Today Lothran cleared out Plundered mine and Capstone cave. He took the sneaky approach this time and although he didn´t collect many items of interest, he had a fun ride

Phon, glad to see you and Grumpy getting closer as you learn more about her.

Mirocu, Bruma is certainly a much safer area in the winter with Lothran around to keep the nearby dungeons clear. Buffy doesn't clear Plundered Mine often, but she does enjoy evicting those bandits out of Capstone Cave pretty regularly.

She should help Lothie with Plundered Mine instead since those pesky goblins pose a threat to road dwellers

Yeah, she's got lots of potential this one, if ONLY she'd lighten up a bit!!

This is awesome, Phon:



Niamh is rather like a girlfriend who is dark and mysterious, but also she was very moody and cantankerous at times. Eilidh is more like somebody whom you can live with day-to-day, without worrying so much about if she's going to bite your head off or give you the 'evil eye' or something. She is concerned about her place in society (Niamh never seemed like she cared), and seems like she's trying at something. She's trying to figure stuff out. It's interesting the way she is, is what I mean to say.

Now that's very interesting that is, I think you've Niamh nailed down very much there. I often felt very sorry for Looch and Vilja because it must have So Hard for them living with her, I felt kind of guilty at times!

I'm still getting to know Eilidh it must be said but I do think that somewhere underneath all her spoilt Princess stuff is a genuinely nice girl with strong beliefs. She's very capable and quite sensitive and whilst she might not be the brightest she has a lot of common sense and a good eye for a situation and the people around her.
Her problem is is that she's so used to being a Princess that she's never really bothered using her natural talents. Even on the battlefield or scouting she's never *really* been in danger.

So yes she's spoilt and a bit lazy and rather stroppy and "high maintenance". BUT she's also quite chipper and has a lighter, livelier and more inquisitive nature. She's passionate too, but not as darkly so, and when she puts her mind to it and tries - well she's actually rather good at many things, but she doesn't bother though; for instance she's actually quite good with people but she kind of has an expectation that They will get on with Her which leads to people misjudging her. Maybe this will change.

Now though, she's been thrown into somewhere she doesn't want to be and she has to work out how to get through her tasks, and why?
Because the things you and I have touched upon are the things her father can see in her and this is his way of drawing them out - whether or not this goes entirely to plan is kind of the point...

Much like Niamh, hers is a story of self-discovery and there will be peaks and troughs along the way but unlike the Bosmer, Eilidh's story will I think follow a very much more upward curve.
But what do I know? The future hasn't been written yet.

Tonight Lothran has been hunting goblins in Silver Tooth Cave. Poisons brought were quickly put to use and he was soon out and had to rely solely on spells. Much gold was found and many valuable items collected to sell back home in Bruma. Lothran decided to go on this trip before his fourth guard shift; a nice little warm-up if you will

When Targetfinder was out of charges, good ol´ Snowflake was put to use. Remarkable little trinket it is. It may be low on effect but it makes up for it in speed and together with a seven-second paralyzation spell it´s rather effective, even against goblin warlords! Ten hits means an extra 30 health points damaged, and then I didn´t count the dagger´s own damage potential!

Worthy of mention is also Shocker, Lothran´s custom bow, that did its job just as well and served mainly as a means to deliver some nasty green packages

Hmm. Targetfinder. I'll have to remember that name for the quiz show.



Why is that? Because they're much more 'normal' than Niamh perhaps?



I just get the sense that she's 'trying'. That's really it. She's trying to figure stuff out, Eilidh is. She doesn't really have to try (does she?) yet she is doing so anyway.

Grumpy is in a foreign land with no one to serve her. She´s gotta rely on just her own abilities now, maybe even for the first time...

Of course I´m just guessing

Yes, they were more "normal" than her, more open and certainly in Looch's case her life was much much simpler.
Both of her lovers got hugely caught up in the emotional rollercoaster of Niamh's personality, unfortunately one them never survived the experience and the other was utterly changed by it.

But it wasn't just that, Niamh was by nature secretive and selfish - not deliberately so I don't think - but she was. Hard to know, and harder to please.
She had "something" about her though and let's not forget that she fell for Looch first, which was surprising even for me, Looch was what? A barmaid.
I didn't even think she was Niamh's type, nor did I think that after V Niamh would ever meet anyone else, given what had happened.
It took me a while to realise that one of the reasons that Niamh fell for Looch was Precisely Because Looch a nobody, "just" a barmaid - normal. I think on some level Niamh longed for that stability.

