Aww, you remembered his name, SR! I had to look it up, it's been too long.

Now here are some more adventures, with pics as well, because that's what WE want, right?

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Morndas, 22nd of Heartfire

Days Passed: 36



Sir Vyvoor arrives back to Nightgate Inn, famished and tired. The campaign at Korvanjund had gone well. The Imperials had barely seemed a threat to the Stormies, who merely mowed them down like duck pins down a wooden lane. Best of all, they had found the Jagged Crown.

Vyvoor's purse got fattened too. Lots of trinkets, lots of odds and ends for him to sell. Even before getting back to Windhelm though, he already had 295 gp on his person. He also found about a half-dozen aedric amulets, some of which he'll keep to wear in the future.

On his way back from the ruins, a voice called out to him from darkness. "Hey, you there! Traveller! Over here!" At first Vyvoor ignored this call, but then his curiosity got the best of him, and he found a couple figures standing just off the road.

"Never should have come here!"

It was Vyvoor's first attack from a couple of vampires! At first, he had run, hoping to get near to Nightgate, where there'd probably be a couple guards to help him. But by that point Vyvoor was so hungry and drained, he couldn't run very fast. He stood his ground, and was surprised to find himself still able to take on the vamps, even his cheap iron sword. More gold, and more trinkets to sell. Ulfric would be pleased.

But first, a decent meal, and a bed calling his name.

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

Vyvoor shows up late to the party

Never should have come here!

Been too long since I've killed one of Ulfric's boys

Argh, lucky hit!

Youch

Ow, hello oldie!

Draugr fight

Funny. What is this thing ... this wall?

One last enemy challenges for the night

Guess who won?

(that final shot makes me laugh for some reason!)

Great action shot of the legionary with the arrow in his shoulder.

That is a big melee with the draugr at the end.

Looks like Sir V is learning some new words.

Sir V needs some carbs for long-lasting energy!

Thanks to SV, the Bluecoats are beating the Redcoats! And he has the right attitude regarding vampires - according to Buffy anyway. And yes! The last shot is very chuckle-worthy - I think it is the happysmug expression.

Nice action shots from different angles, Renee!

The first screenie at the beginning looks like from another game, where you control a party from an isometric perspective.

Vampires are no match for the survivor.

Ha ha funny pic at the end right?



I have this wild idea that only one of my characters can win the Civil War. Claire Voyance (my Cleric from last year) did the Imperial side, up to the part when she and the Imps storm Windhelm. When Vyvoor gets to a certain point I am thinking of making some sort of campaign between Stormies and Impies somewhere, and having them fight (without my assistance) on some battlefield, wile a neutral character of mine, maybe even Nassqa, watches from a distance. Whichever group wins this huge battle will be the one I'll game with til the end.

That's a pretty ambitious idea of course, and I won't really tackle it until I'm better at the Creation Kit.


Thanks man. Today's update is a shortie.

==========================

Middas, Heartfire 24

Vyvoor does some random buying & selling, mostly in the Gray Quarter. He then gathers up his courage to face Ulfric.

Ulfirc is pleased to have received the Jagged Crown, and immediately sends Vyvoor off to Whiterun, where he wants my Nord to deliver an axe. And I have two words to say: Road trip!

At least this time no cat popped up out of nowhere in the palace.

No, no more cat. No more meowing. That cat is long gone out of Windhelm by now.

---------------------------------------------------
Fredas, Heartfire 27

Days Passed: 41

Level: 10

Sir Vyvoor arrives in Whiterun to deliver Ulfric's axe, and plans to just get out of town as soon as possible. This is Imperial territory, and he's in full Stormcloak gear. But then, the Jarl's court wizard begins jawing on about some sort of stone hidden up in Bleak Falls Barrow. Vyvoor hasn't been to Bleak Falls yet, but he knows where it is.

Though he wants to get the heck out of Whiterun, he knows the sound of money when he hears it, and he needs money. So far, the Stormcloaks haven't given him any. So why not accomplish this one task for the people of Whiterun Hold? ....

Uh oh, looks like SV's gonna back himself right into a dragon wall!

Will Sir Vyvoor soon unveil his true power?

