Here's an ESO Lamia.

That I like. The lamia in Creature Diversity is a sea creature that looks more like a slaughter fish with a head and arms attached.
There's no accounting for Pym's taste. At least we got her away from using troll fat for cooking (taste like motor oil)..


Character development is not easy for me, especially female characters with romantic designs. Back in high school all my teachers said my charatcers are all the same, flat showing no emotion, oh well. With Pym Buster Keaton silent movies and Harpo Marx come to mind.

Yes, this is part of Kvatch Rebuilt. My cheat sheet says you can do this do this part several different ways; Good, Bad, or Ugly.

When they are adventuring alone together Pym prefers he wears his leather armor. She likes to hang on the Jandaga's arm when I'm not watching and since she's a bit taller than the Jandaga those spiky pauldrons could be dangerous.

Really? Wow. Well that certainly has changed. If those teachers could see you now...

Seriously though, the differences between Pym and Kahleah and Fiona (etc.) seem pretty obvious to me. You could post some blind comments, like a quiz, and I bet I'd be able to get 2 out of 4.


Ha ha I'm probably the only one of us who has Kvatch Rising. That's G's mod (Won't say his name, but it rhymes with pisshard, lol). I love KRising, but I've always wondered about Kvatch Rebuilt.

I tried G's Kvatch mod once long ago. I think it was Kvatch Aftermath (the one before Rising). Let's say that I didn't care for his NPC's ranting over his personal fight.

20230219 Alyeid Steps, Murder Masquerade – Gweden Brothel, Outcast Kajiit

Oh what a night, we woke to a glorious sundrenched morning in the Merchants District. Dressed for a leisurely day in the Imperial City we left the Merchants Inn as the shops were beginning to open. Well dressed and feeling good with Pym at my side I stepped out onto the busy street thinking that I was fully prepared to meet the rigors of a day of shopping. I didn’t realize how wrong I could be.

On our way to our first stop, The Copious Coinpurse, a gust of wind blew a copy of the Black Horse Currier across our path. The headline “Ayleid Steps Secrets Reveled” caught my attention. Picking up the paper we gave the article a read.

“Look Pym,” I pointed out to Pym. “It talks about citizens seeing a ghost appearing and instantly disappearing at some steps. Looks like we’ve been noticed? Wonder what else they’ve seen?’

Shocked at the thought, a blushing Pym’s hand flew to cover her gaping mouth.

“And here it reports that there’ve been complaints about invaders appearing in homes and robbing them of all their valuables before disappearing. People are demanding that the Imperial Watch take action.”

In near panic, Pym latched onto my left arm as she warily looked around the street making sure the Watch wasn’t watching us.

“Now this is interesting, an unknown mage staying at Skingrad's Two Sisters Lodge is making all sorts of accusations about the Ayleid Steps. He is also offering to purchase welkynd stones at inflated prices. I’ve got so many of these stone we could make a killing. Could this have anything to do with that True Descendant Ayleid Cult business? Let’s hurry with our business here and get to Skingrad as quick as we can. I’m beginning to get a bad feeling about this.”

A now determined Pym grabbed me by the hand and dragged me non-stop through every single shop in the city. It was a rush job by her standards and by a week later… no, it just felt like a week. My mind was so frazzled by the shopping rush that I had to take a potion to clear the fog. It really was only a couple of days later when with the shopping done and the profit deposited in the bank, when we were ready to leave for Skingrad.

It was early evening on the second day when I found time to speak to Tar-Meena in the Mystic Archive. She told me that they were ready to test the Skull of the Mountain spell. Malandil was to demonstrate it only Malandil was nowhere to be found. (suspect mod conflict between Rumple and Universitum Arcanorum)

After searching high and low for Malandil with no success Pyn tugged on my arm as if to say, “Come on let’s go.”

“Yes, yes, you’re right. We’ll deal with this later.” We left the Universitum Arcanorum.

Well, I keep on thinkin' 'bout you, Sister Golden Hair surprise
And I just can't live without you; can't you see it in my eyes?
I been one poor correspondent, and I been too, too hard to find
But it doesn't mean you ain't been on my mind

With a wave of a hand the myst began to envelope us and we slowly faded from view as we walked across the bridge to the Imperial City. With Pym hanging on my arm we stepped out of the myst into the master bedroom of Rosethorn Hall in Skingrad. There to our surprise we stood face-to-face with Claire.

“Well, what do we have here?” demanded Claire when she saw Pym hanging on my arm.

For a brief moment Claire and Pym glared at each other like two little girls fighting over a favorite doll. It was over quickly. A resolution was silently agreed upon, peace ruled the day. The battle of wills over, Pym and Claire turned to me and smiled. Whatever it was over they must have decided to share.

A frightening thought occurred to me, I was the toss up! Should I be flattered or fear for my life? Can you imagine my dismay when I found out that the tug-a-war was over who got which side of the bed? I’m not sure which emotion was greater, relief that I wasn’t being fought over or disappointment that I wasn’t being fought over. I went downstairs to find a comfortable couch.

It was midmorning the next day when we left Rosethorn Hall to find the welkynd collecting mage staying at Two Sisters Lodge. We were passing the Mages Guild when I noticed that Claire still seemed to be on upset over something. Trying to easy her tensions I asked what brought her to Skingrad. It was a simple question that blew the lid off the kettle.

“You’ve been out ALONE with everyone else while I’ve been stuck in Benirus Manor polishing your trophies,” Claire icily cried. “Fiona has crowed incessantly about her many nights ALONE with you; doing this and doing that in the secluded darkness of every Lost Ayleid ruin imaginable, Well, I got tired of hearing it, so I left to find my own Lost Ayleid ruin..”

Claire paused for a moment then just when I thought the eruption had passed Claire shouted, “You want floozy, I’ll show you floozy!”

Then with everyone on the street starring, Claire grabbed me by the ears and right there in front of the Mages Guild Hall planted a big kiss on my lips. Sucked the breath right out of me and left me hanging out to dry. Clapping wildly, Pym danced the Eagle Rock around us until Claire released her grip.

Why does this always happen when least expected? Enlightenment is hard to obtain but once achieved it is impossible to ignore. I realized that I had been neglectful and firmly resolved to make amends.

Since we were outside the Mages Guild Hall, we might as well go on in to remind Evoker Adrienne Berene that it was accounting time of the year. J’shivrizza, a Khajiit mage known to the Stranded Light as a seller teacher of exotic Lame spells was in at the time so I picked up a couple Mysticism spells that I thought might prove useful, expert level Gust of Wind and Translocation Madness Wave.

Leaving the Mages Guild we made our way to Two Sisters Lodge. As we were entering Two Sisters, an orangish haired Altmer rushed passed us. I was a bit distracted and didn't get a good look but he vaguely reminded me of Calindil of the Mystic Emporium. Now what would he be doing here?

Downstairs we ordered dinner and struck up a conversation with Mog gra-Mogakh. The big Orc doesn’t know anything about the mage we saw leaving as we came in. Neither did any of the guests around the bar. No one saw him come in or leave. Mog gra-Mogakh did know something about the welkynd collecting mage. He’s staying in a room upstairs.

Finished with lunch, we were getting up to go upstairs when Shulassa the outcast Khajiit, approached asking for help with a message in a bottle. The message stuffed in an empty Tamika West Weald wine bottle read like a scavenger hunt clue, “In the shed behind the barn”.

Sure we’ll help, we just love riddles.” Behind me Claire politely coughed.

Upstairs we found the author of “Ayleid Steps Secrets Reveled” but he couldn’t tell us anything. He had been bludgeoned to death.

What happened here? Could Calindil be involved? A quick search uncovered a scrap of a letter. From what I can tell the now dead mage was to meet someone here in town, take an object from that person, and deliver it to someone else. Something tells me that Calindil is involved. We had better get out of here before the guards arrive.

Once outside Claire, the sorceress began her enchantment and when the image of Calindil firmly fixed in her mind she cast her spell. A red mist gathered and formed an arrow pointing toward the Imperial City.

Wow, Macole - two days of intense shopping done and you still had funds to deposit in the bank? Your ladies are losing their touch!

That's the problem with being an elf - the ears. So much more meat to hold on to compared to human ones. But I also hear they are quite sensitive, so that must have hurt!

Something fishy is going on with the Welkynd stones again, methinks...

Looks like the Jandaga is struggling a bit with managing the ladies. If he thinks one of them is getting too high maintenance, I suggest he spend some time with Vilja to review what high maintenance really is.

Yes, Buffy can attest - her big pointed ears are indeed quite sensitive. That can be both a good and bad thing. . . .

Murder most foul in Skingrad. But the clue provided by Claire looks like it is off to the IC. And taking Claire along sounds prudent.

Malandil should have been standing right next to Tar-Meena when she said her lines. I could understand if she was then unable to escort you, but it's not clear how another mod could unintentionally remove her completely. They would need her ID to do that.

If it was a deliberate patch in the other mod to avoid a conflict (I've done similar), then you'd expect Tar-Meena's dialogue to be removed, too. Weird!

And Shulassa! She hasn't been here for nearly eleven years.

I found Malandil, she was off naving a bit of fun with Likes-to-Help.

