and Mark rings in the game. Get these spells quickly, because they are very
useful.
There are two main uses for these spells.
The first is casting Mark at the place where you store the stuff you do not
currently need and don't want to carry with you. When you are at a point in the
game where you have gathered so much stuff that you cannot move with it anymore
(which happens quite often in the middle game stages), cast Recall and you land
at that spot. Empty your inventory and continue questing.
The second use is casting Mark when you are in a far away place when you want
to take a break and go back to town. After casting Mark, use an Intervention
spell to go to a nearby city, and after being healed and having repaired your
armour, return to continue the interrupted quest by using Recall.
My main regret about Morrowind is that you cannot Mark at least TWO places, so
you can combine these two uses.
2.7 Divine and Almsivi Intervention Spells
------------------------------------------
Divine Intervention takes you immediately to the nearest Imperial Cult Temple,
and Almsivi Intervention takes you immediately to the nearest Tribunal Temple.
These are very useful spells, that can be cast from memory, from scrolls or
by using enchanted items. It's quite expensive to enchant an item with one of
these spells, but there are several amulets found in the game that have them.
Since they are fairly cheap to cast from memory, I prefer to do that. Until
you can afford that, carry a scroll with you.
A problem with these spells is that you usually don't know where you are going
to end up when you cast them. But you DO know it's at a civilized place, and
that's what matters.
After a while, you may find that the Intervention spells become a preferred
means of travel to certain spots. For instance, travelling to Ebonheart, at
first you usually pick a guild guide to travel to the Vivec mage's guild, then
either take the boat from there or walk or fly the rest of the way. However,
if you cast Divine Intervention when you arrive in Vivec, you immediately
materialize next to the Ebonheart Temple (where incidentally a lot of quests
start from).
2.8 The Vvardenfell Map
-----------------------
The map of Vvardenfell, delivered with the game, is the most important item in
the traveler's backpack. It shows how the main sites are lying relative to each
other. Road signs only show how roads lead to various cities and sites, and
descriptions by citizens of Vvardenfell usually only tell you how to walk
somewhere. The map shows you potential shortcuts. Going from Seyda Neen to
Pelagiad, following the road signs, awards you with a half-hour scenic trip
through the Bitter Coast region, but for reasons of efficieny, you better fly
over the mountains directly north of Seyda Neen to land in Pelagiad centre in
90 seconds time. And when Sul-Matuul describes how you get to the Cave
Incarnate from Urshilaku Camp, you can follow his directions to the letter and
hike across the whole of Northern Vvardenfell, but looking at the map you see
that you better take the boat to Tel Mora and fly over the mountains west of
Vos, to reach the Cave in a few minutes time. That's planning, baby.
2.9 An Interactive Map
----------------------
An interactive map of Vvardenfell lets you search for locations in a separate
program. This can be very useful for finding hard-to-spot hidden locations. You
won't need it very often, but it will be useful. You can find such a program at
http://lechmarch.mailru.com/. If that site is no longer in operation, search on
Google for "morrowind interactive map".
3. Efficient Travel
-------------------
3.1 Home Base
-------------
You will probably have a home base for your operations in Vvardenfell. It's the
place where you leave the stuff which you do not want to bother carrying with
you (such as alchemy equipment, spare weapons, books and stacks of potions,
scrolls and thieving tools). You would be wise to have your home base located
in Balmora, Caldera, Ald'ruhn or Vivec, close to or in the Mage's guild. Why?
Because all those places offer several means of travel to distant spots. They
all have a guild guide, Caldera excepting they have a silt strider nearby,
Vivec has a boat and Caldera has Folms Mirel the Propylon travel agent.
Personally I prefer Balmora because many of the early game quests start and end
there. It's easy to travel between these four places using the guild guide.
You may be tempted to turn your stronghold into your home base. Don't. The
strongholds are too far away from good travel opportunities. It's a pity, and
in my opinion one of the few weak elements of the game. Bethesda should have
provided the stronghold with a magic item that transports you there instantly.
