Life In Morrowind

Yesterday, as I barely escaped from the Shulk egg mine with my life, I was sure I would not be going back there. I would just return to Eydis and excuse myself from this task - and from the Fighters Guild in general. It did not make sense for me to join them in the first place. Me, a fighter? Not even funny. As I woke in the morning today, I felt differently. Admitting defeat is never pleasant, of course, but this was something else. Not even a hurt sense of pride, no. I am struggling to understand this new personality that I am apparently developing on the alien soil of Vvardenfel. In this case, as I questioned myself on my motives, I realised that deep inside me I had an irrational sense of confidence: I knew I could do it, I could handle those egg poachers, and I could handle Fighters Guild. Maybe not right now, not without preparation and learning, but I felt that I could handle anything . This time I arrived to the mine knowing what to expect and where to go. I did not spend time ...

With every day in Morrowind, I get more and more entangled in the intricate tapestry of the local politics. Today, I joined the Fighters Guild. Obviously, I am no fighter - but the admission standards for this guild are apparently quite low. I guess their approach is simple - if you can handle your tasks and survive, you are good enough. If not - well, they will take someone else to continue where you left off. The first task I got was a very easy and quick to earn 100 coins - I just had to help some local lady to eradicate a rat infestation in her house. Granted, we are talking about the local Morrowind rats, ferocious beasts the size of a sheep with razor sharp teeth. And I had to fight them in very close quarters which made it all the more dangerous. So I was quite proud of myself when I killed them without getting a scratch - I used the combination of summoning and invisibility spells, and found it very practical. I reported the successful completion of the first task and promtly a...

Daedra worshippers are considered as dangerous heretics by the Tribunal Temple. Well, I am not in a position to judge the heresy part, but I can certainly confirm that they are dangerous - and very hostile. And yet, the Temple is willing to demonstrate compassion even to them and help them out when they are in need. Can you spot a dremora on the screenshot above? After I reported the completion of the pilgrimage, Tuls Valen, master of the Temple in Ald'ruhn, promoted me to an Initiate and gave me a new task. A dangerous one: he made sure I took this warning seriously. A certain Daedra worshipper, an Orc named Bulfim gra-Shugarz, was suffering from a blight desease. Without proper treatment, she would certainly die - and her cult apparently had no means to provide such treatment.  And so the Temple saw it as its duty to demonstrate compassion even to its enemies and to cure the unfortunate heretic of her sickness. I was meant to be an agent who would carry out this perilous act of m...

Today, I have entrusted my life to Vivec - in a very literal sense. This trust was not misplaced - otherwise, my lifeless body would now be floating in the waters of the Vivec city canals.  After having finished the pilgrimage to the Shrine of Pride at the Ghostgate, I felt that completing the rest of the "seven graces" should not be a challenge. It turned out to be true for all of them, except one: the Grace of Courtesy at the Puzzle Canal below the Palace of Vivec himself. The Palace itself is a strange place indeed: a massive ziggurat where only the topmost and smallest chamber is inhabited by its sole occupant, Vivec himself. This chamber sits on top of five terraced levels which serve no other purpose but to act as huge pools and canals, with water streaming down from one level to the other. They call them Puzzle canals and I think that I understand now why. Nothing lives in there, except rats. Yet one of them holds a secret - and a miracle. "The Shrine of Courtesy ...

This day marks the end of my first week in the surreal land of Morrowind and it is yet another day that has been packed with events and discoveries so incredible, wonderful, and terrible, that having experienced them, I am myself transformed.  The morning started with a failure. I returned to Edwinna in Ald'ruhn, to see what other tasks she had in store for me. I got another "fetch" quest but this one proved tricky. She asked me for a book, but the person who was supposed to own the book, Sirilonwe, refused outright to even talk about it. Was I supposed to steal it? Well, I had no idea where to look for it and how do it without I getting caught, so I gave up on this task - at least, for the moment. Instead, since I was already in Vivec, I thought it would be a great opportunity to make some progress with the temple - as many as three Pilgrimage sites happened to be located in this city. And so I set out in the direction of the Temple district. The city of Vivec is named a...

