So as the title suggests, if you've found a ncie quest thats turned you a decent reward or have any general tips to the game, post em here :)
As far as Im aware, the 360 and PC versions are identicle.
I have two things to contribute -
1. - There is a quest line that starts in Chorrol Called "Killing Fields". The end of this quest rewards you with a very nice 1handed sword called "ChillRend". Its cold enchanted, does 5pts extra cold damage and is a base damage of 4. NIce little reward for low level stuff :)
2. - Speak with the monk in the chappel, on the outskirts of Chorrol, when tracking down Jueffre. Select the 'Assistance' option and he will supply you with a Horse :)
nb - Bandits WILL attack your horse, as well as you. I dont know if the horse can die, 'caus fortunately the horse wtfpwnt the Bandit by rearing up and crashing its hooves down on his skull.
Im not 100% sure either, but different merchants seem to buy items from you for differing amounts of gold, depending on the buyers profession. Ie, Blacksmiths will pay a higher price for swords than, say, a tailor would. Can anyone confirm this? Its not something i paid particular attention too, but it hink it works this way.
I've gone with a Khatji (sp) race for my character. He's a Thief/Assassin and very agile. This race also has a self-spell for seeing in the dark. This race is apparently the perfect choice for Thieves/Assassins, with dark-elves coming a close 2nd.
Its also possible to 'Map-travel' to any marked location on your map. Hit TAB, move the slider to the far right and one of the tabs there is a map. Just LMB on a town and it will ask if you want to travel there. Mucho Time saved.
***Spoiler ****
For the quest in Chorrol involving the stolen painting, the condemming clue to find the culprit, are the paint-staines on the Dining-Room floor :)
West of the main Capitol, there is an old fisherman by the road, speak to him. He will whinge about fihing and how old he is, take him up ont he quest and go get some scales. While you are paddling around your athletics will increase, weapon will increase more as you fight the fish and of course you can clam dive and get pearls as well at the same time. After getting 12 scales go back and see him and he will give you a ring that allows unlimited water breathing. I cant stress how handy this is in later missions ;)
If you start with shield (alteration magic i think) when your running from place to place just hold down the 'C' button. It costs no mana and it'll raise your alteration in notime. This is good because later on you get spells like pack mule and beast of burden (cast both on yourself and you can carry WAY more, very useful).
If when you get into the mages guild (as in can access their uni) there are lots of fun things you can do, although it might be called cheating more then tips. :P - If you want to raise destruction without having to kill crap, just make a spell that does fire resistance weakness to self! You'll have to find a mage that teaches resistance weakness of course first, but this is a lot better then casting fire dmg on yourself. It'll cost 1mp to cast and raise your skill just as fast as if you were attacking something (probably faster in fact). - Also if you want to raise restoration, make a spell that does the above, but also make it heal self too! It'll cost 2mp to cast and you'll get your skill up in notime! But mind you it does NOT raise destruction too, only restoration. Im not sure why but the healing spell always overrides the harmful one at lower levels for getting the skill. - More on making spells. If you make a spell that does a heap of damage (the one i use atm is 100x2 fire dmg, 100x2 ice and 100 spark but costs 95% of my mana tho :( ) then create a spell that does the most damage for you mana. As in when you cast it you have as close to 0 mana as possible. :P Now to make this spell even better you add the relevant weakness at 100% for the duration of the spell. Now because weakness is meant to be more like a curse and last a while, it'll cost about 1mana per second for 100% weakness to that element. So say you make a 100 dmg per sec over 2 sec fire spell. If we add 100% weakness to fire for 2 sec then'll it'll do more or less the most damage it can do every time, and only cost 2 more mana! Oh and the longer a spell lasts the more damage it'll do for the same mana. So 100 fire dmg over 1 sec will cost a bit more mana then 50 over 2 sec.
