I haven't seen a trot yet! I did finally figure out how to make my horse rear up and whinny though, lol.

I've only been able to play 3 times this past week; beginning with last Sunday when I (or rather Misa) went on a trip (with 10 other members of the Guild I'm a member of) to Cyrodiil to loot and pillage. The group broke up that evening, but Misa stayed in Cyrodiil.

First off, I never wanted to (nor am I able to at this point) play "Player VS Player" - I just took the trip to loot and pillage; and actually made quite a bit of gold in just a few hours, not to mention some Awesome weapons and armor!

Well, in a group of ten, the veteran players surrounded the noobs and handled all the PvP except one, who in a weakened state from fighting with the veterans, I did manage to kill. It was our job as noobs to handle all the Daedra/monsters while the veterans handled all the PvP.

I actually did pretty good, for it being my first time there! But boy do you level up quickly in Cyrodiil! The NPC/Beast enemies are not so much tougher, as they come at you in groups - one reason it is better to visit Cyrodiil in at least a pair. But some of them really need a group to take down, like the huge Deadroth patrolling the streets of the Imperial City Arena district!

Our group went to the Imperial City sewers first, then the Arena, then the Elven Gardens and then the Memorial district. We did a lot of sneaking to get around, and chose our battles well; so there really wasn't that much dying. The trip started at 6 PM, ended at 10 PM.

But when the group split up, I stayed in Cyrodiil. NOT in the Imperial City, but in Cyrodiil itself; visiting all the familiar places from Oblivion - it is AWESOME to see them!!!! I have been staying in Cheydinhal, training for combat at Fort Farragut. But I skittered off my training to explore.

In those 3 playing sessions I've done all the quests available in Bruma, some in Cropsford and Chorrol; cleared Captstone Caverns, Vahtacen; and Cracked Woods Cave; Heynote Cave, Pothole Caverns, etc. Last night I saw Fort Black Boot!

Bruma and Chorrol were both in enemy territory; but even though the guards would attack me if they spotted me, the people of the town wanted/needed Misa's help and didn't care whose side I was on. The quests were a blast, and very lucrative!

The last two times I've played has been with a girl from Australia (what a gorgeous accent she has on TeamSpeak!) and we have been going into enemy territory and clearing dungeons to get the skyshards. I've only run across one Player that wanted to kill me; she was being attacked by goblins and I helped her clear them, then she started attacking me (and killed me) - but 3 playing days and only one attack by the Daggerfall or Aldmeri Alliances = not bad, not bad at all!

This (visiting Cyrodiil and seeing all the familiar places from Oblivion) has been one of the most exciting things in the world, I am loving this game! (and really glad that the Cyrodiil experience doesn't have to be all about Player vs Player - really glad of that!)

If you want to get into the Player VS Player; they have Keeps you can attack (in groups) using ballistas, trebuckets, etc; or you can come as an army and steal their Elder Scroll and wipe everyone out, winning that Keep for yourself, etc.

You can tell which Cities and Keeps belong to which Alliance by their color in your compass, so know which to avoid entering like a dummy (yes, I did); Now I just walk around all the Keeps, giving them a VERY wide berth (just in case), lol.

So far, lots of fun!

Had a really cool experience today with a boss creature. Haa-Rei headed over to one of those skull'n'crossbones icons on the map and found ~11 other players there.

Just as we arrived a big Echatere spawned, its health bar was huge, and all the players had to work together to bring it down. Lost at least half of the other players in the process, even with the efforts of some healers. It was crazy!

Now Haa-Rei is helping King Kurog fight some Reachmen and their Hagravens. The fun never ends.

Some of those skull and crossbones ones are okay, but some of them - you HAVE to group to take down! I try to get them all in a region before leaving it (for the achievements, lol ).

The Orsinium ones are even tougher. They're called 'World bosses' and you need at least a dozen other players to help out. It's something that I dislike about MMOs - you can't do loads of stuff without having a group with you.

That sounds like fun, hazmick. While I’m not a fan of organizing my game to fit with other players, I do enjoy the random groups that spring up around bosses and dolmens.

The Undaunted quest dungeons seem to be the same way.

Just managed to complete the Old Orsinium public dungeon! Phew. That was tricky.

