Today in Cyrodiil, spoilers version, TES: 4 Oblivion character accounts & stories Options

[macole]

I like how Jandaga prays to Mother of All Creation instead of one of the Nine, or even a Daedra or Sithis or whomever. Not saying he would pray to Sithis or a Daedra, I'm just saying Mother Of All Creation sounds so universal. Like something anyone in any reality might pray to. It sounds as though Jandaga is stuck. "Let's see if this works...."

The Mother of All Creation is based on Nir found in the book A Children's Anuad.

Yes, the Jandaga was stuck. Not thinking to look up, for hours I searched all over the grounds for that varla stone. I was at a loss when I happened to raise the view and there it was, shining brightly like a star in the night.

[macole]

20240407 Vampire Hunting – Order of the Virtuous Blood, final chapter

Kaleah bent down to investigate the portal we uncovered on the upper floor of the Cheydinhall Mages Guild. After a few minutes she stood and said, “It belongs to the OVB. Where it goes, I can’t tell but it smells familiar.“

The Order of the Virtuous Blood? Roland never mentioned this. What is going on here?

“Could it be that the powerful vampires of the Vampire Crisis were using a Mind Shielding spell on their escape hatch?” Elenya speculated. “You know something like, if you’re not actually thinking of it, you’ll overlook it, like it’s not even there.”

So, vampires could have been using this to escape. Now that we’ve put an end to the vampire crisis the spell should be wearing off. I wonder.

Stepping on the portal, we find ourselves being greeted by guild guide Emelia Duronia.

Realizing we had arrived at the Caldera Guild of Mages, I held out my hand and said, “Dear Emelia, you look as lovely as ever. What’s it been, ten, fifteen years?”

“Thank you, Arch-Mage,” a blushing Emelia replied. “What brings you here to Caldera?”

“Vampires.”

“Shhh, not so loud. It’s bad luck to mention them.” Emelia recoiled. “We kill them when we find them.”

Just like the old days Emelia had something to say about everything. She brought me up to date on almost everything that was going in Caldera. Sounds like Skink-in-Tree's-Shade is running day-to-day guild operations out of the Mage's Guild at Wolverine Hall. I really do need to issue him a promotion.

Emelia Duronia wasn’t the only one still at the Caldera Guild of Mages. Folms Mirel was still the head of the Caldera Guild of Mages and Eraamion, Ernand Thierry, and Medila Indaren were still at their stations. It was like nothing had changed in the past 10-years. I talked to all of them before leaving the guild hall. They had nothing to say about vampires or the Hunter Kendrel other than what Emelia had already told me.

Once outside, except for the statue dedicated to Saint Jiub, the streets of Caldera brought back memories. Unlike Cyrodiil where people only have a few topics to discuss, here the people are talkative. Everyone has something to say about everything. Might not be useful information but they were willing to tell you what they thought and sometimes where to go.

Walking along the market street, we stopped when we passed Falanaamo’s shop. The High Elf clothier was still standing behind his counter touting his line of apparel just like he was the last time I saw him. Except his daughters were missing. (In Morrowind, I was using ‘Morrowind Comes Alive’ which added Falanaamo’s two daughters to his shop).

“Falanaamo, my friend, how are you doing?” I greeted Falanaamo. Not seeing his daughters, I asked, “Where are your daughters?”

“Doing well, doing well,” Falanaamo replied. “The girls, they were star struck by some dashing young adventurer (Falanaamo gave me wink) and decided run off to the mainland and seek their own adventure. They’re doing quite well in Tear selling ladies fashions.”

Back outside, it was nearing dinner time, Shenk’s Shovel came to mind as for a place to eat and spend the night. Turning south we went looking for hoping it was still there.

On the way to the Shovel we were approached by Nedhelas. Complaining about his house being beset with ghosts, he request help. Taking up the quest we enter Nedhelas’ house and head down to the basement. From the basement three flights of stairs take us down to a vault room where a very angry spirit is guarding a fine chest.

Kaleah flew into the ghost of Galos Heleran easily defeating the ghosts quieting the tomb.

“You know,” I said to the ladies. “This seems so very familiar.”

Back upstairs we found Nedhelas sitting at the dinner table. When we told Nedhelas that the ghost is gone he shouted, “You weren’t the first and you probably won’t be the last to kill it.”

“I don’t want to live here anymore,” Nedhelas said, tossing me the key to the house. “It’s yours, I’m off to Balmora.”

Nice, it’s not much but we got a free bed for the night. With a shrug of the shoulders I turned to the Ladies,

“Well, not quite like the last time.”

Balmora. Visions of Galbedir, prettiest Bosmer I’d ever seen until I met Constance, roamed across my dreams throughout the night. Early the next morning it was clear we were going to Balmora.

