Before You Begin

Before You Begin

The following information technically constitutes a spoiler of sorts, because it covers information about the game that you have yet to experience -- assuming you have not yet started the game.  Sadly if you have already started and you are deep into the game and you failed to do what we are about to discuss, then it is too late anyway.  But you will still want to read this in case you are not so far in to the game that you can get it still...

Note that this is all covered in the guide, but I am emphasizing it here and now because it is very very important that you not accidentally miss this one small easy to miss part that will make the game very very easy for you to succeed in.  I cannot underscore this enough.  You really want to do this.

After the Prologue plays out and you are on the run following the guardsman Hadvar, you eventually make it out into the lands of Skyrim.  From that point you can go in several directions -- and the game will push you towards the first town -- which will set you on a path that will lead to the city of Whiterun, which is where we want to be, because that is the first location that the book "The Legend of Red Eagle" can be found.

Specifically you want to enter Dragonsreach then go upstairs and enter the Jarl's Quarters, and then go upstairs again, to find the bedroom with the book.

Flagging the Red Eagle Quest

The Book to Read for Red Eagle's Quest

The Jarl owns a copy -- it is upstairs in one of the rooms of the Dragonsreach Palace on a table on top of another book and next to a silver ingot.  The important thing here is you need to read that book in order to flag its quest.

Note:  This book can also be found at the College of Winterhold, The Lost Knife Hideout, and Fellglow Keep, but the soonest you can obtain it is Dragonsreach, the Jarl's Palace in Whiterun , and sooner is better than later in this instance.  Also note that some of those locations require you to be at a higher level as you have to battle enemies there -- particularly Fellglow Keep -- in order to gain access to the dungeon and the book within. 

Completing the quest from the book called 'The Legend of Red Eagle' --  gives you a quest for Red Eagle's magical sword and as that is perhaps the best weapon you can get straight away in the game it is worth the effort!  It has stats of 17 points of physical damage, 15 points of Fire Damage.  Use the specific section on this quest as your guide as it covers additional information you will need.

The next thing you need to be aware of is that life in the game is so much easier when you have 60 points of Smithing Skill.

--== Oblivion Walker Achievement ==--

As far as I know this is the only Achievement in the game that you can actually miss and be unable to go back and unlock due to its dependance upon quests in the game.  So I hope you will forgive me for telling you about this as it is something of a spoiler but it needs to be said...

You unlock Oblivion Walker by obtaining 15 Daedric Artifacts in the process of playing the game -- and these are ONLY available -- and thus are miss-able -- in each of the 16 quests during which you need to obtain the artifact for that quest.  While this is part of the story in some of the quests, in some of them you can actually complete the quest and leave without it.  

The Daedric Artifacts Quests are:

(01) A Daedra's Best Friend
(02) A Night to Remember
(03) The Black Star
(04) Boethiah's Calling
(05) Break of Dawn
(06) The Cursed Tribe
(07) Darkness Returns
(08) Discerning the Transmundane
(09) The House of Horrors
(10) Ill Met by Moonlight
(11) The Mind of Madness
(12) The Only Cure
(13) Pieces of the Past
(14) The Taste of Death
(15) Waking Nightmare
(16) The Whispering Door

One of the quests does not count towards this Achievement -- you only need 15 artifacts -- and it does not appear to matter which, but you may as well get all of the artifacts anyway...

You need to keep your eyes out for these artifacts which will be found around areas that involve shrines (like in the last game) or other-worldly spirit powers.   While there are actually a few of those that appear in the game that do not have an artifact connected to them, you need to be careful not to miss the ones that do!  Fail to grab even one of the artifacts and you cannot complete the Achievement. 

The guide includes these in it so if you are following it, you should not have any trouble getting this, but if you are not following the guide section by section and you missed any of these and wonder why you have not unlocked this one, well, now you know!

--== Basic Play Strategy ==--

This guide is broken up into logical sections -- there is the Main Story Guide that constitutes its heart -- and then there are additional grouped sections to cover the major and minor additional quests that are part of the game.  It is really important that you remember that this game will NOT present only the challenges that you can handle at your level as you proceed along the main path.  You will find yourself facing enemies that clearly outclass and will kill you.

After you defeat the first dragon you will encounter other dragons in the wilds as you travel.  Something to be aware of -- if you encounter a dragon in the wild there is a shrine nearby with a power word.  So if you do kill the dragon, you should search for the shrine to find the word and spend the soul you just acquired to unlock it.

To make travel easier look for the wagon outside of Whiterun and spend the money to have it carry you to every city it can -- that way you can fast travel to them without having to walk or ride there first.

That flies in the face of the traditional process for games like this -- but that is the way it is.  Because of this the best advice that you can be given is SAVE.  Save OFTEN.  Save BEFORE you try to battle, SAVE AFTER you battle.  Save every 20 seconds if that is what it takes, but SAVE.