Happy Anniversary!


I'm with the Ladies on this one. Being the Guardian has a lot of rules.

20250629 A change of heart. Gweden/RedDragon, Ayleid Steps

After declining the transcendent Ayleids offer to assume the role of Fefandor’s Guardian my companions asked, “So what do we do now?”

Well, the Ayleids gave us 24 hours before we had to vacate I was thinking we could spend the night here and travel to that Leyawiin to meet up with Taminwe in the morning. Taminwe should be back from her trip to Senchal by now. By the looks on their faces I don’t think that’s what they had in mind.

Early the next morning after breakfast I sang the words of the spell to send us to our home in Leyawiin.

Saturday night I was downtown
Working for the FBI
Sitting in a nest of bad men
Whiskey bottles piling high

Taminwe wasn’t at the Five Claws Lodge when we arrived which gave us time to visit the local shops to do some trading. That wasn’t planned it just happened. Witseidutsei had barely uttered the words ‘hadn’t seen her” when I found myself being dragged and pushed out the door. With Kaleah locked on my right arm, Elenya a hold of my left and Pym pushing from behind I had no choice but to go shopping.

Sometimes I wonder what do the ladies find more thrilling, dungeon diving or merchant menacing?
Later that afternoon we were standing outside Five Claws Lodge, Taminwe still had not arrived. Had we missed her, did something go wrong?

Was about to call it a day and go back to the house when I noticed a long cool woman in a black dress flowing up the street like a panther on the prowl. Every male she passed turned to watch as she passed by, ‘cause I’m telling ya that long cool woman had it all.

With eyes wide open and my temperature starting to rise, I was in a bad mess. As she came closer the golden face of Taminwe, rising regally above the black robe, turned toward us.

A soothing dark voice at my side said, “Hope you’re able, Feache. It’s hard to figure Altmer these days. They could be Ayleid in disguise.”

That scary thought brought me back to my senses.

The woman in red err, black, Taminwe hailed us and approached.

Entering Five Claws, with the Ladies standing close for support I told Taminwe “You can turn the charm spell off. It won’t work on me, I’m immune.”

Taminwe gave a little snicker of disbelief as we sat down. Over a bottle of wine Taminwe updated us on her mission to Senchal.

It was like listening to a reading of one of Crassius Curio’s plays. Barely touching our drinks, we were held speechless as Taminwe unabashedly gave a detailed account of how she used her special skills to get the pretender, the grandson of the late Cassynder, to talk. Coached by his uncle, who had married a cousin of Alessia Caro, the pretender was to present forged papers establishing his claim to the throne. Unfortunately, once the plot was uncovered the uncle managed to escape apprehension.

Handing Taminwe the forged document and the fake seal, we agreed that although the mastermind is on the run the current investigation can be closed. There's one less candidate vying for the succession.

We were thinking of joining Taminwe on the trip to the Imperial City when I noticed Pym had lost her sword. She had dropped it somewhere in ancient ruins of Fefandor. The Assassin’s Blade, said to be forged of adamantium in the fires of Dagon’s Deadlands, is worth the effort of going back to retrieve. Using the mark I had set in the Guardian’s Hub room, we traveled back to the Fefandor crater to search for Pym’s adamantium sword.

It took some time, but we found the Assassin’s Blade where Pym had dropped it. It was badly damaged and in needed of repair.

When I suggested to Pym that she put damaged equipment in her pack instead of throwing things away, she put her hands on her hips and gave me a look that said, “Well it’s your fault for not paying attention to me.”

(Yes, Pym lost her sword somewhere in Fefandor. No, I didn’t find it. I had to load a previous save. Then I decided I wanted to see what happens if I agree to the Guardianship. I quickly found out. The very next morning I received the massage that the Core had run low on Deathgems.)

Tired after a long day we thought we’d spend the night at the Guardian’s residence, if it was available. Exiting Fefandor we found Bertold and Elsabeth tending to their garden. We stopped to say hello and to see how things were going.

The Selatuse’s were doing well. Everything seemed to be fine. Their son, Ervvin’s body was buried next to their house. We had a long conversation in which they filled in details that were kept secret before. They just had one little favor to ask.

