From Markarth, Ravos and Jenassa headed out into the reach to retrieve another Aetherium Shard. Following the road north from Markarth, they soon came across some forsworn. The natives were easily dispatched of, but not without a loose arrow hitting a noble's horse.

The invisible eyes of supreme justice had already spotted Ravos' crime, but he thought eliminating the noble and his guard would remove his bounty. He was wrong. Ravos has always been a law abiding character, so his reaction to this was quite surprising.

Arriving at Karthwasten, believing his bounty was erased, Ravos was apprehended by a guard. Not wanting to face jail time he murdered two guards and ran off. Soon he located the second Aetherium shard in Deep Folk Crossing, and was on his way to Solitude.

Nooo!

That was my Oblivion NPC reaction.

This is the first time Ravos has acquired a bounty, so I wasn't sure what to expect. He just didn't want to be hauled back to Markarth over a loose arrow. If it had been a deliberate crime though, he probably would have faced the punishments.

Besides, he's not too worried about the loss of an imperial noble. Had it been an honest, hard working person, he probably would have done the time.

Anyway, Ravos has returned to Lakeview with the dog Meeko, who he's learnt is only keepable if he adopts a child.
He plans to do some hunting with the dog and Faendal. So, swapping glass for furs and ebony for steel, the trio headed to Falkreath to buy whatever provisions they didn't have...

This post has been edited by Vital: Jan 16 2014, 07:14 PM

I had a few minutes this afternoon to let Lildereth and Jerric play, and oh my goodness.

They had been relaxing at camp after the war that preceded setting it up. Jerric was cooking. He cooked for a long time while Lil sat on the stump. She was debating another swim while it was still not raining or going into the tent to sleep. She was also enjoying the view.

Before she could decide Jerric left the cook pot and went into the tent. Lil took that as a sign it was time for bed.

Inside the tent she found a big surprise.

Now earlier when Jerric had said, “I’m going to get us a redhead,” she assumed that 1. He was joking and 2. He meant another woman. Either way she was not interested. The new guy cleared things up by immediately asking if she had seen someone run by just then.

Aha, it’s part B of the ever annoying fugitive and hunter interaction, only the fugitive gave her the item so long ago she didn’t even have it in her inventory anymore. There was no conversation option to give the item back.

Lil told the hunter to bug off, but he just stood in the tent when they were done talking. Jerric still lay there sleeping. So an irritated Lil went back out to sit on the stump some more.

Then the hunter came out and started cooking. Here is a picture of him being rude to Lil while she stares at him going “Seriously, Nord?” By then she had enough so she went into the tent before she gave in to the urge to shoot him. (In Cyrodiil she had spells that would have chased him off. She doesn’t have the Skyrim Fear spell yet. Totally Jerric’s fault for hogging all of the game time.) Also it occurred to her that with that kind of midnight appetite he could be Jerric’s long lost kin.

Anyway just as she was about to kick her fur skirt into the corner the hunter said, “Who’s there?” and Jerric got up.

Troll attack. Here’s a picture of the aftermath. Now they have a dead hunter and a troll carcass next to their waterfall. Sigh. Skyrim.

Talk about wackiness! I modded out that thief/hunter encounter a long time ago. It used to drive me nuts.

You can pick up the bodies and move them somewhere else. Or just use the console to disable them.

I love it!

How neat, Grits. I love how wood elven mystic archers think alike; as soon as Lil mentioned enjoying the view, Buffy told me exactly what to expect in the screenshot. And Jerric did not disappoint.

I picked up Persephone's game again. She was last in the The Reach, so she stopped by Markarth, and decided to look at that note Eltrys slipped into her pocket the last time she had visited. In no time at all she was in Cidnha Mine, feeling very unimpressed with the Forsworn Rabble and their King in Rags. Malediction sang a dirge for them. Only Grisvar the Unlucky was spared, as he was the only one who did not raise a hand against her. I guess it was his lucky day after all.

Upon escaping the mine she was met by Thonar Silverblood. Given his hand in the whole bloody mess, Persephone sent him to Oblivion to join Madanach. That put every guard in the city after Persephone. Rather than stay and slug it out, and risk innocent people being killed in the crossfire, Persephone decided to flee. That made for quite a chase through the city. Once outside she leaped into the river, and swam it (and down all the waterfalls) to Kolskeggr Mine. Thankfully, Deadwalkers do not need to breathe.

Persephone looks awesome, Subrosa. Love the armour!

I've done that quest twice now, one time helping the forsworn escape and once killing Madanach and escaping myself. Neither decision felt right, or even justifiable, so everyone dies usually. Same thing happens with the girl in Whiterun and the Alik'r

I thought they could've done a bit more with the forsworn. They could've formed a mini questline or a bunch of related quests. Where instead they were basically a substitute for bandits, with one interesting quest.

Thanks Vital. I spend a lot of time on getting a character's look just right for them.

