But Blackreach is such a lovely place for a honeymoon!

As long as this guy does not coming looking for the lexicons afterward, I think Jensa will be fine.

I think Blackreach can get claustrophobic at times. It is the thick, hazy air with the little particles of stuff floating around it in that makes it feel all closed in. Every once and a while if you leave Blackreach to go into Alftand or Raldbathar or one of the other exits, and then turn around and go right back in, the clear weather from outside follows you back in. It looks a whole lot different when the air is clean and clear.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Oct 23 2014, 10:32 PM

Great shot, Grits. I've loved those big glowey mushroom trees since first seeing them in Aravi's vids. Buffy's only been in there once - it was with Serana during the DG questline in her last playthrough. Because the place was pretty big and confusing, Buffy and Serana pretty much just followed their quest marker to do what they needed to do. Have not been back to really explore.

Oh yeah, very much so. That area was so dark when Lord Haaf-Mersey went through there. It's really dark. Even with his light spell activated, this wasn't much help. Light spells in vanilla Skyrim aren't like the ones in Oblivion, ya know? .. They only illuminate a 10 foot circle, if that.

hautee, I thought it looked like Stenvar had a hand on his woman, too. Jensa has a history of finding the edge by walking off of it, so he was not thrilled to be up that high. She does not know the Become Ethereal Shout yet in this game! Jordis and Argis sound like a fun pair. My characters who have met Jordis usually end up feeling a little maternal toward her, even when she is saving their butts. And of course Argis… HOT. Jerric is the only one who doesn’t like him.

Blackreach does get claustrophobic. I was glad that Jensa and Stenvar headed up to the surface several times to camp. They are after all on their honeymoon, and even Jensa does not relax with Falmer, chaurus, and various constructs roaming around.

Here’s a pic for you SubRosa. Cuhulain and his spriggan engaged in badassery! I have no idea which of my mayhem-inducing mods allows bandits to attack inside Mistveil Keep, but that’s what happened. At the time of the picture Jensa had just had time enough to say “Holy skitt” and cast some mage armor. She has just had her difficulty bumped up and would not survive long in her ceremonial outfit with an AR of about 12. I saw the spriggan and said something a little stronger, then took the pic. Funnily enough her summoned sabre cat was still with her from a fight outside the gates. I didn’t even notice him until I looked at the picture!

Jensa had no idea what was happening so she just blocked with her sword throughout the fight. She was there in her role as Jensa Stormblade, High King Ulfric’s left-hand woman, checking on matters in the post-war Rift. (Galmar Stone-Fist survived the war and still holds the honor of being Ulfric’s right-hand man. Which is fine by Jensa since Ulfric is right-handed and single, and so… never mind. Anyway, “Stone-Fist.” Enough said.)

Oh, and also about Blackreach, most of my characters hustle through as fast as they can. I don’t remember ever getting up high enough to look down on the big light. It was neat. Worth the body count.

What I don't like about the lights in Skyrim is that they are lot harsher. They wash out all the color and overexpose everything. And just as you said, they do not illuminate as much. I eventually tinkered with making a night eye spell, that didn't make the screen blue and fuzzy.




Wow, that is some brawl in the castle! The real Kerr Cuhulain would be proud. It looks like Team Riften has things well in hand though. Persephone approves of Jensa's sword. The gods gave her two hands, and she uses both for her weapon...

Rolff is the Right Hand Man. But the Stormcloak Forts all have Fortify Two Handed potions next to the poopers... Only the Imperials, with their smaller... equipment, use One Handed.

Wow, Ice Tea would be envious of that Body Count

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Sep 9 2014, 10:09 PM

Grits, between the action, all the characters, the swirling sprig-leaves, the ethereal sabre cat and the fire, that shot is simply Wow!

