

And it's true that, by and large, I didn't miss the company. The last-minute save surprised me because I'd been playing on ESO's near-deserted Public Test Server, which on that particular weekend captured the experience of an "offline Elder Scrolls Online" so many players clamor for. Two players-the first I'd seen in hours-had run up behind me and saved my bacon, and the experience demonstrated what potential lies in Elder Scrolls Online's core concept of "Skyrim with other people." I prepared for the last blow … and in a flash of lightning, it crumpled over in a pile of amber rust.

I swung again, knocking one dead but barely scratching the other. I swung my vision blurred red as they each hit me at once. It was all up to me now, and thus I resolved to at least give them a good thwacking with my two-handed mace before I fell.

Not one but two dwarven spiders blocked my way in the dark tunnel, and I knew that running would just allow them to spit their poison at my back.
