It's funny how Lothran's game sounds so peaceful. He's just strolling along, letting Aureal (whoever that is) do all the heavy stuff.

An Aureal is a Golden Saint, and not a specific one either


I just do an overview of Lothran's travels. There may not be a ton of action along the way but there is some. Exploring is what we are about though, not combat


Pics in pic thread!

WHAT???

First Lothran makes this surprise move into the Shivering Isles, then you are posting pics. Next, you'll be telling us all about this new toon you just rolled!

Who are you, and what have you done with our friend mirocu from Scandinavia?

Don't forget the "fanfic" I posted earlier this year!

Lothran started his return to the Isles by visiting Mania with its vibrant colours. He has now ended that part of the tour and he did so by visiting Split; the town that no longer has any stunt doubles. After that visit he went southward and into the region known as Dementia.

Right now he has spent the night in his tent in Crucible and is ready to further explore this part of the Isles. The shops of Crucible have already been shopped.

Lothran has now reached the very edge of Madgod's Boot; close enough to see the walls that surround The Fringe. So far it has been a very nice visit and we are not done yet. Lothran does not understand the concept of "vacation" but he has promised me to stay in the Realm for the duration of it

Yesterday was interesting; Lothran was in the Dementia prison system!

Not as a convict though but as an explorer. He wasn't going out to escape, rather he went in voluntarily! Don't think he has succumbed to the Isles though. He did the very same thing back home in Cyrodiil some time ago where he went into the grate he escaped from all those years ago and tried to get as far back to his cell as possible. So if anything, Lothran is affecting the Isles!
He also visited the Mazken stronghold at Pinnacle Rock yesterday. He wasn't let inside but he greeted the polite guards outside.

So far the Dementia part of the 2020 tour has yielded much more loot than Mania.

After more than a week out in the south of the Isles, Lothran is now back in Crucible. He found a Mute Screaming Maw that the museum curator probably wants but Lothran is gonna keep that for his own collection back home. He's also collected a good amount of amber and madness ore.

Next time he heads out he'll probably visit Mania again.

Today whilst traversing the mountains east of New Sheoth and going north, Lothran came upon a Zealot camp. Since he collects the gowns and hoods from previous Zealots he decided to pull a prank. He donned a whole outfit and calmly walked into the camp.
And interestingly, the real Zealots didn't attack him on sight. Not until he came almost close enough to talk to them at which point they cried out "You're not one of us!" and summoned a Flesh Atronach each. They were all quickly dispersed of though and after that little stunt Lothran is now once again in Mania.

Clever Warlock!

He did the same with some Heretics


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Lothran keeps re-exploring the northenmost parts of the Isles. Today he visited Brellach, the stronghold of the Aureals, or Golden Saints as they are more commonly known. Like with the Dark Seducer's, he wasn't let in, so he didn't stay long and is now close to Cann, a fort not far from Brellach.

Why wasn't he let in?

Because he doesn't do the MQ

Yesterday Lothran visited another place out of bounce to him; Cylarne, up in the NW parts of the Isles. One Mazken and one Aureal was guarding the place and both asked him to leave, one more kindly than the other. Very well. We're not dungeon diving anyway, rather we prefer to roam the land and take in the views.

Huh, that's weird. They asked Lothran to leave. How odd.

It's been mostly sunny for weeks in Maryland, so this is why I haven't been playing Oblivion for awhile. Stay tuned for Snaat Rayag and eventually Balztu Dahwalz. Maybe in August.

Cylarne is a quest-locked location, part of the SI main quest.

Lothran is now back in The Fringe. He has fulfilled his promise of staying in the Isles for the duration of the vacation, and as it's coming to an end it's time for him to return to Cyrodiil.

More ingredients collected, as well as amber, madness ore and some matrixes. It has been fun roaming the Isles but it'll be nice to come home again. Hopefully the portal is still there...

And hopefully when Lothran gets back to Cyrodiil, Gaius Prentus won't admonish him with, "Stay away from me. You've already spent too much time... over there."

