I just started a new character - a slender leggy Altmer mage (min weight, extra-tall) whose back-story is that she's an acolyte of the Psijic order. She wants to become a full member, but needs to build up her skill with real-world experience before she can pass the exams for the higher levels.

I'm debating whether she should have anything to do with the College of Winterhold. Since the Psijics hold the view that advanced magic is too dangerous for the general public, and should be restricted, and the College follows the Mages Guild principle that magic is for everyone, there should be some conflict. I'm deliberately putting her on the boundary, as she's outside looking in. There's also the aspect that the Psijics may not like her learning outside their community, but how else does she show them her aptitude?

I'm making a series of shorter-skirted versions of the mage outfits for her (like the one I did for Brelyna.) May release them on Nexus once the "paid mods" stuff blows over, but I want to see how safe I am from having my free mods re-posted for sale by crooks. I think the existing ones are obscure (unpopular) enough that I don't need to worry. I originally intended she'd be a "play" character, rather than a mod-testing one, but that never happens.

A giant among elves! I've toyed with doing something with the Psijic Order as well. My concern is that it pushes a character toward overpowered or even 'The Chosen One' a bit much. But your ideas are really good and account for that nicely.

Since the player-character is "the Chosen One" in Skyrim, I'm going along with that, and letting her be Dragonborn. That fits her self-image as good enough to become a Psijic. She probably will lose patience with Delphine at some point and break off the MQ. She hasn't even been to Winterhold yet, let alone joining the College, but she keeps getting pointed there when she buys spell tomes, etc.

Master-level spell tomes aren't random finds, so she could have issues at higher levels. Ebonyflesh should be enough, without going to Dragonhide, as long as she doesn't level too much. The other Master spells are a pain to cast, so I doubt she'll miss them.

More importantly, though, she won't get the chance to wear the Archmage's Amulet! Of course, if she twists my arm, she might get a Psijic one...

I need to find where I put the "Absorb Health" spells I put together (with SubRosa's help), as she'll like those. I know they're in one of my miscellaneous mod files, somewhere. I have about five times as many esp's as I use in any individual game, and some of my "misc extras" ones are just named for the character whose game they're used in, which doesn't help much in identifying which contains what.

Forgive me. What I meant was the lesser version of the chosen one - in this case how the College questline (like every guild questline) paints you as the chosen one to save the College if you progress the questline very far. With that in mind, I meant having your elf as a novice/apprentice Psijic under training is brilliant.

So I've been out of work sick for the past two weeks. I'm finally well enough to return to work tomorrow (yay!), but in the meantime Alise and I have been busy in Skyrim.

Since she woke up from a beating in the mountains just east of Knifepoint Ridge with night falling on, Alise has managed to rebuild her life. As we've been playing together, more of her backstory has come to the surface. It seems that she was born and raised in Cheydinhal, where she became a freelance scout for the Legion. She barely survived the Battle of the Red Ring of 4E 175 where her family was slaughtered and her comrades killed. She escaped to Skyrim and settled in Falkreath, working as a miner in the Jeralls. She has forgotten her scouting skills and spoke nothing of her past to anyone, preferring to build new relationships with her fellow miners.

In the twenty years since, she has lived quietly, working hard in the mines. More recently she started learning smithing, after bringing down iron ore for Lod.

Then one day she and a miner friend decided to travel over the Jeralls on a pilgrimage (to where, I haven't been able to learn yet). They had not gone far past Knifepoint Ridge before they were ambushed by bandits. Once again Alise survived near death, and we first met her when she was trying to put her life back together.

Initially without weapons, Alise had to call on her scouting skills, very rusty after twenty years of disuse, to reach safety in spite of wilderness teeming with bandits and wolves. Oddly enough, spriggans left her alone when she stumbled into Evergreen Grove.

Once she was safe in Falkreath, and rebuilding her life (and making new daggers and weapons for Lod), she was able to continue developing her scouting skills now that she has a new purpose: bandit hunting. After clearing a few places of bandits, Alise received a letter from the young Jarl "requesting" her presence. One thing led to another and she discovered herself a Thane of Falkreach, with a surly, judgmental Redguard housecarl exotically named Rayya.

Together they cleared Shriekwind Bastion after they were attacked by animated skeletons on the road along the lake. Here is where Alise encountered her first Dragon Wall, though she doesn't yet know what they are. All she knows is that she heard strange chants, a word - Su - that won't stop repeating in her head, and then she blacked out. Fortunately Rayya was beside her to guard her until she recovered, but that strange word won't leave her soul.

Upon their return to Lakeview, Alise asked Rayya to be steward and keep an eye on the house and livestock. She headed east to Riften to see about trading some valuables at better prices. On the way she had to pass through Helgen, which was burning after a recent dragon attack. Though she heard something of the battle, and saw the smoke from afar, Alise somehow missed seeing the dragon (the path that runs up to Helgen from the south is very steep and uphill, thus I'm not surprised Alise never saw that creature). A search of the bodies led her to a cave beneath Helgen, where she found both Hadvar and Ralof, both injured and near death. Her own experience still too fresh in her mind, Alise gaveHadvar a healing potion, but was unable to reach Ralof before a rock fall killed him. She then escorted the injured Hadvar back to Riverwood, but when she was asked by his uncle Alvor to travel on to Whiterun to request protection for Riverwood, Alise declined. She resumed her trip to Riften.

