Knight without a Cause

During my many trips to the cave near Hla Oad I decided to rest a while. My rest was abruptly interupted however by an assassin. I wasn't expecting this but managed to kill this guy off rather easily. My journal says I should report this to a guard as soon as possible, but I haven't got around to it yet. I took the special assasin armor off of the assasin along this his sword and sold it to the guy in the Guild of Fighters in Balmora.

For some reason vendors like to wear the best or most special armor as soon as they get it. Maybe this is to let me know that's where I sold it in case I need it back. Was kind of humorous to see this guy wearing the assasin's custome some somehow. Assasin armor isn't very protective but it's certainly valuable. Over my adventures since that first assasin several other attempts by assasins have been made, all failures of course. It's also called "Dark Brotherhood" assassin's armor, so I'm guessing it's the dark brotherhood that's trying to kill me. Despite that there's at least two dark brotherhood members in Vivec who will talk to me without incident and and would likely be trouble with the guards if I tried to kill. Not that I think this isn't consistent or unfair or anything.

Having finally finished the treasure-rich cave near Hla Oad I decided to move on. Not quite feeling like finding either camp assigned to me by Caius Cosades of the Blades or the fighter's guild I decided to wander down the coast more, adventuring through the various shrines and other caves. I was having fun doing this when I realized I had made it all the way to Seyda Nean. I decided to stop by and see if I could unload some stuff.

One thing I noticed once I got to level 15 or so levels start come rather quickly. And as I mentioned virtually every level I've made I increased my strength level. By level 18 I could carry nearly 500 (I assume pounds) and I had attained level 100 in long sword skills, the maximum level. Now all I need to work on is my axe, short sword and marksman skills. My axe is at 50, left over from a fire axe I had at the beginning as I tried to increase swordsmanship and axe skills at the same time. But that axe got taken away by some guards because I had apparently found it in a crate.

My short sword is closer to 20 and marksman is even lower than that.

I also started working on my magic skills. In other words bought lots and lots of training in the various magical schools. Haven't yet made a lot of progress.

I'm now rather good at finding items that are worth more than 30,000 gold. But again what good does that do me if the most any NPC ever has is 2,500 gold?

I started practicing enchanting. This skill is actually listed as one of my minor skills I just haven't been practicing it. To enchant, of course, I need to Soul Trap. To Soul Trap I need either lots of soultrap scrolls, the soul trap spell or find a soul trap ring/amulate/whatever. I had money from the cave near Hla Oad as well as some other caves on the coast so I went to the Guild of Mages to get some enchanting done. Turns out that whole enchanting thing is a little expensive.

After more exploring I had made it all the way to Vivec. On the way I came across a traveler with a Guar. He was a little too attached to that guar. Kept referring to it as if it could talk or it was the real brains of the two or somethin'. I tried talking to it and I got a "has nothing to say to you at this time" type message.

In the Vivec area I decided found a few more caves, also with lots of treasure. I'm finding Grand Soul Gems like nobody's business over here. These couple caves again took me several trips of recalling to the local barterer at the Guild of Fighters before I moved on.

Then I found Ald Sotha: a really, really giant set of ruins. This one actually took me at least three trips, but I did beat it. Even managed to get an "ebony broad sword". After all the stuff in that one place I should have well more than 100,000 gold by now, but alas, as I like complaining about, damn NPCs are too damned poor.

Would have been nice if I could just set up a credit account with an NPC or perhaps all barterers at all fighter's guild or somethin and every time I buy something they just subtract it from the value of the expensive item. Would that be so much to ask? Seriously: what is the point of 80,000 gold soul gems? May as well make it unsellable, priceless or worth 0.

After some research in various forums and sources on the internet I discovered there are at least two creatures that have either 5k or 10k of gold. Better than the max 2.5K I've found other wise but still not all that impressive. I'm still contemplating if I want to go in and modify the 5K character (he also buys for the real value of the items) to have a much, much larger amount of gold.

Horray, post-vivec: Level 13!

For all practicle purposes I'm done with Vivec. At least I hope to avoid it as much as possible.

As of now I have enough levels to be extremely high ranked in almost all the factions I'm currently joined to. I'll I have to do is a whole lot more quests for them all. After the quest in the ruins for scrap medal I was having a little trouble trying to decide what to do next. I remembered someone in Vivec had mentioned something about a guy who owed money in Hla Oad. Starting from Balmora I decided that's where I was going next.

Didn't seem to be a quick way via roads so I decided to head out via cross-country. Part way there I found a place apparently called the "Odai Plateau". Not sure what that is or if it's important but it's now on the map. About half way between the Plateau and the Hla Oad I found a cave (I'll have to look up the name). Didn't seem to be any people around so I went in. The first I went in there was a fork in the path and down one fork was a (I think it's called) Fire Elemental. I wasn't ready though so I died in that instance. The next time I came in I ran past that path and went to the end. Mostly it seems to be a good supply of raw ebony but not much else. I did run into some bandits but managed to take care of them rather quickly.

Finally I went back toward the entrance to take care of the other path. This time instead of fire there was a frost elemental (or whatever). I managed to care of him with a combination fireball ring and uber-sword. I think I remember reading somewhere about a quest invovling a lost ebony mine. My journal I don't think updated so either this isn't the mine or I read it online.

In Hla Oad I found the guy who owes the money. After some bribing he told me to look under someone else's house to find what I was looking for. There I found a big treasure chest containing around 900 gold. Upon checking the journal it looks like this individual owed 800 gold and I could keep half.

I explored more of Hla Oad and found out there was some sort of Dwemer imports expected by a local citizen. After artificially raising that citizen's disposition of me to 100 he still would only give me "what dwemer artifics" or "what are you talking about". Somehow this seems like a bug to me but I'll have to wait and see if anything else comes of this.

I then decided I would wander some more along the coast. Actually the last time I played this game I had left it at a rather treasure-rich cave. I can't quite remember but I think that cave was outside of Hla Oad. Or perhpas it was another city, I just remember it was long the coast some where.

