@ Grits and Acadian: I enjoyed reading your comments about Durnie, he is one of my favorites in the game after we finished Soul Cairn.

In our first play through, after we had finished the DG quest line, Alise was making her lonely way home across the tundra toward Hjalmarch Hall (the one NW of Whiterun). She was looking forward to seeing Argis, the kids and Gregor the steward when she was attacked first by a dragon, then bandits. She called on Durnie so she could recoup and heal herself, and he handled things beautifully well. Then he flew overhead as she walked the remaining distance home, and when the kids ran out to greet her, they got to see him circling overhead. They were suitably awed, and Alesan even asked if they could keep him as a pet! Alise had to explain that dragons don't make good pets, just as Bosmer don't make good pets.

Hee! Yes, it just doesn't work out well to try and hold onto a dragon, Bosmer or butterfly.

Grits' image of Durnheviir in Tamriel reminded me that I've recently been revisiting old characters' games, and I just happened to catch this one. We'd just fast-travelled back to Hjaalmarch and this was what we found. It hovered there for several seconds, thinking we hadn't noticed, before it dropped.

In Tyra's game, I made a small adjustment to her scimitars, as I didn't like the hilts. What do you think?

And Drelka's become the new Arch-mage. She drained the magic from the Eye with the staff in one hand, while she drained the life from Ancano with a spell in the other. The Psijjics came and cleaned up the Eye, but I think she distracted Quaranir a little.

For me the key to enjoying Serana’s company is this mod: Serana SHUT UP. It removes her endlessly triggered proximity alarm (Yes? What did you need?) and in the version I chose also her idiotic battle alerts (Who’s there? and Where’d you come from?) Now when she talks Valdi is more inclined to listen. You’re exactly right about Jerric and Valdi. The Big Guy has taken her under his (substantial) wing, whether she likes it or not!


Very nice! I prefer your version. The regular one has too much round going on. (Which is never to be said of Tyra. ) Congrats to the new Arch Mage! Maybe Drelka can inject some fashion sense into that position. I’ve never cared for the College-issued poncho.

I hadn’t realized it, but the only other two characters I’ve had who could summon Durnie could also summon Odahviing, so Durnie never got much play. I think the old guy is going to have some fun with Valdi.

Jerric’s crew is preparing for the seasonal migration to Skyrim. Due to mod and patch issues with Oblivion (I’m waiting for an update) I’m going to pick them up at the Pale Pass border gate into Skyrim this year.

Nice screenshots and stories, all of you. I read only some of the last pages because now I have to go and entertain my son, but I'll read more when there's time. Not being a regular reader here, so now I have a lot to catch up.

I like this "family stuff" which some of you implement, grown-up kids and such, it's something I've never read about before.

I've fallen behind on this thread, so WOW that's one sweet set of threads there on Drelka!

Trouble's a great name for an animal. And some humans. But animals sometimes are always getting into trouble, right? ... Wow, Valdi looks amazing. Cool. It's good to know we can get away from that 'scowly' look females have in the vanilla game. And good job with that house. I would love to see that entire area (Rorikstead) get larger with mods some day; it's just kinda got that feeling in which it wouldn't hurt to see it expand, especially being a common travel-through destination.



I like this too. Serana is the most random NPC follower; she's always up to something. I have noticed this with other followers too (vanilla or mods) in both OB and Sky. Some of them do nothing but follow our characters, others will wander off, get into conversations and whatnot.

I am going to post my next and probably final Mycharonna tale now. I am shivering as I do so; my palms are a little sweaty. Ahhgh. She 'beat' Dark Brotherhood, in a way.



Loredas, 6:34 PM, 15th of Last Seed, 4th Era 202


cuff.....cough....

A child coughs, and an eternal force emerges. The soulless spirit of Mycharonna the Ice Witch, her body standing lifelessly unseen in the cellar of The Winking Skeever, coalesces from the timeless, demonic plane she had been inhabiting, into the plane of Nirnly things. The transition between planes is one which any mortal would not be able to comprehend. From timelessness, a complete expansive freedom, to hours on a clock. A transition from an enormous lack of bounds to exercise one's will in many ways, to three-dimensional shapes and two-dimensional shadows.

Coufh ... cough....

The child coughs again upstairs, somewhere above the Icy Witch's head. A door slams. Footsteps pace across the stone floor. A man clears his throat. Somebody sips through a foamy drink.

