Using Kahleah and her Jandaga for hunting practice was a mistake - even for dragons.

It is a hassle when every dungeon you want to enter is password protected. No wonder some folks write down their passwords. . . .

Wow, I wonder what the deal on that underground village is?

Yes, that's what I was getting at. So Kahleah's got some unique traits which The Jandaga has sought for this upcoming occasion.

Neat how you have dreams about your creations, too. So they're not officially married, is what you're saying. Kahleah's got a pretty wide standard for her man: she allows him to travel with all these other voluptuous vixens and sexy shrews!

Whoa, they're fighting a black dragon!

Ha ha ha that's pretty stupid, leaving the password right there in a nearby journal. Clever of Jandaga to have figured this knapsack should be searched.

Hmm.. Sundercliff. This is one of Bethesda's DLCs. Mehrunes Razor being done, eh? That was a fun dungeon crawl.

Renee: Kaleah doesn’t worry about the voluptuous vixens and sexy shrews the Jandaga travels with. Kaleah's adopted sisters are her acolytes and they have learned their lessons well. The problem is the is the Jandaga, he is proven to be a most mystifying and intriguing case study.

20230620 Mehrunes’ Razor, Sundercliff Watch - Kaleah shows potential

Why am I surprised to find a village buried deep under Sundercliff Watch? It’s certainly not the largest or most elaborate underground habitation we have encountered during our explorations. It was just unexpected.

Quietly and stealthily as possible, Kaleah and I slowly approached the outskirts of the village. As we knelt there surveying the village I kept thinking of the papers we found on Steward Vaske. If the intention of Frathen Drothan, the so-called arch-mage is to field an army to bring down the empire it would have to be one of considerable size. We had better be extra careful, for if that army is here we could be in serious trouble.

The closest building was to our left. If we could get there we could take some time to figure out how to deal with this army and nip this revolution in the bud. Two Drothmeri sat around a fire between us and the building. All we had to do is to sneak by and get inside.

It didn’t work. One Drothmeri soldier got up and moved away from the fire. Light from his torch reflecting off of my armor revealed my location. The soldier drew his weapon and attacked. His companion gave a shout drawing three other Drothmeri to the fray.

Lucky for us that was all that showed up for the party. It was over quickly allowing Kaleah and me to reach the target building without any further disturbance.

“You really should get Claire to enchant your leather kit,” Kaleah snickered. “Your Dragonspirit armor is just a tiny bit too noisy and flashy for sneaking around in the dark.”

The building turned out to be the jailhouse where the assassin, mentioned in the note to Steward Vaske, was being held. In the office, we found a note to the jailor from Commander Adrethi. Commander Adrethi believes the assassin is a Morag Tong agent and may have a writ, hidden in a most disgusting place, upon his person. The commander gave the jailor orders to search the assassin for the writ.

With only cell one in the jailhouse the assassin was easy to find. Giving me a, steel-eyed-I-know-you, look the Morag Tong reached behind his back to produce a soiled writ of execution for my inspection. Not wanting to touch the dirty thing I read it through the bars of the cell. His assignment was Commander Adrethi.

Is a Morag Tong Writ of Execution legal in Cyrodiil? Uncertain, I turned to ask Kaleah for her opinion but on an impulse, using the Unlock Everything spell I unlocked the cell and set the Morag Tong assassin free. Let’s make our life easier and let the Morag Tong take out his assignment. Without a word the Morag Tong assassin cast a chameleon spell and left to find his mark.

While the effect of the chameleon effect was very good the assassin was easy to follow. The assassin may have been invisible but that flaming sword he carried dancing around in midair on its own was one heck of a guide. The Morag Tong agent left the jailhouse with us following.

He led us through a door to the Commons section of Sundercliff Watch. Crossing a rope bridge the assassin approached a house when his chameleon spell expired. While that didn’t seem to bother the assassin, as he boldly entered the house I on the other hand began to worry.

When Kaleah and I entered the house, we found Commander Adrethi and the Morag Tong engaged in a fierce duel. Adrethi appeared to be pressing hard on the assassin who had lost the advantage of surprise.

Impatient as usual, Kaleah gave the commander a poke in the back. Adrethi turned to face the new threat and that was the opening the assassin was looking for. The Morag Tong’s flaming blade cut Adrethi in two.

With the death of Commander Adrethi the Morag Tong assassin silently left, leaving us to gather whatever loot we saw fit to take. I was particularly interested in a big shiny marble. Kaleah called it an enchanted Bezoar.

