I just had the most exciting moment in my Morrowind experience and wish to share the details with you all; I apologize for the long nature of this post but I just beat odds I didn't think I could ever beat before and, after a string of untimely deaths prior to this, I feel a need to shout my victory to the winds ^_^
First . . . some background. My character is a female Breton huntress/ranger custom class named Alanya. She's a Stealth specialist and likes to sneak around to poke prey with a spear or shoot it from under cover. She uses healing magic and alchemy, but doesn't yet have other magic schools, so offensively she's pretty much spear and bow only. She also is played with a "You Die, You Restart" rule, so no saving and reloading if something goes really wrong.
After having completed some quests she stumbled on while wandering the wilderness, Alanya was close to Level Four, had bought a deluxe set of Alchemy gear and an enchanted spear for herself, and was turning her mind toward the tombs she had found while exploring the region around Sedya Neen. She had passed them by before, not wanting to fight Ghosts without magic weapons, but now she felt ready to take on those tombs. Heck, while looking for some animal watcher earlier she had gone into a tomb, fought some nasty-looking monster, and found this Ebony Helm she didn't think she'd ever be able to sell to anyone; how much tougher than that beast could the Ghosts around Sedya Neen be?
So it came to pass that Alanya made her way out toward a tomb on the Bitter Coast, where I the player knew the nifty Mentor's Ring lay waiting. Such a ring would compliment the Alchemy equipment and Fortify Int/Luck 100 spell I had procured in preparation for a major Alchemical Bonanza quite nicely, as well as give me all sorts of satisfaction and happiness and general good feelings. Alanya, meanwhile, just was curious what was inside that Tomb
Mudcrabs were plentiful on the route to the Tomb and Alanya hit Level Four easily, becoming healthier and stealthier and that much more confident in her ability to tackle the tomb. So confident was she, in fact, that she didn't bother to go buy healing potions for this trip, instead trusting to her healing magic. She did bring a couple Potions of Recall, though, just in case something really went wrong.
Upon reaching and entering the Tomb, Alanya heard the sounds of Ghosts - but the first enemy she saw was a Skeleton, standing some little ways in the first real room of the tomb. Frowning, Alanya readied her bow quietly and knocked an arrow, and sent it to split the skull of the Skeleton, who was looking the other way. That didn't finish him off, though it did attract his attention, and he charged in with a sword and shield. He proved easy to beat though, having been weakened already.
The three Ghosts who were attracted to the sounds of the fight, though, proved somewhat tougher . . .
At this point I the player was saying "Um . . . I don't remember this tomb having this many monsters in it last game . . . " and wondering what the program had waiting for me in the last room Alanya, meanwhile, healed herself of her wounds and stealthily explored further, finding a useful scroll with a potent fire spell. Mindful of what she had already faced, Alanya decided to keep the scroll ready for use as she approached the last door, figuring that if she failed sneaking up to whatever lay in waiting she could at least fry it good. Thus, she opened the door, carefully . . .
. . . but not carefully enough.
A Skeleton Archer lay in wait for Alanya; he saw her as she stepped through the doorway and had his arrow knocked. Alarmed at having been seen so quickly, Alanya pulled out the scroll, but the hiss of the Skeleton's arrow and the sting of pain told her she had moved too slowly - and then, the Paralysis spell in the arrow kicked in, overcoming her resistence.
It was at this point that I the player became very mad and started swearing "Stupid Leveled Monsters . . . they threw a Skeleton Archer with Arrows of Holding at me! At Level FOUR!?!?!?!?" Just one shot and my seemingly foolproof plan was worthless; I couldn't kill the bugger while I couldn't move . . .
Well, there was nothing else to do at this point; without healing potions I wasn't going to be able to whether the rain of holding arrows and be able to fry this joker. I also doubted that I'd have the time to back off and cast a healing spell and then try to lure the Archer - who I dubbed No Eyes Deadshot Pete due to his unerring aim - around a corner to give me a chance to stab him. If I hadn't brought the Potions of Recall, this would have been yet another character consigned to the graveyard.
But I did bring the Potions of Recall - I may be stubborn but I do occasionally learn ^_^
Alanya wasn't quite sure how she managed to douse herself with the potion; she attributed it to divine intervention. The important thing was, she was back in her cave, the one she claimed from some smugglers a week or two ago. Frightened and shocked, she stood shaking like a leaf for several moments once the spell of holding wore off.
It was obvious that she'd need a little more than healing magic to get her through that tomb. Sighing, she looked over her store of treasure: lots of ingredients she had picked or found in various places, the tools to make such ingredients into potions, some funny-looking helm that matted her hair in unflattering ways (she rather liked her hair), and some Skooma. That, and the loot she had recovered from the tomb: a sword and shield set she wasn't used to using, a scroll that ought to kill Pete in one shot if she could use it, and some more ingredients.
It looked like a good time to sit down and put her new Alchemy Tools to use; she cracked her knuckles, communed with nature for a moment to get in touch with the essence of the ingredients (her Bosmer 'aunt' had always said it was important to do this to make potions worth using) and started brewing up a storm.
A few hours later, she looked up and realized she had gone through her entire store of ingredients and had close to a hundred potions now, over half of which were varieties of poison. Still, there were some healing potions in the batch, and some useful potions for restoring fatigue and walking on water or air, so it wasn't a total loss - that, and she heard poison sold well in Morrowind. Implications of that fact aside, she now had herself a decent amount of sellable stuff.
Deciding to sleep for the night - it was late and her head hurt with the pain of having learned much alchemical lore through practical application - Alanya dozed off, to be awoken by the sound of someone tripping and cursing.
