up, eat rat for breakfast, necromance.<\/p>\n

Tuesday: Wake up, eat rat for breakfast, play with ball of yarn, necromance.<\/p>\n

Wednesday: Wake up, eat imp gall for breakfast, vomit, stand guard outside the door all day.<\/p>\n

Thursday: Wake up, eat rat for breakfast, necromance.<\/p>\n

Friday: Wake up, eat rat for breakfast, contemplate career change.<\/p>\n

Saturday: Strip bingo in the lobby.<\/p>\n

Sunday: Killed along with everyone you know by a lone adventurer.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Guess what? It\u2019s Sunday.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m doing pretty well against these guys, although I kinda have to amend my tactics from the last dungeon. The first couple fights go like this: I try to sneak up them, they smell my presence, they start summoning a monster, I run up and hit them to death, their monster pops in for a fraction of a second and gives me that dammit-I-got-up-for-nothing look before vanishing back to the realm from whence he came. Less stealth, more naked being better than them. Attempting to waylay more difficult targets does mean that I\u2019m getting very, very gradually better at the sneaking part\u2014as in, moving from having no points in it to having a small amount of points in it. We\u2019re not talking mastery, we\u2019re talking lessons like these:<\/p>\n

23.)It is generally best to wear shoes of leather or cloth, instead of noisier footwear constructed out of live parakeets.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an out of character lesson: what to do when your opponent is a little sharper than usual–which sure isn\u2019t not a mean feat\u2014and can detect that the heavily-armed shambling madman, lurching down the corridor with a laden backpack, isn\u2019t actually any kind of rodent. This strategy involves branching out into another skill I didn\u2019t pick, Marksman. Turns out, going into sneak mode a nautical mile away from some twit and putting an arrow into his spinal column is not only a fun and viable strategy, it appeals to my lazy sensibilities by giving me a way to assassinate people that are all the way over there. <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em>

Dudewithanarrowstickingoutofhisnecksayswhatwasthat?<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

I also discover that the most significant factor contributing to stealth success and failure is whether I am currently walking. Not moving<\/em>\u2014just running and walking. Let me illustrate thusly:<\/p>\n

The first necromancer I came across was on the other end of the hallway. Obligingly enough, she had chosen to have her daily stare-at-a-stone-wall-until-the-urge-to-kill-myself-fades session facing away from the front door, so I had a theoretically clear shot at her backness. However, I didn\u2019t even make it close to blade range before she whipped around and decided to blame every single wrong decision she\u2019d made in her lifetime on me. Then I was forced to handle her the hard way, AKA the traditional way, AKA the up-front face-to-face murder way.<\/p>\n

Okay, I thought, I guess these guys are just a little more on the ball than the last group. So I saddle up and press on into the next area, which involves a dude on a bridge. I shoot the dude, then start to cross the bridge in sneak mode. I get distracted by something shiny, swivel my mouse, and accidentally walk right off the bridge.<\/p>\n

I drop down to the floor ten feet below, and land right in front of a necromancer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

I think I can see her brain through her nostril. Wait, no, that can't be right.<\/p><\/div>\n

Yeah. Whereas the other one caught me within shoe-flinging distance, I\u2019m close enough to pick this lady\u2019s nose and she still can\u2019t see me<\/em>. And it\u2019s because instead of walking up to her, which would have been terribly conspicuous and got me caught immediately, I just plunged down from a well-lit bridge and landed heavily at the flagstones directly in front of her.<\/p>\n

