And after sharing an adventure, they would all join in voice to sing their mighty Wee Wee Wee battlecry all the way home!

Wee wee wee...


In theify news Kanet returned home in the pouring rain to find the Waterfront in an uproar. She was shocked to see guardsmen cut the local pirates down right before her eyes. But not too shocked to pick up their dropped cutlasses and wonder if there was anything shiny aboard their now unguarded ship.

But she has more pressing concerns. She used up the last of her Invisibility ingredients on a handful of potions that should help with her next seemingly impossible task. Here she is about an hour later as a simple mage returning home after a long journey. If questioned she will talk about Alchemy. Kanet relies on potions, enchantments, and skill in her work. She doesn’t know much about spells.

She’s kicking herself for not popping into the Isles for some blister pod caps the last time she went through Bravil. Her potions only buy her a few seconds of invisibility, and she will likely need more than she has.

I love how Kanet looks in her wizardly disguise!

My newest character, Renee Gade III has just made it up to the Imperial City. She and her blonde-haired partner have gotten something to eat and are looking forward to some adventuring soon. After buying & selling, they'll be headed off to Vilverin, where an evil warlord lives. He's stolen a lot of Renee's things, and hides them somewhere in his lair. Heh heh heh.... That is added by a mod I'm using called Xena Revised.

Since RG3 is supposed to resemble Xena, I decided to have a look at what sort of spells Xena might use (it's been ages since I've watched the show) and found this page. From what I gather, I've used the console to add the Novice-level Soothing Touch, Charm, Protect, and Starlight spells, while removing the Flare spell. Xena could also heal and summon things. I don't remember her being able to summon. *shrugs* Since she can do so, and there are no Novice summoning spells, I added Bound Gauntlets to her repertoire. Seems like something Lucy Lawless might go for.

It's raining hard in their world right now. I'm RPing that it's even farther into the future than Lady Saga's game is, since RG3 is supposed to be the daughter of RG2. Renee's mother got killed by Umaril long ago in the 3rd Era.

Sounds like you´re having a blast with your modded game, Renee. You must like a kid in a candystore now when you have the opportunity to use mods!

It's awesome, Crow. Simply awesome.

Yay for Xena and Gabriel!

When Buffy travels with Sir Mazoga, she sometimes feels like a scrawny little blonde sidekick traveling with a mighty warrior princess (well as much of a princess as an orc can be).

Congrats on Xena Gade III! Shouldn't it be Renee Gade V, considering your screen name is IV?

Lothran has left Chorrol again and is enjoying the Colovian Highlands and all it has to offer Currently he´s resting at Valley View Camp and his next stop is yet again Skingrad.

Don’t worry, Buffy, the mighty Sir Mazoga can make a strapping Nord feel like the scrawny blonde sidekick.

Jerric and Darnand are heading past Lothran in the opposite direction. Next stop, the Grey Mare.

I love how we're all playing a 7-year old game.

Renee Gade III just left the Imperial City and met Renee Geonette. That blew my mind. I had no idea there's actually a "Renee G" NPC. Basically, Renee G III just passed Renee G.

2:37 PM, Last Seed 30, 4th Era 20

Renee Gade III
Level: 1
Days Passed: 4
Gold: 227

Entered Vilverin. In days before we circled the Imperial City. Found a fort full of really tough rats, and abandoned this. Several bandits and warlords occupied the road from Aleswell til now. After nearly being offed, I found a warlord wearing iron armor, and have taken this set for my own. Feel much more confident. And it is always helpful to find a guard along the road; guards get involved.

Slaughtered the outlaws and other such inhabitants of an Ayleid named Sercen one by one, and left there by noon. A hill giant (or some sort of ogre) occupied a fort up on a hill near the Roxey Inn, and we did not bother to even try. Now we are in Vilverin, the place where Gabrielle has informed me all my stolen items have been hidden by an evil mage named Kranix.

He shall die soon.

3:43 pm
As predicted.



After WE found Kranix 'Gabby' and I quickly took him down. He had a key in one of his pockets which opened a nearby chest. Finally. My things. .

!!!

