Well, someone has got to keep an eye on all those wild kids! Always good to know.

"It’s been raining and the water has risen up to the door stoop." -- Sounds like you've got the Better Cities option for flooding in Leyawiin!

That's neat how those ladies show up one by one like that. What is Karrizy holding in her hand? Looks like a light source?

I thought it must have been intentional somehow. But the same thing happened in my game once - Leyawiin was half-flooded, and I didn't have Better Cities. Turned out, it was a bug introduced by the Anvil Bay Extension mod (WTF? Anvil!). So I had to install pumps and get it cleared (err, go into the CS and fix Anvil Bay Extension ).

Yes, it is the Leyawiin Better Cities Flooded option. I always thought of Leyawiin as being like New Orleans. I would have preffered a more marshy delta region but can't have every thing.

The only issue I have with Better Citites Leyawiin is the plyer's home sits in the slums and right at the edge of the flooded area.

Karrizy is holding potion bottles that are reflecting light from the torches Pym and Elenya carry. Could it be that we caught Karrizy mixing up a potent batch of skooma? Probably.

20220113 ElsweyrAnequina SmallQuest15 "The Pasiphae Syndrome"
“Some shortcut, warm sands my eye! Sand gets under everything,” Kaleah complained as she constantly readjusted her outfit.

She’s right. What should have been a quick trip through Elsweyr Anequina started off well. The road east from Rimmen was well maintained, fast and easy to travel until we reached the abandoned Fort Valley Guard at the edge of the Saimisil Savannah. Here we made the mistake of trying to avoid the heat of the desert by head north through the mountain forests.

We hadn’t gone very far at all when we came across a small camp, Treeshadow Camp. Thinking the camp abandoned we each took a tent for the night. Around 2:30am the owners of the camp returned demanding their tents back. A brief discussion ensued.

While searching the bodies of the late smugglers Elenya grabbed my arm preventing me from pocketing a bottle of skooma. Elenya sternly warned, “No, that’s an instant bounty here in Elsweyr!”

A smuggler’s camp sitting in plain view of an Imperial fort, abandoned or not, kind of put a damper on a peaceful stroll through the woods. Perhaps it would be less stressful to leave the mountains. We turned west into the Saimisil Savannah eventually finding ourselves standing in Orcrest.

“I know, best laid plans o mice and men gang aft agley” I answered Kaleah. “Might as well make the best of it and check in on Eloine. It shouldn’t take long and then we’ll be on our way.”

Well what do you know? Eloine’s little rendezvous with the Minotaur has turned into a serious romance. They want to get married. There’s only one little detail, Eloine hasn’t told her father, yet. She’s afraid of how her father will react, and has asked me to speak to him on her behalf.

It’s a family matter and I know I shouldn’t get involved. I consider say no and moving on but my Ladies are swooning over the love story. Thinking ahead of many long cold nights should I say no? I relent. We’ll try and persuade Salaun that the marriage is a good idea.

As I anticipated Salaun Brigette was outraged. He swore he would never ever let his beloved daughter dishonor the family by marrying a beast. At first he wanted us to dispose of the minotaur. He offered us a reward should we murder the beast.

That we would not agree to. With a calming influence my Ladies and I charmed him sufficiently to where Salaun hung his head saying that he would pray to the Nine to save her perverted soul.

Seeming to be a religious devout man perhaps all I need to do is to somehow prove to him that this marriage is not as unnatural as it seems. Perhaps I should consult a priest to find out if there is any sort of precedent or religious objections for this strange marriage.

Our first thought was to ask Gra-uush Bonekeeper of the Shrine of Malauch just outside Orcrest.

“Go find a human priest for the human gods!” Gra-uush spat. Oh, did he give us an earful. Malauch will have nothing to do with the perversions of man.

Hoping we wouldn’t have to go all the way to Cyrodiil to find a priest of the Nine we searched around Orcrest first. Lucky Sai led us to Brother Lapeo’s small chapel.

Brother Lapeo told us the tale of Saint Alessia's love for Morihaus the bull. This story appears to sanction Eloine's strange desires. He has also agreed to discuss the matter with Salaun. In the meantime Brother Lapeo requested that I travel to Riverkeep Fort and obtain an authorized church copy of the book A Song of Pelinal, v5. This volume contains a rare account of Alessia's love for the divine bull.

“Riverkeep Fort? There’s nothing in Riverkeep Fort?” I murmured as we left Orcrest.

The wistful dreamy look on the faces of Kaleah and Pym broke.

“You better not be saying you forgot our night under the stars up on the roof of Riverkeep Fort!” Kaleah demanded.

“No… I… um…“ I stammered under the baleful gaze of Kaleah and Pym. “I just meant to say that I don’t remember a chapel being there.”

“Ah, my Jandaga you’ve really stepped in this time,” laughed Elenya.

The way Pym and Kaleah turned and stomped out of the gates of Orcrest said it loud and clear. One doesn’t need to be a mystic to foresee many nights of sleeping alone on cold stone floors.

The trip to Riverkeep Fort went by without further incident. The clear blue skies and sun drenched warm sands of Elswyr seem to ease everyone’s spirits.

Arriving at Riverkeep Fort we found the priest of the Fort’s chapel, Municia Bellisarius. When we described the situation Municia allowed us to take her copy of the book, A Song of Pelinal, vol5.

“Tell Brother Lapeo that I will look forward to him personally returning it to me,” she said with a twinkle in her eye.

Returning to Orcrest we ran into Salaun Bridgette while on the way to Brother Lapeo’s chapel. Eloine’s father has already talked to by Brother Lapeo but he is still not happy about the marriage. Giving him the book and after reading about Saint Allessia’s love affair Salaam gives in to the marriage.

His once proud stance slumped as he said, “If the Church approves and this book proves it, then there is little I can do. I will not stand in the way of Eloine's marriage. You can tell her she can pack her things and move out.”

After delivering Municia’s message to Brother Lapeo we informed Eloine of the good news. As a reward Eloine gave us an old treasure map left to her by her mother's father. Oh well, we’ve already stayed in Elsweyr longer than anticipated one more day won’t make that much difference.

We set off to follow the treasure map.

Buffy well remembers those Elsweryian sandstorms!

Playing match maker it is. Clever to reference Morihous and St Alessia to help assuage daddy a bit.

20220119 a Hidden Cave, KotN Faithful Squire
Eloine’s treasure map led us to a small Hidden Cave in the Alabaster Hills.

Entering a room defended by a ghostly pahmar tomb guardian we discovered a skeleton lying-in-state on a stone catafalque. Without a tail the skeleton certainly was not Khajiit. It was quite possibly a Breton, Elenya thought.

Laid out with the skeleton were several items; two giant talons from some unknown beast, a Khajiit hunting dagger, a Khajiit tribal shield, a enchanted bonemold helmet of Morrowind origin, and a shock enchanted Khajiit sword named Manslayer.

Who was this Breton to have been interned with such trophies? And just how did he get them? Will he suffer shame from his granddaughter’s wedding? We may never get the answers.

We left Hidden Cave taking the road up through Elsweyr. This time though we passed Orcrest by; not stopping until we reached Riverhold. Spent a night at the inn and set out for Cyrodiil early the following morning after breakfast.

Talking to the publican of the inn we mentioned that we had notice a new bridge.

“Yeah,” he said. “A mahout lost control of his mount. This big and when I say big mean really huge bull elephant kept banging its head on the crossbar support. The elephant got frustrated and lost went on a rampage. The bridge was ripped to splinters before the mahout regained control. The crown hired a bridge builder from the far north, someone used to dealing with mammoths I think, to reconstruct the bridge. Been working pretty good ever since.

From Riverhold we traveled to the Priory of the Nine. There’s been some changes made to the Priory of the Nonsense, um I mean Priory of the Nine, since the last time we visited. It seems all sorts of wannabe knights are showing up to offer their services.

We had barely stepped foot into the Priory when a young Redguard announced himself as the squire to the late Sir Roderic, hero of the War of the Bend'r-Mahk. He told us the tale of his lord’s quest to put the ghost of Sir Berich Vlindrel to rest.

During their travels they learned Sir Berich was last been seen entering Underpall Cave where they discovered the crypt of Lord Vlindrel in the Reflecting Chamber. They found the Greaves of the Crusader in the crypt but not the Sword of the Crusader. The sword found them when the cursed wraith of Lord Berich Vlindrel attacked wielding the Sword of the Crusader. Sir Roderic perished in the ensuing battle.

Sir Roderic’s final order to this faithful squire was to flee to the Priory of the Nine with the Greaves of the Crusader, which he did. Surrendering the greaves to me, Lathon asked to accompany us to Underpall Cave to avenge his lord.

Underpall Cave of all places. We told Lathon we had seen this tomb of which he spoke when we cleansed Underpall Cave of vampires some time ago. I wiped a tear from my eye as I recalled the vision of the most beautiful vampire I’d ever seen.

