Episode 55: Caius' final report, learning destruction, and 'Epic mage duel for the win'
ask the guide about timing and other factors. How long has it been since they left? How long will the duel probably last? Is there an admission fee, are seats likely to be open
The duel would probably be a one-shot spell or sword hit, you know.
You head back downstairs.
:
"Hey, Masalinie, is it too late to catch the duel?"She glances up at the sun.
:
"It's supposed to start at noon. If you're fast you might get there in time.":
"How long do these things usually last? Is this going to be a one-hit-kill, or will there actually be any fighting?":
"It depends. I've seen duels that ended after two or three spells. But Ranis is the second most powerful sorcerer we have. Plus she's a couple hundred years old. I don't think you live that long without learning a few tricks.":
"You think she'll win?"She hesitates.
:
"I hope so. "That doesn't sound optimistic. No point making the trip only to be two minutes late to a one minute duel.
check in with cauis. Report what weve learned about sexywithers, and what we suspect, as well as our failure
to intercept Clover. Tie it in with what we already knew, try to keep him informed. Also mention the whole mage guild vampire character
You cross the river though town and head to Caius's apartment. The door is locked. You knock, and after a moment a Nord you don't recognize opens the door and lets you in. After closing the door behind you he crosses his arms and silently watches you like a hawk.
:
"Ahh, Michael. I see you don't have corprus.":
"I never found Clover. But I did talk to Divayth Fyr, a few of his daughters, and Yagrum Bagarn. All of them except Yagrum agreed that Clover arrived a few days ago, but somehow we missed each other."Caius raises an eyebrow.
:
"Yagrum Bagarn? So that rumor is true, then?":
"Last living dwarf, yes. Has corprus. Lower half of his body replaced with dwarven spider legs. Says he was in another dimension when his race disappeared. He came back, went insane, caught corprus, heard Dagoth Ur taling in his head to come help him build a second Numidium, but the ghost fence guards caught him and sent him to the corprusarium, where he's been ever since."Caius seems lost in thought.
:
"Go on.":
"Apprently our plan to get me infected wouldn't have worked. According to Uupse Fyr, it's not possible to catch corprus from casual contact. Actually, she says it's not possible to contract corprus even from direct blood on blood contact, corprus pus, sores...she says the only way to contract it is from 'direct magical contact' with a high ranking ash creature. Whatever that means.":
"That contradicts a great deal of evidence to the contrary, but the Fyr's are the generally accepted experts on corprus. I'll keep it under advisement.":
"Why not send someone to talk to them? Access to the island is restricted by the council, but I walked, well...swam in, without much difficulty.":
"You're only the second of my operatives to ever return from Tel Fyr."That's something you would have liked to have known before you went.
:
"Who was the first? SexyWithers? Is she an operative?":
"The new Telvanni Councilor? No, I have preciously few assets in House Telvanni."So Sexywithers isn't in the Blades. So much for that theory.
:
"Who was the other operative who made it out? Clover? Is she back?":
"I've received no reports on the whereabouts of that operative since she was dispatched to Tel Fyr."That might mean she's dead. Hard to say. You didn't get the chance to talk to Divayth on the way out, but if Clover had died drinking the potion, wouldn't Beyte have known about it? All she said was that she hadn't seen Clover leave. Is she still at Tel Fyr? Of course, she might have simply recalled out. Nobody would have seen that. But didn't Divayth say that he had recall wards in place? Is recalling out of Tel Fyr even possible? Maybe she went to the corprusarium and was killed. Or simply walked out the front door while Beyte was eating dinner. Or if she's a PC like the voices keep suggesting, maybe she logged out. You've been here for two months. Back in Seyda Neen you remember a day in Morrowind being something like 45 minutes according to your cellphone. That's what, 2 days roughly? If Clover is on a computer somewhere on not-Morrowind time, it's pretty unlikely she'd sit and play for that long.
:
"What else?"We bear the Mark of Azura, Clover does not.
:
"Remember my theory that I'm the Nerevarine?":
"Of course.":
"Apparently I bear the mark of Azura. Clover doesn't.":
"Go on."He took that way too casually.
:
"You mean you knew?":
"It's something the Blades have known about for a very long time. Given the nature of your particular situations, it was one of the things I checked for.""One of the things." Caius keeps a lot of secrets, doesn't he?
here are a couple of skooma addicts involved in some quests, in Morrowind as well as in other Elder Scrolls games. I can't
think off the top of my head of any skooma addicts relevant to the main plotline of Morrowind, but maybe there's one.
Wait...Caius' cover story here in Balmora is that he's a skooma addict.
