Loved how Manuin had Irlav so confused the old wizard was even second guessing his robes!

There you go. A little bit of reverse-psychology from Manuin there. Irlav is the thief, not the actual thief who stole something!

I wrote this story about five months ago, a month before I took a pause from Manuin. Earlier today as I was cleaning my gaming folders, I came upon Manuin's word file where I keep all stories and checked whether there's something waiting to be published - turns out it was, and there's another one ready, but that one is more a recollection of events in Skingrad than a proper story.

Ha, poor Irlav! I love the wink as Manuin disappears.

What is down in that cellar? Let's find out.

I need my torch

There, that's better.

Oh my! ... ( I didn't arrange this skeleton to be hanging like that. Cool game glitch right there).

Skeletal Remains

But one comes to life!

Burn!

Falter and Fall

The Corpse Retreats

FIRE!

What? ... Who is this?

Quest Update

Note: Matilde's Ring protects 25% Cold Damage, which will come in handy at some point for Sarah.

Whoa, I loved Sarah's descent into the darkness. Those pics are scary, you captured the story mood very well. I'm glad you named her the shambling corpse instead of Matilde. So now we find out that Sarah's late aunt has been in fact haunting the cellar. But did she kill other tenants? Maybe we'll never find out. This story is getting more and more ominous...

Sarah Phimm's harrowing account reminds me of many of the tales of HP Lovecraft, and the wretched horrors his protagonists unearthed in the dark, forgotten places of the world. I shudder to even think of such ancient monstrosities.

A gothic tale of horror and mystery! That fact that flame is Sarah’s friend came in handy here. Sarah is a great storyteller. And the pictures were great – what a fun mod you have there!

Awesome, I'm glad you all like it, it'll get more and more interesting, you'll see.

Wow, Lovecraft! I read some Lovecraft a few years ago, so maybe there's some LC in there too.


Turdas, 10:28 am, Rain's Hand 11, 3rd Era 434

Level: 12

Bounty: 0

The Redguard is awoken by a man, early on a spring day in Bravil. This man wore black robes with a black hood. At first the Redguard is shocked and ready for a fight; he's got his dwarven-style mace all ready, for he had recently emerged from dealing with two (or three?) solid days of dungeoneering. And perhaps this man-in-all-black had followed him out of there?

But the man-in-all-black was not interested in a fight. He had informed the Redguard that the Redguard slept soundly "for a murderer". Then he had made some sort of demands and suggestions, and had he mentioned the Dark Brotherhood?

None of this had mattered in the end, most of all the guy's smug attitude had ruined it all. Kahreem had been hungover and not feeling his best at the time, so he hadn't listened much. And he'd gotten confused. He did not like being woken up in his own rented bed. The very reason he had rented a room in Silverhome-on-the-Water had been to stay in a place in which he could become anonymous. By now, half the people knew Kahreem had been squatting in City Swimmer's place; and killing a court wizard had not been something he'd taken lightly.

So he had rented a room; an attempt to hide from any sort of trouble. The door to his room had not been locked, but still, even the Thieves Guild would not bother him in his sleep. He grabbed his mace afterall, and had gone into some sort of rage, nocking miscellaneous stuff all over the place.

He expected that at some point the guard would be called in, for the fight had grown serious. The man-in-black had made himself invisible for instance, and one thing Kahreem had grown to hate after two days dealing with mages, and various magical beings in Fathis Aren's lair, was magic.

Instinct had taken over, and he'd begun bashing and flaying with his mace. The man-in-black had tried to run, but Kahreem (with his newfound, better abilities at combat) had blocked the man's exit, preventing him from just leaving Silverhome-on-the-Water. Although he could not see the man-in-black, this had not stopped Kahreem. He would take a swing. Maybe he'd miss, but often he hit!

Soon it was all over. The man-in-black had fallen, and lost his chameleonic effect.

"Wow, he's dead, and I'm not going to pretend that he is. ISN'T. I mean, that he isn't."

Now, the better part of it all: looting. And what an outfit to loot. Kahreem pulls on the man's robe and hood. Blacker than night, these items are.

"Capital. Look at me. I am slick. SLEEK.... I am the Sleekest of all, in this man's hood and robes. I am now known as Sleek," he says. "I am The Sleek. And The Sleek slicks his way through the night, evading capture. Evading the guards. Stealing precious items from castle wizards."

He removes his new Sleek wardrobe, and puts on some ordinary upper-class clothes he had stolen from Fathis. Better to hide his new disguise until safely out of Bravil.

He turns over, and goes to sleep.





Note: after selling all the soul gems, jewelry, and a rare Resist Poison shirt, Kahreem has "made a good bit of gold", and this is certainly true. He now had 2,088 gp on his person.

Now the Wheet Bandit is going to be impersonating the Dark Brotherhood!

Kahreem is now Darth Maul!

As SubRosa says, he now has someone new to impersonate - Mr. Sleek of the Dark Brotherhood.

But if Fathis Aren died during the quest, shouldn't Kahreem pay the blood price to the Thieves Guild?

He does look like Darth Maul !!!

Well done, Kahreem! Unlucky Lachance's fancy black silks now grace the Sleek Bandit!

I was gonna say that!!!

Heck yeah, Kahreem as Darth Maul, who I'm assuming is part of Star Wars? I have never seen the newer movies.

I have no official story this week so I'll post Renee Gade III's astrology results. Yes, I do horoscopes even for my characters. I need to start doing them more actually. I've been with RG3 so much these past two years though; I can discern certain things about her personality more easily.

One thing I did with her is I originally made her in March of 2014, but then I realized she would still be a Pisces if I had launched her on that particular day. So I started all over again on March of 21, so that she would now be an Aries, just like Xena.

RENEE GADE III

Created: 3/21/2014, 6:02 PM

Ascendant Virgo 16.08

Sun Aries 1.12
Moon Sagittarius 3.33
Mercury Pisces 4.51
Venus Aquarius 14.41
Mars Libra 24.56 R
Jupiter Cancer 10.49
Saturn Scorpio 23.00 R
Uranus Aries 11.50
Neptune Pisces 6.02
Pluto Capricorn 13.34
Lilith Leo 1.55
Asc node Libra 28.42
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUN, MOON, RISING SIGN

One thing I did not expect with RG3 is her Moon. Let's start there. Because I planned her Sun sign; made sure she was created an Aries back in 2014, but the Moon is a surprise.

Lots of fire, and both signs (Aries and Sagittarius) are the two more dynamic fire signs, in comparison to Leo. And she does have all this. Renee Gade III is firey. Impulsive. Headstrong. At her best when things are moving very quickly, like during blitz-attacks. Both the Sun and Moon are in a close Trine. The force of her personality is therefore in harmony with her reactions, her emotions. But other than some moments when she feels into the past, wondering about her mother, RG3 is not a super-emotional person.

But then, her Rising Sign, which is Virgo. This is really the only major personality trait she's got that is Earth. And for sure, Renee is not a very earthy person, though she sometimes can come across that way, I suppose, to some others she meets. She portrays a side which plans and seems more level-headed. Many of her 'blitz-attacks' start with moments of planning, and sneaking for instance. But for sure, the 'real' Renee is all that fire.

Renee's sun is also in the 10th house; the house of Career, of putting the material into motion. And indeed, this is an enormous part of her persona. She wants to be recognized, she wants to enjoy public fame.

MOON SQUARE MERCURY

Indicates possible difficulty with expressing thoughts due to emotion. At best, this can provide some humorous moments. At worst, it can also create moments when Renee is misunderstood, for her temper / emotions havc gotten away from her. This is not a huge facet of her personality the way Sun Trine Moon is, but it's there for sure.


MARS

Mars is in Libra, and this also plays a major role, for Renee is not completely rash, and does have moments when she likes to contemplate and weigh before she acts. The North Node in her chart is also in Libra, pretty darn close to Mars. Since this node is all about motivation, grabbing, and going forth in life, now it's obvious to see why Renee is so quest-oriented. Even without many official Beth quests, I've had to seek out some quest-adding mods, and even make my own quests for her game. It's like she demands it. Renee always needs something on the horizon.

VENUS SEXTILE URANUS

Venus is not just about love, it's also about warmth, closeness, and relating to others. And indeed, Renee does have some of this going on between her two closest friends: Gabrielle and Felrika. Gabs is her best friend from Skyrim, her sweetheart. Maybe even her lover. And Fel is more of a drinking buddy. A warrior-in-kind. A Nord woman who reminds Renee possibly of some other tough Nord women from back home. All in all, I don't get the sense that Renee is super-needy when it comes to relationships, and we can see this with the Aquarius sign placement. She likes a good row, she likes moving forward with other people in her life, she likes 'the group'.

What about Uranus though? Having a look online, here is the official description I got.

----Venus sextile or trine Uranus The ability to get along with--and accept--people from all walks of life as friends is strong with this position. These people can readily see through insincerity in others. In relationships, tolerance is the most important "ingredient" to these people. Their sexual preferences are somewhat unconventional, and they won't be happy with a partner who tries to limit their sexual expression. They are usually quite capable of maintaining relationships that require a great deal of freedom and tolerance, such as long-distance romances or set-ups in which partners are unable to see each other consistently. Their style in love is somewhat free and breezy, and noncommittal. They quite naturally accept the idea that their partner might need some personal space and freedom.

The trine aspect is the more dynamic of the two harmonious aspects. Those with the sextile can call upon these traits when needed, and those with the trine between the Venus and Uranus have incorporated the traits of the aspect into their personalities, expressing them naturally and consistently.----

I am really liking that first sentence: "The ability to get along with--and accept--people from all walks of life". Very true. Hence, this is why Renee doesn't really care much who is with her (what race or species), she can tolerate many different types of people, and this includes beastfolk.

