User:JohnB/Fanfiction/A Few Morrowind Strategies

A Few Morrowind Strategies

What?! Another Morrowind walk-through?!

No, not another Morrowind walk-through.

This is merely a collection of tricks I have used to get around certain problems you encounter in the Morrowind game. Statistically speaking, you either know all of them, some of them, or none of them, or at least alternate ways of doing the same things. But to say that nobody plays Morrowind any more is just as fallacious as saying everybody is playing Elder Scrolls On Line now. (I know I’m not—when money is tight, it doesn’t help to game it away.) Certainly the good people at Planet Elderscrolls decided on their own that nobody needs their mods any more and tossed everything out—what you might call the defenestration of Planet Elderscrolls. But look at the awesome and heroic effort people have made to sift through the ash-heap and salvage everything back. Why would anybody bother if nobody is playing Morrowind anymore?

The problem with this collection is that I had started writing stuff down in no particular order. When I came out of retirement at the end of May 2019, I had more stuff to write about from a spike in Morrowind playing while I was in retirement. (I went back into retirement in April 2020.) When you're attending school or going to work, you have to balance your playing time with your obligations; however, when you've got nothing better to do, it's possible to compress ten months of playing into only five months and get a whole lot more accomplished. I had so much more to share, but I didn't know how to fit everything in without the organization of material becoming more chaotic. I finally got around to rearranging everything into A. Setting Up, B. Getting Started, C. Launching into a Life of Crime, D. Garnering Some High-End Equipment, E. The All-or-Nothing Challenge, F. The Secret Areas, G. Tribunal, and H. Bloodmoon categories.

You will also notice an evolution in my gameplay from freelance Adventurer to Telvanni Battlemage. I am by nature a creature of habit and see nothing wrong with doing things the same way all the time. However, in the case of Morrowind, I came to realize how much I was missing out on what this game has to offer. Frankly, it doesn't matter if you're a Telvanni Adventurer, a Telvanni Battlemage, or a Telvanni Thief (which I also like doing), so I saw no reason to change the focus of this article. The only downside in playing this game is getting stuck in a groove by continuing to do only what you're familiar with and not striking out into the unknown, and you'll find that I make a very strong case for that.

Anyway, to make a long justification for this article short, if you want to learn a few good secrets, stay as long as you want.

A. SETTING UP:

How to generate a new character with trainable skills:

Some of you may have noticed that you’ve made good progress gaining skills but are falling short in armorer, medium armor, and enchant. There’s a bug in the armorer that either makes him unwilling or incapable of teaching you his skill (the Morrowind Code Patch seems to have fixed this). Apparently, it’s a skill that’s supposed to come with practice. The medium armor person is supposed to be located on a boat just outside Tel Fyr but is nowhere to be found (also fixed). The Enchant master is a hostile SOB and is best left to stew in his own juices, unless you want to go through the trouble to pacify him. My personal preference is to pay an enchanter to get it 100% right.

Also, avoid skills in which the master trainer requires a certain level in a guild. These include Conjuration (high temple rank), Security (high thief rank), and Speechcraft (high magician rank); however, Caius Cosades can train your Speechcraft to a very respectable level 70. The reason to avoid these is because you might grow tired of doing step-'n-fetchit jobs, or you might find yourself unable to continue advancing. On several occasions, Mage quest giver A referred me to quest giver B, who referred me to quest giver C, who referred me back to quest giver A. I'm sure there was a reason for this, but I was so bored with odd jobs that I went ahead and taunted Trebonius Artorius into a fight to get his valuable goodies. That's all I really wanted from the Guild of Mages.

(Note: the above paragraph was written before I learned to excel at thieving, for which one needs a high level of Security.)

So what do I put down as my skills? I’ve always been an Adventurer while my brother has always gone for Battlemage. Good skills to have for any player are Long Blade, Short Sword, Axe, Marksman, Blunt Weapon, Acrobatics, Athletics, Hand-to-hand, Unarmored, and Block.

Why these particular skills? Well, they are what an Adventurer needs, of course. Besides, it’s hard not to find a trainer who can teach a combination of three. For example, Missun Akin in Falasmaryon can train Marksman, Athletics, and Long Blade, and Eydis Fire-eye can train Axe, Blunt Weapon, and Long Blade. So going to these two alone, you can train up Marksman, Athletics, Axe, Blunt Weapon and Long Blade. That's like killing five birds with two stones. This is especially true when you go to the lesser trainers. So what I do first is go to the lesser trainers to get the skills to maybe 30 or 40, depending on how much gold I have. That’s enough to start with. Later on, I train the skills up to 50 or 60, but I don’t go for broke and train up to 100. When I do that, it’s because I think my character is ready to take on some heavy-duty questing.

How to choose a Great House to join:

There are a number of Great Houses in Morrowind but only three that recruit new members: the Redoran, the Hlaalu, and the Telvanni. I've seen people praise each one saying it's the best, so a newcomer to Morrowind will be at a loss to know which one to choose. My advice is to try each one, but stay away from that Join All Houses mod. I had to ditch a game because the mod had messed it up so badly. Join House Dagoth was so bad it crashed another game.

Each has strengths and weaknesses, so let's take them one by one.

Redoran strength: These guys go all out for honor, loyalty, and honesty. They'll never ask you to do something strange like kill all the tenant farmers if they can't pay the land tax.

Redoran weakness: They seem to take your loyalty for granted, so that you are rewarded a bit of hackle-lo leaf by one quest-giver for dealing with the errant mudcrabs.

Hlaalu strength: These guys are almost generous to a fault when it comes to rewards. Even seemingly insignificant assignments are richly rewarded. If you're hurting for gold to pay for training, the Hlaalu are a great house to work for.

Hlaalu weakness: They are rotten to the core. Orvas Dren is a major drug dealer and a Camonna Tong boss. Then there's "Uncle" Crassius Curio. If you play as a male, at some point he'll ask you to drop your pants for him. There's a mod plugin that changes it to a large bribe instead. If you play as a female, he'll only ask for a kiss, and there's no getting around that.

Telvanni strength: The quests from the Mouths seem unusually easy to get through as there are only two quests per Mouth. Also, these guys have a strange ethic: do unto others as they would do unto you--and still get away with it. That means they'll cut you a lot of slack in their control over you. However, don't go kill someone unless you're told that nobody will mind, which actually happens at least once in each of the Great Houses. Nobody is going to mourn for Bolvyn Venim (Redoran), Orvas Dren and Yngling Half-troll (Hlaalu), or Archmagister Gothren (Telvanni).

Telvanni weakness: Imagine a Great House full of "Mad Hatters", and you've got the Telvanni. Master Aryon is the only sane one in the lot and, fortunately, the only one you really need to deal with.

An efficient way to do the Mouths' quests in House Telvanni:

If you do choose to join the Telvanni, you'll find the going is lighter than the quests in the other houses, not to mention the guilds, temple, Imperial cult, and what not. There are six Mouths arranged in a wide circle within the Council House, each acting as the spokesperson for a Telvanni councilor who resides in his/her mushroom tower. In the UESPWiki, these Mouths, their masters, and their quests are listed as follows:

1. Arara Uvulas (Master Neloth): 1) fetch sload soap, 2) fetch the Staff of the Silver Dawn.

2. Enar Releth (Master Baladas): 1) fetch three books, 2) fetch the Dahrk Mezalf ring.

3. Felisa Ulesen (Mistress Therana): 1) deliver a skirt, 2) put down a slave rebellion (Here is your chance to get revenge for the earlier humiliation by freeing the slaves instead of killing them).

4. Galos Mathendis (Master Aryon): 1) deliver a message to Divayth Fyr, 2) deliver potions to an alchemist in Tel Vos, 3) fetch and deliver a Daedra Skin to Master Aryon.

5. Mallam Ryon (Master Gothren): 1) ask three questions to Baladas Demnevanni, 2) retrieve Dwemer plans from Nchuleft.

6. Raven Omayn (Mistress Dratha): 1) fetch muck, 2) fetch the Black Jinx ring.

Now, notice that each Mouth (except Aryon's) has only two quests. If you do each Mouth's bidding in turn, you might find it tricky to keep the jobs straight in your head because you might have inadvertently skipped a Mouth. So at the very outset, go to each Mouth (I prefer to go clockwise starting with Felisa Ulesen) and take orders for the first job only. Your diary will now have six jobs listed. As each job is completed in turn, a notification will appear in your diary. If you have a list of six jobs followed by a list of six outcomes, you're done.

Return to the council house, and as you report back to each Mouth, take the order for the second job so that you now have six new jobs to do. Do each job in turn, then report back to the Mouths. You may be rewarded either by being taught a spell or receiving an enchanted item. Hereafter, you may approach each councilor in turn to receive yet one more job to do.

Now you'll be jumping hoops for Aryon in order to advance to Archmagister, which requires that you get rid of Gothren.

How to change your race in-game:

Let's say you start a new game and decide not to go for your favorite race, say Imperial, but opt for one you've never tried before, say Bosmer. It's easy to get along as an Imperial because of the Personality bonus, but a Bosmer tends to be a better sharpshooter. So you get started as a Bosmer, but over time you become disenchanted with his low physical stature. Taking the gold and the enchanted sword on the overhead beam in Ghorak Manor has suddenly become problematic. Up to now you're doing really well, but decide you'd you'd rather be an Altmer instead because of his physical height and Magicka bonus.