:
"Do you have it too?"For the tiniest fraction of a second, he doesn't respond.
:
"Yes."You close your eyes and peer into his head. You can't make out much. He's got a lot of clutter in there. But assuming he's not lying, Vivec, Divayth, the High Fane, Caius the 'skooma addict,' Yagrum...and you? Are you an 'essential character' for the main quest? What would that even mean?
:
"What is it?":
"I'm not even sure how to explain this. But Azura's Mark, I think it might mean that people who have it are important to Morrowind.":
"Important in what way?":
"Crucial. Essential. Part of whatever cosmic behind-the-scenes clockwork makes stuff happen here."Caius ponders that.
:
"Similar theories have been proposed, but it's unlikely to relate to Morrowind directly. There are records of people bearing her mark that go back centuries in provinces across Tamriel. Some have lived their entire lives never having set foot in Morrowind.":
"So maybe it has more to do with Azura? It is her mark, after all.":
"Presumably. Azura has always refused to answer questions about it.":
"You've asked her?":
"Not personally, but others have. Do you have anything else to report?":
"A vampire named Adorabella challenged Ranis for leadership of the Balmora mage guild.":
"Yes, I have someone monitoring that situation now. Anything else?":
"No, I guess that's it.":
"Very well. I'm afraid I have some unfortunate news. I've been recalled to the Imperial City, and will no longer be able to oversee the situation here."Contrary to appearances, this was written last night prior to The_Jester and HugoLuman's comments.
:
"I'm assigning you, and every other operative on Vvardenfell to independent status. That means as soon as I leave, nobody outranks you and you're all on your own. You each have your respective objectives. Do your duty. Also, as the only spymaster in Vvardenfell with the ability to do so, I'll be removing everyone's identifier marks that I can before I leave. This means that those of you who don't already know each other won't recognize one another. But it also means that if we become compromised, nobody else will either."Caius waves a hand at you. You don't quite see what was removed, but you sense that a small space in your right hand just cleared up. Probably doesn't affect you much, since you never knew for sure you had one or what it looked like. Though it does mean that other Blades members will no longer be able to identify you.
:
"Incidentally Michael, Nine-Toes has been reassigned to Black Marsh. I asked him to liquidate any assets he didn't take with him, and your equipment in his care was sold. "Yeah, probably shouldn't have left that stuff laying around for the past month. Caius hands you small pouch with 62 gold, which you toss in your bag. At this point the money is probably more useful than the couple weapons were just laying around in Nine-Toes' house. Although you're pretty sure there was a mortar and pestle in there too. That's unfortunate, but it's not like you had any plans to get a full set of alchemy tools anytime soon anyway. You're more concerned about the implications for the Main Quest of his leaving. After being cured of corprus, Caius is supposed to issue a quest to go talk about the Lost Prophecies with Mihla Milo in Vivec City, which leads to various trials, a trip through a tediously long Ashlander burial site, then convincing each of the Ashlander tribes to acknowledge you as the Nerevarine, and each of the three Great houses to acknowledge you as Hortator.
...wait. What would happen if each of the tribes and Great Houses decided to back a different person?
:
"Caius, have any of the Great Houses announced Hortators?":
"Not to my knowledge. Why?":
"Just humor me for a moment. There's a new Telvanni tower being built at Uvirith's Grave in Molag Amur. Tel Uvirith.":
"Yes, for their new Councilor, SexyWithers.":
"Have the Hlaalu or Redoran built any new strongholds recently?":
"Yes, Bella Manor just outside of Balmora and Castle Awesome at Bal Isra.":
"Let me guess, Bella Manor belongs to Adorabella and Castle Awesome belongs to Awesomicus Maximus.":
"Also, there's rumor of a new construction near Lake Amaya north of the Dren Plantation.":
"And who does that belong to?":
"Reports have been inconclusive.":
"Damn. I don't even know anymore.":
"Is there a problem?":
"I don't know. I thought I had a handle on what was going on here, but so much is different than I expected. Some of this I didn't even think was possible. What are the political implications of all these new strongholds?":
"Minimal. Duke Dren is well aware of the power struggles among the Great Houses. Authorizing one new stronghold for each of them maintains the appearance of balance. The rumor of a fourth is troubling. More so that I haven't been able to confirm it, but given its alleged proximity to Duke Dren's family estate, it seems unlikely to be a source of volatility. It might be a personal holding.":
"Appearance of balance? What about reality? If it came to war, what would happen?":