The road to Balmora was uneventful until a smoldering collapsed Oblivion Gate blocked our way. Unable to go any further south, with great disappointment we turned back to Caldera.

As we neared Caldera’s gates a small encampment could be seen to the left of the town. Indentured workers from the mine Forced to live outside the walls of the town, I assumed.

The famed ebony mines of Caldera, now that would be a site to see.

The weather was clear as we passed through Caldera’s north gate, but that didn’t stop the true nature of the West Gash rising up to show itself. We were just out of the gate when we were attacked by a nix-hound (how odd, it looked like a big grey wolf).

The further north we traveled the more the walls of the West Gash closed in. The claustrophobic cramped feeling of this portion of the W. Gash soon added suffocating to its repertoire. A dense mist had settled in upon us like a blanket making it not only hard to see but also to breathe.

A fork in the road opened up, we took the left fork. When the countryside became more barren grey bedrock, we knew we should be entering the ebony mine area. But, where was the mining operation? As far as we could see the, the site was empty. The mining operation was gone.

A surly stranger approached. Claiming to be a Redoran Agent he informed us that we didn’t belong here and ordered us to leave.

It was dusk and would soon be too dark to travel, we told him we were camping for the night and will leave in the morning. Keeping us in sight the surly stranger watched intently as we searched for a place to rest.

When we found the entrance to a small cave, the surly stranger made no effort to stop us from entering Ashanammu. We were searching for a spot, sheltered from the elements. What we found was a crew of Telvanni agents. They immediately attacked.

Now I know most Telvanni are not idiots, but what else can you call a Telvanni who cannot recognize me, the famed Archmagister emeritus? But then again, perhaps they did and thought they could make a big jump in rank by eliminating the only Archmagister emeritus. That mistake in judgment made them dead Telvanni idiots.

And for what? We found a few gold coins, and little else in Ashanammu.

“Did you notice that the Telvanni agents in here were all female?” Kaleah said to Elenya.

“Ooh wee,” Elenya whistled. “That little Bosmer guard they have stationed outside is going to be a trifle upset when he finds out his sweet gig has gone sour, no more designer sheets for him.”

Upset? That didn’t quite describe it. Night had fallen when we left Ashanammu and the surly stranger was fighting mad about the prospect of spending a lovely night under a blanket of stars, alone. After dealing with the guard’s temper tantrum, we explored the area that used to be the Caldera ebony mine. All we found was the Uveran Ancestral Tomb.

Finding a skeleton and little else of historical value in the well picked over tomb we left it and the deserted Caldera ebony mine. Returning to the main road, we turned north.

Continuing up through West Gash the road finally came to an end. The infernal mountain range seemed be forcing us east into the Ashlands. Wasn’t long before we found ourselves facing the Daedric ruin of Remimilk.

“Remimilk, the Shrine of Molag Bal,” Kaleah whispered with a shudder. Kaleah tried to shield Pym from the sight.

Pym gave her a ‘I’m not a child’ look and shook-off Kaleah’s protective wings.

Entering Remimilk confirmed this was the Daedric Shrine of Molag Bal. I can only guess what the current worshipers were doing but uh… they didn’t like us barging in on their party. In the end the worshipers were in no position to object when we decide to use their bedrolls for the night.

On the way east of Remimilk we met a Khajiit highwayman. “Well, well, if it isn’t the ‘Divine Crusader’ himself,” he said.

He let us pass, we let him live. Fair trade.

As we crested a small rise we could hear sounds of fighting. “N’wha!” “S’wit!”

Someone’s in trouble. We hurried over the hill to see the body of a dead Ashlander. A second Ashlander was in a duel to the death with a grey robed assailant. A body of a second grey robed assailant was lying, still on the ground near a camp fire.

We reached the campsite just as the Ashlander finished his grey robed assailant. Still in his blood lust the Ashlander didn’t ask ‘Friend or Foe’, he just attacked us. Sadly, we were forced to defend ourselves and he joined the other fallen.

The grey robed assailants turn out to be True Ayleid Descendant Cultists. What are they doing here?

“They’re looking for you,” Elenya warned.

Not far from the Ashlander camp we found Abaelun Diamond Mine. What a busy little mine this one is. Several miners tell us that they’re so happy to be here and not in an egg mine. Two Imperial guards make sure the miners didn’t get too happy and pocket a sparkle or two. Just looking at the diamonds will get you arrested. And the nearest prison? You guessed it… Bruma.

Feeling the temptation we left Abaelun before we succumbed.

Continuing on the path set before us we stood before the door of Shushishi. Can you believe it in this day and age the underground slave trade is still flourishing. Well, the slavers and their Khajiit overseer, Dro’Zhirr are no more. In the process we freed two Khajiit and two Argonians.