the best possible rogue gear you can buy you get is from the dark brotherhood. to get into the guild you have to murder someone without getting caught, and the next time you sleep someone will approach you and give you another murder quest, once you do that, your in and you can do jobs that give you AWESOME gear. i was a rogue and they gave me a awesome dagger, light armour set +11 to all rogue skills (sneak, blade, athletics etc. etc.) and a matching helm +4 to all those, an inventory item that give +2 to agil, intel, and speed but -2 from personality. a ring with +8 to light armour and sneak and heaps more shit.
also to join the theives guild, which is pretty much only usefull if you need to sell stolen gear just read about the wanted poster of grey fox in the imperial city, spend a night in goal, and you will be approached shortly after.
also there is a cool quest in bruma that is about a so called "vampire killer" you end up with a nice ammy and a very kick arse glass sword.
if you hear about a couple that used to steal money and the bloke ended up in goal, forget it, its totally worthless, you get bugger all. this is in bruma too btw.
if you want to follow the story the easiest possible way, be an acrobat or something thats got to do with stealth, by the time i was lvl 9 or 10 i could outrun and outjump anything...and literally sneak right behind people. closing gates was easy i never killed anyone :p
also, sean its kajiit :P and thats what i went with as well. at higher lvls dungeons are a breaze. and blacksmiths are usually expert at merchantism, meaning they know their shit and will buy stuff lower prices, but other merchants dont buy armour and weapons and all the money making shit. try getting into the theives guild, i was selling at about 55% and he was buying everything.
With pick-pocketing and stealing items, does that reflect on any of your stats/standings, if you arent caught? Ie, i pick-pocketed the keys to almost every single home in Chorrol and Skingrad, then broke in during the day while they were out and stole all their shit :p I cant sell it to regular vendors, i know, but i steal all their foods for alchemy :p
nah you really only get infamy is you get in deep with bad guilds, IE. dark brotherhood, theives guild no because no one believes it exists. its actually pretty hard to get. as long as you dont get caught..
i dont know how you're stealing keys though, i cant do it while they are asleep and my sneak is at master :p doesnt matter i just pick the locks, in thei theives guild you can buy lockpicks in bulk.
As long as you arent caught you can steal stuff till your backpacks full and overflowing! without worring about standing loss.
But you can sell to select thiefs guild vendors (fences) if you join them. Plus i think it is nesecary for advancement in the thiefs guild to steal stuff then sell it to the fenceses.
Heretic are you in sneak mood in and not picking pocket in the middle of the street at high noon? thats the only issue i can see why you would be having dramas picking pockets for keys. Especial with master sneak.
I have failed a couple of times at it (but i only just hit expert) could also be your armor, are you wearing heavy armor? I think that has penalty to your ability.
Umm, im like level 2 or 3, my sneak is rather low. Im successful at pickypocky 9/10, in broad day light, in the middle of town :p As long as your behind the victim and nobody else can see you, your good as gold :) Just quick-save before you do it heh.
as i said, im pickpocketing while they are asleep, gold is sweet, thats easy, but keys seem to be really hard...i think my difficulty is on normal or hard so that could be why. but i have dark brotherhood armour, which is light and + to sneak ability. but like i said i dont bother trying anymore i can break into anywhere.
you can sell all the stolen stuff to a dude outside the main city (next to the walls past the stables)
I'm surrounded by bloody theives. Here i am, a noble Battlemage and the rest of the forum bloody steals crap... (the oblivion gates get pretty hard-core after about level 4)
Level 13 now, and yes as a High elf mage i am disgusted with the amount of thievery around me! Where did i get this robe? It was left out on a washing line and i rescued it before the thieves found it ;)
Hehe. Im such a noob. I had 9 levels worth of experience but was still level 1. I forgot to sleep and level up :P
Currently level 17. I got in with the dark Brotherhood and have some kickass gear now. There are oblivion gates popping up left right and center. Have only closed 1 so far :p
Closed 3 now at lev 15 Got given a few new kickarse spells by completing the Mage guild quests (after the recomendations) and i am starting my foray into spell combinations and enchanting itmes with effects. Given the scope of this game i think that just about any character type should be able to complete all quests, around about a couple of weeks of play at least ;) and then ther is the sidequests, randoms and dungeon cralws after that, then the main mission, then designing and furnishing your mansion and then the guild rewards..... it just goes on and on i love it. BTW Grey Fox missions are cool, fully split personality going now.
