Aww c'mon, I enjoyed it! Been awhile. So did he go into the White Gold Tower or not? .. And is your WGT modded or not? If it's not, he'll only be able to go into the two bottom levels, I think.

Aww, that's a shame that Lothie got a bounty for trying to help Legion riders.

Glad he didn't do any jail time over it. Heck, the Legion should have paid him for his help!

I very much enjoy the mental image of Lothran revisiting his old ways, even if it’s only to keep his skills sharp. I hope he has fun in the WGT!

Not modded, and he hasn´t been there yet but that solely because of me. I finally got some gaming done last night and it was fun. You may expect more Monday updates as I plan on staying home on Sunday nights from here on


Definitely! If it hadn´t been for Lothran, both the rider and his horse would most likely be dead now. Way to say thanks, huh?


He plans on having some fun with the oversized furniture

This is good news indeed!

Saga's horse got killed dangit, somewhere east of Sutch. A couple of cougars came out of nowhere. Usually Saga manages to find a boulder to jump her horse upon where it's safe, but the cougars kept getting the horse until it died.

Unlike Snaaty and Renee, Saga depends on horses. Renee prefers to walk (right now anyway) and Snaaty simply steals them. But Saga's horses carry a lot of things, and so we lost an arsenal of arrows, bolts, an iron crossbow, and a bow of sparks. Tons of ingredients. A varla stone, and some saleable soul gems. Saga's chainmail and chain gauntlets, both which detected life. Lord knows what else.

Arrgh. That's the prob with Companion Share & Recruit, everything gets deleted if the horse dies. I think there is some fix for this, but screw it. We'll just start over. Saga's got a couple other horses, at least. One of them is a bay she bought awhile back, and I believe it's at Skingrad.

Sorry to hear that, Renee.

Some things you might consider are using the command console to add a bunch of hp to your horse or make the horse essential. Riding with plenty of detect life helps you generally avoid or prepare for trouble. Having your own cougar traveling along with you can be a great help as well. Buffy and Superian's set up is waaayy more complicated than that, but those basic things can help a lot.

Take it from an elf that spends so much time in the saddle that sometimes, when walking in town, she'll start sliding left and right like she's drunk (trying to use the horse controls instead of the normal character walking controls due to habit).

Sorry about the horse, Renee Lothran and I know what it feels like to lose a four-legged friend, trust me. That´s why my elf prefers to leave Aetherius in Bruma when he descends from the cold mountains. Just one worry he doesn´t have to carry...


Lol!

Thanks you two. That's a good idea about adding HP to horses. I wonder how much HP horses actually have. Hmm....

Okay. UESP says 250. Yeah, that's way too low. Imperial Legion horses are 400, and they are the same size as bays, so that seems reasonable. Might just bump that up to 500 too. I mean, if you figure Saga the elf has somewhere around 100 hp, and she might only weigh 110 pounds, and real-life horses weigh anywhere from 850 to 1,200 pounds (according to a quick internet search), I could actually go even higher than 500, if we're talkin' pound per health point.

Anyways, Saga, Parwen, and Maglir made it back to Lord / Lady Drad's okay. Then Saga went on her own to Anvil to see how much horses cost. She's got over 4,000 gold in Cyrodiil's bank, and this is how much whites cost, but if she blew all this money chances are she'd eventually lose her followers, who she is paying week-by-week. Unless she manages to get really lucky with her next dungeon-dive.

She'll probably just walk with her friends back to Skingrad, where she's got a bay stashed with Simple Saddlebags on it already. Probably has some loot on him, too. Then we'll see about making this bay stronger.

You can also easily adjust a horse's speed in the command console. Superian is very, very fast - she's geared to a brisk walk since they rarely run any distance. Running with her is truly a white knuckle experience that we've gotten pretty good at over time. Suffice it that Superian can easily run down a black horse courier or M'Aiq the Liar. When Buffy meets a Legion rider going the same way, she either sets his horse speed up to Superian's (45) or Superian's down to match a Legion horse's speed (26) so they walk together at the same speed.