If you haven't done a public dungeon yet, it's basically a regular dungeon but with 2-3 times more enemies. Designed for high level parties.

Every encounter required the use of Haa-Rei's ultimate ability and a health potion or two. Most of the dungeon was traversed in ghost mode after we used soul gems to keep reviving again and again.

The dungeon, and the related quest, was only secondary to a relic we went to collect. It's part of the list of items the Orsinium museum wants you to find, and you get some cool outfits once you find them all. This one was the hardest, so it should be smooth sailing from here...

We also managed to stumble upon some other players taking down a big Dwemer Centurion world boss, just in time for them to kill it. Haa-Rei got the achievement without even firing an arrow.

First - what is Ghost mode?

And second - Is Orsinium PvP or PvE? I wondered if when you were in a group taking down a big boss if you had to worry about other players sniping you off?

Ghost mode is when you revive yourself with a soul gem and you get a few seconds to wander around as a ghost before fully reviving. During that time you can't interact with anything and are invisible to enemies.

Orsinium is PvE, thankfully.

Oh, OK! I have def used ghost mode before, usually to run and hide somewhere where I can squat down and sneak by, or wait for more players to come in to help me get further in (usually on the way to a skyshard, lol ).

Jerric is presently in Deshaan, fishing and following his treasure maps. He had a few of them in his pack because he wasn’t sure what to do with them or if the treasure was real. Guess what, it’s real.

He has a task that will take him into the next area (Shadowfen), but he’s not ready to move on yet. Eventually he’ll track down all of the Skyshards before he goes. It’s been easy to find crafting materials lately but hard to find fishing holes. Jerric has a whole lot of worms in his pack. He’d like to turn them into fish.

A recent trip into Coldharbour was a big success. Jerric would have made Darnand proud with the little bit of necromancy he did there. He can see how corpse-humpers get started. It’s not so bad making something out of flesh that’s already dead. The soul-shriven mortals are a big problem, however. He’s not sure if he should kill them or just let them suffer. Thankfully he had legendary hero Lyris Titanborn along with him on that trip. She kept him focused.

Orsinium is also calling. There are recruiters in the major cities inviting all to come rebuild the city. Darnand was not interested, but if Jerric quits staring at the echatere and talks to the orc he might head in that direction. After all, his bags are already packed.

Lildereth has gotten a quest that involves actual theft and trespassing. Yesss! After just about every assignment so far ending in a solo toe-to-toe boss fight, this job has cheered her up immensely. She’s also traveling all of Auridon on a peaceful mission for an old Altmer lady. Good times for Lil.

Two of her recent “findings” were pieces of actual clothing that she was able to launder with her fence. This was a nice surprise. The repair bill after she gets caught is getting out of hand. I’m guessing that if she’s wearing clothing-clothing instead of medium or light armor-clothing, it will not get damaged as a result of justice being served upon her.

I envy all of you.

I started a new game today. It's still Haa-Rei, but he's a Nightblade instead of a Sorcerer this time. He's level 6 and already the difference between the classes is quite clear - I should have a much easier time soloing the game now.

The only downside is that he doesn't have all of his crafting knowledge (like the motifs) and that was more luck than skill. Otherwise, it's very exciting. Hopefully the Orsinium DLC will provide a good place to level up if he gets into a level slump later on.

DE, Darnand just did a quest with a cursed family that made me think of you. I think you are going to love this game.

hazmick, a warm welcome to Nightblade Haa-Rei! I’d love to hear any Nightblade archer tips you have. I am finding Lil’s build the hardest to work with solo. Perhaps she should take up Restoration staves as a second weapon skill.

I made a tactical error when each of my crafters took a single equipment skill. Now they have to find three of each motif. Lil just got the Breton one, which is a relief because Jerric and Darnand have both been impatient for her to make Breton Light and Medium armor for them. So far no one has found Redguard, which is my favorite. Argh!

In Jerric’s crew news, Darnand has been battling necromancers, werewolves, and necromancer-werewolves all over the place. He just got his first set of linen robes from Lil. He prefers the look of his homespun ones, but they are all resigned to the numerous compromises brought on by the MMO world so he put them on without complaint.

