In Progress Let's Play Morrowind (Return of Jarema)

[Ivar the Boner]

I didn't know I could just pay up Desele debt. I will keep that in mind if we get another "debt quest".

Morrowind quests generally avoid needless scripting and forcing player's through hoops.
Even if they have some intermediate stages or journal entries, all that matters is usually just the end result - in this case 200 septims.
This means that pretty much no amount of lateral thinking or sequence breaking can break quests (there are few exceptions, there are also rare instances of quest not failing properly when its made unfinishable, but mostly you shouldn't ever experience anything like that), that they can flow pretty organically and that you can often circumvent fetch quests entirely if they involve non-unique items (like cash).

And what do you mean by grinding pots?

Bulk production of elixirs for the sole purpose of income and level ups.

It's boring in LP, it's bound to be boring in game as well, and it doesn't make for particularly healthy level progression either.
If you need cash and practice, go stab some bandits in a cave and take their stuff, find some pearls, steal valuable shit, etc.
It will be more interesting to play and more interesting to read about.

Also, moar write-up.

Yeah, I kinda grinded fatigue potions for money but I need every help I can get on hardest difficulty. I will try no to abuse Ajira's restocking fatigue ingredients in future updates (in updates after next one, because in next update we are in secret places doing secret stuff, far away from Ajira anyway).

 

[Ivar the Boner]

Chapter 11 – Initiation Rite

Spoiler

Nibani Maesa told us to speak with Urshilaku Askhan's champion and ask him for permission to speak with ashkhan himself.

Here is his yurt.

Talk, outlander. Speak with respect, and I will listen.


We gave him 300 gold coins as a customary bribe thoughtful gift.

The Nerevarine Prophecies are not for outlanders. Why should Sul-Matuul and Nibani Maesa speak to you about these things? Who are you, that we should trust you?

I challenge you for the fight to the death for your permission to speak with Sul-Matuul.

You are not an unworthy opponent. I hear honor in your words, and courage in your heart. I would regret killing you. But regret even more should you kill me. Very well. Perhaps Sul-Matuul will be angry with me. But I think I can hear that. Go to the Ashkhan's Yurt and speak with Sul-Matuul. Ask him your questions, and tell him I have sent you.

We've spent all our many bribing those ashlander bastards. We need more gold. So, we will sell daedra heart to Nibani Maesa.

Now, let's speak with ashkhan.

So. My champion Zabamund has sent you to talk with me. Then go ahead, Jarema. Talk. I am very curious. You think you fulfill the Nerevarine prophecies. You wish to be tested to see if you are the Nerevarine. No outlander may join the Nerevarine cult. If you were a Clanfriend, and adopted member of the Ashlander tribes, then perhaps. I have an initiation rite in mind. If you pass this rite, I will adopt you as a Clanfriend of the Ashlanders. And then I will submit you to Nibani Maesa, our wise woman, who is skilled in oracles and mysteries, and who will test you against the prophecies.

Initiation rite?

To be adodpted into the tribe, you must undergo a harrowind. In a harrowind, you will be judged by the spirits and ancestors to see if you are worthy. Go to the Ushilaku Burial Caverns and fetch me Sul-Senipul's Bonebiter Bow. Sul-Senipul was my father, and his spirit guard his bonemold long bow deep in the burial caverns. Return to me with this bow, and I will adopt you into the Ashlander tribes as a Clanfriend.

Where can I find those burial caverns?

The burial caverns lie to the south-southeast of the camp, a north-facing door in a little hill halway between us and the slopes of Red Mountain. Go north from the camp to the water, then turn east. At a rock cairn on the beach, turn and head straight south until you find the door. The spirits of our ancestors guard the caverns. They will attack, and will kill you if they can. Force your way past them, or evade them, get the bow, and return to prove your worthiness.

We were told to go north from the camp.

Turn east when we reach the water.

Killing local fauna was not part of the plan but I don't mind.

And now we are to go south from this rock cairn.

While killing more local creatures.

Hey, there is something.

But that's not the place we are looking for.

But slightly to the right we've found another door.

And I think that's our place.

Sul-Matuul told us there will be undead guarding this place.

Quite though bastard. I'm very grateful now for all those restoration lessons.

But finally, we defeated him.

Now we will rest a while.

After regaining our magicka, we can continue our search for Sul-Senipul's bow.

Another skeleton, and this one wields huge-fuck-off sword.

Two-handed sword hitting ass and legs, omg itz hevun.

:grumble, grumble:

I ain't lowering difficulty back to normal so we just cheesed our way through this fight by fighting near the exit doors. Which gave us chance to quickly escape and heal when we got hit.

Victory is ours.

Now we need to rest more.

We've found a door leading further into this burial crypt. There is no bridge leading to it so we have to jump.

Another skeleton champion. Fortunately we have cell transition doors on our side.

After levelling up, we can continue our exploration.

We need a little bit more hitting power here. Let's take this silver claymore.

And wield it.

I have to work my ass off to beat those skeleton champions. They can pretty much kill me in two hits.

Looks like we've found corpse of unfortunate adventurer.

He had nordic trollbone helmet. We will take it since it's better than our steel one.

Now we look really silly.

Another door leading deeper into this gods forsaken place.

Looks like we have to climb.

It looks like it's a hub connecting smaller burial crypts.

Let's explore "Fragile Burial" first.

More skeleton champions which we are able to defeat only thanks to our healing hax.