The Legion rider has to do most of the fighting when traveling with Buffy because she is so concerned about friendly fire from her powerful bow. But she can be helpful in a fight, hiding behind the soldier and healing him with touch spells. If the opportunity presents, she'll also touch the foe with her combo paralyze/absorb health spell. Then after the fight, she heals the soldier and repairs all his gear.

Oh, and I think your horse figures are good. Oblivion Superian is 16 hands at the shoulder and 1100 pounds - a solidly built leggy thoroughbred type horse. In Skyrim, she's a very heavy Nordic warhorse at 17 hands and a whopping 1800 pounds.

Skyrim Superian sounds underweight for her size and build. Seventeen hands puts her into Shire territory, based on the standard Skyrim horse build. Those weigh at least 2000 pounds (yes, a TON). The lighter horses I've seen in Skyrim Horses Renewal's meshes look to be 1700 to 1800 pounds if they are the same height as the heavies.

Just my two cents as both a veterinarian and former horse owner (RIP Rosie).

Oh wow, Rider! Thanks. No wonder Buffy's 'walk on water' mojo for Superian doesn't work in Skyrim! It took a lot of magicka to keep the lighter Oblivion mare afloat - probably hopeless in Skyrim.

The mighty mare has no trouble moving though, and she remains fast - even with all the stuff Buffy puts on her sometimes - Screenshot

Yes, I guess you would know about horses, eh rider? ... Haute ecole is some sort of riding style, right? I Googled your name a while back.

That's more great advice, Acadian. I found a mod awhile back called Faster Horses. Got that in my game, but it seems to conflict with the other two horse mods I've got (Simple Saddlebags and Command Mount). ALL the NPC horses are faster, which is awesome. I used to get frustrated sometimes when my character would walk alongside an Imperial Legion, and they move ..... so ....................slow in the vanilla game. So Faster Horses was a good add, because it makes NPC horses 30% faster I think. Somewhere around there.

But for some reason, Saga's horse still moves at vanilla speed, and I think it's because my other 2 horse mods overwrite it. Well not any more! I'm not going to make bays too much faster, but they definitely will be faster than vanilla.

EDIT: that screenie looks like an oil painting!

I just used Wrye Bash's A-bug fixing tool to get rid of the A-bomb in Saga's game. She's at 193 hours. It's interesting because I downloaded WB last week. I've been learning it slowly. And I remember Acadian mentioning something about it's got an A-bomb fixer. So that saved a lot of time & Google searches, having this knowledge.

I'm so glad you can power through the A bomb now, Renee! I simply love the WB ability to fix it so easily/quickly.

WB is so invaluable when you have modded games. The more mods you have, the more important WB gets. I really love it for those complex mods that are so difficult to install correctly.

Not much to report this time, actually. Lothran went some errands around the Market District and that´s about it. Just like where I live, rain was pouring down and the dark elf preferred to stay at Stonewall Shields and enjoy the fine selection there.

I swear that the tagline for TES games should be: "exposure means addiction"!

Anyway, just to update, Eilidh is alive and well and currently on sabbatical in Morrowind, a region to which she has never been.
Updates will be appearing in Phon's fanfic thread and the screenies thread...

Renee was attacked by Eugal Belette. Since I set-staged most of the Main Quest, NPCs who are part of the Mythic Dawn have been showing themselves when Renee shows up in town. Anyways, Eugal flipped in front of several other NPCs right in the middle of Chorrol. He was attacked by a guard, Renee, and Renee's follower (a mage named Smokey) so Eugal didn't have much of a chance.

Renee got his house key though. And now she has a house to come to whenever she's in Chorrol.



You got that right.

Renee Gade III just leveled up to 7. I gave her +2 in Strength, and +3 in Willpower and Agility.

Some things in her life lately: she and a Cm Partner mage named Smokey went in that vampire fort near Hackdirt. Smokey wound up getting killed unfortunately, and Renee didn't stick around in there. Too dangerous. MMM added some sort of flesh golem and a couple other uber-baddies.

