Kick line!



Oops!

I was thinking the last pic looked like a chorus line too!

When Sofie did the Yngol Barrow just recently, she went in without talking to Birna and buying the claw from her first. There was a second claw sitting on a pedestal in the barrow, and she used that one. When she got back to Winterhold afterward, then she asked Birna about her bad deals, and she offered to sell the claw to Sofie. Sofie declined.

Poor Birna. I feel so bad for her in a way, especially while looking at her often-dismal selection of things for sale. A couple of my characters who dealt with her semi-regularly often would try to arrange it so that she'd wind up with lots more things to sell, this way she makes some money while my chars are out-of-town.

Mycharonna seems though she's getting to the end of Dark Brotherhood, which is gonna be sweet! I'm going to take a nice long break from Skyrim for awhile before trying Skyrim on PC. Anyway, some things she's done lately....

She can fly (she's my only fast-traveling character because of this). She was in Helgen, walking towards Riverwood, where she would feed once again. Problem was it was already 2:06 AM, and the sun would be coming up soon. People would be awake, etc. So she flew to Embershard Mine instead. And fell in love with the place after clearing it of bandits.

Embershard was one of my other character's places: Skankee Krahk-ho lived here for awhile. But Skank died at some point, and now Mych has decided she'd like to have Embershard as her own.

When I retire her game, I think the triangle of Anise's Cabin, Riverwood, and Embershard Mine will become her home. She fed in Riverwood during my latest session with her, but once she 'retires', she won't feed from anybody here anymore. Too close to home. You don't [censored] where you feed, right?

Embershard is nice. Mycharonna picked a great spot. I remember that’s where Skank got romantic with a deceased bandit. Congrats to Mych on nearly reaching retirement!


Captain Zanimal and his raiders Stenvar and Asrael took a longboat around the northern tip of Solstheim on a scouting trip. The Zanimal’s instincts were correct. No way was he going to risk his ship in these ice infested coastal waters. He was right to leave the Bloodrunner docked in Raven Rock.

There wasn’t much alive for the Zanimal to see with his predator night vision so it was easy to find the pirate camp he was looking for. They quickly executed the idiots who had already done the work of digging up the treasure chest. Now the Zanimal is in possession of a piece of the treasure and more importantly a genuine treasure map. Sadly the rival gang all died before the Zanimal could get a bite in, so he’s still hungry.

The smell of tribal Nord on the wind lured him up the hill to the Skaal village. All of the locals were inside presumably asleep. The Zanimal is no stranger to this type of isolated community with their narrow religious views. It doesn’t take much to get them started on a vampire hunt. He slipped past without tasting anyone. At least for now.

Shortly after they ghosted through the village the Z crew met a bunch of Rieklings. Capt. Z does not eat Rieklings. He found them rather amusing. He’s actually giving them a hand with their little problem. It never hurts to have a friendly, non-judgmental roof to shelter under in a strange land.

Plus if they annoy him he can always kill them all and still sleep in their house. Either way.

I got incredibly frustrated with my Oblivion game today and decided to do something completely different instead. I created my retired character Mikke of Green River’s kids Sofie and Alesan as adults like SubRosa suggested in the Roleplaying Ideas thread.

Sofie Shieldmaiden of Whiterun learned Block and One-Handed from her mother Mikke. She uses Alchemy as a result of her flower-picking past as a street urchin in Windhelm. I’m using a mod that increases the skill and level requirements to join and advance in the Companions guild, so she’ll need to get some experience before she can fulfill her dream of becoming a Companion like her mother.

Alesan is going to be a traveling merchant based on his history as the son of a sailor. He’ll dual wield (those curved swords, lol) because he’s supposed to be flashy and awesome. He ran his butt off bringing meals to the miners as an orphan in Dawnstar, so high stamina will be one of his defining qualities. Lots of slashy power attacks. I’m debating making him use Flesh spells for armor so he’ll be extra fast, but I won’t know until we get into his game.

I’m using the mod Doge for their pet husky Dante, a puppy from the Dawnguard battle dogs that their mom Mikke brought home. I can already tell that I’m going to have to go in there and adjust Dante downward in speed and damage. Good grief that pup is a beast in combat.

Sofie and Les live in their childhood home Breezehome (thanks to Alternate Start). Their parents Mikke and Roggi Knot-Beard presently live in Kynesgrove. I already had Mikke as an NPC in the Braidwood Inn, so I just had to make the kids as NPCs for each other. I did Alesan first and put him in Sofie’s game. When we went to check him out at the Drunken Huntsman Sofie immediately started her game without seeing whose turn it was. So I guess I’ll wait a bit to make her as an NPC for Alesan. They are supposed to live in a post main quest world since their mom is Dragonborn. They won’t release the dragons or learn words from walls.

