ha ha cute!



There was a thread over a Bethsoft that was posted just before Skyrim came out about all the ways the devs obviously paid attention to mods. It was one of the better threads, probably long-buried by now. was interesting to read, for sure.

But nobody was flaming each other iirc, which means people lost interest in it after a day or 2. Sigh.






Wow. Look at her hair! compassion looks almost real.

This post has been edited by Lady Saga: Jun 12 2012, 12:10 PM

Here's the latest from Zuuri the Redguard battlemage. She has been travelling with Lydia and Meeko.

On a mountainside in a blinding snow storm, dear Meeko fell to a stray blow from Zuuri’s Orcish Mace of Burning. After the fight she stood vigil beside his body long enough for me to go make a cup of tea (still keeping an ear out for dragons or other hostility). Then she headed straight for Whiterun to destroy her mace at Farengar’s Enchanting Altar. She turned around and spent almost all of her gold (argh, nooo!) on a filled soul gem so that she could shock enchant a new mace, Meeko’s Sorrow.

On the way she chased down every bandit, and I mean she sprinted to beat Lydia to the kill. She gave Lydia a looted Imperial Officer’s helmet to maybe prevent herself in the future from accidentally smacking the wrong Nord. Zuuri is now wearing a looted Elven helm with a 50 magicka bonus, so I’m sure that the military patrols will start to take an interest in the pair.

Zuuri says bring it on. She wants to kill.

Another note, Zuuri has started to use a Ward while charging in to kill the outlaw mages. This is another first for me. Pretty fun. Also, regarding the decap perk: still so close!! But not quite.

Poor Meeko. That is why I never take him, or other dogs, as companions. They always end up getting killed.

How long can you keep the Ward going? I remember trying it once when I first started playing, and watching it completely drain my magicka before anyone had even hit me. That was enough for me to never use it again.

Quite a while. Zuuri has taken the right perks in the Restoration tree. Without them she couldn't keep it up for very long. So to speak.

She also tends to use them intermittently during fights instead of a shield. Ward, strike, Ward, that sort of thing. Good fun.

If one of my characters ever gets a dog, hopefully it'll be a responsible charcter, who won't just take the dog outside of safe areas.

Yea, they're pretty much useless. Would be so much cooler if they were more like guard dogs, who warn the PC, but don't get as actively involved with combat.

Great. Aravi has a stray dog now. The poor guy won't last long.

When I have a pure conjurer, he will definitely want a dog. They are so aggressive!

Here's a big update from Zuuri.


Now she is traveling with the deadly and adorable Erik the Slayer. (He must have gotten tired of fishing with the Bulsakh.) Out of respect for Erik’s beliefs, she has swapped her Elven helm for the Adept hood she spent so much gold on about 20 minutes before she found the identically enchanted helm. Such is the way of the looter.

Anyway, Erik is a generally amiable young Nord, but he shares Zuuri’s burning hatred for bandits. As soon as they finish clearing up the disasters that resulted from Zuuri’s grief-fueled bender (thanks a lot, Sam), they have a list of bandit hideouts to sack. Erik is carrying a Staff of the Familiar. If he summons one, we’ll think of it as Meeko’s shade. Alas, Meeko!

In other news, Zuuri is now a homeowner. As Thane of Whiterun, now she no longer has to keep her vegetable collection at Uthgerd’s house. Zuuri plans to do minimal upgrading to the furnishings. She has no real need for privacy, as she has been celibate since the Jarl incident. And anyway if Lydia gets lucky, she has a door. Zuuri kind of likes the openness instead of interior walls. Plus she doesn’t want to give Lydia a reason to hang out in her bedroom. I hope she relents and buys the poor Housecarl at least one chair.

*

On the way back to the Rift to help out an orc stronghold, Zuuri witnessed two more attempted kidnappings of Redguard women. As soon as she finishes the orc job, she’s going to resolve the Redguard situation. Rogue Alik’r mercenaries giving her people a bad name cannot be tolerated.

