Indeed. The coast of Anvil is spectacular.

Snaat Rayag just rented a horse (another of my wacky ideas) and was headed to his manor at the foot of the Jerrals. But it's getting late. So he returned to Bruma to spend the night in Olav's Tap and Tack. He's not gonna try to make any sales in Bruma though; his bounty is at already at 480. One more "I'M CALLING THE GUARDS" and every fockking guard will come after him.

Edit: In fact there were four more cawls to the guards. And then when a guard accosted him on the road Snaaty cast a zombie. 🧟‍♀️ I forgot that doing so is like committing assault. So now that he's in Chorrol's jail his bounty was 1600!

Skooma is illegal in my game, so before going to jail my skooma dealer carefully hid his 9 remaining bottles for sale in a safe Battered Crate, in Crumbling Mine.

Upon release from jail a whole slew of unused Skills got decreased by 1. His Sneak got reduced by 3!!!

And it's also summer. Mid-Year 2. When he went in it was Second Seed (still spring)!

Lothran is roaming the Anvil county. Today he visited Lord Drad's estate. Oh, sorry; the Ogres' estate. He also visited the shrine to Malacath and has currently spent a night in his tent by the shipwreck.

No ogres in my game. I'm not sure if they're there by default, or if we have to start a quest. Some of my characters use one of the Slave Houses (the less messy one) as a place to stay.

Haven't been playing any Oblivion, hence my silence lately. Enjoy it while it lasts!

Lord Drad's estate is indeed quest-related.

The silence is deafening.

The date is Tirdas, Sun's Dusk 19 and Saga just arrived at Lord Drad's Estate.

There, just pulled a PhonAntiPhon.

Well, well. Looks like Saga is where Lothran is... ish. Btw, how's the state of the chapel of Dibella in Saga's world? In Lothran's it's ruined due to an unfortunate and accidental installment of KotN. It's been deactivated but the damage is done

That's another point against KotN. KotN doesn't let you clean up the chapel until KotN is completed. I'm sure you did but did you try to force complete KotN?



What's a PhonAntiPhon? I'm still working on the Lopov thing.

No, I deactivated it and just didn't bother with the chapel. Nothing else is affected anyway so it's not a big problem.


And a Phon is just that; a time, date and location. Nothing more

mirocu: It's probably destroyed 'cause I do have Knights installed. I could change this of course, but so far never have.

macole: PhonAntiPhon is (was?) a member of our community who would post very LARGE stories sometimes, right into these Where Are You Today? threads, especially in Bethsoft's forums.. Except this one time, he posted a very short character update: literally it was "Just outside of Greenmead Cave" or some such. One sentence. Didn't even say his character's name, which was Niamh!

Maybe nobody remembers this moment, but it was pretty funny at the time. Guess you hadda be there, though.

And with Lopov, I assume you are talking of a Lopov shot. Lopov would often take pictures of his characters by placing the 'camera' dead-center, right in front of them. Here is an example, really that's one of my characters, but that's what a Lopov Shot is.
And here is Laprima.

AGain, it became a thing between us, sort of a joke. "Do you know you always take a picture with the camera dead-center in front of them? WHY?" ... I can't remember what his answer was. Probably had something to do with being able to stare into their "soul". Like, if you sit right in front of someone and stare into their eyes... It's like you gain some insights into their very essence.

Anvil county, just north of the shrine to Malacath. Morning.


There

I remember PhonAntiPhon from the Bethesda Forms. Phon posted some the most surrealistic screens. One of my favorites was a head and shoulder shot of Princess Eilidh.

I used to call her Princess Grumpy because she always looked so mad


And yeah, Phon's pics were indeed surreal thanks to a mod he used which focused on the character and blurred the background. Wouldn't want it myself, but it did look cool

Yeah, I miss Phon sometimes. When he showed up in the forums he was virtually new to Elder Scrolls. PC player. Quickly got into mods, maybe a little too quickly imo. His stories often featured an Irish brogue. Heavy accents, right into the story. I couldn't always understand what was being said, but I prefer his characters speak like this rather than plain English.

