So Lothran performed a service for the only sane resident of the Shivering Isles, it seems. I like that quest and I like Hale in general, especially the poet guy, wish he had more rhymes to tell.

Where did he place his tent, right inside the inn? Or on the roof? IIRC there's plenty of space up there.

How about acquiring a uni, I mean a unicorn, this time?

Morhame turned out to be a dud. The object Renee & Mimi are looking for wasn't there, and Morahame itself was full of mostly nuisance creatures, some gold, nothing really of significant value except a Rugged Cuirass (+5 Endurance). Since RG3 does not wear heavy armor, she gave this item to Mimi. Next stop: they need to go to some cave (can't remember its name) located in the middle of nowhere, but somewhere toward the Jerall Mountains.


well uni ran ,away . never too be seen , again .

Lol, Mimi is the name of my son's stuffed hedgehog toy.

Hedgehog toys need to be called "Spiny Norman"! Just ask Dinsdale.

I bet your son's hedgehog is cuter than Mimi.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Turdas morning, Frost Fall 4, 4E 420

As usual, Renee Gade III, Gabrielle, and Mimi are sidetracked. They needed a place to sleep after Morahame, and wound up at Crestbridge Camp, which is where the Cropsford clan once was forced to stay at, long ago. They spent the night at this camp, and when they awoke, they couldn't resist the temptation of raiding that lonely fort right across the river. But Renee (Xena) commanded Gabrielle to stay behind.

Gabrielle's not suited for this sort of adventuring, she's much better at the safer stuff, like picking locks and darning socks. This is what Xenagade and Mimi want to believe, anyways.

When they get inside Fort Cedrian the next morning, first enemy they met was a criminal wanted by the legion. This was a named NPC added by either Maskar's or Imperial Bounty Hunter, not sure which. Anyways.... Score! Because if one of these NPCs is found, and his / her token item (in this case, a magic helmet) is brought back to a guard, RG3 gets paid. A lot of these enemies roam randomly around too, which makes them hard to locate.

Gaming with this group is much different than with Lady Saga. Saga is all about stealth, arrows, stealth, one-shot. RG3 and Mimi prefer to fight together, and make lots of noise doing so!

Although modded hairstyles usually don't appeal to me, I like Gabrielle's, because it looks natural.

Is that some donkey behind Xena and Mimi?

I remember Fort Cedrian and IIRC, some parts of it can only be accessed by unlocking a rather hard lock. Or with the console.

YES, that's a donkey. It began following them around, and would not stop! Was kind of funny at first, but became a problem whenever combat occurred, because there was no way to tell this horse to WAIT somewhere, like we can tell RG3's new horse.

Obviously related to Kuertee's Command Horses somehow.

You can store your stuff on your horse? Wow, I didn't know about that!







BWAAAHAAA!!!! I LOVE the donkey !!!! Great screens !!!







SPEW!!! It just started following you around? How funny! Do you have apples in your inventory? It might have that "Donkey Loves Apples" AI package, I gave it to all my horses so they would follow the player for vids and stuff, all you had to do was dump the apples to get them to stop. I have forgotten to dump the apples in the barrel a few times and had the unicorn follow me into the house, lol. (got screens of it in case some one says "screen or it didn't happen")

mALX, yes, there's a mod called um.... Simple Saddlebags? which lets us store stuff on our horses. As you can see, it also puts a saddle, some bags, and some other items on the horse's back, but we have to own the horse first before we get all the cool stuff. I love this mod a lot.

You know what, I do believe RG3 had an apple or two in her inventory. XD Dang, that explains it!

---------------------------------------

Frostfall 6: The RG3 trio arrives in Blankenmarch, according to one of stories I wrote long ago, during this phase Mimi was complaining about being in the wilderness so long. But at least this time, Renee found the item she was looking for: a set of bones, wanted by one of the merchants in Bravil.

Next stop: Leyawiin.

It´s the year 437 and Lothran has just revisited Dire Warren. He also discovered that the Pyke´s Medallion he found earlier was a fake; Pyke had already gotten his medallion back in 435

Ooooh, thank you so much for the link! I love that idea!











That quest, urk. It seemed never ending! lol.

Well, I had to let Gideon go. As much as I wanted to play a Nightblade, Gideon was just too unstable. Trying to get in the right frame of mind to play him was just insane.

So, continuing the theme of necromancy, I've dragged another of my old characters from the grave: Sarel Maladas, an ex-Telvanni Nightblade fleeing Vvardenfell after several of his enemies joined forces against him, even managing to secure the services of the Morag Tong.

