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In Search of a Cure for Vampirism in Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
how-to
game: Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
posted by: Chris Martin
publisher: 2K Games
developer: Bethesda
ESRB rating: T (Teen)
genre:
platform:
keywords:
date posted: 10:47 AM Tue Apr 18th, 2006
last revision: 06:46 PM Fri Apr 21st, 2006


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Click to read.Things to do in Tamriel when you\'re Undead:

The land of Tamriel has many dangers: ogres, wolves, goblins, reanimated skeletons. Yet all these dangers seem to pale in comparison to the fated Vampirism disease that can happen in one of two ways. First, if you fight a vampire and he strikes you, there is a chance of contracting Vampirism.

And second, if you happen to be in the vicinity of a vampire and decide to sleep, there is a chance you\'ll be bitten before you wake.

If untreated, what at first is an annoyance can become (in 4 days) full blown Blade-style bloodsucking. There are quirks to Vampirism: resistance to weapons, magic, immunity to disease, tons of miscellaneous stat boosts, and some sweet inherent abilities. Problem is, there are some serious downsides to being a vampire: having to feed every day, vulnerability to fire, and damage from the sun. In the first stage of Vampirism, you are (mostly) normal. You have a few stat boosts, and can travel in sunlight, and gain Hunter\'s Sight ability (Night-Eye 30 seconds on self plus Detect Life 100 feet for 30 seconds on self). This ability is pretty sweet as it alleviates using torches and casting Detect Life all in one shot. It can be used as many times as you want.

Below are the stat boosts in this first stage (Vampirism 25):

Negatives:
Weakness to fire +20

Positives:
Resist Disease +100
Resist Paralysis +100
Resist Normal Weapons +5
Fortify Speed +5
Fortify Strength +5
Fortify Willpower +5
Fortify Acrobatics +5
Fortify Sneak +5
Fortify Illusion +5
Fortify Athletics +5
Fortify Destruction +5
Fortify Hand to Hand +5
Fortify Mysticism +5

In the second stage, (going without feeding for 24 hours), you gain the Vampire Seduction ability (Charm 50 points for 20 seconds on target). A nice ability as it can easily sway a losing battle, and take minimal damage from the sunlight. This stage is possibly the most useful as you have most of the benefits of Vampirism and less of the downsides.

Here is a list of the stat boosts for Stage 2 (Vampirism 50):

Negatives:
Weakness to fire +30
Sun Damage +1 (You take 1 damage per second while in sunlight)

Positives:
Resist Disease +100
Resist Paralysis +100
Resist Normal Weapons +10
Fortify Speed +10
Fortify Strength +10
Fortify Willpower +10
Fortify Acrobatics +10
Fortify Sneak +10
Fortify Illusion +10
Fortify Athletics +10
Fortify Destruction +10
Fortify Hand to Hand +10
Fortify Mysticism +10

In Stage three you start to look undead, people are less disposed to helping or talking to you, and you take quite a bit of damage from the sun. You gain Reign of Terror (Silence for 60 seconds within 20 feet on touch plus Demoralize up to level 6 for 60 seconds on touch).

Here are the stats for Stage 3 Vampirism (Vampirism 75):

Negatives
Weakness to fire +40
Sun Damage +4 (You take 4 points of damage per second while in sunlight)

Positives
Resist Disease +100
Resist Paralysis +100
Resist Normal Weapons +15
Fortify Speed +15
Fortify Strength +15
Fortify Willpower +15
Fortify Acrobatics +15
Fortify Sneak +15
Fortify Illusion +15
Fortify Athletics +15
Fortify Destruction +15
Fortify Hand to Hand +15
Fortify Mysticism +15

Overall, you\'re pretty beefy and can stand sunlight for a few minutes.

