SubRosa - Sounds like Persephone the Dark is on her way to Lopov City aka Whiterun. As far as having a hit out on her from the Thalmor I only have one thing to say to Persephone - "You go, girl!"

Lopov - I loved Lucius' observations about the absurdity of locking the city gates to . . . keep dragons out? Plenty to see and do in Whiterun for sure.

I always felt the same way about the 3 guards sent to Riverwood as locking the gates to keep out the dragon. A dragon just destroyed an Imperial fortress and slaughtered almost everyone within. So let's send three guys with arrows fresh in the knees to stop it in case it attacks Riverwood. What are those poor sods going to do, bleed all over Alduin?

Persephone made it to Whiterun, and paused at the blacksmith's to sell off some loot. Since she was going to see the Jarl anyway, Persephone agreed to take a sword from the blacksmith to her father the steward. The snobby elf in Dragonsreach almost got her head sliced off when she came at Persephone with a drawn blade, but luckily for her the Jarl spoke up first.

After a lot of wind being released on and near the Jarl's throne, Persephone discharged her duty to Gerdur. No sooner had she turned over the baseball home plate dragon stone to Farengar-the-not-so-secret-ahole, did Persephone learn that a dragon was attacking. The locals were all fired up over going out and killing it. Persephone wondered why no one ever thought of trying to talk to the dragon first, and maybe asking why it was going around ravaging the countryside. But apparently that sort of thing went out of style in the First Era.

Persephone never did get the chance to open diplomatic relations with the dragon at the Western Watchtower. So it looks like the kill first, ask questions never approach seems to work in this Era.

Oh, a night dragon fight! That must have been spectacular if the screenie is any indication.

In another universe of Skyrim that dragon got killed yet again, poor bastard.

--

Lucius merely meant to inform steward Avenicci that bandits at Redoran's Retreat no longer represent a trouble, yet events have taken a completely unexpected turn. While the steward was counting the gold, given to Lucius as a reward, Jarl Balgruuf the Greater noticed him and remembered hearing rumors about some Imperial who recently arrived to Whiterun and claimed to be a survivor of the dragon's attack on Helgen. After questioning him and giving him a new assignment to retrieve an ancient dragon tablet from Bleak Falls Barrow, Jarl and his closest advisors were even more surprised when the same survivor already had the tablet in his possession and merely handed it over to the court wizard, obviously not aware of the rare and precious artifact, old as much as dragons.

And an hour later this same survivor was standing atop a wall of ruined Western Watchtower of Whiterun, trying to help wounded soldiers while checking the sky for the dragon.

I'm not sure if this was the right decision. What experiences do I have with dragons? None. Absolutely none. I was merely an escapee at Helgen, trying to avoid its flaming breath and making to nearest shelter as soon as possible. But Irileth...there was something inspiring in her speech. Even if she never saw dragons in her life, there was courage felt in her words, an unquestionable loyalty to the town sher serves. I'm not sure how will we do it. If it's the same dragon from Helgen, we will probably end up roasted.

Lucius managed to calm himself a little when he spotted something approaching from the south. What at first seemed like a small dot in the distance, was getting bigger with every passing second and there was no doubt that the dragon is returning to finish what he started.

"Gods help us all! Here he comes again!" shouted one of Whiterun soldiers.

Gods help us indeed.

Lucius, Irileth, Maurice and several Whiterun soldiers were ready for the dragon, clenching their bows, yet none of them were ready for what followed. A huge roar echoed over Whiterun hold and the dragon unleashed a storm of fireballs, not only from its mouth but also from the sky. The attack was so forceful that Lucius was pushed backwards, down from the wall. Before falling, he saw many Whiterun soldiers being on fire, helplessly trying to run in the watchtower. Maurice was also caught on fire and he wanted to join the soldiers yet the dragon roared once again, and once again did blazing fireballs hit the ground, sending already wounded soldiers and Maurice in the air before they fell down, slowly dying in fiery torment.

This is the end! We won't be able to defeat it!

Lucius managed to get on his legs and heal himself as quickly as possible, luckily the dragon ignored him for now and focused on Irileth and other soldiers. Although he was sure that the battle was lost, Lucius strung his bow and quickly fired an arrow in the flying dragon's direction. He was not sure whether he'll hit it or not but it was his chance because the dragon was hovering above the watchtower. The arrow barely scratched its thick skin yet it warned him of Lucius presence and the beast rushed against him, opening its mouth, ready to roar again. Lucius knew what follows the earsplitting roar so this time he was ready. At least ready to try and avoid the fireballs. Just as the dragon roared, Lucius quickly sprinted to the side and while he felt hot fireballs passing him, almost all of them missed him and hit an already burned tree instead.