I didn´t know there was a Renee in the game! Or I mean I must have forgotten all about her having not met her in a very great while. This is awesome, Renee! Ehm, Renee Gade IV, I mean

Renee, what a fun find, locating another Renee!

Buffy discovered something new to her today. The terrain around Boethia's shrine is very rugged. Happily, her mare can scale mountains like a goat. Anyway, not more than a couple hundred feet from that shrine, Buffy found a single tombstone with a wooden chest right in front of it, nestled between two boulders. She went up to the tombstone to see is she could activate it - nope. Just a little tucked away mystery. Thinking perhaps it was the resting place of one of Boethia's followers, she continued to the shrine and asked them. They didn't know anything about it either.

I've been in the habit of thinking the horses of Cyrodiil are like insects: they've got specialized feet which can help them scale impossibly steep areas!

Neat to find hidden stuff like that even if they don´t really do anything

Lothran is standing right out the gates to Skingrad again, by the vineyards to be exact. He´s gathered some more flax and other ingredients along the way to ensure alchemical activity next winter. He´s gotta prepare for it even if it´s very far away now

I love that Tamrielic horses are such good hill climbers. Of course, sitting way up high and being able to outrun stuff is very important to short elves as well.

The Skingrad vineyard area is such a nice area. And gosh, that whole area is simply loaded with flax plants.

Buffy left Cheydinhal headed more or less directly for the Imperial Bridge Inn. It's taken her a few of her days but, 11 dungeons later, she's approaching Fort Flecia. That'll be her last dungeon (I figure) before the inn.

Lady Saga plundered Moranda, and managed to find the Ayleid Statue hidden in there. Instead of running off to Umbacano, she's decided to return to Bruma. She's almost out of arrows, by golly. And she just liked being up there last time. ... And I'm trying a couple snow mods (Snowy Road to Bruma and Dynamic Snow Accumulation) but not at the same time, of course. I really wanna see it snow, just to see the difference inside of Bruma. DSA is the one that's supposed to affect Bruma's interior.

Now that I'm really wanting it to snow, it's blue skies with all sorts of sun, of course. *facepalm*

Julian has returned to the Imperial City only to be suckered into another quest. This time she found a forlorn Nord woman standing outside Weye Inn. When she asked the woman why so sad? she got an earful about how the owner of Weye who lives in the huge newly-built mansion just across the road from the stable has evicted them from their little home behind the Inn because they couldn't afford the rent. Of course, the new landlord raised the rent to exorbitant levels first. So now the woman and her husband (who lost his voice thanks to the depredations of slaughterfish) are reduced to bedrolls outside the Inn.

So now Julian is off to Chorrol to see a retired Legion commander who might be able to do something legally about the whole setup. And Mifune the Black Cat is still accompanying her.

Jerric and Darnand are still in Chorrol. They’ve done a handful of helpful things that needed doing. It seems that every time a dashing hero and his bookish sidekick (or if you ask Darnand a brilliant mage and the guy who carries his luggage) show up in town everyone gets out their to-do list.

Tempers were sour when they returned after dark in a blinding rainstorm. Jerric had planned to camp at Cloud Top, but the storm was too fierce. They’re lucky they didn’t get washed away down the mountain. (I had forgotten how magnificent Cyrodiil’s storms could be. )

At the moment they are dripping all over the Mages Guild lobby. Darnand is ready to call it a night but Jerric would like very much to kill something. Heading to a tavern would be a bad idea. I suspect he might go back out for a walk on his own.

While Julian and Jerric are occupying the northern parts of Cyrodiil, Lothran takes care of business in the south. Or mid-south if you will as he´s not far from the isolated house. He has spent a night in his nice little tent and is soon ready to go back to Skingrad and thereabouts.

This tent btw is the same tent he used when camping a few days in Pale Pass

Renee, so glad that Lady Sage is enjoying her dungeon crawling and hunt for snow. I use Snowy Road to Bruma and quite like it.

Rider, there goes Julian rescuing kittens and puppys and forlorn Nord women again!