Lildereth is a light-fingered delight. She just picked her first pocket. It was an Acolyte of Auri-El. I’ll post what she found in his pocket in mALX’s NPC gossip thread. Turns out that Lil’s irreverence is directed toward the mortal self-serving ‘servants,’ not the Divines themselves. And she was right about them! The ultimate prize that she is seeking is one of those nice dresses that the townsfolk wear. Preferably a green one. She loves her midriff-baring adventure wear and her desert outfit, but sometimes it’s nice to put on a gown.

Oh! I almost forgot. Lil recently fought at a Dolmen with only two other archers backing her up, and none of them had any healing. It was going quite badly and then out of nowhere a tall, blond Templar flew through the air wielding a lance of pure light and saved their butts. Her heart always leaps in this sort of situation because she hopes it might be Jerric. After the fight she and the survivors gathered for the traditional celebration and payoff. When Lil greeted her hero, she struggled mightily to keep a straight face. His name: Poopy Chicken.

Jerric is hanging out in Davon’s Watch, researching armor traits and training his riding skills. He has so much crap to study that his inventory is a mess, so he’s happy to work, cook, and relax (i.e. drink, dance, and fish) in a seaside town until he gets on top of it again. Sadly he has found no brothels in Davon’s Watch despite extensive searching. Also the nightly dance party outside the armorer’s workshop is almost always all naked dudes. Jerric is not generally bothered by any type of revelry and this is no exception, but he could stand to see more naked chicks. Even one would be nice. Darnand says Jerric has obviously not been to Daggerfall. Darnand wishes that everyone would just keep their clothes on.

I'm very interested in both flavors of Haa-Rei as well as Lil in terms of how they do.

From my study of ESO stuff, a stealthy no-melee mystic archer seems torn between sorcerer and night blade. It seems either could work but it also seems both are round holes, whereas a mystic archer is a square peg. 90% of all RPG can't really support such a character. TES did support this in IV and V but I am concerned about the limitations for 'balance' purposes that an MMO requires. Such limitations never seem to support an archer without a blade or a mage with a bow. . . .

Anyway, enough of my likely ill-informed concerns. I am very interested in following how such attempts by both Grits and hazmick work out.

I'd hate to have to play as a Poopy Chicken named Acadian just to survive.

Haa-Rei is still learning how the class fights, but so far the best advice would either be to focus on the Nightblades abilities or focus on your bow, and that means either focusing on stamina or magicka. Acadian is right when he says that it's hard to balance a pure archer.

Magicka not only determines how much you have, but also how much damage magical attacks do, and it's the same with stamina and stamina based attacks. Stamina also determines your weapon damage with physical weapons, such as the bow, while staff damage comes from magicka.

Haa-Rei mainly uses bow skills, with Nightblade skills purely as back-up. I won't put any attribute points into magicka, it'll all go into stamina (With maybe 5 points into health). Having low health is something I had to get used to with the Sorcerer class, but Nightblades have a healing spell (Strife, in the Siphoning skill tree) and Haa-Rei will be using two-handed weapons as his secondary weapon, because they have a stamina-based healing spell (and Haa-Rei likes swords). The only other Nightblade skill he uses is the invisibility one from the Shadow skill line, and he'll be getting the summon shade ability from there when he finally unlocks it.

I'm thinking of using some Fighter's Guild abilities later on, since they're stamina based. If you're anything like me, then you often forget that other skill lines even exist. Fighters Guild can be good for stamina builds, and Mages Guild can be good for magicka builds.

It all requires lots of trial and error, so I'll be playing around with loads of abilities until I find stuff that feels right for me, and for Haa-Rei.

ALSO: Champion points might be worth looking at, if your characters have them. This new Haa-Rei has the champ points of the old one, so it's helped to boost some of his stats a little.

Acadian, your study and concerns have both proven accurate for Lil in her game. I am constantly wondering if I should have made her as a Sorcerer. At her present low level (she is now 15) the Sorcerer class has summonings that could keep some enemies from melee range, but the Nightblade class has a stealth-enhancing spell that she relies on. At higher levels I think the Nightblade class will pay off for her, but for a long time she will be “leveling” which for her means using some spells that don’t suit her in order to get to the higher level spells in that line. For Lil going forward I am putting her attribute points into Stamina to keep her bow strong, which means she must conserve Magicka (and with low Health not get hit). If I gave her more Magicka her bow would be weaker.

