They were quite surprised at being attacked right up the hill from town. I'm sure next time they will exhibit more Dexterity. Oh, and a wolf got in on the vampire fight. It was a mess!

Looking the way she does Braith will definitely get her day in the sun. Since she flamed the vamps as an NPC she might be fun as a spellsword using Destruction runes and cloaks. I’m also tempted to make Lars “Milkdrinker” Battle-Born as a non-combatant priest of Kynareth for Braith to haul around.

Then there are Jensa and Stenvar’s kids. I’m thinking Runa Fair-Shield as a shield mage or a frost wielding knight. She’s the one at the orphanage who says, “Kill one person and you can solve so many problems. I wonder at the possibilities.” And Hroar as a bard. He talks about wanting to grow up big and strong someday, which makes me think he’s not a large kid. Plus his lines are kind of poetic. It would be funny to have Stormblade’s kid move to Solitude. There’s a little rebellion!

Rowan’s poor boys never developed much personality in her games. She was never home.

I love this...



I can remember when Skankee Krahk-ho got this very same letter; she merely tossed it on the ground. Had zero interest in doing anything for just about anybody but herself.

I had to look up Stormblade. I forgot it was one of the titles you get when playing a Stormcloak. They had much better titles. Yet another reason I preferred fighting for them over the Empire.

I love that title. Sometimes soldiers will say “Stormblade, it’s an honor” as a greeting. I like how they say it, with pride at their association.

Because Jerric hasn’t done a lot of questing he tends to get my other favorite greetings. “Hail, Companion,” and “Did you steal those robes from a real wizard?”


The Girls of Whiterun had a very difficult day in the Reach. After they murdered a priest of Boethiah they took a look around the Forsworn fortress that they had just decimated. Sofe was feeling uneasy about her decision to kill a tied-up old man. She does not know much about the Daedric Princes other than her Ma’s adamant advice to stay away from them. (Mikke was a werewolf. She didn’t tell her family, but she did her best to ensure her kids would stay loyal to the Divines.) Sofe didn’t know what to do so she just had to go with her gut. Her gut told her that this man would cause untold suffering if she let him go. So she did a difficult thing and killed him while he was on his knees. She’s still not OK about it.

Anyway there was a hagraven nesting in the top of the fortress. They had to fight her three times as they made their way up through the ruin. Sofie’s fire resistance potions helped a little, but she was nearly burned to death each time they faced the hagraven. Sofe left that fortress grim, humbled, and secure in the knowledge that her mettle had truly been tested.

Braith was awesome. I gave her the even-toned voice set that Lydia and Abiene have. Her quiet “I’ve got your back” after the final confrontation was just right.

Now they’re trudging through the snow to Solitude to buy horses. Sofie is not a fan of snow. She is going to name her horse Summer.

That was another thing I liked better about doing the Stormcloak side of the civil war. Ulfric and the other 'Cloakies made me feel like I was part of a larger family. Fighting with them felt personal. While Tullius made my characters feel like they were just cogs in a faceless machine, perhaps a little less rusty than the other moving parts, but still just an object nonetheless.

"Did you steal those robes!" That is priceless!

Poor Sofie... I agree with her gut feeling that letting him go would have been much, much worse. It sounds like it is a good thing that she has Braith around. We already knew she was not afraid of fighting: boys, girls, dogs, elders... Now we can add Hagravens to that list as well!

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Oct 6 2014, 06:13 PM

Grits, I think most days are difficult in the Reach! Hagravens can pose a serious challenge to characters of nearly all levels, so it's unsurprising Sofie left the fortress humbled.

SR, I haven't played the Civil War questline yet but it doesn't surprise me the Empire is a bit less personal. That being said I'd have to RP quite hard to enjoy fighting for Ulfric; the guy's a d**k. Maybe I've just played too much as a dunmer though

--

Ravos and Erik were also in the Reach today, travelling from Dragon Bridge to Markarth. They opted to take the shortcut along the Karth River instead of following the road back through Whiterun and then into the Reach. This was tricky and nearly resulted in Blaze (Ravos' horse) dying, but they made it through. Soon however they crossed paths with an Ancient Dragon, who was rather unhappy to see them. A fight ensued but the dragon's attention was divided between the adventurers and some bandits and bears on the other side of the river so Ravos decided to call in his new friend Odhaviing. It was pretty cool watching the two dragons fight and in the end Ravos was happy to gather some bones to forge more arrows with, although it was Erik who got to carry them

Apart from that they just cleared a few dungeons, killed a lot of Forsworn and finally found a flawless sapphire . Now they're in Markarth and Ravos is keen to get back to Lakeview Manor to build his shrine to Kynareth and finish off the furnishings.