And then some ancestral ghosts. They are pushovers though.

Mummy on top of a rock and another unfortunate adventurer.

We've found nordic trollbone cuirass to match our helmet. It's better than what we have now so we will take it.

Jarema the Troll Slayer.

Now, let's go back to the hub thingy.

On our way back we've found more mummies and a bottle of skooma.

Also, whole bunch of scrolls in a urn. We'll take them all.

Now we will rest and continue our search for the bow.

Another sub-crypt. Let's look for goodies.

Have at yout!

Those bastards with shields are bitch to take down. Fortunately they don't do as much damage as huge-ass-sword wielding ones.

In a pool of water we've found Dreugh cuirass. It's medium armor (we prefere heavy) but we'll take it since its quite expensive.

More skeleton slashing but goodies here are well worth fighting few skeletons to get them.

Yet another deader. He had Dwemer cuirass which is better than our trollbone one.

Also, very valuable helmet which we will sell when we get out of here.

Time to climb a little more and look for more sub-crypts.

This sub-crypt is very small.

But it's still protected by skeleton champions.

We've found a body with imperial steel greaves and boots. We will take them, they are better than our regular steel stuff.

And there was another urn full of scrolls.

But that's it for this sub-crypt. Time to continue.

This one was on top of a hub area so it's probably important.

There is whole shitton of skeletons here. Three or four. Fighting them is a russian roulette for me. Sometimes I'm lucky and manage to kill them easily. Sometimes they score critical hit and knock me down.

This looks different.

And we have ancestral ghost.

This one is tougher than regular one. But he doesn't do anywhere near as much damage to me as skeleton champions.

It was ancestral ghost of Sul-Senipul.

We have his bow. Now we can go back to Ashkhan.

There is sand-storm raging outside. Fortunately Urshilaku camp is close from here.

So, outlander. Have you completed the initiation rite?

Yes, here's Sul-Senipul's bow.

This is my father's Bonebiter Bow. You have completed the initiation rite. I name you Jarema, Clanfriend of the Ashlanders. Keep my father's bow, and bear it with honor. You are friend of our tribe, and my rest in any Urshilaku bed, but do not harm other tribe members, or take their things. And now I will fulfill my other promise. Go to the wise woman's yurt, and Nibani Maesa shall examine you, and test you against the Nerevarine prophecies.

 

[abnaxus]

Did you join Imperial Legion?

I like the Gnisis questline - written by I believe.

 

[Ivar the Boner]

Did you join Imperial Legion?

I like the Gnisis questline - written by I believe.

Not yet. Right now we joined only Fighters Guild and Mage's Guild. After we are done with Vas quest for Fighters Guild we can join Imperial Legion if you want.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Imagining the protag going around and talking to everyone with this expression is priceless.

 

[DraQ]

Yeah, I kinda grinded fatigue potions for money but I need every help I can get on hardest difficulty.

A good reason to install HotFusion's Economy Adjuster and make legitimate merchants and alchemists unwilling to actually pay for murderhobo's homebrew viagra if you can't help this.

Edit:
Also, when picking up supplies you forgot the potions from the other guy.

Edit 2:
You also seem to have missed around 90% of loot by monetary value when going through Urshilaku Burial.
Your potato-fu is weak.

 

[Ivar the Boner]

Chapter 12 – ABC for Adventurers

Spoiler

Time to speak with Nibani Maesa – Urshilaku wise woman. We already talked with her but game kinda refused to acknowledge the fact, and she was constantly reffering to herself in third person. Maybe that's some sort of Urshilaku custom, or maybe the game was not very perceptive at the time.

So. They've told me of you, outlander. Or, shall I say, Clanfriend. You are hard-headed. And ignorant. But perhaps it is not your fault. My lord askhan says you will ask me about the Nerevarine prophecies. He also says I will test you against the Nerevarine prophecies. I must do as my lord askhan says. So as your questions, and I will test you.

What can you tell me about Nerevarine prophecies?

There are many Nerevarine prophecies, and they suggest many things. Aspect and uncertain parents. The moon-and-star. Sleepers. Seven curses. The curses' bane. The prophecy of the Stranger. The prophecy of the Seven Visions. The lost prophecies.


Ask me of these things. If you are patient. If you would be wise. Or, if you are impatient to know, just ask: 'Do I pass the test of the Nerevarine prophecies?' Go ahead, outlander. I am the wise woman. Ask your questions. And I will answer.

My birthsign and the fact that my parents are unknown suggest that, I am, in fact, Nerevarine.

If what you say is true, you are indeed born on a certain day of uncertain parents. This is part of the prophecy. But many have the same birthday, and many are not sure of their parents. It is interesting. But it does not make you the Nerevarine.

Tell me about "the moon-and-star".

Legend says Indoril Nerevar's family standard bore the moon and star, and Nerevar's armor and weapons bore this sign. Some say he bore a moon-and-star birthmark. Some say he has a magic ring marked with a moon-and-star. Others say he was born under a moon-and-star. In any case, I think the moon-and-star is the mark of the Nerevarine, and you do not have this mark. So you are not the Nerevarine.

In one of the Great House town I met strange person blabbering about Daogth Ur.

Rumors say that in the towns, mad cultist called "sleepers" are attacking people, saying that Dagoth Ur has awakened, and will drive the outlanders from Morrowind. Perhaps it is just a coincidence. But I think it is a sign of the Nerevarine. Not necessarily a sign that YOU are the Nerevarine. Perhaps the time of the Nerevarine has come. And you have come at the same time. This is not passing a rest. But it may mean you have some part to play in the coming of the Nerevarine.

