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[Judas Maccabeus]

I think a good first goal would be to summon Hermaeus Mora. That will cost ~150,000 gold pieces and will require a rank of Warlock (five more ranks than what we've got currently) in the Mages' Guild. The day to look out for is early in First Seed (next month). It would be tough, but is it possible?

Not possible this year, at least, since due to the delay in promotions, even if I were able to build up five promotions at once (no small feat!) it wouldn't be until after the summoning day when we'd actually get them.  And that's not counting the gold, although that's at least possible.  I think I know where you're getting at, though. 

[Free Beer]

According to this article, there is in fact no time limit on the other main quests until after we've activated them. We are therefore free to screw around at this point.

I suggest ignoring Morgiah's letter for now, since her quest involves fighting at least one Zombie. Those guys can one-shot you at your current level.

[Judas Maccabeus]

Well, I've already done the quest and a couple more (the optional ones also available), so it's a moot point.  Incidentally, the zombies weren't any trouble - I never have much trouble with them, actually.  I'll have an update in as soon as I can upload the screenshots - my internet's been a little iffy over the past few days.

[Judas Maccabeus]

Whew, it worked the first time through, fortunately.

Here's a link to the in-game calendar, by the way, in case you're wondering: http://www.imperial-library.info/calendar/

Spoiler: Wayrest and Scourg Barrow (click to show/hide)

Now, to Wayrest.  It... hm.  That's a bit too long.  Actually, that's way too long to take to get there.



Muuuuuuuch better.  It's well worth the cost of the ship, at least.



Of course, travelling recklessly has its disadvantages.  Eh, loitering outside the gates for nine hours isn't so bad, actually.



Castle Wayrest.  As you're about to find out, this is quite the interesting place.



This isn't Morgiah (it's Queen Barenziah), but I want to talk to her anyway.



Noble quests can be quite profitable, and more importantly they're usually very easy.  And fast - four days!  That shouldn't delay the other quest at all.  I'm not sure why she wants an ore of copper, though.



This is Morgiah.



There's something about her attitude that I like.  You'll see more when the quest ends.



The rest of the royal family, Eadwyre and Elysana.  The former doesn't have much of an impact on the main quest and a corresponding lack of characterisation, but the latter... oh, we'll get to her soon enough.  Prince Helseth is also here, but he's off in some back room and I don't feel like looking for him.  We'll get to him, don't worry.



First:  Special delivery.  Not much to say.



Where we've been so far this update, and where we're going.  Once again, we speed over there.  Also note that I forgot to put a teleportation anchor in Wayrest like I should have...



We arrive at night (again), but fortunately, Scourg Barrow is open 24 hours a day (no drive-through though).



Nice place.  I'm going to take the correct coffin for speed and I-really-need-to-remember-to-get-a-levitation-spell purposes. (it's the middle one on the right)



Oh, and zombies.



And bats.  A whole tunnel filled with bats.



Behind a locked door (thus the fist) is this nice place.  Guards, (mercifully clothed) dancers, and some ancient liches and vampires that fortunately don't feel like killing us.  The fellow we want is the one by the coffin in the back there.



I love this line.  Right after threatening me with possible death, he's nice enough to say "please".



Without recall or levitation, there's still a way out.  This tapestry here is kind enough to provide a levitation spell.



And back.  There's the attitude I noted - sly, chatty, but apparently honest.  I like it.  The amulet isn't anything special, but for such a quick and easy quest, a 150-gold amulet is quite enough along with the information.



Barenziah is willing to talk, apparently; despite being a Dark Elf, she doesn't look it.  She doesn't start out with very good information... there's one other interesting thing we can ask about.

I need to find Princess Morgiah.

You know I'm right here?

Let's see, the palace is over there...Princess Morgiah is I think they have one in Infinite Ascension of Akatosh.

...

... Mother, are you well?

Barenziah will have more coherent things to say later.  I just wanted to show off how odd the random dialogue generator can be sometimes; I made up Morgiah's statements, but Oon-la's and Barenziah's is verbatim.  To be fair, it's a bit of a "garbage in, garbage out" situation, but it's still utterly random.