Jerric is getting the worst of the game mechanics since he wants to hit hard enough to kill things by himself, use some offensive spells so he feels at least a little like a mage, and survive getting hit when he’s alone in a bad situation. By splitting his attributes to give him some of all three I made his spells limited, his sword weak, and his life fragile. He is collecting enchanted armor to make up some of the difference, but by the time he gets a good set he has leveled up enough that the set is worthless. He is an even squarer peg than Lil. Still, he’s interested in exploring. He just has to wait to help some NPCs until he is on the high end of a leveled area. Skyrim is really his game.

Darnand is a Sorcerer class with Restoration Staff main weapon skill (which is an offensive weapon with defensive spells enabled by it) and loving it. He keeps his little clannfear at his side even though she constantly gets them into trouble by running over and attacking enemies that notice them but wouldn’t otherwise approach. I don’t know if summonings do that when the character is sneaking. The Sorcerer spells that Darnand uses are the kind that blow things up with electricity, so they are loud and very bright. They are kind of the opposite of stealth. He is loving it because his attribute points all go into Magicka. Round peg.

I am looking more closely into the Bow skills. Since Lil has no summoned distraction she needs a good snare, and she sure as heck needs better healing. Sometimes I even wonder if I should have made her be a Templar.


ADDED: Just want to emphasize I’m talking about the troubles of going solo in ESO with Jerric’s and Lil’s hybrid builds, which is also the trouble they find in quests that dump you into a solo, non-stealth boss fight. With a group or at least with other characters around there aren’t as many issues in most situations.

Hazmick and Grits, thanks much for your insights and observations. I must admit that I strongly resist allowing game survival / game mechanics to dictate either equipment or style. I'm very spoiled being able to tweak up or down my level of challenge via command codes / tweaks and such to get it right where I want it. Clearly, not really possible in an MMO. Still not gonna rule out ESO for a possible consideration in the future.

I’m glad you’re not ruling it out, because there is a lot to enjoy.

One ray of hope for Buffy is the costume system, where you can find in-game or buy (with real money) outfits that hide what you’re wearing underneath. Lil and Jerric both have costume outfits that they like now, so no matter what ridiculous armor they have to use for that level the appearance is something they like. The down side is there aren’t many available at any one time, but I expect there will be more as they encourage players to spend cash on the game. When I post screenies I’ll mention it if someone is wearing a costume to hide their clown armor.

Lildereth has enjoyed a beautiful night and morning in Valenwood, swimming in the warm waters, singing tree songs, and occasionally running for her life. She loves being home where the trees, furniture, and males are all normal-sized. Lil already has a few NPC friends that she visits around Elden Root, plus she met a traveling Khajiiti merchant who told her that as much as he admires the great trees, he values most the folk who gather under the branches. This trip she found the Outlaws Refuge. It’s in an Ayleid ruin! Darnand is going to annoy the regulars when he examines the stonework there.

She solved the attire issue last night. Everyone likes their low-level gear, and there’s no reason they can’t keep wearing it for social purposes. Darnand especially spends a great deal of time in perfect safety in town. So Lil whipped up a few shirts and robes and passed them to the guys through the bank-mail. Jerric put his on but is in the middle of something and so hasn’t made it to a dye station, but Darnand dyed his town robe in his favorite blue and has been happily wearing it since. Both Jerric and Lil have costumes for adventuring when their ‘must use’ armor happens to look silly, and so far Darnand is not too bothered by his adventure wear so he doesn’t need a costume. It will only take a few days to make more room in the saddlebags to carry some extra robes and shirts. She made them unimproved level one so they will stand out in the menu and not accidentally get sold or deconstructed. Problem solved!

The other thing she solved was the eating food for effects rather than for eating issue. They all carry the provisions that Jerric has expertly made for them, but that’s kind of the opposite of having a meal. So Darnand and Lil learned a few simple recipes and now they can cook something fresh at random cookpots when they want it. It’s a small thing but it means the world to them.

