I did it! I beat the game! All Your Base Are Belong To Us!

Which is to say, Persephone has just completely explored all of mainland Skyrim, discovering every location, and clearing every dungeon that can be cleared (and that she wanted to, she doesn't go around killing animals).

Of course there are a few places she never did, because they are only created by quests that Persephone doesn't want to do, like how the DB questline takes you to the Emperor's ship. I also noticed that Japhet's Folly disappeared from her world map, even though she has done the East Empire quest. I think that might be intentional though, as from what I read on the UESP, going there after finishing the quest can leave you trapped there.

That only leaves Solstheim left. I left her standing on the deck of the Northern Maiden in Windhelm's harbor, ready to travel north for more adventures. Tbh, though, I am thinking of stopping here, and starting Persephone 2.0 instead.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Nov 14 2014, 09:58 PM

'Grats to you for P-10wning the game with yer toon!

If you haven't seen Solstheim yet, you should maybe go there and wander around some before starting anew.

Speaking of which, I have found starting anew to be a pleasure in Skyrim. I think that is because the chargen menu is so easy to work with. It's easy to remake Buffy and have her look the same. I think Buffy's on about her fifth playthrough. Most of them were only 50 hours or so and used to learn how to refine things. I think her last one was a couple hundred hours and her current playthrough is well over 500 hours.

I think Buffy's discovered all locations and cleared all the ones that we want to clear. Our fast respawn mod and fun/creative use of radiant quests ensure plenty of continuing fun. Buffy usually has a bounty quest for some Jarl going, a couple College 'fetch some book' quests and a Companions quest ongoing. Her faves are the Companions hostage rescue quests.

How long did it take you to explore every possible location? I don't expect a detailed answer in years, months, days and hours but just in general?

--

There was something about her eyes, something that Lucius found sinister on one hand yet charming on the other hand. When he was talking to her, it felt like nothing else matters except her but as soon as he made a few steps away from her, he found her odd and scary, even repulsive. Nonetheless, the pay was too good for mere wood chopping so he intended to stay at the Half-Moon mill for a while to earn much needed gold.

Hert, the lady in charge of the mill was of course not an ordinary human. She was a vampire and like many of her kin, she was a very good seductress and hypnotist, capable of playing with minds of those around her. She was still young and her powers haven't yet fully developed, so her powers were limited only to her close vicinity. Seasoned travelers might see through her scheme but Lucius hasn't slain many vampires in his life, not to mention that because of recent stressful events he was more susceptible to Hert's magic.

She could have easily fed on him while he was sleeping like a baby in her shack yet she decided not do it. Not only because this would anger Hern, her husband, currently on a hunt in the Reach, but also because she sensed something unexplainable when controlling his mind. To Hert it felt like there were some hidden powers inside him, powers that set him apart from ordinary men and mer.

Although Lucius intended to stay at the mill for more than just one day, he changed his mind the next morning. When Hert was not close to him, he could think for himself again, and something just didn't feel right at that mill. He found what looked like a pile of human bones in a shack close to mill yesterday, yet when he tried to ask Hert about it, he just couldn't do it, instead he picked up an axe and continued chopping wood.

So this morning he waved at Hert's from a safe distance, thanking her for honest payment.

"Do stay for a while," she said with a soft voice,"there is much more wood to be chopped. And I'm all alone out here..."

Lucius almost agreed but he forced himself to think about that pile of bones.

"No, no...I'm leaving. Someone other will come by sooner or later. Goodbye!"

He waved at her once again then hastily left the mill.

...

Just like Keiko the Khajiit, Lucius didn't have any real purpose in Skyrim. At least not yet. He didn't think much about it before when he was still a soldier in the Emperor's Army, but now he really appreciated some freedom. He turned off the main path a little farther west from the Half-Moon Mill and continued by Lake Ilinalta. He came upon a sunken fort and despite reading a fisherman's journal, warning any readers to stay away from the cursed fort, he pushed on.