"Difficult to say. Of the three Great Houses, the Telvanni have by far the most raw power, but historically they've gone to great lengths to avoid large scale conflict. Divayth Fyr is a huge wildcard, but even if he remained neutral nobody really knows what Gothren or the other Councilors could do if they decided to go to war. Neither of the other two Houses are eager to find out. By my estimations, any three of their magelords could personally wipe out both other Great Houses in mere days, but they've expressed no interest in doing so. They're more interested in their respective hobbies. No, open war is unlikely. But backdoor dealings and assassinations? Yes, always.":
"How sure are you of that? I was talking to a boat merchant who described Aryon as a wacko.":
"Councilor Aryon? Of all the councilors he's been by far the most supportive of Imperial efforts.":
"It's possible that might be what she meant by wacko. She also said that rumor in House Telvanni was that Aryon had arranged for SexyWithers to become a councilor because he had some kind of plan for her. And I saw her kill a couple guards in Balmora several days ago. She might not have the same outlook as the other councilors.":
"You witnessed the guard massacre? That was SexyWithers? You're certain?":
"...erm...well, not very. I've never actually seen the councilor for sure, and while I did see the massacre, I was hiding in the door to Meldor's armor shop at the time.":
"Describe what you saw.":
"A dunmer woman in dark clothes with dark hair, no armor and a big sword. She leapt from a rooftop above me and hit the ground running like it was nothing. Three guards were chasing her. She ran in circles around them, literally circles...then one-shotted each of the three of them.":
"Councilor SexyWithers does have dark hair, but that's not much to go on. You're certain you saw nothing else?":
"Nothing comes to mind.":
"Very well. You'll be on your own now, operative. I realize you were never with us for the glory of the Empire, but remember what you told me: Regardless of individual allegiances, every one of us loses if Dagoth Ur comes to power.":
"Yeah.":
"Dismissed."You step outside and lean against a wall, taking all this in. Four new strongholds, and one of them in a non-vanilla location? Caius leaving early? The main quest possibly broken? The possibility that you might be an essential npc, whatever that means? You really need to figure out what's going on before this whole thing blows up. Khuul has already been annihilated, Pelagiad attacked and you suspect there was a reason the corprusarium was more populated than you'd anticipated. With the Blades leadership leaving, now would be a good time for Dagoth Ur to make his next move.
Go to Caldera
training
You return to the mage guild and pay 12 gold for transport to Caldera.
It seems mostly deserted too. Curiously, it seems there's a new guild guide.
:
"Hello. I don't think we've met. I'm Michael."
:
"Eraamion.":
"What happened to the old guide?":
"Emelia was discharged for abandoning her post."Heheh, oops. That was partly your doing, wasn't it? Well, you did say you'd rather walk than have her teleport you while drunk.
:
"So how does that work, you getting her job?":
"Every guildhall has a fixed number of openings, and there's a certification process for every position. It's first come first served regardless of rank. Except leadership positions which are vied for."You vaguely remember the enchantress at Wolverine Hall talking about certifications for daedra summoning.
:
"So what's the incentive? Why would you want to stand here all day teleporting people around? Sounds boring.":
"Are you kidding? I'm here for the money. This is one of the best stations in the guild and I keep half of what I collect. I get to stay in out of the rain in a nice warm building with no monsters trying to kill me, talking to friends, practicing magic, and every now and then somebody walks up and hands me 10-20 gold for 10 seconds worth of work.":
"What happens to the half you don't keep?":
"Guild branch head and the Archmage split it."So Trebonious is one rich man.
:
"What's the catch?":
"The catch is that you can't leave because the second you do somebody takes your spot. First come first served. I finished my certifications last year, got in as an enchanter and I was waiting for six months for Emeila to take her leave. She got drunk and then rather than activating the pad she recalled herself along with some poor customer to who knows where. Soon as I saw that I talked to Folms and the job was mine within minutes.":
"What happens to her?":
"She showed up a few hours later without any blood, so I assume it didn't end too badly. No idea what happened to her passenger. She lost her station but I doubt she has any regrets. I don't know how long she was here before I arrived, but six months as a guide? At least? Plus, she was smart. Most of us blow our money on restore magicka potions. 20 minutes worth of spell training, then back to waiting for another customer. Which is great if you're the guy at the alchemy station selling the potions. But Emelie didn't do that. She's probably set for life.":
"How much do you make doing this?":
"I've been averaging about 25 gold a day. That's the great thing about guide station. It's steady. As an enchanter I'd routinely go weeks without seeing any customers and half those I did see didn't buy anything. Here, I routinely see as many as a couple customer a day."In a world where nobody needs to eat or sleep, the economy of all this makes a strange amount of sense. Sadly, he's probably making more money standing around than you have been fighting and questing. Time to skill up and fix that.
