(Ex)-Infested Mine, on the way north, Eilidh came across this:
What is it...?
She'd only clocked it after noticing something odd about this waterfall whilst she was bathing.
It was a hot day in the highlands and a girl has to keep clean, besides the local banditry do tend to make one work up a sweat.

She's going that-a-way >>>

Upon exploring further, she came upon the mine. This was populated with, thankfully, reasonably "normal" people, albeit Humans. At least they weren't those talking lizard things, or the Kats - (although they smell nice).
Didn't make much difference in the end though...
Reflected
Now that's an Orc - she's seen them before, they have them where she's from - in fact she owns 4.
Staying in the dark.
Gah!
And no, she doesn't like dogs, either.
She may not be from around here, but she still knows the right way to act around this lot, not bad for a girl .
I wouldn't mess with Her.
Because this will happen...
++++
After resting for a short while in the cave at the entrance, Eilidh moved on through the highlands, pushing northwards and just a little east.
Wonder what happened?
Apparently it's not far from this this big town.
Nearly there...
This is the place.
A bath!!
Well it's not *exactly* a palace, but it's a sight better than sharing a battlefield with a tent full of soldiers...
That's *almost* a look of approval.
It was 3 in the morning by this time, and she was tired. Further business could wait until the morning. It was entirely possible that she would need to use some of the cottage's resources in the shop. It looked expensive, which was great, but she had little money, which was not so great.
Even as a soldier she was never exactly poor, a circumstance that never occurred to her as odd in any way...

As usual ingame is moving faster than story, but it was ever thus.
(You'll just have to excuse me if I shamelessly retcon elements into the storyline at a later date!!)
 
Eilidh clocked some sewers and tunnels under Chorrol whilst she was exploring the old mine outside the walls. She has an innate curiosity which, added to her military career as a scout, makes it nigh on impossible for her to resist checking these things out. As I may have mentioned, she's a bit of a conundrum really...
So at dusk she sets off
It proves to be an interesting excursion, full of surprising twists and turns and she's eventually spat out in the great forest, where she finds she has to walk all the way back to the gates of Chorrol and from thence to the Fighters' Guild, where she slips into something more comfortable.
 
Ooh, she's actually quite nice, for a human...
 
She decides she's going to head back to her current residence a little to the west on the Black. She may be "stranded" here for a while, but she is after all royalty and her father may be, well, her father but he still provides a certain amount of comfort and assistance - (although some gold would be handy).
She takes the scenic route, which proves actually to be very pretty, it reminds her a little of parts of her country. If she were honest, she does quite like this area, actually, especially in the warm sunshine.
This courier was taking a rest by the roadside, heading out of Chorrol
View of Chorrol from her residence
-x-

Sneaking about in Pillaged Mine
Unlucky bandits in the sewers under Chorrol
Rasheda does not give good deals, and Eilidh is Not Happy about it

Oh, princess Grumpy. Will you ever crack a smile?

Liked the Fighters Guild pixe. Nice darkness.

Heh, do you know I've never once seen her smile?

Mind you she is a bit of a grumpy one, lol - actually she's refreshingly different to N..., she has no baggage and no deep and meaningful past, and her story, is on the whole a lighter one than the rather bleak seriousness of you-know-who...

Phon, Buffy's quite a gregarious and smiley thing. I started her over for a second playthrough a couple thousand hours ago and was quite chagrined to see her not being very smiley with others in the game. Once we got her personality well up to where it belongs (and a pretty respectable amount of fame with zero infamy) however, the old quick-to-smile elf was back. Most folks she encounters have a disposition of at or near 100 toward her and that seems to affect her smiling.

mALX told me quite some time ago that she had basically the same experience/observations with Maxical.

So. . . it seems to me that if one wanted to keep a character seemingly grumpy, keeping their personality (and probably fame) low would be of help. Dunno if high infamy would enhance the effect.

All good stuff Ac.
Well she's not Ms Personality that's for sure, even amongst her peers.
She is likeable enough once you get to know her but she's fairly hard work to get there. That said, she's more than capable of turning on the charm when she needs/wants to, she just doesn't very often!

Anyways, she looks good and I´m gonna stop calling her princess Grumpy

Heh heh, you don't have to stop calling her that.
We are in an environment this time that's a lot less heavy than before and I think that your nickname for her suits that. In time you mjght have to change that but...

Actually it was you who came up with it in the first place! I merely adopted it

If she changes later she could still be called that because then it would be endearing

D'oh!
Oh yeah so I did! Still, I think you've adopted it!

Yes indeed, I think it would.