Looks to like Universitum Arcanorum moves locations around some.
Using player.moveto I found Malandil in the Universitum Arcanorum mod location Arcane University Public Library talking to Likes-to-Help.
Talking to Malandil advances the quest. She leads me to the Practice Rooms lobby. In the lobby Malandi is unable to go any further. She just paces back and forth between two doors owned by the Universitum Arcanorum mod.

Question: is this where you used an Ayleid Step?

I added a basement to the practice rooms with the step. If the other mod also rebuilds the room, that could be the conflict, as my door down may not be reachable. What order do they load?

And now I wonder if Malandil is where she was placed, and Tar-Meena moved.

Really like that gown (or whatever) Jandaga's got on in this chapter.

Ha ha, no 3some for him tonight! Except now he's being kissed! What a tawdry chapter 20230219 Alyeid Steps, Murder Masquerade – Gweden Brothel, Outcast Kajiit is!

Today's song is ringin' a bell, as usual. 🔔 Sister Golden Hair, hmm. No idea. It'll come to me. I keep getting confused with goodbye Sister Disco, though.

Wow, Jandaga is shorter than most, guess I never noticed. But he is Bosmer, right? So odd that male wood elves are short, but females aren't (without mods or commands).

Uh oh, somebody's been muhdehed! Help! Help! Come quick, we've got a murderer!

The Archmage robe he wears in the Imperial City and when doing official mage business is from Nexons Armory at Oblivion Nexus
https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/31340

The song by America - Sister Golden Hair

Bosmer? I wonder sometimes. He’s too nice don’t you think?
The idea of the Jandaga was born when I first read the Daggerfall book “The Faerie” many, many years ago. He is neither Man nor Mer, he is in fact one of the Illyadi: a Sylphim. My Morrowind race mod names his race as Gwylsre.
He can pass as a Bosmer or a short Breton if it weren’t for his ears, eyes, blue blood, and an odd skin and hair condition; they change color with age (game).
You may have noticed that he is somewhat confused in his dealings with the ladies. That’s because he is only 250-years old, somewhere between 16-19 in man years. He may not be emotionally mature for another 250 or more years. Horrible to think being stuck in those awkward years for so long.

OH yeah, sorry. I forgot he's not one of the 10 official races.

America! Dag-nabbit. 🇺🇲 I don't know their music too well, except the Horse with No Name is them, I think.

Macole - is it Thursday for you already? How's the eye?

Thanks for asking.
It is Thursday morning. I woke up to a bright sunny day. Operation went well.
I must have blink because I don't remember a thing after the anesthesiologist said, “I going to give you some medicine.” That’s always been a disappointment with operations; I don’t get to watch. Why do they call the operating room a theater if you don't get to watch the production?
Now as the dilated pupil returns to normal distance vision has improved greatly. Everything is so bright and clear I didn't realize how dark things had become. I think I’m going to go mop the kitchen floor. It looks terrible.

I am so happy for you!

Don't worry so much about the missed performance at the theatre. I had a minor surgery once that ran for 90 minutes instead of the planned half an hour, with the anaesthetic stopping working half way. It was only a local anaesthetic and surgery was to my shoulder, so although I was awake the whole time, I didn't get to see much besides the video feed. It was fun at first, but got a lot less attractive once the pain kicked in. The doctors kept asking me my name, kept making me do maths like "what's 2+2? 7+8? 11-6?"... It's best if you're not there to do the maths lesson, I think.

20230228 Alyeid Steps; Murder Masquerade, The Daring Dunmer – Fighters Guild

It was closing time when we arrived in the Imperial City Market District and Calindil had just locked up. We stopped him to politely chat for a few moments. I tried to work being in Skingrad when a murder occurred at Two Sisters Lodge into the conversation but Calindil didn’t bite. Not even when I mentioned that I needed a few things and that I would be back earlier tomorrow. He just bowed, said “Thank you” and went on his way.

“He was sweating,” Claire said as she ran her fingers down my spine. “Wonder what he is hiding in that shop of his?”

My back arched involuntarily as I felt the sharp tingle of Claire’s long nails through the armored layers of my Nexon robe. Jerkily I nodded in agreement. Pym pointed at the Mystic Emporium, grabbed me by the hand, and pulled me to the door.

Recovering my wits, I gave a quick look around to make sure the street was empty before I cast the unlock spell on the door. Again making sure that no one could see us we enter Calindil’s shop. Silently we searched the first floor. Finding nothing of interest we snuck downstairs. There we discovered two Ayleid step stones. They looked broken so we passed them by. In one corner of the basement we found robes that looked like True Descendant Cult robes. Even more damning was a manifesto proclaiming the return to glory of the Ayleids. The manifesto was signed by R. E.

Questions arise. Who is R. E. and how deeply is Calindil involved? We left the Mystic Emporium as silently as we entered.

The next day after lunch we went to visit Calindil at his shop again to question him about his visit to Skingrad. This time though we were armed with the knowledge of what he has hidden in his basement.

Good Golly Miss Molly, what just happened? Claire and Pym were their most charming and distracting selves while I thought I was forceful and straight forward with my questioning. Yet, Calindil turned it all around somehow making us out to be the ones not to be trusted. The whole thing went off the rails right from the start when Calindil addressed me as “Sir Knight”. (I think I‘ll have him fined 500 S. and add a permanent 10% increase to his magic shop license fee for that slight.)

Calindil implied that we were a bunch of incompetent boobs by telling us that if we really wanted to find out about the Stepstones we should be looking elsewhere. Then he ushered us out the door with the following reproach.

“Have you not seen that Imperial Watch poster out there in the street?” Calindil asked curtly “It could have been written with you in mind. Go and have a look at it. Please.”

The door slammed shut behind us and Claire asked in a silky smooth voice, “Well Mr. Smooth Talker, what do we do now?”

It was a test of will. The buttons and buckles on my robe struggled to stay closed and my knees felt weak but I managed to keep it all together. Damn, with a voice like that how did we go wrong?

“Look for a poster I guess,” I replied. Finding one right around the corner from Calindil’s shop I asked, “Here’s an interesting one, what do you think?”

“No, no, positively no!” Claire declared as she and Pym pulled me way from the Arena poster. “Don’t even think about it. Um, maybe later but until then, NO!”

Walking along the street we read every poster and bulletin we found. None seem to warrant the attention that Calindil thought was needed. Then we saw a wanted flyer offering a 300 Septim reward for any information concerning Hlavene Irennu who had gone missing while exploring Ayleid Steps. The flyer directed us to talk to Captain Tertia Aurum the Imperial Legion Ayleid Steps Overseer.

It took us the rest of the day to chase down Captain Tertia Aurum. Tertia would like our help. She asked if we would go to the Cheydinhal Fighters Guild and speak to Norb gro-Rukhol. Captain Tertia thinks Norb knows Hlavene Irennu’s last known location. Captain Teria would like us to report back as quickly as possible.

So now we have a dilemma. What do we do first; go to Skingrad and then on to Cursed Mine as planned or go to Cheydinhal?

Placing her hand on the center of my chest Pym intently looked me in the eye.

“Yes Pym, you’re right. Hlavene Irennu may still be alive and in danger while Cursed Mine will be there whenever we get to it.”

Knowing the danger that awaited us there we steeled ourselves and left immediately for Cheydinhal.

At the Fighters Guild Hall, Norb gro-Rukhol couldn’t tell us much. He had dinner with Hlavene Irennu at the Imperial Bridge Inn. She was engaged in the latest adventuring craze called “Stepping”. After dinner Hlavene went on her way looking for a stepstone submerged in the water near a chapel somewhere west of the inn. So the trail takes us far south.

As we turned to leave Burz gro-Khash stopped us “Hey Meat. Yeah, you shinny boy. I’ve heard of you Psycho something or other. Well I got a contract and you’re the best available so you’re it. Go to Water’s Edge, Biene Amelion needs help retrieving a family heirloom.”

“Come on my Shinny Boy let’s do it,” Claire teased playfully. “It might be fun.”

Sounds good. We rushed back to our house to gear up for the trip. We didn’t rush fast enough. Our luck at avoiding the dangers in Cheydinhal had run out. Vilja intercepted us just as we reached gate of my house.

“Oh, it’s about time you’re finally back. I’ve been waiting for days. Where have you been?” On and on she went for the longest time before I could get a word in edgewise.

“Heneri hasn’t sent word that you’ve finished your training yet and I need to go to Skingrad before Heneri will pay the reward she promised,” I told her. “Just stay here until I get back.”

Oh, okay.” Resigned, Vilja settled down in front of the fireplace with a double pint of mead.

Pym, Claire and I left quickly before Vilja could have time to think about being left behind.

Jandaga had to cast an Unlock on Mystic Emporium? Is that because the time was after-hours or do you have Frostcrag Spire installed?

Okay, I see. It's "closing time". The Unofficial Patch supposedly fixes the Frostcrag Spire bug, anyway. Bet they didn't lock that door when they left. And then Calindil is going to wonder why he left his door unlocked all night (since nothing was taken, apparently). So now we know why this "glitch" shows up on the first place. No wonder he keeps locking his doors, even during daylight hours.

