Those Coldharbor Daedra look neat! Too bad I don't see me playing a character that would ever want to summon them.

They are really neat. Nephiah summoned them when she became Champion of Molag Bal. I kept the mod in case I ever had a vampire, since only Bal’s buddies can summon them. It looks like Zanimal isn’t interested, though. D’oh!

He did get Revenant at the College. He also emptied his pockets buying Expert Destruction spells from Faralda. Yay!! He headed across the snow to test Incinerate and Icy Spear. They are awesome, but it’s easy to miss at distance. Too bad the “Wall Of” spells are not follower-friendly.

While they were playing around on the ice Asrael offered up one of his favorite dialog topics. He says this one a lot, but I’m sure their location made him repeat it continuously.

Asrael: Have you seen that Shrine to Azura? They say the dark elves built it after they fled from Morrowind.

Zanimal: Yeah, I’ve seen it. Thanks for the reminder of a very crappy year.

Asrael: Have you seen that Shrine to Azura? They say the dark elves…

Zanimal: The word is Dunmer. And I’ve seen it.

Asrael: Have you seen that Shrine to Azura? They say…

Zanimal: Az, it’s right fetching there. See it? See the big statue? FFS.

Az: Have you seen—

Zan: Oh for the love of Bal. Let’s go.

So they walked up to see the damned Shrine to Azura. Captain Zanimal was mistaken for someone else by the priestess there. He was certainly too old for her to have seen a vision of him before he was born, unless she is also immortal or undead. He declined to take part in her religious issues.

From the shrine they saw a dragon in the sky so they hunted it for its treasure. One flawless garnet. Must be the only dragon lair in the realm with no dragon treasure. Serana looked cute running up to the grounded beast with her hand out, casting her little Vampiric Drain spell. Zanimal sent her home after he dug through the dragon bones for loot. He has no time for that kind of nonsense. Seasoned fighters only in his crew. Earlier after they killed a Dawnguard patrol she raised a goat zombie to fight a frost troll. Three dead warriors scattered at her feet and she picked the goat. Probably couldn’t find herself a dead bunny.

Anyway the good times gave Zanimal an idea. Screw the Volkihar business. The Zanimal is going to hunt some dragons.

I'm enjoying the dark adventures of Zee Animal! That sounds like a neat mod to make followers talk more.

*

Buffy's still in Solstheim, and her wardrobe has grown! It it not a place for simple exploration. As Skyrim is wont to do, anything you touch tries to suck you into the DLC's MQ. The hook for Buffy was the Skaal. They are pretty affected by the main questline there. Once she began to help them however, things really opened up and the island became a neat place to explore.

She's picked away at its MQ, but now is near the end of it - and it causes her quite the dilemma regarding how to proceed. Bad consequences for the Skaal whether she continues or not. She's doing other fun things on the island right now as she mulls over her choice. I figure she knows the right answer about what is in the long term best interest of her friends, the Skaal; it'll just take some time for her to come to terms with it.

It sounds like Serana is planning on giving the Chickenmancer of The Rift some competition!

I tried to steam through the Dragonborn mq once so that I could sleep and do other things on Solstheim, with the idea of pretending some other character did it all afterward. I did not much like what it forces on you either. That is why I now use console commands to run through it all when my characters arrive there. I can just RP that it was that way all along.

Best wishes to Buffy as she struggles with her decision. I happily used SubRosa’s commands to skip the whole thing with Zanimal, but I want some of my characters to have to face the hard choices. Jerric will be one of them.


Here’s a brief report on the romantic life of Marius, Thieves Guild Master and Nightingale. So far Marius has been all business and has not expressed any interest other than friendship in anyone. He and Rune are best buddies and he’s also pals with Arissa, but that’s it. Until a few sessions ago on the road outside Rorikstead he saw a blonde woman fighting some bandits (various mods interacting). Marius rather uncharacteristically dismounted and rushed up to her aid, hoping that his guess was accurate and the blonde was not also a bandit. They prevailed, she introduced herself as Mira (at least that’s how we interpret him suddenly knowing her name), and they went their separate ways.

He’s met her on the road since then, and during their chat she offered to travel with him. (She’s from Immersive Followers and only has the “Follow Me” dialog topic.) Marius was traveling with Rune and Arissa at the time on some urgent business for Arissa so he had to say no thank you to Mira’s offer.

THEN today Marius returned to Riften. He got his horse Mist settled at the stable and strolled over to chat with the Khajiit caravan. Now that he has kicked his skooma habit he has a better relationship with them. Anyway he traded a few items and turned around to walk into the city.

Mira was right there! He ran up and tried to recruit her, but she told him he already had someone with him. Dangit, I forgot he doesn’t have a multiple follower mod! So he dashed back and had an urgent word with Rune who understood completely and said he’d see him around or something. Rune is a good guy. He did not take offense at the abrupt dismissal. Then Marius scooted through the gate and suggested to Arissa that they meet up later. This is my favorite thing about Arissa. She does her own thing in the cities. Arissa headed for the tavern and Marius looked around for Mira.

She was gone. He saw her walk into the city, so she had to be somewhere. Marius made a dash around the market and didn’t see her. Checked the tavern and then the boarding house, no blonde in scaled armor to be found.

By then it had started to rain, and it was a downpour. Marius had taken off his hood as is his habit when speaking to people so that he doesn’t appear to be a shady character. The man ran out the opposite city gate and down past Snow-Shod Farm almost to the bridge by Largashbur without his hood and without his horse. He sprinted until he ran out of stamina three times looking for her. Marius does not run unless something big is chasing him.

No sign of her. I left him dejected in the market standing in the rain after he checked the Ragged Flagon in the hope that she was a new recruit that he hadn’t met yet.