Upon a rather short wandering time I found a dock and ship with a few people aboard. After saving several times ahead a time I went aboard the boat. Luckily no one started attacking but no one would say anything particulary helpful or new or at all indicative of a group of smugglers or bad guys. In the lower hold I did some barrel and crate exploring and found a rather nice looking two-handed Nord sword. My pick-pocketing skills really aren't terribly good however. Again saving several times I tried to sneak to the crate containing the nice sword as well as a grand soul gem and some other items. I was caught rather abruptly however and had to fight the guy off. Upon beating him I noted I had never recieved a messsage about a crime being reported and upon checking there was no bounty on my head. I decided not to risk any thing else and recalled back to the fighter's guild in Balmora.

Everybody still likes me and I'm not dead so it looks like I got away with it. Or perhaps those were smugglers who were ok to kill. I don't know. I should probably be careful with the stuff I got from him though or else it could get taken from me by some guards. I'd hate that.

While in Balmora I started to think some more about enchanting and potion making. I am a member of the mages guild now after all. I actually downloaded a seperate program that shows me all the ingredients for almost all potions but I decided I would just start with the ingredients I had a large number of and then drop each of the other ingredients in combination and see if anything came up. Eventually I did find some combinations but more often then not the potions fail. But then my alchemy skill is rather low. My armorer rating is at 39 and I still fail when I try to do that. So I know I have a long way to go as far as alchemy skills.

I also started experimenting with Soul Captures. I purchased the spell a while ago but still don't have even close to enough magica/intelligence to cast it. So purchased some scrolls and set out with my shiny new "Grand Soul Gem". With the help of my glass jink sword I managed to paralyze a few critters and capture some souls. Not know better however I ended up with a rather low-level critter in my Grand Soul Gem. As far as I know there's no way to actually expunge a soul from a soul gem once it's in there. So I went back to Balmora to see if I could use this soul to enchant an item at the Mage's Guild.

Well it looks like this can often be rather expensive. I also attempted this myself, a bad idea as you may have guessed. I didn't think the Soul Gem would be destroyed if I failed I thought it would only lose the soul. So I destroyed a Grand Soul Gem. I suppose I could have gone back and reloaded my save game but I didn't.

I also did some experimenting with "spell making" at the Guild-of-Mages. This can be done rather easily and cheaply. At least to get the custom spell anyway. Again casting it successfully is another problem altogether. Except that I could enchant that custom spell to an item with a soul gem which I could do if I had more money. Did you get all that? In conclusion I need more money.

With that rather obvious realization I went back to Hla Oad to find that mystery cave I know has lots of treasure. I run back to Hla Oad and continue looking for more caves.

I should also mention I had purchased the Game of the Year edition of the game so I could get the two expansion packs together. I didn't want to be bothered with the plots of those two expansions until I had finished with the main quest. But after reading of the various journal and map enhancements I decided I would install them after all.

In Hla Oad I did eventually find yet another cave entrance. After saving I entered and was immediately attacked by two bandits. I guess I'm getting better because the two of them really weren't much of a challenge. I did have to do some healing however. A further jog down the cave revealed two more bandits. Unfortunately these two managed to take me out. Upon reload I healed up and manged to attract the attention of only one of them. I broke out the paralyzing jink blade to paralyze then beat him down. Then attracted the attention of the second guy and did much the same. This time I barely had any life left but at least I beat them.

Upon looking at the bodies and all the crates and barels I realized this was a rather treasure-rich place. In fact I found at least four more grand soul gems and several other soul gems of various degrees. Soon I realized it would take several trips to sell all this stuff. So I loaded up and recalled back to Balmora where I sold off some of the trinkets I had collected in the cave. I then ran back to the cave, grabbed more treasure and recalled one more to Balmora. Fortunately the fighter's guild guy had come into money and had 2000 gold each time I recalled back.

Then I decided all this running was pointless and realized I could take the silt strider in Balmora to Vivec where I could catch a boat back to Hla Oad. This take a long time in game-time but is much faster for me in real-time. I'm now in day 52 and have reached level 14.

Avoiding Vivec...I give up (avoiding) - part 2

I'm fairly certain I was in the cave with psycho imperial guy wearing the lord's mail when I found this enchanted dagger. Another rather valuable item (around 6k) that is rather useless since no NPCs actualy have that much money. The enchantment is paralyzation for about 10 seconds.

In one of the under works I found what looked like a shrine albeit guarded by a heavily armored nord. I saved before I was within eye-sight of him and tried many times to beat him but never could quite do it. I tried potions, echanted items, turn invisible to get the jump on him, everything. Finally I got out the dagger-of-paralyze and tried that. Too bad my short blade skills are so lousy. After several seconds of swiping madly at the air I finally hit him and he was frozen for a few seconds at which point I beat him rather harshely. Then the paralyze wore off and it was time to run and swipe at the air till I hit him again and beat him some more. Finally, I took him out. I don't know why he was so good. I have a way higher armor rating, my weapon is better too. Maybe my dodge is just lousy or he was a higher level. In any case I'm sure I wasn't supposed to be able to beat him at my level but I did.

Once inside the shrine he was guarding it was even more fun. This also took a long time snce there were so many people all firing at me at once. Luckily they all fall for the invisibility ring and I manage to make it to a back room. Here I find a "sheild level 3" scroll and a "summon fire elemental" (something like that) who helps immensely. The first time I tried this I had saved but the I still managed to die. The second attempt the elemental was turned on me I still managed to beat everybody.

In another underworks there was yet another shrine also with someone guarding it. This one didn't kill me however. Seemed not to care I was there at all. Upon entering the shrine however I encounter three bad guys all going for me. After many reloads I do manage to kill the weakest of the group however between the battle mage and the guy with the crossbow-and-lightning-bolts I don't survive very long.

After an hour worth of reloading the same save game I decide I may not be of a high enough level or I need a new strategy. So I move on.

I did have an interesting adventure in the "Puzzle Canals" below the Palace. The Palace has but one door: locked at 100 and trapped to boot. I seem to be good enough now I can disable a trap (traps don't have complexity ratings apparently) but I can't come even close to a 100 level lock. Maybe if I had a spell or scroll. Eventually I'll be able to afford a scroll or amulate or whatever that can do door unlocking.

I have also found a new sword with the name something to the effect of a demon blade. It allows me to summon an even cooler blade, albeit just really lite and effective not necessarily uber-damaging.

In the Puzzle Canals, a multi-leveled pyramid-like structure with water ways, or canals I suppose, at each level. Each great is an entry into the structure itself. Inside looks just like the underworks of the Vivec cantons accept a little smaller and simpler. You enter one great and there's another greate at the other end. There's also passages to the side where there's another passage with more grates. When you exit via a great you come out on another level of the pyramid. As for as I know there's no combination of enters/exits that actually gets you into the temple at the top. On level 3 is something interesting however: a platform with gap and what looks like another room protected by a barrier. A nearby shrine-looking object gives you a supposed clue on how to get in.