3.2 Fast Travel options
-----------------------
While most players will have discovered the fast travel options of Morrowind,
for completeness I list them here.
Guild guides allow you to travel between the mage's guilds of Ald'ruhn, Balmora,
Caldera, Sadrith Mora (Wolverine Hall) and Vivec.
Silt striders are the huge fleas outside Ald'ruhn, Balmora, Gnisis, Khuul,
Maar Gan, Molag Mar, Seyda Neen, Suran and Vivec.
Boats are located in the harbours of Dagon Fel, Ebonheart, Gnaar Mok, Hla Oad,
Khuul, Molag Mar, Sadrith Mora, Tel Aruhn, Tel Branora, Tel Mora, Vivec and Vos.
Vivec has several boats that travel between Vivec cantons, but also a boat that
takes you to other cities. This is not one of the boats dedicated to Vivec, but
the boat immediately south of the silt strider.
While the guild guides let you travel between all five of the mage's guilds,
the silt striders and boats all take you to at most four other places.
The following chart gives an overview of the fast travel opportunities between
the places that offer them. The rows show the places you start from and the
columns the places you end up in. A "B" indicates a boat connection, a "G"
indicates a guild guide connection, and an "S" indicates a silt strider
connection. This chart is almost diagonally mirror-imaged. The only exception
is the connection between Vos and Sadrith Mora, which is one-way only.
To: |A |B |C |D |E |G |G |H |K |M |M |S |S |S |T |T |T |V |V |
|l |a |a |a |b |n |n |l |h |a |o |a |e |u |e |e |e |i |o |
|d |l |l |g |o |a |i |a |u |a |l |d |y |r |l |l |l |v |s |
|' |m |d |o |n |a |s | |u |r |a |r |d |a | | | |e | |
|r |o |e |n |h |r |i |O |l | |g |i |a |n |A |B |M |c | |
|u |r |r | |e | |s |a | |G | |t | | |r |r |o | | |
|h |a |a |F |a |M | |d | |a |M |h |N | |u |a |r | | |
|n | | |e |r |o | | | |n |a | |e | |h |n |a | | |
| | | |l |t |k | | | | |r |M |e | |n |o | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | |o |n | | |r | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | |r | | | |a | | | |
From: | | | | | | | | | | | |a | | | | | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ald'ruhn | |GS|G | | | |S | |S |S | |G | | | | | |G | |
Balmora |GS| |G | | | | | | | | |G |S |S | | | |GS| |
Caldera |G |G | | | | | | | | | |G | | | | | |G | |
Dagon Fel | | | | | | | | |B | | |B | | |B | |B | | |
Ebonheart | | | | | | | |B | | | |B | | | |B | |B | |
Gnaar Mok | | | | | | | |B |B | | | | | | | | | | |
Gnisis |S | | | | | | | |S |S | | |S | | | | | | |
Hla Oad | | | | |B |B | | | | |B | | | | | | |B | |
Khuul |S | | |B | |B |S | | |S | | | | | | | | | |
Maar Gan |S | | | | | |S | |S | | | | | | | | | | |
Molag Mar | | | | | | | |B | | | | | |S | |B | |BS| |
Sadrith Mora |G |G |G |B |B | | | | | | | | | | |B |B |G | |
Seyda Neen | |S | | | | |S | | | | | | |S | | | |S | |
Suran | |S | | | | | | | | |S | |S | | | | |S | |
Tel Aruhn | | | |B | | | | | | | | | | | | |B | |B |
Tel Branora | | | | |B | | | | | |B |B | | | | | |B | |
Tel Mora | | | |B | | | | | | | |B | | |B | | | |B |
Vivec |G |GS|G | |B | | |B | | |BS|G |S |S | |B | | | |
Vos | | | | | | | | | | | |B | | |B | |B | | |
Note that there are no fast travel connections to Ald Velothi (closest is
Gnisis), Ghostgate (closest is Ald'ruhn), Pelagiad (closest is Seyda Neen), Tel
Fyr (closest is Sadrith Mora, arriving at Wolverine Hall with a guild guide)
and Tel Vos (but Vos is next door).
