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[gordy]

Can we at least have pix of the cosplay?

[LordBucket]

Can we at least have pix of the cosplay?

Maybe. The pictures came out terribly. Second best cosplay I've ever done but between the sleep deprivation and me trying to look stoic to match the character, I apparently had this completely dull and lifeless stare on my face that completely kills it. I've been looking online to see if anyone else has posted pictures I'm in, but I haven't seen any yet.


Anyway, I'm back and we'll probably have an update in a few days.

EDIT:
April 26: update is ~80% finished, but it's 6am here. Should be up tomorrow night.

[LordBucket]

(GM Comment: congratulations on our first 3 part episode. This took over ten hours to write. Get a drink, sit back and relax. You've got some reading ahead of you. Also, this Let's Play deserves a tvtropes entry. Somebody go make one.)

Episode 56, part 1: Practice that headache away, and reunion with Cinia and Ranis

You try to stand up from your chair and nearly collapse to the floor.

: "Careful."

Medila catches your shoulder in one arm and gently puts you back down in your chair. You hold your head and open and close your mouth a couple times to try to relieve the pressure.

: "Is my head supposed to feel like it's about to explode?"

: "That's normal, yes."

: "Anything I can do to make the pain go away? Sleep? Drink water? Puke? Because I think I could do that last one."

: "Sleeping will help, but what you really need is to integrate what you've learned."

: "How?"

: "Practice. As part of the training I gave you a basic damage fatigue spell. You should have a sense for where it's kept in your mind."

: "I think I do. How do i cast it?"

Medila backs away out of arm's reach.

: "Raise your hand and imagine you're going to touch something, then channel magicka through the spellform."

: "How do I know how much to channel?"

: "The spellform is designed to only accept the correct amount. Give it too little, nothing will happen. Give it too much, it will only take what it needs."

You raise a hand, focus, then channel.



: "Very good."

That was surprisingly easy. Encouraged, you try casting again but something doesn't work right and the spell fails. It feels a little strange, but the magic dissipates into a fine mist of light and radiates away from you. Looks like succeed or fail, every casting attempt will still burn magicka.

: "That will happen a lot in the beginning. How's your headache?"

: "Better."

: "Try a couple more casts."

Over the next few minutes you try to cast about 20 times and succeed at fewer than a half dozen. You try watching what's going on inside your head as the magicka flows through the forms inside you, but it's difficult to see with all the magic flowing everywhere and you're not really sure why it works sometimes but not others. While you cast, you continue chatting with Medila.

: "How long will it take to learn new destruction spells?"

: "From a trainer? Hardly any time at all. A minute or less, usually. I've taught you all the component constructs of the Destruction school. Learning a new spell is simply a matter of being taught a recipe that uses those constructs and recombines them in different sequences and with different constants."

Kind of like computer function calls. You close your eyes and look at the area inside your head containing both the spell constructs and the one spell you know. You can't make sense of any of it.

: "How many constructs are there? And is it possible to make new spells on the fly?"

: "Destruction school has 173 constructs. And, yes. That's what a spell trainer does every time they teach a custom spell. But it requires near-mastery of the school to be able to do that."

: "Can you?"

: "I'm good enough with the Destruction and Illusion schools to do it. I have to be in order to teach those schools for the guild. For example, let's say I wanted to release a custom ranged shock spell that exactly used up my entire magicka pool..."

Her eyebrows furrow in concentration for several seconds and she raises a hand in front of her.

: "There you go. The spell's ready. I'm not going to cast it, but that's how long it took to modify the circinate shockball spell. From that point, teaching it to someone would simply be a matter of doing what we did earlier, me planting it into your mind. Only it would be faster since it's a single recipe that references constructs you already know rather than nearly two hundred spellform constructs, each of which is vastly larger than any spell recipe itself would be. Again, a minute at most to teach or learn. But that's using a destruction spell as an example. Shock constructs are something I work with regularly, so it's easy to me to formulate a new one. If you wanted a custom, say...Resist Blight Disease spell, yes I know the Restoration school and all its component constructs, but I don't know any formulated Resist Blight Disease spells, so I wouldn't be able to do that at all without something to work from."

: "But if I knew one, then you'd be able modify it?"

: "Yes, by looking at the spell inside you."

: "Is it possible to copy spells from somebody else?"

: "Sure. I've learned a couple spells that way."

: "In combat? Someone casts a spell at you and you learn it?"

: "No, that's impractical. But if you came to me with a Resist Blight Diease spell and asked for a custom reformulation, I'd need to take a look at yours to do it. It's easy to retain a copy for myself in the process."

: "How long does it take to get good enough to be able to do that?"

: "You're unlikely to learn how to do that on your own. It's part of the training to be a trainer. But you don't really need to. If you want to learn new spells, just come to me or another trainer and we'll teach you for a small fee. And if you want to improve your casting, that's a matter of practice. Even that drain fatigue spell I taught you uses 80-some of the 173 basic constructs and most of them are used by all spells of the school. In fact, there's a core set of 64 constructs that are used by every spell in the Destruction school. So every time you cast any spell you'll improve your casting ability with the entire school because you'll be becoming more familiar with those base constructs they all use."

we should probably practice destruction for awhile

destruction and combat grinding time.

My vote is for going to Seyda Neen and training destruction

: "I think I'm going to follow your advice and do some training right now. Thanks for everything, Medila."

You turn towards the stairs, doing an experimental couple casts on the way. Casting while walking isn't particularly more difficult than casting while standing. Though you do have to be careful to not touch anything while casting. Curious, you try casting while touching yourself and the spell fizzles. Apparently there's some sort of checking done by the spell to prevent accidental self-discharge. That means you can't accidentally blow yourself up with a spell, but it also means needing to learn twice as many spells if you ever want to be able to cast something both on yourself as well as others.

Balmora

I might suggest Balmora-Caldera, but I'm forced to concede that Balmora-Pelagiad is unwise.

I'd tentatively suggest warping back to Balmora

You head upstairs to the teleport pad, casting as you walk.

: "Hello. How much for transport to Balmora?"

: "11 gold."

You hand Eraamion the gold and step up onto the pad.

: "Just a moment. The Balmora pad is occupied."

: "What do you mean?"

: "Someone's standing on it. If I send you now, they'll end up here."

Huh. Kind of like when you were recall-swapped back in Ald'rhun. You wait. After maybe 10 seconds Eraamion lets you know he's ready and sends you on your way. When you arrive you see a woman in a dark mage robe walking away from the pad.



For a moment you think it's Clover, but she's not a dunmer and the hair color is wrong. Curious, you jump off the teleport pad out the room and call out to her.

: "Excuse me?"

The woman turns with hands raised ready to cast and you see that it's-

: "Cinia?"

: "Michael. You really shouldn't go running up to a Telvanni from behind like that."

There's an uncomfortable moment of silence before she lowers her hands.

: "Umm, sorry. I just...well, hi."

: "Hi."

: "What brings you to Balmora?"

: "Business. And you?"

: "Just passing through on my way to Seyda Neen."

She nods.