If you want to know how to get across the gap/lower the barrier you'll have to cheat on the internet as I'm not going to spoil it. All I will say is read the clue given and don't over-think it. No metaphors involved, no analogies, no book reading. Just take it literally. And save first :). Remember this is a religious shrine so faith may be invovled...

There's one place in Vivec I never did visit on account it's a giant levitating rock with no way to get up to it. Accept for potion of levitation and the one scroll I used to have to give me 1000 jump. I didn't have either of those however so I skipped it. The locaiton in question is called the "Ministry of Truth". I think.

There's several sub-quests assigned via various characters in Vivec. One involves a serial killer. Another an invisible man. Yet another an annoying rash that doesn't seem to go away. Eventually I'm sure I'll finish these what I call "busy work" errand quests. But right now I'm not terribly motiviated.

I also found a guy who said he found some sunken ship somewhere or other. For an alcoholic beverage he told me where the ship was and gave me a key to get into it. Appears there's some sort of enchanted axe on ship. Them Nords sure do love their axes don't they? Good thing they didn't have Frued back then, heh.

Having thoroughly exhasted myself of Vivec and everything Vivec-related I finally went back to balmora. Here I tried to turn in my info to Caius Cosades but was promptly told I needed the rare book one of the contacts mentioned to me. So back to Vivec I went. Wasn't too terribly hard to find this rare book as the store that carried it was called "rare books". I guess banned books aren't too banned in that placed. So back to Balmora and finally Caius Cosades accepts me and my accomplishment of a boring Vivec adventure. After some pressing he gives me a new quest.

So I new I have a choice: either jump straight to the next Blades quest or tackle some more Legion/Fighter's Guild/Imperal Cult/mages guild quests.

Ya, I joined the mages guild too. Not sure why really. Wasn't much reason.

As a side note I found one of the best Morrowind sites out there. I also managed to find a rather easy way to find them: at google type anything related to the game followed the word morrowind. For instance if you needed help with Vivec go to google and type in Vivec morrowind and the first link will be this site. Or just use that link and click morrowind once there for the home page and you can find help on anything else you need. Like the solution to every quest for every faction and the secrets to every location. Or use the link. Either way.

I did decide to do at least one Legion quest. I headed to Ft. Moonmoth and grabbed the quest: appears there's a contest between the Legion and another group. The Legion is to get some scrap medal from the ruins while the other group is to find some "corpus meat". I went back to balmora to talk to the fellow in the basement about a key to the lower ruins he had mentioned. This secured I headed back to the ruins. It was fun to be back in there and killing those mechanical creatures once more. I certainly did find enough scrap medal for the contest. Actually I wasn't told how much to get, just to get some. So I had 10 peices of scrap medal. As far as I know for virtuallly every level I've progressed I've added to the strength level. I'm assuming there's a cap to that attribute and I have a feeling I'll be reaching it pretty soon.

Officially (more or less) done with Vivec, time to move on.

Avoiding Vivec...I give up (avoiding) - part 1

As I'm writing this I've completed Vivec already. Not all the quests but at least talked to all the people I had to. To try to keep some semblance of what the hell is going on I'm going to try and summarize what I've done. Also while in Ebonheart I did a couple more things.

For starters I was about to leave Ebonheart when I decided to swim around the side for no apparent reason. Seriously. I had no reason to do this at all. But I did for the hell of it. After a bit of this I got bored and was about to leave but checked my map. It had a door symbol on it. Wuhoo! I thought. A secret under water door. So I go in. Look it's some Imperial near a fire. Ok I'll go chat.

Nope, attacks me. Well I'm not backin' down from this thanks. Takes a while but it's just him so I beat him eventually. Upon looting I find he is indeed wearing the "lord's mail". The lord's mail being a mere 130 armor rating. Normal mail I've been wearing is aound 35 armor rating. Also it's worth A LOT. In fact so much no vendors in the whole game has enough to pay for it. So ti's kind of pointless to put a price on it, now isn't it? Worth 10k gold if it matters. Which it don't.

In fact no NPCs seem to have much more than 2k gold. That's really annoying. What the hell am I to do with all this valuable crap anyway?

I did some spoiling on the Internet for a while and found retrieving that mail is actually a really high-level quest for the Legion. That I found early. So lucky me!

And the imperviousness I expected to some degree via this "lord's mail" wasn't nearly so much. I can still die for instance. What's up with that?!

Finally I leave Ebonheart and it's time to decide what I feel like doing. I have plenty of quests and other leads I could decide to go and do. Anything but Vivec.

Ok fine, I decide to do Vivec. It's only way to move the stupid plot along anyway. What do I want this thing to last 10 years? So I enter Vivec. By boat this time. Looks like I didn't have to walk from the silt strider in Vivec to Ebonheart like I did, I could have taken a boat straight there. Good no know.

I start in the "foreign quarter". Vivec is made of of several of what are called "cantons". Most all cantons contain a plaza at the very top, some "waists" in the middle, canal works below that and under works at the bottom. For the foreign quarter I started in the middle. Took of Caius Cosades' first person I was assigned to find and talk to everyone. Then I went to the top, the plaza. Here is a conveniently located fighter's and mage's guild right near each other as they always are. At least I know I have a convenient way to get back to Balmora.

After that I explore the canal works and finally get to the under works. All the under works have amazingly similar floor plans except some have gaping holes in the walls or haunted shrines to explore. And rats. Lots of rats.

Then I get a little smarter and decide to start at the top and move my way down.

Now I could try to remember all that crap I did but it was annoying enough living through it once I don't want to have to re-live it. Suffice to say it took two entire real days of play and about 10 game days worth. I'm now on day 41 or so and level 13. Leveling seems relatively easy now. Just go through a dungeon or two, kill a couple beasts, and the next level is pretty quick.

One thing I did notice: I managed to up the likeability of one of the NPCs that is a part of the "dark brotherhood". I did this via my innate power I was born with called "Voice of the Emperor" that raises the likeability rating by 20 to 30 points, supposedly temporarily. So the NPC gives me a name of Kajik inthe plaza and says to mention his name. So I talk to the cat-like creature but there's no option to mention the first NPC's name. The Kajiik only says "ok, I'm ready to talk to your boss, Eno Hlaalo". Wait, what?! I'm not a member of that house!! Nor have I even met that particular person. What hell is she talking aboot?!