Wow, look at that poster. 🖼 What is the significance of posters?

Yeah, get away from the Vilja Vortex... before it's ....


ahhh!!!!

'She was engaged in the latest adventuring craze called “Stepping”.
Oh, that'll go viral via the telepathic guards!

So the Jandaga Shiny Boy and his ladies are off to Water's Edge on a FG quest. After an artful dodge of Vilja that is.

I love this sentence. Here, let's hear you say it again, but a little louder...

Qu'est Que C'est
Fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa far better
Run run run run run run run away
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh....

20230306 Alyeid Steps, The Daring Dunmer – Fighters Guild – OOO Path of Iron

The journey south was uneventful and went quickly. Magnus was setting when we reached the Silverfish River. It’s getting dark and we’re tired so we turned upriver to spend the night at the Imperial Bridge Inn where Norb met Hlavene. The beds at the Imperial Bridge Inn aren’t much to be desired but they’re cheap. If only it hadn’t rained all night we might have gotten a decent night’s sleep.

I couldn't tell
If the bells were getting louder
The songs they ring I finally recognize
I only know
Hell is getting hotter
Devil getting smarter all the time
And it would be nice
To walk upon the water
To talk again to angels
On my side

It seemed that we had just fallen asleep when it was time to get up and get going. The rain had ended and it was still early morning when we left the inn. According to Norb Hlavene Irenna was looking for a stepstone just west of the Yellow Road, in the water near a chapel.

Magnus, which had been shining brightly when we crossed the Yellow Road, was getting noticeably dimmer as we followed a little used path westward. The brush and ferns along the edge of the path seemed to be squeezing tighter around us the further along the path we went. We all felt the wrongness as we wondered where this path was taking us. Pym stepped in closer to me.

We soon found out as a moss covered stone wall began to peek through the brush. Cautiously, we approached a heavily rusted gate. On its own, the gate swung open beckoning us to enter the burial ground within.

The place was creepy (I don’t remember ever coming here), deathly quiet, and yet there was this low murmur going on. It was there when you couldn’t hear it distinctly but when you tried to focus on it, it was gone. Brambles clawed at our boots as we passed by. Reaching down to brush the prickly vines away to our horror instead of thorny briers we see wisps of smoke, like ghostly hands rising from the ground clutching at us. Along with Pym, Claire now gathered in close behind me.

“I don’t like the feel of this place,” Claire stammered. “Elenya should be here to right the balance.”

Back to back to back we pressed forward in a triangular defensive formation. With me in the lead my steadfast Ladies pushed me onward through the graveyard until we came to the chapel. The closer we got to the chapel the stronger the feeling of wrongness became. Cadlew Chapel had become a very sour pit in the stomach.

My first instinct was to run, run, run, run, run, run, run away but a calming voice stopped me. The soothing ethereal voice of Ria Silmane resonated in my mind. “Psychodelic Warrior, the Mother of All Creation has need of a place to rest. Cleanse this chapel.”

Entering the chapel, three necromancers met us for the Turdas noon service. Service didn’t last long. Three necromancers quickly fell prostrate in prayer due to our preaching.

Afterwards, Claire the golden haired sorceress and Pym my little söpökeiju took up a collection for the poor. Poor dears have to have funds to get their boots cleaned..

As my Ladies took everything that wasn’t nailed down I lost my self dreaming what could be done with this place. The Shrine of Nir and Saint Ria Silmane, had a nice ring to it. I’m certain they will be pleased.

A tug on my arm brought me back from my dreaming. Pym was reminding me that we were searching for Hlavene Irennu, the Daring Dunmer. We left Cadlew Chapel and walked down to the river. The stepstone is supposed to be in the water. Standing at the edge of the dock I searched the water before me and didn’t see a thing.

Sometimes all it takes is a push. The Ladies roared with laughter as I hit the water. They were right though, the stepstone had been right under my nose.

“Found it,” I called up to Claire and Pym. “Jump on in the water’s fine.”

Once Pym and Claire were in the water we linked up and I used a welkynd to activate the stepstone. The step took us to Lost Aldaras. Like most of the lost Ayleid ruins the steps have taken us to Lost Aldaras was not very large. The ghosts and other undead we encountered did little to hinder our exploration. That couldn’t be said for Hlavene Irennu. Deep in Lost Aldaras, after defeating a nether lich we located Hlavene’s body on a raised platform surrounded by the remains of several zombies.

Hlavene Irennu wore a jade ring inscribed with her identifying mark. We took it as proof of having found her body. Captain Tertia Aurum will want to see it.

With no other way out of Lost Aldaras we returned to the stepstones. Both stepstones were broken. Hoping that we chose the less broken of the two we used a welkynd stone to activate a step. We arrived safely in the depths of Bawn Latta.

Working our way through Bawn Latta to Bawn and then through Bawn to the exit wasn’t difficult. After all we’ve been through over the years seldom is anything really difficult anymore, tedious maybe but rarely difficult.

We did find one item of note; the shield to Melus Petilius’ Heaven’s Fury armor kit (Oscuro’s Oblivion Overhaul, Path of Iron quest). Picking it up, I placed it in the Midas Chest.

Exiting Bawn we found we were just south of Bravil. The rising twin full moons illuminated a nearby camp. Appropriately called Bawnwatch, I think. It wasn’t hard to talk Pym and Claire to spend the night on the little island. After a hard day of fighting necromancers, ghosts, zombies, litch, and other such beasties, they were as tired as I was.

“I’ve camped here before,” I told the ladies. “The gentle sound of the Niben lapping the shores of this little island lull us to sleep in no time.”

“We’ll see,” Claire mused as she fluffed up the bedroll as she began to sing to a familiar tune, “Brrraziiiil …”

For a moment, Pym had a shocked look on her face before she succumbed to the sorceress’ song and danced a hot little salsa around the fire.

Did I say, relaxing? Ha! Was I wrong, when the moons are full the Fae can dance all night long.

Good warnings on Creepy Cadlew Chapel.

SopoKeiju = cute elf/fairy, amirite?

That was funny that the step was right below the dock.

Poor Hlavene.

Dancing all night under the twin full moons to the music of Bravil! Link

Yes, you are right.

20230312 Fighters Guild, Amelion’s Debt

The dance of the Full Moons or the Eyes of Nir as some call them, came to an end when Magnus poked his head over the eastern mountains. Our spirits renewed we prepared to leave Bawnwatch camp. A good omen for our trip south to Waters Edge, mushrooms were already rising in the ring we had dance around the fire.

“We are going to have a beautiful day,” I told my Ladies.

Half a day later we arrived at Waters Edge and knocked on the door of Biene Amelion’s house.

Expecting the usual ragtag agents from the Fighters Guild, a look of shocked amazement crosses Biene’s face when she opens the door and sees us. ”It’s you! The Fighters Guild sent… you!”

She falls to her knees crying and singing praises to the gods for sending her the Champion of Cyrodiil and the Hero of Kvatch to right the wrong done against her. She also rattled off several other titles; some I Knew and some I hadn’t heard before now. I’m just glad Kaleah wasn’t here to hear Biene call me The Seducer Tamer. I have no idea how many months I’d be paying for that one.

Lifting Biene up I look her in the eye and reassured her that everything is going to be OK. Biene Amelion calmed down and began to explain her predicament. She needs help retrieving a family heirloom, her grandfather’s armor, from her family’s ancestral tomb she suddenly stops, breaking out in tears.

She sobs for a moment before continuing. Her father was a gambler, a very bad gambler. He had run up a huge gambling debt. Now the bookies want their money. Unable to pay, her father was dragged away in the middle of the night. He hasn’t been heard from or seen since.

“He’s been sold off to Morrowind to die a slave in the ebony mines. I just know it.” Biene cries.

The debt is now on her and Biene has been told she will suffer the same if she doesn’t pay up. Afraid to leave the house Biene needs someone to retrieve her grandfather’s enchanted sword and cuirass from the family ancestral tomb. She hopes the sale of the enchanted items will bring enough gold to pay off her father’s debt.

At first… well she looked so hopeless and the way she called me her “last hope”… I thought that I’d just give her the money and leave it at that. But, there were these whispers behind my back.

“He’s just a sucker for the “maiden in distress” act. Falls for it every time,” Claire whispered to Pym.

Changing my mind, I agreed we’d do our best retrieve the family heirlooms for her. After Biene gave us directions to the Amelion Family Tomb, we left. It wasn’t too far away just north of Leyawiin and a short walk on the water to the other side of the Niben.

“Amelion’s Ancestral Tomb, we shouldn’t have any trouble with this one,” I told the Ladies.

Would have been true too if it hadn’t been for the snus vine. Like kudzu it covers everything. We searched high and low, up, down, and all around. Where’s Elenya when you need her? Elenya with her druidic magic would have been able to force the vegetation to turn over its treasure.

It took some time rooting through all the greenery but we eventually found the sword and cuirass Biene wanted and more. We had the complete set of grandfather Amelion’s armor.

Curious as to how the armor looked Pym had to try the it on. I don’t think she likes it very much. Not that it looks bad; the cuirass just doesn’t seem to fit right and the chainmail pinches.

With the sword and armor in hand we walked back to Water’s Edge.