Yes, he does learn his true power in this episode. Well, sort of. Here is the story.

Middas, Frostfall 1, early evening.

Location: Whiterun
Quest: Dragon Rising

Sir Vyvoor leaves Dragonsreach, and makes a beeline for the Western Watchtower, where he is to meet Irileth, that dark elf who loves being suspicious the first time one of ours shows up in Whiterun.

Earlier in the day, Vyvoor made sure to craft up some new leather armor, hiding his Stormcloak gear in a barrel behind Warmaiden's. This way, he doesn't appear to be so obviously out-of-place in what should technically be enemy territory.

He wishes he could craft up something even better than fur and leather, but he's not very good at smithing work yet. He finally got some real money though, after retrieving the Dragonstone from Bleak Falls Barrow, and also getting paid for doing a bandit / bounty run. With just under a thousand gold in his pockets, life is looking financially good. See? Going to Bleak Falls Barrow was worth it.

As a devotee of the Nine, he's managed to collect several amulets by now: one for Akatosh, one for Julianos, Mara, and Zenithar. Before arriving to the watchtower, he selects his Amulet of Akatosh. Extra magicka regeneration is always good on the battlefield, and Vyvoor senses something is going to go down (combat-wise) even before he gets there. Everyone's saying a dragon has been sighted, but has it really?

The sky got dark typically quick as Vyvoor arrived. Before he knew it, he heard the sound of the thing, an actual, bonafide dragon flying about!

It seemed he was always in the wrong place at the wrong time once it arrived. He circcled the Watchtower once before he even saw the damn thing. Once he had it in his sight, he was able to shoot a couple arrows into it before it flew above them all!

The battle was over, surprisingly quick.* Vyvoor managed to switch from his cheap hunting bow to his new Sword of Burning, and began bashing it bravely without really meaning to. Once, he got way too close to its mouth, and found himself losing almost all his health

After it was done, Vyvoor got a funny feeling, as the dragon they'd just killed disintigrated into bones, and its magic (for some reason) swirled into him. Then, one of the guards began rambling on about how Vyvoor must be Dragonborn. That "magic" he had felt was actually the soul of the dragon, being collected into him.

"Try to shout!" the guard began demanding, while Vyvoor just shrugged. "Go ahead! Shout!" Vyvoor had no idea what the man was talking about.

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

All along the Watchtower

Vyvoor got a view

While all the guards came and went

There was a dragon, too

Outside in the cold vista

They wanted him to shout

Saadia was approaching

And my toon enjoys some chow! Hey!!!

Nice job, Sir Dragonslayer! Cool pics from the night fight.

All Along the Watchtower, princes kept the view.
While Sir Vyoor came and went. Barefoot huscarls too...

Now I see you did the whole song! Fantastic!

Thanks you two. Yeah, I thought of that song and next thing you know it's become a whole parody. TOo much Mad magazine as a kid.

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

Middas, Frostfall 8, late afternoon

Days Passed: 52
Locations Discovered: 49
Locations Cleared: 9

Location: Ivarstead

Vyvoor made it roughly halfway round the mountain, headed toward the Greybeards, when he suddenly met up with a frost troll like none I've ever seen before. This thing was tough! Maybe it's inexperience, or maybe Bethesda put an uber-troll in that one spot. But the thing was way too tough. Three good swings of its arms, and Vyvoor's health would literally be in the toilet.

He did manage to find a spot he could clamber upon, which (for some reason) the troll could not follow. Once there, Vyvoor began shooting it with arrows. But these were cheap arrows, and they ran out pretty quickly. There was no way he was going up against the thing with just his cheap iron longsword.

So he fled, back to the village. And maybe it's a sign. He's supposed to be headed back to Windhelm anyway; Ulfric will be wanting word from the Jarl of Whiterun.


(I also just put Immersive Weapons into his game--really excited about this one!

The thing about that frost troll is that it's not levelled, so it's extra-nasty to run into at low level, and totally meh at high levels. My last character to go up there met three other frost trolls on the way to him, and hardly noticed that one. Going back later is definitely the right tactic, at least for the troll.

if you have a sneaky archer with a decent bow, you can often get him down to half health before he even comes off the ledge he starts on. There's also a path around him if you persist in looking for it, but you're likely to miss the emblem just past him if you do that.