Maybe that's a bug, maybe not. I don't know. I actually know where this Eno is but I didn't have the mad lock pick skills (or scrolls) to open the door containing therein.

I'm pretty sure the "Dark Brotherhood" has a rivalry with the House Hlaalo. Just about everybody has a rivalry with the Dark Brotherhood actually.

This post is long enough I'll have to break it up into several parts. So wait with baited breath for the next post. Or read my journal. Either way.

From skar to Ebonheart

Finally having visited every place and talked to everyone actually in the town of Ald'ruhn I made for this large structure known as "skar". A lot of places are referred to has "under skar" so I can see why. I wasn't paying attention to the details but it's a large shell-like structure with many, many doorways inside.

Many of these places have really similar names and look extremely a like. I didn't really have a lot of reason to go in there except for one minor quest but skar is like an entire city in and of itself. So I went in. Several hours later I had accomplished maybe one thing and was thoroughly dizzy from all the similarly named NPCs I had encountered most of which had told me the same thing. I did find some kind of wise woman who had a lot of information and some books that leveled me up. Finally, I left skar for greener pastures.

At this point I could have gone back to Fort Buckmoth to look for the NPC that'd give me a new legion quest but instead I decided I would make for Ebonheart and the promise of "shrine sergeant" quests via the Imperial Cult. I no longer felt like walking however so I took a couple silt strider rides down Vivec and hiked over to Ebonheart. Ebonheart is a giant castle-like structure divided into three main sections connected by walkways on top of castle walls. Within the castle is the main office of the East Empire Company.

Didn't the British have a similarly named company several hundred years ago? No? Fine whatever.

Eventually I did find the Imperial Cult cathedral and "Kaye" who promptly gave me the position of shrine sergeant and gave me a mission: finding a high elf named Caryarel who had been treated for swamp fever in the chapel some time back after a which a rare limeware bowl disappeared turned up mission. I am to find this elf and try to retrieve the bowl. The high elves are a close-knit community and I am to ask other high elves where I may find Caryarel in particular. I don't even know where the high elves hang out actually. So I'm clueless on this mission.

I also found the local in charge of the Imperial Legion, Frald the White, who also gave me a mission: to challenge Buoyant Armiger Salyn Sarethi at the Ghost Gate to a contest of contest of wit, poetry, and honor. Salyn Sarethi it seems has been doubting our courtesy. Although why we care I don't know. And I just came from there. And there's a fire-demon in the way. Damn.

Also what makes him Buoyant? Does he float real well? Is there a water-logged Armiger too? Why am I the only one asking this questions??

After more wandering I found Llaalam Dredil, advisor to duke dren. He asked me to deliver a letter to J'Zhirr at the East Empire Company. I looked at the letter and it had a list of price markups for various items including "D. Artifacts". Aren't those the things that are protected by Imperial law and treason to sell? Damn hypocritical Empire.

I deliver the letter and receive a letter to return: this one accepting the prices in the form of a promissory note. Although how such a contract could be enforced since it specifies illicit activities and items I don't know. Llaalam Dredil thanks me for the errand and gave me 75 whole gold for doing so.

Although it apparently was never officially assigned as quest via the journal I have also heard of some "Lord's Mail" that has gone missing. After some bribing I was told to talk to someone at the Imperial Commission. He gave me a name and told me to talk to the soldiers at the Imperial Guard HQ. They weren't useful as all they said was "he stayed in the sout west room here". I went in to what I though was that room but couldn't find anything of interest. Just a bed and some candles on a nightstand. So I tried casting the old "detect enchantment" spell. I succeeded with the spell but apparently nothing showed up. Must be something I'm missing there.

Reasonably certain I've completed everything to be completed in Ebonheart I now get to decide what I get to do next.

I could go back to Balmora and join the Mages guild or Thieves guild. Or there is this "House Redoran" that is held in high regard by the Legion. Or I could simply skim over my journal and see if there's any other quests I may have forgotten about. Anything to avoid the long arduous trial that will be Vivec in other words.

I just remembered I had received a new mission from the fighters guild: Percius Mercius, who I did find at Fort Buckmoth told me to aid Buoyant Armiger Ulyne Henim in an expedition to Vas, a remote island west of Dagon Fel. That's all it says in the Journal however the longer version is that this NPC acknowledges it's a rather long walk irregardless and my best bet is a boat out of another city; Tel Mora I think.

That sounds like it could take longer than Vivec and I'm fairly certain I'm not to the level that would allow this quite yet.

The decision of what to do will have to wait for next time.

level 9: 10/15?

I seemed to have encountered a few bugs since my last post. Seems I'm doing less and less writing in favor of the actual playing. Imagine that!

I did finish the quest for skull from last time. Since Caius Cosades's only next mission for me is to visit the giant, frustrating city of Vivec I decide to do some other stuff. There's a fort in Gnisis taking on new recruits for Legion for instance so I may as well start there. But I don't feel like walking any more so I take the silt Strider.

In Gnisis I join the Legion thanks to General Darius. He tells me what I need to do and being in uniform is important. He then gives me an imperial charias. It's rather useless as I outgrew that particular piece of armor a long time ago. But he wants me to always be in uniform when I'm around him.

The first mission was to get the deed to the Widow Vabdas' land. So after a lot of wandering I finally find her. She says the Imperials killed her husband and she won't sell. Her husband had worked in the local egg mine of course.

Oddly enough the first merchant I visited actually sold me a pass to get into the egg mine without issue. However I'm an imperial and General Darius gave me a key anyway.

I'm also told by a local there's a secret entrance into the lower, more restricted part of the egg mine through a secret underwater door. Which I forget about.

Instead I just run past the guard into the next door. There I talk to the Ghost of Widow Vabdas' husband who tells me a guard murdered him and there's an axe at the bottom this pond to prove it. So I dive to the bottom and get the axe. I give it to General Darius and he says "oh, looks like he was murdered. Go murder the murderer will ya". Sure, no problem. Too bad that's the Queen's room and there's some killer ant-warrior things in there. I do kill him eventually though.

