Always sad when that happens. And I can´t for the life of me understand why this happened to Oblivion and not any other game I´ve ever heard of, including Morrowind and Skyrim

Renee, although I was messing around with the lighting a bit, I still count that as a death. I could've used the healing spell but I misjudged the situation and Do'Shakir was supposed to know absolutely no magic, except for alchemy. I was tempted to reload, but decided what's the point of playing DiD if you just make excuses?

Oh okay. Well your catperson will someday be back at least.

And yes mirocu it is strange that the A-bomb is only found in TES 4. It's definitely not in Skyrim.
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Lady Saga is headed towards Bravil. She spent several days at Bogwater and Leyawin relaxing and taking it easy while Blackwood's almost predictable rains began. There is an odd lack of enemies these days in the Bogwater area, not that Saga is complaining.

She's got about 280 gold. She found a silver bow in one of the bandit lairs she plundered, and she's really happy about this. She had a bow of silver just like it several years ago, but that one was stolen as she ferried up from Valenwood

Her horse got pretty beat up several days before as he and Saga traveled from Bravil to Leyawiin, but after several days of rest he is now back to full health.

RIP to Do'Shakir. OTOH, some of my best characters - (Revansch and Persephone) - started out dead! Maybe you could play Do'Sakhir as back from the dead and ready for vengeance? Or as a corpse reanimated by a necromancer, gone out of his former master's control?

In happier news, Devana is still rummaging around Blackwood. Yesterday she crossed to the western side of the Niben. She explored from the southern most tip by Topal Bay, up past Leyawiin to Telepe, knocking out a couple of caves along the way, and stomping out the skooma operation at Greyland.

I know how much Saga likes the Blackwood area. Nice to see her "home" again

Lady Saga just left Bravil, and is headed toward the Imperial City.

She wound up doing a good bit of trading in Bravil: she sold a magic helm (800 gold), Varla Stone (664 I think), and a slew of rings, potions, and soul gems. Walked in with about 400 gold, walked out with just over 1,600. She did a lot of Conjuration training with Varon Vamori, blew about 800 gold over the course of many hours. Hopefully soon she'll be able to finally summon like she used to.

I believe Varon Vamori has a silver tongue so I´d guess he teaches Speechcraft

Oh really? .. Oh 'cause the guy Saga spoke to teaches Conjuration. i might have named the wrong NPC then.

mirocu, Buffy gathered a small bag of flax seed and passed it to one of her Sisters of the Black Horse headed north. The Courier Rider should get it to him soon.

Vital, sorry to hear about Do’Shakir.

SubRosa, glad to hear Devana is still enjoying the beautiful marshes of Blackwood.

Renee, Saga’s been busy! Oh, Fathis Aren teaches conjuration in Bravil. He’s the Court Mage and spends a fair amount of time at the MG. Varon Vamori’s not in the MG, but he hangs out there quite a bit drooling over Ardaline. Both fellows are Dunmer and have the same voice, so they can be confused.


Buffy’s all the way out west, and just cleared Fort Strand by Anvil. No doubt, she’ll push out into the golden grasses and visit her friend Alawen at her little campsite.

Aargh, creativity explosion.

I remembered a song from a book I read a while back, there was only a single verse of it, but I remember it clearly for some reason. It kept running around in my head until it turned into a TES version and began to spin itself out. The song became a figure singing it, on his way to the Imperial City. I've no idea who he is yet, but I know what he's doing in Cyrodiil



A Dunmer strolls along the road beside the bank of Lake Rumare. He's clad in a motley assortment of iron and steel armour, and his right hand holds a warhammer of dwemer make. Desptie the clement weather, he wears a blue hood, the colour faded with age, with a shock of red hair just visible beneath it. His armour clinks and clanks against itself as he walks, accompanied by the metallic rustling of the chainmail underlay.His warhammer is held so that the top of it's haft rests on his right shoulder, the hammer's head extending just beyond it. Combined with the relaxed pace of his stride it gives him a bearing both martial and casual, and one that has played a significant role in his rather dull journey from Morrowind. As he strolls along he can be heard to be singing, an old Cyrodiilic soldier's song, and with the end of each line he stamps his foot, rattling his armour in lieu of accompaniment.