Lothran was indeed met by those words upon re-entering Cyrodiil. But the guard didn't do anything else and after a nice walk on the Niben Lothran is now resting in Silverhome-on-the-Water, contemplating his recent adventures into the realm of madness. Considering he swore never to return way back in 2012 I think, this is quite a big thing for him.

First Seed 7, Year 434 -- Snaat Rayag has been moseying around the Imperial City, keeping several folks down on the Waterfront, as well as the bandits of Dzonot Cave and one other cave stocked with skooma. He is saving up his money and once he's got enough I think you all will be in for a surprise.

As a character, he is quite conservative. He's a Merchant, not an Adventurer. He is all about earning gold through plying his wares. Not stealing, not going down into some holes and beating up monsters. So I won't be gaming with him all summer...I want to get to Balztu soon. Hopefully this weekend Snaaty will be able to make enough gold. Again, you all will be surprised.

Took a moment until the name suddenly hit me

Ha! I can still remember years ago when it finally hit PhonAntiPhon what Renee Gade stands for...

Will he become a financial advisor?

The Renegade who had it made

Nice! It's STYX !!!!

Lopov, how did you guess? Yes he's going to become a dab hand at economics. It'll be like a side job to him. Damn, how did you guess?

Well I don't really see him shoeing horses, that's why.

I spent some time today with January, as she roamed around the Shivering Isles, along the coast south east of New Sheoth. I was testing a new mod created - a dirty soundset based on the PCSoundset mods by Brucevayne. I tried creating my own soundset using one of his as a model to copy from, but I could not get the mp3s to work. So in the end I just replaced his mp3s and wavs with my own, otherwise keeping everything else the same. In the end it worked, eventually, and now I have a Kaelyn the Dove soundset for Oblivion.

Glad you've got a voice set you like. I loved using Innocent in Oblivion and, thanks to your help, was able to make it work in Skyrim as well.

I'm green with envy. As a male PC it wouldn't do me much good but Kaelyn the Dove for one of my companions would be great.

This past week I did spend some time working on Pym's voice. There are voice files included in the mod that don't work. After figuring out the issue and making an edit (miss-named folder) she now has a battle cry. Not much but an improvement none the less.

Yesterday Lothran once again found himself within the Leyawiin walls. M'aiq was spoken to prior, and the marauder in the house was disposed of. Rain was pouring down and the Dunmer opted to stay at the Fighters Guild for repairs and rest.

Next up is the same as ever; recharging weapons, buying ingredients and re-explore Leyawiin county with its still many samples of Nirnroot

Will Lothie be hunting for Ashcan trolls while down in the Leyawiin area?

Absotively! Though last session had him sneak around the castle with its hidden room. Thankfully, the room was empty and Lothie was never discovered. The dungeon, which he visited formally, was also empty but the guard still insisted that he didn't get too close to the prisoners

I think in all the years, only one of mine have managed to "catch" M'aiq and get one of his nonsensical quotes. The Skyrim version of M'aiq is much more accessible.

Apparently he is easy to talk to in Anvil around sunrise on a certain day. My test character was starting off near Anvil and she saw him down by the docks each time she found her way there. He would then walk briskly through the city before running off up the road towards Kvatch. Not sure what day it was, though that shouldn’t be hard to determine with some waiting.

My recent playthrough of January in Oblivion found her come down to Anvil from the north road. She met Maiq outside the city's north gate, and had no trouble talking to him.

Morndas, early morning, Heartfire 3, 4th Era, Year 5 -- Balztu Dahwalz has spent the night in Skingrad's winery. She mostly sleeps outdoors, except for in some villages which do not have walls surrounding them. Balztu has been living off of mushrooms, seeds, and other foliage for days. She tried to catch a fish in this one pond, but was unsuccessful, so it's been zero protein for days.

But she is determined to get to Valenwood, and the province of Malabal Tor, where Wood Orcs are rumored to be found living. I had no idea there are wood orcs in the game's lore, that's so perfect!

Lothran has been to Valenwood and indeed all the other provinces, but upon arrival to each of them there was nothing there. No one to talk to and not even the sound of birds or the wind..


