After a long time, we now return to the adventures of Anna Valerian and my look at Morrowind. At some point, the old graphics on the environments may come in due to me accidentally turning off some of MGSO's graphical improvements.
Whoops.
We begin in this area.
Julan is still here too.
Looks like Anna needs to head to Punabi through the Molag Amur region.
Filled with cliff racers.
After a brief respite at the nearby fort...
It is time to head out.
Past Arkngthand
And this cliff racer.
Map referencing is important.
Along the path are animals.
And caves like this.
Trama root too.
The signs are helpful at least.
More wandering.
More wildlife.
There lies an ancient Dunmer fort.
And even more cliff racers...
Long wanderings per the directions do eventually lead the right place.
See? Directions based on landmarks do work and I wish games would remember that.
Looks like Anna has found Manwe. For a Valar, she seems petite.
Now to get her dues.
She is surprisingly forthcoming with the dues. I guess she does want to get back to it.
Now to recruit Bereloth. As Ranis said, he is close by.
Here it is.
As the reader can see, none of the tower's inhabitants are hostile. So this may go well.
As long as they do not get pissed off at Anna disarming traps.
Looks like they are not too pissed about it.
I get that Anna smells... Running around in ash storms and killing cliff racers certainly leaves a scent.
Now to use the Imperial go-to for making friends
Here is the guy we are recruiting.
With his Disposition so high, he agrees though with no guarantee but I guess it works for now.
Hey, Anna did not threaten with death! She merely brainwashed him! Totally nicer!
A quick Almsivi takes us back to... Ald-ruhn. B'vek!
One guild guide trip later and we are back to report in.
Take that, Ajira and Galbedir. Magically inept Anna is now a Journeyman.
Time to spend some gold on some training.
New task from Ranis: Find and stop the unsanctioned training by someone here in Balmora. You do realise that having an extra trainer in town is useful, right?
Even Julan seems to think Ranis is a bit off.
In any case, Anna does recall a trainer that denied services at the South Wall Cornerclub.
He is here... somewhere...
There we go, the only Argonian in a robe. See, he refuses!
Since he is willing to offer training in return to lying to Ranis, Anna takes the deal. Besides, it would look bad if Anna ran a person out of South Wall for simply offering services.
After reporting in, Anna's new task is to get a scholar's notes.
On the way to said scholar down at Eight Plates, Anna is accosted by... this person.
Why is he talking about the Sixth House and Dagoth Ur? Something is up.
But before figuring that out, Anna reaches Eight Plates.
Here is that scholar.
So, what he wants is to reach Pelagiad. That shoudl be feasible.
It is an uneventful journey since a quick silt strider ride cuts half the journey time.
Thus, we reach the Halfway Tavern.
Itermerel is pleased enough to hand-over his notes.
Link to the full notes are here: https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Itermerel%27s_Notes
(P.S: It is not much)
To avoid wasting time, we proceed to use Almsivi. Hope we do not end up at Vivec.
Sweet, Balmora!
After handing over the notes, we get a new task. Kill some person named Tashpi Ashibael as she seems to be a necromancer. Er... is there any actual proof or does Anna act on word of mouth?
Even Julan is skeptical. Ashlander Dunmer and necromancy do not match up.
Time to look into this via silt strider to Maar Gan.
At the Maar Gan silt strider port, the driver insists otherwise.
He does reveal where she stays though.
Found it.
She seems nice, is a healer by trade. Necromancer?
Ah... and now we get another side to the story. To sum up: Ranis does not seem to like it when people turn her down. But to escalate to murder? Is there truth to this claim?
In any case, Anna has not seen any actual proof of necromancy, the people refer to to Tashpi as a healer and Ranis can be rather vindictive when it comes to getting her way. So like with the unsanctioned training, it is time to lie to Ranis and spare the girl.
Julan seems to agree too. Though I think he is drunk...
Now to take a bit of a detour for the Seven Graces pilgrimage.
It is a good idea for suicidal folks. Also, are you still drunk?!
So we head to the Temple.
Okay, now he has sobered up.
Here is the shrine to the Mask of Vivec.
Together with Anna's offering as well.
This activates the shrine's blessing. However, the rims here can be interacted with.
Revealing the true mask. The one on that altar in the distance is a replica.
Interacting with it grants a new spell to Anna. This may be useful.
Here is some info on joining the Legion. Anna is starting to feel suicidal.
Here is a skill-book that may avert that suicidal feeling.
In any case, it is time to join the Legion. Anna is Imperial after all so she may as well work with her people.
One unique aspect of being in the Imperial Legion is the constant need to wear your uniform which is one of their standard issue uniforms. After all as they are the army, the members do need to be in uniform when on duty.
Not doing so causes them to admonish you for not being in uniform. While it is annoying especially for light armor specialists since there is no light armor variants of the armor, it does make sense for soldiers on duty to be in uniform and small touches like this do add onto the feeling of authenticity to the setting. Still, it is annoying and there are mods to get around this like the Imperial Legion badge mod.
The rules of the Legion are simple ones.