Then I totally cheated and looked at the mod’s page. Mira is described as a Paladin who travels to the Temple of Mara every Sundas. There is no way he will ever think to look there. A Paladin!! Poor Marius!

Mira's a blonde and a paladin! Does it get any better than that?!? Well, maybe for Marius it does.

Lol, Buffy's introduction to Arissa was quite a shock to the trusting little elf.

Poor lovelorn Marius, fallen for the chapel-going paladin!

Good lord that's quite a story Grits! .. It actually sounds like the guy quit drugs too; oftentimes when users quit they find themselves going bananas over things that never used to bug them before.

And it's also interesting; I know that feeling when you try to recruit somebody (or have somebody already recruited try to follow) and they say 'no way'. It's nothing but computer coding, but sometimes the rejection actually is felt on some level.

Mycharonna is headed to Solitude, where she is supposed to meet the real Titus Mede. He's supposed to be on a boat or something, although I expect there will be some sort of plot-twist. Like maybe Titus Mede is the Night Mother or something silly.

Renee - tell Mycharonna to say hi to the Emperor!

*

Buffy's back in Skyrim now (from Solstheim and the Dragonborne DLC). Loved the Skaal and Raven Rock stuff, disliked the BigBadDragonborne stuff. Buffy did the MQ up until it came time to bargain with Jabba the Hutt Hermosa Mora and betray the Skaal. Clever elf that she is, she and the shaman figured out a way to cleanse the final All-Maker stone for the Skaal and then seal the BigBad up in his temple without dealing with Hermora. (Okay, in reality, she did 5 1/2 of the 7 quests that make up the DB MQ, then walked away calling it good.)

She earned the following titles while there:
- Littlest Skaal.
- Wizard to the Redoran Court of Raven Rock.

And she made friends with both a real Telvanni Wizard and a silt strider!

Solstheim sounds fun Acadian, nice to see Buffy made some new friends and gained some new titles.

--

Ravos is travelling across Skyrim with Erik the Slayer, tying up some loose ends and searching for a flawless sapphire so that he can build a shrine to Kynareth in Lakeview Manor.

Most recently they travelled from Nightgate Inn to Winterhold, where Ravos was able to sell his elder scroll to Urag (probably a bad idea... but it was annoying me) and spend some time in the Arcanaeum. From there they cut across the northern snowy plains to Dawnstar and then turned south to Morthal. They cleared every dungeon they passed but found no flawless sapphires. This is frustrating as I'm pretty sure Ravos sold one recently and the only guaranteed locations to find one require starting the civil war questline or stealing from the temple of Dibella, both things that Ravos won't be doing.

Anyway, Ravos has a few misc. quests to wrap up in Haarfingar and then he'll be ready to settle down in Lakeview Manor, at least for a while....

I know where you are coming from, and I do agree. But what I do not like about quests like the DB MQ that force you into a certain course of action is that they do not give you the option of finding another solution, especially by being creative and thinking outside the box. Like Alexander and the Gordian Knot. Without giving away too many spoilers, I think there should have been a way to trick Jabba and save the Skaal guy, not to mention to defeat the bad guy without having to become Jabba's bitch in the process (whom I see as the Bigger Bad guy). The only way to win is not to play. That is all well and good with nuclear war, but not when I paid for a game!



Good on you if you saved the day! Solsthem is a fun place to explore once you get its main quest out of the way.


My characters who have done Dawnguard get sick of that Elder Scroll stuck in their inventory too. I usually use the console to just remove it, since most of them never joined the college.

Good hunting to Mycharonna!

I can imagine the tiny Skaal coat they must have made for her! Congrats to Buffy on her new friends in Solstheim. I love the very Buffy solution to the Jabba the Mora mess. Both of my characters who did the deed Bethesda’s way were forever changed by it, and not for the better. Isn’t Dusty the silt strider wonderful? I got chills when I heard her call.

Vital, I feel your pain with the flawless sapphire search. Jensa had a quest in her log for about 160 hours waiting for one. Argh.

SubRosa, I agree. There should be an outcome available that doesn’t make you feel like you’ve been had, especially since the game starts Solstheim already in a mess and pretty much forces all characters to do the questline or leave. Even simply avoiding the whole thing isn’t an option. Your batch file has a permanent home in my Skyrim directory.

Sofie Mikkesdaughter got to go out and play a little before her scheduled time. First she stopped in at the neighbors to pick up her best friend Braith. As soon as Sofe walked in Braith said she was glad they were friends and gave her a silver sapphire necklace. Then Braith’s mom started talking about her books so they rolled their eyes at each other and left.

Here’s a shot of the girls of Whiterun out on the tundra. And here’s the trouble they got into just walking down the road. I think these two are going to be fun.

Fun indeed. Nothing wrong with slightly diminishing the Thalmor's forces eh?

Briath has good taste! Oh no, not books though! No wonder they fled for the wilds!

Well, I guess a Nord and a Redguard would know what to do with elves that get uppity!

Lopov – Thanks! Buffy likes Erik the Hoepusher as well! Hope things continue to go well for Ravos.

SubRosa - It took some creativity to counter the game’s intentions in Solstheim, but then, Skyrim proper is like that too. I honestly can’t think of a single questline bigger than the three Mara quests that fully work for Buffy. Good thing we all have fertile imaginations and are not afraid to change what doesn’t work for us. Dawnguard was pretty good, but we quite suffered from Serana fatigue by the end of it. Serana’s a great companion but just too much of a good thing.

Grits - Thanks for the kind words about Buffy. I figure those giant Skaal could have easily made full outfits for both Buffy and Lil from what it would take to make one outfit for a Skaal . Ever so appropriate for the blizzardy stuff though. Wow, Sofie and Braith . . . grew up . . . and now they take one's braith away *groan* The girls of Whiterun! I love it! Yup, the only good Thalmer is a dead Thalmer.

