Beware the Scarlet Strider!

I continue to have ridiculous amounts of fun playing ESO. My warden's now my highest level toon (okay, given that Cerlind, the previous record holder, was level 10, this was not a hard record to break, but still). Between self-heals, a bear, and aoe spells centered on self, I manage to stay alive pretty well even when I pull more than one thing (this happens with frequency and I have trouble keeping track of more than one mob, especially if they're charging or jumping or vanishing, all of which ESO mobs do).

So, because it's a very high pain day (and been a high pain week), I give you the continuing adventures of the Scarlet Strider, the famed successor of the Scarlet Judge! Her mission is currently to find a copy of Morality and Justice in Morrowind for Dummies, and a copy of Who's Who in Morrowind would also not come amiss. For some reason, Breton public schools, or even private academies, don't cover these things.

(Cough, Spoilers for Vvardenfel quests, cough. Also, RP because I can, WAHAHAHAH!)


Here we see my mentor. I can't help but wonder how desperate the guy must be to choose an Outlander for this. Heck, I can't even name all the houses. There's Hlaulau or something, the Telvanni aka Slaving Mages of What Does This Button Do, and the Redrums? Nah, that's not quite right. Oh well.

And they laughed at me when I said sooner or later my knowledge of the visible spectrum of light and geometry would come in handy while dungeon-delving! Well, who's laughing now? Actually, they might be, I think it's comedy night at the tavern near the academy.

Here we see a Telvanni. See why I call 'em What Does This Button Do? It's never anything good, and I end up cleaning up the resulting mess. Revus does have cute hair, I'll give him that much. It's the only reason I haven't smacked him upside the head yet.



I'm still trying to wrap my head around this political system and failing. But I guess open is good, right? Maybe?

You know, if it weren't for the river of lava flowing down the volcano in the background, I'd consider living in Balmora. It's a nice city. Vivec's not bad, I did get a free inn room, but that meteor hanging over my head all the time makes me REALLY nervous.

Someone in the Morag Tong missed their calling as a landscape artist. I'd give them a few gold for a painting of this without the arrow.

Oddly enough, I find the assassins less morally challenging than the politicians. At least you're all honest about it. Plus I really want to have a girls night with Naryu, she's just fun to hang with!

And here's my Scarlet Strider getup. No, I'm not the Scarlet Judge, that's a stupid name. My enemies take cliff striders to the face, and everyone knows alliteration's the way to go for vigilante names. Plus, it's a nice callback to a ranger I once read about and had a bit of a crush on.
Yes, I should probably have a hood, but do you have any idea how long it takes to get my hair like that? Plus, I've learned that dark elves are not so good at telling one Breton from another, so I'm not worried. Seriously, I change armor, and they have no idea where the Strider's gone.

I'm a vigilante, not a guard. I have to get my hands dirty from time to time, and quite frankly, if you're stupid enough to leave your stuff in a locked chest in the middle of nowhere, I have no problem lock-picking and claiming the contents under the ancient rules of finders-keepers. Plus, I need the practice, lock-picking's hard!

Tried ESO Again, Was Enthralled, Thrilled, and Had Loads of FUN!

I tried ESO in 2014, and while the explorer in me was thrilled, I couldn't get past the combat (and my ineptitude at same). I knew the Tamriel Unlimited thing had changed the game hugely, and likely in a way I'd like, but it wasn't until I happened to read that they were adding Morrowind that I felt the need to try again. I got the Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind in college, several months before I got a new PC that could actually play it, and I read that instruction manual (remember those?) over and over again, wanting to play it so badly! I loved it, and while I never got very far (Morrowind has some issues that frustrated me too much at the time, and since, really), that world was amazing.

So, I bought the Morrowind expansion for ESO, and jumped in last night. After a brief period of "WTF do any of these keys do?" I figured my best bet was to roll a new toon, and since Morrowind added wardens, I could try one of them too. A few minutes in character creation (and okay, an hour or so in the tutorial since I did NOT remember how to play at all), and here we are. Yes, I have a wolf and a clockwork horse. Yes, I am firmly convinced this is awesome, even if I walk everywhere.

The warden is a bit more mage than I was expecting (I think warden, I think paladin-like), but I have to admit, after many hours cursing cliff divers in the original Morrowind, it's ridiculously entertaining to use them like magic missiles against my enemies. Plus I heal with growing fungus and throw ice at people and sometimes they freeze and shatter!

I played for 6 hours and did not want to stop. So, here's some highlights...

I met a living god. VIVEC! Dude's stopping a meteor from squishing a city. Also, oooh shiny!

He also lives in a very lovely city (Vivec City, naturally). Which I got lost in. Repeatedly. In both Morrowinds.

I wandered around Balmora to store an old man's memories. I was very surprised how touching I found that quest line, it's a great one about family and love and regrets.



I became a semi-smooth criminal when I got confused about a quest and broke into a house. Since I'd already trespassed, I went for broke, snuck around, ducked into hiding places (which are highlighted when you're trespassing and sneaking), robbed the place, murdered a couple henchmen, then ran for my life/filthy ill-gotten gains back to Vivec City to get the bounty removed and my lovely new shinies sold. It was really suspenseful and enjoyable, and it was a nice break from normal questing. I still stink at the lockpicking game though. I should see if I can find an offline version to practice with...

I got my own room at an inn (aka the first piece of player housing). Yes, I had a total of one piece of furniture that'd dropped during the night at some point, and that skeleton thingy is one of the non-combat pets I have (no clue when or how I got it).

And last, but not least, even if I didn't remember to take screencaps, I went on an epic quest for pumpkins! It's part of the ongoing holiday stuff, and I haven't finished the quest yet. I'm blaming it being 4 am by that point for lack of pics, but I went from Vivec City to Stonefalls (and halfway across that zone even though it's not this toon's faction) to get a few, and then to Glenumbra (what would be her starting zone if not for Morrowind).

While I was doing this, I got REALLY fed up with the lack of bag space, and someone in the zone chat said I should sub for the crafting bag. Wow, they were right. Basically, all the crafting stuff you pick up goes in an unlimited bag shared across all characters and it is BRILLIANT. This is possibly my new favorite feature ever.

(And my apologies for the UI in every screenshot. I need to figure out which button makes that go away and add it to the list...)