More from him later... right now, actually


The Journal of Sarel Maladas
Date: Unknown
Location: Aboard a ship somewhere between Vvardenfell and Cyrodiil.

To think it has come to this.

Days ago I was a Spellwright of House Telvanni, one of the most powerful members of that august House, now I am a renegade, wounded and fleeing for my life.

House Telvanni has always been about survival of the fittest, the most cunning, and the most powerful. Sometimes that means taking out those above you, other times it means fending off those below. And rarely, so very rarely, it means both at once. The highest compliment a member of House Telvanni can receive is to be targeted by those above, because it means they have begun to fear you. It was a compliment I received, and that led to my downfall.

I had trained as a Nightblade, risen through the ranks of House Telvanni, and earned my Stronghold at Tel Uvirith. And like any Telvanni, I sought to rise higher. And those around me sought to do the same, and those below sought to take my place. One night I awakened to the sound of fireballs and shattering wood. My stronghold was under attack. After waking I found my bed empty, the two eager underlings who had joined me both absent. Neither had sought to wake me, nor had fallen to treachery, so both were complicit. My rivals' reach, it seemed, was greater than I had thought. I was not surprised to find my equipment missing, in light of their betrayal, though I did take some small measure of satisfaction in seeing one of the pair, Eldrar, face-down outside my vault. His delicate features had been seared away, leaving only the tattoos on his back to identify him.

But, while the trap had claimed him, Sienna had obviously escaped. All that was left to me was the daedric shortsword, kept concealed in a secret compartment grown into one of the vault's walls, shielded from magical detection. The blade's enchantment was potent, just wielding it made me faster and stronger, but it came at a price. Even a novice would be able to cast a detect enchantment spell of sufficient magnitude to track the blade now that it was no longer concealed. But with nothing else left to me I had little choice. I threw on some robes and boots I'd yet to enchant and made my way to my library, the door still locked tight. Opening it, I spent a moment I couldn't spare looking at all those books, some my own, others rare and hard to replace. But I did what needed to be done. I couldn't take them with me, nor spare the time to pick what would be best to take. A single fireball denied my rivals their spoils. Long habit had led me to leave caches throughout my stronghold, concealed both magically and physically, and I emptied two of them containing gold and gems, potions, and a spelllbook, before leaving the upper floor, knowing I'd need them. I barely had time to cast my recall spell before my rivals' forces broke through the door.

The world had barely regained focus before the blade dug into my side, mere fortune saving me as the slash caught my spellbook, robbing the blow of much of its force. I drew my blade as I staggered backwards, confronted by an assassin of the Morag Tong, wielding a dagger in each hand, both gleaming with enchantment. I was outmatched with the blade, that much became clear immediately. My shield spell kept me alive, but even the enchantments of my blade could not grant me sufficient speed to match that of my attacker. And my time was running out. The magic of my assailant's daggers shone with every strike I blocked, his blades gouging notches into mine each time, such was the potency of their enchantment. Illusion magic was of no help, he carried some item of detection that let him see me even when invisible, and my summoned allies were of no more help. A ring on his right hand glowed each time I summoned one, a bolt of magic striking me and dispelling it before it could aid me.

I grew desperate. My blade weakened almost to the point of failure, I landed a kick against his stomach following a parry, knocking him back a step. Before he could recover, I launched an overhand blow at him, throwing everything I had into that one swing. Unable to move aside and lacking the position for a parry, he blocked with both his daggers. And their enchantment snapped my blade, the greater part of it following its original path, cutting deeply into his face. As he reeled, I rammed the broken haft of my blade into his ribs, and staggered away, towards the docks.

It cost me most of my coin, but the Marie Elena carries me to Cyrodiil, its crew more than willing to get me there quickly and quietly, though I do not trust them in the least. Not while I'm still wounded. That assassin almost killed me. His blades were swift and poisoned, and though my potions countered it, it has still taken its toll on me. It will be weeks I think before I will be able to cast another spell of any significant magnitude, or regain my former skill. But in time I shall recover. In time I shall return. And in time I shall reclaim what was taken from me, and more besides.

I wonder what happens next. Will he recover fully? Maybe it'll be a mystery.

Frostfall 8, 4th Era 20

According to my old stories, Renee Gade the third's next stop would have been in Bravil, but that doesn't happen until the 10th. So she must have done some dungeon-diving during the 8th and 9th, no doubt.

She and Smokey, her new mage companion, are in Undertow Cavern. Lovely place full of bandits and outlaws, just overlooking Leyawiin. I can see Smokey knowing about this place (since he was living in Leyawiin) and then telling RG3 about it. So off they go. Gabrielle remains steadfastly behind with their horse, guarding it against nothing, and wishing she could join her friends underground.