Easy! Just open the console and type "EnableRaceMenu" as one word and change your race. However, by doing this at a low level, your stats return to default, but you can still work to restore them. Don't do this when you're really high level and have achieved a lot because you end up forfeiting it all. It's far better to start a new game and save the previous one for later.

So now you've got an Altmer with a Bosmeri name. Easy! In the console type "EnableNameMenu" as one word, enter an Altmeri name, and save. This will not have any negative effect.

B. GETTING STARTED:

How to keep from getting killed by the Dark Brotherhood:

The Dark Brotherhood can attack you at any time you rest, and it’s pretty difficult to predict when. However, the pattern I’ve noticed is that at levels one below multiples of five or ten (4, 9, 14, etc.) the chances of being attacked are significantly higher. However, rest assured that at level 50 or thereabouts they stop attacking altogether. The rule of thumb should be to be ready at any time you rest.

At the lower levels, when you get the message to rest and meditate on what you’ve learned try to be at either Cosades’s place or Rithleen’s. Hop onto the bed and back yourself into the corner to prevent the Dark Brother from appearing from behind. Equip your sword and then rest. As agile as a Dark Brother is, he is somehow unable to hop onto the bed and cut you down. This gives you a great advantage, especially if he has a dagger and you have a longsword.

At higher levels, head over to the Guild of Mages in Balmora. There, go into the dormitory and get to a top bunk, by jumping if you can or levitating if you can’t. Have preferably a claymore or a dai-katana drawn and ready to fight.

When you wake after a loud noise, stay put. The assassin will take his sweet time sauntering down the ramp into the main room. He will nearly always have trouble maneuvering around the plants at the center of the room (these guys can’t walk and chew gum at the same time), in which case you can pull out your bow and hit him until he goes down. However, do be careful not to hit anybody else! If he makes it into the dormitory, don’t stand too close to the edge of the top bunk as you thrash him with your claymore or dai-katana. If you do get hit, don’t worry because he can’t do nearly as much damage to you as you are doing to him.

"Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive, stayin' alive!" [Beegees]

When you're low level, life can certainly be nasty, brutish, and short, or to paraphrase Major Heinrich Strasser in Casablanca: "You may have observed that in Vvardenfell life is cheap!" And when an opponent is using your behind to sweep the floor, it's pretty hard to go rummaging through your inventory for that bargain restore health potion or the amulet that restores only 10 points at one pop. And so you end up getting squashed instead. What you really need is something that can effectively "level the playing field", or you might as well pack up and head back to this vale of tears, the real world.

I used to think I had to be level 30 or so to bag a Golden Saint in order to make a constant-effect restorative; however, I came to realize there are several places that guarantee a small supply of Golden Saints at any level. Two can be found in Ald Daedroth, a Daedric shrine on a large island north of the Ahemmusa Camp; one can be found in Bal Ur just over the mountains north of Suran, and one can be found in the lower level of the Odrosal. Oh, and then there's Staada in the quest for the Star of Azura. That's five that I know of, not counting the two who are with Khash-Ti Dhrur in Tribunal, but keep in mind that these ladies do not respawn--five are all you get, unless you're crazy enough to venture into Khash-Ti Dhrur's citadel at level 10. However, what I've found is that the high premium for Golden Saints has more to do with their scarcity than with how hard they are to take down.

And frankly speaking, Golden Saints suck at fighting--their movements are sluggish, and their weapon and shield tend not to be up to snuff. I mean really--more often than not just a Nordic leather shield! Of course, sometimes you are in for a surprise when she's wielding an enchanted sword and a Daedric shield, but that's not very often.

But don't be deceived! While the other two places are relatively easy to get by in, Ald Daedroth can be a death trap if you're not prepared. There's a room ankle-deep in water where you hit the first Golden Saint, and beyond is a door leading to an upstairs section where the leader of the bandits is hanging out. You might want to save your game here. I won't explain how it works, only that your success in bagging the second Golden Saint depends on how some of the other bandits scatter. If they don't scatter as they should, you could find yourself against some pretty tough hombres. The bandit leader needn't be dealt with at this point, but the wise woman at the Ahemmusa Camp will definitely want her out of the way when she comes to visit.

The Art of Creative Enchantments (and a few other items of advice)

So, once you have one or more Golden Saint soul gems, buy an exquisite shirt and a restore health spell, then go to an enchanter at one of the Mage Guilds. The reason why is in order to get a 100% effective enchantment. If you do it yourself, you run the risk of wasting a soul gem. I don't go to Galbedir because, after you've absconded with her soul gems, she'll claim that every soul gem you present belongs to her. I go to the enchanter in Sadrith Mora instead.

Another thing you might try is when you've gotten hold of a Daedric wakizashi or katana (usually from a Dremora or a Dremora Lord) enchant it with 1 point of fire damage for 3 seconds (only 1 point cast/cost) and 4 points of Restore Health on Self. Any high-level soul gem should do, especially if you're using the "Forever Enchanted" plugin, so don't waste any Golden Saint gems doing this. The end product is a katana so potent, even for 1 point of fire damage, that you quickly dispatch an opponent without the slightest harm done to your own health.

Choose your opponents well! Don't take pity on poor Umbra because what he really wants to do is kick your behind in a high trajectory over the mountain back into Suran, and don't even speak to that scumbag Gaenor outside the Mournhold temple (https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Tribunal:Gaenor). Of course, the good people at Bethesda wouldn't put these obnoxious characters in the game without splendiferous rewards to tempt you to try and cheat death. But take a word to the wise from the Wicked Witch of the West: "All in good time, my dear, all in good time!" My level-78 Falinesti Wood Elf just barely managed to make Gaenor soil his pants before relinquishing his full set of ebony armor to her.

(You're probably thinking somebody should have warned you about Gaenor a lot sooner, and now you want your pound of flesh along with everything else he has. Remember that his 750 points of Luck are ample justification for your own cheating. Open the console and type "TGM", which stands for "ToggleGodMode". The console will say the mode is on, and now you can go kick butt. There are some people who like to play in God Mode from Day 1 in Seyda Neen, but the true Morrowind connoisseurs are those who by trial-and-error and blood, sweat, and tears have passed through the V.S.H.K. [Vvardenfell School of Hard Knocks]. God Mode is like the Ebony Arrows of Slaying [which damage health 5,000 points on target],--use it wisely.)

Furthermore, you might have met the nurse in the Mournhold temple infirmary, the one who gives you inside information that is useful to King Helseth. You might not be aware that she possesses the entire list of restore-attribute spells for you to stock up on. If a disease impacts your Strength or Agility, you can restore it until you get to a temple shrine for a cure. A mod plug-in also brings back into the game the "Wabbajack", which was strangely ommitted from the Elder Scrolls III. If you haven't encountered it in either Oblivion or Skyrim, basically what it does is downgrade a Daedra into something easier to deal with, like a cave rat or even a scrib. I hit a Dremora Lord in a room of a Daedric shrine and kept hitting to see what he would end up as. He finally became a humongous Bull Netch waving his tentacles about right there in the middle of the room--the darnedest thing you ever saw!

Another thing I like to do with a Golden Saint gem is buy a pair of exquisite pants and enchant them with 60 points of constant-effect Night Eye. That sound like a lot, and it is, but when you're in your 60s, the sultry murkiness of Morrowind interiors is not conducive to good eyesight. They really turn night into day. When I want a nice atmosphere, I can take them off.

How to stop the Ash Zombies from attacking while you rest:

You may have found by now that the dormitory in Mages Guild in Balmora (a mod called "Green Girl's Room" turns it into a bedroom with lots of storage) is a very convenient place to rest because it's so centrally located. The problem is that once you've started doing the Main Quest, Ash Zombies come and harass you while you're sleeping. They are easy to take down, but it can be very annoying. What can be done to stop them?

It turns out that these monsters are being sent out from a cavern called Hassour in the Mamaea foyada just south of Fort Moonmoth. This is a major 6th House base managed by Dagoth Fovon. Killing him will not only stop the attacks but will wake the somnambulent sleepers in Balmora and other towns, and when you talk to them, they tell of an awful dream they'd just woken from. They thank you, and you receive one point of reputation. If you do the same with Dagoth Hlevul in Assemanu cavern, you wake the somnambulent sleepers in Vivec and Suran.

Really staying alive!:

However, if you're like the old Kenny Rogers song "The Gambler" and don't care how you stay alive, have I got a little cheat for you! You'll never die in Morrowind if you go to the console and type coc: "toddtest". I assure you--you will become immortal (heh-heh)! You'll find yourself on a sort of balcony of a very large area where all sorts of Morrowind goodies can be found in boxes here and there. Just to the right as you enter, there is a sort of large brass cauldron that, when you hover the cursor over it, tells you it will modify your stats. Go ahead and hit it...and see what happens. Good luck!

C. LAUNCHING INTO A LIFE OF CRIME:

How to get your first Sword of White Woe:

To do this, you need the Amulet of Shadows, which you can get by killing the archer who is with the witch who dropped her ring in a pond and wants you to retrieve it. Don’t bother. Instead go after that archer. She’ll be a bit hard to see, but if you came from under the arch of the Dwemer bridge, the witch should be ahead of you, and the archer standing under a tree way to the left of the pond. When she goes down, take the amulet from her.

Now go into the Eastern Guard Tower in Balmora, the one near Caius Cosades. But before you do anything, equip the amulet, and if you have some way to levitate, equip it. Then hit save-game and levitate up to the floor above. You’ll find a guard in full bonemold armor. Ignore him and levitate to the far left corner of the room. On the top of the wardrobe you’ll see the sword. Take it. He should be oblivious to what you’re doing, but if he does catch you, simply reload the game and try again.

