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[Supercharazad]

Huh. I could have sworn that wasn't there. Nevermind.

[LordBucket]

Huh. I could have sworn that wasn't there. Nevermind.

I've skipped it a few times when nothing's changed, but current status is always available in the opening post.

[LordBucket]

Episode 17: In which nobody agrees on what to do except turn off the cellphone

turn off our cell for the moment to conserve battery.

definitely turn off the cell.

I agree with the turning off cell phone thing

Let's turn off the phone, indeed.

*click*

Cellphone is now off.

inquire about a room somewhere

: "Sure. I think there are rooms available at the-"

We probably shouldn't spend money on a room

: "...ok, nevermind."

I would also suggest some combat training

: "Ok, I can do that."

Screw in-field combat training, we could die.

: "...or, not."

go chat with Cossades.

we should speak to Caius

: "Ok. I'll go talk to Ca-"

We don't have any special command from the emperor for him to take us in; his first reaction might be to kill us
for knowing too much. His second reaction would be to send us against his enemies on a suicide-testing mission.

we should take the safe route until we have enough defenses to get out of his door alive should he attack us.

: "...hmm. Ok, yeah. I think I'll let you guys make up your mind before I act on that one too. Is there anything other than turning off the cellphone that you guys agree on right now? No? Ok, what about things that at least nobody disagrees with?"

let's ask her for recommendations on Alchemy books.

: "Who? Nalcarya? Sure, I can head back to her place again."

Acrobatics skill is now 16



: "Hi, Nalcarya. Quick question for you: could you recommend any alchemy books?"

: "For what?"

: "For...learning alchemy?"

: "Oh. You might find some herbal reference books somewhere, but traditionally alchemical treatises bury all the genuinely useful information in so much metaphor and falsehood that only someone who already understands it would have any chance of divining anything useful from them."

: "Really?"

: "Yes. For example, no doubt you've heard of the Philosopher's Stone?"

: "The stone that turns lead into gold?"

: "Yes, among other things. Here, let me read you an excerpt from a famous work that discusses the manufacture of the Philosopher's Stone. The first step being the procurement of the material from which it is made."

She pulls a book from the shelf on her left, blows the dust off and flips through it looking for a specific passage.

: "There is something which everyone recognizes, and whoever does not recognize it will rarely, perhaps never find it. The wise man will keep it and the fool will throw it away, and the reduction comes easily to the man who knows it. There is only one spring in all the world from which this water may be obtained. It issues in a secret place, and its waters flow over all the world. It is familiar to all, yet none knows the principle, reason, or way to find the spring For this reason, that Sage might well exclaim, "O water of a harsh and bitter taste!" For, in truth, the spring is difficult to find; but he who knows it may reach it easily, without any expense, labour, or trouble. The water is, of its own nature, harsh and bitter, so that no one can partake of it; and, because it is of little use to the majority of mankind, the Sage doth also exclaim, "O water, that art lightly esteemed by the vulgar, who do not perceive thy great virtues, in thee lie, as it were, hid the four elements. Thou hast power to dissolve, and conserve, and join nature, such as is possessed by no other thing upon earth."

She clears her throat and continues.

: "The two are really only one very limpid water, which is so bitter as to be quite undrinkable. The quantity of this water is so great that it flows over the whole earth, yet leads to nothing but the knowledge of this Art. The same also is misused too often by those who desire it. Take also the "fire," and in it you will find the Stone, and nowhere else in the whole world. It is familiar to all men, both young and old, is found in the country, in the village, in the town, in all things created by God; yet it is despised by all. Rich and poor handle it every day. It is cast into the street by servant maids. Children play with it. Yet no one prizes it, though, next to the human soul, it is the most beautiful and the most precious thing upon earth, and has power to pull down kings and princes. Nevertheless, it is esteemed the vilest and meanest of earthly things. It is cast away and rejected by all."

At last she closes the book and replaces it on the shelf.

: "Now, fledgling alchemist, I ask you: what is this mysterious ingredient from which the Stone is made?"

: "...I have no idea."