Some from her Ladyship:
Weynon Priory
Chorrol by night
The next morning, feeling a rather alien need to redeem herself after the events of the previous day, she headed out to Hackdirt
There's a good chance she'll check this place out on the way back...
Welcome to Hackdirt
Not exactly thriving, is it?
Early evening, she has to hang around the place, waiting for The Dark
Outside the chapel

Actually, here are some more...
 
There you are
That one won't be going anywhere
I wonder what's over there?
After it was over, she piled all the bodies she could find up into a pile, and burnt them.
Killed by her own trap - (Don't get the impression that all of the female bandits run about topless, they don't. Eilidh loots them and pretty much always carries off the cuirass; though not worth much, it's often the most valuable thing on them. Since in Eilidh's world sapient bipeds do not have underwear tattooed onto their bodies...).
I just quite like this shot
It was too late to return to her dwellings at Tona's, so she was forced again to sleep in the FG, under the creepy and far-too-watchful eye of the porter, fortunately, she had purchased from Tona's some eye-wateringly expensive underwear. Underwear! Who would have thought that it would become Such An Amazing Thing!! Even in her military service she was used to wearing something nice under her armour, and the lack of it hitherto had been a source of some discomfort - in every sense.

I really liked this batch, Phon Especially the one titled I just quite like this shot, a very good shot there.

Won´t comment on the last one though

LOL.
I was thinking of you when I posted it!

Part of Eilidh's remit is to thoroughly explore the province of Cyrodiil and, at the designated meeting points, pass on such information and news, and artefacts of possible interest as she can find.
To this end she has ventured out of Chorrol and headed south, firstly to the fort - Carmala - that she passed on the way to Hackdirt. She didn't stay long here since she discovered it was was full of a threat that was rather more insidious than she was prepared to put up with...

So she beat a tactical retreat and moving further west, found herself at Wendir, one of the ancient marble ruined structures that dot this landscape.
Approaching Wendir
Wendir externals: one two three four five six seven
Even though there is nothing really like this where she is from, standing on these ruins, she still seems to "belong" to them. Must be an Elf thing I guess...
Wendir internal
Frustratingly, her explorations of the ruims were curtailed by a lock she was unable to pick, although there was an alternate way down, she was fearful of becoming stuck and so left the ruins, spending the rest of the night hidden amongst them; out of sight of prying eyes... Wendir Night.
 
The next morning was bright and clear and Eilidh resolved to head west to a cave she'd heard of, check it out, and then head northwards back to Chorrol and her residence, possibly heading northwards after that or back south to Anvil, she was uncertain and her instructions left *a lot* of leeway - (to say the least)...
Wendir, the next morning
A rather picturesque waterfall abutting the ruins
The waterway flows on to the south
Crossing through the countryside to the southwest of Chorrol
"Broken Promises Cave" it was marked as on her map - the pond-lizard in the shop had labelled it for her. Eilidh clocked it was inhabited by bandits, who made for rather more satisfying sport than that of yesterday, and so she made the most of it. Running headlong into a cavern in the dark she barely avoided disappearing down a massive chasm, something she only noticed later when she had lit her torch, it was a significant tear in the floor of the cave.
The three bandits she'd thrown in earlier.

Whoa, some pixies are very dark! I can barely see her figure

Anvil Chapel is not looking good
Definitely
Not
Good
Ruined beacon outside of Anvil
Sunset over the ocean
View back up to the abandoned cottage - Eilidh discovered, in the basement room just by the bed, the following inscription carved in to the wood, in a language she recognised, much to her surprise... "Is mian liom d'fhéadfadh sé a bheith go deo" - it did not add to her mood any
Coastal view
Rather her...
Garlas Agea
Shiny#1
Eilidh by torchlight
A Profile
Shiny#2
These actually hurt her, as you can see from her somewhat pained expression - (looks worse than it was though)...
Shiny#3
It's still a mystery to her how they let these thyrs run about with armour and weapons and all. Servants yes but fighting? No wonder they get themselves killed; they aren't to be trusted beyond serving tea. Mind you, what do you expect from a place run by humans...? It's not surprising the Ailbhs have gone strange and the place is overrun with talking lizards...

Will Grumpy undertake the Pilgrimage and the rest of KotN?

It is a possibility, more out of principle than of any love for the country she's in, mind...
...she's got a way to go yet though.

