Mudcrab
Who is Mudcrab?
Mudcrab is a . . . mudcrab.
He's also a merchant, the richest
merchant
in the game and only one of two
who will give you
full value for your merchandise.
Mudcrab regenerates his 10,000 in
gold every 24 hours
and is a pleasure to do business
with.
(See Creative Bartering)
He buys weapons, armour, selected
magic items and alcohol only.
Where is Mudcrab?
The simplest of directions are often
the best.
(They're also the easiest to remember)
Vivec. Gondola to Telvanni
Canton. Leave via the land bridge.
Cross the peninsula eastwards.
Stop next to Ald Sotha daedric ruin,
by the water.
There are three tiny islands.
Get out to the furthest one.
Before you are two largish islands.
You want to go to the one on the
left as you are still looking east.
If Mznach Ruin comes up on the screen,
you're in the right place.
Travel down the face of the island,
past the ruin to the end.
(always going east)
At the 'end' of the island is an
islet with two tall pillars of stone
guarding an 'entrance'. And
there's a mudcrab. Voila!
Don't let anyone tell you
that Mudcrab is hard to reach.
Do it once and you'll wonder
what they were on about!
Creeper
Ole Creeper
is the Mudcrab of the suburbs.
He's a scamp
in Ghorak Manor, Caldera.
You do not
need
directions to Caldera!
Creeper has
5000 gold and also gives full value for money.
He regenerates
every 24 hours and buys weapons, alcohol,
scrolls, moon
sugar and soul gems.
Tip
If you have
a sword worth 17,000 that you intend to take
to Muddie
or Creeper, but it's a bit the 'worse for wear', have it fixed first.
Doesn't cost
much to repair and you then get full value
for it (Yes,
17,000 gold!) from the sale.
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Creative
Bartering 101
Getting full
value for money from either of these dudes requires some
creative bartering.
This is how it's done, using examples.
I have 2 glass
bracers (4000 each)
3 pr glass
boots (8000 each)
2 glass pauldrons
(9600 each)
and a glass
cuirass worth 28,000 to take to Mudcrab.
Mudcrab has
10,000 on any given day. How do I get the 28,000?
Sell him everything
else, one item at a time if need be,
sleeping for
24 hours between each sale.
Sleep 24 after
the last sale.
Now, buy back
the three pairs of glass boots and one glass bracer.
Now Mudcrab
has 28,000 gold. Sell him the cuirass!
Sleep again
and repeat the sell back of the small items.
Repeat as
needed.
Tip
Do not sleep
too close to Mudcrab.
Sometimes
you are attacked, by rats or whatever.
One wrong
swing of the sword and you're crab-less.
Sometimes
the attackee is only a scrib and you can
go back to
sleep.
Too many scrib
can slow down and eventually
freeze the
game.
Thin them
out as needed.
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Overflow
Loot Bag
Once you have
one, you're stuck with it.
Avoid getting
one or move house.
Now, place
your items in an aesthetically pleasing manner.
Happy with
the display?
Save game.
Exit game
via Start Screen.
Restart game
and you can leave.
Repeat every
time your house gets 'busy'.
Vampires/Eltonbrand
This tip hinges
on the assumption that you
a] know about
and have Goldbrand and that
b] you know
about how to and where to and why to
become a vampire.
Eltonbrand
is the new and improved Goldbrand which, in its turn, is
a daedric
shrine quest reward.
If you have
Goldbrand and go become a vampire, you can get it turned
into Eltonbrand
via an 'Easter Egg' (nice surprise) that the makers
have hidden
in the game.
A vampire goes
to visit with Silonewe in the Vivec Mages guild and
she overcomes
her revulsion for long enough to give him/her two quests.
The 'kill
someone' or 'key' quest is the one you need.
Complete the
quest and return to Silonewe with an amount of money
either totalling,
or over, 11171 gold in your inventory, as well as
the sword
and the requested key, of course.
Drop 11171
gold in one pile. Drop any excess in another.
Pick up 11171
gold.
A pop-up appears
saying, "Go to Hell, Carolina!"
Goldbrand
is now Eltonbrand.
