Beautiful!

How'd it go with Erik? I'm guessing it could have been better since it was a brief team. lol.

Ah, it’s good to see a Thalmor getting the point. How did it go with Erik?

The Sea of Ghosts and Whiterun are my favorites. I’ve never looked at Whiterun from that angle before. I'm usually grubbing for flowers and butterflies around there, I guess.

Acadian: I never thought about Eric being the progenitor of Slayers! His nickname is actually rather funny. As he says "No one's going to hire Eric the Farmer, or Eric the Dirt-Grubber. But Eric the Slayer..." So he invented his name to help drum up business as a mercenary.


King Coin: Things did go well with Eric. I liked him as a companion. But Ulfdis went to fight the first dragon after that, and then got into the civil war. She did not think it was fair to drag Eric into any of that, so she told him scram. So far though, of all the followers my characters have had in the game, Illia and Faendal have been my favorites.


Grits: Ulfdis likes getting her point across, especially concerning the Thalmor. The Sea of Ghosts and Falkreath Hold are my two favorite areas in the game, for opposite reasons. I love the sunrises and sunset on the frozen ocean. I also love the quaint little country village that Falkreath is, and the summer pine forest all around Falkreath.

Have you noticed that each region of the map has a different season? Falkreath is summer, The Rift is fall, The Sea of Ghosts is winter, and the Tundra seems to be spring.


Ulfdis stops a serial killer in Windhelm

Hanging with Mr. T


Since the civil war has been working in Ulfdis' game, I decided to go way back to one of my early saves of Hrafngoelir and give her another try. This time without the dragon disabler. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the civil war will work for her the second time around.

Hrafn 2.0 has briefly teamed up with Faendal

Facing off with the Draugr boss of Bleak Falls Barrow

She chopped him down to size

The tundra burns

Winding up for a dragonslaying chop

Scratch one dragon

Ouch, Uldis is kneeing that guy in the groin! Nice work, if you've got the stones for it.

Oh, I hope Hrafn works out. I really like her, and that she uses an axe is kewl. 'Sides, blondes have more fun!

Ulfdis is subtle like a Nord! I like the look the Altmer is giving her.

Faendal looks like he was helpful in Bleak Falls. I liked seeing the arrow sticking out of that draugr. I hope you get to finish the civil war now!

Yay, Hrafn is back! I love the one with the fire. Good luck starting the war!

Acadian: I never noticed where he knee was. I was paying more attention to the sword going through his chest! Hrafn is working better though. I did a little test, and speed ran through the early civil war quests to see if it would glitch out again. It did not, and the quest to attack Whiterun worked. So I deleted those saves, and started up again after slaying the dragon in Whiterun. At least now I know I can do the civil war.


King Coin: Well that serial killer was not very subtle either. He was sneaking up on Naranye with his dagger out, in the middle of the day! There was nothing to do but kill him right there.

Faendal was a lot of help. Of course I souped him up a bit with the console, and gave him some helpful perks. Like the one so that he will not set off traps...


Grits: The blazing grass looked so neat, that I had to stop the game and pose! I am glad it worked out. I was hoping for something dramatic.


While looking for some finely cut void salts, Hrafn found this shrine

Hrafn misses her mom

Hrafn springs into action to defend Dawnstar

I created a new follower for Hrafn - Eirwen

Sneaking through a Dwemer ruin

Mzinchaleft is a big place

A short vid of the boss encounter in Mzinchaleft

What a wicked looking shrine up in the snowy mountains.

Aww, Hrafn misses her mom. No jumping allowed.

Dawnstar – is that the beard wearing the dress? Seriously, that is a beautiful shot of Hrafn.

Eirwen sounds like a woodster name but she has round ears!

Great shot of Hrafn & Earwig Eirwen together.

Yes, that Mazinchaleft place looks big! Is there a Mazincharight?

That vid was a brawl indeed! Hrafn tried every trick in her book until she settled into hiding and striking from a place where the big robot couldn’t go. Excellent use of terrain. Nice to see that Eirwen stayed out of the way – and lived.

