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[LordBucket]

(continued from part 1)

Episode 21, part 2:To catch a killer

stump

not Fargoth's stump

some septims and a silver cup in there. There's also a magic axe nearby

around the lighthouse

Oh, those tree stumps. Those aren't anywhere near Arille's shop like some of you were saying earlier. You head back to the lighthouse, cautiously look around to make sure Thavere isn't outside, then search for goodies. Sure enough, you find both the cup and 25 gold:



And the axe, which takes some careful work to get to.

Acrobatics skill is now 17



The axe is covered in a light shimmering glow of what you assume is magic. It's also stupidly heavy and there's no way you could use this in combat. Or...is there? You try holding it in both hands. It's not difficult to lift, but it's way too top-heavy to hold by the handle as a weapon. It's basically a 20-30 pound weight at the end of a 3 foot long stick. The leverage is completely working against you. But, it's a magic axe, right?

You find a nearby mudcrab and hold the axe in front of you with the axe-end down. Swinging it sort of like a golf club, you manage to whack the crab with the blade of the axe. The mudcrab lunges, and you jump back, dropped the axe in the process. Taking your time to lead him away, you go back and pick up the axe to try again. Once again, you can tap the mudcrab with the axe, but there's no visible magical discharge and you're obviously not doing any damage like this.

Well, that's unfortunate, but good to know: apparently there's some skill involved in using magic weapons. You can't just hit something with a magic axe and expect the magic to work for you. Oh well. You weren't planning on keeping the axe anywy. It's too heavy to be useful to you right now. You take a few minutes to pick a rather large bunch of assorted mushrooms and flowers near the lighthouse, then head to Arille's tradeshop.

: "Hi, Arille. I've got some more stuff for you."

Disappointingly, you only manage to haggle him to up 4 septims for the cup, and 28 for the axe, bringing your total to...57. Enough for strider travel, but not enough to buy back Thavere's book.

Mercantile skill is now 3

Well, honestly you weren't planning to anyway. You were going to give her the ring. Is there any way you still can?

The perp is Foryn Gilnith

get a guard for the murderer, talk to them alone with the door ajar

report to the effective police officer of this town

You know who the murderer is. But before you do get a guard and confront him, you go to the Census office and talk to Socucius.



: "Hello. I understand that Processus has gone missing?"

: "Missing? No, not exactly. We know right where he is. He was cremated two days ago, and the bonemeal was given to his fiancee, Thavere Vedrano at the lighthouse."

Fiancee? You don't remember that particular twist. But wait...if Thavere has the ashes, what happened to the ring?

: "Did he have anything on his body? Or had he been looted?"

Socucius' eyebrow raises at the question, but he answers.

: "When he was found he had nothing but his clothes and tax record on him. But the man was not known for carrying weapons."

Hmm. That doesn't really tell you what you wanted to know.

: "Who found the body? Also, how did he die?"

: "An Imperial guard passing through on road patrol brought in his body. It was battered and bruised, but no bite or claw marks and it was mostly intact. Murdered, is everyone's guess. As a tax collector, he wasn't exactly the most popular man in town."

: "Are there any leads on the murderer?"

: "No, but there's a reward if he can be found. 500 septims."

Excellent.

: "Thank you for your time."

You leave the census office and track down the guard you spoke with earlier.

: "Greetings, citizen. I see you are alone this time."

: "What?"

: "No rats."

: "Oh...hehe, yeah. Anyway, you know about the Processus murder, right?"

: "Of course."

: "I think I know who the murderer is. Foryn Gilnith here in town. I'm going to confront him and try to get a confession out of him. Would you come with me? Maybe...stand quietly outside the door, I'll leave it partially open and if he confesses, or if he attacks me, you can arrest him."

: "Hmm. Alright. Lead on."

Speechcraft is now 15

-~=Michael has gained a level=~-

Health is now 35/41
Luck is now 51

The two of you proceed to Foryn's shack. Uncomfortable simply barging into someone's house, you knock. A gravelly voice from within says to come in. You do.



: "Yes, outlander. What it is?"

: "Hi. I'm here to talk to you about Processus."

: "That fetcher? What of him?"

: "I think you killed him."

: "You're damn right I killed him. Good thing too. He was skimming a load of money from all us honest people. He overcharged on taxes and kept the difference for himself. I killed him and left him to rot where he fell."

: "Did you...by chance find a ring? His fiancee is heartbroken. She deserves something to remember him by. He might have been skimming money, but she's not to blame for that."

: "No, I know nothing of a ring. I killed him, yes. But I am no thief, outlander."

There's a lull in the conversation, and Vibius chooses that moment to step inside.