After a few more adventures around Riften, she ended up heading out to Markarth with a purchase agreement for Bolli to give to Kleppr. On the way in via the north road, she came across Forsworn outside Kolskeggr Mine. Concerned for the welfare of the miners within, Alise didn't hesitate to take on these ferocious barbarians and cleared the mine. Unfortunately she found no survivors. Saddened, she pressed on to Markarth, anxious to reach the city walls before dark. There she found Pavo and Gat at Left-Hand Mine, telling Skaggi of the Forsworn attack. Alise was able to tell them that the mine is clear. Before returning home, Gat made Alise a Blood Kin. She was surprised and pleased by his gesture of thanks - it meant more to her than any amount of gold.

What I'm finding about Alise is that every time we come to a new town or city, she beelines for the blacksmith's. It's the first place she stops, the first place she asks about a new place, and the place she goes for information. Of course, she is searching for fire salts for Balimund, she found the book for Ghorza's hapless apprentice Tacitus, and she traded with Alvor and Lod.

Naturally, on her arrival in Markarth, Alise was suckered into the Forsworn Conspiracy, which left her angry and bitter toward the Silverbloods and the city guards. Alise ran some hunt and kill errands for Raerek, including recovering some shield from Lost Valley Redoubt. Here, with only Vigilance for company, she encountered her second word wall. Feim is engraved into her soul, along with Su. The Bard's Leap was the perfect place for her to take a breather and wonder what it all means. Why did she black out when she found that wall? Was it the same thing that happened to her in Shriekwind? Will she find more word walls, and will she black out again? What if there are still enemies around? On her return to Markarth, Alise wasn't too impressed with Jarl Igmund, so she was caught off guard to find herself Thane of the Reach as well, with a stone house and a taciturn Nord housecarl. Vlindrel Hall reminded her too much of a mine. Though she is an experienced miner, and is comfortable working the ore veins, it is not her passion and certainly not a place to put her feet up. Alise preferred the lakeside terrace at Lakeview Manor, where she can soak up the sun and feel the breeze on her skin, and watch the hawks circle overhead. After a conversation with Argis, where she tried to release him from her service (he stubbornly won't leave, due to some bizarre Nord code of honor), she learned that he's not too happy in Markarth, either. Well, that did it. She gives him her sturdy Fjord pack horse to ride, made him a new suit of armor and a new sword, and they hit the road.

Currently her plan is to return to Falkreath and maybe take Argis into some bandit lairs and assess his skills. If he has the same judgmental attitude as Rayya, maybe she'll leave him at Lakeview with the steward. So far Vigilance is proving to be a good companion, though he gets in the way sometimes.

Lovely story about the development of your Alise, rider. Nice how she likes visiting the smiths first, it's like her place to go and talk shop, even if she doesn't know anybody else in town.

My crusader guy used to call Rayya "the Overkiller" because that's what she does. Don't have Alise improve that lady's cutlasses, trust me, Alise won't have much to do anymore, as Rayya begins to overkill everything in sight!

I like callling in sick, and calling in "sick" sometimes to work; that's a guaranteed gaming session at some point. But dang, two weeks? Sounds serious.

Can't wait to see pics of your new 'leggy' Altmer, ghastley.

Rider – Heh, nice to see that you got some time in the ‘sweet spot’ of too sick to work but not too sick to play! That said though, I'm glad you're feeling better. Thanks for the lowdown on Alise and her game so far as she makes her way in Skyrim. Like Renee, I think it’s neat how she gravitates to the blacksmith shops when she comes into town.

Mellewen continues to avoid getting involved with the College of Winterhold, even as a pure mage. She's using the Adept level of the Absorb Health spell (Restoration school) that I created for her, using SubRosa's recipe. She has Stoneflesh for defence, and is looking to upgrade to Ironflesh when she can find it.

She could have bought Breezehome, but opted to build an Orc Stronghold instead, mainly because she happened to be outside Largashbur when she leveled up to 9 and the giant faded in next to her. This was the first time I'd done the Cursed Tribe quest first, and I discovered that done that way, it doesn't count for Making Friends and Influencing Orcs, which came up as 0/5.

She's probably doing the "dragons light" thing, and leaving the MQ alone, now that she's taken the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller back. I wanted her to have a few of the shouts available, such as Become Ethereal for the traps.

She's currently at about level 20 and has upgraded her outfit to the same one I made for Brelyna. I need to make another one for Master level at least, and maybe a few in-between ones, perhaps with a Psijic style.

You can't see it in that shot, but Lydia now uses Dawnbreaker. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, while passing the temple on the way to Mor Khazgur to do the final bit of mining. Malkoran was really hard, as her only offensive spell is short-range, and he could kill her before she got in range. It was finally managed using a summon fire atronach scroll to provide a distraction. Now that she's raising her Smithing skill with the home-building, she might think about upgrading Lydia's equipment that way, rather than looting.