I remember Princess Eilidh as well. Another thing about PhonAntiPhon: if a character's story was told he'd delete everything. Not just all their saves, but pictures as well (pics on his hard drive, that is). Never could I do such a thing! I'd die a small death for sure if I was forced to.

Lothran is now visiting the small island east of Anvil, just in the outlet of the Strid river. He swam there from the Brena river so quite an exercise.

The area around Anvil has been ridden of most if not all Timber Wolves as they pose a threat to the Blackhorse Courier that is often seen ride through the county.

Fredas, Sun's Dusk 22: Joan of Arkay is in Atatar; I literally just fired up Oblivion after an entire month and a half without playing. Yeah, I know. Anyway, she's in Atatar.

According to the notes I made few months ago she explored this ruin to see if there's an Ayleid statue here, and (spoiler spoiler spoiler...)

Where the heck is Atatar, though? Ah, just outside Drunken Dragon Inn. 🐲 Very convenient, she needs some sleep.

Next Joan's gonna head north to Pell's Gate to pwn the boss inside Fort Homestead.
After that it's off to Hackdirt, to purge the little village of a vampire infestation. I assume this means Fort Carmala.

And after THAT she needs to return to Battlehorn Castle. She's pimped her castle almost all the way; only thing she hasn't bought is the Trophy Room. And she's not gonna buy that upgrade because it's nasty. Why would she want a bunch of dead monsters in her castle? Yuck!

I would rather want my trophy room to display the many rare items collected over the years, so agreed on that one, Renee

Yes, glad you get it. Surprised actually, as I know you are a hunter IRL.

Fredas, Sun's Dusk 22: Joan of Arkay is in Umbacano's Manor. Visiting the place, a couple weeks after killing him in that epic battle. I didn't know what to expect. Really, it's kind of sad. Jollring still stands in his butler post. Oh [censored], here he comes...

"My master has not returned from his expedition of Nenalata," Wow, no way. Will Joan be able to tell Jolling what happened? "I fear the worst, but Umbacano Manor remains in my charge, and I will keep it in readiness for his return..."

And that's it.

"You know, I haven't seen him for awhile," says Umog gra-Marad. She's the orc lady who stands in Umby's lobby. "But I'm still getting paid, so what do I care?"



Anyway, I was wondering if Umby's manor can become a home-away-from-home for Joan of Arkay. But doesn't look like that'll happen. Wouldn't be right, is Joan's opinion.

I like the servants' attitude. I'm getting paid what do I care if the boss ain't here, makes the job that much easier.
You know, I've never gone back to Umbacano's manor, that I can remember. Never had an inclination to do so but now I think I will.

--------------

Lothran has now left the summer town of Anvil for 2024 and is on his way to Bravil. Currently somewhere close to Clavicus Vile's shrine.

Say hi to Daenlin. And Nilawen. Oh, and Kud-Ei and Ardaline also.

Dunmer Paladin Saryn has just started her adventure in Cyrodiil. She helped the Blades escort the Emperor through the Imperial City’s underworks, but then, oh no!! The Emperor was murdered!! Before he died he gave her his amulet and asked her to take it to some guy named Joffrey. First things first though, she needs to get out of the underground…

Welcome to Dame Saryn!

So, after joining the Mages Guild in Chorrol, and performing the subsequent recommendation task for Teekeeus, Saryn decided to continue her quest to gain access to the Arcane University. Her next stop on that journey was Skingrad. She finds Skingrad to be rather impressive. The grand buildings brooding over narrow streets definitely gives the city an imposing feel. The local Mages Guild, however, did not make a great first impression. The head mage, a Breton woman named Adrienne Berene, acted like she couldn’t care less about the people she supposedly leads. One of them had even gone missing, and come to find out, Adrienne sent him away because of an incident with a summoned Scamp in the Guild Hall, she had just forgotten that she asked him to go. Saryn found him in a cave surrounded by disgusting zombies (that he had presumably created despite the Mages Guild’s prudent ban on necromancy). After destroying the foul undead, she brought him back to the guild hall, where Adrienne immediately berated him. It seemed to Saryn that the Skingrad Mages Guild could use a change of leadership. In the end, Adrienne did agree to give her recommendation, when she got “a free moment”. Hopefully, she will remember to follow through…