But though she did fall for her she initially treated Looch terribly but eventually things calmed down and for a brief time looked, if not normal, then at least better.
Looch was I think with hindsight better for her then than V had been, certainly at that point in her life. Although V and her had a very intense relationship it served really to feed the fires of Niamh's random passions rather than to manage them, with predictably terrible results.

Looch helped her to control herself and her feelings to an extent, but I think by then it was sadly rather too late.
Niamh was destined to grow old and be happy - I just didn't know until very near the end.



Eilidh is trying, indeed, and yes she has been thrown to the wolves in a foreign land and has to figure things out for herself
She has never really had to try too hard in the past and that is precisely one of the reasons why she has been placed in this situation, so that she has to.
It will either make or break her.

I suspect the former, because there's more to her than anyone - even she herself - imagines.
I think she's very likeable, but she just needs to loosen up a bit.
We shall see.

Yes, this has been my impression

Renee, it might interest you then that Targetfinder is enchanted to do fire and frost damage as well as lighting the foe up. This was very useful in Silver Tooth Cave at those occasions when lots happened in the dark depths and it got a bit chaotic

Despite the brief and enjoyable diversion provided by the human, Casta Scribonia - (reminding her of the games she and other members of the young nobility would play on occasion: assignations with humans were considered something of a dare; particularly given the fact that that sot of behaviour was expressly forbidden. That said it was well known that older members of the noble classes often kept "a bit of rough" about the place for decoration in part, and in part because they wielded enough power to flout the rules. For Eilidh and her friends however, it was still considered a rather edgy and potentially fraught pasttime.) - and even allowing for the evident attractions afforded by the countryside surrounding Chorrol, Eilidh is becoming bored and also is very much aware that however long-term it may be, she is nevertheless on something of a schedule.
If she ever wants to see her home again, and in particular if she ever wants to see it as a functioning member of the Royal Family, she's going to need to make tracks.

She's thinking of heading east, she's heard the seat of the Emperor is there, so clearly a woman of substance such as she will be able to find much to her liking, along with contacts and so forth.
The money situation is certainly looking better at the moment - (though not great) - and she's feeling good about some of her actions, she's been keeping her hand in and well making a difference, sort of - (are you listening, father?)

There are a couple of other reasons why she wants to leave however; the chapel here is dedicated to a God, Stendar; Eilidh's people worship a Goddess and although she appreciates the faith of the people around her - (one of their few saving graces) - she would feel more comfortable with a female deity.
Having visited the chapel of Dibella in Anvil she has made enquiries and found that a Goddess called Mara has a chapel dedicated to her in a rather down-at-heel settlement by the name of Bravil far to the east, this will be handy she thinks, as she now has something to aim for, at the other side of this province.
(She's not really fussed about what these Goddesses represent, as such, more that she feels better and more able in this strange land, to worship in the presence of a female deity than a male; also why do they have so many?!).

Secondly she's fed up with living in the shop's cottage, and besides she has to vacate it soon anyway; despite what she did for her the city's stupid countess won't give her the house and she lacks the funds or the clout to purchase it outright.
She's heard, from earwigging gossip in The Oak that there is a big old manor house overlooking the Imperial City, up on a hill. Been abandoned for years apparently, although there's a caretaker there or something. She can't remember the name exactly but it is something like "Rose Manor". Now ordinarily the last thing that she would do is simply move in, but if it's available and whoever it is who looks after the place is amenable, why then she'll have a home base, and a central one at that!

There's also some rumour or news or something that an interregnum is currently in place in Cyrodiil, apparently the Emperor's been bumped off - (careless). Surely her father would want to hear about that and, maybe, she can use the news and whatever comes of it to her advantage.
Where's the best place to find out about Royal News?
Exactly!

The only thing in truth that would be likely to keep her hanging around is the mystery of her strange benefactor.
The goggles were extremely useful, and not only that they were Her goggles.
It is a puzzle, for sure, but can she afford the time...?
No, in short.
Whoever it is will just have to remain a mystery, for now.