Feeling somewhat responsible we apologized for missing the wraith of Lord Berich Vlindrel when we cleansed the cave of vampires. Sir Roderic may still be with us today had we been more diligent. For that and against my better judgment I might add. I granted Squire Lathon’s boon to accompany us to Underpall Cave.

Traveling with Lathon was tedious. He kept dismounting to fight every creature we came across. Tired of the annoyance we gave up and traveled quickly to the cave hoping he would catch up.

Arriving at Underpall Cave early in the afternoon we waited for Lathon. Waking up the following morning we were eating breakfast when we saw Lathon riding up the mountain.

“What’s cooking?” Lathon asked as he dismounted.

Frustrated by his lackadaisical attitude I laid into him, “I’m already beginning to regret bring you here! It’s a squire’s duty to tend to the camp. I let you wear the armor but until you prove yourself to me you’re still a squire. Got it? Good! So get our gear ready and be quick about it.”

I had to chuckle as I watched my Ladies tease Lathon as he laid out their armor. Kaleah’s silky soft voice commenting on his technique as he polished her breast plate didn’t help Lathon’s complexion any.

When all was ready we entered the cave. Unlike the first time when vampires lurked around every corner, all was quiet. Well except for Lathon’s constant cries of “For Sir Roderic” every time he saw a rat.

Knowing the layout of Underpall we went straight away to the Reflecting Chamber and the tomb of Lord Vlindrel.
There we found the body of Sir Roderic. The sword was missing. Cautiously we entered the large chamber with the reflecting pool.

The cursed wraith of Lord Berich Vlindrel and his five spectral attendants attacked almost immediately. The battle was fierce but ended in our favor without any casualties and a search of the battle ground yielded the Sword of the Crusader.

Inspecting the sword Elenya pronounced her judgment, “Evil! Its balance will need to be restored at the altar of Arkay in Cheydinhal.”

On our way out of Underpall we were met by a courier who delivered a message from Kvatch. They want us to return as soon as possible.

For his service I declared Lathon a Knight and sent him off to the Priory of the Nine while the Ladies and I take the sword to Cheydinhal.

Why my word alone is good enough for the Priory of the Nine to accept Lathon as a Knight I don't know but it is. Doesn’t make any sense to me.

edit for Kvatch clarity

The Elsweyr mod did a great job with pahmer.

Polishing Kaleah’s breast plate doesn’t sound like such bad squire duty.

Poor Sir Roderic.

Loved the story of the elephant in Riverhold! We were rather dismayed seeing it ourselves, I must say. How did the elephant get onto that bridge in the first place since both ends had those supports in place? It's a mystery. Hauk's theory was it was the rat. The elephant saw a rat on the bridge, so it ducked under the bridge end, stomped on the rat, then straightened up and found itself trapped. Poor thing. Yeah, it did go on a rampage afterwards... Phew.

I see the Jandaga and the ladies are still having fun with the wannabe knights. Kaleah must be allowed some fun, I think! Polishing the breastplate, indeed. Was she wearing it at the time? Well, good luck to you with the rest of it - the knights only get more and more obnoxious as the quest progresses! But you remember that, of course.

Oh, by the way. There is apparently a vampire hunter in Dune wishing to outsource his activities. We found his request in the chest of odd jobs at Under the Influence. He even wanted a subscription! Of course Lena had to go hunting - that infestation of rampant vampires under Dune had to be brought under control. They were definitely not civilised. Just saying.

I often do this too. Wonder who somebody was / who built this fascinating room / who painted that artwork?

I remember Lathon! Yeah, that guy is frustrating!

20220125 Rumple, VH-OVB Night on Bald Mountain
“Are the Knights of the Nine all like that?” Kaleah asked as we walked along in the direction of Chorrol.

“Like what?”

“Obnoxious,” Kaleah answered. “I mean Lathon was using marshmallow crème to polish my cuirass! At least I wasn’t wearing it. What was he thinking… no don’t answer that.”

“Yeah I know, myself I’d prefer banana cream. Anyways, it does confirm that as a succubus you still got what it takes.”

Kaleah’s hand shot out to give me a whack but stop short as she exclaimed, “Oh!”

Kaleah threw back her shoulders and with head held high proudly strutted along the road to Chorrol.

A brief lunch break on the banks of small lake near Shadow’s Rest Cave gave some time to relax and enjoy the soothing sound of the waterfall. During our discussions on the location of the vampires that are plaguing Chorrol the same question kept coming up, “what do we know about this place?” Other than being ‘high on a mountain top overlooking Chorrol’ we didn’t have a clue.

Sancre Tor and Cloud Top came to mind. My first thought was to go the Chorrol first, ask around and see what flushes out. The Ladies weren’t keen on the idea of going all the way to Chorrol only to possibly come all the way back to Sancre Tor, which is right above us.

What better place for a vampire to hide than a cursed ruin full of undead. We decided to investigate there first.
By the number of undead roaming around outside of Sancre Tor we had high expectations. Once inside though things changed. There were about a dozen or so ghosts and wraiths floating about in the dusty halls and that was it. Sancre Tor turned out to be a dead end, not one vampire!

What do we do now? The thrill of adventure had taken hold and all thought of going to Chorrol had disappeared. Our second candidate for investigation was Cloud Top. I wasn’t too thrilled with Cloud Top. The area is too much in the open to satisfy vampires. They like it dark and dusty.

Elenya pulled out her map and we gathered around to study it. There are areas in the mountain peaks above Cloud Top that we haven’t explored, perhaps we should?

Best way to do that by the map would be make a short trip east and then head up to the northern trail that runs past Hermaeus Mora’s shrine. Doing that, we were soon traveling west on the northern trail. It was cold this close to the Skyrim border and a recent snow made footing treacherous as we passed Mora’s shrine. It wasn’t until we came to a T-junction and we turned south to descend into Colovia that the trail became less treacherous.

The snow had given away to hard rocky ground as we descended when we came upon Unna, a Bear Rider patrolling the trail. She had dismounted for some reason and was now having difficulty getting her bear to stand still long enough for her to remount.

We stopped to ask her if she knew anything about vampires threatening Chorrol. Unna doesn’t patrol that far south so she knew nothing about that. To thank her I gave her a goose, err boost-up to help her up on her big white bear.

“Such warm hands on a chilly day are a treat deserving of reward. Follow me, I know a place,” Unna cooed.

We followed Unna down the mountain trail until we came to the T-junction. Turning off the southern trail Unna took us westward up toward another steep mountain peak.

How many times have we passed by here and not taken this trail west? The higher we climbed this steep rocky trail the more it began to show signs of white marble chips mixed amongst the ordinary brown stone. The chips gave way to large slabs recognizable as Ayleid construction.

“This is as far as I go. Lipsand Tarn lies ahead,” Unna said pointing up the trail. “Good luck, you’ll need it.”

It was still a long climb up the deteriorating Ayleid stairway before we found ourselves starring at the Bird and Mer statue rising up above the gates of the ancient Ayleid ruin, Lipsand Tarn.

“I know the legend of this place, Pa told me the tales that had been handed down through the generations that spoke of birdmen that once lived here long before the Altmer arrived.”

In silent awe we stood there trying to imagine a Birdman stepping out onto his roost, spreading his wings, and soaring high above the valley below. Sad to think of how life must have been before the Altmer came and drove them from their nests. Gone to the wild, harpies are all that is left of what once was. Topal came as a friend, his fellow countrymer would come later as invaders.

Kaleah broke our trance when in a hushed voice she declared, “This must be the place. It simply reeks of vampires.”

We pushed the gate open and entered Lipsand Tarn.

Banana creme? Ok.
Lipsand Tarn awaits! I hear harpies have vampiric tendencies too, how very befitting. Geralt always gets worked up about them. Or may be it's their attire that is to blame... who could tell. But harpies are all but gone from Tamriel, are they not?

Unna the bear rider! Ghastley introduced us to her years ago, and great to see her again!

Nice take on the history of Lipsand Tarn.

Well, it smells encouraging at least. Uh, for vampire hunters that is.

Lena: Maskar’s adds harpies all over the place but they appear most often in the Colovian Highlands.
Acadian: Ghastley’s mods do add some atmosphere to the game. And as for my take on the history of Lipsand Tarn and Tamriel in general I like reading the thoughts of others as long as there is no whose right and whose wrong argument going on.

20220125
(At some distant time in an Elsweyr caravanserai, a fantasy game of Arena – Battle of Heroes was just starting.)

A heated discussion was raging at the Arena - Battle of Heroes gaming table as players placed their bets on their chosen combatant. The boastings of whom could best whom was getting loud and animated when a male Pahmar-raht strolled in on all fours as Pahmar are want to do when at ease with themselves.

Hearing part of the discussion the Pahmar-raht rose up on two legs showing his true height and impressive physique.

“The Aelf lord is nothing without his ladies!” he roared loud enough to shake the caravanserai walls. Challenge issued he slammed a stack of coin on the table. Ignoring the safer bet of Wolf/Hauk he placed the stack all on Hauk.

