Traveling: Part 1 of 7

     I'd like to apologize for my recent absence. I have been hiking across all of Cyrodiil the last couple of weeks and my ability to keep notes has been hindered by my near constant movement. But enough excuses, you'd probably like to know what i've been up to.

     There are at least five books on my list located within the imperial mages library. The only way to access the library is to be a member of the mages guild. The only way to become a member is to go to every mages guild in every city and earn a recommendation, which takes a stupidly long amount of time. I've decided to inform you of my "adventures" with the mages guild earning each and every recommendation.

Bruma

     As the northernmost city in Cyrodiil, Bruma is a pain to get to. There are no bodies of water leading up to it and it is surrounded by mountains, meaning that there is but a single good path to get there. And I use the word good lightly. It's also freezing there, and i'm fairly certain it never stopped snowing in the time I spent there. But back to the mages guild.
     The guild is not too far from the city gates, nestled cozily next to the Bruma Fighters Guild. A large wooden building, the same as all the others in town, with only a few indicators as to its status as a guild branch. Inside is equally as wooden and warm as the outside appeared. I walked up to a young looking woman at the nearby desk and asked her who I could talk to about a recommendation. She shot me a glance that instantly made me regret asking and informed me that her name was Jeanne Frasoric, that she was the head of the Bruma guild, and that she was the one who would choose my fate. By this I assumed she meant she could write me a recommendation, so I sheepishly asked her what I could do for her. Clearly frazzled, she paused a moment and told me that one of her guild members had gone missing and that she would write the recommendation if I managed to locate him. I accepted.
    Now, before I explain the rest, I must mention that I have been experimenting a bit with alchemy. I've managed to make myself a potion that grants me a longer period of invisibility, one that uselessly induces sneezing when applied to the forehead, one that grows rabbits, and only rabbits, to twice their normal size, one that made anything I touch receive the sensation on the opposite side of my body, and one that gave a faint glow to living creatures nearby, although apparently I'm the only one that can see it. That last one has proved surprisingly useful for avoiding confrontation, as it gives me the element of surprise, with which I sneak away... Right! Mages Guild, almost forgot.
     I was wandering about the guild before I set to asking around for the lost mage, who's name turns out to be J'skar, and I noticed a room with alchemical ingredients in it. One of them happened to be an ingredient in that potion I mentioned, so I whipped one up for practice. The familiar smell of fresh bread and oranges greeted me as I downed the potion and the glow began to appear. I walked about the rooms smiling like an idiot about my neat trick. It wasn't until I had paraded around a few times that I noticed something was amiss.
     Four glowing spots, three people.
     I investigated my miscount, and sure enough, there was a glow that could be attributed to no one, as though the air were alive, which is not entirely impossible. I walked about it puzzled, as I have never had the potion fail before and I saw no other explanation, when it began to move. I lept at it out of instinct more than for any reason, and connected with something soft and warm. It proceeded to shout about me getting off of it.
    I'd found J'skar.
    Turns out him and another guild member, Volanaro, had turned him invisible to mess with Jeanne, and had meant it all in good fun. Now normally I would be all for a good joke, but seeing as turning him visible would land me the recommendation, I decided it would be more worth it to end the prank. I made myself up a dispel potion and slipped it into J'skar's food in the morning. Poof! There he was at the breakfast table. I also slipped the sensation switching one into Volanaro's, just for fun.

1 of 7 Recommendations.