Unaware they all are.

"Bring up some more mead, my boy," Mycharonna hears as her form solidifies more definitely. "This cask's nearly tapped!"

"Okay, father. Uh...which cask should we open?"

"Just bring any of them, lad! Can't risk thirsty customers without mead to drink, even for a second!"

"Bring the Blackbriar Mead Berry-Blend," a girl-child says, taunting. "It should be at its peak right now, and if it doesn't get served soon, it'll only go bad."

"Good idea, sis. Maybe you ought to be in charge!" her father (apparently) answers.

"Yes, yes, fine. Just hurry! Mustn't keep the customers thirsty!"

...."Thirsty".... the Icy Witch mumbles, beginning to walk upstairs. She likes that word, thirsty. She muses and mulls this word in her multi-dimensional mind. "But not now. Now is time for greater things than the sate-ment of my thirst."

She reaches into a nearby cabinet, and eats some raw beef instead.




Sundas, 2:45 AM
Boarding the Katariah (the ship which is supposed to house the Emperor) is not as easy as the witch had thought it might be. The ship is not moored nicely at the Solitude East Company Warehouse docks; it is instead anchored off-shore. This causes a small amount of consternation, there is no clear way to get on board.

The night lengthens, and dawn will soon approach. Mycharonna decides to fly towards the infamous shack (now abandoned) where she had first met Astrid many months ago. Here she will lie for the rest of Sundas, but before she does, she calls upon Shadowmare, the horse Astrid had given the witch before her death, to join her.





Sundas, 6:24 PM
Again, the witch returns to Nirn from her extra-dimensional travels. The shack she inhabits is cold; the icy bodies of two former mortals lie in a corner. Mycharonna walks over to a chest located inside the shack, opens it, and finds the mysterious note Astrid had sent to the Ice Witch so long ago. She reads it, feels nothing, tosses it back inside its chest.

Outside, she finds her horse had arrived sometime during the day, and now stands ready. She mounts Shadowmare, rides toward the Katariah, and then employs stage two of her plan. She cannot swim, and so there's no way for her to get close to the ship itself, so she uses the horse to swim toward it. Once she has gotten near enough, she knows she can now find a way to get aboard. She can sense this way inside.

She swims the horse around the ship, and then swims him back to shore. His legs and lower body are frosty with cold, but Shadowmare doesn't seem to mind. The witch dismounts the horse, closes her eyes, and calls upon one of her great, magical powers. In a moment, she is lifted into the air, where she flies almost instantly towards the Katariah itself. She does not flap her arms, like a mortal would while pretending to fly; she merely lifts off the ground and then flies much faster than any bird could. *

May it be your bane to witness she thinks as she lands, and then turns to vapor.

1:28 AM

"Someone there?"

Some sort of guard, or perhaps a simple sailor, draws his blade.

"Hmm. Nothing here after all."

But he feels uneasy. He could have sworn he had heard something, and seen some sort of shadowy shape flit past him, here among the crates and barrels deep inside the Katariah. As he walks away out of the ship's storage area, thinking of his next bottle of Honningbrew, a vaporish shadow does indeed form into pale flesh and dark robes. Smells like an ancient tomb. The shadow crouches down behind a wooden box, and casts a spell. The man reacts, and renews his search, forgetting all about Honningbrew mead.

"What was that?"

He draws his blade again, and rounds a corner, standing right in front of the witch who has just made herself invisible. As the man stares straight through her, his nervousness doubles. He walks forward, and then walks into her.

"I knew I heard something!"

It's the last phrase he shall ever emit. Mycharonna draws her Blade of Woe, which is laced with some sort of poison, and with just one swipe, the man, whoever he was, is now fallen. The witch casts another spell, one which will quiet her footsteps, and then decides to try casting her vampiric draining ability, for no particular reason. It's not like there's an enemy before her, she just casts this spell.

"Never should have come here!"

It's not long before the sound of this spell attracts another man. Probably another sailor. He's certainly not very well-armed, so he cannot be a guard. The witch easily drains the man's health with her left hand, and then touches him with a frosty spell as he makes his attack. Again, he is no match for her. Within four seconds, he is dead. As he lies before her, the witch hears the sound of a smith at work. ...tok...tok....tok... goes his hammer. She paces forward into some sort of living quarters, ducks behind a door, closes it, and casts yet another spell.