CM Partners has a few glitches, I have noticed. One of these is that sometimes, an NPC will show up with the party, even though we told this NPC to wait somewhere. Gabrielle occasionally does this. In RP terms, it's almost like when Gabrielle was on the show, she was always trying to sneak and follow Xena, even though Xena told her to stay in some village, or whatever.

Frostfall 10-13: RG3 and Gabrielle walked from Fort Blueblood up to the Imperial City, stopping at a couple ruins along the way. They got a few random quests along the way, all of them mod-added, and all of them add stuff like "take down the goblins who raided my caravan" or "Can you find my lost (insert lost item here)? I think it's in X." Renee bought the Waterfront Shack, she had just enough money to do so. And now, she's supposed to perform her 4th or 5th Arena match. Fun times!

Must be raining in Maryland...


Not here, though. And since I´m like Renee it must be raining or at least overcast if I am to follow Lothran around. He´s currently in the beginning of a previously undiscovered Shivering Isles cave, so I want rain now, [censored]!!

Succinct! I love this!











An undiscovered cave? In Cyrodiil???

That's quite a walk, IIRC Fort Blueblood is west of Leyawiin, deep in Blackwood. I probably wouldn't remember it if it weren't important for the Leyawiin recommendation quests.

Nice that she finally has a place to call home or at least to store her stuff. She's too much of a wanderer to call any place a home, I guezz.

That sounds fun, a new cave. I wonder what SI caves are like?

Thanks, yes it is succinct, mALX. It's my new 'to the point' writing style ha ha. Easy to implement, for working parents everywhere.

little lopov: Hmm, maybe it wasn't Blueblood. This fort was somewhat west of Pell's Gate. Hmm.

- - - - - -

Morningstar 27, 3rd Era 434 : Kahreem is supposed to be headed from Anvil to the Imperial City, to deliver a letter straight to Hieronymus Lex, but things have gone awry...

...3:00 am: He starts tonight's Xbox session getting chased by a guard.

.... He runs up toward those stragglers at Crestbridge Camp (the one just under Kvatch) and for some reason dismounts.

.. the guard shows up. Which means Kahreem has to bolt out of there, so he gets on the black horse courier horse (THIEF!) and now he's got an entire camp of people pissed off at him. Eventually as he runs away, a wolf shows up. Then a couple trolls. Then he rides by a bandit camp, so he rides into this camp, hoping the trolls will get distracted (they're fast) and they do. But now, Kahreem has a bandit after him.

... He fights the bandit a bit, but Kahreem's only wearing some blue-colored royal-looking clothes, not true armor, so the fight's not going his way. He tries to get on his horse, but the horse is fighting a wolf, so he's forced to abandon his precious black horse courier horse.

... He runs toward Skingrad, hoping to get the bandit to follow, so the guards will fight the bandit. Who knows if the bandit follows though? ...the guards aren't concerned with some stupid bandit, they want the WEET bandit. Kahreem steals a bay horse; he's not going to jail now, no way, he's resisting arrest.

...He rushes off, with several guards in tow. These guys fall behind quickly of course, so Kahreem is passing a pool of water, he gets off his new, stolen bay horse so he can drink. The guards are nowhere to be seen, but out of nowhere, another wolf shows up. XD Kahreem decides to be a man, and fights the wolf. Tired of running. Only problem is, he hits his horse as he's fighting the wolf. The horse doesn't like this.

... so now, it's 7:39 am, and he's in Derelict Mine, hiding from an angry brown horse.

No, in Shivering Isles


Cave is done! Mighty one, and it contained both Mania and Dementia.

I don't think there is any cave I haven't seen in SI either. Even that one you are supposed to only see if you do one of your choices a certain way - the one that leads into the Duchess's private garden and gets you stuck there if you do it backwards, lol.

And if that is the one you are talking about, in that small room off the main corridor - climb up on top of that ceiling decoration in that room, there is a huge surprise stash up there, lol.

Most def not Blueblood if it was west of Pells Gate. Might be Roebeck if it is directly west, or maybe Black Boot if it is further south than Pells Gate.

I think the cave was called Knotbone. Quite interesting place and lots of loot. My favourite part was the junction where there was a fight between Elytras and those frogmen.



..."those frogmen"..? Am I a n00b or something?

mirocu: Wow you did it. Congrads.

mALX: yes, it's Fort Roebuck. Looking at the map right now. Apparently, one of the devs must have shopped at Sears a lot.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

2:51, Frostfall 18: Renee & her best friend Gabrielle are in Cheydinhal. Getting acquainted with this new town. Renee got her armor & main weapon (a big claymore) fixed, visited a the mage's and fighter's guild, went to the chapel to get healed (she was sick), turned in a bandit leader ring to the Requisition Agent in the castle barracks (mod) for a much-needed 500 gold. And of course, did some buying & selling.