During one of my many trips to General Darius in fort inside Gnisis a guard apparently takes notice I have a lot of looted and found stuff. My armor and favorite lightning sword for instance. Why didn't any one notice this up until now? Well that wasn't very funny. Lost my lightning sword, flame axe, summon-slinker-belt; just about all the good stuff really. So keep that in mind! Even if you're not caught at the time you take stuff from a barrel you can still get caught with it later. And it will be taken away from you.

The next mission from General Darius was to cure the Kwama Queen of blight in the egg mine. Well the Kwana warriors were waiting and not too nice. Finally I managed to run to the queen, cast the cure spell on her and some how run back to the entrance before the warriors could kill me. Ya definately need some resist lighting if you want to survive. As I found from a lack thereof.

All this time I had been leveling up. However I started to notice at some point the level indicator that conveniently tells me how close I am to the next level in tents of a level started to go above 10. I didn't make it to level 8 until I was 15/10 of level 7. Only then did I recieve the indicator that "I should meditate and think about what I've done" i.e. sleep so I can distribute the new levels points accordingly when I wake up.

I don't know if that's the way it's supposed to be or if I just found some kind of bug. I also get a lot of crashes to the desktop. Good thing I got an auto-save script!

I did notice after all my stolen stuff got confiscated by the man General Darius stopped mentioning I need to be in damn uniform. From reason even the thing HE gave me got taken away. Then all of sudden it's not important I be in uniform? And what does he keep saying "why aren't you at your post"? Does everyone think I'm an NPC now or what?

After the Kwana queen General Darius sent me to rescue a pligrim named Madura Seran near Ald Velothi. I explored Ald Velothi some but didn't manage to find anything of interest. I did learn the pilgrim was just south of town held in a camp. Eventually I find this camp. The ringleader in the "yurt" (tent thing) along with the hostage said he'd release her for 500 gold. I didn't like that idea (and it had nothing to do with my lack of funds) so I talked to the pligrim who said she'd go with me but the kidnappers would attack.

And so they did. The first guy wasn't too difficult but once outside the other two kidnappers were a challenge. Eventually I took out the weaker of the two and the second got caught behind an obstacle, giving me enough time to heal up. After taking him out I took the pilgrim to Ald Velothi and went back to talk to General Darius at the fort.

The next mission was rescuing Ragash gra-Shuzgub from the local mad-wizard, Baladas Demnevanni who apparently didn't take too kindly to tax collectors. I didn't have the mad skills to pick that complex of lock (but did disable the trap) on the cell door where Ragash gra-Shuzgub was being held. So I talked to Baladas Demnevanni for what seemed like a long time and after some pleading, unreasonable promises and bribing I got the guy released from the prison.

The next mission was to investigate a mysterious cult inside the Legion called the Talos Cult. Apparently General Darius' own men were members. After some bribery one of the guards mentioned a name. Eventually I found this man who rather quickly initiated me as a Talos Cult member and directed me to a hatch in one of the storage rooms of the barracks. Inside there another Talos Cult member gave me some clues about the plot the Talos Cult was hatching but refused to give any details (even though I was welcome to look around and see the details).

I found a small chest locked at only 10 but if I tried to take what was inside he would attack. I didn't know if this was steeling from another legion member or just getting the clue necessary for the mission. Eventually I figured out I was just pissing off the two Talos Cult hardcore members in the barracks, not everybody. So I killed those two and took the note back to General Darius.

At this point my only options were more down Vivec/Ebonheart way. That's redicously far south from Gnisis. In Ebonheart is the Imperial Cult cathederal where I can get more missions and I'm sure more Imperial Legion missions while Vivec holds the next Blades missions for that half of it. I'm not looking forward to Vivec because of it's endless halls of indentically named locations and people. It'll just take forever, I know it.

So I decide to try and make it to Fort Buckmoth for more Imperial missions. Again walking to help with the Athletic skills and earn more experience.

On the way I run across another rather rude pilgrim, this time going to the "Ghost Gate". I cut across country; after all, this pilgrim wants to be there within two days. I find lots of interesting creatures and I'm not sure if the cross-country was really any faster. We make it to the ghost gate rather quickly but I have a hard time finding the shrine she wants. So I go in the gate and look around. There's tons of things to look at and experience to be gained via books in there but apparently this isn't the shrine in question.

Finally I figure out the shrine is on the other side of the Ghost Fence up the hill a little ways and some ways to the north east. She doesn't give me much of tip.

Finally rid of the damned pilgrim I make my way to Fort Buckmoth, by road this time. That wasn't a good idea as some kind of fire demon was hanging out on the road and manges to kill me rather quickly. Apparently I'm very susceptible to fire. Upon save reload I manage to RUN past the demon and eventually arrive at fort Buckmoth.

Talking to the local residents I find there is a local general in charge however he's in the shrine "downstairs". I search the whole fort several times over and never find any shrine or any general down stairs. Finally I give up and go the nearby city of Adl'Ruhn.

Here I find another blade who gives me some information. It's at this time I'm around level 9 and notice my level indicator no longer goes to 10. It now says 15/10 for the level progress bar. I still don't know if that's a bug or the way it's intended. And I have a "disturbing dream" in the form of convenient message box.

I explore the city, take to many people solve many tiny quests. I run into one person who says I've "woken them up" from a trance cast on him by the "mysterious sixth house". I also enter someone's house to find she already dislikes me 0/100 and then attacks me for no reason. Conveniently she has a locked and trapped trap door in her house and no else to tell on me if I go down there. Too bad I don't have the skill to get into it yet (or the scrolls/spells).

The rest of the adventure will have to wait for next time.

Moving up

I warp back to Balmora and sell a little crap. Namely a magic scroll I didn't think I needed to the Mages guild woman. Eventually I got her to buy a 100 dollar scroll for 87. I had to bribe her my last 10 gold to increase the price and...anyway. I also sold some amulates and rings at the traders. Finally I flew back to Suran to do some bribing and/or strong arming to get the money owed to the guild. Turns out Helviane Desele needs to like me at at least 75/100. As I found out.

I also found out if my buy something from an NPC with a "barter" option when you've completed the transaction the likeability towards you will go up one point. Also if you sell the same thing you just bought back to the NPC the likeability will again go up. I did that for about 4 points until I reached 75/100.