Captain Tertia Aurum and her guardsmen have not yet arrived, and the facility is running short of Deathgems needed to keep the place running. Bertold asked if I would be willing to go fill some Deathgems for him. After I agreed to short time service Bertold told me where to pick-up empty Deathgems and where to find the Core for the filled Deathgems.

He even suggested his favorite location for undead harvesting, the lost Imperial Catacombs. To get there use a stepstone located in the Imperial Palace District. The stepstone is hidden by bushes along the northern wall of the Green Emperor Way between the Elven Gardens and the Market District gates.

We quickly gathered 48 Deathgems (all we could find), traveled to the Imperial City, located the Green Emperor Way stepstone, and entered the Imperial Catacombs. There are 8 levels to the catacombs. We only had to cover the first three before all our Deathgems had been filled with the souls of the undead.

With harvesting complete, we teleported back to Fefandor and deposited the filled Deathgems in the Core Souls Container. With the Core filled with enough to run for the next thirty days, we leave it for Bertold to take care of things.

Well, that wasn’t too hard. Discussions with Bertold and Elsabeth gave us further understanding of the relationship between them, Ervvin, and the transcendent Ayleids. The Selatuse are nice people but that doesn’t keep me from have doubts about this operation.

A lyrically musical episode!

’Sometimes I wonder what do the ladies find more thrilling, dungeon diving or merchant menacing?’
- - Every fashion-savvy adventuress knows the answer is 'Both!'

Taminwe seems a master of illusion and feminine wile.

Pym! Take care of your sword and it will take care of you!

I still agree the crew was wise to turn down that Guardian gig.

20250713 Merendin - I-SL, Bloodrun Cave - OOO

We left Fefandor Crater using the Stranded Light teleport spell to travel to Merendin. The Stranded Light is running fairly smoothly now. No real pressing matters that need attending to, at the moment.

As we always do, Kanaane and I discussed the paintings that my Ladies and I discovered since our last visit to Merendin. Kanaane informed me that I had found all of her paintings and paintings from other artists as well. She then mentioned her thoughts of hanging paintings in Merendin. Great idea, this place needs something to brighten up the cold stone walls.

(Imagine that, working a quest when I didn’t even know I was questing)

Asking around, I found out that not everyone shared that opinion. While most felt that the paintings added to the harmony of Merendin, Karashivuel felt they were unnecessary, and Tesserayiel had mixed feelings.

For Tesserayiel the Zendria painting brought back found memories of beaches, sunsets, and peace. It was a place of great importance to Tesserayiel, a place and time where she spent contemplating her existence, and what she wished to achieve.

But, Tesserayiel finds the medallion depicting her dressed in seductive lace to be highly embarrassing. Definitely not in line with the dangerous Golden Saint reputation she likes to maintain. Kanaane warned me not to bring it up but I asked Tesserayiel about the seductive painting anyway.

POW!

Next thing I knew I was fly through the air.

The next day after a much needed rest, the Ladies and I left Merendin heading north through the Blackwood Forest to the Panther River. We’ve walk this path many times before never stopping to explore the area. This time something was different.

A jaguar, friendly as a house cat, beckoned to us to follow. She led us to the roughly boarded up door of Bloodrun Cave and then disappeared into the Blackwood. Why? Was it the recently acquired Gift of Nature or was the jaguar actually a Khajiit? I don’t know but that’s the way it happened.

From the corpses lying around the cave entrance we assumed there were necromancers inside. Now I don’t have an objection to the practice of necromancy per se. It does help in the advancement of medical studies, after all. But, do they have to be so sloppy. Leaving their experiments lying around is just bad

Entering Bloodrun Cave we were greeted with a lush shade garden, the result of a magicka well opened by Snus and Better Dungeons. The extremely high concentration of magicka has allowed dense vegetation to completely cover the walls of the cave. To our fae eyes it was beautiful. Only Kaleah saw through the guise.

She warned that with such dense foliage in a dark cave, not only would footing be treacherous, but all this leafy green stuff could easily conceal enemies waiting in ambush.

