That means winter is almost here!

Well, it IS here and Lothran is now sitting in his cold, dark house as the fireplace hasn't been lit yet.


The roads up to Bruma from Aleswell were very uneventful other than one Minotaur Lord and one bandit. This btw is the first time ever Lothran has walked up to Bruma in the middle of the night, or very early morning as in 1:00AM. He usually does it when the sun is up around 7:30AM but it's just now doing so, barely.


Next time the fireplace will be lit and Lothran can begin placing things where they should be and then hit the town

I'm sure the guard force will be glad to have him back in the rotation.

Oh my, is he infected by vampirism?



Welcome home, Lothran! I bet there's lots of dust in his cottage.

Bruma! Knew it! Well, TheChershireKhajiit knew it first. But I had a strong suspicion that's where he was ultimately headed.



As for Joan of Arkay, it is Loredas, Sun's Dusk 30, 4th Era Year 1, late afternoon. She just arrived to Battlehorn Castle, her home and wish it were mine!

Her game has 313 hours on it, and I rolled her in 2013, so that's 313 hours on an 11 year-old game. She is Level 16. She's pretty much done with the Ayelid statue quests (finally!) and needs something else to do. I can't just game randomly with her like I can with Saga or Snaaty, she needs actual stuff to do.

I'm sure they will be. Always good with some reinforcements


Nope, but he's slain 15 of them this year


Thanks! And yes


I knew you knew


Awesome! Sounds like she just came home as well then

Picely-pics?

I'll put them in the screenshot thread. Last night when I tried to upload them there was a problem. Think I should try converting them to JPEGs.

Right now Joan is in Lost Black Rock Chasm (has anyone else ever gone in here? There's a pirate ship underground. 🏴‍☠️). She just took care of the leading ghost pirate.

It's the day before Thanksgiving and some people coming over in a few. Until then, I'm hiding in my room!

It's a Joan of Arkay double-header in Casa Renee! Played for an hour with Joan in Morrowind, now I'm with her eight-year-older version in Cyrodiil.

Tirdas, Evening Star 10: She's just outside of Barren Cave, the vampire lair on the way to Cheydinhal. Time to lure out some bloodsuckers.

Good! She can pick up Lothran's slack!

Ha ha yeah, Joan can do a few things Lothran and Hamfat miss!

But it's December now and I switch between characters, start of each month. It is Loredas, Sun's Height 19, 4th Era Year 22 in Renee Gade III's world. She begins her adventure where I left off months ago: Chapel of Stendarr in Chorrol. She's got a mod-added quest which is supposed send her to Elenglynn.

These are the notes I left last time I was with her.

Elenglynn has been explored, except for underwater parts. But I don't think the Secret of Minlorada has anything to do with the water. Honestly we are stumped. We're supposed to talk to someone, who the fck is it?

Ha ha a bit confusing.

Lothran has just cleared out the bandit camp out east and also Plundered Mine in his usual way. Found a gold nugget!


Also; yesterday I made save number 30.000!

After some time in the Jeralls and a clearout of Capstone Cave, Lothran is now back in Bruma and at Jerall View. It's late afternoon and after a stop at home it's once again time for an evening at Olav's Tap and Tack

It's tradition, after all.

I swear; Lothran coming back to Bruma and the Jeralls... It's like he never left

Wait.... wait... where are my glasses? Mm... Otheran .... stacked ... Pruma.... Oolavs..... Hmm, where are my glasses???

Tonight was the last night at Olav's Tap and Tack and tomorrow Lothran will head out for Serpent's Trail. It's time for the Annual Christmas Ogre Hunt!

Lothran is now at the top of Fort Pale Pass and the tent is up at its usual place, safe from any potential intruder. The road to the fort offered some resistance but not a lot. It's high noon and tomorrow the Pale Pass Ogre Caveboss Hunt™ will begin.


Lock and load!

I'll be waiting for the teeth count this year. . . .

After a first sweep through the snowy valley the preliminary result is 14, including Serpent's Trail. But that number will rise tomorrow when Lothran continues to cover more ground.


Gamer's note: I really love coming back to Pale Pass each Christmas!


