20211030 VH-OVB – Stand Ye In Holy Places
Feeling good with what we recovered we left Lindai early the next morning. With a quick pace we easily made the outskirts of Chorrol by noon. Our first stop was to Weynon Priory. We were hoping to find a white monk’s robe. That the Priory was still vacant after several years didn’t concern us. Luck was with us there was still one left on the floor upstairs.

From Weynon Priory we continued on to our home in Chorrol. The Pinder girls, still around after all this time were happy to see us. As usual the dinner was very good.

The next day after lunch, my Ladies and I took a stroll around Chorrol to get the feel about the current vampire issue. Everyone was pretty much hush, hush about it. We didn’t get much information out on the street so we took our investigation to the Chapel of Stendarr.

Here too the subject was taboo. No one wanted to talk about vampires in the Chapel Undercroft, which I found strange. Doesn’t matter, we know the vampire disturbance is centered in the Chorrol Chapel Undercroft. We’ll start our investigation there.

Chapel Undercroft sits outside near the cemetery. Once inside the Undercroft we are surprised with not finding any trace of vampires. Even Kaleah with her delicately attuned nose, can’t detect even the slightest hint of vampires. So, either the vampires are very skilled in covering their tracks, which I doubt or our informants are wrong and they are never wrong. But it is daytime and that might have something to do with it. We’ll try again after dark.

In the meantime we roamed around town trading our loot for gold and information. One tidbit we heard was that Chorrol’s Chapel of Stendarr has undergone major Better Cities renovations. Inside the Chapel where the Undercroft used to be has been converted into sleeping quarters for the priests. The Undercroft is now its own building just north of the Chapel of Stendarr, which we already knew.

Night came and we walked over to the Undercroft. Once again we find no evidence of vampires. Perhaps they’re outside? Nighttime is feeding time after all.

Outside in the cemetery we met the vampire hunters Eriah the Witch and her partner Sir Lareleth from High Rock. They too are on the hunt for the supposed Undercroft vampires and like us they have been unsuccessful.

A thought forced its way through the confusion of my mind. “Elenya consult the web. Please.”

Elenya produced a white pebble from one of the pouches on her belt. Placing the pebble on the ground she knelt and breathed the words on it.

“Humilis sum genua et humiliter orare, Cor meum, oppressi cinere: Oro te tubum, monstrant viam.”
(Low I kneel and humbly pray, my heart, crushed like ashes; pray youtube, show the way.)

Eight legs unfolded and the white spider began spinning its web. Minutes later when the spider was finished it curled its self up and Elenya placed the white pebble back in her pouch. Taking the delicate thin strands Elenya searched the web for our answer.

After some study Elenya finally said, “It says, the Chapel Undercroft has moved yet the old remains beneath the new.”

Ah, I think I know what to do.

The next day we visited the Chapel of Stendarr once again. Entering one of the new bunkrooms I walked up to the far wall and searched the along the base of the wall. When I found a crack with a tiny sliver of green I knew I was at the right spot.

Turning to my Ladies I told them it was best that I go alone and to wait here for my return. Turning back to the wall I cast the Passwall spell (TCL). As I stepped into the floor I could hear Kaleah shout, “Three strikes of the hour then I come to pull you out.”

There they were the doors to the old Undercroft. The door opened at my touch and I entered the original Undercroft.

Well I found the vampires and they weren’t happy with the priests of Stendarr trying to seal them up under the new portion of the Chapel of Stendarr. The priests had failed of course. The vampires had found a way out. So instead of locking the vampires away the priests had provided them an excellent hideaway.

It was dark in the stairwell. Crouching down I waited trying to determine how many vampires there were to deal with. Two were crossing back and forth between two side chambers. The third a tall Dunmer was standing close by facing away from me. A step closer and he would be prime for a backstab attack.

Moving as quietly as could be my Dragon Armor gave me away. He heard and turned in my direction. Crouching in the darkness of the stairwell Varel Drusayeth didn’t see me as he walked right past me on the stairs. I struck and with one stab Varel Drusayeth was dead.

The noise of Drusayeth falling aroused the other vampires. With the advantage of darkness taken away I rose to meet the charge of Fritz Sorensen. Arrows pelted me as I forced the vampire into a corner. Sorensen wasn’t very skilled and he fell quickly to my fiery blade the Light of Dawn. I then turned my attention to the vampire with the bow.

Pelting me with arrows and switching to silver long sword when I closed, Glarwin was the toughest foe of the three. Retreating to a side chamber she danced around the room’s columns using them as shields as she struck with her sword. Calling Twinkle to provide light and to act as a distraction we were able to bring Glarwin to bay.

Outfitted in Obsidian chainmail armor a vampire warrior from the other side of the Undercroft came charging into the small room. He was too late to save Glarwin and himself, really. The first strike was mine and the fiery effect of the Light of Dawn began taking its toll. It wasn’t long before Tristastyr Copperwing joined the other three vampires in their final death.

Returning to the Chapel of Stendarr I met up with my Ladies and told them the Chorrol infestation had been taken care of. The Stand Ye in Holy Places quest is over. I also mentioned that these vampires were not as powerful as rumored to be. Kind of makes me wonder what’s going on.

Come on Ladies let’s go somewhere and get a drink.

Phew... all is well that ends well. Love Elenya's white spider spinning its web. Fantastic!

How wonderful to have a web spell - - I'm sure that really comes in handy! And a passwall one as well! The Jandanga certainly made good use of both here as another lair of bloodsuckers bite the dust.

I like that part of Vampire Hunting, the way most town folk get all hush-hush about the vampire issue. They pretend nothing is wrong, while these powerful undead literally walk their towns at night.

Hey macole, your picture just opened for me, and I didn't have to add a .jpg at the end of your picture URL. Oh wow, I didn't know the Undercroft is out here. That's something new. Oh wait. Duh. Better Cities.



*laughs out loud* I Love the language she speaks. Looks like Latin, sort of. Except there's a word for You Tube.

Goo job taking down those suckers, macole. Yes I agree, those ones didn't sound so powerful. I remember when I going through Vampire Hunting some of them are extremely tough.

It is latin. It's a line from the hymn Dies Irae (Latin: Day of Wrath), which I altered a bit to fit the concept I wanted to convey. I hope it worked, I didn't want to say I searched the internet.