One by one, the men fall. A couple of more heavily-armed men are included now. They come to realize that there is somebody else aboard the Katariah, and that she's somehow slipped past them all. One by one, they fall. At most, their lives last another thirty seconds or so, if they are so lucky.

Mycharonna the Ice Witch climbs a final staircase, draws her blade (poisoned once again) and nears the sound of the metal-smith. tok....tok....tok.... but before she can prepare some sort of offensive, she hears an Imperial's voice.

"Well, it's all over now. I can see the smoke rising from Whiterun."

"Yeah, I'm glad we can stand down," somebody seems to answer. Are there two of them? ... "Getting tired of looking over my shoulder all the time. Nothing to do now but sit back, relax, and enjoy the trip home."

Mycharonna is not being particularly quiet at this point. She stands straight and tall as she rounds the stair's banister, where another man (a guard, this time) sees her. Within a flash, she is back down the stairs, and the man draws a large sword. She attempts to drain the man's health, and strikes him with the Blade of Woe, but this one does not falter. He keeps coming! .. And there are more behind him. She uses her ability to move at super-human speeds, and rushes back to the storage room. Once there, she summons up a dremoric lord to do her fighting.

"I ... smell .... weakness!" the lord calls, giant flaming sword at the ready.

"Hah, found you!"

If Mycharonna has been doing well against the occupants of the Katariah, the dremoric lord does even better. Within a minute, all of her remaining enemies (of the moment, anyways) are dead. The ship smells coppery, like a bloodbath. One of the persons she felled happened to be carrying a key, and this key might be able to unlock any locked doors upon the ship, leading her to Titus Mede the second.

"But where is the Emperor?"



Morndas, 4:24 AM

"You can't hide from me!"

The key does indeed unlock one of the ship's doors, and behind this door are two more sailors. One of them pursues, but his life is abruptly ended when he runs across the icy ward spell Mycharonna had left on the ship's lower floor. The other sailor meets a similar fate, as the witch casts a ward into the room he hides in from a distance. Mycharonna walks now boldly into the ship's living quarters. As she does so, she can feel her vampiric essence quadrupling in power. **



The ship's lower quarters are a mess; bodies and dishes and items strewn everywhere, yet it seems the Emperor, if he is here, does not notice. Where could he be? .. Mycharonna climbs a second set of stairs, and boards the ship's third deck. This area is obviously nicer than the rest of the ship, so she prepares her blade once again, and poisons it. There are two doors up here. One of them leads outside, and she knows this because she can sense the sun's power out there. Not an option. The second door...is locked. The Ice Witch opens it with the captain's key...



6:39 AM
....and finds her self face-to-face with the most powerful man (arguably) in all Tamriel. Multidimensional vampiric being or not, the Ice Witch freezes in place, literally. The man before her is well-dressed in ultimate finery. He definitely has the look of an Emperor. She can feel his presence.

"And so it comes, the hour of fate," Mycharonna tells him.

Without answering her, the well-dressed man rushes to an armoire, and finds a weapon. He comes towards the Ice Witch. His weapon is a hand-axe, but one which looks enchanted somehow.



"Nyah! Neeh!"

The man hacks twice upon the Ice Witch, but she resists these attacks with barely a scratch. She does not draw her own blade.

"Come now, don't be shy!" the well-dressed man says casually. "You haven't come this far only to behave."

He strikes and strikes his enchanted axe upon the Ice Witch, and still she does not draw her own weapon. Does not cast a spell. Makes no move toward the offensive or defensive.

"Hah ha ha ha ha .... you move just like a pregnant ... horker!" he jokes, seeming to understand the reality of his current situation. Long ago in the 3rd Era, it was a popular taunt, telling somebody they moved like a pregnant cow. Such a taunt might have intimidated an enemy long ago. He gazes into the witch's eyes, not fully understanding who she is, but he seems to know why she is here.

He strikes and strikes, until the Ice Witch sees red. She stumbles, and regains her strength.

"The time of passing has come."

As he rips into her with a series of awesome blows, the last image Mycharonna sees as she falls before him are his hungry eyes, his Imperial strength, and an incredibly devout belief in The Eight.



