Tel Uvirith Shipments
Requirements: Tel Uvirith, Lower Tower
The storage room can be found in the halls under the grand staircase in the lower tower entrance. It’s the first door, facing the hall leading down to the dungeon. These shelves are designated for shipments to the tower. Upstairs is a desk with a note from Master Aryon. He’s been kind enough to ship eggs to your tower from his mine, and would like to discuss future prospects with you. Head over to Tel Vos and speak with him about “recent shipments.” He’ll tell you about Almossaren, an accountant you can hire to take care of shipments and tower expenses.
Hiring Almossaren
Almossaren can be found at the Gateway Inn in Sadrith Mora. Make your way upstairs to the main part of the inn. Near the bar you’ll find an Altmer gentleman. Offer to hire him, and he’ll offer his services if he likes what you have to say. A bribe is not out of line with this ex-Hlaalu. If he accepts, he’ll be waiting for you in your tower storage room.
Once your new retainer is settled in, ask him about “recent shipments.” He’ll inform you of the cost, and if you decide to pay, the first shipment will be available in a few days. You have to pay weekly to maintain them, but you only have to pay for the weeks you spend in the tower, so don’t worry about strongbox funds running dry if you decide on automated payments. After your first set of shipments has come in, ask again about “recent shipments” to start a quest series to establish new supply lines.
With each new trade deal, the weekly shipment cost will increase. The costs of the shipments is intended to be a late-game money sink; you’re paying for convenience. The Telvannis ingredients are particularly expensive, so you have the option to stop and restart them if you don’t want to pay that much every week.
Price List
- 500g – Minimum payment for staff wages
- 2000g – Base shipment cost
- 2150g – Ashlander trade route established
- 5300g – Gems smuggled in
- 5500g – Mournhold trade route established
- 6300g – Solstheim trade route established (6000g Factor East Empire Company)
- 8500g – Port Telvannis trade established without TR add-on loaded (8000g Factor EEC)
- 14000g – Port Telvannis trade established with TR add-on loaded (13500g Factor EEC)
- Add 500g any week you wake the servants with the service bell
♦ Establishing Trade
Each quest will send you to different places to make bargains with NPCs. Return to Almossaren after each, and he’ll point you to the next one.
The Ashlanders
The first order of business is to establish a trade agreement with the Ashlanders of Ahemmusa Camp, located north of Tel Vos near the northern coast of the Grazelands. Speak with the trader Lanabi, and he’ll ask for assistance dealing with a group of outcasts raiding his caravans.
Head south from Ahemmusa Camp and follow the eastern shore. The two outcast raiders, the Ilabael brothers, are hanging out with a pack guar. Kill them and return to Lanabi. If you’ve already killed them on your travels, Lanabi will consider the deed already done and you can establish trade right away.
Note: If you’ve already completed the original quest Girith's Stolen Hides, you’ll have already fulfilled the requirements for this quest. If not, meet Girith on the road north of Tel Vos and east of Ahemmusa Camp. Starting this quest first will ensure you’re able to complete it.[_/su_spoiler]
You’ll now receive regular shipments of hides so long as you continue payments to maintain them.
Gem Smuggling
Almossaren informs you that Odral Helvi, a corrupt Hlaalu noble residing in the Governor’s Hall in Caldera, has a firm supply of gems. He believes he’ll be willing to trade given enough incentive, even though the Telvanni are under suspicion for attempted smuggling out of Caldera Mine.