Her hair's as red as any you'll find,
Her eyes are blue as the sea,
If you open your coinpouch,
She'll open her legs,
She's my girl in Leyawiin.

With dainty elf-ears beneath her hair,
And not too much in between,
If you won't take your boots off,
She'll double her price,
She's my girl in Leyawiin.

Her hips could put Dibella's to shame,
Though her chest's a little bit lean,
You'll swear she's a goddess,
When you're in her arms,
She's my girl in Leyawiin.

She might not be loyal, she might not be true,
It matters little to me,
Whether mine for an hour,
Or mine for a night,
She's my girl in Leyawiin.

She's happy to see me whenever I'm there,
And waves goodbye when I leave,
Her business is business,
And that's all it is,
She's my girl in Leyawiin.

As he reaches the end of his song he shades his eyes against the glare of the sun and looks towards the Imperial City. Were anyone close enough, they would have him speak, in a voice barely above a whisper; "Nearly there, old friend."

Vital, so sorry to hear of Do'Shakir's passing. I've never played DiD, just because I love my characters too much.

However thanks to repeated reloading of previous saves, my characters do get quite tough!

I'm replaying Julian's storyline (the entire MQ quest along with the MG recommendation quests) because I want to bring her into Tallei's story as an NPC (once I figure out how to do it between Wrye Bash and the CS). I'll need her awesome stats then.

I've always RP'd her as being slightly myopic, and moderately farsighted, therefore her reluctant to read books now. However as she enters the AU, she will discover the wonder that is bifocals (as have I, a year or so ago). So currently she is wearing spectacles, and looks somewhat like a cross between an English teacher and the spinster librarian. It's a look that is growing on me!

In the game she has found Martin (after saving Kvatch and well-deservedly earning the epithet Hero of Kvatch). They are now heading back to Weynon Priory. One difference in this game and OHDH -- she has a traveling companion named Mitsune-san. A little black cat with a mountain lion spirit. The kitty can run with Paint and is not afraid to jump into fights with enemies. She came up to Julian outside the Prison Sewer entrance (along with a fox named Nicki and a wolf named - what else? - Bjorn). Of course Julian took all of these animals with her, but right now both Nicki and Bjorn are waiting for her at Weynon Priory. She did not take the kitty with her into Kvatch, but instead left him with Paint in the little meadow outside the refugee camp.

Renee, Acadian is correct. Fathis Aren teaches Conjuration; Varon Vamori teaches speechcraft.

Callidus Thorn, I loved your creativity explosion! I laughed at the little ditty he was singing as he strode along. All the bears in the county are probably long gone!

Callidus, loved that little song your dunmer was singing! I get those same creativity explosions as you, I often corn up with 3 or 4 ideas for character to play and at least one I like every week. Most of them go to waste...

HER, playing DiD is on of those things that is great fun when it's going well and really exciting when you narrowly escape death, however when you lose a character it is tough. Whether you're level 3 or level 40 it never gets any easier. I'm still unfamiliar with Julian, so hopefully I get to know her through your updates of her new game

And so, I am happy to announce Do'Shakir's second coming, this time as a lean, mean fighting machine. He's back from the dead and ready for vengeance! I'm ditching the ranger playstyle in turn for a more traditional sword (axe) and board fighter. His backstory will remain the same, but now with 100% more necromancers! Look out ruffians, renegades, wild beasts and other ill doers, Do'Shakir is ready to exact justice on all those who harm the fair folk of Cyrodiil. (special thanks to Subrosa for inspiring me to make an undead character)

lol, I'm so excited

CT, funny song. I can almost hear it as your Dunmer strolls along.