How to Rob the Redoran:

While we're on the subject of stealing things, let's move on to the Redoran Vaults and clean them out.

When I first took up this task, I had consulted a video on YouTube that recommended stealing one of two keys from a manor located in the Redoran Plaza in Vivec. If you're not very high level, your Sneak skill will not be high enough to steal the key from a dresser drawer and not get caught by the wife who is standing right there in front of it. Worse yet, the second key is in the pocket of a Redoran official in the upper vault with guards traipsing all about. I would say forget the keys because if you pick the lock, you'll get such a laughably low bounty of 5 drakes on your head. It brings to mind the old Monty Python "Burglar" skit:

Man rings doorbell, "Burglar!"

Woman comes to door, "Are you sure you're not an encyclopedia salesman?"

"I assure you, Madame, that I am a burglar come to steal a few candlesticks and whatnot."

"Oh, all right," and she lets him in.

It helps to have a pick, amulet, or scrolls of Unlocking, and it also helps to have a ring of invisibility. I always make one after having ransacked Galbedir's office in the Balmora Mages Guild. The Winged Twilight soul gem makes a handy 2-minute invisibility ring from the exquisite type that can be bought at most clothing shops. When you've been caught, you have the choice either of activating the invisibility ring and dropping out of existence or paying the bounty. If you pay the bounty at the Thieves Guild in Balmora, it only comes to 2 drakes.

The barred gates are also trapped, but unlock first, then defuse the trap. If your lucky, the two guards inside each vault will dash out as if rushing to be first at the "pissoir", but if you're unlucky, they'll linger and try to strike up a conversation with you. What you can do is hit the T key and wait an hour, after which time they may have sauntered out. Quick, slam the gate shut! The guards can't even look between the bars to see what you're doing, and they don't seem to care anyway, so load yourself down with all you can grab, set Mark to return if necessary, then use an amulet or scroll of Intervention to transport you to where you can unload your riches and come back for more.

How to Rob the Hlaalu:

Doing this is actually not as daunting as descriptions of it might suggest. If you still haven't made a two-minute invisibility ring from a Winged Twilight gem, now is the time to do it because now there is a guard in the vault who doesn't need the pissoir. You can't avoid getting caught unlocking the gates, which are in relatively close proximity that it's just as well to pay the gold each time you get caught. Don't do this right after knocking over the Redoran Vaults because all your hard-earned loot will be confiscated. Nevertheless, I got kicked out of the Temple, for which I had to go to Ald-ruhn and beg forgiveness. However, it seemed that my 60 points of Night Eye might be helping the one guard in the vault to keep an eye on me. I got caught trying to steal the vault ledger as a souvenir and went back to a game save to avoid doing such a goofy thing again.

Okay, so you've made it into the vault, where you find two more guards. One will leave if you wait long enough, but the other is obliged to stay. He stays facing the wall at the far end of the room--how convenient. Just don't attract his attention. Stay close to the door-side wall, which has a corner with a blind spot, where--lucky you--there is almost a full set of glass armor.

If you're even luckier, you might be able to reach the boxes from the blind spot. If not, equip your invisibility ring and hit it every time you open a box and take something. Given that there's only one vault compared with Redoran's two, the pickings look rather slim, but it's still a windfall for what there is. Consequently, it doesn't take as long to clean out, so you equip your amulet or scroll of Intervention and get out of there. If you're still almost fresh off the prisoner transport ship, you now have a substantial fortune from the Redoran and Hlaalu Vaults to get started with. It's surprising what you can accomplish at level 17 with just a bit of pluck and know-how.

How to Rob the Dren Plantation:

Okay, so I've told you how to rob the Redoran and the Hlaalu, and you're probably wondering, what about the Telvanni? I remember trying to rob them back when I was a newcomer to Morrowind and being so thoroughly confused that I gave up and never tried it again. And now that I play as a Telvanni, I'm not going to bite the hand that brings me all sorts of spells and goodies, and a pretty funky stronghold to boot. And why risk getting caught and being given the bum's rush out of the House? So I'm going to tell you about another plum to knock over, that huge Hlaalu-cum-Camonna Tong stronghold called the Dren Plantation. Got your 2-minute invisibility ring? Good. You're going to need it. Oh, and don't forget the Firestorm ring.

First, head across the bridge and head straight north past the Vivec silt-strider. You stop when you come to water and can see the Dren Plantation in all its glory. It must be the largest plantation in Vvardenfell. Get across the river and up the stairs from the dock, and you'll find three buildings: a storage facility on the left and the Dren manor house on the right with a guardhouse beyond it. Go to the entrance of the manor house (I recommend the right of the two doors) and equip your invisibility ring, and when you enter, activate it immediately. The reason for entering the right door is that the dining area in the far corner is immediately visible. That's where you need to go first because when you turn away from there, you will notice a stairway going down to a locked door. That's where you're going to see some action.

You'll find a young shirtless fellow patrolling the area, and we all know that shirtless fellows are no good, especially this one because he's a Dren stooge and wields a Daedric katana and a Daedric shield. If you can, get rid of him immediately. Don't worry about any bounty you might incur because both the Thieves Guild and the House Hlaalu will want you to do this at some point. You also want to snoop around a bit to take in the lay of the land because it's a bit complicated. Go in the direction of the entrance door that you did not enter when you came in and turn right, go up the stairs, and turn right again in a kind of spiral course till you come to a desk.

Just a heads up, but Orvas Dren, the Camonna Tong big-shot, is standing at the head of the stairs to the third floor. Help yourself to the 100 drakes, but don't neglect to get that key on the desk. Don't worry about Orvas because he's around the corner and can't see you. Now go back the way you came, and go to the locked door mentioned above. Unlock it. Return back up the stairs, turn around, back yourself against the wall below the shelf, then fire your Firestorm ring (described earlier) at the far end of the corridor.

This is an awkward place to shoot from because the far end of the corridor is barely visible, but there's a reason for shooting from here. It may take several tries, but once the fireball explodes at the end of the corridor, one of the Ienith brothers will suddenly appear out of nowhere standing in front of you but facing away. This gives you enough time to switch to the invisibility ring and activate it, and he suddenly starts running around yelling, "Help, I'm being attacked!" Panicking targets are really easy to take down, and this is one you want to hit with everything you've got. There's no prerequisite weapon for doing this, but if you have it, Mehrune's Razor is the ideal weapon.

Whatever you do, don't let Orvas get involved in your fight just yet because the two of them together are far more than you can handle. Orvas is your next target, and he's got 250 Health--probably more than you've got--and he's pretty good with the ebony spear. Stay on the second floor and aim your Firestorm ring at the ceiling below where he's standing. He's going to be really pissed and come running down the stairs. Again, stay invisible while hitting him with everything you've got until he goes down.

And now comes the easy part.

Go down the corridor that you shot the fire into, but don't open the door on the left. Hit it repeatedly with your Firestorm ring, and the other Ienith brother will be struggling to get out but can't because the door is locked. Tough beans, Camonna scum! Enter the room, and you'll find all sorts of stuff to carry away, especially Moon Sugar. After cleaning out the manor house, the storage facility, where two very wide pillars make it very easy to hide from the Orc guard, and the crates at the dock, I counted 78 portions of Moon Sugar and 9 vials of Skooma. No wonder everyone wanted this operation shut down!

Well, that's the illusion anyway. You see, the only person doing anything in this cock-eyed world is YOU! What you're given when you start the game is a snapshot of economic conditions that remains static throughout the game. The only buying and selling is between you and the vendor, and when he runs out of money, he's suddenly and miraculously remonetized after 24 hours of selling nothing. And a superabundance of a given retail item isn't going to drive the price down. Plugin mods that try to make the situation realistic fail because it can never be real. It's a game! So try not to feel any qualms about selling the drugs because nobody is going to be using them.

Anyway, be sure to take the slave key from the desk upstairs. Here again, there's an Orc guard standing directly in front of the desk, but don't let that bother you. Just hit invisibility every time you take something. What you're going to do now is free all the slaves, which is really not many, and take down whoever wants to stop you. Alternatively, if you feel enough blood has been shed, hit invisibility before they come to get you. And when you're finished, the Dren plantation will be no more.

How to Steal the Dwemer Goblet from Berel Sala:

By the time you become acquainted with Gentleman Jim Stacey, the Master Thief of the Thieves Guild, your Sneak skill should be such that you shouldn't have to grab a thing then run to Phane Rielle in Balmora to pay your bounty because, if you get caught along the way, the stolen item will be confiscated, and Gentleman Jim will become less gentlemanly.

Gentleman Jim has a two-track quest menu, the regular one and the Bal Molagmer one. You can skip the Bal Molagmer one if you want because it's a bit troublesome and the outcome is the same, but I don't recommend skipping it because while a few of them are easy-peasy, the last one, this one, is not. Now don't go around saying Morrowind is too easy while you're avoiding all the really hard stuff, okay?!

You see, Aengoth the Jeweler sends you to fetch the Darts of Judgement from a Redoran guard dormitory in Ald'ruhn, and Big Helende sends you to fetch Felen Maryon's ebony staff, both heists requiring a very high level of Sneak, timing, and sheer good luck that doing yet one last high-jinks heist before you switch to Gentleman Jim's other quests should be a piece of cake, right? The problem is that the dwemer goblet in question is right under Berel Sala's nose.

