1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789

THE ELDER SCROLLS III: Morrowind
Home Sweet Home FAQ
By: ww2jacob
Version 1.00

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1. Version Information
2. Legal Stuff
3. Opening Notes
4. Why You Need a House
5. The Three Ways to Get a House
    5.1. Stealing One
    5.2. Advancing in a Faction
    5.3. Taking Over an Empty House
6. Locations for a House
    6.1. The Top Locations for a House on Vvardenfell
    6.2. Houses in Bloodmoon and Tribunal
7. Strongholds
    7.1. Hlaalu Stronghold Info
    7.2. Redoran Stronghold Info
    7.3. Telvanni Stronghold Info
8. Closing Notes


==================
1. Version Information
==================

6/8/05- Finished v. 1.00

6/7/05- Started writing FAQ.

==================
2. Legal Stuff
==================

This document may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for
personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise
distributed publicly without advance written permission or submission by the
author.

As of right now, this walkthrough should only be avaliable on www.gamefaqs.com.
Please notify me if it appears elsewhere at [email protected].

All names, locations, and references are property of Bethesda Softworks Inc.
The document itself is the property of ww2jacob.  Copyright law prohibits
plagerism of this material.


==================
3. Opening Notes
==================

Welcome to my Home Sweet Home FAQ for Morrowind.  This guide will tell you
everything you need to know about why you should aquire a house in Morrowind
and how to get one.  This is my first FAQ, so go easy on me if I mess up on any
thing.  I hope you learn something from this guide and I really hope that what
I say improves your Morrowind experience.

So, without further ado, I'll cut the chatter and tell you what you REALLY want
to know.

=======================
4. Why You Need a House
=======================

Okay, I'm sure that by the time you are reading this guide, you have played
Morrowind and you understand at least the basics of the game.  If you haven't,
I would recommend that you at least play the game and do a few quests, build up
your character, so you have a good feel for the game and how it works, as what
I'm about to dish out is for slightly more experienced players.

So, you know Morrowind.  You know where Seyda Neen and Balmora are.  You know
that Cliff Racers are annoying as hell.  Good, young grasshopper, you are
grasping the basics of the game.

Now for the big stuff.  Why in God's name would you want a house in this game?
Why not carry everything with you?  I mean, come on man, houses are for
wimps!  Real men go and carry their stuff around, and they don't sit in their
little houses all day!

Well, I guess you should know some of the biggest reasons to have a house.

Reason one:  Face it, you can't carry EVERYTHING you want to have or use around
with you all the time and expect to succeed in Morrowind.  Even if you have
100 strength, it is very difficult and next to impossible to haul everything
around.  A house makes things much easier on your character's back, and it
allows you to have the room for that 40 pound Daedric weapon you find in a
ruin when your pack is bursting at the seams with stuff that you don't need to
carry everywhere you go.  Simply put, you can leave things in your house that
you don't use that often, or that you are planning to sell, and it saves you a
ton of weight.  Not convinced yet?  Well, let's move on.

Reason two:  It makes travel simpler.  Okay, so let's assume for a second that
you listen to me and get a house.  Then, you can set a mark at your house and
*presto!*, whenever you want to return to the area your house is in, or
whenever you want to make a quick escape, or whenever you need to sell some
stuff, you can recall to your house and you will have returned to civilization.
It can also be useful for quests, if your house is close to the quest or the
quest-giver.  And finally, you can use your house as a safe place to recover
or hide if the guards are after you and you have a huge bounty.

Reason three:  It makes things more organized.  If you know that all your extra
stuff is at one place, and you know where that place is, plus you have a mark
set there, then it makes things simpler for you.  Plus, you can even have a
network of houses, where you can leave key items like potions and scrolls for
quick pick up.

So, as you can clearly see, having a house in Morrowind is very helpful.  Now
that I have hopefully convinced you of this, let's get to the real candy center
of this guide: how to get a house.

=====================
5. How To Get a House
=====================

A house in Morrowind can be many things.  It can be a "real" house, where an
NPC actually lives.  It can be a "vacant" house, where either an NPC owns it
but isn't inside, or it has no owner.  It can be an entire building, so if you
wanted to make the entire Balmora Temple your house, you can.  Finally, it can
be a stronghold, where a faction decides you are good enough for a house that
is rightfully yours.  So, pretty much any building in Morrowind can become your
house if you desire (yes, even Daedric shrines if you want) although how
useful your house is can vary greatly.