: "Foryn Gilnith, you have committed the crime of murder. Either pay the fine of 4000 gold, or come with me and serve your sentence of hard labor."

Foryn looks back and forth between the two of you, then shakes his head.

: "No, I cannot pay. And I will not go to jail. If my death is the price that must be paid so the people of this town can live free of that extortionist, so be it. My ancestors will welcome me."

He lunges at Vibius and punches him in the face. Vibius is knocked back by the force of the blow but appears unharmed. Vibius draws his sword and you watch as the two fight. Foryn endures 3 sword blows before he goes down: one to his left arm, one to the side of his face, and the final swing tearing through his chest. And through it all he never once cried out or slowed down. He simply kept punching, landing several blows...some striking Vibius directly in the breastplate, but he just fought on as if it meant nothing.

You're very glad you didn't fight him yourself.

Vibius says nothing. Instead he opens the door, picks up the body with one arm, places it over his shoulder and walks outside. A few commoners see this and begin whispering among themselves. With little else to do, you follow him.

: "So...what happens now?"

: "Now I deliver a report to my senior officer. Thank you for your assistance, citizen. You are free to leave if you wish, but I request that you accompany me."

It's a quiet walk. Vibius deposits the body in the middle of town and the two of you walk back to the Census office to speak, not to Socucius, but to Sellus Gravius in the first room.

: "Yes?"

It takes no more than two minutes for Vibius to explain what happened. Sellus listens, occasionally asking you questions which you answer truthfully. After they're done, they both thank you for your service to the Empire, and go back to their business as if nothing happened. If it weren't for Vibius' friendly pat on the shoulder and the casual "see you around"  before he stepped out the door you might have guessed they were both mindless automatons simply executing a script. With the friendly gesture the overall effect is that this sort of thing is just so ordinary that it deserves no further comment. You? You feel a little sick to your stomach.

But you're not going to let that stop you from collecting your reward.

: "So, umm...I understand there was a reward?"

: "There was, yes. 500 septims for execution of justice on the murderer of Processus Vitellius. I posted it myself."

: "Great. I'd like to collect please. You heard the report."

: "Yes, but it was one of my guards who carried out justice. Guards are ineligible for rewards. It creates a conflict of interest, since they serve as judge, jury and occasionally as executioner. Wouldn't want them to be tempted to collect on just anyone."

: "But how did you expect anyone to collect on it then? I brought Vibius in on this specifically because he's a dependable witness. You trust the guard. Would you trust the word of just anyone who marched in here with a body and claimed that they confessed?"

: "Hmm. I suppose you're right. You did the right thing."

He hands you 500 gold. It's so much money that it's uncomfortable putting it all in your interior coin purse in your pants, so you split it up between your purse and your backpack.

Speechcraft is now 16

Spoiler: status (click to show/hide)

Known stats
Level: 2
Health 35/41
Armor rating: 1

Attributes (Values in parenthesis are starting values)
21.7 Strength (20)
30.6 Speed (30)
31.9 Agility (30)
30.4 Endurance (30)
41.0 Intelligence (40)
42.2 Personality (40)
51.0 Luck (50)

Skills
17 Acrobatics (0)
 9 Athletics (5)
 2 Unarmored (0)
16 Speechcraft (10)
 5 Mercantile (0)
 5 Alchemy (0)

Worn:
 * Steel tanto, with scabbard and carrying straps
 * Colovian fur "helm"
 * Commoner's shirt
 * Commoner's belt
 * 'Expensive' pants
 * Tennis shoes
 * Interior coinpurse, containing 57 gold

Backpack
Main compartment:
 * Yellow notepad with 57 pages left
 * 1 pen
 * 1 Standard Restore Health potions
 * 1 Greef
 * 2 soulgems of uncertain size
 * "20% cooler" Rainbow Dash t-shirt,
 * Denim pants
 * a cellphone and wallet with picture ID and $30 in cash

Small compartment
 * 500 gold
 * 2 ampoule Pod
 * 1 bread
 * 8 bunger's bane
 * 1 coda flower
 * 4 hypha facia
 * 1 kwama cuttle
 * 11 luminous russula
 * 2 rat meat
 * 3 saltrice
 * 6 spore pod
 * 7 violet coprinus

Alchemy Knowledge
Bread - [1] Restore Fatigue
Small Kwama Egg - [1] Restore Fatigue
saltrice [1]Restore endurance
kwama cuttle [1]Restore health
luminous russula [1]Paralysis

What now?

[Putnam]

Azura is actually kind of a safe bet.

[WillowLuman]

Later, though. Her shrine is in dangerous country.

