Hunding’s Oasis: pt 0, Prologue

Let the house tour begin!

The place is huge and I will be uploading a ton of pictures, so this will be a series of posts covering the house a section at a time.  They’ll all be titled in the same format and will have tags for easy searching.  I’ll create a new category for houses, but I’ll also flag the posts with the Nyx category since the house belongs to her and is part of her story.

This post is Part 0: Prologue because we’re going to start with the “backstory” of the house.  After this, the house tour posts will be in the voice of a new character, Zellur’ra – with next month’s crowns I’ll buy a new character slot just so this new alt can hold all the housing items when I’m not decorating.  Furnishings are giving me bank-space-problems like in pre-craft-bag days.  Hopefully ZOS will make a furnishings bag, but until then, Zellur’ra will be the House Steward of Hunding’s Oasis, and Official Holder of Things.

(I once saw a Khajiit character named This One Holds Stuff; cracked me up.  I’ve been tempted to name mine This One Keeps House, but the gimmick names get less funny the more you look at them, so I won’t.)

The story of Hunding’s Oasis begins after the cut.  It’s a mix of actual game lore and stuff I made up.  Feel free to ask if you have questions about any particular detail.

Luxury Furnishings

Boy, have I been goin’ through the gold.   Theoretically I’m saving money for the Sleek Creek house in Rawl’kha, but the achievement furnishings are so cool that it’s hard not to buy them.  I’m farming more, auctioning more, finishing up achievements I’ve put off… what a huge boost Homestead has been w/r/t to player activity.

What’s really kicking my bank account’s ass, however, is the luxury items.  I have no regrets – those glow-y flowers are glow-y… how can I be expected to resist that?  Also, drapes and the gazebo…

My screensaver at work is an ESO slideshow of ‘caps I take as I play.  Yesterday, this popped up:

This was taken in Hew’s Bane, during a Thieves Guild quest where you attend, yes, a wedding.  There’s the wedding gazebo, and the huge hanging drapes.  The rose trellis is also part of this cell.  That’s why those pieces are called “wedding drapes”, etc.

I’m weirdly excited about this, because I often see cool objects in special quest areas, and now that we have housing I’m looking at the world with a modder’s eye again – “how could I reuse that piece?  would it work in that one spot if I turned it on its side?”.  I’m hoping that the luxury vendor continues to pull cool set pieces from quest events like this.

Btw – I am continuing to farm Remains Silent with both my DB characters, and I got another rare furnishings drop the other night that’s not one of the three I shared before.  It’s a set of candles stuck in and dripping down wine bottles.  So there are definitely more than the 3 I mentioned before.  I will post a screencap soon and update that other post.

Enjoy your farming!

Nyx, to her sister

Sissa,

I got the clothing you sent, and it’s beautiful.  Highly distracting as well – the merchant who owns the caravan I have been travelling with hires me as backup to his usual muscle, but I spend most of the trips lounging around looking like the his concubine, and none of the other caravan travelers or guards we pass ever notice my weapons, scars, or calluses.  My tailor groused about crafting my leather armor in the Bosmer style – because she’s a racist snob – but we were right; it’s completely camouflaged under the beads and fabric of the new gown.  Thank you.

Wasn’t able to tell you before why I needed the disguise.  The reason is that I stumbled into passage to Abah’s Landing.  Please get word to Pappa to stop trying to contact Nicolas.  At best Nicolas is dead, and at worst, he turned on his own crew – I haven’t yet gotten to the bottom of the story, but you can assure Pappa I’m pursuing it.  The reason he hasn’t been able to get shipments through or get word from anyone he knows is that Nicolas’s last big heist went sideways, and the Abah’s Landing association is in ruins.  No one here knows my face, so I’ve slipped in without disruption, but if Pappa shows up he’ll be in danger.  He won’t be happy to hear it, but tell him to stay away for a while.  I believe he’s crossed paths with the Iron Wheel before?  They are crawling all over Abah’s Landing; he can’t come here.

Months of Pappa sending letters, trying to get info from merchants or mages or shady dealers, looking for shipments that never arrived… I was fencing some goods in Daggerfall and passed by a young Altmer woman, Quen, trying to convince someone to agree to partner her on a heist.  She was laughably green, obviously untested, and her job was in Windhelm, of all places; I nearly passed her by.  But as I walked by, I caught the scent of her perfume – warm spices with an ambergris base; Mother’s favorite.  The only one who mixes that specific scent is that grumpy liar in Abah’s Landing, so despite all the obvious reasons not to agree to take the job, I did.  Got arrested by the Iron Wheel and thrown behind bars, naturally, because that’s what happens with impulsive choices.

But it was worth the hassle.  Once we’d broken out, Quen finally told me her story, and we travelled directly to Abah’s via a tiny little rowboat and the help of an Argonian contact.  Green as she is – Quen, not the Argonian – she’s not incompetent, and I’ve worked with her since, though I stepped up and took lead, so things went more smoothly.  I’m established here now, and I’ll find out about Nicolas and Pappa’s other friends as I get opportunities to investigate it.

I’m including a bottle of Mother’s perfume with this letter; I know how annoyed she’s been to be out of it.  The alchemist who crafts it is every bit as sour as Pappa always said, but his stall is heavenly to be in, as long as he’s not talking.  There’s also a bolt of silk for you to play with, and there should be another present for you, wrapped up in the core of the bolt, unless someone finds it along the way.

Love,
Nyxi

Zells Note: Shown in the picture is the Song of the Night costume from the Crown Store.  Props to the devs; the detail is amazing.  The picture doesn’t really do justice to what I’m seeing on my screen.  I play with my computer hooked up to a full-size HD flatscreen television, and I wasn’t sure if I’d have to kick back the settings when I went from the solo games to online, but nope, it’s great.  Overall I’d say there’s less texture on the meshes than is offered by the Skyrim texture packs and mods, but when special clothing goes as far as to show bunching at the seams and detail cording at the edges… that’s extra effort from the graphics team.  I’m impressed and appreciative.