While walking around Skingrad, Saryn was approached by a Wood Elf man named Glarthir. He was clearly distraught and concerned that it wasn’t safe to talk in the street, but bid her find him behind the chapel at midnight. Eager to help someone clearly in need, she met with him and he believes there are people watching him. He asked her to investigate his neighbor, one Bernadette Peneles, who he believes is one of the conspirators spying on him. Saryn agreed, and waited outside their homes at 6am. Peneles left her home and went straight to the chapel for an hour or so before going to work in Tamika’s Vineyard, outside of town. She worked for a few hours, took a lunch break and then proceeded to work at Tamika’s house until around 8pm, when she went home. Saryn saw no indication that she was spying on Glarthir, indeed, she is very hard working and would have very little time for such an activity. Glarthir should be very happy to know that his neighbor isn’t spying on him. Saryn will let him know her findings at midnight behind the chapel…

I am sure Glarthir will be relieved, and things will go back to normal in no time.

'Hi, I'm Vigge. Mages Guild.

Vigge should be in charge, lol
According to the UESP, he is actually a higher rank than Adrienne. Guess he didn’t want the responsibility.

The Mages Guild quests are some of my favorites. Although Mannimarco was very much underwhelming.

I wish they had given Mannimarco a different voice. The male elf voice in Oblivion is just too soft for such a character. His physical appearance should also be grosser, like maybe they should’ve made him a Lich or something.

Especially that he actually was a lich... But not an ordinary lich, since he was Molag Bal's protege.

From the Wiki:
During his transformation, he lost his body and mind; he became a living, moving corpse. His blood became acid, and all manner of repulsive things happened to him, and he took on the title "King of Worms".

Charming, really.

Vigge the Cautious is the guy who'd sleep around all the time, iirc. Half the time my characters would wake up he'd be in bed with him or her. Leads to interesting revelations about the lives of the people we create.

Random factoid: Bleak Falls Cave doesn't respawn. The zombies never come back after we rescue Erthor! One of my MG characters wound up living in BFC part-time, which was perfect for her because she was also a vampire.

Yeah exactly.
————————————————————
Saryn’s first trip to Skingrad, continued…

Things took a shocking turn for Saryn with Glarthir. She met him behind the chapel after investigating Bernadette Peneles and informed him that Peneles was in fact not spying on him. He seemed confounded but relieved that he was mistaken about her. However, he wasn’t done. He then asked Saryn to investigate Toutious Sextius, a wealthy bachelor that lives in Skingrad. Saryn agreed and spent the next day keeping an eye on Toutious. He left his home at around 7am and made his way to Castle Skingrad. There he remained until about 2pm and went back home. He left again at around 5 or 6 and went outside the city walls for a leisurely ride on his horse. After a few hours he returned and was back in his house by 11pm. Again, no spying was evident. Saryn met Glarthir in the usual place at the usual time and let him know that Toutious was not spying on him. Glarthir was incredulous at first but seemed to accept the good news before issuing another task. This time, he put Saryn onto one of the famous vintner brothers, Davide Surilie. By this point Saryn was getting a bit impatient with Glarthir, but the gold he gave her for her time was pretty good, so she found herself outside the Surilie home. Davide left his home around 7am and immediately made his way to his vineyard outside of town. There he worked until around noon and then went back to his home. A few hours later, he left again and went back to his vineyard where he worked until around 9pm, when he wandered over to one of the stable buildings and had dinner. Afterwards he headed back home and arrived at around 10pm. No spying activity was witnessed. Saryn went and met with Glarthir for the final time. When she confirmed that Surilie was not spying on him, Glarthir flew into a rage saying that “they” had gotten to Saryn. Letting the paranoia and fear take control, he swiftly pulled out a battle-axe and attacked. Saryn was forced to defend herself, and was assisted by Dion, the Captain of the Guard in Skingrad. Dion had actually sought Saryn out earlier in the episode and tried to warn her away from dealing with Glarthir. In retrospect, she probably should’ve listened. Now Glarthir is dead. Her attempts to convince him that there was no conspiracy against him have ended in tragedy…

