A new game to play would be nice. Does anyone have any interesting new games they know of? Hopefully something that wouldn't require a very good computer, as ours is very old.

Part 20: Spooky Scary Specters


Our first stop today will be figuring out what is behind the haunted inn. The title is for Fede.





This is the person we want to talk to. He is also offering us those hospitality papers. Not expensive, but not needed.



Despite what he says, no one cares if we have them or not. If that is intended as a scam or an oversight, I don't know. We're here to deal with the ghost problem, however.





Yes, there certainly is a ghost.



Killing the ghost doesn't solve the quest, so we are going to have to look elsewhere. A person before us supposedly took a look, but couldn't figure it out. We should seek them out as they might know more.



Here she is, Master Neloth's Mouth.



Her best bet is that it is a mage capable of summoning ghosts. Time to ask people about that.



Ah, and we have some names. Master Neloth is one suspect, though as we have no way of levitating, we can't actually get to him. But a person named Uleni Heleran teaches conjuration and the guild isn't very far...









"...the Town of Sadrith Mora aforesaid, does pronounce the Gateway Inn free and clean of all otherworldly, hostile, and malign entities, with the exception of the profound and displeasing odor that arises from the Prefect of Hospitality, which, despite the preternatural magnitude of its offensiveness, may well derive from altogether more mundane sources.

Signed,

Muthsera Mistress Dunmer-from-Far-Away Mage-Lady

Representing the Super Extra Very Sovereign Council of Mages Without Digits Within Bowels"


Yes, cute.



He's not happy with just noticing that the haunting has stopped, he wants a reason.

We need to decide if we wish to withhold Uleni's name, include her name or deliver her papers. For our reward, we need to decide if we want something for mages, fighters or thieves





Leaving that behind us, it's time to explore a Dwemer ruin. Nchuleftingth is close and it was something we were told to check, so we might as well. Our boots of blinding speed will help us make the trip, everything will be slightly darker for these outdoors sections, but luckily it's bright.



Some of the islands house Telvanni towers. This is Tel Fyr.



Some Azura's coast flora and fauna. Alits aren't a problem.





I also found a floating muckspunge.



No, it isn't connected to the rocks behind it.



Once we get to the main island, we leave the coast behind us and enter Molag Amur region. There will be a lot of brown and gray.



And steam. This area has some volcanic activity. And crazy people who wish to murder us.



Simple clothing, different names. This is a bit different from the usual Dunmer we have met this far, but the earth devouring our enemies is nothing new.



She had a friend nearby who also attacked me, sporting perhaps the longest name this far. There is a small hut made of leather here, but I didn't enter it in case there's yet another hostile NPC in there.



As I continued my journey, I came across some torn pages that formed a path. Perhaps we should investigate?



This is the area where you will be seeing a lot of lava.



Another camp and what appears to be a corpse of a silt strider, perhaps? I don't know if these people are friendly or not, but they are Ashlanders. Nomadic, traditional people living in these hostile lands, shunning the outlanders and the "civilized" Dunmer. Not all of them are going to attack us, but none of them will really like us. This isn't one of the bigger camps, so these could be outcasts of their outcast society.




But now, the ruin.



An obligatory cliffracer first.




Nchuleftingth isn't a very large ruin and the upper floor is safe. These are the only two people here.



We were prepared and had the letter of recommendation with us. Senilias is willing to give us some information, telling us that their guide suddenly went missing with an excavation report. He suspects that the missing guide somehow found a way to the lower levels of the ruins.



Not here though, this seems to be a telescope.



The only other room we can get to...




It is also a dead end. But the room does have three rather suspicious levers.



Pulling the furthest one actually opens up a path that leads deeper.





Hello.



Ah. Seems like he managed to take one of them down with him.



We have the report with some of their findings. This one is directed to someone named Edwinna?



We also find this. The Hanging Gardens of Wasten Coridale. What is so special about it? Well, only a little bit of it is readable (to us?), but it is a book that is written in Dwemer and translated to Aldmeris. When no one here can understand Dwemer but might actually understand Aldmeris, a language not in use but still known, this is a rather helpful thing for getting somewhere in a translation project.



The room is dark, but Yook will always find the treasure. We actually find some ebony. Despite the name, it's still not wood. It is rather valuable however, and while it would be illegal for us to sell it, no one actually cares.