A bribe will not be enough to convince this Hlaalu to trade with the Telvanni, but perhaps blackmail will be incentive enough. Almossaren tells you to speak with Darvam Hlaren in the Ald’ruhn Council Club. He’s apparently dug up some dirt on Helvi. You can either head to Caldera and speak with Odral Helvi, or head straight to Ald’ruhn and speak with Darvam Hlaren.[_/su_spoiler]
Speak to Darvem Hlaren in the Ald’ruhn Council Club about “business” and he’ll tell you to speak with Drinar Varyon about his “business.” Apparently this resident potter of Ald’ruhn is conducting a shady deal with Helvi. Head into Drinar Varyon’s house, across from the Council Club, and ask him about his “business.” If you try to fool him into thinking Helvi sent you, he won’t believe you, but his reaction is telling enough. He will give you a note to take back to Helvi.[_/su_spoiler]
You now have enough evidence to make Helvi nervous. From here you can either arrange a trade deal or kill him. If you arrange a deal, your offer to keep quiet, pull the Telvanni smugglers out, and a bribe for good measure, are enough to convince him of your good faith – for the moment. If you kill him, the Telvanni smugglers will be able to continue unabated, and they’ll gladly supply you with gems for as long as you need.[_/su_spoiler]
Smuggling in gems brings your costs up to 5300 gold. They’ll be locked in the small vault in the storage room; the key is on the desk.
Mournhold
Almossaren informs you of a trader who might be willing to arrange regular shipments from the mainland. If you decide to visit Mournhold, visit the Trader in the Great Bazaar and talk to Sunel Hlas.
Though he’s old acquaintances with Almossaren, he still requires “convincing” to establish a trade agreement. A small bribe should suffice.[_/su_spoiler]
Trading with Mournhold brings your costs up to 5500 gold.
Solstheim
Establishing trade with the East Empire Company is not an easy task while they’re still gaining a foothold on the island of Solstheim. You’ll have to help them establish solid trade in the area before they’re willing to make shipments to Vvardenfell. This requires you to complete quests for the East Empire Company; a walkthough is available on the
UESP Wiki.
As of version 3, you’re longer screwed if you don’t build the trader at Raven Rock. Instead, the shipments are available for all possible choices in the East Empire Company quest-line. If both Falco Galenus and Carnius Magius are dead due to choices you made, you can speak with Constans Atrius to arrange shipments after you become Factor.
Trading with Solstheim will bring your costs up to 6300 gold (6000 if Factor).
Finishing the quests will open up another option to bring in mod-added ingredients. These will come from “the mainland” and include NoM and Tea Mod ingredients. If you have the TR add-on loaded, they’ll literally come from the mainland, but they’ll cost twice as much because Tamriel Rebuilt adds a ton of expensive ingredients. If you need to cut down costs, you can ask Almossaren to stop these top-tier shipments and resume them again at any time.
Abolishing Slavery
Requires: Hiring Almossaren (Tower Shipment Quest)
This quest is in place for the Twin Lamps friendly players as a role-playing option. You can set your slaves free once you find the Tel Uvirith slave key on the top slave pen platform in the dungeon deep tunnels. This key will set any slave free in Tel Uvirith, unless the slave happens to be an imported one that has its own special key assigned (like the one from LGNPC). Random escaping slaves can be freed if you can manage to calm them and talk to them – this no longer requires the key because they’ve already escaped their bindings.
You can also set Amsemasa free and give her a little gold to help her out. After setting her free, talk to Almossaren and you can tell him you want all your servants paid and free. The slaves in the dungeon will disappear (except perhaps for Ra’Sha) and random escaping slave spawns will halt. Ra’Sha will only agree to stay on as a paid servant if you prove yourself a good master. This means no feeding skooma to other slaves. If you agree to let Ra’Sha stay on, a tiny quest starts regarding her working in the kitchen.
Alternately, if you choose to capture fleeing slaves, you need a slave bracer in your inventory. These can be found in the crates near the slave pens. It’s easy enough to cast a command spell and drag them there if you don’t have one on you.
♦ Abolishing Skooma
Requires: Hiring Almossaren (Tower Shipment Quest), Dungeon Build
Ra’Sha, one of the slaves from the dungeon, will inform you about the other slaves’ skooma addiction and beg you to remove its influence from the tower to save them. You can agree to help or tell her to get stuffed. If you’ve agreed to abolish it from the tower, make the arrangements with Almossaren.