Zuuri got a new set of orcish armor, but not the way she was expecting. Back at the stronghold she got no thanks from the orc sorcerer she had helped. Still, the voice in charge seemed to like her. Zuuri decided to take her own reward. Now Erik the Slayer bears the tokens of two Daedric Princes. Not bad for a farm boy from Rorikstead.

The last quest involved a fight with a giant. It was so hard, I really despaired that Zuuri could do it. Before I’ve used archery and many poisons. Zuuri’s distance weapon is shock magic. It barely touched the giant. She had to get in there with her mace. Thank the gods for Paralysis Poison. Poor Erik spent most of the fight on his knees under the giant’s feet. I would not want to glance upward from that position.

Now, Erik is a favorite follower of mine, and he has fought at the sides of several of my characters for many happy hours. Today he while they were shopping in Riften, he said something that I have never heard before. I love this game!!

On the way through Haemar’s Shame, Zuuri and Erik the Slayer encountered a Thalmor patrol escorting a prisoner. They did what they had to do. Mace decapitation!! Woo hoo! It was SO worth the wait!! Ahem. They stopped in at the Falkreath Stormcloak camp to swap goods with Zuuri’s favorite Quartermaster, a platinum blond with a magnificent beard under all of the camp crust. He’s always happy to see a stack of blood-smeared Elven armor. Zuuri is having second thoughts about letting Erik try to swing the big hammer. The Thalmor had him on his knees before he could get it off his shoulder. It’s frustrating to know that the Staff of Summon Badass is carried by the guy who is busy bleeding out all over the ground.

(The following has quest spoilers for In My Time of Need, just so you know.)

The Redguard woman posed an interesting dilemma for Zuuri. She knew that if she and Erik tried to take on an entire band of Alik’r warriors on the woman’s behalf, they would be killed. Though young Erik would joyfully ride to Sovngarde in a blaze of glory, he would probably like a chance to get laid first. Besides, Zuuri wasn’t finished with this life yet.

She went to discuss matters with the warriors themselves. Of course their story was at odds with Saadia’s. Now both parties believed that they had convinced a fellow Redguard to work for them, and Zuuri still couldn’t tell who was being truthful.

Back in Whiterun, Zuuri asked Erik to wait in the house with Lydia. An easy lie coaxed Saadia out to the stables. The mercenary leader waited there alone. Zuuri killed him with lightning. There was no dishonor for him in a defeat that he did not survive. As she looked down at his twitching corpse, she had some time to think.

If Saadia was innocent, the Thalmor would eventually track her down. If she was guilty of betraying Hammerfell, her life should be forfeit. Zuuri had seen the inside of a Thalmor prison. Innocent or guilty, no one should suffer like that. She took off Saadia’s head with her mace. (Decap #2. )

Zuuri stood under the stars, waiting for the guards to come.

“Justice is served,” she murmured.

*

When Zuuri got out of prison, she found that Erik had grown tired of waiting. Perhaps he went home to Rorikstead. Maybe someday she’ll go and see.

(I really hope she does. That kid still has the Sanguine Rose!!)

Zuuri spent a day in bed and an afternoon walking around in an old dress and her bare feet. Then she picked up her buddy Uthgerd the Unbroken and the two of them went to work out some rage on the bandits of Whiterun Hold. For the first time ever, Zuuri dual-wielded maces. This woman is very angry. Mostly at herself, but she’s not one to get depressed. She works things out with exercise. Zuuri does not do well in prison, and her honor wouldn’t allow her to take advantage of being Thane. So, pissed off battlemage.

Before she even got inside the first bandit lair, Zuuri found the loot of her life. Ebony Armor of Mending! Holy crap!! Zuuri is level 19, I didn’t think she’d even live to see ebony armor! Oh happy day.

If I was playing on a PC, my dog would be immortal!! Good luck with Stray Dog, KC!

