Hey guys it's great to be back
Yeah it's Kaia and we've been in Skyrim for a little while now. I felt it was time to introduce her.

I've added a post in the Characters section.

Thank you for welcoming me back

Hey Phon, it is great to see you back again!

Hey there, it's great to be back! I'm looking forward to some adventures.

Currently still in Whiterun, taking a day in the city. Spent the morning in the Temple, and then some time in the Bannered Mare with Ysolda and the kids.
Everyone wants to know when Kaia will be off once again, she usually leaves early. Once it was because she wanted to maximise the day, increasingly now though it's to avoid having to say goodbye.

Still, that's tomorrow, for today it's food, drink, and songs.

Tirdas, 3rd of Sun's Down:
Kaia sets off early from Whiterun, leaving Ysolda and the girls to their own devices in Breezehome. Heading east on Embla, she finds a fairly uneventful journey to Riften, stabling the horse and setting up in The Bee and Barb as usual.
Being the effective head of Riften's underworld and the Nightingales means she could stay in the sanctuary or the Guild quarters but she's spent enough time languishing in caves and basements in her life and has no intention now of doing so again unless she has to.

Talen-Jei and Keerava clearly don't like her much, following an unfortunate incident earlier, but are nonetheless happy enough to take her money and to be honest she's not that bothered. Of all the races she has come across in her travels, the lizards have been the ones to make her... uncomfortable somehow, so keeping them at arm's length suits her just fine.

Having visited Mara's temple and stayed for a couple hours in quiet contemplation, she visited the orphanage for a little and returned to the inn for food and an early night.

The following morning, pleasant and blue-skied, she left Embla at the stables and walked the distance to Largashbur, only to find Atub having to cope with another giant, having assisted her, she followed her to meet Yamarz, and an intervention by Malacath.
Yamarz, more of milk-drinker than most humans Kaia has ever met, and now charged by Malacath with killing a high-ranking giant, insists that she come with him as "protection". Kaia, being not at all stupid, sees through his plan but goes along with it for the time being.

Sure enough, when it comes to the crunch, Yamarz tries to pay her to kill the giant in his stead. Kaia refuses.
To his credit, at the finish Yamarz acquits himself bravely, if pointlessly, and it's left to Kaia to do his work for him.
Back at the Orc Stronghold, Malacath manifests to both her and Atub, and the truth comes out - (although Atub had guessed as much) - Malacath is true to his word however, and lifts the curse as Kaia returns the hard-won hammer - (a totem retrieved from the giant's corpse) - to its place on the Stronghold's shrine.

The day ends with peace restored to the somewhat reduced population of the Stronghold, though a confident Atub predicts they will recover.
Kaia, familiar with Orcs and their ways, can quite believe that, and as darkness falls, climbs to the watch platform by the gates to look up at the stars. She'll stay the night in Largashbur and head back to Riften and Embla in the morning...

Kaia arrived in Windhelm just after noon and having stabled Embla, made her way to the office of Orthus Endario, pausing only to buy some flowers from Sofie and give her some words of encouragement, wishing silently that there was some way to make room in Breezehome for her.
Ysolda, ever aware of Kaia's need to look after every waif she comes across, has gently pointed out that she can't rescue every orphan she sees.

Orthus, having apologised for the poor condition of his office, suggested that Kaia might want to find a certain logbook carried by a business rival; Suvaris Atheron - a Dunmer.
Kaia, being of the same species, and in Windhelm to boot, was more than a little conflicted, but had an idea that Endario might be useful in some fashion and so acquiesced, visiting Atheron's office on her way back into the city to scout the place out.
Having seen her, Kaia remembered speaking to her once before on a previous visit; an attractive Dunmer woman and hard-nosed with her business. Resolving to come back later, Kaia made her way back into the city.