Grits, dashing hero and bookish sidekick indeed! Glad they got out of that storm! Chorrol is the only city where Buffy often opts to take a room at an inn instead of sleeping at the guild. It really is a ‘boyz club’ there. She even manages to sleep okay at the Skingrad guild – now that she’s actually convinced Vigge that she really can turn him into a chicken if he tries to visit her in bed.

mirocu, I’m so glad Lothran has a nice tent to use for camping and that he is enjoying his summer down where it’s green.


Buffy got waylaid between Orcrest and Dune (both in Elsweyr) by a sandstorm. She immediately diverted to the nearest shelter – in this case the Two Moons Temple to Azzurah. There is room inside for not only her, but Superian and the other animals she is traveling with. Good thing, since these sandstorms can sometimes last for several days. Once the weather clears, it'll be west to Dune, then northwest to the head of the Strid River. Then a barge out to the Abecean and Anvil.

Is Buffy ever in Cyrodiil these days?

I guess not, since Lothran had to do her vamp hunt duty

I'm sitting around in the Imperial City Prison, waiting for my latest charater to arrive. All I know is that he's an Altmer named Armion, I think he's born under the Warrior, I don't really know yet. In fact that's about all I do know, well, I know he uses magic to some extent, but class and background? I haven't a clue.

I guess I'll just have to see what happens during the tutorial.

Snaat Rayag is just outside of Pell's Gate, and he's got a couple of conjurers (an orc and an argonian) with him. They're traveling towards Leyawiin where Snaaty will restock his skooma once he gets to the Greyland skooma cabin.

8:16 AM, Frostfall 20, 4th Era Year 4: An important moment in Lady Saga's career. She's finally become an Apprentice of Conjuration. Finally she can summon things. This is going to change a lot of things for her, like she'll no longer have to flee every time she misses a shot.

Sundas, 8:35 AM, Frostfall 21: Gaah, Saga's horse died. Dang. That horse was carrying a lot of things, too.

@Acadian that weather sounds so treacherous! I hope Buffy found the shelter she needed!

Back to Oblivion after a brief stint elsewhere

Lissa decided to visit Jessie in her house in Chorrol, leaving the Gold Coast for the first time in (in-game) weeks. The journey itself was surprisingly uneventful, even when Lissa took a shortcut through the forests.

As you can imagine, Jessie was thrilled (“i'm so happy to see you i could burst!“)

They spent the rest of the day relaxing around town, for tomorrow Lissa is off to visit Anyanka in Bravil... But she's itching for a dungeon dive

Yay for Saga! She´s a Conjurer now!


Oh, noes! That is always so sad when it happens

Yeah it sucked too because the mod I was using (Simple Saddlebags) apparently deletes all the things being carried by the horse if it dies. SO that makes it even more necessary to park that horse in a safe place.

Loredas, Sun's Dusk 17: More Saga sagas. She's in Chorrol now and wound up touching a forge at Hammer and Steel, but I had no idea this would cause her to get a rather huge bounty. Notice her world just jumped from Frostfall to Sun's Dusk. As Saga served out her sentence, I [censored] forgot that most of her things were in a respawning drawer over at Oak & Crossier. So guess what, all that stuff got stolen (or respawned, however you want to look at it). This includes a silver bow, silver crossbow, lots of arrows & bots, a full set of chainmail armor, and about 2 dozen potions and miscellaneous items.

Good thing she's got a lot of money saved. She can't afford to buy a horse (not in Chorrol anyways) but she can afford to buff up her gear.

In other news, I gamed for damn-near 12 hours today. Not all at once; I took a lot of breaks, but I started gaming this morning before daybreak, and I'm about to get with Saga for another hour or so now.

I did that when I was new to Oblivion. This mod thing must really got you hooked..

Renee, sounds like Saga had a bad day...

You on the other hand... 12 hours!? Can't complain with that

mirocu - Buffy’s smack in the middle of Cyrodiil now, playing in the water at Shadeleaf Copse.

CT – It's wonderful to have you back playing OB. I know you’ve been struggling a bit for motivation and certainly wish you well as you search for that next ‘just right’ character.

Renee – So sorry to hear about Saga’s horse. Glad that it did not deter you from a 12 hour game-athon!