Basically, there are three basic ways to get one.

First way: Kill an NPC and take their house.

Second way: Advance high enough in a certain faction (Great Houses especially)
and get them to build a house for you, or give a house to you.

Third way: Take over an empty house.

No particular way is the best, and you can have multiple houses, so you can try
it various ways and see which one is easiest for you.  I personally think that
the first is easiest, the second is most rewarding and the third is best for
lower level players, but again, it's up to you.

===================
5.1. Stealing One
===================

So, you want to be evil and just barge in and kill someone for their house, eh?
All the more power to you.  This is probably the simplest way to go about
getting a house, as most houses in Morrowind can be gotten this way.

To get a house (or building, if you prefer) this way, first you need to pick
out one that you like that also follows the guidelines below:  (You should also
look at the "Locations for a House" section to find out what places are best
for having a house in.)

- The house has no NPC guards in it.  (In most editions of the game, all NPC
guards respawn after one game day, and they can cause problems for you.

- The house has none of the "nescessary NPCs" in it.  (If you kill these NPC
characters, you will be unable to finish the main quest.  Ignore this point if
you already finished the main quest or if you don't plan on doing the main
quest.)

- The house or building has no respawning monsters inside it.  (Certain places
in the game, such as some of the dungeons, have respawning monsters that come
back after you exit and re-enter the building.  For obvious reasons, this can
be very bad.  If your chosen location has any beasts in it at all, try killing
them and leaving.  If you return and the beasts are still dead, then you should
be okay.)

If the house fits within those guidelines, then feel free to hack and slash
your way through all the NPCs in the building.  The easiest way to do this
without getting a bounty if there are multiple people in the building is to
use the taunt/bribe trick, in which you alternate between taunting and bribing
an NPC until they attack you.  If you are doing this or something similar, then
be sure to let the NPC hit you before you attack, as that is what counts as
aggrevated assault for the guards.

Once the NPCs are dead, you can begin using the house for your own purposes.

============================
5.2. Advancing in a Faction
============================

This way is usually the longest, as it requires you to finish one or more
quests to complete, but it is also usually the most rewarding as often the
houses you get are better than ones you can steal, and they are rightfully
yours, so there is no risk of getting caught by the law for stealing or
killing.

The most straightforward factions to get a house from are the Great Dunmer
Houses.  Hlaalu, Redoran, and Telvanni will build you "strongholds" when you
reach a certain level in their house.  These strongholds each have the same
basic idea, but are built in different locations, and with different aspects
of construction and other things.  See the respective sections of the guide
for House strongholds for more details.

Other quests and factions will either give you a house or cause you to vacate
a house that you can then use without anyone caring.  One of the first quests
that you can do, the Dead Taxman quest in Seyda Neen, will open up a house to
you.  Keep your eyes out for these quests, but I will not list all of them
here because there are many, and I wouldn't want to spoil it for you, although
I will hint you that factions that generally want you to kill people as part of
their quests will end up freeing a lot of potential houses.  (Hint, hint...
Morag Tong)

===============================
5.3. Taking Over an Empty House
===============================

So, if you don't want to risk killing someone, and you don't want to take the
time to do a bunch of quests, then there is still hope.  Taking over vacant
houses is easy, quick, and almost risk-free, so it provides a good
alternative to the other two ways.

Look around.  In most towns, there is at least one locked house.  Generally,
if a house is locked, that means that no one is home and the owner is strutting
around town somewhere.  The cool thing is that if you can pick the lock to the
house, it's all yours.  Sometimes this can be tricky, but there are many houses
like this where no one is around, providing a good chance to comandeer the
house.

Also, there are sometimes abandoned houses in the wilderness or on the edges
of towns that can be used.  Keep your eyes peeled.

***Note***- If you own the PC version of Morrowind and have the Construction
Kit, then there is a fourth way to aquire a house: create one yourself!  You
can open the Construction Kit and create a plugin for the game that adds in a
house of your own wherever and however you want! A good choice for PC users!

=========================
6. Locations for a House
=========================

Now that you've decided how you're going to get your house, you should narrow
down the choices by figuring out what locations are the best for having a
house.  I have chosen some of the better locations and put down their pros and
cons, so hopefully it will make your search easier.