++++

Placing the Alchemy text back on the table she leaned back in the chair, and putting her head back breathed deeply in through her nose. The scent of rose and jasmin was cloyingly thick in the study, mixed with almonds from the oil that she had found in a cupboard in the bathroom.
One liberal and all-over application later, and having donned clean underwear and her new dress she felt, if not good about things, then certainly better.
She closed her bright green eyes and tapped a nail against the glass of Surilie wine - surprisingly tasty it was - there was a potential here, she could see it in her mind's eye...

As the warm light of the fire flickered over her smooth blue-tinged skin, she drifted off into a deep sleep...

And so, having made up her mind, she headed out of Chorrol.
Rather than go straight east however, she bore south for a little until she came to the ruins of Wendir, not far from the benighted settlement of Hackdirt.

A short poke around, looking for items that might fund the project that she had in mind revealed some things of value, but much that was lethal, at least potentially, and so she resolved to revisit at a later date.
It was fairly dark by this point and she was forced to spend an uncomfortable and somewhat hectic night in Hackdirt, before heading off early the next day north and east to pick up the road again just to the south and east of the Odiil farmstead.

Passing through Fort Ash she took the opportunity to "borrow" the horse of a recently deceased guardsman, after having fended off an attack by what appeared to be a feie englamoured as a woman made out of leaves and twigs. She had a scent of pine forest and woodland flowers about her, and a murderous glint to her eyes. Summoning a bear she came at Eilidh, howling in a voice like as to the wind soughing through high branches on a windy day.
There are many feie in her homeland, both seelie and unseelie, but this was a form that she was unaccustomed to.
Eilidh is pretty much coming to the conclusion that everything in Cyrodiil is out to personally murder her.

The Imperial City was sighted not in a grand view but in the growing murk of dusk as she was fending off an attack by a Troll, hardly an epic introduction but she was nevertheless mildly impressed by it - (the Imperial City that is, Trolls they have aplenty in her country and they are no prettier, nor intelligent).
She made her way through the gathering murk, following a legion patrol until she came to what was obviously the foot of a grand causeway leading up to the island upon which the City stood. There was an inn there, the Wawnet, where she resolved to spend the night.
Dropping the horse off and ensuring it had at least some food - (though feeling a little guilty that she could not provide for it further) - she paused a moment and looked towards the City.

It was undoubtedly a grand edifice, though surely not a construct of the humans. It bore resemblances to the other marble and limestone ruins she had seen and indeed been in and she determined to herself that the - Ayleids? - had been a superior race indeed. She wondered if there were any left.
Now that would be a coup for her, to deliver one of them to her father!

Be that as it may, she was tired and took herself off to a room at the inn, gratefully stripping out of her armour and most of her underwear before climbing into bed and falling almost immediately to sleep, one long-fingered hand wrapped tightly around the hilt of the short, sharp knife she had placed under her pillow.

++++

She awoke to a day that was bright, clear, and warm and after some routine armour maintenance she donned her best - (only) - dress and her soft shoes, strapped on her dress sword and took herself up across the causeway. The water from the lake far below lapped languidly against the bridge supports, the sound of it almost drowned out by the raucous laughter and harsh voices of the soldiers at the bridge gatehouse. They stopped, and watched her, only picking up their conversation again as she passed them. She could feel their eyes upon as she moved quickly through the gatehouse.
Eilidh had only a rudimentary grasp of Tamrielic at best which, in this case was fortunate, she guessed, although one would not have needed to have been a scholar to have worked out what at least one of them shouted at her.

Upon entering the city, the gates in the massive wall situated at the top of a winding path, next to a stables, she found herself looking almost directly at the statue of a large dragon, on a plinth in a shrine. The city fairly glowed in the sunshine.
Eilidh then did what any girl in her situation would have done, she asked a guardsman for directions, with the aid of sign language and a lot halting pigin-speech.
The guard proved very obliging, and then promptly arrested her for horse-theft, and took her the Imperial Guards barracks, where she was searched, none too gently, and fined 124 gold pieces.

The only good thing was that she came out at least knowing where the market quarter was...

Hardly an auspicious start to her world-conquering plans!