Rihanae – Hee, Buffy drank a bottle of Tamikas, slept for 24 hours and the sandstorm had passed! She’s now back in Cyrodiil. Wonderful to know that Lissa’s traveling Cyrodiil again, tracking down her pals. I know what Lissa means about itching for a dungeon dive. Buffy gets cranky if she doesn’t get to use her bow. . . and the powerful weapon wasn’t exactly made for hunting deer or rabbit.

*

Buffy left Skingrad before dawn heading for Shadeleaf Copse. En route, she encountered a war party of three goblin skirmishers heading south.

She was not shocked, for she knows that sometimes Goblin Jim’s White Skins mount raids against the Sharp Tooths that live in Deserted Mine. She’s encountered such groups in the past and when she’s been attacked, their corpses verified they were White Skins. She’s also encountered them fighting with the Sharp Tooths just outside Deserted Mine in the past. Happily, traveling with 360 feet of detect life allowed Buffy and Superian to stay well out of their way this time.

She uneventfully continued on to Shadeleaf Copse to play in the water and let her mare drink her fill.

You are hardcore!

Lothran is currently staying at The Count´s Arms in Anvil

Yuh, I was like ... in the zone with my toon. Buffing up my archer, pwning some baddie NPCs. I wanted to keep grinding, too. I could have grinded all night!


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Loredas, 8:55 AM, Sun's Dusk 17, 4th Era 4

"Hi, I'm Rasheda -- the smith -- and this is Fire and Steel. Quality armors and weapons, and repairs, too. What can I do for you?"

The elf with the gold-colored hair looks in anguish at the Redguard's selection, seeing nothing outstanding.

Chainmail. I had upon my person a full suit of chainmail, set together by one piece here, and one piece there. All of it gone.

"I offer the finest goods and lowest prices in all Cyrodiil."

Aerin from Valenwood gazes upon Rasheda's 'goods', but her prices aren't as low as she claims. There are others, in the Imperial City and also Leyawiin who would slaughter Rasheda if she had to compete directly with them. But still, these goods are of ready-make and simply of availability. And I need such.

"You're a fine negotiator!" Rasheda compliments, really liking the idea of the business she's expecting to get from the elf before her, on this otherwise slow day. One thing she's learned after all these years: she knows the look & smell of money when encounters it.

After the 4th Era had commenced and the Oblivion Crisis had ended, buying and selling had suffered for awhile. The towns were safe. Soldiers and guards usually kept their own gear in fine repair. Adventurers had disappeared and gone back to wherever they came from. So business had suffered, despite the fact that Chorrol's population had nearly doubled in the last 4 years. But lately it seemed like .... business might be coming back.

"I ... shall take the breast-plate of leather, the boots of deerskin fur, the breeches of iron, and the helm of ... no ... no helm for now. But I shall take all the others within my stated repertoire. Did you follow my listing?"

But Rasheda doesn't miss a beat. "That's a good deal!" She's been established and doing this for way too long to not know how to memorize an order. "Thank you, come again!"

As Lady Saga turns to go, and begins to sip upon a bottle of mead, she abruptly stops and then turns around so quickly, Rasheda does a double-take. In that moment, Rasheda thinks she sees something ... dangerous about this otherwise quaint-talking, properly-mannered elf. She sees a hint of a look upon the elf's face, as if she's suddenly angry about something, and the Redguard smith feels a touch of fear because of this.....

But the elf merely says... "Oh. A bow. Silly me. I need a bow. And I make presumption that you have only got iron? ..."

"Only quality goods for sale here .. what can I interest you in?"

"One iron bow," the elf says, having another sip of her mead. The elf seems flippant and gay, all a sudden. Smiling shyly. "One crossbow of iron, and .. I shall have forty of those arrows of iron. Ten bolts of steel. And you have silver? .. Draggardzly, only bolts? No arrows? Very well, five bolts of silver, then". .. The gold in Rasheda's till has gone from 'Septims for dinner' to 'Septims for a two entire weeks of dinners' in flash.

As Saga turns to go, Rasheda can't help but think about that look upon the elf's face, the one she had just witnessed. So many enemies must see that face before their doom she realizes.

mirocu - I hope Wilbur's got some Tamikas!

Renee - Saga's right, Rasheda's not cheap.