Still in Leyawiin, btw. Had a nice evening strolling around town yesterday

Not true, Crow. Valenwood Improved is packed with creatures and people and trees. At least the region we explored certainly was. Seriously, you should check it out. It's not going to influence what you already know in Cyrodiil, except it adds a simple bridge behind Skingrad, where Lothran probably rarely ever goes. You can just roleplay it like "this bridge recently got added between Valenwood and Cyrodiil.

Who am I kidding though? Myself, that's who.

Make sure that Balztu brings a "camera" with her, when she goes down to Valenwood!

Falorn just left the Inn of Ill Omen and is heading for Cheydinhal. A certain Lucien Lachance had shown up at his bedside a few days before, with an interesting offer. Apparently our intrepid Wood Elf murdered someone during a dungeon delve on his way to Anvil.

(I'm not even sure who I killed, it's hard to see NPCs in these dungeons. Probably just fired an arrow at ashadowy figure.)

If you are using Maskar's Oblivion Overhaul, MOO will dynamically add a few hostile NPCs and outposts to explore. In my current game Better Cities even dynamically inserted NPCs.
Be aware though, further south you go the fewer NPCs you will see. If I remember correctly, Southpoint had two NPCs total and I had to break into their houses to see them. Not sure, there may have been one NPC in the dock area.
Haven was a little bit more populated.

See you at the Stairway to Haven (Heaven) Inn.

Nah, no overhauls for this game. It's lightly modded - mostly stability fixes, and a couple of environmental mods.


I think it might have been a random Adventurer.

I like that name, Falorn. Will Falorn be joining Dark Brotherhood? Or not?

5:55 am, Mid-Year 20, 3rd Era Year 435: Joan of Arkay is in Wendir, hoping another Ayleid Statue can be found here. (shhh...) Her horse got distracted on the way to Leyawiin, and is probably deceased, which is a real bad thing in her Level 10 gameworld.

Here's a fun story. Joan was in Inn of Ill Omen a few days ago. She's calmly sitting there eating when a TROLL rushes into the place. It was chasing the Imperial Forester guy! I have never seen anything like this, but of course trolls can open doors. Forgot about that. Anyway, it was quite a mess for about 20 seconds or so.



This is okay. I will fill in those blanks with that mighty tool in my C folder. In fact I am looking forward to populating some areas.

Most definitely! I've heard really good things about the quest line and I'm eager to see it play out.

No kidding. So you have never done Dark Brotherhood Kane, wow. I've gotten about halfway through the questline. It gets ... controversial. In fact, I'll never be able to finish DB until I roll the right character. That's how intense i found it.

I've barely scratched the surface of Oblivion. I had one character that completed the main quest and part of the Mages Guild. Everything else is uncharted waters for me.

Gosh. I am almost envious you are seeing it all with fresh eyes!

I wish I could go back and replay Skyrim for the first time again. That was my first entry in the series, and I'll always hold it near and dear. I still had no idea what I was getting into, until I came down the bend from Riverwood, saw Whiterun on the hill. The expanse of the game world left me in awe.

Yup, yup. I know what you mean.

It was 2008 for me. I came from a background of almost entirely linear games (mostly JRPGs) when I read about Oblivion. The only 'sandbox' open-world type of game I owned was Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Every other title I owned (Crusaders of Might and Magic, Champions of Norrath, Legends of Dragoon, various editions of Final Fantasy, and a couple dozen others) were all linear. They might have some pretty scenery, and maybe even a path which branched off from the main, linear gameplay road. I'd always get tempted to explore this scenery or path a bit further until *Bonk!* nope, can't do that! Stay on the path, silly woman!

So going from that to Oblivion was mind-blowing. I can remember sitting there after getting the game and saying words which I can't type here, over and over and over. That first gameplay session really knocked me over, and I had to call in "sick" the next day. Mostly so I could continue gaming out!

Hehe, that's funny because the most open game I had come from was Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. I countless hours in that game just going around doing whatever.

I didn't call in sick after starting Skyrim, but when Fallout 4 came out I scheduled two days off work to play non-stop. If we ever get TES IV, I'll probably take a week!
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Falorn made it to Cheydinhal and met the family. First contract - a pirate!