Well, we’ve seen much of Vvardenfell that is open to us. While I had hoped to hear word of Kendrel or find evidence of vampires, Kaleah and Elenya are right to be concerned about the presence of the True Ayleid Descendant Cultists. We must return to Cyrodiil.

Perhaps I should find a skilled techmage trainer and learn how to break these barriers. One would think that as Arch-Mage I could assign someone the task but it doesn’t often work that way.

This post has been edited by macole: Apr 8 2024, 07:17 AM

[Lena Wolf]

Wow, what a trip down the memory lane, Macole! Is it a part of the Vampire mod? So all the vampires that you hadn't slain, escaped to Morrowind?

[Renee]

Oh, it's the final chapter of Order of Virtuous Blood! -- By the way I did start OVB all over again, this time with Joan of Arkay. Because of course, being associated with Arkay she's gonna want to eradicate these bloodsuckers. Originally when I did OVB it was with Renee Gade III, nearly 10 years ago.

Joan more 'serious' of a character than RG3. Chances are she'll actively hunt for the vampires when she's in the I.C. for instance, remaining suited in full armor and so on, whereas RG3 would often be wearing some stupid dress, taking on the town half-wasted, and then IF she noticed a vamp that's when she'd take action. It was always impromptu with her, always I'd need to improvise.

Have you ever read a book and then years later you read it again, gleaning insights and noticing things you maybe missed the first time? That's sort of what I'm hoping for, doing Order of Virtuous Blood a second time. See, I don't remember this portal in Cheydinhal at all, for instance.

Whoa, they're in Caldera. That isn't straight-up Morrowind though, right? Is that Morroblivion or Tam Rebuilt or some other?

PPl are more 'talkative' in MW, but 90% of them repeat the exact same lines as the others! At least the dialog in Cyrodiil is often unique!

Now I know most Telvanni are not idiots, but what else can you call a Telvanni who cannot recognize me, the famed Archmagister emeritus

Right? How dare they!

Is weird Jandaga had to go to MW to hear word from Kendrel.

[Acadian]

No real answers it seems, but quite the tour of Morrowind. The Jandaga's little group probably needs a bath now to wash away the ash.

[macole]

To clarify, the latest chapter is strictly an Oblivion mod. No Morroblivion or any other major overhaul.

An old 2009 mod, Caldera Expanded places the portal in Cheydinhall Mages Guild and creates the Morrowind world space. It was a buggy mess, from what I have read.

David Brasher cleaned-up Caldera Expanded and included it in Vampire Hunting – Order of the Virtuous Blood (I’m using VH-OVB version 3.2).

The original expectation was that the mod author was going to create new Kendrel the Vampire Huntress quests occurring in Morrowind around Caldera. Sadly, it never happened. If I want it, I’ll have to do it myself. I should have it ready by the next eclipse.

[macole]

20240420 Vampire Hunting – Order of the Virtuous Blood, final chapter part 2
On the way back to Caldera from Shushishi, we took a slightly different rout trying to uncover as much of the area as we could. (Lena’s map works very well with Caldera Updated.) We by-passed the most northern sections of the Ashlands and the West Gash, and quickly found ourselves on the road just north of Caldera.

Nearing Caldera we strayed off the road to the east of Caldera. Passing by the Indalen Ancestral Tomb, I told the story how one of the first things I did after Caius Cosades told me to go get some experience was to explore this ancestral tomb on my own. The Ladies about fell over laughing as I described my reaction when lowly inexperienced me was chased out of the tomb by four powerful Daedra and one nasty lich.

Of course, they wanted to see the site of such an inglorious retreat. Entering the Indalen Ancestral Tomb proved entertaining. The Daedra threat had returned in full force. This time, with a little help from my friends it was so satisfying to eliminate the Daedra menace. With the Indalen Ancestral Tomb once again free of the Daedra invasion we left the tomb and walked over to Caldera.

We were on our way to the Mages Guild when we passed by Ghorak Manor. This time I didn’t have to reminisce about the Scamp vender inside Ghorak Manor. The scent of a shop hung around the manor and that was all it took for the Field Hippies to insist on dropping in to see if Creeper was still buying here. He was, and at prices other vendors could not match.

(There are two Creepers in the pic, one is invisible. Can you see him?)

Leaving Ghorak Manor we’re thinking since it was so late in the day that we would spend the night at our newly acquired house. We have the key to Nedhelas’ house and the thought of a bath, dinner and a good night’s sleep sounded oh so good. Yes, a relaxing night and get an early start in the morning.