*

After playing in the water at Shadeleaf Copse, Buffy and Superian headed south to intercept the Gold Road, then turned east toward the IC. Near Greenmead Cave, she came upon a dead Legion rider. The sword wounds on the corpse of the nearby minotaur told the story. It was some consolation that the rider’s Legion bay gelding was unharmed.

After strapping the soldier’s sword and shield to his horse (Active Inventory Spell mod), Buffy built a pyre and sadly torched the Imperial’s remains. She then coaxed the horse to follow Superian. She did have to dismount several times to refresh the gentle but long-lasting command spell that kept the gelding following her mare as they continued on to the IC.

Once Superian and the Legion gelding were stabled at Equestria, in the Valley of the Horses (right in front of the University), she reported the incident to the Imperial Legion Battlemage on duty at the University gates. A sad ending to a long trip. At least she is back home in her apartment in the Mystic Archives now.

It's always sad to see someone who serves suffer such an unfortunate fate. Both in and out of the game world...

At least Buffy could honor the legionnaires passing well, and look after his horse

She´s much better with that than Lothran. He only puts the sword back onto the soldier and walks away...

Some of my more honorable/good characters would look after them. Attia in particular, being an (ex) legionnaire, always did all that was possible on console to look after them..

I love Lady Saga’s version of strong language. I’ve been having a similar marathon with Kanet. I’m in an empty house for a few days.

How sad to find a fallen Legion rider. Jerric hordes Command scrolls in case he finds a stranded horse, but he rarely gets them as far as he’d like. Maybe someday he’ll find a Staff of Taming.

Well, Armion failed to materialise, due to being supplanted by another character. *Shrug* Though as it turns out Armion was sort of a re-energence of an old character I never got round to starting, seems it's a pattern with him

Anyway, I'm currently at the end of the tutorial dungeon with my new character, a Dunmer named Tarvyn Dralor. I'd throw in a pic, but I've not actually given him a face yet.

Well, I've now got a couple of pictures of Tarvyn Dralor, each with a different light source. I couldn't get his face quite the way I wanted, but I can't really describe how... Anyway:

Pic 1

Pic 2

And don't worry about the vague ghostly thing in there, that's just my reflection. Trying to take a picture of a dark screen on a bright day... *shrug* What can you do?

Since I've now got pics, I might as well say a little about him.

He's a stelath/magic hybrid, using blade (daggers and shortswords), marksman, and destruction (his only majors that he uses). He'll use the other schools of magic, but he's pretty much useless at restoration. He can cast a basic healing spell, but that's literally it. And he doesn't wear armour.

He's from Vvardenfell, formerly a low ranking member of both House Telvanni and the Morag Tong, and a follower of Boethiah, Azura, and Mephala. He believes that Morrowind, and the Dunmeri people in general, owe the Empire a debt of gratitude for their role in the reincarntaion of the Nerevarine, who cast down the false gods of the Tribunal. Though it should be noted that he still respects Vivec.

He was in the Imperial City Prison because he sought guidance from the Shrine of Mephala in Vvardenfell. Mephala told him to leave Vvardenfell, travel to the Imperial City, and to kill the first guardsman he found. Which of course landed him in prison, where he was waiting to find out exactly why Mephala sent him to Cyrodiil.

Looks like a solid character, Callidus. I hope you´ll connect with him like you want

What's he going to do to defend himself, then? Reflect Damage isn't a spell, all the "Absorb x" and "Resist x" spells are restoration, so you've gimped him out of everything but avoiding combat. I suppose he can collect enchanted items other than armour for some of that, but a lot of it's only available at higher levels.

I think that non-armor apparel items enchanted with fire, frost and shock shield can match conventional armor vs physical damage while maintaining full spell effectiveness, providing some protection from the elements and bypassing the need to repair apparel. Alteration has plenty of defensive type magic effects. Blocking with a weapon can eventually reduce physical damage taken while blocking up to 50%. While the ability to make strong enchantments is somewhat limited at lower levels, so are foes' ability to inflict big damage. Also, the enchanted apparel can be augmented by buff spells that use the same elemental shield effects. And finally, alchemy can augment one's defense quite dramatically.