The word for YouTube is actually two Latin words; 'te' for you and 'tubum' for tube. I know my Latin is poor and I should take a refresher course.

Just for fun, in my private copy the Jandaga stutters when he asks Elenya to search the web, "Elenya consult the w-w-web, please."

My father also spoke some Latin, because his parents wanted him to go into seminary and become a priest back in the '50s, instead of going to college. He chose college instead (thank the Gods) otherwise I wouldn't be here.

I also consult the web during gameplay (UESP, The Imperial Library, etc.) sometimes if I get stuck. Or if some research needs to get done, especially if the character has Scholar or some other pertinent skill (The Fantasy Trip, which you also used as I recall). I figure whatever they know through one of those Skills is something I can also gain knowledge to.

Going on the web during play can be dangerous though. If I looked up something which was so obvious in hindsight I get mad at myself.... But if we're stuck due to some known glitch I have to know this. Saves time, in that case.

Anyway, continue...

20211104 Ave’s House of Earthly Delights, A Hunt, Fort Wooden Hand

It was suggested that we go to Ave’s House of Earthly Delights. There is no better place to relax and broaden one’s horizons. Pym tried to talk Azzah into letting her take a turn on stage. Problem was, it's the last day of First Frost and the Witches Festival entertainment, the Zombiettes & Ghouls of Broken Peach Asylum, has been held over for another week.

I tried explained to Pym that the band was about to take the stage and the regulars don’t want amateurs disrupting the show.

Late in the wee hours when later in the act the singers got so wild that limbs started flying about that Kaleah and Elenya whispered in my ears, “Enough of this tainted stuff, let’s get a room.”

A night at the House of Earthly Delights is expensive. Especially pricey if you get the large suite and even more so when a private dancer is included. We didn’t get the dancer this time around.

I had too much to dream last night
Too much to dream
I'm not ready to face the light
I had too much to dream…
Last night
(The Electric Prunes)

What happened last night? Getting out of bed was a struggle. Pins and needles stabbed me from head to toe like I was a giant pincushion. Dragging myself around, it was late morning before the last of the cobwebs in my head were brushed away. When we finally left the House of Earthly Delights our intention was to go back to Chorrol for lunch and to prepare for a trip to Anvil.

The plan changed when a flash of pale blue caught the corner of my good eye. Had it been on my left side I might have missed it all together. There it was, a bluish shadow flittering through the dense underbrush.

“Snipe!” shouted Elenya and we gave chase.

The snipe hunt is on. Like hounds on the scent through the Great Forest we pursue the elusive bird. It teased us like the dancers at Ave's constantly showing a glimpse here, a glimpse there, disappearing in the brush only to re-appear further away. Past Dibella’s wayshrine we chase, past Narfinsel too we pursued.

Then just past Breakneck Cave the snipe paused. Maybe the snipe was as weary as we were. Taking a chance I drew my bow and loosed an arrowt. It was quite a distance and the forest brush made for a less than optimal view but my aim was true. The hard part was finding the bird afterward. Our reward for the marathon race was a tail feather and a nasty tasting roast snipe dinner.

Why scouts are sent to hunt these things is beyond me!

We turned southwest to resume our journey to Anvil. Kaleah noted that we would be passing by Brindle Home, perhaps we should tell Melus Petelius where we found items belonging to him.

“Good idea, but it’ll be dark soon let’s try to find some place to bed down for the night.”

“There’s an old abandoned fort right over there,” Elenya said. “Fort Wooden Hand I think it’s called. Forts usually have beds.”

Yes they do if you call an old moldy moth-eaten mattress a bed.

It didn’t take long after entering Fort Wooden Hand that a night’s sleep in the Great Forest comes at a price. Marauders attacked us in the dark just a few steps in from the front door.

Kaleah laughed as Elenya and Pym raced to be the first to score a hit. Elenya was right about there being a place to sleep here. The ruined fort looked like it had suffered some sort of disaster. A hallway off to one side was completely caved in. A gaping hole in one wall the opposite wall indicated someone had been excavating or mining here

We did find a bedroll in one corner. One bedroll to share amongst the four of us, I guess we could do it. We will have to wait awhile to see how that will work. This place would not be safe for sleeping until we sweep the place clean of marauders. Never let it be said that we don’t take house cleaning seriously. Down into the tunnel we went.

Sweeping the place wasn’t too hard. There were quite a few marauders in the fort but nothing we couldn’t handle. This wasn’t a large ruin and eventually we stood before the large double doors of the Stockade. Through the door we proceeded to find ourselves standing at the top of a staircase. Down below sat a throne in front of several large chests. Milling about the throne were six or eight marauders (OOO and MOO add additional marauders to the fight). It looked like they were plotting something.

When they saw us they attacked. One Breton was wearing a kit of rare blue glass armor, wearing icy Stalrim armor from northern Solstheim was a Nord, Una Ivywind (MOO), and M’ijin, a Redguard wore dark hardened Nordic chainmail (MOO). These guys were no slouches to be sure.

Outnumbered our victory was in doubt until I called the Sisters of Insanity. The sweet Sisters eagerly brought their unique brand of religion to the marauders. Soon we were peacefully looting the place.

The marauder in the blue glass armor turned out to a Breton marauder acolyte. A note found on his body reveals rebellion plot. The leader, Captain D. M. mentions in the note that he has gone north and that their safe houses are fort ruins with names that begin with A... C... H... and W...

(The note is a surprise from the Blue Glass mod. It’s not a real quest mod but BlueGlass NPC and note kind of gives you a reason to hunting for the blue glass arms and armor.)

Methinks Pym can take center stage whenever she likes.

Snipe sniping?

It is tough when you have to clear a whole fort just to find a place to sleep. Blue glass armor sounds nice. And some tips on where to find more.

20211105 OOO Path of Iron
From Fort Wooden Hand we head southwest toward Kvatch. Passing near Brindel Home, Kaleah calls a halt and asks, “My Feache, Melus Petilius lives near here. Shouldn't we tell him we know where parts of his lost armor kit are located?”

Melus Petilius was standing at his wife’s grave when we found him. As we tried to tell Melus that we had discovered three pieces of armor belonging to him in various caves and forts during our travels we couldn’t help but notice a claymore driven into the ground in front of the graves headstone. For whatever reason, Melus Petilius refused to talk to us.

