Episode 16: Suspicious npcs? Time for a new look.
Ask the alchemy shopkeeper if she has any odd jobs for us to do, and then do them.
:
"Hey, Nalcarya. Thanks for everything. Before I go do you have any quests odd jobs I could do for you?"
:
"Looking to reclaim the gold you just paid me for instruction? You do recall that I only even accepted your request for training because my till had been completely cleaned out and I was in need of quick coin, yes? No, I have no tasks in need of doing at present. Unless you're able to bring in customers."How hungry are we? And cold when we go outside?
You say your goodbys to Nalcarya and step outside. It's chilly, you suppose. But not inconveniently so considering it's...what time is it? You check your cellphone and it claims that it's 3:14, May 23rd right now. So...it's only been about two hours since you arrived? That's it? But you're pretty sure you've seen the light to dark cycle happen twice now. So it's been...a day and a half? Or is it two and a half days? Honestly, you're not completely sure at this point, especially since a large portion of your time here has been spent indoors. Either way, you find the time mismatch to be terribly disorienting. It doesn't feel like you've only been here two hours, but it certainly doesn't feel like a couple days either. You would have guessed more like 10 hours. It's possible there might be some sort of strange time dilation effect going on.
Anyway, you don't feel hungry or sleepy at all, but if your cellphone is right and it's only been a couple hours, you wouldn't necessarily.
While you're looking at your cellphone, you notice that you only have 4 out of five bars for power now. That could become inconvenient. You have no way to recharge it, and you're not sure how long your battery lasts since you generally make a point of putting it on the charger every night. At least...you think you do. Your memories of your life before your arrival in Morrowind are still something you're not sure about. But, your best guess right now is that one day in Morrowind is somewhere in the vicinity of 45 minutes to an hour according to your cellphone. So assuming a typical cellphone charge lasts 2 days and you're at 80% now, that works out to about 28 to 38 days in Morrowind.
You smile to yourself as you wonder if that simple little bit of math you did in your head was worthy of any particularly epic spellcasting.
Check back with Ranis about that "female dunmer with long, dark hair"
about the PC though - I'd ask around to those who might have spent more time with them
You head back to the mages guild. You feel a little self conscious about going inside after dark, but the door opens and Ranis is still standing at the entrance. It's increasingly looking like sleep is unecessary here, but that makes you wonder why there are beds everywhere. Unless it's only been two hours biologically for everyone else too.
:
"Hey, Ranis. Thanks for that tip. Nalcarya charged me quite a bit, but I learned some good things. By the way, have there been any new mage guild recruits recently? I keep almost bumping into this one particular female dunmer. She's about this tall, dark hair past the shoulders...anyone by that description sign up here in the past few days?"Ranis looks at you suspiciously.
:
"I'm sorry, but it's against guild policy to disclose membership details to non members.":
"Oh. Sorry."Well, that was a bust.
those who might have spent more time with them as to
where they were headed and what they are doing.
Hmm. There is one other person who would have been likely to see her. You step back outside and head to the Silt Strider.
:
"Why walk when you can ride?":
"I'll assume that's a rhetorical question. I'm wondering if you recall a passenger you had recently. Dunmer woman, about this tall with dark hair just past her shoulders? This would have been the day before yesterday"You pass the driver 10 septims.
:
"Of course, sera. I remember her. But I believe you are mistaken. She was not my passenger, she was Darvame's passenger, arriving from Seyda Neen."Wait, that's right. The driver here would have seen her arrival, but never spoken to her. Damn.
:
"I don't suppose you got her name, or anything? Any idea where she went from here?":
"Forgive me, sera. I don't go out of my way to ask the names of outlanders brandishing weapons like that one. But I believe she went into the city."Yep. That's her. But where did she go? Assuming she's a player, if she's new she might have gone straight to Caius to start the main quest. If she's experienced, she probably would have gone to the mage guild. Ranis was no help, but maybe the guild guide? You head back to the mage guild to inquire.
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"Hey, sorry to bother you but has anyone besides me come through here recently?"
:
"Sure. Three, I think, since you arrived.":
"Since I arrived? Just today? Was one a female dunmer, about this tall with a shoulder length dark hair?":
"I don't know about the hair, but I did send one dunmer outbound. Expensive clothes, big sword and mismatched armor, right?"...wait, that description doesn't match at all. She might be talking about someone totally else. This is, after all...Morrowind. Dunmer woman aren't exactly uncommon. But on the other hand, she had all that time I spent travelling to Vivec and back to gear up. She probably wouldn't still be wearing her starter clothes. Maybe she changed her hair?