3.3 Getting There From Your Home Base
-------------------------------------
I assume you want to reach a certain spot starting from your home base in one
of the four locations I mentioned earlier in the guide. If your home base is in
another location, or you start out from another location, usually the first
part of your trip will be using a guild guide, and since guild guides are
available in the four locations I find most suitable for a home base, you can
still use the list.
Of course, once you have a bit of experience with the game, you can determine
your own efficient route by using the Vvardenfell map and the list of Fast
Travel Options from the previous paragraph. For instance, if you are in
Ebonheart and want to travel to Vos, you can use a boat for the whole trip;
there is no need to use a guild guide first. But most of the time you will be
travelling starting from your home base, and that's when this list will come in
handy.
The fastest way to reach other game locations, starting at your home base in
Ald'ruhn, Balmora, Caldera or Vivec, according to my experience, is described
below. The list is in alphabetical order and I let the items refer to each
other. For instance, the description for Ahemmusa Camp says "Go to Vos and fly
north". Look up "Vos" to find the best way to reach that location.
Ahemmusa Camp: Go to Vos and fly north.
Ald Velothi: Go to Gnisis and fly north.
Ald'ruhn: Use the guild guide to travel to the Ald'ruhn mage's guild.
Bal Isra: Go to Maar Gan and fly south-west.
Balmora: Use the guild guide to travel to the Balmora mage's guild.
Caldera: Use the guild guide to travel to the Caldera mage's guild.
Cave Incarnate: Go to Vos, fly west over the mountains, follow the foyada south
and find the cave where the foyada turns north. Alternatively, use propylon
travel to go to Rotheran and fly south to the entrance of the foyada which
leads to the cave.
Dagon Fel: Go to Sadrith Mora and take the boat.
Dagoth Ur: Go to Ghostgate and fly north.
Dren Plantation: Go to Vivec (north) and fly north-north-west.
Ebonheart: Go to Vivec (north) and cast Divine Intervention or take the boat.
Erabenimsum Camp: Go to Tel Fyr and fly south-west.
Fort Buckmoth: Go to Ald'ruhn or Caldera and cast Divine Intervention, or go
to Ald'ruhn and fly south.
Fort Moonmoth: Go to Balmora and cast Divine Intervention or fly east.
Ghostgate: Go to Ald'ruhn and fly east, following the ghostfence.
Gnaar Mok: Go to Hla Oad or Khuul and take the boat.
Gnisis: Go to Ald'ruhn and take the silt strider.
Hla Oad: Go to Ebonheart or Vivec (north) and take the boat.
Holamayan: Go to Ebonheart and take the second boat (when you are at a certain
stage in the game).
Khuul: Go to Ald'ruhn and take the silt strider.
Kogoruhn: Use propylon travel to go to Falasmaryon and fly east.
Maar Gan: Go to Ald'ruhn and take the silt strider.
Molag Mar: Go to Wolverine Hall and cast Almsivi Intervention, or go to Vivec
(north) and take the silt strider.
Odai Plateau: Go to Hla Oad and fly east.
Pelagiad: Go to Seyda Neen and fly over the mountains to the north.
Sadrith Mora: Go to Wolverine Hall, leave the fort through the door one storey
below the mage's guild and fly north.
Seyda Neen: Go to Balmora and take the silt strider.
Suran: Go to Balmora or Vivec (north) and take the silt strider.
Tel Aruhn: Go to Sadrith Mora and take the boat.
Tel Branora: Go to Sadrith Mora and take the boat.
Tel Fyr: Go to Wolverine Hall and fly west-south-west.
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