*

Buffy’s happily back in northern Skyrim. After a visit to the College, she took a bandit hunting bounty for Whiterun and reveled in a very welcome bandit dungeon crawl. Not surprisingly, she’s next headed south to the land of the Girls of Whiterun. Then she’ll likely sweep across the south of Skyrim enjoying the lack of snow (and ash) for a change.

Acadian, I hope Buffy enjoys the change of scenery. I'm sure most non-Nord adventurers would agree that Skyrim's cold climate can get tiring after a while.

--

Ravos and Erik continued their adventure, travelling from Morthal to Dragon Bridge bearing a letter from the Jarl's housecarl Gorm for Captain Aldis in Solitude. They used Dragon's Bridge as a base for a few days of adventuring in the northern regions of Haafingar. During that time they cleared out Pinemoon cave for Sybille, uncovered a drunken villager's mead stash for his wife and recovered Noster's old legion helmet, among other things.

From Dragon's Bridge they hauled their loot into Solitude where they were able to sell most of it. Ravos also found some time for prayer in the Temple of the Divines.

Next they'll be headed into the Reach where Ravos will be hoping to find a flawless sapphire. There's one he could steal in Markarth, but that's not really his style...

Sounds like Ravos and Erik have been busy. Busy paid a visit to Eldergleam Sanctuary, warmed up in the hot springs, then settled in by the river at Darkwater Crossing for a couple days to enjoy the lack of ice for a change. While there, she linked up with Anekke Crag-Jumper and they went off to find a missing local Argonian. Anekke picked up quite a few falmer bruises, cuts and scrapes, but they were successful. Buffy thinks the little adventure helped Anekke realize why she traded in adventuring for mining and marriage.

For her part, although Buffy enjoys occasionally traveling with a two-legger, it makes her appreciate that her best friends have four legs.

Turdas, 800 PM , 13th of Last Seed 4E 202 -- Onward to Mede




An ashen-skinned lady in dark clothes arrives to the hamlet of Rorikstead. The lady is unsure how long she's going to want to stay here. Could be for just an hour, or it could be for an entire night and day. This is strategy. If things go right, she'll stay longer than an hour. If they go wrong, she'll be forced to leave.

A Whiterun Hold guard keeps solid patrol of the road that runs straight through Rorikstead. This guard (or another just like him) is here at all times. Keeping things safe and under control. Back and forth he walks, up and down his hill. He touches the sword which hangs from his belt proudly, wondering when he'll be able to really use it again. It's been awhile. Almost three weeks.

The guard carries a torch, and sees a lady in dark clothes approaching from a distance. Gazes at her. The lady decides to play it safe it seems. She lights a torch of her own. This way, the guard can see her plainly. The lady has nothing to hide, and proves it by lighting her own torch.

The guard turns away, edgy yet satisfied. Pumped on mead, raw energy, and his belief of The Eight. Confident he is that he does the right thing, always. He spies the lady from a distance of several yards, and shrugs. She shall pass through. Just an old woman, out here, late at night. He thinks this, and shrugs and turns his back. But just for a second, there was something.... something? Naah. Nothing. Just an old woman, in dark clothes.

The lady smiles as the guard turns away. She grins like a wolf, baring fangs. Rorikstead is made up of about seven or eight cabins, she knows very well, and she is hungry.

She chooses the first cabin to her right.

Yikes, a vampire in Rorikstead! I've heard it's a nice enough little hamlet, but a boring posting for a guard.


Sofie Mikkesdaughter and Braith had quite an eventful trip to Markarth. They got into lots of trouble. Big surprise.

After the skirmish with two Thalmor patrols outside Rorikstead (mods colliding) they headed over the hills for a shortcut. Well it didn’t work out that way. First they stumbled into a nest of Forsworn. That went well considering their youth and inexperience, probably because they were able to pick up Forsworn weapons and use them for the second part of the fight. (Of course they went through the caves and killed everyone. Community service.) Then the Girls of Whiterun tripped over some vampires in a nearby camp. They managed to finish them off without getting infected thanks to Braith cleverly using the Flames staff that Sofe forgot she was carrying. All of this within sight of Rorikstead.

On the road they met an assassin and a Thalmor death squad, both carrying orders for Sofie’s execution. Sofie is aware that as the Dragonborn’s daughter people have certain expectations of her, but this seemed excessive. Braith reminded her of their earlier excitement with the Thalmor. Sofe admitted that perhaps the Thalmor death squad was justified in hunting her. Braith was a little put out that her name was not also on the execution order.

Also Sofie got a letter from Jarl Siddgeir of Falkreath Hold. He had some nice things to say about her. Sofe knows what empty flattery sounds like, so she was unmoved. She does plan to stop by and meet him, though. A parcel of land that has nothing to do with her mother sounds tempting. Um, and there’s also a guy looking for her in Whiterun, she’s heard. Seems like everyone wants a hero. Sofie hopes that they will be willing to pay.

Aaand, the icing on the sweetroll is that our dynamic duo managed to piss off three Daedric princes in two days. THREE of them. Lol. These girls are not boring.

Sofie and Braith seem like quite the klutzes, what with all this stumbling and tripping! I guess that is what happens when they remove the Dexterity stat...

It sounds like you have been having an eventful time playing Grown up Sofie. Now what other grown up kids can we play as NPCs? Given how she looks in your game, I'd say Braith is a real contender!

They were quite surprised at being attacked right up the hill from town. I'm sure next time they will exhibit more Dexterity. Oh, and a wolf got in on the vampire fight. It was a mess!

Looking the way she does Braith will definitely get her day in the sun. Since she flamed the vamps as an NPC she might be fun as a spellsword using Destruction runes and cloaks. I’m also tempted to make Lars “Milkdrinker” Battle-Born as a non-combatant priest of Kynareth for Braith to haul around.