In truth, she is not really that comfortable in Windhelm, it being where some of her formative years were spent; the memories of that not being happy ones and the cloud she left under a dark one. Since then, her older brother and her mother have both passed; her sole relatives that she knows of.
Kaia still is not sure how she feels about it all, but a wave of nostalgia breaks over her as she opens the door of the New Gnisis Cornerclub and walks up the bar, thankful that the denizens of the place neither recognise her, nor she them.

After a few hours, a reasonable meal, and some ales, she makes her way stealthily back to Atheron's office, making short work of the lock and creeping inside. She finds the logbook and resists the temptation to cook the books and steal a coin purse. She has no intention of ruining the woman, at least not that way, and certainly not the other, anymore.



After a night spent in the tavern, she makes her way back to Endario, who thanks her and eagerly reads the logbook, commenting on the references to pirates. Placing it on his desk with a thoughtful air, he asks Kaia if she'll go to Dawnstar to speak with the pirates and see if a resolution to the problems his company is facing can be found.
Dawnstar is on the way through to Solitude, mentioned by her daughters as having a decent clothes shop. Kaia in a wholly-unlike-her fit of fashion-consciousness is planning on undertaking some shopping there, for her and her family.

It won't be too much of a stretch to stop at Dawnstar on the way there, and then swing back through Windhelm on the way back once more to bring any information she discovers to Endario.
The two part with that agreement, and Kaia makes her way back up to the bustling market to stock up, then to the inn for a meal.
She spends the afternoon in the Gray Quarter only partially-reluctantly soaking up memories, before returning to the inn later, several beers down and having bought all of Sofie's remaining stock of flowers.

She'll leave for Dawnstar first thing in morning...

'Yamarz, more of milk-drinker than most humans. . . '
- - I remember him and agree completely.

I know right?!

Yeah, he was a most un-Orc like Orc.

There's a lot going on in Dawnstar it seems, although one thing that Kaia is steadfastly refusing to involve herself with is anything where there is even a sniff of Civil War. That said, there's more than enough bubbling just under the surface to keep an overly-curious Dunmer (mostly) satisfied so...

First stop was Windpeak Inn where she found the pirates she was looking for and after some "persuasion" was provided with her next step.
Whilst in the inn she heard - again, since her last visit - further rumors of nightmares and lack of sleep amongst the city folk and spying a priest, questioned him regarding them.
It turned out that he - Erandur - was a Priest of Mara and a Dunmer both and was in a position to know exactly what the problem was.

One day Kaia's curiosity will kill her, but today was not that day.
Nightcaller temple is a bleak ruin looming over the city of Dawnstar and not a place that Kaia would have considered somewhere to visit on a frequent basis. Erandur as it turned out had spent some time there and even gone as far as to set up a small shrine to Mara in it's entrance lobby.
They paused briefly to pray at this, Kaia offering thanks also for having survived the trolls outside the ruin.

It turned out the trolls weren't the only thing that Erandur had "omitted" to mention, and Kaia found her patience sorely tried over the next few hours and was - she would would have been the first to admit - a little tempted to take Vaermina's advice and simply put an arrow in Erandur's back whilst he was performing the ritual.
Common sense and her better nature prevailed. The Gods know Kaia herself has had enough chances in her life and Erandur quite clearly is repenting for his past mistakes.

She left him at his shrine and returned to Dawnstar; back to the inn, and food, following which she paid a visit alongways to Silas Vesuius' Museum.
It's a strange place for an exhibition, although given what it's about maybe somewhere relatively out of the way is the ticket.
Be that as it may, her first visit some time before had again got her curious and so she quizzed Vesuius.

Mehrunes' Razor has been scattered across northern and western Skyrim and perhaps rightly so, but if anyone is going to poke her nose in and bring the fragments together it's Kaia, even though she knows that there's every potential for chaos to perhaps literally ensue.

She just can't help herself though, and besides, Morthal is relatively close to Solitude.

But first, bed.

TIRDAS - 12th SUN'S DAWN:

Kaia loves her new dress and boots, which kind of surprises her and is not something she would explicitly admit to anyone except Ysolda and the girls, for whom she has also bought new clothes.