Such a situation had the potential to be pretty awkward, but I think, given the circumstances, I handled it smoothly.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Next: A guide to the wonders and splendors of Bravil, and then another paragraph.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we last left our dedicated hero, he was wandering around the countryside looking for hostile life forms\u2014that is to say, life forms. Yeah, I\u2019m about as likely to find a nonthreatening man, animal,...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[273],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lets-play-oblivion"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Cyrodiil Look: Cahmel's New Travels (Let's Play Oblivion, Part 16) -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=3318\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Cyrodiil Look: Cahmel's New Travels (Let's Play Oblivion, Part 16) -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When we last left our dedicated hero, he was wandering around the countryside looking for hostile life forms\u2014that is to say, life forms. Yeah, I\u2019m about as likely to find a nonthreatening man, animal,...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=3318\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-01-19T08:38:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-16T01:07:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Oblivion-2010-12-27-23-35-19-56.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rutskarn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Rutskarn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Rutskarn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rutskarn\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=3318#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=3318\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Rutskarn\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e80b3ddb8bafad4b67a860408bbbe2a9\"},\"headline\":\"The Cyrodiil Look: Cahmel’s New Travels (Let’s Play Oblivion, Part 16)\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-01-19T08:38:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-16T01:07:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=3318\"},\"wordCount\":904,\"commentCount\":24,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=3318#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2011\\\/01\\\/Oblivion-2010-12-27-23-35-19-56-600x450.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Let's Play Oblivion\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=3318#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=3318\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=3318\",\"name\":\"The Cyrodiil Look: Cahmel's New Travels (Let's Play Oblivion, Part 16) -\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=3318#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=3318#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2011\\\/01\\\/Oblivion-2010-12-27-23-35-19-56-600x450.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-01-19T08:38:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-16T01:07:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e80b3ddb8bafad4b67a860408bbbe2a9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=3318#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=3318\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=3318#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2011\\\/01\\\/Oblivion-2010-12-27-23-35-19-56.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2011\\\/01\\\/Oblivion-2010-12-27-23-35-19-56.jpg\",\"width\":\"1024\",\"height\":\"768\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=3318#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Cyrodiil Look: Cahmel’s New Travels (Let’s Play Oblivion, Part 16)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"\",\"description\":\"Games and essays by colonies of mutant rats, for colonies of mutant rats.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e80b3ddb8bafad4b67a860408bbbe2a9\",\"name\":\"Rutskarn\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/98018b1b99db63608152b837781e02e6101b82894a7d4a79128a12777b84825e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/98018b1b99db63608152b837781e02e6101b82894a7d4a79128a12777b84825e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/98018b1b99db63608152b837781e02e6101b82894a7d4a79128a12777b84825e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Rutskarn\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.ChocolateHammer.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?author=3\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Cyrodiil Look: Cahmel's New Travels (Let's Play Oblivion, Part 16) -","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=3318","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Cyrodiil Look: Cahmel's New Travels (Let's Play Oblivion, Part 16) -","og_description":"When we last left our dedicated hero, he was wandering around the countryside looking for hostile life forms\u2014that is to say, life forms. Yeah, I\u2019m about as likely to find a nonthreatening man, animal,...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=3318","article_published_time":"2011-01-19T08:38:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-06-16T01:07:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":768,"url":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Oblivion-2010-12-27-23-35-19-56.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Rutskarn","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Rutskarn","twitter_site":"@Rutskarn","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Rutskarn","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=3318#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=3318"},"author":{"name":"Rutskarn","@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/#\/schema\/person\/e80b3ddb8bafad4b67a860408bbbe2a9"},"headline":"The Cyrodiil Look: Cahmel’s New Travels (Let’s Play Oblivion, Part 16)","datePublished":"2011-01-19T08:38:02+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-16T01:07:22+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=3318"},"wordCount":904,"commentCount":24,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=3318#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Oblivion-2010-12-27-23-35-19-56-600x450.jpg","articleSection":["Let's Play Oblivion"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=3318#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=3318","url":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=3318","name":"The Cyrodiil Look: Cahmel's New Travels (Let's Play Oblivion, Part 16) -","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=3318#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=3318#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Oblivion-2010-12-27-23-35-19-56-600x450.jpg","datePublished":"2011-01-19T08:38:02+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-16T01:07:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/#\/schema\/person\/e80b3ddb8bafad4b67a860408bbbe2a9"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=3318#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=3318"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=3318#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Oblivion-2010-12-27-23-35-19-56.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Oblivion-2010-12-27-23-35-19-56.jpg","width":"1024","height":"768"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=3318#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Cyrodiil Look: Cahmel’s New Travels (Let’s Play Oblivion, Part 16)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/","name":"","description":"Games and essays by colonies of mutant rats, for colonies of mutant rats.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/#\/schema\/person\/e80b3ddb8bafad4b67a860408bbbe2a9","name":"Rutskarn","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/98018b1b99db63608152b837781e02e6101b82894a7d4a79128a12777b84825e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/98018b1b99db63608152b837781e02e6101b82894a7d4a79128a12777b84825e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/98018b1b99db63608152b837781e02e6101b82894a7d4a79128a12777b84825e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Rutskarn"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.ChocolateHammer.org"],"url":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?author=3"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3318"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6495,"href":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3318\/revisions\/6495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}