Lildereth also pointed out that their mounts don’t disappear when they dismount, they are simply whisked back to the safety of their stables via the same magic that allows Wayshrines. She gently reminded us all that dear Buffy has used King Rislav’s Call of Corsair with her precious Superian throughout at least four provinces and a Daedric realm, and if that kind of teleportation magic passes Buffy’s safety test then none of them should worry.

It's wonderful to hear that Lil is enjoying Valenwood!

Yes, Call of Corsair works well to reunite with your horse. As far as what to do with an unguarded horse when you go into danger (or just dismount I guess in ESO), several RP solutions come to mind in addition to the one you mentioned:

- A spell that creates an ethereal field around the horse so it basically 'phases' out of this plane.
- Move the horse to a special purpose 'green' soul gem that can temporarily hold the essence of a living animal. A variation would be to coax Azura into 'repurposing' her Star.
- A power allowing you to 'phase' the animal into a tree or boulder - similar to how Skyrim spriggans hide themselves.
- And the one that Buffy uses: Acadian is a spirit within Buffy of course. Buffy taught him her Call of Corsair. Thus, when Acadian uses Call of Corsair, Superian is moved to where he is: a spiritual form inside Buffy.

Jerric is presently questing in Shadowfen (Black Marsh), but he has a Blacksmith writ to turn in at the Fighters Guild outfitter in Windhelm. He has not gotten a questline-related boat ride to Windhelm yet, nor has he walked past the Morrowind border. Rather than wait until he has finished a bunch of quests and leveled up some more, he has decided to walk to Windhelm through the Rift. Starting from Davon’s Watch.

Right now he is standing on the bridge about to cross into the Rift. He can see the mountains, Skyrim trees, and Nordic towers. This game can be a wanderer’s paradise.

He is going to have to be careful, though. These areas are above his level. He might find himself taking an involuntary Wayshrine ride back to Morrowind.

Haa-Rei and I's thoughts are with him. He's in for a tough fun trip.

Oh my goodness, that was TERRIFYING! Stendarr’s mercy, what a road trip!

hazmick, it will not surprise you to learn that Jerric got into considerable trouble on his jaunt through the Rift. Not ten steps up the first hill he found himself bounced to a Wayshrine by two skeletons and a sabre cat. Much sneaking followed. He couldn’t resist helping out a few folks, so that part was really all his fault. At one point he was sprinting blindly pursued by what sounded like a hundred sabre cats, when around the corner jogged a woman with a lot of big numbers and badges decorating her name. Her title was “Former Empress.” She casually swatted the cats to death without pausing and ran on her merry way, leaving Jerric collapsed in a puddle (of sweat) and Grits unable to let go of the controller.

It was Jerric’s idea to sprint through the bandits and bears and help out at a Dolmen. Two other guys were there. Two! What a rush.

After freeing up a lot of pack space and partying a little in Windhelm, Jerric rode the Wayshrines back to Shadowfen where he embarked upon his next assignment. At the end he received… a free boat trip to Windhelm. This is not the guy who should plan the group’s vacation.

Do you remember the quest? It's not Freedom's Chains is it? Or that Rivenspire quest with that Vampire Count?

If not, tell me

From what I've gathered Valenwood is pretty big, huh? That's great!

It was Rightful Inheritance at Castle Rillis in Auridon. The ending gave me shivers!

Lil is uncharacteristically pushing herself to get back to Grahtwood.One thing that makes it seem big is the hilly and tangled terrain. You can't just sprint in a straight line, and there are sometimes surprises around the roots and corners.

Grits, I feel for Lil in her wilderness travels. I really think wood elves are meant to be either up in the trees or up on the back of a horse (or perhaps shoulders of a Nord). Otherwise they’re too short to see where in Oblivion they’re going!

Oh, and what a gorgeous screenshot in your sig this month of the gang camping and telling tall tales ‘round the campfire!

Haa-Rei made the infamous journey to Windhelm today. On our first playthrough we tried (and failed) the Jerric way, so this time we went by boat.

Nightblade Haa-Rei is doing way better than Sorcerer Haa-Rei ever did. He's managing to stay 3-4 levels higher than his enemies, and his damage output is much more respectable. We've even managed to clear the public dungeons in Stonefalls, Deshaan and Shadowfen!