But looking beyond the online description, I also would like to add the fact that Uranus, with its reputation for shocking and surprises, also plays into Gade's relations with others. She does prefer Felrika over Gabrielle when adventuring, for instance. She feels akin to Fel's enormous desire for warrior adventures, and to be successful at these adventures, Renee enjoys Fel's un-desire to commit (she never sneaks, for instance) and to not play it safe, as many other adventurers are prone to.


MERCURY TRINE JUPITER

This one's so obvious. Mercury = mind, Jupiter = expansion and broad-thinking. And indeed, Renee tends to think big. She doesn't just want one house, she doesn't just want one friend, she doesn't just want one ordinary way of life. She thinks big, for sure. I suppose this placement will become even more obvious once the Giskard stuff kicks in.

MERCURY CONJUNCT NEPTUNE

This is another biggie. The official description of this starts predictably with artistic references, which I don't really get the sense of when looking at Renee. But then it says this..

--It can be hard to focus on straight facts, or to be objective, because your perceptions are often distorted (or enhanced) by your wishes and dreams --

Yes, very true. Although I can't hear RG3 actually speak, I do get the sense that she has trouble with focus, and trouble with keeping a straight line, when it comes to everyday life. This partially comes through with her drinking, but even without this, she seems to have a habit of wandering a bit. Until her firey side takes over, pointing her toward mayhem.

HMPH!!! And WHAT is wrong with being a Pisces?


*mALX turns green and grows to giant proportions; rips shirt off*

Very neat how you can see so much of Renee through her horoscope. I chuckled over the parts where she is quick thinking during a skirmish but not overly emotional - Buffy's exactly the opposite.

Hey now, that would make for an interesting reading. Though it's been years since I've consulted with somebody, nobody's ever ripped their shirt off before, hee hee!

I wasn't sure who to post tonight. I just finished up the next Sarah episode, but did some gaming with Kahreem, with a story for him. I'm not posting two stories in one night though. Too many bombshells into the mess. I had to roll some dice. Sarah won. Sorry mirocu. I'll make it up to you, I promise.







After the red-haired scullery cook from Solitude paid for her room, she could not fathom immediately trying to sleep, though. Not after what she had seen, fought, and conquered in her own manor-home. She sat awake with her journal, outside of the room she'd paid for, too afraid to actually climb into bed, and maybe succumb to the 'grasp of sleep'.

Eventually though, it was time to give slumber a try. Her eyes grew heavier. She decided to enter her room and have a look out the window, at the street below. No sign of that pale, shambling corpse. Good. The chapel bell tolled two o'clock in the morning before Sarah Phimm felt safe enough.

But by Morndas, Heartfire 26, at 5:13 am, Sarah was jolted awake by yet another unexpected visitor.

"Hello," said the voice from above.

"Whaaa--" Sarah started, her voice tinged. At first she did not see anybody standing over her.

"I hope I did not startle you. Can you see me?"

"I ... I can ...Yes."

"I saw you tonight," said the visitor, "rushing by with urgency. You ran right by my favorite spot, Sarah Phimm."

"You... you are the ghost? The ghost from the graveyard?"

"Yes I am. You have seen me, lurking within the graveyard, as you say. I know you have. Only you have noticed. My name is Khul Peppa. I am from nowhere, I suppose. Not any more. Most folks of Skingrad have no idea I am here. Everyday. Lurking."

"Yes. I am sorry. I ...."

"Only you know of my presence," continued the ghost. "And by destiny, I have been chosen to warn you."

"Warn me? Of what?"

"I know many things about you. You have moved here recently, and have taken employment at Two Ssiters' with that dreadful orc. How you put up with her...? But that is not why I am here."

Sarah, by now, had managed to get up out of bed, simply glad to know she had been awoken by this "Khul Peppa" ghost, and not a pale, shambling corpse. Although it was not every day that one spoke with the unseen, she had felt a sort of trust by now. She had noticed this presence (a feminine presence) just a day or two before, yet had not been afraid of her, and so now here she was speaking to her, as though she was another ordinary citizen. As if this sort of thing happened every day. "Go on..."

"I have been chosen to warn you NOT to do anything the people of Fort Istrius tell you. Takya will eventually send a messenger to you, perhaps tomorrow. But do NOT follow his commands, whatever they may be."

"You know of Takya? You know of the necromancers?"

"And don't worry," continued the ghost. "Whatever sort of plan he's concocted, as long as you say "no", he cannot harm or affect you. However, there is a catch."

Sarah had stood quietly, waiting for the ghost to continue.

"Once you tell Takya "no", it will then be your best interest to never leave Skingrad. Do not take the roads without a horse, or a small militia of men. You will become a prisoner of your own decision. But, you will also be alive. Trust me. I have been here in Skingrad a long time, watching and watching. I know many things."

"Y-yes. You do."

"I know this most of all -- you cannot fathom the true depth of my warning now, but you can sense it yes? ... Stay away from Istrius. Say no to that menace. And now that I have warned you, I must also give you something. Something which will come in handy someday for you."

"You have something for me?"

"This is a rather odd present," said the ghost. "It's a broom. Given to me to pass on to you. I cannot say what its significance is right now. Bring it back to Summitmist. Make sure you keep it out of your place of employ, especially. Although it can certainly clean floors like some ordinary broom, this one is not just for cleaning floors."

With these words, a broom did indeed pass to Sarah's hands. Later on (much later), she tried to remember if this broom had been handed to her by the ghost? Or had it just sort of appeared?

"I.. thank you."

"I do not know entirely what this broom is for, but it is important. Somebody told me to give it to you. I am not at liberty to say who this is, however. And now, I must go."

"Oh! No, please do not leave! I must ask you one thing!"

"Okay, if you must."

"Well, about my presence within Summitmist Manor, yes? It is... I must ask you about ... well, I was attacked by an undead personage, which I discovered dwelling within my cellar. Which quite perturbed me, of course, as you can imagine, for she was not friendly to me as you are. Which is why I chose to stay here. Last night."

"I see. You are speaking now about the dead lady in your parlor? Yes, I saw her. For I went to Summitmist myself, before coming here to Two Sisters. I know nothing about her."

"But ... well I must ask, is she ... could she possibly be Matilde Petit? Her countenance was aged and Breton, I took notice. And I found this ring," Sarah said, showing the antique piece with Matilde's name engraved within its circle.

"No. She can't possibly be Matilde though," Khul Peppa answered.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I am, Sarah. Why can't she possibly be Matilde Petit? ... Because Matilde Petit is dead. Buried right next to me, matter of fact. Right there in the graveyard..."

"Dead?"

"I didn't know her very well when she was alive," continued the ghost. "But I can assure you, she's right next to me. Go look up her tombstone, it's the one with the purple flower right in front."

"I ... I see. But can I ask--"

But with that, the ghost abruptly left Sarah's rented room, apparently done with her information, and warnings.

@-+-----

No shambling menace had followed her to Two Sisters'

Sleeping soundly

The ghost warns Sarah

And also gives her a present.

Sarah goes to the graveyard

A purple flower lies before one gravestone

...and the shambling pale lady is gone from Summitmist, Sarah later learns.

She cannot leave Skingrad? Is Sarah Phimm now to be trapped with Skingrad for good?

Seems like every new story about Sarah explains some mysteries from previous writings but opens new ones at the same time. You did a fantastic job with Khul Peppa, though she's friendly, I was at first startled when I saw that she's an apparition. I also like little details which you include like a pic of the window or a newly-placed nightshade.

No worries, Renee. But it has been some time now since last Kahreem update.. *taps foot*


Liked the screenies, and Sarah is a doll

Sarah is indeed a mystery. I'm glad that Culpepper was a friendly ghost. It seems Sarah's new broom may be for sweeping something away. . . but I will hold out hope that maybe it can fly.

Stuck in Skingrad? Well, there are worse places and being (more or less) stuck there seems to work for Count Janus Hasselhoff.

So since I'm about to move into some spoileriffic territory, and so would have to switch forums anyway, and since I'm sort of regretting posting at the near-dead Bethsoft forums instead of here, I'm moving to this spoilers forum instead of theirs.

I've been traveling lately with Bob the Breton - a restart of my first-ever Oblivion character. He didn't have a personality the last time around, and I'm remedying that.

Oddly, he's shaping up to be sort of a milquetoast character anyway. As is my wont, I've been keeping an eye out for any strong responses to anything, and haven't really seen any yet. He appears to prefer to avoid complication, and he's relatively easy-going as far as other people go - some of them irritate him and he'd prefer to not spend time around them, but I haven't seen anyone yet that he really disliked. He just doesn't seem to be particularly passionate or driven.

He is doing the main quest, which is definitely an exception for my characters, but even that seems to be sort of mild. It's not as if he's compelled by a sense of duty or great destiny or anything like that - he's just sort of backed into doing stuff. I don't think he's particularly happy to have all this responsibility placed on his shoulders, but at this point it would probably complicate his life more to not do it than to do it, so he's just going along.

Last night, he started out in the IC, fresh from a trip out to Anvil by way of Skingrad. He had some things to deal with out that way while Baurus poked around in the IC.

He went through the earliest parts of the MQ - the fight with the assassin at Luther Broad's, the discovery of the Commentaries, getting the second volume, tracking down the third volume and finding out how to get the fourth volume. Then he took that amusing trip through the sewers with Baurus (Baurus is so gung-ho about killing those mud crabs - "This one's mine!") and ended up fighting Raven Camoran and a couple of Mythic Dawn mooks (got a Base Ring of Fire Shield off of Raven). It was an unnecessarily dangerous battle though, and led him to conclude that he was going to have to do something he'd been threatening doing anyway - get some better armor. He was currently in mostly leather. He had his eye on a set from Rohssan (Andragorn's Doronduum armor) but it was a bit pricey, and a bit flashy for him (it's a burgundy colored leather with bright silver chain insets). So first, I spent a couple of hours doing a recolor of the armor (muddy grey chain and neutral brown leather), then he fretted a bit, and finally shelled out the money for the set (he had a bit over 4,000 septims and the full set came to just short of 3,000).