: "Walk with me?"

You fall in beside her, chatting as you walk. You notice some of the Balmora mages giving the two of you a disapproving glare as you do.

: "So how is the new councilor?"

: "Haven't heard anything. Apparently she hasn't been around much. No edicts, or anything."

: "What about her Mouth. Fast Eddie, isn't it?"

: "You mean Mouth Therman?"

: "Err, yeah. Edd Therman."

: "How'd you get to be on a nickname basis with a Telvanni Mouth?"

: "He gave me channeling training a week or two ago."

She nods thoughtfully.

: "I spoke with him once, briefly. Said he might have need of my services and tipped me in advance to keep him informed of any 'interesting rumors' I might hear."

: "Have you?"

She gives you a sidelong glance.

: "How much are you paying if I have?"

: "Erm, nothing, sorry. Just making conversation."

She shrugs.

: "What about you? I hear someone in your guild was challenged to a duel recently."

: "I didn't get to see it, but yes. Some vampire named Adorabella challenged Ranis for leadership of the Balmora guild branch."

She stops walking.

: "Ranis Athrys is still alive and in charge here?"

: "So far as I know. Adorabella was disqualified for leaving the ring. Nobody died."

Cinia facepalms.

: "Lovely. Give me a moment."

Cinia casts a spell on herself then glances around at the walls around you. After a moment she focuses on one spot and you see her eyes narrow. Frowning, she pulls a soulgem out of a pouch and touches it to a ring on her left hand. The gem dissolves into a small puff of magic which is absorbed by the ring, then she draws a potion from her pouch and drinks it.

: "Alright. Let's go."

: "Is everything ok?"

: "It better be."

With Cinia being a sufficiently notable Telvanni that she runs errands for the council, you wonder if maybe fraternizing with her inside a mage guild isn't the safest thing in the world. When you reach the top Ranis is already looking at the two of you with arms crossed. You walk silently down the hallway with Cinia until she reaches Ranis, to whom she nods her head respectfully.



: "Guildmaster."

: "And you are?"

: "Spellwright Cinia Urtius. Here on private business."

Ranis looks at you.

: "What about you, Associate? What business have you with this Telvanni? Are you travelling with her of your own free will?"

You blink a couple times while you consider the implications of that question.

: "Umm, yes...just being friendly. She gave me a ride to Sadrith Mora a few days ago and we bumped into each other after teleporting in just now."

Ranis nods, then looks back to Cinia.

: "Alright, Telvanni. I'll let you pass. But if you cause any trouble you'll have me to deal with. It's one thing to cause trouble with the Hlaalu, but touch any of my guildmembers and you die."

Cinia simply nods and edges sidewise to the door, keeping Ranis in her sight.

: "Stay a moment, Associate."

: "...umm, I was kind of talking with Cinia."

: "It's fine. We can catch up later."

You shrug and wave goodbye as Cinia leaves.

: "I knew the Mage Guild and the Telvanni weren't on the friendliest of terms, but what was that about?"

: "One of those fetchers slaughtered three Hlaalu guards just this past week. Eyewitnesses claim the murderer was a Telvanni woman with dark hair. But nobody's been willing to name names. I recommend you be careful who you associate with. Some might get the wrong idea seeing you with a Telvanni. You might even end up dead. I intend no offense, but if they're indiscriminately killing guards I think someone of your relative inexperience would present no obstacle."

That might be true, but at the moment a good number of your more useful contacts are Telvanni. You're not going to give that up just to stop people from coming to the wrong conclusions. You consider mentioning that you saw the guard massacre, but apparently Caius didn't think your report was reliable enough to pass on to the authorities, and it occurs to you that whether or not it actually was SexyWithers who did it, it might be safer to not be the one to rat her out.

ask someone in the Mages' Guild where we can find Adorabella

Asking where she is and trying to arrange a meeting with her now might actually be a good idea

: "Hey, so, on a brighter note, congratulations. I missed the duel, but I hear it was epic."

Ranis softens.

: "Thank you."

: "No, really. Everybody at the Caldera guild branch was raving about how awesome you were. I'm sorry I missed it."

Ranis covers her mouth to hide her smile.

: "It's good to know I'm appreciated. My position comes with many rewards, but being well-loved is not one of them. Sometimes I fear people speak of me as poorly as they do Trebonius when I'm not listening."

Speechcraft is now 22

: "What about your opponent? Adorabella? What happened to her?"

: "She lost by leaving the arena before either of us could be injured. Which was probably to her benefit. Adorabella's a talented caster, but an inexperienced duelist. I took no chances, but I think even had I been less prepared I'd still have been the victor."

: "So, she's a vampire?"

: "Yes."

ask someone in the Mages' Guild where we can find Adorabella

: "If someone wanted to talk to her, where could she be found?"

Ranis raises an eyebrow at you.

: "You're not looking to be turned, are you? That's a long and unhappy road, Associate."

: "No, I'm just curious about her. It's kind of unusual for someone to challenge a guildhead isn't it?"

: "Not so unusual, no. The Guildmaster position is both prestigious and comes with many benefits, and Adorabella is something of a social climber. She's an outlander like yourself, but in just the few months since she arrived on the island she's already managed to ingratiate herself with House Hlaalu well enough to have a manor house built in her name outside Balmora."

Oh, right. Caius already told you that just a few days ago. Bella Manor, belonging to Adorabella, is the new House Hlaalu stronghold just outside Balmora. Castle Awesome, belonging to Awesomicus Maximus, is the new House Redoran stronghold at Bal Isra. Tel Uvirith, belonging to Councilor SexyWithersXOXOXO, is the new Telvanni tower being built at Uvirith's Grave. And there's a rumored fourth construction near Lake Amaya north of the Dren Plantation possibly belonging to Duke Dren himself. Caius went into great detail about all this, and speculated that the Duke had probably authorized one new stronghold for each of the Great Houses in order to maintain the perception of balance among them. The voices must have forgotten about that conversation.

: "What about Adorabella's progression in the mage guild?"

: "I admitted her to the guild myself. She was skilled enough to qualify for Journeyman when she arrived and it only took her a week to formally earn that rank. And Edwinna promoted her to Wizard just last week."

: "Have any other outlanders shown up in the past few months and made similarly fast rises through the ranks?"

: "One other that I'm aware of. Clover the Clever. Though I haven't seen Clover since she contracted corpus."

: "When they first signed up, did Clover and Adorabella by chance show up at the guild at the same time and sign up together?"

: "No, Adorabella came alone but if I recall correctly Clover had an orc with her when I first met her."

: "Did you happen to get the orc's name?"

: "No, he never joined and he didn't talk much. At least not to me. He was too busy grumbling under his breath about something or another."

So Adorabella and Clover are both outlanders, they both joined the mage guild at the Balmora branch within the past few months and they've both had spectacularly fast rises through the ranks. But they didn't show up together, and apparently Clover showed up with a grumbling orc who didn't join the mage guild at all? You're not sure what to make of all that.

check in to see if there are any fighters guild quests we can do before we leave.

also check if theres any new low level quests at the fighters guild

You thank Ranis for her time and head next door to the Fighter's Guild.