I don't find Ulfric to be a d**k at all. I find a lot of NPCs claim he is, people with something to gain by seeing him killed. Like Brynwulf Freewinter, whom the Empire is going to make Jarl if Ulfric loses. But when my characters talk to Ulfric himself, he doesn't act like a jerk. Instead he gives me cool nicknames. I think a lot of people listen to the Imperial propaganda, and just take it for a fact, thinking that no one in the game would lie for their own ends. Sure Ulfric is ambitious, but the last I checked, that wasn't a crime, or a character flaw. George Washington was ambitious too, and unlike Ulfric, he owned hundreds of people of another race, not to mention signed an order banning them from serving in the Continental Army. Yet somehow he is not a bad guy for wanting to lead his country to overthrow the dominion of a foreign power, and Ulfric is.

While some NPCs claim that the Dunmer are forced to live in a slum, it doesn't hold up to scrutiny. Any Dunmer can buy Hjerim, or a farm outside of town as well (like Belyn Hlaalu). All they have to do is prove their worth, the same as in any hold. Niranye will tell you that, and she's an Altmer fresh off the boat from Summerset. If anyone is going to get lynched by the Stormcloaks, its her! Yet she's got a house right by the gate, because she does make herself useful. Any Dunmer could also get off their rears and do something to fix up the houses they were given for free in the past. The Grey Quarter wasn't always a slum, but that is what happens after 200 years of no upkeep. They are not denied economic opportunities, like the victims of prejudice IRL. Windhelm's Dunmer all have jobs, some rather good ones, owning their own businesses and land. It's the Nords like Sofie who are homeless beggars.

Rolf Stonefist OTOH, is an asshat. but if your Dunmer character beats him up, Rolff will come to your wedding. Throw in the homes given to the Dunmer for free 200 years ago, exemption from all taxes and tithes, and political autonomy, and I'd say that makes the Stormcloaks epic fails in the racism department.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Oct 7 2014, 10:37 PM

You make some valid points SR and while I'm sure there are plenty of counter-arguments to be made I'm not really in the position to make them as I haven't played through the civil war questline.

Ulfric is actually a surprisingly complex character for what was a generally 'shallow' game, especially when you consider the Thalmor Dossier and the potential impacts of Skyrim's independence on the future of Tamriel. From what I can tell though, the in-game civil war wasn't so great.

Of course, the whole thing is open to interpretation. Some view Ulfric as a racist, bigoted, nationalist dictator, while others see him as an ambitious revolutionary, like you do.

As for the Grey Quarter, the dunmer don't have a brilliant human (beast race?) rights record anyway...

This post has been edited by Vital: Oct 8 2014, 10:00 AM

Oh, I would definitely agree that Ulfric is an ambitious, nationalistic dictator. I just don't see that as a bad thing. At least not compared to Titus Mede, or the Thalmor. Unlike the latter two groups, I do believe Ulfric has Skyrim's best interests in mind. OTOH I am certain that Titus Mede sees Skyrim is nothing more than a thing to be used up and bartered away, like he did to Hammerfell in the Great War.

As far as bigotry goes, every race in Tamriel hates every other race. I really don't see Ulfric as being especially distinctive in that regard. The Dunmer with their thousands of years of enslaving other races, and the Altmer with their entire national character being based upon their racial superiority, take the cake there. The Imperials are no slouches either, as they seem to believe they have the right to rule over every other race on the continent. In comparison, Rolff Stone-Fist is just trailer-trash.