Snaat Rayag, my first PC character, is about to exit the Tutorial. I know very little about him, he's pretty much a blank slate so far as backstory goes. As he leaves the Sewers, he's not wearing much: just some pants and leather boots. He's got a rusty iron axe as a weapon and carries a torch, but no shield, helmet, or gauntlets. He can summon a Cuirass (console command) and can also cast one other spell which I'm now forgetting.

At first I wasn't RPing him much, I was simply using him as a test while I learn the art & struggle of PC gaming. But over these past few weeks I keep getting cool ideas for his game. I found a Bandit Faction mod and THAT is going into his gameworld. This will give him the option to Rob any NPC who travels by road. The mod, which is called Highwayman?, can also add random NPCs who travel the roads.

I'm going to try to start Snaat with a thousand-Septim bounty via console, and it's because I'm RPing him as a 'fugitive' from jail. If I can delete the Amulet of Kings from him I'm gonna do this, too. He'll certainly never follow the Main Quest.

Snaat Rayag is going to cross the river to Vilverin, me thinks. The bandits there will be hostile, because I haven't toggled Highwayman on yet, but at some point I will do just this. Then Snaat Rayag will be Snaat Rayag the Highwayman.

It´s so fun to read about your PC discoverings! The floodgates have been opened!


But Renee, dear Renee.... What race is he!???

rping a highwayman sounds fun, Renee I tried it in Skyrim where there are more npcs on the road, but died quickly...

I too wonder what his race is. Snaat Rayag makes me think orc, particularly warhammer 40k 'orks' or maybe Tolkien but I'm probably wrong...

PHON: I liked both of these moments, ...



Sounds intriguiging. Also it was cracking me up when she got arrested! Not the fact that she got arrested, but the way the guard kind of beat around the bush a bit.


mirocu & Vital: Snaat Rayag is Dark Elf. His Class is Pilgrim (standard class) and his Birthsign Apprentice.

This is the first time I've ever chosen a standard class I think. I've always been a Custom kind of gal. It's because I've got a mod called Fundament which allows me to change skills individually, and this means his game won't level upwards out of control. He's been using 3 Major skills regularly (Blunt, Block, and Light Armor) and one intermitantly (Security), but the skill-rates that I changed are all Minors in this case: Sneak and Conjuration are slower than vanill, and I made Restoration slightly faster than vanilla.

But the thing that I LOVE about gaming with him (why I'm addicted to OB all over again and why HOURS flew by last night during the game session) is because of the Natural Hunger mod. This makes food matter. Food is just as valuable as gold and loot, and THIS is the mod I've been wanting for years now. Snaat maanaged to clear the bandits out of Vilverin, and has a good stash of food for a few days. But as he's wandered around the Niben, getting chased by guards and attacked by wildlife, food is now a valuable commodity. He's been living in Vilverin (which means stuff isn't respawning in there), which means he's been roaming around a bit, looking for new places to plunder so he won't go hungry.

I also got the See You Sleep mod. :drool: Sooo immersive.

Heh, yeah it was "Oh ho! You ain't from around these parts, are you?!"

Congrats on discovering the wonderful world of modding!!

That´s great, Renee! Glad you found mods you really like

Snaat Rayag is in Sinkhole Cave. He feels comfortable in there; all the bandits who would usually attack a wayward adventurer don't mind my dark elf's presence.* Plus, such places make a great place for him to hide from the law.

I get the feeling Snaat is from Morrowind. He showed up in Cyrodiil, wound up getting thrown in jail, but the sentence he received was much larger than usual, hence his 999 gold bounty. Actually, his bounty is well over 2,000 now, since he's been seen stealing several horses. I have no idea what he'll do next, but (like many rogues) he's interested in gold, and lots of it. He might wind up doing some thievery, perhaps. We shall see.


*console command Player.SetFactionRank 000177e3 0 makes bandits friendly.

Renee, Snotty sounds pretty smart to me. Sideways cave has so much to offer a rogue in hiding. Waterfalls to bathe in, dry ruins with bedrolls to sleep in, a convenient location that is near the coast (mudcrabs to eat) and close to the big city for convenient shopping stealing.

Edit: Oh my goodness! How did I translate Sinkhole Cave into Sideways Cave?

That was my fault; I originally had Sideways written. Oops.

"Snotty!" I love that nickname!