: "What can I do for you, Associate?"

: "Any quests for me?"

: "Have you improved your skills any? Seems to me the last assignment you took didn't end so well."

Come to think of it, you've been shot at by some Ashlanders and gored by various fauna on the way to Tel Fyr, but that rat you broke your spear on during that failed Fighter's Guild escort quest was the last time you actually tried fighting back against anything, wasn't it?

: "...umm, well, I've learned a little magic. But, no major training, no."

: "What's the matter? You didn't join the guild just to sleep in the barracks, did you? Go get some practice in. Chop chop!"

: "Right. I was actually going to do just that, but I figured I'd stop by to see if you had anything easy."

: "I have a guard assignment you could probably handle. There's an innkeeper on Dagon Fel who wants to take a vacation. He's asking for a 200 gold deposit, with reimbursement plus 200 gold pay to stay at her inn for five days and make sure nobody breaks in to steal the booze."

That's almost tempting. You were planning to spend a few days training anyway, and it would be nice to have a bed to free sleep in out of the rain to restore magicka. But Dagon Fel is on the opposite side of the island, and you probably wouldn't get the deposit back if somebody did break in. That would be just about all your gold. Plus, no way you'd be able to train fighting skills indoors like that, only magic.

: "Hmm. I think I'll pass on that."

(continued in part 2)

[LordBucket]

(continued from part 1)

Episode 56, part 2: Swaying to the Symphony of Destruction...training

My vote is for going to Seyda Neen and training destruction and other skills

Seyda Neen would be best.

train our skills on the way.

I'd support training ourselves

The Seyda Neen route, on the other hand, only rarely has cliff racers

Empty our magicka casting fleabite.  We don't actually need a target, right?  After that, go out and fight things.

we can passively grind as we go

That's pretty much unanimous. You step outside and resume casting Fleabite, failing often, but succeeding occasionally.

Destruction skill is now 6
Intelligence is now 43
Maximum magicka is now 70

By the time you reach the silt strider you're convinced that it's better to walk than run while casting. It's tiring to run, and your spellcasting seems to suffer from being fatigued.

: "Hello. How much to Seyda Neen?"

: "We make a special trip, just for you. Same low price: 12 gold."

12 gold? That's more expensive than mage guild transport.

cliff racers

Which you happily pay. The trip takes a few hours, during which time you manage to empty your magicka reserves from casting. With nothing else to do, you rest your head against the strider as you watch the sun rise.

Destruction skill is now 7

After a while you feel sunlight slowly energizing your body and restoring your magicka pool. It's very gradual. It would be easy to miss if you weren't paying attention to it, but you were completely empty not ten minutes ago, and you definitely feel magicka is available to you now. So that answers that question. You're not an atronach, and it's not necessary to sleep to restore magicka. Which makes sense. The sun is the source of magic, and you're being constantly exposed to it through all hours of the day and night. That's probably why enchanted items recharge over time too. Obviously they don't sleep. Everything on the planet is being bathed in magicka 24 hours a day. No wonder Divayth and Yagrum both found your cellphone design to be so strange. Why build devices to need to be plugged in to an electrical grid to be recharged when you can design them to simply recharge themselves with no infrastructure required?



You notice a slight reddish tint to the air today. Ash from the volcano, no doubt. It's thick enough to give a reddish tint to the sunlight reaching your eyes and there's a film of dust beginning to build up on your clothes. The Seyda Neen caravaneer, Darvame, pays it no mind and instead greets you as you disembark. You smile and nod to her then set out looking for wildlife to help you train combat.

I'd tentatively suggest warping back to Balmora, then meandering from there to Pelagiad,

Pelagiad

between Seyda Neen and the Pelagiad region

Pelagiad is probably a better destination

Pelagaid from Seyda Neen

The point isn't necessarily to arrive at Pelagiad

Starting in the direction of Pelagiad, you decide to take advantage of the simplest and safest training option.



The waters surrounding Seyda Neen are infested with slaughterfish, and within a minute or two you find a few together near the water's edge, thrashing about and eager to sink their teeth into you. You wade in and try to evade them while casting. It's a messy affair, and it's difficult to dodge or block with the water hindering your movement, but you feel it's good practice.

Light Armor skill is now 23
Destruction skill is now 8

Unfortunately, you're taking damage too, and you have no way to heal yourself. It's unfortunate you were never able to retrieve Fargoth's Ring. A cheap replenishable heal would make this much easier, and casting it from an item would allow you to train enchanting too. Before long the slaughterfish have hurt you fairly bad, and you take the couple steps out of the water to the safety of shore.

Health is now 11/61

On your walk back to Seyda Neen you pass the smuggler's cave.



It's possible there might be some loot in there, but any one of those smugglers could easily kill you if they're still alive. Though the odds of them still being around seem slim. But if the cave has already been cleared, then presumably the treasure's been taken too? For that matter, even if it has been cleared, the way things seem to work here it's possible the place might be reoccupied by new tenants. You decide to not risk it. Unlike the slaughterfish that can't leave the water, smugglers would have no difficulty at all pursuing you outside their cave.

our viperblade will probably be excessive

raising armorer will be useful in the future and good for our attributes anyway.

Arille's Trade house has a room upstairs that you can rent.

You should probably buy a new weapon that doesn't kill the fish too quickly. Can't get in much fighting training if everything dies right away from the poison enchantment on your dagger. Time to visit Arille's tradehouse. You can ask about a place to sleep while you're there, too.

: "Greetings, Imperial. What can I do for you?"

You buy an iron dagger and a repair hammer for 30 gold, swapping the new dagger into your belt sheathe and putting your viperblade into your backpack. It's loose, but hopefully it won't cut anything up. You also toss out some destroyed bits of leftover water-logged paper and rearrange your bag.

Mercantile skill is now 13
Personality is now 45

: "Can you direct me to an Inn, or a place where I can sleep?"

: "Yes, we have a room with a bed available. 10 gold a night."

there's no vanilla inn or guild there, meaning there's nowhere to sleep.

It looks like an inn, and it's sort of the only service hub in that town, so I can see how you'd get mixed up.

I guess I remembered wrong then. I don't know where I got that from.

: "So you do have a room? Is that...new?"

: "Yes, Elone was the owner of the tavern upstairs for years, but she rather suddenly decided to leave Morrowind just a few days ago. Sold it at a great price. I own the entire building now."

You briefly wonder what prompted the innkeeper to suddenly leave, but you're not sure you even recognize her name. 10 gold per night seems expensive. Didn't Darvame say that the room she was sharing a room with Vodunius was only 100 gold per month? So, 50 gold each? Maybe she's still looking for a roommate to replace him.  Well, no...probably not. That was well over a month ago now. Rentals are probably available, but finding a roommate seems like it would be troublesome, and paying the full 100 gold for a month? You're not going to be training for that long and last it came up you decided you didn't want to settle in Seyda Neen. Though lacking a base of operations has been a recurring problem since forever.