That is what Alise is doing with Argis. When he first introduced himself to her as her latest housecarl, she took one look at his battered steel outfit and decided he deserved better if he was going to go adventuring with her. So the next morning she got up early, headed over to Ghorza's forge and rustled up an upgraded Warchief heavy armor set for him and an improved Nordic Steel Sword. For now he's wielding an Elven shield until she can get some more steel ingots for a Nordic Steel shield.

Right now he looks like a giant teddy bear running around after her. But I won't tell him that, cuz he's liking the new set so far.

Ghastley – Nice to get an update with screens for Mellewen. Those long legs combined with 'Brelyna' robes are wowzer!

Rider – Heh, Argis the Teddybear. You know what they say. . . add a few hairs to a bear and you’ve got a Nord!

I picked up Molly Hatchet's game again in the last few days. I last left her about to climbed up to Bleak Falls Barrow to retrieve a golden claw for Moira Brown Lucan from the Riverwood Trader.

Before heading up Molly availed herself of the town weaponsmith's gear. After all, without period weapon maintenance the only Wasteland asshole your gun is going to kill is going to be yourself. After improving her gear, the armorer showed her some tips to make a bow. Just a primitive, tribal stick with a string that throws smaller, pointy sticks. A far cry from the old Magnum and Hecate II Molly toted back in the Wasteland for those hard to reach enemies. But the smith assured Molly it would get the job done.

So armed and ready, Molly headed up, and she found her new bow was indeed quite effective against the Raiders she found encamped on the approach, as well as outside the barrow itself. After clearing the rest of the Raiders with her hatchet, she made her way down past a huge mutant bug, and found another humanoid mutie Raider all caught up in webs. She cut him down from the webs, and then cut him down for good, before he could try anything funny.

Going deeper in to look for more loot, Molly came across a whole pack of feral ghouls living among the corpses. These ones were a little different from those back in the Capital Wasteland. For one they had glowing blue eyes. For another they actually used weapons. But when it's all said and done a feral ghoul is a feral ghoul, and Molly has just the hatchet for them... Speaking of which, Molly upgraded her hatchet inside, picking up one that a feral had been using. Its glowing letters reminded her of her Protonic Inversal Axe. Obviously it must be some kind of pre-war tech, since it glows, but Molly has yet to figure it out. But she does know it chops really well.

At the end of it all she fought the biggest, baddest feral yet. This one had some kind of sonic emmiter tied to his mouth. Cause he nearly knocked Molly off her feet just by shouting. A big computer array disguised as a stone wall with carvings on it acted up when Molly got close to it as well. But she couldn't find a keyboard, or even a monitor to try to hack it from, so she left it alone. She also found a big stone home plate thingie, like they used in baseball diamonds from pre-war times. Molly took that as well, and headed back to Riverwood. She found it makes a handy hotplate when set over the fire at her little camp across from Riverwood.

Lucan and claw reuinted, Molly stopped by the Riverwood Inn for some chow. She certainly does not miss the two hundred year old Salisbury Steak! The bar tender gave her a bounty sheet on some Raiders in a place called Valtheim Towers. So the next morning she geared up and headed north. Molly spied Whiterun from afar on her way, but decided to deal with the Raiders first. That way she could kill two bloatflies with one bullet when she returned to collect the bounty on the dead Raiders.

Said Raiders were soon made dead, and Molly returned to Whiterun with their loot in tow. It was strange stuff. Little golden discs, and shiny rocks of different colors. But caps were caps, even if these ones would never fit over a nuka cola bottle. She unloaded her gear at the local merchants, and headed up to head honcho's place on top of the hill. His bodyguard was another mutie, whom Molly almost had to kill. But the tribal chief reined his dog in before Molly had to get to hatcheting. She passed on Gerdur's message, and somehow the blowhard got the idea that Molly wanted to volunteer to help his egghead with some pet dragon project. Whatever a dragon was. Probably some sort of mutant. Molly thought it was strange that this place was full of mutants, but there didn't seem to be any radiation or bomb craters. Maybe they got a lake-full of FEV in the war, but no nukes?

Molly could care less, so when the loud-mouth chief - named something like Yaril Ballin' Gruff - was finally done yapping, she got out of there and headed back downhill to the rest of the city. She was afraid that if she stuck around longer, he would try to rope her into doing something really stupid, like actually killing one of these dragon things.

On the way down she overheard a conversation with a really pussy-whipped guy and his beyotch wife. She was threatening to leave him if he went to get his family sword back from some Raiders. It looked like a win-win situation to Molly... But sensing an opportunity for more killing, Molly volunteered to get the sword for him. When I last left her, she was heading out across the plain for a place called Redoran's Retreat. Though she had no idea who this Redoran was, or why he retreated?

I absolutely love your Molly Hatchet Does Skyrim posts! Though I've never played Fallout, you provide just enough detail that I'm just chuckling to myself through this entire post.

Maybe it's not so odd when one is a certain age, but I keep picturing Molly Hatchet at the end of the MQ looking like this.

She is beautiful, Ghastley! And WOO HOO !!! Great figure and clothing!!!

