I spent a few days with Skyrim Abiene, and while she’s not exactly busy she does have some non-killing things to do.

She lives at Breezehome in Whiterun (alternate start mod) while she’s in Skyrim working as a healer at the Temple of Kynareth.

On her first day she walked around town and met her neighbors, had dinner at the Bannered Mare, and got verbally abused by the guards on the way home in the dark. One guard followed her the whole way asking if she was a thief or a vampire and suggesting that only the wrong sort of people were out after dark. She doesn’t have any torches or the right spells, so it actually was very dark. She got plenty of sleep.

The next day she decided to mix a few potions and sell some of the junk that came with the house to supplement her income. Here she is outside the gate in questionable weather talking to Ri’saad. There was a lot of lightning so she chickened out and didn’t go very far picking flowers.

Then she started work at the Temple. Here she is ready for her first day on the job.

This post has been edited by Grits: Sep 28 2013, 09:12 PM

Poor Abbie, what an awful day! Those guards need a talking to! Maybe she ought to hire the Dark Brotherhood to sort them out?

I like the picture of High Hrothgar wreathed in clouds.

Maybe adding a few flowers to her hair might cheer Abiene up?

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Sep 29 2013, 03:03 AM

I like that blue robe. Aravi has one too!

Ooo, flowers! That’s so pretty! She’ll have to keep smacking Darnand’s hand away when he’s making potions. He would name that mod Auxiliary Alchemical Ingredient Storage: Hair.

I never would have thought to give her that robe, but it was in a dresser already and it’s perfect for her.

Funnily enough Abiene is a blast to play as a non-combatant. Now that she has Darnand, of course. She was pretty stressed out all by herself.

Fleur tried to get herself an Azura's star, but the game crashes to desktop whenever she hits one of the dremora that are summoned inside the star. There isn't room to try and run past them to get at the mage, so I reloaded an earlier save and postponed that quest while I figure out the problem. She's building a home at Lakeside instead.

Just found out how to use soul gems for recharging. In Oblivion, it's select the gem, and then choose what to refill. In Skyrim, it's the other way round, and I wasted a lot of time assuming it worked the Oblivion way, looking for the key to open the item list for a gem.

This post has been edited by ghastley: Oct 1 2013, 02:23 PM

Lord Haaf-Mersey is travelling back to Falkreath with Serana, and they've both just retrieved an important item from the Soul Cairn.

Yes, LHM still lives. I haven't played Skyrim since June, so the game feels fresh again. I forgot how curious Serana is; she's always moving around looking at stuff, playing with alchemy tables, swinging a mug along with tavern music, etc.

When LHM gets back to his manor-house, it's going to be a zoo. Lucia will be there, but also Mjoll the Lioness (LHM's wife, Motormouth Mjoll), and the Falkreath steward (I forget her name). Haaf-Mersey will be surrounded by three dangerous women, and harmless little Lucia.

You wouldn't happen to have that game on your computer, would you?

nooo, Haaf-Mersey's game is on Xbox. He's been doing Dawnguard quests for ages. I don't have any ES games on PC yet, but that's coming. I promise.

Loredas, 5:13 AM, 5th of Heartfire

Lord Haaf-Mersey
Level: 45

Days Passed: 385
Gold Found: 170,709

It's such a shame I'm not as inspired to write about Skyrim like I was a year ago. Back then if I didn't write up my gaming sessions, they felt rather 'empty', which is why I used to write a lot more.

Anyways, Lord Haaf-Mersey has returned to Lakeview Manor finally, and this time he's brought Serana with him. It's kinda hilarious because LHM is now surrounded by 4 females + a bunny rabbit. The house now consists of Serana, Mjoll the Lioness, Lucia, and Rayya the Redguard. I have nicknamed Rayya "Miss Overkill" because she simply pwns everything in her path, leaving little for LHM to do in her wake sometimes. I have thought of including her as LHM travels towards Fort Dawnguard, but seriously, she's way too good as a fighter, especially after the Lord improved her dual scimitars. I think they now do some ridiculous damage like 47 pts. per strike apiece

I wanted to write up some loony tale about Haaf-Mersey and his girl-gang, but like I said i'm not feeling very inspired. "Motormouth Mjoll" is still LHM's wife. She often glitches out for some reason, and starts walking in place throughout the house, while saying "It's good to see you my love!" She really wants to go adventuring again, but I (and Haaf-Mersey) simply cannot tolerate her constant motor-mouth; the constant comments she makes, many of which are repetitive.