THE AFTERMATH
Later on, hours later when Emperor Titus Mede II found himself safely before the nobles of the Blue Palace, describing the death of the darkened soul who had invaded his ship, he would remember his confusion; a certain jealousy, actually, about how easy it had all seemed to ruin the witch who had supposedly claimed Eternal Life.

Oh noes! Could this be the end for our Ice Witch Vampire? Tell me it isn't so!

OH MY GOSH WHAT?!

That was a stunning end for Mycharonna the Ice Witch! It was her hour of fate! The time of passing, indeed. Renee, you have blown me away with this!

But Mycharonna's loyal servant *brumppsuley* will recover her body, and raise her from the undead (on the PC perhaps?) after practicing the dark ritual of *hrmpuh, erm humpph* right? That is how it works in all the old Hammer films.

Wait, what? Mycharonna is dead? For real?

Wow, I certainly didn't expect this! It's good, actually very good in its own way...but I'll have to get used to Mycharonna being gone.

I'm sorry. Yeah, I got this sort of 'feeling' when she got right in front of the Emperor that she wanted it to be this way; the classic "Old Orc" death. I think she did it mostly for political reasons. She doesn't (didn't) particularly like mortals, she didn't particularly enjoy being mortal when she was human, but on the other hand she also did not be the one who influences politics on such a grand scale. You see? .. Just because the Night Mother tells her to do something....

I mean, she could have just not even gone up to visit Mede at all, but the feeling I got was that she didn't actually make her decision until literally the end. I am going to miss her, believe me, especially all her wacky poetry.

Jerric’s crew is back in Skyrim, and it does not surprise me that Abiene was the first to play. She dragged NPC Jerric up to Solitude to finish up some business there. As much as she enjoys spending time in Jerric’s Solitude townhouse (Barnacle Cottage mod), she thinks that a real manor house would be a more appropriate dwelling for one of Jarl Elisif’s Thanes. Abiene made the arrangements herself and did everything she could to make him feel at home. He still prefers his townhouse. The manor reminds him too much of his home that was destroyed in Kvatch.

Also I suspect that when Darnand finds out Abiene rented a house in Haafingar he is going to have kittens. Abiene is notoriously bad with money. Almost as bad as Jerric, who can’t pass a meadery or a bakery (mod) without buying out their entire inventory. They all sort of let Darnand look after their finances. (I do this by having them make deposits into a strongbox, so they tend to think they’re always broke.) Darnand is a tightwad. He only wants to spend money on books.

Anyway after the adventure and then the decorating, Abiene indulged in a solid day of shopping. She knows that after a season away there is likely to be new merchandise at Radiant Raiment (because I keep installing mods whether they are in Skyrim or not). She was however disappointed, since this time the new stuff is for Valdi and Lildereth. Here Abiene is leaving the shop. You can see what Jerric thinks of the shopping situation.

Wow! How magnificently thoughtful of Abiene to decorate with both the Solitude and Kvatch wolves for Jerric!

Lil is looking deliciously woodsy!

Aww, cheer up, Jerric. No doubt that's why RR has that bench installed - for bored Nords.

Lol on that last pic. That sounds fun, adding new clothes to Radiant Raiments.

Bosmer women in thigh high boots? What can I say, except I cannot say it on a PG13 forum!

I love the Kvatch wolf on the wall. What mod did that come from?

Poor Jerric! Nothing is more Man-Kryptonite than being dragged along shopping by a woman!

Hey, at least Ulfe is along to keep him company! How many IRL guys can say that??

New Thane-worthy house rent: 1,000 gold per month.
New decorations for above: 5,000 gold
New wardrobe for Abiene: 3,000 gold
That last picture of defeated Jerric: priceless.

The bear on the wall seems to agree.

The laughing bear made me grin as much as Jerric dozing on the Honey-Hold-My-Purse bench.

The Kvatch wolf on the wall comes from the Kvatch Shields mod. Jerric has tried both of those and keeps going back to the Skyrim-style Kvatch wolf from the Kvatch Ranger’s Armor mod. The back of the metal-looking shield is very pale wood and looks brand new. I think when I learn to recolor and make the back look darker he might carry the metal one that’s on the wall.

Jerric took Lildereth on a little tour of the province running some errands that he didn’t finish last spring. On the way to Riften they spent the night at Faldar’s Tooth, one of Jerric’s favorite spots in Skyrim. It’s nice because he can heave the dead bandits off of the walls and then relax in peace. Here he and Lil are sharing their (his) first breakfast.