Renee also bought the Waterfront Shack, but (get this) she's not going to be staying there. I found a mod called Maple Cottage a couple months ago, and by chance Renee just happened to stumble upon the method to acquiring this house. I didn't spoil myself on this one. She went to speak to the Shadowbanish lady in Wawnet Inn, and this is the way to start the quest to gain Maple Cottage.

Anyway, instead of living in some crummy old shack, she's now got a fully-furnished cottage. It's got a tanning rack, some sort of smithing table, many beds & containers. Lots of alcohol & food in the cellar. First thing she wound up doing after exploring the place was she got drunk. Fell over on the stone floor.

Now she and her newest companion (a Khajiit archer) are headed towards Cheydinhal. Renee joined the Fighters Guild, so she's going to Cheydinhal first. I found a Fighters Guild mod which adds quests, so that'll be fun. I think they're random quests, too.

Where is Maple Cottae located and when are you gonna give us pixies?

Is Maple Cottage part of Shezries Towns? It seems familiar, and I don't run many OB mods other than my own. That's an exception, as I helped her develop some of the content, and needed to have a copy myself.

Sounds like one of Emma's wonderful home mods. Sure enough. . . Maple Cottage?

*DING DING DING* Yup, you got it Acadian. Maple Cottage winds up right across from the Waterfront District, about halfway along that pathway. It's cute! .. And it's funny too because although she owns the Waterfront Shack, and will be paying taxes on it, she has no real reason to live there. She doesn't like the Waterfront much anyways. But despite the fact that she's not living there, she has a reason to return there.

I found another mod (yeah, sorry mirocu) called Cooking Mod or something such. This places a burning Ayleid cask in the fireplace area of any owned home. If you put certain food items in there, and throw a fire spell of any kind at the fireplace, raw food is now cooked, and gives better bonuses. We can even make perfume!

I tried to put some pix up last night in the Screenie thread, but Imgur's traffic must have been heavy because it was really slow!

ghastle.y: Shezries Town sounds like something new to explore.

Fredas, 2:29 PM, Frostfall 26: Renee nearly got killed in Sercen, she went in there by herself, managed to lure a couple of marauders off for her to rid, by getting them from a distance with her chakram. But then she got swarmed by three others at once.

But she made it alive. Now she is in Cheydinhal, and her Khajiit archer is still with her. She's come up with a new plan. Since she's got a slew of random quests now (all added by mods), she's decided to build up a party. Just like in DnD. And just like one of Grit's characters likes to do. CM Partners adds all kinds of new NPCs, so Renee has been going around to inns and guilds looking for others to join her.

So far she's got a Breton mage from the Mage's Guild, and a dark elf Pilgrim from the Fighter's Guild. She outfitted the dark elf in leather & fur armor (her Majors include Light Armor) but the mage is supposed to be very talented in just robes. Or so it's implied.

Anyways, a party of four. I hope this works! .. Grits, how many in total were you able to add? I remember you had quite a party going. Did this make CTDs more frequent?

Yikes, a close call for Renee! I’m glad she made it.

Jerric had a party of three others plus a dog and a horse for his Emperor’s Day trip. For a while they also had his buddy Shameer with them. I don’t remember CTDs but there was quite a lot of hilarity. The archer and mage kept shooting and burning the healer, dog, and swordsmen. Plus two of them are summoners so roadside fights tended to get hectic.

Darian travels with Velwyn Benirus, Erthor, Reynald Jemane, and Guilbert Jemane on the PS3 and they get along pretty well. It’s fun to have them all spread out and pick their own fights in a dungeon.

Yikes! You had better marshal that army of Renaries. You are not playing Renee as Dead is Dead are you?

Whoa, you got all those guys on PS3?? Hey, if the PS3 can handle them all, I shouldn't have a problem with my Party of Five on PC, eh? .. She has decided on a Party of Five. Just like the silly TV show that used to be on Fox. She's going to find one more follower, then she's off to the Jerrals!






I .... am ! Yeah, I am. Hence, that's why she's pulling together some serious strategy with the Party of Five idea. To be fair, Renee was not using her usual claymore up above. She has a silver claymore somewhere, but it got lost somehow. Probably due to all the Maple Cottage excitement. So she was using a longsword with no board instead of her usual claymore, and this is what was causing her to fail.

