Morrowind Day 104 - Rethinking My Strategy

27 Sun's Dusk

~~~

This island continues to be a sobering lesson in humility and preparation. The equipment I brought with me is wholly inadequate and I am beginning to worry that I am as well. Today was far more difficult than any I have ever had on Vvardenfell.

The day started with a sudden drunken assault by the seemingly ever-drunk 'Erich the Unworthy'. Angry that I had talked to the Redguard, he accused me of trying to steal "his missionary" and declared his intention to, as he said, teach me some manners.

One of those manners was probably not to stab one of your Nord hosts in the throat with a dagger, but he did not have the chance to teach me that, for he of course was that Nord. The dagger was the artifact gifted to me by Mehrunes Dagon, which led to his death being instantanous as whatever enchantments held within the weapon worked their magic. His death was not at all unwelcomed by the other Nords of Thirsk who described him as a good warrior, but a poor man, especially if drunk...which was almost always.

My intention is to complete the Skaal's ritual as quickly as I can, for it appears that my success, and survival, on Solstheim may come to depend on learning their ways...much as it was with the Ashlanders. Their map provided a crude but effective set of directions for finding all of their Standing Stones and the Stone marked as the 'Beast Stone' appeared to be the closest, right on the north shore of the partially frozen lake near Thirsk.

With no description of what the stones looked like, I was forced to peer at every tall stone around the lake. The thick cold fog blanketing the island did not help either. Eventually I came to a very tall stone all on its own with the scars of having been hewn from a larger piece of rock very evident. As I approached, the cracks in the stone began to glow until the rough shape of a wolf's head was apparent. Words started to glow above it and they were surprisingly readable, telling me to travel south and ease the suffering of the "Good Beast". 

The Good Beast wound up being a giant white bear and its suffering was five of the blue goblins hacking away at it. As I watched, it caught one of them with a swipe of its giant paw and flung the creature into a tree, evidently killing it. The dead goblin's fellow warriors seemed to take no notice of its death, but two of them turned on me after I shot one of them in the back. Between myself and the bear, the remaining four goblins were quickly dispatched.

The bear somehow also suffered an arrow strike, though the arrow was a crude wooden thing with a stone head, so at least that was not my fault. It let me remove the arrow and then quite happily patted me on the head with a paw the size of my face. Certainly a new experience for me.

It padded around behind me as I tried to figure out what to do next until I decided to return to the stone. I had a feeling that the Beast and the Beast Stone needed to be joined together and my hunch was correct. Once the Good Beast and I reached the stone it stood up on its hind legs and placed both of its front paws on the stone. The entire Stone began to glow and little orbs of light occasionally seeped from within the stone and rose up into the sky. I could only assume that my involvement with the Stone was now over.

Overall the task had been rather easy. I was confident that I could complete the Skaal's test within a few days. The next Standing Stone I visited was the Wind Stone and it did a very complete job at shattering any confidence I had that I would be completing the quest any time soon.

The Wind Stone sits right at the joining of Solstheim's two rivers and was easier to find than the Beast Stone. Just as with the previous stone, approaching the Wind Stone first revealed a symbol and stepping closer revealed instructions. For the Wind Stone I was to head southeast of the lake and find a burial cavern called 'Glenschul's Tomb' so that I could free the Wind from the Greedy Man's bag...which made no sense to me. Perhaps I should educate myself on the Skaal's history a bit more when I get the chance.

After some wandering I found the cavern very close to Thirsk, wedged between two small hills. What greeted me inside was both horrible and educational. The undead infested this burial cavern, but they were not the enchanted bones most of the burial guards on Vvardenfell are. The monsters I faced were closer to life and far more powerful.

Most numerous were what might have been men at one point, given the tattered breeches and shirts, but some foul magic warped them into hideous creatures, black, leathery skin stretched tight over their bones and skull with red spots of light for eyes. These skin-skeletons were very quick to swarm upon me and it is due to them that I am thinking of fetching my overly heavy Daedric spear from my stronghold. 

They had with them a creature that served to be a mockery of Solstheim's wolves, being just a skeleton with a bit of flesh hanging off of them. They, however, were easily defeated as opposed to their undead masters.

I somehow managed to clear the cavern at great cost to my health and the condition of my armor. There seems no place to bring my equipment to for repair, nor anywhere to purchase supplies to effect my own barely effective repairs and I shall have to bring some from home. I am surprised that S'virr is not smuggling these required pieces of equipment, but perhaps the Fort's needs consume all of what he can bring.

The bag of the Greedy Man was a simple inflated canvas sack sitting in front of a skeleton encased in ice. Mindful that I was to free the Wind, I opened the bag and was immediately blown off my feet by a mighty gust. The gust of wind also blew out all the oil lamps that had been lighting the cavern which would have made getting back out quite the adventure if any of the tomb's undead had been still standing about.

It was still early in the afternoon when I left the cavern, but the fight against the blackened creatures left me exhausted, hurt, and with damaged equipment. For the first time in as long as I can remember, I sought my bedroll long before dark. The sky is still a bright grey haze outside as I write this, but I am preparing to curl up on the floor and sleep. Not for the first time I suspect I am not particularly well prepared for this island. 

Tomorrow I will re-visit the Wind Stone, then see if my amulet can Recall me back home from this far away so that I can return with stronger weapons and more equipment, as it seems there is nothing this island offers to aid an adventurer.

Morrowind Day 103 - Not For the Faint of Heart

26 Sun's Dusk

~~~

Solstheim certainly has a way of making me feel unwelcome, though I gather that is a feeling the island does not reserve solely for Khajiit. On my first day on Vvardenfell I raided a smugglers' cavern and pocketed a few Septims. My first full day on Solstheim had me fighting Imperial Legion rebels armed with Paralysis-enchanted weapons, returning from that duty to find Fort Frostmoth sacked, then having to walk the entire length of the island, braving attacks by bears, wolves, and small blue goblins, only so that I could speak to a tribe of isolated Nords.

Quite a welcome.

I was more excited to begin my adventure here than I thought I would be and after a hurried breakfast Blindly striking out for the mage's mystery airship seemed an easy way to a quick death, so I called upon the representative of the East Empire Company, Carnius Magius. My thinking was that I could become acquainted with the island while earning a little coin, but the man was rather...difficult to deal with.