: "I don't suppose you have any experience running a tavern? Business has been slow since Elone left."

: "Umm, no. Sorry. But I'll take the room."

You hand Arrille 10 gold and he hands you a key. That leaves you with just under 200. If it comes to it you can afford to throw away a couple nights room fare while training. But it would be nice to have a place of your own.

: "Tolvise!"

A dunmer woman in a green dress comes running down the stairs and looks to Arille.



: "Yes, sera?"

: "This Imperial will be renting the room upstairs. Show him the way."

: "Of course. Please, follow me, sera."

You follow her upstairs.



It's deserted.

: "Wow, Arille wasn't kidding about business being slow. Where'd everybody go?"

: "I cannot say, sera."

: "What about you? What's your story?"

: "My...story? What do you mean?"

: "How do you fit in around here?"

: "I am master Arille's servant. For now I run the tavern. But I'm afraid I'm not very good at it, and cannot bring in business the way mistress Elone did."

: "You're not a slave, are you?"

: "What? No, of course not! I'm no snivelling lizard or sugar-addled cat!"

She pauses, then lowers her head and curtsies.

: "Forgive me, sera. I forget myself. Of course you knew that. I am my own woman, merely in Arille's employ. But we have arrived. Here is your room."



: "Please enjoy your stay, and come to me if you wish for anything. "

You step in and close the door behind you. Finishing off your last bit of magicka first, you lay down on the bed and fall asleep.

Your sleep is dreamless.

Health and Magicka restored to full

(continued in part 3)

[LordBucket]

(continued from part 2)

Episode 56, part 3: Dashing through the ash, in a one-horse open sleigh

Refreshed and healed, you step outside. Tolvise is behind the bar, but she has no customers.

: "Good evening to you, sera. I trust you rested well?"

: "Yes, thanks. I'm heading out for a bit, but I'm not done with the room."

: "Of course. It's yours until tomorrow."

Leaving the tavern, you step outside.



The reddish haze surrounding everything is even worse than it was this morning. It's not as bad as an Ald'rhun dust storm, but you really don't remember the weather ever being like this in this part of the world. It makes you nervous, but there isn't anything you can do about it, so you start walking out of town, casting as you go.

Destruction skill is now 9



By the time you reach the road outside of town, you're convinced something isn't right. The sky is red from the ash, and you find yourself walking with your eyes squinted, occasionally coughing because of all the ash in the air. What's causing it to reach this far south? You'd have felt it if Red Mountain erupted, wouldn't you?

Having no answers, you plunge into the water outside of town. It's a relief to be washed clean of the dust, and as expected the slaughterfish are waiting for you.



You barely manage to make a dozen stabs at them before you're ready to retreat.

Light armor is now 25
Shortblade is now 8
Health is now 6/61

This is going to be slow. The fighting itself is ok, but if you have to walk all the way back to town and sleep for 8 hours for every dozen knife swings, it will take weeks before you notice any difference. Disappointed, you turn around and start heading back to Seyda Neen. Between the ash in the air and the sun having gone down, visibility is awful. And there's no sense denying it now. You're seeing a full-on ash storm, as bad as inside the Ghostfence but clear down here near Seyda Neen. But that doesn't stop you from continuing to cast your fleabite spell as you walk.

Destruction is now 10
Willpower is now 41

At least your destruction training is coming along quickly, since it doesn't depend on you desperately trying to stay not dead, just on having magicka. It might have been better for combat training if you'd taken restoration so you could heal yourself and keep fighting without having to constantly run back to a safe place to sleep. Though with spell failure that wouldn't have been entirely dependable, and probably would have required a custom spell to even maybe make it work. On the bright side, since you can easily train magic as you go, everywhere you go, you could probably end up being a much better caster in less time than it would take to become even barely a competent melee fighter. In game, melee was extremely dependable once you got good, but given your circumstances, becoming a pure mage might be a viable alternative. It would certainly be safer. Though your limited magicka reserve is going to be a problem. Passively training everywhere you go as you naturally recharge would be easy to do, but sitting down and training for hours at a time isn't going to happen unless you can get a source of restore magicka potions. Which brings you back to the alchemy problem.

You're really close to being able to become self-sustaining, but there are a couple decisions that will need to be made. Mage, or fighter? Or both? And if fighter, you've been carrying only a dagger ever since being recall swapped to that tomb because that's what was available, but you feel about equally competent with both shortblade and spear now. Actually, you feel most capable with hand to hand fighting now. But punching daedra probably isn't going to be realistic no matter how good you get at that. It occurs to you that maybe-



What's going on there? Through the ash storm you can barely make out what looks like several Legionnaires guarding the bridge to Seyda Neen. You approach for a closer look and see three at the bridge and a few more near the town center.

: "Excuse me."

: "Ahh, welcome, Legionnaire. Are you here to reinforce our position?"

: "No, I'm on detached duty. What's the situation?"

He checks to make sure no civilians are nearby before answering.

: "Remember Khuul?"

: "Yes."

: "Rumor has it Seyda Neen's next."

Right at that moment you hear a loud crash and a muffled cry as something airborne crashes through the roof of a nearby house. Your heart skips a beat and you draw your weapon, whipping around to see an orc in full daedric armor stepping through the door and brushing himself off.



: "Aww, man. Laaaaame! I totally had a couple seconds left before that dumb spell was supposed to wear off."

He turns and looks at the group of you.

: "Oh, hey dudes. What's up?"

: "Champion Awesomicus. It is an honor."

He laughs.

: "I know, right?"

: "Are you here to reinforce our position?"

: "Yeah, yeah, whatever. What's-his-name said to come here and stop the village from being destroyed."

He looks at you.

: "Oh, hey! You're that guy!"

: "I am? I mean, yes. I think. Probably. Which guy?"

: "That quest dude. The one who left me the note. Awesome. You were super hard to find."

Right. You left a note with Eydis at the Balmora fighter's guild asking Awesomicus to come find you in Balmora. And then immediately left Balmora, leaving him no way to find you. Looks like he finally did.

: "So, what do I get?"

: "Excuse me?"

: "I did your quest, so give me stuff."