SubRosa: Rider's right - the adventures of Molly the round-ear in Skyland are great fun. I especially loved the Druglord mutant with the sonic emitter where she found that nifty hotplate. Mebbe she'll be able to program some of the Dwemer tech to work for her.

When I'm not reading (and chuckling through) Molly Hatchet Does Skyrim, I'm spending time with Alise.

She has officially started the MQ. She's at level 22, so things are going to get tough. But she's ready! She now carries a glass mace upgraded to Epic, a Penobscot War Bow II also upgraded to Epic, and a bunch of glass arrows. Her Vagabond Armor is also upgraded, to Flawless, I think. She needs the extra armor rating, as she likes to snipe first to injure the enemies, then get in close with her mace and Firebolt spell in support of Argis.

Lydia has just joined her, after Alise killed the dragon at the Western Watchtower outside Whiterun. Alise experienced her first dragon soul, and by the Gods, it hurt! It is also the first time she heard the term 'Dragonborn', whispered in the dragon's dying breath. The whole experience has left her puzzled and a little bit scared, as being a Cheydinhal Dunmer, she has not paid much attention to Nord stories. And now she has to go see the Greybeards at High Hrothgar? She is inclined to ignore it, but the way the high-ups in Dragonsreach are talking about it, she'd better not take chances at alienating anybody that she might regret.

So this time, instead of going through Helgen, Alise and her two housecarls are on the northern road, and have just cleared Valtheim Towers. I just can't talk Alise out of clearing out every bandit nest she comes across. And it was a good opportunity for her to see just how Lydia fights. Now if only the damn woman would quit the incessant humming and sighing!

Mellewen has been working her way through the quests on Solstheim, both the DB MQ, and Neloth's side-quests, as shown by her last screenshot.

As she was going along, having epic battles in Apocrypha, and towers full of Ash Spawn, I was hammering away on the Fraps screenshot key, expecting to sort through the results and pick out the best for here. When I closed the game down after finishing off Miraak, I discovered that I hadn't started Fraps.

So she's got Ildari's Telvanni robes, and all Miraak's gear, hanging on mannequins at Severin Manor, but no record of getting them. Now she's back in Skyrim, looking to enchant some Fortify Restoration items to bring the magicka expenditure for her Absorb Health spells down. She finds that she runs out too quickly when she's battling groups of enemies, and has to run and recover too often. One lurker in Apocrypha would drain her completely, and she'd be keeping an eye on the nearest magicka fountain. Her Robes help, but apart from that she's only found a ring and a circlet, both with a paltry 10% assistance, plus one duplicate that taught her the enchantment.

Unfortunately, she's neglected enchanting, so that has to be her next priority. Boosting it with potions isn't an option, as that's another weak skill. Without a weapon to recharge, she's only been getting experience from disenchanting items, which is slow.

The positive aspect is that the Absorb Health spells aren't unbalanced. She doesn't need a lot of defense, as she's getting health back as fast as she loses it, but she's limited by magicka from being OP. Some enemies, like the Ash Spawn, resist it, and she has to use Destruction instead.

Ghastley, glad to hear that Mellewen's surviving Solstheim and doing pretty well with her absorb health spells.

Buffy's hunting Forsworn. She overheard the Markarth Jarl and Steward lamenting that the Forsworn were too elusive for soldiers to find/fight/kill. She took that as a challenge.

Lopov, I’m glad Aard is deceiving his ‘Leader.’ Your writing reminds me of all the things I liked about the Dark Brotherhood questline.

ghastley, I love it when your characters start demanding things from you. Do the Psijics view Mysticism as a valid school of magic? Darnand finally got to the point where Quaranir holes up in the Frozen Hearth, and he’s fascinated by him. Quaranir of course has little to say to Darnand, which helps us ignore the role Darnand played in getting the College settled. Great pictures of Mellewen, she is gorgeous and so very tall! Apocrypha sounds tough with a mage. I haven’t tried that yet, I’ve only gone through with warriors.

haute, it was great to hear some of Alise’s background and adventures. A mature character provides some fun insight into Skyrim’s sometimes strange events. I lol-ed at Argis the Teddy Bear! Alise, Lydia, and the Big Bear must be a force to be reckoned with.

SubRosa, Molly’s view of Skyrim is great fun to read. As I have gushed on and on before, I absolutely love her look. Sonic emitter and stone wall computer array!! The Dragonstone hot plate is going to stick in my memory.

Acadian, soon the Forsworn will be talking about an elusive hunter that they just can’t track down…

*
Chases the Fish returned the stolen item he recovered from Bleak Falls Barrow with a couple of hours of daylight to spare. He had considered trying to find a buyer for it, but in the end he decided it was probably worth the most to its owner. In the Sleeping Giant Orgnar was still pissed off about catching him cheating at cards. Chases decided he could make it to Whiterun before dark. And if he didn’t make it, he might find someone to rob on the way while the guards couldn’t see them.

The sun was setting over the mountains as Chases walked through the Whiterun gates. He decided to first unload the heavy-ass rock he was hauling for Farengar and possibly get paid enough to buy a spell or two and/or bankroll a big night at the Bannered Mare. Things got dragon-y as soon as he got to Dragonreach. Chases decided to tag along and watch the fight, partly because he was curious and partly because he was sure there would be some bodies to loot afterward.