Whew! That makes me feel better. After I wrote that Sideways Cave bit, I was over on the BethSoft forum and read that Snotty was in Sinkhole Cave. So I raced back here to doublecheck and thought I made a booboo.

On Snotty, I think that's one of the forum rules here: Anyone with a name over seven letters gets issued a nickname.

Seems like Snotty is gonna give you a rather unusual experience, Renee

Really like your idea here

The folks at Blankenmarch asked if Buffy could help clear out the nest of Ash Can trolls in nearby Veyond. Buffy's familiar with that ruin and knows that each of those trolls can fully fill a grand soul gem. Well, she went into the ruin with 19 empties and came out with 18 fully filled gsg's. She's become one of her guild's prime suppliers of fully filled greaters and grandies. Not evey mage has the stones for that kind of work, you know.

Next stop will be Leyawiin to reprovision and deliver those filled gems, along with a bunch of necrodude scrolls she picked up clearing Fort Doublecross. Oh, and an assortment of atronach salts, daedroth teeth and spider daedra silk from Fieldhouse Cave. A hot bath and silk sheets for the night sound pretty good to her as well.

The ever so voracious elf!

I bet Lothran is gonna buy those salts later as he likes to make good use out if them

That's awesome, the filled soul gems, that is. How is she doing the Soul Gem part? Is she casting a spell or is it one of her weapons?

Snaat Rayag's got MMM in his game, and to be honest it's a little much for me with the difficulty. Snaatty just had a huge blue scamp follow him! This thing was nearly the size of a man, and it could keep up with Snaatty's stolen horse, too. Snaat wound up running towards Pell's Gate, where this blue scamp (plus two ordinary tan-colored scamps) got into a brawl with the folks in this little hamlet.

During the fight, I realized things weren't going well. One of Pell's NPCs fell, yet they'd barely made a dent in the blue scamp's health. Then I had an 'a-ha' moment. There's a fort right across from Pell's Gate. Since Snaaty is aligned with both bandits and marauders, he now ran towards this fort, where he now had an iron-wearing marauder to help him! ... Phew!

It is possible to dumb this down, and I'm going to do so. MMM allows us to add or remove a lot of stuff; I'm going to tweak this now. 'Cause it kinda sucks seeing innocents go down like that.

Acadian, it's cool that Buffy has a purpose to her dungeon raiding. Helping people and finding supplies for the guild simultaneously. Someone needs to do the dirty work for those bookworms

Thank you all!

Renee, to fill those gems, Buffy starts from stealth with the most range she can get. She casts a single combo spell to immobilize the target for a few seconds (drain speed) + weaken them to poison for a few seconds + soul trap for 30 seconds. She immediately chases this with a poisoned arrow. Normally she remains undetected and simply waits for the soul trap song and fading pink glow to tell her the foe is dead. Her bow is quite powerful, but is actually unenchanted.

Soon I'll be down at the Imperial City Waterfront to meet a new character.

After a couple of threads over at Bethsoft about "pure mages" and the pros and cons of the Atronach sign for Mages, I've had the urge to take another stab at it, and a character has emerged to meet the challenge.

His name is Drinks-of-Magicka, he's an Argonian Mage (custom) born under the Atronach, who's just arrived in the Imperial City from Black Marsh. He's journeyed to Cyrodiil after recieving a letter from his mother's brother, his first teacher in the arcane arts, which came with the deed to Frostcrag Spire.

The Atronach is a fun sign. Playing one is very different from any other character, as you will find yourself doing things you would never dream of before: like purposely stepping in front of an enemy spell rather than trying to dodge it. Once you get the ins and outs of it, it is extremely powerful.

Atronach really is a powerful sign. Taking advantage of enemies´ attacks is the best defense

I'm hoping that being an Atronach he'll help me with my aversion towards relying on potions. It'll keep my characters alive longer.

There is ont thing I'm going to kind of push on him though, the Mehrunes Razor add-on. That Spellturn Cloak... Well, that and the fact I've never gotten around to it before.

Well, you are going to need a lot of restore magicka potions with an Astronaut spellcaster! So that should break the habit of not using potions.

Eilidh is currently around and about Skingrad.
She's learned some more of the history of the Red Rose Manor, and what she needs to do about getting her long-fingered hands on it.
For the moment though she's bolstering her own little nest egg with some extra jobs for the Fighter's Guild.