There also was a trapped chest. Our probe broke before we managed to disarm it, so now we will get to see what happens when you open a trapped chest.



It casts some kind of negative spell on you, this one draining our health. Quite quickly too, might I add. Drinking a health potion saved us.



We can add another Dwemer armor piece to our collection, though.


There were three levers in Test of Pattern and only one was the right one. What happens if you pull the wrong one?





They too are trapped. This one poisoned us.



He would like us to deliver the report to Edwinna in Ald'ruhn. He also was quite excited about the Hanging Gardens, but he couldn't really make anything out of it.



That's it for this update. It is time for a vote.


We need to decide what we want to tell to Angaredhel. Shall we withhold the culprit's name, tell it or deliver the papers we were given? We also need to choose between a fighter, mage and thief rewards. The thief reward isn't unique, but none of them are all that good.

We found a strange path of torn notes in the wasteland. Should we follow them?

Our Dwemer ruins exploration gave us an excavation report we were told to deliver to someone called Edwinna in Ald'ruhn. Will we deliver the report?

Caius wanted us to go to Vivec and gather information for him. We could go there.

The vote for a Great House will be open, so you can vote on your favorite if you wish. Feel free to suggest new (or old) options as well.

Part 19: The Great Houses





Our plan today is to report back to Caius Cosades and ask what Larrius Varro wants. As there was some interest in the Great Houses, we are also going to take a tour.





He's still going after information about the Nerevarine and the Sixth House. This time he would want to send us all the way to Vivec, the largest city in Vvardenfell.




Now, to the fort.



A nice present, hm? He has a story for us before that, however.




"For a long time, the good officer sighed, and said, 'What can I do? Because the bad magistrate has important friends, and nothing I can do will touch him.' But then, the good officer said, 'Say. Wait a minute. What about the bad peoplewho are BRIBING the bad magistrate? THEY haven't got important friends. And if they aren't around, then the bad magistrate can't get any more bribes.'"


Sounds like he wants us to murder "bad people".



"...willing."






Onto the Great Houses, then! I bought a scroll that describes all five of the houses with the ones on Vvardenfell having the most information written about them. We'll be using it to learn more about the Houses, where they can be found and what kind of an attitude they have.



House Hlaalu we know the best and the council seat is located in Balmora. They are the most open of the Houses, willingly working with outlanders. They are business-savvy, favoring good personality and finesse. We did hear rumors that Camonna Tong controls them, but we can only wonder what that is about. Camonna Tong dislikes outlanders after all, but Hlaalu is the most accepting of the Great Houses.



The houses in Balmora aren't very big, but the council manor is one of the largest. The noble manors follow a similar style with a large room with some smaller rooms upstairs. Comfy enough, I am sure.





House Redoran's council seat is in Ald'ruhn, and the lovely environment welcomes us with an ash storm. They don't happen here constantly, but they are a possible weather pattern which Balmora lacks. House Redoran is more traditional and xenophobic than Hlaalu, though they are more about honorable duels than silver tongues. The Temple is quite important to them.



It is to the north, in the aptly named Ashlands right next to the Red Mountain, the volcano. It's very dry, dusty and brown everywhere.



The thing that sets Ald'ruhn apart from the other towns with similar buildings is the Skar, the shell of an ancient, giant crab. While the smaller buildings look organic, they're actually not shells but something built to imitate them.



Under-Skar doesn't really look like much, but at least the ash doesn't get in here. There are some shops at the bottom, but these doors on the upper level lead to the manors of Redoran nobles.



Compared to Balmora, the manors are very big. Many large entrance rooms, twisting corridors, multiple levels and some smaller living quarters make them places to easily get lost in. Everything might be brown, but there is a lot of detail and decorations.



The shapes are very round inside, as well.





House Telvanni's council seat town is the last one on the list. This is actually the Gateway inn just outside Sadrith Mora, a place where all the visitors are supposedly stay. The town is said to not be open to anyone else without permission, a good example of how much Telvanni hate everyone else... But the game doesn't actually mind if we go explore the town proper.



Any Telvanni town will have a similar build to it: a big mushroom tower surrounded by smaller houses. Telvanni are wizards, so they can build whatever they want, growing giant mushrooms to live in with magic because they can.