Spoiler: Daggerfall and Shedungent (click to show/hide)

Alllll the way across the bay to Daggerfall.  Even with the boat it takes nearly a month.  Travelling recklessly to Daggerfall City is... inadvisable.



Rain's Hand.  No kidding.



We don't actually get the card in-game, but it's an invitation to Morgiah's wedding (which we can't actually attend).  I'm not sure how he got there so fast, the messengers in the Iliac Bay really do go the extra mile.  Must have travelled recklessly.



Daggerfall Castle, to try and follow Morgiah's lead.  This one is more castly, Wayrest was more of a palace.



Oh, and we have to answer this question, horribly mangled medieval English and all.  Guess what the right answer is? (it's "Yes")



Aubk-i, the new Queen of Daggerfall.  I know Morgiah said "someone of lower station", but she was the one with something useful.  She's important enough to know things but new enough to not know what to keep quiet about.  She has a bit of a quest to send us on, if nothing else than to get us in her good graces.  It also happens to have plot information, though it's not critical.



Setting an anchor inside the castle itself is a bad idea, since you have to talk to that doorman each time, and you can't do that if you teleport in directly.  Setting one in the antechamber works, though.



She wasn't kidding about giving us 150 days.  We won't take quite so long, though.  Of course, we arrive in - what else - night.



Right inside is this tapestry.

Okay... open!

Command me and entry shall be yours.

Ummm... open sssssesssame?

Command me and entry shall be yours.

Pleassse?

Command me and entry shall be yours.

...

And so on, until...

Mellon!  If this doesssn't work...

Command me and entry shall be yours.

... Ssshut up.

And the door opens.

Not pictured is me killing two mages after that.  One of them has a nice new shirt for Oon-la, incidentally.



Nulfaga manages to make even less sense than Barenziah did earlier.  Incidentally, she gives us what to tell the tapestry.  And though this be madness, yet there is method in't.  The child she's talking to is Lysandus... she mentions a throat and an arrow, keep that in mind.



And back.



The wand just makes light, it's basically useless.



Ah, but it's night.  But how bad could Daggerfall City be at night?  They mention ghosts, but..



...Wait, what's that in the distance?

"VENGEANCE!"

Eeep!  It's still killable, but it will come back... the rumors about Lysandus walking the streets at night are very much true.



Time to go.  Only four days since I already stopped by another town along the way, but a short jaunt into Tower Yeoming to get cash and chew bubblegum pick pockets.  Pictured is (a) the cash and (b) a werewolf.

Spoiler: Castle Necromoghan (click to show/hide)

Back in Kirkbrugh for more selling, a message.  Aubk-i wants us to do something else for her?  How bad could it be? (Naive little me asks)



First, commerce.  Note that the game doesn't consider that wand worth much either, and we're decently comfortable money-wise.



Interesting.  There can't be anything good to come out of a place called "Castle Necromoghan", certainly.  But how bad could it be? *whimper*



Castle Necromoghan is in the northern part of the kingdom.  It's... not much of a castle.  At least from the outside.

Highlights of the dungeon crawl:



More werewolves!  They were all over the place, actually.



Plenty of profitable items, though.



Here's a pit with a lift in it.  It leads to... water.  And slaughterfish, who do exactly what they sound like they do, at least in the quantities I found them.



At one point, the place loops in on itself.  Nice.



...That... is a LOT of Vampires.  Vampires are nasty, nasty, nasty things even when there's only one of them.  A pack like this is suicide to even attempt.  Fortunately, their spells get caught on each other, and so do they themselves, so no trouble to stay away from.



Red brick!  These can (a) teleport, (b) kill, (c) do nothing.  Obviously it's a good idea to save before entering or clicking on one.  This one does nothing.

After a long, long, long, long, long, long, long... [hours later] ...long dungeon crawl:



THANK THE EIGHT DIVINES.

As for what the letters say (more poorly-done medieval English ahead):

(first page) ...been from thee too long, my heart doth...

(second page) ...you loveth my lips, but forget the words they breath...

