Wow YES the old orc intervened! What a great story.



That cracked me up! She hasn't got the stones for it, eh?

Companions is a great Faction (despite what 'they' say). I really enjoyed it. My character who became Harbinger (Gunter, Son of Talos) was a bit of an imbecile; very simple-minded. Anyways he became head of the place, but the way it got RP'd was he didn't really realize the extent of his own power. Being Harbinger meant more of everything: more wine, more meat, more gold....but the concept of power was foreign to him

I personally didn't like the whole werewolf thing, but Gunter didn't mind. It was kinda neat having 100% Disease Resistance. What about Buffy? Are you keeping that in, the 100% Dis. Res. part?

I have to say, that I would prefer turning into a werefox over a werewolf. Though a wereshark would be best, with fricken laser beams!

Last night's gaming had another amusing event. Persephone stopped off in Markarth to sell of some of the loot she had scraped up off the bodies of the aforementioned Thalmor patrol. While talking to Ghorza, she learned of her metallurgical-challenged apprentice, and agreed to fetch an appropriate book for the lad. Now Persephone had cleared out Fort Sungard a long time ago, where that book is normally found, so I wondered where the game might point me to. I opened up the journal, selected the quest, and had it bring up the destination on the map. It was in Persephone's house!

Renee - Buffy accepted the one 'forced' transformation and never touched it again. Before long, she had cured Kodlak, the brothers and herself of wolfiness. Only Aela remains a WW but it seems to suit Aela the Huntress.

SubRosa - P-10's house! How amazing/convenient is that?!? That quest is nice in that it is good way to become bloodkin to the orcs.

Edit: The random coincidences just continue. Shortly after the old orc incident, Buffy just happened to encounter Vilkas (the questgiver) and Ria out hunting. So Buffy 'completed' the 'catch the criminal' quest and got a new one: Arcadia's been kidnapped!

Exactly, Acadian... Gunter also never touched werewolf-ism again. It's forced upon the character, but I managed to RP that it was required for initiation only.

SubRosa: Whoa that is bizarre.

Acadian, congrats to Buffy the Small, the littlest Companion! The mental image of a little werefox is adorable. What a very Buffy take on the Companions questline.

SubRosa, I had no idea those book quests would give you a marker, much less one pointing to your own bookshelf! That’s hilarious. I think Jerric has a quest for Last Scabbard of Akrash in his journal. I wonder if it’s already shelved in one of Darnand’s libraries.

Jerric and Darnand have been in the Reach kicking tail and knocking off heads. Jerric finally found a weapon with the Absorb Magicka enchantment on it, so he disenchanted it and put it on the mundane Skyrim version of Atronach’s Redeemer. It’s a very weak enchantment with kind of an annoying effect. The blade looks cool but when he stabs someone they both turn blue. Oh well, I’m sure he has another one of those blades stashed in a chest somewhere.

Jerric joined the Bard’s College (so he could chat up the generally aloof bard women, I’m not kidding), and while he’s been told he can really bang the drums that seems to be his only bard talent. That and gathering up the lost artifacts that belong to various non-adventurer fellow bards. He and Viarmo finished up King Olaf’s Verse in a way that made Viarmo laugh and I had never heard before. So maybe there’s hope for him yet.

Here’s a shot of Jerric displaying his bardic smoothness while flirting with the ladies. He did not even see that hole until he was standing in it! To his credit, at least he is wearing a clean shirt.

Jerric is now a rock star!

Fortunately all females in Skyrim are either 11 years old, or 21+. The screaming fan phase is explicitly excluded.

Jerric the big bard! Well, it makes sense - that'd be where the ladies and mead can be found. And the drum is such a natural choice for Jerric.

I'll confess that Buffy does indulge me - when we're at the Winking Skeever, we can just sit and listen to Lisette sing for the whole evening.

@Grits

In case you don't know about it yet, there's a mod which allows you to use instruments. Might suit Jerric as he tries to impress women.

@Acadian
Is that dog on the screenshot with Buffy?

Yes! It's actually a silver gray fox named Kitsune. The fox is one of several wood elf animal totem spirits that sometimes travels with Buffy.

Today Persephone finished off the Aetherium questline, forging herself a mighty crown of aetherium. Unless I find a mod that changes it appearance she won't wear it though. It is too big and gaudy. So it will probably end up in a drawer at Helajarchen Hall. Maybe the kids could play with it.

Persephone also had an unusual encounter in the Reach along the way. She came upon a patrol of Imperials slugging it out with one of Stormcloaks. The first to fall was from neither side however, but rather an Orc Hunter in iron armor. I am not sure how he got into the fray, or even which side killed him. The Stormcloaks won it hands down, and afterward as they walked off I noticed a cluster of four more people standing nearby and watching. Turns out it was Forsworn, who did nothing when Persephone rode over, or when the Stormcloaks walked by. I guess that battle showed them not to mess with the Stormcloaks, and perhaps word has spread that no one who tangles with Persephone lives to tell the tale.

I loved the Aetherium questline! It was a wonderfully satisfying and lengthy endeavor. Buffy loved Katria and saying goodbye to her at the end was bittersweet indeed. I agree about the crown - although kind of neat looking, it is just too big and gaudy. So. . . it now sits proudly on the brow of Mjoll the Lioness where it looks perfect.