Our love of the greenery was soon shattered. Not because of Kaleah’s warning. She was proven right in the end but because of what we found in a side room. We had taken a turn to the left wound our way through sleeping quarters, a room containing wheel barrels loaded with dead bodies until finally reaching the last room.

The Ladies recoiled in horror. We had stepped into a room where twenty rotting corpses hung from the ceiling like sides of beef (Better Dungeons).

Elenya looked at me pointedly and said, “Someone is going to have to do a lot of good to balance this evil.”

We turned around to go back to go the other direction.

Once back to where we started we turned right and continued on in that direction. In one densely overgrown room we passed by two Ayleid stepstones. At that moment Sinbal Tavakrabi, a MOO necromancer, leading two initiates, an Argonian zombie, and an Orc zombie (from Creature Diversity, the first I’ve seen), stepped out from the thick foliage.

While the Argonian zombie had me distracted, Sinbal Tavakrabi tried to drain the life out of me. That didn’t work out well for Sinbal. Credit my natural resistance to magic for keeping me alive long enough to destroy the zombie and drive the Light of Dawn through Sinbal’s chest.

The initiates and their minions didn’t fare well either. Kaleah, Elenya, and Pym handled them easily.

A short way further into the cave we descended down to the final chamber. Several members of the necromancer sect, Order of the Putrid Hand attacked us as soon as we set foot on the stairs.

The Putrid Hand Master (OOO) wielding a green-glass scythe summoned a lich before using chameleon on herself. Her two acolytes summoned an ancient shade and a bone-knight to the battle. To counter this evil I called forth the Midas angel.

The battle was fierce, filled with summoned auxiliaries. For a time the necromancers, by adding spectral knights and wolves to their list of undead warriors, were able to keep their undead minions between them and us. Playing my trump cards, the Sisters of Insanity and the dremora lord Markie came at my call.

The necromancers didn’t stand long after that. with the battle over we set about exploring and looting the main chamber of Bloodrun Cave.

Along the western side of main chamber, we climbed a stairway up to shrine dedicated to a long-forgotten champion. On an Ayleid style shrine platform sat an ornate coffin. Among other items the coffin contained 550 gold coins and a Tome of Lightning Touch.

Coming down from the shrine area, a turn to the right took us to a hallway leading to an Ayleid style stone entrance (Snus). Large rocks strewn along the hallway and dark gaps in the ceiling marble tiles above gave us pause. Was there a cave-in or is the hallway booby trapped? Six prisoner cages hanging from the ceiling didn’t help ease our minds as we cautiously made our way to the stone door.

Our attempts to open the stone door failed, the door would not open. Whatever caused the ceiling collapse must have damaged the stone entrance making it inoperable.

Unable to advance further we set about looting the place. Along the northern end of the western wall tucked away in a corner we found a Sphere of Nature (Phitt’s Artifacts).

Later, after sanitizing the area, we sat around the late necromancer’s sleeping quarters discussing the events in Bloodrun Cave.

Kaleah told us that early in the Second Era Bloodrun Cave was once a Dark Brotherhood sanctuary and served as a tomb for honored Dark Brotherhood members, including several well-respected Shadowscales. In particular, beyond the broken stone door lies the tomb of Ajum-Shei where Tumma-Maxath was defeated. It was sometime after that when the necromancers took up residence here.

The subject of the number of Argonian zombies came up. Why were there so many? We had no answer to that question. We fell asleep debating that issue.

Blood Run Cave sure looks lush and beautiful. . . but soon lives up to its name. Order of the Putrid Hand? Eww.

Kahleah has the right of it regarding the cave’s Second Era history. Buffy ran into this Tumma-Maxath.

The Putrid Hand is an Oscuro’s Oblivion Overhaul necromancer faction.


It’s been a long, long time since I’ve seen the vanilla game. It was curious to find an inoperable Ayleid door at the end of the main chamber. The Form Finder mod tells me that the inoperable Ayleid door in the main chamber is from Snus Dungeons. Now I want to know what the original cave looked like to see what changes Snus Dungeons and Better Dungeons had made to Bloodrun Cave.

