Mojo must be fun to game with. The skooma angle adds so much, sometimes, right? Hey Grits, just so I'm clear, how many characters are you gaming with these days in this game? I am assuming Mojo is not part of Jerric's / Darnand's world, right?

And just so I'm clear, I'll be fluctuating between Claire and Master Baytor for a while, until one of them beats his / her "main" quest ... although Master Baytor's game just got a whole lot lighter without the REAL Main Quest. I suddenly have nothing to do with him, other than check out the New & Improved Thalmor headquarters in his game. I think I'll be looking at Quest Mods for his game, too. In fact, I just found one called Notice Boards which looks kinda neat. Notice Boards is supposed to add some boards where we can read about missing people, lost items, wanted criminals, etc.

I wanted to find an Arena mod too; something which adds an Arena sort of like Oblivion. Surprisingly I have not found anything decent, despite the fact that so many people were pissed when they heard there wouldn't be an arena in TES V. The mods I've found so far ... either I don't like the way they sound (they're too fantastic), or they're buggy, according to people who post feedback over at Nexus.

Thank you, mALX, I love how the brown Khajiit look. I made the original Shuvesse look like the loading screen Khajiit in the Thieves Guild armor. Her NPC looks darker and more like Mojo but with white around her eyes. It’s hard to get a good picture since her face is dark.

Renee, I have no idea off the top of my head how many characters I have, but I’ll go rummage through my profiles. (My rambling got lengthy, so I’ll put it in a spoiler to avoid excessive scrolling. The short answer is: a bunch.) I’d love to hear how Notice Board works out. That looks like our made-up radiant quest imaginary “mod” put right in the game! Claire and Master Baytor are so different from each other, it’s easy to follow your updates for them. My brain works in webs rather than lines, so multiple characters who belong to one person feels pretty natural to me. I like the contrast between the dark and light with those two.



This morning Mojo bought some sugar from a roadside dealer and had a little shiver of concern about it. His life as a roaming merchant and beginning crafter is pretty straightforward. I imagine that his personal life will provide most of his motivations. I’m playing them as Khajiit who are not allowed inside the walled cities (let’s forget about the Whiterun business required to start the dragons), so he has made contact with some rural NPCs that my questing characters rarely visit.

Mojo found Wilf’s saw and is now headed to the wreck of the Winter War to recover the second stolen tool. He had quite a struggle with one of the orcs at the last place. They got up in the tower where Shuvesse couldn’t shoot. This time he will be more careful to leave her a line of sight. Mojo’s battle skills are pretty basic. He’s a lover, not a fighter!

In Jerric news, the lads returned Mjoll’s sword and unanimously agreed to her suggestion that she come along on the next adventure. They all admire her stature and brawn, but two of them are specifically thinking in terms of how much Dwarven junk she could carry. Mjoll is decked out in some knight-looking armor that Jerric gave her and looks quite splendid. The weather has been crap so I haven’t gotten a good picture.

Yay for Mojo and his mighty battlewagon!

How wonderful to help Mjoll! In our game, she ever so reminds us of the mighty and beautiful-hearted Sir Mazoga. And I was delighted to see you looking at provisions to possibly bring Sir Mazoga to Skyrim! Trouble is with Mjoll, she seems so happy with Aerin in Riften that we feel guilty 'borrowing' her for more than short adventures.

A Mazoga in Skyrim will definitely benefit from a change of hair, whatever you pick.

I never saw her wear a helmet, so they must have been uncomfortable when worn over that.

Yes they are quite different, very true. Sometimes when I'm with Claire, and one of those Thalmor road patrols passes by, I pretend MB is with them. He certainly looks the part.

I'll also be returning to the White Wizard (beggar with some magical talents who showed up at College in Winterhold), and at some point I will create Bjorn Tubewyyld, who will probably poke his head down in the Ratway. Both of these folks use, or will use, an Alternate Start mod. And I have one character whom I'm keeping a surprise. So that'll be five in total this season, I thinks.



I remember Zanimal and Mikke of Green River! Cool. Sometimes, my memory, it fades on me. And also Jensa, of course. Wow, you do have a lot going on. I'd be taking notes too. And all those NPCs, that's gotta be neat. That's where I'm at right now, trying to create NPCs.

I was trying to create an NPC last night, a simple Thalmor follower for Baytor to have around, but I got stuck. It seems so simple, but I can't figure out how to make somebody become a follower, even if I use another NPC (with Follower options) as a template. I tried making a Hireling instead, but got stuck again. I used Marcurio as a template this time (edited a new form from him) and my Thalmor NPC actually did have Hireling options. But I can't get them to work. If Baytor has the 500 gold, the Hireling dialog options go away. If he has less than 500 gold, the options are there, but (of course) we don't have enough gold.

So I'll be spending my time watching some CK tutorials tonight instead of gaming. Hopefully I'll get it figured. I might wind up asking questions at some point.