SubRosa, I agree about the lights. Candlelight is way too bright and, for a fragile character like Buffy, makes her feel waaay too exposed an vulnerable unless she knows (thanks to her detect any freakin' thing that can move) spell that it is safe and summons some help just to be sure. Buffy tends to use mage light much more - tossing it into dark corners and such. She has learned a helpful trick - if you cast a mage light on a follower or summon, it will hit them (non-hostile act), then settle above their head and follow them around like a candlelight spell. Not only that, when a mage light spell is 'attached' to a follower/NPC, it apparently doesn't count as your 'ration' of one mage light. That is, Buffy can pop a candlelight over her own head, put a magelight on a follower and still cast a mage light into dark corners. Silly, I know, but you know Buffy and 'utility' magic.

One of Jerric’s most gleeful discoveries was that in Skyrim he could cast real light using Alteration spells. He never could get Cyrodiil’s Illusion lights through his head. Right after he learned Magelight he and Darnand (played by Marcurio as this was a PS3 game) went hunting vampires in that very dark cave near Whiterun. Jerric spent most of the time sticking light balls to Darnand while Darnand blew up all of the vampires. It’s a fond memory.

Here’s a picture from today. I love dragons.

Lovely dragon pic, and is that from PS3? That's gotta be tricky to capture if so.

That sounds funny with the Magelight spells. Marcurio is so arrogant, so does this transpire toward Darnand? .. Like, is Darnand also supposed to be arrogant, and having Marcurio as Darnand makes it seem like you're with Darnand?

Renee, that dragon is from Jensa’s PC game. She hasn’t finished the main quest or started Dragonborn in that one.

Darnand is supposed to be dangerously overconfident in some situations but not as blatantly arrogant as Marcurio. Darnand is much more reserved but he’s the most outspoken with Jerric so it worked in Jerric’s console games. Some of his comments are perfect, like the one about bringing artifacts back to the Arcane University and his exasperated rant when you ask him to carry things. A few of the extremely arrogant ones like “If these ruins frighten you, take comfort in the knowledge that I am here” work with Darnand’s wry sense of humor. If I didn’t know these characters so well the differences might have been distracting, but instead it was awesome to finally have them both adventuring together in the game rather than having one of them just in my imagination.


ADDED: Oh, and I wrapped things up with Jensa for a while with a trip to Winterhold. Jensa finally reached Expert in Conjuration, and she really wanted to polish her skills a little with a rare session of paid training. The trainer at the college told her there was nothing he could teach her. That was disappointing and confirmed Jensa’s suspicion that the College was pointless other than as a containment area for daedra loving mages. Then she hit the tavern on the way out of town (of course) and met Starhawk from SubRosa’s Nature Summoning mod, which is where all of Jensa’s summoned animals come from. Starhawk helped her improve her skill and the two became friends. Jensa is from a matrilineal clan of mountain hunters but has wandered far from her origins, so meeting Starhawk at this point in her game was pretty much perfect.


This post has been edited by Grits: Sep 13 2014, 01:39 PM

How perfect for Jensa! I suspect she might like the RL Starhawk as well.

Persephone and I came to the same conclusion about the Daedra-loving mages of the Winterhold College. No, I don't want to summon an unbound Dremora, let alone a bound one. I wonder why the Vigilants never attack them? It would seem like an obvious thing.

I look up the names of all of your NPCs when I meet them, since I know they all hold meaning. Starhawk was an excellent person to read about.

Darnand is my character who feels most at home at the College. Not a big surprise. Even Jerric who is an enthusiastic supporter of College works and pals around with a Frost Atronach prefers to stay at the inn.

Here’s a pic from Marius’s most recent adventure. It’s a location from a mod. Things had gotten hectic enough for him to use the Flame Thrall scroll that he has been hoarding against just such an emergency. Then there was a cave-in, and this is what they found next.

Looks like the three of them are bickering about who is responsible for getting them into this predicament.

And Ms. Flame is just coolly hanging out!

Ooops! Who broke the bridge!

Latest character: Drelka, a port from my Evergloam mod for Oblivion. She's a Daedra Seducer still, and using an Absorb Health spell (thanks to SubRosa) as her main weapon.

She either wears wings and nothing else, which is her battle attire, or else she'll wear something by the classical Greek couturier, Diaphanos, as seen at home.

She's towing Lydia around at the moment, but she might use Rayya for a while. As a mage, she needs a tank companion, rather than another mage.