Leaving Commander Adrethi’s house we need to find leader behind this revolt. Pointing to the house next door we suspect that the so called Telvanni arch-mage could be staying there. Our assumption was correct. Frathen Drothan does reside here but he isn’t he isn’t home but we picked up a few things during the search; a book Treatise on Ayleidic Cities, a Varla Stone, two vials of Trichobezoar Extract, nine Scrolls of Transmutation (two on the desk and seven behind a false wall), and Drothan’s journal.

It was difficult to concentrate while reading Drothan’s journal with Kaleah leaning over my right shoulder softly breathing in my ear. Unexpectedly, Kaleah lets out an ear piercing scream causing me to drop the book and cover my ears in pain.

Falling to her knees Kaleah buries her face in her hands and wails. “The fool has gone to Varsa Baalim! He intends use Nefarivigum, the foul construct of Mehrunes Dagon, to awaken Dagon’s champion. My Feache he seeks Mehrunes’ Razor! You must stop him.”

“We together will stop him.” I said trying to console the visibly shaken Seducer. I didn’t feel like I was getting through. In an attempt to redirect her attention, I continued. “Look, the journal tells us that we need two bezoars to open the doors to Varsa Baalim. We’ve got one enchanted bezoar; the other is in the Forge. Come on, let’s go.”

When she didn’t move from her position on the floor, I gently took her by the hands to help her up and said, “I need you Kaleah. Together we can stop him.”

“Where you go, I follow,” Kaleah said not in her usual confident self voice but it was a start.

“You know,” I said rubbing my right ear. “I thought the Lion’s Roar was a myth (watch Kung Fu Hustle) but with a little practice and a big Buddha bell megaphone you could become a master of the Lama Pai Lion's Roar technique.”

The sound of Kaleah’s steely gaze ricocheting off my helm resounded throughout the cavern.

“Just don’t call me Fat Lady!” Kaleah said in mock indignation.

Breaking out in laughter, arm-in-arm we left Sundercliff Commune in search of a second enchanted bezoar.

Cool, thanks for explaining. Your gaming approach is a lot more complex than I first realized, so it's good to get immediate answers as questions arise.

So if Kahleah's a daedric minion, that also sort of explains how she's not so involved with messy mortal emotions. She doesn't get jealous (or as jealous) as a typical human-type. And so she's also like a leader to Pym, Claire and some of the others as well, eh? Are Pym and Kahleah also tagged Essential?

Yeah, Sundercliff Watch is unusual. An underground village; it is unexpected. And it's a rather large dungeon crawl too, since the place keeps getting deeper and deeper under the earth. Don't wanna post spoilers, in case this is your first time with the Mehrunes Razor DLC. But I remember Renee Gade III spent nearly two weeks exploring the place, trying to figure out its mysteries. Since I use realism mods, this also meant she kept running out of food & fluids, and needed to return to the mod-added town of Silverfish Falls to get her gear repaired. ⚔



Probably doesn't help to go around wearing psychedelic gear!

Nope, the Morag Tong does not carry jurisdiction within Cyrodiil. Of course, that doesn't matter much down here.

Oh yeah... the Bezoars. Those darn things took a while to find. Conversation between J and K made me Lol toward the end.

This post has been edited by Renee: Jun 20 2023, 04:43 PM

I like the Jandaga's approach to the Morog Tong - if the writ suits his current purpose, turn 'em loose. If not, take 'em out as the hired killers of a foreign power.

Off to find Mehrunes' Razor it seems.

When there's work to be done use the best tool for the job.

20230627 Mehrunes’ Razor, Sundercliff Watch The Forge

We have one bezoar, now we need to find a second. According Drothan’s journal the second enchanted bezoar was given to the Forgemaster for safekeeping. Leaving Drothan’s house we left to find the Forge.

To get there we returned to the Village and crossed over to the east side of the cavern village. Of course this meant that we had to fight any Drothmeri soldiers that had survived our previous visit to the Village. Being primarily a force of recruits armed with iron daggers and long swords (kind of a poor choice of weapons I thought) they posed little threat to our progress to Sundercliff Forge gate.

Entering the tunnels of Sundercliff Forge the first thing Kaleah noticed was a large boulder jutting out from the wall of the tunnel. Certain that this boulder led directly to the Forgemaster’s quarters Kaleah made it her mission to open the door. She attacked the boulder with all her might. The boulder refused to budge.

Knowing Kaleah would not give up on moving the boulder, Twinkle and I set off down the tunnel in search of another more accessible path to the Forgemaster. It was then that I noticed the holes in the floor that I realized there was at least one level below the tunnel I was walking in.