Wow, that was quite the mixup that P-10 witnessed of Imps, Stormies, orc bandits and even Forsworn. No wonder the Forsworn stayed out of it - they were probably confused.

I fairly often encountered friendly Forsworn with my former character Corcaigh. At first only one group was friendly, the one which you encounter if traveling from Whiterun to Markarth, close to a dead Khajiit merchant and an overturned carriage. Eventually more and more Forsworn were friendly but only those outside, those inside still attacked on sight. Later I read about it at Beth and it's supposed to be a glitch. It didn't bother me because Corcaigh was a Breton so it made sense that Forsworn left him alone.

Persephone has been exploring the Reach since finishing up the Aetherium questline. Last night she came upon that same group of Forsworn who had been friendly before. This time they attacked, along with a second band of Forsworn. Apparently they did not know that 8 Forsworn vs. Persephone & Darryl was not nearly enough guys!

Getting back to the topic of the Bards' College. My archer, Spike, found Finn's Lute, before even going to Solitude, and she doesn't want to become a bard. Guess who's the only member who never leaves the College building? It's a good thing that quest items don't add to encumbrance. She's just got enough levels in Conjuration to be able to cast a Bound Bow and still have magicka left for her armour, so she's able to run around without anything hanging on her back.

Drelka, on the other hand, is trying to kill Harkon without using Auriel's Bow. She's probably too specialised a build, pure mage, using only her health draining spell, and she keeps running out of magicka too soon. She can out-drain the vampire lord, but she's very vulnerable when her ebonyflesh expires, if she can't recast it right away. I may have to reload a bit earlier, and collect some more potions to take to the party!

Persephone knocked off The Reach a few nights ago, finishing up by exploring Nchuand Zel (where she slugged it out with Mini Me), and wiping out the Namira cannibal cult. With the Reach now safe until things respawn, she headed east, and began wandering the forests of western Falkreath hold. She cleaned out the entire place, up until Cracked Tusk Keep, which she is leaving for later. She turned east and north again after that, and is now standing just inside Ilinalta's Deep, on a mission from Azura.

SubRosa, I love those Calcemo quests under Markarth - what a cool dungeon Nchuand Zel is. A baby falmer! Wow, it looks as ugly as the grown up ones. Especially standing near the lovely undead beauty that is P-10.

Azura's quest is a nice one. I imagine P-10 will have no use for the Star. Buffy's perked out mystic bow can fill it just fine. . . but the irony is that the bow does not require charging. So the Star is really just a pretty decoration.

Are those small Falmers vanilla or from a mod?

Glad she put an end to the Namira's Cult!

The mini Falmers are pure vanilla. There were several of them in Nchuand-Zel. I am sure they were some sort of glitch, where their scale somehow got set really low. Because other than their size, they were exactly the same as any other Falmer, including the names I saw on the hud when I moused over them.

I took Clarisse to Solitude to check out the ships. She's building Lakeview, but it just makes her want a ship to live in as well.

Redwave has an essential crew-member, so taking it over would be problematic.

The Dainty Sload doesn't have that issue, but it's full of junk (and now dead corsairs, too). Clarisse has a better stock of scimitars, now, so it wasn't a complete waste of time.

I may have to add another ship somewhere in the area for her, thinking maybe she'll build Windstad and anchor a ship nearby.

I did it! I beat the game! All Your Base Are Belong To Us!

Which is to say, Persephone has just completely explored all of mainland Skyrim, discovering every location, and clearing every dungeon that can be cleared (and that she wanted to, she doesn't go around killing animals).

Of course there are a few places she never did, because they are only created by quests that Persephone doesn't want to do, like how the DB questline takes you to the Emperor's ship. I also noticed that Japhet's Folly disappeared from her world map, even though she has done the East Empire quest. I think that might be intentional though, as from what I read on the UESP, going there after finishing the quest can leave you trapped there.

That only leaves Solstheim left. I left her standing on the deck of the Northern Maiden in Windhelm's harbor, ready to travel north for more adventures. Tbh, though, I am thinking of stopping here, and starting Persephone 2.0 instead.

'Grats to you for P-10wning the game with yer toon!

If you haven't seen Solstheim yet, you should maybe go there and wander around some before starting anew.

Speaking of which, I have found starting anew to be a pleasure in Skyrim. I think that is because the chargen menu is so easy to work with. It's easy to remake Buffy and have her look the same. I think Buffy's on about her fifth playthrough. Most of them were only 50 hours or so and used to learn how to refine things. I think her last one was a couple hundred hours and her current playthrough is well over 500 hours.

I think Buffy's discovered all locations and cleared all the ones that we want to clear. Our fast respawn mod and fun/creative use of radiant quests ensure plenty of continuing fun. Buffy usually has a bounty quest for some Jarl going, a couple College 'fetch some book' quests and a Companions quest ongoing. Her faves are the Companions hostage rescue quests.

How long did it take you to explore every possible location? I don't expect a detailed answer in years, months, days and hours but just in general?

