Lopov - I'm enjoying the adventures of Lydia and her Thane and hope they continue with the Main Quest.

Lopov, what a day for dragons! It’s neat that Thane Lucius is opening up and sharing a little of his past with Lydia. And you’re right, Jerric is through with the Main Quest. We’re going with Acadian’s “Dragons Lite” so that they’re in the game but not the main focus. So it’s up to Lucius to stop Alduin!

Renee, the crazy Delphine fight was just Jerric. I’ve had other characters who didn’t like her, but he’s the first one of mine to punch her enough times for her to turn hostile and fight back. I wasn’t exactly sure what would happen other than the inevitable (and familiar) trip to Dragonsreach with the guards. I was surprised that Delphine didn’t summon a Familiar and go spellsword on him with Flames in one hand. She didn’t even grab up one of the swords that was lying around, just whipped out an Elven dagger. That was another chuckle for me. An Elven dagger? Maybe she picked it up from one of the Thalmor who tried to assassinate her. Oh, also Orgnar came downstairs to defend his boss. Thankfully the guards showed up right afterward. Orgnar had an iron mace and Jerric had no beef with Orgnar.

Today is the four year anniversary of Jerric’s Story. He wants to celebrate in a tavern that has a female bard. I can’t think of one, but he remembers that there’s a skanky chick in Falkreath so he and Lildereth are heading in that direction. Lil has no objection, which means she either remembers something that he (and I) have forgotten or she is otherwise up to something. I’m going to park them at Dead Man’s Drink and do some writing.

Hooray for skanky chicks in bars! Erm, I mean for the four year anniversary!

The Stumbling Sabrecat had a skanky chick, last time I went there, but she was armed with a warhammer and hostile.

Though maybe that's the kind Jerric's looking for?

Still, if he's looking for one that sings, avoid Morthal.

Oh my gosh, Grits. Female bard = Lisette at the Winking Skeever in Solitude. Gorgeous, friendly, sings beautifully. . . what's not to love?

Sweet! I always forget my character's birthdays, even though I've got the dates all written down. I need to put reminders in my cell phone or something.



Might I recommend the tavern in Dawnstar next time? That chick's even skankier! Just kidding. I think she's the one who sings like Bette Middler though.

I use Timing is everything so I can adjust their spawning to my liking. A chance for a random dragon appearing is set to 50% for now so they don't always spawn. As they progress through the MQ, I'll increase the chance.

They will definitely continue the MQ but they won't rush through it either. Plenty of things to do in Skyrim.

Congratulations to Jerric! And I think that the bard from Falkreath is a perfect company to celebrate.

--

After days of adventuring in Eastmarch and Rift we're now back in my hometown. As I'm writing this, we're at the Bannered Mare and my Thane is already sleeping. But I feel really happy for this is our last night in the inn. Earlier today my Thane purchased Breezehome from Proventus and because he's a wealthy man, he can afford to have the entire house cleaned, polished and furnished by tomorrow! Although it is a Nordic tradition that housecarls live together with their superiors, my Thane who's probably not aware of this custom, asked me to move in, not only as a housecarl, but as a friend. Of course I accepted immediately. The last month has been the most interesting month in my life and my Thane does not regard me merely as someone to fight by his side, but also as an advisor and supporter. I'd write more but some things are better not written down in case my Thane ever reads my diary by accident. I'll pray to Mara instead.

Lydia, the Bannered Mare,

12th of Frostfall 4€201

Lydia gushes forth in her journal! .. I'm glad to see he bought Breezehome, he'll need some sort of place to put all his things.

Lord Haaf-Mersey got about halfway through Volskyyge last I saw, but I'm really getting impatient for Skyrim on PC so he might wind up waiting for me in there for awhile.

The main reason for buying Breezehome was indeed to have a place to store his loot. With time he collected quite some interesting books and it'd be a shame to lose them, two unique dragon priest masks, a semi-rare dragon priest dagger and some other goodies. The secondary reason is to avoid paying a high price for lodging at the Bannered Mare.

This post has been edited by Lopov: Dec 12 2014, 06:40 PM

Lopov - What a touching journal entry from Lydia. Her nesting instincts are definitely coming through between her lines, even as she tries to be coy about it. And it speaks well of Lucius that he wants his housecarl in his. . . well, house.