Edit: Final count is 17. Much like always

Lothran made a full sweep of the area today searching for any potential straggler. None was to be found so he returned to the camp on top of Fort Pale Pass.

17 teeth! That beats the Crow's normal semla count.

Poor ogres. Seems not long ago I was lamenting their once-ago downfall. Are there ever any non-hostile ogres, btw?

Fredas, Last Seed 8, 4th Era Year 22 Renee Gade III heads from Chorrol to Ninendava, where she needs to collect as many Welkynd stones as she can, before heading to Minlorada. She needs 40 stones for this one altar to activate. Fun for RG3, but tedious for me.

Oh, and

Aren't there some friendly ogres you help at at Lord Drad's estate?

Gosh, it's been so long. Are they friendly? Probably so, since they're enslaved.

Renee Gade III continues up the hill to Ninendava. She and her two companions are about to pass Sancre Tor. Occasional brawls occur with bandits, smugglers, marauders, undead; The adventure is epic on this Xmas day!

To answer your questions; yes, the Lord Drad ogres are friendly to the player and yes; Lothran has once met a friendly ogre in Pale Pass. It was a few years ago and it has only happened once. But who knows; if Lothran didn't always get their attention by sniping maybe he would have met more non-hostile ones through the years?


Also; action at Sancre Tor! Have fun with the inhabitants!

You definitely have some weird thing going on with occasionally "enemies" which are non-hostile. Which isn't due to some mod, since your game is pretty light with modifications.



Oh, she went to Ninendava. Trying to collect Welkynd stones (while smiting blooduckers!) but there weren't any Welkynds in there at all. There are a couple ruins south of Chorrol: Wendir is one of them. She'll search both of those.

I've played for so long my game partially has a life of its own now. Maybe some NPCs have gotten sentient


Welkynd stones are pretty common so finding none in a ruin is a bit unusual, right? Varla stones however - pffh. Can't be many of those out there.

Welkynd stones don't respawn, so if you start doing something that needs them after you've been playing a long time, it can be a pain to find more.

ghast: That's fine. I rarely pick up Welkynds so there's plenty around. Just gotta hit the right ruin. The ones RG3 takes won't be missed.

crow: That's actually a GOOD thing that some enemies are changing their mind. Surprises like these are always welcome in my book (probably yours too).

Yep, Renee

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

Lothran is now back in Bruma, resting in his house. I think next time it's time to conduct business and visit the inns.

Is that so?

Well Renee Gade III, daughter of Renee Gade II, grand daughter of the original Renee Gade. Elder Scrolls Champion who defeated Jagar Tharn in the Year 389 (I think...) in the game Elder Scrolls: Arena, has now arrived in Skingrad.

She's still looking for Welkynd stones. Retrieved five stones from Wendir. There are a bunch of other stones in Wendir, but they're all way up high, on pedestals. Tried shooting one down with an arrow, but the dang thing merely slipped behind its pedestal, way too high to grab.

Here's one of those "What would Buffy do?" moments?

Telekinesis spell?

Arrows always worked fine for me. I can't remember if the starting fire spell would knock them down or not.

Go to Wendelbeck, and don't worry about ones you can't reach. There are 58 in there.

See this is what I love, the Community comin' together.

Acadian: RG3 had a Telekinesis scroll for 30 seconds but somehow I fumbled it. It's been so long, probably since 2008, that I had anyone use Telekinesis. By the time those 30 seconds were up, nothing accomplished!

SubRosa: Yes, she was able to shoot a couple with arrows, but they still slipped behind their pedestals. And for every stone we'd knock out of its pedestal with an arrow, there'd be six or seven misses!

ghastley: Ah, that's an idea, Wendelbeck. HaVen't tried there, yet.

Gade just got done plundering Miscarcand. Was able to grab a bunch of stones from there. She left 19 stones behind in Minlorada (from the Well of Minlorada) so I think we've met our quota for Welkynds, since 40 are needed overall. If she still hasn't got enough, we'll think of heading south.

Well, methinks 30 secs is well good enough to grab a few Welkynds off its pillar and it's not an expensive spell to buy. Or why not go with a staff? Or stave?