She bought a new spell (Heal Major Wounds) at the Mage guild, and met a new follower (a dark elf named Tasha) at the Fighter's. So now I've got a trio, a set of three. They are supposed to go find some goblin lair, where a guy in Weye claims his caravan's stuff must be hidden (mod). But it's raining hard outside! So they're waiting for the rain to end.

That place is a good source of Amber, if you're looking to make something from it. When I was testing my Gweden mod, and Nelrene needed Amber gear before she felt safe, I'd usually go there before picking her up.

@Renee - Yep! Another cave done!

I hope the girls have fun in Cheydinhal!


@ghastley - There are indeed lots of Amber there. So much so Lothran had to leave some behind; he already has 30 of it and he needs room for Madness Ore

Morndas, Evening Star 10, 3rd Era 433

Snaat Rayag is in Skingrad, asleep in the West Weald Inn. He has no idea where his girlfriend is, but he got locked out of her place, and nobody answered when he knocked. His girlfriend, by the way, is Undena Orethi, the infamous tomato lady. Yes, she really loves tomatoes, her house is packed with them! .. but she is not home. So he had to go to pay for somewhere to sleep, for once.

He has some big days ahead of him: Snaaty hasn't got any skooma. And the only two places he knows where to get more is in Bravil, and the Greyland cottage. So he has a journey ahead of him. Snaat Rayag has also heard rumors about some sort of brothel in Anvil. That will be his next journey. Plenty of skooma can be sold there, if this rumor is true.

Edit: he eventually found her, standing near the rock she often loiters by. Snaaty persuaded Undena to follow him back to her hous. It was easy to find this house for me, since it's the only one with food (pumpkin and a couple tomatoes) piled outside its door. Undena unlocked the door, and the two of them went inside.

Undena asks "What is it?" in reaction to the look on her boyfriend's face.

"I have something to say, I'll be going to Bravil, on an expedition to buy more wares. Shouldn't be gone more than a three days. Maybe two".

"I'll be waiting right here."

Undena sits. And begins sucking on a pink bottle (this actually shocked me). A new obsession for the dark elf lady, whose obsession with tomatoes had lately become secondary.

Snaat Rayag smiles, and goes upstairs to gather his gear.

Hey gang.

I haven't played at all really in the last few months - I've been playing a lot of fan-translated Japanese RPGs, mostly on the SNES and the GBA. But over the last week or so, I've been delving into Oblivion again a bit, and I've got a story.

Over the last few days, I've been traveling mostly with my scrappy Redguard spellsword Rydri. She's the one I've taken to calling "Bearbait," since she has a knack for attracting the attention of bears.

So - Rydri has been working for Umbacano and had been asked to go to Malada and recover a tablet for him. She's found seven of the Ayleid statues, but has exhausted all of the places she had been directed to and is down to just going through ruins randomly and hoping, so she decided to take the time to go to Malada and at least get that out of the way. She had already met with Claude Maric and didn't like him one bit (and that provided one of the most notable incidents in her history of bearbaiting, when, when she went to meet Maric, she was attacked by a brown bear in the lobby of the Tiber Septim Hotel).

So she made the trip down to Malada (which, by the way, is gorgeous - this is the first time I've done this quest since I added Unique Landscapes Eastern Peaks, and what they did to Malada is just stunning). She ran into some of Maric's henchmen along the way, so she was expecting trouble, and wasn't surprised when he confronted her when she was leaving. Unfortunately, in the confusion, he managed to escape.

So she made her way back to the IC and turned the tablet over to Umbacano, then went across the plaza to the Tiber Septim, on the off chance that Maric might be there. When she walked through the door, she was already looking across the room to what she thought of as his corner - the ring of chairs where he'd met her the first time - so she didn't immediately see that, just to her left as she came through the door, was a brown bear. Again.

So now she has the distinction of having been attacked by a brown bear in the lobby of the Tiber Septim Hotel twice.

gpster! So good to see you back!

What is it with Rydri and bears?

BWAAHAA!!!! What a name! Is their hair green?

Welcome Rydri! Sounds like she bearly manages to survive every visit to the Tiber Septim!

No but his skin is. Take a look!


Snaaty got attacked by a travelling adventurer, which surprised the heck out of me, because the mod that adds these guys has NEVER added anybody hostile before. It's like this ONE lady saw Snaat Rayag walking along the road, and out of the blue she starts going to town on him. I was in the middle of writing the last update when it happened.