(third page) ...she doth suspect you cuckold her... and I worship and adore all parts of thee but thy hollow crown and they hollow wedding ring, those two empty circles that trap and bring thee pain... an I be so vain to be Lysandus' Medora ever more... body and sip nectar from thy hand... love m... forever...

(fourth page) ...rcs.  But they did assume the worst of the settlement, even after all the stallion orcs had been killed and the stro... (for mare orcs are seldom weaker than stallion orcs in an... only old and sick remained in the rude cam... who could speak base Cyrodil... ied and begged for mercy for the children, but Prince Klaius said that the children would grow strong and hearty and that only an unwise leader would show mercy to the subhumans.  He gave his men leave to make sport with killing the children, and they were all murdered in ways that I cannot pen.  I witnessed it, my lady, and though I beg your pardon, your father did great evil th... the shame of mine that I didn't say no... shame to all...

(fifth page) ...shall abandon mine responsibilities.  You and... together.  The rest of the world be damned.  Let me put this... Betony behind.  I shall crush them at Cryngaine.  During... dead.  No one will suspect that a king would give up...

Huh.  Lysandus was having an affair with a woman named Medora, he didn't actually hate the orcs, and he wanted to play dead and give up the kingship as soon as the War of Betony was over.  But did Mynisera have a part in his death?  Was his death a sham, and, if so, how did he actually die (since he had to if he's haunting the streets)?  And where do the orcs factor into this?



Just in case you're wondering just how much of a maze this place is.  It's by far the worst of those we've been in so far.



That's how long it's been, all told...



Aubk-i has a bit more to say.  She doesn't have anything to say about the letter, but it was stolen from her.  Maybe a chat with Mynisera would be in order, but perhaps it would be a good idea to collect more information. (We still need to be level five to get further in the plot, in any case, so...)

I'm wondering what's taking the Thieves' Guild so long, though, since I should have gotten 10 pickpockets in even before Necromoghan... I definitely got 10 inside it.

[Aqizzar]

The King of Worms is probably my favorite character in Daggerfall.  I love how he's so casual and friendly about his "king of living death" thing.  When he wants to send letters, first it's by sowing paper into a zombie who tries to kill you, then sending a skeleton who shoves the letter in your mouth and walks off.

By the way, how's your reputation with the Mages Guild doing?  They're probably wondering where you've been all this time.

[Judas Maccabeus]

Aqizzar:  No kidding!  Between him and Morgiah, that quest is certainly my favourite of the main quest ones.  As for the Mages' Guild, well, that's what we'll get to this update.

A Levelling Intermezzo

Spoiler: Daggerfall Mages Guild (click to show/hide)

Mages' Guild it is.  Since it's daytime when we jump back to Daggerfall, wandering around the city is safe.  First, selling off everything gained from Castle Necromoghan.  Combined with what's also in the Shalgora bank account, Oon-la has around 40,000 gold now, not too shabby... 100,000 is my current target, because there's something very useful that can be bought at that amount.



After loitering outside for an hour (stupid only opening at 11 AM), the quest giver also provides a promotion!  Not that having access to the library is all that exciting.  The next one, however, provides access to the item seller and item maker, which will both be very nice.

A couple of books of note in said library (click on the pictures for a link to the full texts):



An... interesting one.  I'm sure it's just her privacy he's worried about.



I'm.... not sure why this one is in a Daggerfall library, since it's so blatantly anti-Daggerfall in sentiment.  There's also a pro-Daggerfall version, too... ah, well, it's all randomly generated, blame it on that.





Plenty of spells to be had.  We'll need a lot of training to cast Soul Trap yet, but it's such an important spell to have that I buy it right now.



Yep, this one again...



Just as easy as usual.



A nice reward, too, even if it's a long blade rather than short blade, it might come in handy in difficult spots.  What does Oblivion do?



This.

Spoiler: The Web of Vermerog (click to show/hide)

Another quest.  Hmmm... I doubt we'll run across a lich at this level, but it's still a possibility, and a very dangerous one.



Ah, well, nothing ventured, nothing gained, eh?  Time to... Bah, I forgot the dagger needs repair.  Fortunately, we have a whole month (!) to do this quest, so...