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Ordinators
The ordinators
in Vivec are trying to kill me! Help????
or
The Imperial
guards attack me on sight! Help????
Ordinators
can come to hate you for a number of reasons.
a]
If the bounty on your head is so high that
it has become
a death warrant.
Even if you
pay up, they are unable to turn off
the urge to
decorate the railings with your entrails, okay?
This
applies to Imperial guards and some Redoran guards as well.
b]
If you murder one of them.
c]
If you murder one of them and/or steal
their sacred
armour and wear it.
It does NOT
matter what city you are in
when you wear
it; they will know!
There
is also an Imperial Quest to escort an accused murderer from Vivec
to Ebonheart
during which you might kill one too many ordinators.
Two
will attack you, that's okay.
It is
not necessary to kill any more, no matter what your quest giver tells you.
So what do
you do?
The good news
is that those attacking ordinators/guards are a prime source
of income
without penalty. Because they attack first, you are free
to kill them
and reap the rewards of their corpses, aka their
highly saleable
armour.
The bad news
it that you can't turn them off.
Paying fines
will not work over a certain amount. (death warrant)
Joining the
Imperials will not work, even if you become their boss.
Nothing works.
Some people
to whom this has happened chameleon their way
around Vivec
ever after.
Others use
calm humanoid spells to get past them
when the slaughter
becomes too tedious.
I myself had
this happen to me.
By accident,
I swear it. And only once!
So I enchanted
one exquisite ring with constant effect Sanctuary
and another
with constant effect Resist Magicka.
Then I could
walk around Vivec in relative safety.
But it's expensive
and it's a pain in the bum.
Try not
to
antagonize the Ordinators, okay?
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Indexes.
What
are they for?
There are these
little black sticks all over the place, they kind of look
like burnt
matches but if you get close enough, you'll see
they've got
names.
Names like
'Falsmaryon Propylon Index'.
What are they?
If you go
travelling about, you'll see lots of ruins, daedric ruins,
dwarven ruins
and the big square ruins with the little buildings on top.
Inside these
huts are proplyons.
They're ancient
teleportation devices and, to put it simply, if you
collect all
of the indexes and match the correct
name to the
correct propylon, you can travel about between ruins.
Neato!
Puzzle
Box
The Puzzle
box quest ... umm. . . puzzles a lot of people?
If you've
done it, you know what I mean.
If you haven't
and you can't find the puzzle box,
I have a basic
piece of advice for you.
Look up, always.
Look up.
This
is a good rule, no matter what ruin or cave you're in.
Good
stuff up high...
There is NO
need to go all the way down into that dark, dank ruin.
Once you are
in the front door and have encountered the bad guys
and slain
them, stop and look up.
There's another
level up there, reached by climbing the broken masonry.
I'll say no
more...
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Umbra
Umbra is an
Orc-With-No-Name, a dude who wants to die.
So do him
a favour if you're strong enough and get a great
soul-trapping
sword for your trouble.
It's cast-when-used,
but it's still easier than
messing with
spells.
Umbra is over
the hill behind Suran. Go up to the temple
and levitate
over the mountain. You should land almost
directly on
top of him. Good Luck.
Twin
Lamps. Who, What and Where?
The Twin Lamps
are abolitionists and although you can't officially
join them,
(because they're a secret, illegal operation perhaps?)
if you're
that sort of person, you can help them.
Free slaves
wherever you find them, whenever you can.
After you've
freed a certain number, they will begin to speak
to you of
the Twin Lamps and eventually will give you the
password you
need.
Vivec, St
Delyn's South One is the place to go and the lady to see
for a couple
of minor quests involving the Twin Lamps.
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FURY
This is not
a how-to or a where-is post.
This is a
WARNING
post.
If you come
across this sword during the course of your game,
GET RID OF
IT! It's cursed!
(Actually,
it's a mistake in the scripting, but 'cursed' sounds better.)
Press 'y'
in your inventory to see the damage that Fury does
to your health
permanently,
but,
whatever you do, do not use it!
Sell
Fury to someone you don't like much.