Spoiler: Stats (click to show/hide)

Level 8
Health 6/61
Magicka 70/70
Armor rating: 4

Spoiler: Attributes (click to show/hide)

27.3 Strength (20)
35.2 Speed (30)
37.8 Agility (30)
40.4 Endurance (30)
43.4 Intelligence (40)
41.0 Willpower (40)
45.0 Personality (40)
57.0 Luck (50)

Spoiler: skills (click to show/hide)

Numbers in parenthesis are starting values
33 Acrobatics (0)
22 Athletics (5)
 7 Armorer (0)

 6 Block (0)
 7 Heavy Armor (0)
 5 Medium Armor (0)
 25 Light armor (0)
 9 Unarmored (0)

 5 Blunt Weapon
 12 Hand to Hand
 5 Longblade
 8 Shortblade
 8 Spear

10 Destruction (0)
 7 Alchemy (0)
 5 Enchanting (0)

22 Speechcraft (10)
13 Mercantile (0)

Spoiler: Equipped (click to show/hide)

 * Iron dagger
 * Chitin shield

 * Chitin left + right gauntlets
 * Chitin greaves
 * Chitin cuirass
 * Chitin left + right pauldrons
 * Chitin boots

 * Combat belt
 * Commoner's shirt
 * Commoner's pants
 * Interior coinpurse, containing:
   * 75 gold
   * lockpick
   * 1 standard invisibility potion
   * 1 potion of water walking
   * 1 empty bottle
   * Roomkey to Arrille's tavern in Seyda Neen

Backpack (Worn)
Main compartment:
 * Cruel Viperblade (loose, with no sheathe)
 * Repair hammer
 * Dwemer Puzzle Box
 * small leather pouch
 * Tennis shoes
 * Yellow water-damaged notepad with 54 pages left
 * 1 pen
 * "20% cooler" Rainbow Dash t-shirt (crunchy from having dried poorly)
 * Denim pants (crunchy from having dried poorly)
 * wallet with picture ID and $30 in cash
 * 2 lesser soulgems (empty)
 * 29 Whickwheat
Small compartment
 * 122 gold
 * 8 empty bottle
 * 2 Ampoule Pod
 * 1 Black Anther
 * 7 bungler's bane
 * 5 Chokeweed
 * 3 Corkbulb
 * 25 Heather
 * 3 hypha facia
 * 11 luminous russula
 * 4 Racer Plume
 * 8 saltrice
 * 2 Stoneflower petals
 * 5 spore pod
 * 6 violet coprinus

Spoiler: Faction standings (click to show/hide)

Bearer of Azura's Mark
Bearer of 'scholarly acquaintance of Divayth Fyr' mark
Imperial Legion, Recruit
Fighter's Guild, Associate (1 quest completed)
Mage Guild, Associate
Registered Sadrith Mora business visa, with slave-handling endorsement

Spoiler: Spells known (click to show/hide)

Fleabite (cost:1) (Damage fatigue 1-10 on touch)

Spoiler: Alchemy Knowledge (click to show/hide)

Alit Hide [1]Resist Poison
Ash yam [1]Restore personality
Ampoule Pod   [1]Restore speed
Black Anther   [1]Resist poison
Black lichen [1]Drain Health
Bread      [1]Restore Fatigue
Bungler's Bane   [1]Drain agility
Chokeweed   [1]Drain health
Coda Flower   [1]Restore luck
Comberry   [1]Drain health
Corkbulb Root   [1]Restore luck
Crab Meat   [1]Restore fatigue
Gravedust   [1]Burden
Green Lichen   [1]Night Eye
Heather      [1]Poison
Hound Meat [1]Poison
Hypha facia   [1]Drain speed
Kresh fiber [1]Cure common disease
Kwama cuttle   [1]Restore health
Large kwama egg [1]Restore fatigue
Luminous russ.   [1]Paralysis
Marshmerrow   [1]Resist common disease
Muck      [1]Poison
Racer plume [1]Levitate
Rat meat   [1]Poison
Roobrush   [1]Restore intelligence
Saltrice   [1]Restore endurance
Scale      [1]Swift swim
Scathecraw   [1]Paralyze
Spore pod   [1]Paralysis
Stoneflower petal [1]Fortify health
Sm. Kwama Egg   [1]Restore Fatigue
Violet coprinus   [1]Water Walking
Whickwheat [1]Cure paralysis
Willow Anther   [1]Water Breathing

What do you do?

[joemoben]

I would suggest giving him 50 gold, because it seems as though not giving him something might be a bad idea. Although, we could simply tell him that his quest is not over and have him fight the ash creature. In fact, I'll go with that, Tell Awsomicus that as soon as the ash creature is dead he gets paid. After that give him like 50 gold.

[The_Jester]

Alright I haven't fully thought out my suggestion for what to do next, but I did want to throw out a reminder/suggestion. Fast Eddie offered to train us in all spell schools if we got him appointed as a mouth. That did in fact happen, and if we could convince him that it was our doing, we could profit big time.

Also, we never offered a quest to Maximus. We just left a note. Offering a reward might help a relationship with him, but is not technically necessary. If we do give him a reward, make sure it is only given after our conversation with him. We need to see the extent of his knowledge about Dagoth Ur, the other PC's, and where he came from, as well as get an idea of his susceptibility to us leading him and his combat abilities. He could be our Nerevarine candidate if we don't want to do it ourselves.

[GlyphGryph]

Say that there was no reward for that quest - it was just a note telling him to come to us to get the quest, and that we're actually part of a quest-chain.

Which we kind of are, if our goal here is (and I certainly think it should be) gathering these individually powerful characters together to take down Dagoth Ur. Think of what you get for doing mainline quests in the main game - generally not much in direct rewards! The key reward is usually knowledge about what to pursue next.

Tell him much has happened since we requested he speak to us, and time is pressing so we must be quick - once we have driven off the creature, then we can speak of quests and rewards.

We need to bait him into thinking it will be worth his time, though - and decide what value he could be. I think we should start a conversation about what is actually needed to defeat Dagoth Ur - Sunder and Keening, right? Also, immunity to blight?

We could probably attract his attention by asking if he's ever heard of either of these artifacts, but being vague about the details until after the fight is done.

[IronyOwl]

Hm. So it may be looking like using Destruction to kill things is the quicker option after all. We should probably keep training melee skills where possible as a backup and for the attributes, though.

Re: Awesomeicus: Shit.

I would suggest giving him 50 gold, because it seems as though not giving him something might be a bad idea. Although, we could simply tell him that his quest is not over and have him fight the ash creature. In fact, I'll go with that, Tell Awsomicus that as soon as the ash creature is dead he gets paid. After that give him like 50 gold.

I'm concerned about trying to be stingy regarding fighting an ascended sleeper or whatever. I would assume it's one thing to be a trivial questgiver with trivial rewards, and another to take responsibility for him taking out a difficult enemy for pocket change.

That said, see below.

Alright I haven't fully thought out my suggestion for what to do next, but I did want to throw out a reminder/suggestion. Fast Eddie offered to train us in all spell schools if we got him appointed as a mouth. That did in fact happen, and if we could convince him that it was our doing, we could profit big time.

Also, we never offered a quest to Maximus. We just left a note. Offering a reward might help a relationship with him, but is not technically necessary. If we do give him a reward, make sure it is only given after our conversation with him. We need to see the extent of his knowledge about Dagoth Ur, the other PC's, and where he came from, as well as get an idea of his susceptibility to us leading him and his combat abilities. He could be our Nerevarine candidate if we don't want to do it ourselves.

The first sounds like particularly avaricious wishful thinking. I see no plausible way we could possibly take credit for Sexy's accomplishments. I would also recommend strongly against trying to play a Telvanni for a fool.

For the second, I'm not sure if he'll see it that way, but I approve of trying to get a better read on him.

Say that there was no reward for that quest - it was just a note telling him to come to us to get the quest, and that we're actually part of a quest-chain.

