Episode 44: "The fact that there is a PC running around terrifies me"
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"How sure are you that you're the Nerevarine?"assume that we are the Nerevarine, go after Clover.
We can decide what to do when we get there, the important thing is to get there.
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"Confidant enough to go after Clover."Caius nods.
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"Alright. Here's some gold to help you get to Tel Fyr. It's on an island, so you'll need to some way to cross water if you don't want to be slaughterfish food. And remember that Telvanni mushrooms are generally designed to require levitation to get around."+200 gold:
"Thanks.":
"Good luck."Let's see, before you go is there anything you're forgetting?
Retrieve our Tanto. And get the spear fixed at the next financial opportunity that
won't block us from a goal. We want 2 weapons at all times, if we can help it.
You check under the bed, but don't see your things anywhere.
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"Hey, Caius. What happened to the armor and weapons I left here before I delivered that letter?":
"I had Nine-Toes stash them in his room temporarily. I did mention that I have a cover to maintain and couldn't have adventuring gear laying about. The guard armor especially had to go.":
"Right. Sorry about that. Which is Nine-Toes' place?":
"Down the stairs, then first door on your left."You say goodbye to Caius and head to Nine-Toes' house.
Unfortunately it's locked. You knock, and wait, but there is no answer. Apparently he's out on a mission or something. You briefly consider trying to pick the lock, but decide against it and instead start heading towards to the Fighter's Guild to hopefully pick up some free repair hammers. The voices in your head keep you occupied on the way.
No Michael we aren't Daedra.
Michael: We're all people on a forum telling you what to do. That is literally all there is to us. We're not Daedra, but we're still just as likely to screw you over because we're collectively pretty stupid, but just don't follow the worst of the advice we give and you should be fine.
Michael thinks for moment then frowns.
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"A forum? You mean like a web forum? You're telling me this is an internet forum game? That doesn't make sense. I mean, sure it would explain why there are so many of you and why none of you agree with each other. But it doesn't explain how I got here. It doesn't explain why I have a cellphone. It doesn't explain Vivec. It might explain the'higher self' thing, because...I mean, the idea would be that I'm you, and you're collectively all me, and I do the things you suggest. I get that. But...what about when the world disappeared back in Gnisis? And what about the time loop thing you guys told me about where I died? Some of said you thought the game had been restored from a previous save. How could there have been a game load if this is all being played out on a web forum? And if this is a forum game why do you guys keep talking about there being a PC? If this is a forum game, then presumably you guys would be the players, right? So who's this PC you all keep talking about?"Hey Michael, experiment time!
Getting anything strange from me at the moment? Images, feelings, words between "experiment time" and "Getting anything?"
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"...erm, for a moment I kind of got a picture in my head...I think it was a changeling? Might have been a black horse. And there was purple."How about now? Anything unusual about the preceding sentence? What about this one?
Finally, let me know if you get anything immediately after this sentence.
Michael thinks for a bit.
see if we can get an escort.
as Awesomicus is still a candidate, and is a competent fighter, we should bring him.
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"Yes, a couple of you suggested I get an escort, and one proposed Awesomicus. Which I think is a fantastic idea, actually. Let him be the one to get pecked to death by cliff racers."Arriving at the Fighter's Guild, you head upstairs to find Eydis looking over some documents.
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"Hey, Eydis. Has Awesomicus picked up that note I left?":
"No, haven't seen him. But I have a job for you if you're interested. East Empire Company wants a couple escorts for a pickup they're making in Gnaar Mok. What with the destruction of Khuul, they're awful nervous. Pay's 300 gold for two days work. If you're lucky all you'll need to do is sit on a boat and shine your boots for two days. You in?":
"Hmm. That's tempting, but I'm on an assignment right now and Gnaar Mok is in the opposite direction I need to go. Plus, I don't think this can wait two days. Thanks, though."So no luck on Awesomicus. You could hire some other Fighter's Guild mercenary, but that means paying for it and it might take time for the position to fill. Plus, with the 200 gold Caius gave you, that brings your current total to 468. You're pretty close to being able to afford spellschool training, and you're hesitant to pay for an escort on a trip to Tel Fyr that...barring slaughterfish or cliff racers...will hopefully be uneventful. Though that is a concern. It's a long trip and you're not certain you'd survive an encounter with a cliff racer. You only survived last time because there was a Legion guardpost within running distance. If you were to get caught in the middle of the ocean between a cliff racer in the air and a slaughterfish in the water, that could easily prove fatal. Come to think of it, will you even be able to find the island without an in-game overview map?
Setting those concerns aside for the moment, you check in with the Fighter's Guild supply officer, but no repair hammers are available. So you head across the street to Meldor's armor shop.
You buy a pair of hammers for 40 gold and mostly repair your weapons and armor. It's been a while since you last did this, and it's more difficult than you remember. You end up buying a third hammer to finish the job, then ditching it due to weight when the vendor doesn't want to buy a half-destroyed hammer back from you.
Mercantile skill is now 11Armorer skill is now 7Strength is now 2760 gold seems like a lot for repairs, but your gear is all as good as new again. You certainly don't want a repeat of the rat incident from before.
You step out the door and-
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"CITIZENS OF BALMORA BEWARE!!!!"You duck back into the door and crane your head into the air just in time to catch what appears to be a female dunmer carrying a massive sword leaping from the roof of the building.