Sunset, Anvil outskirts
Hill Fort
Even Eilidh has to admit the scenery is pretty...
Accidental shot
That ruin again, you know the one...
What?!
Preparing to dive on the wreck - she keeps her leggings on and grabs the tanto...
Wreck + Shadow
She never got in this one. There was some Massive lizard-thing there, looked like a big relative of the talking ones in the towns. Maybe it was...
Oyster Bay
Another sunset, this one at Oyster Bay
She couldn't decide whether to wear armour or civvies, so she went for both.
One of the pirate ships
This guard was... eye catching...
The End - (for him)

Ooh, I like the she went for both pic And the wreck + shadow made me think of the third Pirates movie. Savvy?

LOL - yes indeed!

Here we are:

7 minutes of Eilidh in Infested Mine.
 
Now available in 720 and 1080.
 
Apologies for the mouse cursor - it's an MSI thing...

Saw that one at Bethsoft - interesting to see her in action

Yeah I tend to post duplicates here and there, I have a couple more but the quality isn't that great.
If I do film outside it just doesn't work as the framerate gets Murdered...!

She's not sure what city this is...
But she's pretty certain she's supposed to be heading towards this one
Just a nice torch effect I thought
Eilidh has become quite the fan of the Colovian Highlands
The warm sun, a gentle breeze and the scent of flowers, a girl could get almost used to that, here...
Tona's, where she is staying for the time being
Not that she's all that happy about it, mind
Personally I think she's quite cute when she's grumpy - (just don't tell her that)
It's got a bath! Thank the Goddess!! (that could *almost* be a smile)
Aaaand Relax
Nice dress
And there she is
Sunset, the bridge back to the main road
About the dress, long story...
She takes a trip down into Chorrol, guardhouse on the right
Looking across to the mill
Going by the chapel - (she's planning on stopping in there later)
Stopping off at the FG

Princess Grumpy's new crop top looks excellent!

Gaaah!! Something resembling a smile from Grumpy!!

Yes, she likes it.
She found it in a bandit chest along with someothers. Evidently they were part of a delivery to some noblewoman.


Of course, she's got a bath and a nice dress, and for the moment a reasonable little dwelling. She's warm dry and well-fed.
She still has no money, or at least not much, but she's working on that.
Add to that the fact that she does quite like the region around Chorrol. Apparently there's a house for sale in the city. If she is indeed stuck in this provincial backwater for the next two years then she might as well see if she can accrue some property, to make it easier...
The cottage is nice and all but it's part of the shop and it was made very clear that it's not hers. She has to find her own dwellings.

Eilidh in combat.

But then this happened
WOAH!!!
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Jury is still out but...
...Damn it she looks good!

Couple of shots from Eilidh's second excursion into Crumbling Cave - always good value. The bandits are attempting to knock their way through to the city sewers...
She emerges, blinking, into the early morning sunlight.
She makes her way back to the city...
Chorrol, looks quite pretty in it's way, in the morning.
She makes some sales to Rasheda.
Then back to the Oak and Crozier for some downtime.
Later, in her room, a visitor...? - this was as unexpected as, but easier on the eye and more welcome than, the last uninvited guest; the night before some man in a black sheet and a hood had picked his way in and started going on about how eyes were watching her and some Brotherhood or other was interested in her.
He tried giving her a blade.
It didn't end well, for him at least. No one breaks into Eilidh's room in the middle of the night and gets away with it.
With the possible exception of Casta Scribonia, as it turns out...
What?! Even Eilidh needs some company sometimes and wouldn't be the first time she'd roughed it with the lower class which Casta, being a human, basically is...

Eilidh awoke to find a note had been pushed under the door of her room in The Oak.
"Look for the graveyard, there is more to find in it than the dead." It said, cryptically...
...turns out that she may well have an "assistant", covertly at least; wonder what else she'll find about the place, left by Who Ever They Are... :wink:
++++
Chorrol in the morning
Nice countryside, when it's sunny
We'll get to that later
This woman needs to work on her customer skills
Unfriendly, to say the least
Obligatory close-up!
Whose is this, and why is it here?
He really was nasty
Creepy place
So anyway in the graveyard was a chest, and in the chest "Someone" had left these
And just in time too
Very handy they were...
It was trickier than you might though
Unfinished Business
Eilidh mulls over a return visit, worshipping Dark Gods is strictly forbidden where she's from...
She's going to be making tracks soon, moving eastwards, ish.
Seed-Neeus
Leaving for the cottage, and a bath
Recharging
Bathed and into clean clothes!
At the desk. She's decided she should really start brushing up on her studies, they might come in handy...
Second obligatory close-up

I like that Grumpy has standars towards worshipping dark gods. Lothran does too as he stole their bible once and dropped it where no one can find it.

Like another character, Grumpy looks good in everything she has on


Old pic; chatting whilst on patrol
This one is from Decrepit at Bethsoft. His character´s mansion can be seen on the left.