So he has the full set of the books now, and I know the secret of them, but I'm going to play it that he doesn't (I don't think he's all that bright, so that's not out of line). I've got Kvatch Rebuilt running in his game, and Ignar approached him with a note from Savlian in the middle of all that, so he's going to take a day or two and make a side trip to Kvatch and just let things percolate for a bit and see if he can figure out the secret to the books along the way.

Bob sounds like a classic 'bro'. I keep thinking of Dick Casablancas in Veronica Mars. I can just imagine him saying "Like whoa man, this saving the world stuff is like, wild dude! Let's just sit back and smoke a fatty and play some Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball instead..."

Here's the pic I linked on the Beth forums.

I'll try to remember to get a shot of him in his new armor - I like the recolor.

And yeah - he does seem to be shaping up to be just a dude. I'm not sure why really, but it's sort of fitting in a way I guess. I named him "Bob" in the first place just because he was my first character, and that's the name I generally use for main characters in games in which I have to provide a name. He ended up bland and generic the first time through sort of by default - because I didn't even know how to go about giving him a personality. After all of the characters since, I've gotten fairly good at piecing together interesting characters, but he seems determined to be bland anyway.

I didn't play much last night, and it didn't go the way I expected. I had him parked outside of the Arboretum, ready to go talk to Tar-meena after getting the last volume of the Commentaries. And she basically handed him the secret to the books - made it so obvious that even, somewhat dull-witted as he is, he couldn't help but figure it out. So he found the right place and found that the Mythic Dawn base is somewhere north of Cheydinhal (though he doesn't have access to the magical map, so doesn't know exactly where it is). That's okay though - he needed to make it out to Cheydinhal to do the MG recommendation quest anyway, and Kvatch can probably wait for a few days.

The trip out to Cheydinhal was relatively uneventful, with one sort of disconcerting exception. There's a mod-added Black Bear that hangs around the road, down in the valley between the campsite where the bandits hang out and the waterfalls. He clearly saw the bear and was just standing there trying to figure out what he was going to do when an Imperial soldier rode by. So he just waited and, sure enough, the soldier and the bear fought. And the bear won. Bob handily killed the bear, since it was very wounded, but he was surprised that the soldier died, and more to the point, it bothered him. He was a bit ashamed of not doing more himself. He appears to have a conscience, and it might inspire at least a bit of determination.

In Cheydinhal, he just sort of poked around the city (ran into Guilbert Jemane and dealt with that), then swung by the mages guildhall and dealt with that. Then he spent the night at the Newlands Lodge and is now parked outside its door, ready to go explore north of the city and see what he can find.

gpster: Good to see you! I'm hoping Beth will never close the old forums, but if they do so, you can always post here. Because Betheda.net is not as good, in my opinion. And finally, we get to see Sir Bob.

Acadian: Now what gives you the impression that her broom will help her fly? Interesting. Oh, I get it. hah!

Lopov: I added the ghost into Sarah's World.esp a long time ago, but she hasn't become useful until now. It is interesting though because I didn't give her any AI. I placed her near the church, but not in the graveyard, but she somehow wandered over to the graveyard and now she is always there.

mirocu: you can stop tapping your foot now, buddy!


Loredas, Rain's Hand 13, 3rd Era 434

Level: 12

Quest: Arrow of Extrication

Days Passed: 230
Days Jailed: 69

Fame: 0
Infamy: 28
Bounty: 250


The shadowy figure emerged into the room, stealthily creeping along, until finding his subject. A Redguard, sleeping. Perhaps passed out drunk, perhaps not. Either way, the moment had come to induct this one into the shadowy figure's secret society.

"You sleep rather soundly for a murderer", greeted the figure, after waking the Redguard before him.

"Wha-- NO!" the Redguard screamed, throwing his arms up in defense, and doing a sort of mock-crying thing, as though this would change his fate. "But I'm no murderer!" he says, laughing.

"This is good. You'll need to have a clear head for what I am about to propose."

"Okay, who are you?" asks the Redguard.

"I am Lucien. And you are a murderer. A taker of life. A cold-bloodied killer. And because of this, the Dark Brotherhood has come to you in your sleep. Because this is how we recruit new members."

"Wait a minute. Hey, I know that voice. Kahreem, is that you?"



"Fokke. Ha ha yeah, you got me. How do you like my new robes, Armand?"

Armand Cristophe smiles at Kahreem, the man who'd singlehandedly done more for the Thieves Guild in the past several months than any of the others. Without Kahreem, they'd still have fences, they'd still have an underground market, but the Thieves Guild would not really be advancing, would not really be pushing for new heights.

"Well I must say, you wear the shadows well, my fellow thief."

"Gave you quite a scare, didn't I? You'll never guess who I got this outfit from, too. I killed Lucien La-something."

"Who?"

"He was the recruiter for the Dark Brotherhood. I killed him in Bravil, my friend. The guy everybody always says 'the Dark Brotherhood comes to you in your sleep'. I killed that man."

"You're full of it!"

"Am I? Look at this material. Feel the magic emanating to your touch. Although I can't really prove it to you, you'll have to take my word for it."

"I'm not buying that one."

"Yeah, that's what I thought you'd say. Even so, try this hood on. ... There. Feel that? I can sneak like a phantom wearing it. Like I have a fokkinge chameleon spell, without the magical training."

"Hmm. You've got a point."

"Ah ah, give me that hood back. It's going to help me do my deeds for the Grey Fox himself. This, plus my new magic ring. Watch this," Kahreem says, placing the ring on his finger, blurring his image. "Now you see me, now you don't."

"Hey, that's pretty good!"

"You bet it is, Redguard. Now do me a favor. Take care of my bounty for me. You still offer this service, right?"

"You can pay your fines to the guards, serve your time, or pay me half, and I'll fix them all."

"That's what I want to hear." *clink*

"Consider it done. I will get rid of all your criminal warrants...hey, where did you go? Kahreem? ... ahh, Shadow hide you. I mean, you really wear the shadows well, fellow thief."

The door to Armand Cristophe's cabin openes and closes, with Armand not even sure if Kahreem has left or not.

Sundas, 7:49 pm, Rain's Hand 14
Kahreem prepares for his next journey, which will lead him to Chorrol. He had slept in his new robe, and over the past few days had in fact become rather faciated with it. Its material is smooth and silky.

"I am so sleek, which is why they'll call me Sleek."

He blunders through his nightsack, deciding what he'll keep here on the Marie Elena, and what he'll take. Three bottles of Cheap Wine stolen from some Talos Plaza house get to stay, while two get to come with him. He also brings a bottle of skooma he'd bought from Shady Sam, along with a total of 49 lockpicks. He climbs from mid-deck to the Captain's quarters, where he grabs his dwarven mace, plus a shiny shield of steel. Grabs some food, arranges a few miscellaneous potions, and he is good to go.

It is raining outside, cold and hard. He leaves the Marie Elena, placing the Ring of Shadows upon his finger, to further disguise the fact that he's leaving. When people say "hey, I'm looking for that Redguard who lives upon the pirate ship", they'll be pointed to a ship with no Redguard.

"Ha!"

Nearly invisible, he walks right by an ordinary guard plus one of the shiny suit guys, gets on a bay horse, and rides away so nonchalantly (and invisibly), it's as though the horse itself has no rider.

4:22 am
At this hour, and this minute, a riderless bay horse moves slowly into Chorrol's stable. The dark elf who runs the place is asleep nearby, but the guard who witnesses this horse arrive would later swear it had not had a rider.




The invisible man calling himself 'The Sleek' now walks into Chorrol, but does not rent a room at either of the town's inns. Would an invisible man who's trying to be sleeky and abnormal just walk into a room with red silks and rent it? Of course not. The Sleek would not do this. The Sleek would try to stay in shadow, which was getting harder to do, now that the sky was getting light. The birds are starting to sing, before diving for worms.

The Sleek accelerates to town's end, hoping to find the house which the Grey Fox had been hiding out last time he was here. His eyes sweep from one house to the next ... Eugal Belette ..... Casta Scribona ... until he finds a simple cabin which cuts an unassuming figure. The Sleek sees that the name on this cabin's door is Malintus Ancrus. He cannot remember if this the place he'd met the Fox before, but the door is unlocked, and The Sleek walks in. Inside are three people: two men and a woman, all of them standing in some sort of anticipation. But it is obvious which one of the men is the one to talk to. It's the guy wearing the funny hood which never gets taken off.

"I have been waiting."

"Well hello Grey Fox. Would you like an explanation as to why I am wearing a Dark Brotherhood member's robes? Well let me tell you--"

"Do you have the Arrow of Extrication?" asks the Fox, uninterested in blabbering banter.

"Okay. Because it's really a funny story. Ahh fokke. Well yeah, I have this," he says, showing what he'd found in Fathis Aren's secret tower.

"Hmm. I had hoped for the whole arrow, but that is not your fault. I will have to have it repaired. This arrowhead advances my plan to ... nevermind. I may have need of you again in the near future, if my plans hold."

"AHEM."

"Here is your reward."

"You mean ... oh... my GOLD?"

"I am also promoting you to Master Thief in the Thieves Guild. Fathis Ules of the Imperial City will be your new fence."

"Well that's just dandy, Mr. Fox. Now let me tell you how I got these robes. You see it's--"

"Shadow hide you," says the Grey Fox quickly. The Redguard before him was certainly clever, and certainly doing good things for the guild, but man, what a chattering box he could be.

I love this one! It's funny from the beginning 'til the end. Though I immediately knew that it's Kahreem impersonating Lucien, the intro to that story is just great.

He benefited a lot of Lucien's death with all that precious and useful equipment that's now on his disposal.

The Sleek!