I think LHM might actually take Serana with him to Riften/Dawnguard. She's the most tolerable, and her magic skills compliment LHM's lack of aggressive magic.


This post has been edited by Renee Gade IV: Oct 16 2013, 12:45 AM

A few days ago in Skyrim Persephone entered Riften for the first time. She got the usual forced dialogue from Maul just inside the gate, and tried to ignore him. "You better walk away," he says. That was the absolute wrong response to an undead warrior. Persephone filled her hands with Malediction, and in a few moments the Black-Briars were looking for a new loudmouthed thug. Sapphire came running in from the bridge where she usually taunts Shadr and attacked. Scratch one member of the Thieves Guild. Then Brynjolf came running in, and the Thieves Guild was minus one more member.

Yes, I have modded the game to remove their essential statuses.

There was no bounty for any of the three killings, even though it was all in broad daylight, right in the middle of the street. Afterward a guard walked by, and said: "Welcome to Riften, home of the Thieves Guild. Or so they'd have you believe. It's all lies. They're just thugs... vermin, creeping around the Ratway."

The next day Persephone was exploring the area south east of Riften, and came across Black-Briar Manor. The guards outside immediately attacked her. So after finishing them off, Persephone went inside and killed everyone. Darryl's other brother Darryl was of great help too. Unfortunately, none of the Black-Briars themselves were present, just more thugs.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Oct 16 2013, 01:17 AM

Abiene and Lildereth had the same item on their To-Do list today. Go get NPC Jerric.

I knew I put him in the Dragonsreach dungeon, but I was a little surprised to find him actually locked inside a cell. His friends were not surprised. He probably wasn’t either. Lil got him out in about two seconds. Abiene can’t open Adept locks yet (she uses spells), but she was not concerned. She just stood there and waited. Sure enough a minute or two later a guard came by and opened the door.

Abiene put her traveling outfit back on and they hit the road to Riverwood. It takes a long time to get anywhere with her because unless something is biting her Abiene always walks. Always. When they got to the Sleeping Giant, Darnand and Jerric wasted no time starting the celebration. (Jerric was one step inside the door.) Abiene was slightly appalled by the bard. Her Dibellan esthetic does not embrace Skyrim’s tavern singing.

Jerric in prison! How perfect! His cell looks pretty nice. It has a Nord-sized mead barrel in it!

I see you have learned how to mod clothing! Or did you just use the Help function to get the IDs of the Jarl Clothing for Abiene? Either, way, she looks good in it. That has always been one of my favorite Sky outfits, along with the Wedding Dress.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Oct 18 2013, 11:23 PM

Jerric does look right at home in there. Only in Skyrim are there mead barrels in the drunk tank. I laughed when I saw him.

I think that’s the outfit Abiene made on a modded loom that gives you access to a bunch of the game’s robes and high-end clothing. I love it, too. It’s called something like Fur Trimmed Cloak so we thought it was something different, but with that fur cape it turned out to be perfect for her. At least until she meets Jarl Ravencrone. Abiene wears the pleated shoes that I gave her with the console so she would not be barefoot. She is very specific about her footwear. She is not going to clomp around in man boots. Thankfully that ranger armor she wears on the road (we now have three “ranger” sets in the Leather crafting menu, ugh) also comes with slender-ankled boots.

Oh! Also she now has flowers for her hair. Awesome suggestion! And of course she liked the red ones best and there’s no dress that has that shade of red. So I had to find one for her. Actually several so she had a choice. Whose idea was it to give Abiene her own game?

She’s headed to Winterhold with the guys next. I’m sure that will result in some actual fur cloaks being added. I would love to play Frostfall, but I’m worried about melting my laptop. Abiene is cold even without the mod. That little cloth cape she wears around Riverwood isn’t going to cut it for long.