Buffy's exploring Forgotten Vale (Dawnguard), and probably going in circles. The vampire trailing along with her doesn't know where she's going, Buffy's clairvoyance spell is of limited help and the map is about as useless here as it is in The Blackreach.

This post has been edited by Acadian: Dec 14 2014, 02:32 AM

Forgotten Vale is an awesome place but Corcaigh had problems navigating it too. I remember that he missed one of Auriel's shrines and it took us a lot of time to find it. Caves in the Vale can be confusing at times too, particularly if playing with a mod that makes them darker.

This post has been edited by Lopov: Dec 14 2014, 10:18 AM

My first few times in the Vale were very confusing too. The snowy weather makes it worse, because it is harder to see. But after I modded the weather in my game to be nicer most of the time, I found it a lot easier to get around Forgotten Vale. Or maybe by then I had finally figured out where things were. The only parts that still sometimes confuse me now are where some of the multiple Falmer caves go in and out to. Which is made more difficult by there being some secret passages that take you back to where you started in some cases. The UESP Wiki has a good map, though it can be a little difficult to read.

I don’t like Delphine and neither does my Thane and this is good. But as he says, she’s our only chance to find more about dragons returning. Greybeards may serve as tutors to my Thane yet their knowledge doesn’t help us in investigating dragons. Right now we’re at the Honningbrew Meadery, on our way to Riverwood to meet Delphine. I’ll write more soon.

Delphine told us that Thalmor host a party for important people of Skyrim close to the New Year, and this year the party will be held on the 24th of Evening Star. She can get my Thane to the party, so he’ll be able to find out if Thalmor have actually anything to do with dragons. This is currently our only clue and we will follow it. It is more than two months until the party but I’m looking forward to adventuring with my Thane until then. I am glad we left Delphine behind, I was afraid that she will insist on travelling with us. I doubt that my Thane would allow this. I’ll write more in the evening.

My Thane and I are in Bleak Falls Barrow. We have made a plan for the next few days – first we will drive bandits out of the barrow and put Draugr back to sleep, then we will head to Ilinalta’s Deep to make sure that necromancers no longer inhabit it. From there we shall pass through mountains via the Brittleshin pass and head on to Redoran’s Retreat, where bandits with some cruel chief in charge are rumored to harass citizens. We predict that we will need a pause in Whiterun afterwards and then we will…

“Have you ever been in Bleak Falls Barrow before, Lydia?”

“No…no, my Thane,” said Lydia and stopped writing. “I have been living in its shadow my entire life but I was never actually inside it. Until today, that is.”

“Mhm. I’ve been here before. Once. On a behalf of Valerius, the merchant from Riverwood.”

“You were asked to retrieve the golden claw, were you not?”

“Yes…supposedly it was stolen from him by a Dunmer thief...”

As it often happened in conversation, Lucius silenced for a second, like he’s remembering the past events.

“A Dunmer thief?” slowly asked Lydia, curious to find out more.

“What? Ah yes, the Dunmer thief. Arvel, that was his name. He was caught in a spider web when I met him, and when I freed him, he ran deeper into the barrow and was caught and killed by Draugr. Valerius was right, I found the claw in his satchel and wanted to head back to Riverwood but some bandit closed one of the doors behind me and I couldn’t open it from my side. So I had no choice but to venture deeper into the barrow myself.”

“That was how you found the first word wall?”

“Indeed but back then I didn’t know what happened when I absorbed the word. Learned it, actually. It was unexplainable and was causing me a headache. Now I know better. To focus, is of the essence.”

“Will we explore the barrow tomorrow?”

“Yes, we will. I think we have dealt with bandits. But Draugr have probably awakened again and it’s better if we put them back to sleep. They used to serve dragons in the past and with their masters back it’s better to make sure that they will serve them no longer. I know that with time some ancient magic will revive them again, put them nicely back in their resting places and coffins, but at least we can clear the barrow for some time. And make sure they don’t venture outside. And now – let’s eat.”

…proceed north to Ustengrav to seal it. My Thane wants to make sure that the tomb of Jurgen Windcaller will not be desecrated by bandits or warlocks. Tonight we’re sleeping in the barrow, next to a campfire in the entry hall. Thanks to the fire it’s warm and as my Thane says, it seems that we have dealt with bandits, and Draugr are located behind the lever-controlled door, so we shouldn’t expect troubles during the night.

