I love this mission and Dar-Ma is sooooo nice you almost HAVE to do this quest. She actually says Hi!, Good Morning! Just a generally pleasant npc to be around.
@@littlesongbird1 It happens once the quest is over and she's safe and sound back in town. She'll proceed to call you "My Hero" as a greeting, and when you leave conversation, is when she'd say it if I'm remembering correctly. and no, female characters don't get a handsome or beautiful for anyone who wants to try and swing things that way. Dar-Ma swings for the opposing team.
It's the weekend, you go to town to get some new jeans. Random shopkeeper : "I don't mean to impose but my daughter's missing and I don't know what to do"
Played the quest on near-max difficulty and those mole men are tank-y to the point the deadra dinos are tissue paper. Dumped an ass-ton of heal-other scrolls on her and shield-spells on her as they ignored me and almost broke her. Beat the quest though, my sanity says otherwise...
I came to the comments before going too far in the video to male sure she survived before finishing the video. Thank you for the reassurance, even when you didn't know you were giving it.
Recently played Oblivion, when I did this quest. I actually didn't get the prompt to meet the guy, so by instinct I attacked the Innkeeper to get the cavern key. Where I found the Daughter. I proceeded to free her, and since the escape was on daytime, we had to fight our way out of town, just thinking the town was just crazy. Great Sidequest, 10/10 for me.
This. This is how you do a side story quest. I've seen so many Elder Scroll quest videos and none of them are as thorough as this. You're telling the story. You're exploring, and talking to people, and looking around, and pretending to be in danger when you should be in danger. 11/10.
Unlike most other quests they had to invent from scratch this one was made as a reference to Shadow Over Innsmouth and attempt to resemble the book plot actually made this quest that interesting.
There is a theory that the deep ones could be vampires in the service of Molag Bal. As Hiriel said:"There was a terrible price: Blood...and worse". He also says this about them: "They dont like the sunlight much, dangerous too". In the TES: Online theres an invasion of Molag Bal. One part of his army: You guessed it...Vampires. There was rift near the location that is known as Hackdirt in the events of Molag Bals invasion. Its possible that some of Molag Bals vampire followers got caved in near Hackdirt. And since vampires are immortal: They would be around when Mosslins grandpa came in contact with them, centuries after the invasion. Plus the disposition with the people of Hackdirt is 100, if you are a vampire. Which is odd, because almost all people hate vampires...But its just a theory, so nobody knows who the deep ones really are.
Something I just realized, Etira mentions Dar-Ma by name and knows who she is, even though it's always Seed-Neeus who goes for delivery. She probably wouldn't know who Dar-Ma was in the first place.
remember that Seed-Neeus and dar-ma are Mother and daughter it likely when Seed-Neeus talked with Etira that see mention her child as some mother would it also a family business so some time the other would go
@@TheLordoftheDarkness It's literally just talking about a newsletter, so was just random text nearby that could easily be put into a language that (for the most part) was unreadable, then translated into another "unreadable" language to fit this quest. The thing wasn't meant to be looked into as much as players do now.
can you please tell me about this?? i’ve tried to look it up and i’m really curious but i can’t find anything on it, how do they act towards your character?
I didn't know much about Lovecraft when I first played the quest and never made the connection. I hoped to see whatever Deep creature they spoke of and I thought it was some burrowing/underground monster.
I remember playing oblivion as a kid when it first came out and found this quest really creepy. Oblivion has such great side quests and writing in general. Oblivion is definitely one of if not the best elder scrolls games. That’s not just nostalgia speaking. The game sure has its issues but they are greatly outweighed by the positives.
There is one other "side quest" in Oblivion that may be related: "The Sunken One". While various interpretations are possible, and likely both stories are just inspired by Lovecraft's work, both it and the Hackdirt story involve an isolated community (a town for Hackdirt, a farm for the other) believing a nearby cave and its mysterious inhabitants to be god-like in nature. It might not be linked, but I always got the impression there was some kind of connection there.
I love how you read and interract wth this game. This village was a real surprise. Oblivion is supposed to be a kind, friendly, cute-like word, and this place is so different. Everything became weird and creepy, it was so destabilizing. It's like finding Silent Hills in Nintendogs, or Roanoke Ridge (Red Dead Redemption 2) in Animal Crossing. I really loved it.
never played it as a kid, but I bought the anthology a few years ago. I didn't really like oblivion at first and mostly played morrowind and daggerfall, but when I started really playing it, it became one of my favorites.
@@macehilmatecilof4078 hmm i played morrowind before oblivion, but i could say that i liked morrowind's storyline better. But in my opinion both are intresting but never played daggerfall so i wouldnt know what it was like.
@@atomicbombshell7644 it's an awsome game, definitly give it a shot. it's my second favorite es game behind morrowind. try arena too. both games are difficult to get into, but they are definitly worth figuring it out.
@@atomicbombshell7644 despite the games graphics, its got far more depth than 99% of modern games today. You can also mod the graphics to your liking!!