The beautiful Ohmes-raht female that accompanied the Pahmar-raht blushed, hugged herself with arms and tail, swayed back and forth, and with a dreamy voice she purred, “But insult any of his Ladies and Ladies will watch as Khajiit quickly relearns all the manners Khajiit’s mom tried to teach.”

As if remembering old injuries, the big Pahmar-raht slumped down to the floor, buried his nose in his forepaws and whimpered like a kitten.

The gaming table nearly tipped over as stacks of coin shifted.

Hauk versus Kaleah... Oooooh!!!

The crowd exploded in an applause. They started circling each other - let's dance!

"What does Hauk's tattoo actually mean?" - a female Khajiit asked her companion, her drooling noticeable even in the dark.

"Well" - he moved his elbow a little further away from her, - "the one on his back looks like wings, the one on his chest looks like a ribcage, but they are one and the same. That's no angel."

"Kaleah has wings too" - a Dunmer moved his chair closer. "That's not an angel either."

"And the rest?" - the female Khajiit wasn't taking her eyes off Hauk. "An all-seeing eye, that's obvious - he's a mage" - she noted, clicking her tongue. "But what's that red star on his left side?"

"He got stabbed there, they say" - the male Khajiit said very quietly. "And died. Then returned from the dead."

"No!!" - the female Khajiit and the Dunmer exclaimed in unison. "No one returns from the dead!"

"But he did" - the male Khajiit nodded assuredly. "Someone went to fetch him from the Void before he got to Sovngarde."

"Who?" - the Dunmer moved closer still.

"Who do you think?" - the Khajiit smirked and left it at that.

"All right" - the female wasn't interested in the "who" question. "What's with the bracelet around his right arm then?"

"Oh that" - her companion got another jug of mazte. "That's just a Nord thing. His nickname, you know - The Animal. That's what it means. It's from the war."

Hauk and Kaleah started exchanging warning shots. A flash of light here, a fireball there, nothing out of the ordinary. They were keeping eye contact, and that seemed to be what kept the balance. Then, with a flick of her wrist Kaleah threw off her upper armour, if you could call it that. Hauk's concentration was broken, his gaze instantly shifting down. A shock bolt got him right in the star, and he rolled on the ground, but got up, steadying himself on his sword.

The audience was extatic. It was hard to tell whether it was the fight or the view that got them there, but this show was without compare!

"All right" - Hauk mouthed to Kaleah. "You want to play dirty, then. You're on, Seducer!" He snapped his fingers summoning a Xivilai.

"Oooooh!!!" - the public exploded in applause again. A Xivilai wasn't a common sight at the arena. He ran his fingers along his body, smoothed his hair and turned to Kaleah.

"Hello, sweetheart" - he whispered, but everyone heard him. "I've got a present for you!" His battleaxe was fast, he used it as a pole. Kaleah stumbled.

"Oh no, you don't!" - she screamed, bearing her fangs. "Not this time, darling!" She hissed, and a slender creature appeared before her. "Go get him" - she prodded it. A Hunger jumped on the Xivilai, a battle ensued, and soon both were banished.

"Well, it's you and me now, precious" - Hauk looked Kaleah in the eye. "Your charms have reached their limit."

A good sword fight was always welcome at the arena, and a good sword fight was what the public was getting now. These were seasoned fighters, each with a different style, but both relentless and equally matched. They were wearing each other out, they were both wounded and bleeding, something had to give soon.

"So, his back tattoo is really the same as his chest tattoo" - the female Khajiit was still talking about that. "But what do they mean exactly?" She shot a quick glance at her companion, not wishing to miss any of the action in the arena.

"They say each line stands for a dead enemy" - the Khajiit said, not taking his eyes off the fight. "And it looks like he's going to add another line tonight."

Kaleah was losing. She made a mistake and got a deep wound that was draining her strength. But this Seducer wasn't done yet - she had wings. She soared into the sky and came crushing down on Hauk from above. Did she grow talons all of a sudden? Or did she always have talons hidden in those high heeled boots? Or was it all just an illusion?

When the dust settled, the public saw a Nord on his back and a winged Seducer on top of him in the middle of the arena. Were they both dead?

"No, I'm not dead" - they heard the Nord's voice as he rolled over, turning the Seducer onto her back. "How do you fold those wings so they don't break? That would be a pity." He grinned, and Kaleah grinned back.

"I don't" - she said. "I open them and fly away."

When the dust settled again, the arena was empty.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A young couple robed and hooded entered the gaming floor as the combatants were being announced. One would think they were just an ordinary couple out on a date. But a closer look at their finely tailored clothing and one knew otherwise. Their attire spoke of great wealth, which in turn would make many of the patrons of this particular gambling house think here’s an easy mark.

Yet no one seemed to notice them at all. The crowd just simply parted as they moved to the front row. One Altmer mage turned to object as the couple slid past to stand in front of him. The offended Altmer recoiled when he saw the face and eyes underneath the hood. He quickly put some distance between them and quickly turned his attention elsewhere.

Standing silently, they intently watched the match.

“Tas my ghraih,” Pym said. “This is so wrong. 1st-Moir is not well versed in destruction magic. Should of used her bow, Hatred’s Soul. Where is her bow? She’s faster than that Lego-las guy, any day. A couple of hits with those Inferno Arrows would’ve have done him rightly. I tried to teach her that Finger spell you like to use but she doesn’t have your power. A fireball would’ve been better. Why didn’t 1st-Moir use her tail when that nord had her down.”

“Modern dueling rules, dear one.” Goodness, after 200 years of silence Pym gets a voice and now like little child she won’t stop talking. “Death matches have been outlawed and choke holds are forbidden. I’m more concerned about where she took him. She could be in serious danger if she went to a Daedric realm. Lorekhan Inquisitors are ever waiting their chance. Go quickly, gather your moirs, especially the witch Fiona. She may be needed.”

With a tiny pop Pym vanished.

The young, hooded figure thought to himself. “I hope she didn’t go to the 19Voids in the Shivering Isles.” Dealing with Inquisitors would be so much easier than having to explain how the Nord ended up in that Daedric Seducer, Turumerin’s garbage dump. I only know of one who survived that. But then maybe she just took him to one of the south sea islands near Pyandonea. Let the southern heat and humidity take the Nord. He could even boast about how he fought Magnus and survived.”

A smile crossed the Aelf’s face.

“But I had better be ready just in case.”

The smile turned to quiet laugh.

Holding his hands in front of his face he spread his fingers wide. Doors opened and closed as glimpses of space and time turned like pages of a book before him.

“Where have you gone Ka-Ata-Killa?” the Mystwalker asked as he searched the Halls of Possibilities.

"WHAT?!" - a Breton in her early twenties was showing an unusual propensity for rage. "He did WHAT?!" - she glared at a male Mazken standing before her.

"Well, don't shoot the messenger!" - he protested, instinctively covering his face with his hands. "I only know it because I overheard a couple of drunk grummites commiserating on all the eggs they lost betting on the match. Apparently, they bet on the Seducer, but as both combatants vanished at the end of the match, the management declared a Win of the House, taking all the bets, for either side."

The Breton rolled her eyes.

"Drunk grummites? That's your source?" - she laughed and the Mazken knew that it wasn't a good sign. "What's next - embryonic baliwogs?"

The temperature in the clearing seemed to drop by a few degrees, with low mist wafting in. Such weather changes were not unheard of, but uncommon even in Dementia.

"What are you not telling me?" - the Breton's voice was crystal clear. Swamp tentacles turned to ice with a faint ping and snowflakes replaced fireflies.

"I... well, look here" - the Mazken hesitated. "She made me swear I wouldn't tell." He looked at the Breton apologetically, but didn't waver.

"I have the right to know what the father of my child is getting himself into" - she said slowly, making each word stand on its own. "And where he gets taken to as a result."

"The grummites didn't know that" - the Mazken shook his head. "What are you going to do? It'll be worse than the Tournament of Ten Bloods."

"I have no doubt" - the Breton nodded, smiling, and the snowflakes started to melt. "You stay out of it, she's one of your own. I'll take a different path." She smiled again, and a layer of ice started bracing the surface of the pond. The waters below it looked dark and ominous. The sun dimmed, as more mist filled the air. A scalon jumped out of the pond with a screech, and the ice quickly closed over. The Mazken shivered.

"She'll smell you even if you are made of ice" - he looked dubious, watching the Breton starting to transform.

"I won't be made of ice" - she smiled. "I'll travel under the ice. Then we'll see."

"You've been to the Volkihar again" - the Mazken's face darkened. "Not the best company to keep."

"Perhaps" - a gaunt red-eyed face of the Breton looked younger and older at the same time, it looked ageless. "I am not looking for a fight. But taking your own ice cover with you wherever you go is an excellent idea, you have to admit. Especially if my search takes me South of Pyandonea. He doesn't do well in the heat, I might not have much time."

"Then... what are you planning to do?" - the Mazken's face showed he had an idea, and didn't like it.