In the end there were indeed some bodies. Chases staggered back to Whiterun in moonless darkness under the burden of dragon scales and bones. Maybe these Nords were mocking him with their talk of Dragonborn, or maybe there was something to it. Either way it sounded too much like work.

After Jarl Balgruuf gave him some advice and a ridiculously heavy axe, Chases went to the tavern. He was feeling lucky. But he lost a bunch of money playing cards with Hulda. Then he rented a room and on the way up spotted another Argonian, Jeer-Tai was his name. Chases bought him a drink (for real, Speechcraft mod) and then won his money back playing cards with Jeer-Tai. Feeling super lucky now he attempted to entice Jeer-Tai up to his room (Speechcraft mod again), to no avail. That was embarrassing. So he bought a drink for Olfina (I think), but that didn’t make her like him either. It crossed his mind to try his luck hitting on an elf, but the only one available was that snotty Altmer from the market. Even Chases the Fish’s accommodating standards did not stretch that far, so he went to bed alone.

He slept for twelve hours. Now it’s midday and he has a bunch of stuff to sell. Tonight he’s going out on the road again. There are a lot of soldiers about, but eventually he is going to find someone he can rob, dammit.

Sounds like someone will need to change his name to Chases-The-Dragons. Maybe he can try mugging them?

Chases the Skirts is now Chases the Reluctant Dragonborn, is it? Hmm, someone's been having fun with that new card game mod! Anyway, Chases had a big day. His night . . . not so much.

Whhat is that when you say "playing cards", Grits? Is that imagination, or an actual mod? If it's a mod, I'd like to see what that's all about. And if it's not a mod, cheers!



That's because it's fun! And epic!



Hate when that happens!

It’s a card minigame added by this mod: Minigame Mod - The Battle of Heroes. Time passes in the game while you’re playing, so it’s easy to accidentally stay up late playing cards in a tavern.

Wow WOW holy [censored]. Must .... have ... this ... mod. I wonder if it includes rummy. That's one of the only games I know how to play. Well, that, Uno, and Go Fish.

It’s a pretty simple game at this point, but just being able to actually do something in-game adds a lot to tavern life. It’s a lot like basic War with an optional dice roll to increase your hand. Also I love the art on the cards. I’m still testing it in Chases the Fish’s game to make sure nothing bad happens in the long run, like with NPC disposition.

This is an awesome mod! Like playing Caravan in New Vegas! I've added fake card games to all my mods to make it look like people were playing, but to actually be able to play would be great! Thanks for the link!

So Buffy was approaching Dragon Bridge from Solitude today and encountered a hostile cave bear. Buffy’s fox distracted the bear so Buffy could open fire from the saddle and dispatch it. She then noticed a child wandering – within sight of but still a ways from Dragon Bridge. Buffy doesn’t really know that children are invincible, you see, so she dismounted and approached the child to suggest he return to the safety of town.

As soon as she got close enough to see the child’s name come up (Clinton Lylvieve), she heard, "All right, hand over your valuables, or I'll gut you like a fish." Fully focused on the child, she was quite confused – why did this child sound like a male adult Argonian? Why was he threatening her? Why weren’t his lips moving? No kidding, it took her several seconds to realize that a thief had come up behind her while she was focused on the child.

Fortunately, the thief gave her enough time to reply – and formulate a response. The words 'Take it from me if you can' were not fully out of Buffy's mouth before she spun to face the thief. Green magic flew from one hand to paralyze the Argonian even as blue magic in her other hand blossomed into the mystic bow that would end this thief's career.

At some point during all this, little Clinton disappeared – most likely at a dead run back to town.

An Argonian thief disguised himself as a human child! I hope it wasn't Chases-The-Fish!

If Chases met Buffy on the road, I expect he would also make his last mistake!

I’m chuckling over Clinton’s hasty retreat. Now he has a story to tell his pet patrol goat. Outstanding response from Buffy! Yay!

That's a dangerous direction for Clinton to wander. There's always something lurking by the road, often a troll. However, it's not uncommon for two enemies to spawn close enough to engage each other. I've watched Thalmor fighting the troll a few times.

----

Mellewen just hit 100 in restoration, from using her Absorb Health almost exclusively. So now she's looking for another skill to work on. She has 30% cost reduction from her Psijic Initiate robes, so it may be Enchanting next, to see if she can bring her magicka needs down with Fortify Restoration. At present, the best she can make is 10%, so she wants more levels and perks before she can make something better than the ring (12) and circlet (15) she has. I expect her to find better ones first, although she always seems to find that enchantment on armour.

She won't find a spell tome for Ebonyflesh for another six levels, and since she's not joining the College of Winterhold, she can't buy one from Tolfdir. Alteration will get used, but it won't get any attention for a while.

*

@ Acadian - I had to look up who Clinton was, lol. At first I thought Buffy's sympathetic heart almost cost her here; that she had been set up by a decoy child belonging to some thief, lol.

Aw, Clinton's background story is a little sad! That said, I may be looking into Lucky's AI packages and scripting for Patches!