She wears it to see Viarmo at the Bards' College upon her return to Solitude with the verses that he required - (having stopped first to give Noster his helmet back and throw him a few coins) - Viarmo frets that the Burning of King Olaf festival will not be reinstated, but his confidence is bolstered by Kaia's timely and inventive intervention with the unhelpfully faded verses.
The festival goes ahead and the Kaia is made a member of the College by a very satisfied Viarmo, who hints that there's further work available should she want it - ("being the adventurous type"). She does, but not yet; she has errands to run and Whiterun beckons to the south.

The next morning she awakes and heads out of the city. Saddling Embla at the stables she sets off in the early morning sunshine, plotting a course to the south, home for a few days. After that she'll head to Windhelm and report to Endario, then maybe head south to Riften, and after that...
She smiles to herself; one step at a time, Kaia.

For the moment, she's enjoying the crisp, cool air of the peaks, the sun warming her scarred face. It won't be long till she sees her family - (her new family). Reaching behind her she pats the saddle-roll, feeling within the oiled leather the reassuring outline of the dresses she's purchased.

That would be fun to attend the Burning of King Olaf festival. In real-life here in Maryland our Renaissance Festival is going on. Pretty sure they had fake burnings back in the day.

Do you have any mods installed for the Bard's College? I think by default there are only like two actual quests for that faction.

It was actually done a really good way I thought, there was food and drink as well, and Kaia got 2 bottles of free spiced wine and a pastry!

There was a fire pit, it was a cool celebration.

Shopping in Solitude! I thought the Bard's College was neat and was happy to see it also well done in ESO.

THE NEXT MORNING

Kaia rises early, but reluctantly, and leaving Ysolda asleep she pieces on her armor and makes her way, via the pitcher of washing-water in the corner of the bedchamber, out of Breezehome and up to Jorrvaskr. Around her are the sounds of Whiterun coming to life and she gains a thankful satisfaction from the commonplace awakening of the city, the banal conversations, the sleepy-eyed traders unpacking their stalls in the market.

At the Companions' stronghold all is as usual though, ordered and dark and grim. Kaia had decided the night before to visit with them, reasoning they may have tasks for her that would keep her closer to home for awhile.
Ysolda pointed out that even she could see many flaws in this thinking, and so could Kaia if she were honest, but it wouldn't hurt to try though, would it?

Aela, as usual, is up and active in the hall. Hailing her, she replies with her usual humorless smile and directs Kaia to Kodlak.
"The old man is asking for you. No I don't why..."
Intrigued, Kaia makes her way down to his quarters.

10 minutes later she leaves and stands for a moment staring at the wall.
Kodlak was his usual dour self and after giving Kaia a dressing-down over her and Aela's recent misadventures, he proceeded to essentially tell her how she can lift the (what he sees as a) werewolf curse.
Kaia took the blood in the Companions ceremony, after a lot of thought, but since then has used The Power only once, and was quick to push the Djinn back in the jar, not liking how she felt.
A lack of control does not sit well with the Dunmer.

Since then, with kids and a wife, she's all the more aware of the chaotically destructive potential of The Beast.
And so she found herself on a path to Glenmoril Cavern, to retrieve the head of one of the witches who live there, and do what she will with the rest.
What she found in the Cavern she would never tell, but the witches were doomed from the moment saw what lay discarded in a rotting and fly-blown pile just inside the entrance to their lair. Kaia is not a woman who is unsettled easily, but she was trembling and struggling to keep the contents of her stomach from spattering on the ground as, with an expression as stony as the granite that surrounded her, she put paid to the inhabitants of that foul den.

Standing outside afterwards, gulping in fresh, cold air and with a cooling rain pattering onto her, she resolved to push the memory of what lay in the Cavern deep inside, to join with her darker history down in a place where even Ysolda's love could not reach it and pull it into the light.

Then, without glancing back, she found Embla and set off back to Whiterun.