It was one of the first quests I did back when Oblivion was first released. Even though I forgot basically everything about it, just reading “Hackdirt” in the title gave me the shivers. Thanks for the throwback
my guess was always Hermaeus Mora, given how he appears as a mass of tentacles, and is always accompanied by smaller masses of tentacles. He could have taught Hackdirt how to efficiently tunnel and mine. The one hole in my theory was always that blood sacrifices didn't really seem like Herma-Mora's style, I always took him for more of a "pledging the soul or the mind" type prince.
!!! SPOILER ALERT, you've been warned, do not read if you don't want possible spoilers about these games !!! - But: I must say I find the latter part of this comment rather odd - given that in Oblivion, the only quest given to you by Hermaeus Mora is literally him making you murder ANY 10 NPCs - one of each race - and trap their souls in a special gem in sacrifice to him. So I really don't get the part about "blood sacrifices not really seeming like Herma-Mora's style", since no other daedric prince in the entire game asks for more numerous and blatant blood sacrifices in their quests, and it is one of the more straight-up murderous quests in the game in general. Also (once again, I warned about possible spoilers!) in Skyrim, if memory serves me right, he, upon meeting him, straight away asks you to gather blood of the different races for him. Otherwise I think the comment and theory are perfectly valid! ( AFAIK, in my *countless* hours spent on playing Oblivion - on top of all the modding and lorediving - I don't recall finding any info to contradict this theory! :) )
@@Tyleregor4588 I can somewhat see your point in the case of the Oblivion quest (not the Skyrim one though), since a soul gem and soul trapping / sacrifice are featured. But: A mere soul sacrifice does not, by definition, require the target to die; In fact, in my understanding most soul sacrifices do not involve anyone dying at all, and are usually even moreso related to avoiding death or prolonging ones life, or f. ex as an alternative solution to murder or other drastic measures, rather than killing anyone or sacrificing their life and/or blood. Most souls are even sacrificed by, or in accordance/with permission of the owner of said soul (at least at the time, though they'll probably regret it sooner or later), as in the typical examples of soul pacts, or "selling ones soul." to name a couple. Similar examples are abundant even within the Elder Scrolls universe. Therefore I for one cannot think of these as "merely" soul sacrifices, since they absolutely require you to murder said characters. In the case of the Oblivion quest, it could be said that it involves sacrificing blood, life and soul. The Skyrim one involves only blood IIRC. So despite souls being also involved in Oblivion, I do not think it hinders my point in any way; that is: The message I replied to talked about blood sacrifice "not really seeming like Herma Mora's style", yet blood sacrifice is involved in both of his aforementioned quests - which is why the comment seemed odd, at least to me, in the first place, regardless of the involvement of souls or anything else for that matter. I could of course be mistaken or in error, as I so often find myself being, and am more than interested in information that could clear up any misconceptions I might have about these topics, but as it stands I remain confident about the matter at hand. Interesting topic, amazing games! Cheers to fellow fans. :)
Im pretty sure the specific thing they are referring to of lovecrafts work, is "the shadow over innsmouth" which has the same themes and I'm pretty sure the quest name is a big indicator in the reference too. It's a mystery/investigation and eldritch horror book. Should give it a read if you enjoy stuff like this, one of my favorites from his work.
I really love how you made this into a story, and explored as well. I was quite different with this quest. I was in Hackdirt, before Chorrol, so I already didnt like the townspeople. They were so rude and uninviting. I then met sweet Dar-ma, and when I heard she was missing in the town i knew i had to start a murderous rampage. I first killed the inn keeper and found the key on his body. Then a bunch of Brethren started attacking shortly after. I killed them and all the towns people, except Jed because he was helpful. I also thought I could get into the dark brotherhood and didnt care about the town, thought two birds one stone. It didnt work though. I guess it's ok to murder a whole town of lunatics lol.
this mission was wild n I loved it- the absolute adrenaline and fear I felt when trying to get Dar Ma out of town was like a waking nightmare: there’s a glitch where her horse for whatever reason doesn’t gallop and instead slowly trudges at 2 MPH, I was freaking out to say the least. “HURRY UP WHAT ARE YOU DOING UR GONNA DIE” but luckily no one spotted us at that point
When i was a kid, i started off with diablo, and got into elder scrolls eventually. But when you are at that age you never dig into the depths of lore and it seldom interests you as you just wanna get your quests done and move on. But watching your lore vids really reignites my joy for the games i grew up with in a new way and all the details ive missed. Really cool!
I never found Dar-Mahs' diary. Great find. I really appreciate the things how you find things in this game i've never found even after at least a dozen playthroughs!
Thanks for the "long version" :D Playing Oblivion again after years and it is still addictive! :D Just played Hackdirt-Quest yesterday and got lucky with a total stealth run. Found Jiv right at the beginning, noone was at the Inn, got Dar-Ma and Blossom out without anybody noticing us. For my roleplay the perfect run. :D Storytelling-wise I missed out on good stuff though. :)
I've played Oblivion for many years, along side its siblings... Yet, I have never seen anyone, chose the rude option... When greeting this lovable character, Dar-Ma.
I loved this video and the way you made it. I just played this mission but I didn't wait until midnight. I entered that guy's house by using open lock spell and discovered the caverns myself but I miss the explanation about what was happening.
