Set in his ways indeed


Though currently he's doing something out of the ordinary; dungeon diving. He doesn't do that much outside of the Jeralls but today he felt like re-exploring Lindai

After Lindai, Lothran decided to go to his shack on the Waterfront. All his winter gear in the drawer and finally he could don his Saviour's Hide again!


Tomorrow he will visit the shops in the Market Distrcit and then it's back to Chorrol.

I hope Lothran enjoys a beautiful day of shoppping!

He did; found quite a few ingredients which is basically the only thing he's looking for. Not much else to buy as the interesting stuff is always found deep inside ruins.

From the Waterfront, Lothran made a full revolution counter-clockwise of the Imperial City and after returning to the Waterfront to offload the stuff he bought, he's once again heading to Chorrol. This time though in his usual summertime attire

Today while trekking the south-western part of the Colovian Highlands, Lothran came upon an Ayleid ruin. Upon closer inspection its name was "Varondo". Unsure whether or not he had explored this particular ruin before, Lothran got into sneak mode and entered.
Nope; he had not been here as the interior brought back no memory of it. As he would not likely be back in these parts for a very long time there was no other option than to simply delve deeper into the ruin to see what it was hiding.


Bit by bit, room by room, Lothran stayed in the shadows and watched with amusement as his Spriggan and her bear tore the Conjurers apart. He thought back to his days in the Arena, where people had paid handsomely to watch him fight opponent after opponent. He also thought of his own gambling when he too had paid good money and then watched a short fight between two warriors. This spectacle down in the ruin was much more fun and not only was it free to watch; at the end of it all there was even hefty treasures to be had!

Deep down into the ancient ruin, Lothran finally entered the last room. Two covered cages told him there were Varla stones to be had. And indeed; having pressed the adjacent blocks controlling the covers, two Varla stones was soon in his possession. It had taken Lothran quite some time to get here and there was no way he'd leave without these white, glowing treasures. With the ruin now empty and quiet, it was time to walk the long way back up to the surface.

Upon leaving the ruin through the heavy stone door it was clear to Lothran that he had indeed been in there quite long. It was around mid-day when he entered and now it was nighttime. Masser and Secunda was clear in the sky and crickets played their song throughout the vast wilderness. A gentle breeze touched Lothran's face as he pondered about what he had just experienced. Even though he was a seasoned explorer by this point, it was clear to him that even now there were still secrets to be uncovered. More treasures to be found. And more amusement to be had.

What a rare and unexpected treat for Lothran to encounter an unexplored dungeon! He certainly has amassed the tools, expertise and knowledge to conquer anything he encounters.

And look at mirocu! He is writing fan fiction!

Yes, this was quite a treat and it was the perfect time for it as well


Ikr? Renee's and Lopov's minds risk being blown!

Really loved this dive which is why it was so easy to write that. I just wrote what I felt when thinking back, it was great! Thanks for your comments

Not for those conjurers it wasn't.

Varondo rings a bell for me. OH this place! Wow, in all your years Lothran's never been there before?

No. At least he has never explored it. I'm glad we did, it was a very fun and interesting ruin

Such much text! I need to take a day off to be able to grasp it all!

How nice to still discover new things after all these years!

I assume that map marker was already activated, which means that Lothran at least passed by the ruin before?

Lothran must have some sort of mad self-restraint. As soon as one of my adventuring types sees any undelved ruins, they can't wait to get in there!

Pot to kettle! We need much coffee for this!


Yes, it amazes me that we still find ruins unexplored even to this day! I think in 2018 we found no less than two unexplored ruins right beside a main road!


Yes, Lothran had marked it on his map some years ago but it seems he didn't fancy to explore it. Some ruins demand the right time, I reckon


A few years into our adventures we grew tired of dungeon diving as it was always more or less the same thing over and over in terms of how we did it. Instead we shifted gear into simply wandering the wilderness with only the occasional dive. This was such an occasion

Lothran is now close to Skingrad. He left the Imperial City in the afternoon and after a pretty uneventful walk he entered the region known as The West Weald. The towers of Skingrad is visible and since it's evening and darkness is rolling in, Lothran feel it would be a good thing to get inside the mighty walls.


Good for whatever bad thing is out there, that is

Welcome back to Wine Country, Lothie! Enjoy some Tamika's.

Uh oh. He's nearing Skingrad? Could Kahreem and Lotrhan finally pass by one another? Hee hee.


I know how to fix this. Yes. I do. Wanna hear how?

How many hours are in his game by now? Must be quite a lot.

We'll do!


If they do, I'm sure as they're in the same circle they know to not make a fuss. Or... one of them knows it...


