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[Parsely]

There's the god Vivec, living in a city he humbly named after himself. According to the sermons he wrote, he can make his butt hole or any part of his body as large or small as he wants, implying that he takes it up the butt from the Daedra.

All the Daedra.

[LordBucket]

Episode 6: On to Vivec

I say we go to vivec

+1 to going to Vivec.

The PC will most likely attempt a powerbase in Balmora. I say we make ours in Vivec.

we'd better go to Vivec and notify him about this.

Balmora is the most common place for early game players to use as a base of operations. You're not certain whether the dunmer you saw is a player or not, or whether she's the Nerevarine, but either way...you figure she's heading to Balmora and so you're going to go someplace else: Vivec.

First question is, how to get there? You know the way. You could run. It would be good acrobatics training, but there the odds of running into alits or cliff racers or something dangerous are fairly high. That leaves the stilt strider. But you don't actually have any money yet.

Seyda Neen's probably mostly untouched and we should probably loot what's relatively moral to loot.

You step outside the census office to go on a looting spree when immediately you notice that the sky is the wrong color. You walk out from between the buildings to see the sun will be setting soon.



You check your cellphone. It seems to think it's 1:25pm. You've only been here, what...10 minutes and the sun is already setting?

Clearly time passes much faster here. You don't really want to travel at night. Better do this fast. Where can you grab some quick loot? The lighthouse? No, that will take too long. Rather than risk the guards seeing you check every private residence to see which are and which aren't occupied, you head to Fargoth's hiding spot.



It's empty.

Wait...that's right. There a prerequisite for that, isn't there? Something to do with Hrisskar? That dunmer you saw leaving the census office took the note. You're not sure if you can meet the prerequisite quest triggers without it, and even if you can simply by talking to Hrisskar, it's possible you might have to wait until sundown for Fargoth to actually hide his stuff.

Then you remember how Tarhiel never landed. It's possible quest triggers don't even work at all here. Or maybe this is earlier or later in the timeline? Have these quests already been completed?

You just don't have enough information.

Sighing, you'd decide to deal with the immediate realities: There's nothing in the tree stump right now, and the sun is going down. You decide to get to Vivec now and worry about the nature of this universe later. Fortuanately you do have some loot from the census office storeroom.

: "Hey, Arille. I, uhh...found some stuff. How much can you give me for this?"

Arille doesn't even blink as he looks over the alchemy ingredients and tableware you looted from the census office storeroom. Either he doesn't realize you stole it, or he just doesn't care.

: "14 septims."

: "Can you give me 20?"

: "14 septims."

: "18?"

: "14."

: "16?"

: "14"

: "...15?"

: "Done."

Received 15 septims

Arille drives a hard bargain, but right now you'll take it. You head out and cross the bridge leading out of town, nervously watching the sky as you go, resting occasionally between spurts of jumping.

Acrobatics skill is now 2

By the time you reach the silt strider the sun doesn't look like it's any lower than it was, but it's kind of hard to tell and it's probably only been about a minute since you last checked. You briefly consider that maybe it only moves when you're not looking at it, but it might just be that the sun was moving across the sky the entire time you spent running to Seyda Neen, but you just weren't paying attention. It didn't occur to you that time would pass so quickly here.



: "Hello, outlander. I'm Darvame. May I take you somewhere?"

: "Hi. How much to Vivec?"

: "9 septims."

paid 9 septims for silt strider travel

The silt strider walks in great lumbering bounds on its long legs. From your height in the seat, it's difficult to gauge speed, but it's obviously much faster than walking would have been. But the real benefit to strider travel becomes evident when you spy an alit on the road, easily hundreds of pounds and with teeth as big as your hand. You watch as the strider approaches, then effortlessly steps over the alit, which pays it no mind.

Within minutes, the city of Vivec, and soon after the Vivec strider station, become visible over the receding line of flora. Noticing that there is only one strider berth, you begin wondering at the mechanics of the system.

: "How do we get off with the other strider in the way?"

: "The Vivec dock is large enough that we'll just berth at a different edge, but at smaller docks like mine, the stationed driver would move her strider to make room for the new arrival. Once I drop you off, I'll head back to Seyda Neen."