He claimed to be short-handed and willing to sign up pretty much any one, but stated that I would be merely put to simple manual labor for the duration of my contract with the Company. Clearly news of my deeds on Vvardenfell have not reached this place yet. Of course I rejected his offer and sought out the Commander of the fort, Captain Carius.

The Captain was easier to talk to than the Company man. His full name is Falx Carius and he optimistically described the fort's garrison having the ability to be the best in the Empire. He ironically finished the statement by admitting that the Imperial Legionnaires had been getting a little "edgy", in his own words and he asked if I could find out why this was. According to the Captain, most of the soldiers were at Fort Frostmoth due to offences done elsewhere, but had been conducting their duties reasonably well nonetheless, until recently.

He felt that someone at the Fort was creating discontent among the troops and suggested that I try interviewing a few of the soldiers. Why he felt that they would speak to a Khajiit that was unknown to them, I do not know. The solution to this problem proved embarrassingly simple.

While packing for my trip here, I chose the lightest of my weapons and kept my usual armor. A few potions, most of them restoratives of health and magicka, were also brought with me...as well as a flask of brandy imported from Cyrodiil. My plan was to sell it on the island, as I assumed it was worth more here than on Vvardenfell. I assumed correctly.

The very first soldier I approached, a man looking to be of no particular standing, instantly spied the flask hanging from my belt. He nearly begged me to give it to him, so I let him have the drink. In between gulps of brandy, he told me that the entire fort was "dry", no alcohol of any sort was permitted to be drunk, other than the local Nordic mead which the Imperial garrison to a man refuses to drink.

This policy was a recent one and no doubt the cause of the low morale the Captain had noticed. The man loyally pointed out that it seemed an odd thing for the Captain to decide upon, for he was reasonable and just otherwise.

When I spoke to the Captain about his policy, he was taken aback. While he knew about the lack of alcohol, it was not of his doing and he had thought it simply a temporary matter awaiting one of the large shipments the single-masted Imperial merchant vessels infrequently brought. The local Imperial Cult priest, a man named Antonius Nuncius, had been preaching the evils of "drink" for some time, making him my next suspect in this rather strange mystery.

The same anonymous man I had given my brandy to proved additionally helpful. He gave me directions both to the Imperial Cult shrine and the priest's office, but told me I was wasting my time, since the priest thought the Captain's policy an unfair one and assured the soldiers that he understood that they needed the simple pleasures of life...a very different man than how the Captain described him.

A visit to his office was my first priority. The priest was not in, but I was able to let myself in to look around a bit. Subtlety was not Antonius's strong point. His entire desk rattled with the unmistakable sound of glass bottles and some quick work with my few remaining lockpicks revealed enough alcohol to put even a Nord under the table. Clearly the man lacked the will to practice what he preached! 

When I spoke to him at the shrine he started off very smug, wondering why the Captain would do such a senseless thing. His demeanor changed very quickly once I handed him one of the bottles from his desk. He may have lacked foresight, but he had enough sense not to be angry about it. Antonius admitted that he had been intercepting all the alcohol deliveries and hiding them in his office so that he could blame the lack of drink on the Captain. He hoped that when the fort's morale got low enough he could write to his superiors for worry of his own safety and be assigned elsewhere.

The Captain was more amused than angry. Antonius needed only to have asked for reassignment and he would have found himself off of the island he was so desperate to leave. As punishment, the wayward priest is now a very permanent part of the Frostmoth garrison, for better or worse.

My second task was immediately assigned to me: find out where the weapons of Fort Frostmoth were disappearing to. This was not surprising given that many of the garrison chose to be here as an alternative to prison. Two of the garrison's best were already working to discover who was smuggling the weapons and I was asked to choose one of them to work with. After speaking with both of them I chose an Imperial named Gaea Artoria who the Captain described as his toughest, most capable warrior. The other guard, Saenus Lusius, was better known for his craftiness and guile, but I think I supply enough guile and craft on my own.

Gaea readily agreed to assist me and told me that she heard that there were small boats docking in a bay close to the fort. She suspected there was a cave of some sort there that was being used to store the stolen goods prior to shipping them. I had no leads of my own so I agreed to take the walk.

The rumor proved to be correct and it was Gaea who spotted the cave entrance behind a slab of rock cleverly placed to give the illusion of one large, unbroken boulder. The cavern itself was simply made, but the inhabitants were a different story. I was expecting a few disgruntled Imperial Legion soldiers armed with the standard-issue equipment, but each of the five smugglers had armed themselves with weapons enchanted with Paralysis. Fortunately Gaea proved every bit the warrior the Captain promised that she was and between her blade and my bow the smugglers stood no chance.

We were both quite shocked to see the fort in ruins upon our return. While we were not gone long, Fort Frostmoth was attacked during our absence, rendering great damage to the fortifications and effecting the apparent kidnapping of Captain Falx Carius. Gaea rushed off to help in whatever way she saw fit and I questioned whomever would pause long enough to speak with me.

From what I was told the fort was taken completely by surprise and the attackers were "wolf creatures". Based on the somewhat shady past the garrison as a whole has, I must assume that the attackers were not some sort of animal, but more likely Nords dressed in wolf skins, as is the custom here. Why they would attack the fort, I do not know. 

My would-be companion Sacnus Lusius took temporary charge of the fort in the Captain's absence, but he did not know why Nords would attack either. Unable to spare any men, he charged me with the task of traveling to the far north of the island to speak with the leader of a Nordic village there to see if they have any information regarding the attack.

The village is that of the 'Skaal', which is something like a conservative sect of Nords that keep very close to nature or at least that's what I think I was told. I was given a skull of a long-dead Skaal warrior to give to the village leader as gift, though I cannot say giving me the skull of a Khajiit would place the giver in a positive light. But nevertheless off I went, skull in bag.

The fort was still in sight when I was attacked by a tree. Or rather what I thought was a tree. The first indication that the thing was not, in fact, a tree was a powerful swipe of very long claws raking across my armor. What I was facing looked like an Imperial woman mixed with a tree. Whatever it was, the creature was a difficult opponent, both fast and strong. When I finally struck it down I bent over to examine it, only for it to screech and go for my throat and once again I was in combat. And again, I struck it down only for it to jump back up. Only after the third time it fell did it remain still.