@ Ghastley - Wow, I have never hit 100 in restoration in any game! In Oblivion I barely got over 25 in restoration, lol.
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What is "Ebony Flesh?" Is it kind of like the "Barkskin" perk in FO3?

Mellewen's build is amazing, I have never sat down and thought out all these workarounds for a mage character before; it is really intricate! I never realized how much so before! This was an Awesome insight - I think I'll be scared to have a mage character now though,

Acadian, that's a funny story about the Argonian thief disguised as a child. It's good that Buffy took her time and thought about the oddity of the situation, instead of attacking Clinton. As a side note, if anyone knows what it means to "gut you like a fish", it must be Argonians.

There are four levels of it, and it is like Barkskin, but temporary. The lowest is Oakflesh (40), then Stoneflesh (60), Ironflesh (80) and finally Ebonyflesh (100). The Alteration tree has perks that multiply the effectiveness of these, up to x3, so you can get the equivalent of 300 points of real armour (36% damage reduction), but these perks don't stack with real armour, so you have to choose. They're cast as spells, lasting 60 seconds, and there are perks to increase duration. The Lord Stone gives you a permanent variety, but adds magic resistance at the same time.

There's one more "Mage Armour" spell, but it works differently, giving you the defense cap (80% reduction) regardless of all other considerations. Dragonhide is a Master spell, which means it takes almost as long to cast as it lasts.

Regular armour gives you more defense as you go, as your skill gradually increases just by using it. The mage armour only improves when you switch up to a better spell, and increasing skill lowers the cost of casting instead. Improving armour with smithing can take it to the 80% defense cap. Spells can't get past half-way.

By "Takes as long to cast as it lasts" - does that mean they play that "magicka charging up" animation before the cast will fly? That little animation almost cost Maxical her life against like 50 draugr in a dungeon once; she spent so long in the animation that they were on her by the time she cast (and therefore within a safe zone from the fallout). It was the last time I used that spell, and I really don't like that animation anyway; it looks ... weird.

And with the Cutting Room Floor mod active, the Dragonhide spell effect looks even weirder.

I have been dying to know what all the Cutting Room Floor adds, I know it was content cut from the game, but wondered what it adds (and why it might have been cut). Awesome visuals on that dragon hide! Is that a spell that was cut or just the visuals?

Anything more you want to reveal about that mod, I'm all ears. Dialogue; quests; NPC's? I'm dying of curiosity about it, but can't install it just now.

The neat thing about Cutting Room Floor is that the restored content is difficult to distinguish from the original game, so I’m not even sure of everything that it’s added. There’s a complete list under the ReadMe tab on the mod’s Nexus page which I’ve referred to a few times when I couldn’t tell if something was new from the mod or just new to me from the original game.

A couple of things that I remember offhand are a farm between Whiterun and Rorikstead, a mill/farm with a small quest near Dragonbridge, an NPC with his house at Stonehills, a scene with Uthgerd the Unbroken by the Whiterun stable, a handful of small College of Winterhold quests including some radiant quests and one to find the missing apprentices, an animal pelt radiant quest from the Companions, a staff in Slid’s lair that summons subjugated ghosts, a Fade Other spell, and a Spectral Arrow spell that is the reward for helping out the guy who used to live at Treva’s Watch. The Spectral Arrow spell lets a pure conjuror deal direct damage, so I can guess why that was cut. Darnand loves it of course. There are also some clothing items made available through this mod, but I have no idea which ones since they just appear in vendor inventories.

The restored mage armor spell effects are neat looking, but possibly not to everyone’s taste. There is a mod somewhere on the Nexus that removes that addition and restores the original green glow, kind of like the mods that revert some of the Unofficial Patch’s changes.

It really makes one wonder why it got cut! I am most def going to install it; but the truth is that I originally downloaded it to sort through the voice files - I've been looking for some good voice files for my Player character; and I'm also planning to make my own custom follower (just for my game, not for upload) and have been having trouble finding any one set of female voice files I like.

(Vilja & Sofia have both been eliminated due to some fatal dialogue flaws, lol).

Fade Other spell? The animal pelt radiant quest sounds great too. Wow, that would make hunter characters (Nasqaa hunts, for instance) a lot more immersss. Immmm. Fun to play.

I found a 'cutting room floor' mod for Oblivion awhile back, but I couldn't get it to work. Kept crashing my game. No doubt, it was probably conflicting with some other mod. I got too impatient to really dig into it though, but it sounded like it had a LOT of cool stuff

When we last left Alise, Argis and Lydia, they were about to enter Ustengrav. Not only did this outing show Lydia's abilities to Alise, but Lydia also learned more about the new thane whose burdens she would not share. First, why Alise is so reluctant to be called the Dragonborn. Those Word Walls really knock her out!
Then they reaced their goal, the Tomb of Jurgen Windcaller, only to discover someone had beaten them to it.
Upon exiting the tomb, they found night had fallen. Alise knows the risk of sleeping in someone else's bed and insisted they make their own camp. They spent a couple of hours sharing food and tales before turning in for the night. Gallant Argis made Lydia share Alise's tent.