After all of that, Saryn decided to leave Skingrad and continue on her Mages Guild recommendations quest. She took the Gold Road heading west towards the city of Kvatch. As she approached the city, she turned off the Gold Road and onto the road leading to the city. In the distance she spied a man running towards her in a panic. He was an Altmer, and he was raving about daedra attacking and destroying the city in the night. He warned her to flee and then ran off. Alarmed, Saryn pushed ahead and a bit further down the road, she discovered a small camp with a handful of survivors from the city. They all shared similar harrowing stories of the attack on the city and their subsequent flight, led by Savlian Matius, Captain of Kvatch’s town guard. He was supposedly holding a barricade to keep the daedra from overrunning the survivor camp. After repairing her gear with the surviving smith, Saryn steeled herself and began her march up to the barricade…

I used the bed straight across from the door to the living quarters during Saryn’s recent stay in Skingrad. She would get up before 5am to go and watch the people Glarthir was afraid of and noticed that the Imperial guy (forget his name) was walking towards that same bed. Had she stayed in it longer he might have been in it with her! How disturbing.

I didn’t know that about BFC, but it makes sense that no Erthor= no zombies.

I think Vigge has been the subject of numerous HR complaints, given his predilection for jumping in bed with strangers without their knowledge or consent. That is why he's not the head of the Skingrad guild. I can only assume he is well connected, given that he still has a job at all.

If Adrienne is HR then that would explain a lot, lol

Saryn just went to hell and back. Literally. After meeting Savlian Matius at the barricade, he enlisted her help to retake the city from the daedra. First he sent her into the Oblivion gate to find some way to close it. Saryn fought through the hellscape, relieved a beleaguered guardsman who was the last survivor of a force sent to try and close the gate, made her way up a dark tower, and finally grabbed a sigil stone that shut the gate. After that, she helped the guards secure the area around the chapel, which was right near the city’s front gate. Some civilians and a couple of guardsmen were rescued from the barricaded chapel, one of them Saryn was able to identify as Martin, the secret son of Uriel Septim VII. He seemed safe for the nonce so she continued the battle for Kvatch. Along with guardsman Berich Inian and a few troopers of the Imperial Legion, Saryn fought her way through the chapel’s undercroft, then through the ruined streets of Kvatch, and finally to a passage that led to the castle gate house. Two of the three legionnaires died in the fighting, may Azura have mercy on their souls. Saryn and the remaining Legion trooper managed to kill a few of the daedra through the portcullis and then threw the lever to raise them up. The battle in front of the castle was brief, and the Tamrielic force pushed forward into the castle. They fought their way to the Count’s living quarters, but they were too late to save the Count. Saryn took his ring and handed it over to Savlian for safe keeping. Once the last remaining daedra was dealt with, Saryn made her way back to the Gold Road, ignoring Martin for now…

Her next stop was Anvil and the Mages Guild there. The guild head, a soft spoken Altmer lady named Carahil, sent her to the Brina Cross Inn just north of Anvil, to assist a couple of Imperial Battlemages take down a rogue mage that had been attacking merchants traveling the Gold Road. After a little cloak and dagger with her contact, an impressive young Breton woman named Arielle Jurard, Saryn learned the details of the battlemages’ plan. Early the next morning, Saryn set out east along the Gold Road, with the two battlemages skulking out of sight behind her. Eventually, she was stopped by an Alrmer woman she recognized as a guest at the Brian Cross. The Altmer revealed herself to be the rogue mage and attacked, but was no match for the combined might of Saryn and the two battlemages. Saryn returned to Carahil with the news, and she seemed a bit dismayed that the rogue mage turned out to be female. Nonetheless, Saryn had earned her recommendation. Having accomplished that, Saryn felt the need to head back to the Imperial City and drop off some things in her little hidey hole. She feels it’s about time to try and acquire a permanent residence…

Wow, Saryn's been busy!