The in-game civil war was less than not great. It was very repetitive, with a bunch of very same take the fort quests. In the end all that changes is the color of the guard uniforms in half the holds, and if you do the Stormcloak side the Thalmor patrols disappear, and a statue of Talos appears in the Solitude temple. That's it. I would say it is worth doing once from each side though, just to see. After all, it is content you paid for. But after that you probably won't be that excited to do it again. I cannot see ever doing it another time.

To be honest, doing it from the Imperial side made me appreciate the Stormcloaks much more than I did before. They are much more humanitarian. What I mean by that is when you do the Stormcloak side, in the final battle you confront Rikke and Tullius, and Ulfric and Galmar practically beg Rikke to just walk away. She's the right hand woman of the Empire, and they not only don't want to kill her, they are not even going to imprison her, or take any punitive action against her at all. But her honor won't allow that, so she fights to the bitter end, like a True Nord™. Then they do kill Tullius, which I think was a mistake, because as a living prisoner he can be used as a bargaining chip at the peace table. Finally Ulfric not only doesn't kill or even imprison Elisef, he leaves her ruling Solitude. When you do the Imperial side of the war, the Empire kills Ulfric and Galmar without any offer of quarter or clemency. And in Ulfric's final breath, he says to let the Dragonborn kill him, because it will make a better song. That really made me feel that the Empire was a bunch of bloodthirsty savages.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Oct 8 2014, 09:21 PM

Odahviing!! Congrats to Ravos on finding that flawless sapphire.

I’ve been having an out-of-game (Creation Kit) adventure with Jerric’s world’s Erik Greenthumb the Slayer. He left Valdi with the vampire Serana attempting to sneak into Castle Volkihar and then embark upon some business that he would probably not approve of. That’s the only way he can explain why Valdi told him they had to part ways. Also he knows he is not that great at sneaking.

So Erik walked back to Rorikstead and built Rocky Top cottage for “wild as a mink, sweet as soda pop” Valdi. The first thing he made was the bed. Then he set up the kitchen. Typical priorities for a Nord who grew up in an inn I guess. He’s not decorating at all since he doesn’t know where Valdi will want to put things. Valdi has never had her own place and will likely have no idea, lol. It seems that Erik is making some pretty big assumptions, but I guess he’s sick of sitting in a chair at his Pa’s place all day and night when he gets dismissed from adventuring. Even if Valdi doesn’t cooperate at least he’ll have a home.

In actual game news Sofie Mikkesdaughter and teen Braith have left Solitude and are headed for Dawnstar. Sofe liked Solitude but not enough to stay for long. After today’s random encounters Braith updated her motto: “Thalmor, necromancers, daedra, there’s nobody I won’t fight!”

Vital - Sorry to hear that Ravos lost his horse.

Grits - Isn't Eric the Hoepusher adorable? I love the Nordic priorities (bed + chow), as well as the description of Valdi the Sweet Mink.

Today was a busy day for Persephone. She made her way to Labryinthian and went on a killing spree. I don't know what else to call it. She is now level 62, and just plows through everything in front of her. The undead dragon at the front door barely even got her attention. The big bad at the end didn't do much better against her. One of the meanings of her name - pherein phonon - is "to bring death". I certainly chose the right name for her!

The Viconia soundset is working out beautifully for her. It is perfect when she chops someone down and then I hear: "Shar guides my hand."

I played a bit of Sofie Persephonesdottir today as well. She puttered around Dragon Bridge, and cleared out some vampires from Clearpine Cave. The Imoen soundset is just fantastic with her. Her blade definitely cut them down to size!

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Oct 13 2014, 03:07 AM

I’m glad those voice sets are working out so well! I can imagine Persephone sounding like Viconia. Isn’t it great when something just clicks for a character?


The Girls of Whiterun have demonstrated that their plan is there is no plan. Sofie Mikkesdaughter spied a narrow trail heading off the road near Morthal and followed it. Eventually they came out on Eldersblood Peak. There they learned that frost trolls are still way above their pay grade.

After the battle they looked out from the other side of the summit and saw Whiterun. So they scrapped the Dawnstar plan and headed down the mountain and across the plains toward home. Sofe scouted ahead a little and learned that it’s the sabre cat you didn’t see that you should worry about. Here’s another tussle with a cat. That’s Sofie’s shield and Braith is wielding the fire staff. (Anyone know how to stop that blurry effect during kill cams? I dislike that.)