: "What if...what happens, say... if two striders arrive at one place at the same time? Or if you arrive at a dock and there's nobody there?"

: "Sometimes that happens, but we work it out. Traffic problems are pretty rare, and I've never seen anyone get too upset when they happen. People who are in a hurry usually travel by magic rather than strider."

: "What if two people arrive at your station at the same time but want to go to different places?"

: "I've come close a couple times, like today, but I've been a caravener for years and I've never seen it happen. There isn't enough traffic that it would happen. Locals usually prefer to walk or teleport, and cargo carriers aren't usually in such a hurry that if two arrived together the extra wait would bother them much. Vvardenfell is a small island. Strider travel is more for convenience than speed. Some of the northern strider routes, and of course Vivec station runs cargo more regularly, but being based out of Seyda Neen like I am, it's very rare for me to see as much as one passenger per week. Usually newlyweds, or the occasional outlander like yourself. Today's been a very good day for me. "

: "And you can make a living off that little traffic?"

She shrugs.

: "It might not seem glamorous to you, but it's a better life than I'd have in the Ashlands, or working a kwama mine. I'm a free woman. I'm not beholden to anyone. No slavemasters to grovel for, no Telvanni mage lords to worry about, no foreign empire company hounding me over their bottom line. Just me, my strider, and the wind in my hair. I can live with that. But, if you'll excuse me sera, we've arrived. Thank you for you business."



You dismount and check your cellphone. The trip took 4 minutes, and you were able to watch the sun visibly set during that time. First you remember checking the time after your arrival in Morrowind, it was 1:17 and the sun was a bit off of center directly above you. But you don't know if it was before or after "noon" local time. It's now 1:32 and the sun set a couple minutes ago. So...a day in Morrowind is probably about 45 minutes to an hour? No wonder vendors stay at their shops throughout the night. It must be normal to be awake for days...no, weeks at a time, here. Or do sleep cycles happen more often? It's been half a day local time, but you still don't feel hungry or tired at all.

Contemplating this new information you watch as Darvame undocks her silt strider and begins her trip back to Seyda Neen. Only then does it occur to you that she must have taken that female dunmer you saw earlier somewhere too, and then returned to Seyda Neen just before arrived at her station. That's what she meant by today being a very good day for business. You facepalm briefly, as you realize that if it had occurred to you, you could have asked her about her passenger, and maybe got a name...almost definitely you could have asked where she was delivered to.



As you cross the bridge into the city of Vivec, it starts raining.



Known stats
Acrobatics: 2

Status:
Healthy and sated.

Worn:
 * Denim pants, with pockets containing: 6 septims, a cellphone and wallet with picture ID and $30 in cash
 * "20% cooler" Rainbow Dash t-shirt,
 * Tennis shoes

Backpack
Main compartment:
 * Yellow notepad with 60 pages left
 * 1 pen


What do you do?

[Mono124]

Find an alchemist and have them teach you the basics for as little as possible.

Sorta off topic, but this type of lets play reminds me of this which was a fanfic some guy made about a god game I used to play called Black and White. He made a second but sadly never finished it.

[shadenight123]

Damn!
I got here late.
I wanted to warn that there's a small stash of silver goblet and money within an empty trunk near the lighthouse, just next to the wooden walkway. Furthermore, we could have looted the lighthouse.

Oh well...

[Haspen]

I'm definitely PTWing this.

[Gamerlord]

Go stealing!

[WillowLuman]

Since dollar bills have some high tech features (microprinting and whatnot), they might be of interest to someone with a magnifying glass. In fact, I'm sure we could find someone interested in our modern devices, even if we don't want to sell them. Maybe we could charge admission to see the magical glowy time keeping device.

Anyways, we need to acquire a scroll of Ondusi's unhinging from the Mage's guild, so we can go in and talk to Vivec. If anyone might help us figure out what's going on, it would be him. Normally he doesn't speak to people who barge in, but he might if he realizes we're from another world.