Now, why you must transfer the ownership of this dwemer goblet from Berel Sala to Danso Indules isn't altogether clear. It's hinted after the fact that Danso Indules can make better use of a goblet that is sitting unused on Berel Sala's desk. In other words, it's ethically the right thing to do, so go ahead and do it--but be careful. If you succeed, Gentleman Jim's disposition toward you will jump 10 points, and your reputation in the guild will go up 5 points.

As a representative of the now defunct Bal Molagmer (a sort of "Robin Hood and his merry men" group that existed before the Third Era), your moral high ground requires you to right the wrongs in society and not take personal credit for having done so. Everything has to be done in the name of Bal Molagmer. One more complication here is that the first rule in Fight Club is never to talk about Fight Club, i.e. admitting to a third person (the recipient) that you actually stole the goblet. You see, receiving stolen goods is also a crime. No one wants to tell a judge, "Yeah, he got it for me, and I sold it!" It makes that person the ring-leader.

There's a work-around in which you can find the exact same type of goblet in the lower level of Druscashti near the Urshilaku camp; however, that being the Quarra Clan headquarters, you might want to make that your plan B should you get caught and have the goblet confiscated from you. What makes this job so dicey in OpenMorrowind is that the Amulet of Shadow has 80% Chameleon, which means you are visible by 20%. In the Microsoft Windows game, that 80% was rounded off to 100%, which made remaining totally invisible a lot easier. So I am going to describe how to do this in OpenMW, which is becoming quite popular nowadays.

Go to the Justice Offices and look for Berel Sala. If I remember well, when you enter with your back toward the rest of Vivec city, go up the first flight of steps on the right, and it's the door at the end of the hall. Equip your Amulet of Shadows and activate it, and equip your 2-minute invisibility ring. It would be a good idea to save here just in case.

When you're through the door, hit that invisibility IMMEDIATELY. Now work your way over the desk into the corner so that Berel Salas is facing away from you. Hit the Ctrl key and grab that goblet and whatever else you feel like swiping, then quickly teleport out of there (console => coc: "vivec", which will drop you not far from the the siltstrider). Now head back toward the temple and give the goblet to Danso Indules, who is in the through-way tunnel leading to Vivec's palace. And don't forget: give the praise to Bal Molagmer when you present it to her.

D. GARNERING SOME HIGH-END EQUIPMENT:

How to Win the Siege of Firemoth Fort at Level 17:

Once you have become reasonably established in the game, you might want to try knocking over Fort Firemoth in the Official Morrowind Plugin by that name.

"Isn't that d-d-dangerous at this level?!" you ask.

Of course, it's d-d-dangerous--at any level! I can't tell you how many times I got killed cracking this nut, but practice makes perfect. Besides, I once deep-sixed "Varolian the Diabolist", a bad-ass Dremora Lord in the "Three Shades of Darkness" mod when I was only at level 8. As they say, where there's a will, there's a way. Now, it might bother some purists that I'm suggesting the use of a few uber-items, but keep in mind that you're going against an army of skeletons--really!--and an almost unbeatable uber-enemy, the lich named Grurn. BUT! This Grurn is carrying the Ward of Akavir shield, which fortifies Luck. (In the search window to the left, type "Ward of Akavir" for its background story. And note its final comment, "it's unknown if the artifact was ever returned to [Sellus] Gravius." By you, that is, after you've taken it as its rightful owner.) And because the playing field is so dangerously lop-sided, only a fool would rush in without some field-leveling.

Some prerequisite items are your 2-minute invisibility ring, a ranged fireball ring that can do 15 points of damage in 15 feet for 15 seconds (which you can have made by the enchanter at the Mage Guild in Wolverine Hall from one of Galbedir's soul gems), the "Forever Charged" plugin mod (so you don't have to keep recharging your invisibility and fireball rings), a Daedric bow (enter the Vasir Didinat cave then go to Vivec and tell Dram Bero about it), a good-sized bundle of "Gray Shaft of Holding" arrows (can be plundered off the skeleton archers in the "Three Shades of Darkness" mod plugin), and a Daedric dai-katana (go into the cabin-tower on the Dren Plantation). It helps to have a mode of levitation to get above the fray, so I recommend Laurana's Amulet of Levitation. I think all the plugins can be taken from Morrowind Modding History.

At level 17, your Long Blade and Marksman skills should be up to snuff because you've already made it this far in the game. So go to Seyda Neen and talk with Sellus Gravius about the quest to retrieve the Ward of Akavir. Alternatively, you can equip your levitation amulet and fly to the archipelago where the Firemoth Fort is located, and he'll be none the wiser. If you do talk to Gravius, he'll send you out to the dock where you'll meet some adventurers who are sailing there.

Once you arrive at the archipelago, be on your guard for the onslaught of mayhem. Don't worry too much about the adventurers--I can assure you they're not going to make it to the encounter with Grurn. In the distance beyond some water reeds, you'll see wakes in the water. Those are skeletons approaching. Hit them with a fireball while they're still far away. Your comrades will dash into the fight only to turn back when they find the skeletons all fried. Levitation will help you see better where the skeletons are because there are still lots of them. If your companions seem underemployed in this venture, keep in mind that when you're inside the fort it will be a lot different.

So, all four of you make it inside where the corpse of a Legionnaire is impaled to the wall as a warning to stay out. Don't bother going straight ahead and upstairs in the keep because there's nothing there but worthless junk. Instead, turn left and head for the stairs down into the basement. This is where you have to let your companions get involved as you move around seeking skeletons behind pillars. You might not have time to hit them with fireballs, and you don't want your companions to get hit with friendly fire, so pull out your dai-katana and go to work. Your goal is the garrison at the far end of the great hall, and here the fighting is going to get really close.

Beyond the garrison is a roomful of cave rats, and here is where one or more, maybe even yourself, will go down. If you didn't bring a levitation amulet, you'll wish you had because here again there are lots of them.

Beyond the rat room is a defunct ebony mine. You might meet a stray Khajiit who will offer to assist you. He might as well not because beyond the winding skeleton-infested tunnel is the tomb where Grurn and his skeleton horde are lurking. If the Khajiit makes it inside with you, he'll go down in no time because what you have to do is equip your invisibility ring to avoid being spotted by Grurn. This would also be a good time to save your game.

When each fireball you shoot is still in mid-air, hit the invisibility ring. And when the ranks of skeletons are finally lying in piles of fried bones, equip your bow and the Gray Shafts of Holding. Stay invisible, and if you aren't confident in your Marksman skill, walk right up to Grurn and shoot him point blank. This should paralyze him, but if it doesn't, immediately try again. Then when he's immobile, whup him with your Daedric dai-katana, but be prepared to fly behind a pillar to give yourself time to hit the invisibility ring again. He's got a very high rate of health and will not go down easily, so you have to repeat this quickly and relentlessly as you watch his health meter drop slowly. Don't give him time to recover.

When he finally goes down like a bag of spuds, you can collect your Ward of Akavir, which will protect you well for the rest of the game.

How to make joining the Legion more worthwhile:

I'm sure many Morrowind players have either been in the Legion and didn't like it or else shunned the military life altogether and never joined. I have to admit it's a pain in the tochus what with all its verbal harassment for being out of uniform or away from your post, or that idiotic "What say you?" they say when you walk by. However, the guards in Caldera tend to leave you alone when you start to outrank them. It's a good idea to keep the basic Imperial chain cuirass in your inventory at all times to prepare yourself to receive orders from the commanding officer; otherwise, they won't talk to you, and you lose 5 points of disposition every time.

Should you wish to join, the go-to person is General Darius, who can be found in his basement penthouse in the Madach Tradehouse in Gnisis; however, my advice after signing up is to head straight to the Hawkmoth Legion Garrison in Ebonheart. It's above the Ebonheart prison. There, talk to Frald the White. He has some turgid quests for you to do (first, to defend the Legion's honor for being called boorish; second, to go kill a deserter, and third, to kill an ordinator for saying mean things about the Legion). Then he sends you on a really challenging quest to rescue a soldier on the lam for murder so that he can be tried by his peers and not by the ordinators.

If you succeed, which involves escaping through an underwater gate to return to Ebonheart, Frald will have a nice present for you--the Helm of Graff the White. This Imperial helmet isn't like all the worthless armor they throw at you with every promotion. It has constant-effect Reflect 10% on self. Marara's ring, mentioned in the Vampire section below, has constant-effect Reflect 20% on self, so the two items together offer 30% protection. Not bad!

After that, what you do (or do not do) in the Legion is up to you. However, if you've given the Lord's Mail and the Chrysamere sword to Varus Vantinius, Knight of the Imperial Dragon, you might want to get them back.

How to get four items with insanely high enchantments:

(Note: the Daedric quests are as follows: Azura's Star, Goldbrand/Eltonbrand (Boethiah), Helm of Oreyn Bearclaw (Malacath), Mehrune's Razor, Ring of Khajiit (Mephala), Mace of Molag Bal, and Spear of Bitter Mercy (Sheogorath). Acquiring the Goldbrand/Eltonbrand will be described here. You can research each of the others at your leisure, but be advised that each item is well worth the trouble of acquiring.)