They stopped by Lakeview Manor where Alise told Lydia to join Rayya in keeping the place safe. Already she is thinking about adopting more than just dogs. Then Alise and Argis made their way to Riverwood to rent an attic room. Alise was startled when Delphine approached her and gave her the Horn, and led her into a secret room. Then she learned about the dragons being resurrected by Alduin, and that the next one is suspected to emerge near Kynesgrove. She decided to make her own way there with Argis.

On the way, they defended a mammoth camp from a cruising dragon. After dealing with the flying reptile, Alise is drawn to the dragon's perch atop Bonestrewn Crest This time Argis urges her to approach the word wall, promising to always watch her back during her moments of weakness.

One thing led to another and Alise found herself undercover at a fancy dress party. A/N: that screenie is from our third playthrough last year, but Alise said to use it here. It wasn't long before Alise had the opportunity to vent her hatred of everything the Thalmor stands for.

It wasn't until Argis met her just outside Meridia's ruined shrine that Alise realised how much she missed having him at her back. She had been on the go for over twenty four hours, so they gathered up the horses (fortunately she left nearly everything packed away on the animals) and headed down to Dragon Bridge. There Alise realised that she had given all of her gold to Delphine (facepalm time) and they moved out to a stone circle to make camp. As the sun was going down, Alise thought she heard whining on the wind. Argis grumpily followed her across the river and into the woods, where they found a sad-eyed hound and a dead master. Naturally Alise invited Meeko to join them. The dog was too happy to hang out, and was still with them the next morning when they rose and had breakfast.

Meeko was unfazed by a pair of giants that shared the road with the trio on the way back to Riverwood. They also stopped by Lakeview, where Meeko was happy to join Stray Dog, Sofie and Lucia. The girls adored him, but Rayya grumbled about feeding another mutt (there is already a guard dog outside).

Alise and Argis took the long way back to High Hrothgar, from Riften's Ratway to Riverwood where Delphine left the inn in Orgnar's charge for good (he seemed a little taken aback but not overly emotional about it), then out to Karthspire where Alise discovered that neither Delphine nor Esbern are patient enough to let her thin the numbers by sniping. She was all too happy to leave them there, but first, she collected a Blades shield for Lydia (to go with the improved Blades armor she had already received) and Dragonsbane for herself (to make dragonslaying a little easier).

On the way up the seven thousand steps, Alise realized it had been too long since they had passed that way. It didn't take long for the pair to finish off the opposition.

Upon returning the Horn to Arngeir, Alise asked about the Shout to bring down Alduin. She revealed to him that they had seen Alduin's Wall. After his initial refusal, Arngeir decided it was time Alise met the leader of their Order and let the Master decide. After learning the Clear Skies shout, which Alise found very useful on the way up, the intrepid pair made their way to the Throat of the World. The encounter with the Master was not quite as Alise had imagined. Once she realized he wasn't going to attack her, Alise found herself in conversation with Paarthurnax. He was quite the fascinating personality, and she learned a great deal from him.

On their return to Ivarstead, Argis commented on the 7,000 Steps. She answered that they'll get to go to Winterhold and see if it got blown up. Argis made an unexpected request: could we check out that haunted barrow? It'd be nice to do something easy for a change. Alise was surprised by his request, but shrugged her shoulders. Sure, why not? Let's do it in the morning.

Delighted, Argis invited Alise to share a mug of mead inside Vilemyr Inn.

The next day, they battled their way through the haunted barrow, which turned out to be not as easy as Argis thought it would be.

After stopping in Windhelm and selling off some loot, Alise and Argis headed out to Winterhold. On the way, they found Alduin waking up Viinturuth. Alise introduced the latest dragon to the bite of Dragonsbane. Right after that they ran into a pesky Ice Wraith. A couple of fire bolts and Alise had another set of Teeth for Marise in Riften. Continuing on, they cleared Fort Kastav the old fashioned way - slash and smash.

After hearing about the Shrine of Azura ever since leaving Vlindrel Hall and Markarth, Alise decided to take a detour and let Argis see for himself what a sight to see really means. Near the Shrine, they encountered a Khajiit Daedra Master, and Alise temporarily invited him to join their party. She thought Qa'Dojo will show them what a mage can do in a tight spot. Argis wasn't so convinced. But he soon forgot his misgivings when they reach the top and looked around. They spotted a dragon cruising the thermals, but Alise decided to let it be.

Now they're deep in Alfthand, about to enter the Blackreach. I hope to have more screenies up soon!

There you go. Alise has been quite busy. Love all the pics, but I can't see the one of the fancy dress party one, did it get uploaded?

Alise looks good in her wolf armor (or is that a bear's head?). I always did love armor with animal motifs.

@ Renee: Try it again. I think it was set to private, I changed it to public so you should be able to see it. Let me know if that one works for you now.

@SubRosa: Those armors were never my taste, but both the Vagabond (Alise's) and Warchief (Argis's) armors are growing on me. Or maybe it's the characters wearing them? Anyway, Alise's Vagabond armor uses a bear skull/head, while Argis's is a Sabrecat's.