Dirty Rotten Criminals

     I stared down at his lifeless body, my hands shaking, a cold sweat across my brow. I fell to my knees breathing heavily, I couldn't believe what i'd done. I'd seen the guards kill plenty of people, but I didn't know it would feel like... wait, he's still breathing. Oh thank Talos, I could not deal with the psychological junk that killing a man would have done to me.
     I dragged the unconscious man into my room and took from him the key to the closet. Upon opening the door, I found the orc sitting on a barrel, his head bowed in shame. Or possibly he was asleep. Either way, he darted up just a moment later and thanked me for helping out. He warned me that there were at least two more criminals on the other decks, which was good to know, but not what I wanted to hear. I decided to head up the stairs.
     Standing at the top of the stairs to the main deck was another leather clad criminal, a woman this time. A squeak from the stairs alerted her to my approach, and she spun around to face me. With a bloodcurdling scream, she lunged at me with her blade. I stepped aside. A moment later I picked up a key from where she was laying unconscious at the bottom of the stairs.
     I started laughing about the incompetence of these criminals as I made my way to the captains cabin. I honestly couldn't understand how they managed to take the boat over, although, I suppose the Orc was pretty much gone, and the owner seemed a bit less than battle ready, but who am I to talk? 
     I tried the handle on the door. It was locked. 
     I tried the key. Didn't work.
     I wondered as to the purpose of the key if it doesn't open the door. Seems like a key without a lock is basically useless. I went back to the girl to search for another key, to no avail. I did, however, notice another door above the captains cabin. 
     After discovering that the key had a lock after all, I ended up on the bow of the boat, with another criminal steering it. At least, I assumed he was a criminal and I kind of hope that is the case, because I ended up breaking his leg and tying him to the boat. Let's not talk about that...
     I walked back to the captains cabin, with the correct key this time, and opened the door. Inside was the captain and a woman. I determined, from her glowing red sword and better armor, that she was the leader of the criminal group. She whipped around and asked me who I was. I froze, trying to think of a way out of this situation; suddenly I blurted out Minx. She looked concerned, demanding to know what I was talking about. I put on the meanest face I could and told her that I had "taken care of" Minx and the others, and that she was next. She pointed her blade at me for a moment, then dropped it with a sigh. Yes! I don't die today! 
     I moved all of the criminals into a vacant room near mine and locked the door. Triumphantly, I ascended the stairs to speak with the owner about what exactly happened here. He told me some boring story about a fake treasure that the criminals were trying to steal from him and I wasn't really paying attention to it. I did listen when he said he would give me a ride to any port in Cyrodiil anytime if I needed it, as this was far faster than trekking all the way down to places like Leyawiin. I thanked him and headed down to my bed, as he brought the boat back to land. 

Seasick

     I made it back to the Imperial City late at night and went as fast as I could to my home in the waterfront district. Walking up to the door I felt that something was slightly amiss, but I couldn't figure out what it was, so I chose to ignore it.
     "Pages blur together as the book of life closes." I said. It was some corny junk that Hassiri came up with as a password for the spell on the door. But the door remained shut.
     I said it again.
     Nothing.
     I said it more forcefully.
     Nada.
     I was far too tired to care about why my stupid passphrase wasn't working, so I opted just to rent a bed somewhere for the night. I recalled that there was an inn built out of a docked boat just a little ways down the road called The Bloated Float and decided that it was my best choice considering proximity. I picked up my stuff and headed over.
     A high elf named Ormil runs the place and offered me a room at a modest price of 10 gold pieces. While he went to get the key, I looked about the tavern area of the inn and saw only a few people; his Orc bouncer at a far table drinking and singing to himself, and three hooded figures discussing something hurriedly at another table. Ormil handed me the key and informed me the rooms were on the deck below, so I walked toward the door leading down. As I passed the table with the hooded figures I heard one of them with a woman's voice whisper "Minx" to another, as though she was addressing someone. Half asleep anyway, I kept walking downstairs to my room. It was a tiny alcove with just enough space for the bed and my stuff, but I paid it no mind. As soon as my head hit my pillow, I was out.
     I woke up, scratched my scraggly face, and stretched out.  I could hear the soothing sound of the ocean and feel the rock of the boat. It made me want to just lay back down and take a day off. Until of course I recalled that this boat was anchored on the shore and was not supposed to be moving.
     I couldn't decide whether I wanted to go outside of my room to see what was happening or not. If I stayed here, I could remain out of any craziness that was going on outside my cabin and simply sleep away until it fixed itself. But then again, who's to say that it would ever fix itself? And even if it did I knew it would bother me if I never knew what happened. I cracked my door open just slightly.
     Peering out, I saw a man in leather armor with a fairly standard steel sword guarding a closet intently, he even appeared to be threatening it. It took me a while to realize that the drunk bouncer I had seen last night was being held in the closet. I picked up the heaviest thing I could see, a barrel, and snuck out towards the guy. I raised the barrel high above my head and brought it down as hard as I could, and with a loud clock he was on the ground.
     Oh gods. I just killed a guy.