Level 20. Oblivion Gates closed: 1 People Murdered : 39
Currently at Listener Status with the Dark Brotherhood. Im Sithis' right hand man . Going to Bruma now to close the gate thats threatening that place.
Joined the theives guild, got to Bandit Rank. Got sick of stealing shit, too boring. Id rather sneak in and stab someone in the face :p
Eater, theres two mages guild recommendations that i cant work out. The first one is the inivisible guy, at the mages guild. How do you make him visible again? Also, i completed teh quest to get the ring of burden from the well, but the dude did a runner. Was asked to look in his quarters for the recommendation, but cannot find anything :(
;) i used the ring i got from the fisherman to explore that well, there is a nirnroot there as well Level 18 High Elf Mage atm, getting owned by angry liches (but they give GREAT drop ;) ) Witht e invis guy you can find him with detect life then use dispel other to reveal him, he will then give up and hand himself in and you get better reward from the chick (who later gets the death and turns into a zombie) If you are of mage persuasion and have NO thief abilities for gods sake get your alteration up high (yes you can jam something in ure keyboard for spell repeat cast and level up) and get the open hard locks spell at alteration 75, it helps SOOOO much. My conjuration hit 100 last night :) woot!! Now i can summon some angry creatures to fight my battles for me while i use Devastation magic to assist. Tip for summoners, use magic that wont harm ure creatures and just let rip. IE i used Flame atronach for ages with greater fireball as a devastating hold and detroy combo.
Horses CAN die, not just from damage, but also if you run downhill and jump and they go soaring through the air and then land on the ground.. er, um.. so a mate told me...
Whenever I've fought a guard and FINALLY beat them down, since I was wearing the equipment from a previous guard, if I put all my equipment (cause its worn down) onto them (drop it, that is) and leave theres there as well, when I go into it and look, there's 3 things of equipment.. There's, mine, and a new one with 100% health...? Works for me.
Level 20 100 Intelligence now 100 Conjuration 90 Destruction Closed 1 Oblivion gate that i had to close for the start of the game to kick off properly, waiting till im forced to close others for good loot from leveled creatures. Currently weilding my new mages staff of 100 frost damage that has 10 area effect and lasts 3 rounds ;) (dont get to use that puppy often, so draining) over 45 armour now from my robes/ring/manacles (you did keep and enchant those wrist irons didnt you?) Still getting my arse smashed on occasion from stupid rushing warriors that refuse to lay down and die!!! Loving this game!!!
And it sounds like you are not using your main skills Warlock , or havent slept in a bed for over 6 hours yet ;)
Damnit im trying to become a vamp to complete the vamp cure quest. Let myself get hit multiple times, slept in vampires coffins etc. What my High Elf Blood to good for you damn suckers!!
Hitokiri, how do you find fast travel as a vamp? Dont you sometimes arrive in the middle of the day at towns?
how the **** can you have not completed the quests, its the first thing i did. lvl 20 and you having clocked it yet lol. ive probably done about 20 odd oblivion gates, but now they are all closed because..well i wont give anything away. but seriously, play the story!!
once i did the story and got grand champion in the arena it seems a bit easier to do everything else. havent been playing much though.
Quote from Eater_Of_Souls: Damnit im trying to become a vamp to complete the vamp cure quest. Let myself get hit multiple times, slept in vampires coffins etc. What my High Elf Blood to good for you damn suckers!!
Hitokiri, how do you find fast travel as a vamp? Dont you sometimes arrive in the middle of the day at towns?