: "Oh, but you do. It's urine. I taught you how to make potions just this past day. But even knowing the ingredient you still didn't recognize it from the obscure description given by a genuine alchemy text. Now imagine trying to figure it out from that description without already knowing. That's the style of writing used by most works on alchemy. Obscure nearly the point of uselessness, but good for selling books. Give people mystery and they'll eat it up. Truth doesn't sell nearly as well."

: "Nalcarya, I can't help but feel like we've strayed from the original topic. I was asking if you could recommend any alchemy books."

: "My answer is no, I cannot. You will learn far more alchemy from private instruction and practice than you ever will from books. You've already received private instruction. All that remains is practice."

Did our basic instruction include identifying our potions by scent?

: "The way Nalcarya explained it, every potion type has a unique scent. Even though different alchemists use different ingredients, those ingredients act only as catalysts, and are completely filtered out during the distillation process. So, if I use X and Y to make a potion of Z and some other alchemist uses A and B to make a potion of Z, both potions will smell the same. But to actually recognize potions by smell, I'll need to actually smell them so I know what they smell like. I can't just magically know the scents of potions I've never been exposed to."

making a restore fatigue potion

: "Unfortunately I have no alchemy tools. Sorry."

If we search for alchemy ingredients, start by looking for as many different
samples as possible, test their basic effects by eating them

: "Well, nobody has said anything about going out to search for ingredients and I don't have the gold to buy more than a couple, but I do have some saltrice and kwama cuttle on hand."

Michael opens up the pouch part of his backpack and pulls out his reagents. Cautiously, he sniffs the saltrice, licks it...then takes a bite and starts chewing.

: "Tastes like plant."

New reagent knowledge: saltrice [1]Restore endurance

: "Huh. That's new, isn't it? I thought saltrice was restore health."

Next, Michael pulls out a pink strip of kwama cuttle. It's rubbery. Sort of like a cross between silly putty and warm, day-old squid. With a disgusted look on his face he brushes off a few bits of lint and hair and carefully reaches out and touches it with his tongue. Then, shrugging he puts the whole thing in his mouth and starts to chew. It takes some time, but eventually he manages swallows and shrugs. Apparently it didn't taste as bad as it looked.

New reagent knowledge: kwama cuttle [1]Restore health
Healed 39/40 --> 40/40 health

check Ralen Hlaalo's house for stuff. Specifically Ralen Hlaalo as he's an
infinite size, permanent container that most PCs use.

Michael heads back to the Hlallu section of Balmora. Without mouseover labels on the doors it takes a little searching, but this particular building is distinctive in that the adjacent building has a stairway that with a little jumping gives access to the second story entrance.



Unfortunately the door is locked, and you have no key, no lockpick, no knowledge of lockpicking, no unlock spells, and no ability to cast spells from the entire school of magic that unlocks spells are part of. That could become a problem at some point. You walk up the stairs to try the other entrance, but right as you're about to jump a guard carrying a torch walks onto the street below.



You hug the wall and stay very still. The guard seems to not notice you and continues walking. It's both terrifying and exciting waiting for him to leave. It occurs to you, though, that since you lack the funds to pay any fines, if you end up stuck serving a month of jailtime, that will give the PC a massive time advantage over you.

You count slowly to ten to give the guard time to get further away, then quickly scramble over the barrier. In truth, it's more of a climb on your stomach than a jump.



Unfortunately this door is also locked. Fortunately, you have years of playing Morrowind under your belt, and you know exactly who to talk to to get the key.



: "Welcome to Hlaalu Council Manor. I'm Nileno Dorvayn. Are you here to join House Hlaalu?"

: "No, I was hoping you could tell me about Ralen Hlallo."

: "Oh? What is your business with the Hlaalo household?"

: "Well, I was considering settling down here in Balmora, but I heard the rumor that Ralen died. Murdered in his own house."

: "Yes, sadly. It's true. There's a substantial bounty for bringing the murderer to justice. Unfortunately there are two conflicting reports of his identity. One claims that the murderer was an Argonian, the other that the Camona Tong is responsible. It's very attractive to think it was simply an escaped slave, but the Camona Tong seem far more likely."

: "Huh. That's more information than I was expecting."