Every character (hopefully) has their challenges, but I don't see defense as being overly gimped in this case. I readily admit that having access to custom spell and enchanting altars (via the MG or Frostcrag) would be pretty important. I also can see that this character (like many mages and stealthers) might require a bit more caution in combat at low levels than his heavily armored Nordic warrior counterpart.

It seems that skill with bow, blades, all magic schools except restoration would readily make up for not using armor or the wonderful school of restoration. Heck, illusion plus conjuration alone can pretty much for a survivable character.

Am I missing something?

Acadian's pretty much answered this for me, but I'll throw out the idea anyway.

The general idea behind his defense is combat superiority.

Marksman and destruction give him plenty of options for dealing damage to enemies before they reach melee range. Adding in poisoned arrows and sneak attacks where possible and with a little caution anything close enough to swing a sword at him has already taken a battering. Early on an apprentice level shield spell provides more protection than a full set of light armour, and alchemy can always be used to supplement that.

At higher levels it gets downright evil. Illusion opens up the potential for short term paralysis, lethal when combined with weakness spells and an enchanted dagger. Short term invisibility can allow for repeated strike to an enemies back, and can be combined in a spell with weaknesses to amp up the dagger damage. Command and summons can either remove the need for combat, or can provide diversions to allow opportunistic strikes at enemies fighting other targets.

Sure, he's a glass cannon, but he's a glass cannon with a bayonet.

Recently started working on some edits for a few screenies, just to give them a bit more beauty haha.

Here is a simple example:

Before

After


The difference isn't hugely noticeable, but it's so much more colourful and warm than the original I'm working on a few other edits now

Got round to installing the Better Cities mod, so Lissa and I have had a lot of fun exploring the new layouts. Anvil and the IC in particular are breathtaking!

The only thing we don't like is how it changed Bravil. It's become disgustingly gore ridden, but until I figure out how to change it to a nicer look it'll have to do... I wont let one bad banana ruin the bunch!

Stunning pics, Rihanae. Love the Horse Armor too. My characters have explored all the 'better' Cities except Skingrad and Anvil. I'm saving those for last.

Grits: Thanks, yeah, sometimes language becomes ... nasty.

CT: Hope your glass cannon survives. Don't you dare start pushing that difficulty slider to the right.

Wouldn't dream of it. I learnt that lesson about two years and forty(???) characters ago



I have just had what is, for me, a genuinely new gameplay experience in Oblivion.

Night had fallen by the time Tarvyn left the sewers. Rather than swim across the lake, making the journey longer and forcing him to travel by road, Tarvyn skirted the City Isle. He hugged the coastline, travelling in short dashes followed by pauses as he checked to see if his presence hadbeen noted. He found a wooden bridge that got him across the lake, and headed west, guided by the main bridge that could just be seen in the darkness.

Using that to guage his direction, he kept going west until he found a road that looked to be heading in the right direction. After waiting for a Legionnaire to move past, he checked the road sign. He journeyed as best he could along a path parallel to the road, not daring to get in sight of it for long, and made his way to Weynon Priory.

Between the darkness and the route, nothing saw him but wolves, mudcrabs, and rats. And Tarvyn killed them all.

It was awesome

Rihanae - So nice to see some pix of Lissa (and her well-protected horse).

CT - It's wonderful that Tarvyn is striking a chord for you. Best wishes as he continues to adventure.

*

Buffy recently returned from a black tar-gathering and dungeon-crawling expedition to the Shivering Isles. Her traveling range is large and varied, but the SI is, without a doubt, the most dangerous place she visits. The foes are fast, numerous and unpredictable in their movements. And the terrain really channelizes elf and horse, removing much of the 'speed over open spaces' advantage they enjoy in Cyrodiil and Elsweyr. She was relieved to spend a quiet day recovering and refurbishing in Bravil. Next morning, the sun warmed Superian's right side as they headed north toward the Valley of Horses and Arcane University.

By the time the sun was kissing elf and mare's left shoulders, they stopped at Pells Gate for the night. While there, Buffy learned that those pesky marauders and bandits have, once again, infested nearby Fort Homestead. As that clearly represents a threat to travelers along the Green Road, I figure Buffy's next morning is spoken for.