Augustus's Amulet

The stats on this amulet justify designating it a high-end item: Blind 25-50 pts in 2 ft for 30 secs on Target; Silence in 2 ft for 30 secs on Target; Disintegrate Armor 1-3 pts in 2 ft for 30 secs on Target, and Disintegrate Weapon 1-3 pts in 2 ft for 30 secs on Target. Even the Necromancer's Amulet pales in comparison. Getting to it is a bit problematic in that the daughter of Augustus wants that amulet, and she's not going to let you get away with it. It seems she and her father were exploring the Arenim Ancestral Tomb together when he got killed, so he is one of two skeletons you'll find lying on the floor in separate rooms. She is guarding the tomb from other raiders like you because she can't bring herself to plunder her own father's corpse, so she naively suggests you keep everything you find as long as you return the amulet to her. If you don't want to fight her for it, you can bring an intervention scroll or amulet and warp out of there. Sorry, Toots!

The Daedric Crescent

Believe it or not, this is the one-and-only Daedric crescent left in Morrowind. It is one of many used by Mehrunes Dagon's army to capture Battlespire, and when Battlespire was retaken by the Imperials, all the other crescents were gathered up and destroyed.

To get this one, go to Divayth Fyr, unlock the smaller chest on the shelf, and take the Daedric Sanctuary Amulet. Divayth will watch you the whole time and do nothing. However, make sure you are good and ready to activate this amulet because it's going to drop you right in front of Lord Dregas Volar, who wields the Daedric Crescent (chop 15-40, slash 20-50, Disintegrate Armor 5-30 points on touch, Paralyze 10 seconds on Touch).

How you deal with this is up to you, but I suggest activating the invisibility ring to give yourself time to hit him first. Be careful about using enchanted weapons because he reflects 20%. He also has 100% Resist Normal Weapons. My suggestion would be to have the Dragonbone Cuirass (Resist Fire 100% on self) from the Mudan Grotto and keep hitting him with the Firestorm Ring. UESPWiki also says "...it is advisable to take Cure Paralyzation potions with you, cast a Resist Paralysis spell, use an enchanted item with this effect, or use summon spells/scrolls to aid you."

Eleidon's Ward

According to UESPWiki, the location of this awesome shield is somewhere along the coast east of Khuul. This is a good invitation to getting lost in the wilderness, so a better way is to go to the Urshilaku Camp and head west. You're looking for an unassuming cavern door in the vicinity of the Daedric shrine. It's supposed to be part of the shrine complex but isn't connected to it, so entering the shrine itself will be of no help. Keep in mind that the cavern is set in a hillside facing away not far from the shrine and is not part of the mountain range farther to the west. This is important because it's not so easy to find, so stay in the vicinity of the shrine.

Once you're inside the cavern, you have to break into the tomb of Mordrin Hanin, and there are two ways you can get to it. First is through the main room of the cavern guarded by a female sorcerer and a few scamps. A locked gate leads to the sunken Daedric ruins where the tomb is located. Behind the door opposite the platform that the sorcerer is standing on, there is a room where a second and main female sorcerer can be found. On her table there are a key and a notebook recording how she'd found the tomb and had the gate installed to keep intruders out. Why she left it untouched for you to open is anybody's guess.

If you aren't up to the fight to get into her room and take the key, there's an alternate route that bypasses the main room, but if you can't handle the sorcerers and the scamps, you won't have a chance against the Daedroth and two Dremora Lords guarding outside the tomb and the Golden Saint inside it. Golden Saints are fairly easy to beat, but not at level 17. If your level isn't high enough, you might want to put off doing this until you're good and ready.

I won't say what you'll find inside the tomb, but believe me it is jaw-dropping.

The Eltonbrand Sword

First, a word of caution: this isn't going to be easy.

Go and locate the sunken ruined shrine of Boethiah, which will require a lot of swimming off Hla Oad. A high level of night eye is useful because it's pretty hard to see down there. Find the statue head lying on the ground and talk to it. It will give you instructions to rebuild her* shrine at Khartag Point. Once that's done, you receive the Goldbrand sword, which is good but not awesome like the Eltonbrand. Now you have to become a vampire...oh, joy!

(*Boethiah is kind of a hermaphrodite and author of a dirty book you're sent to steal from the daughter of Miner Arobar in Ald'ruhn, but the finished statue is definitely male in appearance and so is often referred to as "he".)

Becoming infected with vampirism is sort of hit or miss, but a sure-fire way to catch porphyric hemophilia is to open the console and type coc: "ToddTest" and click go. You'll find yourself on a sort of balcony overlooking a large area that contains all the unenchanted in-game items that you can go steal at your leisure. But for now, go to a large cauldron on the right of the balcony and strike it. You'll get a lot of goodies--and the Berne strain of porphyric hemophilia. Sleep several 24-hour periods, and voila--you're a vampire!

Make your way to the Vivec Guild of Mages (note that as a vampire you are no longer welcome on the silt striders and ships) and talk to Sirilonwe. She'll yell at you to go away, but then she'll change her mind and ask you to assassinate a rival and bring back his key. Be careful how you do this because he has a wicked ring that can poison you long enough to kill you if you're low level. (Having this item in your inventory is a real windfall.) If you have Eleidon's Ward, equip it and put yourself in activate position before talking to him. If you get hit you can heal yourself. Bring the key back to Sirilonwe with exactly 11,171 gold pieces, and she'll yell "Go to hell Carolina!" and give you the Eltonbrand sword.

Now would be a good time to join the Berne clan if you want, but I don't recommend it. Being a vampire really sucks, so you might want to research how to be cured of vampirism.

Fun with Vampirism

But should you choose to take a walk on the wild side, the quests you do will depend on which clan you belong to. You can seek guidance from https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Vampires#Vampire_Quests on all things Vampire. At the top of the quest list is the the "General Quests" category, which means they are clan-neutral. The first one is to convince a young man not to submit to becoming a vampire, for which his mother will give you a constant-effect ring that protects you from fire. The second one doesn't even require you to be a vampire. All you have to do is kill a female vampire who, if you're a vampire too, will tell you she is tired of un-living but can't bring herself to committing un-suicide. You can get her constant-effect ring that will Reflect 20%, Fortify Acrobatics, and Resist Normal Weapons. Better still, the tomb is connected to a smuggler's den chock-full of valuable loot, so this quest should not be missed.

You can do the third one only half-way. Mastrius has been imprisoned in perpetuity by Azura and needs you to fetch the Spell Breaker shield from the Bthuand ruin. Without having been sent by Mastrius, there's no way you can find it. It's good to have, and now that it's yours, keep it! You see, this Mastrius would double-cross his own mother, if he hasn't already, and he's going to double-cross you. He'll "borrow" half your health to get back his strength (depleted from sucking on cave rats) and then he'll try to kill you. So don't let him. The shield is yours, so let him go on sucking on cave rats for the rest of his undead existence. Simple as that. You have already finished the fourth one, and the fifth one that shortly follows it is sort of "Meh!" because the reward is an amulet that Soultraps for only one minute. That means the time spent casting the spell and then drawing your weapon has to be well within one minute. Let this one go.

The next two quests are given by the mouth Raven Omayn in the name of Mistress Dratha. The first is to murder a guard named Rimintil in the central tower of Tel Vos. This quest, which is also a big "Meh!", is a prerequisite to the next one, which is to bring the "Blood of the Quarra Masters" to her to pass on to Mistress Dratha. Now here is a vampire quest you can sink your teeth into! Figuratively speaking, of course. For this, you have to invade the Quarra headquarters in a Dwemer ruin called Druscashti. That sucks if you're a Quarra vampire. Other clans will get a hot welcome by some very mean dudes in there.

The place is chock-full of loot, but the reward for success is a very strange weapon called the "Flawed Dwemer Jinksword". It delivers 15 seconds of Paralysis on Touch and 15 seconds of Paralysis on Self. That's right. Both you and your opponent would be standing rock-stiff...but not if you're a vampire (knowing wink). You see, vampires are immune to paralysis. Not good to continue using after you've undergone the cure, which is the last quest on the list and a must-do if you've had enough fun with vampirism. Then you can mount Flawed Jinksword on the mantelpiece in your stronghold and point it out to awed visitors, so it isn't a total loss after all.

How to get the treasure in the Marvani Ancestral Tomb:

Spoiler alert! If you haven't found this treasure yet and want to keep searching, you might want to skip this part. But be warned! For somebody who knows exactly where to find the treasure--and I don't mean the loot on the funeral ship--, this has got to be the most difficult treasure to find in all Vvardenfell!

I won't explain how to get into the inner sanctum of the tomb, where the ship is; that's for you to figure out, and the good people at Bethesda saw to it that you would have a hard time of it.

Anyway, you've entered the tomb and see the funeral ship directly in front of you. Now you need to equip some kind of levitation, turn to your right, and levitate straight up. Now you are among a few stalactites and don't see anything. Don't think: nothing here, move along. It's there, but you've got to move around some. And don't go too far in either direction. Keep the top landing of the steps directly below you. What you're looking for are some gigantic quartz crystals, so if you see a glint of blue anywhere, you're on the right track. Approach the best you can because it's going to be a tight squeeze. You'll find yourself on a kind of balcony way above the tomb. There are a Daedric "Face of Inspiration" helmet, a Daedric warhammer, and an unlocked chest full of some other goodies.

I like to use a soul gem of an ascended sleeper or a golden saint to enchant the Daedric helmet with constant effect bound cuirass, bound shield, and found boots (but not helmet because it shouldn't replicate itself or it will crash the game). For bound cuirass and bound shield, go to Erer Darothril in Dirty Muriel's Corner Club near Wolverine Hall. Somebody has boots in the Guild of Mages in Balmora.

How to get not just one but TWO Wraithguards:

"Wh-wh-what?!" you're thinking.