Really wish we see these Deep ones in Elder scrolls 6 somehow, I imagine they're some kind of Fish humanoids kinda like H.P Lovecraft's Deep ones are but it would be awesome to see some Mysteries answered and some new ones introduced
Their Dadric Vampires The Deep Ones are Dadric Vampires. How do i know this? The way the people are acting and how the one person not controlled by the corrupted people explains them in vauge detail. With all these pieces ive come to the conclusion their Dadric Vampires. After I escort Dar-Ma home. Im going back to that blood sucking vermin loving ruined Town the legion should have cleansed throughly . Then killing everyone their. Then I'm going into the tunnel's To route out their blood sucking masters. Luckily ive got a sliver claymore warhammer a as well a resist disease Ring.
to Be honest with what happens in the quest they should seriously send over guard's to burn down the rest of the small town and make sure that damn cavern is completely closed off cause those people will be back at some point most likely or some other's will be tricked into doing the deep one's bidding also great video as always
The kinds of videos you make have me hooked its been 3 days and all my youtube views when im bored i find something worth listening to and then going thru game to have full understanding of quests and specific NPCS before i even play it makes this large game much easier to check off most missed things and quests. Making it more fun then if i knew nothing
If you enjoyed this Hackdirt questline in oblivion guys, I recommend checking out the movie "Dagon", which has a similar plot. Very good budget horror flick too!
That's how the story was revealed in the original Lovecraft story, to be fair. One of the locals, seemingly the town drunk, just dumps exposition about the town's history on the narrator, but he kind of brushed it off as crazy ramblings until he saw the hybrid townsfolk for himself, at which point he just straight-up fainted from fear.
Dude I’ve watched your whole Diablo and Diablo 2 videos and your storytelling makes it so I don’t have to go back to games I want to play because I’m too busy but I can still catch up with whatever I’ve missed since my little boy gaming
This was one of the first adventures I went on in Oblivion as a kid, and I was so fascinated with Hackdirt and the cult of crazy people there, and it's really what sparked my love of diving deep into game lore. I remember I did the quest a few times just to try and get every single dialog option, then I went online to try and find other information on this weird spooky town. Great to see it wasn't just me
I went to The Gathering once, wildest party ever, ICP was great, saw lots of Juggalos, but never saw any Bretheren. But seriously, When I first did this quest I was hoping I'd end up have to deal with the Deep Ones. I wish they would have developed this quest line a bit more, or maybe a DLC.
Hackdirt reminds me of an old christopher lee movie, horror hotel, also called city of the dead. A rather obscure but good movie. The similarities are striking
I also thought that the Deep Ones are connected to Daedra somehow. Because of the letters in the "Bible". This quest also intrigued me a lot;) Could You make a vid about the Deep Ones/Sloads or whatever creatures Hackdirt dwellers mentioned?
I remember taking this quest and ignoring it and accidentally spending the night in the inn randomly like a month later when I was grinding illusion magic. Was wild.
Oh man, I think I did this questline like well over a decade ago and to this day I still have not-so fond memories of it. The second I read "Hackdirt" I got PTSD. This was a crazy one.
This entire town is a reference to The Shadow Over Innsmouth, which has creatures also called Deep Ones, similarly weird-looking, mutated people, and a similar theme to Hackdirt in regards to the townspeople. The place is investigated VERY thoroughly by Camelworks, and it seems in Hackdirt's case, the Deep Ones are either vampires or some other immortal servants of Molag Bal.
I remembered coming upon Hackdirt on my first playthrough and felt creepiness surrounding the place. When I rented a room and slept there, I was shocked with the residents suddenly attacking me. Felt scary.
The first time i did this quest back in 2009 when i started playing oblivion, i was in Castle Chorrol doing that missing painting quest talking with the person who stole it. Went to rumors, and they told me that Dar-Ma was missing. I pretty much ran right out of the castle, and did the quest to get Dar-Ma back. And Hackdirt, bizarre place with bizarre people, in how they act & certainly look, for sure. So i always end up wiping out the town everytime i do a new playthrough, once i get Dar-Ma back & complete the quest.
I remember stumbling across Hackdirt in my first play thru back in like 7th grade and it scared this shit out of me lmao. The way everyone looked the same, trippy.
"A shadow over hackdirt", sounds like they bit a huge chunk from Lovecraft's "Shadow over Innsmouth." Having as well about the same overall story mostly just with a different setting or background atmosphere Im guessing is how you'd put it. It's on yt if anyone's curious it's an audio book about an hour and a half long spitting image of a almost complete rehearsed story as this but with the book showing its story origins. Edit: Apologies I was watching not listening until I caught the end of your video where you mentioned it 3yrs ago ha! Great find by the way, I've played Oblivion since release and never found this short story.
I love this quest. I think it's so sweet the way Dar-Ma calls you her hero when you save her. She even calls your male characters handsome. I'm straight but would marry her in a heartbeat.
All this is surprising to me. Whenever I've played the whole town is abandoned. (A bug perhaps?) Also, the Falmer didn't go blind from being underground. They went blind from eating poisonous mushrooms.
What if the deep ones were Lurkers or something from Apocrypha seeing thyre heavily based off Lovecraft too. If I remember correctly theres a tunnel in the cave system that leads to a dead end and you can hear murmuring from behind the stone.