Let's go back a little. You mentioned something about 'seven curses'.

It is another Ashlander prophecy of the Nerevarine. It is called 'The Seven Curses of the Sharmat'. But I do not know it, and I know no one who does. It may be lost. Such things happen. A wise woman dies, or forgets, or a clan is wiped out. Perhaps someone knows, but is keeping it secret. Perhaps it is one of those many books of your settlef peoples. I have heard that the Dissident priests of the Temple may have such books.

Dissident priests may have Ashlander's lost prophecies?

There are Nerevarine prophecies that have been lost. The Seven Curses. And others. Some are forgotten. Some hidden. Some deliberately lost. The wise women are the memory of the Velothi people. But it is a faulty memory, and we are mortal, and our knowledge dies with us. But we hear that the Dissident Priests of the Temple study our Nerevarine prophecies, and record them in books. Such written words never die. You must go to them and ask for these books, and bring what you find to me.

Do you think I pass the test of being Nerevarine?

You are not the Nerevarine. You are one who may become the Nerevarine. It is a puzzle, and a hard one, But you have found some of the piecies, and you may find more. Do you chose to be the Nerevarine? Then seek the lost prohecies among the Dissident priests of the Temple. Find the lost prophecies, bring them to me, and I will be your guide. And take these copies of the Stranger and the Seven Visions. Now. I have told you All I know. Go. Think on what I've told you. And do what must be done.

We've already read The Stranger (it was inclded in Sharn's notes to Caius Cosades she gave us after we finished Andrano's Tomb quest). But let's read the Seven Visions.






Seven Vision of Seven Trials of the Incarnate



[These are the words of the prophecy called "Seven Visions of Seven Trials of the Incarnare." I wrote them down as she spoke them to me.]



seven trials


What the puts his hand to, that shall be done,


What is left undone, that shall be done.



First trial


On a certain day to uncertain parents


Incarnate moon and star reborn.



Second trial


Neither blight nor age can harm him.


The Curse-of-Flesh before him flies.



Thid trial


In caverns dark Azura's eye sees


And makes to shine the moon and star.



Fourth trial


A stranger's voice unites the Houses.


Three Halls call him Hortator.



Fifth trial


A stranger's hand unites the Velothi,


Four tribes call him Nerevarine.



Sixt trial


He honors blood of the tribe unmourned.


He eats their sin, and is reborn.



Seventh trial


His mercy frees the cursed false gods,


Bind the broken, redeems the mad.



One destiny


He speaks the law for Veloth's people.


He speaks for their land, and names them great.

Now we will make a trip to Vas. We have mission from Ald'ruhn's Fighters Guild to clear it of necromancers. We will make our way there, but if it's full of skeleton champions, then fuck it. I'm teleporting back to Caius Cosades.

First we will rest a little though.

On our way to Vas we stumbled upon something looking like a tomb. We shall investigate.

Frost atronach. I don't mind them since we are completely immune to frost.

That's a nice chance of pace. He didn't even damaged us.

Now we have a clan-fear to fight. I will use Woad just in case.

He was quite tough but way easier than Skeleton champions.

We will take his heart.

It's this devilish thing I saw in Ald Sotha. I ain't fighting that. I'm out.

After long road, plenty of cliff racers and slaughterfish (and some Dreugh) killed, we finally reached Vas. There is someone standing near entrance. Let's talk to this person.

Looks like we have ourselves a companion.

Together we will brave depths of Vas and clear it from ungodly influences.

What is this, I don't even.

Whatever that is, it killed our companion in one hit.

We managed to kill it abusing cell exit door nearby.

There is another one, we will use same tactics to kill it and then we are teleporting back to Caius because we are getting our asses kicked here.

They both dropped lesser soul gems.

We buried our companion and now we are ready level up and cast recall spell.

I also noticed that something drained our agility. We will have to visit temple in Balmora.

This time we will invest in speed instead of intelligence.

And we are back with Caius.

You've spoken with Sul-Matuul and Nibani Maesa, and, from what they say, it sounds like you could really be the Nerevarine. That's just incredible. But I'll have to get used to the idea. Let me try to get word to Mehra Milo. Maybe she can find out whether the Dissident Priests have any lost prophecies. But in the meantime, I have a very tough assignment for you. Do you think you're ready?

I'm willing, but cautious.

Good. Cautious is smart. I'm going to give you the mission. But I'm going to give you 400 drakes. Before you head out, make sure you outfit yourself with healing potions, new gear, a little training, whatever you think you need most. And if you get in trouble, back off, rest up, and go back fresh. Don't take any chances. I think this will be a tough one.


Here's your mission. Fort Buckmoth sent a patrol to Gnaar Mok, hunting smugglers with Sixth House connections They found a Sixth House base, a Sixth House shrine, and a Sixth House priest named Dagoth Gares. Speak to Champion Raesa Pullia at fort Buckmoth, she'll tell you about the patrol and the Sixth House base. Your orders: find that Sixth House base, kill Dagoth Gares, and bring me a full report on the Sixth house base.

Where is fort Buckmoth?

The fort lies south of Ald'rugn, a short walk from Ald'ruhn's south gate.

We won't try to complete this mission just yet. We have other things to do. First, we have to sell all the loot we've found in Urshilaku crypts.