If you fast travel while its still night time, you dont take damage, but if you arrive at the location during sunlight hours, you start taking damage as soon as it finishes loading. Then you gotta stand in the shade and wait til night time.
i threw my wrist-irons away :(
As for not having completed it yet, im enjoying everything its offering, not just going for a fast as possible finish :)
Heretic, its easy You say NO! And then go level up elsewhere. I am not trying to clock the game in record time, i rarely do the first few time around. I am just getting my enjoyment and value from the is game while it lasts ;) If i was to try and clock the game swiftly and at low level, i would miss out on all the cool creatures dungeons, peoples quests etc as i progressed in levels and things got more and more difficult.
This being said im working out a better class able to achieve more things quicker for next time around ;)
i dont think i have clocked it...but what i ment was doing the mainstream quest was super fun. i think there is more but i'm not too sure...
and i am a member of about 6 different factions and guilds :P ive had my fair share of fun. dark brotherhood is the best though. sneaking ftw. damn all you fairy flower picking casters :)
My Assassin is level 22 atm. Started a warrior/barbarian to see if its much of a difference in play style. Closed about 5 gates so far, nothing special. Trying to kick-start the story line a little now :)
Got some nice weapons, but still running around in the Dark Brotherhoods gear hehe.
Its good you dont have the guide Heretic, cause each time you play you will more than likely find more cool stuff and get good enjoyment fromt eh game repeatedly. Me i got it cause i hate being stuk on quests where you have to locate the one missing magic hamster running around with a key attatched to it. Guide makes it easy to catch the bastards
I decided my Knight shall be a Champion of the Fights Guild (Or w/e the highest rank is). Third Quest - i have to give this chick some Ectoplasm. What pissed me off, is i had a whole bunch then sold it to a merchant, who wont sell it back to me. Now i cant recall where all the ****en ghost caves are :p
Quote from BlackHawk: hey peeps. will this game work on a AMD 2200+ LOL?
Don't know. But i know someone who is running the game on a lappy with 1.4 ghz Pentium, 1gb ram, 64mb radeon. But at the bare minimum on graphics.
So far i've got to lv 2. Thief in the Thieve's guild (Kinda annoying to do). Is a very awesome game. But got annoyed when i was running down a hill and just died, and naturally forgot to quicksave for the past hr.
I was playing it up until last night with only one GTX running at 1920x1200 wondering why it wasn't running very smoothly. Then I realised I hadn't enabled SLI since my last system rebuild. ^O^ Whoops. All done, runs smoothely. Oh yeah, I'd also hard set FSAA on 16x hardware default. ~_~ Didn't help.
As for Vampire, you have to kill the head hauncho vampire, it's a daedra quest, where a monument talks to you, telling you that five of it's followers were taken over by their vampire tendancies, when they killed the main vampire in the past. When you slay them, you get it... I don't know if it's because I got bitten then, it just happened, and didn't realise it until the characters around me started saying "You don't look so well, maybe you should see a healer" shit. Oh yeah, and the sun began to burn. ^_^'
Oh yeah, and if you've gone to a lot of effort, to make your female character easy on the eyes, the face changes too. ~_~
You can also become a Vampire by completing the Dark Brotherhood Quests. The Vampire 'leader' of the Sanctuary will offer to bestow a Dark Gift upon you.
Hmmmm I killed him after i though he was going for his weapon and i blasted him with Flame Wreath ( 100% lower fire resistance, touch , max magnitude, 5 round duration fire spell) after his screams subsided i had wondered if he was a necessary quest bloke ;( damn Back to he caves letting myself get hit by vamps, i swear High Elves must not get turned into Vamps.
I became a vamp from the first one i fought heh. After they hit you and drain some fatigue (dont think it shows up in curses/buffs), have to wait a day then sleep a few times (i did anyway). I woke up a healthy newborn vamp, although somewhat ugly. And then proceeded to prey upon my hapless sleeping guild mates. :P
I started again cause i came a vampire and wasn't sure about a cure.. I figured there would be one, but meh. Went from a mage, to now a warrior. Bit of different gameplay. I'm in the Dark Brother hood guild again, but not the thieves. Does anyone know what to do to get in Thieves? I've stolen heaps of shit from people. Also, I'd rather not be in the guild, is there merchants to sell stolen stuff to at all? Without being in the guild.