Neat, hazmick! Is NB Haa-Rei using any melee weaponry at all or just bow + NB skills?

Yep! He uses a two-handed sword as his secondary weapon. The 2H weapons skills line has a healing skill (We still haven't unlocked it though) which converts stamina to health. Sounds very useful. Many of the NB skills are melee focused anyway, so it's actually really handy to have a close combat weapon. However, one could still manage with nothing but a bow, as Sorc Haa-Rei did.

I've always associated two-handed weapons with big burly Nords, but honestly it really suits Haa-Rei. I figured he must have some good arm strength to use a bow, so a claymore isn't too far fetched from a headcanon/fanfiction perspective.

I'll see about getting a screenie to show off the Argonian style 2H sword. They're really cool!

I've been playing ESO for a couple of days now and I'm pretty addicted! I wanted to incorporate Lissa into the game... But as I prefer to stay true to timelines and I've already jumped the shark by getting Lissa into Skyrim
I've decided to go for an ancester.

Her name is Ciyenna. She is 18 years old.

She is an ancestor of Lissa on her mothers side, but her existence in Lissa's family tree had been completely wiped. I thought this was an interesting way to play as having this character in the game would mess up my 'Lissa Lore'
so I am interesting in discovering exactly HOW her existence was removed from her family heritage.

She's pretty cool. Like Lissa she is an expert with a bow, and is skilled with the use of poisons and traps.

Like Lissa many times, her story started where she was stuck in a prison cell, and after barely escaping from the Daedric hellhole was told she was a key to preventing the 'end of the world'.

She soon woke up, finding it to be an all to be a dream*, finding that she was actually in Daggerfall, freshly woken having drifted to shore from the sea. She cannot recollect how she came
to be in this situation, but she's going to find out!

Next stop is Stros M'Kai, to find Kaleen, the woman who found her drifted ashore in Daggerfall. She has thanks to give, and maybe even questions to raise...

So yeah, I'm playing, I'm loving, and I'll update as often as possible!

*the prison sequence is not a dream, but for now I am keeping it that way as I doubt I'll follow the main storyline just yet. Ill see what happens.

Acadian, thank you! Those fellows aren’t afraid of monsters, so the campfire tales take a different turn. I completely agree that our wood elves are made the perfect size for finding a high perch on branch, horse, or shoulder. When Jerric starts to pace and rant indoors, Lil often hops up onto a tall dresser to wait it out. In Grahtwood she is always scrambling up the tree roots in hope of getting higher.

Rihanae, a warm welcome to Ciyenna! I look forward to hearing about her adventures.

Lildereth is traveling Grahtwood still cautiously but now able to take on some of the tasks that the locals give her. She is presently hanging around Elden Root. The Bosmer king gave her a cute outfit, and it would be rude not to wear it. But it would quickly get her killed in the forest. So she’s spending some time in the tree-city and its suburbs.

Darnand is quite at home in rainy Wayrest. He’s getting a feel for the city’s layout and is now able to easily go about his daily tasks at the workshop and stables before retiring to whatever library strikes his fancy. He is disappointed in his Enchanting progress. That’s the focus of his study. Jerric has been keeping him supplied with glyphs and runes, so hopefully Darnand will see some improvement soon. He really hates not being awesome when he tries to do something.

Jerric is loving his life in Eastmarch. Most of his work has involved mead in some way or another. Kyne also features prominently. Next up he is running in a foot race around the city. Windhelm in party mode is his kind of town. Also he finally ditched the silly cuirass for one that he likes and Lil sent him a handsome new shirt, so Jerric is looking good in Windhelm.

Ahhh Valenwood... How i'd love for Ciyenna to travel there! It sounds beautiful Sounds like the gang have been busy

Ciyenna is currently spending her days as a 'bow for hire' in Daggerfall. As she cannot recollect her past after the accident that left her drift ashore, she decided to do something with her life.

I'm enjoying Ciyenna's company and learning a lot about her. She is very much a lone wolf. She doesn't make friends very easily due to her somewhat blunt nature, but despite this she is the kindest soul. She simply comes across the wrong way to most people. She's not perfect, either, which I love. She occasionally makes decisions based on her own opinion rather than a whole spectrum.