--

There was something about her eyes, something that Lucius found sinister on one hand yet charming on the other hand. When he was talking to her, it felt like nothing else matters except her but as soon as he made a few steps away from her, he found her odd and scary, even repulsive. Nonetheless, the pay was too good for mere wood chopping so he intended to stay at the Half-Moon mill for a while to earn much needed gold.

Hert, the lady in charge of the mill was of course not an ordinary human. She was a vampire and like many of her kin, she was a very good seductress and hypnotist, capable of playing with minds of those around her. She was still young and her powers haven't yet fully developed, so her powers were limited only to her close vicinity. Seasoned travelers might see through her scheme but Lucius hasn't slain many vampires in his life, not to mention that because of recent stressful events he was more susceptible to Hert's magic.

She could have easily fed on him while he was sleeping like a baby in her shack yet she decided not do it. Not only because this would anger Hern, her husband, currently on a hunt in the Reach, but also because she sensed something unexplainable when controlling his mind. To Hert it felt like there were some hidden powers inside him, powers that set him apart from ordinary men and mer.

Although Lucius intended to stay at the mill for more than just one day, he changed his mind the next morning. When Hert was not close to him, he could think for himself again, and something just didn't feel right at that mill. He found what looked like a pile of human bones in a shack close to mill yesterday, yet when he tried to ask Hert about it, he just couldn't do it, instead he picked up an axe and continued chopping wood.

So this morning he waved at Hert's from a safe distance, thanking her for honest payment.

"Do stay for a while," she said with a soft voice,"there is much more wood to be chopped. And I'm all alone out here..."

Lucius almost agreed but he forced himself to think about that pile of bones.

"No, no...I'm leaving. Someone other will come by sooner or later. Goodbye!"

He waved at her once again then hastily left the mill.

...

Just like Keiko the Khajiit, Lucius didn't have any real purpose in Skyrim. At least not yet. He didn't think much about it before when he was still a soldier in the Emperor's Army, but now he really appreciated some freedom. He turned off the main path a little farther west from the Half-Moon Mill and continued by Lake Ilinalta. He came upon a sunken fort and despite reading a fisherman's journal, warning any readers to stay away from the cursed fort, he pushed on.

It turned out that Ilinalta's Deep wasn't much different from forts in Cyrodiil. It was infested by necromancers, probably preying on unsuspecting travelers or fishermen, capturing them and experimenting with their minds and bodies. Although he wasn't a member of the Legion anymore, Lucius still felt like on an official assignment. He didn't have any qualms about "killing" skeletons with a bow from shadows, but he switched to his sword when battling necromancers. It just didn't feel right to him to attack any human (or beast) enemies while undetected - he never operated as such in the Legion and he didn't intend to change his habits now.

It was late when he was done clearing Ilinalta's Deep of its evil denizens and he decided to rest in this wet and damp place. Fortunately, he found some warm fur armor in an ash pile, probably belonging to some unfortunate victim of the necromancers. He also found a new hunting bow, more arrows and some proper, freshly baked food. After filling himself up, Lucius went to sleep.

Uh oh. Lucius almost got sucked in by a vampiress! Happily he decided that hunting necrodudes in a dungeon was safer. I think he's right!

Buffy is having a delightfully restful day in Solitude today. It’s not unusual for her to pull into a city in the middle of the afternoon, barter some pelts for food and be on the road again within an hour. She normally spends the night under the stars with her mare. But she felt like pampering herself this visit. Besides, she knew that Superian was enjoying the company of other horses in Skyrim's finest stable for a change as well.

So, after a pleasant evening of fine dining, wine and music in the Winking Skeever, she rented a room there, enjoyed a delicious hot bath and spent the night.

She slept in until the sun was actually up, then stepped out into town for a day of shopping. Her first stop was at the fletcher who welcomed her with, “What do you want, little elf?”

Her reception was a bit warmer from the blacksmith – “Nice robes. You some kinda wizard?”

She then passed a guard who looked like he’d been on duty for quite some time. “Hail, Summoner. Conjurer me a warm bed, would you?”

Buffy suppressed a giggle and coyly replied, “Are you flirting with me?”

The guard quickly changed the subject. “Look! Is that a dragon?”

Buffy smiled as she continued on, thinking, 'At least he didn't say he'd rather sleep with his horse than a Bosmer.'

Then she stopped in to Angeline's Aromatics to trade a few worthless potions she had found in her travels for some useful poisons. Buffy has never touched an alchemy lab in Skyrim, you see, and relies completely on found/bought potions/poisons for the few times she uses them. She enjoyed chatting with the older alchemist and her young apprentice. In fact, she even decided to breakfast there. While sitting on a bench in the shop enjoying the tea, fresh bread and eider cheese she bought from the ladies, she heard an exchange between them that went like this:

Angeline: "Vivienne, could you check our supplies of mandrake root?"
Vivienne: "Which one is that again?"
Angeline: "It's the root that looks like an ugly little man."
Vivienne: "In that case, I'm pretty sure it tried to buy me a drink last night."

Buffy was quick to apologize for spraying tea around the shop and quickly summoned a towel to clean up. . . .

Oh well, off to the Radiant Raiment next.