It was somewhere past the 2nd hour of the morning when Kaia arrived back at Breezehome.

She determined to attend Kodlin at around the 8th hour, which would give her some time to rest. Additionally, following the unsettling experience she had had in the Cavern, she felt she needed Ysolda and the girls close for a little before ploughing on with The Companions' requirements.

The girls were still up when Kaia arrived, though they were in bed. Ysolda, seated on a cushion on the floor between their beds was in the process of telling them a story, to which both girls were listening, wide-eyed and open-mouthed.

"And it was said that out in the wilds, and amongst the trees, there was a wild elf, a Bosmer; naked as a babe and tattooed like a book from head-to-toe. She was feral and filthy, with dark pools for eyes..."

Ysolda looked round as Kaia came into the girls' bedroom, she winked at her and Kaia grinned; practically everyone who'd been in Skyrim for longer than a season had heard of the "Legend of Niamh": the Wild Bosmer, who killed for sport and flesh. She lived, armed only with a bow and arrows, amongst the trees and tombs and broke into isolated homesteads at midnight to steal away naughty children.

Kaia pointed upstairs to their bedchamber, and made a surreptitious movement with her fingers. Ysolda nodded and went smoothly back to her story, picking up from where she had left off, her audience still rapt; deaf and blind to anything else that had passed.

Above their heads came the tramping of Kaia's tired feet on the stairs and landing as she made her way to bed.

And Niamh gets a cameo mention!

I just really felt like she had to make an appearance somewhere!!

So as it turns out the Silverhands managed to suck it up and hit Jorrvaskr.
Kaia is a might surprised given exactly where Jorrvaskr is located but supposes that given the Jarl's outwardly neutral stance and the prevailing attitude to keeping internecine issues at arms length, that maybe it's not that surprising after all.

There is disarray in the hall, Kodlak is dead, murdered by the Silverhands and the scent of revenge is in the air as well as a will to carry out Kodlak's last wishes; to enter Sovngarde as a whole man and not a beast.

Niamh, is she your character with the fluorescent trimmed, how do describe it, armor?

That was Oblivion Niamh, who had a suit of unique Dwemer powered armor of discreet and rare design.
Skyrim Niamh was the stuff of nightmares - she wore nothing at all except tattoos, carried only a bow and arrows, and lived in the woods and caves - she ate nothing but human flesh and was utterly batshit.
Both of them were Bosmers, and both of them were aspects of a single Niamh, and neither was the stable part.

Yes, that is always nice, when different characters get blended into the same world. I imagine Kaia is teaching her kids all about the legend that is Feral Niamh.

Yeah both her and Ysolda make very sure their daughters are aware of THAT particular legend, if only as it ensures the girls get to bed on time and do their chores.
I doubt they are the only parents in Skyrim to be doing that either...

It has been a busy couple of days for Kaia.

Having spent a week or so carrying out quests for The Companions, and collecting bounty for the Jarl, primarily because these jobs kept her around Whiterun and her family, she reluctantly headed out of the city.

Windhelm to the north to report back on the East India situation. This played itself out with her being temporarily conscripted by Adelaisa Vendicci - a particularly hard-nosed commander - to assist in the termination of a mage; Haldyn, in his stronghold at Japhet's Folly, guarded by the Blood Horkers.
It didn't matter though in the end, Kaia went through them and him like a knife through butter and was back in Windhelm accepting payment in pretty short order.

She stayed that night in the Hall, having first bought all of the flower girl's produce and made sure she had a bed for the night.
In the morning she set out for Riften, with deliveries of Nirnroot for Ingun and Fire Salts for the smith. She'll spend a day or so in Riften as Ysolda has asked her to pray at the Temple. Ysolda's parents are old, and her mother is sick with the Rattles, as often happens this time of year.