I would make a dog with low aggression (so it'll not attack) deer reflexes (it'll run away if it has to) but maybe also give it Detect Enemies, so it would bark and warn my character. Heh, i wonder if that's possible.
--------------------------------------------------------------

Day 98
Gunter return whiterun und with Stenvar from bandit cave. Gunter sleep nite Banner Mare. Gunter want get out Whitrun fast, go Windhelm. Gunter want get Mara icon. Me get Mara icon, und marriage Ysolda.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Morndas, 24th of Sun's Dusck, Year 201


4:17 pm
Gunter no go Windhelm. Gunter go Dawnstar.

Silver-hand bandit attack at Yorvaskir.
Silver-hand bandit kill Yorvaskir chief. Silver-hand Bandt make trouble Yorvasker. Gunter fix trouble.

Stenvar make jealous, leave Gunter. Me no have Stenvar. Stenvar macht schnell Windhelm, but Gunter no want Stenvar leave. Gunter no want stenvar Leave!

But stenvar go. Und Companion Vilkas follow Gunter.

Companion Vilkas follow Gunter now Dawnstar. Companion Vilkas okay, but Me want Stenvar.

This post has been edited by Lady Saga: Jun 15 2012, 01:12 AM

Uthgerd the Unbroken has been a great friend to Zuuri in these dark days. She even started wearing an unenchanted mage’s hood that must have been in a stack of loot that Zuuri gave her. Maybe wielding staves has made her feel like a battlemage. Here is a picture of my TV with Zuuri and Uthgerd looking sort of cute together: Link.

Their wanderings brought them to Dragonbridge. While they were trading goods at a Stormcloak encampment, Zuuri glanced over their map. She remembered that she was supposed to go get an old soldier’s helmet from a cave north of Solitude. Very close by. The two of them split the gold (seriously, they split the gold), and headed north.

Inside the cave was the most beautiful grotto that either of them had ever seen. They agreed that they wished they could stay there forever. Of course they were soon beset by the cave’s unfriendly inhabitants. Uthgerd got caught between two spriggans and Zuuri’s lightning bolt. She fell.

Zuuri survived. From now on, she travels alone.

Uthgerd can die? I didn't think that was physically possible...

She can if she takes more damage when she’s kneeling, or in this case if she takes too much damage from multiple sources. She fell from a standing position when two spriggans cast at her and Zuuri lit up one of the spriggans with a lightning bolt. She never got a chance to kneel.

Zuuri has done some soul searching. Killing every outlaw in Skyrim won’t satisfy her. The gods made her for fighting dragons. It's time to face her responsibility.

She went back to speak with the nutty woman who thinks she is some kind of ancient knight. This time she made more sense. Zuuri packed her gear and hit the road.

Before long she was standing over the bones of a dragon that she had defeated by herself using only destruction magic. The woman had some ideas about what Zuuri should do next. It had nothing to do with killing dragons, but Zuuri decided to go along with the plan. First she had to find an apothecary. She was going to need a lot more magicka potions.

It’s interesting to me when a character kind of gets lost and then finds their purpose. It makes the hours while they were lost very worthwhile.

Oh, right. I kind of assumed that normal laws of physics made an exception for her, what with her being Uthgerd. I mean seriously, she once single-handedly took on an Ancient Dragon in my game. And won. It was insane.

Plus she's generally just a colossal bada$s...

I'm sorry you had to lose her.

Zuuri’s new trick: Chain Lightning! Wow!! She found an ebony shield, so now she favors CL in the right hand, shield in the other. She also got the Adept Destruction for half magicka perk. I’ve never had a character get this far with Destruction before. With the Atronach blessing it’s a lot of fun to trade magicka with those rogue elemental mages.

She recently found a wonder of the ancient world in the company of two Blades. As soon as the three of them started their journey, they were attacked! Blood Dragon did not know who he was messing with!! Zuuri has to admire the Riverwood residents' courage, if not their judgment. When the wounded dragon was finally grounded, she had to shoulder past two Nord kids and their dog who were also rushing into the fire.

Zuuri’s Houecarl Lydia has been standing around Breezehome for months, just in case someone breaks in to use up Zuuri’s salt or maybe do some reading. After she got the old folks set up at Sky Haven Temple, Zuuri stopped by and proposed a career change. Now Lydia fights alongside her fellow Blades.