Which we kind of are, if our goal here is (and I certainly think it should be) gathering these individually powerful characters together to take down Dagoth Ur. Think of what you get for doing mainline quests in the main game - generally not much in direct rewards! The key reward is usually knowledge about what to pursue next.

Tell him much has happened since we requested he speak to us, and time is pressing so we must be quick - once we have driven off the creature, then we can speak of quests and rewards.

We need to bait him into thinking it will be worth his time, though - and decide what value he could be. I think we should start a conversation about what is actually needed to defeat Dagoth Ur - Sunder and Keening, right? Also, immunity to blight?

We could probably attract his attention by asking if he's ever heard of either of these artifacts, but being vague about the details until after the fight is done.

I like where this is going. I'm a little hesitant to make any inferences to us being related to the creature, though- it might work better if we're just another squishy useless questgiving bystander he'd vaguely prefer not die.


My major suggestion, though, is to ask him about Clover. The fact that he showed up with her seems to reinforce the idea that he's Spike, Clover's baby dragon slave pet assistant. This might end up being a touchy subject for him, but it's probably a necessary one for us.

In fact, if that goes well and we're not interrupted by screaming death, ask about Adorabella as well. If he doesn't get bored or impatient (unlikely) we could learn a lot from him about the suspected ponies.

As for what specifically to say, I'm almost in favor of feigning ditziness. Certainly stonewalling ("Oh yes, the reward... hey, aren't you an associate of Clover the Clever?") has at some potential. I'm not in favor of pushing our luck too far, but if he really is Spike he's probably not the wisest or most perceptive of orcs.

Spoiler: Spike (click to show/hide)

For those not familiar, Spike is fairly... I'm not sure what the word is. Goofy, I suppose? Ah, here we are.

He's also very greedy, being a dragon and all. This seems to fluctuate quite a bit, though; it's been shown to be a self-reinforcing cycle or even addiction in some rare cases, but he's normally a good person who really likes gems. Which (also?) counts as really liking food, since he eats them.

Pony Spike is also infatuated with Rarity. Asking about Adorabella could be insightful. Impugning Adorabella is probably not recommended unless we're trying to work him into a huff or see if he's still got a chivalrous/knightly side regarding her.

[GlyphGryph]

.... wut?

He's never shown up with Clover, has he?

[IronyOwl]

.... wut?

He's never shown up with Clover, has he?

Ranis said Clover had a grumbling orc with her when she joined the Guild. Not confirmed to be Awesomeicus, but it seems likely.

[GlyphGryph]

We know Adorabella had an Orc with her too though. I thought that's what you were referring to.

[WillowLuman]

IIRC, Elone was with the Blades, which would explain her sudden departure.

Awesomicus=Oh Shit indeed. Good to see that we can send notes to people, though. I remember when we asked him if he was a PC, and from his answer I think he thought we meant "Personal Computer," or perhaps "PC person" in the sense of "Mac vs PC." And here is wording is literally "quest," alongside using stuff like "dude."

What worries me right now, though, is that we're probably about to be attacked by some high-ranking ash creature, probably named "Dagoth Somethingorother," and Dagoth Ur has told us through a dreamer that he's directly interested in us.

Here's a horrifying thought: our knowledge hasn't helped us as much as we thought it would. But if Dagoth Ur wrung it out of us, it could make him unstoppable. We know all the plans that could be used to stop him. If something stops Vivec from giving away Wraithguard, then all Dagoth Ur needs to do is take out Yagrum.

[Araph]

>Evasive maneuvers

First off, deflect and ask about Adorabella. Spike's Awesomicus' reaction will tell us whether or not ponies is yes, except it won't because LordBucket isn't likely to exposit on a theory of that gravity in a single update, but it might still work as a deflection. Failing that, tell him that he didn't do anything other than find the quest-giver 'cause QUEST CHAIN BITCHES and also you're not a quest-giver. Make it confusing while still making it clear that there's quests to be had from you. Maybe.

.... wut?

He's never shown up with Clover, has he?

Ranis said Clover had a grumbling orc with her when she joined the Guild. Not confirmed to be Awesomeicus, but it seems likely.

Daedric armor ain't common; seems likely he's the person from both instances.

[LordBucket]

Episode 57: Have our questions been answered, or did we just make more questions?

>Evasive maneuvers
First off, deflect

I'm almost in favor of feigning ditziness. Certainly stonewalling

QUEST CHAIN BITCHES

: "I did your quest, so give me stuff."

: "Ahh, actually there's no reward for finding me just yet. That comes later. You're on a rare quest chain here, not some dinky little fetch quest."

: "I am? Awesome! What's next?"

: "Well, first I have to ask you some questions."

ask about Adorabella

ask about Adorabella

Adorabella had an Orc with her

: "Do you know Adorabella the vampire?"

: "Adorabella? More like A-DORK-abella!"

He cracks a huge smile then falls onto his back on the ground and rolls around laughing.

: "Adorkabella! Haha!" Eventually he stands up again, still giggling, wipes his eyes and continues. "Yeah, I know her. She's a good friend of mine. What else?"

: "Were you the orc who cheered her on during her arena fight?"

: "Yeah, that was me. Whole thing was dumb though. Who even fights in rings?"

ask him about Clover

Ranis said Clover had a grumbling orc with her

: "You're also acquainted with Clover the Clever, aren't you?"

: "I'm what?"

: "Acquaintend? With Clover"

One of his eyes scrunches up in confusion.

: "...uck...wayn..."

: "You know her."

: "Oh. Yeah, I know the egghead."

Which means that...wait. This matchup suddenly seems familiar. Right before you joined the legion you passed two people riding Darvame's silt strider together towards Balmora. The Balmora caravaneer speculated they were a married couple, but when you later asked Darvame about it she said it was a dunmer sorceress and an orc. Was that them?

: "You and Clover arrived in Morrowind through Seyda Neen, right? And once you got here you took the silt strider to Balmora together, right"

He gives you a slightly incredulous look.

: "Yeah? What does that have to do with this rare quest chain you were talking about?"

: "And she joined the mage guild but you never did, right?"

: "Dude, look...whatever. I know this is fascinating and all but can we skip the dialogue and just get to the good stuff?"

You get the impression Awesomicus is not the most patient orc in the world.

: "Umm, yeah. Sure."

Tell Awsomicus that as soon as the ash creature is dead he gets paid.

once we have driven off the creature, then we can speak of quests and rewards.

You think back to what happened to Khuul. The same is supposed to happen here, right?

: "So, there's an ash creature who's going to show up to attack the village. You have to deal with that first to get to the next step."

We need to see the extent of his knowledge about Dagoth Ur

: "You know about Dagoth Ur, right?"

: "Who?"

: "Dagoth Ur? The aspiring evil god in the making in Red Mountain?"

: "Oh, bad guy? Cool. Where is he?"

: "...in Red Mountain?"

: "Ok, so I'm supposed to go kill him? What about the village?"

: "Well, we're kind of getting ahead of ourselves. Dagoth Ur comes later. The ash creature that's going to show up is one of his lieutenants."