Sadrith Mora is all the way to the east and we can just barely see the area we have been exploring in the left corner of the map. The Telvanni don't care about politics much, but they are taking over Azura's coast and the Grazelands just so the other two Houses can't claim them first.







The mushroom huts are tiny, though. There is a second floor where a bedroom usually is.



As the council seat, Sadrith Mora has the council hall. It too is to the side, so it seems like an afterthought. The Telvanni probably didn't care much about making one.



None of the Telvanni wizard-lords are here, staying in their towers all across the land. These people, the Mouths, are hired just to deal with others as the wizard-lords don't really care to.



The Temple actually is below the council hall in the basement, showing how much respect the Telvanni have for the Temple as well.



And we hear a rumor.



Sadrith Mora also has a slave market. We could buy them ourselves, too.



At the center is Master Neloth's tower, the wizard-lord of Sadrith Mora.



The insides are a bit bigger, but it still seems to be made of mushrooms and roots.



The thing about the towers is that you need levitation to be able to go much further. All of them will have a levitation shaft somewhere instead of stairs and this door here is too high for us to jump to. They really are keeping non-wizards outside.

The other houses, House Dres and House Indoril, aren't well represented in Vvardenfell and can't be joined. They both are very xenophobic and traditional. We'll be seeing members of House Indoril in the future, however.



I also got a level.



It is time to vote again.


Shall we go to Vivec and get information for Caius?

Will we help Larrius Varro again and kill bad people? If we decide to join House Hlaalu, finishing this quest will make us skip a Hlaalu quest and go straight to the end. It's nothing major, but the rewards will be slightly worse.

Are we going to join a Great House? If so, which? As a spoiler, we will be able to get our own house built in the style of our chosen House later on. This vote will most likely be open for a while as we are in no hurry to join a house.

Would we rather join a new guild?

The Gateway inn in Sadrith Mora is haunted, will we see what we can do about that?

Part 18: Grave Robbing





We were told to go find an Orc lady who knew more about the Nerevarine and the prophecies. She was supposed to be found at the Mages guild and this is the only Orc there.



As expected, she will not give us the information for free. She wants a skull.



As you can potentially do this quest very early on without any enchanted weapons, the game is kind enough to give you one here where you need it. We don't need her help, however.



She's not a necromancer, though.



I went back to the Fighters guild to get prepared and here's the equipment chest restocked already. I took the health potions.



I also went to the temple to buy a spell. Lowering our strength is the worst thing an enemy can do to us as we can't carry our items if we are too weak, so we need a quick way to restore it if needed. The Temple did not sell a restore strength spell, but luckily we don't need that exact one.



Any restore attribute spell gives us the effect to use for spellmaking, we can choose what we want from the list.



A person also wanted to murder us, but I think we know how well that went.






The night was strangely foggy and dark. We're going to have to make our way down the road we took to get to Balmora the first time.



The woman looking for the bandit is still here.



There's Pelagiad. We have no reason to go there now, however.



Ah, here we are. To the left, the sign that marks the forked road we were supposed to look for. Ti the right, the entrance to the tomb.






We saw a similar sight very early on when we stumbled into a tomb and got attacked by an angry ghost. All the tombs seem to start out this way...





Ah, there's a ghost.



Not that difficult now. I'm not sure if this ghost is weaker than the others as most enemies in this tomb are weaker versions, but I don't think the ghosts will be that difficult anymore.



This man wasn't as lucky. Let's respect him by taking his money.





I heard strange sounds behind this door, so I didn't go in just yet. We don't need any potential enemies to attack from other rooms.



These skeletons most likely would have gone after us if they heard a fight.






I'm not entirely sure what is happening here. The person on the left is Vivec, so this might be another scene from those strange books.





The tombs always seem to have some kind of offerings for the dead. I'll be taking the gold.



I went back to that door I skipped earlier and I found the source of the strange sound. This skeleton just kept walking into the wall.





I went back to the room with the other skeletons after taking care of the skeleton. There was a door.







Skeletons are no match for Yook.





Hm. I'm not sure if I was expecting to see a room like this in a family tomb. It seems like the living do spend a lot of time with the spirits of their ancestors.







Going back to the previous corridor, it seems like this thing is clipping through the door...