=================================================
6.1. The Top Locations for a House on Vvardenfell
=================================================

The locations will be arranged as follows:

Name
Background
Pros
Cons
Conclusion

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Balmora
The region capital of House Hlaalu.
Pros:
- Lots of house choices
- Centralized location
- Silt Strider port
- Mages Guild
- Fighters Guild
- Thieves Guild
- Temple
- Imperial Garrison
- Imperial Cult Shrine
- Blades Headquarters
- House Hlaalu capital
- Security Master Trainer
- Short Blade Master Trainer
Cons:
None
With no major cons and tons of pros, Balmora is probably the best place to
have a house.  It has just about everything one could need, and a huge
selection of houses to choose from.

Ald'ruhn
The region capital of House Redoran.
Pros:
- Fairly central location
- Lots of choices
- Silt Strider port
- Mages Guild
- Fighters Guild
- Thieves Guild
- Temple
- Imperial Garrison
- Imperial Cult Shrine
- House Redoran capital
- Block Master Trainer
Cons:
- Not quite as central as Balmora
- Can be a confusing city
With a ton of pros and only a few cons, Ald'ruhn is an excellent choice for a
house, but not quite as good as Balmora.

Vivec
The largest city in Vvardenfell, and the city of the god Vivec.
Pros:
- Huge selection of locations for a home.
- Mages Guild
- Fighters Guild
- Thieves Guild
- Morag Tong HQ
- Hlaalu presence
- Redoran presence
- Telvanni presence
- Silt Strider port
- Boat service
- Temple
- Blunt Weapon Master Trainer
- Heavy Armor Master Trainer
- Acrobatics Master Trainer
Cons:
- Obscure location
- Very confusing city
- Ordinators (Need I say more?)
- Lack of Imperial services
- No freestanding houses
Vivec is a huge metropolis, bringing with it both the pros and cons of it
falling under that category.  It has most everything you need, but it is hard
to travel around in, and easy to get lost.  Plus, it is way down at the bottom
of the map, which means it can take a long time to travel to some places.  It's
not a bad city, but I would prefer to settle in either Balmora and Ald'ruhn
and visit Vivec via Guild Guides or Silt Striders.

Suran
A Hlaalu city on the edge between Molag Amur and the Ascadian Isles.
Pros:
- Near the Talking Mudcrab merchant
- Silt Strider port
- Near a variety of good treasure-hunting locations
- Good loot in and around Suran
- Centralized location
- Temple
Cons:
- Smaller city
- No Guilds
- Fewer services
Suran is a nice little city, with fewer people, but a good location makes up
for it.  It is conviniently located near the Talking Mudcrab, a variety of
Daedric and Dwemer ruins, and near several key cities.

Caldera
An Imperial City with a nearby ebony mine.
Pros:
- Centralized location
- Mages Guild
- Creeper
- Ebony Mines
- Imperial Garrison
- Imperial Cult Shrine (I think...)
Cons:
- Smaller city
- Less services
- Smaller choice of house locations
Caldera is a good city to live in.  It has a Mages Guild, for quick transport,
it has Creeper, to sell your items to, and it has a great location along the
road from Balmora to Ald'ruhn.

Sadrith Mora
The region capital of House Telvanni.
Pros:
- Good choice of houses
- Mages Guild
- Fighters Guild
- Boat service
- Imperial Garrison
- Imperial Cult Shrine
- Telvanni capital
- Illusion Master Trainer
- Mysticism Master Trainer
- Speechcraft Master Trainer
Cons:
- Terrible location
- Confusing city
- Unwelcoming
Sadrith Mora is a House capital, bringing with it the expected services and
guilds, but it is marred by being so far off to the side of the map and having
such stuffy occupants.  I wouldn't recommend anyone live here unless you are
going to be spending some serious time with the Telvanni out in the middle of

nowhere.

===============================
6.2. Houses in Bloodmoon and Tribunal
===============================

If you have the two Morrowind expansions, then read on.  If not, skip this
section and keep reading.

Due to their smaller sizes, Bloodmoon and Tribunal do not offer as many
possible houses as Morrowind.  Still the need for houses in Solstheim and
Mournhold is great.  I would recommend that you have seperate houses for both,
since it can be a pain to have to take all your stuff back to your house in
Vvardenfell.

For Solstheim, the best way to get a house is to follow the East Empire quests
with Raven Rock.  After finishing these quests, the East Empire country will
build you an estate in the town.  It's a pretty nice house, built in the
Nordic style of many of the buildings in Solstheim, especially the other ones
in Raven Rock.  You could also take over a hut in the Skaal Village, and there
are also certain NPCs that you kill in the main quest for Bloodmoon whose
houses you may take.