This seems to be trick! He can only focus on one place at the moment, and if I manage to avoid it...

Lucius felt a small glimmer of hope inside him but there was no time to celebrate yet. The dragon landed not far from him, ready to bite him, clench him, or do whatever he wanted with this petty human.

So standing in front of it doesn't seem like a good idea...

He unsheathed his trusted Imperial sword that seemed so useless against the dragon, quickly sprinted to its side and began whacking at it like mad. There was no time for precision, no time to make perfect hits, but when he saw blood spurting through its thick skin, he felt more encouraged. Occasionally, the dragon managed to swing at Lucius with its paws but these scars were nothing compared to the firestorm. The dragon then lifted its head and Lucius expected it to roar yet it didn't, instead it shouted something completely indistinctive to Lucius' ears and suddenly the brave Imperial was pushed backwards, once again falling down. The dragon then rose in the air and while Lucius was standing up, it was getting ready for another attack. But at that time Irileth and surviving soldiers appeared from behind, unleashing a bunch of arrows at it, confusing the bloody beast who obviously changed its mind, turned in the air and landed again, its back facing towards Lucius.

Now or never!

He sprinted up to the beast's tail, yet again whacking at it as fast as possible while the soldiers, led by Irileth, were hitting its head from up front. The dragon was now covered in blood, obviously not able to fly anymore, and what seemed before like a glimmer of hope, now felt closer to victory. Lucius, encouraged, now ran in front of the dragon, hoping that soldiers won't hit him instead. He swung his blood-covered sword straight through the dragon's face, and the creature's blood splashed on Lucius' face. But he didn't care, not now, when the dragon was obviously so close to its demise. It managed to tilt its head down once more, hitting Lucius but this was its last move. Soldiers fired more arrows straight to its body and Lucius stabbed his sword into his left eye. The dragon tried once again to rise up, perhaps trying to escape, but then his head slumped on the floor. As Lucius wanted to stab his sword through its nose, the dragon's right eye widened and it screamed:

"Dovahkiin, Nooooooooooooo...."

The scream was loud and paralyzing and Lucius had to step back to avoid any magic that the dragon was trying to cast on them. But this was not magic, this was merely the last shout of this ancient beast that now slowly closed his right eye, blood flowing from several wounds on his body. Yet what happened next, became a part of Skyrim's history.

Lucius felt the same force passing through him as in Bleak Falls Barrow, like some hidden magic was passing in and out of him, for a few seconds he felt like he's going to explode and before his very eyes, the dragon was burning, its skin disappearing until only its huge skeleton remained lying on the road, like it has been there for ages. At the same time the force passing through Lucius ceased and everything seemed to return to normal.

"By the Gods! You are the Dragonborn! The hero from the legends," said one of the guards and carefully approached Lucius.

"What? What does that mean?"

"In older days some people were able to shout just like the dragons do. These people were called Dragonborn and they were able to shout without any special powers. You saw with your own eyes what happened to you!"

"I don't know what happened! I did nothing, I was just standing here when it...when it happened!"

"You absorbed its soul, that's what happened!"

Irileth approached, trying to shut up the talking guard but in vain - every other guard, all of them were Nords, said that Lucius was apparently gifted with the blood of the Divines.

"What matter is that the dragon is dead!" snarled Irileth.

"I agree with her," said Lucius, "the beast is dead but so are our friends. Even monk Maurice whom I was supposed to safely accompany to Eldergleam. We have to make sure that all of them will have a decent burial."

But guards didn't give up so easily.

"Try to shout! Prove us that you are the Dragonborn!"

"Yes, do it, Imperial! Try to shout!"

"Shout, Imperial, shout! Show our Housecarl that you are the Dragonborn from the legends!"

"I can't shout, damn you!" said Lucius but he didn't really believe himself. He felt something changed inside him when the dragon's body disappeared and its life force was sucked to its body. He felt like is now able to say some words, words that he learned at the Bleak Falls Barrows.

But this can't be...it can't be! I'm only imagining things! There's no sense in any of this!

"Try to shout! Show us..."

