{"id":1484,"date":"2009-12-14T00:53:59","date_gmt":"2009-12-14T08:53:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1484"},"modified":"2026-06-15T17:07:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T01:07:23","slug":"in-a-hostile-country-the-saga-of-cahmel-lets-play-morrowind-part-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chocolatehammer.org\/?p=1484","title":{"rendered":"In a Hostile Country: The Saga of Cahmel (Let’s Play Morrowind, Part 27)"},"content":{"rendered":"

(I don’t know why there aren’t any screenshots for this segment. I distinctly recall taking them–I think I might have actually run low on disc space. I recently cleaned out my Fraps folder, and it was filled to the brim with pointless and space-hogging crap.)<\/em><\/p>\n

When we last left our indomitable hero, he was enthusiastically soiling his trousers as he was ambushed by 1.15 graveyards full of undead. Any pretense of this being a fair fight had been dropped\u2014at this point, the game is directly, transparently punishing me for choosing House Hlaalu.<\/p>\n

5 skeletons and an ancestral ghost? All at once? With no backup? I just can\u2019t get over how pointlessly, wildly dangerous this mission is. Bottom line: this isn\u2019t a job for a lone intern, unless your house happens to employ Bruce Campbell or Egon Spengler. Fighting this group directly was not an option for me.<\/p>\n

Courageously, I ran away. Technically, I’m not being ironic there: I didn\u2019t turn tail and flee back up the staircase, I ran through <\/em>the bloc of adversaries, ducking their attacks and plunging deeper into the tomb. See, at the rate I am (failing to) taking down these skeletons, I might just as well sprint past the hordes of enemies, find the necromancer, kill him, and hope his flunkies poof away. Worst case scenario, I have to find a good place to do a U-Turn and run away again. Anything\u2019s better than being forced to take on all of these guys at once.<\/p>\n

I dash down the hallway, take the first turn I see, run up to a door, open it, run through\u2026<\/p>\n

Hm. This, uh, this appears to be a dead end. That\u2019s\u2026sub-optimal.<\/p>\n

I turn around just in time to see the hordes of enemies coming towards me like a freight train.<\/p>\n

Thinking quickly, which would have served me well about thirty seconds ago, I slam the door shut. That should keep them busy\u2014the way the door is situated, they\u2019ll most likely get stuck on it when they try to open it. Exploiting bugs for the win? Or the postponed loss, at any rate.<\/p>\n

A moment of respite bought, I begin meditating over my next move. This is a slightly more dignified way of saying, \u201cI curled up in the corner and started sucking my thumb,\u201d but I actually did find the time to go over my assets.<\/p>\n

Okay, so, large mob of enemies on the other side of that door. Technically, this fight could be doable. All I\u2019d need is an enchanted sword, a buff spell running, control over the door (so I could manage the rate at which enemies attack), and maybe a couple health potions. Naturally, my sword\u2019s dry, my buff spell has run out, the door\u2019s glitching out a bit, and I\u2019ve got no potions of any kind. So, mathematically, I\u2019m screwed forever.<\/p>\n

For a moment, my gaze lingers on my scroll of Divine Intervention. Just click on it, cast it, and I\u2019ll be safe as houses in my friendly local Imperial Shrine, miles away from this godforsaken pit. Maybe I could restock, do a few minor quests, get myself in fighting shape, then come back and do this properly. Yeah. Just step out for a while, then come back when I was ready. All I\u2019d have to do is click the icon.\u00a0 Cast the spell. Cut my losses.<\/p>\n

Run away.<\/p>\n

The words tasted bitter in my mouth, like a bitter root or some sort of particularly bitter drink. I\u2019d like to think it\u2019s a little like how ash yams taste, but I don\u2019t know; even if they existed, I\u2019d never eat something called a goddamn ash yam. Seriously, that\u2019s disgusting. Nobody wants to eat ashes, and the yam-eating demographic\u2019s slim enough as it is.<\/p>\n

I seem to have digressed somewhat. Suffice it to say: I didn\u2019t feel right just running away from this mission. I mean, okay, I kind of ran away earlier today, but that was more like a strategic withdrawl. I wasn\u2019t skedaddling halfway across the continent, I was nipping outside for some fresh air and a break from getting flensed by skeletons. And I suppose you could call my little jaunt during the kwama queen quest \u201crunning away\u201d, but I never technically started that quest. I\u2019d walked inside, died, reloaded, and reconsidered. In this case, I\u2019d walked in, talked to people, promised to bring back someone\u2019s captured sister, saved, and then realized how hopelessly outclassed I was. I can\u2019t just walk away from this, not after I\u2019ve committed. Those cowardly, lazy NPCs were counting on me, dammit.<\/p>\n

So, it\u2019s settled, then. I\u2019m going to hold my ground. Maybe running away from danger like frightened schoolgirls is sufficient for those bastards whose job I\u2019m currently doing, but Cahmel\u2019s made of sterner stuff. I\u2019m going to\u2014<\/p>\n

OH GOD THE DOOR\u2019S OPENING! RUN FOR IT!<\/p>\n

I barrel past the slightly-miffed ancestral ghost, bones and swords clattering after me as I tear down the hallway. At random, I bank down turns, run through doorways, run out of doorways, desperately trying to lose my pursuers. Finally, I turn into another dead end, a skeleton dead on my heels. I turn around, hack wildly at him\u2026<\/p>\n

WHAM. Through some miracle, my sword had a bit of juice that I\u2019d missed. Just enough, in fact, to stun the skeleton and throw him off his attack. Leaning into him, I start hacking relentlessly, trying to bear him down before his buddies show up. With a triumphant slash, I drop him, surprising nobody so much as myself, and run past as the rest of the mob arrives in a murderous conga line. Finally, I bob and weave my way to the exit, stumble outside, and rest up until all of my buffs and enchantments are restored.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a long, dull, frustrating process, but I eventually manage to clear out every last undead in that area. Of course, the princess is in another castle\u2014the necromancer (and prisoner) have set up shop further into the tomb, so I\u2019ve hardly begun to fight cheapo undead. Still, at least I can finally rest up without jogging outside and rolling into a ditch.<\/p>\n

Uh. I can, right?<\/p>\n

\u2026why is it telling me there\u2019s enemies nearby?<\/p>\n

Paranoid, I draw my sword and canvas the area room-by-room. I check everywhere, but there\u2019s nothing but dust and dead things anywhere nearby. What the hell, game?<\/p>\n

Eventually, baffled by the false positive the game\u2019s giving me, I noclip away to make sure there\u2019s nobody I missed. It\u2019s then that I see the problem.<\/p>\n

For no reason that I can currently discern, the level designers stuck a large room 20 yards below the level proper. This room contains:<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Several skeletons
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Dirt
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ambiguous Light Sources
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Absolutely No Way to Enter or Exit<\/p>\n

So, without cheating, there\u2019s basically no way to ever rest in the entry area of Odrinarn, ever. Thanks, guys. Wouldn\u2019t want to make it easy on us, would you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(I don’t know why there aren’t any screenshots for this segment. I distinctly recall taking them–I think I might have actually run low on disc space. 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