Ha! I thought something like this might be going on. Beth was being sneaky ...

Heh, Dragonborn but Trollstopped.

Yeah, he got trollstopped but he'll be back. Oh yes, he will make his return to defeat that white-furred monster. Muuhahahahahaa1!!!!

Date Not Available

Vyvoor returns to Windhelm after several harrowing days. In an attempt to keep his funds refunded, he's been in the habit of trying to explore various caves and forts he's come across, only to find he's simply not good enough yet to really plunder most of them. An example is a cave full of falmer he found somewhere, after getting lost. He managed to kill one, but then they had some sort of low-walking monster which nearly pwned my poor Nord with just two attacks!

On the other hand, he managed to defeat the fire mages of Morvundskar; though one of them destroyed his fur boots somehow. So +1 for Vyvoor there.

Upon getting to Windhelm, Ulfric was surprised, almost angry, to see Vyvoor had approached the Jarl's throne without first receiving confirmation from Jarl Balgruuf whether or not Whiterun has sided with the Stormies or not.* So Vyvoor now has to go all the way back to Whiterun. Maybe he'll just pay for a carriage this time. Because my gosh, man.

On the other hand, returning to the Windy City wasn't a total waste of time. I added three Stormcloak followers for Vyvoor to walk with in his travels (a warrior, an archer, and a mage), and placed these folks in Palace of the Kings. So now, my Nord won't keep getting nearly pwned in half the battles he faces.



* because I am one of the worst roleplayers in the world when it comes to following quest instructions, lol.

Heh, Sir V has a squad of Stormies now to carry his sorry butt follow behind him and learn from his magnificent combat prowess.

Sir V needs to get a bard follower, to write songs of his amazing feats!

Ha! That might be rather fun, to make a bard follower! I can lower his Confidence and Aggression so he'd be like this total chicken who runs away from fights.

Yeah, his team of Stormies is badass. Pictures soon! I've been getting more into Skyrim lately than Oblivion, which I thought would never happen.

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

Tirdas, Frostfall 14

Days Passed: 58

Short update for today. Vyvoor and his gang head toward Whiterun. I was gonna have them all take a carriage out there, but I want to see how their team dynamics work. He's got a warrior with a big battleaxe, an archer, and a spellsword.

He is now Level 13, and I put +2 in Strength, +3 in Endurance, and +2 into Personality.

OH and I added Immersive Armors into his game, so y'all should be seeing him in some cool new duds pretty soon. He's wearing Stormcloak gear right now, but eventually he'll want to try something new.

Tirdas, 21st of Frostfall, 4th Era 201

Level: 10

It's been awhile since I've updated Sir Vyvoor's game, and it's because I spent a few weeks learning how to make a respawning bounty quest work in this game. I finally got it working a few days ago. My GOSH Skyrim does a lot of things different.

Anyway, Vyvoor is in Nightgate Inn, heading slowly back to Ulfric with Jarl Balgruuf's stupid war axe. I think the Civil War is finally going to kick-in pretty soon.

Sir Vyvoor is in Ivarstead with his Stormie Posse. They're going to rest for a day, and then head up the mountain, where that frost troll hopefully won't be so much of a roadblock as before!

Date not recorded

Sir Vyvoor made it to the battlefield at Whiterun from an odd angle, and he did this on purpose. Instead walking up the road, past the farms and breweries, and toward the stable area like he normally would, he approached Whiterun from its rear, and around its western side.

And this wound up being better in a way. Because approaching from the far side like this seemed to skip a lot of opening dialog. It made it feel like the battle was already happening (which it was) when he and his Stormcloak companions got there. I totally avoided that feeling like they were all just waiting for HIM to show up, know what I mean?

Anyway, the skirmish itself was panicky and exciting! I actually found myself enjoying it, which is not how I remember doing the same battle with Claire Voyance. I wish I had gotten better action pictures, but I forgot about taking pics as the fights kicked in!

Pondering in the cold

Sacking the city

Bam! Crash!