It turned out that Ilinalta's Deep wasn't much different from forts in Cyrodiil. It was infested by necromancers, probably preying on unsuspecting travelers or fishermen, capturing them and experimenting with their minds and bodies. Although he wasn't a member of the Legion anymore, Lucius still felt like on an official assignment. He didn't have any qualms about "killing" skeletons with a bow from shadows, but he switched to his sword when battling necromancers. It just didn't feel right to him to attack any human (or beast) enemies while undetected - he never operated as such in the Legion and he didn't intend to change his habits now.

It was late when he was done clearing Ilinalta's Deep of its evil denizens and he decided to rest in this wet and damp place. Fortunately, he found some warm fur armor in an ash pile, probably belonging to some unfortunate victim of the necromancers. He also found a new hunting bow, more arrows and some proper, freshly baked food. After filling himself up, Lucius went to sleep.

Uh oh. Lucius almost got sucked in by a vampiress! Happily he decided that hunting necrodudes in a dungeon was safer. I think he's right!

Buffy is having a delightfully restful day in Solitude today. It’s not unusual for her to pull into a city in the middle of the afternoon, barter some pelts for food and be on the road again within an hour. She normally spends the night under the stars with her mare. But she felt like pampering herself this visit. Besides, she knew that Superian was enjoying the company of other horses in Skyrim's finest stable for a change as well.

So, after a pleasant evening of fine dining, wine and music in the Winking Skeever, she rented a room there, enjoyed a delicious hot bath and spent the night.

She slept in until the sun was actually up, then stepped out into town for a day of shopping. Her first stop was at the fletcher who welcomed her with, “What do you want, little elf?”

Her reception was a bit warmer from the blacksmith – “Nice robes. You some kinda wizard?”

She then passed a guard who looked like he’d been on duty for quite some time. “Hail, Summoner. Conjurer me a warm bed, would you?”

Buffy suppressed a giggle and coyly replied, “Are you flirting with me?”

The guard quickly changed the subject. “Look! Is that a dragon?”

Buffy smiled as she continued on, thinking, 'At least he didn't say he'd rather sleep with his horse than a Bosmer.'

Then she stopped in to Angeline's Aromatics to trade a few worthless potions she had found in her travels for some useful poisons. Buffy has never touched an alchemy lab in Skyrim, you see, and relies completely on found/bought potions/poisons for the few times she uses them. She enjoyed chatting with the older alchemist and her young apprentice. In fact, she even decided to breakfast there. While sitting on a bench in the shop enjoying the tea, fresh bread and eider cheese she bought from the ladies, she heard an exchange between them that went like this:

Angeline: "Vivienne, could you check our supplies of mandrake root?"
Vivienne: "Which one is that again?"
Angeline: "It's the root that looks like an ugly little man."
Vivienne: "In that case, I'm pretty sure it tried to buy me a drink last night."

Buffy was quick to apologize for spraying tea around the shop and quickly summoned a towel to clean up. . . .

Oh well, off to the Radiant Raiment next.

Lopov: Thanks to the timestamp the game puts on every savegame, I can tell you exactly how long it took to clear out mainland Skyrim. It took 139 hours, 29 minutes, and 16 seconds. I know that for some folks, playing one character for that amount of time is nothing. But for me that is a record!

Uh oh, Luke Skyrimwalker might be in trouble with the sinister lady who runs Half-Moon Mill! I hope his armor has a high collar, preferably made of steel!

Acadian: What a delightful interchange between Viviene and Angeline! I imagine Buffy has had many mandrake roots try to buy her drinks as well!

Great dialogues of Buffy!




Well for me this is also a lot of time. In the end it's content that matters, not hours.

Speaking of vampires, do you know of any mod that'd revert vampire faces back to as they were in vanilla, even with DG installed? I really dislike what DG did to vampires.

If you are using mods for your male and female face texture, you can fix the butt faces yourself rather easily. I just posted how a few weeks ago. Now where was that...

Ah, here it is:
All you have to do is go to your Data\Textures\Actors\Female folder. Find femalehead.dds and femalehead_msn.dds. Copy each, paste the copies in the same folder, and rename them femaleheadvampire.dds and femaleheadvampire_msn.dds.

Viola! your female vampires look the same as your regular wimmins. Do the same to the two male head texture files to fix the boy fangs.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Nov 15 2014, 10:51 PM

Thanks! This applies to NPCs as well?