"Find him. Pull him out. Avoid another trip to the Void" - the Breton smiled. "He'll be fine under water, he's a mage."

"Well... Be careful" - the Mazken kissed her good-bye, he wasn't bothered by the fangs. "Take Fenris with you, just in case."

"Leyawiin is my first stop" - the Breton nodded and slid through the ice, disappearing into the dark waters below.

I remember her too. I knew that name from somewhere, and the fact that she's on a bear as well!

Good luck, Vampire Hunter, you're gonna need it in Lipsand. We have full confidence, of course. And gaming 'round the table is where it's at. That's where all this began. Don't forget the chips & soda.

Exciting duel between Hauk and Kaleah!

Kaleah's talons are definitely not an illusion as proven by the countless times the Jandaga has had to repair her boots, whether they be leather or armored. A stomp of her foot and the talons will protrude capable of ripping through most everything. Usually happens when she is aggravated with the Jandaga.

Acadian: Kind of fun isn’t it. Certainly, didn’t plan on it, it just kind of happened when I read the Jandaga mentioned in Lean Wolf’s story.

Lena: I put words in your Hauk's mouth if you disagree with anything make a suggestion and I can change, I think.
-----------------------------------------
Again he repeated his question.

“Where have you gone Ka-Ata-Killa? Oh, where have you gone my darling winged one?”

The flashing of pages stopped on a window with a sunny view of palm trees and sand.

“A window not a door, that’s good. At least she’s still on this world.”

With a fierce determination the Jandaga touched his right hand to his chest. Instantly he was encased in his ancient dragonspirit armor. The Dragonspirit roared as the Mystwalker stepped into the window.

It was a sunny afternoon as a cool ocean breeze blew lightly across the Lyithdonea (a Morrowind Mod) beach. Two obviously weary combatants sat several paces away from each other eyeing other warily. Exhausted, neither one wanted to move, both hoping the other wouldn’t.

Sipping on potent umbrella drinks from a nearby cabana. The sudden appearance of the silver armored figure startled them.

The big muscular Nord reacted quickly, reached for his sword. The succubus likewise sprung into the air and flew straight to the armored figure hovering in the air. Wrapping her arms and tail around him in a loving embrace Kaleah called out, “My Feache, you’ve come for me.”

Then pointing at Hauk she added, “He called me an old harpy!”

“Hey, that’s before I found out she’s you’re… I can’t believe it. No wonder she’s wanted by the Inquisitors.”

‘Good Goddess girl, how much did you tell the hulk?”

“Well, I didn’t mention Pym and the Mummigs.”

“It’s Hauk and what’s a mummig?” came from the beach.

Without taking his eye off Hauk the Jandaga asked, “Other than that did he fight with honor?”

“Yes, my Feache,” Kaleah replied, resting her head on the golden dragon embossed on his cuirass.

“Good.” And with that the Jandaga glided down to the beach and held out his hand. “The match has been declared a draw and by house rules the house wins the pot. Do you agree?”

Tentatively Hauk accepted the peace offering. ”Yes, fairly fought to no advantage, I agree.”

“You know, you don’t look anything like what I expected,” Hauk pointed out.

‘’Really, how so?”

“You’re barely as tall as the smallest Treehuggen elf I’ve seen,” Hauk stated. “By all the songs sung of the Psychedelic Warrior, Vampire Hunter, and Dragon Slayer I assumed you’d be somewhere between Orc and Xivilai in size. Why, it hurts my neck to look down at ya. ”

A little later after getting to know one another Hauk commented in somewhat disbelief, “That’s quite a list of titles you lay claim to; Arch-Mage Emeritus of Cyrodiil and Morrowind, and Archmagister Emeritus of House Telvanni. It’s the emeritus part I don’t get. Those groups aren’t known for their retirement packages.”

“I just simply posted public notice that if anyone wishes to challenge me step forward. Everyone took a step back. So, I said I’m done with the politics. Select someone to call your Arch-whatever and should they have a problem with me minding my own business they can come see me personally. It’s been 300-years or more and no one has paid me a visit.”

“Now tell me what went wrong? This was supposed to be a table game with AI controlled automatons fighting.”

Kaleah and Hauk gave each other a confused quizzical look before Kaleah offered, “We don’t know. I was outside looking at the elephants when suddenly I’m in the Arena fighting. I couldn’t control myself.”

“Same here,” Hauk answered. “For a fact, I certainly wouldn’t have fallen for that vanishing cuirass trick.”

“I don’t know. This doesn’t sound right. Well, we better get going before the Ladies get here. Never can tell how the witch will react. Hauk, I’ll send you back to your Wolf. Tell her to beware I feel a hard rain’s gonna fall...”

“Oh, and one last thing; stand up, tell her how you feel, and don’t take no for an answer.”

Before Hauk could answer the Jandaga waved his hand and Hauk was returned to Lena the Wolf.

“Do you think he will, tell her I mean?” Kaleah asked.

“Oh, probably not. You know how Nords are.”

The sun was setting, the cabana closed, and all the tourists had left the beach for the day. The Jandaga look his Lady K by the hand. “It’s a shame to waste such a beautiful sunset, don’t you think?”

“Hmmmmm,” was all Kaleah said as she began to unbuckle the straps to his armor…

Just at that moment a blue portal opened up on the beach. Out stepped Elenya the Cute-elf druid and Fiona the Moonshadow witch. Next came two unexpected companions from Skyrim; M’rissi an Ohmes-raht kitten, and Auri a Bosmer. Lastly, Pym strode through the portal.

Acting as spokesperson for the rescue party Fiona suppressed the giggles the other four of the rescue party had suddenly acquired and announced, “We heard there may be some sort of trouble here but by the looks of it Kaleah has the situation well under control.”

“We’ll just hang around in case someone requires assistance,” snickered Elenya.

The two moons were shining their magic invitingly over the tropical waters when someone yelled, “Surfs up! Last one in the water buys the chips and sodas!”

Are you ready? (Yes, I'm ready)
Gonna be sunshine again (Yes, I'm ready)
And the flowers growing (Yes, I'm ready)
Children playing (Yes, I'm ready)
Gonna be all right (Yes, I'm ready)
You've got to be ready (Yes, I'm ready)
I know you're ready (Yes, I'm ready)
Say it loud one more time (Yes, yes, I'm ready)
Oh, yeah (Yes, yes, I'm ready)
PG&E

It is a lot of fun! A joint writing project. We should make it into a book, I can put it into one of my mods, if you agree. Then people can buy it at the First Edition.

Hauk fits great here, thanks Macole! Yeah, I can just picture him saying those things... "old harpy"... and yeah, he'd never fall for the vanishing cuirass trick, oh no sir, not him... Just one word: Reesa.

Sorry for getting Kaleah's fighting technique wrong - I wasn't sure what that'd be, I went by regular Seducer skills. Plus, a bow doesn't really fit in the arena. I figured everyone knew some basic destruction magic, and her being a Seducer, a Hunger would come naturally, even if she wasn't particularly proficient in Conjuration. A high level Hunger can easily take down a Xivilai, talking from my own experience. They suck the life out of their victims... charming creatures all 'round.

I'll write the ending from our end a little later - got to think it up first. In my main story Lena hasn't gone to see the Volkihar yet, that happens a few years down the line, after she has another child... Which she will. To me, this is like a glimpse into the future - two years or so from that evening when Lena and Hauk were sitting in that caravanserai with the two Khajiits and a Dunmer talking about informing the Jandaga and the Spy Master. And yeah, Hauk never insisted on anything, you know what Nords are like, all that squishy emotional stuff... Nords just don't do that.

The waters of Topal Bay were covered in ice. The slaughterfish were bumping into it, but all they could ever achieve was break their teeth.

"What on Nirn..?" - a fisherman looked bewildered as his boat was frozen solid in open water. "Sirens?" He saw a shape of a slender woman under the ice, quite close to the surface. "Sirens? Here? Under the ice?" The female shape was moving towards the shore and the fisherman followed her with his gaze. Then she emerged, rising right through the ice. "Impossible!" - the fisherman rubbed his eyes. "Should cut down on the ale, start seeing things, I am." He shook himself, nearly toppling over his boat. The ice had melted. He rowed to the shore where the woman had appeared - there were footprints in the sand. Female footprints... leading to... "Impossible!" - the fisherman exclaimed again. "A trapdoor? Since when?" He pulled on the ring, but it was locked. "Smugglers" - he decided. "Must be." In which case it was best to leave them alone. He got into his boat and rowed away.

...

"Mistress!" - a Dunmer kneeled before a young woman who just descended through the trapdoor. "Oh!" She was naked.

"Never mind that - I had to swim here" - she explained the lack of attire. "We've got to go."

But before the Dunmer could say anything, there was a faint pop, a flash of light and a rather confused Nord appeared in the room.

"Whaaa--" - he started, then a broad grin spread across his face. "Well, look at that!"

"Hauk!" - Lena ran towards him, completely ignoring Fenris. "Where have you been? What are you doing here? Weren't you--" The rest of her questions were swallowed in a kiss.