I know how; by not sneaking and instead rush in loud and proud!


Less than you'd think. I'm actually not sure as the hours reset and I haven't been too careful keeping track. But somewhere between 2500 and 3000 hours at this point. Not more than that as my gaming hours have dwindled over the years.

We're having fun now at Fort Linchal though! The necrodudes are Lothran's favourite playmates!

Better hurry up. Or it could be 2023 before there's another possible chance.


Okay, I was guessing "Over 2000" so that's close enough.

Today was the day where Lothran went and had some fun with the vamps at Bloodcrust Cavern. Standard procedure: lure them out and fight them in the sun. Not much else to say about it xcept it was fun as always

Lothran is now making his way out into the real wilderness in search of the isolated house S-E of Skingrad. This is one part of the map where one can really feel alone as there are no markers on the compass, no bandits or foresters and nothing else but trees and a few critters. If there is one place that reminds Lothran of Pale Pass, it is this area.

Nice tactics for those pesky vamipires - clever elf! I hope Lothie enjoys his time in the wilds around Skingrad.

Do vampires actually get any direct sun damage in un-modded Oblivion?

He will enjoy it when he gets to the isolated house; Lothran has playmates everywhere!



At least that's true for the player character. I think.

Yes, it's true for PC, but IIRC you need a mod for NPCs. Renee will probably know for sure.

I have my ways, what are yours?


True, you will need a mod to add sun damage to NPC Vampires. Maskar's Oblivion Overhaul does it very well as it adds sun damage to NPC Vampires when they are caught outside during the day. Plus it adds NPC vampire health regeneration when not taking sun damage. Makes vampire hunting extremely dangerous.

In the vanilla game they do take sun-damage, but it is very slow. Much slower than it is for the Player-Character. Killing NPC vamps normally with weapons / spells / summons is still the fastest way to go. Lothran has the right idea though, at least in RP terms. A lot of my characters also lure them out into daylight.

Still, I use Maskar's Oblivion Overhaul, almost solely because it is the only mod which makes NPC sun damage the same as PC sun damage. MOO has tons of options, all of them can be toggled on or off. Like I said, I use MOO almost entirely for NPC vamps.

Edit: Ninja'd by macole.

This past Easter was spent as usual in the no man's land around the isolated house. Wonderful area, and the only area around Skingrad with a lot of yellow flax. Red and blue are very common in the West Weald, but not yellow, so Lothran had to go specifically to look for that.

Only one bandit in the house, btw. A female Redguard. Lothran was hoping for at least two which is the norm, but not this time.

Maybe the other one was in wilderness, hunting Easter bunnies...

Lothran is now at Mortal Camp just south of Kvatch. On the way there he stopped by Shetcombe Farm, the very place where we first experienced the Abomb all those years ago.

Is Lothie continuing on to Anvil do you suppose?

Yes! It is time for the sand dunes and the memories of himself and Buffy hunting boar

Lothran is now in Anvil. More specifically he's resting on a bench at the stables. There has been no sign of M'aiq along the entirety of the Gold Road. We always look out for him, he's fun to talk to

Next session will see Lothran conduct business in Anvil and maybe some exploring of the immediate surrounding area.

What a beautiful part of Cyrodiil! I hope Lothran takes time to enjoy the beaches and sunsets and chat with guildmates while there. And it always lightened Buffy's heart to stop at the castle and know that she had helped the Countess find her wayward Count.

When visiting the castle recently, Lothran didn't find the count. But he did run into a strange man who for some reason were there. Hmm..


Anyway, the Dunmer is currently by the shipwreck way west of Anvil. He got there by walking on Brena River between Cyrodiil and Hammerfell. He actually visited Hammerfell briefly by walking the river arm stretching into it. It's a sensational feeling to walk on the river between those very tall walls!

Not many Cyrodiilians want to talk about the Thaldorn Manor. Five years ago it became publicly known, that in the noble house east of Pell's Gate, horrific deeds have been going on for years. Myraan Thaldorn, the high-ranking battlemage in the Legion, and his wife Deurexia, the respected teacher at the Arcane University, have been keeping a group of young maidens imprisoned in the manor basement. By sheer luck, one of them one night escaped and on her way to Pell's Gate, ran into a group of patrolling legionnaires. Before Thaldorns even found out that one of their captives was no longer chained, the patrol already stormed the manor and rescued two more maidens. As soon as they realized that their scheme has been exposed, Myraan and Deurexia committed suicide. The house was locked by the Legion and since that day nobody has stepped inside.