There we go.



Might as well grab a quest from a local merchant to pass the time.  Ripmarket is only two days away, so that's a good place to go.



Like so.  Nothing to it.



And back, to get the dagger, then back to the Web.



The first room is a massive one with a pyramid in the middle.  Inside the pyramid is water.  No need to jump into the water, though, there's elsewhere to explore.



This dungeon, aside from being staffed by some tough skeleton warriors, is a bit of a puzzle dungeon.  There's plenty of these red bricks, which all teleport when clicked or moved into.  They go in certain sequences, and one has to memorise them.  There's more to the place, but I'll get to that in a moment.



One of the skeletons is carrying this map, which allows us to visit another dungeon for money and skill-training purposes.



One of the teleporters is stuck behind this bookcase.  How do we get to it?



That torch is in a rather suspicious position.  Clicking on it shows that it's a lever, which moves the bookcase out of the way.

I didn't get pictures of the process, but the final puzzle is noticing a trap door, then noticing that there is a switch on a wall in one of the rooms teleported into.  Switches often open trap doors elsewhere.

Despite being probably randomly generated, like most dungeons in the game, this one feels more like one that had been designed; it's certainly among my favourites.



Resting just prior to teleporting to the trap door, Oon-la hits level four!  I put all the points into Endurance, since doing so early on is good to increase Health.



Past a slaughterfish under the trap door is the lich dust (no liches involved, thankfully).



Getting out from the trap door involves the Levitation that I fortunately remembered to buy.  Overall, the dungeon isn't too bad; it's a little more straightforward than usual for a Daggerfall dungeon once one works out the teleportation.



And returned.



Just in case the next time we're underwater is ever longer...

I'm still not sure what the Thieves' Guild's problem is.  The only thing I could be missing is a level requirement, which I don't believe there is.

[Judas Maccabeus]

Since there's still some time until the next Mages' Guild promotion (and it'll be a nice one), and no advancing the plot until level five, logic would dictate to hit two birds with one stone and use up the time until the next promotion getting a level.

Spoiler: Around town (click to show/hide)

Training is nice and all, but in all actuality it's possible to get just as much skill advancement in any of the magic skills in just as much time on our own.  But one last time, for nostalgia's sake.



Now for the real way to do it.  Getting a room at an inn lets us cast and rest with maximum efficiency.



This is just a preliminary.  Focusing on Mysticism for one night gets a point up in it.



Getting more out of it will take some more time, though.  Training montage time!



♫ Casting spells now! (do do doo) Gonna levitate now! (do do doo) ♫



I'm mostly focusing on building up magic schools we're likely to be using, such as Alteration (Water Breathing, Free Action, Resist, Shield), Mysticism (Soul Trap, Recall, Open), Restoration (Heal, Stamina), and Thaumaturgy (Levitate), with bits of Destruction (hurting other people) included.  Illusion's not all that wonderful, it can do a few nice things but there's better ways to spend the time.  Plus, I didn't realise until I tried to use it, that thanks to the illusion practice spell requiring a target (I'm not sure how I pulled that one off) I can't use it.



You can check back with the innkeeper to make sure you don't overshoot the amount of time the room is rented.





Eventually, at the end of five days, this is where we're at.



As a break from that, might as well do a Mages Guild quest.  This one is a variant of the "protecting the mage" one, only without the potentially nice magic item reward and it has to be done at a specific time.



Since we have to wait until midnight, we might as well work on another skill:  Lockpicking.  You're allowed one "free" attempt per door per visit; this means you can go around the city walls and make one attempt on each door there.



If you succeed in an attempt, there's nothing inside the wall rooms.



That took a bit of time, but we'll still have to loiter for a bit inside the Mages' Guild.  There's some of the skills gained that day.



Finally, it's midnight...



And there's our guests.

  Sssssure, my tongue, becaussse I'm an Argonian, funny.  Alssso, I'm a her.



They're loaded as well, of course. 155 kg of items is a lot; Oon-la can't even carry 100, and she's no weakling.



As noted, the reward isn't anything particularly exciting.



