Tag: Telvanni Mouths

The Silver Staff of Peace

AND THERE IT STAYED FOR ABOUT A YEAR.

OK I know it seems bad and that Steen is really giving Master Aryon some mixed signals, but I had a very good reason for doing this! You see, the place where I store all my sentimental Morrowind items is… on Aryon’s floor. Sooo, it was only logical that the Silver Staff of Peace went straight there. And I really was super stoked to receive it. So there, no mixed signals after all! The Silver Staff of Peace got treated with deference after all. As to whether Aryon saw it that way… well…

Additionally in my defense, when I had to give the staff to Fast Eddie when I named him my Mouth, I knew exactly where the staff was. Unlike all the multitudes of people that sold/lost it. They kind of have my sympathies… but not really.

Going to pick it up to give to Eddie was probably pretty awkward, though. Imagine:

Aryon: Oh, Steen! You’re back!
Steen: Oh, hey Aryon, I’m uhh… just here to pick up some of my stuff.
*Steen fidgets around a bit, then picks up the staff*
Steen: Ah, there it is… right where I left it.
Aryon: … What are you finally going to do with that staff?
Steen: Oh, uhh, oh. This? Yeah. I’m just gonna give it to uhh, Fast Eddie, you know. He seems like a cool guy and all. It’s like, the traditional gift for a Mouth.
Aryon: So it is.
Steen: Anyway, so yeah, I’ll see you around?

AKA Eddie The Rat

Re-re-replaying Morrowind, I’ve realized that it gives Fast Eddie a very different context depending on whether you finish the House Telvanni questline BEFORE contracting corpus, versus after contracting corpus.

In the past, I did it after contracting corpus, so it went like so:

I’m some random loser doing quests for Caius, and I am not (yet) a member of House Telvanni. Caius mentions Eddie as being one of his informants, and an (unreliable) contact for the inside-scoop on Telvanni affairs. I eventually join House Telvanni, and I choose Eddie as my Mouth, because we both have a history together of working as informants for Caius and the Blades, so there’s less chance of him blackmailing me because if he outs me I’d out him. Mutually Assured Career Destruction. Eddie is ambitious with where he wants to go in House Telvanni, so he probably wouldn’t risk his own career by outing Steen.

This latest play-through, though:

I barely delivered the package to Caius, and then ran off and became Archmagister of House Telvanni, and screwed around with a bunch of other stuff (Twin Lamps, Thieves Guild, etc). I pick Fast Eddie as my Mouth on Aryon’s recommendation. Eddie serves me as my Mouth for about a year or so, and I have no knowledge of his involvement with the Blades. Eventually I get bored and come back to Caius and start doing his quests again. Eventually Caius tells me that Eddie is one of his informants. BETRAYAL!!! Now it seems like Caius didn’t trust me, so he bought off my close protege to keep tabs on me and report back periodically! And all the while Eddie never mentions a word about this! Hey, I give Aryon *my* undying loyalty (even above loyalty to House Telvanni or anybody else), so I expect no less from my own protege!

This, combined with the fact that Eddie always asks for me to help him with his chores (the chores he’s supposed to be doing *for* me), makes me think my relationship with my Mouth isn’t as great as it could be. Aryon thought he had it bad, with a protege that left her junk all over his tower, well at least he didn’t have disrespectful traitorous Eddie.

I (the player) actually do like Fast Eddie and the things he fetches for me are pretty spectacular, but the order of events in this play-through means that he is not in good standing in this Nerevarine’s eyes, alas.

Also, you guys, I like all those comics and drawings of the Telvanni Masters bickering as much as the next person. I LOVE them. They’re my weakness. But let’s face it: council meetings would just be all the Mouths bickering on BEHALF of their Masters. The Telvanni Masters are never all together by design. Partly because they DGAF about doing politician work so they’d rather their representatives handle everything, and also partly because some Master would likely slay some other Master every other meeting, and the Masters don’t want to get slain. Hence, I’ve only drawn the Mouths. So there.

Also, I’d imagine this might not be the first time one of the Masters attacked their Mouth in the middle of a Council session. I don’t think that would be *common*, all I’m saying is, I’m sure it’s happened at least once before this.