Rider, thanks for the update on Julian 2.0. I know I thoroughly enjoyed starting Buffy anew (January 2012) and going through all the quests and discovery again. Glad to see she's got some critters for company!

Vital, bringing back Do'Shakir from the dead is a great idea. Can you make him immune to cold? That seems like it would be a very appropriate ability for an undead character.


Buffy headed north from Anvil to Beldaburo and cleared out the conjurors. She's now traveling a fairly direct path from Beldaburo to Chorol, clearing dungeons along the way.

Currently at Weynon Priory, with Baltis Bereloth, my new character.

I was planning to write about him, but when I tried, I just didn't know how to start. The thing of it is, he's an ex-Legion Battlemage, who spent more than a little time as an instructor. so it kept coming out as him talking to me, sort of a bad attempt at Julian crossed with Buffy.

But here's what I know about him so far:

As I said, an ex-Legion Battlemage.
He served for about 75 years before being discharged.
Legion Battlemages are expected to spend as much time as healers as they are fighting, or so Baltis tells me.
He actually is linked to the Blades. Not an agent of theirs, but one of the freelancers they employ. Typically these are mercenaries, because people tend to be less suspicious of mercenaries asking questions, passing it off as them looking for work. There are some places even spies cannot go...
He knew Captain Renault, who trusted him implicitly when she saw him in prison.
He was supposed to be playing a supporting role in the Emperor's escape, but was arrested shortly after arriving in the Imperial City.
And, strangely enough, the Emperor didn't recognise him.
He's skilled with warhammers and one-handed axes, and can use a mace if needs be.
And he's equipped an iron shield. Don't know how often he'll use it, but he's the first character in years I think who might use one.

Of course, him telling me all this meant he wasn't singing on the way to Weynon Priory


Edit: Added a couple of things.

Another Callidus character is on the go....

Well I've only got the two characters.

I retired Drinks-of-Magic.

I'm all for individuality, but I'm not going to play a character who refuses to run FOR ANY REASON.

So there's just Telindil and Baltis.

Vital: What difficulty do you play on? .. DiD + Default seems to work for me. I've known folks who have had DiD games with the difficulty slid to the right. I could never go that route.

CT: who was singing that song then, or do you know yet?

It was Baltis singing. I knew a little about him when I wrote that bit around the song. I tried dropping in a couple of hints; the blue hood worn despite the clement weather, like the Imperial Legion Battlemages at the Arcane University, and saying it was an old Cyrodiilic soldiers song. Guess I should've tried to squeeze a couple more in.

Well it was going to happen sooner or later...
...Anyone who has a shrine erected in their garden, prays in every Chapel at least once a day even though the deities are not hers and has even taken to carrying a small statue analogous to The Goddess with her was going to succumb to the prophet eventually.

She'd arrived in Anvil and been to the Chapel, had once again been sick to her stomach with the sacrilege. I could almost see the mental gears shift in her mind as she marched straight outside and confronted the Holy Man.
She listened to what he had to say and, well, in short we are off on a pilgrimage.

First though she's purchased the manor house, although she has since discovered it is not without it's complications, for which a certain vendor is going to be answerable - (she's religious, but she's not above knocking heads together) - she only bought the damn place because it's by the chapel and conveniently placed to the west of the province.
It will need a lot of work but fortunately she's had some funds put aside, so that'll help.

She just needs to:
A. get rid of "them"
and
B. get over the shock of realising she's missed the contact and is effectively stuck here.

So, Julian has returned to Cloud Ruler Temple with the Mysterium Xarxes, has solved the riddle of the spies, and is now en route to the Imperial City to meet with Gwinas again. Those of you who have read OHDH will recognize where she is in the storyline.