Hello there.



We found what we were looking for, time to head back and go through the doors we missed.










This bonewalker actually wanted to turn towards us.



That was it for this tomb. I tried to cast Almsivi Intervention to teleport us back to Balmora, but Yook failed 5 times in a row. Even though he can kill ghosts and skeletons without any issues, he still can't cast a simple spell...



Hello scrib.



Once I got back to town, I decided to go for another round of asking the people for information. This guard tells us of some transportation system in the Dunmer strongholds that apparently still works. You just need a thing called an index. I wonder what those are?



Larrius Varro is looking for us!





But it was time to turn this quest in.





Not sure if this was worth the tomb raiding, but what's done is done.



It is time to vote again with many of the same options as last time.


Will we go and give the information to Caius Cosades?

Shall we continue to work for Fighters guild and get the code book? This is our last chance to join the Thieves guild, if we agree to do this mission, will we join the Thieves guild and will we do this before or after getting the code book?

Would you like to take some time off to scout all the Great Houses to see which one we should join?

Larrius Varro is looking for us. We previously helped him to get rid of a bandit near Hla Oad. Will we go see what he wants to tell us?

Should we join another guild?

Or perhaps something else?

Part 16: Reaping the Rewards


We decided that Sosia should die and the axe returned to its rightful owner.



Once you get to this point, Hlormar will become hostile to something no matter what. If you side with Sosia, he will attack you. If you side with him, he will attack Sosia. If you want a peaceful alternative, you are going to want to avoid getting to this conversation.

The peaceful route of returning the axe? Why, pickpocketing it, of course. The patched version of the game should have Hlormar accept the axe without having to spill any blood.



She's not a fighter. In his current gear, Hlormar really isn't either. He wears no armor and has no weapons, so you are going to have to finish the job. All Sosia has is an enchanted staff that drains some of your attributes, but nothing that you really need for fighting.



Cloudcleaver is a better axe than our own. Its base damage is higher and the enchantment is more damaging. People decided that we shall give back the axe, but perhaps things would have been different had they first seen how it was.











That would have been a short update, so I did another quest because it was nearby.



This woman, Pemenie, is quite close to Hlormar and Sosia. You'll actually find her if you take the wrong path to Sosia, so you will know that you have to turn back if you see her. She wants us to escort her to Gnaar Mok and she will give us the Boots of Blinding Speed as a reward.





She's an honest trader and the boots are wonderful. That's all she says about them, so it seems like we are going to have to escort her to see what our reward is.





It only was sunny for a while before it started to rain again.







Oh, what's that?



Poor guar.



There's a betty netch. Not quite as large as the bulls and they don't have leather covering them, but they're aggressive. I didn't go close enough for this one to get angry.



Here we are, Gnaar Mok. It's a fishing village and the huts look like those in Seyda Neen. There are no Imperial style buildings here, though.



And this is as far as Pemenie needs to go. We got the boots!



Like the name might suggest, they make you fast. 200 points is quite amazing considering that we currently only have 55 speed. These boots are quite important to anyone who wants to get from one point to another quickly. But what's that blind enchantment?



Oh. Not only are the boots something that make you fast, they also make you blind. You can still see some shapes and it could be possible to play the game like this, but I doubt anyone would enjoy staring at a dark screen for very long.



Let's not wear the boots so that we can look at some Gnaar Mok buildings.



We can take the boat to Hla Oad, which is closer to Balmora and that is where we want to head next.



We never took a look at Hla Oad, but it's quite similar to Gnaar Mok. Smaller though, I believe, and there's not as many buildings and walkways over water.






Walk back to Balmora was quite uneventful, but we are here for a reason. First, let's buy a resist magicka spell. Quite expensive as we are not a member.



Using this resist magicka effect, we want to create a custom spell. 100 magnitude is ideal and the duration can be very short, but Yook actually can't cast this spell as he doesn't have enough magicka. This is why the signs that give you extra magicka are really nice.



I created a weaker spell, so that we can actually cast it. Once, with our current magicka, with 44% chance. But as we don't have Atronach's stunted magicka, we can sleep to restore our magicka and keep trying.