[Frumple]

Anyways, we need to acquire a scroll of Ondusi's unhinging from the Mage's guild, so we can go in and talk to Vivec. If anyone might help us figure out what's going on, it would be him. Normally he doesn't speak to people who barge in, but he might if he realizes we're from another world.

... I'll support this course of action.

[Mono124]

Anyways, we need to acquire a scroll of Ondusi's unhinging from the Mage's guild, so we can go in and talk to Vivec. If anyone might help us figure out what's going on, it would be him. Normally he doesn't speak to people who barge in, but he might if he realizes we're from another world.

... I'll support this course of action.

Scratch what I said earlier. I also support this.

[CognitiveDissonance]

Why did I not PTW here? PTW.

I don't know the game well enough, but I can assist with some insight.

As far as interactions with the PC, if we need to survive, collect skill books and sell them at a fraction of the cost if ever confronted with the PC. Only offer a few at a time to help them keep us alive. Do not fight if and when pick-pocketed.

The most vulnerable spot, at least from what I remember, is the first Dunmer mine. Now we know how TECHNOLOGY works! Maybe it's worth our while to visit that ahead of time, and prepare a little trap for the PC. If we can catch them, maybe we can chat.

[Fniff]

Trade 30 pages of notebook paper for a night at the inn.

[Parsely]

Anyways, we need to acquire a scroll of Ondusi's unhinging from the Mage's guild, so we can go in and talk to Vivec. If anyone might help us figure out what's going on, it would be him. Normally he doesn't speak to people who barge in, but he might if he realizes we're from another world.

... I'll support this course of action.

Scratch what I said earlier. I also support this.

+1

[Funk]

let go speak to vivce.

what do we do it we have one of those players than never get all the far in the main quest?

[LordBucket]

Episode 7: Funding the trip to nowhere

acquire a scroll of Ondusi's unhinging from the Mage's guild, so we can go in and talk to Vivec.

... I'll support this course of action.

I also support this.

+1

let go speak to vivce.

With a potentially dangerous player in the game, you decide the best course of action is to go straight to Vivec. You know the way, but you'll need a 100 point unlock spell to get in. That presents a bit of a problem. Ordinarily you'd just train any generic unlock spell and make a custom 100 point version at a spellmaker, but at present you don't even know if you can use magic at all...let alone magic of that difficulty. So, a scroll, maybe? After all, the whole point of scrolls is that they allow non-mages to use magic. So why not you? You know that 100 point scrolls do exist. In fact, you're pretty sure you end up with one at some point while doing the mage guild quest tree, but you don't remember which quest or chest gives it, or if it's in Vivec at all.

Well, first thing to do is head to the Mage guild. Better get started. It's a long way to the top.



It's a really long way to the top.



Eventually you reach the guild hall in the top floor plaza of the foreign quarter.



Acrobatics skill is now 8 (Seriously. I tested it in game. You went from 2 to 8 going from the city entrance to the mage guild.)

acquire a scroll of Ondusi's unhinging

You walk in and find the enchanting vendor, Janand Maulinie.

: "Hi. I'm not a member of the guild. Do you sell to the general public?"

She sniffs at you.

: "Yeah, equipment and travel is open to the public. Even outlanders like you. What can I get you?"

: "Well, I was hoping to buy a scroll to cast a spell, but I don't know any magic. So...can I do that? Use a scroll to cast a spell?"

: "As long as you're able to read, yes." She pauses. "You can read, can't you?"

: "English?"

: "What?"

: "...Cyrodiil?"

: "Oh. Yes, the Imperial tongue is standard for magic and commerce. Has been for a couple centuries now, since everyone speaks it. Personally, I've lived in Morrowind all my life and I don't even know more than a couple dozen dunmer words."

: "So all I need to do is hold the scroll and read it?"

: "Pretty much. Which scroll are you looking to buy?"

: "Ondusi's Unhinging. Do you have any in stock?"

She rolls her eyes.

: "Yes, it's a very popular choice among law-abiding, upstanding citizens who accidentally leave possessions that definitely belong to them in magically locked chests that they own and most certainly didn't steal because stealing is wrong."