We have to loiter for a bit to make sure we don't end up outside while Lysandus and friends are there.



If we can pick the lock of the doors along the wall, why not here?  Unfortunately, our one free attempt fails, and any further ones will be noticed by the guards.  But...



Even the weakest of Open spells can work on one of the doors in a city.  It's slightly cheap, perhaps, but there's much cheatier ways of robbing a place, and I don't intend to make a habit of this.



All we have to do is grab the stuff off the shelves...



And shove it into the wagon.



Selling it at a different place (only because the Odd Blades doesn't give very good prices) doesn't give a huge amount; the store will become more lucarative at higher levels, and in any case by that point Oon-la's lockpicking skill will be better.

Spoiler: The Citadel of Gaersley (click to show/hide)

Working on the combat skills, like Short Blade, Dodging, Stealth, and Critical Strike, however, require going out into the field.  Since we got a map to this place, may as well give it a go.



As Aqizzar noted, yes, there are centaurs in this game.  Here's one, though he won't be here for long.



And Giant Scorpions; now we're a bit better able to handle them.  If they paralyse, however, they can still be very deadly.



Another pyramid a while inside; since we're not looking for any quest items, it's just decoration.



One of the centaurs has a couple interesting items.  I can find out what the tights do later; in any case, a potion of invisibility might come very much in handy...



Behind another scorpion, a harpy!  They're not horribly tough, at least not so much as scorpions are.



And that's a sign we've done enough.  It doesn't take incredibly long to get the skill increases, so just going until you've got all the loot you can carry is a good way to ensure you're in long enough.



Once we're close to levelling like this, saving before each resting period is a good idea.  Getting a bad roll on a level (3 attribute points and half health, for example) can be very damaging, so this is one point where saving and reloading is less cheap and more good strategy.



Not that reloading is always necessary.



Since it's still night and we're in Daggerfall City, might as well do a bit more magic practice.



Better.



Here's where the skills ended up.  Now we're better situated to do whatever needs doing.  Except for the thieves' guild, because apparently they're being annoying.

Fine del intermezzo.

[Judas Maccabeus]

Splitting this into two parts, because I got a big bunch of plot in at once.


Oh Brother(s), where art thou?

Spoiler: The Cabal of Morgyrrya (click to show/hide)

The first quest opened up now is right next door in Daggerfall Castle.



Here she is.  Were we to ask her before this, she would have just told us that we weren't strong enough.



Also, I remembered to check what the tights did.  A boost to Speed, that's fairly useful.



Oh.  Wow.  While taking a look at the Odd Blades' stock, there's our first weapon upgrade of the game.  It's not much, but mithril will still hit everything, and two more points of damage is always welcome.  (Note Oon-la wearing her lucky skirt)



We don't get nearly as much back for the old dagger, of course, but that's beside the point.



And there's our current finances.



Off to get that werewolf.  Seems an odd thing for a maid to want, but I'm sure we'll figure it out.  I'm... not sure how one gets to an island without using a ship, but maybe we just found a ferry or something.



Here's a better look at a harpy than my last try.



And my first censored picture of the game.  These are nymphs, and if they were turned around (the fact that they aren't makes the censoring easier, at least) you could... not... see that they're basically nude women.  They also drain fatigue as well as health when they attack.



Good thing we have a spell for that, to keep from dropping to the ground with exhaustion and probably dying.



Another magic item.  I don't put it on to find out what it does, because, well, I can't put it on.



One pile of treasure has this.  That should come in handy.



Not too far in, here's what we're looking for.



Interesting...



It's a good idea to rest before leaving a dungeon if you've been hit by a werewolf.  It gives a warning if you've been infected.

Spoiler: Stokworth Moor and Oxway (click to show/hide)

Back to Daggerfall.  The postings at the gates have information this time, but nothing useful.



That is getting tiring.



Hm.  Cyndassa claims that Aubk-i wanted to give the letter to Mynisera, but...



Mynisera claims otherwise.  Note that entering here gets the palace guards riled up, but they can be run past without trouble.  They can also be killed if necessary.



Alright, let's get on the trail of that letter.