These two make quite a pair. Sofe really, really hates being cold. Braith wears a Frost Resist necklace they found so that she can wear her bikini top in the snow. Sofe wants a cottage right outside the Whiterun walls. It’s Braith who wants a little cabin out in the woods somewhere. Sofe keeps her hair neat and wears dresses to look nice, but she’s still quite hard-looking. Braith wears her nasty armor in town and drips paint all over her face to look less gorgeous, much to the dismay of her lovely and cultured mother. I don’t know what Braith named her horse yet. It’s probably something like “Balls.”

They found Meeko on the way home so now Sofe has her own dog. I suspect she will leave him sleeping by the fire with Alesan’s dog at Breezehome, though. She’s missed out on a lot of shots because she didn’t want to hit the dog. On the plus side due to being clobbered a lot at melee range now her Block and Light Armor skills are close to being high enough to join the Companions. (I’m using a mod for that.) Braith will not miss Meeko. She has re-named him “Dammit.”

I love Sofie's triskelion shield! The color goes so well with the earth tones of her armor.

To reduce that blurring, go to your Skyrim.ini file and turn off the radial blurring. Find these line and set them to 0:
[Imagespace]
bDoRadialBlur=0
iRadialBlurLevel=0

Maybe Braith's horse is named Lars? They make a great odd couple.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Oct 13 2014, 09:17 PM

SubRosa - P-10 does good work and I've no doubt how dangerous she is now. Good work if you've got the stones for it! I'm so glad that Viconia's voice is working well. I'd imagine its perfect for her.

Grits - Wow, those are some super good action shots of Sofie and Braith herding cats!

The 'frost resist' charm makes a lot of sense for bikini tops. That's a RP idea for sure.

Careful with that dog!



Nice! Brilliant. You know I love name word games, I like how this one fits your Persephone, like there's some depth to her name. I'd RP that to death.

Thanks for that tweak, much better! Sofe has chosen mostly brown things to wear. Even her dresses are muted tones. I think she’ll stick with her studded armor until she finds some scaled. She likes that look.

The Girls of Whiterun have been roaming around Falkreath Hold. As predicted Sofie left Meeko at Breezehome with her brother Alesan and his husky Dante. It seems that she is a dog magnet, though. While taking one of her shortcuts they saw a dog being chased by wolves. After the rescue Sofe decided to let the dog tag along. (I had forgotten I had Ulfe active in this profile! She is not aggressive and the wolves had chased her pretty far from where she’s supposed to be.) Then they ran into a stray dog and two dead wolves as soon as they found the road.

Sofe and Braith are presently escorting a pilgrim to the Eldergleam Sanctuary. Her new dog who has no name yet has proven to be a great companion. She never gets in the way because she flees at the first sign of a fight. Good girl!

Also I started Braith’s game to simplify my mod arrangements, since I’m prone to screwing up. Here she surprised me by choosing the Mage Stone. (In my games it has the same blessing as Oblivion’s Mage Birthsign rather than Skyrim’s learning skills faster.) She and Alesan scouted Falkreath Hold to find a location for his shop. He likes a spot on the shore of Lake Ilinalta near Half-Moon Mill. (Right where I’m building my mod class project, how convenient! Looks like Big D and Sylgja will have to move in later.)


Edit: Also I almost forgot I started grown-up Lars Battle-Born as an acolyte of Kynareth. Oops! Poor Lars. True to his childhood of not fighting he’ll use Illusion spells and SubRosa’s Nature Summonings to resolve conflict. I have to figure out what factions to add him to with the console so he’ll have access to the Temple and the Battle-Born clan’s house.

This post has been edited by Grits: Oct 18 2014, 11:33 PM

How neat to hear of the GoW dog-gathering adventures!

And little battlebornboy's all grown up now! What a great idea.


Buffy tries, but sometimes has a hard time liking the children in Skyrim. On one hand, it's nice that she is eye-to-eye with them. On the other hand, she recently spent an evening in the Winterhold tavern with a little brat instructing her that the only things worse than mages are elves. It was quite the exercise in self control as she wrestled with the temptation to prevent him from ever reaching breeding age.