Such was my introduction to the unique fauna of Solstheim. The cold greenery gradually changed to the gray of snow and ice as I worked my way north along a occasionally frozen river. Even Solstheim's native animals proved hostile and I was assaulted by no less than three tusked, furry pigs and two bears.

The barren cold of the snow and ice produces a loneliness that did not really exist on Vvardenfell. No matter where I was I never felt so completely alone as I did while trekking along the frozen river. There are no sounds of civilization and barely any signs of it. No roads, no signposts, no bridges, and no paths. Just complete silence, the darkness of night, and the sound of my own steps crunching the snow underfoot. There was a certain beauty to it, but I greatly prefer the warmer, more populated island of Vvardenfell.

I was attacked by two small blue goblin-like creatures while I was circling around a partially frozen lake. The creatures were wielding a rather crude blade fashioned from what is likely scrap iron into something resembling a cleaver. For them it was a long blade, for me it was a oversize dagger and I left the weapons with their deceased owners.

The sky had been dark for a long time when I finally stumbled into the village of the Skaal people. They were not hostile, but neither were they friendly. Anyone I tried speaking to simply told me that they would not talk to me before I spoke with the Chief of the village, Tharsten Heart-Fang. The exchange reminds me very strongly of my first encounter with the Ashlander tribes.

The Skaal Greathall

Tharsten was blunt in declaring his dislike for the Imperial fort, boasting that the soldiers there did not know how to truly live in Solstheim and  that may very well be true. His people were certainly "closer" to the land and from what little I was able to glean from our conversation, I gather than wolves are especially revered by the Skaal, at least in this village.

But he also had no information about the attack on Fort Frostmoth. After I described what I had been told about the attack, he surmised that the creatures were not of Solstheim, but refused to say anything further on the subject. He clearly wanted me out of his Hall, but I presented the Skaal skull to him stating that it was an attempt by the Imperials to mend relations.

He laughed and said that the Imperials should learn to leave things where they lie, probably an unintentionally ironic statement given that I am Khajiit. However, after the presentation of my gift I was permitted to atone for the defiling of the land that the construction of the fort had wrought. Tharsten called the connection the Skaal had with the land as a "Oneness" and declared that I would have to acquire this "Oneness" before the Skaal would accept me. I was told to speak with the shaman about how to do this. More and more this is becoming similar to my trials with the Ashlanders.

The shaman, Korst Wind-Eye, told me that I have to visit each of six stones, the Standing Stones, and complete a ritual at each one. The stones represent the six virtues of the Skaal's primary deity, the All-Maker. Once I have completed all six rituals, I will have achieved the "Oneness" the Skaal prize so highly.

They were willing to give me a chance, but not a bed. There was no place to sleep at all in the village and a villager suggested I head south towards a Hall called 'Thirshk'. So it was back into the cold night for me.

Thirshk was not very far, but I was attacked by another blue goblin creature, this one riding one of the tusked pigs that have been attacking me today. Quite an ingenious thing really and the first time I have ever fought cavalry, though that may be stretching the definition a bit. The goblin fought with a long blade that he fashioned the skin of a wolf's head to as a hilt and preferred to stab at me as his mount raced around me in circles. The spear, however, has always been an effective deterrent against mounted foes and it served me very well in this case. I kept his blade to possibly trade for something more useful later.

The hall was full of drunken Nords, all of them welcoming me to drink their mead with them which was claimed to  come all the way from Skyrim. I passed on the offer and rented a bed for the night, which turned out to be a pile of animal skins on the floor. My sleeping accommodations as of late appear to be getting worse and worse. 

Next door to my little room is a Redguard from the Imperial Cult who claims to have been waiting for someone to escort her back to Fort Frostmoth. I certainly do have to head back to the Fort soon and possibly even to Vvardenfell to collect more of my equipment, but I also want begin the Skaal ritual as soon as I can. The crude map I was provided with puts one of the Standing Stones, the 'Beast Stone', near the lake close by. I will try to visit it tomorrow and escort the woman back when I decide to visit the Frostmoth again.