Finally Helviane Desele gave in and gave me 200 gold. I recall back to balmora and talk to Eydis Fire-Eyes at the fighter's guild. She says "good job" and gives me 100 gold. I then get the next job from her. To go to a local orc's house and kill him. Which I do of course. Looks like that wasn't too hard of a job. I'm at level 4 now. Didn't take much effort to find and kill him. There was no option that I noticed to talk my way out of it. I was hardly even hurt really.

So I go back to Eydis Fire-Eyes and she gives me more gold and says I'll have to talk to someone at another fighter's guild because she's all out of missions. Well fine then.

Of course there was a mission about finding some kind of Dwemer puzzle box wasn't there? Lets look through the journal: yep looks like the path is right near Balmora too. Pretty easy to miss though.

I come to the bridge to find some crazy-ass mage ready to rumble. Well he gets me the first time but upon a reload of my save game I summon my favorite slinker and use my lightning/fireball rings to take him out. Him and the slinker actually.

I then enter the ruins. Spent several real hours wandering the halls. No puzzle box in sight! Lots of cool looking junk though. Even some cool dwemer armor. Too bad I'm I don't have enough free weight to carry it at the moment. I get a lot of experience from these caves. But then I am late level four so the grave robbing types aren't too challenging. Except for one door I'll have to come back and visit later because it's locked at level 40 I go through the whole place. Even manage to disable a trapped door with my trusty "probe".

At one point I thoughtI might be close. I see a walk way leading to a gap over hanging a lava lake (more pond but who ever heard of a "lava pond"?). I couldn't jump over but I happen to have 3 magic "scrolls of icarian flight".

Wait a minute. I didn't think this was earth. Why would this alternative fictional world have mythology from ancient greece? Oh never mind.

Not easy scrolls to use but I get across the gap. There's one psychotic grave robber with a really big war axe but nothing else of interest. What a waste of perfectly good magic scrolls.

Ok lets do another note: my auto-save script is all well and good but sometimes I don't want to save for a while. I need to find out if I can put in a pause-script functionality so it doesn't save at an in-opportune moment.

Couldn't find the damned box. So I give up again and consult the Internet. Now I did notice a second level I could see from the entrance, but I never thought to go up there for some reason.

Before any more exploring looks like all this had bashing has raised my level again. Better warp back to the fighter's guild and get some sleep. When I wake up I'm level 5 and upgrade a few different abilities.

Time to go back for for puzzle box!

Finally I run all the way back to the ruins and this time climb the hidden (or semi-hidden) rock walk way to the next level near the entrance. I enter to find another guy who thinks he's something when he isn't and finally find the dwemer puzzle box.

I grab some stuff for sale back at the guild and warp to the fighter's guild. Here I finally sell some stuff off.

Upon talking to Hasphat Antabolis in the basement of the fighter's guild who originally gave me the puzzle box quest I learn the dwemer artifacts are supposed to be protected and taking and/or selling such items is considered treason. Of course I did drop a dwemer cog on the floor up stairs near the entrance but no one seems to have noticed. Obviously a very loosely-enforced crime of treason.

Hasphat Antabolis gives is happy about the puzzle box and gives me a note to take back to Caius Cosades. I also get out him that there's another dwemer ruin that is being officially explored by the Imperials themselves. After some questioning he decides I'm worthy and gives me a "note of introduction" so I can visit this site.

I then take the notes given to me by Hasphat Antabolis to give to Caius Cosades and see what he says. He says thanks but he needs more. Doh!

I'm to go to the Mage's guild and take to Sharn gra-Muzgob to get more info and of course "she'll have an errand for me". Pfff. Any of this sounding like busy work to anyone else?

Sharn gra-Muzgob tells me I have to go to the Andrano Ancestral Tomb to find the skull of Llevule Andrano. The tomb is located on the road to Pelagiad. I'm fairly certain I already did a good job of clear that dungen but I remember leaving a skull since I knew it would likely have something to do with a quest. Which it does. But I could have taken it just given the skull to Sharn gra-Muzgob when she assigned me the quest. Too bad then. At least I think that'd work.

Sharn gra-Muzgob also seemed a little to adamant about not being a necromancer. Obviously she is and only a favorable opinion of me would yield much useful info. If I cared. I'm not sure I do.

So I'm off to the Andrano Ancestral Tomb to get a skull. Maybe I'll finally finish the quest involving the mugged damzel in distress who is infatuated with the mugger for some reason. I think she needs a good therapist.

The skull will have to wait for next time.

Welcome to Suran (Day 13)

Upon arrival in Suran I visit the "House of Earthly Delights". Ya, must be a church! Nope, nudy bar. I find Helviane Desele and ask her to pay up already but she refuses. Something about the Commona Tong and protection money. I'm not the Commona Tong, and I didn't think fighter's guild was either, so what's she talking about?

So I do more exploring of Suran. I meet a slave trader/hunter while in the nudy bar. Seems he's been looking for the same escaped slave for weeks with the help of a guide. The rest of the town doesn't seem to think highly of the slave trader and doesn't seem to know much about the escaped slave. Eventually I learn of a secret base in the nearby hills and some kind of crazy man also in the mountains.

Then I find the guide in the local trader. He's not of much more help, just says he's been search for that slave for a long time. Then I speak to the local slave trader who, after some "greasing of the wheels", tells me the guide for the slave hunter is actually the escaped slave. I confront the slave with this and he asks me to not tell the slave hunter.

So now I told the slave hunter I would help him find the slave but that means turning in this former slave. So I tell the slave I won't tell on him. Guess that'll be a quest I never solve.

I go back to Balmora and decide to explore some of the caves I passed in between the city I arrived in and Balmora. Clearly these caves are likely involved with some quests I could have. I find one with some kind of outlaw, at least I assume so since he starts wailing on me with a war hammer and kills me in 3 blows. I use the "slink belt" I found to summon a "slink" as well as one of the "summon skeleton" scrolls to help me out. Between the three of us we finally kill the guy off. Too bad I'm too overloaded to carry the hammer back to town for sale. Or I could keep it, I need blunt skill levels anyway.

Eventually I leave that cave and keep going down the path away from Balmora. I then see a split in the path including a split with no sign pointing in that directly. Well I can't very well let that go unchallenged so I start down it, knowing all the while this isn't helping any quests and it could be a waist of time. Eventually I find yet another cave. This one I don't like however as it seems too advanced to I quickly leave.

