“Sweet Mother, sweet Mother, send your child unto me, for the sins of the unworthy must be baptized in blood and fear.”

In Windhelm, Aventus Aretino is reciting this innocuous chant.  However, locals fear that he is trying to contact the Dark Brotherhood.  As an adventurer, it’s up to the player to investigate these rumors.  Idesa Sadri tells Grimvar Cruel-Sea that what is going on inside of the Aretino Residence is pure evil.  Heading into the house, the truth is far more sinister…

Aventus Aretino is a child.

Dear Mr. Young:

I came across your article entitled Copyrights and Copycats, and, as an avid gamer currently going through law school, my interest was piqued. I agree wholeheartedly regarding the distinction you make between the hypothetical Steamtown and Digcraft games (and as an aside, I would seriously consider playing the non-existent Steamtown game). Visual styles should not carry a lot of weight (although it should certainly be a factor to consider) when comparing two video games for the purposes of an infringement claim. Gameplay mechanics and the “feel” of a game should be far more important than claiming two games are the same because both worlds are made up of blocks. However, I disagree with your feelings towards litigation in claims like these.

When patch 4.3 of World of Warcraft was released, three new 5-man heroic dungeons were introduced: End Time, Well of Eternity, and Hour of Twilight. The instances have been out for two months now, but in my random groups I still find players that do not seem to understand how certain fight mechanics work. The two most irritating encounters are the last boss of End Time, Murozond, and the second boss of Hour of Twilight, Asira Dawnslayer.

On Tuesday, I started talking about the Thieves Guild in Skyrim.  Today, I finish talking about the Thieves guild in Skyrim.

To quickly recap: a man approached me in Riften, said I’m thief material, had me rough up some shops, and then sent me to go burn a honey farm.  After that, it was off to Whiterun to poison some mead and then tail an Argonian.  All of this sabotage and subterfuge happened because Maven Blackbriar wants me to investigate her competitors.

At this point, we’re five quests into the Thieves Guild, with a few of the side quests thrown in.  At this point in Morrowind, we would have done all of the entry-level quests for each of the guild branches.  We’d have been introduced to the Fighters Guild as the Guild’s bitter enemies.  We’d have run into the Camonna Tong, which is the Guild’s rival enemy.  In Oblivion, we’d have stolen five items, outsmarted the Imperial Guard three times, and investigated a missing Guild member.  In fact, at this point, we would be entering the end game for the Thieves Guild.

In Skyrim, we’re about to blow the lid on the financier for Maven’s competition.  Considering that the cost of making games has gone up, Skyrim can not have as many quests Morrowind did; following the example Oblivion set, we’re about to start the end game for the guild.  We’re going to find Karliah, discover where she got her wealth from, and what her plans are.