Hoping to get a reaction from Petilius, we even tried pulling the claymore from the ground. The reaction we got was not from Petilius rather it came from the sword. A multitude of voices announced that I must prove myself worthy in order to claim the sword.

Good sylvan cute elf that she is, Elenya threw up a hand in warding gesture and cried. “The Nine are testing for a paladin!”

Yes, we don’t need that. Our devotion to the Lady of Creation already fills our lives. So, leaving Melus to his thoughts we continued on our journey to Kvatch and Anvil. We hadn’t gone far when Elenya turned to me.

“Melus is deeply troubled,” Elenya said. “He’s a good man in a world sorely lacking in truly good men. Perhaps there is something we could do to help ease his sorrow.”

Turning to look back I saw Melus still at the grave site kneeling, head in his hands. Yes, perhaps we can.

Circling around so as not to be seen we approach Melus Petilius’ house. Double checking that Petilius was still focused on visiting the grave we enter his house. The four of us quickly search his small cottage. Pym points out a cellar door on the floor.

The cellar has been turned into a shrine to honor the dearly parted wife of Melus Petilius. On the makeshift altar sits Melus Petilius’ journal. We read it and now understand what he is going through. The once dedicated paladin of the Nine had been away, fighting for his gods when his wife died. Blaming himself and the gods for not being there when his wife needed him the most Melus went on a suicidal mission of destruction.

During his rampage he lost all his armor, one piece in five different locations. His anger assuaged he returned home. Vowing to never to leave her side to go fighting again he drove his great claymore sword, Path of Iron, into the ground at the head of his late wife’s grave.

Melus Petilius’ love for his wife exceeds everything even that of his gods. Gods don’t like that kind of thing. Now they’re looking for a new paladin and won’t release Petilius until they find one.

“Gods,” Kaleah cursed. “No better than the Princes. They’re playing games with the poor man”

I agree. The gods and the princes claim we have free will yet they troll us around like some Dwemer construct. Better to be devoted to a sleeping or dead goddess that leaves you alone then become a pawn in some Aedra Daedra game of life.

“We can simply collect the items like we are doing with the relics of the Crusader,” offered Elenya. “Drop them all off at the Priory of the Nine and let some other worthy someone use them.”

“Someone like the illustrious Lady Saga or the legendary Joan of Arkay or possibly the recently ordained paladin Buffy for example?” I asked. “How about the renowned Lena y’Wolf? “

“Not sure about Lena, she has an… ah, how would you say, like you, an affliction,” Kaleah offered.

That settled, we went back to the grave and answered the sword’s question before continuing south.

What a fun little story about Melus! I couldn't believe the darn Nine wouldn't let poor Melus retire and live out his days in peace! Oh well. . . I think Elenya offers a good idea for Melus' armor. And some worthy contenders mentioned to use it!

Lovely pictures and poor Melus... At least no one seems to be questing for the mace of Molag Bal... Yeah, Lena is... umm... is being an assassin considered an afflicition? I think those other ladies would do much better.

I'm sure that i neglected mentioning many other suitable characters. I wonder how the Stormcrow would react to this?


Let's see if I remember correctly, history of vampirism and consorting with Daedra.
There is a choice; do the quest for Molag Bal or take of the OOO quest for the Path of Iron. Can’t do both. I did play through the Molag Bal quest long, lomg time ago with my first character, sometime between '07-'10.

Consorting with Daedra is definitely an affliction, oh yes!

Electric Prunes. Never heard them, not that I know of. Hope they are on par with Ultimate Spinach.

I have fallen behind. Just watched that crazy Tainted Love video. Where do you find this stuff? Oh yeah, the internet.

That snipe looks really cool. Are those things hostile? I'm always looking for new non-hostile mods for this game. The "Wooden Hand" update is hilarious as usual. I'll catch up to your latest later.

I hadn't heard of Ultimat Spinach until you mentioned them. Listening to "(Ballad Of The) Hip Death Goddess" right now. Sounds like vampire hunting music to me.

That Broken Peach video was wild.

Anyways, the snipe is part of the Midas Magic mod. It may be the only one in the game.

20211112 Gweden- MistressPeaches, KotN-Priory of the Nine
Leaving Melus Petilius to his mourning we pushed southward. Carried by the southerly wind my Ladies caught the sweet scent of… shops!

Nothing could stop them now from sampling the wares of Skingrad. Struggling to keep up the pace, I resolved to make the best of it by attending to business while in Skingrad.

While shopping we paid a visit to Falanu Hlaalu’s All Things Alchemical. With the Ladies negotiating with Falanu over crèmes, oils, nail polish, perfumes and other necessary items I have no clue what they’re used for, I went upstairs to talk to Silanu.

Silanu was excited to hear that we found proof that she did not murder Tertius. Her initial elation quickly turned to a cautious doubt. Fearful that she would still be held accountable for her part in the assassination she thought the offer to work at Gweden was an opportunity she couldn’t refuse. To further help cover her identity she decided to change her name to Mistress Peaches.

Silanu changed into something less conspicuous (barely) and left for her new life at Gweden.

Later that day weary from crashing the shops we stopped by the Page of Cups (Better Cities). Odd name for a pub located catty-corner from the Great Chapel of Julianos.

While my Ladies stood around boasting about their shopping prowess I sat in at the card table. A few drinks later the ladies conversation went from whose shopping prowess was best to boasting on who has made the best Jandaga save.

As my Ladies conversation began to heat up my game at the table cooled down. After a good winning start I had gradually drifted into a long losing streak. Feeling the added pressure to impress my Ladies my concentration broke and the game just got worse and worse as the afternoon dragged on.

It was mid-evening when we returned to Rosethorn Hall. Pockets empty and worn out from the day I retired for the night. The Ladies stayed up awhile longer sitting around the dining room table and talking.

The housekeeper, Eyja stormed into the dining room hands on her hips and demanded, “What have you done to the Master of Rosethorn Hall! I just laid out his clothes for tomorrow morning and he didn’t even give me one look. Not even when I bent over to pull back the bed sheets. Usually he’s trying to… Um… ah… Some things wrong!”

“Oh no, we didn’t do anything!” After traveling with Vilja, Kaleah knew what big boisterous Nord women could be like and reacted defensively. “He’s just overly tired from working so hard. Just need good night’s rest.”

