It's about 1:30 PM when we wake up. There's only one way out of the little cave we're in, so that makes the next decision easy.
Around a corner, we meet our first door. Note that the game gets the colour of Oon-la's hand wrong for whatever reason.
And behind that door, a rat. Easily dispatched. The only reason that I take a hit here is because I'm fumbling around trying to take a screenshot and fight it at the same time (I get a bit better at that soon enough).
The rat obviously isn't carrying anything, but near it, on a pedestal, is a bag (ignore the chest image here, it was a bag in the main view) with some cash in it. Probably left here by... privateers?
Ssssoundss good. I... eh... claim thiss in the name of the Emperor! Yesss, that'sss right...
Upstairs, we come across a hallway, and opening one of the nearby doors, we meet our first real enemy: An imp! Well, it'd be a real enemy if not for the fact that the spells don't seem to take all that often. A couple whacks from our dagger knock it down without any trouble. Between the imp and some treasure in a cage behind it, Oon-la gets about forty gold.
Behind another door off the main hallway and down a staircase: A thief. If they get a shot in they can do a decent amount of damage, but between hitting them first and parrying what attacks come, I don't allow that.
Along with some more gold, our reward is: Armour! Oon-la can only use the leather greaves and boots (the first two, but at least the chain can be sold. There's more gold in a pile on the floor behind the thief.
After a bat (not pictured, because bats are just as weak as you'd expect), we head further upstairs and find:
An archer, which despite me sneaking close and getting a couple shots in, stays up and gives Oon-la a nice whack with his sword. We manage to kill each other at the same time...
Providing a lovely cutscene of our burial (at least we get a nice tomb) and a crow squawking on a nearby tree. Yeah, best get used to this one, especially once we run across higher-level enemies.
Reload, and this time I manage to
not jump up on the table like an idiot parry the sword with my dagger and bring him down.
Our reward is
one of my favourite in-game books (though some copies of the various parts of "King Edward" would be nice), along with a shield and "leather" helmet to give Oon-la this look.
After going through a room with a couple rats (though one gets a lucky hit in), and up a ridiculously steep incline...
Oon-la runs across a thief. Note our relative positions, and the fact that he hasn't noticed me yet:
Yep, a nice backstab helps make that problem fairly easy.
More armour for our trouble, and I like the look of this "leather" helmet better so that's the one Oon-la's wearing.
You humansss have sssuch odd fassshion sssenssse.
Another imp goes down so easily I don't even bother getting a screenshot of him (once again, his spells do nothing), carrying our first ingredient! Let's see if
Special Flora of Tamriel has anything to say:
"Domica Redwort is a herb grown by many residents of Valenwood for their beautiful and showy flowers. They attain a height of about three feet and have feathery leaves; the flowers are usually bright red. In addition to their beauty, they are said to have magical abilities to enhance the appearance of anyone who carries or wears one of the flowers." Thisss doessn't look quite like it. Besssidesss, that imp did not ssseem very attractive.
A pedestal in this room opens up a nearby bookcase, behind which is another small cache of cash. Through another door:
A nice, big room.
Heading down a staircase to the platform in front of us puts us face-to-face with this fellow, a Skeleton Warrior. He's the toughest enemy we've had so far, but Oon-la manages to parry all his attacks in between chipping off various pieces of bone. Not much on the body, though.
Going up the staircase on the other side puts us back in the room with the thief I backstabbed.
Backtracking, another passage from the platform leads to a dead end and a (soon, also dead) orc. Being an orc, he's a bit of a tough fight as well, but Oon-la can still deal with him.
This reward would be very nice if we could wear plate, but it'll still fetch a nice price when we reach a town.
And we're full up after it. Fortunately, the exit isn't far off.
The two doors down the big staircase don't lead anywhere particularly interesting either. So where do we go from here? Well, there's a way from down there, but that's not where we're going.
Back upstairs, there's a throne and a lever. Pulling the lever...
...causes the throne to start rising up. Of course, it's kind of useless without us on it, so after pulling the lever again to bring it back down, jumping onto the part that rises, and pulling the lever a third time:
Brings us up here. Now we can continue out!
After a short trek up a hallway and another dead rat... ooh, that imp doesn't see us. May as well just sneak up to it and-
Oops. There's also a bat and a rat in there, and while all three are individually rather weak, we need to do this properly to prevent them from ganging up on Oon-la with her low health at the moment.
Better. Killed the bat first through the door, then made sure the imp and rat could only go at Oon-la one at a time. Here you can see what happens to an imp and a rat when they're julienned by an ebony dagger.
That same room contains the exit!
Ah, the fresh High Rock winter air.
I hate it. It'sss too cold.
Well that's your problem.