For Mournhold, the easiest way to get a house would be to move into the first
floor of the Vacant Manor in Godsreach.  The first floor is pretty nice, but
there are some other people in the basement, so avoid that area.  As for other
buildings, I wouldn't mess with much until you finish the main quest for
Tribunal, since a lot of the places that you might want to inhabit (and more
importantly, the people you might kill to earn the right to inhabit them) are
key to the main quest.

==============
7. Strongholds
==============

As mentioned previously, strongholds are houses that the Great Houses build
for you once you advance through their ranks far enough.  You may only have
ONE stronghold, since you may only belong to one Great House.  (Unless, that
is, if you exploit the Duke Dren glitch or you use a plugin)

Each house has a different location for their stronghold.

Hlaalu: Odai Plateau (Located south of Balmora along the Odai River)
Redoran: Bal Isra (Located in the Ashlands west of the Ald'ruhn-Mar Gaan road)
Telvanni: Uvirith's Grave (Located in Molag Amur west of Tel Fyr)

There are three general phrases to the construction of the stronghold.  In
between each you must wait several days and complete a minor quest.  The
phrases are:

Phrase 1: The manor house itself is built, and you can enter it.
Phrase 2: Walls are added around the stronghold, and a few more NPCs are
included.
Phrase 3: The final bits are added, with lots of NPCs and some guards.

The completed strongholds are really nice, and they are all different in
several ways.  This is nice because it can allow you to create new characters
later on and have them complete the quests for a different Great House and
get a different stronghold.

Now, here comes my opinion on each stronghold.

Hlaalu: Has a great location, really close to Balmora and practically next
door to Hla Oad.  You get some handy NPCs as well, who can sell and train well.

Redoran: Decent location, decent features.  The manor house is a bit bigger
than the others, in my opinion.

Telvanni:  A terrible location, surrounded by lava, Dwemer ruins, Daedric
Shrines, and ocean.  In the middle of nowhere.  However, it does have a lot
of nice features, like having Dwarven Centurions as guards, and having the
Telvanni "tree-like" architecture.

============================
7.1. Hlaalu Stronghold Info
============================

Here is how to get the House Hlaalu Stronghold at the Odai Plateau:

Once you've reached a high enough rank in Hlaalu, you can go to the Hlaalu
Council Building in Balmora and talk to Dondos Driler.  He tells you that you
need two things to start the construction of your stronghold: a construction
contract and a land deed.

Getting the contract is easy, go to Ebonheart and talk to Duke Vedam Dren
(second floor of Grand Council Chambers) about it.  He'll give you one as long
as you promise to be a good person and uphold the law.

Getting the land deed is a little harder.  You need to go the the Hlaalu
vaults in Vivec and buy one at 5000 gold from Baren Alen.

Return to Dondos and he will give you directions to the construction site and
tell you to go and talk to the Orc foreman there.  Return to Dondos and talk
to him.  He'll tell you to wait a few days.  Your journal will update later
telling you that the first stage should be finished.

You can talk to Dondos again, and he'll tell you that you need to contribute
to Hlaalu by including egg mining at your stronghold.  Go to the Balmora Mages
Guild and buy a spell of Cure Blight Disease on Other from the Orc there, or
you can buy a scroll of Daerir's Blessing from Hetman Abelmawia in Gnisis.
Then, head to the Shurdan-Raplay Egg Mine, which is across the river to the
Southeast of your stronghold.  This is your egg mine.

Run through the mine, avoiding the kwama inside, and get to the queen.  Use
the scroll or spell on her, as she is blighted.  Then leave.  Head back to
Dondos, and he will want you to recruit miners.

You can find miners at Gnisis or Tel Aruhn.  In Gnisis, go to the northern
part of the town and find Tansumiran, in the Tansuriran Cave Dwelling.  He'll
agree to mine for you.  In Tel Aruhn, go the the Underground, and find the
slave pit guarded by the Orcs.  The male Dark Elf slave will agree to work
with you.

Return to Dondos, and he will order the phase two of construction.

Then, once you are Counciler or Grandmaster of Hlaalu, talk to Dondos again.
He will tell you to find someone to guard your stronghold against bandits.
Go to the Balmora Fighter's Guild and talk to Flaenia Amiulusus.  She will let
you hire Fjorgeir, a mercenary, for 1000 gold.  Hire him and head to your
stronghold.  Talk to him, and you can choose to have him remain at your
stronghold and guard it or go with you to fight the bandits.