Elenya was quiet. She had spun a polished gold coin on the table when Eyja made her demands. Now she intently watched as a golden light reflected from the coin to dance hypnotically along the walls of the room.

“Ah ha!” she cries. Snatching up the coin she yells, “It’s the Helm of the Crusader. It has unbalanced his Id. We must be rid of that helm before he loses all hope for his future lineage.”

A taint, Kaleah realized the danger. Remembering how we cured Leshruzay the Xivilai, of the Taint of Order but Leshruzay is Xivilai, a Daedra. This taint is Aedra in origin and Kaleah was certain a Stranded Light cure would be ineffective.

One thing Kaleah did know was that Elenya was correct, removing the offending agent was paramount. And the best place to be rid of an artifact of the Nine would be the Priory of the Nine.

The next morning my Ladies convinced me under threat of dire consequences that since we were so close we
should go to the Priory of the Nine before heading west to fight vampires.

Eyja saw us out the door. As I passed by Eyja gave me a wink and whispered, “Next time M’Lord.”

It was a quiet afternoon when we arrived at the Priory of the Nine. Impressed by the look of the exterior we were anxious to step inside. In an instant our well at least my expectations were dashed. The place empty, inhabited only by dust bunnies. And by the size of them the priory has been empty for quite some time.

Looking around we noticed the circular design on the floor. There was a small hole in mosaic looks like a keyhole. Using Sir Amiel’s ring to activate the mosaic it drops down forming a stairway to the Priory’s Undercroft. Once inside the Undercroft the door shuts and locks behind us.

Ghosts of the former Knights of the Nine have appeared blocking my path to the display frame that holds the Cuirass of the Crusader. They will not let me pass to the Cuirass of the Crusader until I best each of them in single combat.

"Step forward, adventurer, and face us each in honorable combat," said the ghost of Sir Amiel. ”Defeat us and you may leave with the Cuirass of the Crusader.”

“But I don’t want the cuirass; I just want to leave the Helm of the Crusader here.”

Then putting on its best Monty Python the ghost ddid a double take, “Oh, in that case, "Step forward, adventurer, face and defeat each of us in honorable combat then you can leave the Helm of the Crusader."

Silly ghosts, they came at me one at a time but didn’t say anything about my Ladies not joining in on the fun. Why I even managed to fill a couple of black soul gems during the test. With the ghosts soundly defeated I hung the Helm on the armor stand with the Cuirass.

Before leaving the Undercroft I spoke to each of the ghosts. I was amazed how they freely told me how they lost the artifacts and were to find them. Wow, if they would choose me as their champion, they’ll take anyone. I think I’ll post a Help Wanted notice on the IC Merchant District message board.

My goodness. Mistress Peaches sure has that. . . 'built by ghastley' aura about her.

Yeah, I figure if the Knights of the Nine are looking for a new recruit, they're probably eyeing the wrong elf.

By Akatosh, does the Jandaga know that Umaril is not the final baddy in this? And that those artefacts of the Nine can in fact turn very evil? Look what I found today!! From the creator of Halleluja!

Never did trust Pelinal's motives.

That KotN Revelation mod looks interesting. shame it has that grey skin problem. I'm sure OCOv2 will play havoc with it. I actually DL'ed this mod way back in 2013 (I'm a mod junkie). Never did play with it though.

20211115 just a bit of fun at Shadowcrest vineyard
When I look out my window
Many sights to see
And when I look in my window
So many different people to be
That is strange
So strange
Must be the season of the witch
(Donovan)

Leaving the Priory of the Nine our goal was once again Kvatch. Well that’s what I thought anyway. The Ladies had other concerns on their minds.

“Is he cured? Kaleah whispered to Elenya.

“He will right himself gradually. It could take days, weeks, or months but eventually he’ll be righted,” Elenya said.

“Months, that’s too long!” Kaleah argued.

“Hmm, we could visit the witch at Shadowcrest vineyard,” Elenya offered.

“But she’s a Moonshadow,” Kaleah objected

“Best kind witch,” countered Elenya.

A thought occurred to me that we haven’t visited our winery at Shadowcrest in awhile. Yes, we should check on this region’s production and profitability records. I’d also like to see if Fiona has made any progress in duplicating the legendary Shadowbanish vintage. Shadowcrest is just over the hill north of the Priory of the Nine so it didn’t take us long to get there.

It was good to see the fiery haired Fiona again. While Fiona and my Ladies caught up on the gossip I passed the time going over the books. Haven’t been able to break into the Skingrad or Imperial City markets but sales in Bravil and Leyawiin have been encouraging.

Finished with the books I was sitting in the living room when the ladies returned. Fiona said something about having just the thing. Then she told the others to leave it all to her and everything will be in balance by morning.

Sitting down next to me Fiona asked if I’d like to join her in lab to inspect the latest attempt to recreate the Shadowbanish wine. Now I was really tired from the events at the Priory of the Nine but I couldn’t say no to such an important endeavor. She took me by the hand and led me upstairs to the laboratory.

At the alchemy station there were several test tubes filled with strangely glowing liquids. Adding a few drops from each test tube to a wine glass she topped it off with a dark red wine from a bottle marked #9.

Fiona handed the wineglass to me and said, “Try this and tell me what you think.”

Taking a long sip, I told Fiona, “It’s not too dry, not too sweet, light and crisp with hints of dark sweet cherries and vanilla.”

Finishing the glass I let the effects of the wine wash over me. Intelligence increases, speed increasing. Agility increasing I felt garret! Invincible! Way ester Dan Sharowbanich Wwine. Then darkness.

I didn’t even feel hitting the floor.

Fiona looked down at the Jandaga fast asleep on the floor and smiled. “You’ll be right as rain in the morning.”
Calling for the others, the four ladies carried the Jandaga up to his room and tucked him in bed.

“I think I’d better stay the night with him jus t to be sure there are no serious side effects over night,” Fiona told the other three ladies.

Kaleah, Elenya and Pym gave Fiona a pinched eyed look for a moment then they all burst out laughing. “Yeah sure whatever you say. If you need any assistance just call out Oh Baby Baby and we’ll come running.”

Next morning I awoke and went downstairs to find something to eat. I found the ladies all gathered around the dining room table giggling and whispering behind their hands like school girls.