Then there are Jensa and Stenvar’s kids. I’m thinking Runa Fair-Shield as a shield mage or a frost wielding knight. She’s the one at the orphanage who says, “Kill one person and you can solve so many problems. I wonder at the possibilities.” And Hroar as a bard. He talks about wanting to grow up big and strong someday, which makes me think he’s not a large kid. Plus his lines are kind of poetic. It would be funny to have Stormblade’s kid move to Solitude. There’s a little rebellion!

Rowan’s poor boys never developed much personality in her games. She was never home.

I love this...



I can remember when Skankee Krahk-ho got this very same letter; she merely tossed it on the ground. Had zero interest in doing anything for just about anybody but herself.

I had to look up Stormblade. I forgot it was one of the titles you get when playing a Stormcloak. They had much better titles. Yet another reason I preferred fighting for them over the Empire.

I love that title. Sometimes soldiers will say “Stormblade, it’s an honor” as a greeting. I like how they say it, with pride at their association.

Because Jerric hasn’t done a lot of questing he tends to get my other favorite greetings. “Hail, Companion,” and “Did you steal those robes from a real wizard?”


The Girls of Whiterun had a very difficult day in the Reach. After they murdered a priest of Boethiah they took a look around the Forsworn fortress that they had just decimated. Sofe was feeling uneasy about her decision to kill a tied-up old man. She does not know much about the Daedric Princes other than her Ma’s adamant advice to stay away from them. (Mikke was a werewolf. She didn’t tell her family, but she did her best to ensure her kids would stay loyal to the Divines.) Sofe didn’t know what to do so she just had to go with her gut. Her gut told her that this man would cause untold suffering if she let him go. So she did a difficult thing and killed him while he was on his knees. She’s still not OK about it.

Anyway there was a hagraven nesting in the top of the fortress. They had to fight her three times as they made their way up through the ruin. Sofie’s fire resistance potions helped a little, but she was nearly burned to death each time they faced the hagraven. Sofe left that fortress grim, humbled, and secure in the knowledge that her mettle had truly been tested.

Braith was awesome. I gave her the even-toned voice set that Lydia and Abiene have. Her quiet “I’ve got your back” after the final confrontation was just right.

Now they’re trudging through the snow to Solitude to buy horses. Sofie is not a fan of snow. She is going to name her horse Summer.

That was another thing I liked better about doing the Stormcloak side of the civil war. Ulfric and the other 'Cloakies made me feel like I was part of a larger family. Fighting with them felt personal. While Tullius made my characters feel like they were just cogs in a faceless machine, perhaps a little less rusty than the other moving parts, but still just an object nonetheless.

"Did you steal those robes!" That is priceless!

Poor Sofie... I agree with her gut feeling that letting him go would have been much, much worse. It sounds like it is a good thing that she has Braith around. We already knew she was not afraid of fighting: boys, girls, dogs, elders... Now we can add Hagravens to that list as well!

Grits, I think most days are difficult in the Reach! Hagravens can pose a serious challenge to characters of nearly all levels, so it's unsurprising Sofie left the fortress humbled.

SR, I haven't played the Civil War questline yet but it doesn't surprise me the Empire is a bit less personal. That being said I'd have to RP quite hard to enjoy fighting for Ulfric; the guy's a d**k. Maybe I've just played too much as a dunmer though

--

Ravos and Erik were also in the Reach today, travelling from Dragon Bridge to Markarth. They opted to take the shortcut along the Karth River instead of following the road back through Whiterun and then into the Reach. This was tricky and nearly resulted in Blaze (Ravos' horse) dying, but they made it through. Soon however they crossed paths with an Ancient Dragon, who was rather unhappy to see them. A fight ensued but the dragon's attention was divided between the adventurers and some bandits and bears on the other side of the river so Ravos decided to call in his new friend Odhaviing. It was pretty cool watching the two dragons fight and in the end Ravos was happy to gather some bones to forge more arrows with, although it was Erik who got to carry them

Apart from that they just cleared a few dungeons, killed a lot of Forsworn and finally found a flawless sapphire . Now they're in Markarth and Ravos is keen to get back to Lakeview Manor to build his shrine to Kynareth and finish off the furnishings.

I don't find Ulfric to be a d**k at all. I find a lot of NPCs claim he is, people with something to gain by seeing him killed. Like Brynwulf Freewinter, whom the Empire is going to make Jarl if Ulfric loses. But when my characters talk to Ulfric himself, he doesn't act like a jerk. Instead he gives me cool nicknames. I think a lot of people listen to the Imperial propaganda, and just take it for a fact, thinking that no one in the game would lie for their own ends. Sure Ulfric is ambitious, but the last I checked, that wasn't a crime, or a character flaw. George Washington was ambitious too, and unlike Ulfric, he owned hundreds of people of another race, not to mention signed an order banning them from serving in the Continental Army. Yet somehow he is not a bad guy for wanting to lead his country to overthrow the dominion of a foreign power, and Ulfric is.

While some NPCs claim that the Dunmer are forced to live in a slum, it doesn't hold up to scrutiny. Any Dunmer can buy Hjerim, or a farm outside of town as well (like Belyn Hlaalu). All they have to do is prove their worth, the same as in any hold. Niranye will tell you that, and she's an Altmer fresh off the boat from Summerset. If anyone is going to get lynched by the Stormcloaks, its her! Yet she's got a house right by the gate, because she does make herself useful. Any Dunmer could also get off their rears and do something to fix up the houses they were given for free in the past. The Grey Quarter wasn't always a slum, but that is what happens after 200 years of no upkeep. They are not denied economic opportunities, like the victims of prejudice IRL. Windhelm's Dunmer all have jobs, some rather good ones, owning their own businesses and land. It's the Nords like Sofie who are homeless beggars.

