A new journal update should be present, stating something like you took too long.
But you're right, I think this quest doesn't have a time limit indeed.

A couple of the "take me to xxx" quests do have time limits, but the character involved keeps reminding you of that via dialogue (because just about any quest update happens in dialogue). But in all cases, the escorted character can get killed, and you fail. That causes a journal update, so you'd know.

So it looks like you just need to remember exactly where you left her, which includes not being confused by the identical location at the opposite corner of the canton, a problem I've obviously never had.

I may leap back into one of my Morrowind games again soon. Maybe go Daedra-hunting in the Grazelands again.

Thanks man. I think Yor's girlfriend is a lost cause. She vanished while she was following him, and she was not in an interior space when we noticed she was gone. Instead she vanished somewhere on the outside area of Vivec. And she did not have any dialog reminding Yor that she needed to get to the Fields of Kummu (I think that's what they are called) so there didn't appear to be any time limit.

Yor got killed though, after getting too eager to defeat some opponent he met in a cave on the way to Ald'ruhn. I won't return to his game, but I do have plenty other character ideas. Next I'm going to try a mage, for instance.

But I'll also be too engrossed into Skyrim this winter, probably won't get back to Morrowind until springtime when it begins to warm up. Morrowind just seems more like a 'warm weather' game.

Tell that to my Nord; the permanent resident of Solstheim


Though I guess Solstheim isn't technically Morrowind...

Last Seed 19 (Day 4), 7 p.m. : Luci Pheria makes it to Vivec, after spending her first day back in Morrowind in Seyda Neen, and her second and third days traveling to and staying in Pelagiad. Unfortunately, Seyda Neen and Peligiad do not have what she is lookiug for.

Her trip from Seyda Neen to Pelagiad, and then Pelagiad to Vivec, are mosty uneventful. She encounters and defeats a couple rats, and manages to sneak by a deadly-looking guar.

She finally finds what she needs in Vivec's Foreign Quarter. An NPC in the upper waistworks happens to sell plenty of alchemy ingredients, and apparati. Luci spends almost all the gold she has (103 gold) on an apprentice mortal & pestle set, leaving her with just 3 gold to her name. Though this seems like a frivolous idea, she will finally be able to make all the ingredients she's been collecting into potions!

15 through 19 Last Seed (Days 1 through 4): Igodah spends her first day in Seyda Neen buying a robe, and discarding her crappy boat clothes. She meets a man who claims "the Imperials took his magic healing ring," and it turns out, Igodah happened to find this ring earlier in the census office. At first she decides she's going to keep the ring. But she's already very good with healing. She's got a 99% chance at success to cast a heal spell.

So she gives the guy his ring, hoping for some sort of reward. She doesn't get one. Oh well.

The next day in Morrowind was spent figuring out how to get to Vivec. Then she found the Mages Guild. The Arch Mage gave her an absurd task: to find "what happened to the Dwarves." All the guild members tell Igodah that the tasks given to all of them were just as absurd.

It doesn't matter though. Igodah's first goal here in the red land is to get a good financial start. She's already bought herself a fireball spell, but she wants something in the Conjuration school, before she visits Balmora's guild. She also thinks it'd be best if she can conjure stuff before she begins going in dungeons and stuff.

She already knows a few things about Alchemy, so she spends the 18th through the 20th just exploring the area outside Vivec, looking for ingredients. After finding a bunch, she manages to sell them for about 85 gold. She buys a mortar & pestle set, which will allow her to brew potions & poisons. These can be sold for even greater cash.

But the most satisfying thing about her game so far was when she killed several mudcrabs with her new fireball spell. And a rat.

21 Last Seed (Day 6): Igodah makes her way from Pelagiad to Balmora, picking lots of ingredients along the way. She encounters a couple kwama grubs, and perfects her approach to attacking them. Sneak up, aim a fireball carefully, and it usually takes three direct shots before the grub has perished.

I am pretty amazed that she's still level one!

The walk to Balmora is longer than expected. Igodah's health is fine, but she's half-down on Magicka. She decides to spend the night in a (hopefully) safe place.

I remember walking from Pelagiad to Balmorra for the first time. It was a tense experience, and by then my character wasn't even lvl 1!

Yeah, this game levels up very slowly. Even if I were playing modded Oblivion (which has skills slowed down in my game) I'd be higher than 1 by now.

I love the clunkiness of this game too. I can't really say what I mean by this, but there's something about the way everything (spell-casting, for instance) is such a process....

Anyway, it is 26, Last Seed now (Day 11) and Igodah has been in Balmora three days. She's already accomplished three opening quests for Ajira, a Khajiit merchant in the MG, and she's working on her fourth quest already.

