Morrowind Day 89 - Stumbling around Sheogorad

12 Sun's Dusk

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I spent yesterday purposefully consuming all my time on tombs and smugglers and I spent today wandering around with no purpose at all and nothing to show for it. While there is still more of Sheogorad to explore, I do not expect doing so will lead me to any great progress against the Sixth House. At best I may be making the island a bit safer for the residents of Dagon Fel.

Rather than re-trace my steps from yesterday, I left the village heading west into unexplored territory. Almost immediately I was greeted by one of Sheogorad's friendly Daedric inhabitants.

Ogrim as a general rule are very large, but this one was larger still, with hands that could have easily enveloped me with one grip. I was able to shoot it with several silvered arrows as it lumbered towards me, but they only seemed to mildly annoy the giant creature. Fighting it as a Khajiit its attacks seemed to be easily predicted and the swings of its giant arms were far too slow. Should one of those arms have caught me I would have likely been dashed to pieces against the nearest hillside, but it never landed a blow upon me. Fighting with the steel spear was tedious work, but the Daedric enchantment made short work of the Ogrim. All this just outside Dagon Fel. I shudder to think of how the guards would have fared against an Ogrim set on flattening the small village.

While trudging along a hillside I spotted an outdoor Daedric shrine, a very unusual sight, at least for me. Loitering in front of the shrine were three Orcs each fully clad and armed with their cultural equipment, making each quite a dangerous foe and a group of three was to be avoided entirely. They never saw me skirt around the shrine atop the hill that sheltered it and I was more than content to let them be.

A second Ogrim was idly standing around a crossroads on the opposite side of the shrine and bellowed its challenge when it saw me, immediately bounding towards me on its massive legs. This one seemed to be about the same size as the first one and I dealt with it similarly, stabbing the Daedra as I constantly circled it and dodged the giant fists swung my way. 

I followed the coastline as it curved back around the way I came, forming a long, narrow peninsula that hosted a large number of placid mudcrabs on its interior coast. I kept to the exterior coastline and came upon a tomb built at the tip of the land. Keeping in mind all the time I spent yesterday combing tombs with no great result, I promised myself a limit on tomb exploration today and pushed the door open with my spear.

Initially, I encountered nothing except the same tapestry design that I encountered yesterday. There were no skeletal guardians, no floating skull-monsters, just musty air and dusty urns. The urn room was lit with a few candles, but a small passage on the far side of the room was pitch black, which was unusual for an ancestral tomb. However, Khajiit have no need to fear the dark and I could see a Dunmer pacing back and forth at the end of the hallway. There seemed to be something wrong with him and as I tried to work out what it was he turned towards me and revealed what that 'something' was. It was his glowing eyes and long fangs. 

I had stumbled upon a den of vampires, though they were weak ones. Perhaps this had been a group that set out to create their own den or whatever it is vampires create to live in. There were five of them, but they were separated, allowing me to defeat them one at a time. None of them put up a notable fight, in fact, the final vampire died not even realizing I was crouched right behind her. So much for the vampires' reputation of being able to smell their prey.

There are several large islands surrounding Sheogorad and I decided to walk across the water outside the tomb to check them out. I expected more tombs, possibly a Dwemer ruin or Daedric shrine, but I wound up finding things far more strange than that.

There is a shack on the closest island, but when I knocked on the door the voice of a Dunmer female insisted that I leave immediately. I did not argue and quickly explored the rest of the woman's small island, which had nothing else on it. I continued along the water, passing a small island on my way to a much larger one far to the west and directly north of the west end of Sheogorad, which I have yet to explore.

This large island housed another recluse, this time an Argonian who I fear may not have been whole of mind, to put it politely.

He was harmless and spoke only of a fork and a giant bull netch that was floating around somewhere between there and Ebonheart. Half of his tiny cabin was taken up by stacks of barrels and chairs, all carefully arranged and balanced. The other half hosted a large collection of polearms, mostly spears with a few halberds mixed in, all of them looking as though they had not been touched in at least a century. The Argonian's babbling gradually lessened and I quietly sneaked out while he was busy measuring his stacks of furniture. How very strange.

It was quickly growing dark and I did not relish the thought of trying to make my way back to Dagon Fel at night, even with my night sense, so I hurried back across the water to the 'main' island. I took the most direct route and came upon the Telvanni outpost of Vas. I hoped it would be like the similarly named and somewhat hospitable Telvanni tower of Vos, but it was not to be.

The place had more in common with a tomb than a tower, right down to the creatures that guarded it.

After fighting two floating skull creatures and two skeletons armed with silvered two-handed swords I guessed my chances at finding a bedroll for the night was slim, so I left and continued across the water towards Dagon Fel.

With luck and the superior vision of the Khajiit I managed to walk the width of Sheogorad back to Dagon Fel without encountering anything hostile save for a blighted Cliff Racer. I passed by the Orcs' shrine close enough to hear their rough voices raised in some sort of chant. I might have been able to use the darkness to gain enough advantage to defeat the group, but Daedra worshipers are not my concern right now. There would be no great reward for the risk: their armor, though valuable, would be too heavy to carry back to Dagon Fel, which may not even have a buyer for items that valuable. I find it very hard to believe that Orcs would be scheming to bring back the Sixth House, so I am willing to let them be.

Tomorrow must be the last day I spend on this island, for I have already wasted enough time looking for the Sixth House where it plainly, in this case, simply does not exist. Perhaps the location is too remote. Whatever the case, I will only be dedicating one more day to this island, then I must continue onward.