I have done the Cidnha Mine quest about three times now. The first time I tried it was with an archer character. That was a huge mistake, as there are no ranged weapons to be had at all in the mine or nearby dungeon. I don't think she ever even finished it. My second character was a dual-dagger wielder, and she did much better. She initially sided with Madanach, but that was just a ruse, as she turned on him and the other Forsworn once they gave her the Armor of the Old Gods. She was basically playing both ends. This time with Persephone she was just too disgusted with all of them, so she killed everyone. It is just too bad she could not have killed all of the guards who were in on the whole scheme as well. It is kind of disappointing that you cannot even expose them and Thonar to the Jarl afterward, and clean up the town.

Persephone is awesome. Good jawb on her looks. I'm like .. drooling. Can't wait to mod Skyrim.

Vital: I heard from a friend that there were some Forsworn quests being considered but they did not make it into the game. There was also more orc stronghold stuff planned, and all kinds of stuff.

This post has been edited by Renee Gade IV: Jan 21 2014, 11:24 PM

I've heard lots of stuff like that too. I feel like they just wanted to release the game on 11/11/11 and didn't leave themselves enough time to really flesh out the game. Skyrim was good, but it could've been better IMO.

This post has been edited by Vital: Jan 21 2014, 11:34 PM

Today Persephone was witness to more Bethesda wackiness. She was walking across the tundra directly north of Whiterun headed for Dawnstar. There is a spot there that random encounters are set to happen. In my games I often get the hostile conjurer fighting an atronach. Well this time I Persephone spotted both, but there was also someone in armor running toward them with an axe. By the time she got there, the conjurer and atronach were dead, and the Old Orc was standing over their bodies. His two dead sabrecats were there as well. Somehow both encounters spawned in the same place.

So Persephone talked to him and found out that he wanted a good death. She tried to tell him that there was no such thing. Being dead for four thousand years, she ought to know. But nothing she said could change his mind. So she moved on, looking for iron ore.

The next thing she knew, Pesephone was at that smuggler's camp built into the side of the cliff by Whiterun. Only this time all of the bandits were waiting there (usually you kill a few, open the locked chest, and the rest show up). She summoned up Darryl to help, and started slugging it out. That is when the Old Orc came running in on her side. By the time it was all over Darryl had been put down by bandits, and Persephone went looking for the Old Orc. She found him dead by one of the bandits. So he found what he was looking for after all.

Awwww...

He should be a follower. Being around the player character is usually dangerous.

If you mistakenly gave your follower a staff of fireballs, being the player character is dangerous.

That is why my characters never adopt stray dogs. They are much safer living alone in the wilderness.


My first character Scylla had Illia as a follower, and gave her a staff of wall of fire. Now that made things interesting!

Just ran through "Blood on the Ice" with Serana in tow. When we entered the Stone District to try and stop Callixto getting another victim, she got in the way as usual, and he killed Arivanya before I could get a clear shot at him. So Serana does her usual "raise zombie" on Arivanya, and we take her with us, so she can tell Jorlief who killed her!

Well, it makes a change from her recruiting dead goats, skeevers, and mudcrabs to fight on our side.

SubRosa, what a fitting end for the Old Orc.

ghastley, that’s hilarious! Those wacky necromancers.


Lildereth and Jerric’s last day in the woods started out sunny. They took care of some camp chores (moving the previous night’s bodies) and then headed out to do some exploring. Lildereth’s map was soon full of castle and tower symbols. It seemed they couldn’t go ten feet without running into some stronghold or another. Lildereth found the open woodland to be more unnerving than soothing. There was little cover, even for a wood elf.

Then it started to rain, and I mean wrath-of-Kyne type crashing thunder and lightning. Lil sprinted back to camp, packed the whole thing up in about two seconds, and then told Jerric she’d like to go inside one of those caves he was endlessly pointing out to her.

Here’s a peek inside the first cave. Jerric’s curiosity about the arcane light was drowned out by Lil hissing, “Nord, have you lost your mind?” She does not like strange magic, especially when it is shining down upon a pile of corpses. Jerric is still curious about the blue light. Maybe later he’ll get some other fool (Darnand) to go back in there with him.

They had a bit of a tussle with the occupants of the next cave, but afterward Lil decided that this one was much better. They camped beside the waterfall where they got soaked by the spray, but it didn’t matter with all of the swimming. At one point Jerric remarked that he should have dressed more warmly. (Standard cave dialog.) Lil thought that was humorous.

On the way home they stopped in Falkreath to trade some pelts. The shop owner was a real jerk to Lildereth. Jerric spent the whole time trying to navigate through the door. Lil was not sorry to head home to Lakeview. Henceforth she will be sure to bring her pelts the extra miles to trade in Helgen.

Lildereth is curious about the Rift forests now, but it will be a while before she finishes making poisons with the mushroom supply she picked up in Falkreath. All of that rain must be good for the fungi.

Also the hunting was terrible. The deer must not like Falkreath either. They only had venison one night, then Lil had to use her emergency dried horker meat. Plus Jerric mysteriously had three potatoes in his inventory, so they had potato soup. They had a good trip, but there’s really no danger that Lildereth will want to live in Skyrim permanently.

Lil is soooo pretty