I have discovered a couple ways that Igodah is going to do well during combat. She can water walk for instance, but I also just realized she's got a 100% chance of casting this spell successfully. Which means enemies can't follow her (unless they can fly) most of the time. So that's a huge advantage there. Speaking of flying though.... we already heard roo-ooo-ooo coming out of the fog somewhere. And I was like oh [censored] it's a cliff racer! Luckily, wherever that flying dinosaur was, we never saw it, and it never found Igodah.

Last I gamed with Igodah, she was roaming the area around Seyda Neen again, looking for ingredients she can pluck. Being involved in Alchemy is tougher in Morrowind than it is in the 4th game ... it seems like ingredients don't respawn as quickly.

Anyway, her potion / poison-making is slowly gaining traction, and since she can't use any over her poisons, this means she merely makes more money from selling them. She was up to 128 gold at one point, when she found a fallen "tax-collector" guy, located just off the road. This guy had 200 gold in his pocket, which Igodah grabbed without hesitation. Nice!

Now all she needs is some sort of Conjuration spell, so she can conjure a meat shield, or at least a bag of bones. If she can't find this, she'll settle on an Invisibility spell. It's gotta be one or the other; she refuses to dungeon-dive, or go into areas where cliff racers fly, until she's got some spells which will allow some more flexibility with combat.

That tax collector has a quest attached to him. Ask around Seyda Neen about him (hint, try the lighthouse).

The tax collector is a nice piece of quest writing. If you're greedy and keep it, you get 200 gold. If you return the gold, you get the opportunity to collect more from the reward for the killer, but you won't get that quest unless you do so.

The problem with any "conjure ally" spell in Morrowind is that they're guaranteed to fizzle when you're desperate. Just like when you're running away because your weapon just broke, and you find a new one - it will always be one you're unskilled with, and have no effect. And cliffracers can always withstand one more hit with your spell than you have the magicka for.

A nice side effect of finishing the tax collector quest is that if you complete it, there is an empty house in Seyda Neen that you can take over for your own. It makes a good starting home for a new character.

Yes, I figured there's gotta be a quest attached to the tax collector. Igodah got that feeling like she can start asking around Seyda Neen, and maybe in the future she will, but for right now she's keeping that easy money!

She began to get frustrated with the lack of spell diversity though. Nobody in Vivec's MG sells Conjuration spells, and nobody in Balmora sells Conjuration spells, yet she knows these spells exist. So she got this brilliant idea to teleport to other MGs around the province. She's in Ald'ruhm right now. Managed to find a Khajiit who sells Invisibility and Paralyze, but she's rather fixated on getting a meat or a bone shield first. So she's teleporting to whatever location is next.

I vaguely remember that you only find vendors selling spells you can actually use. One of the people who normally sells conjuration spells is at the Balmora guild. The fact that your character didn't start with a conjuration spell tells me her skill is relatively low, so it's likely that you just can't have one yet. Buy some training, instead of spending the gold on travel, because you won't be able to find a spell anywhere. Ajira, in Balmora, teaches at low level, so go gather all the alchemy ingredients you can sell, and do a deal with her.

And I think the first spell you'll manage only summons a ghost. It's a distraction, at least.

Thanks. Conjuration is one of her Minors, and she started the game with Bound Dagger, so hopefully she's good enough to find something. She's been casting ooops. She's been casting Bound Dagger (not B D )in her spare time, just to keep leveling this spell upwards. I think she's about to hit 26 in Conjuration.

That's odd about Balmora. I could swear Igodah checked everybody in that guild. We'll try it again if we can't find a suitable spell from somebody else.

One thing I wanna ask you though is about Sneak. Sneak is one of her Misc skills (I think that's what they're called ... it is one of her least-experienced skills, basically). No matter how much she sneaks around, this skill stays stuck at 0/100, and the yellow icon (indicating that she's undetected) does regularly flash if she's sneaking in the vicinity of some enemy. .

You probably overlooked Masalinie, as her main job is the Guild Guide, but she also sells spells. She's not the only one there. Several of the others will have a spell available when your skill increases, but I think she sells the ones with the lowest requirements.

Any skill use will fail under about 15, and if it fails, you get no credit for trying. You need to reach 15 before you can advance the skill! So your Sneak is still in Catch-22 land.

Her Athletics has leveled up twice though, while running. She's currently got 7 in Athletics, 5 in every other MIsc skill.

It's not a huge deal, it's not like she needs Sneak to survive. Just looking at some of the spells available in this game, I can already sense she's eventually going to become VERY powerful as a mage!

Anyway, off to Balmora. She's teleporting there now. And if they don't have what she's asking for, I'll just go with Invisibility. ....

Edit: Got it! Uleni Heleran of the Sadrith Mora guild sells Summon Greater Bonewalker (431 gp) and Summon Skeletal Minion (374 gp). Igodah currently cannot afford either of these, but it should be easy to get this money. I've already noticed it's possible to sell stolen items to any shopkeeper in this game. And Igodah just doesn't care.

