{"id":1014,"date":"2009-07-26T23:33:36","date_gmt":"2009-07-27T07:33:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1014"},"modified":"2026-06-15T17:07:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T01:07:24","slug":"in-a-hostile-country-the-saga-of-cahmel-lets-play-morrowind-part-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1014","title":{"rendered":"In a Hostile Country: The Saga of Cahmel (Let’s Play Morrowind, Part 7)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Not pictured: idea where I am, how to get out of canal.<\/p><\/div>\n

When we last left our hero, he was floundering around in the canals like an inverse fish and paying far too much for a 15-foot boat ride.<\/p>\n

I won\u2019t summarize the visits to the Great Houses themselves, because those were pretty much dull exercises in jogging up various flights of stairs like an OCD Rocky, finding the guy with the fanciest robe, asking him a few questions, and finding the next Canton.<\/p>\n

What I will share is my findings. As I mentioned earlier, each House has a different focus.<\/p>\n

Redoran, I discovered, is a House of honor. It obeys a code of the warrior that dictates they never falter in their duties, never flinch from a challenge. Warriors of Redoran uphold the virtues of a noble order, trying to bring peace and order to Morrowind.<\/p>\n

I had the right set of skills for Redoran,\u00a0 but\u2026I dunno. It seemed a little\u2026vanilla? Don\u2019t get me wrong, for the obligatory set of Good Guy quests, the Redoran stuff is actually pretty thoughtful and creative. There\u2019s a bare minimum of rescuing kittens from trees and giving them to orphans while kicking mustached wizards down flights of stairs. Still, their questline maybe isn\u2019t as thoughtful or creative as the alternative.<\/p>\n

Telvanni, for their part, is Redoran\u2019s opposite. Telvanni is a House of power\u2014you get what you grab, you grab what you can, and anyone that stands in your way is to be incinerated. Doesn\u2019t seem bad, but there are a few problems.<\/p>\n

For one thing, walking through their guild halls, you notice that a good percentage of their employees are Dunmer. Somehow, I get the sense this club ain\u2019t too welcoming of outlanders. There was nothing ostentations\u2014no separate mana fountains or anything like that\u2014 but the Telvanni offices had the sort of diversity of colors you\u2019d find in a next-gen FPS. Running on a etch-a-sketch.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Yeah, sure, my outfit. Come on, man. It's because I'm black, isn't it? Er. As opposed to, you know. Dark blue.<\/p><\/div>\n

Also, they\u2019re really evil. I mean, like, really evil. Not quite Snidely-Whiplash-Tie-the-Girl-to-the-Train-Tracks evil, per se\u2014it\u2019s a little more creative and well-rounded than that. Still, I\u2019m not sure I want to play a complete sociopath.<\/p>\n

Plus Telvanni rewards magic use. Cahmel can just about pull a coin from behind a rube\u2019s ear.<\/p>\n

So, I had the wrong skill set and skin color for Telvanni and not enough patience for Redoran. That leaves\u2026Hlaalu.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t find many people to talk to about Hlaalu\u2014it\u2019s a business, we\u2019re business people, blah blah blah. Instead, I decided to take a brief jaunt to one of their nearby towns, a little burg named Suran.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not going to describe what I found there. I\u2019m just going to show it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Eh, getting late--should probably find another inn to stay at. What's that on the right, there?<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

House of Earthly Delights? What, is this an organic produce shop or something? Well, I am running low on supplies...<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

I don't particularly feel like having a picture of a bunch of dancing girls in bikinis in my image directory, so here's something a little more tasteful.<\/p><\/div>\n

To recap:<\/p>\n

House Redoran has honor and righteous battle. Telvanni has subterfuge and treachery. Hlaalu has money<\/em> and strippers<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Seriously. The first time I visited Suran, I was actually kinda shocked. I hadn\u2019t seen anything like that place anywhere else in the realm\u2014it was an establishment awash in red light, narcotics trade, and\u2014of course\u2014dancing gels. And all of this is dropped into this otherwise fairly chaste fantasy setting without comment or explanation. It\u2019s as if the Fellowship, en route to Mordor, randomly stumbled across a Las Vegas casino. I mean, they don’t even use the dancing animation anywhere else in the game world.<\/p>\n

(Also: if you\u2019re using the most popular body replacement mod, which does away with the awkward fur bathing suits in favor of unadorned flesh, this building is particularly <\/em>interesting.)<\/p>\n

I had to admit, Hlaalu had a certain flair.<\/p>\n

And so, in the end, it wasn\u2019t much of a contest. I went back to Balmora, joined Hlaalu, and didn\u2019t look back.<\/p>\n

Actually, I did look back. Briefly, you understand, but long enough to remember that I\u2019d left the pilgrim I was escorting back in Vivec.<\/p>\n

Eh. I\u2019m sure she can find a spot to keep out of the worst of the weather, and maybe shopkeepers will toss her scraps and stuff. I\u2019ll get her next time I go to the city. Shouldn\u2019t be more than a week away.<\/p>\n