Never mind, I figured that one out. Turns out, to make a Follower NPC they need to have a certain voice type. HighElfHaughty is not supported, not without a mod, anyways. And I finally found this mod? PHEW. Well, good luck with Mojo. I'm looking forward to our 2015 / 2016 Skyrim Season

Acadian, I think that between Mjoll’s devotion to Riften and Aerin’s devotion to Mjoll she will very naturally part ways with the group once this adventure is over. As much as I admire Mjoll I have never been able to stand her company for long, but to Jerric’s ears her running commentary sounds wise and welcome. It’s funny after all of this time to see an NPC in an entirely new way. One of the first things she said to Jerric was about her father and how she misses him. The certainly hit home with Jerric. Also it’s usually Jerric who runs his mouth the most in the group. It’s been funny to see him hush up and listen.

ghastley, I wonder how Mazoga sleeps with those knots on her head. Perhaps that’s why she’s grumpy.

Renee, I’m glad you found a way to make a haughty-voiced Thalmor follower for the Baytor! That’s awesome. I can imagine them out-snotting each other all over Skyrim as they track down illegal worshippers. I’m looking forward to the White Wizard’s return and the birth of Bjorn Tubewyyld. And a mystery character! Woo, exciting!

Jerric, Darnand, Ulfe, Mjoll, and Marcurio have cut a zig-zag path to the Reach where their next adventure awaits. Mjoll keeps telling Jerric that she is no sellsword and she is itching for a fight. He has decided that means she likes to kill bandits but doesn’t want to take a bounty, so they stop to clear out every bandit hideout that they pass. Jerric got the sense that the pink-robed knight getup was too formal for Mjoll, so he gave her a huge assortment to try out from his personal armory when they passed through Whiterun. (They went there on the way because Jerric wanted to make sure Lil got home OK and also throw a quick hump into Abiene, but he was foiled on the second part. Mostly by Lil’s soft greeting when he found her sitting under the Gildergreen sapling that they brought back together.) Mjoll chose the Nordic Carved set, so that’s what she’s wearing now. She looks pretty awesome in it.

They also stopped in at Heljarchen Hall, which I believe will eventually belong to the Order of the Hour (military branch of the Akatosh Chantry) once Jerric does some recruiting. Jerric still goofs off a lot, but Akatosh’s claws are in pretty deep.

I think he’d like to move Lydia to Proudspire Manor with Jordis and then start questing for a redhead to join them. I’m pretty sure he envies Clark’s Housecarl collection!

This one. My gosh. So damn true. I'm going to have you repeat it again.





Your stories with the pushing between Jerric and Motormouth Mjoll are cracking me up! I had some similar humorous moments going back on Xbox, when Lord Haaf-Mersey had Mjoll, Rayya the Overkiller, and sometimes Serana with him. Poor guy. How many homes has Jerric got in Skyrim these days?

I did some searching around for quest mods today, and nothing really exists that'll fill the gap for Master Baytor's game, so I think tonight after I get him to the Thalmor headquarters he'll be retired. Which is okay. I have other characters waiting their turn. On a better note, there are some AWESOME-sounding quest mods out there, some of them will be great in Claire's game. I'll be chatting about these in the coming days & weeks, surely.

It's fun to remember LHM’s house of estrogen, and his adventures with Motormouth Mjoll and the Overkiller! He had some pretty random stuff happen to him, didn’t he? Like Rayya getting ideas of her own while they were fighting things and becoming a staff-wielding battlemage. I remember him scratching his head over the actions of various women. It was fun to see him try to make sense out of those events.

House-wise at this point I think the only house Jerric doesn’t have access to is Hjerim. None of them belong to him for roleplaying purposes, though. He stays in Abiene’s rented Whiterun house (Breezehome with four mods going) with Darnand and Lil, and he has been given a one-room tower home in a mod that I think you are going to do so I won’t spoil it and say where, plus he rents a two-bedroom apartment in Solitude (mod) to use when he is there. We handle the rental by stashing money in a barrel. He adds 200 Septims extra to pay the entirely imaginary housekeeper. Jerric keeps his gear immaculate, but he still thinks that sheets and windows clean themselves.

Clark is not collecting housecarls. He's trying to keep them well separated.

Yeah, Lord Haaf-Mersey got pretty good with Smithing, and also had three different articles of clothing / jewelry he would wear while improving armor / weapons. So he made the mistake of improving Rayya's scimitars. There is some sort of bug with Rayya and her weapons. I forget exactly what it is, but after LHM improved her weapons, she wound up doing an enormous amount of damage all the time. And it got to the point that sometimes having her around meant there wasn't much for LHM (who was much slower in his heavy armor) to do.

... ahh those were the days. Thank you for not revealing the secret of that tower. What is the name of the 2-room apartment? That'd be nice to have. Claire has access to your Bard's Cube whenever she's in Solitude, but it'd be cool for one of my others to have somewhere small to stay in that town, too.

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

6:16 PM, Last Seed 30, 4th Era 201

Master Baytor has made it safely to the Frozen Hearth with T. Baggius, his friend from Cyrodiil. Here they have met their Thalmor contact, Yor Assizmyn. Yor is supposed to be from the Thalmor headquarters, but for now, he is meeting Baytor and Baggius here in Winterhold, and the three of them are going into the College to try to broaden their horizons. Baytor will hopefully pick up a spell or two; he'll have no interest in what's going on a Saarthal. Once he has what he's looking for, the three of them will begin to travel toward the Thalmor headquarters near Solitude.