:
"I'm actually here for spellschool training. Is Folms in?":
"No, it's just me and Medila downstairs. Somebody challenged Ranis for leadership of the Balmora mage guild. Folms and the others are in Vivec watching the duel. That's the only reason this place is empty. No need to worry about being replaced when your boss is taking the day off too. But you might talk to Medila. I think she's certified for both Illusion and Destruction."You head downstairs.
:
"Hello, Medila? I spoke with Folms a week ago, and he said he'd arrange spellschool training for me for 500 gold. "That's close enough to true. And knowing what you know now, you probably just made her day. She gets to keep half of the 500. And Folms and Trebonius each get 125.
:
"Can you teach me? I'd like to learn either Restoration or Destruction."
:
"I'm certified for Destruction. Will that be alright?":
"Let's do it."(3 hours later)
Ok. This is miserable.
Apparently learning a spellschool means memorizing a massive pile of equations and geometric shapes. Except that "memorizing" in this case actually means sitting there and letting the spell trainer directly implant the patterns into your brain. All you've been doing for the past three hours is sit in a chair trying to focus your attention where she says to focus while "relaxing" and "being receptive."
It's starting to hurt. And the worst of it is you don't even know what it is she's teaching you. You have this huge pile of shapes and figures growing in your mind, but they're too big and too many for you to make any sense of. Come to think of it, Yagrum said something about this. She's setting up the basic patterns and when it comes time to cast you won't have any actual understanding of what you're doing. You'll simply be channeling magicka through the spellforms in your brain.
Fortunately, relief comes in the form of Folms materializing in the room with you, followed about 2 seconds later by the sound of cheering from upstairs. It idly occurs to you to wonder how much money the Vivec guild guide just made transporting everyone who didn't have a recall mark for their respective guildhalls.
:
"Ahh, Michael. I wondered if I'd see you again. Is Medila treating you well?":
"It hurts a little bit. ":
"That's normal. The first spellschool is always difficult. The rest will come more easily.":
"How'd the duel go?"He laughs
:
"Ranis does not disappoint! Almost made up for the long, droning speech Trebonius gave."Medila chuckles.
:
"Terms were fairly conventional. Three potion limit once the match started, she's a skilled alchemist by the way, no equipment or spell restrictions, loser was the first to die, forfeit or leave the arena.":
"So Ranis is standing there on the arena floor, docilely looking at Adorabella who has this look on her face that says she's totally convinced she's going to win. Trebonius starts to give the ready signal and Ranis immediately chugs an entire handful of potions. She lights up like the sun from all the effects, and Adorabella asks Trebonius if she's allowed to do that right when he says go. Ranis starts pouring on DoTs..."DoTs? Isn't that gamer slang?
:
"...while Trebonius is shouting that the potion count doesn't begin until the match starts. So Adorabell starts lecturing Trebonius about common decency and sportsmanship. He just shrugs, and she starts healing herself but her heals aren't enough to make up for all the DoTs. Ranis sees this and starts in with the big spellblasts and Bella lets loose with some healing item she had, just about disappearing under all the magicka. That brings her back to full and she decides to go on the offensive. So, get this: she starts casting fireballs!":
"Hahahah! Oh, that's priceless!":
"Fireballs? Why is that funny?":
"Have you met Ranis? She's a dunmer.":
"Oh....right. Fire resistance.":
"So between her natural resistance and the cocktail of potions she'd taken, she's not taking any damage at all. Meanwhile she keeps smashing Adorabella with spells. Unfortunately as it turns out, Adorabella's an alchemist too. Surprisingly talented one from what I could see. So she chugs a potion and charges Ranis with this determined look in her eyes and one hand extended. Just in time to smash facefirst into the golden saint Ranis had summoned. Now, I know what you're thinking. A golden saint? Why bother? She's be sent home in a couple hits, right? So sure enough, Adorabella starts tearing up the golden saint with touch spells, and during the distraction Ranis starts casting spells into the air. Completely ignored Adorabella. Nobody knew why. That is, until Adorabella finishes off the summon and is just about breathing down Ranis' neck when a beam of direct sunlight hits her in the face and she starts sizzling, followed by a huge chunk of masonry hitting the arena floor.":
"She seriously put a hole in the ceiling of the arena?":
"You have no idea. She kept casting and over the next minute she'd taken out fully a third of the ceiling. Huge gaping hole clear to the sky.":
"What did the arena authorities have to say about that?":
"They were furious. Ranis is in custody right now for destruction of temple property and reckless endangerment of the audience.":
"How much was the fine?":
"We don't know yet. Probably a lot. It's going to be a few days before it's all settled.":
"What happened to Adorabella?":
"She dodged all the debris, and took to the air screaming about what the sunlight was doing to her complexion. Vampire problems. So she landed on a guard rail out of the sunlight and Trebonious declared her the loser for leaving the arena. The look on her face was priceless.":
"So she ended up getting away?":
"Yes. Took the loss gracefully. Congratulated Ranis, met up with a few people in the stands who'd been cheering for her then they all recalled out while half a dozen Ordinators charged their spot in the stands.":
"Did you see who they were?":
"Her friends? No, we were on Ranis' side of the arena. Some orc in full daedric armor and a couple elves. I didn't get a good look. Probably House retainers. Can't imagine a vampire would have any friends who weren't vampires too. Though I suppose they might have been. Scary thought.":
"Isn't it unusual for House Hlaalu to allow vampires in their number?"He shrugs.