Your'e toon beat hte game ? 4 teh immurshunz !


Acadian: Nice to read a Buffy snippet. I thought a dragon was gonna show up after the guard changed subjects! Always nice to shop in Solitude though. It's the closest thing to Cyrodiil, for sure.

Lopov: I think I know what's gonna happen next, but let's see....

This post has been edited by Renee Gade IV: Nov 16 2014, 01:36 PM

Thanks, folks! It was the in-game exchange between those alchemists that made me want to freeze the moment and share it.

I tried to take the NPC dialogue straight from the game. After playing some more, I realize that how the guard's random dragon line goes is, "What is it? A dragon?"

Lopov, sorry couldn't help on the vampirebuttfaces. I've never played one. Steam says Buffy and I are coming up on 1000 hours of Skyrim. I've restarted her several times and her current game is about 300 hours. Once in a great while, we'll discover a new place, but that has become very rare now so I think her map is about full. She's a voracious explorer and tends to use the same very unscientific travel patterns that a robotic vacuum uses - randomly roaming around. Eventually, everything gets clean found.

Edit: Okay, just popped into Buffy's game. She's discovered 370 locations and cleared 300 dungeons. That includes Solstheim and probably a handful of mod-added places. And I know she's cleared many of those dungeons numerous times - that's where our faster respawn mod helps. Sneaking into a dungeon only to find it empty = cranky elf.

This post has been edited by Acadian: Nov 16 2014, 05:17 PM

Don't worry, Lucius won't get infected by vampirism, if that's what you meant. I merely want vampires to look as they looked before Dawnguard, because with DG installed they look like emos.

That's many hours, Acadian, but I'm sure there are even more ahead.

It affects all vampires in the game. At least all those that belong to a vampire race. Some like Serana are not really vampires, but from the FemaleNord race, etc... Those still look the same as any other member of their actual race.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Nov 16 2014, 06:27 PM

"I bet he'll sell the golden claw instead of bringing it back here! I shouldn't have trusted him in the first place. He looked too...inexperienced," ranted Lucan Valerius, a proprietor of the only shop in sleepy Riverwood - Riverwood Trader.

"Oh, please, would you stop it? It takes some time to track down that thief. And I think we did the right thing to trust him. He didn't seem like a thief to me at all," said his sister Camilla, rolling her eyes.

"You are too trustful to strangers, I tell you..."

"Seems like you two are always at odds with each other."

Neither Lucan nor Camilla heard the traveler whom they trusted to retrieve the stolen claw, entering Riverwood Trader. But they immediately noticed the golden claw in his hand.

"By the eight, you got it! You actually got it!" Lucan exclaimed in delight. "Funny, I remember it being bigger. He he, funny indeed. Here's your payment, stranger. Well done! The golden claw is back to where it belongs."

"It means so much to us to have the claw back where it belongs. Thank you!" said Camilla. "I'm cooking some beef, would you join us?"

"Sounds good, thanks."

Both Camilla and Lucan were curious about what happened at the Bleak Falls Barrow, and Lucius told them about how he chased the Dunmer thief through the barrow halls and thus woke up restless Draugr who enacted the justice instead of him. But he decided not to tell them about ancient Nordic magic that he witnessed deep within the barrow. It was like he felt a strong pull towards a wall, ornated with dragon-like symbols, and upon getting closer he felt a powerful, unexplainable force passing through him. This force did something to him but Lucius didn't know what yet he felt that at that moment something inside him changed. Maybe it was just some harmless magic, he thought but he didn't really believe himself. Or maybe it was "something" else. Only time will tell.

After the dinner he bought some more food and the Lesser Ward Tome, bid farewell to the Valerius siblings and left Riverwood Trader.

Riverwood. The place where I was supposed to go with Ralof. Who knows what happened to him? Or if he is still here? It doesn't matter, maybe it's even better if we don't see each other.

After a good rest Lucius left Riverwood the next morning, leaving through western gates, passing two children playing with a dog.

A few days ago he found a corpse of an unfortunate adventurer close to the Anise's cabin and in his clenched fist was a note. The note which revealed the dead adventurer's plans: to seek out the Battle Axe of Fatigue at Knifepoint Ridge. Lucius wasn't interested in the axe but he had one good reason to travel to Knifepoint Ridge - if there were bandits, someone had to make them leave. It was an attitude which he retained from his days in the Imperial Legion.