Baytor is way too much fun to game with. I am thinking I might actually make up my own quest mod with him eventually. Like, maybe he and T. and Yor will be one of those silly Thalmor patrols that leads prisoners around. Who knows?

Yay, I’m glad Claire stays in her nook at the Bards College!

The apartment is Princess Solitude Barnacle Cottage by Princess Stomper. I just love it.

T. Baggius!

Awesome, thank you Grits. I'll install that one next time I'm gaming.

Last I saw, Master Baytor and his two Thalmor companions are outside of Robber's Gorge, that bandit camp which straddles the road between Rorikstead and Dragon's Bridge. This is always an epic battle, some of mine have had troubles here in the past, especially my Xbox characters, since it was difficult to have more than one follower in vanilla game. Things go smoother on PC.

Renee, Robber’s Gorge is one of my favorite locations. There are many ways to approach it, and it’s tough enough to make even my boldest characters slow down and think.


Jerric, Darnand, Mjoll, and Marcurio learned the secret of Arkngthamz with the help of the ghostly Katria. Jerric felt a real kinship with her, more than he has with most of the living adventurers he has encountered. He recognized right away that even dead she has a considerably bigger brain than he does, so for once he showed some caution when she warned him.

Arkngthamz is a genuine wonder. They explored it from bottom to top, and by that I mean Jerric dove into the muddy pool first and swam all over the place before they started the climb. Jerric is good at puzzles, so he was able to solve the Dwemer lock without asking for help or getting anyone hurt. Marcurio remarked that he would like to take apart one of the constructs to see how it works just as they were passing behind a big one that no doubt comes to life if the lock’s trap is triggered. Darnand enthusiastically agree. Jerric prepared to slap a mage silly if one of them tried. He didn’t need to check with Mjoll to see how she would feel about them waking it up.

On the way to Markarth with their spoils they stopped at Dushnikh Yal for Jerric to brawl with their chief, offload some random junk he had picked up, and ogle the chief’s ‘favored’ wife. She keeps her favors right out in the open so Jerric figures it’s OK to look. Jerric tried to get Ghorbash the Iron Hand to fight him while they were there, but Ghorbash just said he wanted to come along for an adventure. So Jerric gave him a nice bow and away they went. Jerric enjoys the company of Skyrim’s orcs. He never has to guess what’s on their minds.

Marcurio stayed at the Center for Dwemer Studies in Markarth where he got to work with Calcelmo’s team right away. Darnand took his warrior buddies on a tour of the Dwemer Museum. They all had the same idea about that. Then Jerric took them visiting his Markarth friends, wrapping it up with a stop at Dibella’s Temple. Jerric is always hopeful of getting a ‘blessing’ or even just a glimpse of something he’s not supposed to see there, but it seems he has too much of Sanguine about him to join the priestess party. This time he got into trouble, but with these ladies a punishment is as good as a blessing (he says). The priestesses kicked him out before any of his friends had to intervene. When he comes back he’s sure they’ll be happy to see him.

The adventurers camped outside Left Hand Mine rather than sleeping inside the city. Jerric grilled mammoth steaks for the regular appetites and a rabbit haunch for Darnand. Wine, mead, and stories were passed around the fire. The next destination is a Nordic ruin that according to Tolfdir holds a special dagger. But first they have a stop to make in Karthwasten.

Here is a picture showing Jerric’s new trick. The blue glow is from a Resist Magic on Self spell. Darnand finally got it through Jerric’s head that resisting magic will not interfere with absorbing spells, it just makes the spells hurt him less when he doesn’t absorb them. It is a testament to Marcurio’s Chain Lightning that this time Jerric listened.

Here is a picture of the crowd at Markarth’s stables. That’s a lot of sweaty socks and under-tunics. I’m sure Argis and Marcurio appreciate not having to smell all of them crammed into Vlindrel Hall overnight.

Oh, Buffy likes to take on Robber's Gorge as well. Grits is right in the challenges and variety of approaches one can take. In Buffy's case the choice is basically sniping or frenzy - either from very long range across the river or way up on the hills above.

Grits, what a fun update with so many followers! Your timing is perfect, as Buffy is currently traveling with both Jordis the Sausage Maiden and Mjoll the Motormouth. Both ladies have beautiful hearts and, thanks to FCO, it is a blast listening to them chatter away. That means also that Buffy's familiar is riding safely up in the saddle with Buffy to avoid 'too many cooks' in fights.

Calcelmo's research lab sounds like a perfect niche for Marcurio.

Ah yes, Robber's Gorge. Together with Treva's Watch and Faldar's Tooth, the most popular locations for Wilf's tools in my mod testing.

Why don't I get more Rift Watchtower?

----

My Dark Elf (I needed a break from Khajiiti) got lucky, and then unlucky, and then lucky again with her selection.

The first location she was sent to was the Rift Watchtower, but found another tool early in Valtheim Towers. You really don't have any option once the bandit running the toll intervenes. And there are only three guards at the watchtower, so that was easy so far.