First order of business for the new adventurers is to walk to Riften on a pilgrimage to Lady Mara. Their mom insisted. She’s a badass so they didn’t give her any lip. It remains to be seen what they’ll do once they taste the freedom of the open road. I suspect that Sof will do as she was told, since she was a serious and fierce little kid in Mikke’s game. Les might be prone to wander. We shall see.

That's what Tyra's doing. She doesn't change out of her outfit for anything, so those spells keep her viable. I have Rayya modded to do the same, as her main follower, and I changed the other Hearthfires housecarls and bards to be female Reguards so they could wear all the variants.

Tyra went and got the Axe of Fiery Souls and put that enchantment on both her scimitars, and on Rayya's too. It works nicely on a fast weapon, as the fire damage stacks. I added a recipe to make scimitars (requiring the Advanced Armours perk) as the supply is limited after Saadia's quest is over, and it's too easy for a Draugr Deathlord to disarm one and lose it.

Great to see more of the kids grow up! Alesan is stylin' in the crimson ranger outfit. I loved that one, until I noticed the female version had a hole in the chest.

Kids grow up so fast these days...

Well... Today I had a bit of a skyrim marathon and finished the MQ with Ravos.

Sovngarde was awesome, really really awesome... but the actual fight sucked.

Still... an overall enjoyable, if not slightly underwhelming experience.

I think now Ravos will have a bit of a break. Maybe just finish off Lakeview Manor and do the odd side-quest while I focus on Oblivion or something else. After that he'll do the DG and DB questlines, which will be fun

Between SubRosa and Grits, it is great fun to see how the kids of Skyrim are all growing up! A new generation of adventurers!

Vital - Ravos getting a break! Buffy just spent a few days in Cyrodiil before passing through our magic portal back to Skyrim. It's fun to treat the two games as simply differing provinces to visit.

Acadian: I thought of doing that a awhile ago, after seeing some people here do the same thing. It might be a good idea considering that I'm keen to get back into oblivion, but haven't got a good character for it.

Heh, well with only one character, I needed to work out something to pass between provinces.

I basically ignore the 200 year time diff, but keep things vague enough that Buffy can maintain contact with her friends - regardless of how they approach passing between Skyrim and Cyrodiil.

She uses a magical teleportation through a portal type system to pass between Cyrodiil and Skyrim mostly to help account for the big differences in how many things work. For example, her magic is quite different in of the two places and she can take no physical objects (armor, weapons, trinkets, etc) with her. She arrives in each province a bit like the Terminator - curled up in a naked little ball!

Now I am imagining a naked Buffy walking into an inn. "Give me your clothes, your boots, and your motorcycle..."

With this playing in the background!

ghastley, I’m imagining a rainbow of Redguards!

Vital, I think it’s nice to give a character a real-time break after a major adventure. It helps me think they’ve had time for a rest in their life.

My crew has to take a road trip to get back and forth between provinces. They think Buffy’s portal is an excellent idea! Especially the part about the naked wood elf.


Captain Zanimal made a discovery on Solstheim. Ash spawn are pretty much made out of treasure. After that he spent a night combing the ash wastes looking for them.

The lure of the hunt quickly tempted him back to the west coast, though. He found some more ash spawn outside Raven Rock. Then the local Redoran Guard captain saw something he shouldn’t have and took exception to our pirate captain’s lust for blood. Stenvar, Asrael, Capt. Z, Capt. Z’s summoned skeleton crew (a Skeleton Champion who summons his own skeleton from SubRosa’s fabulous Undead Summoning, both armed with Elven weapons as befits undead Dunmeri pirates), and three Rieklings who showed up out of the blue took on the guards of Raven Rock.

They prevailed. It was a long fight requiring many scrambles over the Bulwark and several beatdowns of Captain Veleth who seemed he was some kind of immortal in his own right. Perhaps it’s his dedication to duty that kept bringing him back from the brink of death to fight on. Regardless, eventually the entire night shift lay dead.

The Zanimal took the time to relieve them of their arrows and pocket change plus as many weapons as they could carry. Then he struck out for the coast. It was hard to tell how much night he had left due to the ashfall, but he guessed he could manage one more quick raid before launching the Bloodrunner and taking her up the coast to Northshore Landing.

(This is where we have to pretend. The Z’s ship mod will not allow him to actually move the ship there, so we’re going to use the jetty as a fast travel point back to the ship. Hopefully I won’t mess up the timing and accidentally fry him in the sun while doing this.)