Dagon’s shrine! Aravi didn't spend much time at that one. She wasn’t the Champion of Cyrodiil, but she helped Kvatch.

That’s a really cool shot of her dangling her legs off the edge.

Love your companion, that’s really an excellent idea! I see her with one handed weapons, armor, and magic. What kind of magic does she do?

Better Followers never stripped anyone in my game, so if you liked the idea of it, you should give it a try again. It gives that light step perk to all the followers so they don’t set off traps.

Vid: Yikes! That steam is nasty to get hit with! Aravi had to be very careful, at low levels it could one shot her. Also this answered my magic question. Lightning bolt is a good one!

Acadian: Eirwen's name does sound TES Elvish, thanks to the "wen" at the end. It is a real Breton name however. It means "snow white".

That is the shrine to Mehrunes Dagon. None of my characters have ever done more than walk by it so far.

I always think of that ruin as Mazeltov. At least I can pronounce that!


King Coin: Most of the followers in the game leave me unimpressed. Hrafn really needed a magician since the only spell she uses is the starting healing spell. I did not want to use Illia again because she is Scylla's follower. That did not leave me many options. So I decided to just make a follower. You called Eirwen right. She is the nightblade class, so one-handed, light armor, and destruction. I only gave her the ice spike, lightning bolt, and ward spells. So far she has never used the ward.


Night Over Dragonsreach

"Let me out!"

Hrafn in prayer

Talos

Hrafn has some rest and relaxation

I tried one of those mods that make all the hair styles available to all races

No, seriously, I did decide to use a new texture mod, of course I had to edit it some myself. Meet the new Hrafn.

The reason I switched from Bella's is that I noticed that her face texture really darkens up the cheeks on all characters. If you give them pale skin, it creates a really noticeable bowl-shaped effect of darker skin around their face, then suddenly lighter at the very back by their ears. Like they have really bad sunburn. It was really noticeable on Eirwen. Bella does lips better then anyone else, so I took her lips and put them into my new mod's face texture. I also used some of her other files too. So I am really using a hybrid. I also found a mod that will actually color your eyebrows.

Prittty screens!

‘Hrafn in Prayer' is spectacular.’ I really like how that beam of light is streaming in behind her.

A little green meadow – in Skyrim! Woot!

The new Hrafn looks great! I'm glad you're finding and tweaking some mods to your liking.

I love those two! beautiful!

I think that was a great idea to crate your own follower. I kind of want to try now. Too bad Aravi will never abandon Kharjo though.

I've tried using that laying pose and it completely distorts Aravi's arms. Probably because of the body mod I use. I use a slim edition to keep her body proportions reasonable, but I might try the standard version and put the weight slider all the way down and see how that looks.

How funny, the Gray-Manes’ cow thinks she’s a goat. I heard her moo the other day for the first time.

These are great! Nice to see Hrafn has a blue stone circlet to wear. She does have awesome eyebrows. Night Over Dragonsreach is beautiful! I really like the look of Whiterun.

Acadian: That pic of Hrafn in prayer is one of my favs too. I love the interplay of deep shadows, and brilliant light.

King Coin: It was a lot easier to make a follower then I thought it would be. There is a little tutorial here. Perhaps someday you might try a different character to play, and want to make yourself a new follower for them?


Grits: I think the Grey-Manes cow thinks she's a person. She keeps trying to get out of her enclosure.

I had to work hard to find a sapphire so Hrafn could forge a circlet with a stone that matched her eyes! (I made a mod that makes them craftable).


Hrafn ran into an old friend at the Riverwood tavern

She learned that the Stormcloak army is made up of clones (I am using a mod that makes helmets open-faced)

Pondering the next move in the war

Final victory

I decided to try a new character, a dark elf this time

I have enough mods that they do not look so ugly. The eyebrows still need some modding through.

You know, I actually downloaded that open faced helmets mod, but ended up never using it. I’m glad I didn’t. I’m sure most of the guards look the same too.

I like the map picture as usual! General Hrafn!

Tulius go to the block? Or did they kill him right there?