While they were in Dawnstar Jerric got involved with the Vaermina situation there. He’s the first character I’ve had who took a defensive position while Erandur was doing his thing. Everyone else has to some extent listened to Vaermina and watched Erandur’s ritual. I guess Jerric is never going to let his guard down around any daedra.

The next stop was dropping off some books at Winterhold. Here Jerric is listening to Tolfdir rave about the giant, mysterious, unstable, floating magic ball that he decided to move into the middle of the College. Jerric may be part mage, but he agrees with his fellow Nords on this matter.

On the way back to Lakeview Manor they raided some fun spots. One in particular (the place where Channah died) is packed with necromancers and piles of assorted dead things for them to reanimate by the Helgen Reborn mod. It’s never the same fight twice in that location. This time the necromancers mostly raised bandits and vampires. Once before it was a hagraven, a werewolf, and a Thalmor wizard among other things. Jerric loves to fight necromancers. He toyed with a powerful ice mage for quite some time before heading upstairs to corner the rest of them.

In the last chamber there was another group of mages, most of them clustered in the entrance to another corridor. Jerric cut loose with his Ice Storm spell since Lildereth was nowhere in sight. He figured she was still downstairs with the dog. It was a lot of fun but he made a real mess of the place. Thankfully they were not there to retrieve some special item. By the time he turned to face the necromancer boss, he got a surprise. Lil had quietly taken down the boss. Never even saw the elf.

They left the cave to find pink skies over Lake Ilinalta. They were both ready to be by the fire, but they still needed to ride around the lake. Here Jerric is saying that this year they should get a boat.

I'm so glad that Jerric carries a Kvatch shield. Love his choice toward mages robes + armor boots/guants/shield/helm. Very appropriate for the battlemage that he is.

Luvs Tolfdir, but join Jerric in questioning his fascination with that giant chaurrus egg from Sarthal.

Wow, when Lil disappeared, she wasn't dawdling around!

I simply love the shots of Lil and Jerric together. First, they are both such precious characters. Secondly I adore the stunning size difference between big ol' Jerric and his tiny elven scout.

Wonderful update, Grits!

Looks like a clear case of suicide to me! He got so discouraged that he shot himself with a bow from twenty feet away.

And to echo Acadian's observation, just what are their respective scales? Would she be his size if she Hulked?

Lil is 0.91 and zero on the weight slider, but we’re still fine-tuning her. She still looks a little tall next to Abiene. I think in those shots she was about 0.88 due to her NPC mod and my overall tweak mod both adjusting her height. Jerric is 1.01 of a standard Nord height and 70 on the weight slider. He looks huge in that shirt next to Tolfdir, but again due to one of my Grits mods that adjusts some NPCs he’s not the tallest Nord in his world. Argis the Bulwark is a noticeably larger than Jerric. Probably another reason Jerric doesn’t get along with Argis.

(Also these guys are taller. There’s something to be said for drinking milk.)

Jerric took NPC Darnand back to the College on some business. By the time they got there Jerric had advanced his Destruction skill high enough to find Expert spells for sale. He also bought Darnand a Master robe. Darnand is looking good in it. Here they’re attending a lecture before the robe upgrade. Phinis was harping about misuse of Arcaneum resources and someone pranking the town while invisible. Everyone seemed more interested in Onmund practicing his Lightning Bolts.

They are delving joyfully into every cave and ruin they pass. Jerric is not much of a looter but he loves blowing things up, and there’s little chance he’ll hurt a bystander in Skyrim’s nastier spots. Here’s a picture of a dual-cast Fire Rune. Darnand is no fool and stays way back in the doorways in these situations. The best way to tell he’s still with Jerric is fireballs to the back and the occasional Turned/glowing/on fire draugr staggering by.


Edit: OK so I checked the math and I think Lil would be 1.09 Hulked Out? So he’d be looking up at her.

I thought the taller guys were going to be Imperials!

That is a busy lecture!

That is some rune! Got any marshmellows?

Wow that sounds really fun Grits, all those adventures. I agree, Necro-lairs are fun to raid. The things they say.. OMG they are so funny sometimes. But also challenging to fight.