Myraan and Deurexia had one son - Rieltar Brunos - who was at that time a student at the College of Winterhold. News of his parents' death reached him a few weeks later, along with the key to the manor, he was after all the only heir.

*five years later*

Conjurers that have been occupying Sardavar Leed, the Ayleid ruin close to the manor, saw tonight for the first time light inside it. But not the light of candles, but of someone casting spells, they assumed.

The only heir returned home.

A new adventure begins in 3rd Era Cyrodiil it seems?

The scowling necromage has returned!

Oh noes!!! Well now we know how he got that spooky manor. Picutres!

Today while trekking the Gold Coast, Lothran decided to pop into Lord Drad's mine where we many moons ago freed the slaved ogres. Good thing we did! As it happens we somehow managed to miss two (2) previously unscavanged silver veins!

Goodness mirocu, TWO undiscovered silver ore veins! This is madness!

Did he ever get to Skinrad? I think our characters missed each other.

Ikr!??


Yup. He was there as usual this Easter

As the summer season is staring us in our faces, Lothran is currently parked on a stone bench inside Anvil's walls. He's well-fed and when I get back to him he'll be well-rested too but in the meantime the Dunmer is enjoying some wonderful sunshine and the peace and quiet my awayness brings

Well, that awayness isn't yet! I am not yet done for the season it seems.


Lothran has just left Anvil and is travelling the Gold Road towards the Imperial City. He's right now at a bandit camp outside Kvatch and will continue his journey tomorrow. I think we'll do something special this year

After a very brief stop to his shack in the Imperial City, Lothran is now in his home in Bravil. Some necro outfits were offloaded as well as the keys from that fort out in the bay, keys that up until now were kept in Bruma for some reason.

Speaking of the bay, there's something there that once again seeks Lothran's attention..

Awesome. Glad to hear Lothran continues his journeys.

Snaat Rayag is headed toward Bruma to find out what this note is all about. I did a quest tutorial four years ago which ultimately awards the player-character a manor home. It's how I learned a lot about writing quests. Anyway, returning to his game I wrote a new quest, which makes his new home ultimately part of Bruma county. So Snaaty has to go and pay for his "free" home. This is going to make thing a little more complicated, because now he's going to need to sell some skooma, just to make that 800 gold per month rent. Or, he can ultimately buy the place for 8,000 gp.

It's raining today and tomorrow so at some point I'll also make Balztu the Orc Adventurer. Rawr!

And I'm glad to see he's not the only Dunmer to keep on adventuring


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

"I haven't been here in such a long time. In fact, it has been many years now since I last saw this place and at the time I swore to never come back. And yet, here I am once again. Back in this mad place"


Lothran was sitting at a table in The Wastrel's Purse in the small village of Passwall. The proprietress was standing at the counter, hunched forward as always. Even after so many years she was still standing there, forever tired, selling the odd thing to whoever came inside asking for it. Today, this someone was Lothran.


Beyond the little village laid the Madgod's realm. Full of treasures and dangers, friends and foes. Lothran had indeed been here before so he knew the land. Still, that was long ago and wandering around Cyrodiil may have turned him a bit careless. If there ever was a time to sharpen up his senses again, this was it.

By the Nine, Lothran returns to the Shivering Isles?!

I remember years ago, when he said, that he's not going there again. But I'm glad that he changed his mind. I hope that he stays there for a while.

@Renee - at first I skimmed through your post and read by mistake that you needed 4 years to complete your own tutorial quest.

Balls to the walls FTW!

Renee - To rent or buy, Snaaty, that is the eternal question. You're going to turn your orc loose tomorrow? In the rain?

mirocu - Wait. . . SI is not on the annual travel/agenda schedule, is it?

Yeah, I'm almost as surprised myself

The idea popped into my head a while ago and now with more gaming time on my hands I decided to let Lothran visit it once again. It'll be a blast for sure!


Nope. He declared, as Lopov said, many years ago that he would never visit it again. And up until now he's been true to his word. Shivering Isles is one of those places that's best visited only once in a blue moon

I agree big time. Wow. I'm so proud of you, Lothran.

Lothran sends his thanks and would like to report he is thoroughly enjoying his return to the Isles. It's so nice to once again see the mushroom trees.

So far he is following the main road north (he entered into Mania btw) and the plan is to slowly making his way to New Sheoth; taking good time getting there.

Lothran keeps trekking the northern part of the Isles, sort of following an Aureal who is kind enough to disperse of enemies so the Dunmer can focus on enjoying the scenery. He has just spent a night at Dreamwalk Camp and yesterday he actually uncovered a new location; Aichan!