To people who have played a perfectly orthodox game, this sounds like a bell-book-and-candle heresy worthy of a burning at the stake. However, before you go into a paroxysm of righteous indignation, let me play the devil's advocate. Everybody knows that killing Vivec will set you back in the Main Quest if you don't go back to a game save, even if that was two or three hours of game play ago, something you might be loath to do what with all the in-game progress you've made. Common sense says that nothing can be gained by killing Vivec, so don't.

However, to make up for the loss of Wraithguard, take the Unique Dwemer Artifact from Vivec's body to Yagrum Bagarn in the Corprusarium, along with a few books. (Useful hint: never ever sell a book by Kagrenac and then blithely forget who you sold it to! Keep it in a safe place.) Give him a day to learn the "mythopoeic enchantments" in the books to turn the artifact into an ersatz Wraithguard. The killer for you is that your health will be reduced 200-250 points permanently, no good if your health is not much higher than 250. My current level-33 character has exactly 201 health points, which means now is not the time to be doing this sort of thing. There's no choice but to go back to a game save. (Note: this aggravation might have been eliminated if you are using the Morrowind Patch Project.)

So you do the sensible thing and accept the Wraithguard from Vivec's hand. Oh-ho, but wait a minute! He still has that Unique Dwemer Artifact!

But how would I have know something that most people are unaware of? I've done the Vivec's Fate quest, which I removed from the plugin list below, and found the artifact on his person. Not knowing what it was, I sold it to Creeper for 5,000 drakes. Later, I googled the artifact, and when I learned what to do with it, I unplugged Vivec's Fate because getting the second Wraithguard is pointless after the Main-Quest dust has settled in the Facility Cavern.

Now, Bethesda could have made the artifact vanish when you received Wraithguard from Vivec's hand, but bless their hearts, they didn't. Moreover, they made it a left-hand gauntlet so it can be worn together with the right-hand one. There must be a special place for them in the Immortal Plane of Aetherius. And it will simply go to waste if you don't take advantage of it.

What makes this slightly easier to do than taking down Almalexia is that Vivec doesn't have anything like the Hopesfire sword, so whatever you did to Almalexia will work just as well on Vivec. Once you have that artifact, head straight to the Corprusarium to have it enchanted. This will have no effect at all on your health level, and when you consider what the Wraithguard does (Shield 10 pts. on Self, Resist Blight Disease 50% on Self [which is moot when you already have 100% immunity], Reflect 20% on Self, Resist Shock 10% on Self [the same for Fire, Frost, Magicka, and Poison]), it's easy to see that doubling those percentages is a definite win-win situation for you.

E. THE ALL-OR-NOTHING CHALLENGE:

How to become the Arch-Mage of the Mages Guild:

You come to realize while moving up the ranks of the Mages Guild that Arch-Mage Trebonius Artorius is not very well liked, especially by Edwinna Elbert, and there is nothing she'd like more than for you to replace him. The question is how. There are four quest givers in the guild: Edwinna Elbert in Ald-ruhn, Ajira and Ranis Athrys in Balmora (Ajira doesn't like Ranis, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't go to her for quests), Skink-in-Tree's-Shade in Wolverine Hall, and Trebonius Artorius in Vivec, who gives you only one task: to solve the disappearance of the Dwarves.

A newcomer to this game may find himself or herself stuck in a kind of limbo in which Edwinna will tell you to come back when you've reached a certain level, and Ajira, Ranis, and Skink will all tell you the same. (Actually, this can happen in the other guilds and great houses, but it somehow seemed more pronounced in the Guild of Mages.) I used to lose my patience and go provoke Trebonius into a fight then help myself to the goodies in his pockets, but I never made it to Arch-Mage except for maybe once when I'd unconsciously met all the requirements. So how does one break this gridlock?

This is what you do. Open your guild membership list, click on Mages Guild, and take note of the requirements to get to the next level. Check if you meet those requirements, and for whatever skill that is sub-par, go to that trainer and bring it up to par. However, there's a big catch: if your stats are woefully low, and this can happen if you shun training the way my brother does thinking it's cheating, the trainer will tell you that you can't raise a skill level higher than its governing attribute.

Dagnammit, now what?! Not to worry! Open the console and type, quotation marks included, "EnableLevelUpMenu" spelled as one word. Hit enter and then choose the attributes you want to level up. You may have to do this several times to get them where they're high enough to proceed. Now, some of you might be like the suspicious gambler in Casablanca who asks Karl the waiter if this place is honest, to which Karl responds in exasperation, "As honest as the day is long!" Don't forget that you want to make it to Arch-Mage, so you should check your scruples at the cloakroom.

Now you're moving up the pecking order again. Skink-in-Treeshade will eventually give you a letter from an Imperial official to deliver to Trebonius. You can probably guess it's a pink slip from the emperor, but it allows Trebonius to continue as Arch-Mage in name only. Unless Trebonius challenges you to a duel in the Vivec arena, which settles the matter fair and square, there will be two Arch-Mages concurrently, and that's unacceptable. Why is the emperor playing you for a chump?

This is what you do: go to Trebonius with the letter, and when he asks you to hand it over, click "Never mind". He will ask, "Are you here to challenge my position in the Guild? Do you think you have what it takes to be the Arch-Mage?" Click, "I will meet you in the Arena," and he will respond, "Very well. Meet me in the Arena here in Vivec. We will settle this once and for all."

Famous last words...

By the way, if you haven't done the Mystery of the Dwarves quest, you might want to do that before the duel. Click "Never mind" and then ask for a duty instead. He'll say something pretty vague, but you can find the walk-through in the UESPWiki. When that's done, your reputation in the Mage Guild will go up 20 points. And now you can throw down your gauntlet at Trebonius.

Please note that in one game you can reach not only Arch-Mage but also:

1. Arch-Magister of the Telvanni (which I highly recommend over the other houses because of the funky stronghold that can be extended with plug-in mods),

2. Master-Thief of the Thieves Guild,

3. Knight of the Imperial Dragon of the Legion (which I have trouble accomplishing in OpenMW because Imsin the Dreamer in Buckmoth Fort is unresponsive, but as I will say below in the section about the Helm of Graff the White, I don't care for the legion anyway),

4. Patriarch of the Tribunal Temple, and

5. Primate of the Imperial Cult.

(I left out the Fighters Guild because I found there's a conflict of interest with the Thieves Guild that makes it possible to be head of one or the other, but not both. I've never tried the Morag Tong because I do have scruples about being licensed to kill, and you could get yourself kicked out of a guild for knocking off one of its members without their understanding. The Blades are impossible to advance in by default because the Grand Spymaster is a guard in the ToddTest area.)

Add to that the Daedric quests, which you can research at your own leisure, the destruction of the three vampire headquarters (the Quarra in Druscashti, the Berne in Galom Daeus, and the Aundae in Ashmalech), and the taking of at least 18 Daedric Bell Hammers (I'm sure you had no idea there were that many, the locations of which can be researched at your own leisure), I would say your Morrowind plate is overflowing even without the Tribunal and Bloodmoon extensions, and of course that half-empty land called Tamriel Rebuilt. It's a pity that so much Morrowind material tends to be bypassed because of these extensions, which I really don't find that gratifying because thematically they are so out of character.

If all you do is run straight through the Main Quest from beginning to end and then start a new game to run through it once more, you're missing out on everything this highly varied game has to offer. I know because there was a time when I got tired of doing step-'n-fetchit jobs and stopped doing them altogether, not even joining a great house. It made for a very short and tedious game.

I eventually realized by doing the Bow of Auriel quest for Mistress Therana in House Telvanni, in which she rewards you with a set of Daedric cuirass and greaves that are both enchanted at constant-effect 50 points of Feather, that some odd jobs are definitely worth doing. And if you do all this before you even start the Main Quest, you come to understand what a pitiful reward the Azura's Ring is for your having just killed Dagoth Ur.

F. THE SECRET AREAS:

How to locate a book that may be totally lost:

Once when Edwinna asked me to return the Chimarvamidium book to Sirilonwe in Vivec, in the coming and going and doing this and that in-game, I totally lost track of the book and was unable to locate it. I knew I still had it in a plug-in mod, so I took it from there and returned it to the chest in Sirilonwe's closet. When asked by Edwinna if I'd returned it and I said yes, she immediately knew I was lying and urged me to return it without fail. I suppose the book was technically non-existent in the game because it came from a plug-in. I ended up not doing any more work for her or anyone else in the Mages Guild and went to provoke Trebonius into a fight.

It really doesn't need to come to that. Go back to the ToddTest area and you'll find a copy in the chest of in-game books along with other books that you may need when somebody says to go find one and you really can't no matter how hard you try. Keep in mind that this is a fail-safe strategy, not the lazy player's way to get something without even trying.

(There is a way to do a console search that gives you the map coordinates of an item's location, but I don't know how that works.)

A home away from home:

There are a lot of house plugins out there that offer even flush toilets, bathtubs, and grand pianos. So much of it is eye candy, and it's rather doubtful how much of the storage you will actually be using. Personally, I'm not a pack-rat. I like to collect unique items and dagoth soul gems, but everything else gets sold to Rich Creeper.

So what do you do when you have way too much booty to carry out and turn into cash? If you're in a place that's difficult to get to, set the Mark spell, open the console, and type: coc: "mark's vampire test cell". If this is your first time doing this, be prepared to annihilate a male and a female vampire occupying the large room. When they are gone, the room is entirely your own. All it contains is a bed, which will be useful when you need to rest.