The only people on the street won't say anything; we have to go into someone's house for directions, who say it's to the northwest.  They won't mark a place on a map, but in this case it's limited to only a couple of houses.



Apparently this fellow doesn't like visitors.  He's in the attic, for whatever reason.



...Disemboweled?



Well, the palace is fairly obvious.  The courier isn't there, though; it only took 3 days to get here, so there's some waiting to do.



This letter showed up without a messenger, apparently; there's the hook for another line of the plot.



While waiting, I figure to sell off all the various knick-knacks from the last dungeon; aside from selling that useless thing off, there's also ingredients, which involves heading off to another town.  But there's plenty of time.



There we go.  She calls herself Mordastyr Buckingfield, but that's apparently just a goof on the quest's part.



We're back in Daggerfall on a holiday.

I somehow managed to miss getting a screenshot, but here's what Mynisera has to say:

Ah! Now it makes sense. Uriel Septim addressed the message to the Queen of Daggerfall.  When he sent it, I was queen. By the time it arrived, my dear Lysandus was dead and Aubk-i was queen.  We must find out what was in that letter. I have never trusted Aubk-i.  Yesterday I received a letter from Princess Morgiah of Wayrest claiming to know something of the emperor's letter. Now there is a family that seethes under the rule of the Emperor.  Return to me if you find out who has the emperor's letter.  For now, you have proven yourself to me Oon-la. Keep the mark as a token of my gratitude. I have no desire to own anything of Aubk-i's anymore.

We don't have enough money on us to pay for passage to Sentinel or Wayrest, and the bank's probably...



Yep.  It's a bank holiday, after all.



Except the Mages' Guild.  And they have a very, very, very, very nice promotion waiting.



I want this gem... but with the bank closed, we can't get the money to buy it.



I'd get this one, but the Master would not approve.



Anyway, time to take the rest of the day off...



Muuuuuuuch better.

Spoiler: Sentinel and the Fortress of Fhojum (click to show/hide)

Here we are!  Hammerfell has more of an "Arabic" and "Egyptian" style to it, as you can see.



Especially in Castle Sentinel.



We don't have business with Akorithi... yet.



We have business with him.  Incidentally, in the originally released version of this game, talking with Lhotun would do absolutely nothing except make a haunting noise - making the main quest impossible.  Let me repeat that.  A version was released where the main quest was impossible.  It's the flagship of the many ridiculous bugs Daggerfall has had to deal with over the years.



Nobody seems to know anything useful, though.



The Mages' Guild is a good place to burn off some time while still being useful.

The dungeon isn't much of anything interesting, but not long in...



Huh.  Like a quest item, but that's not the item for our quest here...



Oh.



Ohhhhhhhhhh.




That was... lucky.

That was complete, utter, random chance.  Out of all the possible dungeons in Sentinel, both of the active quests go to the same dungeon.  Rather than do this properly, which involves waiting for someone to send a letter and tell you where to go, we stumbled upon it randomly.




...I really, really, really hope I didn't break the game, more than it's already broken at least.



The sapphire comes in handy while searching around for the mummy, too.



And there's the mummy.



... I don't have a house.  This is getting eerie.



Ah, well, may as well turn the quests in anyway.



The cloak, incidentally, boosts Endurance.

Next part in a moment, soon as I get the pictures uploaded.

[Judas Maccabeus]

Spoiler: Back in Wayrest (click to show/hide)

Time to talk to Morgiah about this.  Is it already Last Seed?  Heavens, time flies in this game.



Also, there's the letter we were supposed to get.



A minor Dark Elf in Wayrest sheds light on the "Oon-la's House" thing.  Apparently the game got confused and gave a prompt to find the dungeon, or something.



...I reeeeeeeeeeally hope I didn't break anything.



Helseth, in a back room, happens to have a task for us.



Neither Eadwyre nor Barenziah have information on the letter (and thanks to a bit of a bug surrounding the end of Morgiah's quest, we can't talk to her), but they do have gossip on our target.



Might as well repair the sword while we're waiting.



The next day, Helseth gives us the letter and a target.  Reading it is a Bad Thing in general, but in case you're wondering...