But then the next was Faldar's Tooth. Unlucky, I thought, except that she was approaching it from the North, and it turns out to be much easier to pick off the bandits on the walls from above them, especially with some cover to duck behind that they couldn't scale to reach her. The bandit boss himself ran out and got stuck in the rocks, letting her pound him with fireballs (and arrows once her magicka ran out).

Her game revealed a lot of problems with the display and completion of objectives in the mod, so it all got a major revision before Cat Man Dhou checked it out for 0.4. It didn't stop her making her wagon, so her game continues.

Not sure what precautions Jerric is heeding her warnings on, looks to me like he is out on a limb!!!

Mjoll doesn't look real keen on being where she is, that is sure!

I didn't remember Calcelmo's Dwemer museum having display cases, how did I miss that?

I don't know how you keep up with such a large group, but I absolutely LOVE seeing them traveling together! That has to add a tremendous amount of fun to your game!

Awesome shots!

Cat Man Dhou! c-c-c-c-c-cat man dhou...

Grits: lovely update there, love that expression on Mjoll's face in that second pic. Is the Dwemer Studies place vanilla?

Acadian, I grinned at “sausage maiden.” Those two must be entertaining company!

ghastley, Lil likes to approach those fortresses from higher ground like your Dunmer lass did. She has even tackled Valtheim Towers that way, sneaking over the ridge across the river from the road rather than crossing the bridge under fire. I think Mojo has gotten the Winter War every time. This last time he finally learned how not to get mauled by the snowy sabre cat!

mALX, Mjoll made me laugh when I saw that look she was giving Darnand. It’s fun to watch the group. Here is another view of the shot in the Dwemer museum showing where those cases are. It’s a fun place to rob.

Renee, the Center for Dwemer Studies is Vlindrel Hall renamed with Jaxonz Renamer. I used My Home Is Your Home to give Marcurio a daily schedule so that he works in Understone Keep with Calcelmo and his nephew and then goes to Vlindrel Hall every night to sleep. If Jerric shows up at 6:0o pm where his friends work he can walk them home. It’s pretty neat.

Jerric is still debating what to do with Proudspire Manor. It has been suggested that a Dibellan order would like to keep a facility near the Bards College to keep their bards from falling under Sanguine’s influence. Jerric is imagining this as a continuous girl orgy at the manor with wine, lute music, Jerric, and drums, which is probably just the kind of influence that the priestesses are worried about.

Oh, that mod sounds Awesome!

I used to love the Markarth player house, but - the house carl feeding his face and demanding marriage every time Maxical walked in got on her nerves. She had visions of taking him for a long adventure off a short cliff, lol. Instead she moved out and left the place to him; never went back.

Is he there with Marcurio? Do they talk?

Jerric's imagination, SPEW!!!

Things went well at Robber's Gorge; Baytor and his two Thalmor companions have amazing teamwork. Unlike Claire, who mostly heals others up while she does a minimum of fighting, with Baytor & friends it's almost all destruction magic. The three of them hit Robber's Gorge like a hurricane.

The only down point was that Baytor got a little over-enthusiastic when he met the bandit chief here. This lady got a good power-swing on him, and nearly all his health was gone. But then Yor Assizmyne and T. Baggius stepped in, and that chief was as good as toast.

They also made it to Solitude's Castle Dour, where the Aldmeri Dominion mod kicks in. This mod will allow Baytor to officially join Skyrim's Thalmor (although I like to think he already is an agent of Cyrodiil's branch of Thalmor). The first thing they want him to do is murder Heimskr, the priest guy who's always ranting about "the mighty Talos" in the middle of Whiterun. That shoudl be interesting.

I can confirm also that Notice Boards is an AWESOME mod, for those who like fetch / kill / rescue (etc.) type quests. Baytor is really just looking for gold of course, so he took a "kill bandit leader" quest. He's in that phase during which he's constantly spending gold, fattening up his spell book, buying cheper soul gems, etc. His "Majors" by the way are going to be...

Destruction
Conjuration
Enchanting
One-handed
Alteration
probably Light Armor

I am trying to keep him like a true Thalmor NPC, choosing only skills they would use.




Yes, that does sound neat. Wow, a schedule for Darnand.



There ya go. *thumbs up*

Yor Assizmyne

mALX, Argis is there with Marcurio but I have never heard them talk. I suspect that like Jerric and Darnand the two of them would not hit it off right away.

Renee, Baytor and his Thalmor buddies sound like a lot of fun. They can go around blowing things up and not worry a bit about upsetting people! I was thinking about some way of giving them suspected Talos worshipers to investigate, but that Notice Board is perfect! Maybe the bandit lairs are secret hideouts for Talos worshipers! Thank you for the thumbs up on Notice Boards. I’ll give it a whirl in my games.


Jerric, Darnand, Mjoll, and Ghorbash also raided Robber’s Gorge today. Here’s a picture of Jerric storming the gate with support from the ridge. He loves having a team to work with.

After a fight Jerric likes to check in with his companions to see how they fared, share the looted mead and ale, and give them their arrows back. Here Jerric is still glowing blue from his battle spell and Mjoll is telling him that she is itching for a fight. Jerric is also subject to frequent itches, but this woman has him beat. Ghorbash is of the same mind as Mjoll. Right after this he told Jerric, “My blood is calm. I prefer it boiling.” These two make Jerric feel like a pacifist. It’s never long before he’s ready to go again, but they just don’t want to stop.