Biene was waiting anxiously for our return. She was relieved to see that we had returned with her grandfather’s armor and sword.

"You've found them? Fantastic! I can't tell you what this means to me." She cried. “You're a lifesaver."

Her only concern now was; how to sell the items? There is no one in Water’s Edge wealthy enough to pay enough for her to pay off the debt. Bravil or Leyawiin would be good choice. But it would be a dangerous walk to either city for a young girl all alone with no one to protect her. That, I couldn’t let happen.

“Here, take this,” I said handing her more than enough gold to pay her debt.

"Why... thank you! Biene exclaimed. “This will be enough to pay off my debtors. Please, keep the sword and armor until I can pay you back. Thank you again."

“No, you keep them,” I said placing the armor and sword on the table. “Keep them handy. You might need them someday.”

"Thank you. Thank you so much. I don’t know what else to say. If there’s anything I can do to repay you,” she said in a satin soft voice as she slowly ran a finger along the golden dragon embossed on my cuirass.

“Sire, we must be going!” Claire cautioned.

“Sorry, but I’ve got to go. Maybe some other time.” I said knowing there would not be another time.

"I'll never forget this," Biene said as I turned to leave.

"Well I'll be," Claire mumbled. "He got out alive."

Quickly, two very determined Ladies ushered me out the door before I could change my mind. As the door closed behind me I could hear Biene lament losing the “Prince Charming” ticket to a lifetime of riches and a way out of the Water’s Edge dump.

(Long, long, long time ago when I was young (cough, 56, cough) and first played Oblivion I finished the Fighters Guild and Mages Guild. Like Bruma in the Mages Guild, what happens at Water’s Edge left me feeling very sad. Unlike the Mages Guild, the Fighters Guild is not necessary for me so this is as far as I go with the Fighters Guild.)

Seducer Tamer?

Amelion's Tomb, it's been so long, I can't remember which one of mine did that quest (probably more than one). I agree though. Jandaga could've just given some coin over. He's not about to give up some adventure though.

Whoa, look how thick that vegetation is!



Oh my gosh!

I also like that he/you are going as far as this within the Fighters Guild. Sometimes you just gotta know when to leave it.

Snus vines surely do make for a pretty dungeon though, right?

The Jandaga’s a sucker for a damsel in distress it seems. I thought he was just going to buy the armor from Biene to flush her up with septims for the debt, then resell the armor. But he also let her keep the armor! Well, okay, it is a Biene family heirloom and all.

20230321 Vilja – Ayleid Steps, Retracing the Steps #10 Berevacht – SNUS Dungeons, Cursed Mine

Standing on the edge of the road that passes through Water’s Edge my first thought was to go back to Cheydinhall and report our successes. Claire argued that we should go to Skingrad first. Pym was silent on the subject but she got her view known by glaring at me as she stood close to Claire. Thinking it over I decided that we should go to Skingrad first.

It was pouring rain and not wanting to spend the day traipsing through the forest in the rain I used a teleport home spell to send us to Cheydinhal.

How does that spell go? I know all I have to do is think it but I like to sing. The Ladies like to hear my singing too.
Why sometimes they get so overwhelmed that they throw articles of clothing at me. I've become very adept in dodging things like steel gauntlets, boots and chainmail bikinis. I just wish they didn't didn’t smart so much when they hit.

Homeward bound
I wish I was
Homeward bound
Home where my thought's escapin'
Home where my music's playin'
Home where my love lies waitin'
Silently for me

The colors of magicka swirled around us until *POP*

Ooops! That didn’t work like it should. There I was in Benirus Manor, standing next to Kaleah.

“Well, look who finally decided to pop-in to say hello,” Kaleah said with a stern look on her face.

Before I could plead my case Kaleah flashed the biggest brightest smile and snatched me up in a great hug. “My precious Feache, tell me now what mischief have you gotten into while I’m not there to guide you?”

All in all the mix up turned out to be for the best. The day was spent relaxing and telling the tale of our Adventures in Babysitting… (Claire and Pym are suddenly peering over my shoulder and the heat is near unbearable.)… Ayleid Stepping and how we tried to coax the heir of Kvatch to take up the throne.

The next day as I made preparations to find Cursed Mine, Pym informed me that she had decided to stay in Anvil. I half expected that. During most of last evening whispers, like a plague of locust flew among Kaleah, Pym, Elenya, and Claire. They thought I wouldn’t notice. They’re up to something, I just know it.

It was after dinner by the time Claire and I were ready to leave. Linking arms, I began the spell that would transport the two of us to Rosethorn Manor. I was certain it would work correctly this time. Everyone in the house wished us a safe journey and we vanished...

And there we stood, in the center of Rosethorn Manor’s master bedroom.

The next day after breakfast we leave to find the Cursed Mine. Eyja hands us a sack lunch for our journey, couple of her delicious Shepherd's Pies.

First thing we did was stop by All Things Alchemical to deliver the spotted lavender sprigs to Falanu Hlaalu. In exchange, Falanu prepared a jar of the beauty cream for me to take back to Heneri. Making a comment about whiskers as Falanu handed me the jar labeled ‘Madame Melinda’s Beauty Crème’. Something about the name of the cream and Falanu’s odd comment bothered me.

Wasn’t Melinda’s beauty cream at the heart of all Vilja’s troubles in the first place? Something tells me this is not going to end well.

Leaving Skingrad with the beauty cream we headed west in the direction of the Cursed Mine. Not knowing exactly where the mine was we stumbled around for awhile until we came across a doorway to Cursed Mine Breakdown Chambers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Clair had wandered, as she is wont to do, off the path the Jandaga had taken. There behind a grouping of large boulders Claire noticed what she thought to be a stepstone.

“Sire, I think…,” Claire called out trying to get the attention of the Jandaga. Too late, the Jandaga had already entered the Cursed Mine Breakdown Chamber. “…it’s over here.”

"Silly Feache," Claire said with a shrugged of her shoulders. Devotedly Claire followed her Jandaga.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What have we walked into? There’s a war going on between Amazons and Skooma Smugglers. Not that we minded so much. A faction dispute does make it easier for us. Hiding in the shadows Claire and I watched for awhile before making our move to pick off the survivors.

Ever wonder why this mine is called Cursed Mine? I never had given it a thought before but now I think I know. The first clue came when we searched the foreman’s desk. The foreman had written a note describing some of the strange occurrences in the mine. He was thinking of closing the mine and re-opening it as a haunted adventure park.

Clearing the bricks away from a door allowed us to enter the Cursed Mine proper. Proceeding along the mine shaft we came to our second clue. We had entered into what could only be called a glowing vortex room. Carefully we made it past the swirling wall of clutter.

Once clear of the swirling ring of clutter we discovered an out of place Grumite totem pole. Further down the mine shaft, past the totem, a bright white light emanated from what looked like a door. Mesmerized by the call of the white light we approached and unwittingly stepped into a portal.

“Sire, where are we?” Claire worriedly asked.

“SNUS!” I cursed. “I have no idea. Somewhere on the Other Side, I’d guess. Look, there’s a white glow in the corner on the far end. That could be the way out.”

You know, we’ve seen so much during our travels that little surprises me anymore. Then something like this happens and I’m dumbfounded. Here we are standing on a small planetoid floating in the vastness of the void as four moons quickly circle overhead. From where we stood, looking down we could see three whirlwinds churning up sections of the arena floor. Nasty looking creatures could be seen patrolling about the swirling junk.

Not finding another way out of this aetheric realm nearby it became apparent that we would have to take our chances and cross the arena floor. Only two wraiths and a lich stood in our way.

Claire engaged a wraith while I took on the lich. The duel with the Lich turned out to be extremely difficult. We found out later that it was powered by the Heart of the Cursed Knight. Claire easily dealt with the first wraith and rushed to join my fight with the lich.

Unfortunately Claire was intercepted by the second wraith. A short minute later just as I was about to dispatched the lich, I heard Claire scream. Calling for reinforcements it was now my turn to rush to Claire’s aid.

The glow at the far end of the arena floor was not an exit. It was the glow off the long sword of fire laying on the Tomb of the Cursed Knight that lit up this corner. That’s a nicely powered sword but being overly cautious about picking it up and we leave it on the altar. I also thought about returning the heart we collected from the lich to the skeleton of the Cursed Knight.

I was about to do so when Clair spoke up, “Remember Benirus. Place that heart with that skeleton and there could be hell to pay.”

Disappointed in not finding an escape we searched other areas of the realm for an exit back to Cursed Mine. We collected some nice loot as we did but otherwise found no way out.

A common treasure seeker would be trapped here to become perhaps one of the bodies flying in the whirlwinds but, as Claire places her hand in mine, we have a way out. The teleport home spell.

Take me home aetheric roads,
To the place I’m thinking of,
Rosethorn Manor in Skingrad,
Take me there, Aetheric roads.

And we are returned to Rosethorn Manor

What an adventure!

Life is old there, older than the trees
Younger than the mountains, growin' like a breeze

That teleport home musical spell sure comes in handy!

Simon & Garfunkel. That was easy this time (for me).

Claire's got him "all to herself". Oh how silly.