Rolf Stonefist OTOH, is an asshat. but if your Dunmer character beats him up, Rolff will come to your wedding. Throw in the homes given to the Dunmer for free 200 years ago, exemption from all taxes and tithes, and political autonomy, and I'd say that makes the Stormcloaks epic fails in the racism department.

You make some valid points SR and while I'm sure there are plenty of counter-arguments to be made I'm not really in the position to make them as I haven't played through the civil war questline.

Ulfric is actually a surprisingly complex character for what was a generally 'shallow' game, especially when you consider the Thalmor Dossier and the potential impacts of Skyrim's independence on the future of Tamriel. From what I can tell though, the in-game civil war wasn't so great.

Of course, the whole thing is open to interpretation. Some view Ulfric as a racist, bigoted, nationalist dictator, while others see him as an ambitious revolutionary, like you do.

As for the Grey Quarter, the dunmer don't have a brilliant human (beast race?) rights record anyway...

Oh, I would definitely agree that Ulfric is an ambitious, nationalistic dictator. I just don't see that as a bad thing. At least not compared to Titus Mede, or the Thalmor. Unlike the latter two groups, I do believe Ulfric has Skyrim's best interests in mind. OTOH I am certain that Titus Mede sees Skyrim is nothing more than a thing to be used up and bartered away, like he did to Hammerfell in the Great War.

As far as bigotry goes, every race in Tamriel hates every other race. I really don't see Ulfric as being especially distinctive in that regard. The Dunmer with their thousands of years of enslaving other races, and the Altmer with their entire national character being based upon their racial superiority, take the cake there. The Imperials are no slouches either, as they seem to believe they have the right to rule over every other race on the continent. In comparison, Rolff Stone-Fist is just trailer-trash.

The in-game civil war was less than not great. It was very repetitive, with a bunch of very same take the fort quests. In the end all that changes is the color of the guard uniforms in half the holds, and if you do the Stormcloak side the Thalmor patrols disappear, and a statue of Talos appears in the Solitude temple. That's it. I would say it is worth doing once from each side though, just to see. After all, it is content you paid for. But after that you probably won't be that excited to do it again. I cannot see ever doing it another time.

To be honest, doing it from the Imperial side made me appreciate the Stormcloaks much more than I did before. They are much more humanitarian. What I mean by that is when you do the Stormcloak side, in the final battle you confront Rikke and Tullius, and Ulfric and Galmar practically beg Rikke to just walk away. She's the right hand woman of the Empire, and they not only don't want to kill her, they are not even going to imprison her, or take any punitive action against her at all. But her honor won't allow that, so she fights to the bitter end, like a True Nord™. Then they do kill Tullius, which I think was a mistake, because as a living prisoner he can be used as a bargaining chip at the peace table. Finally Ulfric not only doesn't kill or even imprison Elisef, he leaves her ruling Solitude. When you do the Imperial side of the war, the Empire kills Ulfric and Galmar without any offer of quarter or clemency. And in Ulfric's final breath, he says to let the Dragonborn kill him, because it will make a better song. That really made me feel that the Empire was a bunch of bloodthirsty savages.

Odahviing!! Congrats to Ravos on finding that flawless sapphire.

I’ve been having an out-of-game (Creation Kit) adventure with Jerric’s world’s Erik Greenthumb the Slayer. He left Valdi with the vampire Serana attempting to sneak into Castle Volkihar and then embark upon some business that he would probably not approve of. That’s the only way he can explain why Valdi told him they had to part ways. Also he knows he is not that great at sneaking.

So Erik walked back to Rorikstead and built Rocky Top cottage for “wild as a mink, sweet as soda pop” Valdi. The first thing he made was the bed. Then he set up the kitchen. Typical priorities for a Nord who grew up in an inn I guess. He’s not decorating at all since he doesn’t know where Valdi will want to put things. Valdi has never had her own place and will likely have no idea, lol. It seems that Erik is making some pretty big assumptions, but I guess he’s sick of sitting in a chair at his Pa’s place all day and night when he gets dismissed from adventuring. Even if Valdi doesn’t cooperate at least he’ll have a home.

In actual game news Sofie Mikkesdaughter and teen Braith have left Solitude and are headed for Dawnstar. Sofe liked Solitude but not enough to stay for long. After today’s random encounters Braith updated her motto: “Thalmor, necromancers, daedra, there’s nobody I won’t fight!”

Vital - Sorry to hear that Ravos lost his horse.

Grits - Isn't Eric the Hoepusher adorable? I love the Nordic priorities (bed + chow), as well as the description of Valdi the Sweet Mink.

Today was a busy day for Persephone. She made her way to Labryinthian and went on a killing spree. I don't know what else to call it. She is now level 62, and just plows through everything in front of her. The undead dragon at the front door barely even got her attention. The big bad at the end didn't do much better against her. One of the meanings of her name - pherein phonon - is "to bring death". I certainly chose the right name for her!

The Viconia soundset is working out beautifully for her. It is perfect when she chops someone down and then I hear: "Shar guides my hand."

I played a bit of Sofie Persephonesdottir today as well. She puttered around Dragon Bridge, and cleared out some vampires from Clearpine Cave. The Imoen soundset is just fantastic with her. Her blade definitely cut them down to size!

I’m glad those voice sets are working out so well! I can imagine Persephone sounding like Viconia. Isn’t it great when something just clicks for a character?


The Girls of Whiterun have demonstrated that their plan is there is no plan. Sofie Mikkesdaughter spied a narrow trail heading off the road near Morthal and followed it. Eventually they came out on Eldersblood Peak. There they learned that frost trolls are still way above their pay grade.