Oh, I'm sure the spell is useful, it's just been 14 years or so since I've tried utilizing Telekinesis. RG3 had that one scroll which she's probably been carrying forever...

Another possibility could an AoE spell mebbe? Just spewing ideas over here!


On topic: Lothran now rests at Jerall View after having sold a weapon found in Serpent's Trail and having bought some ingredients at the Mages Guild.

A fireball will knock the welkynd stones off their pedestal. The flare spell will also work but the aim has to be precise. For me it is high to the left of target. Very useful early in the game.

Later in game I switch to telekinesis spell. You can get a telekinesis staff by joining the Mages Guild. With the Midas Magic mod you can make spell that grants you angel wings for a limited time. That's a fun one. Flying around like a bird, plucking welkynd stones from their perches.

Right now, I'm in the Shivering Isles fighting my way through a horde of Gnarls and Elytra in Swampgas Hole.

But that's a direct violation of the Levitation Act!


Sounds fun! Haven't been to the Isles since 2020.

None of mine have been to the Isles. I had a wizard who wanted to go there, but his game was on a PS3 which fried.

This revelation actually surprises me. None of them?

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

Lothran has now donned the official Bruma guard outfit and has taken up patrolling the streets of Bruma.

I feel safer already.

The desire has to come from my character. Joan, Snaaty, RG3, none of mine has a desire to go into some world of madness!

I had a character on PS3, my Grey Wizard, who became CoC and Arch Mage, and he was wanting to head to the Isles (because Grey Wizard was sort of loony) but that's when my PS3 crashed.



Me too.... by the GODS!

As always Lothran is standing guard at the North gate, mixing it up with patrols around town every now and then. Snow is falling and all is quiet.

Hmm, that platinum-haired Dunmer is back on patrol? Maybe we'll avoid Bruma...

Because I switch to my skooma dealer today. Snaat Rayag is in Skytop Manor, his remote Tudor-styled home located somewhere off the Orange Road. He's got 10 vials to sell, which (for me) means lots of adventures ahead! Not going into holes and killing monsters, but adventures with the common people of Cyrodiil. Trying to maintain "capital" while dealing with eager customers as well rude or dangerous non-customers. Some people do not like skooma dealers in my Oblivion.

Just had a thought, bout an hour ago. Maybe Snaat Rayag will be my first to head to the Shivering Isles! Because doesn't the Isles have its version of skooma? Not skooma itself, but some other substances. So yeah, maybe he'll head to SI.

I believe that while the Isles is a good idea for Snaat, he's now safe in Bruma, from the Dunmer at least, since he has gone off-duty and is sitting at home using his magic to make sure the fire in the fireplace doesn't stutter anymore


Yes; another Abomb hit today! The 13th in fact if my calculations are correct.

Ha ha ha ha! Missed him by >< that much.

Well it's now Loredas Sun's Height 27, 3rd Era 434 and my skooma-dealing elf just walked into Divine Elegance. Ready for his next set of pimp clothes. 🤴🏿 Next he'll head to the Arena and do a couple bets. Finally, he needs to get some rest before heading down to Bravil. Skooma is cheapest down there, but he has trouble selling it in that town due to product oversaturation.

Snaat buying pimp clothes - I love it!

Do you have a skooma mod btw?

---------------------------------
Lothran has returned home after an excursion way out west up the stairs past Hermaeus Mora's shrine and the daedra that awaited him at the turn back point this time was a Xivilai.


And the snow keeps on falling.

He fought a Daedra at one of those shrines?? Does he do that before, or is this something new?

Snaat Rayag is headed from Bravil to Inn of Ill Omen. He'll stop there for an hour, walk down the road to that other inn (whatever its name is, the Potato Lady inn). Maybe spend the night. Nothing much to report, other than he's got 28 skoomas to peddle.




I have four. One which makes skooma illegal (guards confiscate it), a skooma pipe mod (I saw an NPC smoking in Silverhome-on-the-Water the other day...) . A skooma lab which we've never been to, and finally my own content, which adds all the dialog interactions, etc. 🍼

mirocu and Renee are the only ones left after all these years, playing this 18 year-old game year-round.