So busy. I think we are about to take a break from traveling around Cyrodiil for a little bit and clear out a bunch of the ruins around Lake Rumare.

Hey TheCheshireKhajiit, nice job writing up saga of the Fall of Kvatch. Pretty inconsequential, but what effect did Saryn get from the sigil stone?



👼

I like how Martin is being "ignored for now". We know this game all too well, right? Urgency, schmurgency!

Gosh darn I'm craving to play some OB lately. But I just know... it's gonna be like seven hours setting it up, since my game's modded over the past 10 years. One thing I'm going to do "right" this time as I reinstall is I'm going to have several saves ready for testing: an early Renee Gade III just out of the opening sewers with barely any mods, and one of that has all the bells and chapels. Add the utility stuff (OBSE, etc.) start the game, try both saves, see if any CTDs on launch occur. Add some patches, do the same. Add some lighter mods such as Simple Saddlebags and See You Sleep, repeat. Add some broader stuff like MMM, and so on. Basically, setting my game up is going to BE my game next couple sessions or so.

That was mirocu rolling his eyes.

Not rolling my eyes at all, ma'am. I know why you have to do this and all I can say is good luck!


Glad to see Khajiit roaming Cyrodiil again. I've been slacking due to out-of-topic games but I indeed plan to get back asap!

I cheated and save scummed till I got an absorb magicka stone!

You see, there are different universes, and in each one Saryn rolled a different stone. I simply chose to continue playing in the universe where she rolled exactly the stone she needed!

Now I’ve just got to figure out what kind of sword she wants to add it to.
Some enemies are starting to spawn with Dwarven weapons now, so maybe one of those when I get one.

Oh, and for today’s update, Saryn just bought the shack in the Imperial City’s Waterfront District and is making her rounds of the local caves and ruins to try and raise enough money to furnish it.

Oh no, how could Saryn not realize that Glarthir was the real victim! Now three dangerous individuals in Skingrad are still free!

Looks like that Saryn will not only save Cyrodiil from Daedra but might even rise in ranks through the Mages Guild. I've always found the recommendations quest great and it never bothered me that you must get them all to be able to enter the Arcane University. It really feels like an accomplishment.

Maybe Glarthir's coins can be spent on furnishing the shack.

They certainly helped buy the shack, but that took most of Saryn’s gold. Now that she’s got a good base of operations, she’s really starting to bring in some good coin from hunting bandits, marauders, and the occasional vampire.

I actually buy this explanation. Well played, good sir


--------------
As for Lothran nothing much to update. He's in Bravil and that's about it

3 more recommendations down. Saryn finished the recommendations for Bravil, Leyawin, and Cheydinhal. She also solved some issues for various citizens. In Bravil, she helped Kud-Ei save her friend Henantier from an ill conceived experiment. In Leyawin, she helped an Orc woman named Mazoga get revenge for the murder of her friend, and they both became Knights Errant in the Order of the White Stallion for taking out the leader of the Black Bow Bandits, an Orc named Black Brugo. When she got back around to the IC, she uncovered and put a stop to a plot by a vampire named Seridur to hide in plain sight by pretending to be the leader of a vampire hunting group called the Order of the Virtuous Blood. Besides that, Saryn found time in her busy schedule to acquire the rank of “Warrior” in the IC Arena. She doesn’t really care about the gold or glory, it’s just good training.

Oh, and she was able to afford a black horse from the stables in Cheydinhal. She calls her “Moonshadow” after her Matron.

Saryn is currently on her way to Leyawin to clear out the Black Bow Bandit hideouts.

Saryn is now a student at the Arcane University. Time to blow some money on spells and enchantments.

Oblivion's spellcrafting was fun. One of Buffy's fave utility spells was a super weak (and cheap) frost on target spell with a reasonable radius and duraton. In dark dungeons she could cast it against walls, ceilings, floors to provide lingering light in the area.

Interesting use of Destruction! Is there a reason you went with frost for this? Would it work with fire?