After selling all the armor we looted from the deaders we have 3853 gold coins. We still have some scrolls to sell. So after shopping session we should be able to afford some training.

Now we have to do something about our drained agility. I bought two potions of restore agility, one from Ajira and other from local alchemist.

We drinked them and now our agility is allright again.

Now there is this thing about Arkngthand. When we delivered dwemer puzzle box to Hasphat, he told us to come back to him some other time and he will have a dwemer key for us. This key should open some locked doors in Arknghtand so I decided to go back there and take a look around.

But first we will spend our money training restoration.

And mysticism. Now we can take a nap in fighters guild and level up.

We had another strange dream. This thing is getting out of hand.

This time we will invest in Str, Willpower and speed. I didn't cared much about willpower before but +5 bonus is too tempting to pass.

Now we will train alteration for our "open" spell.

And we leveled up again. Now we can finally go back to Arkngthand.

We are not looking for anything in particular. We will just randomly explore and practice our fighting skills. Who knows, maybe we will stumble upon something valuable.

We have dwarven sphere centurions. They were way too tough for us first time we were here. But we should not have any problems now.

Deeper in ruins we've stumbled upon some ghostly apparitions. They are hostile and we have to fight them.

They must be angry ghost of dwarfs. They are not very tough though.

There are some places that are just outside our reach. We would need levitation spell to get there, sadly, we don't have this spell.

Fighting ghosts and mechanical spiders improved our long blade skill.

And then we've found Dwemer cuirass in one of the chests. We already have one so we will sell it when we get back to Balmora.

It seems that we failed to kill every looter first time we were here. Time to correct this mistake.

This guy had nothing interesting and room he was in is just a dead-end. Time to teleport back to Balmora and sell our loot.

800 elder bucks is not much but it's always something (and exploring Dwemer ruins beats making viagra potions for Ajira).

Some time ago, when we were doing egg poachers quest for Eydis Fire-Eye I noticed burial tomb between Balmora and Shulk Egg mine. We will go there now.

I just hope there won't be any Skeleton Champions of Bone-Lords...

Is there anybody here?

Oh, goddamit!

CHARGE!

He went down like a bitch.

There was another one, but he's also a wuss.

Those guys were breaking my balls in Vas. Wonder why they are soo weak here.

Closed chest. I'v got just a spell for it.

Inside we've found dwemer battle axe and steel claymore.

There was third bone-lord but he also was a push-over.

We've found quite expensive scroll of domination.

Fucking moon-speak.

Now we can go back to Balmora and sell our loot.

420 elder bucks for axe and a claymore.

and 640 for scrolls, potions and random rubies. Overall not bad.

We will spend our money by learning Levitation spell. It may come in handy in the future.

Unfortunately it's very costly spell and we had pitiful chance of casting it.

So we took some lessons in Alteration.

And it leveled us up. We invested in Strength, Speed and Endurance.

I visited local bookshop looking for some books abouth sixth house (we have quest to destroy on of their bases). I didn't found any, but I found other, interesting book...

Interesting...

 

[Darth Roxor]

The Seven Curses of the Shariat :terrorist:

 

[abnaxus]

Agility 30? No wonder those skellies knock you on your ass all the time.

 

[DraQ]

The Seven Curses of the Shariat :terrorist:

Only seven?

Agility 30? No wonder those skellies knock you on your ass all the time.

This. Attribs in MW regulate all sorts of things - low agility means you're easy to put out of balance (apart from having shit dodge and to-hit), high willpower means silence and paralysis often fail against you, etc.

 

[Ivar the Boner]

We still have time to improve agility. I guess I will train some cheap agility based skill before next level up because I'm on my knees after a hit way too often.

 

[DraQ]

I've always considered people pumping endurance above all else rather puzzling.

Yeah, HP increases are not retroactive, so by pumping endurance you eventually get the best possible HP compared to any other character.
The thing is that this indisputable net advantage is in the future your character is unlikely to realistically reach and it happens at the expense of attributes that do play active role in character's performance rather than just serving as not-die-buffer.

Then again, I've never liked tanking builds.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Wonder why they even bothered tossing you a trollbone cuirass shortly before you find a superior dwemer one in that ashlander tomb. It's cheaper, heavier and flimsier.

 

[Ivar the Boner]

I've always considered people pumping endurance above all else rather puzzling.

Yeah, HP increases are not retroactive, so by pumping endurance you eventually get the best possible HP compared to any other character.
The thing is that this indisputable net advantage is in the future your character is unlikely to realistically reach and it happens at the expense of attributes that do play active role in character's performance rather than just serving as not-die-buffer.

Then again, I've never liked tanking builds.

My experience with Morrowind is quite limited, I played Daggerfall a bit more, but still I never payed too much attention to how to build my character in either game (combat is not the hardest part of those games anyway). So I'm bound to make some questionable decision. We should be fine though, one thing I remember about Morrowind, is that you can always salvage your shitty build thanks to teachers.

Wonder why they even bothered tossing you a trollbone cuirass shortly before you find a superior dwemer one in that ashlander tomb. It's cheaper, heavier and flimsier.

Maybe they didn't expect you to visit all the sub-crypts and head straight to the top one for boss fight. Or maybe they just decided to give you more goodies to sell.

 

[DraQ]

So I'm bound to make some questionable decision.

Nah, you're probably good, since you're playing a very much in-your-face tank, after all.
Although if you're making questionable decisions anyway try making ones that seem fun.