She was tough. Snaat Rayag can summon skeletons, and can also summon daedric armor, but he's not very good as a fighter. So he had to change locations quite a few times, summoning skeltons and aiming with his black bow, before he finally got her down, and it wasn't like he had much choice; this lady would NOT give up chasing Snaaty. He occasionally gets rude greetings from people, but it's like this one lady knew what he does for a living, and decided to take matters into her own hands.

Anyways, he is almost in Bravil. M'aiq the Liar just ran by.

Wow, what a huge ... mace he has! Seriously, he is too good looking to have such a name, lol.

Hey! Save your puns for the Caption thread!


-Hello, gpstr! Long time no see

Fredas, 10:18 pm, Evening Star 14, 3rd Era 433

Snaat Rayag is finally in Anvil, with 18 of his 20 skooma bottles left. By sheer willpower, he hasn't touched any of this stuff himself; instead, he sold one to a random bandit, and gave one to his dark elf girlfriend in Skingrad. He hopes that the rumors he's heard about a gang of harlots doing business in Anvil are true. The thought intrigues him. He hasn't seen anything close to a harlot ever since coming to Cyrodiil from Morrowind, a few months earlier.

One of the first women he met was not a harlot though, she was an ordinary middle-class Redguard, angry at her husband for losing some sort of family ring to a gang of girls. Aha! ... so the rumors must be true then.

Snaaty had a hard time tracking down Gogan, the Redguard lady's beau. This lady had told Snaat Rayag that Gogan frequents the Flowing Bowl, but after an entire day of hanging out in this seedy bar (his gold dwindling from buying drink after drink), Gogan was nowhere to be seen. Snaat Rayag got the bright idea to try finding Gogan's house, which didn't take long. Then, he managed to break inside, by clumsily using several lockpicks.

His bright idea wasn't such a bright idea. With the attack on Kvatch, there were a lot of refugees hanging around Anvil's thoroughfare, which made many witnesses to Snaaty's crime. Immediately a guard was in his face. Since skooma is illegal in Cyrodii (mod), and Snaat Rayag did not want to have his stash confiscated, nor did he want to do jail time, he wound up running for his life.

Finally, after many hours of sitting outside, he calmly walked back into town. His bounty is low, he knows this, and so he felt he would be safe. And he was. Nobody bothered him. Maybe it was because he had changed some of the clothes he was wearing. Anyways, he was all prepared to sneak inside Gogan's house, to try to speak to the man, when lo, there he is, standing right outside his home. After all that.

Gogan informed Snaat Rayag that plenty of tarts and harlots can be found. Just try the Flowing Bowl. :facepalm:

Sundas, Frostfall 27, 4th Era, Year 5

"Good to see you. How are you?"

"Fine and dandy, thank you so much."

"Three o'clock and all's well, ma'am."

"Lovely. Can you be of service with the horse? We are going to make our travels north, headed toward the Imperial City. I have found something of great value," Lady Saga says to one of her Imperial Forester companions.

"It's .... it's ..."

"An Ayelid statue. The last of the great Ayleid pieces wanted by Umbacano, the Dunmer I have been so diligently making visit to over the past six years. I have finally made finding of the final of ten statues."

The trio and their horse sets off. It's an unseasonably warm day for the month of Frostfall. Then again, they had been staying for the past week in Blankenmarch, a hamlet in a rough north-easterly direction from Leyawiin. Saga's calculating several weeks before had finally paid off. She had suspected the tenth statue must lie somewhere in Blackwood, and she was almost right. She had wound up in the southern part of the Niben, actually, when spotting Welke, an out-of-the-way Ayleid ruin set by a scenic body of water. She could not believe her eyes when as she spied her prize, placed in plain view on a stone altar, not hidden at all, and not bugged with some sort of trap. The moment had been a surprise , but a lukewarm one.

"Oooh, is that a patch of summer's bolete?" Saga asks, suddenly as hungry as a hooved beast.

Ooooh! We´re suddenly treated to a Saga update! Good show, I say


And all ten statues!??

Thanks Crow. It feels good to finally accomplish something questwise with one of my games, lol.

Quite an achievement, I'd say.
Congratulations to Lady Saga, only one of my characters found all ten statues for Umbacano.

Now let her feast on summer boletes if she's that hungry.

I get the sense that Summer Bolete is her favorite fungi. Green stain mushrooms are her least favorite, but she still eats these if she finds them. I've got Basic Primary Needs, so all of mine have to eat something, you know? I find it really neat that she's the only one who won't starve, no matter how remote she is, because she's constantly surrounded by nasty stuff she can scarf down.