One thing to note in the picture is the bow on Mjoll’s back. That is no mere Dwarven bow, that is Zephyr the magical bow of ghostly Katria. Jerric is a loyal friend and holds several archers close to his heart, but after consideration he decided that Mjoll should be the one to bear it. At the same time he gave her two other very awesome bows including an ebony one so that she would have a choice. She started using Zephyr and never looked back. It’s hers now.

After Jerric stopped in at Jorrvaskr to see what Skjor wanted, he had to say farewell to his friends for a time. Of course Ulfe tagged along as usual. He’s on Companion business with Farkas. While he was at Jorrvaskr Aela informed him that she heard he might be stronger than he looks. So he stripped down on the spot and told her to take a good look for herself. Aela did not have further comment, so he changed into his armor and went to find Farkas.

On the way out of Whiterun they passed Lildereth sitting under the Gildergreen. She was dressed for hunting. Jerric wonders if she has plans with that elf Anoriath. He sees Anoriath out on the plains pretty often. He knows that if Lil is with Anoriath he will never see her unless she wants him to see her. That gave him something to think about on the walk with Farkas.

I have tackled Robber's Gorge from that ridge before. I think I have gone at it from every direction. The way it is situated on the map, it is difficult to avoid.

Jerric the Pacifist, Motormoth Mjoll, and Ghorbash the Boiling!

Have you actually seen Anoriath out hunting? I have never seen him outside of Whiterun.

Renee, you've lost none of your wonderful creativity when in comes to naming your characters! The three thalmorian amigos sound very. . . destructive. I don't even want to think about what their post-combat victory celebration might look like.

Grits, I love to hear the adventures of Jerric and company. I know what you mean about how boiling and itchy Mjoll and Ghorbash can be. And I love how you always weave so much mystery into Lildereth.

Acadian & Miss Florens: Yes I have tons of names I can give characters, which never get used. But now that I know how to make NPC followers, I can be as "creative" as usual.

Grits: Yes, Notice Boards (I think that's what it's called, but I will double-check this) adds a lot. It comes with an MCM, so we can adjust the payments we get, which is a really nice touch. I think there is a way to make Stormies always hostile to Baytor & pals (set faction to -1, right?) so I'll try that next time I'm

Who is the archer way up high in that first pic? Standing on the rock above RG?



Ha, I know the feeling. Claire would pay some Septims for a "stripped down" pic of Jerric.

Rosa, one of the mods I use gives Anoriath a hunting schedule, so I see him out on the plains pretty often. If memory serves the unofficial patch once restored his hunting AI package but the first attempt resulted in him rampaging through Whiterun on a killing spree. I missed that excitement, fortunately. I’m not sure if the unofficial patch worked out the issue or if Cutting Room Floor took over, but I’m pretty sure the result is Arthmoor’s doing.

Thanks, Acadian! Lil keeps the big guy guessing.

Renee, that’s Ghorbash the Iron Hand at the top and middle, Mjoll on the left wielding Zephyr with her armored boob sticking out, and Darnand flinging fire on the right. Jerric just led them over the top of the ridge and their AI took over. The middle fire ball is coming from a bandit mage inside the wall.


EDIT: A free one for Claire. (From before I gave him his tattoos.)

Aww, Buffy just wants to stand on a chair behind Jerric and braid the hair on his back.

That is priceless! It is also why I don't use the Unofficial Patch for Skyrim. It may fix some things, but I found it broke quests and other things in the bargain. Sort of like Bethesda's own patches...

Jerric doesn't have a six-pack of abs, but an eight-pack!

And the rumors were true! But...odor isn't everything... Just kidding. This was my favorite shot of the bunch, what a perfect catch of expressions on both faces! I love this shot!

I got a kick out of Mjoll and Jerric in close proximity both looking at each other with the same expression; same hair style; and it even looks like Mjoll has some facial hair matching in this shot! They look like they could be sister and brother or fraternal twins in that shot!

On Jerric storming the gate - really glad you clarified that was his support on the hill, I saw the archer and backup and thought Jerric had made a bad decision to storm the gate without scouting the hill first,

Great shots! I guess my perception is way down this morning for judging what is going on in a screenshot, lol. Sorry about that!

Perhaps someone here knows:

If the player encounters two or more hostile groups who are fighting each other and intervenes, does the game count him as an ally of the side he joins? And does that then affect the disposition of any other participant who joins later?

Cat Man Dhou interrupted a group of Imperial Soldiers and their Stormcloak prisoner fighting a frostbite spider and ran over to help. A pair of wolves arrived from the opposite side, along with a conjurer throwing frost. From that point on, it wasn't clear whose side the wolves or conjurer were on, as they may have been battling each other before. He came out of it all with a bounty of 40, so someone involved wasn't on the side he thought, and it wasn't clear if he or an "ally" did the damage.