True, Athletics is an exception that can't fail. But I'm sure if they could have made it fail, they would have done so.

Watch your chance to cast on those, too. You may be at zero for some time. There is a Summon Bonewalker (regular rather than greater) that I thought you could get in Balmora, and may be in her range.

*smacks head*

Yup, I sure did. Yes, she's got a whole list of cheap Conjuration stuff for sale. Summon Least Bonewalker costs 450 gold. Igodah already got this money too. She stole a bunch of books from one of Vivec's book stores and sold them to a trader in the Canal area. That was a little too easy. No wonder Bethesda changed this in Oblivion.

Igodah doesn't care though. She's finally got her spell. So what is quest-writing like in this game? Easier? Trickier? More arcane, like Skyrim?

I think I already know what one of my first mods for this game will be too. Is there a mod which adds flora? Something which fills up all the plain plane areas?

You don't so much write quests in Morrowind, you write dialog. And the dialog makes things happen, and gets recorded in your journal. It's like Oblivion, in the way the scripts run all the time, rather than Skyrim's more efficient event-triggered method. I haven't done much myself, apart from D&D, which mostly borrowed Grumpy's work. I haven't published that, as I don't consider it finished enough. I have hacked some other code for Short Spears and an unarmed shield, but again just for myself.

Hmm. Interesting. Guess I'll find out how it works eventually.

Igodah Gopei finally made it to Level 2, after doing some initial fighting in Addamasartus. She's slowly learning how to kick some Morrowind ass.

10 Heartfire (Day 26) 4 p.m.: Igodah shows up to Seyda Need wearing some rather expensive red robes. Her mission? To attempt a take down of the baddies in Addamasartus. I hope I spelled that right.

The cave is a struggle for her, but she manages to kill all the enemies, fee some slaves, and finally loot the place. And oh, this place has some good loot. Most of it Igodah can't use, so she makes a small fortune selling it all. 668 gold in her magic bag as we speak.

I am sure no one at Bethesda can spell those ridiculous names either.

Lol in Khajiit’s games, Addamasartus rarely lasts a week!


Oh geez, like those dern Daedric shrines

In the future, Addamasartus will rarely last a week in my world too, but right now I'm still new at this game. Jealous, huh?

So it is 19 Heartfire (DAy 35) and mid-morning. Igodah leaves Ghostgate, realizing she's nowhere near to where she's supposed to be, which is somewhere south. Some place called Sulipund. Probably it'll take more than a day to get there. Oops.

As she walks outdoor, the threat of cliff racers is always a concern. In fact, she just walked under two of these beasts just now! Why don't they attack her? Because she's invisible. That's one of the advantages to being a mage. Eventually she's going to need to learn to attack cliffies, but for now, she merely walks unseen.

This is the exact opposite of my dark elf fighter from last summer. He was very proactive against cliff racers! He would run right up and start bashing them, trying to get his attacks in first, before they could slap him.

That's a clever way to avoid cliff racers. No doubt she'll have to fight them at some point but because of how numerous they are, walking past them unseen is probably an even better idea.

Totally. Morrowind was like nothing Khajiit had ever seen before, and to some extent, since. Some of this one’s best gaming memories come from playing Morrowind!

Lopov: Igodah's biggest roadblock right now is inexperience, on her part and my part. She's given up on doing any more Mages Guild stuff for now, and lately has been staying in the Pelagiad / Vivec / Suran area, where most of the enemies are safer, and easy to deal with. Once her experience gets better, she will continue MG stuff.

Khajiit: I get jealous too!


When I last saw Igodah, she had just turned level 4. I put +2 into Intelligence, +1 Endurance, and +2 Agility. She also successfully took down another dungeon with a funny name. To conquer this dungeon's NPCs, she sometimes had to take breaks between each enemy she faced. Went outside, healed up. Back inside, hopefully to take down two this time, before magicka runs out.

5 Frost Fall (Day 52) 8 a.m.: Igodah is in the midst of taking down Sandas Ancestral Tomb. At first, we had difficulties dealing with the bonewalkers in there. But really, they're not that difficult overall. Igodah has a turn undead spell which causes them to automatically run away (there is no fail, as long as she manages to touch them). Once they are fleeing, she can hurl fireballs at them from a distance.

As she battles these beings, she ascends to Level 5. I put +2 into Intelligence, +2 into Willpower, and +2 into Speed.

Heh, bonewalkers are the best! Especially Greater Bonewalkers!

Do they respawn? I think they do. They don't just get pwned like named NPCs do. Because every time my elf kills the ones in that first room, she needs to rest to recharge her magicka. She does so outside of the tomb. Goes back in. Now they're all on their feet again.