A little furhter down this path I find an elf standing on the side of the road. Looks like she's a pilgrum trying to find a holy shrine. She marks it on the map for me. I take a look and it appears to be off some distance to the east. Instead of trying to find the road to take me there I just jet off straight in that direction through the wilderness. Encounter very little creatures on the way: just a couple mud crabs. Then we come to a water way. Not very far to the other shore but there are some killer fishing about. They're not much of problem and the Pilgrim seems to be doing ok. Finally we arrive at her shrine. She's happy sure, but now I'm pretty much lost.

So I continue down a path I now find myself on until I find another happless traveler. Seems his traveling companion heard a noise off in the woods and hasn't been heard from since. Being the brave imperial I am I start off down the trail but soon run into a monster that looks something like a tri-ceratops dinosuar. This manages to kill me in about two blows. So I load my save game and try again, this time summoning the skamp for support. We do manage to kill it as well as another but it soon becomes clear I'm not match for these creatures. So I use my Rune of Recall to jet back to the guild in Balmora.

Finally I cave in and look on the internet for how to get the money from Helviane Desele in Suran. I need these quests for the fighter's guild after all. Looks like I just didn't greese her proverbial wheels nearly enough. Eventually I will solve this quest, but the fund raising will have to wait for next time.

Ok timeout

Thought I'd Take a moment to mention I started scripting some shortcuts for writing this blog using a program called AutoHotKey. First I used it to make typing things like Caius Cosades as easy as typing cc then I realized I could something REALLY useful like auto-save my game every five minutes. The script with commentary is enclosed below. To use it just install AutoHotKey, paste this code into notepad and save the file with extension AHK.

; *** Start morrowind auto-save script here ***
; *** you must install autohotkey to make this work

; Glitch: the SetTitleMatchMode line tells the script to find a window that says
; "morrowind" and ONLY morrowind however start another window that somehow has
; morrowind only in it and this script may act on that one.
; Of course if you play in full-screen that will not be much of an issue.

SetTitleMatchMode, 3 ; match *exactly* Morrowind

IfWinNotExist, Morrowind
{
MsgBox, 4, Morrowind?, Open Morrowind to play?

IfMsgBox, No
{
Return
}

; adjust game path to your own

Run, G:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Morrowind\Morrowind Launcher.exe, G:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Morrowind

}

Sleep, 120000 ; lets wait 2 minutes for the user to load morrowind and the save game (comment to skip)

loop ; normally infinite loops are bad...
{
IfWinNotExist, Morrowind
{
return ; but this one auto-exits after it finds no morrowind window
}

IfWinExist, Morrowind
{
IfWinActive, Morrowind
{ ; the first number in the below line is time in ms.
; how long between each auto-save in other words
; 300000 translates to 5 minutes by my calculations (5 * 60 * 1000)
; the second number is how long the key pressed
; according to the autohotkey FAQ that's a necessary entry with some DirectX games.

SetKeyDelay, 300000,20
Send, {F5}
}
}
}
; *** End morrowind auto-save script here ***


For another example here's some common Morrowind-related things you may have to type in somewhere for some reason. Same as above put in notepad and name with AHK extension:

; **** start script-key ****
::cc::Caius Cosades
::bal::Balmora
::hhl::House Hlaalu
::rhl::Ralen Hlaalo
::dth::Drarayne Thelas
::bcl::Bacola Closcius
::fmo::Fort Moonmoth
::lvo::Larrius Varro
::aru::Ald'ruhn
::snu::Seyda Neen
::ehe::Ebonheart
::gni::Gnisis
::gda::General Darius
::ile::Imperial Legion
::ner::Nerevarine
::efe::Eydis Fire-Eyes

; *** end script key ***

Day 8: Caldera

Didn't take nearly as long as expected to arrive in Caldera. I wonder if the citizens here are Linux users? Man, that was lame. But I digress.

Once in Caldera I start to explore a little. I manage to find a pair of mages: sells the spell of mark, the other the spell of recall. Of course I'm only an imperial knight fighter not a spell-caster but I buy them any way. As I mentioned I tried to play this game about 18 months ago and I remember how useful mark and recall were. Although at that time I had a ring and amulate for such purposes so I didn't need any magical abilities. I was hoping I could use both to beam directly to particular places back and forth, keeping boredom and time-wasting to a minimum.

While in Caldera I visited Verick Gemain the local trader. He had a lot of cool weapons and even an Amulate of recall. Nothing to mark with, but a fairly cheap recall Amulate.

I suppose I could explain that more. You use mark to essentially save a spot. Then you leave that spot either by walk away or by beam yourself to a local template or whatever then use the recall spell to re-appear in the exact spot. Only thing is you'll enevitably have to do some walking either way. When I'm in a dungen or whatever I want to be able to load up completely until I can't even move, mark the spot and beam to a trader who will immidiately take my stuff off my hands. Or at least some place I can drop all my stuff for storage. Then recall back to the same place in the dungen and continue the loot-fest. Doesn't seem possible so far but That's what the both enchanted items and mark/recall spells are actually for.

I managed to find the blade trainer Surane Leoriane in Caldera. She has advised me to learn "detect enchantment" from one Llaros Uvayne in the Governor's Hall.

Eventually Orvus Dren is the real power behind the Commona Tong.

I do make it to Llaros Uvayne and learn that detect enchantment spell. Too bad I can't actually do magic.

I have money by this point so I decided to start remedying this. I find a mages guild and start getting training for mysticism. Ok actualy that's so I can do the mark spell for use with the recall amulate. How does that help with the detect enchantment? I don't know. Never checked which school of magic that is. Anyway I buy my way up to mysticism level 12. And do a mark spell. Once. Doesn't do me much good but I keep practicing every time I have mana enough to try and eventually succeed in casting it at the fighter's guild in Balmora.

I visit Eydis Fire-Eyes and get assigned a mission to the city of Suran. I no longer feel like walking every place so I hitch a ride aboard the giant flying flea thing, the Silt Strider, and arrive in Suran. The mission is to talk to Helviane Desele and get the 200 gold owed the figher's guild.

I'm really making progress now!

Day 5: Arrival in Balmora

Finally I arrive in Balmora. I learn the people I likely want to talk to in the theives guild are located in the "south wall corner club". I also soon learn that Larrius Varro at Fort Moonmoth wishes to speak with me. Well duh, already talk to him. Guess the game assumes I took the transport instead of walking.