 Here in Morrowind, there is a long-standing feud between the Mages Guild and the local "Great House" Telvanni. Both focus on magic, but they approach from very different angles. Mages Guild is almost like a consulting company in our "normal" world - they provide their expert magical services to address a wide variety of needs of their "clients". Telvanni mages, on the other hand, are all about power - personal power. Their house is ruled by the council, which consists of several very old and very powerful wizards. They use their magic to subjugate others and extend their own lifespan - some of them are, apparently, thousands of years old. And these wizards are not at all happy with the presence of the Mages Guild on their territory - they see them as a threat to their "magic monopoly" in Morrowind - which is the foundation of their power. The Mages Guild hall in the sprawling city of Sadrith Mora - the capital of Telvanni territory - has to rely...

Another day is over, and once again it has been marked by excitement and danger - and impressive accomplishments. There is no more reason for me to be scared of travelling on foot across the lands of Vvardenfell, as I know now that I can kill one of the most dangerous and aggressive specimens of the local fauna, the fabled Kagouti. With the first light today, I have set out in the direction of the Shrine of the Fields of Kummu. Shortly after leaving the city gates, I met a fellow pilgrim, a local woman named Nevrasa Dralor. She was a bit scared of travelling in the wilds alone, and asked me if I could accompany her to the shrine. On my part, I was also rather relieved with having some company on the road, so we continued the journey together. Despite our concerns, we reached the holy site safely a couple of hours later without meeting anything more dangerous than kwama foragers. Nevertheless, Nevrasa was very grateful and pressed me to take a reward of 100 coins. It felt rather undeser...

My life here appears to be accelerating at a breathtaking speed. I can hardly believe how much I have achieved since I wrote the previous entry in this diary yesterday. I am already a Journeyman of the Mages guild and a layman of the Tribunal Temple. It all started with my decision to make the trip to Balmora on foot. It was a pleasant sunny morning, the sea breeze was fresh and invigorating. The prospect of climbing again into the stinking cabin of the Silt Strider seemed more repulsive than ever. I've been told that I should not meet anything more dangerous than some wild rats on my way to Balmora - as long as I would stick to the roads. Well, local rats were scary enough, but I knew already that I could handle them without much difficulty. And also, I remembered now that Ajira would very likely ask me to collect some flowers for her next, and I was pretty sure that I'd be able to collect those flowers along the way so I would arrive to the guild prepared for her next task. A...

I am once again in Seyda Neen, preparing to spend the night on a rough bedroll in a back room of the Census and Excise Offices. It's been less than three days since I've arrived here, but each of these days has been more eventful than an average year of my previous life. Today is no exception, especially considering that I've actually killed a man. But I should start at the beginning. This morning I took the Silt Strider to Seyda Neen. The journey has been just as nauseating and uncomfortable as the one two days ago, but I did not want to risk going here on foot yet. And I needed to make the journey one way or the other, in fact I had as many as three reasons to come back to this town. For one thing, there was the task from Ajira, collecting the mushroom. I knew they could all be found in or nearby this town, and I was not mistaken. I have all the four requested samples sitting in my pouch. This was the easiest part. Then, there was the matter of Fargoth and his hiding plac...

I gave up on this diary yesterday. I just thought, what the hell. I felt it was completely useless... anything seemed useless. I gave in to despair.Today, everything is different.To start with, I woke up surprisingly refreshed. I've spent the night right here, in the Mages Guild hall, where they keep some spare beds for those members, who are too busy to go home for the night... or those who, like myself, have no home to go to. Sleep took me the moment I lay down last night - my brain just shut down. Apparently it needed a bit of a restart. As I woke up, I no longer felt so scared. Yes, I am stuck in a different world, a strange and dangerous world. I have no idea how I got here, or whether I can ever get back. So, I need to try and make a living here. After all, I know quite a lot about this place. And since I was already in the mages guild, I decided it only made sense that I tried to learn some magic. Unfortunately, any teaching in this guild costs money, and quite a lot accordi...

I've never been so scared in my entire life. The only thing that keeps me going so far is a small hope that this is all some sort of delusion. Maybe I just lost my mind, maybe this is some kind of a crazy nightmare and I shall soon wake up... I did wake up already, through. And I am starting to ask myself if everything else had been just a dream. This world seems real enough. Too real in fact... I am writing this while sitting at a desk in the spacious, poorly lit and strangely decorated hall of the Mages Guild in Balmora, of which I am now an "Associate". This place appears to be friendly and safe enough. Looks like it will be both my home and "office" of sorts for the time to come. I even have a task already - Ajira, herself just an Apprentice in the guild, has asked me to collect some mushrooms for her. She needs them for her alchemy studies, or so she claims. I had known she would ask for them, though. It all happened just like I knew it would. Ranis, the ma...