Oblivion: post the neat-o side quests

Yeah, I know, there’s another Oblivion thread. But that’s a general thread. What I wanted to do is talk about any cool side quests.

Rules: put the beginning of the quest out for everyone to see, but please spoiler the good bits.

I think the coolest side quest I’ve found so far has been the “Find the Painter” quest in (I think) Cheydinhal. A famous painter has disappeared, and his distraught wife asks you to help find him.

He disappeared from his studio, so you start searching there. You see a painting on an easel. If you click on it, you’re transported into the painting. You’re literally inside an oil painting - the trees are painted, you see brush strokes in the sky, everything has a very dreamy look about it. The painter is inside, too, and has been trapped there by a thief who stole his magic paint brush. The theif painted some trolls, which turned on him and killed him. You have to kill the trolls and find the magic paintbrush. The painter gives you turpentine, which is a poison to painted trolls.

So, I went for a rest at the Bloated Float, right…

…and when I woke up, the ship had set out to sea. On the other side of my door was a thug who said I shouldn’t be there. I tried to bullshit him, but he wasn’t having any of it, so it was Ginsu to the rescue. I found a key on his body and rescued the bodyguard. That guy wasn’t going to move until I cleaved a path through the other three bandits on board. So, I cleaved my way through the next couple of guys. They mentioned looking for a ‘golden galleon’ before they died. I got to the woman who was holding the owner. When she discovered that I knew so much about her operation and I was splashed with the gore of her friends, she surrendered.