After you have dropped your booty, equip Recall and return to your original location. The only thing you cannot do is drop equipment in the room, start a new game, and expect to find your equipment still there. However, you won't have to deal with the vampires again.

G. TRIBUNAL:

How to beat the Crazy Hand easily:

This has to be one of the most odious tasks in Tribunal. The problem is the Crazy Hand is not crazy at all and has every reason to be disgruntled, and you can see he’s not laying waste to Godsreach as Almalexia would have you believe. One mod makes it possible to advise him to leave Mournhold for his own good, but as the game stands, you can only kill him, and that’s plenty hard to do because just a few blows from his scimitar will put you away for good.

So, go down into the Dwemer ruin below the Plaza Brindisi Dorom and "kill" every steam archer you can find and collect its Dwemer darts, ten per archer. These darts are truly lethal, and I once used them to bring down the giant robot in the Dome of the the Imperfect and to kill Almalexia herself. There aren’t that many archers, so you may have to do this several times until you have up to 100 Dwemer darts. Here again, using the Amulet of Shadows will maximize the number of darts you take because if it can see you, it can fire off three or more darts in quick succession—waste not, want not.

Hopefully, your Speed skill is high. If you don’t have the Boots of Blinding Speed and the Hide of the Saint cuirass, it would do you well to go collect them, the first from Pimenie on the road from Caldera to Ald’ruhn and the other from a wardrobe in Tel Fyr. You’ll find the Crazy Hand wandering around on the lower street level behind the Flying Guar Inn. This street runs like a long rectangle with criss-crossing streets at the center. Avoid the criss-crossing streets because there are people who can get hit. Equip the cuirass and boots, hit the run button (I think Caps Lock), and be ready to throw darts.

You might get hit by him once, but don’t let him do it again. Instead take off on a gallop to the corner where there is the sewer trapdoor. Just stand and wait, and when you’re pretty sure of hitting him from a distance, start flinging those darts at him in rapid succession. He’ll start weaving as he runs, but don’t worry about it, just keep throwing.

Don’t let him get too close, but turn a 90 degree angle and gallop off again to the next far corner, then turn and keep flinging darts at him. You will be able to see that he’s taking a lot of damage, but here again, don’t let him get too close. Turn another 90 degree angle and gallop off, the turn and continue flinging darts at him. Don’t worry if he’s not getting hit. He should be on his last leg by now.

Run to the next corner, and if all goes well, he’ll go down like a sack of spuds. There is some mouth-watering armor you can take from him, so help yourself.

How to get the Royal Signet Ring from King Helseth:

It’s assumed you have the Amulet of Shadows. It is also assumed you finished reforging the Trueflame sword. You also need the Ebony Arrows of Slaying, so head on up to Thirsk in Solsteim. Go behind the mead hall there and plunge your hand into the snow-filled tree trunk. You’ll find a few things you can keep if you want (I always sell them), but you must have those arrows—nothing can be as lethal as those arrows. Use them with discretion—don’t go shooting rats and cliff racers with them.

Now, head on down to the royal palace in Mournhold. Before you enter King Helseth’s presence, equip the Amulet of Shadows and have your bow and an Arrow of Slaying at the ready. This is where I still get a tight feeling in my stomach. This is a bad time suddenly to go sour-grapes in this. Your angel at one ear is begging you to reconsider, but your devil at the other ear is right: somebody needs to be called to account for what happened to King Athyn Llethan and a lot of other people. You've read "A Game at Dinner", ...haven't you?

Save your game in case anything goes wrong, enter the throne room, and nail him. There will be a hue and cry, but don’t worry. Everybody knows it was you, but the chameleon somehow causes inertia in them. Take his royal armor and signet ring. Now you can leave, but whatever you do, don’t ever come back.

(A note about the Ebony Arrows of Slaying: When you shoot King Helseth, he'll go down without a hitch, but don't try it on Tienius Delitian, who has the Gravedigger dai-katana. He reflects magicka, so you could end up killing yourself. I had the Royal Signet Ring on when I tried, so the reflected magicka had no effect on me. Even so, I had to use two arrows, and that was a big waste.)

How not to get sliced and diced in the Dome of Kasia:

This part of the Mad God quest is enough to drive you mad! Seriously. Call it dumb luck that helped me outrun the bladed arm that swings around, but after that I was unable to pull it off again. You know what they say about if at first you don’t succeed, don’t try, try again the same old way. You’ve got to rethink this.

I had read somewhere that you can try jumping to the Dome of Serlyn entrance, but it didn’t say how—it was only a suggestion. I dismissed it as unworkable. Finally at my wits end, I decided to try and make it work anyway.

The suggestion recommended using Tinur’s Hoptoad spell, which I duly went to get before entering the Clockwork City. I doubted the spell alone would be of any use, so I trained my acrobatics up to 100. To accomplish the jump, I had to dispose of the three verminous fabricants by causing them to run up the ramp and get sliced to pieces by the blades.

I positioned myself right below the entrance then activated the Hoptoad spell, jumped, and dashed into the safe spot in front the entrance. There I saved the game in the event something unfortunate happened later on.

How to get Golena Sadri's arrows:

I wouldn't be surprised if you never heard of this one. It's a very minor quest in Godsreach. Basically, what has happened is Golena Sadri has gone stark-raving mad, and you are called upon to find out what is going on. It turns out she has treasures stashed away in a tunnel and is maniacally paranoid that you are going to try and steal it. I won't go through all the details, only how to beat this fabulously well-armed madwoman.

She has a Daedric bow and a seemingly endless supply of arrows that do over 200 points of damage. When you finally confront her, do so invisibly because those horrific arrows can cause paralysis, and she'll keep nailing you until you go down. She'll be standing in a dry cistern that, if you push against the floor somehow (sorry, I don't remember how I did it), will put you in a nether region right below the cistern. Everything around you will be black, but the floor of the cistern will be fully transparent revealing the subterranean room and her standing there above you. The amazing thing is that you can hit her with everything you have, and there's nothing she can do about it--very convenient.

When she finally goes down, whatever you do, don't dispose of her corpse immediately. Instead, ransack it for as many of those arrows as you can get (50 in one batch). I finally had to warp out of there with 3,000 arrows.

(Note: On Dec 19, 2016, I tried to replicate the attack on Golena Sadri and was unable to. She was standing beyond the cistern, not in it as I remembered previously. I pushed in various places in the cistern floor but couldn't find where I'd broken through. I was using the Amulet of Shadows, so I had to act quickly, but with no recourse, I faced her (she was standing at eye level) and began flinging Dwemer darts at her. She quickly went down like a sack of spuds, which surprised me greatly. The name of the arrow you want is the Poisongrip Arrows. I warped out with over 5,000 of them.)

Just to give you an idea of just how awesome these arrows are, I later used two of them to take down the women who seemed to be the sponsors of the arena in Rotheran. I then started to hear "Aaagh!" and "Aargh!" and "Eeek!", and when I looked in the holding cell just below, I found all the slaves dead.

H. BLOODMOON:

How to Harvest Stalhrim:

This has to be put down as one of the big fish that got away if you don't know what you're doing because it is so easy to screw up and lose sight of what the East Empire Company quests eventually lead to. There are a good number of spoilers here, so if you want to try this on your own, you might want to skip over it.

That said, the company quests boil down to making a choice between taking orders from Carnius Magius or from Falco Galenus. The difference is that working under Carnius is very much like doing Hlaalu quests, and when you screw up it's for not following Falco's order to his satisfaction. The first time this happened to me, I quit the company and never learned about Stalhrim because that's where the company quests eventually lead to.

When I researched this in UESPWiki, what I read and what I actually did somehow came out differently. The Wiki description of the quests seem somewhat garbled, probably because it's trying to reconcile different ways they play out. It all boils down to the following.

There are a few preliminary quests that get you started, one of which is to remove an annoying Nord who is blocking the entrance to Raven Rock mine. Falco tells you to beat him up but not kill him. Where you can go wrong is if you proceed to thrash him like a human punching bag, and it doesn't stop until the Nord explodes. (Now that's what I call something blowing up in your face!) Then when you return to Falco, you can tell he's clearly P.O.ed at the way he berates you for being totally unreliable. To avoid that, punch the Nord only once, and keep punching him without his health meter coming on. He'll eventually tell you to stop, and he'll promise to get out of the way.

This is important because Carnius is generous with the gold but not with the stalhrim weapons and armor. According to UESPWiki, it takes twice as much stalhrim to create a piece under Carnius than it does under Falco, and it points out that there are only some six sources of the material in all Solsteim. It somehow doesn't take into account all the stalhrim in the tombs, and there are more tombs than you can shake a stick at. However, it is neither Carnius nor Falco who you deal with directly.

Under either official, you are told that a huge chunk of Stalhrim has been discovered in the Raven Rock mine, and you are instructed to go visit Graring near the river fork southwest of Skaal village. He and his two companions won't have anything to do with you because they know what you're after, and they're unwilling to oblige.

I suppose that if you're working under Carnius, it was Falco who sent a female assassin against Graring. If it was Falco who sent you, then it was Carnius who wants to prevent you from receiving the Ancient Nord Pickaxe from Graring. After all, Carnius and Falco are in apparent competition to secure the stalhrim supply for himself, but this seems inconsistent with Falco's way of doing things. I wouldn't know for sure because I was working for Falco.