As I haven´t had time to update myself on your escapades, Renee, I must ask who is your main character now? Saga, Renee or Kahreem?

I'd say that Renee doesn't have the main character.
Or perhaps it was better if I say that all are her main characters.

How delightful, thanks for asking. It varies. Kahreem is a once-a-week character usually Saturday nights I get with him. And I rotate the other three: Snaaty, Saga, Renee ... Snaaty, Saga, Renee .. just like that. So probably this week I'll switch from Renee to Snaaty. And then in another week or two I'll switch to Aerin.

I'm going to have a fifth character pretty soon: the druid guy from the New Toon thread. All I need for him is a name. And let's not forget Ann Thraxx. Technically her game is still active. I will eventually finish her story.

Hope you're doing well mirocu. You seem to be the only one playing Oblivion alongside me these days, and you haven't really been playing that much.

12:45 AM, Sun's Dusk 24, 3rd Era 433

Snaat Rayag is in Skingrad's jail. I returned to his game tonight just to take a break from Renee. Renee is going to be starting a cool new phase of her gameplay (new mod-added quests) so I wanted to take a rest from her so that when I return it'll feel 100% fresh. New and Improved Renee Gade III game version 2.0, ha ha.

Anyway, over the previous two days, Snaat Rayag managed to sell almost all his skooma up in Kvatch (finally got Kvatch RIsing working, which has a stage that adds a bunch of bandits up in Kvatch after the OC is over). He had a thousand-Septim bounty, so as soon as he got down from the big hill and a guard saw him, things got fun.

Snaat resisted arrest because I have a mod called Jadrax Illegal Skooma, which makes (of course) skooma illegal. Guards will confiscate it. So rather than let them do so, Snaaty needed a place to hide his remaining skooma. He resisted arrest, stole the guard's horse (bounty jumps another 250 gp to 1,250), and rode all the way to Cursed Mine. There are a couple open-topped sacks in CM where he managed to hide his skooma, although I might RP that the bandits in Cursed discover this, then use it for themselves.

He left Cursed Mine and allowed himself to get arrested, mostly because he wants to spend some time in-town. Since Kahreem is also in Skingrad, there's a chance he and Snaaty could meet somehow.. probably in jail.

Thanks fo ye update, Renee


I live in the cottage and as I have a job now I don´t have time for playing games as I planned to do on Sunday nights. The downside of getting a job... Though I will game much more after mid-October when I move back to my apartment and have time to game before I go to bed, even on weekdays

Btw, Lothran sends his best!

Maybe Kahreem can feed Snaat with some of the most refined slop.

mirocu, I noticed a decline in a frequency of Lothran's updates but I'm sure he understand that his creator has a job now and is happy because of it.

YAAH mirocu got a job!!!! Sorry, that's off-topic but that just made me happy. I was gonna say you haven't been playing so much.

I know I haven´t but tonight I did and it was AWESOME!!! And thanks, btw

--------------------
Rain was gently falling down when the Warlock Dunmer from Bruma made his way from Bravil to Water´s Edge. Leyawiin is the actual target, but it was time to sit down and think about small elves dancing in between the raindrops

Tharryn eyed the cave from afar. He'd seen several people come and go as the day had worn on. Now, satisfied he'd counted the whole of the gang, the Dunmer moved forward - his invisibility cast moments earlier - and headed for the nearest of the lookouts...



-------


So...Picked up where I'd left my Dunmeri Level 27 Battle-Priest, Brother Tharryn, on the Orange Road from Chorrol to Bruma...Found a couple of caves and cleared them...Along with some selling...Which was nice...

Ahhh, nice to be back on Oblivion...I do loves that game muchly...

Good to have you back, McB. I can't stop playing this game, especially on PC. Right now I wonder if I'll ever take an extended break, or stop playing OB for more than 3 days.

First Seed 30, 8:21 am, 4th Era Year 5

Lady Saga has just left Fanacas, and is on her way to the Imperial City. She found something important in Fanacas. 7 out of 10. I cheated on UESP a little bit, and RP'd that somebody in Cheydinhal told Saga that there are rumors one of the 10 would be hidden in Fanacas, and by golly this is true.