Lopov: Thanks to the timestamp the game puts on every savegame, I can tell you exactly how long it took to clear out mainland Skyrim. It took 139 hours, 29 minutes, and 16 seconds. I know that for some folks, playing one character for that amount of time is nothing. But for me that is a record!

Uh oh, Luke Skyrimwalker might be in trouble with the sinister lady who runs Half-Moon Mill! I hope his armor has a high collar, preferably made of steel!

Acadian: What a delightful interchange between Viviene and Angeline! I imagine Buffy has had many mandrake roots try to buy her drinks as well!

Great dialogues of Buffy!




Well for me this is also a lot of time. In the end it's content that matters, not hours.

Speaking of vampires, do you know of any mod that'd revert vampire faces back to as they were in vanilla, even with DG installed? I really dislike what DG did to vampires.

If you are using mods for your male and female face texture, you can fix the butt faces yourself rather easily. I just posted how a few weeks ago. Now where was that...

Ah, here it is:
All you have to do is go to your Data\Textures\Actors\Female folder. Find femalehead.dds and femalehead_msn.dds. Copy each, paste the copies in the same folder, and rename them femaleheadvampire.dds and femaleheadvampire_msn.dds.

Viola! your female vampires look the same as your regular wimmins. Do the same to the two male head texture files to fix the boy fangs.

Thanks! This applies to NPCs as well?

Your'e toon beat hte game ? 4 teh immurshunz !


Acadian: Nice to read a Buffy snippet. I thought a dragon was gonna show up after the guard changed subjects! Always nice to shop in Solitude though. It's the closest thing to Cyrodiil, for sure.

Lopov: I think I know what's gonna happen next, but let's see....

Thanks, folks! It was the in-game exchange between those alchemists that made me want to freeze the moment and share it.

I tried to take the NPC dialogue straight from the game. After playing some more, I realize that how the guard's random dragon line goes is, "What is it? A dragon?"

Lopov, sorry couldn't help on the vampirebuttfaces. I've never played one. Steam says Buffy and I are coming up on 1000 hours of Skyrim. I've restarted her several times and her current game is about 300 hours. Once in a great while, we'll discover a new place, but that has become very rare now so I think her map is about full. She's a voracious explorer and tends to use the same very unscientific travel patterns that a robotic vacuum uses - randomly roaming around. Eventually, everything gets clean found.

Edit: Okay, just popped into Buffy's game. She's discovered 370 locations and cleared 300 dungeons. That includes Solstheim and probably a handful of mod-added places. And I know she's cleared many of those dungeons numerous times - that's where our faster respawn mod helps. Sneaking into a dungeon only to find it empty = cranky elf.

Don't worry, Lucius won't get infected by vampirism, if that's what you meant. I merely want vampires to look as they looked before Dawnguard, because with DG installed they look like emos.

That's many hours, Acadian, but I'm sure there are even more ahead.

It affects all vampires in the game. At least all those that belong to a vampire race. Some like Serana are not really vampires, but from the FemaleNord race, etc... Those still look the same as any other member of their actual race.

"I bet he'll sell the golden claw instead of bringing it back here! I shouldn't have trusted him in the first place. He looked too...inexperienced," ranted Lucan Valerius, a proprietor of the only shop in sleepy Riverwood - Riverwood Trader.

"Oh, please, would you stop it? It takes some time to track down that thief. And I think we did the right thing to trust him. He didn't seem like a thief to me at all," said his sister Camilla, rolling her eyes.

"You are too trustful to strangers, I tell you..."

"Seems like you two are always at odds with each other."

Neither Lucan nor Camilla heard the traveler whom they trusted to retrieve the stolen claw, entering Riverwood Trader. But they immediately noticed the golden claw in his hand.

"By the eight, you got it! You actually got it!" Lucan exclaimed in delight. "Funny, I remember it being bigger. He he, funny indeed. Here's your payment, stranger. Well done! The golden claw is back to where it belongs."

"It means so much to us to have the claw back where it belongs. Thank you!" said Camilla. "I'm cooking some beef, would you join us?"

"Sounds good, thanks."

Both Camilla and Lucan were curious about what happened at the Bleak Falls Barrow, and Lucius told them about how he chased the Dunmer thief through the barrow halls and thus woke up restless Draugr who enacted the justice instead of him. But he decided not to tell them about ancient Nordic magic that he witnessed deep within the barrow. It was like he felt a strong pull towards a wall, ornated with dragon-like symbols, and upon getting closer he felt a powerful, unexplainable force passing through him. This force did something to him but Lucius didn't know what yet he felt that at that moment something inside him changed. Maybe it was just some harmless magic, he thought but he didn't really believe himself. Or maybe it was "something" else. Only time will tell.

After the dinner he bought some more food and the Lesser Ward Tome, bid farewell to the Valerius siblings and left Riverwood Trader.

Riverwood. The place where I was supposed to go with Ralof. Who knows what happened to him? Or if he is still here? It doesn't matter, maybe it's even better if we don't see each other.

After a good rest Lucius left Riverwood the next morning, leaving through western gates, passing two children playing with a dog.