She shakes her head briefly then pulls out a scroll and shows it to you.

: "Here you go. Can you read that?"

: "Ondusi's Unhinging. Woe is-"

She quickly jerks the scroll back and rolls it back up.

: "I'll take that as a yes. The scroll is enchanted to touch, so all you need to do is touch the locked item and read the trigger words on the scroll. Eye contact with the scroll is required, though. You can't just say the words, you have to read them out loud. Also, you only need to read the trigger words, not the title. And yes, in case you're wondering, the trigger words themselves have nothing to do with the spell. You're not actually casting any magic, remember? The enchanter who makes the scroll can make the trigger words be anything. You could have "bunnies are fluffy and cute" be the trigger for a fireball if you wanted. In this case, those particular three words are sort of a general default. I don't know who started the trend, but most mage guild enchanting trainers use those when teaching enchanting, and it just sort of become the standard go-to trigger for mass produced scrolls that we sell. Most the scrolls I sell all use the same trigger."

: "Just an arbitrary convention? Sort of like foo and Hello world?"

: "...what?"

: "Nevermind. Thank you. You've been very helpful. How much for the scroll?"

: "157 septims."

You have 6.

Go stealing!

Assuring Janand that you'll be back for the scroll soon, you start walking for the stairs.

: "Whoa! You're not seriously planning on looting the guild are you? I'm right here you know."

: "Uhhh...why, no. Of course not. I was just...going to talk to Trebonius about joining the guild. "

She shakes her head and mutters something under her breath about thieves not being as smart as they used to be.

: "Go on, get out here. Go look somewhere else for stuff to steal."

It's too bad you're not a member of the guild. If you were, you could raid the equipment chest and come up with 200 septims worth of stuff easy. Unfortunately, you're pretty sure there's no way they'd accept you as a member without any knowledge of spellcasting, alchemy, enchanting, or anything at all they they care about. At some point that might become an issue, but for now the immediate problem is just to come up with a 157 septims. You step outside and start looking around for...



...oh. that's convenient. There are a bunch of crates and urns in an alley just across the plaza. You look around to make sure nobody looks like they're headed in that direction and nonchalantly walk to the side of the building and start going through the crates. You find 22 gold, two elongated greenish crystals that you're pretty sure are soulgems, some assorted alchemical ingredients, some junk tableware, and....SCORE! Two potions. The bottles are a lot smaller than you imagined. Just big enough to fit in your fist without extending much beyond the flesh of your palm. Looks like they're made out of some kind of ceramic with a cork stopper, and each bottle holds about a shot worth of liquid. You'd guess it's pretty fast to drink. Checking the bottom, you see that they've been labeled for your convenience. Exclusive Restore Endurance and Quality Restore Intellect. Hmm. Maybe that's a convention, just like the scrolls trigger words. The potions are pretty much worthless, but they'll sell for a bit at least. Not sure that it will be enough though.

You grab everything except the tableware, and walk back out as nonchalantly as you went in. What now?



...sure, that works. You step inside the fighter's guild, wave at the master-of-arms and walk right past him. He nods to you and goes back to standing there. Well, that was easy. Unfortunately, looking around you don't find any stray chests and you don't really want to linger in case somebody notices you don't belong. On your way back out though, you notice that the guild equipment chest is hidden away in a corner by the entrance without anyone nearby.



You head to that corner, stand around for about 15 seconds to see if anyone comes to investigate...then open the chest.

Jackpot!

100 each iron arrows and crossbow bolts, 25 assorted restoration potions, a very silly looking fur hat, and 10 smithing hammers. Quite a lot more than you can fit in your backpack. You decide to leave the arrows since they're bulky, and most of the hammers because they're heavy.

You close the chest and put your pack back on, then listen quietly for a moment and walk out the front door of the guild as if you belonged there all along. Nobody stops you. You're not really surprised. Even if this feels more real than the game world does, it was a community chest that you looted. It's specifically for random odds and ends that aspiring new fighter's guild members can take from as they like. You're not a member, but obviously it's not something they guard very closely. Still, figuring you may as well look the part, you pull the silly fur hat from your bag and put it on. You're not exactly sure how much it will protect you from anything besides cliff racer droppings, but it does keep your ears nice and warm.