"Well, you won't believe what just happened to me" - Hauk started, but Lena looked at him sternly.

"Oh yes, I think I will believe it! Dylan warned me about it! I only came here to pick up Fenris to go searching for you! I was worried sick! What were you thinking!! ..." A tight embrace and another kiss from Hauk stopped that flood.

"And I love you too" - he grinned. "Especially when you are dressed like this."

"Oh you..." - Lena's tone softened. "I swam under the ice. I had to transform. I have to feed now."

She turned and marched off down the stairs towards the thrall's cell, with the two men's eyes glued to her slender figure.

"Does she often let you see her like that?" - Hauk asked Fenris without taking his eyes off Lena.

"Sometimes" - Fenris nodded. "The best Mistress ever."

"Yeah... The Prettiest Vampire You've Ever Seen is right here" - Hauk said firmly.

That I can agree to but we would need to agree on which dictionary and grammar book to use; UK or US, big difference.
The there’s the fact that I’ve made many addendums to my copy trying to fill it out a bit. Like when Hauk and the Jandaga meet for example;

Then pointing at Hauk she added, “He called me an old harpy!”
“Hey, that’s before I found out she’s you’re… wife? I can’t believe it. No wonder she’s been branded an apostate and being hunted by the Inquisitors.”
‘Good Goddess girl, how much did you tell the hulk?” The Jandaga intentionally mispronounced Hauk’s name as a test of character.
“Well, he was very persuasive but I didn’t mention Pym and the Mummigs.”
“It’s Hauk and what’s a mummig?” Hauk shouted from the beach.
A bold tourist from a small island off the coast of eastern High Rock with an odd Manx accent shouted for all to hear, ”Mommy!”
Without taking his eye off Hauk the Jandaga asked Kaleah, “Other than that did he fight with honor?”
“Yes, my Feache,” Kaleah cooed. Resting her head on golden dragon embossed on the Jandaga’s cuirass she curled her tail tighter around his waist.
“Good.” And with that the Jandaga glided down to the beach. Tension was near unbearable as the Jandaga held out his hand. Had his demonstration of power been enough to bluff his way to a peaceful conclusion? On the outside the Jandaga was cool, calm, and collected but on the inside he felt like a beehive with a bear on the doorstep.
He held his composure, “Optio, the match has been declared a draw and by house rules the house wins the pot. Do you agree?”
The moment of truth had come at last. The Jandaga tensed hoping for the right answer.
Tentatively Hauk mulled over the options before extending his hand to accept the peace offering.”Yes, fairly fought to no advantage, I agree.”
The sudden release of tension caused Hauk to say the first thing that came to mind, “You know, you don’t look anything like what I expected.”


Yes he did fit. I should be thanking you for the inspiration. That trick, it’s a maneuver that Kaleah (I) would call Dear Deer in the Headlights. Works to a degree against all males except for Argonians. That’s probably the reason I can’t say no when we go shopping at the Goddess store.


No problem. Kaleah is stuck with the AI package her mod creator gave her, no spells, just a fire weakness enchanted Daedric bow and fire damage enchanted arrows. So I RP around that as best I can.
That gambling table was rigged! Real combatants shouldn’t have been involved and Kaleah was handicapped with faulty AI. Who would do such a thing and why? could it be the Feyfolken try to stop us from finding the truth? Stay tuned.


But he did try. Lena just had to do something first. it might come back to him later, not.
So I made another change to when Hauk is sent back.

“Oh, and one last thing;” Again the Jandaga walked in the myst. Everything around him slowed to a near stop. Pressing his left thumb against Hauk’s forehead he said “Stand up, tell her how you feel, and don’t take no for an answer.”
Hauk tried in vain to grab Jandaga’s hand and pull that burning thumb away but his arm had only moved scant inches by the time the Jandaga removed his touch and stepped out of the myst. Then before Hauk could confront him the Jandaga waved a hand and Hauk vanished; returned to Lena the Wolf.
“Do you think he will, tell her I mean?” Kaleah asked.
“Oh, probably not. The compulsion spell is strong but limited and well, you know how Nords are.”

Now before you say this is over the top magic, it is pretty much how I play considering all the levitation and walking through walls he does. Besides his custom class is named Mystwalker

Great stuff! I've collated all the pieces and inserted your changes, I think they do improve the story. Only I wasn't sure where you wanted that bit about the game being rigged? Let's continue this on PM. Making the text suitable for an in-game book will also bring limitations, such as we can't really use italics in the text, but we can put in pictures. Got to stick to plain ASCII too (no curly quotes) because not everyone in the world has the same language and font settings... But these are all technicalities, it can be sorted during editing. And US spelling, I think, since that's what Bethesda is using in their books (I wonder why? ).

As for magic being over the top... no, not really. The Telvanni had all sorts of weird spells, and of course the Command spell is also available in Oblivion. So it's all good. The lore is written by people like us!

A propos spells: have you seen this mod?

I agree, this is pretty fun to read.

20220131 Lipsand Tarn VH-OVB, I-SL, OOO, MOO

Entering Lipsand Tarn we suddenly became aware that this is the place we were looking for. Sugar Moth an Ohmes-raht vampire (Integration) declared that we should not have come here and attacked.

He was right you know. It would have been much safer for him had we not shown up. During the fight Sugar Moth dropped a small chest. It requires a key to open so we left it alone. We made a note to report this to the Stranded Light.

“Well there’s vampires here that’s for sure but is the Night Lord here?”

Elenya took out a blood red candle and lit it. Watching the smoke intently Elenya, as she was taught by Fiona the witch, attempted to read its pattern as it swirled its way up to the ceiling. The smoke pooled on the ceiling before branching out in three fingers that flowed deep into the darkness of Lipsand Tarn.

“I’m not certain on the Night Lord,” Elenya admitted. “Stone doesn’t speak the same language as the forest flora, but Nature is disturbed by three very powerful somethings down there.”

The entrance hall turned out to be a death trap, not for us though. We used the two rising floor traps to our advantage. By enticing n overly eager vampire onto one of the traps we let the floor smash him to a pulp.

Things began to get really interesting when we entered the second room. We came to the end of the walkway. A long drop loomed before us. As we contemplated how to get across the divide a staircase rose up to greet us. Still there was no staircase going up to the other side. We descended the steps hoping to find another way up the other side to continue.

We could see vampires on the floor below and we were ready for the fight. Two of the vampires went full on chameleon. My Ladies took on the chameleons for themselves to play with.

After summoning an angel to take care of the obsidian armored weed whacker, with Twinkle’s guiding light, I turned my attention to a very pesky vampire archer.

With the archer out of the way, there was a long enough pause in the fighting that I noticed a decorative iron gate. Cautiously Twinkle opened the creaky gate and I descended down two flights of stairs to find ourselves in a cluttered laboratory of sorts. The noisy gate must have given us away. A shimmering visage was ready to attack as soon as we stepped off the stairs and into a ransacked laboratory.

I was sweeping up the dust when my Ladies showed up to help loot the laboratory. On an ornately carved stone catafalque we found two very interesting items. A Fine Warden Longblade from Addonay’s Elven Weaponry shop was one. Just goes to show if you don’t know how to use it even the best won’t do. The other item one the catafalque was an elder elven helmet (OOO). Both items should bring a pretty penny in the shops.

Sitting on a pedestal in the center of the room sat a push block switch. Pushing it caused a huge rumbling noise from above. Running back upstairs we found a second set of stairs rising to allow us access the far side of the room. With the staircase now complete we’ll be able to continue forward.

At the top of the stairs we found a varla stone on display. Taking it alerted two vampires of our presence. They were easy to deal with but we found ourselves once again blocked by a locked gate that is opened remotely.
Retracing our steps we found a push block switch in a room off to the side.

The push block sat in front of a decorative window grate through which we could see the gate that blocked our access to Lorsel’s door. This had to be the switch so we gave it a push. As expected we watched the decorative gate open. Access to Lipsand Tarn Lorsel was now to be had.

Rushing to get to the door leading to Lipsand Tarn Lorsel we were shocked to find our exit from this small room to be blocked. Apparently in our excitement watching the gate opening we had failed to hear the stone wall shifting to trap us.

Trapped we set about looking for a way out. The entrance closing wasn’t the only part of the wall that changed. A corner in the back had opened up to reveal a small alcove with a push block switch. Unfortunately it was guarded by two stone gargoyles. Knowing that the switch would open the door we approached.

Mudcrabs! Don’t these Ayleid things ever fail? As soon as we got close the stone gargoyles came to life and another fight was on.

Eventually we were able to push the switch and reopen the room’s entrance. Once the door was open we didn't waitaround to find out whatever else would pop- up to slow us down we ran to the Lipsand Tarn Lorsel door and rushed through to the other side.

Perhaps we should have taken our time though? Lorsel is brutal.

“I’m not certain on the Night Lord,” Elenya admitted. “Stone doesn’t speak the same language as the forest flora, but Nature is disturbed by three very powerful somethings down there.”
- - Very cool!