Multiple levels, the Forge is going to take a little longer to get to than I hope. Seeing a tunnel leading downward, I took it. The tunnel took led directly to the door of the Sundercliff Mines.

Frustrated with her failure to move the boulder, Kaleah eventually gave up and caught up with Twinkle and me when we entered the mines. The three of us proceeded along a dark tunnel until we came to a bend in the tunnel.
Stopping, I motioned to Kaleah. “That tap, tap, tap sound, Do you hear it?”

Turning the corner we could see in the dust filled darkness a large cavern two floors high. Khajiit and Argonian miners labored while Drothmeri soldiers patrolled the corridors. My first thought was slave labor but I was wrong. The miners attacked us just as fiercely and as quickly as the soldiers did.

By the way the soldiers and miners fought I assumed we had found a gold mine. When the fighting was done, much to our disappointment all we found was iron ore. As I stood there puzzling over that fact, Kaleah mentioned the Scrolls of Transmutation.

“Scrolls of Transmutation to turn the iron into gold?” Kaleah suggested. “Something like the Midas Aurum Assimulator?”

“Oh, now that would be interesting.”

Taking a passage to the upper level we encountered an encampment of soldiers and miners. A good place to come back to later, to rest up, I thought.

Just past the camp we could see a narrow passageway. The soldiers and mine workers did their best to prevent us from reaching the passageway but that only made us more determined to get to the tunnel entrance. The outcome was a foregone conclusion, we entered the tunnel. A short while later we found a door leading to the lower level of the Forge.

Finding ourselves down in the lower level of the Forge we caught the Forgemaster and his two apprentices by surprise. The Armor Apprentice and the Weapons Apprentice recovered swiftly though. Drawing their weapons, they charged.

Equally fast was Kaleah with her fiery charged daedric bow. Kaleah showered the room with arrows. I’m not sure which magical arrows Kaleah was using but the way that closest Dunmer flew back 20-feet from an arrow to the chest, I’d say it was the right one.

Meanwhile with Kaleah busy dealing with the apprentices, I set my sights on the Forgemaster. Twinkle tickled the Forgemaster from ensuring that the fight didn’t last very long. The Forgemaster and his apprentices may have been excellent at the forge but they were lacking in fighting skills. Judging by the number of iron daggers that covered the floor, they spent all their time working on gaining smithing skills and not enough time on their weapon skills.

Searching the Forgemaster’s tent we found what we were looking for. Sitting on a table shining like Secunda was the second bezoar. We grabbed the silvery marble along with some other interesting items and then we left the tent. Oh, and one other thing. Tucked neatly under the Forgemaster's bed was some familiar bedtime reading material.

Well that answered the question, “Why the unusually high ratio of female swimmers in the mining crew?” Dirty little mind, the Forgemaster really should have spent less time reading and more in time weapons training.

Back in the forge room, as we were setting up the Weapons Apprentice, the Forgemaster, and the Armor Apprentice for the morgue shot the messenger Ignar Rodblock suddenly appeared. Ignar handed me a message from Kvatch and raced away, taking an exit tunnel at the far end of the forge.

What could Kvatch want now? I got them their Count, why are they still pestering me?

Snatching the magical items, the Forgemaster's Amulet and the Forgemaster's Smock, off of the forgemaster’s corpse we chased after Ignar. The passageway Ignar took was a dead end. When we caught up to him, Ignar was franticly running around in circles. A rope hung from the ceiling. Recognizing what it was I let Kaleah have the honors.

Good grief, she made a big production of it.

Drawing her daedric short sword she struck the wall three times called out in a thunderous voice “I, Ka-Ata-Killa, first of the honor bound, command thee open!”

She gave the rope a tug and the wall of rock slowly lowered, revealing the door back to the Village. Turning to me with a smile that nearly out shown Twinkle, the beaming Kaleah asked, “Well, how was that?”

“Hmmm, maybe a little over the top but not bad really. Just try not to scare the locals too badly next time.”

Ignar, as if seeing Kaleah for what she is for the very first time, couldn’t wait to get away. The boulder had barely dropped halfway when Ingar squirmed through the slit of an opening and fled. By the time the door had opened fully Ingar was gone daddy gone. Wonder if we’ll ever see him again?

Back in the Village, we made our way to the Commune and from there to the Excavated Ruin entrance to Varsa Baalim. Placing the bezoars on the pedestals we could sense the shift in the status of the door to the Ayleid ruin. With a push, Kaleah opened the door to Varsa Baalim and immediately slammed it shut.