A few days ago he found a corpse of an unfortunate adventurer close to the Anise's cabin and in his clenched fist was a note. The note which revealed the dead adventurer's plans: to seek out the Battle Axe of Fatigue at Knifepoint Ridge. Lucius wasn't interested in the axe but he had one good reason to travel to Knifepoint Ridge - if there were bandits, someone had to make them leave. It was an attitude which he retained from his days in the Imperial Legion.

He didn't know where Knifepoint Ridge was located, Lucan Valerius only told him that it's somewhere in the Falkreath Hold. But Lucius immediately remembered someone who could help him, that is if that beast was still where they met for the first time.

...

"Greetings, Keiko."

"Lucius, my Imperial friend! This one is happy to see you!"

Lucius and Keiko shook hands atop the Falkreath Watchtower where they met for the first time a few days ago.

"This one sees that Lucius is now better prepared for adventuring in Skyrim."

"Indeed I am. And I need your help again - have you ever heard of Knifepoint Ridge?"

"This one has heard about it but never been there. It is somewhere to the west of here but this one can't say anything else that would help you. If you insist on going there, you will have to rely on yourself."

"It will do. I have time, plenty of time."

Keiko and Lucius had dinner together and then Lucius wandered west, in a search for Knifepoint Ridge.

...

It turned out that Keiko's information was precise enough and he found Knifepoint Ridge in the evening of the same day. He noticed a watchtower and decided to try and approach the ridge from the other side - that is by climbing up the steep hill which was not patrolled as the main road.

Though he made it to the ridge unnoticed, he didn't remain hidden for long, and within minutes, almost every bandit outside, be it a swordsman, an archer or a mage, was trying to kill the intruder. None of them was successful, Lucius managed to execute all of his attackers, wielding the sword in his right hand while healing himself with his left hand. Beside swording he was interested in magic since his childhood, especially in restorative magic, and it proved very useful when in combat.

Lucius cleared out Knifepoint Ridge, found the Battleaxe of Fatigue, and decided to stay at the ridge for some time. What he needs, is to spend some time alone, away from civilization, like he had often done in the past, when he needed to make plans for the future or reminisce on the past events.

Heh, you can take the Imperial out of the Legion but you can't take the Legion out of the Imperial. Putting draugr and bandits to the blade!

SubRosa, congrats to Persephone, the toon who beat the game! It sounds like a good time for her to retire and be un-born all over again.

ghastley, I think Winstad Manor makes a great base for a seafaring character. The Zanimal built it and stashed his favorite Dunmer mage there for recreational purposes. (She’s quite happy there, no Dunmer mages were technically enthralled in the staffing of the Z’s larder vampire den.) It’s very private. Plus there’s a nice view of the Icerunner if you’ve been naughty with Jaree-Ra.

Acadian, what a fun day with Buffy in Solitude!

Lopov, I love how Lucius goes back to visit Keiko.


The Girls of Whiterun came out to play today. Sofie Mikkesdaughter just won’t let someone else have a turn. She and teen Braith are on the trail of a legendary sword in the Reach. They stopped by Soljund’s Sinkhole on the way past (because the guy in charge got right in Sofie’s face) and put some draugr to rest. Sofie had the fight of her life in there. She kept getting disarmed and thankfully her blade was enchanted so she could find it again, because that place was pretty dark. Also the draugr kept healing himself faster than she could hurt him. She ended up picking up an axe and dual-wielding it with her sword Braith-style to finally put him down.

Braith by the way got hung up somewhere and didn’t appear until after the fight. Sofe was pretty proud of herself for getting it done alone. She was also hurt pretty badly and had to rest before they went back outside.

There were some traps in the beginning. Sofe does not have the perk to avoid them so she has to be careful. The dog was not careful. I kept hearing clunk-yelp, clunk-yelp the whole way through! I had forgotten that Sofe named the dog ‘Trouble.’

Grits!

Clunk-yelp. Clunk-yelp. Yup, here comes Trouble

Poor Sofie. That Disarm shout is so annoying! Good thing she was able to take care of business, dual welding style, all by herself. Poor Trouble! I hope Sofie made him some steel pawlets for those aching legs!

Since being rescued from the Imperial Legion by that nice black dragon, Dark Persephone has been roaming the forests of Falkreath. I decided to name her sword Lamentation, and has caused much of its namesake among the bandits and vampires of the Hold. Not to mention the Thalmor, who now have a hit out on her.

Having explored all of the eastern half of the Hold, Persephone has decided to head north. She picked up the Dragonstone from where she left it in Riverwood. Maybe someone up north can make some sense of it. In any case, she promised Gerdur that she would tell the Jarl about the dragon. Assuming he had not heard of it already. She has the feeling that news of dragons destroying army fortresses probably travels quick in any parts...

Good lord. I thought I was hardcore!



No, I meant the opposite of vampires. Like what LHM became. Knifepoint Ridge is pretty fun to take down, right? I think I know where that is. Requires some strategy from a distance, but then you can get close up because not all the bandits are alerted when you first get there.

Grits: Ahhh, poor Trouble. It's funny because one of my best friends has a dog named Sophie, so it's the opposite in your case.