“What’s for breakfast,” I asked.

They paused, looked at me kind of funny, and then started laughing.

“What?” I confusedly asked.

“Yeah, he’s cured,” stated Kaleah.

A fun and bewitching episode!

'Way ester Dan Sharowbanich Wwine.'
- - More kick too, I'd wager. . . .

What do you mean by grey skin problem? Missing textures for faces? Is that because you use some body replacer mods? I was actually contemplating this mod, even though I am not keen on having to play KoTN to get to it.

From the description;

“KNOWN CONFLICTS AND WORKAROUNDS
HGEC Based Body Replacers - If you use a HGEC based body replacer, you will find that skin textures are out of alignment for the Ayleid Armour. This is aesthetic only and does not affect gameplay. Nephenee13 has made a conversion that fixes this.”

With this bug there would be grey splotches in the body. A leg or half the back or one arm would be grey. It was hard to ignore. I’m unable to find the Nephenee conversion.

With OCOv2 the grey skin issue is noticeable with custom faces in many mods. It is noticeable in Pym’s face. Look closely and you’ll see the grey shadow in the face. Pym isn’t too bad and I’ve seen worse
OCOv2 also has a similar issue with Khajiit bodies. Instead of turning grey the mismatched skin patches are brown. I was able to find a fix for that.

Sorry no pictures, I used to have some examples but I don’t have them readily available. They’re not in my bug folder and I’m not sure where I filed them.

Oh I see - thanks! I read that but my eyes temporarily glazed over as I don't use any body replacers... I guess I should be Ok then! Now all I need to do is to find a suitable character who would be willing to undertake the KoTN quest, because Lena is definitely not doing it. She put a poisoned apple into the prophet's pocket on the very first night she couldn't sleep due to his shouting. In another life, that is.

20211117 Kvatch Rebuilt bypassing a bug

This is in response to an issue I encountered with Kvatch Rebuilt back in March 2018. After many attempts to find a workable solution and just plain ignoring it I’ve decided it would be best to just bypass Kvatch Rebuilt Sticks and Stones quest. I don’t like using setstage. I’ve experience game breaking issues before when using it.

It was a beautiful sunrise when we waved good-bye to Fiona as we left Shadowcrest Vineyard ready to go vampire hunting in Kvatch County. Why is it we still refer to the area as Kvatch County? The city is pile of rubble and the count is dead. Tradition, I guess.

“You know,” I mentioned to the Ladies as we walked along. “Fiona’s making good progress but I think the latest batch has a serious side effect. I can’t remember a thing after the first sip.”

As we walked I sang a happy little tune:

I don't want a pickle
Just want to ride on my motorsickle
And I don't want a tickle
'Cause I'd rather ride on my motorsickle
And I don't want to die
I just want to ride on my motorcy...cle
(Arlo Guthrie)

For the next hour or so my Ladies laughed and whispered amongst themselves.
Passing through Skingrad we made a quick stop at Castle Skingrad in hopes of negotiating building materials for Kvatch. As usual our contact, Monk Arnand (Kvatch Rebuilt) never shows.

He seems to be stuck in one of the Castle’s buildings (seems to be a persistent intermittent bug to the Sticks and Stones quest and Better Cities).

Deciding to bypass talking to Monk Arnand (setstage armain01 30) we learn that if we want to speak to the Count the count would like a favor done first. The Count has ordered a special delicacy from Somutius Entius, it is late, and the Count wants to know why.

The house of Somutius Entius lies just to the west of Skingrad. Somutius is home and when questioned he explains goblins from the north have stolen the Count’s supplies. Taking these excellent Morrowind like directions (HA!) we head north. How could we get lost?

Actually we didn’t have to go very far. Just north of the gold road we came across Green Fall Mine where we were attacked by a goblin. This must be the place I told my Ladies. Prepared for some fun we entered the Green Fall Mine.

It was just a small tribe of goblins, easily taken care of. We found the Count’s supplies, a bottle of a strange red liquid. Yeah, we know what it is. The Count is not fooling us. We know why there are no public executions in Skingrad. We can only guess as to why this bottle is so special.

Taking the supplies back to Somutius Entius, Somutius tells us to take it to Monk Arnand. From Somutius Entius’ house we can see Skingrad to the east. For a moment we stand there contemplating what we should do next. Delivering the bottle of special red liquid to the monk should be sufficient for Arnand to get us an audience with the count.

Yes, it should be. Only Arnand still won’t cooperate. We give up waiting around for Arnand and Count Hassildor and leave Skingrad.

It was late in the day when we arrived at Kvatch. Everyone has moved to a tent city setup inside the city walls. Other than that the rebuilding of Kvatch has come to a standstill. Finding Savlian Matius just outside the tent city we ask him what he knows about the vampires in the county.

Nothing apparently, Savlian will not talk about vampires but he has plenty to say about not getting the supplies needed to rebuild the city. It’s been two years and nothing.

I tried to explain that Monk Arnand is being uncooperative. With the typical Kvatch attitude Savlian suggests cutting through the red tape and going straight to the source.

Pushing back my fear of breaking the fragile threads of fate I relent and for a second time in less than two days I recite the most powerful spell “statuo scaena a r principalis 01 80” (setstage armain01 80).

I know the words but I’m never sure of the phrasing. Must have work though for I received feedback that Count Hassildor has given the OK to send masons and architects to help rebuild Kvatch. After informing Savlian help should be on the way by tomorrow, the Ladies and I went to find a vacant tent for the night.

We all agreed that the procurement of supplies could have, should have been handled better.

Ooh mod conflicts... I am glad you are making progress with Kvatch though - I am curious to read how that pans out. I looked at Kvatch Rebuilt for my own game, but I never delivered the Amulet of Kings in this playthrough, so we are still in pre-crisis Tamriel. Kvatch Rebuilt didn't have anything for us. They say in the description the pre-crisis Kvatch is very alpha. That's an understatement. It's an embryo of a pre-alpha, at best. I guess they focussed on rebuilding the city after the crisis.

I see Janus Hassildor is still alive and well... Well... you know.

(Ballad Of The) Hip Death Goddess is awesome, right? I love that lady's voice. And the guitar work is stellar. We always hear of San Francisco's psychedelic scene, and London, and L.A., so it's nice to know that Boston also had their own scene. Whoever would have thunk this without the internet to explore?