Turning to me and with an unusually soft voice Kaleah said, “You’re looking a little peaked, my Feache. Perhaps we should find something to eat or take a little rest before continuing. I’ll not have Fiona yelling at me for not taking care of her Amado Mio.”

Kaleah was being a little too sweet. Sensing something was wrong, I asked, “What is it you’re not telling me?”

“Vampires, my Feache!” Kaleah replied. “The scent of ancient vampires sickening strong. My Feache, we should prepare. Charge our weapons, repair our armor, and you should go outside. Let the restorative Magicka of Magnus shine upon your face.”

Good advice should always be considered and especially when it’s Kaleah giving the advice.

A whole dungeon just to get that second bezoar. But finally, access to Varsa Baalim. Uh-oh, looks like we’re gonna need a Vampire Slayer.

Very dramatic! Always remember to give the rope a tug after you command it, and not before!

Yeah, those Drothmeri soldiers are hiding all over the place. In all those underground dwellings and so on. And it gets confusing trying to remember which dwellings have been searched, and which have not.

Kahleah's attacking a boulder! -- Your game is pretty dark, I'm noticing this, macole. Not as dark as my subterrenean interiors, but close.



Ha that's great! I suppose they don't expect any adversaries to ever penetrate as deep as they are underground, so their job is to make weapons for the soldiers, I guess.

Who is Ignar? Sounds like he's (or she) is from some other area of the world entirely. He tracked the Jandaga all the way down there? 🖲



It took forever to find. Maybe some gamers get lucky and find both of them easily, but I remember searching for Bezoar #2 for quite a while.

This post has been edited by Renee: Jul 1 2023, 06:56 PM

Ignar is the Kvatch messanger from the Kvatch Rebuilt mod. He has appeared a few times when either Savlian Matius or Procis Douarus has a problem that needs to be taken care of. He has the uncanny ability to find me no matter where I go.

20230707 Mehrunes’ Razor, Varsa Baalim and the Nefarivigum

Thank the goddess it wasn’t raining. After a day repairing arms and armor in the sunshine did us a world of good. Refreshed and recharged, Kaleah and her Fearless Vampire Killer were ready to go back to the Excavated Ruin.

With the bezoars in place on the pedestals we opened the door to the excavated ruin and entered. It was shocking. Blood was splattered everywhere. On the floor, on the walls, everywhere. The bloody mess ended at another door.

This door opened to Varsa Baalim. From our vantage point high above what once was the grand plaza of Varsa Baalim, lay nothing but rubble of collapsed buildings, blocked doorways, and uprooted paving stones. Shades of Abagarlas and Daedra Princes at war, I thought.

“There’s fighting going on down there,” I pointed out to Kaleah.

“Vampires,” Kaleah replied in disgust. “Drothmeri soldiers. Let them kill each other.”

With an eye on the melee going on below us we slowly made our way down a ramp to the plaza of Varsa Baalim. Content with waiting it out, we stood there in the darkness watching until one of the combatants spotted us. I thought it might be one of the Drothmeri soldiers until I heard the scream, “Sweet Blood!”

“Why my sweet little Feache, I think she’s calling you.” Kaleah laughed. Clapping me on the shoulder she pushed me into the spotlight.

Drawing Light of Dawn I stepped into the fray while Kaleah loosed a shower of arrows at the vampires. No doubt about it now, the dance marathon had begun.

Out numbered 6 to 3, the Drothmeri soldiers were putting up a good fight which was quite unbelievable considering the iron weapons they were using. I thought that Drothmeri would relish any help they could get in ridding the plaza of the vampires.

Was I wrong or what? As I braced to meet the vampire that called my dance number a Drothmeri soldier pulled up alongside the vampire to attack me. So now instead of 6-5 the game became vampire plus Drothmeri against Kaleah and me. Not good.

To even the odds I called for the usual aid. The Light of Dawn wasn’t too happy. Greedy sword wanted to go it alone, feasting on every vampire but I thought the wiser course of action was to call for help. With the aid of an angel, the Sisters of Insanity and Markie/Marcus we prevailed.

With the plaza now quiet, we checked other nearby doorways. A door to the west, its lentil collapsed and blocked by a boulder, was rendered unusable. A usable doorway on the eastern side of the plaza led us Cava Arpenia.
Cava Arpenia was little more than a hallway with a small room in the middle that looped around to the far southern end of the plaza. Halfway through, there was a small room where three vampires were passing a limp Drothmeri around like a wine skin. We put an abrupt end to that little party.

