Hello,
(ths is lengthy but wanted to give all info right up front in hopes of a resolution)

I am playing Morrowind. I am currently trying to finish the "Redoran Hortator" quest but it won't let me finish with Venim. Sarethi told me I need to challenge Venim to a duel. Fine. But when I talk to Venim the word "duel" does not appear as a subject to talk about. I can click on ' "things" of honor ' (sorry, forgot 1st word, starts with "a") and he responds about challenging someone and yielding. So then I get ' yield ' in my list and click on it, and he tells me he hates me, and won't ever yield, etc. But still no 'duel'. I've tried lots of other topics, but still no "duel". I started out by bribing him, way up to 90 or 100 "likes me" but still got "I will never support you." So then I went way down in "likes me" by continuing to ask over and over about Redoran Hortator--goes down 10 points every time you ask. Got it down to 0, still no "duel". I went back to Sarethi in case I missed something--couldn't find anything amiss. Asked him everything again to be sure.

MY FIX DIDN"T FIX IT:
So I thought, Sarethi did mention killing him fairly so-to-speak, so I started taunting him. Took a LOOOONG time but finally he was ready to fight. I killed him, but then got the message, "killing this person means you are no longer able to complete the main quest. Load a previous game or continue into the hell you've created."

What's wrong??

Here is where/what I am:
I am Hortator of Telvanni and Hlaalu--did them first--and Nerevarine for the Urshilaku. I delayed the Urshilaku however, because Sul-Matul suggested I go finish up any open quests involving Houses or the Temple because they will attack me afterward. So I completed those other quests, then proceeded on to the House Hortator quests. I am Level 34 (I do lots of side quests) and a Breton/Spellsword. Real early in the game I joined House Hlaalu without realizing that as a mage I want to join House Telvanni instead. So I used a cheat to add House Telvanni. (Would have deleted Hlaalu if I knew how.) That makes me a member of: Houses Telvanni and Hlaalu, Fighters Guild, Mages Guild, Thieves Guild, and Morag Tong.

I also wondered if delaying being called Nerevarine by the Urshilaku was the problem, so ran up there and got officially named Nerevarine and came back. Still no "duel".

Can somebody tell me why I am not able to challenge Venim to a duel? I'm stumped! I am willing to cheat, but would like to do it the right way.

Thanks!
Karlirah
(I took the name of the woman I killed in Balmora because I wanted her house, and her name was very close to my original. How handy!)

That's because there *is* no option to ask to duel him; he'll automatically be challenged when you ask him about being Hortator.

Make your way over to the top of the Arena canton in Vivec and fight him. It should've been made clear through dialogue that you need to go there to fight him...

Make sure you have the support of all of the other councilors. Check your journal; what is the last entry?

Thanks for responding so soon! I've been reading the forums to spend time.

The arena was never mentioned in my dialogues. All he ever says in response to the hortator question is that I will never get his support. But....I will go to the Arena and see! I do read everything in detail --I like the story, so it's not that I don't pay attention..... just so you know.

I will get back to you if the arena thing doesn't work. Thanks!!
Karlirah

As suspected, I went to the Arena and.... nothing.
However, thank you Talaran for telling me to double check my journal instead of responding as if I were an imbecile. I went through and compared to my handwritten notes: I had Garissa Llethri checked off in my notes, but he wasn't in my journal! Ack! I am wondering if somewhere along the way I reloaded a save game that didn't have him done yet. We'll never know. I am generally a very thorough, detailed gamer. I even have my own journal because the game journal doesn't let me make notes. I rarely have to ask for help and only do so when the fun is going out of it and it's time to move on--fun is the whole purpose! So anyway, I went and got his support and when I got back to Venim, the dialogue had _completely_ changed. What a relief! First thing he said, "So you have the support of all the other councilors?" Yes!

So, thanks again for suggesting I check my journal to make sure I had all the prerequisites! All fixed! Happy gaming!

-Karlirah