Yikes, looks like they've traipsed into some alien planet! - That Teleport spell seems like it comes in handy.

Cake for everyone for putting up with this

20230329 SNUS, Cursed Mine Lower Galleries – Ayleid Steps, Retracing the Steps #10 Berevacht

Claire is more than kind. She didn’t say a word about finding the Ayleid Step or my ignoring her when she tried to tell me. Not one word of I told you so until the next morning at breakfast.

“You know,” Claire said between bites of her buttered biscuit. “I thought I saw a stepstone off to the side as we entered Cursed Mine.”

“Really?” I exclaimed. “Why didn’t you tell me? We could have gone straight away instead of wasting a whole day in that cursed mine.”

What man, mer, or aelf knows what thoughts hide behind Claire’s sweet smile but I had this odd feeling that all was not as it seemed.

After breakfast we returned to Cursed Mine. Asking Claire to show me where she saw the stepstone Claire replied,
“There’s trap door in the mine, aren’t you the least bit interested in seeing what’s hidden there?”

The Archeology Guild Headmaster in me took over. Trying not to appear to be overly eager I replied, “Yes, yes of course I am interested.”

Opening the door to Cursed Mine Breakdown Chambers, into the silent dark mine we went. Since we had just cleared this portion of the mine yesterday I really expected it to be very quiet. It was shocking when we were attacked by two Amazons. Where’s there two there could be more hiding in the dark corners. We made a thorough search of the Breakdown Chamber and of the Cursed Mine proper.

Other than a bunch of zombies there was nothing else to be concerned about. Yet there’s this nagging feeling about Cursed Mine. Shouldn’t the main entrance lead first to Cursed Mine and through Cursed Mine to Cursed Mine Breakdown Chambers? Claire and I decide that it really doesn’t matter and we continued on to the trap door.
Taking the ladder down to the Lower Galleries answered the question of where the two Amazons came from.

Claire and I had barely taken a step off the ladder when Amazons intercepted us. Two of the Amazons attacked Claire while their leader Morlia Grayaire (MOO) stepped back to pepper us with arrows.

With her staff of lightning in hand, Claire summoned a Daedroth to aid her in fending off her attackers while I chased down Morlia Grayaire.

The bell must have sounded down below for we had just finished off the first three Amazons when two more came running up the corridor. Seeing a weakened Claire go down early, I summoned a Markynaz. Like a machine, never tiring, Markie cuts down Amazons is like a thresher working a wheat field. Big Markie is simply a dream to behold, um, when she’s on your side that is.

The Amazons fell. Claire and I entered the tunnel leading to the second chamber. Feeling like a pin cushion hoping that Ither were enough potions to relieve the itch, I managed to help Claire cut down another Amazon.

Backed up by the Angel, Claire and her Daedroth cornered a Khajiit Amazon. There was no question as to the outcome. I just wish Claire wouldn’t keep forgetting her weapon.

Advancing further we entered the third chamber where things really began to look grim. In the far left hand corner two areas were fenced off into cattle pens. The light was dim but we could see movement inside each pen. Two Amazon Wise Mothers accompanied by four Amazon attendants were conducting some sort of ritual sacrifice on whatever was held in the pens.

A fifth Amazon warrior acting as a guard sentry spotted us and alerted the others. Turning to face us the two Wise Mothers fixed their sinister gaze eyes upon us. Shouting blood curdling orders the Wise Mothers sicced their underlings on us.

The fight was fierce. Claire and I called forth all the reinforcements we could safely control. And let me tell you they were all needed. The Amazons eventually fell and all was quiet. It was at this time when we were looting the place that we found out that the holding pens held males; humen, Mer, Khajiit, and Argonian. None were left alive.

Leaving Cursed Mine, Claire took me around to the side. There in a spot protected by large boulders Claire pointed out an Ayleid stepstone.

“So there it is. How did I miss that the first time we were here?” I asked myself.

Claire just raised her eyes to the sky and sighed.

Hearing her sigh I assumed that she was as tired as I am.

“Let’s wait and activate it after we rest up a bit.” I suggested

Another sigh confirmed my assumption. Sitting down on the grass we gathered our healing supplies and put them to good use.

Nice, thanks for the cake!



I love this line. Poor Jandaga, such a life he leads. Anyway, the part when they were attacked by two amazons--this happens in my modded game, as well. Seems we've cleared some place, and them *bam* there's some figure rushing towards us from the gloom.

Blecch, Maskars. MOO can add some really wicked enemies.

Really great axion pictures. Who is Markie?

I really like Maskars for exactly that reason. Combined with Oscuros I have plenty of enemies to keep my little band of hippies busy.

One of the summoning spells I use calls forth a Dremora Lord, a powerful Markynaz. The Markynaz alternates between male and female with either full closed helm or open faced helm. I’ve named the female Markynaz, Markie and the male is Marcus.
They're a freindly bunch and like to laugh at a good joke but being daedra they do have their days. Best not to tease them when they're wearing the closed face helm. It's a good sign that they are not in a playfull mood.

In the “Like a Machine” picture, Markie is the wasp-waisted figure in daedric armor.

Well, Cursed Mine is aptly named! Thank Kynareth for the Jandaga's summoned help - including the photographic Twinkle. Markie seems quite potent and handy to have.

20230407 Ayleid Steps, Retracing the Steps #10 Lost Berevacht
(Graduated to Level 41)

Come the dawn, fully recovered and rested we prepared to continue our journey. Activating the stepstone next to Cursed Mine took us to a stepstone in the West Weald just west of Ra’sava Camp.

From there the stepstone northern face of the Kvatch plateau. With barely a toe hold on the Ayleid step I quickly used a welkynd stone to activate the step. Fearing falling off the tiny platform, my nerves must have gotten the better of me. The stone failed to activate the step. Taking a controlled deep breath to calm down I used a second welkynd.

The second attempt to activate the step worked and we were transported to the Colovian Highlands somewhere east of Last Chance Camp.

Finally we arrived in Lost Berevacht or should I say I arrived. Claire was late, leaving me to deal with several gargoyles and wolves by myself. Acting as if nothing was wrong, Claire nonchalantly showed up just in time to help loot the bodies.

There’s a tunnel leading down deep into the darkness of Lost Berevacht daring us to walk down its path. Ha, I laugh and down the rabbit hole, Claire and I go. After a few steps in a familiar sound reverberated though the cavern tunnel.

“Blood, I vant your blood!”

Vampires! Good goddess, this could be bad. Where’s Kaleah? She could sniff out the place and tell us just how bad the situation is. I was about to send a distress call to Kaleah, she’d be here in an instant, when I glanced at Claire standing at my side. Her wild wide-eyed stare told me that she was teetering on the edge of panic. Yet, the set of her mouth and the tight white-knuckled grip she had on her Epic Staff of Ice Storm showed a fierce determination to face whatever lay ahead.

It was then that I realized that calling Kaleah would send an unwanted message, telling Claire that I lacked confidence in her abilities. That kind of message would do nothing but push her off the edge straight into panic. That wouldn’t be good at all. Sure she’s prone to wander off and maybe she forgets to equip her weapon at times but what she does do, she does with fierce determination. I need to take care with my words so as not to beak her spirit.

“Stay close and we’ll get through this together,” I told Claire. The effect was immediate. Her eyes, still set in a wide-eyed stare, had lost the wild panic look to become steeled with self confidence.

I sent a fire ball of Hellish Fate down the tunnel. A cacophony of screams erupted when the Hellish Fate spell exploded.

“Get ready, here they come,” Claire whispered. A blast of sub-zero air from her staff flowed down into the dark tunnel. The tsunami of frigid air froze everything in its path, as we advanced in its wake.

Lost Berevacht is not a large Ayleid structure by any stretch of the imagination. From where we stood in the entrance cavern, a long tunnel zigzags its way downward to a narrow bi-level Ayleid ruin.

Deep in Lost Berevacht, a fierce battle raged. Fighting a horde of vampires in the confines of narrow walkways is always difficult but the number of vampires attacking all at once wasn’t the worst part.

What could worse than being attacked by 6 or 8 vampires simultaneously? Being attacked by 6 or 8 adept chameleon using vampires, that’s what. Thankfully Daedra eyes aren’t so easily fooled. My summoned warriors had no trouble locating their targets.

Fourteen deadly, ancient, and fearsome vampires later, Lost Berevacht is now quiet except for Light of Dawn’s contented humming. I can almost hear the sword whispering, “It’s been so long between feasts.”

In the final Ayleid room when all was settled we discovered an Ayleid stepstone. Could this mean that the exploration of Lost Berevacht continues on in another ruin? Only one way to find out.

We activated the stepstone and found ourselves standing on the Lost Berevacht entrance stepstone. Oh well. It may have turned out to be a good thing because we had forgotten to loot Lost Berevacht before activating the step. Not wasting a second chance, Claire and I set about looting the place.
Methodically we swept Lost Berevacht clean.

While sweeping the final Ayleid room, the room where we had the big vampire battle, I spotted something that peaked my curiosity. I was crossing the rampart and while dodging the spiked gate trap I spotted a Gaudrapellania Receptacle sitting in a dark corner of a column support. There must be something of immense value in that pot for someone to go to all the trouble of placing it there. Now how do I get to it?