She travels by horse, and has two companions: Maglir is still with her, but the new NPC is an Imperial Forester guy, one of those respawning NPCs you see out in the forest shooting each other with bows. Parwen left the group a couple weeks earlier.

Parwen actually died, but for once I broke my dead-is-dead rule and resurrected her. When I did so, she began walking away from Saga & Maglir, so I RP'd that she simply doesn't enjoy adventuring and has left the group. This is why having the Imperial Forester guy is better in a way, though. I don't have to feel bad if he dies, he's got tons of health (178) and he doesn't mind the elements. He likes the outdoors. GREAT. Since he likes the outdoors, here ya go. Guard Saga's horse.

Anyways, this trio of Wood Elf / Wood Elf / Imperial is now headed to Cheydinhal to do some buying & selling.

Me too. I´ve taken quite a break though due to living in the cottage but I reckon I´ll be playing like normal again once the coldness is upon us and I move back home to my apartment...


Breaks can be just as good as actual gaming. Coming back to a dear game after a long time off brings back feelings not present since The Early Days™...

Well, for a while I just spent a few nights looking up at the stars...(In the game btw...Not...Like...IRL...Not this week, at least... ...)...

Having noticed something which gave me pause to do so, I got me to Bruma...Bought the house - having done the persuasion game thing rather than the quest - I've no idea why...I wasn't going to originally...Still, it's pretty...

Erm...Oh, yeah...Found Cloud Ruler and then headed up the mountains to try to get a better look at the stars...Which was nice...Spent a while walking right up against the border which was both annoying and fun at the same time...Especially when we found a plant that was just out of reach...The McKids were amused by my efforts rather too much, I think... ...

Stayed a long while anyways, had to wait for a couple of nights due to snowing-ness, but when the stars were there...*Sighs happily*... ...

So then, when I got bored I headed to Cheydinhal, fell into the Ulrich quest (even though we weren't going to do quests) and the Guild recommendation (even though, etc)...And am now filling in some of the sights in a straight line from Cheydinhal back to Bruma...At the base of the mountains...Well...Lower levels anyways...

Seems to be mostly Ogres and Minotaurs... ...*Yawn*... ...

Being in Bruma in September...?


Unthinkabless!!

This is true. I actually think it would be hard for me to play only one game all the time. I always feel refreshed when I come back to a game I love after taking a "vacation" with another game.

This is one reason why I decided not to hold a grudge any longer against Bethesda for working on Fallout. If a taking a break re-energizes my enthusiasm for the Elder Scrolls then I suppose it probably does the same thing for Bethesda.

Having spent much of my time this morning clearing a fort of mythical creatures...Fort Horuun?...*Shrug*...Summat like that...Between Cheydinhal and Bruma anyways...

I then went 'nd sold stuff...'nd power levelled my alchemy for a quick while...The effect being...

LEVEL 30!!!...

Booyah!!...

Tharryn is most definitely the most attribute balanced character I've had thus far...Everything is either 71, 72 or 73... ...Well, except Luck, that's still at 50...But at least it is at 50... ...Fun levelling!!...You have to use all the skills in order to get the points on all the attributes and then choose appropriately... ...Much fun!!...

Tharryn? Didn´t Thorny have a character with that name..?

Anyway, I fired up Oblivion earlier, intending to kick start a new character. Got the urge to play a pure mage recently, but didn't quite get around to getting him through the tutorial. So all he is at present is a Dunmer with a name.

I did end up writing a little about him though, just something that came to mind;




Last Seed 27


As dark, momentous events took place beneath the streets of the Imperial City, a ship made its way slowly across the Niben Bay, making for the heart of Cyrodiil. At the bow stood a Dunmer, clad in hooded robes of red silk, leaning on the railings, looking out into the night. The crew kept their distance, throwing the occasional glance at him, a glimmer of fear dancing in the depths of their eyes. Since coming aboard they had not heard him speak a single word, and only when the captain spoke to the crew of their arrangement did they stop wondering if he was mute. The Dunmer had spent the journey either at the railings, where he would stand for hours looking out, as if at things beyond the sight of the crew. And when he was not on the deck he was in the ship's passenger quater, the sole occupant, a condition he'd demanded of the captain, and paid well for. At such times as they were able, the crew would swap whispered stories of strange noises and eerie lights heard from below decks, and murmured prayers to the Nine, asking protection from Telvanni magic.