Second Wraithguard
If you somehow
manage to screw up the main quest by killing someone
you shouldn't
have (You should get a 'Thread of Prophecy' message as
a warning
to reload, however.) or by losing something vital, there are
back ways
into the main quest.
If it's something
minor at the lower levels of the Blades quests, you can go
on ahead and
get the Moon and Star ring, then go on from there as normal.
Just find
yourself a walkthrough from Links and forge on.
However, if
you've really stuffed up....you need to kill a God.
Of course
it goes without saying that you need to be at a high level, as a God
is a hard
kill, but, having done that, take the 'ancient dwemer artifact' from
his body.
This is Wraithguard,
un-activated, and you need Wraithguard if you're
going to handle
Sunder and Keening and complete the main quest.
Take it to
Tel Fyr (I'm assuming that, as a high level character, you
know where
I'm referring to) and down to the dwarf in the Coprusarium.
He will ask
for two books to fix the artifact, find those, inside the
Ghostfence
and return to him. ( At Karegnac's Library and at his Study)
Now, here's
the kicker . . . you need your health stat to be well over
the 250 mark
or he will not give you the journal update of completion.
That's where
most folk get stuck; not realizing that the second Wraithguard
will give
you a permanent 200+ health loss, so that's the tip for this section.
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Ten
Pace Boots
Nothing here
about the where's and why's either.
Yes, they
do make your feet disappear. No, no-one knows why.
Either live
with the funny look or sell them on.
(It's probably
another script error.)
Azura's
Star
You have a
paper map?
Big statue,
right-hand side of paper? Azura.
Shrine beneath.
Talk to statue inside, not outside.
Get quest.
Do not
go in the hut, under any circumstances, okay?
The reward
is Azura's Star, the only re-usable soul gem in the game
and the only
one big enough to hold Vivec's soul, should you be so inclined.
Code
Book
(Fighter's
vs Thieves Guild)
Remember the
beginning of this site?
The bit about
'conflict of interest' especially where it relates to
the Fighter's
Guild and the Thieves Guild?
This quest
is one of them.
I'm not going
to tell you how to get the code book off Soltide,
that's for
you to decide.
Tip
If you want
to do both Thieves and Fighters guild,
join both
when you're a low level and you can.
If you leave
it too long, or you join one and rise too far in rank there,
the other
Guild will not accept you as a member . . . ever.
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Where
is ?
(fill
in the blank)
Gentleman Jim
Stacey :Dram Bero:
Silver Staff
of Shaming: Rels Tenim etc. etc.
Hannah's
Whereizit Morrowind Guide.
Rescue Varvur Sarethi
(Redoran/Main
Quest)
This quest
can be tricky and there are lots of way to do it.
Tip
If you are
chameleon-ed, so is he, for some strange reason.
Where are the Morag
Tong?
They are the
paid, professional, legal assassins of Morrowind.
Finding them
is hard-ish. Look on Arena Canton, Vivec.
In the Canalworks,
behind a Storage Room door.
There's a
locked trapdoor . . . and rats.
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Explaining 'Uncle Crassius'.
If you're a
Hlaalu or if you're doing the main quest, you are eventually
going to meet
the famous 'Uncle Crassius Curio' who resides
in Curio Manor,
Hlaalu Canton, Vivec.
He calls you
'sweetie' and 'pumpkin' and he doesn't seem to
notice that
you're a guy???????
No. Uncle Crassius
is not the first openly gay character in an RPG.
It's another
one of those cute little scripting errors.
This game
took six years to put together and it's massive!
You can't
blame the developers for a few . . . errors.
So, don't
get all riled when Uncle Crassius asks you
for a kiss,
or wants you to strip.
Yes,
that's right. Strip. He's actually checking to make sure you're not a spy.
Just remember
that, as far as Crassius is concerned, you're a girl!
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Constant
Effect Items
Working your
way up through the learning process, you eventually arrive
at the desire
to have constant effect items made to your own specifications.
There are two
ways of doing this. The 'normal' way begins with a. . .
Rule
You
have to have a Golden Saint or an Ascended Sleeper trapped in
a Grand
Soul Gem to get the 'constant effect' option in an enchanting menu.
The Normal
Way.