Turdas, Evening Star 20, Year 434

"What?"

"Well hello, Selena."

Snaat Rayag the dark elf skooma dealer had strolled calmly into camp, hoping no problems would occur with the guards who were so persistently present in Kvatch's lower-hill encampment. He could never be too sure. Had somebody seen him mount a horse which wasn't his? Had he pissed off the wrong person by attempting to ply his trade where it wasn't welcome? Such things were constantly on his mind, right after any sort of profits he might obtain.

"I'm afraid I have some rather unpleasant news for you."

"Go on."

He was now down to ten bottles of skooma, down from his original twenty, not that this was any sort of problem. Finding honest citizens who'd buy his bottles was a challenge, but any time he found himself within a lair full of bandits, he'd have some guaranteed sale, or sales, assuming some ruffian was not stupid enough to try to take him down. Such things had happened though. Such was the life of a man who walked around with lots of possible gold in his pockets.

"Your ... uh ... friend. Or partner. However you'd like to put it. He apparently became infected with porphyric hemophilia. In short, he became a vampire, and lived just on the other side of this hill, with other vampires."

"Serves him right for deserting me."

"Indeed."

"But now I have no-one to take care of business for me. I never was a good negotiator. I'd happily give it away to someone deserving."

"Ahh, you must have forgotten my little proposition, eh? I know of a place, not far from here, down by Anvil as a fact of matter, that you can relocate to. You'd have all the benefits a woman of leisure should partake of: food, wine, men, even ... a little of this, perhaps," he says, showing Selena what was left of his stash. "There's an Argonian who has a sort of vision who lives at the cottage near Anvil. Her name is Tsarrina. What say you?"

"Now a proper brothel would be just what I need. And you recommend Tsarrina as a competent madam? I think I'll like it there!"

"Well then. Let us get going, eh? And oh, here is some gooooold to start things off."

"I appreciate the gesture."

And there's the story of how Snaaty managed to convince his first lady, one who had been stranded, poor, and desperate, that she could have a better life.

A brothel for Snaaty? I dare say, these updates just got PG18


--------------------------------------------

Reports from the Dunmer in Shivering Isles

After the last visit he said he would never come back to the Isles and for a long time he upheld that promise. But something happened this year. He knew he had unfinished business there and he felt they could no longer continue to be that way. Something had to be done.

So the Nordic Dunmer returned, and for days he has been re-exploring, collecting, fighting and helping people in the Isles in various ways. For example, Mirili Ulven has finally gotten her Elytra. About time it was, she´s been standing by the Gate on the cyrodiilic side for quite some time now, waiting for the fellow Dunmer to return and help her as he had agreed to.

After that he saw to his other businesses. He had found more Amber and Madness Ore to add to his collection, and he also had ten pieces of Heretics and Zealots clothing, both robes and hoods. Not to mention various interesting clutter, all of which were be added to the Shivering Isles cupboard in his Bravil home.

But something was wrong... If all that were done, why was he still there? What else did he have to do? What more did he need to search for? The only answer he came up with was.... nothing. Nothing at all. He had no more reason to stay there, so why did he? Why was he still there when all his businesses were taken cared of? Did the Isles try to keep him, making him yet another deranged citizen who would roam around without a shred of common sense left..? That thought alone was enough.

Night was falling steadily and the sky was clouding up, but his mind was made up; he must return to Cyrodiil! He went from where he had found himself, in Crucible, up through Bliss and out through its gates. From there he took an immediate left and after reaching the Hills of Suicide he went straight south, following the narrow road. He then came upon the big road and followed it all the way back to the gates to Passwall. No time to spare, he had to get out!

He made a brief stop at the Wastrel´s Purse but the proprietress had nothing of interest to sell, and so with the nightly sky clearing up, revealing its wonderful colours yet again, Lothran made his way to the glowing gate and his ticket back.


There was the now familiar flashing light and he felt his body being pulled through and before he knew it he found himself on the other side, and he could yet again look upon the beautiful land that had become his home; Cyrodiil. The colours of the sky were gone, but he could not think of a more beautiful sky; all was quiet and the only things up there were the stars.

He made his way down the small footpath and when he reached the Niben Bay´s clear water he took off his shoes, cast a water walking spell on himself and started walking across it towards Bravil. He never stopped once, he couldn´t afford it until he was back behind the walls and inside his comfortable home.

After closing the door behind him he sat down on the chair next to the fireplace and finally he could breathe deeply again and relax for the first time in awhile.

The Nordic Dunmer was home in Cyrodiil again, and the Shivering Isles had to do without him. Lothran would not become a permanent resident there. Not now, not ever.