Get caught for a crime and get thrown in prison, or sleep in a safe location while having a White-Fox flyer in your inventory. The theives guild have 'fences' that will buy stolen goods. But only if your in the guild, obviously.
Ok, is Vamperism disease classed as a mundane disease? High elves are 75 percent resist to disease, and i got the SunEye ring which is a further 25 resist disease (and a cool 20 percent spell reflect). I put this down to the reason i have not been infected yet. Going to try and get my High Elf to the top of the mages guild this weekend and start claimin my guild rewards ;)
Alrighty level 25 now, weilding Black Soul gems galore now and turning into quite and evil bastard! Seems vamperism is a normal disease and my high resist was stopping it, even the Assasins guild pet vampire wouldnt touch me. Im up to the dead drops quests fro the Assasins, completed the Mages guild quests, you may call me Mr Arch Mage now ;) (btw the magic chest you get as reward is absolutely bonza for all you budding Alchemists ;) ) Once i complete the Dark Brotherhoods quests i might start on the thieves guild ;)
Ok the trick to get into the thiefs guild that dosent involve going to jail is......
talk to a beggar, then use the persuasion skill/ability to get them above 70.
then go back to the conversation options and ask about the grey fox again (opps obvisously you need to have seen the grey fox poster before even talking to the beggar in the 1st place) he/she should now offer the question do you want to help him.
click yes then he will tell you where to meet him, your not in yet but you have to pass the test he sets you and if you pass you are accpeted into the guild.
Thanks guys, this stuff is goood! I started again, and have spent most of my time in the Arena, and doing other quests ignoring main.
Weapons that have charges -- is there anyway to recharge them at all?
At the Arena, if you talk to the big orc lookin fella, he will talk about heritance and give you a quest which is pretty basic. If you complete it and talk to him, he will add +2-3 stats to strength, block and agility I think. (he adds stats to something).
To recharge weapons either pay for it at a mages guild for some fool to recharge it for you (expensive), or get some soul gems and trap souls (using Soul Trap mystic spell), then click on charged soul gem to then place charge into the item. This also gets your mysticism up to a high enough level to use Mass Soul Capture inbuilt to any damaging spells to make soul capture much easier. You need to have Black Souls gems to trap the souls of humanoids, otherwise you can only drain "Monsters" and animals, and they give low soul level return ;)
Also Amphibious, you will meet the Grey Prince later in the Arena Matches and be VERY thankful you did his Quest.
Regarding mods im currently using a companion mod. Seems to work nice, ya can equip the person and they help fight as well as lvl with you. I don't think it makes the game any easier they aren't really powerful so its no unbalancing the game. But being able to equip two characters is more fun.
If they have tourches in their inventory then they will use them in dark areas as well :)
Ive finished the Mage Guild Quests so i got this annoying little apprentice that follows me around and asks questions everytime i cast a spell ive created, sometimes annoying but i get a giggle when i cast high level illusion spells and he Ohhh's and Ass's over them ;)
i had a Dark Brotherhood assassin ask if he could assist me. Im assuming he would help me fight, but i prefer to go it alone. AI in games isnt good enough imo.
Found him, got a bit of money out of him for the quest (and totally robbed his house.. lots of goodish weapons in which i flogged off for money). He ended up trying to kill me or something, and the guards ruined his shit pretty bad.
ROFL - that cartoon is so damned funny, because it's so true.
Happened to me today -
SPOILER below - highlight to read....
The guy you have to pretend to kill for the Dark Brotherhood quest - when you go to revive him later, and all his dead rellies come back to attack you.
You have to keep him alive, so I said to him to stay put. END SPOILER...
"So, I guess you want me to stay here then."
"Yes - I'll let you know when it's safe."
Go to blast some zombie, and WTF is this dickhead doing getting in the way?