Morrowind Day 102 - To Solstheim

25 Sun's Dusk

~~~

Today was not a particularly eventful day. I made up my mind last night to (unfortunately) take the boat from Khuul to the island of Solstheim. The walk to Khuul was also the best opportunity I would have to re-visit the shrine of Mehrunes Dagon and see what reward the Daedric Prince would offer for the rusty, blunted dagger I found in the tomb he sent me to.

I was still greeted by a Blight storm when I left my Ald'ruhn home. I can only hope that the late Dagoth Ur's magic is eventually spent and these storms die off completely. What else can I do about it now?

Perhaps the magic is already diminishing, for the size of the storm was much less than I expected it to be. It had disappeared completely by the time I was halfway to Khuul even though I was still very close to Ghostfence. 

The ruin housing Mehrunes Dagon's shrine is Vvardenfell's closest landmark to Solstheim and the island can just barely be seen across the water on a clear day, such as today was. I would have been tempted to try walking across the water just to spare myself another boat ride if the thought of running out of magicka in the middle of the sea were not so terrifying, 

Opposition inside of the shrine was slim: a Dremora of some kind and a Daedroth. Once I had the ruin all to myself I wielded the dagger and stepped towards the shrine, not sure what I was supposed to do next. The Daedric Prince's voice suddenly erupted from the statue's head, crowing about all the pain and blood I would be spreading across the land with the Prince's gift. As soon as he said this, I felt a slight electrical shock in my hand.

The decrepit dagger I had been holding just moments before had been turned into something resembling a silvered Daedric dagger. The Prince spoke no more and I decided not to tell him that his dreams of pain and blood were not to be realized, for I was more likely to stash this dagger at the bottom of a chest than to wield it. Repairing Daedric equipment is simply too expensive and I am skilled enough in the use of cheaper weapons to make them just as effective anyway.

I was concerned about sinking into the middle of the sea while walking to Solstheim, but had no such concern for walking along the coast back to Khuul. It was quicker than hiking back across the land and I feel a little stupid for not having thought of walking to Mehrunes Dagon via the water in the first place.

According to the nervous mage at Ald'ruhn, my contact for a trip to Solstheim was, surprisingly, a Khajiit named S'virr. He is in the business of ferrying passengers and small amounts of goods to the frozen island, mostly on behalf of the Empire's garrison there, but I have no doubt the Khajiit is smuggling on the side as well. For a relatively extravagant fee of thirty Septims he was willing to let me join him on his next trip, which was coincidentally going to be occurring half an hour after I met him. His destination is always the Imperial garrison of Fort Frostmoth, entry and exit point for the settlers and adventurers steadily picking away at the island.

To be fair, sitting on the crate proved to be more comfortable than any silt strider and the waters were placid the whole way there. While it looked to me as though I could have walked there from the ruin, the currents flowing between the two islands forces S'virr to first sail away from his destination, only to turn around somewhere east of the island in the middle of the sea so that he can catch a current that encircles the island. I shall never understand the ways of the sea.

As a result, it was deep into the night when I finally stepped off of his boat and on to Solstheim. Fort Frostmoth loomed directly ahead of me, but I spent a few moments speaking with some settlers waiting near the docks. One of the settlers was 'Basks-In-The-Sun', an Argonian and S'virr's business partner. He described the place as "the jewel of absolutely nowhere", rather similar to how Morrowind as a whole was regarded way back in the Auxiliaries. Possibly a good omen, possibly a bad one. 'Basks-In-The-Sun' offered a trip back to Vvardenfell, as well as one to a small village called 'Raven Rock' where a mine was under construction. 

One of the settlers helpfully provided two names for me to start with: Carnius Magius, overseer of the Imperial colony on the island and the similarly named Captain Carius, Commander of the Imperial garrison. Neither sounded likely to be able to help me with the lost airship that brought me here.

The fort is very similar to Fort Moonmoth outside of Balmora. A Khajiit just inside offered to sell me leggings made from bear hide that he modified for use by Khajiit and Argonian adventurers. He recommended them as protection against the cold as much as against the hostility of the beasts and monsters that wandered in the wilderness. I was more intent on finding some place to sleep than I was for shopping so I declined his offer for now.

My sleeping arrangement wound up being a small cot in the corner of the Imperial Cult's barracks area. A far cry from my own home and certainly from my own manor, but I do believe I have slept in far worse places than this.

An unexplored land lies before me and I have no knowledge or expectation of this place. It is an exciting feeling and I am very much looking forward to my time here, cold though it may be.

Morrowind Day 101 - House Cleaning

24 Sun's Dusk

~~~

I woke for the first time in a long while with absolutely nothing to do. No Ashlanders to woo, no House Lords to convince, no mad God to slay. I finally have accomplished what I was sent here to do and to become, but what is to follow is to be decided only by myself.

My battle yesterday with Dagoth Ur nearly cost my life and it did cost me most of my armor, which has been ruined beyond any hope of repair. Though I slept well, I am still hurting and decided to make today as easy on myself as possible.

So in that way moving my possessions out of Ald'ruhn and to Indarys Manor became the order of the day. All of my Daedric equipment that I brought to Red Mountain yesterday, even the bow and dagger that I did not use, is in very poor condition. The spear I can understand, but I must have been sorely lacking in my diligence for the dagger and bow to be in such a shape despite what little either has been used.

The first things to be moved were my extremely valuable and largely useless collection of Daedric weaponry. Even the dagger is weighty and I find that I simply have no use for the things.

Leaving my small home, I anticipated clear skies and was quite disappointed and surprised to find myself in the midst of another Blight storm.

I thought the defeat of Dagoth Ur would have put an end to these things, but apparently not! I can only hope that with his absence, whatever creates these storms will gradually lose power and they will eventually cease altogether.

So rather than the peaceful walk to the Manor that I was expecting, it was the all too familiar blind stumbling through the hills. Fortunately the stumbling was without incident and I arrived at my small fortress quite quickly. The ring provided to me as a token of Azura's thanks gives me a great deal of endurance and I am pretty much able to jog along without tiring, making the trip a lot easier than it has been in the past.

The Daedric weapons were unceremoniously dumped into a chest in my bedroom, then I Recalled back to Ald'ruhn for the second trip, this time most of my spare gems and alchemy ingredients. The trip to the Manor was repeated and for the third time I Recalled back to Ald'ruhn and brought most of my remaining weapons and armor to the Manor. Hardly the stuff of stories.

I am far more used to action-packed days than what this one had been so far, so my fourth Recall back to Ald'ruhn was my last for the day. Instead of going back to the Manor with more sundries, I went to the Mages Guild and was sent to the Guild in Vivec, where I believe I was expected by someone.

Lord Vivec was pleased to see me, though not surprised. He felt the disconnection of his divinity when the Heart was destroyed and took his loss of God-hood in rather good spirits, stating that he never really regarded it as part of who he was and that rebuilding the Temple would happily occupy him for some time.

He did confide that he had concerns about how the rest of the Tribunal, Almalexia and Sotha Sil, would deal with their lose of divine powers. It is Vivec's belief that Sotha Sil may never notice he lost them, so absorbed is he in discovering this world's mysteries. As for Almalexia, Vivec was concerned. God-hood was a mantle she wore a lot more heavily than Vivec and he feared that her reaction would bring harm to herself and to others. He had not communicated with either of them in a long time and could only give me the most basic of information regarding either individual.

For me, Vivec had no doubts: In his mind, I would continue to be the Protector of Morrowind, not by given duty, but simply out of who I have become. I suppose he is right, I find I have no desire to return to Cyrodil any longer and there are still tasks awaiting me here on Vvardenfell.

And elsewhere, as it turned out. I Recalled back to Ald'ruhn for the last time today (no doubt to the relief of the amulet!) and was approached outside the Guild by a stammering man asking if I was Kerra and if I could help him with something. His story was...an interesting one.

To tell it in full would be giving it more attention than it deserves. The man was a wizard of little renown who had heard rumors of an amulet that would make him irresistible to the ladies who one can assume have only shunned him so far. This amulet is supposed to be somewhere on the icy island of Solstheim. The wizard hired a group of 'sailors' he did not know to crew a ship he had enchanted sufficiently to be able to fly to the island, retrieve this amulet, and fly back. 