By the map on UESP I can see a few rooms with corpses packed in carts or hanging from the ceiling have been added. The map on UESP also shows the cave ending where Snus puts the Ayleid stone gate. The UESP write-up on Bloodrun Cave mentions an incident in ESO. So naturally I look it up to compare the maps and found that the ESO map continues on where my Oblivion map ends with an inoperable stone door. Ain’t that somethin’.

Now the question becomes who put that door there first, Snus Dungeons or ESO?

I don't recall Sunken One at all, except yes, it begins at Shetcombe.

macole: 2 funerals, yikes. Is Julie your wife? Wow 50 years deserves some cake. Does Julie game at all? Does she read about Jandagaa?



Any pictures of this?



Place sounds Emmafied!

Assimulator is a neat idea. Try the old trick: 3 iron arrows perhaps. Since this is Archeology Guild, eventually my Xena-in-Cyrodill gal will discover all this stuff, too. Never mind, this sounds like Ayleid Steps.

Good lord, what a list of demands those Ayleids demand!

Part when he must choose to become the new Guardian had me rolling! Everyone has different opinions...I agree with Elenya though: Jandaga is busy enough.

20250730 Life on the upper Panther; slavers, smugglers, and necromancers

The crack of a whip and screams of pain coming from the east, echoed around the hills flanking the Panther River as we emerged from Bloodrun Cave. Troubling sounds, repeated over and over again.

“Someone has got to do a lot of good”, Elenya had said. I thought that’s what I’ve been doing all this time. I guess there is still a need.

With a laugh I said, “Ok, let’s go see what’s up”.

Climbing higher up the hillside we circled east until we could see Seran Camp below us. At least five Dunmer slavers were milling about in the camp. Two, most likely the leaders, wore expensive Eboron mail and plate armor. A worn path led east from the camp to a confinement pen holding Argonians. A sixth slaver patrolled the area near the confinement pen.

Well now we know why there were so many Argonian zombies in Bloodrun Cave. It didn’t take much thought to realize that the Dunmer slavers were offering the Putrid Hand an easy supply of subject matter.

The Ladies and I gave each other a look and silently decided to aid the captive Argonians. Waiting until the guard was not in sight, we snuck around the pen to find the gate. The Argonians inside the pen watched in silent anticipation as we attempted to unlock the gate. Their shoulders drooped as we realized that the lock required a key and we would not be able to free the prisoners.

We were about to turn away when a raspy Dunmer accent said, “Well, well if it isn’t the holy crusader himself.”

The guard was able to shout out half a word before the Ladies silenced him. The guard did not have the key on him. The key most likely will be held down in Camp Seran. With the advantage of surprise gone we advanced toward the camp.

Led by their Captain and Chief Guard the slavers met us at the edge of the camp. After a brief struggle Seran Camp was ours. Taking a rusty iron key from the body of the Chief Guard, we returned to the confinement pen to release the Argonians. Without a thank you they took off running toward the river.

Where were they going, we had no idea. Having gone through all this trouble to free the captive Argonians we decided to follow them to ensure their safety. They lead us to Deep Cover Cave on the muddy banks of the Panther River near the Halls of Lorn.

Once inside the flooded halls of Deep Cover Cave the Argonians thanked us for rescuing them from the Dunmer slavers. Here we found out that the Argonians we rescued belong to a large smuggling operation. To show their appreciation the Argonian smugglers offer to send word to their leader, Eidkee V’shiir in Blood Clot Cave. As a sign of trust between us, Eidkee V’shiir will open his vast inventory of illicit goods for sale. He will also buy stolen goods, you know, because he's a smuggler.

We thanked the Argonians and left Deep Cover Cave.

Blood Clot Cave, having been there before we knew it is just short ways up river from Deep Cover Cave. Since we are so close we might as well pay Eidkee V’shiir a visit. Last time we were there he wouldn’t even talk to us. In fact all the Argonians there kept telling us we didn’t belong and had better leave. Maybe this time things will be different.

Finding Blood Clot Cave was easy, the giant crabs patrolling outside the entrance made sure that we didn’t miss it.

Blood Clot Cave is as I remembered it, a dark maze of flooded tunnels that seem to go on endlessly. My Ladies were not happy at all. They kept making silly noises and floating in the water pretending to be drowning.