New statistic: Armor rating is now 1

You head to the building across from the fighter's guild, which happens to house a blacksmith. He buys the arrows and smithing hammers for 74 gold, lightening your backpack by nearly 20 pounds in the process. Still, for all that weight, it was really volume that prevented you from taking the rest of what was in the chest. Regardless of weight, you can only fit so much in your backpack. Volume was never an issue in game, but clearly it is an issue here.

Considering that, you head back to the mage's guild to pawn off the restore potions to Craetia, the alchemist. She not only checks the labels, but also unstoppers each potions and smells it before accepting the sale, giving you 99 septims, bringing your total to 201. That still leaves you the 25 assorted potions from the fighter's guild chest. You pull them out and look at them. 10 Cheap Restore health, 10 Standard Restore Fatigue and 5 Standard Restore Health. You kind of don't want to sell them. They could be useful, and you already have the money you need. But feeling the weight difference those potions make...it's about 20 pounds worth of potions. You settle on selling the 10 cheap potions. They're a pound each, so ten pounds less weight for low quality potions. Craetia gives you 56 for the bunch, bringing your total to 257 septims.

And that introduces a new problem. Coins have weight. Each septim is about the size of a penny, but they're kind of heavy. You're guessing they're really gold.

Spoiler: math (click to show/hide)

A penny is .36 cubic centimeters.
Gold weighs 19.32 grams per CC

One gold septime therefore weighs 19.32 / (1 / .36) = 6.955 grams which is .0153 pounds

Rounding for simplicity, 65 septims weighs one pound

Your pile of coins is small enough to fit in one hand, but it weighs nearly 4 pounds. There's going to be a very real upper limit to what you can carry. Fortunately, that's a problem for later.

acquire a scroll of Ondusi's unhinging from the Mage's guild, so we can go in and talk to Vivec.

: "Hi. I'm back for the scroll."

: "That's nice. It's still 157 septims."

You continue to chat while counting out the coins.

: "Heh. You have no idea how convenient it is that you carry this scroll. For a while I was totally convinced that I'd have to learn alteration magic just to buy a basic unlock spell, then have a spellmaker make a custom max-level unlock version of it then spend forever training up to be able to cast it. This is a real life-saver."

: "This isn't a a max level unlock scroll."

: "...what?"



: "Ondusi's Unhinding only provides a very medium level of unlocking power. If you need to open a max level lock, that's Ekash's Locksplitter. I don't carry those, and I don't know anyone who does. People who accidentally leave things that they own because stealing is wrong in chests that they also own because stealing chests would also be wrong don't usually use master grade alteration spells when they accidentally lock them."

Oh. Oops.

Well, there are three bright sides to all of this: first, you're now quite a lot richer than you were. Second...now that you think about it, you're pretty sure the door to Vivec has a rather nasty fire trap on it. Even if you did get the door open, it would almost certainly fry you. Third, all that running around you did has revealed and leveled some stats and attributes:

Athletics skill is now 6
Acrobatics skill is now 10
Strength is now 31
Speed is now 31


Location
Vivec Mage Guild

Known stats
Armor rating: 1

Attributes
Strength: 31
Speed: 31

Skills
Acrobatics: 10
Athletics: 6

Status:
Healthy and sated.

Worn:
 * Colovian fur "helm"
 * Denim pants, with pockets containing: 257 septims, a cellphone and wallet with picture ID and $30 in cash
 * "20% cooler" Rainbow Dash t-shirt,
 * Tennis shoes

Backpack
Main compartment:
 * Yellow notepad with 60 pages left
 * 1 pen
 * 2 soulgems of uncertain size
 * 10 Standard Restore Fatigue potions
 * 5 Standard Restore Health potions

Small compartment
 * 4 plant parts that you're pretty sure is saltrice
 * 2 chunks of some kind of gooey flesh



What do you do?

[shadenight123]

We could just do a quick back to Start point and acquire the loot we left behind?
Then head for the cave and try and free the slaves within?