I'm really enjoying playing her story with the current mod load list. I have Companion Share and Recruit (a huge shout out to Grits for tuning me into this cool little mod) and was able to give Jeelius the red robe, the silver dagger and Ruma Camoran's Staff of Sickness when the bedlam was all over. Better yet, I was able to have him follow me back to the IC, just as in the story. We had a wonderful time walking back.

Command Mount has come in handy too, so that Paint followed first Julian and Martin from Kvatch to Weynon Priory, then Julian and Jeelius from Cheydinhal to Fort Urasek, where we parted ways.

PaP, I had to laugh at your most recent post. Of course Elidh was going to start the Knights of the Nine questline!

Interesting to hear of your new character, CT. I just about spit my tea onto my keyboard at your comment about combining Julian and Buffy. They're both women, so maybe you need new role models?

Lady Saga is in the Imperial City. Just by chance, she wound up swimming her horse from Bravil across the river, and wound up at an Ayleid ruin. It just so happened that this Ayleid ruin contained a statue for Umbacano. So the second one has been found, is what I mean to say.

She wound up depositing her first 1,000 gold into the Bank of Cyrodiil, and is going to become a courier for the Gold Horse. This will give her something to do other than random explorations.

I just figured that everyone here would have read Old Habits Die Hard and Buffy the Bowgirl (and if not, then they should!) so I used them as examples so everyone would have a vague idea of how it would end up reading.


Baltis is currently in Skingrad, heading for Kvatch in the morning, after he's sorted out a couple of things in town. At present he's far too focused on his mission to be singing as he travels, a fact Paint might well be glad of

CT, good luck with Baltis. I hope he sticks and works out for you. Thanks also for the kind words about Julian and Buffy Is Baltis horse-crazy like they are?

Baltar? Does he look like John Colicos? Oh, you said Baltis...

My last time out with Devana she crossed back to the eastern side of the Niben, and finished exploring Blackwood from the shores of Topal Bay up to Fieldhouse Cave. Next it is either Fort Telamon, or Nocturnal's Shrine.

Julian has just now gotten out of the boat and is standing on the dock at Fort Grief. She will be ready to deal some grief of her own once she finds out what happens there.

And as if THAT wasn't enough, Benirus has absconded with 5000 of her gold and left her with a house she can't even live in!

Well, she knows where he's gone, and believe you me, someone is going to get a rude awakening.

She's currently in Skingrad.
Fuming.

I took one look at that guy and thought: Wait, wasn't he a Klingon?


Well, Baltis is now in Kvatch, though it took him nearly a day to get there. He does have lots of flax seeds, it turns out the flowers are just tall enough for him to harvest from horseback.

He was annoyed when a Khajiit bandit with a warhammer attacked him, his hammer's head smeared with poison. "Poisons need to get into the blood." He said, after the fight. "If I draw blood with my hammer, then my enemy is either dead, dying, or I just got lucky. If they're dead or dying, what do I need poison for? And as for luck... A warrior who relies on luck dies in it's absence. They die at their own hands, not those of their foe."

Another thing I've found out about him: He doesn't travel light. He's currently carrying nearly 200 pounds of gear around with him:

Steel cuirass, greaves, and waraxe
Iron gaunlets, boots, shield, and warhammer
Nearly twenty healing potions, mostly lesser ones
And about 150 lots of flax seeds

Poor Paint...

Remember what the add said about Paints; They may not be the fastest horses in Cyrodiil but they sure can pack a great deal. What good does a fast horse do you if it can´t carry the load?

Or something like that

Eilidh had planned on following Benirus back to Anvil straight away the next morning, but things went slightly awry just outside the city gates when what had been a relatively mild attack of Feeble Limb flared up into a full blown fever.

It was only fortunate that she was already on her horse as she'd never have made it anywhere otherwise. Out of her homemade Cure Disease potions and with only a few Health Potions to sustain her she rode hell for leather to the nearest city: Chorrol.
Clinging all the while to the horse she barely remembered the journey there and she arrived at the city gates a sweaty, panting mess, her vision blurred and the world around her darkened almost to nothing. Having literally ridden her horse through the gates she all but fell off it and ran shakily for the only place that she could think of - the Chapel.