Our reception has indeed changed for the better. Instead of being told to go away, we are now addressed as “honored guests’. We found Eidkee V’shiir in his usual spot, the Blood Wound Deep section of Blood Clot Cave.
Once he learned what we had done for the captured Argonians at Seran Camp, Eidkee became very amicable. We spent hours trading all manner things at very reasonable prices.

It was late and the Ladies were getting restless. Thinking that Blood Clot Cave was too damp we thought finding a dry spot outside to throw down a bedroll would be more suitable. Heading west along the Panther River we passed several little islands, but none seemed to be to everyone’s liking. Near Kindred Cave to we found a nice little island. Would have been perfect had it not started raining.

We turned right around and entered Kindred Cave. Don’t know what we’ll find in Kindred Cave but at least it won’t be full of water.

Ever wonder what happened to the Universitum Arcanorum’s School of Necromancy after Traven banned the practice of necromancy? It moved here.

The problem started right after we enter Kindred Cave. We got as far as the sign-in desk when one of the faculty spotted us. A Keeper of the Dead and a Plaguebringer shouted commands and just like that we were being besieged by zombies, skeletons, wraiths, and liches.

Necromancers and their Argonian zombies fought us at every turn in Kindred Cave. We didn’t know what to make of it until we entered the main lecture hall. Seeing the hall filled with twenty-four seats, a lecture podium, and a goblin corpse on display told us all we needed to know. Kindred Cave was the new underground Necromancer training academy.

Had the lecture hall been full of students, we would’ve had a problem. Lucky for us class was out and Lector Antigonides Auguscle was alone, preparing for his next lecture on Goblin dissection.

Unfortunately for us twenty-four empty seats did not mean the student body and the faculty was gone for the day. Responding to the cries of the Lector, a Lady of the Dead and her student aid emerged from an adjoining room. Their arrival just delayed the outcome by a few minutes.

After defeating the necromancers in the lecture hall the Ladies and I went to investigate the room the Lady of the Dead had come from. It was a common dinning/study room with two long tables, six chairs each. Enough room to sit twelve at any one time.

To our right as we entered the common room was another door. This one led to the Winding Hollows. Winding Hollows a fancy name for the sleeping quarters, resident students or faculty? There was a physical laboratory classroom where a couple Master necromancers (MOO) were willing to gives us a personal tour of the facilities.

That was courteous of them but we drew the line when they called six liches and a wraith to give us a very in-depth and personal demonstration their dissection arts. Our objections were taken into consideration. There were no objections when we looted Winding Hollows.

Leaving Winding Hollows by the door we entered, we made our way back to the lecture hall via the common room. There’s an exit hallway leading to door beneath the lector’s podium. This door leads to the Runways.

In the Runways we found room after room of tombstones. We couldn’t read them, but we got the impression that details of failed experiments were recorded on each tombstone. Of course, there were more liches and necromancers attempting to make us the subject of their thesis that we had to deal with.

It was here among the tombstones of the Runways that we encountered a strange looking ghoul. The usual ghouls are hideous to begin with, but this one was covered with white fungus making it even more disgusting to look at. It wasn’t tough to defeat. A couple solid strikes with the Light of Dawn and it exploded like a puffball covering me in a fine white mist.

With the Runways cleared of necromancers and their experiments we looted the area and left. As we were leaving, we happened to pass by an Orc adventurer. Felt kind of sorry for the guy. He’ll be safe but he won’t be finding much loot here.

The Ladies are tired, I’m tired, and we all could use a bath. How about a swim in Lake Rumare? I know just the place.

Using our Stranded Light Transport spell we teleported to Elysium.

Saving smugglers from slavers! Ahah, I see the Argonian zombie connection now.

Nice to have some smugglers on your side. Blood Clot Cave is great for those with tails and scales but elves and ladies need dryer sleeping quarters.

Urgh, rain. Crap, instead of a nice dry place to camp, Kindred Camp is Necrodude Headquarters! Well, at least until rendered safe for Orc adventurers.

Now, the crew needs both sleep and a bath. Wise call to teleport somewhere nicer.