Wow there's diary and you can ask about the horse from the Vendor? Here's how i did this quest. Enters chapel. picks up the bible... oooh this some satanic shit right here. Enter a burned out building Oooh a hatch Uses the hatch Oh there she is
I had a bug just now doing this quest, I went into my hotel room, and when I neared my bed, I heard a small chorus of OUTSIDER, KILL. It was every brethren in town all at once lol, it was deafening
Seema to be many items in the game that are not "Red listed" as stolen merchandise but will trigger when sold to a fence as raising your stolen items requirement.
I was happy to save Dar-Ma she is the nicest girl in Cyrodiil, after delivering her safely to Chorrol I returned that exact same night to Hackdirt and put the entire population to the sword, including Irlav, for harming precious Dar-Ma and for their past crimes, noneone shall ever be kidnapped in that accursed place ever again.
I still don't understand why you get in trouble with the law when the residents attack you first after finishing the quest. That would be self defense in your case if you slay them, so you should not get in trouble for it.
You can save Jiv Hireil. Talk to him, and instead of meeting with him later, go straight down the trap door and rescue Dar-Ma. You will still have to kill the whole town if you do it during the day time, but Jiv is the only one that doesn't attack. I haven't tried it during the night.
I love this mission and Dar-Ma is sooooo nice you almost HAVE to do this quest. She actually says Hi!, Good Morning! Just a generally pleasant npc to be around.
As Samwise Gamgee said: If I was to marry someone, it would've been her.
Very likeable. Good writing with her diary to help build her character.
And if you're a male character she'll sometimes mumble "Handsome"
@@Prince_Smugarina really? cool! Never noticed. I usually play as a male Kajit.
@@littlesongbird1 It happens once the quest is over and she's safe and sound back in town. She'll proceed to call you "My Hero" as a greeting, and when you leave conversation, is when she'd say it if I'm remembering correctly.
and no, female characters don't get a handsome or beautiful for anyone who wants to try and swing things that way. Dar-Ma swings for the opposing team.
It's the weekend, you go to town to get some new jeans. Random shopkeeper : "I don't mean to impose but my daughter's missing and I don't know what to do"
Then you fight a bunch of chtulu worshipping freaks who take umbrage with a truant argonian using their inn on a rainy night.
-random- -shopkeeper- *some crackhead
@@shinobi-no-bueno some skooma head.
“Ok byeeee”
Dar-Ma is so sweet. I was so relieved when I found her unhurt and was able to get her back home. :D
Agreed! Freaking Hackdirt heathens
I had a completely different experience. The cult creep me out and seeing the only sane person (Darma) was relieving
Played the quest on near-max difficulty and those mole men are tank-y to the point the deadra dinos are tissue paper. Dumped an ass-ton of heal-other scrolls on her and shield-spells on her as they ignored me and almost broke her. Beat the quest though, my sanity says otherwise...
I came to the comments before going too far in the video to male sure she survived before finishing the video. Thank you for the reassurance, even when you didn't know you were giving it.
she’s a tramp..and she broke my heart in thrice pieces
I really like how you speak to the NPCs as to add a level of emersion havent seen this done before good mind.
Thank you!
I so agree! It also makes me nostalgic for the game and brings back the feelings I had when doing the quest.
*immersion
@@amberlyveil8856 all language is made up
Oxhorn does it with his Fallout lore videos
Recently played Oblivion, when I did this quest. I actually didn't get the prompt to meet the guy, so by instinct I attacked the Innkeeper to get the cavern key. Where I found the Daughter.
I proceeded to free her, and since the escape was on daytime, we had to fight our way out of town, just thinking the town was just crazy.
Great Sidequest, 10/10 for me.
This. This is how you do a side story quest. I've seen so many Elder Scroll quest videos and none of them are as thorough as this. You're telling the story. You're exploring, and talking to people, and looking around, and pretending to be in danger when you should be in danger. 11/10.
Unlike most other quests they had to invent from scratch this one was made as a reference to Shadow Over Innsmouth and attempt to resemble the book plot actually made this quest that interesting.
There is a theory that the deep ones could be vampires in the service of Molag Bal. As Hiriel said:"There was a terrible price: Blood...and worse". He also says this about them: "They dont like the sunlight much, dangerous too". In the TES: Online theres an invasion of Molag Bal. One part of his army: You guessed it...Vampires. There was rift near the location that is known as Hackdirt in the events of Molag Bals invasion. Its possible that some of Molag Bals vampire followers got caved in near Hackdirt. And since vampires are immortal: They would be around when Mosslins grandpa came in contact with them, centuries after the invasion. Plus the disposition with the people of Hackdirt is 100, if you are a vampire. Which is odd, because almost all people hate vampires...But its just a theory, so nobody knows who the deep ones really are.
Wow, so interesting, looks very solid to me if they love you in the Monster form
Something I just realized, Etira mentions Dar-Ma by name and knows who she is, even though it's always Seed-Neeus who goes for delivery. She probably wouldn't know who Dar-Ma was in the first place.
remember that Seed-Neeus and dar-ma are Mother and daughter it likely when Seed-Neeus talked with Etira that see mention her child as some mother would it also a family business so some time the other would go
You ask her about Dar-ma
Fun Fact: The people in Hackdirt love you if you're a vampire. Also, you can translate that bible, but it's just gibberish.