Anyway I have a lot to catch up to so give me time.

Poor Jandaga. Any chance he'll ever start traveling with a band of blokes?

Oh my gosh. Okay yeah, Gweden Farm. That's ghastley's mod. I get it now. One of these days one of mine is going to round up all those ladies.

Sometimes, macole, I get the sense that your writings include references, but I have no idea what these references could be. I usually pick up the psychedelic songs, but for instance what does this mean...



'It has unbalanced his Id' is triggering some memory for me. Or am I way off?

After all these years, I still remember that scene with Knights of the Nine.

Season of the Witch! Loved Donovan when I was like 6 years old. Sunshine Superman and Mellow Yellow. Do you know Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) played all the guitars on those albums? Listen closely, you can hear his somewhat sloppy guitar work even as he strums.

Whoa, I don't think I've ever seen Jandaga without his armor. That's a great pic of him sitting with Fiona. Her outfit is wicked, too.

Apparently, the Jandaga takes off his armour every night when he goes to bed (I know it because he tells us about putting it back on in the morning). But we never get to see the pics!!!

Yes I make lots of references. The Id, the inner mind, is a reference to an old Sci-Fi movie. For an idea of what happens when the Id become unbalanced watch The Forbidden Planet.

The ‘60s were my teen years. I was 16 in 1966 when Donovan was hitting the charts.

Kaleah snuck in to make sure the mind altering experience worked and took a picture of her Feache with Fiona. The scent of Incense and Peppermint told Kaleah everything was going to plan.

Oh, have you heard of the band Pink Fairies? Uncle Harry's Last Freak Out and War Girl are perrty good.

Whoa. I think I'm too young for that pic! Lena, will that suffice for you?

Love those sci fi lazers! That'd be trippy to watch "on" something. Haven't heard of Pink Fairies, I'll check them songs in a few.

Whoah... Fiona is wearing GLOVES to bed? I think i'm too young for that too...

Haha, nice workaround on that mod. If I recall, we were able to get Kvatch Rebuilt to work okay and ended up with a nice finished city.

Rest assured the gloves are not enchanted with such things like increased endurance and agility. Fiona is a 1st class witch and has no need for such things. Rather they are to protect someone's back from Fiona's long talon like finger nails.

20211123 VH-OVB Fort Hastrel

We left Kvatch after receiving word from Savlian that masons and architects from Skingrad had arrived. By the time we return to Kvatch I’m certain there will be a significant change in the look of the city. We may even be able to place a bet in a new arena.

Roland had given us three places where the vampires had been seen. With Kvatch being a dry well we headed for the second location on the list, Lord Drad’s estate. It’s fun to see lord and Lady Drad toiling away in the fields but neither the Drad’s nor the Ogres have anything to say about vampires.

Perhaps the residents of Sutch would know something about the vampires? Didn’t hurt to check but nothing was gained by it. Well, can’t say nothing was gained. While in Sutch we did pick up 7000 septims in profits from our winery.

Still without any clues to the origin of the vampire infestation we head east to Camp Ales, the last location where these vampires have been said to gather.

As we near Camp Ales we pass by the ruins of Fort Hastrel. Something attacks us. Was it durzogs, wolves or combination of both I don’t remember but something gave us pause to look intently at the ruins. Eager to see some action we decide to explore the ruins. We made our preparations before entering the doors of Fort Hastrel.

Kaleah wrinkled her nose and hissed, “Take care my precious Feache, there’s an army of vampires here.”

She wasn’t wrong. As we began descending a wide staircase a voice called out a warning and we were soon under siege by chameleon cloaked vampires. First one, then joined by another, and another until we were fighting a small army of vampires.

During the fight the Light of Dawn collected the life force of its 300th vampire. The change was almost immediate. Cleansed of the fowl taint it’s now sharper, cuts more deeply and irradiates whatever creature that feels its wrath with the fire and light of the morning sun. Now with the power potential to instantly destroy vampires, the Vampire's Bane has at last come to shine as the sun rays at dawn.

The light magic effect could be better but it sure is fun to see high level vampires flying after just a couple of hits.

The fight was brutal and when it was done 13 vampires lay dead in the hall. And that was just the beginning. Soon we stood facing the door leading to Fort Hastrel’s Keep.

Again the fighting was fast and furious. We delivered the final cure to 10 more vampires. Among them lay the Abbot, the High Guardian of the Temple, Brother Northstar, Sister Janiss and Brother Sunrasth.

Elenya found it rather revolting to find these five vampires dressed as religious figures. She wondered whether they were just posing as religious to gain the confidence of the unsuspecting Kvatch survivors or were they actually trying to form a vampire religious order. The note from the Abbot references someone called the Night Lord.

“The End is Near. The Night Lord comes.” What does that mean? Who is this Night Lord? Maybe Roland will have an answer.

The battle was over, standing amid the carnage Kaleah pointed to the large central column, “On top of that platform is the War Axe of Seduction. Want to fly up and get it?”

It took some doing but we managed to collect all the useless junk for recycling and clean up the mess we made of Fort Hastrel. Tired and looking forward to the journey to the Imperial City we found a suitable place and bed down for the night.

Well rested we were in a very good mood when we left Fort Hastrel the next morning. With a skip and a dance to our step I broke out in a song.

Superman or Green Lantern ain't got a-nothin' on me
I can make like a turtle and dive for your pearls in the sea, yeah
A you-you-you can just sit there a-thinking on your velvet throne
'Bout all the rainbows a-you can a-have for your own

Kaleah touched my hand and her voice joined mine.

When you've made your mind up forever to be mine
I'll pick up your hand and slowly blow your little mind
When you've made your mind up forever to be mine.

Pym tugged at Kaleah’s arm to get her attention. Flashing a series of intricate hand signs Pym asked Kaleah, “I know he’s our super dreamy aelf but what’s this Green Lantern thing?”

Kaleah just smiled and told her, “You’re too young for that sort of thing.”

Once Kahleah finally sniffed out those vampires, the crew did some serious ash kicking! Loved seeing Twinkle in that screenshot.

20211128 Integration-SL - Monopoly II, Infested Mine Labor Dispute

“Twenty-four vampires in that small fort, could it get any better?” Kaleah laughed. “Ah, hahahahahahaha.”