She hits the ground running. No armor, looks like. Just clothes and a big sword.
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"THE DOOMPOCALYPSE IS UPON YOU!"A couple guards are trying to chase her. With great difficulty, as she seems to be wearing the Boots of Blinding Speed.
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"HAVE AT THEE, VILE VILLAINS!"Which she uses to dart in circles around them before promptly one-shotting each of them.
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"HA HA! THIRTY POINTS!!!"Discretion being the better part of valor, and running with your tail between your legs being the better part of staying not-dead, you quickly close the door, smile weakly at Meldor, then proceed to hide in his basement. You're suddenly reminded of something one of the voices said shortly after you first arrived.
Okay, the fact that there is a PC running around terrifies me. This means that we should act as though this were the worst case scenario. We will be dealing with a PC who is a complete psychopath, who will liberally depopulate entire settlements in order to achieve their ends and will do all Daedric quests to their completion for immense power.
Yes, that was the line. You remember it quite well. And while you can't confirm whether that dunmer's a PC, or even whether the distinction between PC and NPC even exists here, you're pretty sure you just saw a psycho-crazy dunmer chick not even bothering to wear armor take out three guards while shouting about how many points they were worth. Hiding under the bed for extra safety, you weigh your options.
get to Tel Fyr ASAP
Nothing is gained from being unsure at this point. Take the risk.
intercept Clover and speak to Divayth Fyr
Take the risk.
Sigh.
You stay hidden under the bed for another hour then cautiously head back upstairs and poke your head out of the shop. Seeing no corpses, you rush to the Mage's Guild and pay the 11 gold fee for transport to Sadrith Mora.
You nervously exhale a breath you hadn't realized you were holding.
Level 7
Health 59/59
Magick 69/69
Armor rating: 4
27.0 Strength (20)
34.9 Speed (30)
36.9 Agility (30)
39.9 Endurance (30)
42.4 Intelligence (40)
40.0 Willpower (40)
44.2 Personality (40)
56.0 Luck (50)
Numbers in parenthesis are starting values
30 Acrobatics (0)
22 Athletics (5)
7 Armorer (0)
6 Block (0)
7 Heavy Armor (0)
5 Medium Armor (0)
21 Light armor (0)
9 Unarmored (0)
5 Blunt Weapon
12 Hand to Hand
5 Longblade
6 Shortblade
8 Spear
7 Alchemy (0)
5 Enchanting (0)
20 Speechcraft (10)
11 Mercantile (0)
* Cruel Viperblade
* Chitin shield
* Colovian fur "helm"
* Chitin left + right gauntlets
* Chitin greaves
* Chitin cuirass
* Chitin left + right pauldrons
* Chitin boots
* Combat belt
* Commoner's shirt
* Commoner's pants
* Interior coinpurse, containing:
* 97 gold
* 2 Standard restore health potions
* lockpick
Backpack (Worn)
Main compartment:
* Tennis shoes
* A strange note that reads 'Remember, we are watching you.'
* Letter of introduction from Ranis Athrys
* Yellow notepad with 54 pages left
* 1 pen
* "20% cooler" Rainbow Dash t-shirt,
* Denim pants
* a cellphone and wallet with picture ID and $30 in cash
* 2 soulgems of uncertain size
* 30 Whickwheat(?)
Small compartment
* 300 gold
* 8 empty bottle
* 2 Ampoule Pod
* 1 Black Anther
* 18 Bonemeal(?)
* 1 bread
* 7 bungler's bane
* 5 Chokeweed
* 3 Corkbulb
* 1 kwama cuttle
* 25 Heather
* 3 hypha facia
* 11 luminous russula
* 4 Racer Plume
* 1 Rat Meat
* 8 saltrice
* 1 Scamp Skin
* 2 Stoneflower petals(?)
* 5 spore pod
* 6 violet coprinus
Blades, Novice
Imperial Legion, Recruit
Fighter's Guild, Associate (1 quest completed)
Mage Guild, Associate
* Steel tanto, with scabbard and carrying straps
* Imperial steel Cuirass
* Apprentice mortar and pestle
Alit Hide [1]Resist Poison
Ampoule Pod [1]Restore speed
Black Anther [1]Resist poison
Bread [1]Restore Fatigue
Bungler's Bane [1]Drain agility
Chokeweed [1]Drain health
Coda Flower [1]Restore luck
Comberry [1]Drain health
Corkbulb Root [1]Restore luck
Crab Meat [1]Restore fatigue
Gravedust [1]Burden
Green Lichen [1]Night Eye
Heather [1]Poison
Hound Meat [1]Poison
Hypha facia [1]Drain speed
Kwama cuttle [1]Restore health
Luminous russ. [1]Paralysis
Marshmerrow [1]Resist common disease
Muck [1]Poison
Racer plume [1]Levitate
Rat meat [1]Poison
Roobrush [1]Restore intelligence
Saltrice [1]Restore endurance
Scale [1]Swift swim
Scathecraw [1]Paralyze
Spore pod [1]Paralysis
Sm. Kwama Egg [1]Restore Fatigue
Violet coprinus [1]Water Walking
Willow Anther [1]Water Breathing
What do you do?