The thing is this, her father wants her to do this and to do that, well she knows more than enough what her athair was like before his "epiphany". He didn't get where he was, to a position of conquering power, by being nice to people. He can afford to be now oh yes, but how much is an epiphany worth if you're in a position to have one...?
Well, she's planning on having hers pretty much as soon as she gets that Goddess-blessed manor house overlooking the Emperor's City - (although apparently he's dead?) - and then...

And then?

Why, and THEN, she'll not just present her tiarna agus rí with a recalcitrant soldier and herself, all scrubbed up and polished and ready for the table, oh no, when she's finished, she'll give him a Brand New Empire.
That'll show him, so it will.

Now that´s a class I´ve never heard of before...

Yeah, but it's so powerful... it's out of this world

I've had to rename him. As it turns out Drinks-of-Magicka is too long for the 360, so I've had to shorten it to Drinks-of-Magic. I'm taking a break partway through the tutorial, just before picking his birthsign.

Drinks-of-Magic is a strange one. So far he's not taken a single step at speed, instead walking slowly through the tutorial. It makes me think he's naturaly calm, kind of hard to shake him up or scare him. He's also a damn good shot, better than most of my characters, don't ask me how that works. If I had to estimate his hit rate with flares I'd guess it's over 90%, possibly over 95. So far he's only been hit four times, twice by a rat, and twice by the lightning from that goblin witch.

Heh, the only problem I have with him at present is an out of game one. I'm watching the anime Trigun, and I love the way the preview for the next episode is done at the end of each one, so I'm really tempted to write a journal for him in a similar style, or attempt to anyway. Not sure it's in character though, I'll have to wait and see.

Eilidh has finally arrived at Haynote Cave, after a reasonably uneventful journey from Skingrad, barring the odd bandit and a Troll. Apparently the key for the Manor house has been placed back in here.
She stabled her horse by the side of the house. She's a good horse, though she'll have to wait for a name; traditionally Eilidh's people do not name horses until they have owned them for 6 months, during which time they can represent them to their previous owner if they themselves are unhappy with the animal. She's assuming it works that way here.

Eilidh is a little dubious about the proximity of a cave clearly filled with all manner of strange beings to "her" new dwelling but, well, the place looks secure enough. She'll have to keep a close eye on the horse though.

She had the story thus:
The Mages' Guild in Skingrad - (Mages had Guilds, heh) - had retained stewardship of the key previously, only releasing it once before to some Elf and her Nordic companion a few years ago. Apparently the companion disappeared in strange circumstances down south somewhere but the Elf - (a strange one by all accounts) - had continued to live there on and off. Evidently she herself had met a bad end at the hands of the city guard in some down-at-heel river town called Bravil.
Her lover at the time, a barmaid by the name Luciana, had evidently not wanted the place and had returned the key and the deeds to the Mages' Guild who had done their best to return the place to it's former state before replacing the key in the cave.

The Manor and it's upkeep were a burden on their resources however, not to mention the fact that with it's abandonment the ghosts of it's troubled past had returned. When Eilidh had approached them they had been only too happy to provide her with the information that she needed so that she could take it off their hands.

++++

And so she stands outside the cave, a slain bull-headed man thing lies just yards away.
Why could they just not have kept the key in the guild?
Ah well, Goddess take it, she'd just have to get for herself...

Don't you hate that? I ran into this 'wall' with my Sewer Lizard character. Wanted to name him Terror from the Imperial Sewer but had to resort to Sewer Terror.

Your new Argonian seems interesting indeed.


Yeah, and she's a princess too. She's probably not used to getting things herself.

This is indeed true, even in military service she had people to attend to the details.
But again she's a puzzle, wading into a group of bad guys is something she'll quite happily do, but details such as having to fetch a key are like: "hmmph! Why?!"

Lothran´s three-day shift is soon over. One more night guarding the north gate and he´s again free to roam around as he pleases. First thing will be to get more food and mead for the two beggars

CT, good luck with Drinks of Magic, the Astronaut.

Renee, Sewer Terror is lots better than calling your scaly terror from the sewars Pooh Lizard or such.