The Cava Arpenia hallway let us out at the far end of the plaza, a short distance from where the grand melee occurred. Turning left we climbed up a short narrow staircase. Crossing a ruined rotunda, we met another vampire hidden in the darkness. It retreated further into the darkness where we cornered and put an end to it.

We found ourselves at the end of the roadway, a dead end. The ceiling had fallen blocking the way. A nearby door sat severely tilted by the rockslide, lucky for us it still functioned. We entered Cava Beldameld.

Most of Cava Beldameld was blocked by a cave in. Fortuna was smiling on us though, a pathway to the exit still existed. To add to our enjoyable tour of Varsa Baalim, three vampires led by Mojan Kjen (MOO generated) were here to keep us entertained.

As we had hoped when we exited Cava Beldameld we had by-passed the roadblock putting us further in Varsa Baalim. There was only one problem. We stepped right into the middle of another Vampire Drothmeri dispute.
Two Drothmeri soldiers were in a desperate struggle with seven vampires. This time though we didn’t bother with offering to help the Drothmeri. We just called for the usual support and dealt with both gangs.

The altercation settled Kaleah and I followed the broken pavement through the ruins of Varsa Baalim. We dealt with several solitary vampires and saw a few dead Drothmeri along the way until we arrived in a broad plaza. An arrow struck me down. From up above, archers were losing arrows upon us. To get out from under the shower of arrows we ducked into the nearby Cava Marspanga.

Once again we find ourselves in the midst of an all out brawl. Vampires, Drothmeri, and Daedra summon by the vampires were rocking the joint. I swear if Varsa Baalim wasn’t already in ruins, it certainly would be with all this heavy fighting going on. The brawl in Cava Marspanga quieted, we found a staircase that led up to an exit.

Stepping out to the upper level of Varsa Baalim we were ambushed by the MOO vampire, Ulil T’rizen. Outfitted in his green glass armor Ulil T’rizen on his own would have been a difficult opponent. The three high ranking vampires that accompanied him made it doubly so. After securing the area, we continued our search for Drothan.

Across the chasm, we could see what looked like the Ayleid entrance of Nefarivigum. Despite the difficulty navigating across the upper Varsa Baalim ruins we made it to the entrance. But, the path continued on. Curious we followed the path until we could go no further. Here lost in the darkness was the forlorn body of a Drothmeri recruit. In his pocket we found a letter addressed to his brother in Morrowind. The letter recounts the last moments the young recruit’s life and his growing disillusionment with Drothan, whom he has come to believe is insane.

Returning to the stone door we had found, we entered The Nefarivigum. The entrance hall wound its way past bodies of slain vampires and Drothmeri soldiers to a large, dimly lit, and largely empty room. We could see a bedroll to the left, a gate at the far end of the room, and someone standing in front of an ebony statue. That must be Drothan.

Drothan turned, shouted something nonsensical, and attacked. Well, I always said that if any Telvanni had an issue with my retirement that they could take it up with me personally. Of course I thought they’d have to be insane to do so and Drothan, ahem, proves the point.

The threat of Drothan’s rebellion at an end, I sat down to read the late Drothan’s field journal. The Nefarivigum, a foul construct of Mehrunes Dagon, was erected to test the worthiness of any who would approach it. Pass the test and be rewarded with Mehrunes Razor, a vicious blade through which Dagon himself can instantly send a struck foe to Oblivion through Dagons' wrath

Drothan has been studying the inscriptions around the statue for clues on how to obtain the Razor. He has managed to reveal the Razor behind the gate at the far end of the room. His field journal suggests two options; force the gate open or draw the heart from the chest of the champion, and devour it. Drothan fears forcing the gate is trapped and eating the heart is just plain disgusting.

As I inspected statue something came over me. Like the mythological Captain Ahab waving on the Pequod to its doom the Nefarivigum beckons. Reaching to take the beating heart from the quivering champion’s open chest, Kaleah steps in between to block my hand. Arms akimbo, she throws her wings out wide and stares intently at me.

“Do not so this, my Feache!” Kaleah warns. “It is death eternal.”

Heeding Kaleah’s warning I look to Drothan’s second option. When an inspection failed to detected any traps I attempted to force the gate open. Passing the strength test, the gate opens.

Grabbing Mehrunes' Razor opened a hidden doorway. As the wall slowly lowered revealing the Forgotten Tunnels, the Nefarivigum awakened Msirae Faythung. Swinging a fearsome axe Msirae Faythung charged across the room, right onto the pointy end of Light of Dawn.

With the end of Msirae Faythung, Kaleah and I ran through the Forgotten Tunnels to exit out in Lake Canulus. Swimming to shore we sprawled out on the beach laughing joyously at being alive.