Ah... that's a great Kahreem update. And, as usual, a great use of vanilla dialogue.

If Beth closes the Bethsoft forums, this will be my only alternative - the Bethesda.net forums offer absolutely nothing at all that's of any value to me.

I had originally attached this update to the end of my last one, since there hadn't been any intervening posts by the time I started it. But since I ended up posting it within mere minutes of the Kahreem update, it was at risk of being buried, and since there's at least one significant Bob thing in here, I didn't want it to fall by the wayside. So here it is on its own:


Things went a bit strange and unsettling for Bob last night.

He set out to explore north of Cheydinhal, since that was all he really knew about the Mythic Dawn headquarters - that it was north of Cheydinhal. He ended up stumbling onto Lake Arrius Caverns fairly easily anyway, since there are obvious trails to it, and the only other thing he'd seen along the way was the Quickwater Cave that Borba had mentioned, and it seemed likely that if that was home to the Mythic Dawn, she would've noticed, so he hadn't bothered to even check it out. And sure enough, that was the right place, so he went inside and infiltrated the MD. He was a bit put off by the idea of giving up all his gear, but there was no other way to get inside, so he finally took the plunge and did it.

When it came time to demonstrate his allegiance to the MD by sacrificing the Argonian captive there, he was in a bit of a quandary. He looked around at all the people, considered the fact that he had no weapons at all, and realized that a dagger had been mentioned, so he looked over on the altar and saw a silver dagger laying there. Obviously he was supposed to use that, so that was okay, and he went over and picked it up. Then he looked around at all the people again and weighed his chance of beating them all armed only with a dagger, and wasn't encouraged. He then walked over and looked at the Argonian captive, then looked around at the others again and thought a bit. Then he looked back down at the Argonian captive and... killed him.

I've never had a character do that before (granted, I've only done the MQ... four times, IIRC, but still). It was just one of those things that seemed like the right choice for that character at that moment, but it immediately put a sort of strange spin on Bob's personality. As I've noted, I was starting to see him as sort of milquetoast, but there have been a couple of other incidents that have stood out (standing aside while the bear killed the Imperial Soldier, for instance). It appears that Bob's easygoing appearance might be more along the lines of lack of affect. Maybe he's not just a dude, but a sociopathic dude - easygoing not because he's generally pleasant, but because he just doesn't care all that much.

Anyway, it worked out well (for Bob at least) - everyone drifted away, and eventually it was just him, Harrow, Ruma Camoran and a generic Mythic Dawn guard. Harrow kept following him, so he drew him over to the side of the altar away from the guard, then circled back and did a quick sneak attack on the guard and managed to kill him with that plus one other hit. Harrow saw him and charged, but he managed to kill him in a straight up fight, and then he got all his own gear back and dispatched Ruma fairly easily. Then he just worked his way through the whole complex and killed everyone.

It was midafternoon when he got out of the complex, and since he didn't have anything pressing in Cheydinhal, he just set out toward Bruma and CRT. He spent the rest of the day hiking up into the mountains (while I pondered the killing of the Argonian captive and what that meant for Bob), then camped for the night in a high valley, and got to CRT late the next morning. He turned the Mysterium Xarxes over to Martin, then talked to Jauffre (who still irritates him, so his affect isn't totally flat), and he's now parked outside the gates of CRT, ready to head down to Bruma and find out whatever he can about these spies.

And... a shot of Bob in his recolored Doronduum Armor. Note the shield especially - it's one of my all-time favorite Oblivion items.

I was actually a bit puzzled and had to read it a couple of times before I got it straight! Guess I just forgot past stories when he killed him.


Sweet update as usual and not only does Kahreem have a new name again, he´s now at the same rank as Lothran!



@gpstr - Where did you get that shield?

It's the Doronduum Shield from Andragorn's Shdw Armor Pack 02?. His version, like the rest of the armor, is a sort of burgundy colored leather with brighter silvery metal - I recolored the whole set for Bob, since that was a bit too flashy for him.

It's a great design, both aesthetically and functionally. It not only looks awesome, but since it's a relatively open design with loops of metal and essentially cross shaped rather than round or square, it doesn't block your view when it's up.

-

I didn't actually play much last night - once again, I spent most of my time modding something, and this time it didn't even have anything to do with Bob's game.

Mu-teel, my ruthless and efficient Argonian, carries a version of Andragorn's Araelion Long Sword. It's a very nice sword for the most part - a sort of scimitar shape and nicely textured, but one thing's always bothered me about it - he sharpened the full length of the back edge of the blade as well, and I thought it would be better if it had a square spine and was just sharpened near the tip. But that would require both editing the mesh and redoing the textures, and I just hadn't done it. Last night, for whatever reason, I got the urge to do it, so I spent a couple of hours doing that first.

Then it was on to Bob. He hiked down the hill to Bruma and talked to Burd, but didn't learn anything useful, then he went out to the Rune Stone and just hung around and watched, and sure enough, someone showed up at about dusk. He only saw one person (Jearl) and as soon as she saw him, she attacked him, so that settled itself. Then he went into town and poked around in her house and found the basement and the passage outside of town (and filed the information away, just in case he decides that he wants to move into a house with a handy secret passage and I decide I want to mod it so he can move into it). And he found her orders and discovered that there was a second spy, so he went back out to the Rune Stone just in case, and sure enough, there was another spy who also attacked him on sight, and that was pretty much that. He went back up the hill, turned everything over to Jauffre, checked in with Martin and found out that he needs to get a Daedric artifact. That's going to take some time, so it's a good opportunity to get out to Kvatch and see what Savlian wanted, so that's where he's headed.

He hiked out the west side of Bruma and through the mountains and down to Chorrol, which was a nice trip. Then he took the trail south from the east side of Chorrol toward Skingrad, but turned off at Elenglynn and found the path along the river there (Unique Landscapes) and followed that the rest of the way down. He didn't see any new Oblivion gates along the whole trip (other than the really obvious one outside Chorrol) until he got almost to the Gold Road, and then there were three of them in a cluster - two on the east side of the river and one on the bluff on the west side. He avoided them, just as he's avoided all of the ones he's seen (he hasn't been in one - hasn't even felt the urge to go in one - since the first one at Kvatch). He spent the night a bit further along to the west, on a nice hilltop south of the Gold Road, and is parked there on the road, ready to finish the trip to Kvatch and check in with Savlian.

gpstr – Welcome to Bob the Breton. His new armor looks good and nice to see him going through the MQ with KR running alongside. How interesting that he sacrificed the Argonian – all the for greater good and such. Glad it worked out well.

Renee – Kahreem the Sleek Chatterbox in his shadowy new robes taken from Lucien the Unlucky. Heh, nobody in his guild wants to believe or listen to his exploits but he is indeed doing well for himself.

I'm not sure at this point what I'm going to do with Bob. I might end up shelving him for a while and letting it percolate.

He's not a sociopath - he does still feel sort of bad about the Argonian (and about the Imperial soldier before). It's not overwhelming - he probably should feel worse about it than he does - but he does at least feel some remorse.

I'm currently leaning more toward the notion that he's just sort of cowardly and/or weak-willed. With the soldier and the bear, that's really what it was - HE didn't want to fight that bear, and the soldier stepped in, and that saved him having to do it. And that's at least part of what it was with the Argonian - he was afraid to try to fight all the MD mooks without a weapon, so he picked up the dagger, but then he was still afraid - there were just too many of them and they were all looking right at him, waiting. It just seemed too... what? Scary? Complicated? Overwhelming? I'm not sure.

I've spent some more time with him over the past couple of days. He hasn't done anything really momentous, so it's been okay, but I just can't get a fix on his personality, so I'm wary of doing too much. And honestly, it's sort of exhausting investing that much time and energy into trying to figure him out. That's part of why I play so many different characters - after a while of doing that, I start getting the urge to switch to someone easy - someone with a vivid and established personality, so they'll take charge and I can just coast along for a while. And sooner or later, something will click and I'll get some more insight to the character who's giving me problems.

We'll see...

Does Bob tend to enter a lot of Oblivion gates? I know the last character I had who did the Main Quest (way back in 2011) would only take care of the gates which were nearest to roads, or nearest to civilized areas. He felt he didn't have enough time to delve into the really obscure ones.

Yah, you've really been getting into Bob's head quite a lot! Maybe it's time to step back and be with somebody who's got less on his / her plate. This is the reason why I tend to flip from one character to the next--it's all about perspective for me. Still, it's fun reading about Sir Bob.

mirocu: Lothran is in the Thieves Guild? I Mean, I know that he joined, but I didn't know he made it this far into the guild. Wow.

No - that's another thing that leads me to believe that he's cowardly and/or weak willed. After delivering Martin and Jauffre to CRT, he passed by at least half a dozen of them without even the slightest urge to do anything other than avoid them. The one he went into near the road between Kvatch and Skingrad was the first after the original one at Kvatch, and pretty much the only reason he went in it was because it was too close to the road, so he would've ended up dealing with its creatures every time he went by. It went better than he expected, so he wasn't quite so hesitant about the next one, but again, it was mostly because it was too close to a path he expected to take again. I don't think he would've willingly gone in one otherwise.

That's in contrast to, say, my Altmer barbarian Lemdel, who really struggled early on since he was a pure fighter (bow and battleaxe) saddled with the Altmer attribute penalties, but he was eager and constantly challenged himself trying to get better. And he went through pretty much every gate he saw, from the very beginning. Bob doesn't challenge himself at all, really. He does what needs to be done, and doesn't even do that terribly enthusiastically.

Tirdas, 5:58 pm, Rain's Hand 16, 3rd Era 434

Days Passed: 233

Bounty: 1,250

Kahreem of Weet spends all day in his home, the Marie Elena. Taking it easy. Eating, sleeping, that sort of thing. Eventually he decides it's time to get serious, and get out of town. Head toward Cheydinhal. His big dilemma? What should he wear? He goes through several sacks placed mid-deck, and decides it could be time to break out one of his guard outfits again. This time, he'll dress as a Bravil guard. He gathers up his things, gets suited up...