After the battle they looked out from the other side of the summit and saw Whiterun. So they scrapped the Dawnstar plan and headed down the mountain and across the plains toward home. Sofe scouted ahead a little and learned that it’s the sabre cat you didn’t see that you should worry about. Here’s another tussle with a cat. That’s Sofie’s shield and Braith is wielding the fire staff. (Anyone know how to stop that blurry effect during kill cams? I dislike that.)

These two make quite a pair. Sofe really, really hates being cold. Braith wears a Frost Resist necklace they found so that she can wear her bikini top in the snow. Sofe wants a cottage right outside the Whiterun walls. It’s Braith who wants a little cabin out in the woods somewhere. Sofe keeps her hair neat and wears dresses to look nice, but she’s still quite hard-looking. Braith wears her nasty armor in town and drips paint all over her face to look less gorgeous, much to the dismay of her lovely and cultured mother. I don’t know what Braith named her horse yet. It’s probably something like “Balls.”

They found Meeko on the way home so now Sofe has her own dog. I suspect she will leave him sleeping by the fire with Alesan’s dog at Breezehome, though. She’s missed out on a lot of shots because she didn’t want to hit the dog. On the plus side due to being clobbered a lot at melee range now her Block and Light Armor skills are close to being high enough to join the Companions. (I’m using a mod for that.) Braith will not miss Meeko. She has re-named him “Dammit.”

I love Sofie's triskelion shield! The color goes so well with the earth tones of her armor.

To reduce that blurring, go to your Skyrim.ini file and turn off the radial blurring. Find these line and set them to 0:
[Imagespace]
bDoRadialBlur=0
iRadialBlurLevel=0

Maybe Braith's horse is named Lars? They make a great odd couple.

SubRosa - P-10 does good work and I've no doubt how dangerous she is now. Good work if you've got the stones for it! I'm so glad that Viconia's voice is working well. I'd imagine its perfect for her.

Grits - Wow, those are some super good action shots of Sofie and Braith herding cats!

The 'frost resist' charm makes a lot of sense for bikini tops. That's a RP idea for sure.

Careful with that dog!



Nice! Brilliant. You know I love name word games, I like how this one fits your Persephone, like there's some depth to her name. I'd RP that to death.

Thanks for that tweak, much better! Sofe has chosen mostly brown things to wear. Even her dresses are muted tones. I think she’ll stick with her studded armor until she finds some scaled. She likes that look.

The Girls of Whiterun have been roaming around Falkreath Hold. As predicted Sofie left Meeko at Breezehome with her brother Alesan and his husky Dante. It seems that she is a dog magnet, though. While taking one of her shortcuts they saw a dog being chased by wolves. After the rescue Sofe decided to let the dog tag along. (I had forgotten I had Ulfe active in this profile! She is not aggressive and the wolves had chased her pretty far from where she’s supposed to be.) Then they ran into a stray dog and two dead wolves as soon as they found the road.

Sofe and Braith are presently escorting a pilgrim to the Eldergleam Sanctuary. Her new dog who has no name yet has proven to be a great companion. She never gets in the way because she flees at the first sign of a fight. Good girl!

Also I started Braith’s game to simplify my mod arrangements, since I’m prone to screwing up. Here she surprised me by choosing the Mage Stone. (In my games it has the same blessing as Oblivion’s Mage Birthsign rather than Skyrim’s learning skills faster.) She and Alesan scouted Falkreath Hold to find a location for his shop. He likes a spot on the shore of Lake Ilinalta near Half-Moon Mill. (Right where I’m building my mod class project, how convenient! Looks like Big D and Sylgja will have to move in later.)


Edit: Also I almost forgot I started grown-up Lars Battle-Born as an acolyte of Kynareth. Oops! Poor Lars. True to his childhood of not fighting he’ll use Illusion spells and SubRosa’s Nature Summonings to resolve conflict. I have to figure out what factions to add him to with the console so he’ll have access to the Temple and the Battle-Born clan’s house.

How neat to hear of the GoW dog-gathering adventures!

And little battlebornboy's all grown up now! What a great idea.


Buffy tries, but sometimes has a hard time liking the children in Skyrim. On one hand, it's nice that she is eye-to-eye with them. On the other hand, she recently spent an evening in the Winterhold tavern with a little brat instructing her that the only things worse than mages are elves. It was quite the exercise in self control as she wrestled with the temptation to prevent him from ever reaching breeding age.

What a neat idea to make the dogs non-aggressive! My characters never adopt the stray dogs anymore, because they always end up getting killed in no time at all. Even in Fallout 3, my characters who find Dogmeat always leave him home in Megaton while they go out adventuring.

I see you modded the Mage Stone the same way I did! The vanilla Standing Stones were pretty unappealing. My characters always ended up either using the Lord or Steed. It wasn't until I modded them with more interesting effects that I started using other ones.

Lars has grown up! He looks like Guy Pearce Maybe he should be an Acolyte of Mara instead though? He always seemed like a mama's boy. Then again, so was Alexander the Great... Granted, the animal summoning would not be so in character for a Maran monk. But I do have an Elemental Summoning mod I could send you that could fill in. It takes the standard 3 Atronachs and renames them elementals. Plus adds in Frost Wyrms, and their flaming counterparts, Salamanders. Aela used to summon the Salamanders and Earth Elementals, and Mielikki summoned the Frost Wyrms

That's good the dogs flees, I agree. I think Haaf-Mersey had a dog follower die at one point. Good luck to Lars!

Some of my characters have fun with Skyrim's children, some of them simply ignore them. I can remember Lord Haaf-Mersey: he would play tricks. He would often agree to play hide 'n' seek or tag with his adopted daughter, but then simply walk into his house while Lucia went and hid somewhere.

Now, for my latest Ice Witch story. Enjoy.

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

Loredas, 12:32 AM, 15th of Last Seed, 4E 202

"De prublem is yo'r disrespect for da laws of dis land. It's time to face da Jarl's justice".