During a quest a couple days ago she made a decision which the majority of those involved disagreed with,
and I also wasn't sure it was the best decision, but as Ciyenna felt it was right I had to get over it. I'm still wondering if it was the best decision, but alas.

That's another thing I love about ESO... no RELOADS! Decisions made have to be stuck with, and although there aren't many consequences for 'bad' decsions, it still makes for interesting gameplay.

Before returning to Daggerfall, she had left Daggerfall to go to Stros M'Kai by ship to find Kaleen, captain of the Spearhead and the woman who saved her life. Ciyenna decided to repay her debt to Kaleen by helping her
find a specific crew to help her with a heist she is planning. The heist itself, which involved stealing an ancient relic from an Alieyd ruin in Betnik went well, but as the relic was the cause of much death and destruction, If left Ciyenna with a tough choice to make. Steal it
and use it's powers for 'good', or destroy it.

She stole it, thinking that something that powerful is a nature versus nurture thing, and in the right hands it could possibly so good. not many people agreed with her decision, but she is sticking to her guns.

Rihanae, I know the quest you mean. Darnand hated to do it, but he destroyed the artifact. That choice also angers some people. Darnand would love to have kept it for study only of course, but he’s seen that situation go wrong too many times before. I also love the lack of do-overs, although Jerric once made a mistake and very much regretted it. Now he listens a lot more carefully when people are explaining his options.

Light-fingered Lil has supplied Jerric and Darnand with a small assortment of roleplay rich but gameplay useless items for them to carry. Darnand has a runestone fragment, pocket knife, Dwemer compass, and pumice stone (for rubbing out mistakes on parchment) in his pack. Jerric has a brush (described as also suitable for animal coats, lol), and a set of tavern dice. Lil carries a comb and sweet-smelling soap. She’s also collecting unarmored clothing, but so far she hasn’t found any shirts. I think it would be great to see some of these items for sale from traveling vendors. If not for Lil’s larcenous bent we would never have found them.

Jerric and I spent my very limited free time over the holiday exploring Hew’s Bane. This means mostly cliff diving, fishing, and battling various critters that sting, slash, pinch, and burn. Hammerfell is hands down my favorite province (and I wince at calling it a province, lol).

He’s back in the Rift now following up on some business for Skyrim’s High King. Folks have taken to calling him the King’s Arrow. Jerric is sure they mean well by it, but it still makes him laugh.

Here’s a bit about a quest in the Ebonheart Pact. It concerns people and events from the very first post in this thread and mentions NPCs by name, so don’t read it if you want to avoid spoilers. The outcome depends on your choices, so yours may be different from Jerric’s.

A beautiful little snip there, Grits. A hard choice but, in the end, very Jerric. I don't think I would let her go either, but that doesn't make it much easier.

Very Nordic I should say! It looks like that quest has a bad outcome no matter what your choices are. You defend the fort, the docks fall. My guess is that if instead you defend the docks, the fort falls. It looks like Aera dealt with aftermath very poorly. It would not be hard to forgive her for wanting her daughter back, even through foul magics. But murdering others in the process is whole other matter.

Acadian, thank you! He stills thinks about Aera.

SubRosa, that’s exactly what happens. I have another Pact character who just successfully defended the docks, and she hasn’t gotten to the fort yet. When she gets there I’m told she will learn that at least some of the refugees died in the Covenant attack.

I spent a glorious morning with Jerric clearing dungeons (and fishing) in Glenumbra. He has been given a task that will take him to neighboring Stormhaven, so before he goes he wanted to finish up his Glenumbra business. Searching for the last Skyshard led him into Bad Man’s Hallows. To his delight he uncovered daedric mischief. He still loves to kill daedra. He also loves to fish the mysterious waters of Oblivion realms, so today was a banner day!

It was so fun to see all of the people in their newly dyed costumes. My flamboyant crafter Stays-Up-Late put some purple trim on his favorite tunic and breeches. I got the much-maligned hair pack from the Crown store, so Darnand cut his hair and Lil gave herself some braids. Jerric declined an appearance tweak, declaring that he was happy to live “as Kyne made him.� He did relent and let me play with his hair while he was fishing.

