(Note: votes tallied in previous post)
Episode 26, part 1: Sugar, underestimated alchemy, Thavere, a strange couple and on to Gnisis
* Ask if we can delay on deciding, steal something later, then join immediately
* ask if we have to do anything for the guild besides sell to their fences
* If there are any other downsides
* We might also hire their help
* ask if we have to
* ask if we have
* Ask if we can
* ask about
* Ask if
* Ask
* ask
* ask
:
"Can you tell me more about how this works? I want to be sure I understand what I'm getting myself into. Are there any other obligations if I join? What if I steal gold rather than items? Do I have to give a cut of that? Am I expected to do other jobs? Are there any monthly dues? What if I don't steal anything? What if I steal something but don't personally benefit from it? Like if I give it away? Or what if I do keep something? Am I not allowed to keep things, do I have to sell them even if I would use them myself? Is the 50% fixed, or does that go down if I gain ranks within the organization? How do I gain ranks? Does it matter?"Halfway through your questions, Sugar-lips starts to look bored and reaches into her clothes. She pulls out a small white object and pops it into her mouth. As soon as she begins chewing a look of sheer delight bursts across her face, which then spreads through her entire body, making her look happy and relaxed.
:
"...what if somebody steals something from me and I steal it back, do I then have to sell my own item back to the fence? There are rules about not stealing from other guild members, but how do I know who is and isn't? What if I get it wrong, purely on accident? Are there any other downsides to joining? Any other drawbacks? Anything else I need to know? I'd really like to be clear on how this works and what precisely is expected of me. Also, do I have to decide now? Can I hold off, and say...steal something later then come back to join without having an assassin sent after me right away? Or id I decide to steal something later do I need to hold off then join first? Is the sequence important? Are you flexible on that? What else do I need to know?"By now, Sugar-lips is simply smiling into your face as if she hasn't a care in the world.
:
"Sugar thinks you think you too much. Be toad? Or not be toad?"check to see if (theives guild) fences have Processus Vitellius' Ring
:
"By the way, while I think about whether to join...has anyone sold any rings to you? I'd like to buy a specific ring that someone might have stolen.":
"Oh? *purr* Buy is good. What ring?":
"It belonged to Processus Vitellius. He was the Seyda Neen tax collector."Sugar-lips chuckles to herself as if amused by your answer.
:
"No, you cub. Gold? Steel? Gems? Good fence does not ask where things come from. What does it look like? ":
"...actually, I have no idea what kind of ring it is. I never saw it.":
"Sugar can't help you find ring you can't tell Sugar what it looks like."Yeah, that makes sense. If you don't know what it looks like, how could she possibly be expected to know? It obviously wouldn't have "Hi, I'm Processus Vitellius' ring" inscribed on it.
Ask about the price for stealing Thavere's book from the merchant.
:
"How much to have a book stolen? I need a copy of The Wraith's Wedding Dowry to give to the girl in the lighthouse in Seyd Neen. But not just any copy. It has to be the one that Arrille has, since it was hers. Hopefully he still has it."Sugar-lips is still smiling, but has clearly lost interest in you. Her ears and eyes are moving frantically about, as if she's hearing things she hadn't noticed before, and she's rapidly shifting...almost hopping, her weight back and forth between her legs. When she responds, her speech is much faster than before.
:
"You just ask to ask? You have no more than 50 gold. Sugar checked. Can't pay us. Don't waste Sugar's time. You be toad? Or not be toad?" * join the Thieves Guild
* Reject the Thieves Guild's offer
* Join the Thieves Guild.
* Do not join the thieves guild.
* Join the Guild
* Do not join the Thieves Guild.
* If...join the guild.
* If...then we should opt out.
* if...then join immediately
* We might
:
"I'm just not sure."Sugar-lips raises her arms over her head as if to stretch, then yawns happily.
:
"That's ok. Sugar choose for you."With her hands already in the air, you see that she makes a quick motion with her fingers, then pops another white object into her mouth and starts jumping up and down and giggling to herself. You turn to see the two thieves you passed on the way in. A male bosmer with a no-nonsense look about him, and a nord blonde woman who easily has an 6-8 inch height advantage on you. They exchange a look and then look at you.