2920, Morning Star (Volume 1) - Carlovac Townway

     2920, Morning Star by Carlovac Townway is the first book in a twelve part series about the history of Vivec and the empire. Another short book, this one is told through a series of journal entries that list the date of the entry and the location of the events for that entry. There are four entries that all take place, as you may have guessed, in the first month of the year Morning Star, although none of them seem to connect to each other. Still, the writing is very descriptive, drawing you into the scene and allowing you to really picture what's going on, so the disconnect is not as bad as it could be.
     The first entry takes place in Mournhold, Morrowind on 1 Morning Star, 2920. The demi-godess Almalexia awakes from her bed after having a vision. She walks outside to see her lover Vivec, a god, writing in his study across the courtyard and calls out to him. She then informs him that she had a vision of the end of the war between Morrowind and the Cyrodilic Empire, with the Cryodilic Empire as the victors. Vivec asks her to locate another god named Sotha Sil and return him to Morrowind, in order to protect the province. This entry is very hard to understand without knowing more about the locations and people involved, but it has good imagery and can be enjoyed regardless.
     The second entry is in Gideon, Black Marsh on 4 Morning Star, 2920. It takes place in a cell where the Empress of somewhere is pacing. She rips apart a tapestry she was making and calls for her guard, at which point she starts to plan to assassinate her husband. And that's about it. It's fairly difficult to tell what the purpose of this section is at the moment. Perhaps it will be explained in the next book. Moving on.
     The third entry is in my hometown of The Imperial City, Cyrodiil on 14 Morning Star, 2920. It details a friendly fight between The Emperor Reman III's son, Prince Juilek and the Potentate's (Chief Advisor's) son, Savirien-Chorak, in the Imperial Arena. The fight is fairly well described and worth reading, and the small bit of dialogue that the emperor and the potentate share teases at something bigger happening in the next books.
     The forth and final entry is back in Mournhold, Morrowind on 21 Morning Star, 2920 although we are with different people this time. The duke of Mournhold and who I can only assume is his lover talk to each other about their relationship, her weight, and current events as she dresses to leave. It is revealed on her way out of the door that she is pregnant with his child and that she is unsure of how he would feel about it.
     Because this is only the first in a series of books and it is following a style, I will excuse the most glaring part of my critique, that the book is disconnected and very hard to follow. The fact that it is a historical account makes it difficult to judge for content, so overall I can only really judge it for how well it is written. Which would be fairly well.

2920, Morning Star
Length: *
Difficulty: ***
Overall Enjoyment: ***

Some short notes while I regain my composure.

     It's been a tough day trying to get back to the Imperial city. I was attacked by a bear, a mountain lion, and a wild boar. And those where just the animals. While on my way back, I stopped and made camp to rest up a bit and decided that I'd write down some of the things I'd forgotten to tell you about my adventures.
     The first is that i'm actually a fairly skilled alchemist. Once Eilonwy told me what the ingredients in the invisibility potion were I was able to find them rather quickly. Now I have a patch of wormwood growing nicely in my home. Which brings me to my next bit.
     I bought a house in the Imperial city. It's a cruddy little shack in the waterfront district, but it's home. I've put some of the things I've found while traveling on the shelves, and it's beginning to look rather respectable. The books are all currently kept in a chest in the bedroom. Well, it's all one room really, so I guess it's not specifically the bedroom. Regardless, they're safe and sound and to be entirely sure of that, Hassiri asked the arch-Mage to place a lock spell on it that only the three of us could open. The Arch-Mage is really a very nice guy.
     While I was in Cheydinhal, I asked at the local mages guild if there were any openings, as I wanted to learn some more magic than just the basic and I knew that some of the books were located in the mages guild library, which can only be accessed by members. I joined the fighters guild for roughly the same reason while I was in town.
     Hassiri asked me what was taking me so long with the next review. I told him, as patiently as I could, that finding these books was not something you do in a weekend for fun, it's a serious challenge. He snickered at that and I nearly hit him in the jaw. I smuggly reminded him of what happened when he met me. That shut him up.

