When Bugs Attack

I completed a job for the Thieves' Guild last week in my ongoing drive to ignore the greater needs of Cyrodiil. The mission was actually rather exciting, as I had to make my way through a quite populated cavern system whilst on the lookout for a crystal ball. I find stealthy gameplay to be right up my ridiculously methodical alley, which makes me really excited about this, but I digress. After obtaining the orb in question, I fled the scene post haste and delivered the goods to my honcho-boss.

It should be noted at this stage that Thieves' Guild jobs require increasing amounts of fenced goods (for those of you fearing the loss of my paladin powers, these items have been culled from the homes of those whose evil required the business end of my lightning spells). I returned to my safehouse to collect a bunch of swag for this purpose, and I happened to see a colleague. I spoke to him, only to be given the next job in the guild sequence without the proper fencing tally. I proceeded to sell my loot before attending the meeting . . . only to find the quest-giver absent. I had no choice but to revert to a prior save, obtain the crystal ball again, and make certain to ignore the messenger until I had done things through 'proper' channels. Way to break the immersion, Bethesda!

Technically, my stealth skills had already done that to some extent. My cavern run came to its end in a chamber with a single guard, standing right in front of the target item. I could find no way to approach without his spotting me, but I could get quite close to him without attracting his attention. I did, on the other hand, attract the attention of a magical crystal which began peppering me with bolts of painful cold. The only sanctuary I could find was directly behind the still-unaware sentinel -- who proceeded to get blasted by the crystal. Honestly, the dude stood there like one of these guys as his own defense mechanism killed him. Sure, he healed himself a bit, but would you not have thought to, you know, move in a scenario like this?

My wife spent the evening revisiting the world of Dragon Quest VII, so I dove back into Wyvern for the evening. I recommend the experience, provided you can look fondly on roleplaying titles from the late eighties.

Game well in the days to come, and may your QA catch moments such as these.