Events with the Companions and Kodlak's demise played themselves out with Kaia now The Harbinger, much to her surprise and everyone else's, particularly Aela - (That's Yay-lah to you, friend) - and Vilkas whom she had to escort to Driftshade Refuge as part of events, and who tried her patience by constantly asking her questions about her relationship with Ysolda.
Kaia kind of likes Vilkas. He's enthusiastic and loyal, and brave, but not terribly bright and still cannot grasp even after Kaia all but spelled it out for him, exactly what she and Ysolda "do". His questioning largely centers on a touchingly naïve confusion regarding "How they make babies", at which point, and after the third round of puzzled questioning, Kaia gratefully nocked an arrow and put it clean through the forehead of an unlucky denizen of the Refuge that they had now arrived at...

Busy Kaia!

I regretted in Skyrim that culmination of the vanilla Companions questline, without healthy doses of creative imagination, resulted in you being the 'guildmaster'. Again.

She is indeed!

Yeah I do get what you mean - but I guess it's kinda the same as ending up in charge of the Mage's Guild, and so on. I normally rationalise it into the narrative by her putting trusted individuals in place in her stead, and work round it from there.
Seems to work out ok!

Kaia has spent quite some time over the last few days in Altand and Blackreach.
She's currently still in Blackreach - searching for Crimson Nirnroots...

...Occasionally she stops to ask herself why.

Because she enjoys wandering around Blackreach and those crimson nirnroots give her a sense of purpose.

Not in this context, no - it's just her own curiosity to see what the deal is with them, but at the same time she can think of any number of things that she would rather be doing besides that.
Gaining a sense of purpose is not, anymore, of those things.



Morndas, 9th of 1st Seed...
It's been a long week, to say the least...

First there was the whole thing with the Thalmor Embassy; Delphine was plotting and scheming at Riverwood - which was no great issue in itself if Kaia was honest. Delphine is, even at 50 summers, a very handy and good-looking woman and if Kaia were not herself already happily married then who knows...?
That being said, the thickening of the plot around the dragons and the Thalmor is providing more than enough distraction for anyone; throw into the mix a party at the Embassy at the far north of Skyrim's northernmost hold - (a party that Kaia would just as soon as not cut off one of her ears to avoid attending) - and in "party clothes" that do nothing for her appearance to boot. Kaia is well aware that she's not the most feminine of women, but she at least tries to make an effort. The Thalmor disguise that Malbor and Delphine have come up with for her is unflattering at best, emphasising all of the straight and flat bits of her physique and hiding what little curves she possesses.

Still and all, it was sort-of-successful, although the Thalmor as it turned out were as much in the dark as anyone else, a lead was provided to a contact in Riften however, and Kaia managed to at least send a few of them to their ancestors and to say she was unhappy with that would be to be wholly inaccurate.
Tangentially, she managed to also harvest the different types of blood that the seemingly unhinged Mage north of the Guild asked her for. Kaia is fairly certain that no good will come of providing him with the samples but she has an itch for following that line of enquiry through now and experience tells her it will only grow worse if she leaves it to fester, so...

She dumped a load of her stuff in the Bards' College in Solitude prior to the embassy visit, but it should be safe enough there for the moment and Delphine did point out, and she could not help but agree, that it might be best to stay away from there for a week or so, just in case.
So it was back to Whiterun, and Ysolda and the girls.

She's spent the last few days doing odd jobs for the Jarl and the Companions, just in the hold. Nothing too challenging, but satisfying nonetheless. Ysolda's business is doing very well with a tidy profit being turned and the family are, with over 50,000 stored away, quite the well-to-do unit which, aside from Kaia's own exploits, does give them a certain reputation, certainly in their own hold...
...The discovery a day ago that her wife does a side-line in Sleeping Tree Sap supplies came as no surprise at all, although Ysolda's hard-nosed approach to the death of Ulag prompted a raised eyebrow and a wry grin from Kaia as her partner slid smoothly under the furs next to her that night...

We leave her now with the Companions, sat down and taking a midday meal following a trip to Riverwood and the extermination of a rogue hagraven. There are plenty more, more important, things to be doing it's true, but sometimes it's good to just keep busy with the simple stuff.