I also learn the person in particular I am looking for at the South Wall Corner Club is named Bacola Closcius. I'm sure this info will be important.

After some search I found Eydis Fire-Eyes of the fighter's guild who signed me up on the spot. My first mission: kill some rats for a citizen (Drarayne Thelas). What is it with killing rats in RPGs anyway? Actually I'm fairly certain this particular quest is a reference to a quest in Baldur's Gate. A lot of RPGs reference this particular quest. I'm not sure why (but then I never finished Baldur's Gate).

One citizen in Balmora mentioned the murder of someone named Ralen Hlaalo but when asked about that person I just got "who?". Every citizen since I mention that name and again all I get is "who?". Until I found the "House Hlaalu" and talked to Hlaalo's servent, Uryne Nirith. She was much more helpful with response: "yes, I'm looking for his murder. If you bring him to justice let me know." Ya, these people are REALLY helpful.

Still not sure what the House Hlaalu is all about but apparently I qualify to join. I did gather it has something to do with assasins, concentrating on ranged weapons like bows, throwing stars and throwing knives as well some magical dicsiplines. For now though I won't be joining it. One member did mention the Morag Tong. Not to be confused with the Commona Tong bad people. These Morag Tong only accept legally binding contracts called writs. Obviously these are contract killers. And I didn't even have to join to find that out.

After more wandering I find another location of assassins guild Morag Tong, this time with a character who knew more about Ralen Hlaalo: sounds like someone named Nine-Toes is the culprit and his house is in the middle row east of the river Odai.

Seems like I've been in Balmora for a really long time. A few game days anyway. But I finally find Caius Cosades. He initiates me into the "Blades", apparently a local "spook" faction for the Emperor. Upon delivery the package I recieved initially he informs me the Blades are secret and he'll have some jobs for me. He also mentions several trainers in various cities who will train me for discounted prices.

In Balmora there's Rithleen, Tyermaillin and Nine-Toes. Isn't Nine-Toes the guy who murdered the guy few talk about? Also there's Surane Leoriane in Caldera, Gildan in Ald'ruhn and Sjorvar Horse-Mouth a little west of Ald'ruhn and Elone in Arrille's Tradehouse in Seyda Neen.

I learn a lot from Caius Cosades including more specific information about joining the Imperial Legion: General Darius in Gnisis is now recruiting, the only one recruiting as a matter of fact. I also learn to become a "lay servant" for the imperial cult I'll need to travel to Ebonheart. Specically I get work from the Imperial Chapels in Ebonheart by signing up with Kaye to be a "shrine sargent". At least that's what I would like to be.

Finally I'm done with Caius Cosades and go and visit those trainers in Balmora, including this Nine-Toes guy. Seems he's also a member of Blades and says he didn't do it. Some citizens also say this, mentioning somone else seen leaving the same day of the murder.

Eydis Fire-Eyes of the fighter's guild assigned me to take care of some local egg poachers who were causing trouble in a local mine. Wasn't too hard to find the mine, nor too hard to find and kill the poachers. I took care of both without much effort.

Next Eydis Fire-Eyes has assigned me to find four Telvanni agents responsible for several disapearances at the Caldera Mines.

The four are:

Alynu Aralen
Sathasa Nerothren
Forthyna Herothran
Alveleg

I am to assassinate all four and report back to Eydis Fire-Eyes when done. My as well get started. I could teleport (or whatever) to Caldera but I'm a newbie and I need all the experience I can get. So I walk to Caldera. I leave in the evening so it soon gets dark. I decide to camp until morning. I only encounter a rat and two beasts called Alits. I tried my bow and arrow again for the rat without much success.

While in someone's house in fort moonmoth I found a book with some potion recipies:

two or more, health restore
marshmerrow
wickwheat
corkbulb root
saltrice

restore fatige:
crab meat
bread
small kwanna egg
chokeweed

cure common disease:
grave dust
green lichen

water breathing:
luminous russula
hackle-lo leaf

fire shield:
corn berry (or comberry)
sloadsoap

invisiblity:
diamond dust
bittergreen pedals

Days 2 - 4

Eventually I did find the murder. Being the imperial knight wannabe I am I told him I would report his murder so he attacked me. I fought back and killed him. Hope he wasn't important! At least I have a new place to store crap now. I had been collecting different plant samplings as I adventured around town and stored a bunch in the container is that house.

The murder solved I decided I should try to make my way towards finishing my first real quest: a man in Balmora. On the way there I come across Pelagiad. A small town with limited shops and resources but a lot of crates and barrels around with interesting stuff inside. Apparently the guards don't much care if I take what's inside so I do. Eventually I scope out the fort's tower's and find more great crates. Inside one is even some guard armor and a haliburd. I didn't plan all this scavenging very well because I over loaded my self rather quickly.

Thanks to more AI bugs no guards were around some cool iron bows so grabbed two and some arrows.

While in Palegiad I went ahead and joined the "Imperial Cult". I don't think cults usually refer to themselves as cults. If it's popular it's usually just a religion. Right? Anyway I want to be an imperial knight so I figured that was obvious.

After Palgiad I tried a burial cavern I had past on the way there. I managed to kill off a few of the nasties but I was really in above my head. Didn't take long I left this cavern, saving for the the enevitable quest assigning me to explore it.

I did come across a young woman who had been robbed. The bandit was rather nice and now she's infatuated with him. I wasn't about to hike all the way back to Palegiad to give her glove to a band so I took the quest but decided to put it off for later.

Next I finally get back on the road toward Balmora. I decide I should practice my archery skills since I'm likely going to need to take things down from a distance at some point. Man, that's not easy when you're starting. I did finally manage to increase my target skills during my trip however.

On the road to Balmora I came across fort Moonmoth. This is an imperial fort so I thought I would stop by and say hi. Inside I found more info about the imperial cult and various position I could take as a member of this cult. When I figure out how to pick a position it will likely be the "sargent" position that escorts cult members and "keeps order" whatever that means.

Also in the Fort Moonmoth I met Larrius Varro who gave me a subtle hint (not!) about killing everyone in a secret organization named the Cammona Tong. Seems they've been bribing a majestrate to let certain people out punishment for crimes. Can't touch the majestrate so tell me to kill the Cammona Tong. Seems the Thieves Guild has no love for the Cammona Tong so I should check with them once in Balmora for more info.