: "So, kill the ash critter, then go to Red Mountain and kill Dagoth Ur?"

start a conversation about what is actually needed to defeat Dagoth Ur - Sunder and Keening, right?

: "Well, first you have to get Sunder and Keening."

: "Who are they?"

: "They're magic artifacts you need to destroy the Heart of Lorkhan."

: "Who's Lorkhan?"

: "...well, he's actually an ancient god, but we don't need to worry about him. It's his heart that's the problem. Dagoth Ur is using it to make himself immortal."

: "He's got this guys heart like a brain in a jar? That's cool. Creepy, but cool. Creepy cool. So where do I get Thunder and Keening?"

: "Sunder and Keening. From Ash Vampires. But before you get them you have to first get Wraithguard so you can wield them."

: "Dude, this is getting way too complicated."

: "Well, epic quest."

: "The reward better be epic."

: "Epic. Definitely epic. Plus you'd be, you know...saving the whole world. So there's that."

: "Yeah, that sounds cool. Ok, so let me see if I've got this. You want me to kill this Lieutenant Ash guy to save the village so I can go hunt vampires...heh, Dorkable will love that. After that I have to guard some wraiths and that gives me the thunder power I need to kill the guy with the heart in a jar?"

: "...umm...not...exactly."

: "How about I just go kill Ash and we can deal with the rest later?"

: "You know what? That's a great plan. Let's do that."

: "Ok. Cool."

With that, a sword that definitely wasn't there before instantly materializes in his hand. You're pretty sure it's Eltonbrand. He then goes charging into the middle of the village.

: "Ash! I will avenge you!"

The other Legionnaires look uncertainly at each other, shrug, then march off together after Awesomicus. That went not entirely as expected, but for your purposes it probably went well enough. Now all you need to do is find a safe place to sit out the battle, and then what?

: "Michael!"

: "Gah!"











Out of nowhere a pair of massive furry arms envelop you from behind, holding you in a powerful deathgrip

: "Nuh-uh! The Vulcan Deathgrip isn't even real!"

You struggle to break free, but the creature's hold on you is too strong. Terrified, you try to call out to the Legionnaires but you're being squeezed so tightly that there isn't enough air left in your lungs to scream. Then after a few seconds the apparently female creature suddenly releases you from its hug.

: "You...you're a werewolf."

: "I know! Rawwrrr!!!"

She closes her eyes, raises her paws and animatedly shakes her head back and forth when she says 'rawr.'

: "No, I didn't! 'Rawr' is 'I love you' in dinosaur. I said 'Rawwrrr!!!" which means 'I love you' in werewolf. They aren't even similar. By the way, how come you never told Eddie I said hello?"

: "...I...what?"

: "You don't remember?"

It's difficult to tell through all the fur and fangs, but you think the werewolf is pouting and giving you puppy-dog eyes.

: "No, they're puppy-werewolf eyes! You really don't remember, do you? You didn't have another deja vue and forget everything did you? Well, if you did that's ok!"

As you watch her speak she cycles from curious to amused, to sad that you forgot the last time you spoke with her to cheerful and forgiving, all in under a second. Then she leaps forward and hugs you again. Not knowing what else to do you hug her back and pet her fur, prompting her to lean onto one leg and repeatedly kick with the other. While this is happening, you hear Awesomicus shouting from the middle of the village.

: "Dude! Show up already! It's been like a hundred minutes I've been waiting!"

: "Oh! That's my cue to go help Maxie! See you later! Be nice to the voices in your head!"

With that she bounds off after Awesomicus. Only after she's out of earshot does it occur to you to ask:

: "Wait, how do you know about the voices?"

While you try to figure out this latest development, you hear a scream followed by shouting from the middle of town. You cross the bridge to get a closer look.



Four legionniares are fighting with the werewolf while an altmer woman casts lightning balls from afar and Awesomicus yells at them to stop.

: "Kill the beast!"

: "What are you jerks doing? She's with me!"

: "Your bloodline ends here!"

You decide this would be an excellent thing to not get involved with. But while you're looking for a safe place to watch, you begin to feel light headed. Almost dizzy. And then you hear a deep bass voice speaking in your mind.

: "Michael."

: "Who are you?"

: "Come with me Michael. Let us flee this battle together and I will spare Seyda Neen."

Frantically looking around, you see it. On the roof.



It's an Ascended Sleeper. You would be more surprised if it weren't for the fact that you were specifically expecting one to show up.

: "Join us, Michael.We will make your flesh whole and everlasting."

: "Awesomicus! The Ascended Sleeper is here!"

: "The what?"

: "Lieutenant Ash! He's the tentacled thing on the roof!"

: "On it!"

You watch as he casts a spell and begins levitating in the direction of the Sleeper, who ignores him completely and goes straight for you. Terror fills you as you realize the Sleeper is faster than he is. You take off in a mad dash back across the bridge but quickly realize there's no way you can outrun it. Worse, this whole encounter happened as you were returning to town to heal...and you're out of healing potions. It could probably sneeze on you and kill you. And you never replaced your divine intervention scroll after it was destroyed by water on the trip to Fel Fyr. Damn it. You really need to stop forgetting stuff like that.

But wait. Don't you have-



Yep. Bought that potion as a panic measure if things went badly on the way to Tel Fyr, but never used it.

You drink it.

: "Fool. You know not what you hide from. Join us, Michael. Join us while there's still-"

: "Tag. You're it."

Finally having caught up, Awesomicus madly hacks into the Sleeper, who responds by taking to the air and bombarding the area with an assortment of fire and lightning spells. You watch as two of the legionnaires drop from a stray spell. The way this is going, you could easily die from the collateral fire. You run invisibly across the bridge and hide in the house Awesomicus smashed into earlier.

Now what?

The invisibility wears off quickly and you find yourself with nothing to do but wait in a tiny house with a hole in the roof. There's a bed and you'd like to go to sleep to heal, but if you do you'll completely miss everything. Or get found and teleported away. Actually, that's a huge concern. You remember Strillian talking about how recall could be used to teleport other people, and how if you don't know Mysticism people could teleport you against your will. Probably all the Sleeper has to do it touch you and it could instantly take you back to its lair. You're tempted to head for the silt strider and just leave. But the invisibility effect has worn off and you don't have another potion. Plus, being caught on the strider during transit would leave you stuck with no way to run. Maybe you should just wait?

Well, may as well make use of the time.

Destruction skill is now 11.

Nearly dead from your training with the slaughterfish and now out of magicka, you wait. You try to listen for any clue whether the battle is over, but all you hear is the ash storm ravaging the house. Maybe just a bit longer. You glance through the planet at the sun. Probably not even midnight yet. Your magicka restores a little bit and you cast a few more fleabite spells.

Then the doors opens.



: "Excuse me, but what are you doing in my house?

: "Hiding from certain death?"

Then he notices the hole in the roof and the bits of straw and broken wood littering the floor.

: "Guards!"

: "No! Wait! It wasn't me! Honest!"

: "Tell it to the Legion, you fetcher."

: "Actually, I'm with the Legion."

He looks at you with skepticism.