At least it wasn't my other current character, who summons atronachs whenever there's a fight. The fireballs from the flame ones could hit anyone.

ghastley, I have gotten in trouble for attacking the Legionaries. Even the Stormcloak prisoner turns on you if you assault his captors first. Maybe one of them got clipped in the brawl. I don’t know about the spider/wolf/conjuror, though. I’ve never had an enemy not turn on my character after a fight against a common enemy, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen.

Mojo 0.5 is on a boot leather tour of bandit lairs: Broken Oar Grotto -> Orotheim -> Knife Point Ridge -> Lost Knife Hideout. He’s about to head out to LKH. But first I have some business in the Commonwealth.


EDIT: We have wagon!

I can only guess. I would guess that the Catman assaulted one of the Imperials by accident. Hmm...






Whoa, that's craziness.

Look at the expression on Jerric's face !!!

Jerric’s expression is what made me take the shot. I swung the camera around to make a save and caught him leering.


Buffy has an open invitation!

Jerric returned Anka to her shop in Dawnstar (turns out she’s from JK’s Skyrim), delivered Lydia to Proudspire Manor where she can spar or whatever with Jordis, and after a mini-vacation in his Solitude apartment dropped Abiene off in Whiterun so she could return to her routine at the temple.

He’s feeling a need to get off the roads and explore. That means Lildereth. Jerric needs to restock his travel rations first (drinks plus various sturdy pies and pasties), so he’ll want to head across the lake to use the Hammer-Helms’s oven and empty their mead barrels. I expect he and the elf will leave in the morning.

Oh, I know who Anka in JK's Dawnstar is! Coincidently, Buffy just picked up a hostage rescue mission herself - Katla (of Katla's Farm near Solitude) was kidnapped and is being held in a cave clear the other side of the map.

Yup, grabbing a woodsister is very helpful for scouting and exploring off road!

Acadian, those kidnappers do not mind taking a road trip! Now Anka is wearing a huge spear on her back that she picked up in a scuffle along the way. It does not seem to impede her porch sweeping.

Jerric and Lil have been wandering around enjoying some fine autumn weather on the Whiterun plains. They stopped in at Greenspring Stronghold to visit Mithilion the Hammer and his ghostly bride Lardrumph. Those two don’t mind some occasional company. Jerric has an idea that they might offer up their spare beds as a sort of hunting lodge for visitors from Cyrodiil. There are a lot of two-legged varmints in the area. Jerric knows an Orsimer knight who might like to come north and thin the herd.

As sometimes happens they met an orphaned lad in their travels. Jerric invited him to live at Lakeview and be his kin. Some might have first asked the folks at Lakeview who will be raising this boy, but not Jerric. Anyway he knows they have plenty of seats at their table. So now Jerric has a new audience for his tall tales and Lil has something to think about.

That all reminds me that I wanted to ask you how you're doing your custom NPC's. I have Fluffie and Fuzz being followers in each other's game, but it took AFT to make them be followers properly. That's excessive for my needs and I'd like to do it a simpler way.

Also, has anyone tried equipping a follower with the Bound Bow spell? I'm finding that Fluffie is just carrying the thing on her back once she's cast it, and doesn't actually use it as a bow. Since I didn't remember to give her a melee weapon, she was running in with her fists.

All of my custom followers use the vanilla “Follow me, I need your help” dialog. I used parts of this tutorial to learn how: TES Nexus link. They need to be rank -1 in the CurrentFollowerFaction and rank 0 in the PotentialFollowerFaction and use a voice set that includes the follower dialog. Also they need a relationship with the player (I use Ally) and a high enough disposition (75) to allow them to be recruited.

If you want a non-vanilla voice set there are mods that expand the dialog for some of the other sets. I used More Follower Voices Plus Khajiit Marriage to give my hold guard followers the hold guard voices. They were hilarious.

I gave Mithilion the male orc voice. It’s neat to hear it coming out of this huge high elf.

I’ve never tried the bound bow with followers but I’ve seen a mage follower from Scrabbulor’s Companions and Followers use one. AFT is very finicky about load order. When I see Lil running in with her fists I know that AFT has slipped too far up.

Grits, that’s funny about Anka! Nice looking orc stronghold – courtesy of ghastley I’m guessing? No surprise that Jerric can’t resist the soft tug of an orphan. They really pull at your heart. Buffy lives out of her saddlebags and doesn’t even own a home so (fortunately) adopting is out for her. Somewhere deep behind those dark elven eyes, it seems there is some nesting instincts in Lil?

Ghastely, don’t know anything about making custom followers but am quite happy with AFT for regular followers. Also I’m afraid I can’t help on the bound bow question. Never tried giving a bound weapon spell to a follower.

*

Buffy currently has five active quests, all radiant. She’s currently escorting Katla (of Katla’s farm) back home after rescuing her from a bunch of falmer all the way over in Darkwater Cave Pass near Darkwater Crossing. That rescue mission was as a courtesy to the Companions. She also has two radiants for the College Arcanium, one for the Dawnguard and a bounty one for the steward of Falkreath.

Her primary ‘affiliation’ remains the College, where she holds the rather unimpressive title of Arcanium Field Researcher working for Grumpy Orc. She also helps keep all the court mages supplied with magic goods to sell, mostly scrolls, soul gems and staves. That aspect is nice because it keeps her on quite a regular ‘circuit’ around all of Skyrim. As you recall, there is certainly never any moss allowed to form under Superian’s hooves.