Hmm. Maybe she can try resting IN the tomb. Maybe this will prevent them from coming back.

Yeah Khajiit believes only NPCs don’t respawn. And yes, rest inside the tomb if you can. You shouldn’t have to worry about anything wandering up on you. This was one mechanic Khajiit never really liked; having to spam sleep/rest to heal up until you get enough health potions.

Igodah the tomb raider!

10 Frost FAll Day 57 11 a.m.: I cheated a little bit and RP'd that Igodah did some research while in Suran, on various types of creatures in Vvradenfell. Turns out, nix hounds and rats have the same amount of health (23). And common cliff racers pack just 45. So that doesn't seem so bad.

With this information, Igodah tried taking down a cliff racer with her fire touch spell, which does 15 to 30 points of fire-damage. So basically, that's a lot of damage each time .... all she has to do is aim. Final result? She's up to four dead cliffies, folks. Still don't know how to approach bonewalkers, but cliff racers don't seem so bad, as long as she's dealing with just one of them.

The one good thing you can say about cliff racers is that they politely queue up to attack you, instead of swarming round and all doing it at once. You'll do fine if you don't run out of steam.

With a bow whilst levitating

The problem with that idea is that you usually encounter them in interiors where you have space for neither. The nasty ones, the greater bonewalkers, often get summoned right next to you, and you don't have any range advantage.

You do want to carry the restore potions (or equivalent spells, and restore magicka) for the attributes they damage, as that's always their first attack. Especially if you're close to encumbrance limit, as the strength loss can root you to the spot. If summoned, kill the summoner. If not, just kill any way you can! They don't hit all that hard, but the damage spell is very annoying.

Oh, yeah. I just encounter them around Solstheim when they are summoned by those women, so I'm used to being able to move around. Obviously it doesn't work well in caves.

Khajiit doesn’t believe he’s ever encountered Greater Bonewalkers on Solstheim. Weird.

The Solstheim witches have levelled summoning spells, so it's dependent on your level what you get. Also, ranged characters can often defeat the witches before they get the chance to summon at all.

I should rephrase that. Igodah knows how to deal with bonewalkers. She's got Blessed Touch (basically turn undead) and she can also deal fire damage to them. They are tough, but eventually they fall. Problem she was having was in that one tomb, all the bonies kept respawning, every time she had to go outside and heal. Healing takes usually 15-16 hours. By then, all the bonewalkers have returned.

She did find another sacred tomb though, and she was able to make enough headway into it that she could rest while in the tomb, which prevented any undead from coming back.

21 Frost Fall (Day 68) late morning: Igodah begins the trek back to Balmora, but discovers Ulummusa first. This is a cave she hasn't been in yet, so the Siege of Ulummusa now begins, heh heh....

First encounter is a Dunmer, so it's a good thing Igodah has a cold touch spell. Fire is no good against dark elves, Igodah learned this long ago, and quick.

Isn't it interesting how Fire is pretty much the go to element in Oblivion and Skyrim, but the red-haired step-child in Morrowind? Likewise, Cold is good in Morrowind, but practically useless in Ob and Sky because of how many critters in those games have a resistance to it.

Yeah, good point, SR. Yes, in Skyrim you've got nords and a lot of undead which are immune or resistant.

That cave Igodah was trying to conquer (Ummagumma or whatever it's called) is too tough for her right now. So she's headed to Balmora. She's going to try to enchant some of her gear with Shield spells. I think that'll be a good start, to get her robe, her gantlets, belt, and boots enchanted, what do you all think? She's got 940 gold right now. That should be a nice start.

Animals in Skyrim and I believe Oblivion are immune to Frost as well. Though at least in Skyrim they added those secondary effects, and the slow effect of Frost can make it a real pain when it is used against you. Especially if you are melee character trying to run down a fleeing mage.

I haven't seen Ummagumma mentioned for ages. That was the Pink Floyd album that gave us "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict" - best title of all time!

Was there a Pict in your cave?

... was wondering if anyone else knew of this Pink Floyd reference! Syd Barrett would be proud.

28 Frost Fall (Day 75) 4 p.m. Igodah is back in Pelagiad, brewing up a batch of potions. Most of these are for sale. Her money situation has definitely improved over the weeks, since she's constantly got almost a thousand gold at all times.

She ascended to Level 7 too. I dropped +3 into Intelligence, +2 into Willpower, and +2 into Speed.

She has also given up on the idea of become some great enchanter. Enchanting is really tough in this game, if it's not a Major skill. So instead, she's going to learn how to Paralyze! Paralyzation has always struck me as something very evil mages would do. None of my others (except maybe Mycharonna in Skyrim, and maybe one witch I had in Oblivion) use anything which causes complete immobilization like this. Such an EVIL way to go about things. But you know what?

By learning paralyzation spells Igodah stepped on the path of evil...