All it takes it one successful cast, going to the inventory and wearing the boots. Resist magicka only affects the negative effects, so the blinding effect is blocked. We couldn't create a 100% resisting spell, so we are still slightly affected and everything is darker. I most likely won't be using these boots until Yook can cast a better version. We are going to have to train our intelligence and restoration.



255 speed is a lot of fun, though.



It is time to vote again.


Will we give Caius Cosades the information we got after our Dwemer exploration?

Shall we look for the code book for Fighters guild? I'll remind you that there is a conflict and we can never join Thieves guild if we finish this quest without joining it first. If we decide to join Thieves guild, will we do that before or after we get the code book?

Should we tell the assassins to stop bothering us?

Is it time to join another faction, maybe we should scout out the Great Houses?

Part 14: Hunting Telvanni Agents



Before leaving Balmora, I decided to do some intelligence training. As I was resting, another assassin decided to show up. The other people in the guild freaked out outside the door as they didn't seem to be able to open it, but knew there was a fight going on.



The assassin still wasn't an issue. It was back to bed with us to heal.



Except another thing woke us up. This time, it was a disturbing dream.





We could finally rest after that and our next destination is Caldera to take care of the Telvanni agents for Fighters guild. It's north of Balmora and taking the guild guide would be the fastest way, but I felt like we should walk there.





If you see a Cliffracer nearby, it will most likely attack you soon. Their range is quite amazing.



Case in point.



A Nix-hound also decided to show up for the party.



West Gash tends to have these strange rock formations where the stone seems to form an arc of some sort. They're not all that common in these parts, but there's more of them in the northern areas.





And finally, we see something.





Caldera is clearly an Imperial town with Imperial buildings. It's not too big. We were here for the mine, though.



But before we go there, there are a few interesting things in town.



Not the town itself, but Caldera mostly is just one wide road with buildings around it.



This is the governor's hall, but we're not interested in it, either.



Ah, but this we are. One of the larger buildings in town is the Ghorak manor and there is something interesting inside.





Orcs party hard.



Upstairs, you can find this little fellow. He's not hostile, so you shouldn't attack him even if he looks like a monster. He's quite useful, you see.



Creeper is actually a merchant.



And the richest one we have met. There is another merchant with more money than him, but that one is difficult to get to, so Creeper is your easiest way of selling expensive things. As he's a creature, he also doesn't have disposition or skills, so he buys everything at their actual value, which is more than what other merchants tend to give you. I sell him the valuable assassin's armor.



Next, I head to the Mages guild.





This door isn't locked, so we can just go in and close it behind us.



Before I go upstairs, I of course loot these containers. There's not much in there, but some new ingredients are always nice.



Climbing to the top, there is a little room for the alchemist.
















Now, we just had to make our way to the mine to find the Telvanni agents.



Wait.



Oh my.



He has been robbed by a witch and asks us to help him retrieve his items, especially his axe, Cloudcleaver. Should we help him?







That should be the place. But it wasn't the actual mine we wanted to enter, as the agents were supposed to be nearby...



Ah, There we go. Alveleg was a name we got from our boss.





He doesn't admit anything, at least. But asking him about the agents makes him do his pre-battle taunt and force us out of the conversation.



He's not much, but he does have a bow, so he will try to keep his distance.



Nothing of interest here.







Three people. Are they perhaps the remaining Telvanni agents?



They try to attack us as soon as we get close.



Even three on one doesn't scare Yook. Perhaps we should up the difficulty.



We did our job, but we might as well look around.



There were some crates and sacks, but they didn't have anything interesting. This locked and trapped chest was the most interesting thing to find.



And... Nothing. I don't know what these people were supposedly doing here, clearly they couldn't be smugglers. There's no ebony or money here.



I headed deeper into the cave to see if there was something else hidden in there.





This pool can actually be a bit of a nasty surprise to low level characters. It has a couple of Slaughterfish in it and they can be really dangerous, especially if you went in deep and started to get attacked underwater. But they're not much of a threat for Yook.



It was difficult to see anything in the murky water, but there was thing chest in the bottom. It was just trapped so I could have opened it, but I had my probe left so I tried to disarm it. Almost drowned, but I got it.



Unfortunately it just has a little money, a common amulet and a fancy skirt...





There was nothing else I could find, so it was time to head back. On my way, I saw something we haven't seen before.