I'm not claiming to be the best NPC follower creator at Chorrol, but I just learned how to make my own a couple weeks ago. My biggest problem was that I didn't know NPC followers are limited to certain racial types, and if your NPC is not one of these racial types , your NPC can't be a follower, assuming you choose a racial voice type that the base game doesn't recognize (High Elf Haughty is an example here). I only learned about this after reading a random YouTube post which mentioned that not all voice types will work. I found a mod that fixes this?, but only by Luck. Anyways, that's how I got a couple Thalmor followers for Master Baytor.

I will post the steps I took as I learned to make my own followers here in this Spoiler tag



Baytor is on hiatus right now. Claire is about to wrap up some sort of Mara quest called Book of Love (which I believe is vanilla). Then she's going to visit the Dawnguard. And then she's going to visit the Vigilant of Stendarr headquarters. Vigilant of Stendarr Quests is a David Brasher mod? I just discovered. I know DB from Oblivion, his work is always tops, so I'm pretty psyched that my cleric will now be able to become a Vigilant as well.


Grits: Whoa what happened to that boy's legs? Okay never mind I see them now. How many children has Jerric adopted so far? Sounds like more than one? WHOA I want that More Follower Voices mod. YES.

Acadian: Nice to hear about what Buffy (not Barbie, ha ha) is up to. I saw your post over at Beth in the Silly Names thread. Anyways, those "grumpy orc" quests are fun. I've had a few characters suss out books for him too.

Acadian, it’s great to hear about Buffy’s rounds of Skyrim. Jerric’s eyes are always peeled for a glimpse of blonde horse, blonde rider, and intermittently blonde fox. How kind of her to supply the court mages and at the same time remove such dangerous goods from the hands of the lawless. I’m sure Grumpy Orc has never had such a productive Arcanium Field Researcher!

That is indeed ghastley’s marvelous Greenspring Stronghold mod. Jerric is on track to build ghastley’s Ilinalta Den in the near future. He is finally leveling up slowly enough to suit us both, but now he needs one more level to get the mod started. Like Buffy he has no interest in property of his own, but he has a need to feel rooted without settling down. A network of friends gives him that sense of connection. He loves knowing that there are floors all over Skyrim where he can crash for the night. (And even some beds. ) You are right that Lil keeps her nesting instincts deeply hidden, usually even from herself. Young humans remind her that time passes more quickly for some than for others. Her heart wants what she thinks her life can’t accommodate.

ghastley, I look a look in the CK and found something interesting. The follower I’ve seen does not have the bound bow spell, she has the bound bow weapon and bound arrows in her inventory. Hmm. Here is a screenshot of her inventory in the CK.


ADDED: Renee, this is Jerric’s first adoption. Lil adopted Gralnach in one of her games and sent him to Lakeview Manor, which has the same family living there as in Jerric’s games (my Clan Hammer-Helm people). Jerric has met orphans in past games but never had a house with beds where he could send them. He woke up at Lakeview “Feeling a Father’s Love.” That was a shock. He thought he could just drop the kid off and stroll away.

I can’t wait to hear about Claire’s Vigilant quests! Neat!

Does she need arrows? (or do they come with the bound bow?)

The bound bow spell conjures the bound bow with 100 bound arrows. That aspect of the bound bow is a nice improvement over Oblivion's spell that gave you a bow but no arrrows.

Oh, okay. Yes, agreed: Kind of defeats the purpose of using a bound bow spell if you have to lug arrows around!

I'm still trying to figure out what happened, but I created Fluffie the NPC with ranks -1 in CurrentFollowerFaction, and 0 in PotentialFollowerFaction, in an inaccessible holding cell. Using prid xxxx, moveto player pulled her out, but now both ranks were now showing as -2!

I suspect residues of AFT, which had been removed with the prior incarnation of Fluffie, Resetting via console made her work properly, sort of.

I gave her the bound bow (and arrows) via inventory, instead of spell. The only difference was wearing the arrows on her back. She still wouldn't use it as a weapon, and grabbed a long bow from the first dead bandit to use instead. At one point, I saw that she had both the bound bow, and her Stoneflesh spell in her left hand. I could try removing all potential left-hand spells to see if that frees it up for bow use, but if she's preferring other choices over the bow, it probably won't be helpful.

I gave her a better normal bow, and she's using that as a primary weapon, as suits her class and combat style.

On the other hand (literally), the bound sword spell works for NPC Fuzz, although I couldn't persuade her to dual-wield two, and the bound sword is sometimes invisible. If she gets another melee weapon, she'll use it in her left hand, and the bound sword in the right.

Adding the two observations makes me think that left-hand is a special case with NPC's and followers. I'll make another sister for bound battleaxe and see what happens. And I'll add her to a game that has never seen AFT.

The objective here was to create a follower who looked harmless (no weapons, no armour), but could summon both when needed. So far, it's a limited success, and an ordinary destruction mage would work just as well. The next step was to be adding a script to restrict the NPC from using physical weapons/armour so they could carry them without changing their style. And after that, the Daedra Seducer transformation, with the sprouting wings, etc.