“I don’t know,” I replied while trying to rub the pain out of my back. “I sure didn’t expect that.”

“You know you’re getting quite the reputation as “someone who likes to be slaughtered”, Elenya mentioned.
We all laughed at that one.

With Magnus glaring brightly on our backs we struck out westward in search the Ayleid ruin of Niryastare.

“I thought we were going to the Imperial City? Elenya asked dejectedly.

“While we’re in the vicinity I need to look into a couple of outstanding issues for the Stranded Light. Don’t worry, it won’t take long and you’ll be back at the Goddess Store before you know it.”

Niryastare, a medium-sized Ayleid ruin northwest of Kvatch not known for much other than containing a few undead. How were we to know that we’d run into a company of necromancers, a nether lich, and their ghostly servants!

Fighting our way through Niryastare and Niryastare Silaseli we came across a dead Ohmes-raht, J’therrin. On him we found a note from someone named Shivaya. The note ordered J’therrin to take his men and search the entire ruin of Niryastare for the Focus Crystal. The note made it clear that the Mages Guild must not recover the focus Crystal.

Shivaya, isn’t she the Kahjiit we met near Borderwatch?

While we hadn’t found any trace of a focus crystal, the note from Shivaya that the Ohmes-raht had with him shed some light on where the Focus Crystal went. If the five necromancers we had just dispatched were J’therrin’s men perhaps they had found the Focus Crystal? No, it wasn’t on any of them. So either Shivaya has it or… I have no idea. We’ll have to take this back to Jo’beala and see what she has to say about it.

It was not entirely a wasted effort though. We left Niryastare with a few notable items; 2 varla stones, 7 Welkynd stones, and a fine Adonney Guardian Longblade.

Traveling north toward Chorrol we climbed the mountains to the top of Suicide Falls. At the lake above the falls an Imperial Forester stood on the sandy beach looking out over the water. Walking up to him he greeted us and said.

“It’s beautiful here. I often come up here when things get a bit testy at home. The wife just doesn’t get my love of nature.”

A spriggan suddenly appeared at the edge of the forest and stood silently waiting as a gentle breeze rustled the long green wispy sprigs on her head (hair?). We instantly drew our weapons.

“Please, put them away,” the Forester said. Then he calmly walked up to the spriggan, took her by the twigs (hand?), and then they disappeared into the woods.

Well I’ll be. Kaleah made a statement that when politely translated it went something like; “I don’t understand his love of nature either.

“Show respect for the man who loves nature for he is favored in Nature’s House. So it is written in the Great Druid’s Book,” said Elenya.

There we rested along the shores of the small Suicide Falls Lake. A peaceful brief stop for lunch turned into playful afternoon swim and a night under the stars. The Forester was right, it is beautiful here.

Lock a Bosmer and a Zombie in a room, and you'll get either two Zombies, or a fat Bosmer and half of a Zombie. I put my money on the latter.

In the morning, well rested and ready to go the Jandaga performs his devotions before he and his Ladies enjoy a quiet lakeside breakfast. After breakfast the little band continue their journey north to Chorrol. They barely got to the north end of the lake when Kaleah called out.

“Look there’s a cave under the falls!”

“That should be Infested Mine,” Elenya offered after checking her dynamic map.

“Do you wonder why it’s called Infested Mine?” I asked. “I say, let’s find out.”
So in we went.

By the Goddess of all creation, what did we step into!

It’s a full scale labor revolt and the zombie slave laborers are taking their anger at management out on us.

Labor leader Valvius Nigilius’ (MOO) negotiating style is rather cruel. My Ladies decided I should give him a lesson in manners. He won’t be so obnoxious from now on or anything else for that matter. It was nice of him to give me his real nice bow in exchange for the lesson humility.

Zombies just keep on coming. Where are they coming from? Kaleah thinks she knows and takes a lift down to the Old Works lower level (Snus). The rest of us use the ladder to follow. Exploring deeper into the lower level we discover the source of the zombie infestation. It’s an oblivion gate to a zombie world (Snus). Every couple minutes it pops out three zombies to attack us.

Not knowing how to turn the gate off my Ladies shield me from the zombies while I loot a fancy looking chest (Snus). I’m able to collect among other things a Skull of Carnage (MOO). With the chest empty we hightail as fast as we could out of Infested Mine.

Oh wow, what a rollercoaster ride! From the nature-loving forrester (his wife is right - he is cheating on her - with a spriggan! ) to the zombie labour revolt... At first I thought the zombies were the labourers that were revolting... Well, revolting they were, anyway. Oops. Good job sorting them out!

Have you tried Oblivion Randomiser? If your head wasn't sufficiently messed up by OOO, MOO and MMM already, that is.

Which variant of Dynamic Map are you using, by the way? Does it have the entire Tamriel? (We need maps, or Lena will never get to Elsweyr. And if I work on maps instead of travelling, she won't get there either. )

Some fun Nyryastare Necro-huntin’.

A forrester and spriggan do make an odd couple. He was indeed right though about it being beautiful there. That night sky reflects the best of both Skyrim and Shivering Isles night skies.

’Lock a Bosmer and a Zombie in a room, and you'll get either two Zombies, or a fat Bosmer and half of a Zombie.’

Well, I guess we know what Infested Mine is infested with. Time to send in some hungry Bosmer?

I found something else in my game.

I thought that location was familiar.

No, I haven't tried Oblivion Randomizer. I did look at it recently but thought that the trio i have is difficult enough.

With the Dynamic Map, I use the Elven Color map. It’s fine but it doesn’t do the most southern portions of Valewood Improved and Elsweyr well.

normal view

zoomed out view

With the addition of Elsweyr aand Valenwood Improved the Terrain Map Style may be a better view. There is a Tamriel heightmap that shows all of Tamriel

Thanks! This confirms what I already thought - that Lena needs to bring her flags on sticks along on her journey to Elsweyr to verify her Tamriel Heighmap map - the HD version. The resolution of the regular version is a little too low for the size of it. The problem with the Heightmap however - in either resolution - is that it doesn't have a lot of overlays for the popular additions such as Valenwood, Elsweyr, Sutch Village, Roads and Trails, etc. I was already going to make them all available for the Tamriel HD map, so now I shall definitely look into them. Well, Lena will, that is. It seems she just invented the Cartographers Guild.