At least for a while.

I hope she (and you) had fun invading Thalmor territory.

And whoa, Ysolda is selling hist tree sap? Oh, I see. sleeping tree sap supplies. So, paraphernalia, basically? What we in America call head shop supplies.

Apparently so, but hey, Kaia's hardly gonna knock that on the head with her track record, she was just a little surprised - (in a good way).

We both did yes, it was amusing leaving them to chase their tails...

From Winterhold, north to retrieve the Jarl's relic, only to discover that she needs the Coral Key; south it is to Whiterun; quick hello and goodbye to Yssi and the girls, then back up to the frozen north; get the relic.

Back to Winterhold via the Boethiah's shrine, an interesting proposition but not yet, not yet - the dark side's always there but since her run-in with the Brotherhood she's pushed it to the back of her mind.
Maybe one day, but not now...

From Winterhold to a nearby Dragon Shrine; an Elder Dragon, downed easily enough but another soul stolen. She's going to need to head back to Solstheim to deal with that sorcerer at some point.
Back to Winterhold

And then on

To Windhelm: A visit to the Gray Quarter, buy the flowers from Soph by the gate - (plus a little extra as usual), stay in the inn overnight, a decent bed after Winterhold...

Down country to Riften and into the Ratway: Esbern and some troublesome Thalmor, plus a break with the past in the form of some fairly serious hairdressing courtesy of the strange character in the Thieves' Guild, she's not sure about it but it'll grow back, eventually.

Mara knows what Yssi will say when she sees though.

Aww, nice to buy Sophie's flowers when she passes through Windhelm.

Every time we go there we buy all of them. It feels like the right thing to do...

Kaia's now in Solstheim, there's a lot to work through there - primarily to deal with Miraak and regain the stolen Dragon Souls but also because, now that the the whole Dragonborn business feels like it's moved on, she gained an urge to visit her homeland...

...The days before sailing had been busy indeed, the rescue of Esbern from the underside of Riften accomplished with only bloodshed on the side of the Thalmor and some fairly incompetent hired thugs.
They had taken a wagon to Whiterun and then to Riverwood, where Delphine and Esbern were reunited.

It's now on to Karthwasten and what feels like a very important step in her life, so much so that she felt driven to spend some quality time with Yssi and their children, not leaving - (and then reluctantly) - until the next day, when she journeyed up to Windhelm and took passage to Solstheim.

Brief update...

It's finally getting close to time for Miraak to get his, although Kaia finds herself doubting her skills with respect to him. Maybe that's why she has been finding literally anything else to do rather than face him.

One of the many things she has done is develop a near pathological hatred of Rieklings, particularly the mounted ones. Up until (re)discovering them, her least favorite race were Argonians - whom she simply cannot bear for a multitude of reasons.
But even they, cold and slimy-skinned as they are, are at least marginally better than Rieklings...

oops

Phon, good luck to Kaia taking down Miraak.

Renee, I always thought the Dawnguard was a great DLC. An engaging questline, a guild where you can remain a worker bee instead of being pushed into being the boss, and great companion strides forward with Serana compared to previous companions. And vampire slaying of course.

Phon: Sounds like Miraak has outlived his welcome in Mundus and Apocrypha. I am sure Kaia will send him on his way.


Renee: Oh Lord (Half-Mersey) is that a man-cave!

There can be only one!

Oh yes, she certainly did that.

She has been back in Skyrim for some time now, and, feeling a certain wanderlust coming over her, has been traversing the north part of the province, picking up casual work as she goes, almost as she did years ago. She's aware that there are important events occurring around her that she needs to address but for now she's not wanting to be fussed with them.

And so she finds herself in the region of Solitude...