:
"Umm...hello. No, don't trouble yourselves over me. I can find my own way out."Instead of answering, they grab you by both arms. Your try to break free and run, but each of them individually is much stronger than you are and between the two of them there's not much you can do to escape. Fortunately they don't seem to be interested in hurting you. At least, that's how it seems up until they open the door and hurl you face first onto the stone outside.
Health is now 28/41
:
"Sorry. No hard feelings. And don't worry about Sugar-lips being angry. She never remembers anything after she starts hitting the sugar. If you change your mind about joining, feel free to come back later. Just...decide before you do, ok?"
* Before leaving Balmora, let's purchase the rest of an alchemy set at least.
* Try to get the remaining supplies you need for alchemy.
Contrary to Sugar-lips' claim that you have no more than 50 gold, you actually have 223. 44 in your coinpurse and the rest in your backpack. That she was able to check your coinpurse so easily reaffirms in your mind that dividing up the gold in two places is a good idea. You figure you should probably set aside about 70 for travel, so that leaves 153 you can spend on alchemy tools. Time to go shopping.
:
"Hi, Nalcarya."
:
"Hello, Michael. What can I do for you today?":
"I've been wanting to use what you taught me, but the only tool I've managed to procure is a mortar and pestle. Would you sell me the rest I need for a full set? Preferably for cheap?":
"If you want apprentice tools, all I have is an alembic and calcinator. I'll take 62 gold for the alembic, and 12 for the calcinator. If you need a retort, I do have a master's quality retort, but I'd have to charge you several hundred for it.":
"Hmm. Ok. Maybe I can pick up a cheap retort from Ajira. Could I see what you have?":
"Certainly. Right behind you. Same tools you trained with, in fact."Immediately you see a problem. A big problem.
They're simply too big. Those are waist-high crates. The calcinator is basically a steel drum, with a complicated, if somewhat low-tech vaccum seal. It probably weighs 20-30 pounds, and it's easily a foot in diameter. The alembic is a fully functional two-chamber still. Only about ten pounds, and effectively much smaller since the tube is flexible...but even if you emptied out your backpack of everything already in it, you doubt you could fit both in there at the same time. You pick up the retort...it's lighter than either of the other two, but it's also fairly bulky. You could fit the calcinator in your bag and carry either of the other two pieces in your hands, but there's no way you could transport all three at the same time.
:
"How do people transport these things? They're really big.":
"Most heavy item shopping is done via recall. Mark where you want then, come here and recall back. It's rare for alchemists to not also be wizards. For those who aren't students of mysticism, slaves are the simplest option. Argonians can be purchased for very reasonable prices in Sadrith Mora. Just be sure to have your hospitality papers in order before doing business there. The Telvanni are rather particular about that kind of thing. Where do you need them moved to?":
"...umm, I was just going to carry them with me."She blinks a couple a times.
:
"Goodness, whatever for? I realize you're new to Morrowind, but why don't you just rent a house somewhere? If you'll be staying here in Balmora, go to the Hlaalu council house and make arrangements. There's never any shortage of rentals available here. House Hlaalu keeps the prices high enough to make sure of that."Hmm. Yeah, thing is...you're
not planning to stay in Balmora. At least not right now. Looks like this is something you'll have to set aside for now. House first, alchemy tools later. Before you go though, you stop by the Balmora mage guild and price check a retort from Ajira. Seems she doesn't have any apprentice retorts in stock either, but she does have a journeyman retort she offers to sell you for 93 gold. So that would be cutting it close anyway. 93 plus 62 plus 12 is 167, and you only wanted to spend 153 at most to leave money for travel. That's probably more conservative than you need to be. It was what, 13 to get to Seyda Neen and 44 to Gnisis last time you went? Plus, you could probably haggle Nalcarya down a bit, and you do still have some odds and ends you could sell to make up the difference. You ask Nalcarya for a price price check, and she offers 16 gold for all your alchemy reagents, 8 for your healing potion and 12 for the bottle of greef you stole from Thavere. You'd rather not part with all that, but yeah, you could make this happen if you really wanted to. Or, could you? After all you'd need to make two trips: buy the calcinator, then to Gnisis to drop it off, then back here to buy the retort and alembic, carry one in backpack and carry the other, then back to Gnisis. It would be an extra 100+ gold in travel fees alone, and that might be a deal-breaker. Plus, the way you keep bouncing around all over the place, you're not certain that you'll be staying in Gnisis anyway.