Let me dig around. I made modifications to the Elven map for my own use, extending the area covered, so that VI and Elsweyr fit completely. I may still have the pieces.

Ugh, I hated those chameleon-cloaked vampires. Good thing my character did use an item (A ring, I think) with Detect Life so she could still "see" them.

Wow, so his weapon improves over time depending how many vamps it gets rid of?

I had to google the lyrics ... I had no idea that's the Donovan song we listened too so often when I was like 5-6 years old. Never really knew the lyrics in detail, I guess.

I have the source maps for this Valenwood and Elsweyr but in a mixture of formats. I'm trying to track down the final dds's, and the esp updates to the map dimensions.

The cave symbol at the bottom really does mark an underwater cave off the coast. I think that required a tweak to the map dimensions to fit it on, so it's important that I find the right numbers for you.

Thanks, Ghastley!

I did find some overlays for the Tamriel Heightmap HD for the landmass of Valenwood and Elsweyr - it differs depending on whether you just have Valenwood or both (and I mean Valenwood Improved, it's different for the original Valenwood). Fortunately TWMP patch does not change the land layout - it is just to sort out land rips, as I understand it. I also have a map for Morrowind corresponding to Morroblivion. Still, it all needs verifying - every good cartographer knows that you can't trust maps.

On a closer look, there are even more versions of Valenwood and Elsweyr maps, mostly concerning the Southern regions. The good news is that the Tamriel HD map extends quite a bit into the sea there, so there should be no problems adding new islands or underground caves. Flags on sticks it is then.

Dynamic Map itself has a lot of overlays, but they are all meant for different base maps, so don't always work as is. I've been scaling and repositioning some of them - mostly the roads, as it is easy to do.

Don't worry what format the files are in - I import them all in GIMP to work with anyway. The sources for the Tamriel HD map are in Photoshop, for example. GIMP chomps it all up. I think for the sake of my and Lena's sanity, I am going to limit myself to doing the Tamriel HD map only. It does look a lot like Elven in terms of aesthetics.

Good to know you have GIMP, as some of the items are .xcf.

OK http://ghastley.org/Oblivion/download/OBMaps.7z contains the layers that make up the map I was using. I thought I had the Dynamic map pieces (as .dds) too, but can't find those.

20211130 Integration-SL – Scouts and Spies, Portable Campsite

“I will never complain about fighting large numbers of vampires again, never. At least they die when you kill them. Zombies keep getting back up,” I mentioned to Kaleah as we walked through Colovia to Chorrol.

“It was fun though,” Kaleah replied with a laugh. “Too bad we couldn’t close that gate.”

Arriving at the stables we inquired of Nadhil if she knew anything of Dar’Jones. With a memory as sharp as a tack she told he went into the city and never came out. Why, she had even sold his horse to cover missed months of stall rental.

Ah, good to know.

Our first stop was Northern Goods and Trade. While conducting business we brought up the subject of Dar’Jones. Seed-Neeus hadn’t seen him in quite some time and she reall didn’t know much about him. Our business concluded, as we were walking out we noticed the Black Horse Courier flier announcing portable campsite gear for sale.

“Interesting,” I commented. “Do you have one large enough to sleep four? Only need one bedroll if it is big enough. Oh, and a door flap for privacy.”

That got Dar-Ma’s attention.

“Whatever would you need all that for?” Seed-Neeus asked with a stern disapproving look.

As my Ladies blushed in various shades of embarrassment I, hoping it sounded convincing, replied. “Um, I’m used to sleeping on the floor and roll around a lot?”

“A whole lot,” Elenya pitched in. “All night long.”

The frown on Seed-Neeus’ face grew tighter.

“Does it come with sound deadening walls?” Kaleah asked

Clapping her hands over Dar-Ma ears Seed-Neeus had had enough. “OUT!” she screamed. “Out now!”

Thinking where else could we go to get info on this Dar’Jones guy we chose the Grey Mare as our first stop.
Emfrid said it was creepy the way Dar’Jones would sneak around spying on people. She mentioned the names of several that Dar’Jones spied on.

The Oak and Crossier was our next stop. Here Talasma spoke sweetly of the little Ohmes-raht. She was worried though since he seemed to disappear quite suddenly. Talasma feared that something bad had happened to Dar’Jones.

So that was all we had to go on, a list of names and very little information. Where do we start? Looking at the names on the list one in particular stood out, Eugal Belette.

With Eugal Belette’s house being just down the street and presumably still unoccupied we decided to start this phase of our investigation there. It was really easy getting inside the house. No one cares about dead Mythic Dawn operatives anymore. We just walked right on in unopposed. Once inside we went straight down to the basement knowing that if there were any clues to be found it would be in that room with the Mythic Dawn paraphernalia.

We were wrong but also we were right. We didn’t find clues amidst the Mythic Dawn things. We found Dar’Jones! We opened the door of the room and there lay the body of Dar’Jones. Dead all this time we presumed.

Reaching down to search the body for some identification, Dar’Jones suddenly jumped up as if awakened from an enchantment. Shaking his head he muttered something about being taken in by “that” Mythic Dawn agent. With hurried apologies Dar’Jones handed me a message written in ancient Ta’agra before fleeing to the safeties Elsweyr.

Left scratching my head I wondered, “We’ve been to Elsweyr, that place is definitely not safe. And this unreadable message, who can translate Ta’agra?”

“Come on Ladies, let’s go to Arborwatch, get some dinner, and have a relaxing evening sitting around the fireplace. It’s been a trying day.”

After the first batch of this edition was printed, we received a most gracious visit from Borba gra-Uzgash. It appears that her camping gear is indeed different from that offered by the Verus brothers. Where the Imperial camping gear is limited to strictly one set per party of adventurers, Borba's Orcish gear is completely individual, so that you can - and indeed are encouraged to - carry as many bedrolls, stools or tents as you wish, all in one pack! Why, you could even set up a dozen campfires next to each other for a truly warming experience!

Borba also mentioned that she was currently sold out of the Orcish camping equipment due to an unusually high demand by Orc adventurers. However, she expects a new shipment from Skyrim in near future.

Hi, There are people, well at least one person on AFK Mods that are looking for your Gweden Brothel. I didn't just want to give your site out so I thought I'd let you know.