Not only fighting vampires and gargoyles, but the dungeon's obtuse traps and staircases as well. Glad Twinkle's along.

Mudcrabs? The most elegant swear ever.

This one was very, very difficult. The number of vampires encountered in Lipsand Tarn Lorsel was near overwhelming.

20220213 VH-OVB Lorsel Lipsand Tarn – the Demon
Entering Lipsand Tarn Lorsel we were detected right away by at least ten vampires. How do they know? I did take a shower this morning, didn’t I?

Other than the two archers the vampires attacked in a near invisible form. All I could see was the shimmering figures of three vampires.

BANG – The room turned into a gallery of shooting stars as a mace or hammer came crashing down on my helm. A vision of a match in a caravanserai took hold of me and I remember very little after that.

“Ever since I was a young boy I've played the silver ball” – FLASH –

With the burning light of the rising sun, Light of Dawn exercised the darkness of Lipsand Tarn Lorsel as a vampire fell to its sharp edge.

“But I ain't seen nothing like him in any amusement hall.” – FLASH –

“Kaleah!” Elenya shouted as she ran a vampire through the heart. “There must be at least 30 vampires of every faction; OOO, MOO VH-OVB, and I-SL gathered down here and he’s singing.”

“Feeling all the bumpers, always playing clean.” – FLASH – the dust of another vampire became a neat little pile on the floor.

“No worries,” Kaleah answered while raining fiery arrows onto the shimmering foes. “It doesn’t happen often but every now and then the song in his head takes over. When he’s like this, I’ve never seen him fall.”

“Plays by intuition, the vampire counters fall” – FLASH – the Demon (VH-OVB) fell conveniently near the Board of Elevation (PTArtifacts). Something told the Jandaga and his Ladies that this was the vampire that the Order of Virtuous Blood had sent us to eliminate.

“Always gets a replay, too,” Elenya said wistfully while with grace and precision she cut out the heart of another vampire.

Up the stairs to another large room where the fight continued. The OOO faction emissary to Lipsand Tarn, Patriarch Sorceress Ederiath Vrastal and her MOO lieutenant Mordister Woodston put up a desperate last stand.

“That deaf, dumb, and blind kid sure plays a mean pinball. “ – FLASH –– Ederiath Vrastal lost her head to the Light of Dawn. The Ladies laughed as it rolled along the balcony floor draining to the floor below. From her dust we obtained the sword Edge of Ages, the Hood of Shifting Visage, and the Gown of Power. All nice stuff

Mordister Woodston, apparently was not one of the powerful evils Elenya had discerned when we first entered Lipsand Tarn. He became confused by the pressures of combat when the Ladies attacked. Instead of using the power of the Eldar Staff of Paralyzing Burst that he carried, Mordister summoned ghouls and zombies. Maybe he thought the Ladies were a bunch of valley girls who’d run away screaming at the sight of such ugliness. It didn’t take long for him to realize his final mistake.

“His disciples lead him in and he just does the rest.”

With two of the powers in Lipsand Tarn taken care of the search was on for the third. The Ladies found the entrance to the Sacred Hall (OOO). There, guarding the Cuirass of Melius Petlius (OOO Path of Iron) was the Lich of Faernel Tulwë. Pym led Jandaga in and he just did the rest.

With crazy flipper fingers and a flick of his supple wrist, the bones of the Lich Faernel Tulwë (OOO) soon littered the Sacred Hall floor. The Jandaga recovered the Cuirass of Melius Petlius (OOO Path of Iron) leaving it to his Ladies to chase down the puppets of the Lich of Faernel Tulwë.

Lipsand Tarn Lorsel was quiet, the song had stopped and the Jandaga slowly returned to his self.

Kaleah and Elenya watched as the Jandaga and Pym began sweeping up vampire dust,

“And he tells me he can’t sing or dance,” Kaleah mused while she and Elenya looted the far end of Lorsel where they could talk more privately

“I know,” Elenya said. “The way he’s always singing and loves to dance, he could have been a Bard.”

“If it hadn’t been for that Jagar Tharn catastrophe and Uriel cursing him with that Eternal Champion thing forcing him to find other talents, who knows what he would have become?” Kaleah added.

“Don’t even think it, Kaleah!” warned Elenya. “He may not have found us otherwise.”

My head finally clear I took time to review a book and a handwritten note that Pym handed me. The note, On My Behalf written by the Demon is his attempt to justify his existence. In it he claims to be the Lord of Lipsand Tarn who protects Chorrol from invaders, from feral vampires and from the Dark Brotherhood. Does he or does he claim Chorrol as his own private stock?

Ederiath Vrastal’s book, Arcana Restored proposes the hypothesis that there is a way to recharge enchanted items without using soul gems. The spells to do so were not in the book. For some reason I have the sneaking suspicion that the blood of vampire thralls is involved.

Tired, we took advantage of the many stone sleeping slabs we found scattered throughout Lipsand Tarn. The stone beds were cold and hard. Our comfort came from knowing that the people of Chorrol should be able to sleep more soundly tonight.

The Pinball Wizard of Lipsand Tarn and his disciples did a wonderfully entertaining job of clearing the place of its formidable collection of foes!

While in the Third Era, Buffy was always jealous of the few mages stationed at guildhalls who could recharge weapons without soul gems. For our canon, we wrote that those mages paid the very high price of forsaking all other spellcasting to master the talent. Impressive but a price too high for Buffy. Looking back, I suppose an equally valid explanation would have been to simply assume they had a stockpile of full soul gems and used them.

I always assumed they had their pockets stuffed with soul gems. And also had a crate full of them somewhere under the floor boards.

Macole - good job clearing all those vampires! Phew! I wonder how long Lipsand Tarn will remain quiet though. Do these vampires respawn? Err... rise again? It would be pretty hard if you burn them to ashes, I should imagine.

Acadian and Lena: A mage specializing in recharging really does make sense. Varla Stones, one Varla Stone will recharge every item in your inventory. The Ayleid Steps mod has a spell to recharge a special Welkynd Stone at a hefty magika price.
FYI, I play the music while I game.
The OOO and Integration vampire will not respawn, they are quest driven. Vanila vampires will, so I just assume that a new clan has moved in. As what happened in Caramel err, I mean Carmala.

20220221 I-SL White Shadow

It was a pleasant journey traveling the West Roads south to Chorrol. It was getting dark as we neared Chorrol. Chandra the Bloodthirsty should be out and about, and we do need to talk to her about a couple of things. One is her request to the Stranded Light for assistance. The second is find out what she knows about that Khajiit vampire Moth Sugar we ran into in Lipsand Tarn.

Chandra has nothing to say about Moth Sugar. When asked about her request for aid she hands us a book and titled “Trap” and suggests we read it first. It’s a strange tale about vampires keeping people as cattle. The book ends with the thought; there is something worse than being hungry, being food.

After reading the book, Chandra told me that she became associated with a clan of vampires, due to the leader having a striking resemblance to her. The evil actions of this particular vampire are giving Chandra a bad name and Chandra wants it dealt with, dead preferably. The rumors say it resides in a Fort not far from Chorrol, "named after a color, or a fictional character".

Doppelganger came to mind as Chandra talked. After our discussion with Chandra we retired to Arborwatch for the night.

“Do you know what she is?” Kaleah asked.

“Chandra? Oh, a vampire I suspect.”

"Then why help her?” Kaleah pressed. “Why do you let her walk around freely?”

“It’s her attitude. She’s not ambitious. Unlike the Demon we encountered in Lipsand Tarn she’s not hell bent on killing everyone. Besides, she’s helped us in the past and doppelgangers are just plain nasty.”

The following morning we mine the Chorrol rumor mill to learn what we can about vampires in the area. While most had no idea, we did get some ideas. Estelle Renoit suggested it could be some kind of altered or misspelled name, like Maglia could be mistaken for magenta or Magus.

Honditar gave us a couple Ayleid ruins he suspects as vampire lairs. The Ladies stifled snickers when he called one "Nine and Dave". When reminded that we were looking for forts not Ayleid ruins, Honditar mentioned that something odd is going on around Hackdirt, but he don't know any details.

Elenya consulted her map and after a brief study of the area around Hackdirt we decided Fort Carmala, I keep wanting to say caramel, was a good place to investigate.

Arriving at Carmala, Kaleah wrinkled her nose and sneezed. We had cleaned out Carmala some time ago but Kaleah’s reaction points to some new arrivals.

After killing the few vampires we encountered in Carmala, we found the Chandra Doppelganger or should I say she found us. Walked right on up pretty as you please and said, ”Hello there, nice to see you again.”

Something strange is going on here. This Chandra claims that she is the real Chandra and that she lured us here to eliminate the threat that we represent.

“You're a threat,” she says. “Someone who's able to close Oblivion Gates, get Daedra to be accepted into Tamriel's society, can become too dangerous. I like to interfere before it comes to that. And make a treat out of you.”
To deflect our attention the Carmala Chandra shows us a Black Soul Gem in which is trapped the soul of a Daedra Seducer Doppelganger called "Vrjekka". She gives it to us. Then she attacked.