Falling in front of the Great Altar she received a blessing.
Cyrodiil's deities are not like hers, but By The Godwdess they can be just as powerful in their way.
Getting up off the floor she rested for a moment on a pew, thanking them one and all.
 
And yes - finally - here are 2 pictures of Princess Grumpy SMILING - here and here.

She's currently resting up at the local inn, getting some food and a little wine. Benirus, her house, her pilgrimage, and more problematically her missed appointment and subsequent stranding - (although her priorities are no longer what they were so already she feels that the removal of that safety net is more than likely a Good Thing, given her renewed Religious Vigour) - will have to wait till the morning...
 
(OOC - I would like to offer Kudos to the mods that allow fatigue and panting, disease development and blurring vision, and horses to be ridden into cities - you're all Ace)

Well, [censored].

Baltis Bereloth is dead

Fighting a Dremora on his way to the Sigil Keep, he too one step too far and ended up just that little bit too close to the edge of the walkway.

Then got shoulder-charged by a scamp. Staggered and...

Well, you get the picture...

Another one down the drain...

Sorry, but I´m starting to find this a bit funny

The number of dead characters I have, not to mention how short their lifespans seem to be is rather comical. Especially considering their time in-game doesn't manage to match the time I spend coming up with them.

Maybe I should just stop playing Oblivion, apparently I suck at it

Hey, you should only stop if you´ve lost the passion to play. I don´t believe for a second you suck at it, that´s more or less impossible unless you´ve never played a game before in your life. Maybe you just take too big risks too early or handle the fights the wrong way? I know Buffy wouldn´t stand too much of a chance head-on so she takes a different approach while having her "panic-button spell" at the ready just in case.

What I believe you should do is taking it much easier, calm down and don´t rush ahead. You´re an Oblivion veteran and maybe you can handle the situations your characters face, but they can´t. When, or even before a fight, be smart. Plan ahead. I know you wanna play chess without having a plan but I think you do need one in advance here.

Nice to see this thread so active and hearing about the travels of Devana, Julian and Princess Grumpy.

CT, so sorry to hear about the loss of Baltis. I surely hope you won’t abandon Oblivion. Consider the difficulty slider maybe? Perhaps DiD is not your goblet of Tamikas? I know DiD is certainly not for me. I would never be able to connect with a character if I knew I could lose her to a stupid daedra. We already play overly cautious; if I played DiD I’d never let Buffy out of the city!

I think I must need a better character screening process. It seems like all the reckless ones get through, and I don't want to rein them in because I figure it'd be metagaming.

Or it could well be that since I wouldn't think of it, they don't either...



I just can't really connect to a character that I know to be effectively immortal. If their death means a reload then I'm basically roleplaying an avatar of Akatosh, jumping back in time to avoid their death with knowledge of exactly what's ahead of them. If I start reloading to stop them being killed they stop being a character and start being just an in-game avatar.

When I started playing Oblivion I didn't play DiD, I didn't even roleplay. The result was I'd get through even more characters, because there was always a feeling of something missing. And because I wasn't attached to them I didn't really care if I restarted when something went wrong or didn't feel right. I can't help feeling I'll just end up playing like that again if I drop DiD, because I won't have any real incentive to keep my character from dying. Playing as "the hero with a thousand extra lives" just doesn't appeal to me.

You need to run away loads and loads!

We are not DiD but both Niamh and Eilidh were and are very fond of Running Away and Hiding as even though their benevolent narrator will give them a hand, he only has so much patience...

She rested up for the rest of the day and slept for a good 24 hours or so.

Following this, and feeling recuperated, she set off for Anvil again, heading south and west through the highlands she picked up the Brena river at it's head and followed it as best she could down south to the sea.
Had she but known it, she'd have realised she was in fact in Hammerfell for much of the journey - another first for her people!