But Dridyn Sarethi, his gaunt features and black hair almost lost within the shadow of his hood, cared nothing for the crew, nor for the ship itself, beyond the sevice he had paid for. Frostcrag Spire beckoned to him, sealed since his uncle's death two months past, and the Mages Guild was torn by paranoia and prejudice. Loyalties were broken, reforged, and broken anew. Battles raged in caves and ruins, far from prying eyes, and confusion reigned supreme. A grim chuckle broke through a hidden smirk as Dridyn considered his plan, chilling the blood of the few crew close enough to hear it. Between the Spire's unique resources, and the chaos surrounding the Mages Guild, rising to power in the Guild should be no problem for him.



After all, compared to House Telvanni, Cyrodiil was almost stable.

Hmm... Intriguing.

Can't wait for more updates, CT.

I'm hoping to start a new character soon too, hopefully this week.

Or maybe employ one of your old ones...?

You'll see....

CT, an ominous opening for your Dunmer. He seems a bit. . . antisocial, so Frostcrag sounds like the perfect base for him.

12:28 pm, Rain's Hand 21, 4th Era 5

Days Passed: 238
Active Quests: 25
Quests Cmpt:: 26

Skill Increases: 414
Training Sessions: 6
Novice Skills: 5
Apprentice Skills: 11
Journeyman Skills: 3
Expert Skills : 2
Master Skills: 0

Bounty: 380
Fame: 16
Infamy: 12


They called her Nelles. Nelles the Sparkly. It was a nickname she had earned several months before, long ago in another life. Nelles the Sparkly had been trained during this former life, and trained well.

"How goes it?"

"Not bad."

Nelles was a former Associate of the Arcane University. Trained in the arts of Conjuration and Destruction, she had excelled easily through various Mage's Guild ranks, and had out-classed the other Associates around her. Born with Breton blood, this had all come easily to Nelles. She was going places, going to be somebody, someday.

Then it all started to go wrong.

"Heard any news about the other provinces?"

"Nothing I'd like to talk about."

The skooma. That's what got to her. Not a lust for gold, or a greed to become evil, or anything so lofty, but skooma itself. Sweet yet bitter. Thick and exciting. She longs for its taste.

*cough cough ... cough... cough*

It had been easy to make batch after batch of the stuff, with full access to the Arcane University, especially at night when most were asleep. Moon sugar (a necessary ingredient) was tricky to find, but within in days she had found it could be had from a reliable source; a dark elf who had a knack for making his way around the Imperial City without getting caught. This dark elf would ride a stolen bay right below the Arcane University's bridge once a week, and all Nelles the Sparkly had to do was sneak out to meet him. She often traded stolen contraband from the University for the dark elf's wares, and within hours would have all the skooma she could need. For awhile.

Damn that Grey Wizard!

Beujawk the Grey (the very Arch Mage himself) had been the one to catch her. Not Raminus, or one of the Scholars or Associates, but the very top man of the Mage's Guild; a man who seemed so confused and befuddled at times, it was a wonder he never shot his own feet off with one of his lightning bolts.

"Be seeing you."

And now she is here. High above on a mountainside. Nelles the Sparkly had managed to get herself thrown out of the Mage's Guild altogether. Gone were the perks of the University: no more enchanting, no more spell-making, no more comfortable and safe place to use her skooma. The skooma itself had not gone away though, oh no, she could still get her hands on it. It was harder to get, but she could still get her hands on it, indeed.

"Damn rats, always skirting around in the shadows... making me jumpy!"

Was it the rats though, or something worse? ... A troll perhaps? ... Nahh. Trolls typically stayed near the water far below, if they were around at all. It must have been the skooma then. Yes, it was the skooma. Nelles hadn't had any skooma for hours now.

