Lothran spent the late afternoon goblin hunting in Plundered Mine. He had been told their numbers had increased and he was asked to help out with the problem.

He found some gold in chests but little else made it back home. Though he must admit, it was fun getting back in the game again

Neven Victrix is dead, and it's entirely my fault. He got ganked by a marauder battlemage, and I couldn't figure out why his spells, and those of the bandit hedge wizard fought previously, had hit so had.

As it turns out, Neven wasn't born under the Mage, he was born under the Apprentice. Because I screwed up before leaving the tutorial. Here's the thing:

I never pick alteration as a major, it just levels too quickly, and so it's alway one of the majors sacrificed to cap my character's level. But, for those characters who should start skilled in alteration, I exploit the tutorial so that they leave with an alteration skill of 25. But to do this quicker I changed Neven's birthsign to the Apprentice, and forgot to switch it back.

Oops.

What are you doing, Callidus!? Another character dead??

Are you trying to get away from Oblivion or what?

Like I said, I screwed up. This site needs a facepalm emoticon.

Had I known he was Apprentice I would've been more careful.

RIP Neven. We barely got to know you.

Wow, CT, you're hard on characters!

Buffy's never touched a lockpick so she opens almost everything by spell. Since you can't cast ranged spells underwater and can't make touch unlock spells, she makes me use Acadian Magic to open underwater locks for her. She also uses shield and water walking spells alot on her critters. So, since she uses alteration alot, it is a minor skill so we could control her slow leveling up to her cap of 19.

When experimenting with Acadian to learn the game in 2007-2008, I did occasionally take alteration as a major for a 'never touch' spell to control leveling. That works fine if you use lockpicks instead of spells to open stuff. The beauty of starting it as a major (25) is that you never have to level it further to gain access to all the nice utility effects (waterwalk/breathe, elemental & regular shields) at the enchanting altar. That character never ever cast a single alteration spell, but carried an assortment of rings and things enchanted with those effects. It was a nice way of getting some advantage out of a 'never touch' skill in that case.

Speechcraft is always at the top of my 'never touch' list of majors. Finding other 'never touch' skills to choose from for Buffy was easy. All three melee skills (we don't add to Buffy's strength), security, heavy armor. . . .

Well I did say I get through them at a fair rate.

Playing Dead is Dead characters without a Dead is Dead playstyle is a really bad idea.



*Obligatory grumble about the console*



Ugh, speechcraft. I hate that minigame. So how do you get around skill books? Do you just not pick up books that would be read automatically?

Yea, CT is the king of DiD. Didn't Sal the Argonian also die recently?

We need to get Senior Cinco's thread running here at Chorrol.

Skill books can be problematic. We know that all skill books have a value of at least 25, whereas almost all non-skill books are way less than that. So when we encounter an unfamiliar book with such a value, we save the game first - and reload if disappointed upon opening the book. At this point in our saga game however, we pretty much know all the skill books and where they are though. Again, the main cue on skil books though is their value of 25 or more.

Heh, I think it'd be more accurate to say I'm the jester in the court of DiD

I don't think we could do a DiD thread over here, it would just be a graveyard for my characters. After all, I do come up with new ones in less time than it takes for me to get them killed



I'll have to remember that. It bugs me when I pick up a point in one of my "never touch" skills.

Yikes, sympathies on the end of Neven. And Sal.

Samara has discovered that Welkynd and Varla stones are a wonderful source of income. She's been in four Ayleid ruins and ran into a weird armoured woman bybthe name of Umbra. She shot her, thinking she was a bandit, and got chased for ten minutes. She pawned the armor and got a rude awakening when she took a long sleep.

Liz, yup, those varla and welkynd stones bring in some good cash. Too bad they don't respawn, so their numbers are finite.

I can imagine running into Umbra when you weren't expecting it or not familiar with her was quite an exciting time!

I thought she was further out, up by Bruma, not the Imperial City. And Samara doesn't use a blade, so the sword is useless to her

Lothran spent a nice day in the Jeralls today. He´d been assigned by Selena to bring back some Wormwood leaves and Motherwort sprig. Apparently the mountain version of the Motherwort differs from the rest of Cyrodiil and she wanted to study it.

And as evening fell it was back at Olav´s again!

I can see why Selena would ask Lothie to go get those ingredients. J'skar is too hard to find and Volanaro is so loathe to venture outdoors in the winter. Were there any ogre teeth in Lothran's loot to attest to how Targetfinder (the new mace) is doing? I take it winter travelers don't have to give Plundered Mine such a wide berth with Lothran on the job keeping its resident Three Feather goblin tribe under control?

Buffy's in Skingrad briefly to enjoy the fall harvest, including the season's fresh apple cider and some of Uuras' autumn sheep cheese. And she'll no doubt enjoy a quiet dinner while there with her dear friend Sinderion, punctuated by Tamika's newest vintage. Oh, and of course she'll stock up at Salmo's before continuing on to Kvatch.

Yes, J´skar and Volanaro ain´t the first ones to volunteer when it comes to actual field work


A couple, but Selena didn´t want those, she had plenty in stock. Targetfinder is a good weapon but more of an experiment. The reason for its name is because it lightens up its target on strike, making it easier to find in the dark

I´m sad to learn Buffy is so far away from Bruma but also glad to know she´s in good health and enjoying her time in Skingrad Just don´t let her drink too many bottles of Tamika, Acadian. Her tiny body can´t take too much I reckon before the giggliness overtakes her completely!

Samara has sold a lot of stolen loot, and reached over 800 septims. She's also aiming to learn charm spells to offset the mean looks she gets.

Currently she's near Chorrol, exploring the Great Forest. She bought a house on the Waterfront, since the Homestead was overrun by bandits when she got back from Bruma.

Is Samara in any Guild yet?

I hope Samara enjoys the Waterfront house. I think it is a great place. Nice central location, a waterfront view of great sunset/sunrises, close to shopping. The neighbors are pretty good - certainly better than the Fort Homestead gang.

She's in the Thieves Guild, currently working towards avenging the Waterfront people on getting charged for Taxes. She's having issues finding an invisiblity potion.

She loves her home, Acadian! She has all of her loot in the chest, her stolen loot in a false bottom in one dresser, and her clothes in another dresser. She's currently working on collecting books.