Some time ago the Greybeards showed Zuuri where the echo of a Word of Power could be found. A Redguard traveler recently mentioned legends of the same place. Zuuri has been slaying dragons, but she needs to read the Words to increase her power. The ruin wasn’t far from the fortress. Zuuri took her leave from the Blades and headed north.

The ruin was deep, and the restless dead many. Eventually she began to climb, though still under ground. She reached a chamber where she could hear the wind whistling through the rocks. A desiccated figure rested in a stone seat, towering horned helm leaning at an angle. He straightened as Zuuri entered. Draugr Death Overlord. She used her Firebolt, two maces, and her Thu’um. At the end she got his ebony axe.

The door led to blinding sunshine and a Word Wall. As she contemplated her new power, she heard the pop of a coffin lid followed by an otherworldly screech. There in the snow on a mountaintop, Zuuri defeated a Dragon Priest.

Now she’s supposed to return to High Hrothgar on behalf of the Blades. Maybe they know where another Word of Power can be found.

Aravi's trying to get permission to get a home in Riften from the Jarl, so Aravi's been going around and doing various things for people. She helped a stable hand get out of debt from some nasty people without raising a weapon. In return, the stable hand showed her how to ride a horse (pretended) and now Aravi is considering getting a dappled horse from the stable.

She talked to a kind old woman that helps run an alchemy shop. Aravi really dislikes the woman's husband, but likes the old woman. She agreed to travel out to a village to pick up an ore sample for them. While at the village she found the mine was closed... and filled with spiders! She killed the spiders (actually Kharjo did most of it, Aravi HATES spiders) and got a nice reward.

She returned to the town and it was about midnight. Before heading up to her room at the local inn, she witnessed a Nord make a joke about slavery to the face of an Argonain. I can't even describe what Aravi felt. For those unfamiliar with Aravi, she is a Khajiit.

My Imperial (though I maintain he is half-nord) character Nemetor infiltrated the Thalmor Embassy last night.

He was asked to create a distraction by Malborn, his associate, and thus after mingling with the crowd and a few tense conversations with the Aldmeri advocates, he asked his old acquaintance Jarl Idgrod do what she does best, cause a scene.

She gladly obliged, and Malborn helped him slip away into the bowels of the embassy. Here the real work began. The only items Malborn could smuggle in for him consisted of an ebony waraxe, a curved golden dagger and the mask named Krosis to conceal his disguise, along with a good amount of lockpicks.

Nemetor quickly dispatched the guards in the first chamber with swift, brutal axe-strokes, hiding their bodies each in turn so the others wouldn't notice.

Outside would prove more difficult. The first went down easy enough, leaning on the wall nonchalantly proved to be a foolish respite to take as the axe was buried in his back. He screamed as he went down however, alerting the others.

Nemetor saw a thalmor take aim with his bow across the courtyard. 'WULD!' he shouted, and the distance was closed in a matter of seconds, the shot never fired as the axe felled him. The wizard was throwing lightning at him, and so Nemetor threw up a quick ward, which proved futile as the elf's strong magic repeatedly shattered it. All the while however, Nemetor was moving closer, until 'FUS RO DAH' and the mage was flung back against the rails. Nemetor's axe made sure he didn't get back up.

He entered Elenwen's solar, but knew all the while time was running out. Soon or later they would notice the Imperial's absence from the party...

This post has been edited by Illydoor: Jun 22 2012, 12:24 PM

KC, I thought about Aravi the first time I saw that mine!!

Illydoor, that's neat, I never even saw Jarl Idgrod there.

*
Zuuri the Redguard battlemage has traveled to the Throat of the World and returned with a new understanding of her place among the dov. It’s no wonder that she feels no real kinship with the Blades, though they are bound together. Arrogance and deceit are part of her blood’s legacy. Time will tell if it’s stronger than her mortal’s heart.

Ordinary concerns soon reclaimed her attention. On the way back to Whiterun, Zuuri stopped in at the Riverwood Trader to exchange some goods. Much to her surprise, Faendal was there using the cooking pot and acting quite cozy with Camilla. It seems that fickle Imperial has changed her mind again.