Midas Magic Wings of an Angel spell of course. Oh I could have used the Fae Console magic tp levitate but flying like an angel seemed to be more fun. Sadly the excitement of flying coupled with the anticipation of opening an exotic vessel was dampened when all it contained was a Gaudrapellania goblet. Pretty as it is, the green glass goblet is worth maybe ten gold septims at most.

Returning to the entrance chamber of Lost Berevacht, before activating the stepstone to leave we took inventory of the plunder we collected. The booty totaled over 1600 pounds of saleable swag which included 14 bags of vampire dust, 2121 gold pieces, seven welkynd stones, and a Bottle of Pyrrhic Acid (COBL). Not bad for a day’s work.

There were a few rather interesting items among all the usual magical items we collected. A staff, Latar Andavar (COBOL) that casts an Unlock Very Hard Locks spell. Just think, no longer will I have to endure all the snickers and whispered comments as I undress down to my skivvies in order to get the Unlock All Locks spell to work on very hard locks.

Pyrrhic Acid, now that seems to be a strange ingredient. I don’t remember ever finding Pyrrhic Acid and I have no idea what it could be used. Claire seemed to take an interest in it, so we kept it.

Ready to leave, we activated the stone with the hopes of leaving this dungeon.

A clear night sky ablaze with the light of a thousand stars greeted us. The short keep to our left, the house across the way all seemed very familiar. Consulting her map Claire told me that we were just outside the town of Sutch.

Silver Star Vineyard is on the other side of the town. I envisioned spending a couple days sipping Sliver Star wine and sampling the local cuisine while recuperating in the comfort of my expansive manor. What could be better than this?

As we passed through Sutch on the way to the Silver Star Manor, we could hear music coming from the Silver Star Inn. The bass beat caught us, reeling us in toward the inn, then I heard the singer’s disjointed voice. Amazing how everyone has an opinion on the idea of better.

I got a girlfriend that's better than that
She has the smoke in her eyes
She's coming up, going right through my heart
She's gonna give me surprise
I think it's right, Better than this
I think you can if you like
I got a girlfriend with bows in her hair
And nothing is better than that (is it?)

“It’s the Chattering Skulls!“ a suddenly giddy Claire shouted. Grabbing me by the hand she dragged me into the inn.

Wow, so there's a chance of failure when trying to activate Ayleid Steps? I love the part when the vampire says "I Vant your blood!"



This is really diplomatic. Jandaga must consider notions such as this. I wonder what would happen if he traveled with a gang of dudes instead of feisty femmes? 👯‍♀️ Bet he'd never have to wonder about subtle stuff like this! But then, his story wouldn't be as interesting, in a way.

That Lost Berevacht picture really is a mess. It does take a lot of discipline to get involved in fights in which we aren't hitting our friends, ya know? I've gotten pretty good at it over the years (avoiding friendly fighting) and I bet you are too.

Silver Star Manor! Sutch is awesome. I have no idea who today's song is so I cheated. Talking Heads? Dang. I should know that song.

That narrow tunnel made a great conduit for the Jandaga's fireball and Claire's wave of frost.

A beautiful night as they finally step back outside.

Uh oh, looks like a night of dancing to the Chattering Skulls.

The chance of Ayleid Step failure is 10%, I think. So make sure you have a couple Welkynd stones in reserve or you may be trapped in one of the lost ruins permanently.


Would he be a charismatic leader or a talented support player? I’m not sure how the Jandaga would react in an all dude group. You’re right about not needing to worry about such subtleties. It’s much more out in the open that everyone ranking below you is looking for that one false step so they can take your place on the ladder.

One thing that the Jandaga has learned is that the best leaders always pay attention to the subtleties of group dynamics. Treat everyone fairly and with dignity, otherwise when you needed them the most the group may desert you.


Most of the time with the big grand melees I just stand out of the way a support role casting spells like HEALING CLOUD. You know now that I think about it sometimes it feels like the Ladies target me on purpose.


Girlfriend Is Better by the Talking Heads. And here I thought Chattering Skulls (Talking Heads, get it) would give it away.


I just can't decide if it is better to flash freeze them first and then melt them down to little puddles with the fireball or super heat them and then flash freeze them so that they shatter into thousands of little pebbles. I just don't know.

Right me too (about playing support roles). My characters who travel with groups (Claire Voyance, Sir Vyvoor, Renee Gade III..) will also try to single out enemies who are standing off to the side. In other words, usually when it's a group versus another group, most of the brawl takes place in a big mess, as seen in that picture. But there's also usually some opponent standing off to the side, firing arrows or casting spells. THAT is the one my gal or gal will try to single out.



For him to stand out in a group of all men he'd have to do just that: stand out, somehow. Be stronger than the others, or if that fails, be smarter. But as things are with him, it seems his grrl group are often competing. Which gets stressful for him sometimes, but it's pretty funny from our perspective.

Ha ha Chattering Skulls. I do get it now! 💀 Gonna have to watch for little hints like this...

20230422 Sutch Village, Oyster Bay - UL-Beaches of Cyrodill, Treestump Cave
It’s been an enjoyable few days, a pleasant vacation in Sutch at the Silver Star Manor with Claire the golden haired sorceress.

Not having been to Sutch before, Claire wanted to go sightseeing. To start with I took her on a tour of the Silver Star Estate. Showing a genuine interested in every aspect of the winery operation we inspected the vineyard and the fermenting facilities.

My estate manager Gill and his wife Avena arranged an excellent luncheon of a sampler of the estate’s finer wines, cheeses, and sausages. Lunch was served down at the Country House on the Brena. Some of the best grapes come from the little vineyard next to the Country House and the view of Oyster Bay is simply breathtaking.

While Claire thought the Silver Star wine was excellent she made it clear that her cousin Fiona produced a more, um interesting vintage.

“You fought a witch HERE?” Claire asked. “Not my cousin Fiona, I hope?”

“No, not exactly,” I replied. “And it wasn’t Fiona. This house belonged to Clara Astatius and the witch was her student, Viola Tarensa.”

Over lunch, I told her the story of the Naked Nord who was jailed down in Leyawiin for wandering around the city naked after a witch stole his hammer and pants. The pleasant afternoon came to an end and we returned to Silver Star Manor for the evening.

As we climbed the trail back up to Silver Star Manor Claire asked if I had ever thought of turning the little Country House on the Brena into a B&B. I hadn’t until she mentioned it. It would take some work but maybe it could be done.

The next day I took Claire on a tour of the restored fort. Claire listened intently as I describe all that was involved in rebuilding the fort and the village of Sutch.

Next I told Claire of the altercation at the Drad Estate. She got such a kick out of hearing the story about Lord Drad that she had to go to the Drad Estate and see for herself. I don’t know who had the most fun; Claire laughing at the sight of Lord and Lady Drad working the fields under the Ogre supervision or me watching Claire bouncing around the Drad Estate like a giddy schoolgirl.

It wasn’t all fun and games. I did spend some time going over the Silver Star Winery accounts with Gill. With 25,000 Septims in the strong box it looks like the operation is doing well.

On the morning of the third day we bid adieu to Gill and Avena and left Silver Star Manor. Our first stop was Razor’s Edge to sell the arms and armor we had accumulated.

A fog had started to roll in by the time we walked down to Oyster Bay. We had hoped to catch a passage on a ship for a tranquil cruise to Anvil. Our hopes of passage were dashed when we found the raucous little pirate town to be unusually quiet. With all the captains out scouring the trade routes there were no ships to charter.

Not having been to Oyster Bay before, Claire was excited to see the town on the mouth of the Brena River. It made no difference to h
er that all the pirates (they like to call themselves Merchants of the Seas) were out to sea; Claire was just as excited to see the town’s other attraction. Her innate instincts led us down what the locals called a main street to the only pub in town, The Scurvy Raven.

Once I was properly primed we left the Scurvy Raven and Claire mead a bee line straight to the Corroded Cutlass to trade in a few items I had forgotten to redeem at Razor’s Edge. How did she know where it was?

Even with Claire’s excellent distractions I took a beating, selling everything at a steep discount. That didn’t seem to bother Claire one bit. Shaking my head as we left, I was beginning to think the Scurvy Raven waitress put something extra in the cheap wine.

Later, we sat on the dock listening to old Dread Pirate Dean tell his tall tales. Claire was moved to tears at hearing the tale of how Old Pirate Dean lost his Princess and turned to a life as a pirate sailing the Seven Seas.

The sun was getting low in the sky when we strolled hand in hand yet never touching, along the Lost Coast. Kicking sand at the crabs that scurried out of our path, we passed the Ayleid ruins of Yeleri (OOO) and a ruined lighthouse (UL Beaches of Cyrodiil).

A little further along the beach we came across what remained of the ship Marabella. Searching the shipwreck we a few items worth salvaging. Leaving the shipwreck, I had this uneasy feeling that we were of being followed. Quickly spinning around we tried to catch a glimpse of whomever it was spying on us. We saw no one.

Just past the shipwreck we noticed something very unusual. In hollowed out tree so large that a person could stand in its hollow was a… door!

