Nerevar's Quest - Part 5

I once again left Balmora, headed eastward to find some people that needed dealing with, whatever that ends up meaning.




My directions said to cross a bridge north of the fort, but there seemed to be someone guarding it, and I didn't feel ready to take a life just to keep on a specific path.











I tried to find another way over the mountainous area, but that wasn't going well as I was continually attacked by Cliff Racers and other creatures. Cliff Racers are easily the most irritating part of the game early on. They hound you constantly wherever you go, aren't that easy to defeat at the beginning, and aren't even implemented well, looking really awkward these years later. And since we're not exactly gaining levels at a brisk pace, they'll be a pain for a while.



I decided to check my map and find my own way to Marandus, the first waypoint while looking for Punabi and Sulipund.





I killed a Nix-Hound and took its delicious meat before checking the road signs. I hope soon to find some equipment to begin mixing up some potions. My instructions mentioned to follow the road towards Molag Mar, and so I did.







The road was very slow going, as I didn't have many resources to keep myself in fighting shape, so I resorted to a lot of sneaking around. But I eventually found the lake.




Nearby was Marandus, and circling it I found some stairs that led to an entrance. But someone was guarding it, so I turned back for now.




What followed was more grueling exploration in vain. The path I wanted to follow was too infested with Cliff Racers to proceed, as I only had one healing potion left and they couldn't be easily bypassed stealthily. I followed the eastern path instead, and it didn't lead me where I wanted to go, especially not knowing exactly where Punabi and Sulipund were or even what to look for. I became frustrated (for real) and decided that for now my marks could just rot in this forsaken land if they wanted, because I didn't want to crawl around in it anymore.



I used the Divine Intervention scroll I was given, which transported me to Pelagiad.





Wanting another way to get some income, I sought about joining the Imperial Cult, who worship the Nine Divines, but they wanted a payment to join that was pretty much everything I had, and my goal was to make money, not lose it. Another group I knew that was looking for magically inclined members was House Telvanni (which Cthulhu suggested), so I walked to Vivec to see about joining.





I found their canton and ascended to the top. Inside I met a couple helpful people but mostly a bunch of racists, who view us Argonians as nothing more than slaves. Doing some research, I discovered that the house can only be joined at a city on an island somewhere, not that easy to get to. Annoyed by the lack of help from the guilds I was finding focused on magic, I began considering ones would make use of my other skills. What should I do? Join the Cult? The Telvanni? The Hlaalu, who are sneakier? The illegal Thieves Guild? Suck it up and finish that Mages Guild quest? Run away to Solstheim?

Nerevar's Quest - Part 4

Ajira had another job for me, this time to find some various flowers at a lake not far away.






On the way there I passed the fort again, and then came across another rat. I used the fire spell against him, but I wasted a lot of Magicka getting it to work. That's what potions are for though, if I need it.




I took the path towards Suran as directed, and started searching along the shore for the flowers I needed.




While looking at the plants I was attacked by a small slaughterfish, a danger known in the waters across the lands. I killed it with my knife and took its scales to use later. I reread the directions Ajira gave me and noticed that the flowers were supposed to be by the path along the lake, not by the lake itself, and so I climbed back up to search around.




I soon found what I came for, picked the flowers and walked back to Balmora.



Once I got there it started to storm pretty heavily.



Ajira thanked me with more potions and then asked me to get her a ceramic bowl from the trader. A bowl! I'm doing all her work for her and now I'm running errands?




My temper soon went away when I realized how much she overpaid me for the service, though. With a little rat meat to sweeten the deal, it only cost one of the ten drakes she gave me.



I gave Ajira the bowl, but she had a bigger concern when I got back, somehow her reports for the promotion had gone missing.




I suspected it was the Elf I had helped sabotage earlier, but of course she gave no indication of guilt.



The Guild Steward wasn't much help, but a man named Marayn suggested I was not off base. The reports weren't in the thief's desk or on her person, so I decided to look for where she may have hid them.




Not far from her was one, and the other was hidden downstairs. Only took a bit of searching.



Ajira thanked me with more potions, but said she didn't have any other things for me to do, at least for now.



I spoke with Ranis the steward, and she promoted me to Evoker and gave me a couple new tasks near Marandus, quite a fair walk from Balmora. It was storming out still and getting late, so I decided to wait until the morning. These updates have been a bit brief, but the next one should be more substantial. Soon our character might start getting some real experiences under her belt.