Phon, yay, Ellie’s got a horse! And hopefully soon a Red Rose Manor.

Mirocu, aww, Lothie’s such a sweetie. I hope he checks the beggars’ inventory. You know, just to make sure they don’t have more shoes, med’cine, booze and gold than Lothran.


Oh, Buffy made a quick run to Bruma for something yesterday and did indeed clear Plundered Mine this time. She left the shaman and totem for Lothran though. Her response to the cold, of course, was to pretty quickly head for the warm sands of Elsweyr.

After Lothran´s been recharging a few wepons, chances are they have


Lothran was very happy to see his dear friend, even for just a brief moment

And he´ll be sure to take the leftovers from the mine after his shift

Yup!
She's a Big Fan of horses, been riding since almost before she could walk.

EILIDH ARRIVES - FINALLY WITH THE KEY - AT RED ROSE MANOR:

[With humblest apologies to Emma for freestyling all over Red Rose Manor, but also massive thanks for creating such an inspiring mod in the first place, it's more than earned its place, I can tell you!]

Unlocking the door, Eilidh walked cautiously into the manor, one hand on the hilt of her sword. Sunlight spilled in through the open door behind her, illuminating the dark interior whilst the breeze that followed it sent dust motes tumbling and sparkling in the formerly still air.
Her footsteps sounding all too loud in the silence Eilidh crept into the dusky room. She had a sense of space, and as her eyes adjusted she became aware of other light around her; glowing embers in the fireplace across the room from the front door, grey light filtering through the cobweb-draped glass of dirty windowpanes.

More-or-less in front of her was a long table, the shadows upon it betraying the presence of crocks and jugs, cutlery and cups.
The light from the open door did not extend terribly far into the room and what little it did show was abruptly cast once again into darkness as with a creak and a bang the door shut itself behind her. Eilidh gasped and put a hand to her armoured chest, her heart fluttering.
She stood still in the oppressive darkness for a moment, catching her breath and with a sneer rebuked herself; "Cailín dúr...!" She muttered to herself. "Jumpin' at shadows like sum babe a' the teat!"
Shaking her head she flipped on the Dark-Seeing Goggles.

The space around her resolved itself in shades of blue. It was still murky but it was good enough.
She was in a large open room. A long table stood in front of her, laid out as she had guessed with crockery and glasses and other eating utensils. There were a number of chairs around it and in some of the bowls were what appeared to be the remains of food. The chairs, the table, and everything on it were thick with dust.

Indeed as she moved quietly about the room she discovered that everything, although still placed in ordered fashion and largely untouched by time, was thick with a uniform blanket of detritus. It hung in the air around her, light blue in her goggles.
It made her nose itch and she wriggled it, placing a hand over her face to stifle a sneeze.
There was a stale smell of mildewy dampness.

Further exploration led her to two sets of stairs, just to the left of the entryway.
One set spiralled downwards into a darkness not even her goggles could penetrate, whilst the other, a little further along the wall, zig-zagged upwards into what appeared to be a lighter region. Eilidh poked her head into this latter stairwell and looked up.
And froze.

Her goggles, manufactured and blessed by the priests in the great Cathedral at The Palace, performed two functions; the first was to show the way in darkness, the second to reveal the presence of creatures otherwise hidden.
Above her was the unmistakable signature of life.

++++

The floor above was evidently the main bedroom. It was a sizeable space indeed, with airy windows - shrouded as were the others in cobwebs and dust - but nevertheless it must have been a light and cheery place, once.
The was a large fireplace, now cold, beyond it a desk of sorts and next to that a door that appeared to lead outside. The bed looked large and at one time would have been comfortable.
She looked at the mildewed and green-tinged counterpane and linens with a dubious eye.

In the corner diagonally opposite the writing desk was another flight of stairs leading upwards to another floor. It was on this floor that the life signature was emanating from.
Dropping into a crouch, Eilidh drew her sword and sneaked as quietly as she could up the stairs.

Reaching the top, she raised her arm and invoked the Goddess' blessing, fading from view.
The lifesign was stronger here.
Across the room she moved, coming to a bed; one of many on this floor - (evidently this part of the house had been a dormitory of sorts) .
On the bed was the sleeping form of an old woman, once beautiful, now aged and bent by time.
Clearly she was no threat, and sheathing her sword, Eilidh stood up and after allowing herself to reappear, coughed loudly.