Well, real Chandra or not we met her attack. When the Carmala Chandra was dead, we were approached by the ghostly apparition of a Daedra Seducer Doppelganger.

The ghost, Vrjekka tells us a story of how she impersonated Chandra until she met the great vampire Chandra #2 here in Fort Carmala. Chandra #2 prevailed and Vrjekka’s body was obliterated, her soul trapped in a black soul gem. Vrjekka mentioned Tanaark, who resides hidden in the mountains somewhere east of Cloud Ruler that may or may not be able to free her.

What is going on here? Who is the doppelganger; Chorrol Chandra, Carmala Chandra, the ghostly Daedra Seducer Vrjekka, or all of them? What do we do with the Vrjekka Black Soul Gem? While we pondered over these loose ends we traveled back to Chorrol to recover.

We were surprised but it really wasn’t unexpected to see Chandra sitting under the great oak.

Chandra of Chorrol may be alive and well, but her explanation didn't make much sense. She told us something about being caught in a Dragon Break. Imagine that, the dragon broke, again. That explains why there are multiple "versions" of her all over the place, I think. It was one of these other "Chandra versions" not a Doppelganger that obliterated and trapped the soul of the real Doppelganger Vrjekka.

This is all too confusing. I was just beginning to understand the complexities of muti-dimensional existence and now this. The only logical conclusion is that Doppelgangers and Dragon Breaks are a couple of buggered up plot devices.

“We could have told you that!” Elenya and Kaleah said in unison while Pym looked on sternly.

Oh well, let’s get a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow we can head south to the Imperial City and Merendin and turn our reports on these quests.

Yeah that does sound like a confusing quest.

I like the part when Kaleah sneezed.

What a beautiful night sky nearing Chorrol. With Twinkle lighting the way up close.

And Twinkle continues to light the way inside Fort Carmala.

Renee is right. This does sound like it was a confusing quest. I'm afraid my approach after about the second twist/turn might have been to kill anything that looks, sounds or smells like a Chandra.

Past couple of weeks I’ve been experiencing issues with my game e.g., invisible water, wild texture colorations, flashing red and yellow blotches, a rash of corrupt saves. It left me feeling that the game would not continue.

Pym wearing golden saint armor. She looks so sad.

Chandra in bound golden saint armor

Lake Rumare

Topal Bay in the background

So the past couple weeks I spent most of my time trying to figure out what happened and how to fix it, if I could. Several things happened close to the same time; power outage, Windows 10 update, kids messing with the PC settings and downloading from questionable sites. I hate to say it but more than likely was my error in not exercising my own best practice methods of installing and removing a couple of new mods. Well I’m happy to say I managed to straighten out the game settings. The mode Oblivion Reloaded didn’t make it easy, that’s for sure. Till next time.

I am glad you managed to fix it, Macole! Those dry river beds don't look all that inviting... It's like Fallout for Tamriel! But if anything, I'd blame the kids.

Like Lena said, glad you got it sorted out!

Some glitches are welcome, in my eyes. Pym's armor in that first shot looks pretty cool (to me).

I have seen water disappear, especially from the Waterfront area, but nothing as drastic as that! I usually just pretend I didn't see it! It always sorts itself out.



Mm hmm...

Me too. Was Pym the Psychadelic Sword-maiden trying out an experimental camo armor?

20220223 VH-OVB, I-SL turning in quests
It was early the morning of Loredas Sun’s Dawn 22, 3E435 when we used the Arborwatch Ayleid Step to take us directly to the Market District of the Imperial City. The Ladies find the stones less disconcerting than the common map hopping but not as much fun as traveling Midas’ Astral Gate.

Shopping, first things first as they say, The ladies got right down to it and raced off to the Waterfront (we all know what’s there) leaving me to the mundane task of trading a ton of loot hours later we met up in the Temple
District before heading over to the Order of the Virtuous Blood Headquarters.

Cylben Dolovas lets us in and directs us downstairs where we find Grey-Throat. Grey-throat is interested in hearing about the hunt so we tell him about the night on bald mountain. Surprisingly Grey-Throat tells us that he heard tell of the Vampire Demon Legend when he was a hatchling.

“There once was a strong and virtuous hero of the Empire who after years of fighting in some forgotten war returns home to find his entire family murdered by assassins of the Dark Brotherhood. He turned to the Daedric Princes Molag Bal and Malacath, offering his life and sanity for power and revenge. The Daedric Lords granted his request. Within a year not one member of the Dark Brotherhood existed within the walls of Chorrol and the surrounding hinterlands. The vampire that calls himself Demon has wage his eternal war against the Dark Brotherhood ever since.”

Sitting around waiting for Roland to show up I told Kaleah, “I almost feel sorry for the Demon. If only he had talked to us perhaps we could have come to some sort of arrangement.”

“Not possible,” Kaleah replied. “Once he offered up his sanity, his fate was sealed. Everyone he meets will be Dark Brotherhood. He’d have no choice but to kill.”

“Hey, want to hear about a dream I had?” I asked. The Ladies and Grey-Throat gathered around to hear the story.

“Well it all started when a Pahmar-raht strolled into a caravanserai to place a bet on a match…”

“…and as usual I bought the scuttle and shein.”

While Kaleah and Grey-Throat proclaimed the story as a heroic epic tale, Elenya said in a somber voice, “An omen of the danger to come, my Jandaga.”

Before she could decipher the dream further in walked Roland.

“Good news,” Roland announced. “I’ve located the whereabouts of the Night Lord. He’s holed up in Fanacas near Cheydinhal.”

Figures that the Yndlor Arpen would take over a site we had recently cleared of vampires. Probably thought we’d assume the place clean and wouldn’t look there

After the announcement we informed Roland of our good news, that the vampire treat from Lipsand Tarn has been eliminated. Roland is happy with what I did for Chorrol. He said I am welcome to use his cabin sometime when I want to take a vacation from my bloody crusade against the unholy. Tempting, really tempting.

There is something else we need to do before we leave the Imperial City. Hmmm, oh yes, we need to stop by Midas’ Magic Emporium. Always good to see Midas. This time we used an angel feather and one gold nugget to make the Wings of an Angel residue. (One thing I think should have been included in the Midas Magic mod was to pay a small fee to the shop for using Midas’ equipment.)

Midas and my Ladies watched as I gave the Wings of an Angel a trial run. It was fun watching the wings flap as I flew around the room.

Satisfied with the spell and after a few tips and adjustments for fit and finish from Midas, we used Midas’ Astral Gate in the basement to take us to Merendin.

Karashivual was practicing her footwork at the sword dummy when we arrived. After telling her about the two Chandras and the Doppelganger trapped in a black soul gem spoke the big stoic Kara let her frustrations show..

“So the "Chorrol Chandra" knows about the other Chandras? Something about a broken Dragon? Again? I hate it. Really. I hate it. That Akatosh breaks more often than Mehrunes Dagon was banished into the void. And believe me, he was banished a lot of times. That fool!”

“As for the doppelganger, all you can do is squash them when you find them. You can give me the soul gem and I’ll see to it that it never gets free.”

I decided to hold on to the black soul gem for awhile.

Kara had finished her turn at the practice dummy and Do’leanra was approaching to take her turn. Do’leandra was happy to hear the ‘Spies and Scouts’ affair had been settled favorably. She rewarded us with a small token of appreciation, the Elswyer Companion Spell.

I know she was trying to be sweet when she licked my cheek but that sandpaper tongue just didn’t do it for me. Just the touch of her hand would have sufficed.

Jo’beala, seeing that I had returned to Merendin was anxious to hear if we had found the Focus Crystal. Even though I told her that Shivaya said the crystal was broken, Jo’beala wanted to examine it. Unfortunately, as soon as Jo touched it a massive lightening blast sent her flying.

The Daedra Seducer Teshekru, who had been watching, commented that the Focus Crystal appeared to be guarded against Khajiit and Daedra handling it. We’ll have to find another enchanter.

Walking to the tavern for a drink we passed Ahtize the Moamer. Noticing the Focus Crystal, Ahtize asked where we found such a crude device. I told her what it was and asked if she could use it to enchant items. I was surprised and relieved when she replied that she could even though it wouldn’t be easy using a half cursed partly cracked crystal.

Satisfied that the quest ‘Breaking the Monopoly II’ was concluded successfully we found empty beds to get some much needed sleep.

Quite a lot of running around tying up loose ends for the Jandaga and the Ladies... Yes, well, chores will follow us to Oblivion. As for the Demon - this is what happens to those who oppose the Brotherhood. Whahaha! Resistance is futile..! Oh wait, wrong universe.

Sounds like a fine day of shopppping and flying lessons, along with turning a few quests in before heading off to a good night of sleep.

Interesting story about the twice-cursed vampire DB hunter. If only he could reliably focus just on the DB. Then it would be a fine arrangement of your enemies hunting your enemies so stay outta the way.