He didn't know where Knifepoint Ridge was located, Lucan Valerius only told him that it's somewhere in the Falkreath Hold. But Lucius immediately remembered someone who could help him, that is if that beast was still where they met for the first time.

...

"Greetings, Keiko."

"Lucius, my Imperial friend! This one is happy to see you!"

Lucius and Keiko shook hands atop the Falkreath Watchtower where they met for the first time a few days ago.

"This one sees that Lucius is now better prepared for adventuring in Skyrim."

"Indeed I am. And I need your help again - have you ever heard of Knifepoint Ridge?"

"This one has heard about it but never been there. It is somewhere to the west of here but this one can't say anything else that would help you. If you insist on going there, you will have to rely on yourself."

"It will do. I have time, plenty of time."

Keiko and Lucius had dinner together and then Lucius wandered west, in a search for Knifepoint Ridge.

...

It turned out that Keiko's information was precise enough and he found Knifepoint Ridge in the evening of the same day. He noticed a watchtower and decided to try and approach the ridge from the other side - that is by climbing up the steep hill which was not patrolled as the main road.

Though he made it to the ridge unnoticed, he didn't remain hidden for long, and within minutes, almost every bandit outside, be it a swordsman, an archer or a mage, was trying to kill the intruder. None of them was successful, Lucius managed to execute all of his attackers, wielding the sword in his right hand while healing himself with his left hand. Beside swording he was interested in magic since his childhood, especially in restorative magic, and it proved very useful when in combat.

Lucius cleared out Knifepoint Ridge, found the Battleaxe of Fatigue, and decided to stay at the ridge for some time. What he needs, is to spend some time alone, away from civilization, like he had often done in the past, when he needed to make plans for the future or reminisce on the past events.

This post has been edited by Lopov: Nov 16 2014, 09:48 PM

Heh, you can take the Imperial out of the Legion but you can't take the Legion out of the Imperial. Putting draugr and bandits to the blade!

SubRosa, congrats to Persephone, the toon who beat the game! It sounds like a good time for her to retire and be un-born all over again.

ghastley, I think Winstad Manor makes a great base for a seafaring character. The Zanimal built it and stashed his favorite Dunmer mage there for recreational purposes. (She’s quite happy there, no Dunmer mages were technically enthralled in the staffing of the Z’s larder vampire den.) It’s very private. Plus there’s a nice view of the Icerunner if you’ve been naughty with Jaree-Ra.

Acadian, what a fun day with Buffy in Solitude!

Lopov, I love how Lucius goes back to visit Keiko.


The Girls of Whiterun came out to play today. Sofie Mikkesdaughter just won’t let someone else have a turn. She and teen Braith are on the trail of a legendary sword in the Reach. They stopped by Soljund’s Sinkhole on the way past (because the guy in charge got right in Sofie’s face) and put some draugr to rest. Sofie had the fight of her life in there. She kept getting disarmed and thankfully her blade was enchanted so she could find it again, because that place was pretty dark. Also the draugr kept healing himself faster than she could hurt him. She ended up picking up an axe and dual-wielding it with her sword Braith-style to finally put him down.

Braith by the way got hung up somewhere and didn’t appear until after the fight. Sofe was pretty proud of herself for getting it done alone. She was also hurt pretty badly and had to rest before they went back outside.

There were some traps in the beginning. Sofe does not have the perk to avoid them so she has to be careful. The dog was not careful. I kept hearing clunk-yelp, clunk-yelp the whole way through! I had forgotten that Sofe named the dog ‘Trouble.’

Grits!

Clunk-yelp. Clunk-yelp. Yup, here comes Trouble

Poor Sofie. That Disarm shout is so annoying! Good thing she was able to take care of business, dual welding style, all by herself. Poor Trouble! I hope Sofie made him some steel pawlets for those aching legs!

Since being rescued from the Imperial Legion by that nice black dragon, Dark Persephone has been roaming the forests of Falkreath. I decided to name her sword Lamentation, and has caused much of its namesake among the bandits and vampires of the Hold. Not to mention the Thalmor, who now have a hit out on her.