What a massive dungeon crawl. But the Razor is now in their possession and the reward is a nice swim in the lake.

Yes, much larger than I expected. Unlike the Wizards Tower and the Vile Lair, this one made me work to get the prize.

Mm hmm, yeah, that's the thing about most of those DLC: we get it all for free, and with some really minor backstory instead of fuller-fleshed quests. Actually, it does take a bit of work to get Wizard's Tower up and running.

Cava Arpenia. I remember all of this vaguely. There are several Cavas though, right? It gets confusing remembering which ones we've been into, and stuff.

Jandaga's flaming sword is a nice touch. When my Renee Gade III did these ruins she had a similar idea.

Ah, there is Mehrunes Razor. That's a powerful piece right there. Will Jandaga be using it? I remember for RG3's game she merely placed it in one of her homes as a trophy, since she's already got a lot of mighty swords for daily use.

Maybe I didn't complete it thoroughly. Once the teleporters were working I stopped.


Remembering Cava Arpenia, is it because it's the first cava or because it is the only one you don't have to go into? The others are nessecary to by-pass road blocks.


We'll see what transpires.

20230718 Playing mumbley-peg, OOO Argonian Smugglers Red Gill Cave

Warm and dry under Kaleah’s tented wings we waited out the rain on the banks of Lake Canulus. The following morning when rain had ended, I peeked out from under Kaleah’s wings to see the face of the shining sun. Stirring to get up Kaleah touched me and whispered ever so softly, “Don’t go, stay with me.”

Later that morning I was sitting on the banks of Lake Canulus playing mumbley-peg with the Razor when my peace was shaken to its core.

“AYIEEE!” Kaleah screamed.

“What!” Jumping up, I dropped the Razor. Looking down to see the Razor stuck in the ground between my feet, I exclaimed, “Geez, I nearly stuck my foot! What is it?”

”Mehrunes’ Razor!” Kaleah screeched. “It’s death, not a toy! It fills me with dre… terr… I can’t say it.”

“But why? It’s a little long and heavy for a dagger but I see nothing unusual with it. Here take it and see for yourself.”

Recoiling back several steps, Kaleah scream in terror, “No, I cannot touch it! You really don’t know? Of course, being of the Sylphim world you wouldn’t, would you? The blade is blessed with Daedric Banishing. With a touch Mehrunes Dagon can instantly claim the soul, even one of a Daedra.”

“Oh, I see.” Realizing Kaleah’s deep fear of being captured by Mehrunes or any other Prince I summoned the Midas Chest. As I locked the Razor away, I thought. “Banish Daedra at a touch, hmmm? That might come in handy some day.”

Thinking it wise I changed the subject. “By my count we dusted 31 vampires in Varsa Baalim and the Light of Dawn feasted on 13 of them making its total now 343.”

Kaleah laughed. Then, pointing to a spot across the lake she said, “Feache, that cave over there is not on the Imperial map. I have no clue as to what we’ll find there.”

The great unknown, what more of an excuse is needed to go find out what’s there. The water was cool, the sun warm, and with Auri-El’s bow arced across the sky in an array of color we swam across Lake Canulus.

A short time later we entered the strange cave. We hadn’t gone ten steps when our progress came to a halt, we could go no further. The cave was flooded.

This familiar sight reminded me of when we ran into Argonian Smugglers (OOO) holed up in another flooded cave similar to this. Blood Clot Cave if I remember correctly. Knowing Twinkle can’t travel under water for any distance
I asked Kaleah to remain at the entrance to keep the sweet little Will-o-the-Wisp from following me.

I could have just dismissed Twinkle but it seems so cruel to call one so eager to serve when you need something and then heartless send it away when its presence is inconvenient.

Activating a water breathing spell, I lowered myself into the flooded tunnel. It took some time swimming round in the dark water until I found what I was looking for. Breaking the surface in a small room, I found myself in Kizra’s lair.

Here, talking to Kizra, the leader of the Red Gill Cave Argonian Smugglers I learnt that the Morrowind Slavers have place a placed a price on Kizra’s head for an attack on the slaver encampment of Seran.

Having, up to now, taken a neutral stance in the altercation between the Argonian Smugglers and the Morrowind Slavers there wasn’t much more for us to talk about. I left Kizra’s lair and returned to the entrance of Red Gill Cave, after spending some time getting lost in the process.

Why didn’t I use the Mark and Recall spell to set a mark when we first entered the cave? It would have made things so much easier. Remember back in the Illiac Bay days, it was automatic. Enter dungeon, set mark, ready to leave cast recall.