Now, go to the cave Zainsipilu.  To find it, go south and slightly west from
the egg mine.  Enter, and kill the eight bandits inside.  Once they are all
dead, you can go back to Dondos and tell him about what you did and he will
give the order to build the last stage of the stronghold.

============================
7.2. Redoran Stronghold Info
============================

Here is how to get the House Redoran Stronghold at Bal Isra:

Once you've reached a high enough rank in Redoran, you can go to the Redoran
Council Hall in Ald'ruhn and talk to Galsa Gindu.  She tells you that you need
two things to start the construction of your stronghold: a construction
contract and a land deed.

To get the contract, go to Ebonheart and talk to Duke Vedam Dren (second floor
of Grand Council Chambers) about it.  He'll give you one as long as you
promise to be a good person and uphold the law.  Then give Galsa 5000 gold for
the land deed.

Several days later, return to Galsa and she will tell you to go and inspect
the construction.  Head to the site and talk to the Orc there.  Then return
to Galsa.

After gaining a few more ranks, Galsa will want you to hire a garrison of
guards for your stronghold.  Percius Mercius will give you guards for free if
you will save Frelene Acques from the prison in the Hlaalu canton at Vivec.

Go to Vivec, and then to the prison cells inside the Hlaalu Treasury.  There
will be a guard with a key on his desk, and two prisoners, one of which is
Frelene.  Steal the key using any means needed, and talk to Frelene through
the cell door.  You will give her the key and she will escape on her own.

Talk to Percius about it and he will agree to give you the guards.  Then talk
to Galsa and she will agree to start work on the second phrase of the
stronghold.  Your journal will be updated a few days later.

After it's done, you can go back to Galsa and she will tell you that you now
need to attract more settlers to your stronghold.  She wants you to see the
hetman of your stronghold.  See the hetman, Hetman Guls, outside of the manor
at Bal Isra.  He will inform you that the men want more wives.  Now you must
find some bachelorettes to come to your manor to make the men happy.

Back in Ald'ruhn, there are two women who will agree.  Fathusa Girethi is
downstairs in the Ald Skar Inn, and Aryni Orethi is on the streets of the city.
She tends to be found near the temple.  If you get them to like you enough,
you can ask them about "needing wives".  They will agree.  Return to the
hetman and tell him the good news.  Then talk to Galsa and she will start the
last stage of the stronghold.

=============================
7.3. Telvanni Stronghold Info
=============================

Here is how to get the House Telvanni Stronghold at Uvirith's Grave (or Tel
Uvrith):

Once you've reached a high enough rank in Telvanni, you can go to the Telvanni
Council House in Sadrith Mora and talk to Llunela Hleran.  She tells you that
you need two things to start the construction of your stronghold: a
construction contract and a land deed.

To get the contract, go to Ebonheart and talk to Duke Vedam Dren (second floor
of Grand Council Chambers) about it.  He'll give you one as long as you
promise to be a good person and uphold the law.  Then capture two strong souls
(atronach, golden saint, winged twilight) and give them to her.  She will then
begin construction of the stronghold.

Llunela will want you to go and speak with the Orc foreman at the site, so go
out and do it, and then return to her after finding him.  Wait a week, and
then your journal will update.

Go back and talk to Llunela and she will ask you to investigate the Dwemer
ruins at Mzachend and bring some schematics back to her.  Go the the ruins,
which are northwest of the stronghold, and bring her back the schematics.
Then pay her 5000 gold as the construction fee, and she will order the next
phase of construction.

After a few days the journel will update telling you that phase two is
complete.  Return to Llunela, who now wants you to find the book "Secrets of
the Dwemer Aniunculi".  She says that they are in the ruins of Galom Daeus,
and they are southwest of the stronghold.  These ruins have vampires in them,
so watch yourself.  Get the book, and return to her.

Wait a few more days, and the stronghold will be complete.  Return to check
out this unique stronghold.  It has steam centurions as guards.

================
8. Closing Notes
================

I hope you learned about having a house in Morrowind from this FAQ.  Please
let me know if you catch any mistakes or have any sugestions for this guide.
I don't appreciate attacking emails, and I will delete everything that isn't
constructive criticism.  My email is [email protected], and I always like to
know what you think of this guide.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the game!

You are viewing proxied material from gopher.endangeredsoft.org. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.