Why have the option to "Stay put" if you're not going to? :grin:
The assasin ones can be told to follow silently, usually keeps them out of the way. My apprentice fireballed me in the back last night, and cause im a High elf with the starsign of Apprentice (Magika +100, Weakness to magika 100%, weakness to fire 25%), it bloody hurt!! Ended up using Stillness of Breath (Very high level Paralyse) to hold him in place while i scouted rest of dungeon. Damn apprentices, always trying to get better at my expense.
In Leeyawin or whatever that weird place is called, bottom of map. There's a big mansion lookin place, and if you go inside this woman will talk about how she bought this staff and crap. If you do the quest for it, you will get a ring that is fority +7 block, and +7 blade ^_^
With the Dark Brotherhood, when Teineeva gives that quest to go kill the rogue, did anyone else hear the guy out, find out about the treasure and kill him anyway? ;)
I also remember doing the first oblivion gate, there's this guy who's in there, and if you get him to follow you (and manage to keep him alive) you eventually come across a scamp ontop of a rock you can't get to (afaik). He just stands there and keeps trying to attack it.
In case you guys didn't know already (i didn't til a little while ago - it's a tip in game) if you DO get into a fight with a friendly, you can ask them to stop by holding 'block' and hitting 'use'.
you can also use sigil stones to enchant normal weapons and armour and give them special abilities.
im pretty much ****ed when im with someone else, my main skill is sneak, and im not very good at outright fighting, and when there is someone else their they just ****ing charge in.
Around the cities, you can find trainers that will train you in certain aspects. You can get 5 lessons (in any of them, not just for one) per level, and they increase your level in that skill by 1. Very good to do, make sure you use them all up per level. They cost upwards of "00. I've seen some for $500 (per 1 lesson) so be prepared to pay out the ass for them.
I've made a list of people I've found. Most of them are lower level stuff. By the time you reach Journeyman, they can no longer teach you anything. However, some will tell you where to find an Advanced Trainer (for Journeyman and above). I will edit the post when I find some more:
North Trades in Chorrol = Mercantile Fire & Steel in Chorrol = Armorer Mages Guild in Cheydinal = Alteration Some Argnonian in Bravil = Security Brolus House in Bruma = Illusion Chapel in Cheydinal = Speechcraft Nord Winds in Bruma = Light Armour Mages Guild in Bruma = Destruction Mages Guild in Anvil = Alchemy, and Illusion Mages Guild in Skingrad = Mysticism, and Conjuration Chapel in Skingrad = Restoration Outside Anvil = Marksman Mages Guild in Bravil = Alchemy & Advanced Destruction Mages Guild in Chorrol = Conjuration 'Ohtesse in Cheydinal = Advanced Restoration Note: Normally hangs around outside your house, but will only teach you when she crosses the bridge. She's only there for about 1 hour, I think somewhere around 2pm.
My tip is to not shut ANY Oblivion gates until at least level 21. It will make the going a little harder as the Dremora get very hard at that level if your not on your toes. The reason behind this is that the sigil stones level with you and at 21 they become Transcendant Sigil Stones, same deal but better mods for example the chameleon is 30 % rather than the base 10% at lower levels. Using these trancendants i have created armour with +50 magika on every piece giving me just over 650 odd magica. Which JUST allows me to cast soem of the extrmemely big spells i have picked up along the way and a few of my ridiculous overpowered made spells. Still cannot cast the ever fearsome Paralyse in anything more than a 20 ft area of effect at 10 secs though :( need more MAGIKA!!!
I did the Fingers of the Mountain quest - this is the second time round playing it. The first time, I did it rather early, and the spell ended up costing around 150 odd Magicka.
This time round, I didn't do it till about level 21 ish - didn't realise that the resultant spell levels with you.
The spell I got? Does 200 damage in (20 foot?). Will I ever get to use it? 1170 Magicka to cast!!
So for those doing the Mages Guild quests, do them early on.
Does everyone else keep restarting? I find myself making characters, but not taking full advantage of the 7 major skills I choose. :( And then you find things, as EoS and Xaine pointed out and want to start again as well. One more thing, read books! Some increase your skills. :)
The first time through, I gave up closing Oblivion gates when I realised that they just keep opening randomly - did the main quest, and all the guild quests, and ended up finishing the game at Level 26.