Oh, and BTW, try adapting your tactics to the enemy - for example if you see a skelie with huge ass sword or hmmr then stopping them at distance might be preferable to facial cave-in.
Also get some shield when fighting 1h. Unless you're carrying a light source there is no reason not to.

You can also try making yourself a drain agility 100pt on touch when strikes enchantment for your weapon, but that may count as kicking when they're down.

one thing I remember about Morrowind, is that you can always salvage your shitty build thanks to teachers.

With exception of the casters.
Otherwise it's hard to have shitty build in the first place.

Wonder why they even bothered tossing you a trollbone cuirass shortly before you find a superior dwemer one in that ashlander tomb. It's cheaper, heavier and flimsier.

Maybe they didn't expect you to visit all the sub-crypts and head straight to the top one for boss fight. Or maybe they just decided to give you more goodies to sell.

The real answer is that dead murderhobos' mismatched gear is randomized.

Of course, counting on lack of thorough exploration is a good bet too, especially that we can see it work.

 

[Ivar the Boner]

Chapter 13 – You Don't Mess With the Guild

Spoiler

Before I will stick my dick into nest of Sixth House cult, I will do some jobs for mages guilds. They proven to be very usefull, selling me spells and providing me with magical training.

Local guild master should have something for me.

What do you want, Journeyman? Do you want more duties or not?

I would gladly do a task for the guild.

I need someone to convince an ex-Telvanni to join us. While you're there, you can collect Manwe's guild dues. The Telvanni's name is Llarar Bereloth. He's in Sulipund. If you can't convince him to join, kill him. While you're there, collect the guild dues from Manwe. She is in Punabi, nearby.

How do I get to Sulipund?

Leave Balmora going towards For Moonmoth to the east. Cross the old Dwemer bridge just north of the fort that leads into Molag Amur. Go past the Dwemer ruin and follow the winding trail cast until you reach a lake. You will see Marandus to your south. I will mark this stronghold on your map. Head north from Marandus on the parth between the hills. Punabi will be on your right and Sulipund is further up the path on the left. Just follow the signs to Molag Mar.

What about those guild dues?

Manwe has failed to pay her dues for several years, and she now owes us over 2000 septims. Allegedly she is reasearching something in Punabi, near Lllarar Bereloth in Sulipund. If you can convince her to pay the dues, I will split them with you. Otherwise, kill her.

I'm not very convincing so I guess there will be a lot of killing.


We packed our stuff and made our way towards stronghold of Marandus (which Ranis marked on our map).

On our way there we spotted strange cave. Let's investigate.

Looks like a bandits hideout. Everyone here is hostile.

But not very powerful. We should be fine.

This guy was guarding locked chest. We had to open it with our spell because he didn't dropped any keys.

We've found 156 gold coins inside.

And then we looted crates scattered around. We've found all kinds of goodies, like grand and greater soul gems, skooma, moon sugar, amulet of recall and scrolls of open with power level of 100.

Then we killed more bandits.

And found skillbook that improved out enchanting. That was it for this cave and we continued our journey.

That's the stronghold Ranis was talking about. I have to turn north now.

After short walk north we've found Punabi. This is where we have to collect guild dues.

I'm here to collect your guild dues...

I hoped you would say that...

Business is business.

This place is bigger than I initially though. Let's see what else we can find here.

What in the hell...

Looks like it will be a tough fight. Fortunately I used Woad ability.

And we managed to cut the bitch down.

We've found Daedric Dagger...

AND Daedrix shield.

Holy shit, I will be rich!


It's too bad no merchant we know can afford any of those items.

After killing golden saint we stumbled upon flame atronach. He didn't gave us any troubles.

And a hostile mage.

Who also went down easily.

After few steps further into this cave, we've met a stout nord character.

Who completely destroyed us in one hit.

:sigh:

Let's not mess with punabi anymore and continue our way north, looking for ex-Telvanni guy.

Well, fuck you too, lady.

Are you Llarar Bereloth? Ranis sends me. You have to join mages guild.

In that case, I have to kill you.

And now we can Recall back to Ranis.

Have you convinced Llarar Bereloth to join us? Do you have Manwe's guild dues?

Well, I killed Llarar...

It's too bad you had to kill him, Journeyman, but we can't let anyone sell magic services without the sanction of the Mages Guild. I have a few potions for you. Did you get Manwe's guild dues while you were there?

I killed her also.

You killed Manwe? Hmm... The lost income is unfortunate, but perhaps it will serve as a lesson to others. Congratulations. You are now officially Jarema, the Evoker. Study diligently and perform your duties.

Do you have any other jobs avaible?

An Argonian at the South Wall Cornerclub is offering training in Restoration without the sanction of the Guild. I want someone to stop his unsanctioned training.

Will do.

Even though our block skill is absolute shite, we will equip our new Daedric shield because it improves our armor rating quite considerably. Nobody can afford this shield anyway, so we can't really sell it.

Now, let's have a little chat with this argonian fellow.

Allright, but you better keep your mouth shut about this.

Well, that was easy. Now let's go back to Ranis and report our success.

Have you put a stop to that unsanctioned training?

... Yes.

Good. We can't allow just anyone to offer taining in magic. Now, about your advancement. In order to advance to Conjurer, you must pay your Guild Dues of 200 septims. Will you pay these dues now?

:grumble: :grumble: Yeah, ok. Here you go.

