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 healthHealed 39/40 --> 40/40 healthcheck 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.
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?