Morrowind talk:Ald Velothi Outpost

Bartering Hazard

I've found that when bartering in this outpost as a non-Redoran, the NPCs create a bartering hazard, as I previously described on the Ald Velothi Lore Talk page:

Despite one having only arrived in town and never before visited any of the buildings or picked up anything outside, once one sells any item to the general merchant in the outpost, some liar in another room - who obviously can't even see the item - will scream that it belongs to him or her, and every merchant in the building will run in, scream insults and death threats, and start pummeling away.

If one fails to comply with their demands that he "Die now, fetcher!" they will eventually pull weapons and use them.

If one runs away after they've nearly beaten him to death, and is naive enough to hunt down the Redoran Guard to report the unprovoked attacks, the policeman/prosecutor/judge/bailiff will commend him for turning himself in, but presumes guilt, passes a sentance, and attempts to execute it upon the victim.

If one is naive enough to defend himself against unprovoked attack, as is allowed under Redoran law, the merchants will suicidally fight to the death, and the game will announce that "Your crime has been reported." Downstrike (talk) 09:32, 28 January 2013 (GMT)

Taking a hint provided by another user there, I tried this scenario as a first-level Redoran, and confirmed that it definitely has something to do with the faction. I've also found that there are a few items that a non-Redoran PC can safely sell; probably those that one has never stolen from a Redoran, as the other user suggested.

This has occurred on more than one computer, but all were mine, so I'd like to know whether others have suffered this, before creating a Note for this. Downstrike (talk) 03:11, 21 March 2013 (GMT)

This isn't a bug. At some point you have picked up an item belonging to the Redoran Faction. Thus, when you try and sell the item to someone in that faction, the game recognizes it as owned by the faction of the buyer, and you get charged with theft. There are items owned by factions in places completely unrelated to those factions. This would happen to any faction-owned item and selling to a member of that faction, so a note is somewhat useless. Jeancey (talk) 21:32, 27 March 2013 (GMT)

As stated, I already suspected that the items in question were stolen from the Redoran faction. However, this tradehouse is the only place I know of where someone in another room can detect that I'm selling something stolen from their faction. I played this scenario through a number of times as a Telvanni, and sometimes, Sedam Omalen, to whom I was selling, didn't join the fight, (unless a reflected spell hit him), which I thought was even more odd.

Regardless whether there's a bug, there's something unexpected happening here. Downstrike (talk) 06:50, 29 March 2013 (GMT)

Hmm, I would need to test it out. I suspect there is some other entity in there who can technically see you. It'll have to wait for this weekend though. Try figuring out which item it is. Use the console command tfh and look through the items in your inventory. Jeancey (talk) 15:05, 29 March 2013 (GMT)

I may not get back to Ald Velothi immediately either. Since my current PC is Redoran and my Telvanni PC got glitched to the point of uselessness, I may need to quickly throw together a new PC for the purpose. Downstrike (talk) 21:15, 29 March 2013 (GMT)

(←) I've now tried this as a female Bosmer Hlaalu, (all my previous characters were male but I doubt that's significant), and sold every manner of clutter I had in possession to Sedam Omalen without incident, which is what provoked the response in the past, (the screams that this or that merchandise was theirs were usually about vague items such as bottles, bowls, cups, and occassionally potions). Most potions I have in possession now are homemade, but I've now bartered enough to sell most of the ordinary potions in my possession, without incident. I begin to think that this bartering hazard may target Telvannis, or possibly Imperials. Then again, my race and house faction could be entirely coincidental to what ever triggers it. Downstrike (talk) 00:32, 6 April 2013 (GMT)

You know that when you take an owned item, every item that you ever take in the future is considered owned by that person? So say you take a Silver Plate owned by the Redoran faction. You sell that to some random person. You go into a cave, and find a Silver Plate there. You pick it up, and now it is considered to be owned by the Redoran faction as well. You sell that to a member of the redoran faction, and they think it is stolen. That is how the game deals with ownership of items. If you take an item owned by a person, you can never sell that specific type of item to that person ever again without them calling you out on it. Jeancey (talk) 00:50, 6 April 2013 (GMT)

Yes, that's understood. Further, since I've always spent time in Ald'ruhn, (as Redoran as you can get), before going to Ald Velothi, and I have a habit of emptying crates when I find desirable items in them, it's also understood that I have indeed stolen the sort of clutter that I'm ready to sell off again by the time I get to Ald Velothi. That's why I made this statement earlier:

I've also found that there are a few items that a non-Redoran PC can safely sell; probably those that one has never stolen from a Redoran, as the other user suggested.

What still seems remarkable to me is that:

1. NPCs in other rooms, who can't even see what I'm selling, may scream that it belongs to them.

2. They only do so if I'm playing as a Telvanni. That they didn't do this to me as a Redoran was expected by the time I tried it, but not doing this to me when I play as a Hlaalu wasn't expected.

3. This behavior seems limited to Ald Velothi, considering all the clutter that I sell off in Ald'Ruhn - and the other Great House seats - after stealing it there.

I know there has to be a pattern to this behavior that may reveal either what the developers intended, or where they goofed, but I haven't detected it yet. Downstrike (talk) 21:42, 7 April 2013 (GMT)