While Captain Zanimal and his raiders were securing the jetty, Stenvar developed an attitude problem. I suspect it had to do with the Zanimal’s new Augmented Flames 2 perk combined with a Fire Rune accidentally set off under Stenvar’s feet. Oops. Stenvar attacked his captain and would not listen to reason.

So the Zanimal did what he had to do. Admittedly he was pretty delighted to actually get to fight Stenvar despite his affection for the man. Stenvar is one big fetcher with a lot of healing potions in his pack (because Zanimal gave them to him) and a very nice sword enchanted with fire damage (also given to him by the Zanimal), so it promised to be a sweet battle. The Zanimal moved away from Asrael to keep him out of it and did not summon any backup. Matters of crew discipline should be handled personally.

The fight was very nearly the end of the Captain. He was down to a sliver of health backed up against an ice wall. Stenvar had room for a power attack. The Zanimal got ready for a combat bite. He was not afraid of adding his ashes to the wind since he’s had several long lifespans and just doesn’t worry about what comes next. Plus he’s never fed on Stenvar and wondered what it was going to be like. I was sweating it because I screw up the timing pretty much always, and I was pissed off because I personally like Stenvar and did not want him to die.

Stenvar wound up for an overhead strike. The Zanimal slipped in and reached for his throat. The screen went red as the Zanimal drained his buddy Stenvar, which is after all what one might expect a vampire to do.

Then a mod miracle happened. Stenvar stood up, turned, and walked away south into the dark. I saved and quit because these moments really should be savored. I’m going to miss Stenvar and his pierced eyebrow and especially his excellent gear, but I’m glad it worked out this way. Perhaps the Zanimal is not an irredeemable prick. At least that’s how I’m going to think of it.



Added: Screenshots of the crew in happier times aboard a reaver wreck: Stenvar and Asrael




This post has been edited by Grits: Sep 17 2014, 08:37 PM

SubRosa and Rider - Yup, it was those epic Terminator arrivals that inspired our thinking.

Grits - I know that each of us comes up with ways to deal with that silly 200 year stuff. I do pretend there is also a passage between the provinces in the Pale Pass area. Although Buffy doesn't use it, I wanted there to be a way to easily reconcile that many of her friends (Jerric, Aravi etc) do travel up there without special provisions. I'm trying to have the best of all worlds - something that works great for Buffy but doesn't stand at odds with her friends. Not perfect, but just well enough that a dash of magic can make getting together for RPs and such work. Wow, what an epic time Z'Animal has had in Solstheim! And thanks for the great screenshots.


Buffy's not been to Solsthiem yet. But I think we have things set up for that this playthrough. She's level 37 and recently triggered the cultist attacks and Dragonborne DLC. Long story that I don't have fully fleshed out yet but, at the moment, Buffy is scouting and sniping for the real Dragonborn. . . who is. . . wait for it. . . Sir Mazoga!!! They have just discovered that Jurgen's horn is missing and have the note to meet 'someone' at Riverwood. I wouldn't be surprised if Zoga tasks Buffy to go deliver the horn and investigate Solstheim while Mazoga finds out more about what Delphine wants. I would not be surprised if Buffy wrinkles her nose at questing in Solstheim and insists on simply exploring the place.

What is sort of shaping up is that when Buffy gets back, we could pretend Mazoga had completed the MQ. By pausing the MQ with Blade in the Dark open, it provides a stable and perpetual 'dragon light' game - that is, they will spawn only on dragon walls - no random attacks on settlements. It may change by tomorrow, but that is our working plan for the moment.

I'm finding that in Skyrim, what works for Buffy is to simply recreate her and start anew when things get long in the tooth. I think that is due to several factors: Very easy to recreate her. Don't care for any of the quest lines. Dungeons take forever to respawn (will probably change that for our next playthrough with a mod - to about three days).

Grits: Captain Z raids Raven Rock, and then squares off with Stenvar! He must be the most famous pirate in the Sea of Ghosts now! Now if only Stenvar could return years later, the captain of his own ship, and bent upon revenge...

Acadian: Sir Mazoga steps up again!

I know what you mean about the very long time between respawns in Skyrim vs Oblivion. That is one reason my characters never pick alchemy ingredients while outdoors. It never respawns in their games, so the world looks less pretty. But I found in Persephone's game, she has been at it for so long that the dungeons she explored in the past have respawned. She has been to a few places at least three times now, with a fresh crew of bad guys every time. So as long as you keep busy, dungeons will eventually restock.

Yes, I'm looking at a mod that makes everything that is supposed to respawn do so in 72 hours.

Buffy and Mazoga the Dragonborn told Delphine the Deceiver they didn't have time for whatever nonsense she had in mind. They then delivered the horn to the gray dudes. The gray dudes are trying to teach Mazoga how to sing and shout and do magic things with her voice. Well, Mazoga is many things, but magically inclined is not one of them. So we figure Mazoga will be at High Hrothgar for a very long time getting voice lessons. In the meantime, Buffy agreed to go to explore Solstheim and map it all out. That suits her to a tee and she has recently arrived in the Morrowland island province.