Nelles the Sparkly, former Mage's Guild member, rubs her arms briskly, as though she is cold. She looks over to one of her friends, another Breton who often shared the mornings with her, outside of this old Imperial Fort. Fort Scinia is what they had called it. A remote place, but Nelles felt this might be the place for her to be for awhile. Far away from the Imperial City, where she was wanted for Theft by the guards, but still close enough to Cheydinhal to--

"Heh, I'd better cut down on the skooma, starting to see things I am!"

Nelles begins to wonder and worry, but it'll all be fine once the skooma man gets here. There were several others who could supply skooma and moon sugar to those who dwelled way up at Scinia; one of them was bound to show up at some point. The hillside was steep, but Nelles could still manage to find things to trade for her drugs. Instead of potions and scrolls stolen from the Arcane University, it was now animal furs and whatever else she could scavenge with her outlaw friends, and as long as she had something worthwhile--"

"TO ARMS! .. TO ARMS!" she calls out! .. It wasn't the skooma this time! ... Coming toward her stealthily is a figure. Blonde hair. Fair skin. Definitely an elf. She can see the lady's ears from here, for Nocturnal's sake!

The lady draws a weapon. A bow. An arrow zings past Nelles the Sparkly. For the first time in days, Nelles forgets all about skooma, and all about moon sugar. It's time to fight! "Argh!"" she cries. It's been weeks since she's had a good fight; after all whoever bothered to come up to Fort Scinia? .. An arrow zings past her, missing Nelles by inches. But this is no matter. Nelles remembers back to her training; where she had learned that 'versatility is the key to success' from her trainers.

She thrusts her right arm into the air, and a magical axe appears from nowhere. She then straightens her left arm in a sideways salute, causing a red bolt of mana to flash toward the elf. The red bolt misses the elf, but this is no matter. Nelles merely casts another one. The elf returns fire with her bow, but Nelles side-steps this easily. That sucusstuous blond elf is way too far away! she thinks. She throws another bolt, and THIS time it strikes.

"Ha!"

The elf falters. Nelles knows her health is now being drained, to some extent. The elf returns a shot. Misses once again.

"You moooove like a pregnant cow!"

But then, something strange happened. Nelles the Sparkly doesn't want to close in on the elf with her axe; getting hit by an arrow was nasty stuff, much nastier than getting hit by a spell. The elf raises her arm, and suddenly Nelles realizes the grass in front of the blond elf begins to move. Not a blade or two, but dozens of blades.

"You elves are all the same, all flash and no fury!"

The grass begins to move, or so it seems. Maybe I really have been needing some skooma! .. but what she is seeing is not her skooma-drained imagination. It is real. The grass moves toward her, an entire swatch of grass seems to be moving at once. If the elf has cast a spell (and indeed it looks as though she has) then it's one she has never seen during all her training. The moving brown grass gets right in front of Nelles the Sparkly / former Arcane University scholar-in-training. And she realizes it's not the grass that's moving, it's something much worse!

squeak squeak squeqak..SQUEAK EE SQUEAK SQUEAK!!!.

RATS, and lots of them! Rats all around. They form a small wall across the ground, surrounding Nelles, leaving no avenue for escape. The first one bites, then another one. And another! .. The pain is unbearable; and suddenly she realizes who she is dealing with. It's her! ... Lady Saga from Valenwood! .. There had been rumors for months now that Saga was back in Cyrodiil, and this elf was surely her. It was known by many outlaws that Saga fought quietly, without taunts or cries, she would merely aim, shoot, and often make her mark. She had an aptitude for magical effects matched with archery skills, and had survived many bandit and outlaw raids for years now. Definitely Saga.

Nelles staggers to the ground, and as she rises, finally gets hit by an arrow. "AAAGH!" The arrow plainly knocks her down, just as she had been getting back up. She sees mostly stars as the pain begins; can barely see as the rats now begin getting some serious bites upon her skin.

How can the Gods let this happen?

It's the last thought she shall ever complete. Nelles rises, manages to cast a healing spell, but gets felled by a second arrow. Her sparkle, which had once been so promising and brilliant, is now no more.