...and then realizes, what would the point be of pretending to be a guard "Fokke!" if he's walking around with a bounty? He'd spent most of the previous day trying to avoid a single guard, who'd witnessed him mounting "his" horse at least three times. Getting on or off. This guard had first witnessed the Redguard stealing a bay horse on the Waterfront, and though Kahreem had already had a bounty at this point, it was not big enough for any random guard to recognize him right away.

It had taken hours for him to finally evade this guard. He'd had to ride all the way to Fort Homestead, wait until the guard followed, and then ride all the way back (crossing Lake Rumare this time) to the Waterfront. He'd then been able to sneak back to the Marie Elena; his Dark Brotherhood outfit had definitely helped.

He removes his guard's armor, and then puts on his new black robe.

8:12 pm:
Despite Kahreem's best efforts at sneaking, Servatius Quintilius, one of the shiny-armor guards, catches him just as he's passing by Armand Cristophe's place. Kahreem knows where he last saw the horse he'd been riding, and decides he'd rather spend time in jail in Cheydinhal, than in the Imperial City.

"THEN PAY WITH YOUR BLOOD!"

The riderless horse is back on the roads. Once Kahreem has safely left the Waterfront, he puts his magic Ring of Shadows on. This makes it look as though a horse is simply walking along, returning to its stable. It won't make any difference once a guard sees this 'riderless' horse, of course. By now, all guards along the road would be alerted for this very sight.

How clever that Kahreem can go invis while riding! Riderless horse indeed. He keeps coming up with clever shennanigans.

I had to look up the name of that Watch Captain on the UESP because I wasn't familiar with the name. Turns out he's a substitute for Lex who is already in Anvil in Kahreem's game.

Kahreem with the Ring of Shadows - could a thief want anything more?

If Kahreem would ever catch a break I think he´d be bored out of his mind

Darkness all around. Cold and damp. The sound of dripping water, coming from nearby. What feels to be rock beneath her. Her body aches. Her head feels a peculiar combination of cold and hot. Feverish. What has happened? Where is she? Certainly not in Skingrad anymore, she feels.

Sarah Phimm stands from the cot she'd been placed upon, many hours earlier. Looks around.

"Where?"...

It's all she can say. Her body, it's so weak. Dreadfully weak. And with this one mere word, she stumbles, because she's lost some sort of tenuous grasp her mind has got left on the realness of her situation. She lies right back down on the cot, her chest heaving, her heart palpitating, as though she'd just run from Skingrad back to the Imperial City.

She struggles to stay awake. After some time, she does fall asleep. The first dream begins. And then she remembers all of it.



Several hours earlier...

QUOTE

Heartfire, 27

To-day 'tis the day, the grandest of days. I know of such, and I feel such and have taken cautions in preparation, that the accrument of these knw knowings shall prove one sodden, and sudden, turn. That Takya, and his evil-doing necromancers, all of whom await my decision posthaste, shall thusly bow their heads in disappointment.

Faor my decision, it is "no", to what-ever sce scheme they have finally concocted. "No", as in "Never."

And .. more: To-day I placed an advert upon the notice boards here in town, seeking the employ of noe one sturdy and alert man, to come and reside with me in Summitmist. Upon this advert I could not promise any payment in gold, but of certainty, shelter. And to my luck, one man inquired; a home-less Nord, displayced several years ago from Kvatch, and now living by the chapel.

Though not having seen this man in previous days nor weeks, I have great intuition that he is fair. Honest and humble. And good with a blade. And ever-so-grateful for a plac to safely rest. Assurance for my safety. And discreet. He has made promies not to tell the other waifs of his newfound place of stay.

To this Nord, by the name of Dortmund, I have revealed my position in entirety, so that he is in-the-know on the subject of Takya, and his expected messenger. And that my answer shalt be in the negatory. And if this displeases Takya's messenger, that Dortmund and I must be ready for what could become a skirmish, right here in my manor's foyer.

I have also made procurement of a simple bed of maple, ordered and constructed by Gunder himself, and had it delivered here to Summitmist, but placed within its upper foyer, right by my flaming hearth, rather than three stories up-stairs. I shalt have immediate presedence and advantage, should this messenger appear in the night, and my answer displeases to the point of aggressions.

Fare thee well, my journal, on this warm and hushful eve, that to-morrow might I might have fruitful, bountifully pleasant things to say.

12:03 am, Turdas, Heartfire 28
The man in the fancy clothes had made good time. Daylight had come nowhere near to breaking. He had not visited Skingrad in awhile, perhaps years. So it was good he had found the correct avenue, had found the correct house, and was now inside its parlor, standing over the sleeping red-haired scullery cook who'd been of such interest to him, and his cohorts. And now that he was here before her, he knew the risk had well been worth the travel.

"Wake up, my princess," he'd commanded.

"Whaaa--? Who are you?" asked the red-haired cook, grasping quickly out of bed in one swift movement. She'd tried to move in a cat-like manner, wondering if the Nord she'd hired had still been guarding the foyer below. She'd raised her hands, ready to cast fire if need be.

But the man before her was well-dressed, with an opulent air about him. Immediately, Sarah felt her resolve begin to slip.

"Hello my darling. I am Farnacas Collins. So nice to make your acquaintance."

"Oh." Sarah had said dumbly. Suddenly feeling a bit foolish for raising her hands. Though she didn't know the man before her, one thing had been for sure: he'd looked like a fop. Well-dressed and perfumed and harmless. "Farnacas," she'd replied rather slowly. "Well, how can I help you? Did my hired hand greet you downstairs?"

"Your guard? He has been given the night off. Permanently. And effective immediately. You'll have no more need of him."

"Permanently? ... Immediately," she'd replied, relaxing. This man, this Farnacas? Not a threat. Not at all.

"Such a pitiful man, but he tried his best," Farnacas had said rather smugly.

"Pitiful? What do you mean? You.... you are from Takya?"

"Takya? ... You think I have been sent from Takya? I'm afraid not," he'd answered in a crisp accent. "My name, as I said, is Farnacas Collins, and I have nothing to do with Takya, that amateur seer."

"Amateur ... seer," Sarah had answered, feeling more relaxed than ever. His eyes. This man's eyes. She'd looked into them, and could feel the most pleasant of sensations...

"No, I am not from Takya. I am of another organization entirely, and I will be right up front with you. I am a vampire."

"A ..... a vampire?"

"Absolutely. You must be surprised to see me here, in your new home. Not to worry. We have been watching you ever since you came to Skingrad. I can see you are ... unsure about my presence within your home. But it is no matter, Sarah."

"It is no matter?"

"Soon you will see," replied the well-dressed man. "Soon you will come to embrace ... Oh, what am I speaking of? Well as I said, I have been keeping watch on what you've been up to here, in Skingrad. I know much about you. Your relation to Aunt Matilde, the fact that somebody contacted you to move to Skingrad, and now you are here. IN Skingrad... Working some menial job, toiling away under the tutelage of an abominable orc."

"Matilde..." Sarah had replied, showing a tinge of concern. But this concern seemed as though it might as well have been in the next room.

"How do I know of your aunt Matilde? Well she told me about you, that is how. She told me everything. Where you are from, where you've been staying, And that you've been contacted, by many people. Although I do not know of them all, I do know of your... special talents."

"Special ... talents."

"You can immerse yourself in fire, eh? Quite a neat trick. And one which I, and my minions, are keen to exploit. You see, we vampires have an ... unfortunate weakness for fire. We cannot withstand it for mere seconds. We abhor it. And the flames of a god fire, not to mention light of the sun above, which I personally have not seen in decades. Either of these things can kill us in small time."

"... in ... small time."

His eyes ... they seemed to scream at her, that it would be alright. Everything would be alright.

"But what if we could BEAT this weakness, with perfect resistance to fire itself? Well that would be perfect, would it not? And so here's where you come in, my dear."

"Come ... in. What??"

...A depth, a sort of brevity, and latitude in those eyes....

"What do I want with you? he'd said, chuckling casually. "Well I am so glad of your inquiry. We want you to become one of us. But the catch is, unlike that lowlife who gave you this beautiful old home, I will not give you a choice."

"Not ... a choice?"

"You MUST join us. You are to become one of us, effective immediately. And I shall see to it that you're kept locked up within my lair until you are fully one of us."

... one could dance in those eyes ... and see the reflections of a thousand souls...

"Now, off we go. Nobody will notice or care that you are gone, by the way; you're too new, and un-rooted in this town. Young folk like you go moving all the time, you see? ... I have many friends, believe it or not. And I have already arranged your replacement with Mog, your employer at Two Sisters'. This replacement is a perfect human example who will keep her mouth shut, in return for a favor we've granted her."

"... favor. Favor?"

"Enough talk woman. You are coming with me now!"

"... coming ... with ... now." Sarah had replied, while a fraction of her inner mind had protested and screamed.





Though she doesn't know it yet, this is Sarah's last day at work.

Being proactive, she had hired a Kvatch refugee bodyguard.

He assures he'll keep her safe (and later, I could hear this guy fall over dead from upstairs, as soon as the vampire made contact with Sarah, all because of a bumped quest stage). Creepy.....

Sarah does not sleep well...

Because maybe she'd sensed something was wrong

Farnacas Collins makes his demand

And poor Sarah Phimm finds herself in exile.

A twist I did not expect - Sarah being "kidnapped"! Looks like several different people (or factions) are interested in her because of her fiery abilities. I liked the dialogue with Farnacas (who looks very creepy BTW) as Sarah doesn't have proper control over her words and deeds.

Barnabas Collins! Woot!

You did a great job of displaying how his vampire illusion abilities worked their way into Sarah's mind, insidiously easing her valid fears.