Naturally that was the last he heard of the sailors, if that is really what they were, or his magical flying vessel. He wanted me to go to Solstheim, find some evidence of what happened to his ship, and of course bring this amulet back to him. I agreed to give myself something new to do, but the only way to Solstheim without a flying ship of my own is to hire a boat out of Khuul. Not my preferred form of travel, but there seems no other way.

Having to go north will give me a reason to give Mehrunes Dagon the old dagger he covets so much, though I am somewhat anxious as to thought of what my "reward" for completing this task shall be.

Morrowind Day 100 - My Final Blow Against Dagoth Ur

23 Sun's Dusk

~~~

It is finished. Dagoth Ur is no more. I suppose I should feel victorious and heroic, but instead I am just exhausted, confused, and hurting.

I did not start this morning with the intention of facing Dagoth Ur. I intended to spend the day preparing to make the attempt to reach him in a week or so. In order to do that, I would need restoration elixirs, scrolls, spare weapons, and more arrows, all of it easily obtainable at Balmora.

But when I stepped outside, the sky was bright red, dirt and dust were whipping around in the air, and the screaming wind of a Blight storm constantly assaulted my ears. If the storm was meant as a warning then it failed: I felt so close to being able to confront Dagoth Ur that the storm goaded me into acting more rashly than normally do. Thinking upon it now, perhaps that was Dagoth Ur's intention. Whatever the case, I quickly teleported to Balmora, purchased everything useful that I could find, and teleported back to the Ald'ruhn Mages Guild.

The storm was gone from Ald'ruhn when I returned, leading me to think that the storms had been under the direct control of Dagoth Ur the entire time. Balmora might have been too far to exert his influence and without me to intimidate at Ald'ruhn, why waste his strength? This is just my thought and I shall never know the truth of this matter.

I brought the instructions given to me by Vivec and reviewed them for probably the twelfth time that morning: Wearing the Dwemer gauntlet called 'Wraithguard', I needed to wield the hammer 'Sunder' and strike the 'Heart' once. This would somehow release the energy stored within the device/artifact and it is this energy that the Tribunal used to become, if not Gods, then Divine Beings. However, the secret of how to do this was wisely kept from me. Instead, I then needed to use the blade 'Keening' against the Heart, shattering the connection between Heart and Dagoth Ur. Once this connection to Dagoth Ur has been shattered I was assured he would become a mortal opponent, weak to bow and spear.

This severing would also extend to Dagoth Ur's minions and the Tribunal itself, the repercussions of which Vivec himself could not predict.

The quickest way to Dagoth Ur's private citadel was through Ghostgate and then, according to what little information I had, Dagoth Ur would simply be straight ahead.

Naturally my little walk from Ghostgate to Dagoth Ur was done while almost completely blinded. Twice I stumbled into a boulder and I was even surprised by an Ogrim charging at me out of the gloom. I chose to flee and save my strength for Dagoth Ur's stronghold.

The swirling dust of the Blight storm was almost my killer. Blinded by the storm, I nearly stepped right into a pit of lava that the citadel, unseen by me until that point, encircled. What followed was more blind stumbling about as I searched for a way to open what seemed to be the only door leading inside. This ruin shared the same door-and-crank mechanism that I first saw in the ruin outside of Balmora. It did take me quite some time to find the crank for it was not particularly close to the entrance and I was frequently under assault by the spell-slinging soldiers of the Sixth House.

Inside was no different than any other Dwemer fortress I have had the misfortune to find myself in and the denizens no different than any other Sixth House base. To describe each battle I made against Dagoth Ur's followers does me no good, so it will have to suffice to say that I dealt mortal blows against several of the floating tentacle-faced creatures and three of the tentacle-faced former Dunmer whom I gather served as priests of some kind. Bringing my Daedric spear was a great boon for me, but the bow and dagger wound up never being employed.

Save for the spirits I met inside the Cavern of the Incarnate, I have no knowledge of the past attempts made against Dagoth Ur. The bodies of several adventurers, all partially mummified by the great heat from the numerous pits of molten lava, were scattered over the complex, indicating at least one attempt was made against Dagoth Ur in the past.

As I ventured further inside a voice boomed from the walls itself. The voice was calm, almost genteel. The mysterious voice greeted me and thanked me for bringing the tools of Kagrenac to him. I then realized that this was Dagoth Ur himself.

His ability to project his voice did not extend into using it to alert his loyal minions. As Dagoth Ur continued to speak, I was able to sneak up on several more Blighted monsters and slay them, either under the mad god's notice or not.

The Dwemer section of the ruin ended at a damaged room with an unfinished excavation through one of the walls into which a door had been hastily installed. Nothing about it prepared me for what I found on the other side.

Standing calmly on the far side of the cavern was Dagoth Ur himself. At nearly seven feet tall, the former Dunmer towered over me, but made no hostile gestures as I approached. When I got closer I could see that he had not escaped the power of his own influence, for his body closely resembled the Ash Vampires: all sinew and muscle with the hands elongated into long claws. Despite this monstrous transformation, he was deceptively polite.

But he spoke to me as if I was Lord Nerevar, not Kerra the Khajiit. Our short conversation started with him expressing his sorrow that our relationship could not be mended to where it had been so long ago. This was fine with me. But before we were to fight, he offered me a chance to ask questions so that he could also ask questions of me. A strange request, but one I agreed to, for the sake of my own curiosity.

His first question was understandable: Was I really Lord Nerevar reborn? I decided to be honest with the unfortunate soul and told him that I was not sure. Dagoth Ur paused for a moment and bowed slightly, telling me that I had his sympathy and he would weep for my death, Nerevar reborn or not. 

His second question was of my intentions towards the Heart he was using to power his mad scheme. What would I do with it if I won? Remembering that I was advised that Dagoth Ur would see me as a usurper, I bluffed and told him I had my own secret plans for it. It sounded like a safer answer than the truth, that I had come to destroy it and everything he had labored towards. My answer was accepted without much interest.

His last question was if I would have accepted an offer to join him in exchange for Sunder, Keening, and the gauntlet 'Wraithguard'. That was an easy answer: Of course not! He thanked me for my honesty and asked if I now had any questions for him. If I did not, I was welcome to deliver the first strike of our combat when I was ready.

Rather than recalling each individual question, I think it is better that I summarize his answers. His whole plan was to restore the province of Morrowind to its 'former glory', I can only assume he meant independence from the Empire. Once this had been achieved, the Dunmer could then think about forging their own Empire. The Blight storms would continue until they covered all of Tamriel, but he did not seem to have a reason for this to happen, nor any idea as to the result. He fully accepted that his methods would result in great suffering and claimed ready to stoically bear this burden. He would grieve for the spilled blood in pursuit of his "just and noble" cause. 

I declared my questions to be at an end and he bowed again, awaiting my strike. I made sure it was a good one, my Daedric spear went right through his chest and he fell, laughing. His body disappeared before it hit the ground and a grinding alerted me to one of the spherical Dwemer doors opening behind me.

As I wrote above, nothing could have prepared me for what I found behind the door in the Dwemer ruin. But I did not mean Dagoth Ur himself. Instead I refer to the giant man-looking thing I found in the room behind the sphere.

Dagoth Ur was not so polite this time. He struck with powerful spells and brutal swipes of his clawed hands, yet all of my attacks appeared to do no damage at all. This was the power of the Heart sustaining and protecting him. Despite that, I was still quicker than he and I saw that there were two ways down to the Heart: a long, winding path along the edge of the giant cavern or a steep drop from where he and I were trading blows. I chose the second option, fortunately managing to cast my minor Slowfall spell just before fatally reaching ground. I landed just in front of the Heart at the end of a perilously strung rope bridge swaying over a reservoir of the Red Mountain's lava.

I started to congratulate myself at leaving my foe so far behind just as he teleported on to the bridge and charged at me. Hurriedly, I smacked the glowing Heart with Sunder and vaguely heard Dagoth Ur exclaim something. I tossed the hammer into my other hand and drew Keening, desperately slashing and striking at the Heart before Dagoth Ur could reach me.

Finally, one of my blows resulted in a loud boom and the shield surrounding Dagoth Ur vanished. The mad God (or former God, by then?) screamed and covered the final distance between us with but a few strides. But he was no longer immortal and I was just barely able to bring my spear up to fend him off. The Daedric spear-point only caught him a glancing blow, but he gasped and bled, allowing me to dash past him and across the bridge. My intention was to give him the choice of death at my hands or a reconciliation with Lord Vivec, but I had just reached the opposite end of the rope bridge when everything started shaking.

Pieces of the giant man-statue Dagoth Ur had been building started to rain down upon us and he turned from the ruined Heart, intent on dashing across the bridge as I did. He made it not more than halfway across before a large piece of the statue fell between us and into the lava below, severing the rope bridge in the process. The last I saw of Dagoth Ur was him tumbling downwards along with an increasing quantity of the statue above him. With his immortality stripped away, I can only assume he perished in the molten lava. In what may have been a few seconds or a few minutes, his entire work was in pieces, slowly melting as Red Mountain claimed it.

As for me, I was fortunate that the spiral walkway had not also collapsed, but it felt like a very, very long walk back up to the Dwemer door. My breastplate was missing large chunks of Dreugh chitin and I somehow lost my helm in the chaotic melee. I could have Recalled back to Ald'ruhn, but I had been assured that Dagoth Ur's death would bring blue skies to Red Mountain and it was something I felt that I needed to see.

As I walked towards the door leading into the Dwemer section, a Dunmer woman materialized out of nothing right in front of me. Such was my exhaustion that I could only calmly identify the woman as the Daedric Prince Azura. My vision swam and I was suddenly staring at blue skies over Ghostgate, over Ald'ruhn, and the small villages and the (relatively!) large cities of Vvardenfell. Azura's voice entered my mind, but it was comforting in contrast to Dagoth Ur's sneering overconfidence. She congratulated me as Hortator, as Nerevarine, and assured me that my burden of fighting the Sixth House was finally at an end, but that there were still threats to Morrowind that I would be called to overcome. I was given no chance to speak and she offered a token of her thanks before she disappeared. In her place shone a single ring. I took it, but spared it no more notice. I can look at it tomorrow.

The ruin beyond was devoid of any threat and when I stepped outside I was greeted not by blue skies, but by an orange one. The weather was clear though and there was no Blight storm. Satisfied, I Recalled home and collasped on to the hammock where only by a great feat of concentration have I been able to write all of this. 

I am not sure what time it is, but I do not care. I am going to sleep now and whatever further needs to be done can be done tomorrow. When I wake it shall be as a savior of this land, but I still do not feel comfortable in living that role. It remains to be seen how others will see me after this. It has been one hundred days since I have arrived here. How fitting.

Morrowind Day 99 - My Second Blow Against Dagoth Ur

22 Sun's Dusk

