Recently Ravos, my dunmer ranger, was exploring the south-western reach when he came across Arkingthamz. Having just picked up a new companion from the nearby orc stronghold (Ghorbash the Iron Hand) he decided to check it out. It wasn't quite what they expected...

Upon entering they were greeted by a strange voice, warning them too leave. In the spirit of all wise adventurers they decided to ignore the strange voice and delve further into the ruin. Soon they found the source of this voice: the ghost of a deceased treasure hunter named Katria. Turns out it holds some kind of rare treasure named "Aetherium".

Now with Katria bolstering their numbers Ravos and Ghorbash bravely continued their journey into the ruins, despite warnings of tremors and other dangers. No wonder you don't meet many old adventurers. Oh and in typical follower fashion, Ghorbash falls off a cliff into an area Ravos can't seem to reach without risking his life, rendering The Iron Hand useless. A few dead falmer and flying chaurus thingys later (Chaurus freak me out!) the Ravos and Katria arrive at a strange dwemer "tonal lock". As with all Skyrim puzzles it only took a little bit of looking about to figure out the code.

Now Ravos has an aetherium shard and a quest to find more. Whether or not he will go after these shards is yet to be seen, but the dungeon was goo fun anyway

Welcome to Chorrol, Vital! Ravos sounds fun. I know what you mean about companions - they can be a challenge sometimes.

That was one of the cooler dungeons in Skyrim. I loved the architecture, and all of the earth tremors. Did you take the long way out, or the shortcut?

I advise getting those other Aetherium Shards. The reward is pretty good.

Thanks Yeah they can be "interesting". Ghorbash was particularly bad for me. Found him outside the dungeon and then he died in a bandit raid not long after!


Yeah I found it quite fun, a bit different compared to most. It was the long way for me, unfortunately. I'm playing Dead is dead for this character and at level 33 you get quite connected, makes me into a nervy player.

Yes, charus can freak me out too. Welcome here Vital, you've made a wise choice in coming to Chorrol. From where do'st thou hail? (where are you from?)

This post has been edited by Renee Gade IV: Jan 2 2014, 04:35 PM

I don't know how y'all do "dead is dead." I spend so much time making the character and putting thought and effort into what their motives are. I get attached easily.

I basically grew up playing this way with the tablegames of long ago. We didn't even call it dead is dead, if your character died, that was it. That was the rule. Only exception was if a high-level cleric was nearby, or a very expensive scroll or potion was used, and even then there was a chance of failure.

Yeah, true. Once the Save/checkpoint feature came into gameplay, I was happy, lol

Renee, congrats on LHM’s retirement! It’s great to have a character live past the end of his adventuring career. My orc the Bulsakh is in a similar situation. He’s settled with a family now and unlikely to take risks. I like to think of him going on the occasional bandit raid to stay sharp and keep the neighborhood safe, and I think by now he and his buddy The Slayer can handle it without me.

Welcome, Vital! I love that dungeon. And that’s where you find my favorite bow.

That Morthal bathhouse is from Expanded Towns and Cities. So is the Dragon Bridge bakery in today’s adventure. NPC Valdi tagged along for the rest of this trip, but she’ll be in residence at Lakeview Manor with the rest of the crew whenever I manage to get her there in various games. For now she’s only following Sir Magul while I work on her combat settings. I think Lil and Jerric will probably get the next adventure, but just the two of them. The whole Scooby Gang is a bit ridiculous to actually try to do much with.


From Abiene’s Skyrim Journal

1 Morning Star, the great city of Solitude, two bells of the morning watch

Rain found us on the road to Solitude, but thankfully an early start gave us ample time to stop and wait out the worst of the storm in Dragon Bridge. We entered the first establishment that was open for business in the south part of town. It was a bakery. We stood inside stunned for a few moments by the wonderful smells.

The baker was occupied at her cookpot, so we took our time getting warmed up while we examined her goods. I had the worst time making my selection. With so many tempting offerings, how is one supposed to choose?

Of course not all of us felt that pressure. Once the rest of us had picked out our treats, Jerric simply bought all that remained.

By the time we reached Solitude the rain had turned to snow. Here is a real city! Our first stop was the Winking Skeever just inside the main gate. We procured a room and began to unpack, but Jerric got into a fight before he even changed out of his armor! My Calm spell proved quite useless, and I had to revive the other man once Jerric had struck him down. Then in true Nord fashion they simply walked down to the bar without another word between them.