Buffy encountered a dragon based out of Bonestrewn Crest that was circling his wall and attacking the nearby mammoths and giants. Buffy believes there are good and bad dragons - just like good and bad humans/elves. And this was a bad dragon. Her powerful bow and high magic resistance actually make her well-suited to kill mages and other ranged magic users like dragons. She has to keep her distance of course, but that is easy to do vs dragons.

Grits:Sounds like you're having some really nefarious fun with your vamp pirate It's the completely unplanned and unpredictable moments such as Stenvar attacking Zanimal that make adventures in TES games so exciting!

Acadian: A trip to Solstheim for Buffy while Mazoga deals with the dragons sounds like a brilliant idea.

This post has been edited by Vital: Sep 18 2014, 01:22 PM

Acadian, I love the magically flexible nature of our worlds. It warms the heart to hear about Buffy’s consideration of her friends. Sir Mazoga the Dragonborn! That’s great!!

I just started using the Save As Preset/Import Preset function in the RaceMenu mod to make NPCs from characters. It should also help lots when I get to the point of restarting games. There are the regular presets for the race and then my characters will be in the mod’s second set of presets.

Vital, I completely agree. I love when characters surprise me!


That would make a great story! Much to my delight it later appeared that Stenvar made an attempt to take over the ship! When Zanimal (Z’Animal, nice one Acadian!)and Asrael got back and the Zanimal retired to his captain’s chambers for the day he got the You Cannot Sleep With Enemies Nearby message. A tour of the crew quarters revealed Stenvar asleep in one of the beds. This was a puzzle. It took some doing but the Zanimal was able to dismiss him from the crew and Stenvar left. What a relief! If I couldn’t get Stenvar to go and he had remained hostile I would have taken that as a successful mutiny. That would have been a major pain to deal with.

The Bloodrunner is docked back in Solitude. The last Solsheim treasure hunt was stymied by a Stalhrim deposit that they couldn’t get through. Now that the Zanimal’s privateering days are over and he’s the dread pirate Z again at least in Solstheim waters, he’s hesitant to go ask around in Raven Rock. He considered approaching the Skaal for information, but those Nords are too close to nature for a Daedric creature’s comfort. If he wants to kill them all someday he will. He just didn’t feel like it today.

I left him in his quarters fiddling with the Bloodstone Chalice. He may decide to go for a walk in the Rift. Also after the Stenvar incident he’s a little nervous about keeping his treasure hoard on the ship. He wouldn’t mind finding a nice place along the coast to bury some of it.

When Captain Zanimal returned to Solitude he found it much more exciting than he remembered.

First a guard greeted him on the docks with a polite reminder to clear up a small legal matter. This time the Zanimal did not respond by declaring war on the Hold. Instead he paid his fine and handed over the few pieces of stolen goods that had been rattling around in the bottom of his pack. The guards of Haafingar are more than welcome to spend their time tracking down the original owners of a few accidentally misappropriated ink pots, plates, and tankards.

Then as the longboat glided under Solitude’s arch the Zanimal noticed a dragon circling over the city. He has no problem with dragons eating the citizens, but he does not want one burning his ship. He led his raiding party (Asrael and Sheena to replace the disgruntled Stenvar) up the side stairs into the city and entered the fray. Funnily enough they discovered that Solitude was also in the midst of a vampire attack. The Zanimal got to use his Ice Storm spell since the dragon stayed high for most of the fight. It was pretty neat to see Zanimal’s Elven Skeleton Champion taunting the dragon. In life she must have been quite the badass.

After the fight Zanimal checked the casualties to see if there was anyone he wanted to resurrect on the sly and toy with a little, but between the guards’ vigilance and the lack of interesting bodies he ended up just leaving. On the way back down the stairs he considered his options for the rest of the night. Raid somewhere closer or plan to hole up afterward for the day in some cave? What to do…

Then when they exited through the door at the docks a pair of Vigilant Vampire Hunters plus a Dawnguard member (mod) attacked! The fight was close enough to the ship and early enough in the night to attract two more of his crew. Captain Z just stood back and watched his people work. Oh, also earlier I accidentally hit the button that summons dread creatures to fight for the Z, so there was a random death hound on their side this time. It was a long fight. Those hunters are very strong.

Sadly they are too strong for the Zanimal to raise them, so he is without fallen enemies to entertain with their moaning. He’s debating a trip to Dawnstar. He might like to bury his treasure underwater near the harbor.