Excellent, Jarema. Now that these formalities are out of the way, I can grant you the rank of Cojurer.

And now we can buy spells from Ranis (our rank was too low to do it earlier). We will buy Soul Trap spell in order to make use of our nice stack of soul gems.

I think I can take another job while I'm here.

The scholar Itermerel needs an escort to Pelagiad... but I want Itermerel's notes.

Itermerel has just arrived in Balmora and doesn't know his way around. He wants to be escorted to the Halfway Tavern in Pelagiad. I don't care if he makes it or not, Jarema. I just want a copy of his notes. He should be waiting at the Eight Plates.

Guess I will have to commit more murder. I am all kinds of allright with that.

Yes, follow me. I will take you straight to Pelagiad.

He also told us that he will give us his notes when we reach Pelagiad. So I guess we won't have to kill him.

Pelagiad is not that far away anyway.

But before we go, we will sell out Skooma and Moon Sugar to Ra'virr.

And now we can start making our way to Pelagiad.

After a short trip, and couple cliff racers killed. We reached peaceful town of Pelagiad.

And our destination – Halfway Tavern.

Let's take a look at those notes.




Notes on the Persistence of Oblivion Streams by Itermerel


The variable flow of daedrons in Oblivion streams can have profound effects on the magicka potential of various locations. Magicka use often causes effects on the streams themselves. By reconfiguring the polarity of the daedron fields, it is possible to manpiulate and trace the streams in the following cases...


[The notes go on about this subject for some time.]

My brain hurts.

Then we visited local merchant and sold him our Flin and gems.

Pelagiad's armourer had imperial pauldrons for sale. We bought them since they are better than our steel ones we have. Imperial pauldrons improved our armor rating by two points.

And now our armor is completely random. Time to teleport back to Balmora and give Itermerel's notes to Ranis.

I am waiting for Itermerel's notes.

Here they are.

Good work, Jarema. You'll go far in the Mages Guild.

 

[DraQ]

And now our armor is completely random.

As befits true murderhobo.

 

[abnaxus]

You can beat Golden Saint but not some random Nord?

 

[DraQ]

You can beat Golden Saint but not some random Nord?

Hammerzeit.

 

[Ivar the Boner]

You can beat Golden Saint but not some random Nord?

Maybe that was Ysgramor himself

 

[DraQ]

2h axe/hmmr, even of mundane craftsmanship and material, still packs more oomph per swing than dagger - even a daedric one.

 

[Ivar the Boner]

Chapter 14 - Sixth House

Spoiler

We've got ourselves some gold so it's time for another training session.

First we will start with Mysticism.

And then we train some block. Mostly for agility gain but also to, well, block.

STR, AGI, INT.

To fuel our further training we will sell our daedric dagger. Fighters guild trader only has 2000 gold (dagger is worth 10k) so we will trade it for all his gold and all the brotherhood armor we sold him earlier. Then we will sell the armor back to him.

Now we have 7010 gold coins.

It's time to train Alteration (for our levitation spell).

And we will put some block on top of that (again, for agility gain).

We will invest in Speed, Willpower and Agility.

Now we finally can look into matter of Sixth House base that was found by fort Buckmooth scouts. First we have to take a silt strider to Ald'ruhn.

And now we have to go south, straight to fort Buckmooth.

Another Deadric Shrine. Well, let's see if I can deal with whatever is inside. If I can't deal with few Oblivion creatures, I sure as hell can't deal with Sixth House base.

We have some huge-ass motherfucker going straight at us.

During my tactical retreat I stumbled on Winged Twilight.

Fortunately, green fucker is slow as shit, so we can deal with Winged Twilight first.

Gods bless our healing spell.

After few hit-and-run maneuvers we managed to cut this bastard down. We took his heart and now we can explore interior of daedric shrine.

Hostile, casters. We will wait till they are out of mana, and then we will attack.

This guy was quite tough, but nothing we couldn't handle.

There is another hostile caster but he's not armored.

So he went down easily.

He had grand soul gem. I have to start using our soul trap spell.

I don't know what you are, but I don't really care. I will loot your shrine.

We will take this.

O kurwa, diabeł.

This time we won't run away though. We stay and fight.

He's tough, but we are faster and we have healing spell.

After a long fight (during which we improved our long blade skill) we managed to put this bastard to sleep.

He dropped ebony staff worth 7000 elder bucks. Very nice. We went back to stealing from deadric altar.

Which spawned another Dremora.

This was much tougher fight...

But we were victorious again. Thanks to our superior speed and healing spell.

This Dremora had Ebony longsword, which we will use since it's better than our puny steel saber.

After closer inspection of the shrine, we've found closed doors that probably leads to whole another part.

There was few more cultists there.

But with our ebony sword, they proved to be no challenge.

We've found some pretty nifty staff which must be made of ebony, because it's valuable as whole heaven.

There was also a skillbook that improved our Mysticism. I approve of skillbooks that actually improve skill that are usefull to us.

But that's it for this shrine. We can finally go to Buckmooth fort.

Which sticks out like a sore thumb among ash-ridden landscape of Ald'ruhn.

I'm Raesa Pullia, Champion of the Legion garrison here at Buckmoth Legion Fort. And you're Jarema. Caius Cosades sent you, didn't her? Caius says you're the one to handle this Sixth House base near Gnaar Mok.

What can you tell me about this base?