: "I'm simply repeating what the investigators were able to determine over the course of their investigation. Unfortunately there's not enough evidence to implicate anyone. And between the two of us, if it is the Camona Tong, they're unlikely to ever be brought to justice. They're known criminals, but they have powerful friends and a nasty habit of receiving last minute pardons before sentencing."

: "You know about that?"

: "Everyone knows about it. Apparently even outlanders like you."

: "Anything I can do to help?"

: "Probably not. At this point it would take a confession witnessed by an official. But if you do uncover any evidence, please let me know."

: "I can do that. So...umm...how about giving me the house key?"

: "Why would I give you, an outlander I only just met, the key to the mansion of a recently murdered loyal member of House Hlaalu?"

: "...so I can talk to the maid and ask for information?"

: "Uryne? Yes, she claims to have witnessed the murder and she's the one saying it was Camona Tong. I fear for that girl's life. If you want to talk to her, try knocking at the front door. She's staying at the mansion until Ralen's family arrives to settle his estate."

Huh. It actually never occurred to you to knock. Of course, if she answers the door, she'll ask why you're there, and even if you can talk her into letting you in it's unlikely that she'd let you wander around alone. NPCs seem a lot smarter than they do in-game.

Oh, and let's at least get a walking stick of some kind. Find a fallen branch or something

You procure a walking stick from the trees just outside the front gate.

Spoiler: Status (click to show/hide)

Location
Hlaalu Council Manor in Balmora

Known stats
Health 40/40
Armor rating: 1

Attributes (Values in parenthesis are starting values)
21.6 Strength (20)
30.2 Speed (30)
31.6 Agility (30)
30.2 Endurance (30)
41.0 Intelligence (40)
41.4 Personality (40)

Skills
16 Acrobatics (0)
 7 Athletics (5)
14 Speechcraft (10)
 3 Mercantile (0)
 5 Alchemy (0)

Worn:
 * Walking stick
 * 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
 * 3 saltrice
 * 1 kwama cuttle

Alchemy Knowledge
Bread - [1] Restore Fatigue
Kwama cuttle [1]Restore health
Small Kwama Egg - [1] Restore Fatigue
Saltrice [1]Restore endurance

What do you do?

[LordBucket]

Little feedback for players:

I feel some of you are getting caught up in minutia. It might be helpful to chat amongst yourselves, agree on some general, but immediate goals and identify how you want to go about accomplishing them. Between this update and the previous there were over twenty posts, but apart from shutting off your cellphone there was not one single suggestion at all that anyone agreed with that didn't also have someone actively disagreeing.

You could probably cover ground more quickly if you agreed on a gameplan.

[Man of Paper]

I have to pop Morrowind back in and reorient myself with the game so I can give better advice.

We need to get alchemical tools. We also don't want to lose sight of our current objective, which in my opinion is ultimately figuring out what to do with the PC. Though the more I think about it, do we really want to interfere? Maybe it'd be best if we let the PC do their thing. They can break the rules of the universe more readily than we can, and how many times has anyone gone on a killing spree just because?

Yeah, killing spree isn't going to be coming until the PC levels a bit more, anyways.

Right now maybe we should settle down somewhere that'd benefit the budding alchemist. We've been moving between towns a bit in our search for answers but all we've got are questions, theories, and conflicting suggestions. If we want to stray away from the magic aspect and go combat then perhaps we should check out...Fort Darius is it? At the very least maybe we could ask permission to practice on a dummy or light post or something.

I still prefer magic though. If we decide to push the magic then we'll need to get a grasp on alchemy before trying to wrap our mind around the more...magical magic. Where is a good safe location that's very close to farmland we could sneak onto and steal crops from?

Oh! Or maybe we should use our knowledge of Ashlander customs and culture, unify the tribes, and wage war on the Imperial Cult!

[WillowLuman]

Wait, hold on:

-Why are there Ordinators in Balmora? Where are the Hlaalu guards?

-Why does that Alchemy book have nothing to do with the lore? It mentions God and the Philosopher's stone, which aren't part of TES lore. All the TES alchemy books I've ever read involve an anectdote of someone brewing a potion, and are pretty clear on knowledge.