I say we help Vodunius. We might try leaving Morrowind with him (doubtful), but the important thing is discount on strider travel from here and ownership of his house. Just the house mind, apparently the stuff inside still belongs to him. Maybe that's just a bug, or maybe we'll have to mail it to him.

As for long term, I say we don't under any circumstances join the Telvanni. We'd more likely be killed for being an upstart threat than do any deadman's-boots killing ourselves.

[Cerol Lenslens]

Huh, so the cup was outside the lighthouse? Well, it has been a long time since I played.

Hmmm. Well, since Vibious helped us catch that thief, we should offer him a cut. He may not be eligible for rewards normally, and might turn it down, but it would be pretty rude not to offer him 250.

But before that, we should go get that book back before Arrille sells it to someone else. As I suspected, if quest bodies are movable here, then it means the world is being treated like... a world. Which means we can't depend on merchant inventories remaining static.

Thavere may well be happy enough that the murderer was brought to justice. If we can't find the ring, giving her the book and telling her what happened might be enough to bring her spirits up.

[Man of Paper]

I definitely agree with giving Vibius a cut of the coin, since he seems friendly (and useful) enough to ally ourselves with. Check the price of the book first though, just in case there's some price gouging. And to make sure it's still there. Haggle without trying to undercut too much, since he does need to make a profit. Perhaps stating something of the sort (understanding that merchants have to do what they have to do) may warm Arille up to you a bit as well. Seyda Neen does seem like a nice little village to align to yourself. Once we get the book back and give Vibius some cash then perhaps we should ask around and see if we can help anyone out in a way that wouldn't absolutely piss off anyone else. And who knows, maybe some of them will have useful knowledge (as Vibius did with the workings of the Legion). The more we know about how things work, the better we can work with said things.

[GlyphGryph]

I don't know , paying a guard to do their duty sounds potentially insulting. If we do ask if he wants, make sure to mention that we're not familiar with local customs in many ways quite yet, and make it clear we apologize for any offense we might make.

[Man of Paper]

Good point. Make sure he knows it's a token of our appreciation and not, like, a bribe or a jab at his character.

[CognitiveDissonance]

Hurray for level up! I wonder if we get to spend points when we sleep...

I'm really curious as to the ring's story. I suspect somebody picked it off - maybe even that guard! I don't have a major suggestion for direction, but I have a few minor ones

- Talk to Vibius, thank him for the assistance and offer a part of the reward, because he did his duty so well
- Find out who was it that brought back the corpse. Ask them honestly if they have the ring, explain it's to help the grieving fiancee
- Check the shop (there's only one, right? Is there a fence?) for a ring. Maybe she has seen it at least.

[Aseaheru]

Good ideas.

[Supercharazad]

Hang on, what happens to us if we attempt to go to a different province of the Empire? Say we took a ship to Solstheim and then to Skyrim, what would happen?

[Man of Paper]

We'd die of being broke. It's a good question, but I'd figure we're still stuck within the confines of the disc or however we were playing Morrowind. The people have a will of their own, and it is a much more intense place, but that's just adding to what was already there. In Morrowind, nothing exists past the invisible borders of the places you go to. How would you make something out of nothing?

Seriously, Michael, think about how to make something out of nothing. If it doesn't help conceptualize magic, then perhaps it'll help our understanding of CHIM. I will admit though that my knowledge of CHIM is minimal, and did not really exist before this thread.

[CognitiveDissonance]

Hang on, what happens to us if we attempt to go to a different province of the Empire? Say we took a ship to Solstheim and then to Skyrim, what would happen?

We'd die of being broke.

Skyrim = die from exposure; also angry Vikings
Solstheim = die from as a snack for MorrowReal's Moon Moon.

[Sensei]

We'd die of being broke. It's a good question, but I'd figure we're still stuck within the confines of the disc or however we were playing Morrowind.

Well we could make a pretty simple test. Just ask around a little about what the rest of Morrowind (IE not Vvardenfell) and Tamriel is like, and how to get to other regions.

I would also back offering the guard a cut of the reward. He kinda did all the work. Maybe ask him (inoffensively!) about the psychological impact of killing people while we're at it.

[Man of Paper]

Well it's not like they wouldn't know of the places. They know of them and how to get to them, and mention other provinces many times throughout the game. But that doesn't mean we can escape The Cub-Er I mean disc. Sure, we can test it, but just asking around is going to solve nothing. We'll need to do it some other way, and much, much, much later on. Right now I think the idea of going elsewhere is way too far out of our reach (further than godhood, as we at least know that can happen). However, if we have the opportunity (say, a daedric lord decides to teleport us far, far away but still on this plane), we should definitely see if there's an invisible barrier.

[Putnam]

I think that Thavere probably has the ring, since she's his fiancee and not simply his girlfriend.