Renee – Congrats to Lady Saga! Buffy stuck her second statue in a chest in her apartment and forgot it's there. She found and turned in the rest but silly elf keeps searching for the forgotten one and I find it too amusing to whisper to her where it is. Ahah! I see someone has perhaps installed some ghastley goodness to the Anvil area! Snaat Rayag the pimp?

Mirocu – Glad that Lothran returned from the Isles before it claimed his sanity. It is a wonderful place to visit – but only for a visit. Besides, it won't be long before an autumnal nip is felt in the air and the snowsong of Bruma calls him north for the winter.

Renee, sounds like the Snaat Rayag is off to a good start with his brothel, and Selena is off to the house of great views and crimson draperies. Belated congrats to Saga on completing the collection! I can’t blame her for saving the green stain shrooms for last. ‘What shall I nibble upon this evening? I know, something that’s called Stain…’

Mirocu, like Acadian said, how nice that the Nordic Dunmer returned to Cyrodiil in time for his seasonal migration.

Acadian, any mention of dear Buffy warms the heart. I know another blond who will probably never see all ten together, because one has been forgotten in plain sight.

Maxical actually turned in all 10 statues, but after Umbacano was entombed in Nenalata permanently, she ... er ... retrieved them, and all 10 are on display in her Skingrad home now, lol.

Thanks for your kind words, guys


It´s always the same when Lothran is in the Isles; suddenly an overwhelming urge to get back home flushes over him and without further ado he rushes back home again.

Still need to sort out all his new souvenirs, though..

That's an unusually long story about Lothran. I enjoyed reading about his return to the Isles but also about his urge to return to Cyrodiil. It's good to have him back.

@Renee - and so begins Snaaty's pimping career, this time for real. Got any pics of this wh...girl?

Wow... mirocu - I don't remember the last time I saw that long of a Lothran story.

I admit that I sort of saw the ending coming

--------------

So I've been playing enough again lately to make an update worthwhile. I spent a bit of time with a few characters - mostly Rydri and Belladonna, and Cressida for a bit (she's almost retired at this point). Lately though, I've been spending a fair bit of time with Elenin the Altmer.

For those who don't remember - here she is outside of (Open Cities Reborn) Leyawiin.

She's the Altmer I created a while back and immediately loved. She has the basic quality that I look for in all my characters - an interesting and expressive face. I just looked at her and knew that she had a deep and complex life, and that's exactly what I want in a character. Then it's just a matter of figuring out what that depth and complexity consist of, and that's honestly most of why I play this game at this point. I never do backstories or anything like that - all of my enjoyment comes from just getting to know characters - piecing together their personalities just like I piece together the personalities of the real people I know - one little revelation at a time.

She's sad. That's the first and most notable thing that struck me. She just has this very deep and haunting sense of grief about her - particularly in her eyes. She lost someone close to her - family possibly, but more likely a lover. And he was the owner of that enormous claymore strapped to her back - it's not the sort of thing she'd otherwise carry. She does use it a bit, when she's pressed, but she much prefers magic - mostly destruction offensively, but a bit of everything really. She really isn't very good with the sword, and seems to be sort of intimidated by it. When she does use it, she mostly just flails around with it - it's big enough and heavy enough that pretty much all she has to do is connect with it, and she can mostly manage to do that sooner or later. I keep wondering if she's going to invest some effort into actually getting skilled with it, but she doesn't seem all that interested. She just likes to have it with her. It's an important link to her past.

She's tremendously nice, but a bit reserved. In fact, she's the first character I've played who turned down Arnora (the woman in Bruma who wants help recovering stolen gold). That option's always been there, but for one reason or another, the rest of my characters have always been at least somewhat willing to at least hear her out, and then they end up sucked into the scheme. But the whole thing just didn't sit right with her, and she walked away.

She doesn't know it yet, but she's going to become a paladin. That came to me early on, and I've had Pimpskinny's awesome Paladin Mod? installed on her game pretty much from the beginning. It hasn't kicked off yet though, since it starts after the end of the Order of the Virtuous Blood, and she's been out doing the mages guild recommendations. She just finished them up though - Leyawiin was the last - and I left her last night as she was making her way back to the IC to check in at the AU.