I didn’t read the caption at first; I thought your Dunmer was the most bizarre looking Nord I have ever seen! I don’t think I saw that hair style when I tried mine; I like that one better than most of the options. I had Kalina for a little while, but she was a dead is dead character.

I really like the one of Hrafn studying the map! Love that open tent showing the snow covered trees outside. I’m glad her game is going well.

Ah, nice to lift a quart with Ralof. I wish there was a way to give him a bottle of Vilod’s mead with juniper berries.

Clones! Yikes. I think I would opt for the closed helmets after that.

Looks like Hrafn gave Ulfric the honor. Good choice. By that time Jensa had become quite disillusioned with the boss.

Congratulations on the new character! What’s her name?

King Coin: Those two twins are the only I have seen so far. I would never go back to how it was before the open helmets mod. It makes the guards and Stormcloaks look like people, rather than faceless mooks.

I thought it would have been deliciously ironic to send Tullius to the block. But alas, the game does not give you that option. Instead he just gets cut down right there.


Acadian: I love that shot of Hrafn and the map a lot too. Putting the game map into the actual game itself was a brilliant idea. You can actually get places added to your own map by looking at the ones in the game, which is rather neat.


Grits: I was surprised to find Ralof at the inn when Hrafn stopped off there. I guess now we know what he does with his time when he's not fighting Imperials!

Hrafn did pass on killing Tullius. She would have loved to after Helgen. But by the end of the Civil War questline, she was just plain tired of killing Imperials.

And how could I forget my new character's name! It is Tanit, after the Carthaginian/Phoenician goddess.


I combined several more mods into my comprehensive face and body mod in an effort to make elves look better

Tanit creeps through the mountains

Hanging out above Morthal

Taking some time to relax

"My feet are killing me"

"Nords have such strange customs"

Completing Meridia's quest

Dawnbreaker was her reward.

Sneaking up on a bandit

A long vid of Tanit putting Dawnbreaker to use in Wolfskull Cave

Heh, looks like Falmer gang markings on that ox.

The dungeons in Skyrim look very nice. Dual blades, magic and blue skin! Looks like a fun change for you.

“Something is wrong. There is an intruder.”
Ya think?

The screen of her above Morthal is nice! Aravi was just there as a matter of fact. Almost the exact same spot.

Nice sword! Aravi’s been using it too!

At the beginning of the video it looks like there is an active effect on Tanit. What is it? Are you using Frostfall? NOPE! It must have been mage armor! I see she’s a habitual ingredient collectoer as well!

Wow, I can’t wait for Aravi to find this place! I’ve never seen that before!

“Found you!”

I like the creeping through the mountains and completing Meridia’s quest shots the best. Tanit is very pretty with her fine features. I like how that circlet looks with her coloring. I think she would look nice in Elven armor.

Every stroll through death and danger is a shopping trip when you’re with an alchemist!

Whoa, I was a little worried about Tanit using that fire sword in the pool of oil, but I guess it takes a direct hit to ignite. How neat to watch a stealthy single attacker take down this bunch. I’ve only done it with characters who kicked it into high gear when they realized that Potema was being summoned. It turned into quite a seething mass of draugr and black robes. Wolfskull Cave has a special place in my heart, since it was a big part of Rowan and Vorstag’s story.

Dawnbreaker is really pretty with the blue explosions. I also like how it looks. Even better in a dark cave than hanging on the wall. Tanit looks like lots of fun to play!

I was too!

Acadian: It is gang marking, but not Falmer. That cow is a sacrifice to the giants. The same writing is all over the giant stuff in the game.

King Coin: That active effect is oakenflesh/stoneflesh. Tanit is my first character to really use them much. Since she cannot use a shield or block, she needs the extra defense.

Wolfskull Cave and the quest that comes after it are pretty neat. You kick it off in Solitude, when you go before Elisef in the palace. A little scene plays out in front of you, and then the next time you talk to the steward you will can the quest.

Grits: Once again, I picked that circlet to go with her eyes and hair. I always choose my characters clothing and gear based on looks first and usefulness second!

I thought about the dangers of the fire sword while standing in that pool of oil. I was half expecting it to all go up in her face. I was just banking on Tanit's 300 or so hit points being more than the necromancer had... After all, sometimes you have to roll the hard six.