Oh.  Wow.  He's playing around with his sister.


Yep.


...No wonder reading it makes everybody hate you so much.



The blacksmith was probably a bit uncomfortable with Oon-la standing next to him while he was finishing the repairs.



Deerwall time!



Lord Castellian's response is... shorter.  It makes everyone even madder if you read it, despite not saying anything in particular.



Helseth, of course, has plenty to say.



His robes fortify willpower.



War plans?  Hm.  I doubt Castellian will be doing that now, though.

Since Morgiah won't talk to us, let's pretend she said someth-

That's the game's fault, not mine.  Oh, and Gortwog, King of the Orcs, has the letter.

There we go.

Spoiler: Orsinium (click to show/hide)

Recklessly travelling to Daggerfall might be a bad idea, but doing so to a neighbouring town works fine, and one can then travel cautiously to the city while still getting there faster.



Mynisera can tell us how to get to Orsinium, and has a plan to get the letter back.



Her own letter is straightforward, so there's no penalty to reading it.



Once again, travelling recklessly and then cautiously is the way to go, to make sure we're well-rested if we have to fight orcs.



Orsinium is actually surrounded by a small village of regular houses.



Gortwog is a bit uncertain about us, but plans to let us have the letter... if we earn the priveledge.

Do not worry, orc.  I have helped your kind before, I ssshall do ssso again.



Aside from orcs, there are also... bears?



And another of these big pyramids.  We want to get upstairs...



And this fountain is the easy way.



A bit of a jump, but doable with Oon-la's jumping skill.



Ahhhh, dwarven items.  Good quality.  No vomit coverings on these, either.



After fighting one orc, we get this ominous message...



Eventually, after killing lots of orcs (and using that healing potion from last time, to say nothing of the gem), we find the letter sitting on a pedestal.  The letter has some interesting information.  What is this Totem?  What power is involved?  Who is Lord Woodborne?  We'll find out the answers to these soon enough.



Getting back down in the pyramid room is a lot easier than getting up was.



The bad feeling was due to this.  Diseases in Daggerfall can be very, very nasty if left untreated; fortunately, treating them is fairly easy.



Before we get to leave, though, one last tough orc to kill.



Travelling gives us this message, but since it's the only way to cure the disease...



For whatever reason, one of the dancing girls is the disease-curer in this temple.  Hm.



Whatever works.



I keep forgetting to put a teleportation anchor in Daggerfall City.  It would make this take a lot less time.



Hm.  Interesting.  Mynisera doesn't have anything more for us, and we need a few more levels before we can advance the plot again.



Also, thanks to the amount of time involved, another Mages' Guild promotion, though we don't get anything for it.

To recap:

- Aubk-i intended to hand the letter to Mynisera, but it got stolen and sent to Gothmog.
- The letter wasn't of a "sentimental and personal nature" at all, it was about some strange artifact.
- Medora was forced out of the Daggerfall court and is in her fortress.
- There was a delegation from Wayrest there when Lysandus was killed.
- The various courts of the Iliac Bay are full of scheming and other fun stuff.
- Oon-la's moving up the Mages' Guild.

[Aqizzar]

LETTERS.  LETTERS.  MOAR LETTERS.

Man, I don't know what I was doing wrong.  I never got half of the info fetch-quests you did, I just somehow skipped to all the actiony quests like stealing that Lich soul in Castle Sentinel and that crazy tower-dungeon on that other island.

I'm laughing my ass off at the image of an Argonian dungeon-delving in a ballroom gown.  Oh Daggerfall, you cad.

[Judas Maccabeus]

I'm laughing my ass off at the image of an Argonian dungeon-delving in a ballroom gown.  Oh Daggerfall, you cad.

*dancing and singing* I feel pretty, oh ssso pretty... *stabs bat*

[zchris13]

LOL great jokes.  I'm enjoying reading this, you giant caveswallow.

[Judas Maccabeus]

Would you please stop trying to kill me, I'm training here!