I can't tell you how many of mine got just far enough into the College MQ to have that giant blue ball floating around the College. And that's as far as they took the quest. Usually, we take it that far so we can have access to every single NPC who sells spells and magic stuff. But we get to a point.... Tolfdir is standing there just waiting for my character (whoever it is at the time) to take the next step.

Grits, that would have been my guess on Lil's size.

Renee, I know just you mean - finding the 'sweet spot' to pause the CoW questline before folks start getting killed so the upstart new mage can become ArchMage in a week and go on to beat the rest of the game. Lol.

We've paused things right after the Psijic Monk fellow shows up. That way, ol' Tolfdir goes about a normal routine instead of being welded right in front of the giant chaurus egg. The only drawback we've encountered is that, at that point in the questline, dear Brelynna insists on starting every single encounter with, "Is it true? A Psijiic Monk visited the College?" That's okay unless you like to occasionally bring her along as a follower (like we do).

So Jerric's been talking to Delphine Jend? That one looks more like "Everything Explodes", rather than merely enemies.

Grits, you might give Open Faced Helmets a try. It lets you see your character's face even with headgear like the Steel Plate Helmet.

Speaking of faces, have I ever mentioned that Jerric looks a lot like Chris Hemsworth? Maybe it is just the whole bearded blond giant thing...

Tonight I revisited Persephone in Skyrim. I found her at the front door of Geirmund's Hall. She plumbed the depths of the tomb, slew another of Gauldur's treacherous sons, and claimed the second piece of the Gauldur necklace.

Afterward she stopped by Ivarstead to sell off her loot (I created general stores and smithies in all the minor towns and cities that don't otherwise have them). She looked up at High Hrothgar, and decided to climb it. For no other reason than it was there. Since she was headed that way, she did a favor for Klimmek and hauled up the supplies for the Greybeards while she was at it.

Unlike the mortals, she did not worship or meditate upon any of the altars on the way up. The Nine Divines have long since turned their gaze away from Persephone.

In time she did however, reach the top. The very top that is. There she watched the sun set.

The next day she went back down the mountain, and headed for her home at Helajarchen Hall. She had a surprise when she passed Valtheim Towers. Persephone had cleared it of bandits long ago. But a new gang had moved in. Naturally she had to stop and kill them all. Then she made her way to Whiterun to visit the Mystic Emporium (another mod I created). There she borrowed Calindil's enchanting table and practiced her enchanting skills on the bandit armor and weapons.

After selling off all the enchanted gear at Warmaiden's, she returned home to Helajarchen, to play a game of tag with Sofie and Lucia. Persephone wonders what the two girls will be like when they grow up?

Wow I really REALLY love Peresephone's armor. I assume you made that, right?

Are you able to share your extra smith & shops with others (like me)? I plan on getting into Skyrim on PC sometime between Thanksforgiving and Xmas.

I wish I could make armor like that! No, it is Eisen Platte Armor. I use the UNP version, white, with the armored skirt. There is also a higher resolution texture for it here that I use.

I thought about posting my General Stores mod on the Nexus, but I think there are already other mods that do similar things. Plus I avoided changing the outdoor navmeshes in all but one area, which means sometimes NPCs have trouble walking around the new buildings. But I would be glad to email it to you if you like. Just PM me the address to send it to.

I think so, too! The first time I saw Chris Hemsworth (in Thor) I could not believe it. Give him brown eyes and there stands Jerric! I suspect the bearded blond giant is a big part of it, though.

We pause the College questline after the Psijic monk encounter, too. I like having everyone back on schedule, especially the lectures in the Hall of the Elements. Plus the quest to get the books is so much fun! Poor Onmund’s greeting is some remark about the “Physic” monk while Good Intentions is forever active.

SubRosa, how fun to hear about Calindil in Persephone’s game.

Jerric and Darnand spent some time on the north coast and then hoofed it over the plains to Whiterun, checking for wood elves on the way. They’re taking care of some things for the Bard’s College. The plan was to head to the Reach in pursuit of a certain blade and associated adventure, but they got sidetracked in Haafingar by Jerric being helpful in Windhelm. I like how some of the simple little quests open the door to larger ones.

SubRosa - great shots of the Ice Queen. . . er, P-10!

Grits - wonderful to see J & D out traipsing around with the horses and Ulfe. Is Ishkrick (sp?) now thralable by Jerric so he can clomp along all the time?