Zuuri is not one to gossip, but she was already involved in this situation. She went to the Sleeping Giant to buy a pint for the jilted lumberjack-bard. Sven was already in his cups when she got there. It only took a suggestion, and he talked himself into becoming a hero from one of his songs. He was still agreeable when he sobered up on the road halfway to Markarth. Now the Blades are training another recruit.

Zuuri spent some time in solitude under the stars at Sky Haven Temple. She has a name for the fire in her blood. Suleyk. She hungers for more. Where might she find another Word of Power?

Actually I have taken over it and I found it sort of creepy cause sorry for spoilers but she has like a whole witches dungeon thing and I dont know I was mildly freaked out.

Here's a long Zuuri update:

Zuuri recently took a trip to the nearest city. She needed someone with few connections, someone who could be convinced. Perhaps one of those pelt-wearing axe-draggers who hang around in taverns. She found one, and he was for hire.

They raided a few Forsworn hideouts together. The man proved his worth with blade and shield. His dissolute life had made him no less a fighter. One night across the fire, she started her recruiting speech.

“Does it bother you to live without honor?” she asked, passing another bottle of ale.

He flicked it open with his thumb. “A Nord is judged not by how he lives, but by how he dies.”

“True,” Zuuri mused. “And each time you take some Breton girl’s head off with your axe, Sovngarde must ring with your ancestors’ celebration.”

Vorstag drained the bottle. Zuuri handed him another.

“I know a band of men and women who hunt dragons,” Zuuri said. She tipped the last drops of soup out of her bowl. “They live with few comforts, far away from the distractions of city life.”

Vorstag watched her, listening.

“They say a dragon’s fire only burns while you’re dying,” she continued, “but the battle song will last forever.”

Vorstag appeared to consider her words. “Men and women?” he asked after a few moments.

“Yes. Men and strong, fierce, warrior women.” Zuuri wiped the bowl before tucking it away. She gave him a look. “Lonely women.”

Vorstag stood and threw his bottle into the fire. “Lets’ go.”

Back at the stronghold, the Acting Grandmaster declared that now she had her hands full with new recruits. The old fellow found a dragon lair for them to raid.

The Blades gathered their gear and hit the road. Zuuri told them she would meet them there.

She did feel a little guilty over playing on Vorstag’s Nord pride to get him to join up. She decided to have a little chat with him before their next dragon fight. It didn’t work out that way. The dragon spotted her while she was still out in the middle of the volcanic tundra.

The first thing I noticed was that we had left her dragon fighting kit back in Whiterun. My characters tend to drop off their gear when they get home, so that they’re not strolling around town carrying tons of unequipped armor. Sometimes that backfires. Zuuri abandoned her plan to carefully address threats as she approached the lair so that there wouldn’t be any more skeever surprises during the fight. She picked up her feet and sprinted to where the Blades were supposed to meet her.

The dragon followed. It was very cool to run up the hill toward the Blades as they were firing up over her head at the dragon, trash-talking it the whole time. The dragon fell. She approached Vorstag to see if he had any regrets.

“Well met, friend,” he said. “It’s good to see you’re still in one piece, with all the trouble we get into.”

It was hard to tell under his helm, but it sounded like he was smiling.

Zuuri spent the night camped with some hunters by the hot springs. They must have seen the dragon’s fire and heard all of the Shouting, but they didn’t get up to see what the fuss was about. After Zuuri took a long soak with them, she decided they might have the right idea.

Still, duty called. She hit the road back to Sky Haven Temple at dawn. First she needed to stop by Breezehome and pick up her spare boots.

She met a scavenger within sight of Whiterun. He killed her with his hammer.


In memory of my Dovahkiin Redguard Battlemage, here are some pictures of my TV:

Zuuri at Alduin's Wall

Dovahkiin With a View

Holy crap Grits! I'm so sorry! What a way for Zuuri to die. It was her goal at the beginning of her journey to kill trash like the one that slew her.