Looks like Dark Shadows are being cast upon Sarah Phimm! Very cool story with Barnabas and his desire to use Sarah's pyromancy to his own ends. But I think in the end, he will be the one getting burned...

That's fascinating and well-told. Thanks for the read.

Like the rest here (and that says something awkward about age), I got the Dark Shadows reference. I'm assuming that's a mod, since the dialogue is actually in the game? A quick google didn't turn up anything.

And, on the heels of that terrific bit of storytelling, I'm going to predictably kludge the thread up with a wall of dry exposition.

-----

Since I've spent the last week or two with all sorts of old and well-established characters I don't have to think about much, taking screenies of their houses and taking that opportunity to spend some time traveling with them again, I've had a chance to think about Bob the Breton a fair bit without having to actually do anything in his game, and I think I'm starting to get him figured out.

I was sort of stuck because I had gotten the impression early on that he was easy-going and relatively pleasant, but then he went and killed that Argonian captive at the Mythic Dawn shrine in Lake Arrius Caverns. That just didn't jive. (That wasn't the first odd thing he'd done, but definitely the most notable). I kept tabs to see if it seemed that he felt any regret over that - if he didn't, then that would imply that he was sociopathic. He did, but probably not to as great a degree as he arguably should have, so that didn't seem to quite fit either way. And I still got the impression that he was easy-going and relatively pleasant. And that "easy-going" thing was sort of specific - he seems to be a "go along to get along" sort of person, but in sometimes sort of odd ways. He tends to take the superficially easy path, but it's not always the truly easier path. He went along with Jauffre's insistence that he go find Martin, then went along with Savlian's insistence that he do something about the gate, and later help retake the city. In a sense, it would've been easier for him to refuse any one of them, but he went along with them anyway. So really he ended up taking the more difficult path, because he took the easy path in the beginning, by not refusing. And I never got any indication that he resented it, even afterwards, and that in spite of the fact that retaking Kvatch in particular was very difficult and dangerous. It was ultimately just a thing that he went along with and did.

So I was stuck. Is he easy-going? Well... sort of. Is he impulsive? Well... sort of. Does he make poor decisions? Yeah... sometimes. Does he regret them? A bit, but probably not as much as he should. Does he avoid bad decisions? Yeah... sometimes, but notably not always. But I couldn't work out what was behind all of that.

It started coming together while I was traveling with someone the other day, and I started to ponder the simple fact that Bob's a Breton who uses no magic to speak of. I've had a couple of characters like that - an early Breton named Lydia who was determined to be a sword fighter, and the self-styled Altmer "barbarian" Lemdel (who, IIRC, was not coincidentally the one I was traveling with when I started thinking about this), and with both of them, they deliberately set out to focus on melee instead of magic. It was a conscious, motivated decision for them. I didn't get that impression with Bob - it's just what he does.

And as is the nature of such things, when it clicked, everything fell into place. And I spent some time with Bob last night, sort of testing it out, and I think it's right.

The thing that Bob is, underneath it all, is just not very bright. He's just... well... sort of dumb. He's not cripplingly dumb, like Hale the Nord dolt, but he's definitely on the slow side. He actually is relatively pleasant and easy-going, and he does sort of go along to get along, but he's not bright enough to always figure out that what seems right now to be the easier path isn't going to be in the long run. And he does (at least sometimes) see after the fact when he's made a bad decision, but it's still sort of distant from him, as if it's just sort of the way it goes - as if he can't quite grasp the fact that he should've made a different decision. And it's also why he uses weapons instead of magic - it isn't a conscious decision - it's just what he has to do in order to survive, since he's not bright enough to use relatively complex magic.

This could turn out to be an especially interesting roleplay. The only other notably dumb character I've played is Hale, who's so dumb that it's ridiculous - Bob is just dumb enough that it makes his decision making a bit odd. For the time being, I have to be conscious of filtering things through that - I not only have to try to figure out his motivations, but have to keep in mind that he's not entirely clear on them himself, and might not reason effectively regarding them anyway. Hale's relatively easy to roleplay (though difficult to keep alive) since his reactions are very simple. Bob's going to be different, since he does reason - he's just not really good at it.

So, finally, where is he now? He's in Leyawiin.

The one thing I did with his game was disable Kvatch Rebuilt. I'm just not all that interested in dealing with it now, and it pulls Bob in too many different directions at the same time. He's got a mission - get a Daedric artifact for Martin - and that's what he's doing.

He only knew of a few Daedric shrines, and Sanguine's was the closest to CRT, so that was the direction he headed. I had left him parked outside of All Things Alchemical, where he'd learned that they didn't have any Cyrodiilic Brandy. He checked everywhere else in Skingrad, then, since he had accumulated some loot along the way and since it seemed the most likely place to find some brandy, he made the trip back to the IC, spent the night at Luther Broad's, dumped off his loot and bought a bottle of brandy. He left later the same day and returned to Skingrad. He'd passed an Oblivion gate in the cemetery just off the road outside of Skingrad, and on his way back, since it was still relatively early and he didn't want to have to deal with that gate every time he went that way, he went into it and closed it. It was sort of long (the one in which you have to hike up a series of switchback trails connected by caves to get to the central tower), but it wasn't terribly difficult. Then he spent the night at the Two Sisters (he had been habitually staying at the West Weald, but he was a bit put off by the fact that the last time he was there, Else God-Hater attacked him and nobody even tried to help him). The next morning, he hiked back out to Sanguine's shrine, gave up his bottle of brandy and found out he was supposed to go to Leyawiin.

He hadn't been down that way before, and would've preferred to take more time, but the dinner party he was supposed to go to was the next night, so he felt some pressure to hurry and ended up going pretty much straight through to Leyawiin, and got there fairly late that night. He found an inn almost immediately - a place called the Five Claws that was just inside the gate - and was sort of thinking of at least looking around town a bit before he turned in when he was attacked by a Bosmer in an iron cuirass and carrying an iron warhammer. He was apparently a mythic dawn agent - he kept muttering something about giving his life for Lord Dagon. It was a somewhat difficult battle, mostly because of the Bosmer's armor and weapon, but Bob had the edge from the start and made it through okay. Then he decided he'd be better off just turning in, and exploring the city in the light of day.

The next morning, he went to the shop across the street from the Five Claws and sold some loot he'd accumulated (including, of course, an iron cuirass and warhammer), then talked to a few of the locals. He didn't learn anything about the dinner party, but he did hear about a woman named Rosentia something who apparently has barnyard animals in her house? He's not sure why that would be such a concern for other people, and he's got this party to deal with, and that was the point I left him at - parked in the middle of the west side of Leyawiin, probably going to try to get some more information about this dinner party if he can keep his focus.

I promise the next one will be more to the point, and who knows, I might even take a stab at a narrative. Though I suck at writing narrative, so maybe not...

Yes, I'm a big Dark Shadows fan, ha ha. I had no idea how close I got Farnacas to look like Barnabas until I was in-game though. I was pretty astonished because you can't really tell what people are going to look like in the Construction Set until you're out of it, and back in the game.

gpster: No need to google. Sarah's game (her entire game) is a custom-made quest that I've been writing for several months now. Quest stages, NPCs, dialog, it's all tailor-fitted for her gameworld. Some of my characters (Kahreem and Joan of Arkay for instance) are on Xbox / no mods, but Sarah's game is all my work.

I know what you mean about dumb characters. I've had a couple 'dumb' characters over the years .... they sometimes have an intuition (good instincts) though, which makes them one of those persons who just breezes through life. This seems to be what Sir Bob is all about. He is not overly brilliant, but he gets by.

Ah... got it. And I have to say I'm just that much more impressed - that you're not only writing an account of the adventure, but creating it in the CS.

And yeah - doing faces in the CS is tough, since it's so hard to tell what they're going to look like in game. It's a shame too, since it's actually easier to get just the settings you want in the CS - it's just so difficult to tell which settings you do want.

A different approach to a Bob update - not a narrative per se, but a bit of exposition that'll hopefully sort of capture some part of what I'm coming to see as his personality. Unfortunately, it's even longer than one of my normal dry descriptions would be - probably because I went through the whole series of events rather than just a broad outline. Need to maybe try to split the difference with the next one...

-----

Busy busy...

Maybe he shoulda taken Rosentia what's-her-name up on her offer to pay him for getting rid of that staff she had. She said she had a Daedric item she'd give him as a reward, and for that matter, wasn't the staff a Daedric item too? Maybe that woulda worked for Martin.

But instead, here he was in a prison cell, with nothin' more'n the shabby clothes on his back and a vague but mostly pleasant memory of the countess and her guests runnin' around the dining room as naked as the day they were born. Okay - he had to admit that was actually pretty funny, and nice too - that countess was kinda hot really. 'Course, it was just when he was noticing that that that big horsey woman who was hangin' around the countess started shriekin' and comin' at him and he realized he was just as naked as they were. It was almost a relief when the guards arrested him, since at least they pulled her off first. Thought she was gonna claw his eyes out.

What was he gonna do now though? Everything he owned just vanished. He didn't even realize it was gone until that broad started comin' at him and he felt a lot more exposed than he should've - not just no sword but no nothin' at all. This wasn't gonna be fun. Hafta think about things a bit.

By the time he got out a day later (seemed like sort of a short sentence, but then, he wasn't even sure what they'd charged him with. Indecent exposure? Assault with a funny spell? Hehe...) he at least knew where he was gonna start. He didn't have any money, so really the only place he could go was the Mages Guildhall. At least he could find a bed there, and there were boxes and barrels and crates all over the place - maybe he could scrounge together some stuff ta sell and at least get enough gold to buy a bit of armor or a sword.