I had no idea RE vampirism!
Interesting.
@@TheLordoftheDarkness It's literally just talking about a newsletter, so was just random text nearby that could easily be put into a language that (for the most part) was unreadable, then translated into another "unreadable" language to fit this quest. The thing wasn't meant to be looked into as much as players do now.
can you please tell me about this?? i’ve tried to look it up and i’m really curious but i can’t find anything on it, how do they act towards your character?
Isn't it the same text as N'Gasta! Kvata! Kvakis! ?
When I played this as a kid, I never knew about Lovecraft and I was stupid confused.
It was mildly creepy but cool
I didn't know much about Lovecraft when I first played the quest and never made the connection. I hoped to see whatever Deep creature they spoke of and I thought it was some burrowing/underground monster.
I remember playing oblivion as a kid when it first came out and found this quest really creepy.
Oblivion has such great side quests and writing in general. Oblivion is definitely one of if not the best elder scrolls games. That’s not just nostalgia speaking. The game sure has its issues but they are greatly outweighed by the positives.
Wow I didnt know they all stand next to the cave-in in the caverns.. Thats extra creepy.
They specialize in creepy 😅
Hail Cthulu and praise the Necronomicon u
Do they really do this? Or is it a mod? I've replayed this quest so many times & never seen them do this.
@@misspopcoin2204 dont charge in like a maniac goin on a killing spree and you will see
There is one other "side quest" in Oblivion that may be related: "The Sunken One". While various interpretations are possible, and likely both stories are just inspired by Lovecraft's work, both it and the Hackdirt story involve an isolated community (a town for Hackdirt, a farm for the other) believing a nearby cave and its mysterious inhabitants to be god-like in nature.
It might not be linked, but I always got the impression there was some kind of connection there.
I never realized that, it makes sense
There's loads of Lovecraft references in Bethesda games so I doubt it's a coincidence
yep was just thinking about how it reminds me a lot of the shadow over innsmuth, then i saw the quest update with "a shadow over hackdirt" lol
I love how you read and interract wth this game. This village was a real surprise. Oblivion is supposed to be a kind, friendly, cute-like word, and this place is so different. Everything became weird and creepy, it was so destabilizing. It's like finding Silent Hills in Nintendogs, or Roanoke Ridge (Red Dead Redemption 2) in Animal Crossing. I really loved it.
Roanoke Ridge just feels off, it feels so ancient and mysterious
I'm suprised someone will still play this game , and this game is one of the best i have ever played in my life.
never played it as a kid, but I bought the anthology a few years ago. I didn't really like oblivion at first and mostly played morrowind and daggerfall, but when I started really playing it, it became one of my favorites.
@@macehilmatecilof4078 hmm i played morrowind before oblivion, but i could say that i liked morrowind's storyline better. But in my opinion both are intresting but never played daggerfall so i wouldnt know what it was like.
@@atomicbombshell7644 it's an awsome game, definitly give it a shot. it's my second favorite es game behind morrowind. try arena too. both games are difficult to get into, but they are definitly worth figuring it out.
@@macehilmatecilof4078 hmm sure i'll try it out someday but honestly not really a big fan of bad graphical games but yeah its worth a shot
@@atomicbombshell7644 despite the games graphics, its got far more depth than 99% of modern games today. You can also mod the graphics to your liking!!
It was one of the first quests I did back when Oblivion was first released. Even though I forgot basically everything about it, just reading “Hackdirt” in the title gave me the shivers. Thanks for the throwback
my guess was always Hermaeus Mora, given how he appears as a mass of tentacles, and is always accompanied by smaller masses of tentacles. He could have taught Hackdirt how to efficiently tunnel and mine. The one hole in my theory was always that blood sacrifices didn't really seem like Herma-Mora's style, I always took him for more of a "pledging the soul or the mind" type prince.
Every dedric artifact quest you get from Hermeus Mora requires you to gather blood of some sort, so you might not be too far off in that theory.
!!! SPOILER ALERT, you've been warned, do not read if you don't want possible spoilers about these games !!! -
But: I must say I find the latter part of this comment rather odd - given that in Oblivion, the only quest given to you by Hermaeus Mora is literally him making you murder ANY 10 NPCs - one of each race - and trap their souls in a special gem in sacrifice to him. So I really don't get the part about "blood sacrifices not really seeming like Herma-Mora's style", since no other daedric prince in the entire game asks for more numerous and blatant blood sacrifices in their quests, and it is one of the more straight-up murderous quests in the game in general.
Also (once again, I warned about possible spoilers!) in Skyrim, if memory serves me right, he, upon meeting him, straight away asks you to gather blood of the different races for him.