The lady shrugs at the guard before her. Speaks to him in a monotone. "Take me then. Will be better for us all if I am in custody, I suppose. Unless you prefer gold?"

She means what she says, and finds it necessary to follow the rules, for now. The rules will set her free.

"Smaaat woman," the guard compliments. "Now, come along with us. We'll take any stolen goods yo'r're carrying, aftah yoo agree to pay da fine."

Loredas, 12:49 AM
And so it is done. 1,500 gold is taken from her person, and inundated into the coffers of Solitude. The guards begin grinning like wolves once they hear that the lady who murdered a false target here in Solitude has now been apprehended; and has agreed to pay an enormous fine. The payment of this fine will certainly please the leaders of the city.

With this transaction taken care of, the Emperor's chance of living a full, carefree life has now been greatly reduced. Mycharonna the Ice Witch, the lady who has been given instructions to locate an offshore vessel, and then find and destroy the Emperor Titus Mede II, and void him from the world of Tamriel, now walks calmly across one of Solitude's courtly plazas.

"Dere she goes."

Guards mingle all around; all wanting to see the lady who had been wanted for (allegedly) murdering a man who had been pointed as the actual Emperor, and is now free to roam as she wishes. The 1,500 gold she paid to Solitude is not missed by her at all. Each guard, as they watch her go, has a different opinion of the strange lady wearing mourner's clothes--some think she is worthy of small praise (as enemies are sometimes exalted), while others despise her, wishing they could slay the assassin on-the-spot. None is allowed to act, though. She has paid her fine, and by the land's laws, is free to go.


1:09 AM

"Welcome to the Winking Skeever, friend."

"A room. And I have the gold for it, of course."

"Sure thing. It's yours for a day."

"And might I peruse your choices of meat?" she says cautiously, trying hard to not reveal her true nature.

"Drink for the thirsty! Food for the hungry!"

Mycharonna buys a slab of goat's leg, a platter of seared slaughterfish, and a tub of butter. The butter shall be used to lather upon her skin; an attempt to hide her pallid countenance. But this is just an extra precaution. The man before her (and all the guards, and everyone else in Solitude) apparently have no idea that the woman accused of murdering the man pretending to be Titus Mede II is also a four-stage vampire currently sated down to Stage 1.

"Remember the Winking Skeever next time your foot's sore."

The Ice Witch makes a cordial reply to this, makes her way toward the room she's rented, but instead winds up zipping into the Skeever's cellar, where she seemingly blends into its stone wall for a good many hours, unseen to those who are unknowing.

I like voiding the Emperor from Tamriel. It goes so well with the idea of Sithis being the Void. Not to mention Titus Mede being cancelled like a bad check!

Or the opposite of eating!

Acadian, I’m guessing that Winterhold kid was the Jarl’s brat. The innkeepers think he’s a bad influence on their daughter with his nasty game. I have to agree!

SubRosa, I would LOVE to have your Elemental Summoning mod!! The Frost Wyrms and Salamanders are very cool, plus it will be great to use the Elemental/atronachs for a character who wouldn’t mess around with daedra. The Salamander especially will give me good memories of Teresa’s scrolls and Aela’s adventurers in Cyrodiil. I created Jensa’s grown up kids Hroar (Bard) and Runa Fair-Shield (Battlemage) while I was supervising a teen date night at my house, and I’ve been struggling with how Runa is going to be different from the other sword and spell users. I had already decided that her real dad was Breton. Your elemental summonings are just perfect for her! Whee! Thank you!

When I made Ulfe the dog for Jerric I wanted her to be a real pet and not a fighting dog. Battle dogs and Destruction mages are a bad combination. I’m going to do the same thing when I make Darnand’s skeever pet.

Renee, that was a great update! I’ve occasionally wondered what the citizens must think about known murderers roaming the streets. “Void” him from Tamriel, well put!

The Girls of Whiterun explored a truly icky cave on the way home from the volcanic tundra. The poor dog got thoroughly venomed while running away and fell yelping off of a ledge. Luckily there was water below. Sofe needs to rememeber to leave the dog outside. Braith added vampires and giant spiders to the list of things she likes to fight. When they got back to Breezehome they learned that three dogs is too many for one tiny house. Pretty much everything that was placed on a surface is now on the floor. Sofe is ready for Alesan to move into his new shop! Oh, and in the cave Sofe found a pair of leather gauntlets that enhance her One-Handed damage by 20%. Well worth the sticky webs in the hair.

Hroar and Runa are looking hot. Especially Runa, wow! Is that the golden plate armor from Zzjay's Wardrobe that she's wearing?

No spiders for me thank you! Braith can keep them all to herself. 3 dogs? That sounds like my brother's house.

I agree with SubRosa - those kids look great all grown up! Icky cave indeed! Don't you hate those giant spiders that drop out of the ceiling?

I don't know what's scarier: Skyrim or supervising a teen night. Kidding. Wow, you did a good job with them. Hroar looks like a movie star.

So the dog was okay? That musta been scary getting poisoned and then falling off a ledge!

I've been playing Drelka in just her wings for a few days, but I've almost finished cloning her outfit from Oblivion. Since I made that, I'm allowed to convert it.

I'll be able to post a Skyrim screen-shot once she's got something to wear.

Thanks, folks! I really wanted Runa to look feminine and pretty, which is not my usual thing. I actually learned how to use a few of the new sliders in the Racemenu mod to refine her features a little. That is indeed the golden plate armor from Zzjay’s Wardrobe. I tried the steel version on Valdi and though she looked nicely knightly it didn’t suit her reformed bandit aesthetic. So then I tried the steel on Runa and she wanted the gold set instead. Since Stormblade’s daughter Runa spent her teens as essentially a princess in High King Ulfric’s court I don’t think anything will be too fine for her! This girl could be a handful.