Oh, you want some too?

Priest keeps on preaching (seriously, all this commotion was going on and he still gives his sermon.

The Jarl concedes

Sir Vyvoor noms

Nice shots from what sounds like an epic battle!

'Grats to Sir Vyvoor for. . . well, surviving.

Let the sacking begin! That guy up front has a giant hammer!

I can just imagine Heimskir (the preacher) saying "Talos Loves You!" as the fighting goes on all around you. A funny thing is, his house gets ruined in the battle!

Down with Jarl Baalin'!

Sir V is loading up on carbs for that long-lasting energy.

And that's exactly why he keeps preaching. He can't even go home!

I have Realistic Needs & Disease in his game, which I think is supposed to make the character get fatter, if he / she has a habit of frequent gluttony. So when Vyvoor's game gets near the end of the MQ, we'll be able to compare earliest pics of him to later ones, see if he's gained any weight.

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

Level: 16

Playtime: 60:36:25

Date: Not available

Sir Vyvoor climbed the hill from Ivarstead to High Hrothgar with his three Stormcloack companions. Ironically, everybody was all buffed & ready for that frost troll, but this time it was nowhere to be found.

So they got to meet the Graybeards without incident. Vyvoor had no idea what to expect. Now that he's met the Graybeards though, he is fully able to use his talents to shout. He is my first character who can do so.

They didn't meet that dreaded troll until leaving Hrothgar. This time, it barely gave Vyvoor any grief.

Climbing up the mountain

One of many Stormcloaks

Every Graybeard has his own opinion

Every Graybeard has his own opinion

Holding it back makes him mad

Screaming out of his flesh, and he shouts....Fus in!



Gettin' down with the beards. Praise Akatosh!

Ice Warrior

Finally, there's that troll

Cheers

SV the Dragonborn! Love how he took his posse of Stormies with him to High Hrothgar. Stormies 1; Troll 0.

Yeah, totally. That was a really good idea, to travel around with other Stormcloaks. I haven't been updating this thread, but Vyvoor has done quite a lot of traveling with his Stormie Warrior, Archer, and Spellsword. Together, they are an unstoppable force! Last time I gamed with them, they were able to liberate some prisoners locked up in Fort Neugrad, outside of Falkreath.

Well actually, the Warrior got killed at some point, but I made it so that a new guy will eventually respawn in Windhelm. All three of these followers respawn; i consider all of them generic, you see.

Vyvoor took down his first random dragon too! My gosh that was intense! Having the ability to use shouts makes a lot of difference, when it comes to fighting dragons. Pictures soon.

In Holding it Back, Sir V is either the Dragonborn, or he just has not bathed in a long time...

That troll is always a blast to kill. Unless you are really low level and it kills you!

Today I fired up Jerric’s SE game (on the PS4) for the first time in almost two years. I found him on the back porch of Lakeview in steel plate looking very uncomfortable in the midday sun. Marcurio-Darnand was at his side.

Since neither of us had any memory at all of the events that brought him there, they went for a stroll around the yard seeking clues. Rayya is in residence but there are no animals, so he must not have a steward. A couple of rooms are empty, so he either ran out of gold or patience. Or possibly he wants something custom. When he went back outside, he got a surprise “Hello my love” from – Sylgja?! I have no idea how that happened. He’s not wearing a wedding ring, so maybe he wanted a shop in the neighborhood? Yikes.

Anyway I love Skyrim just as much as ever. I just wish we could have better mods on the PS4 so that Darnand could get a horse.

Now Jerric can fill up the memory gaps any way he wants. Or maybe it's better if some remain empty.

He'll probably blame the mead, anyway.

How does the PS4 handle Skyrim? Any issues like PS3 had? Probably not. I'm thinking of getting either a PS4 or Xbox 1, assuming the next ES happens to be on the current gen of consoles. I'm hearing it won't be though.

And good to see Jerric again. I'll be playing Skyrim in a month or two.

Heh, he was probably planning on keeping Sylgja’s extra warm greeting to himself. Too late!