Not much had changed since the last time he was there (well... that was just the other day, so that sorta made sense). The old lady was still crazy, the Nord guy was still creepy, that Agata was still all business but smiling anyway and the other two were... in the back room, puttering around with whatever they puttered around with. When he walked in, everything just sorta stopped for a second while they all looked at him in his prison duds, but nobody said a word. Probably news of a naked countess and her naked guests travels fast. Nobody said anything about it though - after they upped and downed him a bit, they just went on like normal. Or sorta normal, considering the crazy lady and the creepy Nord and Agata all business and smiles and those other two back in the back room doing whatever they do back there.

He spent the next hour or two rummaging around the guildhall, picking up some good odds and ends. He didn't touch anything that was obviously out like it belonged to somebody - he wasn't no thief - but if it was some old dusty moldy thing in a crate tucked in a corner, he figured it prob'ly really belonged to somebody who was long since dead, and they wouldn't miss it. The best find was a steel shortsword, and he also found some fairly valuable stuff - some pelts, some empty soul gems, a coupl'a pieces of jewelry. Then he crawled into one of the beds upstairs - wasn't sure if it was one that somebody else used, but figured they'd sort it out somehow.

He bolted awake in the middle of the night, but it took him a minute to figure out why. Then he saw some guy in... prison duds? Yeah - that's what they were - looked just like his. Bald guy. With a dagger, and a crazy look on his face. Prob'ly not a good thing.

By the time he got outta bed, Agata was in the room and whalin' on the guy. Here she was, sorta the head of the local mages guild (since the old lady's crazy), but she wasn't castin' a single spell. She was just beatin' the hell outta him. Maybe it's a Nord thing. Bob almost just let her finish him off, but he remembered the Imperial soldier that didn't beat the bear, and he really didn't wanna see Agata get hurt over whatever it was that was going on (though if he was a betting man, he'da bet on Agata anyway), so he got around to the other side of the guy and then he and Agata sorta passed him back and forth until he was just a heap on the floor. Felt sorta sorry for the guy really. Turned out to be that crooked guard from the Imperial City - Audens something-or-other. Had some crazy rambling note on him, and more important (all things considered) about 50 septims. That'd help.

Bob went to check on Agata - make sure she was okay - and she just smiled and nodded and pushed her way past him and climbed into the bed and went to sleep, with the dead guy still all huddled up in the corner. Maybe that's a Nord thing too. That and not waking up. He kinda thought about climbing in the bed with her anyway, but he sure didn't want her beatin' the hell outta him too, so... gonna hafta find another bed.

And... there wasn't another bed. He thought about tryin'ta sleep on one of the benches, and thought about gettin' a room, but it was already near dawn, and he didn't really have any money to spare, so he just made his way down to the Five Claws (Bosmer guy was still propped up against the wall out front - bodies don't seem to bother these folks much) and took a table and tried to look in-con-spic-yew-us 'til the shops opened.

When the shops did open, he discovered that nobody in Leyawiin had any cheap armor or weapons worth buyin'. The old Bosmer couple had nothin' really - some arrows, but no bow, and some iron weapons, and for that he might as well just hang onto that shortsword he already had. And the armorer wasn't much better. Well... he had a lot of really nice stuff, for WAY too much money, but other'n that he just had about the same sort of junk. There wasn't one single piece he could buy with the money he had (almost 200 septims all told after he'd sold all the stuff he had to the Bosmer couple) that'd do him any good.

He'd been kinda thinkin' about another way of maybe doing things, but he didn't really like thinkin' about it. But now it looked like the only choice. Here he was, a long ways away from anything useful, with nothin' but some prison duds and a shortsword. He sure wasn't gonna be able to fight his way to anywhere, but he could prob'ly run. In fact, with so little stuff, he could prob'ly run faster, and further, than anyone who was tryin'ta catch him. It'd be a bit dicey, but it sure beat tryin'ta fight his way through. And... well... it's not like there was any reason to wait, so out the gate and up the road he went.

He hadn't made it even a mile outta Leyawiin when he came across another of those Oblivion gates. There hadn't been one there when he came down - he'd seen a couple over toward the other side of the river, but on this side, where he'd come down the other day, it'd been clear the whole way. But there was one there now.

Somebody oughta do somethin' about those things.

Oh.

Hey...

He... was he that somebody?

That was a weird thought - almost made him stop runnin' right there, thinkin' about it. Always before, when there was somethin' that somebody oughta do somethin' about, it meant somebody else. He'd never thought that someday he might be the somebody who oughta do somethin' about somethin'. I mean - he'd always sorta wanted to be somebody - you know, instead of nobody. He just wasn't so sure that he wanted to be the somebody who oughta do somethin'. Or at least not the somebody who oughta do somethin' about gates to a world of lava and monsters and shouting guys in spiky armor.

That was when he saw the bandits, hangin' 'round the road down by that cove with the dock on it. He'd checked that place out on his way down, just 'cuz it looked like the kinda place bandits'd hang around at, but nobody'd been there then. That was sorta late at night though, and this was broad daylight - did bandits just work during the day? Is it like any other job, and they clock in for the day, then go home to the family at night? Anyways, they were there now, and one of 'em had a bow. Bob just put his head down and kept going.

He took an arrow in the arm, but it wasn't much of a wound and he didn't even hafta slow down to cast a healing spell and deal with it. Then he passed one of those mud crabs, and was relieved to hear the bandits getting into it with the mud crab. He kept going.

He passed another bandit just short o' Bravil, but this one had a battleaxe, and all she could do was take one swing sort of towards him as he went by. He never saw or heard her again.

He thought about stopping in Bravil, but it was still early and he was feeling fine, so he just kept on going, all the way up and into the IC. He passed a wolf near the bridge to the IC, but the guards jumped all over it, and that was that for the trip. Even easier than he'd hoped.

He swung by his stash in the Market district and picked up his old leather armor, the katana he'd got from the Blades, and that magic bow he found in that one Oblivion gate. He wasn't so sure about using the bow, since he maybe couldn't recharge it and definitely couldn't repair it, but he didn't have a lot of choice, and he was really sorta happy to have an excuse to use it. Then, since it was still fairly early, he swung by Luther's and had a bite to eat, then set out west. Figured he'd at least make it to Skingrad, and maybe even out to Sanguine's shrine.

Turned out he didn't make it past Weye before his legs started to give out. The whole time he'd been running, they were fine, but guess stopping wasn't such a good idea after all. He barely made it across the bridge. He spent the rest of the day sprawled in a chair at the inn (that woman sure does love wine - rest of the world's going on about Oblivion gates and the Emperor's murder, but not her - almost gotta respect that in a way - like the tomato lady in Skingrad), then slept the sleep o' the dead.

Set out bright and early the next morning. His legs still ached a bit, but they loosened up as he walked (had enough running yesterday), and the trip was fine. He got a coupl'a chances to try out the new bow, and decided he was gonna keep using it. He'd just hafta try'n rememberta swing by one of the armorers when he got the chance and get it repaired (and maybe pay for some training so he could learn to do it himself). And he'd heard stories, and found out that he really could recharge it at one of those Ayleid well thingies, so it'd probably be okay. And it was just cool to hit an Imp with an arrow from it and see it burst into flames.

He didn't even bother to go by Skingrad - just swung up the trail to the north (right past where that gate had been before, and see? He was the somebody who hadda do somethin' 'bout those things and when he did, it was done), then cut off west across the river, then up ta Sanguine's shrine. And lo'n' behold, he didn't just get a reward - all his stuff was there waiting for him and what a relief that was. And the reward was perfect, sort of. He'd been afraid it might be something that he'd actually wanna keep, but it was a staff that did... something. He wasn't really quite clear on what exactly, but it didn't seem to be something that would do him any good, so it'd be fine to give it to Martin. First though, he was gonna hafta swing back by the Imperial City and dump off all this stuff he didn't need no more, since he got the rest of his stuff back.

Busy busy.

This part made me laugh out loud. Julian of Anvil was always that somebody! Too bad she wasn't around to take that bit of pressure off of ol' Bob . . .

Hey this is awesome! Fun to read! I just polished off a couple bowls of granola while reading this before bed!



:

Pshew...

I reached a point last night, rereading it for the umpteenth time, when it took all of my willpower to not just delete it entirely.

I still think it's pretty bad myself, but thanks.

The whole "somebody oughta do something" bit came to me just as related, since, as has been his most common reaction, when he saw the gate, he just kept his head down and kept going. Granted, that time he had a pretty good reason, since he was running home with nothing more than prison duds and a steel shortsword, so keeping his head down and keeping going was the way he was dealing with everything. But keeping his head down and keeping going has been the way he's reacted to most things that seemed too complicated to deal with all along, and that whole "somebody oughta do something" thing is a cliche, and it just sort of spiraled out from there.

It's provided a good "in" to get him to do stuff too, since he's really not all that keen on doing stuff, but he's been sucked into the main quest, which requires doing a fair bit of stuff, so there has to be some reason that he does it. He's not bright enough to figure out what really needs to be done when, but he's too independent to just do as he's told, so there had to be some reason for him to go along with all the stuff he's being asked to do.

And to that end, by way of a (somewhat) shorter update, last night, on the way up to CRT to deliver Sanguine Rose to Martin, he saw the Oblivion gate near the Orange Road turnoff (which he's passed by every other time, since it's far enough from the road that the Daedra don't notice him, so something he was willing to keep avoiding doing anything about), and, fired by the sort of flattering understanding that now he's the somebody who oughta do something, he actually went in and closed it.

And better yet, after he talked to Martin, Jauffre told him that he needed to show the Bruma guards how to deal with their new Oblivion gate, and he was actually sort of eager to do it. I don't think he's ever been in that position before, where he knows something that somebody else doesn't know, and they're depending on him to teach them about it. It made him feel important in a way that nothing else so far had.