Aqizzar:  This game certainly does involve a lot of reading, and guess what, we'll be getting even more letters right now.  Morrowind's not much better, actually, judging from the literal pile of letters, packets, and expository flyers one gets just from the main quest...  Also, I'm going out of my way to pick up all those side-quests, except one (Elysana's Robe) that would mess up a different side-quest chain if I picked it up too early, and can't be picked up later on.

zchris13:  Cave swallowman, thank you very much.    And half the jokes the game writes for me with its bugs and odd bits.

Spoiler: Level 6 (click to show/hide)

Oh, good, these are starting to show up.  Once we can cast Soul Trap and we're high enough level in the Mages' Guild, we can use these with the spell to trap souls and make magic items.



For now, though, I'll just take another one of these as a backup.



After selling those dwarven items off, I'm taking a bit of time to transfer Oon-la's Shalgora bank account to Daggerfall.  No sense in keeping some cash there when we're not over there anymore.



I was hoping for a dungeon crawl quest, but this will do.  More guarding at midnight.



After a couple hours of running and jumping around the city walls practicing lockpicking, it's time to do a little casting training and rest a bit.



And make a new illusion practice spell, not that I'm likely to use it much.

After loitering a bit, and then killing the thieves...



...This isn't part of the quest.  A knight wanders in and decides to try and kill us.



Hmmmm...



While resting and practicing some more spells, a Barbarian joins in on the act.  His note shines a bit more light on the matter.  That narrows things down a bit; the list of people whose names have a "w" who would have a reason to kill us is fairly short:

-King of Worms (because that's what he does)
-Lord Woodborne (We know he has the Totem of Tiber Septim)

Not a long list, and Wormy usually doesn't use living things for his dirty work.  I think we can guess who's behind this.



Finally, a bit more practice gets us up to here.  One more level and we can get back to the main quest.

Spoiler: Level 7 (click to show/hide)

For a little variety, time to do a short dungeon crawl.



...Interesting.  This letter comes just before we start out of town.  So the Totem is a remote control, but it needs a specific heart to work.  Anyway, to the dungeon.



The only thing to note here is a new enemy, a gargoyle.  Not much to say, except that I think I took more damage jumping down into the pit with it than I did from it hitting me.  The main trick with it is that this is one of the creatures you need at least a mithril weapon to hit.



After returning, I decide to get Oon-la a cheaper and lighter (1.5 kg means that much more loot) red shirt.  Yes, I know, red shirt, but it's still cheaper and lighter, and it's getting closer to the New Life Festival, so Oon-la's even colour-coordinated.



Yep, time for even more resting...



...and getting attacked.  I'd hate to be that innkeeper.



After killing the last of them ... someone... says this.  No, she isn't anyone we know.  Actually, this is another of Daggerfall's many wonderful bugs; those people aren't supposed to attack us until we do something else, but they're doing it now instead.  No patience.

Almossst killed me?  He barely ssscratched me.



They do help build up skills, at least.



And money.  We're only 30,000 away from what I want...



Well, that'll have to wait, because we're level seven now.  Of course, it's still nighttime in Daggerfall City, so we may as well cast spells and-



-not rest.  Scratch that.



Ah, that's the King of Worms alright.  He just wouldn't be the same without his callous disregard for the safety of... anyone, really.



Anyway, NOW we can rest.



You don't ssseem very worried about the pile of bodiesss.  Ssssome of them have been there for daysss.

*sigh* The janitor's off this week.



Also, another letter recieved as we step outside.  We're not supposed to know Woodborne's trying to kill us yet, which makes this quest a little less blatantly a trap.  Of course, the fellows we've been cutting down were supposed to do that during this quest, so....  It's a bit of a mess all around, really.  I just like to think that Lord Woodbrainborne got overeager and sent his cronies out too early.  That's his first mistake.

[zchris13]

HAHA that's great man.  What a noob evil dude.

[Aqizzar]

You gotta love the mail service in Highrock.  Sometimes a letter will get from Wayrest to Daggerfall faster than your teleportation.  Sometimes it won't arrive until after the assassins it vaguely references.

And sometimes it arrives by Overnight Zombie.  Undead Parcel Service - What can decay do for you?