The entrance to Treestump Cave was sealed with a very hard lock. How convenient, I just happened to have the newly acquired Latar Andavar to unlock such locks. Claire wasn’t too happy with using Latar Andavar.

“You know, you’ll never gain enough experience to lead a host of Sylphim if you insist on using cheaters,” Claire admonished.

“Ha,” I laughed. “You just want to see me take all my armor off so I can cast a spell.”

“I would never do such a thing,” she shot back with mock indignation.

Laughing to myself, I was about to unlock the entrance to Treestump Cave with the enchanted staff, Latar Andavar when Claire interrupted.

“Sire, look over there.” Claire pointed back in the direction of the Ayleid ruins.

At first I saw nothing unusual. Something moved. There, near the Ayleid ruins of Yeleri, I saw two grey robed figures that could only be True Descendant cultists. They took off running when they realized that they had been detected. Claire and I gave chase but lost them as they ran up into the tree line. Knowing that we would never catch them we turned our attention back to Treestump Cave.

A beautifully relaxing day up at the winery.

Then some fun down in Pirate Town.

Treestump Cave – that sounds like an enticing place for a wood elf to explore.

Uh oh, greyrobed spies?

Sutch is a really lovely mod, isn't it? In a way it's actually good Bethesda never added Sutch in. Chances are it would've been another walled town if they had.



Heh heh that cracks me up! Also: Jandaga's drinking Cheap Wine? 🍷With all the money that guy's got?

Sounds like a romantic evening on the docks, kicking sand at crabs.

Who is Latar Andavar? ... OHH it's a staff.

Uh oh, TWO gray-robed figures! What a cliffhanger, Macole, Vamprire Hunter!

Beautiful pictures of the Sutch Village! I even decide to have a closer look at that mod for my own game... Nice! Except that of course 1950s sofas will have to go.

The hidden dangers of beauty. Once again Unique Landscapes has shown itself to be more than just a landscape beauty mod. I had fun with this one.

20230424 UL-Beaches of Cyrodill, Lost Coast - Tree Stump Cave & the Forgotten Ayleid Ruin

After running off the True Descendant cultists Claire and I entered Tree Stump Cave. Without giving much thought to it we proceeded quickly along the main passage until it came to an abrupt end. I don’t know what I was expecting. After all, how big could a cave in a tree stump be? Still, it was rather disappointing to think that our cave spelunking had come to an end so soon.

Dejected we turned around to return to the entrance. With a thought that we may have missed something I called our friend Twinkle to shine a light on the situation. And miss something we did. Twinkle’s guiding light revealed that we had stumbled upon several nicely loaded treasure chests. That eased our disappointment somewhat.

With Twinkle shedding some light on the path we began our walk back to the entrance. We were about half way there when we noticed an opening to a side passage that led down to a dark water filled chamber. How did we miss this on the way in?

Claire gave me a look that said it all. I know, I know. If only I’d called Twinkle to begin with.

The passage opened up to a large partially flooded chamber. The steep-sided canyon walls were interspersed with easily recognizable Ayleid stonework. This caused me to wonder why would anyone build down here in a wet cavern.

Sloshing around in the, at times, waist deep water got the attention of a nether lich. It sent its ghostly knights upon us. To even the odds Claire summoned a Clannfear while I chose the Sisters of Insanity to assist in fending off the ethereal knights. While the apparitions were kept busy, Claire and I chased down the nether lich.

The nether lich took us on a merry chase. It ended in a small chamber where once the lich was defeated, we were left staring at a door of a long Forgotten Ayleid Ruin. Unlocking the door we entered the Forgotten Ayleid Ruin. This too was a rather short corridor to a seemingly dead end. Noticing an Ayleid switch on the wall I gave it a push. A hidden door opened in the wall revealing a small room holding five zombies.

Of course we had little problem putting down the zombies but Claire and the Sisters of Insanity just wouldn’t let it go. There was no switch to open another hidden door but the way they attacked the far wall told me that there was something on the other side. When I finally was finally able to get Claire out of the hidden room, I pushed the switch to reseal the room.

Thinking that this was a bolt-hole for a larger complex, Claire and I returned to the flooded cavern to search for the main entrance. Luckily it was just around the bend.

Entering the main door we found ourselves standing in what must have been a grand reception hall. Two very hard locked gates flanked the center mantel. The glowing stones in the mantel made me think of an Ayleid version of a wall clock.

Taking the gate on the left, I unlocked it and we entered the throne room of this forgotten ruin. An army of mummies, zombies, and other walking dead including a nether lich or two objected strenuously to our unannounced entrance. This appalling breach of protocol demanded our immediate expulsion, which they tried to exorcise. Showing them our invitations they became more complacent, err dead. We stayed long enough to pick up some valuable loot.

Behind one of the thrones we found the Cryptic Key locked in a small Ayleid cask. Not finding anything in this room that required the key we deduced that whatever this key opened must be beyond the other gate. We went back to the reception hall and unlocked the gate on the right hand side.

This section of the Forgotten Ayleid Ruin was a Daggerfallesque maze of corridors and staircases; up the stairs, down the stairs, corridors seemingly going around and around in circles. We got so twisted around we didn’t know where we were at. We must have spent hours trying to find our way around I began to wonder if we’re ever going to get out.

“I haven’t been in a dungeon like this since my days in Daggerfall,” I lamented to Claire.

“I can get a map,” Claire declared proudly as she conjured up paper map. “Oh pooh! Can’t seem to get bitchin’ 3D 360 degree maps anymore.”

The map did mark the spot for the Sealed Grave but other than that it wasn’t much help on how to get there.

At the end of one corridor we came across a column standing in the center of a tight rotunda. Walking around the column looking for something that would indicate its purpose we stepped on four pressure plate set in the floor. The sound of stone grinding echoed throughout the forgotten ruin.

Something had opened. We set off to find it.

Earlier, down one dead end corridor, we had found the location where we thought the bolt-hole should be. Hoping to find exposed hidden rooms, we carefully retraced our steps back to that dead end. There was no bolt-hole access but three walls had opened up to reveal treasure rooms. Only trouble was the rooms were guarded by a lich and skeleton warriors.

We searched for some time before we found ourselves standing at the entrance door. Tired of searching the Forgotten Ayleid Ruin I suggested we go back to town and get some sleep. Claire agreed.

Back in Tree Stump Cave Claire pointed to the arch above the entrance to the Forgotten Ayleid Ruin.

“Sire, there’s a light shinning up there,” she said.

Took some time but we found a spot where we could climb up to the top.

Reaching the spot Claire had pointed out, we discovered the light was emanating from an Ayleid push block. Pushing the switch, the sound of stone moving came from almost directly below us.

Back down to the flooded floor we went where we discovered an opening that hadn’t been there before. Could this be the entrance to the Sealed Grave?

An archeologist’ dream come true! With the ol’ ‘boldly go where no aelf has gone before’ exploring gene recharged, we entered the newly revealed section of the Ayleid ruin. The corridor led us to secluded spot in the cave where a memorial of sorts was laid out. It wasn’t the Sealed Grave we were looking for.

Still the renewed thrill of adventuring took us back to the Forgotten Ruin’s main hall with the intent of finding the Sealed Grave. This time when we again entered the ruin we were immediately confronted with gaping hole in the wall beneath the Ayleid clock. How did we not see that missing-tooth smile?

This time no one could point fingers at one another. We both missed it. Into the breach we plunged. Down a long
flight of stairs, deep below the other levels of the forgotten ruin we came upon a column holding an inscription tablet that read;

“Here rests Evil sealed until the end of time. May the Ayleid Empire find peace.”

Turning to Claire, I began the inspiration litany.

“I've got a little question I'd like to ask you.
Are you ready to face the unknown?
Are you ready to answer Fatum’s call?
Doom or riches we just don’t know
But if you're ready then we'll enter this door.”

“Yes, yes, I'm ready,” Claire sang out repeatedly after each line.

Using the Cryptic Key we entered the Sealed Grave. After a series of very hard locked gates and mantraps we came to the gated entrance of a room. It dawned on us then that this entire complex is must have been maximum security prison and whoever was held in this room must have been very dangerous.

We weren’t worried. After all who or whatever was locked up here must have died and turned to dust by now. Unless…

The sound of ebony plate armor jangled like silver dinnerware being hastily set on the table as Rung, a very hungry vampire, rose from his throne. Did he waste time screaming “BLOOD!” like oh so many other vampires we’ve encountered? No, Rung confidently summoned a spectral warrior and attacked.

Claire counters with an Argonian skeletal warrior and with Twinkle at her back, takes on the spectral warrior leaving Rung to me. Rung, who hadn’t seen the light of day in more than a millennia, was extremely vulnerable to the power of the Light of Dawn. Burning with the power of Mangus the sun, the Light of Dawn laid Rung low, of course I did help guide the blade. Now, Rung lay quietly at my feet his essence absorbed by the Light of Dawn.

After looting the throne room and leaving the Forgotten Ayleid Ruin, we explored Tree Stump Cave more thoroughly. The exterior of the ruin was impressive. This place must have been huge at one time.

In one corner of the cave we came across a Wondrous Ayleid Well. Dipping our hands in the well gave us a significant boost. Yeah, we could have used this a bit earlier!