: "Then why weren't you out there fighting when the werewolf showed up?"

You pull off your boots and greaves and show him the gaping holes in your legs.

: "Look, I'm near death here. I was going to die, so I ran. I'm sorry. I'm a coward. But I did what I could and then left to let the better warriors finish it. If I'd stayed to the end I'd have died the moment somebody sneezed on me and it wouldn't have made a bit of difference. At least this way I'll survive to fight again next time."

: "Those bites look like they're from a slaughterfish, not a werewolf."

: "You a forensic expert?"

: "Well, no."

: "There you go. Werewolf did it."

Speechcraft is now 23

He shrugs and casts a slow healing spell on you. It takes a minute or two and even then it isn't enough to fully heal you, so he tries to cast again, but fails. Then casts a third and fourth time and eventually manages to top you off. He's clearly not very good with restoration magic, but it gets the job done.

Health is now at full

: "Thanks."

: "Of course. So what's it like being in the legion? Have you ever fought an Ogrim? Does it impress women? Have you met the Duke?"

You struggle to come up with an answer.

: "Ahh, well...none of those things. If you just go enlist, it's kind of boring, actually. I got lucky and I'm on detached duty rather than guard duty. But the first month they mostly just had me running laps and learning etiquette. And if I hadn't managed the job I did, after that I'd have been stuck guarding walls and roads and things."

: "What's the pay like?"

: "100 gold a month, and one meal a week."

: "Plus lodging?"

: "Well, you'd be on the job five days a week, but yes, you get a bed a a place to put your things."

: "That's not bad."

: "Yeah, I guess."

So far as you know you're still on the roster. You think it's only been about three weeks since training, but you could probably show up in Gnisis next week and collect your 100 gold. Of course, the way you remember it, travel costs were 40-50 gold so it's not going to be a huge profit. Something to keep in mind, anyway.

: "I'm Draren, by the way."

: "Michael."

Draren unlocks his chest, digs around in it then offers you a drink. You accept and the two of you sit down to chat for a while, occasionally casting more practice spells as you talk. Draren follows your lead and casts spells with his surplus magicka too. Apparently it had never occurred to him to do that until now.

Destruction skill is now 12

Getting to relax and chat with Draren is a huge relief after nearly being either murdered or abducted by the Ascended Sleeper. Though you probably shouldn't sit in here too long, since you still have things to do. You glance over at the sun and...wow, has it really been that long? Morrowind time travels so quickly sometimes.

: "Hey, it's been fun. But I should be going. Need to check on the situation."

: "I understand. Feel free to visit sometime. I'd love to hear more about your daring and exciting adventures."

: "...yeah, daring and exciting. That's me. I'll see you around."

You step outside.



It's early morning. The ash storm is gone and the streets are clear.

Spoiler: Stats (click to show/hide)

Level 8
Health 61/61
Magicka 5/70
Armor rating: 4

Spoiler: Attributes (click to show/hide)

27.3 Strength (20)
35.2 Speed (30)
37.8 Agility (30)
40.4 Endurance (30)
43.6 Intelligence (40)
41.2 Willpower (40)
45.2 Personality (40)
57.0 Luck (50)

Spoiler: skills (click to show/hide)

Numbers in parenthesis are starting values
33 Acrobatics (0)
22 Athletics (5)
 7 Armorer (0)

 6 Block (0)
 7 Heavy Armor (0)
 5 Medium Armor (0)
 25 Light armor (0)
 9 Unarmored (0)

 5 Blunt Weapon
 12 Hand to Hand
 5 Longblade
 8 Shortblade
 8 Spear

12 Destruction (0)
 7 Alchemy (0)
 5 Enchanting (0)

23 Speechcraft (10)
13 Mercantile (0)

Spoiler: Equipped (click to show/hide)

 * Iron dagger
 * Chitin shield

 * Chitin left + right gauntlets
 * Chitin greaves
 * Chitin cuirass
 * Chitin left + right pauldrons
 * Chitin boots

 * Combat belt
 * Commoner's shirt
 * Commoner's pants
 * Interior coinpurse, containing:
   * 75 gold
   * lockpick
   * 1 potion of water walking
   * 1 empty bottle
   * Roomkey to Arille's tavern in Seyda Neen

Backpack (Worn)
Main compartment:
 * Cruel Viperblade (loose, with no sheathe)
 * Repair hammer
 * Dwemer Puzzle Box
 * small leather pouch
 * Tennis shoes
 * Yellow water-damaged notepad with 54 pages left
 * 1 pen
 * "20% cooler" Rainbow Dash t-shirt (crunchy from having dried poorly)
 * Denim pants (crunchy from having dried poorly)
 * wallet with picture ID and $30 in cash
 * 2 lesser soulgems (empty)
 * 29 Whickwheat
Small compartment
 * 122 gold
 * 8 empty bottle
 * 2 Ampoule Pod
 * 1 Black Anther
 * 7 bungler's bane
 * 5 Chokeweed
 * 3 Corkbulb
 * 25 Heather
 * 3 hypha facia
 * 11 luminous russula
 * 4 Racer Plume
 * 8 saltrice
 * 2 Stoneflower petals
 * 5 spore pod
 * 6 violet coprinus

Spoiler: Faction standings (click to show/hide)

Bearer of Azura's Mark
Bearer of 'scholarly acquaintance of Divayth Fyr' mark
Imperial Legion, Recruit
Fighter's Guild, Associate (1 quest completed)
Mage Guild, Associate
Registered Sadrith Mora business visa, with slave-handling endorsement

Spoiler: Spells known (click to show/hide)

Fleabite (cost:1) (Damage fatigue 1-10 on touch)

Spoiler: Alchemy Knowledge (click to show/hide)

Alit Hide [1]Resist Poison
Ash yam [1]Restore personality
Ampoule Pod   [1]Restore speed
Black Anther   [1]Resist poison
Black lichen [1]Drain Health
Bread      [1]Restore Fatigue
Bungler's Bane   [1]Drain agility
Chokeweed   [1]Drain health
Coda Flower   [1]Restore luck
Comberry   [1]Drain health
Corkbulb Root   [1]Restore luck
Crab Meat   [1]Restore fatigue
Gravedust   [1]Burden
Green Lichen   [1]Night Eye
Heather      [1]Poison
Hound Meat [1]Poison
Hypha facia   [1]Drain speed
Kresh fiber [1]Cure common disease
Kwama cuttle   [1]Restore health
Large kwama egg [1]Restore fatigue
Luminous russ.   [1]Paralysis
Marshmerrow   [1]Resist common disease
Muck      [1]Poison
Racer plume [1]Levitate
Rat meat   [1]Poison
Roobrush   [1]Restore intelligence
Saltrice   [1]Restore endurance
Scale      [1]Swift swim
Scathecraw   [1]Paralyze
Spore pod   [1]Paralysis
Stoneflower petal [1]Fortify health
Sm. Kwama Egg   [1]Restore Fatigue
Violet coprinus   [1]Water Walking
Whickwheat [1]Cure paralysis
Willow Anther   [1]Water Breathing

What do you do?