At any rate, you have to cut down the assassin who is hanging back near the rocks. There is no explanation as to why she is waiting there. Maybe she's hoping you will do the dirty deed for her as Graring remains adamant not to hand over the pick axe to just anybody, and you are just anybody. Don't do that because it puts the kibosh on the whole quest, a clear lose-lose outcome for both Carnius and Falco. Now that is what I call MAD-ness (Mutually Assured Destruction) of this quest. However, once you've cut down the assassin, suddenly everything is goodness and light, and Graring hands over his pickaxe to you.

His male companion makes armor, and the female companion makes weapons--for free, no less. One of my most prized in-game possessions was the stalhrim Longsword of Flame, which you don't actually get until the Skaal shaman rewards you for completing the Bloodmoon quest. I used to own a milky quartz that had the same translucency--it was beautiful. It doesn't take much to enchant the longsword you receive from the female companion.

How to play Morrowind in Linux:

(Note from Feb 4, 2020: A lot has changed since this section was written. Furiusisomount is no longer maintained, and directX no longer works in Linux. There are recommended alternatives to directX, but they don't work either. That leaves only OpenMorrowind, which has reached a stage of development that makes it superior even to the Windows version. Its penchant for order [even the mods are listed in alphabetical order] assures that you don't need the TESTool to keep you mods clean and compatible. And it opens a game FAST!)

I should preface this by pointing out that, even though it is very likely that you will want to keep your Microsoft for gaming, maybe an experience with the "Wanna Cry" malware or whatever virus you may have been hit with has caused you to reconsider the wisdom of hanging on to such a defenseless operating system. Making the transition to Linux is not easy, but some Linux distros try to set up the desktop to be easily recognizable to the Windows user and make it as painless as possible. (cf. maketecheasier{dot}com{slash)best-linux-distro-for-windows-users{slash})

I am using Linux Mint 18.3, until recently ranked the most popular Linux distro in the Distrowatch site. When you download Wine in your Linux distro, it creates a real C: drive in your operating system, which itself is called the Z: drive--I kid you not! The Morrowind game can be downloaded directly into that C: drive.

Anyway, there are three ways you can install your game in Linux: 1) install directly into Wine using the CD and then transferring all your game files into the proper folders, 2) install the CD into a program called Play on Linux and then transferring all your files into that game, and 3) install a Linux program called Open Morrowind.

I'm using Open Morrowind now. It seems to be the X-box version retooled for Linux. It's not very flexible because it rejects many mods that work perfectly in the Windows version. The reason is it will not allow the use of TESTool to clean and consolidate your mods. I don't know how one would fix an NPC speaking unscripted lines, such as Verick Gemain saying "Let us set aside our rivalry" or if such a mix-up would ever happen. The game has also been modified to eliminate bugs (such as the ability to make a bound weapon permanent by repairing it) and respawning of items.

However, OpenMW is a native version of the game made specifically for Linux and so is installed directly onto the z: drive, and it works! Don't ask me how. The game itself becomes something like a virtual drive and is be played without the CD or a separate .iso file. That in itself makes it so easy to set up--click "Play" and it plays.

Play on Linux is okay, but this program was made at a time when it was nearly impossible to play Windows games on Linux. Well, those were the bad old days. Now Wine can handle pretty much anything, so there's no need for an intermediary program.

Furthermore, you can play with the physical CD in the drive, or you can play using the so-called "Furiusisomount" virtual drive. To do this, use a CD copying program called Brasero to create a morrowind.iso file. Open the Furius .iso mount drive, tick Loop, then drag-and-drop your .iso file into the window. You will have to input your password. (This is why Linux is so secure--nothing happens in your computer without your personal approval.) If you feel skittish about copying the CD, keep in mind that you bought it and it belongs to you, and as long as you don't distribute copies of your .iso file, you're in the clear. Now click your Morrowind start icon, and you're set to go.

Mod Use:

Different players have their druthers about mod use, some who go overboard and others who shun them. My viewpoint is that starting a new game is like fighting an uphill battle where the cards are stacked against you. You exit Sellus Gravius's office nearly penniless, slow as a slug, night-blind, and luckless. What's wrong with evening the odds?

However, mod use used to be a role of the dice, but now that the Morrowind Modding History site has become the repository of Morrowind mods, a lot of the guess work has been eliminated. You no longer have to plug in a mod to find out if it sucks. The admins offer advice that a particular mod contains dirty references and needs to be cleaned before use, reason enough to avoid it.

I prefer a mod that: 1) does what the maker promises it will do, 2) doesn't overload my memory, or 3) solves an intractable problem. The Readme should give a good explanation of what the mod does and at least a hint where to find the item in-game or how to get started. You shouldn't have to adjust your frame-rate to accommodate a mod--better to ditch it. And what do you do when the sun suddenly turns black or the day is so unnaturally short?

Keep in mind that the game can accommodate up to 256 mods, beyond which it will slow down significantly or even crash. After I left my powerful NEC laptop in Tucson, I replaced it with a used Hewlett-Packard with a lot less drive space, so I don't run Tribunal and Bloodmoon. The following are most of the mods I'm using now and can be found in the Morrowind Modding History. You'll notice that most of them are atmosphere-enhancers because the scenery in Morrowind is awfully boring.

Mod Name	Remarks
3 Shades of Darkness	My favorite quest mod. There are a tomb, a cavern, and a crypt strung out along the coast from Seyda Neen to Hla Oad. A map and the tomb key can be found in the basement of the Census and Excise office. Not recommended for low-level players as there are some rather powerful dudes to contend with.
A Grand Abode	I like this one because it's on the mountain facing the Balmora Guild of Mages and so adds to the Balmora skyline. It's also very well laid out. It's a good place to get money when you're in dire need of it, but I leave all the high-level armor and weapons in the armory.
Ashlander Travel	This puts a travel person in each of the Ashlander camps. Very useful for getting from one to another.
BC Sounds	This is one of the official Morrowind mods that come in one package. It gives the Bitter Coast region insect sounds.
Better Bodies	This is a must-have to make people's bodies look real. It comes with an underwear version for players who are scandalized by nudity.
Better Books	This makes book bindings and lettering really attractive. A must have for book lovers!
Chalk 30 Base	This is very good for Xing the ground in front of tombs you've robbed to show you've already been there.
Crassius Fee	A must have for anybody disgusted with having to deal with "Uncle Crassius". Rather than stripping for him, you can bribe him instead.
Dej Pocket Watch	I don't use it often, but there are occasions when it's hard to tell what time it is. Can be found in the barrel left of the entrance to Sellus Gravius's office.
Divine Domina	This is very useful for distinguishing male and female guards in Ald'ruhn. If your character is female, she can wear more fashionable armor, not the clunky male version.
Forever Charged	This is a cheat, but it makes charged weapons remain charged and eliminates the annoyance of having to find the wherewithal to recharge spent weapons.
Gnisis Bridge	This eliminates the need to levitate across the gorge near Gnisis.
Grass	This puts patches of grass here and there, but not in places that are supposed to be rocky and barren.
Green Girl's Room	This turns the dormitory in the Guild of Mages in Balmora into a private bedroom.
Metal Queen Boutique	Fashionable clothes for female players.
ModMan Window Lights	There is another mod that has windows light up at night, but it doesn't work well in OpenMW. This one works better, but the windows aren't as bright.
Real Sign Posts	Signs in Tamrielic are as good as useless without hovering the cursor over them. With this mod you can actually read them.
Real Time Mod	This either doubles the length of day or sets it to real time.
Ring o' Teleport	This is one teleportation method that works in OpenMW.
Soul Gems for Sale	Not being able to acquire grand soul gems when you need them is a huge drawback in this game. This mod solves that problem.
Temple Transport	Every temple has a transporter that makes it easy to travel from one to another.
TVwofs	This oddly named mod merely transforms the road from Balmora to Caldera to make it more rugged. There's a later version, but it doesn't work well because the road reverts back to the way it was before.
Vampire Stuff	This contains a left glove of vampirism that actually works, though you can't tell what vampire clan it makes you. I used it in Galom Daeus and was attacked nevertheless, so it's certainly not the Berne. I once tried living as a vampire but really didn't like it, so I went for the cure. For the pros and cons of becoming a vampire, go to Morrowind:Vampires.
Walkthrough Books BETA	I guess it's beta because the maker didn't bother to make book covers for them, so they appear as two purple volumes on the counter in Arrille's shop. Good to have when you can't remember what comes next in the main quest. You no longer need to save and shut down in order to google.

There's a way to make your own simple mod. Let's say you want to give Creeper more gold and add items he's willing to buy. Go to the TES Construction Set: click File, then Data Files, then tick Morrowind.esm. Click Open, and it will upload all the files in Morrowind. Go to the Object Box and click on the Creatures tab. Scroll down to scamp_creeper. Right-click it and then click Edit. A new scamp_creeper window opens, so go to the bottom and click AI.

A new window opens, so click the Services tab. It will show you what Creeper buys and sells and how much gold he has. Click as many items you want him to buy, then give him 5000000 in gold (no commas). Click Save, and click Save again. Then click File again and Save. A save box comes on. Click on an existing mod, for example, Laurana's Rich Friend, and click to overwrite it.

The construction set won't make any bones about overwriting an existing file--it will do it anyway. I tried many times to give the mod a new name but it never worked. If Laurana's Rich Friend is already clicked in the game Data Files, you can use it immediately. If not, be sure to click it, or you can't unload all those Daedric weapons that have been piling up in your game.

(Note: The amount of gold you give Creeper can automatically change. My Creeper now has 50,000, which is still a lot better than the 5,000 he normally has.)