Yeah, she's no fan of Dark Forces, but then it should be pointed out that worshipping *ANY* deity other than The Goddess is forbidden in her homeland.

Eilidh's journey to the Imperial City...
 
A little south from Chorrol to Wendir:
Wendir External View
Statue
Close up in Wendir
It had previously been raining on first approach
A hectic night in Hackdirt
Outside Moslin's Inn
Looking out of the Great Forest to the Odiil Farmstead
Couple of closeups: one two three
On the road
Fort Ash approach
The "borrowed" horse
First view of the Emperor's City - it was clearer once the haze had gone
Dusk
Following the legionary
Arrival at Weye
The next morning, outside The Wawnet
Causeway approach
Abandoned carriage on the causeway
View of the gatehouse
In the gatehouse, looking back towards Weye
The pathway up to the gates
View over the outer defences
Siege Engine: one and two
At the Main Gate
Talos Plaza, alternate view, third view
Leaving the barracks after paying her fine - oh how Donal will laugh!
Market District approach from the barracks

While I appreciate your pixies Phon, I could never use the mod you use that makes it all blurry

Heh, yeah I know it's not for everyone but I just love the whole soft and smudgy look.
I don't like hard edges!

Eilidh's first couple of days in the Imperial City have been spent exploring and doing a little shopping.
She's made a bit of money on one thing and another both on the way and during her extended stay in Chorrol, even allowing for the fine for horse-theft

First opportunity she got, she updated her wardrobe. She's got nowhere to put it mind, but it makes her feel good, and the guests in the Tiber Septim - (in which she has set up temporary residence on credit, arrogance does occasionally have it's uses!) - had some candy with their dinners - and she's got no problem with that at all. :wink:
 
ENCOUNTERS:
Divine Elegance - Palonirya
Temple of The One - Tandilwe
In the street - Elragail, who  wanted a chat
Random waterfront denizen
She was unfriendly - Eilidh is not remotely interested in her stupid boat
 
CITY VIEWS:
Shopping in the jewelry store
The Arboretum - she likes the arboretum
The Temple of The One was... underwhelming - (apart from Tandilwe!)
Imperial City and Gatehouse from the quay at the waterfront settlement
Looking out at the gatehouse
Walking through the waterfront - it smelt not unlike some of the camps she'd lived in her father's military campaigns. She's an odd girl, Eilidh, she's got no problem wading through blood and poop, so long as she looks good doing it and there's a hot bath and a decent bottle of wine at the other end.
Couple more views of the waterfront and the boats
That's a pretty waterfall
The Bloated Float. She *won't* be staying there!
Temple exterior
That does look interesting...
Tiber Septim Lobby
Walking to dinner
Couple more random shots of the arboretum, there's an area like this in the Palace Grounds in her country. Actually the Imperial City would FIT in the her Palace's grounds...
Sunglare
 
EILIDH:
Some arty shadow shots:
Here and here and here and here and here
She bought this one - it's got stockings, and Goddess knows the shoes are actually decent.
I think she has a lovely nose
Another close up
Elegantly Wasted - (bit to much vino; put the sword down, E.)
I thought the set up was good
It was a nice, calm day
Yes I know it's another close up!
You see, this is why she's broke all the time!
 
++++
 
OOC: I feel I should mention at this point that Eilidh is not going to turn out to be some sort of immensely shallow clothes-horse, far from it - but she is a girl who likes fine things, and so when she can she buys them. She's very unlike you-know-who and it's fun to watch her wander through the city shopping and just looking around; no sneaking, no furtive agendas.
At least not yet...

Eilidh in Fanacasecul - (she thinks) - a note on the goggles: to me it makes perfect sense for a nighteye enchantment to be added to something that you would wear on your eyes. How can that not be logical? Her clothing less so but the goggles? That seems perfectly fine!
 
Anyway, on with the show:
She's off to Skingrad because apparently there's information there about her Future House. The more she sees of it, the more she just knows it's the place to have as a base of operations.
 
She spends the night in Weye, prior to setting off on her journey the following morning.
There was plenty to see along the route.
With the sunset however, the journey became more arduous; night in the forest really meant night and although she's not bad at navigating by the stars and has a reasonable internal compass, this journey was something else even with night vision goggles.
She ended up spending a fairly miserable night huddled up against an Ayleid ruin of some sort.
 
The next morning dawned bright and clear however, and she found that she was actually not all that far from Skingrad proper, having been in it's hinterland already, without realising it.
The approach to the city was pleasant enough.
 