This post has been edited by ghastley: Jul 6 2015, 08:28 PM

ghastley, Drelka looks really nice! I like her hair (color and style) and that goes well with her circlet.

*


As everyone probably knows, Misa's move to Skyrim from Morrowind has not been an easy trip. She lost her boobs nippies and privates in the move, and I've spent the better part of two days trying to find them. Here are some screens of her quest to find her missing body parts:



Original Misa:



http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq67/Ma...zpsfac65047.png


http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq67/Ma...zpsdc9709d1.png




Misa Next gen: (no privates, nips = yes; but they are colorless; still working on fixing her):


http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq67/Ma...zps14bad233.png



http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq67/Ma...zps92c38f4a.png



http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq67/Ma...zpsc429ce11.png



http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq67/Ma...zps522c0c86.png





"Do I really have to wear this thing? You call this a bikini?"



http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq67/Ma...zps39dd085e.png




Me thinks Misa is getting pissed off:


http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq67/Ma...zpsfe5bc332.png




Misa getting aggravated that I won't leave her boobs alone for 10 minutes - but at least I got them fixed finally!:


http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq67/Ma...zps329d43a3.png


http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq67/Ma...zpsecb6826f.png


http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq67/Ma...zps31299d72.png




Seperate Save Misa test new look - I just can't seem to choose which look I like best, urk!:



http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq67/Ma...zpsb5280560.png


http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq67/Ma...zps2da5f831.png






Aw, don't go away mad! (By the way, that tavern she is stomping off from is the one I'm making over in the Skyrim mods section)!



http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq67/Ma...zpsf4f01e7d.png



*




This post has been edited by mALX: Oct 23 2014, 08:49 AM

The adventures of Misa vs the Character Creation Monster! She looks like she's going to be fun once you get her bits all sorted out. If you're asking for input on her hair. . . as much as I like longer hair, I think the shorter style you have for her looks nicer - and I'll bet it will tend to cause less clipping as you get her into. . . more substantial clothes and armors?

ghastley, Drelka looks fabulous in Skyrim! Her outfit looks great and I’m sure her battle attire looks even better. I love that hairstyle on her. Rayya in her similarly Diaphanosed attire would be a fun companion. Dare I hope that some day my TG guy might get to meet her?

mALX, Misa looks great! The long hair is very pretty and it would be hard to choose just one of her looks. I think I prefer the way her face looks without bangs so you can see more of it. You did an awesome job with her!

Here’s a shot of Jensa’s most recent adventure. She did the work to get here without thinking much about it. Now she’s wondering if it was a good idea after all.

GAAAAAH! I was so caught up with fixing Misa up that I forgot to comment this - THIS screen (naked with wings) is the one that sent me back to Nexus trying to find that hair! Misa' hair was supposed to be red, but Skyrim's vanilla textures didn't really give you any options - and for some reason neither the ponytail mod or the Apachi one added any colors onto my character gen.

I found one that gave me a better red color at least, glad of that! With all those hundreds of hairstyles it was impossible to see hardly any of them with those sliders, urk. Wish they had a better way to parse through them.

Anyway, Awesome shots, and thanks for the inspiration and hope they gave me for a better red head, lol.

I LOVE that she towed Lydia around, would love to hear some of those stories, lol. I'm still catch-up reading Clark in Oblivion, but can't wait to hear what his encounter with Lydia is like - he can't come all the way to Skyrim and not meet Lydia, lol.





@ Grits - JENSA!!! I used to love following her adventures in Skyrim! She looks awesome !!!

The hair shade was tweaked in RaceMenu which gives you the ability to set the colour, instead of just choosing from presets. I think that recommendation came from one of threads here. It's aware of the extra hair styles added by other mods, and includes a few extra skin overlays (warpaint, dirt, and other details).

If I remember right, I installed that mod to use Ethereal Elven Overhaul for an Elf character, and started using it for all of the races.

Edit: And I'll have to disappoint you. The Clark in Skyrim tale starts after he's already met Lydia, and she's his housecarl. The Dragonborn is someone else, but she's already in Clark's employ before that part happens.

This post has been edited by ghastley: Oct 23 2014, 04:53 PM