Only one trooper returned. He died soon after, horribly disfigured with corprus disease, and out of his wits. In his ravings, he spoke of a cavern on the coast – he called it "Ilunibi." It's not on our maps; try asking locals in Gnaar Mok. They fought with cultists and disfigured man-beasts = corpus monsters, I think. They fled the attackers and got lost in the caves. Then they ran into half-man creature named Dagoth Gares.

This Dagoth Gares slew the rest of the patrol, but spared the one trooper. He told the trooper he was being spared, so he might tell other that "The Sleeper Awakes," and "The Sixth House has Risen,: and "Dagoth Ur is Lord, and I am his Priest," and "All will be One with Him in the Flesh." This trooper awakened outside the caves and returned here. We couldn't recognize him, and he didn't respond to questions... just kept ramblink on like a madman until he died.

What is this corprus disease?

I've hear of corprus disease before, but never seen it. The trooper's flesh was swollen and covered with growths. His bones twisted and lost their shape. He spoke to himself, as if in a dream. We didn't recognize him at first, except for his clothing and armor. The fort chaplain tried spells and potions, but couldn't cure the disease. He died soon after he reached the fort. Didn't realize how fast corprus kills. It sure wasn't pretty. The troops seem shaken. I'm little worried myself, to tell the truth.

Allright. How can I get to Gnaar Mok?

Gnaar mok is an island fishing village on the Bitter Coast, roughly west of Calderna and Ald'ruhn. Here. Let me mark it on your map. There is no marked route to Gnaar Mok from Ald'ruhn. It's no easy trip. Our patrols take the Balmora road. At the Gnisis-Balmora-Ald'ruhn signpost, go south, then immediately west on a side road to Drulene Falen's cottage. Then head crosscountry west to the coast, with the old Dunmer stronghold Andasreth as a landmark. When you hit the coast, turn south. Follow the coast, wading around headlands when neccesary. Pass a shipwreck. When the coast levels out and turn from barren rock to grren swamp, you're in the Bitter Coast region. Keep south, with the water on your left, untill you see Gnaar Mok, an island just off the coast. There's a crude plank bridge through some rocks to the island itself. It's a rough place, popular with adventurers, smugglers, and outlaws, but maybe someone in Gnaar Mok can tell you gow to find Ilunibi sea caverns.

It is quite far away. We have a long road ahead of us.

Before we reached Gnaar Mok, we stumbled upon some cave. It's not Ilunibi but we will investigate anyway.

Looks like a standard bandit hideout.

Yeah, we've found some hostile bandits and made short work of them.

And then we've found a captive.

Well, I'm not really here to rescue you, but you can follow me, I guess.

After looting Skooma and Moon Sugar from the crates, we are ready to leave this bandit hideout.

Take care, and spread the glory of Jarema in Hammerfell!

Now we can enter Gnaar Mok.

We had to take a short swim to get to town itself, during which we managed to kill, and capture soul, of Dreugh. Soul Gem with Dreugh soul is worth 3000 elder bucks and weights pratically nothing, so I'm quite happy.

And here's the fishing village of Gnaar Mok. Let's ask some local what he knows about Ilunibi caves.

We bribed local fisherman to tell us what he knows and mark Khartag Point on our map (Ilunibi is supposed to be somwhere near this landmark).

And here it is.

Here comes everything. A Sixth House base, with Sixth House cultists, and Sixth House priest. I have confidence in my abilities and my ebony sword, but I better keep my wits about.

Whole cave is crawling with butt-naked "Sleepers". They go down after one or two hits. I'm sure there is scarier shit somwhere around here though.

By Azura, this guy doesn't have face!

Then it attacked us.

And we were forced to ends it's suffering.

I explored Ilunibi quite aimlessly. Only following the "hug the left wall" rule.

Well, aren't you fucking ugly.

He WAS ugly, but not very tough.

You cultists are getting weirder by the minute!

He kept casting crappy spell at us, which was very fortunate because his normal attack can took almost all our health in one hit.

And he was also very resistant to our attacks. One tough bastard.

That's a strange place to meet Dremora.

Yiss, you keep dropping me you expensive shit.

Daedric Wakizashi. We will take if even though I doubt anyone will be able to buy it from us.

After killing Dremora we took a little rest and leveled up. I invested in STR, INT and Speed.

So far, hardest part of this dungeon is the navigation. Our torch spell has only short duration and is hard to cast and we can't see jack shit here without a light.

Another one of you bastard. Are Dremoras in league with Sixth house?!

This one dropped Daedrix battle-axe. Extremely valuable, and extremely heavy. We had to drop some of your random dwemer crap (swords, maces) to pick it up.

Then after more, random exploration we've finally stumbled upon Dagoth Gares himself.

The Sixth House greets you, Lord Nerevar. Or Jarema, as you call yourself. I am known as Dagoth Gares, priest of Ilunibi Shrine, and minister to Sixth House servants. My Lord, Dagoth Ur, has informed me of your coming. I wish that this time you had come to honor your Lord's friendship, not to betray it.

Ilunibi shrine is just a small, quiet retreat for Sixth House servants, a place to contemplate and grow strong and wise in Lord Dagoth's ways. Here we share the sacraments of flesh and blood, and dream the dreams of our Lord. This and other lesser shrines are hidden from prying eyes throughout the land. But the greatest shrines of Sxith House servants lie beneath Red Mountain, in the citadels of our Lord and his close kin.

What do you mean by sixth house servants?