Dawnbreaker is my favorite so far of the artifacts I have found. I did increase its stats a bit, since Tanit's homemade elven sword was actually better. That is the problem with all the gear in this game, you can make better yourself. I also use a high res texture mod for Dawnbreaker that improves how it looks. Those explosions it makes are just fantastic. They do fire damage to all undead caught in them, and have a Turn effect as well. Great for draugr crowd control.


Tanit sneaks up on a pirate

After becoming Thane of Solitude, Tanit improved her wardrobe

I decided to go back to Babd for a while. Here she is sneaking through the entrance of Sky Temple

I finally got my mod that adds Absorb Health spells working. I had always imagined Babd using that.

Babd warms herself by the fire in a Forsworn camp (that is her Corrupted Shade in the background)

'I always choose my characters clothing and gear based on looks first and usefulness second!'
I see your characters ascribe to the same fashion criteria as mine does.

Tanit got a pirate and some new elven looking armor!

Babd looks cool! I imagine that is Triss armor she is wearing? We tried the OB mod for it but, well, ladies with cup sizes anywhere near the front of the alphabet have a couple of big problems wearing it – not the least of which is they can’t see their toes. Too bad because it is nice looking stuff.

Is there no absorb health in vanilla Skyrim?

I imagined Tanit just giving that pirate a shove to his doom!

She looks great in Elven armor! Grits was so right.

I don’t know why they didn’t have that spell effect in game in the first place. Vampires have it as a power and such.

Nothing like warming up at a fire with your shade and a dead guy. Did she turn the dead guy into a zombie?

Very nice look for Tanit.

Babd's Absorb Health spell looks cool. It would be neat if it could look like black mist. That's how I imagine it.

Wow, I like her Corrupted Shade summon! She looks right at home next to the severed heads and dead guy.

Acadian: That is the Triss armor that Babd is wearing. At least one color variation of it. The original was just too bright and cheerful.

There is no absorb health spell for regular folks in Skyrim. Only vampires get it, as one of their powers. One of many things that makes me scratch my head, and wonder what they were thinking?


King Coin: That would be cool if you could just shove them off the edge. I guess if you have the Fus Ro Dah shout you can do that. But my characters are all dragon-free, so no shouts in my games.

She didn't turn that guy into a zombie. I am very underwhelmed with the reanimate spells in the game. They are too short in duration, if you animate a corpse in one room, by the time you get to the next room it expires. Then you walk into a fight and cannot animate anything becuase no one else is dead yet. That is why I made a mod that lets you summon undead, like that corrupted shade in the background.


Grits: I always pictured absorb health as red. Because of blood being red and all. As Dracula said, the blood is the life... Babd is right at home next to corpses and hacked up animals. She had good dreams that night!

Babd can now summon Darryl the Draugr

My Nord is bigger than your Nord!

Delphine cannot decide if she is hungry or thirsty!

I got inspired by something Glargg said somewhere and created Hera, a High Elf barbarian. She wears the Nord Hero Armor, which I made craftable at any forge.

Here she is going for the death blow against a necromancer.

This is how the movie Jaws would have ended if Hera had been the star

Sharing a mug of ale with some other true Nords

A beauty shot.

Babd reminds me of the OB line: “You smell of death! Been conjuring dead things?”

Hera’s pretty hot! I’m sure her panties are frost enchanted to keep those long legs warm!

An Altmer barbarian, how fun! I played an Altmer ranger for a while in Oblivion. I do enjoy a rustic high elf.

Darryl’s a big SOB

Maybe Delphine’s bread is hard and she’s softening it up with some ale. Lol.

Your Altmer barbarian looks great! I need to try a character with two handed weapons again.

Acadian: She could use that warm undie enchantment, that is for certain! Hera is still looking for something enchanted with resist frost though, so she can break it down and learn the enchantment. Until then, she will have to just think warm thoughts.


Grits: An Altmer ranger was an idea I have had in my head too. The barbarian sounded more fun though, since I have never done a two-handed sword character in this game. I loved the very idea of a High Elf being rough and uncultured too of course.