Anyway, I still say we talk to Cauis. Meanwhile, ask Ajira if she'll let us practice with her alchemy equipment.

[Nivim]

 I was really expecting to just get outvoted on going to Caius' place...and it's indicative of my response to Bucket's feedback that throughout the entire adventure I didn't see anything odd about player schism or confusion; although Bay12 tends to average a lot more sense than other forums (I have examined), it's still necessarily a chaotic mess of different interpretations, ideas, and opinions. If this gets popular one shouldn't expect a single turn that doesn't have vetos, and there will be turns in which every suggested course of action gets vetoed at least once.
 When I think of the general course of action I want, I see immediately that it will be destroyed quickly in light of other people's ideas, even before I've finished building it. My running understanding for collaborative games and stories is devoted to coming up with good pieces of ideas that can be incorporated into whatever is happening; fragments that play nice. I am slowly realizing [not done yet] that the reason few "good ideas" are occurring to me is because, in this game, most effective plans are mutually exclusive, in short term and long term.

But enough rationalizing, here is my pillar of thought in point form:

Spoiler: Thoughtful but broken (the cyclic way). (click to show/hide)

• To get alchemy supplies, money, and information easily, we could really use the resources of the Mage's Guild.
• The mage's guild requires that we have basic knowledge of magic, which we can only get from a tutor in Pelagiad (trivia: who doesn't exist in default Morrowind).
• This tutor requires a great deal of money, specifically "a few thousand gold".
• The way I was expecting us to get that gold is through grinding alchemy.
• It would be very useful to have the basic resources of the mages guild to gain access to the mages guild.

Ah, here we go.

• Our main limit right now is cash, as that's what we're going to need to get basic magic training, which is what we need to keep from dying to the wilderness, since we have 10 points below average strength, but 10 points above average intelligence.
• Our three current avenues (that I recall) to gaining money quickly, is either making potions, doing quests, or finding treasure.
• We do not have the tools or resources for the alchemy; getting tools requires money, and getting resources could get us killed quickly (especially if we don't know what our primary skills are and leveled lists are still in effect).
• Quests are proving to be much more complicated for us than in the game, and they almost always require some sort of resource or a large investment of time. We are low on both resources and time, and thus will need to be very selective about the quests we do. We have not done this.
• That leaves finding unguarded, hidden treasure, which is luckily abundant in Morrowind at this point in its history. That is, until the PPC finds it all before us. So, if we're going to use that likely option for our problems, we will need to do it quickly.
• We have enough money right now for one travel service use; we should get a good idea of where we're going before going there, so we don't get stuck.

• What quests do we know that require few skills, resources, and time to complete?
• What quests could we create with our Realness Powers that follow #1?
• What hidden treasure do we know that's unguarded, close, and sufficient valuable for our time?
• What treasure could we make follow the criteria of #3?
• Where has the PPC probably already raided for treasure and resources? (Hint: we need to start checking things lootable or that players usually talk to.)

How about we add everything to one plan in one person's post, then all agree on it when it looks good?



Predit:

We need to get alchemical tools. We also don't want to lose sight of our current objective, which in my opinion is ultimately figuring out what to do with the PC. Though the more I think about it, do we really want to interfere? Maybe it'd be best if we let the PC do their thing. They can break the rules of the universe more readily than we can, and how many times has anyone gone on a killing spree just because?

We don't know what would happen if we ran into the PPC. That déjà vu implied that the PPC loaded a save-game, and if so, we might have been the cause of the reload; to a player, our "realness" could easily be perceived as an unworkable, propagating glitch. We could get that déjà vu every single time we would have run into the PPC. (If these words seem to conflict with themselves, remember about using doubt precisely.)

Where is a good safe location that's very close to farmland we could sneak onto and steal crops from?

Yeah, one of us really does need to open up the game, just to get familiar. For myself; I haven't bothered to get Wine running yet (or remember how), and I don't currently have access to the computer I did the other testing on.

Oh! Or maybe we should use our knowledge of Ashlander customs and culture, unify the tribes, and wage war on the Imperial Cult!