She did not, though, and continued through a long trek under a baking sun shining in a hazy sky, the ridges and rocky hills around her bright with flowers and buzzing with insects.
Finally, after nearly a full day and as the sun was westering, she reached the sea and Oyster Bay.

We leave her there for the nonce, having gingerly swum the horse across the river.
She intends to take the coast on to Anvil in the morning, or possibly via Sutch...

...Before that though, there's a little ceremony she needs to conduct for her horse.

Julian is on her way back to Bravil to return Ardaline's Mages Staff. She has stopped to rest the night and wait out the foggy weather in her new home on the Waterfront. This time around, the home has a new feature - a copper bathtub which she is appreciating very much, thank you. After a day of limping around the IC and dealing with the effects of misty, damp weather on her bum knee, that steaming hot water is welcome respite indeed.

True to form, I'm back in Cyrodiil already.

I'm currently waiting around the Imperial City Waterfront District for the Marie Elena to arrive. Onboard is a Dunmer Sorcerer named Eldrar Andrethi, who's fled Morrowind after his Mistress in House Telvanni attempted to eliminate a rival and failed.

Devana finally finished exploring Blackwood from one end to the other. Now she is outside of Fort Nomore, on the way north toward Bravil.

Love these little updates as brief peeks into the days of other characters!

Buffy stepped out of the Bravil MG this morning into the rain. She instantly conjured her bound spriggan outfit and tucked her hair into an elven hat. She then continued to the stable. She and Superian are now just south of Bravil on the Green Road, picking nightshade and meandering toward Leyawiin.

(A fun fact is that it is also raining today out here in my desert mountains.)

Devana will keep an eye for Buffy as she heads north for Bravil!

If Devana is taking the Green Road, there's a good chance of that! Buffy netted 35 samples of nightshade between Bravil and Fort Redman. It stopped raining and she enjoyed a beautiful sunset. She and Superian enjoyed some water play in the Niben, then camped the night at Fishermans Rock. It's now predawn and she's checking and rigging her gear to clear Fort Redman. She's kind of hoping more vampires have moved in since Devana cleared it only recently.

I think Devana just missed her while she was inside Fort Irony, clearing out the goblins. Maybe next time!

But then she´ll get stomach aches!

As Jerric would say, let's kill another one!

Lothran would help out but he´s currently west of the shrine to mr Mora. He´s scheduled back home to Bruma in the morrow

Yay, wish Jerric was in front of Buffy as a shield! Don't worry, she'd keep him healed up.

mirocu, how nice of you to remember that Buffy gets cramps around vampires. Happily, the same kind of potion that helps relieve . . . other cramps works for vampcramps as well. The other challenge with vamps is that they can detect Buffy as well. Sounds kind of yucky, but by dusting herself lightly with vampire dust, it helps mask her presence. She netted five samples of vampdust from Fort Redman. That seems kind of light - probably because Devana cleared it fairly recently.

Anyway, the rains came back and she continued toward Leyawiin. She came upon a Legion horse very near our modded and expanded White Stallion Lodge and was worried about its missing rider. Then she found him engaged with two Black Bow Bandits. With only a tiny bit of help from Buffy, the Legion Rider prevailed. She healed him up and continued south as he rode north.

With Leyawiin in sight, she saw two dancing pink glows that she made as a will-o-the-wisp and an NPC. Before she could get close enough to influence things the NPC fell. Buffy killed the will, then discovered the dead NPC was (happily) a dead Black Bow Bandit. She's going to turn in the bows she got and tell Count Leyawiin his knights are not doing the best job keeping those bandits under control.

Buffy has such a nice, warm heart. Always thinking about others well-being

Wow this thread is active.

Lady Saga is in an Ayleid ruin called Piukanda. I don't remember this name from her previous games, so it's possible she never found this one till now.