The fastest way to Balmora is the guild guide, so instead of walking back, I go to the Mages guild to use their services.



And right away, I am teleported to Balmora's Mages guild. Guild guides are really useful.



We got out reward.



As we have done some jobs, I asked her for advancements and we actually got some ranks. I also asked for a new job, but I didn't ask for the details as that means we accept the job. There is a reason why, as this is one of those quests with conflicts.


It's time to vote.


Shall we look for the code book? There is a conflict. If we finish this mission, we can never join Thieves guild in this playthrough. There are a few options if we do wish to join Thieves guild. Either we don't do this quest, though Eydis does have some quests after this, but there are no further conflicts with those. Or we could join the Thieves guild before or during this quest. If we are planning to join the Thieves guild, we also would have to decide if we are going to join it before or after getting the code book. One way is easier than the other, but I won't say which way is which.

Should we help the naked Nord with his witch problem and retrieve his axe?

Will we give Caius Cosades the information we got after our Dwemer exploration?

The assassins seem to keep coming, are we going to try to stop them?

Part 12: Poached Eggs





While the ruins got some interest, it was the egg poachers most wanted to take care of. That's where we shall go today, but first...



"Hey baby, I saw that your pillows tend to be all over your bedroom floor. How about we introduce that habit to your clothes?"



Oh.





To get to the egg mine, we have to follow the river.



Seeing this bridge is a good sign. The entrance to the mind is on this side of the river, we just have to turn right to see it.





There are also some workers outside.







The workers believe that the poachers are in the mine itself, so that is where we will look.



Someone wondered why it would be an egg mine. The eggs are actually bug eggs and these insects have giant caves they live in. One could think of them as ants of some kind. These eggs can be harvested, each sack has one large egg and there are many of these around. We're going to be leaving this place with quite many eggs in our inventory.



One form of Kwama is the forager, which we have seen on the surface as well. There's many of them in the mines and they will attack you, as usual.



Scribs are also a form of Kwama, so they can be found in the mines.



The path splits here. To the left, there is a long corridor and to the right, there is a door that leads to a mining camp. I decided to go there first.





The workers can usually be found in the camps. There are a couple of types of hostile Kwama, but they don't attack the workers as they are used to their smell. But we will be getting attacked by anything that tries to protect the tunnels.



I'll assume they use these tracks to transport eggs.



Here is a Kwama type we won't see on the surface. The workers are harmless and don't mind us.



The camp leads to this door, but the queen's lair sounds quite important. I decided to go back and check out the other path we ignored.




There wasn't much of interest, but it was full of workers.



And that tunnel ends up leading to a door that leads to the lair of the queen. Only one way to go, then.





As soon as I step inside, someone attacks me.



She's not much of a fight and has nothing valuable. She is one of the poachers, however.



Another person was nearby, attacking me once he saw me.



He was much the same. He did have some eggs and shared the name of one of the poachers. I believe we just killed our pair.


Even though it was called the queen's lair, there was no queen. No Kwama warriors, either. I believe they wanted to make sure that low level characters wouldn't die doing this early quest.



95 large Kwama eggs. That isn't bad. Carrying them all almost made us encumbered, too: the blue bar above our character icon is how much we are carrying and how much we can carry.



Back to Balmora, then. I need to store the eggs somewhere and turn in the job.





She has another job for us right away. Some Telvanni agents stealing ebony, a rare and valuable material. It's not wood.







He doesn't know Eydis, as she is new. But someone called Percius Mercius he does know and trust. He's in Ald'ruhn, though, and only gives jobs to those of higher rank than us. Maybe we should work on getting a higher rank.

While I was back in Balmora, I felt like I could contact some of those Blades trainers I was told about, as they do give you items.





There is a third one living in Balmora as well, but I didn't go looking for them.



I also went to the Temple to buy some spells that we are going to start needing. Morrowind doesn't have fast travel like Oblivion, you can't just click a place on your map and travel there in an instant. The only fast travel you have are in towns and they only transport you to certain other towns, not all of them. Some places are going to have to be walked to. But luckily there are some very handy spells, such as Mark. Mark places a, well, mark where you stand, allowing you to teleport to that spot by using its sister spell, Recall.