Now for orders; Anna is to get the land deed from a recently widowed woman to help expand the docks. That is pretty cold, Darius...
On the way over to the widow, Anna comes across this Dunmer in the river.
Seems he is an egg-miner who lost his pants. To a bully.
Here is the s'wit responsible and he does not like Hentus.
A bribe later and Hainab gives up the pants.
The reward is some Hackle-Lo leaves... Eh, could be worse.
Now to see Widow Vabdas. To think I went the wrong way when I first played this as a kid.
Here is the place.
Now this is interesting... Widow Vabdas alleges that her husband was murdered in the egg mine and refuses to give up the deed. The latter is expected but the former... bears merit for investigation.
So it is off to the eggmine. As Widow Vabdas mentioned, the mines are closed due to the kwama queen being infected with Blight.
Since Anna is a member of the Legion, she is granted a key to enter.
To avert any potential follower issues, I tell Julan to wait outside.
Depicted here is a sensibly placed sign in front of a pool of water.
Further in the mines is this door.
That leads to a particularly grumpy orc. One who seems murderous.
Running past the orc into the next area, Anna stumbles into the ghost of Vabdas. Looks like that murder allegation is turning into irrefutable fact.
Poor guy, just wanted some kwama eggs and gets an axe to the skull because a guard did not want to admit he was incompetent by falling asleep on the job. As for not taking the land, it is more fair to not take it under these tragic circumstances.
Time for a swim.
Sure enough, we find the axe. Damaged badly as well.
Now to sprint past the murderer.
And report back to Darius with proof.
Not depicted: Once done so, Darius gives the order to kill Lugrub gro-Ogdum for his crime.
Which Anna does so.
Unfortunately, his cave in the mine happens to be where the kawam warriors reside. These creatures hit hard with shock spells to boot.
Surviving that earns Anna the right to level up.
After that, Anna reports to Darius who gives her a broadsword for her troubles.
And a promotion to boot.
Her next order is to cure the eggmine of Blight. Anna did get that spell from the mask so that could be what she needs.
For what is worth, Darius does try to contribute money to Widow Vabdas and has decided not to obtain the land deed. It is not much compensation for losing one's spouse but at least justice has been meted and she gets to keep her land. She would not be regarding the Imperial banners highly though as it was one of their members, errant he may have been, that murdered her husband in cold blood.
Maybe curing the eggmine would help make things right for the Legion in Gnisis.
Before heading to the mines, Anna visits Hetman as per Darius' suggestion.
His solution involves scrolls of Cure Blight. Useful.
But nothing compared to the power from a god.
With these Imperial hands, be cured kwama queen. Be cured and provide eggs to sustain Gnisis. Just do not question the corpses of the Orc and Dunmer nearby.
With the mine cured, Anna gets some gold from Darius.
And a promotion. Finally, a proper heavy armor cuirass.
New orders; find and rescue a missing pilgrim who is being held hostage by Ashlanders.
So it may be easier to walk over to Ald Sotha rather than take the strider to Khuul. After all, Anna may stumble upon the Ashlanders.
It is getting quite dark out now.
Signboard. Useful.
These are not the Ashlanders Anna is looking for but she may as well dispatch them if they are coming after her.
I really need a Night Eye item.
Hey, a person! Maybe he has something to say.
Aaaand he's crazy. Crazy muddled.
So in essence, he got bitten by a slaughterfish and whatever is infecting his brain from that bite is causing his mental problems here. I hope it is not rabies.
Well, Anna still has that spell from the mask so she may as well use it.
It works and it looks like he is less muddled now.
Some gold and some reputation boosting? It is good to help a fellow Legion member every now and again.
It is getting real dark out, hopefully Anna is close to those Ashlanders.
Well, looks like there is another person out and about in the dead of night in the middle of nowhere. I wonder what does she want.
Oh, a lost ring in a pond? Sure, may as well help.
It may be dark and murky down in the pond but the ring is there.
Taking it however reveals that it was an ambush! The lady was a robber and has an accomplice. Good thing for the cuirass.
Killing both nets their items, including this extremely nifty amulet. Reader, prepare to see this Amulet of Shadows come up a lot for the rest of this series.
Found the place! ...I think.
Looks like they are not hostile at the moment.
Found her! Also, the Ashlanders are not hostile at the moment so there may be a way to do this without bloodshed.
500 gold... but if it gets the hostage out without harm, Anna may as well pay the ransom.
With that done, it is safe to lead Madura out/
Reaching the Ald Sotha outpost is all Madura needs. Hopefully she can avoid running into other kidnappers.
Here is the outskirts of Khuul.
And this is a dreugh. Not a land one.
Reporting in nets Anna advancement which brings in proper Legion gear.
Her next job involves rescuing a tax collector from the local Telvanni mage. I wonder why does the Legion not send anyone else aside from Anna but I guess with how Anna gets things done on time and properly, she has become the go-to woman for tasks.
With new helmet in place and proper steel at hand, we end this part of my look at Morrowind. Normally, I end these entries with a third person look at helmet-less Anna but she is wearing an open helm so I will let that slide.