Rider – Renee is right, Alise has been busy indeed! Plenty of stuff going on to keep her and Argis busy. Such a commanding view from Azura's Shrine. I sure am glad someone is taking care of those pesky dragons! Great pictures (and they all worked fine for me).

haute, it sounds like Alise and Argis are keeping busy. I love the picture of them in their animal head helms outside Meridia’s shrine. Lol at Rayya as a guard dog. I’m glad Meeko has a nice Lakeside home and Stray Dog for canine company! Argis looking up at the 7,000 steps is a great shot, and I laughed again at his comment at the Word Wall. Jerric has the same voice set, and when he says that it’s to tease his nervous companions. I’d take it seriously coming from Argis! I also love the picture of the peaceful dragon in the sky by Azura’s shrine. Great update!

Yup, it did work, thanks!

I see I have been remiss in posting more screenies. Without further ado . . .

@grits: I see that you called out Argis quite a lot in your comments. ;) It seems we both have a fondness for a certain Nord . . . I do love his voice set - it is my favorite of all the voices in Skyrim.

We left Alise and Company on the way to Alfthand to recover a lost Elder Scroll. Alise is dubious about the crazy old man's "Attunement Sphere." But it worked to get them down to Blackreach. It was a very bizarre place, but Alise and Company were too tired to care. They found an old Dwemer building that apparently had been used more recently than the long-disappeared Dwemer. It had a place for a fire, especially nice since the place is freezing cold and dreadfully damp. Alise also found alchemical ingredients, including an odd colored plant. A tattered journal explained the condition of the place, and Alise decided it was as good a place as any to lie down and rest. They had food, but had forgotten the camping gear on the horses. So the three of them made themselves as comfortable as they could in a stone chamber.

Feeling much better, Alise and Company explored Blackreach. Alise found more of the crimson nirnroots, and managed to collect enough to bring to Sinderion's old apprentice as he had wanted to do (according to his lab notes). After a few scary encounters with Charus Hunters and Centurions, they entered the Tower of Mzark and discovered a most amazing piece of machinery ever. It took some doing but Alise, with some help from Argis and Qa'Dojo, finally opened the Elder Scroll container. Then it was time to take the Scroll and make tracks out of there. But Alise had a moment's hesitation: is the thing booby trapped? Argis and Qa'dojo both pointed out that the complexity of the puzzle they had just solved was likely the booby trap itself.

They returned to the surface to find another dragon overhead. Maybe the same one they saw from Azura's Shrine? In any case, the darn beast attacked them. They converted it into bones and scales, and called up the horses. At this point Alise thanked Qa'Dojo and sent him on his way, after giving him a nice glass sword. She promised to look him up again if she had need of his skills and knowledge.

Then Alise and Argis returned to High Hrothgar. They found Paarthurnax anxiously awaiting them atop the Throat of the World. He was impressed that they had managed to recover a lost Scroll.

After reading the scroll and learning the Dragonrend shout, Alise and Argis made their way to Whiterun. There Jarl Baalgruuf asked them to get the Imperials and Stormcloaks to agree to a truce before he would let them use Dragonsreach to catch a dragon.

The way to Solitude was a bit busy, what with Nahagliiv outside Rorikstead and more bandits in Robber's Gorge.

Then a close call when Alise was sniping bandits at Valtheim Towers on the way to Windhelm. That arrow just missed Argis before it knocked the bandit off that high bridge!

I love the sky in that picture climbing up to the Throat of the World.

Rider, great shots! It is comforting indeed to know that A&A are taking care of those pesky dragons. Beautiful capture of that glass arrow in flight - and glad it hit the right target!

These are my two favorites. The first is just plain stunning. The second - are the giants friendly? I thought they would attack the player! Did you have to do anything in particular to get them to be friendly?







My two favorites. The first look epic, the second is amazing, that you were able to catch that arrow in flight!

Mellewen (who is a mage avoiding the College) has just completed the Dawnguard quest line on the Dawnguard side, and I downloaded Athmoor's Castle Volkihar Rebuilt to give it a whirl. I really wanted to see what, if anything, it did with Valerica, and if Serana could be made to live there instead of Fort Dawnguard. Serana's not the best follower for a mage, but I wanted to park her somewhere else.

Nope, it just cleans up, and moves in some Dawnguard henchmen if you took that side. Valerica stays in her study with the open portal, and Serana is not affected. I may have to change that.

On the other hand, I like the way it was implemented. There are piles of rubble that are activators using the mining animation, and using them cleans up the current cell, after a fade to black and back. They can be hard to find, especially as a couple of them aren't piles, but pillars. The furniture replaced or added matches the player's side in the quest line, and the resulting player home isn't overblown.

Mellewen has moved on to collecting Dibella statues for her shrine in the Lakeview basement. A few of my characters have done this, as there's not much else to do with them. I think she has ideas of becoming a priestess herself.

She just did Peryite's quest, as she was in the area for something else, and discovered that her preferred spell, Absorb Health (modded), is the worst possible one to use against Orchendor. Since it damages him continuously, he teleports every two seconds, and she can't keep up with him. She had to pull out Auriel's Bow instead, and she has no Archery perks at all. That was a long fight, with many potions used.