Nice screens and stories, SubRosa & Grits. Really like Persephone standing on the mountain, and "On the North Coast" is a great one too.

So is Izzycrick there to keep the beer cold while they travel?

Today Persephone set out to reclaim the last piece of the Gauldur Amulet. She already had one piece from exploring Saarthal on Tolfdir's field trip, and another from a recent trip to Geirmund's Hall. So all that was left was the one in Folgersgunther.

On the way she took the time to explore a few areas left blank on her map, like Shalidor's Maze, the Morthal swamps, and the High Gate Ruins.

Eventually she got to Folgers, passed on the coffee beans, and put down the treacherous Gauldurson there for a second time. With the final piece of the amulet, she took all three down to the Reach. Naturally she stopped off in a few places to lend the locals a hand, such as at Soljund's Sinkhole. As always, her trusty companion was there whenever she called upon him.

Finally Persephone reached Gauldur's resting place, and lots of killing ensued. Afterward Darryl proclaimed that he hadn't gotten that much exercise in a thousand years. Finally, the Gauldursons defeated again, the spirit of their father reforged his amulet before Persephone. She took it, and then did something that surprised me. After trying it on for a moment, she took it off, and laid it gently around the neck of Gauldur's skeleton. It always belonged there in the first place, Persephone reasoned. Perhaps the old mage will rest a little easier now.

That's so beautiful.

Jerric’s Conjuration skill has lagged behind his other skills, so Itchy is still just a temporary summoning. Jerric is not a stellar rider and Flash is no war horse, so he doesn’t do mounted combat. I use a mod so that Jerric can cast some spells from the saddle. With all of the wolves and skeevers everywhere now due to the Fast Respawn mod he just summons Itchy and lets him go for it instead of hopping off every ten feet to deal with the small fights. That plus training might get him to Frost Thrall in another couple hundred hours or so.

Anyway the skeevers and such don’t do enough damage to kill him, so Ishckrihk is a regular companion thumping down the road behind the horses.

SubRosa, Persephone returning the reforged amulet to Archmage Gauldur was a fitting and touching gesture! She of all people would understand what it is to be unrestful for four thousand years. That was beautiful!

Good on P-10 for giving back that amulet!

I don't blame Jerric for letting a summon do some of the travel protection. Buffy does the same with her critters. They take care of the smaller road foes and pin down the bigger ones. With a critter occupying a foe, Buffy's gotten quite good at mounted archery.

We haven't allowed Buffy to summon from the saddle, but we do a little tinkering around the edges. . . she has to summon her mystic bow on the ground, but then she can stow it on her back for riding, where it is readily available. And her summoned critter(s) are actually conjured by equipping a magic ring (hotkeyed of course) and stay around until she unequips the ring or their corporeal form takes too much damage. Extremely handy because that means she can conjure help from the saddle or even with her bow fully drawn if needed.

That is one way to deal with the annoyance of the constant fights while riding. More than one way actually. Grits, one thing to keep in mind with summoning is that it conjuring creatures or weapons only counts toward a skill increase if you are in combat. So unless you see a red dot on your hud and hear the battle music, summoning Izzy won't bring any 'experience' at all.

I found conjuration leveled up very fast with Buffy. As SubRosa said, you have to employ what you conjure in combat, but between her bound bow and popping out flame atronachs as 'scouts', conjuration was Buffy's first magic skill to hit 100. The combination of a bound weapon and summoned atronach in combat really makes the skill scoot upwards.

I’ve had the same experience that bound weapons raise the skill quickly, and using the Soul Trap spell or the humble Raise Zombie makes it rise very quickly! Darnand’s shoots up more quickly than he is willing to explain. Jerric has zero magicka regeneration since I changed the Atronach Stone to match his Oblivion Birthsign, so he is pretty conservative with his casting unless he is battling another mage. He only summons his critters, and even then it’s only when some action is going down. Itchy in the picture was still tagging along after some little scuffle or another.

That’s OK with him now that he can summon his ice buddy. He actually just got a skeleton tome from Ereshikagal from Rosa’s awesome Undead Summoning mod, so now he’ll be able to summon Slim once in a while for kicks.