What a neat idea to make the dogs non-aggressive! My characters never adopt the stray dogs anymore, because they always end up getting killed in no time at all. Even in Fallout 3, my characters who find Dogmeat always leave him home in Megaton while they go out adventuring.

I see you modded the Mage Stone the same way I did! The vanilla Standing Stones were pretty unappealing. My characters always ended up either using the Lord or Steed. It wasn't until I modded them with more interesting effects that I started using other ones.

Lars has grown up! He looks like Guy Pearce Maybe he should be an Acolyte of Mara instead though? He always seemed like a mama's boy. Then again, so was Alexander the Great... Granted, the animal summoning would not be so in character for a Maran monk. But I do have an Elemental Summoning mod I could send you that could fill in. It takes the standard 3 Atronachs and renames them elementals. Plus adds in Frost Wyrms, and their flaming counterparts, Salamanders. Aela used to summon the Salamanders and Earth Elementals, and Mielikki summoned the Frost Wyrms

That's good the dogs flees, I agree. I think Haaf-Mersey had a dog follower die at one point. Good luck to Lars!

Some of my characters have fun with Skyrim's children, some of them simply ignore them. I can remember Lord Haaf-Mersey: he would play tricks. He would often agree to play hide 'n' seek or tag with his adopted daughter, but then simply walk into his house while Lucia went and hid somewhere.

Now, for my latest Ice Witch story. Enjoy.

-----------------------------------------------

Loredas, 12:32 AM, 15th of Last Seed, 4E 202

"De prublem is yo'r disrespect for da laws of dis land. It's time to face da Jarl's justice".

The lady shrugs at the guard before her. Speaks to him in a monotone. "Take me then. Will be better for us all if I am in custody, I suppose. Unless you prefer gold?"

She means what she says, and finds it necessary to follow the rules, for now. The rules will set her free.

"Smaaat woman," the guard compliments. "Now, come along with us. We'll take any stolen goods yo'r're carrying, aftah yoo agree to pay da fine."

Loredas, 12:49 AM
And so it is done. 1,500 gold is taken from her person, and inundated into the coffers of Solitude. The guards begin grinning like wolves once they hear that the lady who murdered a false target here in Solitude has now been apprehended; and has agreed to pay an enormous fine. The payment of this fine will certainly please the leaders of the city.

With this transaction taken care of, the Emperor's chance of living a full, carefree life has now been greatly reduced. Mycharonna the Ice Witch, the lady who has been given instructions to locate an offshore vessel, and then find and destroy the Emperor Titus Mede II, and void him from the world of Tamriel, now walks calmly across one of Solitude's courtly plazas.

"Dere she goes."

Guards mingle all around; all wanting to see the lady who had been wanted for (allegedly) murdering a man who had been pointed as the actual Emperor, and is now free to roam as she wishes. The 1,500 gold she paid to Solitude is not missed by her at all. Each guard, as they watch her go, has a different opinion of the strange lady wearing mourner's clothes--some think she is worthy of small praise (as enemies are sometimes exalted), while others despise her, wishing they could slay the assassin on-the-spot. None is allowed to act, though. She has paid her fine, and by the land's laws, is free to go.


1:09 AM

"Welcome to the Winking Skeever, friend."

"A room. And I have the gold for it, of course."

"Sure thing. It's yours for a day."

"And might I peruse your choices of meat?" she says cautiously, trying hard to not reveal her true nature.

"Drink for the thirsty! Food for the hungry!"

Mycharonna buys a slab of goat's leg, a platter of seared slaughterfish, and a tub of butter. The butter shall be used to lather upon her skin; an attempt to hide her pallid countenance. But this is just an extra precaution. The man before her (and all the guards, and everyone else in Solitude) apparently have no idea that the woman accused of murdering the man pretending to be Titus Mede II is also a four-stage vampire currently sated down to Stage 1.

"Remember the Winking Skeever next time your foot's sore."

The Ice Witch makes a cordial reply to this, makes her way toward the room she's rented, but instead winds up zipping into the Skeever's cellar, where she seemingly blends into its stone wall for a good many hours, unseen to those who are unknowing.



This post has been edited by Renee Gade IV: Oct 19 2014, 04:14 AM