@Grits - sounds like a tough battle for Braith and Sofie. And...clunk-yelp
@SubRosa - I had to look the word "lamentation" up and it's the appropriate name for her sword. Lucius also picked up the Dragonstone, he has yet to find a buyer for it...
@Renee - it's a very interesting and inspirational place, especially when cleared of bandits. Lucius spent a few days there and maybe he'll return.

--

"Hold!" The city is closed with the dragons about."

Smart move. Smart indeed. Shut the doors of your town and let everyone outside be freely attacked by dragons. Dragons are not going to knock on the gates, they don't care if they are opened or closed. Besides, why are then farmers allowed to work in fields as they see fit...

These and similar thoughts rapidly passed through Lucius' head when he was denied entry to Whiterun. But he didn't say anything aloud. As a former legionnaire, he knew that debating with soldiers was most of the time useless. They only obeyed orders just like he did too many times. And he didn't always like his orders.

"I know about the dragon attack at Helgen. I was...not far when it happened. I saw the dragon with my own eyes. How will keeping me out make you feel any safer?"

"Fine, head on. But we'll be keeping an eye on you."

Unlikely but whatever you say. In large towns such as Whiterun it's difficult to keep an eye on somebody unless working under cover. But the guard had to sound intimidating, it was his duty after all.

And so Lucius visited his first town in Skyrim - Whiterun, the capital city of the eponymous hold. Walking around the town, he met boastful Olfrid Battle-Born who couldn't believe that Lucius never heard of him and his clan. Although he tried to tell him that he's in Whiterun for the first time, Olfrid drowned him out and had a rather long and loud speech about his clan and its heroic achievements. Lucius couldn't wait for the old man to stop talking so he could move out of his way. He also met a rather interesting individual called Heimskr who turned out to not have so annoying voice from up close compared to from far away, and he also knew a lot about Talos’ history.

But Lucius soon realized that prices in Whiterun were very high and despite his coin purse was quite fat upon his arrival, it was getting thinner rapidly. A drink and a meal at the Drunken Huntsman, then a new bow at the same store, and a meal at the Bannered Mare - he was down to only 200 septims and paying half of this sum for renting a room* at the Bannered Mare sounded too much, so he decided to spend the night somewhere else. Before leaving, however, he was given a bounty notice from the Jarl's steward to kill some bandits at Redoran's Retreat.

All rooms in the Drunken Huntsman were occupied and Erlindir, the proprietor, hinted at Lucius that some are permanently owned. As he was told by Erlindir, there weren't any other places in Whiterun to sleep and he should return to the Bannered Mare. But Lucius didn't give up so easily. And with a good reason because some time later he was allowed to sleep on one of the healing altars in the Temple of Kynareth. Before this, he had a rather lengthy conversation with leading priestess Danica Pure-Spring, and agreed to help her restore Gildergreen. Traveling around Skyrim and getting to know the land, its people and its traditions would do him good.

As a sign of gratitude Danica allowed him to spend the night in the Temple of Kynareth, so in the end Lucius at least found a place to sleep inside the walls of Whiterun.

--

*mod that increases prices for lodging
**as an interesting fact - Danica is the name of my mother except that we pronounce "c" as "tz". But Pure-Spring is not her surname

SubRosa - Sounds like Persephone the Dark is on her way to Lopov City aka Whiterun. As far as having a hit out on her from the Thalmor I only have one thing to say to Persephone - "You go, girl!"

Lopov - I loved Lucius' observations about the absurdity of locking the city gates to . . . keep dragons out? Plenty to see and do in Whiterun for sure.

I always felt the same way about the 3 guards sent to Riverwood as locking the gates to keep out the dragon. A dragon just destroyed an Imperial fortress and slaughtered almost everyone within. So let's send three guys with arrows fresh in the knees to stop it in case it attacks Riverwood. What are those poor sods going to do, bleed all over Alduin?

Persephone made it to Whiterun, and paused at the blacksmith's to sell off some loot. Since she was going to see the Jarl anyway, Persephone agreed to take a sword from the blacksmith to her father the steward. The snobby elf in Dragonsreach almost got her head sliced off when she came at Persephone with a drawn blade, but luckily for her the Jarl spoke up first.

After a lot of wind being released on and near the Jarl's throne, Persephone discharged her duty to Gerdur. No sooner had she turned over the baseball home plate dragon stone to Farengar-the-not-so-secret-ahole, did Persephone learn that a dragon was attacking. The locals were all fired up over going out and killing it. Persephone wondered why no one ever thought of trying to talk to the dragon first, and maybe asking why it was going around ravaging the countryside. But apparently that sort of thing went out of style in the First Era.

Persephone never did get the chance to open diplomatic relations with the dragon at the Western Watchtower. So it looks like the kill first, ask questions never approach seems to work in this Era.

Oh, a night dragon fight! That must have been spectacular if the screenie is any indication.

In another universe of Skyrim that dragon got killed yet again, poor bastard.

--

Lucius merely meant to inform steward Avenicci that bandits at Redoran's Retreat no longer represent a trouble, yet events have taken a completely unexpected turn. While the steward was counting the gold, given to Lucius as a reward, Jarl Balgruuf the Greater noticed him and remembered hearing rumors about some Imperial who recently arrived to Whiterun and claimed to be a survivor of the dragon's attack on Helgen. After questioning him and giving him a new assignment to retrieve an ancient dragon tablet from Bleak Falls Barrow, Jarl and his closest advisors were even more surprised when the same survivor already had the tablet in his possession and merely handed it over to the court wizard, obviously not aware of the rare and precious artifact, old as much as dragons.