~~~

After all the weeks I have been spending in preparation for my confrontation with Dagoth Ur it is ironic that the most progress made against him has been due to relatively whimsical decisions of my own. Yesterday's retrieval of the artifact 'Keening' was decided upon only to see how far I could come to retrieving it. Success was not expected, but certainly welcome!

Today I rode my luck a little further and woke in Ald'ruhn certain that I could also retrieve the artifact-weapon 'Sunder' from Red Mountain. Vivec's document called for a raid on Citadel Vemynal to slay a Dagoth named Vemyn and retrieve 'Sunder'. On my way out of Ald'ruhn I prioritized the defeat of Dagoth Vemyn over 'Sunder', rationalizing that the fewer resources Dagoth Ur had, and the quicker I eliminated such resources, would reduce his influence and make further raids into Red Mountain a little easier. That was my idea, anyway, but my ideas never seem to reach fruition.

My pitiful "map" of Red Mountain, as provided to me, is woefully inadequate and served only to inform me that Vemynal is in the northwest of Red Mountain. As to how best to get there, it could not tell me. I figured I would skip going to Ghostgate, instead I would walk the perimeter of Ghostfence until I judged it safe to levitate over. In this way I hoped to elude Dagoth Ur's notice and possibly end up closer to the citadel than passing through Ghostfence in the regular way.