Kaleah was in a better mood when I returned to the entrance of Red Gill Cave. Smiling she told me the while I was gone she had gone outside and found Fort Cuptor a little ways down along the shore of Lake Canulus.

“Come on, let’s go have some fun,” she said.

20230727 Fort Cuptor

Fort Cuptor’s entrance corridor ended in a T-intersection. From the left, old wooden doors opened and a lone robed figure appeared. He shouted something and attacked us. Why, I don’t know. His robe bore the insignia of necromancers. That explains everything. Necromancers aren’t known for their gregarious personality.

Now that the necromancer was lying stiff at our feet, we wondered what was in the room he had come out of. We were about to open the doors when we were stopped by the din of battle coming from the other end of the corridor. There we saw an Orc adventurer desperately struggling with two wraiths. Rushing to his aid, Kaleah arrived just in time to prevent the wraith from completely sucking the life out of him.

Saving Orc Adventurer.

“Gortwog and Orsinium thank you, travelers,” the big Orc said. “For a moment, I feared Gortwog was going to mourn the loss of the treasure found here.”

While sitting under the invigorating effects of my Healing Cloud spell the Orc adventurer related his encounter with the Wraiths. Entering Fort Cuptor, the Orc took the corridor to this area. Pointing to a lever sitting on a wall shelf, the Orc told us he used it to raise the portcullis.

The staircase now accessible the Orc descended into a large room. Three necromancers huddled over two stone altars, paused their experimentations to send undead minions to greet the Orc intruder.

With the odds against him, the Orc quickly retreated, raced to the lever, and closed the gate. Two wraiths however had managed to get past the gate before it closed.

That’s where we entered the scene.

As the Orc told his tale, with Twinkle’s help I surveyed the small necromancer experimentation table. What I saw was sickening. There on a table were the eviscerated remains of a small child, the perverted handiwork of necromancers. As sickening as the sight of the young child’s body was the note (Oscuro’s) we found on the table was even more disturbing.

After reading in detail the butchery Sarlyn the Twisted performed on a young girl, I vowed should our paths ever cross Sarlyn the Twisted will rue the day he took the life of an innocent child. Grim faced, Kaleah nodded in agreement. Turning to the Orc adventurer I told him he could leave if he wanted to but Kaleah and I were going to put an end the necromancers here in Fort Cuptor.

“For the honor of Gortwog and glory of Orsinium!” the big Orc bellowed. Drawing his sword, he gave the lever a pull.

Proceed with caution I said but did anyone listen? No, of course not. Like the three musketeers, we charge through the open gate and down the stairs to battle a Nether Lich.

Shelonah Moabone of the MOO School of Higher Necromancy was supervising the experiments of two of her two graduate students when we interrupted her class. They quickly dropped their experiments to summon an army of undead to confront us. Nothing I couldn’t counter with my own summoned army. But, it was the sheer number of wraiths, and spectral warriors, and zombies, and mummies, and nether lich, and… well let’s just say it was a brutal fight.

To quickly lessen the number of undead, Kaleah and I concentrated on eliminating the students. The Orc decide to chase down Shelonah Moabone on his own. He was pressing hard when Shelonah released her bound daedric axe and switched to her Staff of Woe. A blast of the staff severely weakened the brave Orc and he quickly fell to Shelonah’s magic.

If only the Orc could have held on just a moment longer for less than a second later the Sisters of Insanity and the Midas Angel became free to join the fight against Shelonah Moabone. They cornered the necromancer headmistress and put an end to her curriculum.

The laboratory had become deathly quiet. After paying respects to the fallen, Kaleah and I searched the rest of Fort Cuptor. Other than a handful of zombies and several locked chests there was nothing of consequence to be found. With the demise of Shelonah Moabone, we deemed Fort Cuptor a necro free zone.

Claiming the Staff of Woe as our prize of the day, we were on our way to Cuptor’s exit when we noticed a side hallway led down a stairwell to another set of old double doors. Perhaps we were a bit hasty in our thinking that Fort Cuptor was necro-free. The polite thing to do would be to extend our judgment to the Fort Cuptor Battlemains occupants.

Entering the Battlemains of Fort Cuptor we turned left at the first intersection. A short undisturbed walk down the corridor we came across an old wooden double-door.

“This door shouldn’t be locked,” Kaleah said pointing to the door. “Of this I’m certain. Yet here it is… locked, requiring a key to open.”