And an hour later this same survivor was standing atop a wall of ruined Western Watchtower of Whiterun, trying to help wounded soldiers while checking the sky for the dragon.

I'm not sure if this was the right decision. What experiences do I have with dragons? None. Absolutely none. I was merely an escapee at Helgen, trying to avoid its flaming breath and making to nearest shelter as soon as possible. But Irileth...there was something inspiring in her speech. Even if she never saw dragons in her life, there was courage felt in her words, an unquestionable loyalty to the town sher serves. I'm not sure how will we do it. If it's the same dragon from Helgen, we will probably end up roasted.

Lucius managed to calm himself a little when he spotted something approaching from the south. What at first seemed like a small dot in the distance, was getting bigger with every passing second and there was no doubt that the dragon is returning to finish what he started.

"Gods help us all! Here he comes again!" shouted one of Whiterun soldiers.

Gods help us indeed.

Lucius, Irileth, Maurice and several Whiterun soldiers were ready for the dragon, clenching their bows, yet none of them were ready for what followed. A huge roar echoed over Whiterun hold and the dragon unleashed a storm of fireballs, not only from its mouth but also from the sky. The attack was so forceful that Lucius was pushed backwards, down from the wall. Before falling, he saw many Whiterun soldiers being on fire, helplessly trying to run in the watchtower. Maurice was also caught on fire and he wanted to join the soldiers yet the dragon roared once again, and once again did blazing fireballs hit the ground, sending already wounded soldiers and Maurice in the air before they fell down, slowly dying in fiery torment.

This is the end! We won't be able to defeat it!

Lucius managed to get on his legs and heal himself as quickly as possible, luckily the dragon ignored him for now and focused on Irileth and other soldiers. Although he was sure that the battle was lost, Lucius strung his bow and quickly fired an arrow in the flying dragon's direction. He was not sure whether he'll hit it or not but it was his chance because the dragon was hovering above the watchtower. The arrow barely scratched its thick skin yet it warned him of Lucius presence and the beast rushed against him, opening its mouth, ready to roar again. Lucius knew what follows the earsplitting roar so this time he was ready. At least ready to try and avoid the fireballs. Just as the dragon roared, Lucius quickly sprinted to the side and while he felt hot fireballs passing him, almost all of them missed him and hit an already burned tree instead.

This seems to be trick! He can only focus on one place at the moment, and if I manage to avoid it...

Lucius felt a small glimmer of hope inside him but there was no time to celebrate yet. The dragon landed not far from him, ready to bite him, clench him, or do whatever he wanted with this petty human.

So standing in front of it doesn't seem like a good idea...

He unsheathed his trusted Imperial sword that seemed so useless against the dragon, quickly sprinted to its side and began whacking at it like mad. There was no time for precision, no time to make perfect hits, but when he saw blood spurting through its thick skin, he felt more encouraged. Occasionally, the dragon managed to swing at Lucius with its paws but these scars were nothing compared to the firestorm. The dragon then lifted its head and Lucius expected it to roar yet it didn't, instead it shouted something completely indistinctive to Lucius' ears and suddenly the brave Imperial was pushed backwards, once again falling down. The dragon then rose in the air and while Lucius was standing up, it was getting ready for another attack. But at that time Irileth and surviving soldiers appeared from behind, unleashing a bunch of arrows at it, confusing the bloody beast who obviously changed its mind, turned in the air and landed again, its back facing towards Lucius.

Now or never!

He sprinted up to the beast's tail, yet again whacking at it as fast as possible while the soldiers, led by Irileth, were hitting its head from up front. The dragon was now covered in blood, obviously not able to fly anymore, and what seemed before like a glimmer of hope, now felt closer to victory. Lucius, encouraged, now ran in front of the dragon, hoping that soldiers won't hit him instead. He swung his blood-covered sword straight through the dragon's face, and the creature's blood splashed on Lucius' face. But he didn't care, not now, when the dragon was obviously so close to its demise. It managed to tilt its head down once more, hitting Lucius but this was its last move. Soldiers fired more arrows straight to its body and Lucius stabbed his sword into his left eye. The dragon tried once again to rise up, perhaps trying to escape, but then his head slumped on the floor. As Lucius wanted to stab his sword through its nose, the dragon's right eye widened and it screamed:

"Dovahkiin, Nooooooooooooo...."

The scream was loud and paralyzing and Lucius had to step back to avoid any magic that the dragon was trying to cast on them. But this was not magic, this was merely the last shout of this ancient beast that now slowly closed his right eye, blood flowing from several wounds on his body. Yet what happened next, became a part of Skyrim's history.

Lucius felt the same force passing through him as in Bleak Falls Barrow, like some hidden magic was passing in and out of him, for a few seconds he felt like he's going to explode and before his very eyes, the dragon was burning, its skin disappearing until only its huge skeleton remained lying on the road, like it has been there for ages. At the same time the force passing through Lucius ceased and everything seemed to return to normal.