It's a common misconception that people always die immediately from being shot with an arrow.
Anska at High Gate Ruins learned this to her cost - she contacted Kaia and asked for help gathering a scroll hidden somewhere in the complex, but did herself no favors by attempting to charge through the early sections of the tomb, completely going against Kaia's advice.
Ironically what eventually did for her was Kaia herself who inadvertently nailed her with an arrow after Anska stood between her and her target just as she released the bow.
By the time Kaia had despatched the Draugr, it was far too late, and Anska lay bleeding and moaning on the dusty floor of the tomb, the long, dark-fletched shaft of an ebony arrow protruding from her lower back, her breathing shallow and rattling.
Kaia drew her knife and did her the kindness of releasing her to her ancestors.

Kaia found the scroll eventually, although it was useless to her.
Of more use was the Word Wall, gained after the dispatch of Vokun, who went fairly easily in the end...

Oh yes! Friendly fire is a challenge in Skyrim.

You got that right!

Erdi has a "Thing" for Kaia.
The maid is very friendly indeed whenever Kaia is in the Blue Palace. Kaia doesn't mind really, Erdi is inoffensive enough and kind of naively attractive in her way but it's been bothering her in the sense that she's been away from Whiterun and Ysolda for far too long. Having too much Alto wine and getting hot and bothered around Endarie - (of all people) - in Radiant Raiment whilst being fitted for a new dress didn't help either.

Mind you she's been drinking a lot of wine recently.

She doesn't even like wine.

Still and all it's been a busy couple of days in the Solitude area...
Jaree-Ra thought it had double-crossed her, but she had the drop on it. It's sister Deeja thought that it was similarly clever until Kaia put it down with a maximum of prejudice, before hunting down the sibling. She's never liked Argonians - scaly, cold lizards - and these two have merely served to reinforce her view of the species.
Perhaps had that one not done what it did all those years ago things might be different, but you can't change the past.

Heading back to Solitude she stopped at The Dainty Sload to tie up some loose ends. A couple of the corsairs on the boat had taken pot shots at her earlier. They went the same way as the Argonians, although there was no joy in it to be honest.

Back at Solitude she engaged in some trading, and then took in the view out to the ocean near Proudspire over a few more bottles of Alto wine. Dunmer can take their drink, it's true, but 6 bottles was pushing it and by the time she had wandered into the Blue Palace and been chatted up by the aforementioned Erdi she would have been ashamed to admit that had her willpower been just a little bit less strong...

Elisif The Fair - (and she is) - didn't seem to notice however, and offered Kaia a task. Perhaps Kaia could have said no, and perhaps she should.
But she didn't.

Off to find a shrine of Talos it is, then...

Ysolda will have to wait, and Kaia will have to take care of herself for another few days.

Perhaps a bottle of wine?

I agree. Keep looking for that wine! So long!

I gamed with Lord Haaf-Mersey again. He is currently in Windhelm. Two days ago saw him delivering a book to the orc librarian in Winterhold, and he is headed toward Snapleg Cave to retrieve yet another book. How does that orc know where all these books are? It makes no sense.

Oh duh, magic. Anyway, I will game with Haaf-Mersey until all his current quests are done. Then I switch to PC. Claire Voyance's the Cleric from Chorrol is who I'll travel with next. That's going to be a blast.

Loredas, morning, 19th of Hearthfire, 4th Era Year 202

Claire Voyance

Playtime: 240:18:22
Days Passed: 397

Hours Slept: 2579
Hours Waited: 608

Gold Found: 127,151

Today I switch to Claire Voyance's Game, and she is in a mod-added town called Helarchen Creek.* Lately she's been involved with the Vigilants of Stendarr, whose quests often involve the takedown of Evil.

So I must remind myself of a few things. Claire Voyance is a cleric, originally from Chorrol. Combat-wise she is interesting for me to play. She's not such a good fighter, instead she focuses mostly on healing the rest of her party as fights ensue. Restoration Magic at 100, for sure. Only occasionally does she brandish her mace or axe to directly fight.