Before we could get to the house, we were approached by Elmussa Dameri. Introducing herself as a businesswoman, she invites us to discuss some business over lunch. Elmussa could use some help with a business transaction, or so she says. Hungry we accept the offer of a free meal.

Elmussa Dameri is looking for someone who is not too well known in town, to help her acquire an item for a client, the Paragon of Rubies, from a supplier who did not wish to sell.

What? Has Elmussa been living under a rock to think of me as not well known? Ha!

I listen to her proposition. Ah, yes, it sounds like she’s a thief. When I mentioned thief, Elmussa becomes highly insulted. How dare I compare her to a common thief, she’s a businesswoman with standards. She shows us to the door and will not speak of the job again. As we leave Elmussa warns that we had I better not mention this to anyone else if I know what’s good for me.

Halfway to the Mages Guild we’re once again stopped, this time by an attractive Nord woman pleading for help. The thief Dro’ Zhirr robbed Aetna Wave-Breaker of her family heirlooms; a ruby ring and an amulet, both inscribed with the family crest.

“He is a horrible Khajiit bandit that leads a gang of thieves in terrorizing the West Gash,” Aetna tells me. “The authorities can't seem to find him or his hide-out, but I suspect that is because he pays them off.”

I try to explain that I’m rather busy at the moment and really need to get back to Cyrodiil.

Aetna starts crying, “I thought you were supposed to be a famous hero! My cousin Helga Open-legs, from Stirk, told me that you were a true hero and one who wouldn’t hesitate to help a lady undress err, in distress.”

Oh, I remember Helga! How can you forget a name like that? We’ll do it. We know where the slave overseer Dro’ Zhirr is. We left him in Shushishi. Quickly Kaleah flies us over the mountains to Shushishi.

“Heirlooms? Ha! Dro' Zhirr has found plenty of heirlooms.” Dro’ Zhirr bragged. “They just seem to fall into his pockets! In fact, Dro' Zhirr just found a few new pieces earlier today. Took them from some Nord woman. Cried like a baby she did. "Oh, my precious jewelry!"”

Alone with his slave gang gone, Dro’ Zhirr saw the odds stacked against him and proposed a compromise. He’ll give back the Wave-Breaker heirlooms if I give him half the reward. I agree and Dro’ Zhirr hands over the Wave-Breaker heirlooms.

Flying back to Caldera, I delivered the jewels to Aetna Wave-Breaker. Aetna smiled and gave me the promised reward, 300 gold coins and… um, just like what happened with Helga Open-legs, my overly protective Ladies whisked me away from danger. Deciding that it was getting too late, and we needed to get some sleep, the Field Hippies dragged me away to the house Nedhelas gave us.

Rising early the morning of 8th of Sun’s Height, 3E435, we had barely finished breakfast when a courier arrived with a message. The mushroom city of Mir Corrup is complete and Shenara Hleras wishes to see us. We immediately packed and once again make our way to the Caldera Guild of Mages.

Is that a True Descendant Cultist we see entering the guild hall? We rush inside trying to confront the cultist. Perhaps, the dim early morning haze played tricks on our eyes for once we’re inside the hall we find no sign of the cultist. We head upstairs to the portal still no sign of the cultist.

We must have been mistaken; the hall is empty. Seeing no sign of the cultist, we use the transport portal to return to Cheydinhall’s Mages Guild.

Surprise, surprise there’s not one but two True Descendant cultists waiting to use the Cheydinhall to Caldera Transport Pad.

The cultist with the tattooed face scornfully addressed us, “Why do you bother me, go away.”

The hooded one looked down her long nose and said, “You creatures are all the same.”

The appearance of the cultists raises some concerns with this transport pad. We just can’t have unauthorized cultists, vampires and who knows what else popping in and out whenever they please. We need some control.

(I read that there was a bug in the original Caldera Updated mod that allowed NPCs to use the portal. (I kind of like it that they do) Supposedly that was fixed but it looks like the True Descendant Cultist didn’t get the memo.)

Ignoring the cultists we went downstairs to the main floor to find Deetsan. I instructed Deetsan to closely monitor its use and send the findings to the Captain Tertia Aurum of the Imperial Watch on a regular basis.

Deetsan was also given authorization to assist in any way possible, the Caldera Guild of Mages with their Oblivion Crisis Recovery projects. I left it up to Deetsan to determine feasibility of all Caldera project requests.

Using a recall spell, we arrived at Shenara Hleras’ hut in a blink of an eye.

Shenara was sitting at her vanity dresser when we arrived. She had great news for us. The city had been built and we are to contact Ranis Avani for status updates; what’s done, what needs to be done or if everything if going to collapse in a puddle of mud.

A half a day’s walk found us standing at the gates of the new Mir Corrup.