Started again - used a custom made character with skills to reflect the way I play the game, and only every now and again will I climb my way up the guilds - I'm just wandering around, trying to find as many dungeons, etc, as possible.
I still haven't done the Kvatch mission, as I want to wander around without Oblivion gates opening.
There was so much I missed the first time around....
can you level your blade skill by just swing your sword or do you have to be atacking something to get skill points for it? and is it the same for bows?
Have to hit and cause damage with it, same as all offensive abilities. If you want to nooblevelup then get a summon moster (spell or scroll doesnt matter) and attack the summon, after the first few hits it will hit you back, be warned..... TIP: Also use Soul trap on summons to easily fill gems as well ;)
Lvl 21 Assasin 86 Murders :) First one being that little prick Fan boy from the Arena. Only done 2 gates so far. Just cast invisibility and slash with sufferthorn, 1 or 2 hits with crit dmg and everything dies muhahah.
Btw was wondering if hitting those dummies and such levels you. I tried for about 5 minutes and was like "FK this".
Easiest way to check is have a look at the skill progression bar, if its not moving, your not leveling up by doing whatever it is you tried.
For the mages guild quest to get the staff, try and hold off on it until level 15 or so as the staff will then be created with maximum effect for the chosen pwer (fire, ice etc). In the assasins guild, hold onto the dagger they give you to kill people with (actually i dont think you can giv it away or sell) and dont complete the last mission until level 21+ as all effects level up with you ;) creates a monstrous damage dagger that is super expensive to recharge.
just in case you peple dont know this is a small spoiler but you will want to read it if you are downloading the beta patch.....
after you install it you cant get in to the dark brotherhood (murderers guild) the patch locks the door bye mistake and you cant get in... so if you want to be part of the Dark brotherhood DONT install thye patch...
My new Redgaurd fighter is progressing nicely, level 18 atm and about to close my first oblivion gate after Kvatch to see what the sigil stones are like before i wait tell level 21 to close a few more. Not really a cheat, but i feel dirty still doing it, is to get pieces of armour and enchant them up with chameleon until the total reaches just over 100 % chameleon. This allows full momevent like invisibilty, that doesnt stop when you touch or talk to someone. For all the SpeedGaters out there that prefer to just rush through them, its invaluable. Currently weilding a magic firesword from somewhere that does 15 points damage lasting 3 secs, lower fire resist 75 for 30 secs and damage health 15 thrown in for good measure ;) Seems to sort em out fast enough.
I can't seem to enchant with Chameleon.. however, I tried enchanting 6 bits of armour, plus 2 rings and a necklace all with 10% shielding, and then used a spell that shielded 30% for 30 seconds.. I still took damage though. Besides, I'd prefer the shadow robes you get that increase skills by 15 (marksman, sneak)
The chameleon spell needs to be in ure spell book before you can use it. However the major (30%) chameleons come from Transcendant Sigil stones available at random when you close an oblivion gate at level 21+ Redguard fighter is up there now at lev 23, have several Major powers from the Doomstones now and a few minor powers to boot. When i arc them all up at once i sit on around 160 srength 140 Endurance plus various other enhancments ;) its like instant BeastBasher status for 120 secs. On the subject of mods, i havent installed any mods at all for the moment, im still having fun with the original. When i get bored of that ill pay for and downlaod the official add on releases and play through them with all my characters, and then i might put the Arcane Alacrity patch to speed up my targeted spells, and perhaps the saddlebags mod for my horse.
simply go into ure cavernous backpack, click on the sigil stone, click add item and add a mundane item and click enchant
Getting the stones at high level is also good for the fact that you will have access to the best mundane items to enchand (Daedric, Glass)
And yeah Black souls gems rock, so does the "Star", a daedric quest that gives you a soul gem that doenst dissapear when you use it, endless refills up to grand status.