As you can see in the picture, she wears a robe - currently the 5% tan Robe of Deflection. She started out in a robe, but she got interested in armor fairly early on and tried some out for a while, but it just didn't suit her and she's gone back to a robe. When she gets access to the AU, I'm going to mod in a better robe for her. Since she's an Altmer, she could use some elemental resistance, and I reject the gameplay limitation of one enchantment per defensive item - she has the skills to put multiple enchantments on weapons, therefore she has the skills to put multiple enchantments on clothing. That I have to actually do it in the CS is just a bit of trivia. I'm thinking, to mirror the limits of her current skills, she'll end up with petty-soul versions of fire, frost and shock shield, which should help her out a bit without being overpowered. As the game goes on and she gets access to better souls, she'll upgrade the robe (I do the same thing with weapons whenever I play a character, like her, who uses the same weapon all the way through - in-universe, they're upgrading their own enchantments, but in reality, I just periodically replace the old version with a new one).

So with all that, what I've gotten so far is that she has some terrible tragedy in her past - likely the death of a lover who was the previous owner of that sword. She's very kind but withdrawn. It's likely that the tragedy involved the undead somehow, and that's going to figure heavily in things when her paladin destiny is revealed. She's a very skillful mage already, and is only going to get more so. I still don't know if she's going to actually get any good with that sword, but she's likely going to keep carrying it anyway. She likes books. She has a lot of sympathy for people in trouble and an immediate aversion to aggressive or rude people. She's really liked a few of the people she's met in the mages guild so far - especially Ardaline and Agata. And every time I look at her, I'm struck by how beautiful she is, which I find particularly noteworthy for an Oblivion Altmer.

I'll try to put together an actual story for the next one.

Ok guys, I´m sorry. Geez


Yeah, I´m not that good when it comes to twist endings

gpster: Yes she does look kinda sad, sort of mournful. But she also looks bright and focused. I know what you mean about getting attached to our creations.

Whoa, there's a paladin mod for TES4?



Long? I'll show you long!

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Lady Saga

Morndas, Frostfall 4, 4E5

Level: 14
Class: Ranger
Playtime: 506 hours, 23 minutes, 6 seconds (yea, I just included seconds).

Days Passed: 434
Gold in Bank: 18,532


"You ... you are the one. The lady who made sending of that mysteriously scribed parchment I received in Pell's Gate?"

"So you are the best vampire slayer of the Order? I expected you to be... Well, it doesn't matter, really. I hope you can help me? I'm Kendrel Vando."

"I am Aerin, from Valenwood. Pleased to have making of your acquaintance. Well, I am not of surety that my slayings against vampires are 'the best', as you have mention. But I could indeed find desirings to make assistance."

"I'm the daughter of Ano Vando. I think you've heard of him, he's the best vampire hunter in all of Tamriel. No offense."

"Offense? Bah. 'Tis not as though there is some sort of contestments about."

"I'm his armorer and his squire, and I came along with him from Morrowind, following the trail of this weird bunch of vampires. Weirder than average."

"Weird? In what manner?"

"These vampires are not like the others, they aren't all about blood or feeding," answers the dark elf. "They want to change the way the world is, and not in a good way... So, my father demanded that I stay here until he finished this, because he thinks they are too much of a threat to risk taking me along, and now I know that if I went looking for him by myself, he would be mad at me. And there's nothing I fear more than my father's anger."

The Bosmer from Valenwood, who had been living on and off here in Cyrodiil, waits for Kendrel the Dunmer to continue.

"So I hoped you could help him out? If they are so dangerous, maybe my father couldn't handle them either. Would you help us?"

"Of surety, this shall be so."

"Not much of a talk-y person, are you? Well, I'm glad you will help me. I'm more concerned than I've ever been."

And she sure is a blabb-y one, thinks Saga.

"Even my father never looked so worried! Father told me to stay put and lay low until he gets back, but he's been gone .... He told me he would write as soon as he got to Skingrad. But that should be been quite awhile ago....He told me that if something happened to him, I should contact your Order and get in touch with you."

"And indeed, you have done so."

"He's not dealing with run-of-the-mill vampires, and he doesn't know the land very well, nor do I. He'll be at my family's manor..."

"Which is where?" Saga asks, feeling impatient to throw herself into the bed she had just rented, here at the Tiber Septim. She'd spent the day dealing with baddies in Homestead, dealing with baddies on the road to Weye, and now wanted nothing more than to just sleep sleep sleep....

"I'll write down directions for you and perhaps you could find him there. When you do, please write to me as soon as you can."

[YAWN] Apologies. Much rest I have need of. But yes, this is so. This shall be so, that I shall make promisings to scribe in return, Kend--"

"Now please go, before I talk your ears off."

"Be seeing you, Kendrel. And nice making your acquaintance," Saga says, almost literally ready to fall dead-asleep right there on the floor.

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Non-roleplay version: Lady Saga was planning on leaving Cyrodiil again, but apparently she's just accepted some cool-sounding vampire quests. The above dialog comes from the Vampire Hunting -- Order of Virtuous Blood? mod.