Next: my first mission for House Hlaalu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we last left our hero, he was floundering around in the canals like an inverse fish and paying far too much for a 15-foot boat ride. I won\u2019t summarize the visits to the...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[153,268],"tags":[152,160,300,151],"class_list":["post-1014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lets-play","category-lets-play-morrowind","tag-cahmel","tag-in-a-hostile-country","tag-lets-play","tag-morrowind"],"yoast_head":"\nIn a Hostile Country: The Saga of Cahmel (Let's Play Morrowind, Part 7) -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1014\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In a Hostile Country: The Saga of Cahmel (Let's Play Morrowind, Part 7) -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When we last left our hero, he was floundering around in the canals like an inverse fish and paying far too much for a 15-foot boat ride. I won\u2019t summarize the visits to the...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1014\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-07-27T07:33:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-16T01:07:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/lp7-1canal.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rutskarn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Rutskarn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Rutskarn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rutskarn\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=1014#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=1014\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Rutskarn\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e80b3ddb8bafad4b67a860408bbbe2a9\"},\"headline\":\"In a Hostile Country: The Saga of Cahmel (Let’s Play Morrowind, Part 7)\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-07-27T07:33:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-16T01:07:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=1014\"},\"wordCount\":862,\"commentCount\":6,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=1014#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2009\\\/07\\\/lp7-1canal.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Cahmel\",\"In a Hostile Country\",\"Let's Play\",\"Morrowind\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Let's Play\",\"Let's Play Morrowind\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=1014#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=1014\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=1014\",\"name\":\"In a Hostile Country: The Saga of Cahmel (Let's Play Morrowind, Part 7) -\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=1014#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=1014#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2009\\\/07\\\/lp7-1canal.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-07-27T07:33:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-16T01:07:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e80b3ddb8bafad4b67a860408bbbe2a9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=1014#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=1014\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=1014#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2009\\\/07\\\/lp7-1canal.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2009\\\/07\\\/lp7-1canal.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?p=1014#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"In a Hostile Country: The Saga of Cahmel (Let’s Play Morrowind, Part 7)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"\",\"description\":\"Games and essays by colonies of mutant rats, for colonies of mutant rats.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e80b3ddb8bafad4b67a860408bbbe2a9\",\"name\":\"Rutskarn\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/98018b1b99db63608152b837781e02e6101b82894a7d4a79128a12777b84825e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/98018b1b99db63608152b837781e02e6101b82894a7d4a79128a12777b84825e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/98018b1b99db63608152b837781e02e6101b82894a7d4a79128a12777b84825e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Rutskarn\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.ChocolateHammer.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chocolatehammer.org\\\/?author=3\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"In a Hostile Country: The Saga of Cahmel (Let's Play Morrowind, Part 7) -","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1014","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"In a Hostile Country: The Saga of Cahmel (Let's Play Morrowind, Part 7) -","og_description":"When we last left our hero, he was floundering around in the canals like an inverse fish and paying far too much for a 15-foot boat ride. I won\u2019t summarize the visits to the...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1014","article_published_time":"2009-07-27T07:33:36+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-06-16T01:07:24+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":768,"url":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/lp7-1canal.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Rutskarn","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Rutskarn","twitter_site":"@Rutskarn","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Rutskarn","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1014#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1014"},"author":{"name":"Rutskarn","@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/#\/schema\/person\/e80b3ddb8bafad4b67a860408bbbe2a9"},"headline":"In a Hostile Country: The Saga of Cahmel (Let’s Play Morrowind, Part 7)","datePublished":"2009-07-27T07:33:36+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-16T01:07:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1014"},"wordCount":862,"commentCount":6,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1014#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/lp7-1canal.jpg","keywords":["Cahmel","In a Hostile Country","Let's Play","Morrowind"],"articleSection":["Let's Play","Let's Play Morrowind"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1014#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1014","url":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1014","name":"In a Hostile Country: The Saga of Cahmel (Let's Play Morrowind, Part 7) -","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1014#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1014#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/lp7-1canal.jpg","datePublished":"2009-07-27T07:33:36+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-16T01:07:24+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/#\/schema\/person\/e80b3ddb8bafad4b67a860408bbbe2a9"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1014#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1014"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1014#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/lp7-1canal.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/lp7-1canal.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1014#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"In a Hostile Country: The Saga of Cahmel (Let’s Play Morrowind, Part 7)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/","name":"","description":"Games and essays by colonies of mutant rats, for colonies of mutant rats.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/#\/schema\/person\/e80b3ddb8bafad4b67a860408bbbe2a9","name":"Rutskarn","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/98018b1b99db63608152b837781e02e6101b82894a7d4a79128a12777b84825e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/98018b1b99db63608152b837781e02e6101b82894a7d4a79128a12777b84825e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/98018b1b99db63608152b837781e02e6101b82894a7d4a79128a12777b84825e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Rutskarn"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.ChocolateHammer.org"],"url":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?author=3"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1014"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6589,"href":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1014\/revisions\/6589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}