*

Misa got to see Anvil last night! That is all I cared about (and the whole reason I bought the DLC) - It was so gorgeous; so exactly like Oblivion's Anvil! (Other than Benirus Manor).

Unfortunately while there she "accidentally" tripped while running with her blade out and killed some Nord guy fishing along the shore just past the walkway to the lighthouse;

She was worried it may have been Jerric till she learned he was somewhere else having his hair styled.

She was then summoned to the lighthouse where a Dark Brotherhood "Speaker" (with a much more pleasant voice than Lucien Lachance's creepy moaning if you ignored the dead body in the chair across from him) asked Misa to perform a "service" for him.

Misa was supposed to silently infiltrate an estate of some size and - can't remember why/what he had done to cause this - but she was to eliminate him without anyone's knowledge the Dark Brotherhood had been there.

Well, Misa's friend was talking in her ear throughout, telling her things like, "HIDE!" or "WATCH OUT, HE HAS A LANTERN!" Unfortunately, by the time she was done all out war had erupted numerous times and in numerous places on that estate - it was a mess. She was highly berated for her inept sneaking abilities.

She really wasn't cut out for this kind of job or life, she just wanted to see Anvil anyway - and boy was it worth it!!!! It is glorious to be in Anvil again and see all the familiar places there! Later today she will go back to it, but this time just to explore and see the sights.

However, that said = her one job as an assassin did net her a nice "Blade of Woe" and she was taught how to flip it around like a table chef from Benihanas! And she earned a huge amount of gold from fencing everything she stole while sneaking through that estate!

Misa has decided she may be better off taking a job with the Thieves Guild instead, but may keep coming back to Anvil frequently just to stay and enjoy this awesome town!

Oh, and since she is taking work for less than stellar organizations these days, she decided to trade in her "Golden Saints" armor seen here:


http://i.imgur.com/URB149O.png



And has started wearing her "Dark Seducer" armor instead - seen here:



http://i.imgur.com/xWZIrXi.png








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Lol, every time Buffy sees a fishing hole with someone fishing she checks to see if it might be Jerric. Misa in Cyrodiil! Her armors in those screenshots look great.

Buffy had just about seen and done everything she wants to do in her first zone (Kynarthi's Roost). She's improving and has not had any trouble. There is just so much still we haven't figured out yet.

Heh, Haa-Rei loves the Blade of Woe. He took down some delve bosses in Cyrodiil with it a few weeks ago. Easy peasy

He hasn't been doing much of anything today though, I'm still downloading the Shadows of the Hist update. Started yesterday evening and should be done tomorrow morning. Looking forward to seeing the new Argonian decorations and scalestyles. Oh, and buying the Hist Guar.

Same here on checking to see if it was Jerric; and I have stalked several Argonians to see if they were Haa-Rei = that was before I learned they had their own server, lol.

If you have questions on anything, feel free to start a discussion topic about it if one hasn't already been started. I am sure you will get some good answers; and it will be awesome to have some active ESO talks going on here!

I wasn't wanting the Shadows of Hist because it was just two group boss fights from what I heard. But it has been killing me to see Anvil in ESO, and it was so worth the 2000 crown points just to see it and explore it! (not to mention my new knife idles!

It sure is nice to watch Misa when she walks away...

Thanks! One of the things I really like about ESO's CharGen = really a lot of control over your character's body!

mALX, congrats on the new knife stuff! Isn’t Anvil amazing? As you can imagine, Jerric spends as much time there as lag will allow. Is Misa a Nord? I’m sorry, I know I’ve asked before and I forgot. I wasn’t sure if she or pantsless Calia was an Altmer. I love Misa’s hair!

Acadian, that’s awesome! No question is too big or small to ask at any hour, lol. I had my phone and Kindle out for months googling stuff and looking up maps. I still play with my phone at my elbow. (Next to my tea.)

hazmick, I can’t wait to see Haa-Rei on his Hist Guar! They look so cool. It took me ages to get the update downloaded. Have a great time tomorrow!

SubRosa, I was thinking the same thing!

The paid content for SotH is just the two new group dungeons. The free part of the update is the style parlour and base patch which is what's making the download so large. 19GB on Xbox!