King Coin: I was stunned to see just how big Darryl the Draugr is! They don't seem that big when I am killing them. But I never really had the time to stop and compare sizes either.


A close-up of Hera, showing her bad eye.

This bandit needed a hug, so Hera obliged.

These Thalmor must have been naughty, since their teacher made them stand in the corner.

Hera has a chat with the first other High Elves she has ever seen in her life

It does not end well

But their armor was pretty.

It looks better on Hera than any of my other characters. So now Hera cannot decide whether she should wear the elven, or her nord hero armor?

Apparently Imperials need hugs too, lots of them

Even the Stormcloak prisoner and Barbas get in on the action

Are you using a mod for eye textures? If so, which one? Do they do Khajiit?

Lol, the Thalmor glaring at the rock face.

I vote for nord hero armor, just because she’s supposed to be a barbarian.

The close up of Hera is great! It really showcases that Texas Longhorn brand on her forehead.

Gored by her sword – seems to happen a lot!

Armor? Not even close. The Nord hero armor by a Skyrim mile!

You guys just like all the bare skin from the Nord Hero armor!

@King Coin: I use Natural Eyes, and they do have Khajiit eyes. It looks much better than the vanilla eyes.

I think I tried that one a while ago and I was looking for a nice shade of green. It either didn't have it, or I didn't like the choices it had. It looks like it has been updated though so I'll try it again. Thanks!


You asked and I voted for what I liked! It just happens that my favorite shows some skin. A complete coincidence I assure you.

Here is a pic of Khajiit green eyes with Natural Eyes. I just happened to have a Khajiit NPC I created for Nature Summoning who has green eyes.

If Hera can draw forth the sword, would that make her the true queen of England?

A close-up outside of Whiterun

These Frost Trolls is tough!

Wearing the Nord Hero helmet

Another close-up with the mountains at sunset

Windhelm at night

I liked seeing the skeleton hand with the sword, I never took that sword.

The feminine nord hero helmet looks very nice with the antlers, much better than the male version with the horns.

The Windhelm screenshot is absolutely gorgeous.

Ah, the lady skeleton du lac.

Hera looks really nice. The intentional flaws you have given her work well.

She does love impaling baddies!

Trouble with a helm is that it covers her face! Does it give her ‘helmet hair’ or squash her pointed ears?

I keep expecting Mad Jack, bundled in furs, to come down out of those frozen mountains with Number Seven in tow.

Colorful place at night!

King Coin: I have never taken the sword from that skeleton hand either. It just looks too neat how it is. It is not worth disturbing the scene for just a sword. I like the antlers on that helmet too. I wonder why they made a different version for the males? Are horns more manly than antlers?


Acadian: The skeletal lady of the lake is one of the neat little easter eggs in Skyrim. The headless horseman is another. I have not seen him yet, but he is supposed to appear at night along a certain stretch of road. Everyone in Skyrim has 'helmet hair'! But unfortunately that helmet does squish the points on Hera's ears. So she does not wear it often. The elven helmet fits perfectly though...


The Battle of Whiterun

Momma had a baby

And the head popped off!

And again

and again.

I think I am going to have to start calling her "the decapitator" now.

Hera likes the look of that sword (I added a mod that puts the runes on the draugr greatswords)

Hera puts her new sword to good use

Scratch another assassin

Hera is in disguise. I do not think anyone believes it though. At least they cannot say she looks a little short to be an Imperial Stormtrooper!

Oh, I love the new sword! It looks like it works very well.

Used to be Hera the Penetrator. Now, the Decapitator. Folks just seem to lose their heads around your mermaid!

At least we know where the headless horseman came from!

Grits: I love the glowing runes on that sword. The same modder made another mod that adds them to the Nordic Hero weapons you can forge at the Skyforge. But the weapons are still all grey. They are just too drab to use. So I used the black draugr sword instead.


Acadian: I think we might call Hera the Red Queen: "Off with his head!". It is all from a perk she finally unlocked that gives you a chance of decapitating opponents.