Lydia, Bleak Falls Barrow,

15th of Frostfall 4€201

Good to know that Buffy's not alone in having difficulty navigating in Forgotten Vale. I've been helping her for some time now with the same map that SubRosa linked to. Buffy's mostly been using the 'robotic vacuum' method of navigating - go in a random direction until you bump into something, then spin around and head off in a different direction. She is able to augment that some with detect life and clairvoyance.

It's taken her quite some time to get used to Serana resurrecting their foes, and Buffy's gotten quite good now at spotting the necromantic glow on the 'ally' ones.

Overall, Serana's a liability to Buffy. Although Serana's normal stealth is pretty good, she'll break cover and charge in when Buffy prompts distant foes into a fight via illusion spells - so that primary 'Buffy' tactic is not useful with Serana along. On the other hand, Serana is quick to take on the heat from attacking foes, allowing Buffy to keep shooting.


Lopov - Nice to see you integrating Lucius more directly (via dialogue with Lydia) into his housecarl's tale. They have a busy agenda - places to see, draugr and Thalmor to destroy.

Lopov, what a heartwarming diary entry where Lydia says she will pray to Mara.

Acadian, good luck to Buffy in the Vale! Valdi is a fair distance behind, about to enter Darkfall Cave.

I love when Lucius interrupts Lydia as she writes, and so the story also gets interrupted! Those two have quite a chemistry, it seems.

LOL @ 'robotic vacuum' comment. Yeah I know what you mean about followers ruining stealth moments.

It's a shame there are no voice commands on PC (unless they are modded in). Not that any of you will care, but one of the coolest things about Xbox is I am able to say "Ally Wait" if I want Serana (or any follower) to wait. Then it is possible to call her into battle as the battle is happening by saying Ally Follow. It happens in real-time, so it's like the best of both worlds. It's going to be hard to go back to physically finding the follower, clicking on him or her, then saying "Follow". I hope to somehow fix this for PC.

Renee, the mod Amazing Follower Tweaks (AFT) gives you a power you can use on followers being managed by AFT without the follower being with you. You can remotely direct your followers to relax or summon them for example. There is also a stealth option you can direct that will really tone down their tendency to jump into combat prematurely. Vanilla followers do well with AFT. Serana is quite heavily scripted though, so I don't manage her with AFT. Some mod followers manage well with AFT, others do not - and most follower mods tell you.

AFT has some great features. I just figured out how to use City Outfits. Now NPC Lil doesn’t have to traipse through town in her adventure gear. She hated doing that.

I finally found a bound sword mod for Jerric. It has a neat frost-mist looking effect that you can’t really see in screenshots, but no actual frost enchantment. It works with his story very well.

Jerric and Lil are headed to a ruin outside Rorikstead in the morning. He's on a job for Skjor.

Grits, Jerric’s sword looks great! And how nice that Lil can so easily change clothes when in town now! I can imagine they make a formidable team – Battlemage + Mystic Archer = some serious capability. On a job for Skjor - sounds like you are using the mod you mentioned that slows down the Companions?

*

Well, Buffy is Dawnguard complete. She escorted Serana all the way back to Fort Dawnguard to make sure Serana would truly be welcome there. She was delighted to find that they warmly accepted the vampire. I should hope so given how much Serana helped their cause and the price she paid to do so. The Dawnguard has ironically asked Serana to join them and even teach newer vampire hunters the finer points of the trade. Satisfied, Buffy left Serana there.

Although Buffy and Serana became rather close during the significant amount of time they spent together, the elf is overjoyed to now be traveling without other two leggers. In fact, she revels in once again letting her mare freely traverse terrain that no follower could possibly manage. And dungeon diving – solo. She's once again loving the freedom of loosing spells or arrows, then melting into shadow as it suits her without having to be concerned with allies.

She did pick up several texts while traveling with Serana, so her next major destination is to deliver them to the College.

Very neat Ghost Katana that Jerric has. Have you thought of a name for it? I think Redemption might be a good one, or Ancestor.

Congrats to Buffy on saving the world from the fanged menace! I know what you mean about Serana. On one hand she is such an easy person to grow fond of. But on the other hand, it is awfully nice to come out of a fight without one of her ice spikes sticking in the side of your head...

What I wound up doing the last time around with Serana was I found out her id (which of course is dependent upon where Dawnguard is in your load order), and continually used the prid and moveto player command to teleport her to Pesephone whenever she strayed.