In Which Marwyth Reconnects a Dunmer With His Ancestors

And, finally, swinging back around to catch up with Marwyth on ESO. I’m instituting the same rule with Marwyth that I am with Gyllerah: that it doesn’t count as a play session if I don’t actually get the character out adventuring. Logging in to get daily rewards and just do writs doesn’t count. This is to just make it easier for me to track my notes and do posts!

So with that in mind, this is a catchup post for the small number of times I’ve actually adventured with Marwyth since late August.

Play by play

Play dates: 9/1, 9/30, 10/2/2023
Session numbers in this run: 60-62

September 1st

Ran writs
Then returned to Vvardenfell thinking I was going to do the next stage of the main plot there, but on the way into Ald’ruhn I found a side plot that seemed interesting
Dude wanted me to help him convince the Ashlanders to get him access to what he’s pretty sure is his family ancestral tomb
So I had to go get four offerings to bring to the Ashlander shrines
Three of these were easy enough, modulo my stumbling across a clearly restricted area
That got me dinged for a 250+ gold trespassing bounty, and somebody tried to attack me, too
I ran like hell and did not engage, and very carefully stayed hidden as I tried to find my way to the various offerings without going back through the restricted area
Took my time until the bounty wore off and I was “upstanding” again
At each shrine made a point of talking with each NPC tending them, and asking them about their tribes
Got on the wise woman’s good side by paying respects at each shrine, and got the pointer to find the ancestral tomb–which was difficult to reach as it was hidden behind a lava flow, and I had to fight a fetcher hive golem thing and two flame atronachs to reach it
Once inside, also made a point of being non-hostile
Greeted by the ancestor spirit there, and advised to pay homage at each shrine if my intentions were pure, so I did that and this made all the spirits in the tomb non-hostile
The main spirit told me to meet him in his burial chamber
There, he gave me a spear to take back to the guy who’d sent me, with instructions to claim his rightful place in Ald’ruhn
Brought it back to him and witnessed a pretty nice final little conversation between him and the Ashlander wise women, pledging to be respectful to them as he settled there
Nice <3
Then returned to Cliffshade for inventory managing and logged off for the night

September 30th

Finally checked in again and ran a tiny bit of action in Shadowfen
Just enough to get leveled up to 42, so I could start using Marwyth’s level 42 gear

October 2nd

Briefly RPed in Shadowfen to meet up with the vicecanon I needed to find at the Hatching Pools
Got her next objective, to find an Argonian Keeper and possibly to also disguise myself
And oh yeah, I found the Adoring Admirer, LOLOLOL

Commentary

This is a much shorter post than I was expecting it to be, but then, I haven’t played much ESO the last couple of months at all, and Marwyth even less than Gyllerah. But still I have a little bit to go over here, mostly about the quest Ancestral Ties, which I ran on Vvardenfell.

I was a little wary of Vvardenfell side plots given the last one I did led to committing murder. ;P But this one actually seemed to fit in well with Marwyth’s narrative, as it explicitly involved having to pay some respects to the Ashlanders gathered at Ald’ruhn. Who, I might add, kept calling Marwyth a House Dunmer to her face!

I feel like that probably stung–and possibly less than Marwyth expected it to, which in turn surprised her. I figure she’s been out of Morrowind for so long that she no longer carries herself like an Ashlander or talks like one. And since she’s seen the Red Exiles and fought several of them, she’s not in a huge hurry to be mistaken for one of their number either.

So I think she’s grumpily deciding to not dissuade anybody of the idea of her being a “House Dunmer”, even if that annoys her on general principles.

On the other hand, since she does have a history as an Ashlander, I felt like it was appropriate for her to make a point of paying respects at all the various shrines, and taking the time to speak to the NPCs who tended them. None of them knew Marwyth, of course. And I kinda feel like she was a trifle disappointed by that–and wondering on some level whether having been killed by Mannimarco and reborn as the Vestige has wiped her out of Ashlander history, or something.

Cue a little voice in the back of her head wondering whether her own original tribe would recognize her!

Also, I think she was probably simultaneously relieved to hear them assert their refutal of the Tribunal and dismayed about what it implies that she is in fact helping Vivec.

And really, this entire quest was an exercise in Marwyth making a big point of being non-hostile. Not only paying respects at the Ashlander shrines, but also staying the hell out of the restricted area she accidentally stumbled across and running like hell rather than fighting with anybody. And once she found the ancestral tomb she had to seek, she also made a point of being respectful at the shrines in there, too.

This let me resolve the quest without having to fight any of the tomb’s actual ghosts! And I really liked the final bit where I was able to take the spear back to the quest giver, and see him promise the Ashlander wise women that he’d be respectful to their ways as he settled in Ald’ruhn. In a big way I think that helped soothe some of Marwyth’s doubts, because even if she’s cut off from her original culture, she was at least able to do something good for them.