You decided to hold off purchasing alchemy tools until you're more certain where your base of operations will be.
* Finish up in Sedya Neen.
* Go back to Seyda Neen. Talk to book quest lady and tell her you at least did what you could by finding her fiancee's murderer, and ask her if they were engaged doesn't she have his ring to remember him by?
* tell that woman where her book is.
* find a way to wrap up that business with the book before moving on.
Athletics is now 11You head to the silt strider and pay 13 gold for transit to Seyda Neen. While you bord the strider, hwoever, Selville gives you a very strange
:
"Is anything the matter?"He looks around the strider with a frown, but doesn't answer right away. A few seconds pass while you wonder what's going on, before he suddenly looks up at you with a strangely artificial smile and insists that everything is fine. Clearly something is wrong, but you're not sure what.
Shortly before you arrive, you pass another silt strider on the road. Curious, you crane your neck to see and it looks like there are two passengers.
:
"Hey, is that the Seyda Neen silt strider?"
:
"Yes, sera. That's Darvame's strider."Interesting. So you just missed somebody, no make that two somebodies...leaving Seyda Neen.
:
"Mostly likely a couple, sera. Strider travel is very popular for newlyweds."Hmm. Darvame mentioned something about that when you first spoke to her. We'll, it's probably nothing.
Sure enough, once you arrive at Seyda Neen, the strider dock is empty. It will probably take a few Morrowind-hours for Darvame to return, but you have some things to take care of first anyway. First thing is to go to the lighthouse to talk to Thavere.
But apparently she's not there. Apart from a few crates and pieces of furniture, the lighthouse is empty and a quick check of the crates reveals them to be empty. Hmm. You head back to the main part of town and start asking around.
:
"Hey, any idea where can I find Thavere Vedrano?"
:
"Lighthouse Thavere? She's gone. She left Seyda Neen. Once she found out that Foryn had been killed for resisting arrest after confessing to murdering Processus, she checked in with the Census office, sold off her things and left town.":
"Any idea where she went?":
"I didn't talk to her myself, but the rumor is that she and Vodunius left together. Apparently he finally managed to pawn off that cursed ring of his on some idiot, and booked passage to the mainland."Hmm. Well, that at least should be easy to check on. Darvame was Vodunius' roomate, and you need to take her ride to get to Gnisis anyway.
* Make sure NOT to miss our appointment with our guard friend!
* Meet up with our guard friend for a drink
One last thing to do before you leave Seyda Neen: talk to Vibius. You find him wandering around in the big open spot by Fargoth's tree stump.
:
"Hey, Vibius."
:
"Greetings, my friend. You're a few days early.":
"Am I?":
"You were just here yesterday. Two more days until Loredas.":
"Yeah. About that. I might have to cancel.":
"Why so?":
"I've decided to join the Legion. I'm on my way to Gnisis now.":
"Ahh. Yes, it might be a while before you have some free time then.":
"I was thinking though," You dig through your backpack and pull out a bottle.
"I happen to have a bottle of greef. We could have that drink now. Unless it's against regulations to drink while on duty?":
"Well, I'm sure an entry in my weekly report that I'd taken a beneficial potion wouldn't be seen as dereliction of duty.":
"Hehe, that works for me."The two of you split the small bottle between you. The liquid burns as it goes down your throat and immediately you're overwhelmed with a sense of tremendous
power.
:
"Wow. That's strong. And I feel...strong.":
"Of course. It's greef."You consider his words for a moment. Then you drop to the ground to do some push-ups. You were never really good at them, but you should be able to at least do a couple. You figure that...oh. WOW. Pushups are nothing.