If you are worried about your laptop not being able to handle it, why not upgrade to a better desktop? You do not have to spend thousands of dollars for one that can play Skyrim. For $500 this guy would make a good start. But the integrated intel video card would not cut it. You would need to add something like this video card and you will have a more than adequate gaming machine for $600. Or go a little cheaper and get this humble fellow, and add the same video card. or spend a few hundred more and get this one, who is perfect straight out of the box.

Thank you for those suggestions! Space is my biggest issue in our crowded house. Plus I have to stand up at the computer since the spine issue, so I use a makeshift workstation on various tables and counters. But where there’s a will there’s often a way, so maybe by next year I’ll have a solution. (Also this year’s budget is long gone. Loooong gone, lol.) It’s encouraging to know a desktop is nearly within reach.

Abiene and the fellas took a side trip to Windhelm which kicked off a few small adventures. Abiene is as bad as Jerric for talking to people and offering to help.

The main purpose of the detour was to pick up some cold weather gear for her, which they did.

Now they’re sort of taking a shortcut back to the road. The first hundred yards or so were pretty dangerous. Here’s picture of Jerric’s and Darnand’s summonings after yet another tussle in the snow.


ETA: I should explain how unusual it is to see both summonings peacefully together. Most fights end with one of the guys battling the other one’s summoning. Usually it’s Jerric vs. flame atronach.


This post has been edited by Grits: Oct 20 2013, 07:07 PM

Khan and Bran are working toward Severin Manor on Solstheim. We finished the Bloodskal Barrow quest, and Khan's using that jazz now, but March of the Dead has proved...troublesome. We'll see how it turns out. We're also keeping an eye open for some Skaal armor for Khan to wear around the home in the Pale, but so far, no (legal) dice.

Aravi actually completed those in reverse order as Khan has. She didn't have any trouble with March of the Dead, however Kharjo took the brunt of the fight.

Something rather surprising today, Aravi (who usually wields a pair of swords) picked up a two handed weapon. With stronger enemies, she falls back on her one-handers, but she's been terrorizing the local bandit population around Aravi manor with a greatsword.

Something else you might want to consider is the Wyrd Way of computing. IIRC, his PC is hooked up to his tv, and he plays laying on a pile of pillows on the floor. Its like playing an X-Box, only with all the advantages of a PC.

Is Abbie's robe armored? In this latest shot it looks like it has mail links over the torso. Her new cloak/hat looks very warm. Too bad you cannot put Kyne's Peace on a item, you could say it makes the other animals think the wearer is one of them. If I was any better at scripting in Skyrim I could do that by adding and removing the player to an animal-friendly faction when you put it on or take it off. That is how I did the Animal Friend amulet in Oblivion. But this papyrus thing they do in Skyrim makes my eyes hurt.

I have similar problems with just one summons. I am always loath to summon Darryl around other folks because that greatsword or battle axe he carries is almost certain to clip a friendly, and then the fight is on!




I have usually had problems with March of the Dead. Unless you are really powerful when you do that, the combination of the Ash Spawns and General Carius' uber hammer is rough. I do love that chaos enchantment though.




Welcome to the two-hander club! I think they are my favorite weapons in Oblivion and Sky. The trick is to use your reach to stay out of the range of their weapons, but still inside the range of your own. And timing. Persephone goes troll-hunting with Malediction and usually they can never even hit her.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Oct 24 2013, 07:18 PM

Aravi isn't quite that good yet, she's used to getting into someone's face and delivering rapid sword strikes. Actually blocking is something that feels foreign right now.

Wow. Interesting.


Back when I was gaming with Crystal Beth, I discovred the joy of the double atronach approach, after Beth recruited Brelyna (who also summoned these). I don't remember having much of a prob with 'friendly fire'.



Yep, this what he does. It's so unusual. I think gaming like this would give me some spine problems, but that's just me. I like gaming in bed. Usually I'll sit up if my char's at an important moment combat-wise or quest-wise, but if they're just walking from Point A to Point B (and the adventuring is kinda 'meh'), I'll lie in bed.

My biggest prob is getting the pillow propped under my head just right, so I can see the TV screen properly. And even then, after awhile I could possibly get a crick in my neck.