And with our magical Aura of Realness, those customs will be different and much more complicated than we remember. We'll seem like any other invading imperial.

Meanwhile, ask Ajira if she'll let us practice with her alchemy equipment.

She doesn't in the game, and her dialog implies that she doesn't like competition; this could easily make things harder for us.

[WillowLuman]

Or perhaps the Deja Vu was a strange bit of writing, like the Earth book on Alchemy. You've got to wonder how the Argonians do their alchemy, since they don't urinate. Or Vampires. Or Liches.

Anyway, if things are more realistic, the tax collector's murder will be an easy source of money. Normally you have to kill the perp to get the full reward, but if we brought the guard with us and had them ambush when the guy turned hostile,

[SethCreiyd]

This is interesting, posting to participate.

Some thoughts:

- It's probably best if the hero is discreet with his knowledge.  A veritable nobody bursting in and mouthing off secret stuff about Nerevarines and the Mythic Dawn to Caius Cosades, the Grand Spymaster of the Blades, sounds like it will end with said nobody rotting in a dank prison cell.  Let's at least gain some friends and recognition, some power and influence, before doing something so bold.

- The hero's stats are pathetic enough to stand no chance against anything that knows how to fight in this world.  Combat training and defensive protection (armor, or Sanctuary, or Chameleon, anything that means avoiding death), and getting lots of gold fast should be high priorities.

-  The Ordinators following our hero make him pretty conspicuous.  The sight would be strange to a human-controlled PC, and while they might have thought us just a weird little part of some mod or another, we may arouse suspicion if sighted again.  Ditching them sounds good to me, but first they should be put to good use.

Suggestions for immediate actions:

- Sell the Colovian hat to the pawn broker, and buy something to eat.
- Solve the Ralen Hlaalo murder, letting the Ordinators do the fighting.
- Dismiss the Ordinators and attempt to join House Hlaalu.


One more thing, if Ralen Hlaalo's body has stuff on it, it should probably be left alone.  We have no idea what the PC can do to us, but if I was playing Morrowind and I saw a weird NPC and two Ordinators reappear next to a bunch of my missing items, I might be tempted to 'console->SetCurrentHealth 0' all of them and check the inventories.

[Supercharazad]

Talk to Cossades about dragons, about how we know dragons used to exist, and how we know that dragons will return within the next two hundred and fifty years or so. Also that we know the Blades are dragon hunters.

[Jarod Cain]

Ok guys this is getting a bit far afield. I think Nivim has the right of it, which is why I suggested hitting the tomb as that is a leveled area that is good for early experience. No matter what we decide, we must increase our skills and abilities.

For an intermediate goal I think we should focus on eventually joining the Mage's Guild and drop the idea of seeing Caius for the time being. Originally when I said way back that we should make Vivec our base this was because of ready access to bookstores, libraries and such for quick basic skill ups and the terrain would only help jumpstart our physical stats. Since we're here (and I don't think we should go back for a bit) we will be forced to take the more adventure-some route. Honestly we should just do what right proper murderous hobos do, kill things, take their stuff, increase our experience and sell the crap we don't need. I for one trust Michael to not be stupid and get in too far over his head.
-J-

[Supercharazad]

Going into a tomb is three things. Highly illegal, likely to get us lynched, and likely to get us murdered by angry ghosts which we can't fight since we don't have silver weapons.

[LordBucket]

-Why are there Ordinators in Balmora? Where are the Hlaalu guards?

Mistake on my part. That was a Hlaalu guard, not an Ordinator. As for part about the confession, the intent there was to make it clear that it had to be witnessed by someone in a position of authority. Random foreigner showing up with somebody's head and saying "hey guys, he confessed before I killed him" is not going to be accepted by the authorities.

Sorry for the confusion.

[WillowLuman]

Well, that Medeival European alchemy text being present is still highly suspect.

Anyways, while the guard's wouldn't believe us if we killed someone and just claimed they were guilty, they might accompany us to arrest a suspect if we told them we knew who did it.

[LordBucket]

No update tonight, so you guys have time to discuss amongst yourselves.