:
"...uhh, yeah. That might be her. Do you remember where you sent her?"The guild guide looks at you oddly and doesn't answer right away.
:
"Why do you ask?":
"I'd like to talk to her. I keep just missing her. Where did you send her? And did you get a name?":
"No, I didn't. But a guy shows up on my pad escorted by Ordinators then starts asking for the names and destinations of my clients who he obviously doesn't know...I don't think I'd tell you even if I did."Suddenly you feel uncomfortable with the way she's looking at you. You excuse yourself and step out.
buy commoner's clothing to be less distinctive
Buy a cheap belt
buy some cheap clothing
A second change of clothes certainly wouldn't hurt.
Well, now's a good a time as any to try to blend in. You don't want the locals to associate Rainbow Dash with creepy Imperial stalkers. Or, since the Ordinators were polite, more likely they think you're working for the Hall of Justice. To the locals, that's probably a lot worse than just being a pervert. You head back towards the temple to the clothier next door to Nalcarya's.
Acrobatics skill is now 15
You look through her clothes and pick out a commoner's shirt, a commoner's belt and...why does she not stock commoner pants? Hmm. Well, the expensive pants aren't terribly expensive. So far as you can tell, denim doesn't exist except for the jeans you're wearing now, so you'll certainly be less conspicuous wearing those than what you have on now. You look at the common shoes, but the there's no way you're you'd be able to run in them so you decide to stick with your tennis shoes. Altogether the total comes to 24 septims, and you manage to talk the proprietor down to 23, leaving you with 24.
Mercantile skill is now 2You don't really trust your money or your cellphone to the pockets in your new pants, so you pay another septim for a sturdy leather coinpurse that attaches to your belt and sits inside your pants. It chafes slightly when you run/jump unless you hold it to keep it from bouncing, but the arrangement is probably fairly difficult to pickpocket. You put your coins in there and your cellphone in your backpack, just to be safe.
and a staff
Hmm. Balmora actually doesn't have a weapons store. You stop by the Armorer, but all he has is a steel battle axe that's way out of your price range right now. The complete lack of a weapon combined with the complete lack of any spell ability...yeah, that's a problem, and your fluffy hat isn't exactly keeping you safe either. What about Ra'Virr the khajiit trader, next door?
Here we go. No staves, but you do find a reasonably priced chitin war axe.
:
"It wants something?":
"Yes, could I try that axe?":
"Of course."You pick it up...slowly. What is it with the heavy weapons here? The thing is seriously like 10-15 pounds probably. You're pretty sure that weapons are only supposed to weigh a couple pounds so you can actually swing them them without hurting yourself. This, sure you can swing it, but if you swung it hard and failed to hit anything the momentum would spin your whole body pretty easily. You suspect that you're probably a lot weaker than the majority of the population here. A sobering thought. Checking the other available weapons you do find a couple that are light enough to....oh.
Score.
You buy the steel tanto complete with scabbard and carrying strings for 10 septims. Strange. You thought those cost more. It's still a bit heavier than you'd like, but reasonably so, and you're pretty confidant it would hurt a lot to get stabbed with it.
Mercantile skill is now 3YOu seem to be getting the hang of this haggling thing too.
Your new look:
:
"Yeah, this hat looks just as silly as I thought it did."
Known stats
Health 39/40
Armor rating: 1
Attributes (Values in parenthesis are starting values)
21.5 Strength (20)
30.2 Speed (30)
31.5 Agility (30)
30.2 Endurance (30)
41.0 Intelligence (40)
41.4 Personality (40)
Skills
15 Acrobatics (0)
7 Athletics (5)
14 Speechcraft (10)
3 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 13 septims
Backpack
Main compartment:
* Yellow notepad with 57 pages left
* 1 pen
* 2 soulgems of uncertain size
* 1 Standard Restore Health potions
* "20% cooler" Rainbow Dash t-shirt,
* Denim pants
* a cellphone and wallet with picture ID and $30 in cash
Small compartment
* 4 saltrice
* 2 kwama cuttle
Alchemy Knowledge
Bread - [1] Restore Fatigue
Small Kwama Egg - [1] Restore Fatigue
What do you do?
Author
Topic: Marooned in Morrowind (FINISHED) (Read 435304 times)