Continuing on past the old wooden doors, we followed the corridor while carefully avoiding un-stable looking manhole covers. The grates covering holes cut into the corridor floor allowed us to see a level below us. Passing an old wooden door to our right we continued on until we came to another intersection. Following standard procedure, we again turned left.

We followed the quiet corridor until we were stopped by a closed portcullis gate. Unable to find a mechanism to open the portcullis, we had to turn back.

The corridor turned to the right and a light shown in the distance. The light, we found, was from candles on a desk, a little study area. There wasn’t much to find here but with our attention on searching the desk a ghoul and a zombie lunged out at us from a dark alcove. A necromancer and an ancient lich approached from down the hallway and the fight became interesting.

The ghoul and zombie went down easily. The necromancer and ancient lich (the MOO ancient lich are just plain butt ugly) took a bit of work.

The ancient lich happened to fall on a floor grate, knocking it loose, and causing the grate to fall to the floor below. The lich, hanging precariously on the edge of the trap, was carrying a Rune Skull of Lucifer (MOO). Even though I took great care not to disturb the lich as I reached for the rune skull the lich slid and fell to the floor below.

In a desperate attempt to hang on to the rune skull, I too fell to the floor below. Thankfully the lower level was flooded with half-a-foot of Nirn soft water and I sustained no injuries.

In sympathy, as they tried to catch me as I fell, Kaleah and Twinkle followed me down to the lower lever of the Battlemains. Now, we all have to find the way back to the upper level.

There wasn’t much of note in this lowest level of the Battlemains. A few zombies and a nether lich or two and that’s all. The way back to the upper level was closed by the portcullis we had found earlier in the upper level.

This meant we had to search the entire lower level to find the portcullis lever. It was located in the opposite corner from the lower Battlemains’ exit. Sitting next to the portcullis lever was a common jewelry box. In it was Fort Cuptor’s High Chamber Key (OOO), the locked door we found on the upper level.

Flipping the lever to open the portcullis, we took the key and returned to the upper level. Making our way to the locked door we used the key to enter Fort Cuptor’s High Chamber. Residing in the High Chamber were Fort Cuptor’s Oscuro necromancers, a Lady of the Dead and a Keeper of the Dead. Guarding the two ladies were at least six zombies.

Sure the two necromancers didn’t like that we just walked on in unannounced like we did but they didn’t have to go ballistic. By the way they acted you’d think they were playing patty-cake.
Really, just what did they expect? After all, they’re the ones who left a key where anyone could just pick it up.

Thankfully they weren’t as difficult as Shelonah Moabone and her graduate students. An army of zombies just doesn’t compare to an army of wraiths, liches, and what not. Minutes later as Kaleah and I were searching the High Chamber for valuables, we found a Mysticism Skill Book: Souls, Black and White on a stone table next to the bed.

Feeling that I’ve learned something valuable I mentioned to Kaleah that we should leave this fort and find a place to sleep. I may be tired but there was no way I was going to sleep in place crawling with zombies.

Rune Skull of Lucifer, Staff of Woe

Rune Skull of Lucifer (MOO & Runeskulls) enchantment properties:
• Fire Damage 2 points 5 sec on hit
• Soul Trap 5 sec on hit
• Fire Shield 5%
• Resist Magic 5%
• Restore Magicka 3pts

Staff of Woe (MOO & Nexons Armory)
• 35% weakness to fire, frost, shock, disease, and poison on target

Yeah, the Razor’s not a toy!

Seems like Kizra’s lair is pretty well hidden, especially from air breathers.

By Gortwog! Those orc adventurers have stones as they delve into dungeons seeking trouble. Unfortunately, that is exactly what they usually find. . . .

And right into Fort Cuptor. The only good necrodude is a dead. . . .

Fort Cuptor sounds confusing to navigate and seems to host more than one significant combat challenge, but the Jandaga and his crew proved up for it. And some decent loot was had.

Hey, what is mumbly-peg?

-- When Kahleah screamed I almost jumped in my chair! Oh, I get it. So she's a daedra, and this is why she's so freaked about Mehrunes Razor.

Wow, look at that rainbow. I've said this a zillion times, I know, but when I was playing OB we never saw any rainbows. And I do have that mod, I know, I've checked. Seen plenty of shooting stars, but never any rainbows.



Exactly. They always make those silly threats and taunts! This is half the fun of combat, imo.

Nice, Kahleah saved an Orc Adventurer. Those poor guys. Probably half the time they'd get killed in my games, especially for those who try to make stealth attacks. It's hard to tell them orcs apart from enemies in a darkened room.



Ha ha, that's the truth a lot of times.