I think Alteration was Jerric’s first 100 magic skill. He used to cast a Flesh spell before combat if at all possible, and that also cut into his magicka reserve for the fight. Now that he has the Atronach perk he’d rather spend the magicka on offense than defense. Actually he would always rather spend it on offense, but he needed that Master perk!

Jensa has a ball shooting from the saddle, but then she has to dismount and run around collecting all of the arrows. Buffy has the best idea with her mystic bow.

I'll join the others and say that it's really noble of Persephone to return the Amulet.

And since I'm only active in the Skyrim forums for a short time, I have to ask...who's Itchy? I really like this name.

Itchy is Jerric’s summoned Frost Atronach, Ishckrihk. Jerric learned to summon him in my fanfic Jerric’s Story. I think it was ghastley who christened him Itchy since only my spell checker knows how to spell his name. Acadian did a great job with it, though! He spelled it exactly like it sounds.

Off-topic but spellchecker always flubs up ghastly's name. See? ghastly. It takes some effort to get that E in there with my computer. ghastley. THERE.

I think Mycharonna got to 100 with Illusion first. She was always casting that Silence spell to muffle her feet, and then Invisibility later on. Conjuration may have also gotten up to 100, but I don't think I made this Legendary.

Shortly after leaving Gauldur's tomb, Persephone came across a Thalmor patrol with a Nord prisoner. One of the Thalmor immediately said that Persephone was interfering with their official business. Well, Persephone decided to show them some interference. She handed the prisoner the Gauldur Blackblade (which has a 25 point Absorb Health thanks to Persephone's level), and an enchanted shield. He actually survived the battle, and killed one of the Thalmor!

Heh, Persephone was simply initiating those Thalmor into the ranks of the undead!

Neat that the prisoner survived. Buffy simply cut one free once and started a fight. . . he didn't survive.

Another time, Buffy did what is more to her nature. The Thalmor said back off, so she did - to about 200 paces, then opened fire from stealth. The Thalmor were so focused on trying to find her that they ignored the (still hand-bound) prisoner. The prisoner survived. When Buffy tried to chase him down she barely got close enough for him to say "I'm getting outta here!" before he ran off on those long Nord legs. Buffy couldn't catch him of course. She hopes she figured out how to cut his bindings and maybe survive.

I think if you do it that way the prisoner reports you to the guards, and you end up getting a bounty. Though I was never able to figure out exactly what the circumstances were when you got the bounty or not. All I was able to find out for certain was that if you free the guy first, you never get a bounty. I think because technically the Thalmor attack you once you do that.

I also found that while you can share items with the prisoner, he will only use weapons and shields. He won't equip any armor, rings, necklaces, or other things you give him.

That's awesome that prisoner survived! LHM rescued a few of those prisoners here and there, usually the prisoner doesn't make it, that's for sure. Haaf-Mersey probably didn't have anything really worthwhile to give, though.

What a unique name for a frost atronach! It makes me feel cold as I try to pronounce it.

I didn't know that you can exchange things with captured prisoners. And I also didn't know that if you set them free first, you don't get a bounty. Could be useful...

So Buffy is, in addition to being the littlest Skaal, now the littlest Companion.

The Circle was not impressed when the most wolfiness they could coax out of Buffy was for her to turn into a little werefox and hide under a table until it wore off.

But they let her stay and, in fact, fully inducted 'Buffy the Small'.

At any rate, she’s loving the Companion radiant quests. Well except for the 'intimidate' ones - they know better than to ask her to do something that requires 'brawling'. She just tracked down an escaped criminal in the Reach. Found him cowering next to the body of a sabre cat. That dead cat was next to the body of another of the same. Standing nearby was (you guessed it) an old orc. Buffy’s never been able to talk these old orcs out of waiting around for a ‘good death’, even though she’s tried to convince them to join her in her travels. She’s never had reason nor the stones to fight them. Today, she confirmed that trying to fight one of them would not have been a good idea. She spoke to the cowering criminal who immediately went hostile. Before Buffy could summon her bow, the old orc intervened and within a second or two the criminal joined the dead sabre cats on the ground.

As Buffy’s quest journal updated ‘quest complete’, the old orc wouldn’t even accept a bounty reward from Buffy. Rather, he stoically remained by his growing corpse pile waiting for a good death. . . .

This is why Buffy is, and always has been, in complete awe of orcs. And why she is bloodkin to them.

That's a nice story, Acadian. Love the final sentence.