Which I buy here, along with Almsivi Intervention. That spells teleports you to the closest Temple. The spells are a bit expensive, as we do not belong to the Temple.



Having some time, I told Larrius Varro about our encounter and got the reward. He didn't offer us new jobs.

I also got the chance to use our new spells.



Using Almsivi Intervention, I was instantly teleported from the fort to the Temple entrance in Balmora. It is a rather useful spell. There's also a counterpart that teleports you to the closest Imperial cult altar, but I didn't find the spell anywhere.



Hm. I think I'll keep my gold for now...



Last time we got some votes to explore the Dwemer ruins, but I felt like we could hold another vote here as we have some new options again. Please choose one option, unless you suggest us to join a new faction. It doesn't take much time.


Should we explore the Dwemer ruins to get the puzzle box?

Should we kill the Telvanni agents that also belong to the Thieves Guild for Fighters Guild?

We ran out of space to store our items in Fighters Guild chests. We desperately need more room, should we join a new faction to get some more storage space in Balmora?

There was some interest in House Redoran. We would have to go to Ald'ruhn to learn more about them. Shall we go to Ald'ruhn to learn more about House Redoran and get a great item on our way there?

I asked around about Morag Tong, but no one gave us information we don't know, such as how to join it. Morag Tong seems to feel neutral about Camonna Tong as far as we know. This far the factions somehow connected to Camonna Tong is the Thieves Guild that we have heard is against them, and House Hlaalu that apparently is under their control somehow. If we wish to learn more about Camonna Tong, those factions might be our best bet.

Part 10: Reporting to Caius Cosades


It seems like all the quests we had open were something someone wanted to do. Luckily they all can be done rather quickly.





Hla Oad is quite close to Balmora. We need to cross the mountain that is in our way.



I decided to start going around it to gather some alchemy ingredients.



I found a Scrib. They are harmless and do not attack, but if you attack them then they can paralyze you.



After that, we could start heading over the mountain. Climbing is quite easy in Morrowind and it's possible to scale even rather steep walls, so mountains rarely are going to stop you.



We get back to the Bitter Coast region by going over the mountains. This day is looking like it will be a foggy one. That is actual fog, not just the draw distance fog. I also see another friend.



Here's a Nix-Hound. This texture of it blends quite well in this area. They are hostile, but this one took a rather long time to actually attack.





It wasn't an issue.





Seeing that I am looking for a bandit, seeing people caught my interest. As I approached, I heard someone unsheathe their sword and the battle music started.





This isn't our man. He was a Nord. We'll be taking this sword, it should sell for some money.



The people proved to just be travelers, nothing special.



But going in their direction did put me on the road. The bandit was supposedly stalking travelers close to it.



Ah. He is a Nord. Talking to him... Hm, here is a dramatic reenactment drawn by Sands.



He attacked me then.









He was a worthy opponent, though what he gives to us after his death isn't. He is a Nord, so he actually resisted our axe's enchantment, as it had frost damage.

We don't actually have to go to Hla Oad right now, so I won't. But I am sure we will get there eventually. Back to Balmora.



I took a different route back and came across a Dunmer stronghold. This one is called Hlormaren.  They tend to be covered in bandits and other hostile people, so I didn't go there just yet.








Climbing mountains is fun. It seems like Balmora has been hit by the fog as well. I took a quick nap at the Fighters Guild to restore our health before starting to look for Drarayne Thelas so we can take care of the rat problem. She lived on the other side of the river.







There is one rat in her bedroom.



Now there's none.





It seems like these coins suddenly fell into my pocket by accident. I truly am a clumsy snowman like that Khajiit said.



From here we learn that Vivec is a mother-father, whatever that means. You will know if you read sermon 12. Sands suggests it.



She really likes pillows.





The rest of the rats are in her storage. Unfortunately it's not a basement, so we cannot kill rats in a basement.



Two die quite fast as well.



She really, really likes pillows. I shall leave the pillows, but take everything else.





I could go report to the Fighters Guild or to Larrius Varro, but now that we are on this side of the river, let's go meet Caius Cosades. They said he lives here.



It's... Not quite what I expected.



Hm.



Hmm.





Oh. The Emperor apparently wants us to be a member of some "service" this man belongs to. And that we would be taking orders from Caius Cosades.


Are we ready to take orders from Caius Cosades?