Otherwise I think the comment and theory are perfectly valid! ( AFAIK, in my *countless* hours spent on playing Oblivion - on top of all the modding and lorediving - I don't recall finding any info to contradict this theory! :) )
@@4xle soul sacrifices not blood sacrifices
@@Tyleregor4588 I can somewhat see your point in the case of the Oblivion quest (not the Skyrim one though), since a soul gem and soul trapping / sacrifice are featured. But: A mere soul sacrifice does not, by definition, require the target to die; In fact, in my understanding most soul sacrifices do not involve anyone dying at all, and are usually even moreso related to avoiding death or prolonging ones life, or f. ex as an alternative solution to murder or other drastic measures, rather than killing anyone or sacrificing their life and/or blood. Most souls are even sacrificed by, or in accordance/with permission of the owner of said soul (at least at the time, though they'll probably regret it sooner or later), as in the typical examples of soul pacts, or "selling ones soul." to name a couple. Similar examples are abundant even within the Elder Scrolls universe.
Therefore I for one cannot think of these as "merely" soul sacrifices, since they absolutely require you to murder said characters. In the case of the Oblivion quest, it could be said that it involves sacrificing blood, life and soul. The Skyrim one involves only blood IIRC. So despite souls being also involved in Oblivion, I do not think it hinders my point in any way; that is:
The message I replied to talked about blood sacrifice "not really seeming like Herma Mora's style", yet blood sacrifice is involved in both of his aforementioned quests - which is why the comment seemed odd, at least to me, in the first place, regardless of the involvement of souls or anything else for that matter.
I could of course be mistaken or in error, as I so often find myself being, and am more than interested in information that could clear up any misconceptions I might have about these topics, but as it stands I remain confident about the matter at hand.
Interesting topic, amazing games! Cheers to fellow fans. :)
Im pretty sure the specific thing they are referring to of lovecrafts work, is "the shadow over innsmouth" which has the same themes and I'm pretty sure the quest name is a big indicator in the reference too. It's a mystery/investigation and eldritch horror book. Should give it a read if you enjoy stuff like this, one of my favorites from his work.
Also a bit of inspiration from Pickman's Model perhaps
He already said this at 21:40
@@lmSheep Tldw for people that didn't watch the video then 🤷
I always find it funny how NPCs describe locations to be hours or days of travel away when in reality it takes 90 seconds to run there haha.
F it the players have the flash power
I enjoyed eradicating Hackdirt to save her.
My only wish is that I could reach their masters to properly purify the place.
@@HanaTheSloth Sooooo true...!
seems like a place i would glasly PURGE IN THE NAME OF THE EMPRAH as well lol.
@@JeanLucCaptain The Emperor protects.
This is a very Lovecraft inspired quest. I love it. I forgot about this quest. I did every single quest in the game back in the day.
Another great Oblivion vid! Always appreciate the extra work you put into these.
Thanks mate!!
I really love how you made this into a story, and explored as well. I was quite different with this quest. I was in Hackdirt, before Chorrol, so I already didnt like the townspeople. They were so rude and uninviting. I then met sweet Dar-ma, and when I heard she was missing in the town i knew i had to start a murderous rampage. I first killed the inn keeper and found the key on his body. Then a bunch of Brethren started attacking shortly after. I killed them and all the towns people, except Jed because he was helpful. I also thought I could get into the dark brotherhood and didnt care about the town, thought two birds one stone. It didnt work though. I guess it's ok to murder a whole town of lunatics lol.
this mission was wild n I loved it- the absolute adrenaline and fear I felt when trying to get Dar Ma out of town was like a waking nightmare: there’s a glitch where her horse for whatever reason doesn’t gallop and instead slowly trudges at 2 MPH, I was freaking out to say the least. “HURRY UP WHAT ARE YOU DOING UR GONNA DIE” but luckily no one spotted us at that point
When i was a kid, i started off with diablo, and got into elder scrolls eventually. But when you are at that age you never dig into the depths of lore and it seldom interests you as you just wanna get your quests done and move on. But watching your lore vids really reignites my joy for the games i grew up with in a new way and all the details ive missed. Really cool!
I never found Dar-Mahs' diary. Great find.
I really appreciate the things how you find things in this game i've never found even after at least a dozen playthroughs!
Thanks for the "long version" :D Playing Oblivion again after years and it is still addictive! :D Just played Hackdirt-Quest yesterday and got lucky with a total stealth run. Found Jiv right at the beginning, noone was at the Inn, got Dar-Ma and Blossom out without anybody noticing us. For my roleplay the perfect run. :D Storytelling-wise I missed out on good stuff though. :)
More quality work! Thank you for the stories 🧙♂️⚔️
Five years later and it’s still great! Boosting for the algorithm 🙌 Love your work, keep it up! 🌻🐝
I'm discovering the how great the game stories are when properly told. Thanks.
Just an amazing video strange that there aren’t more comments to it great job and it’s a very interesting quest
Thank you!!
i found this place when i was a kid exploring, gave me the creeps and i felt like i did the world a favor after everything was dead LOL
I enjoy finishing what the legion started and ending each of them. Also, if you come to Hackdirt as a vampire, they have max disposition for you.
I've played Oblivion for many years, along side its siblings...
Yet, I have never seen anyone, chose the rude option... When greeting this lovable character, Dar-Ma.
I loved this video and the way you made it.
I just played this mission but I didn't wait until midnight. I entered that guy's house by using open lock spell and discovered the caverns myself but I miss the explanation about what was happening.