:
"Money talks.":
"Sounds like the fight would have been incredible to watch.":
"Yes, it was. But looks like you're in training. So don't let me interrupt."(2 days later)
Gahhhh! The pain! You feel like you have a hangover and whenever you close your eyes you see numbers and shapes. Sometimes you see numbers and shapes even with your eyes open. But, it will all be worthwhile. Just as soon as your head stops spinning.
New Skill: Destruction is now 5Spell Gained: FleabiteAlso, now that you've spent two days sitting in one spot at a mage guild, you notice that there does seem to be a semi-regular traffic through here. Adventurers, merchants, customers. Maybe one every five to ten hours.
Level 8
Health 61/61
Magicka 69/69
Armor rating: 4
Condition: headache
27.3 Strength (20)
35.0 Speed (30)
37.3 Agility (30)
40.1 Endurance (30)
42.9 Intelligence (40)
40.5 Willpower (40)
44.6 Personality (40)
57.0 Luck (50)
Numbers in parenthesis are starting values
33 Acrobatics (0)
22 Athletics (5)
7 Armorer (0)
6 Block (0)
7 Heavy Armor (0)
5 Medium Armor (0)
22 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)
5 Destruction (0)
21 Speechcraft (10)
12 Mercantile (0)
* Cruel Viperblade
* Chitin shield
* 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:
* 76 gold
* lockpick
* 1 standard invisibility potion
* 1 potion of water walking
* 1 empty bottle
Backpack (Worn) (damp)
Main compartment:
* Dwemer Puzzle Box
* small leather pouch with 62 gold
* Tennis shoes
* 3 illegible water logged papers
* 1 illegible water-logged scroll of divine intervention
* Yellow water-damaged notepad with 54 pages left
* 1 pen
* "20% cooler" Rainbow Dash t-shirt (damp)
* Denim pants (damp)
* wallet with picture ID and $30 in cash
* 2 lesser soulgems (empty)
* 29 Whickwheat
Small compartment
* 122 gold
* 8 empty bottle
* 2 Ampoule Pod
* 1 Black Anther
* 7 bungler's bane
* 5 Chokeweed
* 3 Corkbulb
* 25 Heather
* 3 hypha facia
* 11 luminous russula
* 4 Racer Plume
* 8 saltrice
* 2 Stoneflower petals
* 5 spore pod
* 6 violet coprinus
Bearer of Azura's Mark
Bearer of 'scholarly acquaintance of Divayth Fyr' mark
Imperial Legion, Recruit
Fighter's Guild, Associate (1 quest completed)
Mage Guild, Associate
Registered Sadrith Mora business visa, with slave-handling endorsement
Fleabite (cost:1) (Damage fatigue 1-10 on touch)
Alit Hide [1]Resist Poison
Ash yam [1]Restore personality
Ampoule Pod [1]Restore speed
Black Anther [1]Resist poison
Black lichen [1]Drain Health
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
Kresh fiber [1]Cure common disease
Kwama cuttle [1]Restore health
Large kwama egg [1]Restore fatigue
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
Stoneflower petal [1]Fortify health
Sm. Kwama Egg [1]Restore Fatigue
Violet coprinus [1]Water Walking
Whickwheat [1]Cure paralysis
Willow Anther [1]Water Breathing
What do you do?
(
GM Comment: There will likely be a several day delay before I start tallying votes and working on the next update. A
lot has happened recently, and some longstanding circumstances have changed. Yes, I expect that you'll probably want to do some spell training. That's fine, but that doesn't need to be a full update. I recommend you all take some time to decide on some medium-term plans and ways to implement them.)
Author
Topic: Marooned in Morrowind (FINISHED) (Read 432647 times)