"I CAN'T SHOUT! Understand? I can't! I'm not the Dragonborn you speak of. Make sure that our comrades get a burial that they deserve. Now please excuse me. I have to go."

Having turned around, Lucius left the group from Whiterun behind, all of them stunned at his reaction.

"I told you," said Irileth, "but now it's it enough of this Dragonborn nonsense. We have plenty of work to do here and we won't get it done any sooner by standing around."

"Only time will tell, Housecarl," said one of the guards, "only time will tell."

*the fight with Mirmulnir was so difficult because of Deadly Dragons mod. I love what that mod does, besides it's customizable."

This post has been edited by Lopov: Nov 20 2014, 09:14 PM

It sounds like Lucius was shouting at the end, even if he wasn't Shouting.

Persephone has been steadily making her way to the Throat of the World to speak to the Greybeards. She is guessing they have that name because they are a bunch of naked old women who do not shave their privates. But she could be wrong...

Naturally this meant slugging her way through several bandit dungeons along the way, including a newly populated bandit lair in Helgen. But she has finally ascended the steps of High Hrothgar, and is ready to meet these mysterious grey folk.

I have been making her game more interesting by not allowing potions to work on her undead body. But I decided to partially cave today, and made an undead potion mod. I took the Ravage Health/Magicka/Stamina potion effects and changed them to heal undead characters instead.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Nov 20 2014, 09:49 PM

Lopov, you're right! That poor Whiterun dragon sure does take a beating from Irileth and every passing dragonborn she can find!

Love that line right there.

And so hmmm, I wonder if he's ever going to shout?

This post has been edited by Renee Gade IV: Nov 22 2014, 01:08 AM

Jerric is on the same path as Persephone and Lucius. I gave him a new game for his birthday, this time with dragons!

He went straight in to Dragonsreach and picked up Lildereth, then he bought the tome to summon Slim (from SubRosa’s awesome Undead Summoning mod) and spent the rest of his coin on ale, food, mead, food, and a bottle of spiced wine for Lil.

I had to laugh at the typical Jerric situation that occurred at Adrienne’s. He is not going to be a blacksmith, but he needed the tanning rack to get Lil her outfit. Funnily enough he ran out of leather before he could finish her pants. Lil was standing there in thigh boots and a tunic, Jerric was telling her he really didn’t plan it this way, and I was wiping the tears from my eyes. This Nord.

Here’s a picture of Jerric, Slim, and Lil on the way back from Bleak Falls Barrow. (He did manage to get her some pants.) This was after yet another game of find-the-elf, where he turns around and she is nowhere to be seen only to hear a soft “I’ve got your back” seconds later. This time she was behind the skeleton. This happened a short time later. I’m pretty sure that after today Riverwood is going to build another bridge.

No pics of Lil without her pants! I am sure some of my characters would have accidentally planned things that way as well!

Slim is packing some heat over by Anise's Cabin! Maybe you should rename him Sniper Slim? Or Sharpshooter Slim?

At least the Nord is taking a bath! Thank goodness the water is not turning yellow. I see Ulfe is joining in as well!



Persephone did meet the Greybeards, and was disappointed to find that they were just a bunch of old men. Shouting ensued, and Persephone left on a mission to Hustongrav to find an undead spacecraft horn of an old dead guy.

It has been a long trip from High Hrothgar. Naturally Persephone made several stops along the way, to clean out some bandits lairs and necromancer hangouts. She even ran into a dragon while trying to cross through Cold Rock Pass. That turned into an interesting battle at Eldersblood Peak, which I actually have a vid for. I thought that with dragons in the game, the trolls that normally spawn there would taken out of the game. But they were there as well, which resulted in a three sided fight between Persephone, Frost Trolls, and Dragon.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Nov 22 2014, 06:15 PM

Looks like there's no need to fear for the future of Skyrim with so many heroes fighting dragons.

The story about Lil's pants made me laugh.

And another about the Slim, I haven't seen him before.

Hmm ... A$$less chaps. And you thought we'd only see those in NYC.

I'll have to wait until I'm on a comp good enough to view that vid, SR.

I wrote a comment for that vid but on Youtube instead of here.

Oh, that weird belly flop landing? I didn't do anything to make the dragon do that. At least I don't think I did. I am guessing it is some kind of "flatten everything" maneuver.

Of course you didn't do it, it was Persephone who did it, she has hidden powers that you're not aware of.