Sneaky things

     My level of nervousness increased ever more as I walked into the castle and towards the large wooden door to the part of the castle I wasn't supposed to be in. It was guarded by two hulking armored men with very large steel swords, who I assumed would probably eviscerate first and ask questions later. My only option was to find a way to distract them so I could sneak through the door. After some deliberation, I decided that my best course of action would be to set a remote explosive rune that would allow me to... you're not going to buy that, are you? Fine, actually I hired a local beggar to come in and harass that count just long enough that he called the guards down and I could sneak in. Less interesting, just as efective.
     I chugged down my first invisibility potion (which had an interesting flavor, almost that of tarragon) and headed toward the castle's private quarters where the book was supposed to be. Down the hallway were five doors. I had no idea which one the book was behind, and for every door I opened I'd have to drink another invisibility potion. So I could get lucky and find it in the first room, or I could be very unlucky and find it in the fifth.
     I tried opening the door at the end of the hall. It led me to another hallway.
     I downed a potion.
     I opened the one to my right. There were no books inside.
     I drank another potion.
     I tried the one directly across the hall. Jackpot. Inside was a bookshelf with my book sitting there, waiting for me to come and take it, so I graciously complied. I went to check it off of my list and noticed that there was another book within the castle Cheydinhal that was on my list; might as well get it while i'm already breaking the law.
     I snuck my way to the lord's private quarters where, luckily, there was only one door this time. Inside I found the usual assortment of uselessly ornate jewelry, quills, papers, and yarn. Oh yes, and the Wolf Queen Volume 7, the book I happened to be looking for. So I would call it a pretty productive day.

2920, The Last Year of the First Era

     Hassiri liked my idea of reviewing the books that I found and started putting them into the paper immediately. A few days after the first book he asked me to come into his office, saying he had something to show me. As I stepped through the door for the first time the powerful scent of antiquity hit my nostrils, staggering me slightly. The place was filled floor to ceiling with old notes, books, and previous editions of the paper, and it was apparent that he did not clean the place out often, if at all. After adjusting to the smell as best I could, I asked what he needed from me.
     He explained that as he was rummaging through his piles of notes, he happened upon a book he'd received a long time ago that he had all but forgotten. Realizing that it was on the list of rare books, he thought it would be good if he gave it to me to review. I suddenly didn't mind the smell as much.
     2920, Sun's Height is the book in question and the seventh in a series of historical books about Vivec, a city in the province of Morrowind, and the Empire, specifically the first. I thought about reviewing it after receiving it, but I decided against it. After all, it is the seventh in the series. I'd want to start with the first one if I was going to review them.
     I told Hassiri what I was thinking and after some deliberation he agreed with me. He mentioned that at least now I had a place to start in terms of finding the books. I liked his positive outlook. What I didn't like was the location of the first book.
     According to the list, there were actually two copies of this book still around. Sadly, both were held under lock and key in the, well-guarded, castles of Leyawiin and Cheydinhal. So here I am, two books in and I already have to start stealing things. And if you're wondering why I don't just try and explain my quest to the lords of the castles, or offer to buy the book from them, i'll let you know that I tried that and neither would budge. It felt like such a waste of a trip, first to Layawiin far to the south, and now to Cheydinhal in the east.
     Discouraged, I went to the local inn and sat down at the bar. It was a strangely busy night, some kind of party was going on, something about Kvatch and a Hero. I wasn't really paying it much attention. I tried to hail the bartender a number of times, but he was understandably engrossed in what was going on. Still, it made me feel pretty invisible.
     Invisible!
     It surprised me somewhat that I had not thought to try this earlier. I ran to the local Mages guild to see if they had an alchemist and luckily they did. A high elf named Eilonwy was mixing ingredients as I came through the entrance.
     I asked her if she sold any potions that could make a person invisible for a short time. She said she did, but they were automatically deactivated if I touched any objects with my hands, as the interaction with objects that are not invisible would break the illusion magic. We agreed upon a price and I bought as many as I could fit into my bag. I went straight to the castle from there. I was getting this book.