She hired a very pleasant room at the West Weald and changed gratefully out of her armour. It had a balcony view. And she spent a little time looking out over the area.
Following a light meal and a glass of wine, she took herself out around the place, to get a feel for it; the streets, a little claustrophobic she thought. But the broader areas were nice.
 
The inevitable shopping followed, at Agnete's, and then at the Alchemy Store. She struck up quite the conversation with Falanu.
Her explorations continued and she found herself at sunset on the bridge from the castle.
It was a HECK OF A SUNSET as well.
After watching that she returned through the darkened streets to the inn.
Conversation with Else. Eilidh isn't sure that she likes her, she's a bit too blasphemous for her liking. Even though they aren't her Gods, Eilidh would still have them treated with respect.
 
Speaking of which, she set out early the next morning for the Great Chapel of Julianos, located in the part of Skingrad she had not yet ventured to.
There she spent some time in peaceful reflection.
 
Then it was back through the streets to the inn. She's picked up a Guild job involving Agnete and a cuirass and is keen to get cracking on that. It's all to move on with her Plan and also the money would be handy as well.
Mind you, looks like the West Weald has had it's own share of excitement!

A little difficult to follow when you merge this thread with the update thread and all I want is looking at pixies....

Nevertheless, good ones as per usual and some amazing lights here and there!

Hah!
You'll get the hang of it, I'm experimenting with different ways of relating her story. She's easier to play with than you-know-who.

Yeah, I am a sucker for lens flare. Can you tell?!

Yes I can and I am too!

@Vicho - Cheers, I was wondering where that location was. Yeah, thing I just LOVE the eye candy! Although your stuff is crystal.
 
This is what happens when you don't get enough sleep and you try and carry too much...
Fortunately, after recovering and getting a good few hours kip, she felt much better and went to the Fighters' Guild to work out some aggression - (and get a bit of practice in).
 
[there now follow 20 shots of Eilidh beating the living hell out of the practice dummy. If you're one of those odd people for whom the sight of a cute elf wearing a dress and attacking things with a sword is a bit "meh", then feel free to skip these shots and go to the below, which start back off with lovely lovely lensflare! :wink:]

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Following that it was a trip to the Cathedral for a Blessing, back to the inn for an early lunch - (I'm thinking that she is wishing those two would shut up!)
Man, she is Tiny 
Then she set off back east once again, to the Manor, and the cave.
HOME - (soon anyway)
Having stabled the horse, she set off up the hill at the back of the place, to Haynote...

Horrible SpiderInsectThing in Haynote
Flowers in Red Rose garden
That's a Heck of A View...
Soon...
 
[with apologies to Emma for freestyling somewhat, but also much kudos to Emma for creating such a great place, it's integral to both my stories!]
 
Sure is dark in here
The dining area
There are slaughterfish in the grotto pool
And a mudcrab on the shore
Finding Aurora
 
See HERE for context.

It's pretty much now how she wants it, more like home...

The grotto.
Very atmospheric
Something's in amongst the plants, in fact, There's another one
The tunnel leading to The Mirror
These guys seem to like it
The basementLooking to the wine store
The work table, on the right
The storage alcove
General shot - of the basement

----
[note: Red Rose Manor is the creation of Emma, and I would not presume to undermine her version in any way. THIS version is for my own personal use and fits the current narrative of Eilidh's story. The original version can be found here along with a list of all the modders who contributed to it.]
----

A little gloomy, but as long as she´s happy with her living arrangements then I´m happy too

She was going for "moody", I think it works, all low lights and mystery...

I think it does

Does the house come with a garden?

Yeah it does actually, and it backs onto The Great Forest, only problem is she's had to have a fence put up to keep out the Trolls. It's not terribly effective though as she's now got a dead one in a flowerbed!!

Here we are in Le Boudoir - (she was going for moody and mysterious)...
 
Yes that is a duck, the bathing screen is nice as well, keeps the heat in. She's spent somewhere in the region of 4 hours in this bath in the last 2 days...
She found the arena posters in the attic, and put them up not strictly because they have girls on them, but more because they conjure up a kind "Warrior Maiden" type thing, like the books she used to read when she was younger...
Cuddly toys. Who knew?
She hung a map of the Imperial City in the study area, for reference.
With Elabyth's help she marked her homeland on this globe, which was nice... 
The study area, she's since replaced the tapestry with a map of the IC.

She thought this looked quite atmospheric so she had it hung over the bed...
Surveying the new Troll fence.
She had a gate put on the stables whilst she was at it.
The sleeping corner does look cosy, mind.
 
The next morning she got on the horse and headed off to the Imperial City, largely to talk to Umbacano about a business deal she had heard of.
Pausing on the Causeway Bridge.