Buy the spell
that you want. Have an item of sufficient enchant charge
in your inventory
plus the grand soul gem mentioned above
and, finally,
a lot of cash!
Go to an enchanter
and click the 'enchant' option.
Fill the boxes
with soul and item.
Constant
Effect appears as an option once you've filled in the item.
Choose your
spell, fill in the details.
Always
save before any enchanting, you can take the item outside and test it first.
Reload
if you don't like what you've done.
Name the item
and pay the money.
Tip
Exquisite
items (rings, amulets) have a high enough enchant charge
to do constant
effect, so do Ebony Tower Shields.
The Cheapskate
Method
If you've used
the method above, you know how much it costs! Ow!
Here's a cheaper
way that works for certain enchantments only.
All you need
is, at most, a couple of thousand gold and a high enough
(relevant)
magic skill to cast it yourself.
Buy the spell
you want.
Good
spells for this method are fortify attribute spells, light,
reflect,
dispel, resist, sanctuary, summon etc.
Buy the soultrap
spell.
Go to a spellmaker
and make the following spell:
Example
Fortify Speed/On
Self/1-50/ Duration 1 second.
Soultrap/On
Target/Duration 2 seconds.
Name the spell
and pay for it.
Face a wall
or look down at the floor.
You must
do this, else the game will freeze or crash.
Cast the spell.
Tip
If you've
summoned a Golden Saint, she's yours forever.
She will fight
for you, follow you everywhere and, if you want to kill her
to get her
weapons, she will not instantly disappear when dispatched.
Same is true
of all summoned creatures using this method.
Tip
If you used
Light it will remain constant only for the duration of your
game play.
When you start the game again, you will need to re-cast it.
Use Night-Eye
instead. Just as good and it doesn't wear off.
Tip
Do NOT
use this spell with Levitate, Chameleon or Invisibility.
(for obvious
reasons)
Tip
If using this
spell to Fortify an attribute, you only need to buy one Fortify spell.
The Feet
of Noratago from Imperial Shrine/Wolverine Hall/Sadrith Mora is a good
one.
As you'll
see when you go to the spellmaker, buying one Fortify Attribute spell
will bring
up the option to fortify ALL attributes.
Tip
Don't be greedy
when using Fortify, especially with Speed.
It's nice
to run faster, but it gets hard to steer when you're
walking at
the speed of light!
Set it for
1-50 as I recommend. If you're not happy with it, you can
always cast
it again.
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People we try NOT
to kill.
If you knock
off someone important to the main quest, I've already
mentioned
that you'll see a 'Thread of Prophecy' message
which gives
you a chance to re-load to an earlier save.
But not everyone
comes equipped with one of those.
Characters
involved in various quests on your way
to achieving
your goals are quite often accidentally murdered
and the game
stays strangely silent about it...
This is the
beginnings of a list of folk who should not be
randomly slaughtered
just cause you don't like the way they look, or
because you
do
like the way they look but think it would look better on you!
Vendam Dren-
Ebonheart.
Orvas Dren-
Dren Plantation
This guy is
doomed
to die, just be wise in choosing your time.
He's involved
in a lot of quests.
Shan- The
Orc-Mage in Balmora
She is a 'Thread'
lady; this warning is about being careful around
her until
she's no longer needed. Not because you kill her, but because
she often
gets 'misplaced'. Disappears through the roof etc and, on XBox,
there's no
way to get her back. I equipped Wraithguard in front
of her once
and the magic of it sent her rocketing
thru the ceiling,
never to be seen again!
Nerano-Balmora
He's needed
early on for a Thieves Guild Quest. After that, he's all yours.
Actually,
you CAN kill him anytime, but I don't like it when Sugar-Lips
chastises
me.
More to come
. . .
****
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If you've got
a tip about these mistakes; send
a quick email
and let the new players in on it.
EMAIL
There's more
to come but for now, my fingers are sore.
I hope at
least some of this was helpful or will help you in the future.
And just so
you don't feel bad about being a 'newbie', here's my
very own deepest,
darkest, most secret confession.....
I played
this game for two solid months before I realized that
Rising
Force was NOT added strength in a fight......
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