Forgive the rude welcome, but untill you have declared for us, we must treat you as our enemy. The Sleepers and Dreamers are newly come to Lord Dagoth, and not yet blessed with his power. But the Children of His Flesh, they are deep in the heart of his mysteries. Their bodies swell to contain his glory, and to yield the rich sacraments of our Lord's feasts. And we are the least of his servants, for Ash Poets, Ascended Sleepers, and Ash Vampires stand high above us in the Lord's bountiful grace.

Who is your lord you keep speaking of?

Dagoth Ur is the Awakened Lord of the Sixth House, come to cast down false gods, drive foreigners from the land, and restore the ancient glory of Morrowind. He bids you come to Red Mountain. For the friendship and honor that once you shared, he would grant you counsel and power, if only you would pledge that friendship anew. The path to Red Mountain is long, and filled with danger, but if you are worthy, you will find there wisdom, a firm friend, and all the power you need to set the world aright.

Lord Dagoth gibes me these words to say to you, so you may give them though. 'Once we were friends and brothers, Lord Nerevar, in peace and in war. Yet beneath Red Mountain, you struck me down as I guarded the treasure you bound be by oath to defend. But, remembering our old friendship, I would forgive you, and raise you high in my service.'

My Lord Dagoth bids you come to Red Mountain. For the friendship and honor that once you shared, he would grant you counsel and power, in only you would pledge that friendship anew. I am not your Lord Dagoth, yet I, too, would say to you... Do you come with weapons to strike me down? Or would you put away your weapon, and join me in friendship?

What is your goal? What is this whole Sixth House?

The Sixth House was not dead, but only sleeping. Now it wakes from its long dream, and with its Lord, Dagoth Ur, it comes forth to free Morrowind of foreign rulers and divine pretenders. When the land is swept clean of false friends and greedy thieves, the children of Veloth will build anew a garden of plenty in this blighted wasteland.

Allright. That's enough. Prepare to die!

He's not very tough. He tried some magick on us but his spells were pitiful.

He had expensive amulet with strange enchantment. We will take it, who knows, maybe we will make whole collection of such amulets taken from Sixth House priests.

He also had a message from Dagoth Ur himself.




Lord Nerevar Indoril, Hai Resdaynia

My Lord, Friend, and Companion


Once we were firends and brothers, Lord Nerevar, in peace and in war. No houseman ever served you better, or more faithfully. Much that I did was at your command, at great cost to myself, and my honor.

Yet beneath Red Mountain, you struck me down as I guarded the treasure you bound me by oath to defend. It was a cruel blow, a bitter betrayal, to be felled by your hand.

But, remembering our old friendship, I would forgive you, and raise you high in my service. The Sixth House was not dead, but only sleeping. Now we wake from our long dream, coming forth to free Morrowind of foreign rulers and fivine pretenders. When the land is swept clean of false friends and greedy thieves, the children of Veloth will build anew a garden of plenty in this blighted wasteland.

Come to Red Mountain, old friend, For the fellowship and honor that once we shares, I would grant you counsel and power, if only you would pledge that friendship anew. The path to Red Mountain is long, and filled with danger, but if you are worthy, you will find there wisdom, a firm friend, and all the power you need to set the world aright.

As ever, you respectful servant and loyal friend,

Lord Voryn Dagoth, Dagoth Ur

And then we looted shrine that Gares was guarding and teleported back to Caius to report of our sucess.

With Dagoth Gares dead, the Sixth House shrine is no longer a threat. You've more than earned a promotion to the rank of Traveler. I'm very worried that you have corprus disease. But I have some good news in that deparment. I canvassed my informants for possible treatments, just in case you contracted the disease during your mission. I learned from Fast Eddie that your best chance of getting cured is Divayth Fyr, an ancient Telvanni wizard who runs a Corpusariu, for victims of the disease.

Here take this Dwemer artifact and 1000 drakes, and go to Tel Fyr. Divyatf Fyr will like the Dwemer artifact. A gift may sweeten his disposition. The gold is for expenses. And here're a couple of Lebitation potions. I hear you'll need them in Telvanni towers, because wizards don't use stairs. So get moving, and get that corprus disease cured. Then hurry back. I think I know how to get the lost prophecies Nibani Maesa asked for.

How will I get to Tel Fyr?

Tel Fyr, Divayth Fyr's tower, is southwest of Sadrith Mora, on an island on the southwestern edge of Zafirbel Bay. Here. Let me mark it on your map. There's a dock, but no boat service, so you must water-walk or swim from Sadrith Mora. Use the Guild Guide service at the Balmora Mages Guild to reach Sadrith Mora. At Sadrith Mora, find Wolverine Hall, Fighters Guld, and ask the scout Sondryn Irathi for detailed directions to Tel Fyr.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Of course, counting on lack of thorough exploration is a good bet too, especially that we can see it work.

It still rustles my jimmies how everyone misses the semi-valuable Thieves' Ring in that pile of bones at the Seyda Neen cave. You can see it right on the middle of the screenshot in this very LP

You can beat Golden Saint but not some random Nord?

Maybe that was Ysgramor himself

Unlikely. Where's the funky Thulsa Doom helmet?

 

[abnaxus]

I take it you missed awesome Randagulf gauntlets behind this?

Unlikely. Where's the funky Thulsa Doom helmet?

 

[Ivar the Boner]

I take it you missed awesome Randagulf gauntlets behind this?

Yup, didn't found any gauntlets there. It was dark as hell and my torch spell kept running out.