20220301 VH-OVB, Night Lord of Fanacas
Our day began with the rising of Magnus. There is much to do so right after the morning ritual and breakfast we said our good-bys and left Merendin. Traveling north we made our way to Fanacas and a rendezvous with the Night Lord.

As we stepped inside Fanacas I was stricken with the queasy feeling that a very evil presence has moved in since we were last here. It’s only been half a year since we cleared Fanacas offive vampires when we came to fetch an Alyeid statue for Umbacano. At that time we found nothing that indicated something called Night Lord resided here.

My Ladies must have felt it too. Kaleah and Elenya began nervously fiddling with their weapons while Pym moved closer to my side, almost causing me to stumble. Kaleah recovered qickly, straightened herself up like the tower of strength that she is and states that the place smells old, very, very old.

Weapons drawn we proceed slowly down the steps into the darkness of Fanacas. There in the darkness with his back to us stood single strange figure. Sneaking quietly we got in range and with one stroke the Light of Dawn claimed a rather strange vampire.

The darkness had worked to our advantage but now we need to see. At my call, Twinkle willingly came to chase away the darkness strike fear in those that hate the light.

Now that we could see, thanks to Twinkle, Fanacas looked exactly as I remembered it. The walkway we traveled on extended over a flooded Ayleid room. Turning right at the first bend we stood, watching the falling blade trap cycle to determine the timing pattern of the four blades.

Like the last time we were here there was activity on the other side of an iron gate at the far end of the walkway. We could see and hear several vampires milling about scream for our blood. It is never fun fighting invisible vampire and the mere thought caused me to pause for a moment.

From our rear came a lightning bolt, striking the marble column near me. The near miss set my teeth achatter. Three vampires, two sorcerers casting lightning bolts and an archer firing at us from the far side of the water filled room.

What do we do? Charging across the flooded room would open us up to a direct attack. going the other way through the blade trap would be slow even more dangerous.

A second lightning bolt struck even closer. Through uncontrollably chattering teeth I let slip the whisper of my inner doubt.

“If I had a rocket launcher, if I had a rocket launcher. I would not hesitate.”

Elenya laid her hand on my arm and said, “You are your own rocket launcher, my Jandaga,”

She’s right. With several fireball spells in my repertoire, I am my own rocket launcher. Choosing Hellish Fate I turned and unleashed several rounds across the water in the direction of the attackers. Kaleah added he r fiery arrows to the attack and soon the smell of charred flesh wafted across the flooded room to tell us the job was done.

Our attention now turned to the closed gate that lay beyond the falling blade trap. We could hear the vampires on the other side calling for our blood. A withering barrage of Hellish Fate turned the area around the gate into an inferno and soon the blood calls were no more.

Starring at the falling blade trap, I decided that this was silly.

“You know,” I told my Ladies. “Why risk our lives with this blade trap? We can just walk around it.”

Using Water Striding we circumvented the blade trap, where opened the closed gate we confirmed six dead strange vampires. Proceeding with the utmost caution, we continued on our way to where we knew the Night Lord would be. The room accessible only by the door that’s under water located in the next flooded chamber.

Our fiery attack had done its job. The bodies of six vampires littered the floor around the gate. One of them in particular was strange. From the decorations on his armor we could tell he was a decorated Hero of the Guard.
From there on, Fanacas was deathly quiet until we reached the second flooded room. There a heavily armored vampire Lihla of the Night Lord faction blocked our way.

“None shall pass!” she said in a most stern manner.

After a tense moment of negotiation, we all did. Lihla’s body was left floating peacefully in the flooded room.

Diving into the water of the flooded second room, we found the submerged doorway and climbed the stairs to the dry room that once held an Ayleid Statue. Stepping into the small room we were immediately challenged by Lisa of the Night Lord Faction.

Looking up from the fallen Lisa we came face to face with a vampire male dressed in black armor. And the Night Lord wants to talk.

“So, we meet at last. I’ve been looking forward to this moment for quite some time.”

Seems he believes that we have done him a great service by eliminating his rebellious children Hindaril, the Lord of Fort Redman, Astalla, the Last Mother of NornalHorst, and Lorelil. the Lady of Ninendava. According to him I have earned the gratitude of a god.


“Now, I offer you my blessings,” the Night Lord drones on. “Kneel before me, creature, and you shall be blessed with a fragment of my divinity.”

“You’ve got to be kidding. We’re here to destroy you!”

The Night Lord must not have been fully awake yet as he went down in three strikes. The Strange Vampire Lisa lasted longer than he did.

We returned immediately to the Imperial City to deliver the good news to the Order of the Virtuous Blood. Upon hearing the news Roland declared the crisis at an end. He’s has run out of vampires for me to kill.

“Yahoo! It’s a celebration,” yelled Gilen Norvalo as he put aside his bottle of cheap wine and broke out a case of the good stuff, Tamika Vinytage 399.

Yahoo! It's a celebration
Yahoo!
Celebrate good times, come on (Let's celebrate)
Celebrate good times, come on (Let's celebrate)

The house was hopping when about 25 or 6 to 4:00 in the morning the city guards came pounding on the door.

A tense slog through Fanacas but, fortunately, the foes turned out to be rather manageable. Especially the delusional one at the end. And yay for Twinkle, safely lighting the way!

No more vampires to kill? Phew! Hurray! We can breathe easy now. The famous vampire hunter is retiring from vampire hunting!!

macole you must have such a wacky roleplay time with your party. They start off with a typical delve into an Ayleid ruin, with all the usual nerves and darkness, invisible vampires (gosh I hate those) and finally they take care of the Night Lord. So at the very end they break into some '70s funk music?

Only in a macole roleplay.

Acadian, Lena Wolf, and Renee.

Thank you for your kind comments, I do hope you have enjoyed my adventure in Cyrodiil as much as I have playing it.

Renee was right about the Vampire Hunting ending. Kind of like, is that all there is? Other than that Vampire Hunting - Order of the Virtuous Blood has to rank high on the best Oblivion quest mods list.

No, the Vampire Hunter is not retiring, hearing rumors of a vampire or two still running around from solitude down to Senchal may require looking into but he does need some time off to do his taxes.

20220307 KotN, Sword of the Crusader
The guard dragged the lot of us, my Ladies and everyone associated with the OVB, down to the court house. Assuming full responsibility for the OVD, I stood before Magistrate Maximus Corydon as the guard read the charges.

“Well I was proceeding in a Southerly direction, Mi’lord, when I heard uh, strange sounds coming from the ‘ouse of the late Seridur, Mi'lord. A sort of boogie-woogie music was being played. On further investigation, I discovered a rather loud and boisterous party goin’ on. Well, I decided that uh, they was a contravening a breach of the peace, there, as that a crowd had gathered, singing and dancing, jamming the street, in a wild celebration, so then I arrested the uh, defendants."

"Uh, just one moment, officer.” the magistrate interrupted. “Wh-what is this boogie-woogie music here we're talking about?"

"Oh, well Mi'lord", said the officer, getting out his notebook, obviously he'd been doing up his homework, "it's a kind of a bluesy funk rhythm music with psychedelic overtones peculiar to a strange group of elves.”

“Oh,” the magistrate interrupted again. With a stern look at the OVB members before him, he lashed out on how no one is above the law. When it was over, I got off with a caution to keep the noise down in future celebrations, a commendation for averting another crisis, and advised us to take a vacation.

The court room gallery packed to over flowing with the residents of the Temple and Talos Plaza Districts, erupted in a tumultuous cheer.

Yes, we think the judge is right, a little vacation sounds really good. The very next morning the Ladies and packed our bags and left the Imperial City intent on taking a relaxing tour of Cyrodiil. We’ll start with the garden city of Cheydinhal.

Arriving at Cheydinhal we headed straight to our house. At the moment no one is staying in the house so we just dropped our bags and left to take a walk along the river bank. As was passed by the Chapel of Arkay we could hear some sort of commotion going on inside. We went inside the chapel to see what was going on.

You know how some days can be going along so well and then while you’re standing at the kitchen sink washing dishes the faucet unexpectedly springs a leak and suddenly there’s water all over the floor (yes, it really happened two days ago). Well that’s the feeling I got when we stepped through the chapel doors.

The Chapel of Arkay is under attack! At least three gold clad figures, Aurorans Kaleah called them, were in a pitched battle with the Chapel of Arkay guards and priests. The fight was over quickly with minimum losses.
Placing the Sword of the Crusader upon the Altar of the Nine was all it took to reconsecrate the sword. The sword was returned to me with instructions to return it to the Priory of the Nine,

“Well Ladies, what do you think one more trip and then off on holiday?”

“Oh, if we have to,” they replied.

Are those two separate quests? I mean, of course the Order of the Virtuous Blood is a vanilla quest, but I understand it was expanded in your game. I thought it was a part of the Vampire Hunting quest. If not, then there's really a vampire problem in Cyrodiil... Well, there was.