Nice! I appreciate you sharing your personalised route
I love how they gave the people of Hackdirt jacked up faces (even by Oblivion standards) as an homage to the "Innsmouth Look"
Really wish we see these Deep ones in Elder scrolls 6 somehow, I imagine they're some kind of Fish humanoids kinda like H.P Lovecraft's Deep ones are but it would be awesome to see some Mysteries answered and some new ones introduced
Their Dadric Vampires The Deep Ones are Dadric Vampires. How do i know this? The way the people are acting and how the one person not controlled by the corrupted people explains them in vauge detail. With all these pieces ive come to the conclusion their Dadric Vampires. After I escort Dar-Ma home. Im going back to that blood sucking vermin loving ruined Town the legion should have cleansed throughly . Then killing everyone their. Then I'm going into the tunnel's To route out their blood sucking masters. Luckily ive got a sliver claymore warhammer a as well a resist disease Ring.
to Be honest with what happens in the quest they should seriously send over guard's to burn down the rest of the small town and make sure that damn cavern is completely closed off cause those people will be back at some point most likely or some other's will be tricked into doing the deep one's bidding also great video as always
The kinds of videos you make have me hooked its been 3 days and all my youtube views when im bored i find something worth listening to and then going thru game to have full understanding of quests and specific NPCS before i even play it makes this large game much easier to check off most missed things and quests. Making it more fun then if i knew nothing
New ish here but I love how in depth you go on these ❤
Thank you kindly!
If you enjoyed this Hackdirt questline in oblivion guys, I recommend checking out the movie "Dagon", which has a similar plot. Very good budget horror flick too!
Awesome video Dash. Pretty good story, actually. I was pleasantly surprised.
Thanks mate, appreciate it! The story is pretty crazy, hey. Definitely one of my favourites
This is my favorite quest simple but oh so rewarding
Very grateful I found this channel, it’s become a favorite. I love the oblivion content, it rocks!
Probably the creepiest quest, shame they had that guy give it all away. I think it would be way cooler to find it all yourself
Yeah it's way weirder to come across Hackdirt naturally without the quest
That's how the story was revealed in the original Lovecraft story, to be fair. One of the locals, seemingly the town drunk, just dumps exposition about the town's history on the narrator, but he kind of brushed it off as crazy ramblings until he saw the hybrid townsfolk for himself, at which point he just straight-up fainted from fear.
Dude I’ve watched your whole Diablo and Diablo 2 videos and your storytelling makes it so I don’t have to go back to games I want to play because I’m too busy but I can still catch up with whatever I’ve missed since my little boy gaming
This was one of the first adventures I went on in Oblivion as a kid, and I was so fascinated with Hackdirt and the cult of crazy people there, and it's really what sparked my love of diving deep into game lore. I remember I did the quest a few times just to try and get every single dialog option, then I went online to try and find other information on this weird spooky town. Great to see it wasn't just me
I went to The Gathering once, wildest party ever, ICP was great, saw lots of Juggalos, but never saw any Bretheren.
But seriously, When I first did this quest I was hoping I'd end up have to deal with the Deep Ones.
I wish they would have developed this quest line a bit more, or maybe a DLC.
Hackdirt: A wonderful little village of the beaten path, but not overun by tourists, has rustic charm.
dar-ma is my favorite character. she's so sweet and kind, i can't wait for skyblivion so i can finally marry her.
Skyblivion won't include marriages.
Begone furry
Dar-Ma honestly seems like a real good natured lizard gal. I can see why someone would want to marry her.
@@pannynanny3832 HALF BOSMER HALF ARGONIAN LEZGO
This was the quest that really got me hooked on Oblivion.
I recently played this quest, just randomly found the hatch outside, picked it, and missed all the lore and investigation.
Hackdirt reminds me of an old christopher lee movie, horror hotel, also called city of the dead. A rather obscure but good movie. The similarities are striking
I also thought that the Deep Ones are connected to Daedra somehow. Because of the letters in the "Bible". This quest also intrigued me a lot;)
Could You make a vid about the Deep Ones/Sloads or whatever creatures Hackdirt dwellers mentioned?
They like you if your a vampire, so maybe their related to them or the dadric prince I'd vampire's, molag bal I think
This and the invisible village were my favorite mystery quests
I remember taking this quest and ignoring it and accidentally spending the night in the inn randomly like a month later when I was grinding illusion magic. Was wild.
A very lovecraftnian quest, i didn't read a lot H.P books but the influence is obvious
Maybe the real Deep Ones were the friends we made along the way.
Oh man, I think I did this questline like well over a decade ago and to this day I still have not-so fond memories of it. The second I read "Hackdirt" I got PTSD. This was a crazy one.
This entire town is a reference to The Shadow Over Innsmouth, which has creatures also called Deep Ones, similarly weird-looking, mutated people, and a similar theme to Hackdirt in regards to the townspeople. The place is investigated VERY thoroughly by Camelworks, and it seems in Hackdirt's case, the Deep Ones are either vampires or some other immortal servants of Molag Bal.
I remembered coming upon Hackdirt on my first playthrough and felt creepiness surrounding the place. When I rented a room and slept there, I was shocked with the residents suddenly attacking me. Felt scary.