With that we left Tree Stump Cave.

That actually would be kind of funny if "Tree Stump Cave" was actually this massive conglomeration of passages and underground chambers. Still, Jandaga's final opinion cracked me up. "What did we expect? It's a cave made from a tree stump!"

Twinkle is a really good idea. You know, as a companion. Just because you get some protection, but also the added benefit of free light. 💡 One of my old characters (somewhere in this thread) Sarah Phimm had a will o' wisp companion. Are will o' wisps considered to be daedra?

Will-o-the-Wisps are luminous beings seemingly composed of gas. They are immune to normal damage and poison, and have a variety of extremely dangerous magic. They are also very fast and have the ability to become nearly invisible. Outdoors, standard Will-o-the-Wisps are only found in Swamp terrains.

Cool, doesn't sound like they are necessarily Evil beings. Joan of Arkay, whom I've been traveling with lately, could use a new companion. Like my elf, she often travels with guards. Guards and Legion soldiers are great for traveling the roads and countryside, but are not always so durable for dungeoneering. So yeah. I'll have to ask my gal....

Because it's really her decision! And honestly, I don't think she'll approve. :

That's a great picture of Jandaga with his magical sword. Looks like he's wearing an Indiana Jones hat in a later pic.

" An army of mummies, zombies, and other walking dead..." Oh my gosh, dude!

Good job searching the depths of Forgotten Ayleid Realm. As usual, today's song's ringing bells. Screw it, I'm cheating. Pacific Gas & Electric??? That's the name of the band???

Twinkle salvages what would have otherwise been a short excursion.

Yep, send those nether liches back to the nether regions. . . oh, wait.

I’d imagine that big Ayleid Ruin likely predates the flooding.

All this to seal up the vampire Rung? Rung must have been an Ayleid vampire mebbe.

What a complex dungeon!

Twinkle is a polite will-o’-the-wisp. Twinkle is a summon spell. Once summoned, Twinkle will stay with you until dismissed or until her light is extinguished. Do not take her swimming, she’ll drown.
Neither Aedra nor Daedra, I group Will-o’-Wisp along with spriggans, wispmothers, and possibly Gargoyles since they are living rock, somewhere in the faerie hierarchy of Whilloki, Nymphs, Dryads, Nereids, Nephrine, Sylphim, Illyadi, Chonus, Gheateus, and Sygria.
Just another race of intelligent or semi-intelligent beings hidden under the rug and left for the player to define a place for them.


It is an Indiana Jones hat!
MOO has three hats; IndianaJones1, 2, & 3. The 3 hats the Grave Digger, the Artifact Collector, and the Tomb Raider are all the same except for the hat band.
Hatband #2, the Artifact Collector, is my favorite but it takes an amulet slot and he has a couple of potent amulets so he doesn’t wear the hat often.


You got it right! Cheating Share a snifter of amaretto and I wont tell.


All Hail, Twinkle! The Guiding Light, the true Champion of Cyrodill.

20230509 UL-Beaches of Cyrodill

It was a bright sunny day just before noon when Claire and I stepped out of Tree Stump Cave. Adrenalin still pumping through the veins thoughts of sleep was impossible. So we thought we’d walk along the Abeacean Sea beach to Anvil.

Garlas Malatar was nearby. We quickly passed it by not giving it a second thought. Neither Claire nor I wanted anything more to do with the Nights of the Nine. When the sandy beach came to an end we climbed up to the woodland above the cliffs and continued on. It was later in the afternoon around 4:30 when as we were passing the Silver Pine Forest Gateway.

Silver Pine Forest, now that brought back unwanted memories of the Demon Lord Karazan and Lord Gulltar. It must have been four years ago when Kaleah and I eliminated the giant demon and Gulltar. I shuddered at the thought.

It was now late in the afternoon and being tired from walking all afternoon I suggested we spend the night at Fisherman’s Shack. The shack is right below the portal to Silver Pine Forest.

Descending the stairs to Fisherman’s Shack Claire asked, “Do you think the threat from Silver Pine Forest will return?”

“No,” I replied. “With the elimination of Demon Lord Karazan and Lord Gulltar it will be a long, long time before Silver Pine forest will threaten Cyrodiil again.”

We had dinner on the dock and spent the rest of the evening watching sailing ships heading toward Anvil. It was then as the sun set that we noticed that the navigation beacon just east of the shack did not light up. It had fallen into such a state of disrepair that it no longer functioned.

“How long has it been like that?” Claire asked pointing to the ruined beacon tower.

“I don’t know exactly,” I replied. “There used to be a ship bound for the Cybiades docked there. Haven’t seen it since the beacon was destroyed. Why don’t we check it out tomorrow?”

It was a couple days later when we left Fisherman’s Shack. Before heading to Anvil and Benirus Manor we made a short stop to investigate the ruined navigation beacon. Crossing the rickety wooden rope bridge was dangerous and not just because it was so badly neglected and in need of repair. About half way across several large boulders came loose and fell into the sea. The bridge swung wildly nearly tossing us into the sea.

There wasn’t much to the ruined beacon. Just a couple of burned out empty towers was all that remained. We were about to leave when we noticed something on the rocky edge below us. Climbing down we discovered the remains of the former beacon caretaker.

A tatter journal lay near the body. It told the story of how this caretaker and a mage tried to keep the fires burning during days of intense storms. It relates how the mage used am unquenchable magical fire to maintain the beacon fire only to burn down the beacon in the process. The tattered journal also told of pirates raiding Oyster Bay, destroying the beacon there.

“We passed a ruined beacon when we left Oyster Bay,” I commented. “Want to go back and investigate?”
Claire held my hand, looked down into my eyes and said, “Sire, I will follow you anywhere… but my Jandaga needs to return to Benirus Manor.”

It was later that day when we arrived at Benirus Manor. Kaleah, Pym, Elenya, and Rosalind the teenaged housekeeper gave us a grand homecoming reception.

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

While the Jandaga was busy putting his new trophies away, Kaleah, Elenya, and Pym pulled Claire aside in the library.

“Well Claire, you took your sweet time getting him home,” Kaleah teasing but you could feel an irritation in her voice. “How did it go? Is he ready?”

“Ooh, he’s more than capable,” cooed Claire with a sidelong glance toward the Jandaga. “But, he’s tired. I’m afraid he may have Tolkin Malaise.”

“That World Weary mumbo jumbo, that’s not good,” Kaleah mumbled. “We must fix it, now!”

Elenya, who had just brewed a cup of tea, drew a symbol in the tea with her finger. Reading the tea leaves as they swirled in the cup she said, “Exhaustion from running hither and yon only to feel the frustration of knowing the evil cleared will return in as little as 3-days.”

Rosalind looked up from dusting the book shelves to make a suggestion, “Like, why not have the little unicorn take him to the Cute Elf Retreat for a nice relaxing vacation.”

The four Ladies spun around to glare at the teenaged housekeeper and demanded, “How do you know about that?”

“Ey gods,” stammered the teenager. Then as teenagers are wont to do she lashed out, “Like, I’m totally alone here. Bored to tears with nothing to do but dust grody shelves. That’s like gross, gag me with a spoon, barf out. Like, the unicorn let’s me ride him just for fun. So, like, one day while riding I like wished I could see the exotic lands he talks about. There we were in a land so beautiful. Like, total freak out. I can take him there. He’s so dreamy. Like, we can picnic with sweet tea and cake and...”

“NO!” Kaleah commanded in a thundering Daedric voice. She put her foot down and if you’ve ever seen Kaleah put her foot down you’d learn what the term “she means business” really means. (I think it’s the talons bursting through her boots that does it.) “Don’t even think about it, young lady! He’s way too old for you!”

Pouting, the teenager stormed out of the library and went upstairs slamming every door along the way.
Kaleah shook her head and with a slight laugh muttered, “We’re going to have to keep an eye on that one.”

“But, what else is there we can do? We’ve done everything or at least I have,” a heated Elenya glared at the others, getting back on the subject of the Jandaga.

Pym emphatically drew symbols in the air.

“Oh my! Claire exclaimed, “We’d need my sister Fiona for that kind of recharging adventure. Not only that, the Maran Knights would love to get their hooks on the Jandaga. Too risky.”

“Adventure…” Kaleah asked wistfully. “Yes, that’s it! Keep his inquisitive nature piqued by adventuring. I have an idea.”

“Hush,” Elenya cautioned. “He’s returning.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tired from sorting and filing the journey’s take I rejoined My Ladies in the library.

“My tired little Feache,” Kaleah warmly greeted me. “I have word from Bruma. Your spy kitten, err, housekeeper Kiyana reports she’s heard rumors concerning the location of a certain item. She has high confidence in the information and eagerly awaits your arrival.”

“Kiyana?” my ears piqued at the name and I replied a little too excitedly. “We’ll leave first thing in the morning.”
With a wink to the other Ladies gathered in the library Kaleah began organizing the trip.

"...only to feel the frustration of knowing the evil cleared will return in as little as 3-days.” --

Rosalind seems like a handful. . . .

So the ladies are planning an 'easy quest' or break from the challenges of adventuring so the Jandaga can recharge his mojo?