Strange that moving Fluffie altered her faction ranks. I suppose even if she would use the bound bow weapon from her inventory it wouldn’t suit the purpose of making her look harmless, since the weapon hangs around on the back after a fight. The follower I’ve seen use hers has no other weapons and no spells at all in her spell list. I read somewhere that a modder used a script to make their follower cast the bound weapon spell when combat starts. That’s over my head so I’m afraid I didn’t make a note of where I read it, sorry.

A Skyrim Daedric Seducer would look awesome! I love the mods I’ve seen with horns and wings.

I made a holding cell like you suggested for my sometimes-needed NPCs. It’s the Tavern Between the Worlds. It’s turning into a real tavern because my navmesh skills could use some polish and I feel sorry for the NPCs who get left there. Jerric uses coc to get in and pick up his companions. Pretty soon he will want to go there and buy everyone drinks.

Good luck, ghastley. You'll figure it I'm sure.

I had to deal with a rather odd glitch in Claire's game, which I just figured on my own, but I had to return to an earlier save. All the sudden, I noticed Claire was one-shot-killing everything she came across. And she wasn't taking any damage. I looked at her steel mace in the inventory, and was surprised to see this weapon now did some crazy amount of damage, like 7,278 damage. And all her armor now had armor ratings of "0" (zero), yet she was impervious to damage. This was unacceptable, of course.

I haven't got a clue what caused this but now that I'm playing an earlier save, I think it must be this mod I've got that adds weapon & armor degradation. It's the only thing I can think of. :shrug: But I've had this mod for months now.

Anyways, I didn't have to go back too far. Claire is on her way to Riften, to re-do the next Book of Love quest, and then visit the Dawnguard. I added a Lord Haaf-Mersey NPC to her game, by the way. He is (should be) currently in the Bee 'n' Barb, melord. I have this wacky idea that whenever Claire does Dawnguard stuff, she will do it with LHM. And LHM will have Lakeview Manor just like he did in my Xbox game, and Claire will be able to stop by and visit him. Heh heh....

Renee, that’s so neat that you’re putting LHM in Claire’s game. LHM and Cleric Claire, fighting evil together! I love how rich the Skyrim world can be when we layer in our own creations. The Book of Love is perfect for Claire. I’m glad you could find a save before that weird damage issue.


Jerric, Lil, Darnand, and Ulfe are adventuring with Jerric’s buddy from Anvil, Rhano. (A Grits NPC.)

Jerric was asked by the Whiterun Guard to negotiate peace with the dragon who lives at Shearpoint. A trek across the plains and up a mountain seemed like the perfect way to introduce Rhano to Skyrim.

There were a few scuffles on the way. Rhano fell right in with the group. Jerric gave him exploding arrows so he could tell which archer was responsible for which kills, and also so he didn’t blame Lil if Rhano shot him in the ass. Lil does not respond positively to criticism of her aim from people who step in the way of her shots.

Unlike Lil, Rhano is a combat archer second who prefers his swords first. He stalks straight forward shooting until he reaches melee range, then he whips out his blades and slices whatever is left to pieces. Jerric gave him a bunch of swords to try out. He favors an ebony sword and an ebony scimitar (mod).

The dragon did not wait for them to reach its lair. It opened negotiations by setting everyone on fire from the air. It missed Ulfe and the horses because they are not fool enough to go anywhere near a dragon.

The fight was glorious. As usual Jerric did not see Lil anywhere, but he recovered eight of her arrows later so he knows she was somewhere in the rocks doing what she does. Jerric took a position where he thought the dragon would land, and he was right. He was not expecting a dragon priest to pop out of the sarcophagus right next to him, though. The dragon priest and dragon fought shoulder to shoulder against Jerric for a bit while Rhano charged up the hill behind them. Jerric unleashed the full mayhem of his frost runes against the two of them, fueled by absorbed dragon priest fireballs and dragon fire.

After the battle Darnand reminded Jerric that he had been asked quite some time ago to collect some dragon heartscales for Tolfdir. They had recovered the required special dagger a long time ago, so long ago that Jerric had forgotten its purpose. It was still rattling around in his pack along with assorted items including Dwemer junk for his gyro game, a doll he carries in case he meets a little girl who needs a doll, books that he keeps forgetting to give to Darnand even though Darnand is standing right next to him, a packet of moon sugar for the next time he wants to get baked with Kharjo, and various alchemy ingredients that he suspects might also have recreation use. Now there are also some heartscales in his pack. We’ll see how long he carries them before they find their way to Tolfdir.

The gang is presently outside Raldbthar. They spotted it on the way over the pass from Shearpoint. Jerric and Darnand have not forgotten their quest for Aetherium shards, though Darnand has not had the time to discover the modern names for the locations on Katria’s map. One of the locations she marked could be Raldbthar. They’re about to find out.

Sounds like Rhano fits right in with the gang. Jerric the Jerricatronachbattlemage, the shadowy archer, the mage and now a capable ranger. How neat to bring him up from Anvil. I'm sure the weather's a shock to his system. I'm glad to see Lil share's Buffy's thinking of 'Why send an elf where an arrow can go?'