The dog is OK after the poisoning and surprise dive/swim because I made her immortal. Normally I’m all for consequences but not when it comes to pet endangerment!! I had never heard her yelp before because she always runs away. (Good girl!) Sofie learned her lesson and left the dog outside the next fort they raided. Then when she and Braith exited after delivering the Jarl’s justice and subsequently refreshing themselves with liberated mead, they heard battle cries. Seconds later the dog ran past pursued by two bandits that had (I’m guessing) somehow survived the earlier fight. After Sofe dealt with the bandits and the dog wandered back Sofie named her Trouble.

ghastley, I’m delighted that Drelka has made it to Skyrim! She has saved Kanet’s butt in Cyrodiil many times.

After two months I finally returned to Valdi where she was poised at the edge of the Soul Cairn trying to decide what to do. Unfortunately I lost the letter she wrote to Jerric in Cyrodiil, but the gist was that she was going to trade part of her soul for a ticket into the Cairn and don’t tell Darnand. Also if she doesn’t come back by Saturalia could he please come kill all of the vampires at this castle, here’s a map. And he should probably bring the Dawnguard with him. But give her some time to work first.

Part of Valdi’s issue was that she was sure Serana would need to feed on her while they were in the Soul Cairn since she would be the only mortal around, and it took some time to get OK with that. Also she needed to gather enough food, drink, and portable things to burn so that she could survive, since she assumed that there would not be firewood or taverns in an Oblivion realm. (Luckily it was not too cold so freezing wasn’t a huge danger.) (Also luckily she carries a fair supply of wine and mead so she didn’t need to go shopping.)

Valdi was all business once they got in there. Valerica reminded her a little of her own Ma. The fierce and driven parts, not the vampire part. After a while Valdi started talking to some of the lost souls that they passed. She is not a conjuration mage but now she knows how to summon the spectral horse Arvak and two of the souls that she met. (This is how we RP finding the spell tomes lying around in the Soul Cairn.)

They got the item they need from Serana’s mom, but the most exciting thing for Valdi was meeting a dragon! They had a great conversation, after she “killed” him of course. He taught her how to say his name in the dragon tongue so that she can call him to her side in Tamriel from the Soul Cairn. Now she’s headed back to Lakeview Manor in the hope that Jerric and the rest of the crew will have returned from Cyrodiil. She knows Darnand will not forgive her if she doesn’t let him examine the Elder Scroll before she gets on with her Dawnguard business.

After a drawn-out battle at Robber’s Gorge on the way home we had one of those series of events that falls together just right. Valdi saw some level ground and called for Durnehviir the dragon from the Soul Cairn. (We completely ignored the Insert Soul/Get Shout game mechanic. In her dragonless game I just added three souls with the console so she can call him.) Durnehviir had a quick chat with her and then took off into the sky. It was a gorgeous sunny day which is why Valdi thought of him in the first place.

Some traveling merchants (mod) passed on the road, so Valdi quickly gathered up some bandit junk and sold it to the traders. By the time she was ready to head across the bridge and up the road to Rorikstead something amazing happened.

Durnehviir was hovering way up over the tundra, Shouting! As long as Valdi doesn’t have too much time to think she charges in like any Nord, and this performance would have made Jerric proud. She scrambled up the cliffs in record time in defense of her new dragon friend! It was awesome and of course completely unnecessary. Durnehviir had used his Shout to bring up some undead from the Soul Cairn, and while they’re not good at climbing hills they’re excellent at smiting. After a brief search among the rocks Valdi finally found a nearly dead assassin with a contract for her murder in her pocket. And also some dead wolves and a very angry sabre cat. Business concluded, the undead returned to their realm leaving Valdi nowhere near where she started and wondering where her horse may have run off to.

So Valdi cut through the hills toward Rorikstead planning to backtrack down the road until she found Tage (her horse). I’ve been making a very small house mod for Erik the Slayer and hopefully Valdi, but I hadn’t planned how Valdi would learn of this situation in the game. Turns out she walked over the hill, looked straight across the village, and immediately noticed the new construction.

It’s unfinished and kind of a mess outside, which was great since I hadn’t planned for her to see it yet and definably not without Erik. Valdi checked the tavern and fields for Greenthumb The Slayer (he wasn’t there) then walked up and took a look at the cottage. She hopes he’s also at Lakeview since he wasn’t in Rorikstead. She wants to tell him that someone is building a nice little house in that perfect spot above town.

Oh, and one thing that I like about Serana in Valdi’s game is that she’s always getting lost somewhere when they’re traveling so it seems as if she’s going about her vampire life and feeding or maybe getting out of the sun and catching up later. Valdi had never actually mounted Tage in Serana’s presence until today. Then she got a big surprise (Convenient Horses mod I’m guessing). I wondered what kind of horse would permit a vampire to ride her!

ghastley - Get some clothes on that girl so we can see more of her! Oh, wait. . . you know what I mean.

Grits - Wow, Valdi's been busy! I like Serana a lot, but nearing the end of DG, all we wanted to do was be rid of her - too much of a good thing. Your idea about not worrying a bit about losing her is a great one!

I loved the essence of the letter that Valdi composed to Jerric and the nature of her concerns. Gosh, she could almost be the Big Guy's little sister!

What fun to summon Durnie out on the plains of Whiterun - I'll bet he was a happy dragon.

Gosh, Valdi and HoePusher's new home-in-progress looks wonderful - as in it looks like it fits so perfectly into Rorikstead.

@Acadian: Right now I'm trying to script it so Drelka swaps her dress for her wings when she readies a spell, i.e. it will run off the ready/sheath key. I need the same mechanism for the seducer guards at Evergloam Castle when I get back to that mod, and it will be easier to test it this way.