Joke aside, I was convinced that this was a dragon shout that allows you to force dragons to land.

I think that is the Dragonrend shout? I remember it from King Coin's Aravi videos. His character Aravi went through the main quest, and I recall that shout being one that you get as part of the storyline to defeat Alduin.

What is interesting is that landing actually changed the ground texture. Before it was all snow covered stones. But afterward you can see an area of churned up dirt all around where the dragon hit the ground.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Nov 22 2014, 10:03 PM

Poor Jerric – he’s just born to be a hero no matter where he goes. He’ll make a darn good dragonborn though, that is for sure. I’ve seen that outfit on Lil before I think and it looks fantastic on her – so very foresty. And leave it to Jerric to drop all his duds before crossing the river. Nice to see Ulfe in there with him though.

Alaie and Annekke arrived in Dawnstar hoping to find information regarding Dwemer ruins in the area. What they actually found was a Priest of Mara and some very irritable townspeople.

Suffice it to say that Annekke found herself rolling her eyes at the Kat's overly helpful nature, particularly since she herself had to stay outside in the cold whilst the Dunmer and the Khajiit - (an unlikely pairing) - ventured inside Nightcaller Temple to resolve the problem that was keeping the good folk of Dawnstar awake.

Annekke has never had much truck the Daedra although, as with everyone, she has a soft spot for Azura and so to be honest she was fine with letting her companion resolve whatever issues there were. It does puzzle her that the Kat is so comfortable around Dunmer though, given the two race's history. She dislikes Imperials with a passion, and they are the same species!
(Apparently).
Still and all, Alaie was successful and the Priest offered his services to them, although that was a bit of a step too far, and Alaie'eesa politely declined.

They made their way back to Dawnstar and Annekke was about to joke that she reckoned the only reason why Alaie wanted the town's people to be able to sleep once more was because she wanted to rob them when a familiar shape descended from the skies, and panic erupted on the ground...

Lucius is at a mining camp called Darkwater Crossing. He intended just to spend a night there and continue his search for the Eldergleam Sanctuary the next day, but he met some friendly folks here in Skyrim and decided to stay a little longer.

Before coming to Darkwater Crossing, he encountered another dragon not far from the camp and this action hasn't gone unnoticed by miners who were happy to share a company of the man who killed the dragon. One of them, a Dunmer called Sondas Drenim, told Lucius about his missing Argonian friend Derkeethus who went to catch some fish by nearby waterfalls yet never returned.

Lucius decided to search for Derkeethus but the task turned out to be more complicated as he predicted it to be. Nonetheless, after a long search he found the captured Argonian in a Falmer-infested Nordic ruin called Darkwater pass, quite a distance away from where Derkeethus was catching fish.

Battling a horde of Falmer, Lucius freed the Argonian fisherman from his cell and safely escorted him back to Darkwater Crossing. To protect him even more, Lucius gave him an enchanted Orcish mace of Harvesting that he found some time ago and intend to sell it yet he thinks that it'll serve Derkeethus better, because now he'll be able to break some Falmer skulls if they ambush him again.

Later on, his long search for the Eldergleam Sanctuary began. It was long because Lucius didn't know its exact location and had to search the entire area north of Darkwater Crossing to find it.* He came upon the dragon's lair and absorbed another word of power. And it looks like that he won't be able to deny his Dragonborn heritage to himself for long.

He also came upon a desecrated shrine of Akatosh, remains of what seemed like a sunken fort, a Nordic burial site where he was attacked by necromancers, and lastly to the Eldergleam Sanctuary. However, once there, he couldn't bring himself to harm the Eldergleam tree, especially not after being warned by Kynareth followers that bad things will happen if the sacred tree is damaged.

Lucius agreed that the nature should take its own course and left the sanctuary without hurting the tree. Perhaps Gildergreen in Whiterun will never be restored but at least he'll sleep easily, knowing that he didn't touch the Kynareth's sacred tree. Feeling good and tired he returned to Darkwater Crossing.

*I could use the map to find out the exact location but I RP-ed that Lucius had only a vague description of where it is, so he had to search for it by himself

Phon - Aww, nice of The Kat to help that Priest of Mara. I really like the 'Nightcrawler' Temple quest.

Lopov - Darkwater Crossing is a popular place. Buffy likes it too. And now it has its lizard back!

I think I'm the only one right now who hasn't got a Dragonborn.