:
"Wow, this is totally easy."Giggling at how strong you suddenly are, you kick your legs up to try to go into a handstand, but clumsily overextend and fly all the way over and flop onto your back.
:
"Hahaha! This is fun!":
"Well, looks like we know what kind of drunk you are.":
"No, it's not drunk! I'm not drunk! It's just...I've never felt so strong!"Before long the feeling passes, and Vibius helps you back up. You toss the now empty bottle back into your pack.
:
"By the way, I forgot to ask the other day. Who was it who found Processus' body?:
"I wasn't present for the report, but I think it was Varian on patrol that day. Why do you ask?":
"Thavere and Processus were engaged. I thought it might be nice if Thavere could get back her engagement ring, but Socucius said no ring was found on his corpse.":
"What do you mean? If they were engaged, wouldn't she already have it?":
"No, I mean the his ring from her.?":
"She gave him an engagement ring? I'm not familiar with that custom. It's not uncommon for an imperial man to give the woman he intends to marry a plain iron ring to signify that she is his. But I've never heard of a woman doing so. And Thavere was dunmer. So far as I know they don't exchange rings at all. Unless it was part of a dowry, in which case yes it would be proper for her family to get it back."...hmm. Sounds like marriage customs here are a bit different than you assumed. Come to think of it, Thavere never actually specified that it was an engagement ring. In fact...she
never said anything about any ring at all. She only asked about the book he gave her. If Processus' ring was an engagement ring that she gave him, it would be a very obvious thing for her to want back. Is it possible that Processus' ring had no connection to Thavere at all, and it was just a ring that he happened to own?
Unfortunately you have more questions than answers right now. You exchange farewells with Vibius and head to the strider dock. By now, Darvame has returned.
Acrobatics is now 20Max health is now 42:
"Hi, Darvame."
:
"Greetings, sera. May I take you somewhere?":
"Yes, Gnisis please."You hand 44 gold to Darvme and chat along the way.
:
"So Vodnius left Morrowind, huh?":
"No, sera. Only Vvardenfell. He left for Narsis, a city on the southern plains of mainland Morrowind.":
"Oh, right. What about Thavere? Any idea what happened to her?":
"They left together. I took them to Vivec myself, on their way to Ebonheart. She said she could not bear to remain here where so many happy memories taunted her. He wished also to leave, and suggested that they could reduce expenses by travelling together."Hmm. Well, at least that's one loose end taken care of. Hopefully. Probably. ...maybe.
:
"What about you? You were sharing rent with Vodunius, weren't you? What will you do now?":
"I would be concerned about that, sera, except that business has been very brisk of late. Worst case, I have my strider. I don't really need the space. But between you, and all the other travelers coming and going through Seyda Neen of late, I think I needn't worry.":
"Oh, that's right. You weren't here when I arrived.":
"A thousand pardons, sera. I pray that your wait was not long?":
"No, it was no trouble. I had business to take care of anyway. I passed you on the way in from Balmora, and I was just curious about your passengers. Selvil seemed to think you were carrying a wedded couple. Did you talk to them at all?":
"A bit, yes. Though I did more listening than speaking. They were no married couple. It was a dunmer sorceress and an orc.":
"Did you get their names?":
"No, sera, I did not. The orc spent most of his time sulking, and the girl was too busy asking questions to be concerned over simple pleasantries like names.":
"What sort of questions?":
"Mostly the same questions you asked of me when you first arrived. How the strider routes are organized, what happens if two travelers arrive together seeking different destinations, that sort of thing."Hmm. Not sure what to make of that. It could be important. Or it might be nothing. Darvame says they're headed to Balmora. If you want you could head back and maybe catch them.
how about we decide on doing something in the town we're in for once without
getting horribly side-tracked. And maybe finish something we start.
...or not. Come to think of it, having just spent 13 gold to get to Seyda Neen and 44 more to get to Gnisis, you're not going to spend double that just to go back to where you started just to follow a questionable lead that might not mean anything. Right now, it's time to join the Imperial Legion.
(continued in part 2)
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Topic: Marooned in Morrowind (FINISHED) (Read 432723 times)