I chose to levitate over a section of Ghostfence right before a small bridge so that should I be attacked upon landing, I at least had the bridge to funnel my enemies on to. I slowly floated upwards and over Ghostfence, bracing myself for the inevitable Blight storm. But when I finally descended on to land, there was...nothing. No wind, no red sky, just an eerie silence.

The unusually clear weather made the large Corpus beast idling just around the bend of the path easy to spot...and shoot. Had I known what I that would have done, I might have snuck by it. Just as the first silvered arrow smacked into the creature's diseased flesh the sky started to darken, the wind picked up, and soon I was engulfed in a Blight storm with an angry Corpus monster charging at me and bellowing.

So my idea that Dagoth Ur controls the Blight storms personally is somewhat supported. Perhaps the sudden assault on one of his minions alerted him to my presence. Or it could be just a coincidence, but I will certainly be keeping this in mind should I ever see clear skies within Ghostfence ever again.

With the Blight storm at full strength, my decision to levitate over Ghostfence was proven a good one, it shortened the walk to Vemynal considerably and as a result I only was ambushed three times while walking outside at Red Mountain. A good number considering my previous journeys to this accursed place.

It was no safer inside Vemynal. Retrieving 'Keening' had been fairly simple and low-risk due to the slight garrison Dagoth Ur placed within it, but Vemynal was much more densely populated with all manner of hostility and evil.

Several of the ruin's denizens were wearing the Sixth House amulets that normally mark the wearer as an elevated individual within the Sixth House, so I suppose it is possible that I have further eliminated more of the Sixth House's upper ranks, if such a thing exists within their twisted hierarchy.

I found Dagoth Vemyn on the lowest level of the citadel, though calling it such is being quite generous, for the entire complex is all of four rooms and one stairway. Only one room was on the lower level and it is there that Dagoth Vemyn met his end...but not by my hand.

The Dagoth's room was nearly identical to his comrade's from yesterday: a large room with a smaller square room in the middle accessible via four large metal doors, one on each side. Dagoth was in the smaller room, as expected, but he was completely alone. Rather than face the Ash Vampire in hand-to-hand combat I used my last Golden Saint scroll to satisfy my curiosity. Would Dagoth Ur's most powerful follower prevail against Sheogorath's?

I was able to peek through the gap between the doors and opened it when the Dagoth was on the far side of the room. By the time he had noticed me I was already stepping out of the doorway to give the Golden Saint room to maneuver. The battle was very one-sided, with the Ash Vampire quickly succumbing to the Daedra's two-handed blade. 

The hammer 'Sunder' was in the Dagoth's posession, strapped to one of the creatures's sinewy thighs. It looks similar to a one-handed hammer any metal worker would have in his inventory for the fixing of small dents and other fine work. Its smallness contrasts with its considerable weight, almost all of it at the weapon's head. A blow delivered with this would be grievous, making its name very appropriate.

I had no other business at the ruin and having left Keening in Ald'ruhn, I had no further business at Red Mountain at all. I waited until the Golden Saint's hold on this plane expired and Recalled back home. It was only just after lunch.

'Keening' and 'Sunder' will now be on my person at all times. I am certain that Dagoth Ur knows of their theft and will take great efforts to re-acquire the means to his destruction. It is for this reason that I re-armed myself with my most powerful weapons: a Daedric dagger, spear, bow, and eight very rare Daedric arrows. So armed, I am ready to face whatever the mad demi-God sends after me. I did discard my shield, for I never really was very good at using one back in Cyrodiil and unlike much of my previous education I did not improve much here in Morrowind. I always have been more comfortable with simply removing my body from a foe's strike than meeting it with a plank of wood or Dreugh chitin.

Most of the afternoon was spent organizing my Ald'ruhn home, firstly to make it easier to move to the Manor once it is completed and secondly to ensure I am carrying only the most essential of equipment, as my Daedric arsenal weighs me down greatly. I am still in need of Restoration potions of several kinds and will be shopping tomorrow...and possibly confronting Dagoth Ur by the end of the week.

It is a somber thought, but not one I dwell on with much anxiety. My skills and my body have improved greatly since arriving here and I am as ready as I shall ever be for the task put upon me. Should I fail I at least have the grim amusement of being the sole Khajiit spirit occupying the Ashlanders' "Cavern of the Incarnate".