"By the Gods! You are the Dragonborn! The hero from the legends," said one of the guards and carefully approached Lucius.

"What? What does that mean?"

"In older days some people were able to shout just like the dragons do. These people were called Dragonborn and they were able to shout without any special powers. You saw with your own eyes what happened to you!"

"I don't know what happened! I did nothing, I was just standing here when it...when it happened!"

"You absorbed its soul, that's what happened!"

Irileth approached, trying to shut up the talking guard but in vain - every other guard, all of them were Nords, said that Lucius was apparently gifted with the blood of the Divines.

"What matter is that the dragon is dead!" snarled Irileth.

"I agree with her," said Lucius, "the beast is dead but so are our friends. Even monk Maurice whom I was supposed to safely accompany to Eldergleam. We have to make sure that all of them will have a decent burial."

But guards didn't give up so easily.

"Try to shout! Prove us that you are the Dragonborn!"

"Yes, do it, Imperial! Try to shout!"

"Shout, Imperial, shout! Show our Housecarl that you are the Dragonborn from the legends!"

"I can't shout, damn you!" said Lucius but he didn't really believe himself. He felt something changed inside him when the dragon's body disappeared and its life force was sucked to its body. He felt like is now able to say some words, words that he learned at the Bleak Falls Barrows.

But this can't be...it can't be! I'm only imagining things! There's no sense in any of this!

"Try to shout! Show us..."

"I CAN'T SHOUT! Understand? I can't! I'm not the Dragonborn you speak of. Make sure that our comrades get a burial that they deserve. Now please excuse me. I have to go."

Having turned around, Lucius left the group from Whiterun behind, all of them stunned at his reaction.

"I told you," said Irileth, "but now it's it enough of this Dragonborn nonsense. We have plenty of work to do here and we won't get it done any sooner by standing around."

"Only time will tell, Housecarl," said one of the guards, "only time will tell."

*the fight with Mirmulnir was so difficult because of Deadly Dragons mod. I love what that mod does, besides it's customizable."

It sounds like Lucius was shouting at the end, even if he wasn't Shouting.

Persephone has been steadily making her way to the Throat of the World to speak to the Greybeards. She is guessing they have that name because they are a bunch of naked old women who do not shave their privates. But she could be wrong...

Naturally this meant slugging her way through several bandit dungeons along the way, including a newly populated bandit lair in Helgen. But she has finally ascended the steps of High Hrothgar, and is ready to meet these mysterious grey folk.

I have been making her game more interesting by not allowing potions to work on her undead body. But I decided to partially cave today, and made an undead potion mod. I took the Ravage Health/Magicka/Stamina potion effects and changed them to heal undead characters instead.

Lopov, you're right! That poor Whiterun dragon sure does take a beating from Irileth and every passing dragonborn she can find!

Love that line right there.

And so hmmm, I wonder if he's ever going to shout?

Jerric is on the same path as Persephone and Lucius. I gave him a new game for his birthday, this time with dragons!

He went straight in to Dragonsreach and picked up Lildereth, then he bought the tome to summon Slim (from SubRosa’s awesome Undead Summoning mod) and spent the rest of his coin on ale, food, mead, food, and a bottle of spiced wine for Lil.

I had to laugh at the typical Jerric situation that occurred at Adrienne’s. He is not going to be a blacksmith, but he needed the tanning rack to get Lil her outfit. Funnily enough he ran out of leather before he could finish her pants. Lil was standing there in thigh boots and a tunic, Jerric was telling her he really didn’t plan it this way, and I was wiping the tears from my eyes. This Nord.

Here’s a picture of Jerric, Slim, and Lil on the way back from Bleak Falls Barrow. (He did manage to get her some pants.) This was after yet another game of find-the-elf, where he turns around and she is nowhere to be seen only to hear a soft “I’ve got your back” seconds later. This time she was behind the skeleton. This happened a short time later. I’m pretty sure that after today Riverwood is going to build another bridge.

No pics of Lil without her pants! I am sure some of my characters would have accidentally planned things that way as well!

Slim is packing some heat over by Anise's Cabin! Maybe you should rename him Sniper Slim? Or Sharpshooter Slim?

At least the Nord is taking a bath! Thank goodness the water is not turning yellow. I see Ulfe is joining in as well!



Persephone did meet the Greybeards, and was disappointed to find that they were just a bunch of old men. Shouting ensued, and Persephone left on a mission to Hustongrav to find an undead spacecraft horn of an old dead guy.

It has been a long trip from High Hrothgar. Naturally Persephone made several stops along the way, to clean out some bandits lairs and necromancer hangouts. She even ran into a dragon while trying to cross through Cold Rock Pass. That turned into an interesting battle at Eldersblood Peak, which I actually have a vid for. I thought that with dragons in the game, the trolls that normally spawn there would taken out of the game. But they were there as well, which resulted in a three sided fight between Persephone, Frost Trolls, and Dragon.

Looks like there's no need to fear for the future of Skyrim with so many heroes fighting dragons.

The story about Lil's pants made me laugh.

And another about the Slim, I haven't seen him before.