This may have been the original plan that I forgot, but assuming that Marcurio is not already his steward and just following at present, Jerric will go adopt the street girls from Whiterun and Windhelm on Sylgja’s behalf, then recruit that orc ranger to be his buddy Bulsakh. If he makes the orc his steward then they will all be living there as a family and Jerric can come visit for some home cooked meals. So long as he doesn’t sleep there. Then he would have to do some explaining.

Renee, I haven’t had trouble with the PS4, but when the time comes to buy another console I am going with an Xbox. The PS4 is very limited for mods and the like. I wish I had the Xbox instead.

Fredas, 8:08 AM, 19th of First Seed, Year 203 Lord Haaf Mersey was able to save Thorold Gray-Mane from the Thalmor. Lots of gamers did this quest way back in 2011, but here I am just finishing it. Feels pretty good to accomplish something!

On PC there's a mod that allows you to recruit Thorold as a follower at the end of the quest. Just sayin'.

LHM FTW!

As a leader of the Dark Brotherhood, Astrid had to be not only cunning, but also distrustful of possible new dark brothers and sisters. Though she had a good feeling about the orphan who had butchered Grelod, some more tests were necessary.

Sybil, as the girl was called, was difficult to track down after the murder, and that was certainly a good trait, because for an assassin it's important to lay low as soon as possible. But eventually they traced her to the Traitor's Post east of Windhelm, abducted her in her sleep and brought her to the swamps of Morthal to repay the debt.

As Astrid soon realized, Sybil knew how to impress. Although she could kill only one of the three captives, she killed all of them without remorse. But this was a test of one's personality, not of skills, and for a good assassin both are equally important.

The first real test was to see whether Sybil would even make it to the sanctuary. Astrid personally was following her, not that Sybil ever noticed it. As she quickly found out, the girl excelled at sneaking but when attacked openly, there was much to be learned, because Sybil had a few close calls with wild animals and occasional road robbers. She was apparently still learning how to wield daggers properly but she wasn't afraid to wield one in each hand. Occasionally Sybil would reach for a bow and it surprised Astrid that she was more familiar with it than with daggers, considering that she had been in an orphanage. She couldn't know that on rare occasions when Sybil was allowed to spend time in town, she'd practice archery at the castle courtyard, imagining Grelod's neck instead of a target. Astrid also found out that the girl must learn some proper moves when wearing light armor. But she was obviously a quick learner, which was important for an aspiring assassin.

As Sybil was getting close to Falkreath, Astrid left her, and hurried to the sanctuary by a shortcut, to prepare the final test. Before she had left the sanctuary, her husband Arnbjorn captured a wild bear close to Falkreath and had it chained outside the sanctuary. As Sybil got closer, Astrid released the bear and the starving animal lunged at the girl. Yet Astrid was nicely surprised once again - Sybil obviously poisoned her dagger because the bear became considerably slower after the first strike. Probably when Sybil stopped in Whiterun, where Astrid didn't follow her, she concocted a poison. After a few more strikes the bear was dead.

Sybil passed both tests which pleased Astrid. Although she had many things to learn, Astrid was convinced that Sybil will be a great contribution to the dark family. If she had followed her behind walls of Whiterun, Astrid could witness another deed which would please her. To prove to herself that she can do it, Sybil fired one single arrow at Belethor as he was on his nightly stroll - and one arrow was more than enough to end the merchant's life. Nobody saw her but patrolling guards would sooner or later discover the corpse and start investigating. But by then Sybil was already back in the Bannered Mare, flirting with Jon Battle-Born, until they eventually ended up in her rented room and so Sybil earned an alibi for the night. It was thanks to the conversation between Olfina Gray-Mane and Jon Battle-Born which Sybil had overheard earlier. If Olfina had time for Jon this evening, Sybil couldn't carry out her plan but with Olfina being too busy for Jon, it wasn't difficult to seduce the hurt Battle-Born.

Sybil did what a lot of mine WANT to do with Belethor. Man says some pretty rude things about daughters and sisters.

Sybil is honing her skills quite well for the dark path she has chosen. An orphan skulking around Skyrim creating more orphans!