Morrowind Day 98 - My First Blow Against Dagoth Ur

21 Sun's Dusk

~~~

Sleeping on the large bed provided for me at the Manor is a far cry from the creaky, worn cot I have been using at Ald'ruhn. I woke this morning feeling as though I had slept for a week, which is likely why I accomplished what I did today.

Before I could attempt anything great I had to complete the minor task of women-finding. Naturally I had no idea how to even begin, but I figured asking around Ald'ruhn would be a decent way to start. I decided to visit the inns, first the Ald Skar Inn and then the Rat In The Pot to ask around, see if anyone female and single was looking to move out of Ald'ruhn.

I was surprised to be told there actually was such a woman: a Dunmer named Fathusa Girethi. She had been spending her nights at the Inn in decreasing sobriety, complaining all the while of the lack of eligible men in Ald'ruhn. She would loudly proclaim to anyone within earshot of her intention to move to Caldera and marry an Imperial, so I gather her frustration was considerable. My offer of living quarters at Indarys Manor was greatly welcomed by her and she set off for the Manor immediately with a piece of parchment from me allowing her residence.

My visit to The Rat In The Pot proved to be just as rewarding. I received a tip that a resident of Ald'ruhn, Aryni Orethi, was planning on moving to the mainland in the hope of getting married. Re-location to Indarys Manor was a much easier thing for her and she accepted just as eagerly as her frustrated comrade, promising to be at my stronghold by the end of the day.

The slave pen of Tel Aruhn was my last stop. The walk across the water from the Wolverine Hall was a bright pink courtesy of weather I cannot even begin to understand or predict. As disconcerting as the sky was, it was still preferable to the blood-red Blight storms and a stark contrast to what I encountered later.

To my surprise, Savile did not have the type of slaves I was looking for. She instead offered to purchase the slaves in my stead, all for the low price of two thousand Septims. I am sure she exaggerated the cost to suit her own purse, but she promised that two young Dunmer females would be at the manor by the end of tomorrow. I judged four women to be sufficient for the small settlement and Recalled back to Ald'ruhn so that I could make the trek to Indarys Manor. Hetman Guls seemed to approve of what I had done, stating that the manor would now grow and prosper. I am just glad to be finally done with all of these middling chores!

Galsa did not bother to check my claim that there were women now at the manor. She simply stated that the final phase of construction would begin shortly and bade me to have a good day. I would think that a manor-holder would get a little more respect than that, but being a Khajiit in Morrowind is a constant struggle.

And just like that I was finished with the day's task...but it was only time for lunch. With nothing left planned to do, I was about to starting collecting all of my possessions so that I can start determining what I shall be bringing to the manor and what I shall be donating. But the first items I gathered were all of the non-enchanted parchments that found their way to me and the sheet atop all the others was the plan given to me by Lord Vivec to ensure Dagoth Ur's defeat.

I had read it before, but I glanced over the plan once again, noting that I did complete, or at least was in progress of, the first phase of scouting raids against Red Mountain. The second phase is a suggestion to slay Dagoth Ur's Ash Vampires, but provides no location for any of them. The third phase is to recover an artifact named 'Sunder' in a Dwemer fortress north of Red Mountain, too far for me to travel right now.

However, the fourth phase of the plan sounded doable to me: find the companion artifact of 'Sunder', a blade called 'Keening', in a Dwemer ruin fairly close to Ghostgate. I felt confident that I could retrieve 'Keening' and still be back at Ald'ruhn before sundown.

Rather than following the winding paths to Ghostgate, I instead walked from Ald'ruhn until I reached the Ghostfence, then simply followed it around until I reached Ghostgate. I did on occasion have to use my levitation amulet to ascend over some hills, but it was a much quicker way to travel than walking. The thought did cross my mind to levitate over the Ghostfence itself, but I will save that strategy for another day. My destination within Ghostfence was the Dwemer ruin (called a 'Gate Citadel' in Vivec's document) of Odrosal and according to the map of the Buoyant Armigers it was just off to the center of Red Mountain, near Ghostgate. Levitation would not help me get there today.

The deceptively intimidating Ghostgate Fortress

I was immediately greeted by one of the Sixth House's minions, this one an unfortunate soul recently infected with Dagoth Ur's so-called 'Divine Touch'.

Perhaps he was working in one of the few mines operating within Red Mountain. Maybe an ex-crusader, come to fight the horrors of Dagoth Ur. There is no way of knowing.

His death seemed to trigger Dagoth Ur's attention and soon I was completely enveloped in a screaming Blight storm that reduced my visibility to about half the length of my spear. Not a comfortable way to be traveling, especially within Ghostfence.

Fortunately, none of the Sixth House understand the concept of stealth or I would have been in a great deal of trouble. As if to underline that point, I heard my second opponent charging at me long before I could see it, not that it made the experience any less frightening. It was an Ogrim so large that it's bulk occupied nearly the whole width of the path I was following. The heavy feet of the creature gave away its approach well in advance, but owing to the wind I could not take advantage with my bow, leaving me no choice but to engage the massive Daedra in hand-to-hand combat. One solid strike from the massive hands could have certainly broken a limb or stove in my chest or head, but the lumbering creature, as with his cousins, seem designed to attack castles, not warriors. His attacks were as clumsy and obvious as his approach and I slew the great Daedra with barely a scratch upon me.

Odrosal was relatively easy to find and is probably visible from Ghostgate if there is no storm slashing at your eyes. This Citadel of Dagoth Ur's was sparsely garrisoned by his elite soldiers and my foes were tough, but few. Chief among them was the Ash Vampire Vivec named as 'Odros'. I found him in a room with four pillars supporting a partially open ceiling. I thought this an easier fight than it was, for I failed to notice the Fire Atronach stalking the walkway above the room and it announced its presence by flinging fire at me as I danced among the pillars, stabbing the great Dagoth Odros with my spear. I managed to snatch an enchanted amulet from the Ash Vampire's neck as I dodged fireballs and left the room with the Fire Atronach greatly frustrated behind me.I expected the blade 'Keening' to be wielded by the most powerful foe in Odrosal and the Ash Vampire was no doubt that foe...but the blade was nowhere to be found on the corpse.

I explored the ruin a little further and fought a Golden Saint, the last of the tiny garrison of Odrosal. My survival in this place would have been measured in seconds three months ago, yet I strode through the mostly abandoned place healthy and well-rested, confident that anything I could deal with anything or anyone Dagoth Ur thought to put against me. Imperials have a phrase stating that pride usually precedes some great misfortune, but not today, for I found the blade 'Keening' soon after my combat against the Golden Saint.

'Keening' was in a room by itself, a small tower accessible via a ladder and a trapdoor that I somehow failed to see when I entered the ruin. The dagger, for it certainly is as such, was driven into a stone altar painted with foul illustrations surrounded by six of the Sixth House's iconic red candles.

One would expect with some trepidation of a deadly trap or a summoned creature upon removing the blade, but I pulled the heavy, unbalanced thing out of the altar with no sign that anyone, anywhere, noticed. Shaped like a large dagger, 'Keening' is not a weapon I would ever use, even if the alternative was tooth and claw. The "blade", which is putting it politely, is a solid chunk of crystal, with rounded edges and a blunt tip. Wielding it as if it were a club would be the most effective if striking something with it would not shatter the thing entirely. 

But it is not for fighting, so all this can be excused. When the time comes to wield 'Keening' and the hammer 'Sunder', it will be against the magic forces that bind Dagoth Ur to this world, not against Dagoth Ur himself. Or so I hope. A quick activation of my amulet and I was instantly shedding red dust all over my soon-to-be vacated home in Ald'ruhn. 'Keening' is laying rather unceremoniously on a book while I contemplate the best way to acquire its sister artifact, 'Sunder'.

It has felt as if it has been a long time since I made a direct move against the Sixth House and this is the most direct I have moved so far. Should I acquire the hammer 'Sunder', I will at least technically be prepared to face Dagoth Ur himself within the depths of Red Mountain. 

The thought of this does not frighten me, nor cause me any worry. It feels right, somehow. Things are progressing the way they should be and my role in all of this is one to be embraced. Perhaps this is just the calm one feels when all of the choices are stripped away.