Hera in her latest suit of armor, Stormcloak Officer gear

Fighting through Solitude

Side by side with the boss

With the war over, Hera was glad to return to a little peace and quiet in Riverwood.

Here is an experiment - this is Hera completely vanilla, no slider settings changed.

Here she is with all the mods I normally use.

Since Hera is really fallen in love with the rustic charms of Riverwood, she made me build her a home there.

Here she is relaxing on the porch

An interior view

She wanted a map of the province, so she can better decide where to go next

I even figured out how to add weapon racks. Here are a few things Hera has acquired

The basement has all the things an adventurer could need. Once I get mannequins figured out, I might add a few so Hera can put her extra suits of armor on display.

That Nord Hero (?) armor without a helm looks best on her. I see she had the Texas Longhorn tat removed? Heh, seriously, she is a great looking character.

Since I don’t really know what vanilla or modded Skyrim looks like, it all seems nice to me. Her house looks like it fits in.

Decaps must happen more frequently with two handed weapons than one. Aravi does them rarely.

Draugr greatsword looks cool with the glowing runes.

“You’re a little tall for a stormtrooper”

Hmm… I definitely like the other armors better than the Cloak gear.

Woah big difference between mods and no mods.

Nice map on the wall. I haven’t built any houses yet, but I’ll definitely have to include a map in any that I do.

Hera's house looks great! I love Riverwood.

Don't hate me, but I like vanilla Hera best. (Argh, where's the running away emoticon?!)

Those mannequins are fun for trophy armor. I have duplicates of Rowan and Vorstag's armor on them in Proudspire Manor, so it looks like they put their gear on the racks when they get home. And of course, Allek's walk around the basement.

Acadian: The Nord Hero armor is one of the best looking ones in the game, imho. It is too bad that normally you cannot get it without completing the Companions quest line. I made a mod that lets you craft it at any forge instead.

Now that the civil war is over, and she has traveled all over Skyrim, Hera has been feeling a need to explore her elven half. She has realized that there is an entire world out that which she never knew existed. She wants to find her place in it, rather than her foster father's place. So the facepaint went. She is hanging up her Nord Hero armor as well, and her glowy draugr sword. At least for now. She needs to spend some time being an elf.

King Coin: It is funny, no one believed that Hera was an Imperial. But then people in this game usually ignore what you are wearing. You can walk right up an Imperial soldier while wearing Stormcloak armor and they will talk to you the same as normal.

The difference in elves with and without mods is startling. They look like two different races to me.


Grits: Riverwood has always been one of my favorite settlements. You can tell Bethesda lavished a lot of time and effort on it. No surprise, since they guide every new character there with Ralof/Hadvar. Hera finds it to be very peaceful and tranquil. Especially with Faendal around, he is the first other elf she has been able to really get to know and connect with.

These two need to get a room...

Hera warms her hands by the fire in the Ivarstead inn.

She found a new toy, and tries it out on a troll

A beauty shot

Hera discovers that vanilla mannequins are all male in this game. Causing her armor to look completely different that how it does on her.

It's Alive! It's Alive!!!

My favorite thing about the inns is the open fire pit.

Never seen that sword before. Mod? Or ebony? Aravi's found ebony quality axes and hammers, but no sword.

Lol! Aravi would totally flip out if she saw a mannequin moving! Seeing that makes me think of mods. Make some 'guardians' for your home that kill anything hostile that comes inside your home and then returns to their spots.

That’s a nice sword! I really like the ebony weapons and armor. Hera’s Elven gear really suits her, though. It looks so elegant. Perhaps more like her future than her past.

Female mannequins would be great! Especially if they did some alchemy and sharpened the blades while you were out. That guy looks kind of active for my nerves. Ugh, now I’m imagining him standing over Hera as she sleeps…

I always enjoy seeing the houses you make for your characters!

Those two that need a room look like they’ve been at it for years. . . decades maybe!

Did I hear Hera snarl to that troll, “Get your damn hand off my knee!”

Mannequins. . . hmm. I think I would prefer display racks just like the one that holds the Crusader Relics in KOTN. Leave mannequins to the creativity of folks like the couple in your first screenshot or Falanu Hlaalu.