Best sidequest ever. Amazing video. Thank you. ♥♥♥
Hackdirt inspired me to read the lovecraft books! One of the best quests in any game
I still love this game
The first time i did this quest back in 2009 when i started playing oblivion, i was in Castle Chorrol doing that missing painting quest talking with the person who stole it. Went to rumors, and they told me that Dar-Ma was missing. I pretty much ran right out of the castle, and did the quest to get Dar-Ma back. And Hackdirt, bizarre place with bizarre people, in how they act & certainly look, for sure. So i always end up wiping out the town everytime i do a new playthrough, once i get Dar-Ma back & complete the quest.
I remember stumbling across Hackdirt in my first play thru back in like 7th grade and it scared this shit out of me lmao. The way everyone looked the same, trippy.
"A shadow over hackdirt", sounds like they bit a huge chunk from Lovecraft's "Shadow over Innsmouth." Having as well about the same overall story mostly just with a different setting or background atmosphere Im guessing is how you'd put it. It's on yt if anyone's curious it's an audio book about an hour and a half long spitting image of a almost complete rehearsed story as this but with the book showing its story origins.
Edit: Apologies I was watching not listening until I caught the end of your video where you mentioned it 3yrs ago ha! Great find by the way, I've played Oblivion since release and never found this short story.
One of the coolest quests in Oblivion.
100% thought you were going to burst out laughing at that guys face at 9:37
Today I'm grateful for Dark Lore Dash ❤️
I was so worried about darmah
I love this quest. I think it's so sweet the way Dar-Ma calls you her hero when you save her. She even calls your male characters handsome. I'm straight but would marry her in a heartbeat.
All this is surprising to me. Whenever I've played the whole town is abandoned. (A bug perhaps?) Also, the Falmer didn't go blind from being underground. They went blind from eating poisonous mushrooms.
At about 13:00 right now and this feels like a reference to that one Lovecraft book about the fish people
What if the deep ones were Lurkers or something from Apocrypha seeing thyre heavily based off Lovecraft too. If I remember correctly theres a tunnel in the cave system that leads to a dead end and you can hear murmuring from behind the stone.
I love the idea. I hear that ESO expands on the Sload lore
Just finished re reading the shadow over innsmouth a few hours before this video popped up
Mhmm... summoning skellies...
...you like Necromancy don't you, Squidward?
When I played this quest I wasn't surprised because the title is based on an HP lovecraft story.
Am I the only one getting Oxhorn vibes here? Refreshing to see it in Elder Scrolls, tbh.
Hes a huge influence! The godfather of a new loreplay style. I wanted to take that & apply it outside of the Fallout Universe
@@DarkLOREDash Ah. Good on ya, sir. Been thinking about that myself.
@@DarkLOREDash You've done a great job!
great video! I really wish we got to see the deep ones
Me too! Imagine at least spying them deep below the earth. And cheers!
Wow there's diary and you can ask about the horse from the Vendor?
Here's how i did this quest.
Enters chapel. picks up the bible... oooh this some satanic shit right here.
Enter a burned out building
Oooh a hatch
Uses the hatch
Oh there she is
TIL: In Todd Howard’s ultimate fantasy, lizards ride horses.
I always wondered what was up with that town. This deep ones sounds scary. I cant imagine what they look like. Oh man...
"Leave before somebody gets hurt!!! You wanna talk? Oh, please :))"
I had a bug just now doing this quest, I went into my hotel room, and when I neared my bed, I heard a small chorus of OUTSIDER, KILL. It was every brethren in town all at once lol, it was deafening
Did you know that Dar-Ma has disappeared? (Skeleton malfunctions) WOWEE!
That whole town gave me the creeps rarely see that in a rpg usually you feel strong and unstoppable but thisnjust felt gloomy and off
Your narraration voice is epic. You must be the australian Morgan Freeman
This scared the shit out of me fiest time i played it
Was idling, it went dark n they attacked.. lower i went inti the depths i saw why!
Yeah. Those creepy eyes too 👀
Seema to be many items in the game that are not "Red listed" as stolen merchandise but will trigger when sold to a fence as raising your stolen items requirement.
liked how you ended the video with the ending of Dagon
This was a pretty cool quest ngl
“Oh, hello.”
Likely this was inspired by the people at Bethesda who so love Lovecraftian horror. Their influence can also be seen in Fallout 3 onwards.
I love Dar-Ma. She's a good kid.
I was happy to save Dar-Ma she is the nicest girl in Cyrodiil, after delivering her safely to Chorrol I returned that exact same night to Hackdirt and put the entire population to the sword, including Irlav, for harming precious Dar-Ma and for their past crimes, noneone shall ever be kidnapped in that accursed place ever again.
Makes me think of the Dunwich from Fallout 3 and 4.
I remember that quest...I killed everyone there, even the Argonian that was kept in the cell lol.
I still don't understand why you get in trouble with the law when the residents attack you first after finishing the quest. That would be self defense in your case if you slay them, so you should not get in trouble for it.
You can save Jiv Hireil. Talk to him, and instead of meeting with him later, go straight down the trap door and rescue Dar-Ma. You will still have to kill the whole town if you do it during the day time, but Jiv is the only one that doesn't attack. I haven't tried it during the night.
This is the most creepiest quest in Oblivion it freaked me out as a kid lol I killed all the townsfolk they had it coming lmao