The woman sat up and looked around, freezing when she saw Eilidh, a look of surprise on her wrinkled face. After a moment however, she unaccountably broke into a smile, and swinging her legs off of the bed got slowly and arthritically to her feet.
Eyeing her up and down, Eilidh could see she had once been a tall and slender woman, now she was bent low, down to Eilidh's height. stooped, she was, and the figure-hugging dress she wore did little to conceal the sagging of her flesh and the frailness of her body.
The woman looked at her with rheumy eyes.

"Who are you?" She said in cracked, old voice
"Ní mór duit a bheith Aurora." Said Eilidh, not understanding what the woman had said. "Tá tú níos sine ná mar a ceapadh mé." [You must be Aurora. You're older than I expected.]
There was a pause, and then the woman spoke again. To Eilidh's immense surprise, she said;
"Ní raibh mé duine éigin ag súil leis ó go dtí seo. Cad is ainm duit, leanbh?" [I had not expected someone from so far. What is your name, child?]

Somewhat taken aback, Eilidh was silent for a moment. Finally, gathering her composure, she pulled herself up to her full height of 5 feet and 2 inches and said:
"Tá mé an Mhuire Eilidh inion Mhic Amhalghaidh, Banphrionsa." [I am the lady Eilidh inion Mhic Amhalghaidh, Princess."]

The old woman nodded sagely and then said. still in Eilidh's father's tongue;
"Well, Princess Eilidh, I am Aurora, although I was not always as you see me." She sighed. "Once I was beautiful and indeed, the tale you have heard told is a true one. But there is more, now."

Stiffly, she walked past the Elf to a chair in front of the dead fireplace and sat, Eilidh followed her and stood by her, looking down.
"I was saved from my captivity by another, an Elf herself foreign and strange, but not like you."
Again she was silent, staring into the dark fireplace as if gazing back in time to a memory far away.

"But she brought with her a sadness to counterpoint my joy at my freedom and when, ultimately, she passed from here I was drawn back to this place and the shade she left behind has made me what you see now." She looked up at Eilidh. "A shade myself."
Eilidh was silent but felt within her heart an immense sorrow for this old woman, robbed of a life through no fault of her own. It was all the more poignant because the feeling itself was not one that the Elf had ever found herself experiencing before. She suddenly thought of her mother, and wanted to give Aurora a hug.

The was a silence between them, there in the dark.
Eventually the old woman arose on creaking legs and looked at Eilidh, a faint smile upon her face.
She put a skinny hand on the young woman's shoulder.
"Now it is my time again." She said. "I have been released a second time, only now to be returned to my mother and my father."
She began to fade.
"Do not betray me, bring light to this place." Her voice was an echo, a breath in the dusty air.

And she was gone.
For a moment Eilidh was still, then drew a deep, shaky breath and wiped at her eyes. there was something in them, must be the dust; she lied to herself.
Standing by the old fireplace, she looked around and shook her head, her hands on her hips.
"Wul," she said to the house, "It's gonnae tek sum werk, buit wu'll get ye up tae scratch, by The Goddess, so we wul..."

-x-

I'm more annoyed by limit on the length of the class name

That one really bugs me.



He's definitely on odd one. I got him out of the tutorial earlier, after four attempts at getting his face right. He's still only walking around, still seems calm and methodical, even when charged by a pair of goblins in the sewers. Didn't even feel the need to back away. I'm starting to wonder if he's actually cold-blooded

And he's got a pretty impressive set of horns, but still carries a couple of hoods with him, to match his robes. I guess he's cut holes in them or something, he does have an iron dagger, though it's not equipped. I'll posty a pic of him tomorrow.

I'm now wondering which part of my mind spawned this guy

I lvoe this statement! .. I mean love! I love this statement!

Probably your Reptilian Brain!

I have a reptilian brain?

Explains why I feel peckish whenever I see a fly

Anyway, a little later than planned, but here is Drinks-of-Magic doing a little shopping in the Imperial City.

Unfortunately this was the best shot I could get of him.

He looks serious! He's got white horns on his head, too.

Say, what's that rectangular box towards the bottom of the screen? .. The box next to the flare spell?