“Controlling” the Substance
You can also feed skooma and moon sugar to other slaves to increase their disposition (it will lower Ra’Sha’s). After talking to Ra’Sha, Almossaren will sell skooma and/or moon sugar on request (if you don’t abolish it). If skooma use gets out of control among the slaves, he may threaten to cut the whole tower off whether you want to or not. You can regain control over the slaves by repeatedly refusing them skooma. He has limited supplies each week, sold through dialogue for a fixed price. If you ask him to ban skooma but not moon sugar, you’ll only be able to buy batches of moon sugar once a week as the shipments come in. You must agree to pay for shipments for new stock to come in. If you ban moon sugar as well, Salmeama will beg you for moon sugar to make her puddings. She’ll whip one up for you in return.
Hire an Apprentice
Requirements: Tel Uvirith, Lower Tower; Minimum Telvanni Rank Master
Eddie will ask you if you want an apprentice once the option becomes available. If you say yes, your new apprentice will be waiting in your lower tower. The option remains open if you tell Eddie you don’t want one at the moment, under the topic “apprentice.”
Gavyn Helerim is a young and inexperienced Telvanni who is eager to please. When you first speak to him, you have the option to test him in a couple ways: you can send him to collect a daedra heart, or ask him to fight you. If you ask him to fetch for you, he’ll be gone a couple days. If you fight, be careful not to kill him. He’ll stop attacking after you beat him down and will be ready to talk again. Vampires only have the option to fight him (unless you’re using Vampire Embrace). The fight will cause him to catch Porphyric Hemophelia and become a vampire in three days.
After making him your apprentice, you can send him out on chores, train him, and travel with him. Only one chore is offered directly through the “chores” dialogue, and requires the upper tower to be built. The rest pop up during other quests and are available under other dialogue entries. They will be covered later in this walkthrough as they come up.
♦ Gavyn’s Insatiable Appetite
This quest is entirely optional, so if you’re a serious mage with no discernible sense of humor you can stifle all talk of cookies in your tower, and not have to bother with such piffling trifles. However, this will effectively abandon the quest for good.
Caught in the Cookie Jar
For the rest of us, if you poke your hand in Salmeama’s cookie jar, she’ll holler and you’ll get no cookies. Someone else in your tower can’t wait for her to leave the kitchen long enough for him to stuff his gob, and that would be Gavyn. Ask him about the cookie jar, and he’ll tell you a tale of woe and grumbly bellies. You can agree to hatch a plan to raid the cookie jar with Gavyn, or abandon the quest and tell him to stop whinging about them.
You’re Going to Spoil Your Dinner
Gavyn wants you to distract Salmeama while he sneaks into the kitchen to nab the cookies, so ask her to “inspect the tower.” It won’t work though, so you’ll need to come up with a different plan. Gavyn will suggest Meiree as a potential source of inspiration. She’ll tell you Salmeama is scared of rats. Talk to Salmeama about “rats in the cellar.” This doesn’t work either. Go back to Gavyn, and he’ll claim he’s fresh out of ideas. Something may or may not be in place to continue the quest at this point. You can restart the quest later by asking him about cookies again.
If you ask Gavyn about cookies again, he might suggest sending Salmeama on a shopping trip. If you suggest the idea to her, she’ll claim she has all she needs since Almossaren kindly provides for her. At this point mentioning her to Almossaren will make him reveal how fond he is of her. Ask him to “Distract Salmeama” and offer to arrange a quiet evening for the two of them. He’ll ask you to deliver some flowers for him, because he’s too nervous. If you do so she’ll ask you to deliver a message to meet him at 8:00 pm the next day. Deliver this message to Almossaren and inform Gavyn of the plan. At the appointed time, Salmeama and Almossaren will leave the tower, leaving you free to raid the cookie jar.[_/su_spoiler]
If you share the cookies with Gavyn the “cookie” dialogue will forever make his ears perk up like a dog sniffing bacon. If you don’t share, he won’t stop whining about it.
♦ Reward for Service
If you’re so inclined, you can give Gavin a desk for his studies. Talk to Gavyn about rewards, and tell him you’ll get him something special, then talk to Amossaren to arrange it. For a small price, Almossaren will order the desk and it will appear in the lower tower in a few days. You can also give Gavyn money, which he’ll randomly fritter away on sweetrolls and what-have-you.
