Okay, need some help here

[proffate]

I'm still early in the game, so this may seem elemental to the more experienced folks.

I went to the tomb outside of Balmora to find a skull. After I fought some sort of critter, my encumberance went down to zero. Health and stamina bars are fine, I just couldn't move. I suppose I could drop everything and wander around nekkid, but that doesn't seem like a good survival strategy.

What's going on?

[Sirius_Sam]

You need some "Restore Attribute" potions (or scrolls/spells). The best thing for you to do right now would probably be to use a teleport effect (Almsivi or Divine Intervention) to get you out of the tomb and into a safe location, in town near a temple entrance. You can drop gear until you can move, then go into the temple to find an apothecary and buy some Restore (STR?) potions.

If you can't T-port out of there, then you're going to have to drop what you have to in order to move back to a town. Be aware that when you go back into the tomb, enemies will have respawned if you disposed of their corpses and you'll have to fight or sneak your way back to your gear.

S_S

[proffate]

Thanks. I actually saved the game before I went in. I just wanted to know what to do if it happened again. I've got restoration potions, but since the health bar was okay, I didn't figure that would help.

[Sirius_Sam]

Good to hear

Just FYI, you need "Restore Strength" to offset the encumbrance hit. It's very possible to lose enough STR to be completely immobile, even without gear, so carry some potions/scrolls of Restorative magic and Intervention(s).

S_S

[proffate]

Got it. This time around, my encumbrance only dropped to 37 instead of zero, so I could drop enough stuff to move around. Then I found a shrine in the room that "blessed" me with restoration (for a fee, of course).