Our first stop of the afternoon (after shopping of course) was the Bard’s College. We imagined that the bards would throw the kind of Old Life Festival party that might provide material for them to later write about, but we found all quiet within. We paid a call at the Blue Palace next, which was boring but at least Jerric found something to look at.

After we finished at the Jarl’s court the Nords in our party took charge of the evening. Jerric and Valdi demanded food, drink, music, and I suspect they both wished for another fight though neither mentioned it. Valdi was not pleased with the Cyrodiil-style gown I had chosen for her, and she seemed determined to spoil it. That girl takes a punch more gracefully than a compliment.

So we dined and drank at the Winking Skeever and then welcomed the new year under snowy skies in the market district’s plaza.

Back in our chambers my new year began with tenderness, though no promises were made and few words spoken. We have decided to return to Whiterun rather than continuing on to Markarth in the morning. I should like to see the Temple of Dibella and perhaps worship there some day, but at this moment I could not possibly feel any disappointment.

I am certain that young Siobhan awaits her lover’s note, probably standing in the snow at the Whiterun gate where I first met her. I wonder if this year will see them reunited. I wonder what changes the year will bring to me.

I play Dead is "Its time to reload" But that comes from years of playing FPS games where it was normal to die dozens of times during just one day of playing. That also got me accustomed to constantly hitting the Quicksave key...

I have the alarming habit of dying all the time, so I'm in the same school as Subrosa. Otherwise my characters would probably last about an hour before I had to start a new one.

I enjoy dead is dead, but I can easily understand why other's don't. I too get connected to my characters, but I've yet to play a non DiD character in Skyrim. Ravos is the furthest I've gone with any character (does that sound wrong???? ) my average is lifetime is around level 13. Skyrim is a harsh place! But Ravos is basically a resurrection of the character I played in Morrowind and Oblivion, where he was not DiD, so it's tempting to just play dead is reload. Especially now he's deep into the MQ, which I've never done before.

One of the coolest roleplay quirks I have because I play DiD is to roleplay different character's approaches to death. My nord barbarians never runs even in danger (there's been lots of them), while Ravos might back up and take out his bow and Da'Strazaa the thief would bolt. It's just another way for me to breath life into my often short-lived characters.

Your adventures sound fun Grits! . Jerric could only be a Nord ! Luckily Abiene is a little more civilized . Solitude is a fun city, but the group should be careful on the road to whiterun. There's a cave along their that accounts for the end of many characters.

Oh and I'm English but recently moved (back) down under...

Grits - What a desktop-worthy shot ‘bakery’ is – the whole gang completely surrounding those two yummy looking pies. I had to chuckle over ‘choice’ – for its double meaning is deliciously clear. Nor is the innuendo of Jerric simply grabbing all that remained lost. What fabulous sets of finery they are wearing at the Bard’s College! I love Valdi’s pose: “Look at these, Breton!” This has been a delightful slice of holiday winter in Skyrim!

What difficulty do people play at that y'all keep dying over and over? Never mind, that's a good question for
an actual thread!



What? HOw did this happen?



I had one non-DiD in Skyrim, her name was (is) Claire Voyance. I roleplayed that Claire could see into the future (being clairvoyant), and therefore could constantly evade death. If she died in-game, I would RP this as an 'alternate reality' that she saw into, and then avoid.

Pretty tight, eh?

Thank you, Acadian! They all just lined up like that when they came into the bakery, I was grinning like crazy over it. My attempts to pose shots have been complete failures, as they would be with this crew. We had a good time over the holidays.

The fight was a piece of nuttiness delivered by Skyrim’s most annoying NPC “feature.”

On the way out of Morthal Lildereth and Darnand dragged them through the swamp gathering deathbell, giant lichen, and swamp fungal pods. Abiene has no use for these things and felt quite bitchy about it while they were out there, but she didn’t want to complain about it even in her own journal so it didn’t make it into her update. Also they got soaked in a rainstorm because they spent travel time fooling around in the swamp, but she didn’t bring up that sore subject either.

Anyway, when they got to the room at the Winking Skeever Abiene dropped a few flowers and fungi onto the table since Lildereth and Darnand would certainly make a mess in there fooling around with their new plants. Yes, I know they’re NPCs and that’s not part of sandbox behavior, but we pretend. You can see what she dropped on the table in this picture.