@Renee - with Belethor dead, Ysolda took over his shop. Funny, but each time when spoken to, Ysolda tells a story of how she'll buy the Bannered Mare from Hulda once she makes enough money from trading with Khajiit caravans. She came from a stall to her own shop and she already wants to own an inn.

@Acadian - hopefully Belethor didn't have any children. Because if he had them, he'd sell them in a second.

Sybil successfully completed first three minor contracts, as ordered by Nazir. The only complication occurred in Dawnstar, where Sybil performed a spectacular shot with her bow from far above Dawnstar, but killed the wrong person because the supposed victim and the killed woman switched positions at the smelter. This not only incurred a high bounty on her head but Pale guards and some vigilantes came searching for her. After disposing of them, Sybil put on a uniform of a Pale guard and returned to Dawnstar. She watched over the miners until the shift was over, then followed the supposed victim to her house, and corrected her mistake.

While Shatter-Shields were grieving because of losing another daughter, scantily-dressed Sybil stepped in front of her next target - Alain Dufont. “Your boys hired me to…please you, my Lord,” she said and shyly looked down. Alain smiled, this was really a nice and unexpected surprise from his friends. Little did he know that all of them had slit throats by now. But as he came closer and touched the girl, he suddenly felt an intense and terrible pain in his stomach. He looked down and saw the girl’s bloody hand as she was firmly holding the dagger, which was now deep inside his stomach. At last days of banditry were over for Alain Dufont.

Shortly after, the worst bard in Skyrim, namely Lurbuk from Morthal, met quite a matching end – an arrow pierced his skull right through his ear. Whether the assassin intentionally wanted to hurt the organ, which Lurbuk’d often hurt with his singing, remains unknown. Just as it remains unknown, how did Lurbuk’s assassin manage to fatally hit him in the middle of the Moorside Inn and remain unseen.

My gosh, with her HAND??

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

Loredas, 13 Evening Star, late morning Sir Vyvoor and his three followers finally make it to where they're supposed to be next: Markarth, to do some sort of infiltration of the castle's court. I'm not sure. Bethesda is being vague with what to do, who to speak to, etc, so looks like we'll just find the place and ask around.

With a dagger. But daggers are held with hands.

The Markarth infiltration quest is a part of the Stormcloak questline, right?

Loviatar suggests that as long as her hand in deep in his chest, she may has well pull out something soft and tasty to munch on... Waste not, want not.

Okay .. um ... ew.

Morndas, mid-morning, 15th of Evening Star Sir Davor Vyvoor found the Jarl's steward and spoke to the man, but of course he's not going to admit he's a Talos worshipper. So the next step is to find out where Roerek sleeps. Maybe in this room, there shall lie some sort of evidence that Ulfric can use.

But no, he apparently does not sleep in Understone Keep. Drats. Vyvoor does some sleuthing around the town of Markarth, but nowhere does he find a door saying "Roerek's house". So the next step is to wait in the court just before it closes down. Follow the steward. See where he goes. Hopefully Vyvoor won't have to pickpocket the man, my gosh that'll be a disaster! He's got zero ability at pickpocketing stuff. Sheesh.

Meanwhile, Vyvoor's companions are all getting bored. And Davor himself is getting dispirited. He decides to pick up a contract from the noncompliant steward. Turns out, there are plenty of Forsworn locations to plunder! This piques everyone's interest. They're off to Four Skull Lookout next.

Oh and Happy Birthday Skyrim.

Ri'saad, the leader of the Khajiit caravan traders, knew better. He didn't believe lies of Whiterun guards anymore. He had witnessed one of the guards approaching his mate Ma'randru-jo and killing him in cold blood before running away. Commander Caius claimed that one of their guards was killed as well, and that someone stripped him of his outfit and dressed as a guard, but Ri'saad knew better. Khajiiti weren't welcome in the province of the Nords. Perhaps it was time to return back to Elsweyr.

Sybil is cold-filtered.

She's definitely cold-blooded. I remember specifically that Mycharonna had troubles with this contract. Kill a cat-person??? Even she could not get this done.

Or wait. A guard is mentioned Did Sybil Frenzy that guard? I am confused.

OH I get it. *smacks head* She got dressed as a guard, and that mod you've got helped her get away with this. Clever.