In the fourth, and final, stage of Vampirism you\'re looking quite a bit like Stubbs the Zombie (and probably smell like him too), which is why people will not talk to you (even with personality boosts). You die almost instantly in the sun but you gain Embrace of Shadows (Night Eye 90 seconds on self plus Invisibility 180 seconds on self). Not a bad final power. That with your nice buffs and you\'re a tank that can sneak away if he gets cornered. Many people consider Invisibility to be the most powerful skill in the Elder Scrolls series, and 180 seconds of it is just sweetness.

Here are the stats for the Final Stage of Vampirism (Vampirism 100):

Negatives
Weakness to fire +50
Sun Damage +8 (You take 8 damage per second while in sunlight)

Positives
Resist Disease +100
Resist Paralysis +100
Resist Normal Weapons +20
Fortify Speed +20
Fortify Strength +20
Fortify Willpower +20
Fortify Acrobatics +20
Fortify Sneak +20
Fortify Illusion +20
Fortify Athletics +20
Fortify Destruction +20
Fortify Hand to Hand +20
Fortify Mysticism +20

Okay, so that\'s the lowdown on Vampirism\'s four stages.

So how do you cure it, praytell? It\'s not easy. Trust me: it took me 4 hours of game time to actually cure Vampirism. Some gamers will be happy with the stat boosts and not mind feeding every once in a while (mainly thieves and assassins). However, I found it counterproductive for my character class.

Finding a cure

1) First go to the temple in the imperial city. Ask around, you\'ll be directed to find Raminus Polus at the Arcane University. Talk to Raminus. He doesn\'t know the cure, but directs you to Count Janus Hassildor at Castle Skingrad in Skingrad. The good count has a problem, mainly, he\'s a vampire and embraced it, while his wife wouldn\'t feed and slipped into some kind of vampire coma. Agree to help him: he\'ll mark on your map the location of a witch you have to seek out.
2) The witch is named Melisande and knows of a cure for vampirism. Yay! Unfortunately, the poultice is complicated. She needs you to find her a number of ingredients. The first is 5 Empty Grand Soul Gems.
3) Finding Grand Soul Gems. If you, like myself, hadn\'t even picked up a soul gem until now, frustration might set in. Don\'t worry, finding the Grand gems isn\'t too difficult. First thing\'s first. Almost each Mages guilds in the major towns has one. If one doesn\'t, don\'t fret. In the Imperial City, the Mystique shop has a few (3 when I went in). There are three more at the Arcane University but require very hard lockpicking skill (or a lot of lockpicks). Make sure the Grand Soul Gems are empty and (they must say \"none\" to the side of the item). Return them to Melisande for the next leg of the journey.
4) Melisande tells you of the rest of the ingredients. The Grand Soul Gems were the hardest part, this part is easy.

Things you need:

6 Garlic Cloves: found in people\'s houses in Skingrad-because the count likes to sneak in at night. Can also be found in some alchemy shops and at mages guilds.

5 Nightshade Leaves: The Main ingredient in the Imperial City should have them all.

2 Shoots of Blood Grass: In Oblivion or outside an Oblivion gate.

Blood of an Argonian: You don\'t have to kill the Argonian, just stab him or her once. That should be sufficient.

Finally, you need to kill Hindaril, a powerful vampire, for his vampire dust. This one is a little more difficult. Follow the waypoint on the compass. If you\'re in stage three or four of vampirism when you do this, you\'ll have no problem at all. Just watch out for fire. Hindaril will be asleep when you find him. So go ahead, wake him up. It\'s possible to kill him before he even gets to his sword.

Return all these things to Melisande and she\'ll tell you to wait 24 hours.


5) This is your last night as a vampire. Do whatever you wish now, tomorrow you will be cured. Return to Melisande for the poultice. She\'ll give you two potions. Drink yours. You\'re cured! The other one is for someone else...
6) Return to Count Janus Hassildor. Take some time to bribe him and get his disposition up. If you get it high enough, he\'ll reward you with 2500 gold. Score!

Remember, if you drink the potion, you can never again become a vampire.

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