"Oh goody; some more money, ^_^" I the player said, thankful for my second suit of DB armor to sell.
"Oh no; not another assassin . . . -_-" Alanya said, wearily taking up her spear and sneaking into the main part of the cave.
"I have you! >.<" the assassin said, whiffing with his dart - stupid assassin - and charging Alanya with a Spider Dagger. Sadly, he brought a dagger to a spear fight; Alanya took a gash to her thigh while she popped her spear's enchantment, said "Bastard; no one scars my perfect legs!" and finished him with three thrusts, two to the groin and one to the throat - in that order.
Muttering "I need to find a guard and get this assassin problem addressed soon . . . " Alanya stripped her foe, tossed his body outside toward some Nix Hounds, and went back to sleep. When she woke, the sun wasn't yet up but she figured she'd make her way to the tomb again anyway; why wait any longer?
So, healing supplies now in hand, Alanya returned to the Tomb of No Eyes Deadshot Pete - and found that Pete must have been part of an Archer's Union, for he had called friends to cover for the Ghosts she had killed before. The first such friend, Toxic Terry the Wundershot, stood waiting at the open door, ready to greet visitors.
Alanya had been improving ever since she had ventured into this tomb the first time; sadly, that improvement wasn't much compared to Terry's poisoned arrows . . .
By this point, I the player was more than a little peeved; if I had thought that the monsters could be randomly re-rolled by waiting a few hours, I'd have actually tried that. However, I didn't know if that was possible, and I didn't allow myself to reload, despite the fact that I - loathe - Skeleton Archers with enchanted arrows.
Alanya, meanwhile, was swiftly learning to loathe them herself; she tried sneaking up on Terry to no avail, she tried shooting it out with him with her own bow, and she became very good at jumping out the front door, slamming it shut to block an arrow, healing herself to counteract the poison in her veins, and jumping back through the door to try something else. By the third time she jumped outside though, Alanya was more than mad, she was outright insulted and enraged.
"Fine!" she yelled as she healed herself the third time. "You want to block the entrance? I'll BLOW YOU AWAY then!"
Jumping back through the door, Alanya whipped out the Scroll of Hellfire and seared off the incantation, taking great pleasure in seeing Toxic Terry the Wundershot become Toasty Terry the Blackened Bones. Her joy was echoed in my heart as well, but both of us had a short-lived moment of triumph . . .
. . . for a second Skeleton Archer wandered around the corner.
Sigh.
Well, Alayna may have been mad, but beyond that brief flash of rage she wasn't stupid; she ducked behind some cover and tried to shoot this Skeleton, resulting in a shooting match. She had silver arrows; he had cold-enchanted arrows. He was winning.
"Stealth and subtlety aren't working," Alanya told herself, chugging down a healing potion as she whipped out her spear. "Time for the direct approach!"
"Well, @#$%# you too skele!" I the player was yelling, "PH33R my Drunken Dragoon Wild Charging Style!!!! (insert Martial Artist Crazyman Icon Here)"
Alanya dashed; Alanya leaped; Alanya took another arrow to her side and cursed, but her perfect legs were untouched and that's really what's important. That, and pinning the skeleton to the wall and wailing on it repeatedly, which she did.
The second Skeleton Archer fell down just as the third Skeleton Archer, having been attracted by the noise, drew back its arrow and grazed Alanya's head. Alanya, I swear, yelled "DITTO!!!" and repeated her previous performance, right down to the chugging, the dashing, the leaping, the pinning, and the wailing.
By now, things were somewhat quiet; Alanya left her fallen foes where they lay and returned to the ways of caution, stealthily sneaking around a corner . . . to see a Lesser Bonewalker. Smirking, Alanya made a small noise and wiggled her toes at him provocatively . . .
One staggeringly-short and decidedly one-sided fight later, Alayna wiped Bonewalker goo off her feet and spear and thought "Okay, fine; Pete's probably waiting right by the door, and I don't have the scroll anymore. We'll sneak in close, potion of healing held in my mouth, and try to surprise him with a sneak attack; if that doesn't work and he pegs me, maybe I'll swallow the potion reflexively and be able to survive long enough to pin him to the wall . . . "
It wasn't the best plan, and truthfully Alanya wondered if she ought not go buy a Cure Paralysis potion, but she didn't feel like walking through the gauntlet she just weathered a third time just to face Pete. Popping her spear's enchantment, she snuck up to the door . . .
He was waiting for her; he had his bow ready to shoot, and was standing right by the door . . . but he hadn't expected her to be crouching quite so low as she snuck up . . .
One viscous smack took him in the ribcage, enchanted Deadric steel literally slicing the bones and causing him to lose his balance. He somehow avoided the second stab aimed for his head, but in trying to backpedal while drawing a bead, he left himself open for the third . . .
When Alanya left that tomb, she had more iron arrows than she ever wanted in her life, forty enchanted arrows of four different flavors, four longbows with slight wear, some ashes of a long-dead guy and a most appealing magic ring. All this, and the store of potions and armor back in her hideaway, all waiting to be turned into gold . . .
Alanya smiled; she already had lots of ideas for what to buy with her newfound wealth; some potions for curing nasty things like poison and paralysis, perhaps a ring with an enchantment for resisting one or the other, oh, and some training in magic too . . .
. . . Well, that's it. That was literally the worst monster draw I've encountered yet in Morrowind. Four Skeleton Archers, each with magic arrows? Dear God . . .
. . . But I beat them, fair and square. And oh deary me did it feel good!!! V ^_^ V
Thanks for listening.
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