So unlike anything that might actually happen in any kind of world, Abiene’s dropping flowers caused Belrand to come upstairs from where he was parked down in the bar and announce that he was keeping it (whatever his AI sensed, it could only have been an alchemy ingredient). Cue NPC Jerric whose aggression is set to Maniac replying with “Like hell you are, that’s mine” or whatever the MaleBrute voice set says in these situations. Draw steel, fight to the death. Over a plant.

Here’s a picture of the aftermath from my Extras folder. You can see Darnand’s flame atronach and Abiene saying “What. The. HECK.” (She does not swear. Not ever.) I guess Darnand got involved when Abiene started throwing Calm spells around. Thankfully Abiene is a powerful healer and an excellent liar, so we quickly “revived” Belrand with the console. No one was any the wiser and NPC Jerric really did stroll away with him once Belrand was on his feet again. Probably because all of the seats in the room were taken, but it was funny just the same.

Oh, the guy in the Legion armor in the first picture is probably from Inconsequential NPCs, and I’m sure he just came upstairs to get a seat, too. He did not participate in the fight.




This post has been edited by Grits: Jan 9 2014, 02:16 PM

After Arkingthamz and the loss of Ghorbash in a fight with some bandits, Ravos decided to head back to Lakeview manor, via Falkreath. The trip there was uneventful, but after selling his loot and storing the rest at Lakeview manor, Ravos couldn't resist the urge for more adventure.

Luckily such adventure was practically on his doorstep, in the form of the Shriekwind ruins. Fully stocked on potions, weapons recharged and armor upgraded, Ravos headed into the Northern entrance. The dungeon was inhabited by some skeletons and a few vampires, which he dispatched of with ease. However a fight with the local master vampire provided more challenge. Ravos ended the fight by trapping the vampire in it's own firetrap. The dungeon yielded little loot though, the only real benefit being the word wall.

While in town selling the limited loot from Shriekwind ruins, Ravos decided to further advance in the MQ with another trip to the greybeards, this time to ask about a "dragonrend" shout. Setting out from Falkreath, Ravos found himself nearing Ivarstead when he remembered a bounty on a nearby dragon. Keen for more adventure after the disappointing yield of Shriekwind, Ravos decided to make his way up the hill overlooking the Rift Imperial Camp to what he assumed was the location of the dragon.

When he reached the top of the mountain/hill he was surprised to find he was not at Autumnwatch tower, but instead a nordic temple under the name of Arcwind Depths. Still it was not to disappoint. Out of the mountains came an elder dragon, who proceeded to battle with a draugr deathlord and his army of skeletons. After a lengthy and exciting battle, Ravos finally slew the dragon absorbing its soul and taking its bones. He found himself a word wall as well. But not without having to slay two snow bears, which proved almost as challenging as the dragon. Heading down the hill, sense of adventure satisfied, Ravos came across his initial destination. Autumnwatch Tower, where two dragons resided.

With the (unintentional) assistance of a band of necromancers, a pack of wolves, three cave bears and the full garrsion of the Rift Imperial Camp, Ravos dispatched of both frost dragons and gathered his loot and learnt a new shout from the word wall. Three dragon souls richer and his pack heavy from their bones, Ravos decided to head back to Lakeview, the greybeards could wait. On his way though he did discover a strange dwarven mechanisim with an arrow. It seemed to interact with his Aetherium shard, maybe he would be finding the rest of those.

That master vampire in Shriekwind can be a tough customer if you are a low level character. That might be why they put that fire trap there. Several of my characters have had to use it against him too. Good to hear Ravos made it out alive. Shriekwind is also a great place to get shoes! There is a little closet on the way in that has almost every form of footwear in the game.

The fire trap was definitely a lifesaver, being a dunmer with the atronach stone Ravos could pretty much withstand the damage from it. So while the vampire was burning, he was slashing him with a fire enchanted sword, ancestor power on and the trap to help.

I found all the shoes too. Up until now Ravos pretty much only wore two pairs of shoes, now he's spoilt for choice!

This post has been edited by Vital: Jan 4 2014, 08:22 PM

I am loving reading about Ravos's adventures, Vital. Don't you find that writing about your adventures enhances the roleplay, too? I used to write a lot about my characters last year for this very reason.

One question though, how did Ravos manage to do this?

Thankyou I'm really enjoying writing his adventures and it has definitely enhanced roleplay.

With the vampire, in the hall leading towards his room there is a lever that you have to pull to open the gate to get to him. It also sets off a constant spray of fire in the hallway, which isn't really a problem for Ravos having 50% resistance and the atronach stone. I just lured the vampire into the trap and let him take damage from the flames as well as from me.