She has already done the entire Civil War quest on the Imperial's side, although Sir Vyvoor's Stormcloaks won. So now that the war is over, Claire had the choice of either going back home to Cyrodiil, or staying here in Skyrim. So now that she's stayed, she's needed stuff to do, and thankfully there are plenty of ideas for that at the Nexus!


Here's an old picture of Claire

* Helarchen Creek was an original village found in the original game of Arena. The mod I am referring to adds all the original towns and villages.

Vigilants of Stendarr is yet another mod.

Welcome back to Clerical Claire. Healing in Skyrim is definitely a call to mod your game. Lol.

Thanks Acadian.

Today it's 11/11/21. Ten years ago on this day I was playing Oblivion, probably with Lady Saga, in anticipation for the clock to get to about 10pm, so I could head off to GameStop and get in line for Skyrim. Before gaming I made a trip to Trader Joe's and bought a bag of chocolate-covered coffee beans. Usually my bedtime's between 9 or 10, so I needed to make sure I'd stay awake for Skyrim.

As I was gaming, I kept eating those beans. I lost track of how many coffee beans I's eaten! Pretty soon I was zinging.

I finally drove to GameStop by myself. Videogaming is pretty much a solitary thing for me. It's "Me" time, so my daughter did not come with. She was at a friend's house, sleeping over. Pretty sure 11/11/11 was on a Friday night, which made all of that more convenient.

There were already about 200 other folks when I got there, which was really neat! I got to talk to a few other gamers, all of us totally psyched for this new Elder Scrolls game. I was 42 at the time. I think I may have been the oldest person there, waiting in line with mostly college students and teens! Certainly the oldest woman.

Finally, midnight struck, and the line started moving. Turns out, there were actually three lines: one for the PC crowd, one for those who'd ordered the game on Xbox (that one was the longest), and my line, which was Playstation 3. Hardly anybody in my town ordered for PS3, which meant I was in and out of there in about 10 minutes. I imagine the Xbox line people probably had to wait an hour at most!

Gaming was a blur. I was so psyched out and zinged up from the coffee beans still. I rolled a Nord male name Blade 'n' Bone, that was his name. I decided to give him a stupid name like that because I was playing him dead-is-dead. I figured I wouldn't get attached to a guy with a name like that. Anyway, Blade 'n' Bone lasted two whole days. Wow.

Second character was named Thor a'Zaene. He was also a Nord male. Also dead-is-dead, although I took the game much more slowly with Thor. I think Thor lasted about a month. Claire Voyance was my third. I did not make her dead-is-dead, because she's supposed to be clairvoyant. She can see the future, through dreams and inspirations.

That's my 11/11/11 story. Maybe I should have started a new thread, but eh...

Here's a thing... Having read how Renee was eager to get Skyrim as soon as it became available, I have to share my own attitude to newly released games, films, books, whathaveyou. I won't touch them when they are brand new. That's too new. Raw. They've got to age a bit first. You don't drink the wine just after the grapes have been pressed, either! It's not the same thing, I know, those games, films and books don't actually change as time passes, so it must be something in my brain then. May be I just need to get used to the idea of them being out and about before I can actually try them myself. Weird, but there you have it.

I'm with Lena here. I'm not an unpaid beta tester and won't go near games until they are out, reviewed as a success, patched and full walk-through/guides/wiki resources are readily available. Typically, I avoid 'em for at least a couple years.

Yeah as soon as I read Lena's response I thought of Acadian. Acadian goes even further. He won't even touch a game until all the official patches are out, all wikis are detailed, information is up at UESP, and so on.

I enjoy being a beta-tester, I guess. I enjoyed playing the game in its rawer form, and then it slowly changed as patches got added. I know we're not supposed to say things like that, we're supposed to yell at Bethesda for releasing a buggy game, but I'm gonna do the same thing for ES6. By the time Skyrim was released I'd been playing Oblivion for just over 3 years (vanilla game too, right?) and so I was really eager for a new ES game.

I need some coffee. Oops, all we got here is cake. Cake, cake, cake. We need new emoticons.