Having explored all of the eastern half of the Hold, Persephone has decided to head north. She picked up the Dragonstone from where she left it in Riverwood. Maybe someone up north can make some sense of it. In any case, she promised Gerdur that she would tell the Jarl about the dragon. Assuming he had not heard of it already. She has the feeling that news of dragons destroying army fortresses probably travels quick in any parts...

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Nov 18 2014, 03:09 AM

Good lord. I thought I was hardcore!



No, I meant the opposite of vampires. Like what LHM became. Knifepoint Ridge is pretty fun to take down, right? I think I know where that is. Requires some strategy from a distance, but then you can get close up because not all the bandits are alerted when you first get there.

Grits: Ahhh, poor Trouble. It's funny because one of my best friends has a dog named Sophie, so it's the opposite in your case.

This post has been edited by Renee Gade IV: Nov 18 2014, 01:24 PM

@Grits - sounds like a tough battle for Braith and Sofie. And...clunk-yelp
@SubRosa - I had to look the word "lamentation" up and it's the appropriate name for her sword. Lucius also picked up the Dragonstone, he has yet to find a buyer for it...
@Renee - it's a very interesting and inspirational place, especially when cleared of bandits. Lucius spent a few days there and maybe he'll return.

--

"Hold!" The city is closed with the dragons about."

Smart move. Smart indeed. Shut the doors of your town and let everyone outside be freely attacked by dragons. Dragons are not going to knock on the gates, they don't care if they are opened or closed. Besides, why are then farmers allowed to work in fields as they see fit...

These and similar thoughts rapidly passed through Lucius' head when he was denied entry to Whiterun. But he didn't say anything aloud. As a former legionnaire, he knew that debating with soldiers was most of the time useless. They only obeyed orders just like he did too many times. And he didn't always like his orders.

"I know about the dragon attack at Helgen. I was...not far when it happened. I saw the dragon with my own eyes. How will keeping me out make you feel any safer?"

"Fine, head on. But we'll be keeping an eye on you."

Unlikely but whatever you say. In large towns such as Whiterun it's difficult to keep an eye on somebody unless working under cover. But the guard had to sound intimidating, it was his duty after all.

And so Lucius visited his first town in Skyrim - Whiterun, the capital city of the eponymous hold. Walking around the town, he met boastful Olfrid Battle-Born who couldn't believe that Lucius never heard of him and his clan. Although he tried to tell him that he's in Whiterun for the first time, Olfrid drowned him out and had a rather long and loud speech about his clan and its heroic achievements. Lucius couldn't wait for the old man to stop talking so he could move out of his way. He also met a rather interesting individual called Heimskr who turned out to not have so annoying voice from up close compared to from far away, and he also knew a lot about Talos’ history.

But Lucius soon realized that prices in Whiterun were very high and despite his coin purse was quite fat upon his arrival, it was getting thinner rapidly. A drink and a meal at the Drunken Huntsman, then a new bow at the same store, and a meal at the Bannered Mare - he was down to only 200 septims and paying half of this sum for renting a room* at the Bannered Mare sounded too much, so he decided to spend the night somewhere else. Before leaving, however, he was given a bounty notice from the Jarl's steward to kill some bandits at Redoran's Retreat.

All rooms in the Drunken Huntsman were occupied and Erlindir, the proprietor, hinted at Lucius that some are permanently owned. As he was told by Erlindir, there weren't any other places in Whiterun to sleep and he should return to the Bannered Mare. But Lucius didn't give up so easily. And with a good reason because some time later he was allowed to sleep on one of the healing altars in the Temple of Kynareth. Before this, he had a rather lengthy conversation with leading priestess Danica Pure-Spring, and agreed to help her restore Gildergreen. Traveling around Skyrim and getting to know the land, its people and its traditions would do him good.

As a sign of gratitude Danica allowed him to spend the night in the Temple of Kynareth, so in the end Lucius at least found a place to sleep inside the walls of Whiterun.

--

*mod that increases prices for lodging
**as an interesting fact - Danica is the name of my mother except that we pronounce "c" as "tz". But Pure-Spring is not her surname