He had a bit of a moral crisis though, since one (well... both actually, eventually) of the Bruma guards died along the way, and Bob couldn't pass up the opportunity to take his cuirass and shield, figuring that nobody would notice, then the two dead guards' bodies appeared on the ground after they closed the gate, with one notably missing his armor and shield, and Bob ended up feeling like a bit of a scumbag.

He also got the word from Martin and Jauffre that he needs to go to Sancre Tor, but I'm playing it that Jauffre not only warned him that it's a dangerous place, but told him that he needed to be sure he was well-prepared, so he's actually going to take some time and finish up the MG recommendations and build his Armorer skill up to the point that he can repair enchanted gear, then do some serious upgrades on his gear. Even with his new-found determination, he's really struggling in the Oblivion gates with his unenchanted gear, and using Hatred's Soul has clued him on on the advantages of good enchantments, AND on the problems with not being able to repair enchanted stuff.

After the Bruma gate, he beat it out of town and down the hill to the IC, dumped off extra stuff, then swung by Rohssan's and picked up a new sword (Jaysus' Steel Tizona, to which I added a scabbard), then spent most of his remaining money on Armorer training. He still can't repair enchanted gear, but he's getting closer. He spent the night at Luther's, then set out the next morning for Bravil, and is currently parked just north of the Oblivion gate near the Inn of Ill Omen.

No, it's fine. It's fun to read, that's all that matters to me. Nobody is trying to win the Pulitzer around here.

Interesting development on Bob there, gpstr. I can somewhat relate to the inflated ego one gets for knowing something someone else doesn´t. It´s a little addicting..

Yeah... it was sort of an odd thing with Bob and that mission to teach the Bruma guard how to deal with Oblivion gates, since he's obviously the center of lots of things - starting with the Emperor himself telling him that he was "the one." But somehow that all seemed sort of distant to him - like he couldn't quite get his head around any of it. This was more immediate and he got it - he, all by himself, was going to show them how to close an Oblivion gate. That meant he was somebody important.

I'm kind of curious to see if he'll have worked out at least some idea of how important by the end of the MQ. My guess is that he still won't quite have though - I don't think it's in him to really consider things on that broad of a scale.

So I was playing last night and this thing happened, and I started writing it out in my head, so I had to stop and write it out for real. The problem though is that I couldn't come up with any satisfactory way to end it, and I had a few ideas for how to frame it, but didn't trust myself to write a decent setting along with the dialogue (monologue, really), so I just wrote the monologue and let it go at that.

------

Overheard at Silverhome-on-the-water:

So I need ya to do something for me, okay?

Lemme explain here first.

This is just... it's just the weirdest thing... I mean... some weird stuff has happened last coupla months or so, but this just...

So I'm in the Imperial City, right? Well... first, I was down here in Bravil, dealing with the mages guild stuff so I can get in and use their enchanting altars, and that Kud-Ei sent me off ta get back a staff belongs ta one o' the other mages, and it turned out some guy in the IC had it, so I'd gone up there to get it back from him.

So I'm in the IC, lookin' for this guy - name's Soris Arenim and word was he lived in Talos Plaza. So I find his house and the door's open, so I went in - gonna talk to him and see 'bout gettin' this staff back - and the first thing I sees is this Mythic Dawn assassin comin' at me. You heard about the Mythic Dawn? The people killed the Emperor? They got these assassins see - I've been runnin' into 'em all over - they just appear - they're like normal people y'know, but then they go all crazy and they summon up this magical armor and stuff and they start attacking me, goin' on about Lord Dagon this and Lord Dagon that 'n...

No, really! Seen like five or six of 'em so far, all over the place - pretty much every town's got at least one, and they attack me when they see me 'n I gotta fight 'em off 'cuz they're tryin'a kill me, but the thing is... no - hang on a second. Gettin' ahead o' myself. There's somethin' weird there, but jus' let me tell the rest o' the story, then we'll get ta the weird bit.

Well yeah, but I mean the really weird bit. Yeah, it's all weird, but just wait.

So this assassin's comin' at me 'n he's got this magic armor and a magic mace and stuff, 'n he's goin' on 'bout how he's gonna give his life for Lord Dagon, 'n I'm thinkin' "I sure hope this ain't the guy's got the staff, since it's gonna be kinda hard to get it back from him if he's dead y'know," but what else can I do? He's swingin' at me with his mace and goin' on about Lord Dagon, so I pull out my sword and start swingin' back at him.

So we're crashin' back 'n forth in this room, 'n he's hittin' me but I'm hittin' him more so I'm not too worried really, and I start noticin' that there's two people 'round the corner, out 'a sight, talkin'. They're jus' chattin' away, like it's just a normal Loredas afternoon and there ain't two guys tryin' a kill each other in the livin' room.

No - I'm not kiddin' - we're crashin' 'roun' the room, shoutin' and knockin' stuff over and metal clangin' together - I can barely hear 'em over all the noise we're makin' - but they're just goin' on with their normal chitchat, like it's not happenin' at all.

So I finally kill the guy, and when he's dead all his magical stuff disappears, and it's this fancy Dunmer guy I seen 'roun' town - this Ulen Athram guy who was all'atime goin' on about how he made a fortune in the flin trade or somethin' and now he's retired to the IC 'n livin' a life o' ease. So I jus' stan' there, catchin' my breath and lookin' at him and tryin'a figger out what I'm gonna do now, and all'a time these two people are still back there talkin' like nothin's goin' on, 'n I'm thinkin' how this ain't the guy I'm lookin' for, so I figgers it mus' be one o' them, 'n sure 'nuff - I go 'roun the corner 'n back there by the stairs is Mr. and Mrs. Arenim, 'n they finally stop chattin' n' look over at me, like they just then noticed that I was there.

So what else can I do? I kinda straighten up and brush myself off and start talkin' to this Soris Arenim, askin' him 'bout the staff, 'n I gotta sorta chat him up a bit 'n that's still not enough, so I gotta use this scroll I got from Kud-Ei to charm him a bit, 'n he's finally willin' ta give up the staff, but I gotta buy it from him. I jus' wanna get outta there by then - his wife's wandered away and I'm sure she's gonna see this body sprawled out in the livin' room 'n start screamin' 'bout murder 'n I don't think I wanna be there then. I mean, it's not like it was really my fault since he attacked me, but it's just so weird and I don' know what I'm gonna do about it if she starts screamin' 'n stuff. So I give Soris the money and he gives me the staff and I start headin' for the door. 'N when I come through the livin' room, Mrs. Arenim's in there, sorta looking down at the body and I'm thinkin' "Uh oh - here we go," 'n I'm just tryin'a figger out if I should say something or make a break for it, and she just turns around and walks back inta the kitchen 'n I hear her say to her husband, "Whats up with you?" like she didn't even see nothin'.

No - I'm not kiddin'! She was standin' there, lookin' straight at the body, then she just turned aroun' and went back inta the kitchen like it was nothin'.

I don' know... I mean - the body's definitely right there on the floor and the room's all tore up and there's blood all over and stuff, 'n she was standin' right there lookin' at it, but it was like she didn't see it, y'know? I don' know...

'N listen - that's not even the first time it happened. I didn't put it together 'til later, but a coupla weeks ago, I was in Skingrad 'n I walk inta the West Weald 'n this woman starts attacking me - same deal, except she's got a claymore instead of a mace, though this was the first time I saw one o' them assassins 'n I didn't know yet that they usually got a mace, so all I knows is this woman in this weird armor's attackin' me, 'n I end up havin' ta kill her. 'N when she dies, all her stuff disappears and it turns out ta be this local name o' Else God-Hater, 'n...

Yeah - God-Hater.

Yeah - goin' on about giving her life for Lord Dagon - yeah, I thought that was kinda funny too. But anyway, I thought it was sorta weird then 'cuz there was three or four other people in the room and not one of 'em did a thing. I thought then that they jus' didn't wanna get involved, 'n it really kinda pissed me off, but now I'm not so sure.

Had one in Leyawiin a few days ago too - Bosmer guy, 'cept this one didn't have the armor and stuff - he was just in an iron cuirass and had this big ol' warhammer, but he was sayin' all the same stuff about Lord Dagon 'n all, so he was definitely one of 'em. This was right out in front o' the Five Claws but it was the middle o' the night 'n there wasn't no one else aroun', so at least it wasn't like people were there and didn't see it so I didn't really think much o' that at the time, but y'know - when I left the nex' day, the body was still there propped up against the wall right by the entrance and it was sure like nobody was seein' that. Thought it was kinda weird at the time, but after all this...

But see... that's still not all o' it. See... after that whole deal with the Arenims and stuff, I beat it outta the IC 'n I come back here, 'n I went up to the mages guild and I give the staff to Kud-Ei and she thanks me 'n all and that's all dealt with, so I go back out and I figger I'm gonna come up here and jus' set a bit 'n maybe drink a beer or three, 'n I come aroun' the corner 'n there's another o' them Mythic Dawn assassins right there in the street - same deal, all decked out in that armor and swingin' a mace and goin' on 'bout Lord Dagon and stuff.

No - really! Right out there, not more'n half an hour ago.

N' just like with the others, we're fightin' away, 'cept it's right out there in the street, 'n jus' like the others (since I'm payin' attention now and notice it fer sure), there's other people aroun' 'n again, it's like none of 'em seen a thing. I'm jus' fightin' there by myself 'n wonderin' how come it's like nobody's even seein' it.

So I finally kill the guy 'n it's some guy I ain't never seen before - looks like he's a smith, but I ain't seen him 'round town before, 'n...

Yeah - Nord guy. Works up at the castle? I dunno - like I said, I never seen him before. Might be him though - sounds about right.

Yeah, no kiddin. Couldn't'a been more'n half an hour ago, right before I come in the door there.

So... yeah. So... what I need you to do... I need you to go outside there and jus' look. Jus' tell me if you see a body out there. 'Cuz this is really startin' ta freak me out...

Yeah... no... I'll be right here. I ain't goin' nowhere.