@Renee - I didn't edit the letter in game, I only changed its text a little. That's how vanilla letter looks like. But if you mean, how I made it as a pic, I wrote it in Word then used PrintScr to take a picture.

@Acadian - You summed up the introductory update very good.

--

Whether was it customary in Cyrodiil for people to barge in rented rooms that didn’t belong to them, Gaspar had yet to find out, but it certainly seemed so. As he was waking up, he heard someone loudly munching in his room. As he stood up, he saw a bald Nord in a blacksmith’s apron eating a breakfast at the table.

“Excuse me but…”

"I'm Eitar. Say. Did you hear what that Argonian said?”

“What Argonian? Look, I want some pr…”

“What's-his-name? You know who I'm talking about!” Eitar went on, determined to finish his tale to the man in loincloth.

“Look, I have no idea who are you talking about but this is my room, sir…”

“HE said any Argonian can kick any Khajiit's butt to breakfast any day of the week. You believe that?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, now would you…”

“I think he's wrong. I KNOW Khajiit can kick Argonian butt. Any time. Any where. And you can tell everyone I said so.”

Gaspar sighed. Trying to explain Eitar that he was in the room, for which he paid ten septims, was in vain. It looked like the price didn’t include privacy.

He got dressed, had a quick breakfast and then left Five Claws. The storm was gone but the rain persisted. He spent the morning in Leyawiin, asking occasional citizens about the place called Deepscorn Hollow but not only didn’t they know about it, they also told Gaspar a whole other lot of information that he wasn’t even interested in. It wasn’t really surprising that nobody heard of Deepscorn Hollow, since his uncle Greywyn probably didn’t make the location of his haven a public knowledge.

The most memorable event in the morning included his visit to the Mages Guild of Cyrodiil. The guild leader Dagail almost convinced Gaspar to join but he rejected her offer, knowing that joining any kind of organization would slow down his search for Deepscorn Hollow. "Perhaps I’ll come back in the future but right now I…I’m too busy with other things,” he excused himself and left the guild hall.

Gaspar figured that he won’t get much helpful information regarding Deepscorn Hollow in Leyawiin, besides it wasn’t wise to ask too many questions about his uncle’s lair. Rumors were spreading quickly and he didn’t want to listen about himself in the latest rumors as “Did you meet that young Breton stranger searching for some odd place?”

After buying some food from the chatty Khajiit at the Three Sisters Inn, Gaspar followed vague descriptions on the backside of his uncle’s letter. According to the map, Deepscorn Hollow was located on some island southeast of Leyawiin. Since he didn’t have any better landmark to begin with, Gaspar decided to take a walk by the coast, searching for any islands.

Surprisingly, he didn’t have any troubles finding the correct one and that was because there was in fact only one prominent island along the Topal coast. As he was walking over a wooden bridge linking the coast with the island, Gaspar sensed that he had found his uncle’s lair. His heart was pounding strongly as he set his foot on the small island, where once a house stood, but now only its ruins remained, most of them underwater. There was a well on the island and remains of what was probably a dock a long time ago. But there wasn’t any kind of door or a hatch, at least not in plain sight.

Did I arrive too late? Is all that remains of Greywyn’s home, this ruined building? Or am I in the wrong place and this isn’t Deepscorn Hollow at all?

But Gaspar knew that he was in the right place, he felt the same unknown fear which he felt when reading the letter. His fingers were shaking and he felt cold sweat running down the back of his neck.

Did I come this far just to gawk at this ruined house? There must be more it! There must be!

Gaspar once again thoroughly searched the entire island but didn’t find anything that could serve as an entrance. The only possibility which remained was that the entrance was inside the house but since most of the house was underwater, so was the entrance.

I’ll need some scrolls or potions of water breathing to explore the sunken house. I think that Alves had some in stock. Fine. I’ll return tomorrow then, better equipped for underwater exploration than today.

As he was walking back to Leyawiin, Gaspar pondered whether he really wants to find anything under the ruined house or was it better if he found nothing. He felt torn… there was one side of him which wanted to board the first passing ship and return to High Rock or just take him anywhere else but there was another side of him, the curious side, which wanted to explore his dark legacy.

Only in Leyawiin for a day and already being drawn in to the Khajiit - Argonian wars. Yes indeed, renting a room in Tamriel does not include privacy. Heck, in Skyrim, they don't even bother with doors on tavern rooms.

Well, the good news is that it seems Gaspar found his newly-inherited lair. The bad news is that it appears to be submerged! Hopefully, returning with the right magicks will let him explore deeper.

So... a bit burnt out from wrangling over monetized mods, I was in the mood to spend some time with someone simple and straightforward, so last night I traveled a bit with Rydri the Redguard spellsword. Or Rydri Bear-bait, as I've come to think of her.

Rydri, as a refresher, is the one who encountered a (mod-added) brown bear when she was level 2 and managed to defeat it after a couple of hours of plinking away at it with Weak Fireballs. As it's turned out, that wasn't her last odd encounter with bears. When she happened on the farm out in the West Weald with the bears around it, she was swamped with them. I've had characters (Belladonna just recently as but one example) who had to spend a fair amount of time wandering around there just to finally find six bears to get the reward. Rydri encountered eleven bears while she was there. I wouldn't have even thought that was possible. And of course there was the time she encountered a brown bear in the lobby of the Tiber Septim Hotel...

Setting aside bears though... I just really like Rydri. She started out just as a Redguard spellsword, and that was about the extent of my idea at the time, save one detail - I wanted her to end up wearing the Iron Maiden armor. (I didn't know until just now, getting that link, that there's an updated version of it...) It's a heavy armor, a bit over the top but quite nice, and I wanted to use it on someone, and I had been sort of itching to start another Redguard, and liked the idea of a Redguard spellsword, and that was that. And, as is so often the case (and the reason I generally don't bother to plan at all), she ended up going her own way. Since the armor's a bit too powerful, I had to put her in something else first, and I ended up using the iron version of the Exnem Warrior armor. And somewhere along the way - between the bears and the rough and rusty armor and the dreadlocks (which is another whole story), she grew into a tough, straightforward, no-nonsense kind of a gal whose only quirk is that she's a Redguard who happens to like magic (and she has somewhat pointy ears, which ties in, but is another whole story yet). There's no way in the world that the character she's become would wear something that showy, so I still don't have anyone to wear that armor, but I do have a character who's just a pleasure to be around. Even if she does seem to attract bears.

So - she was parked outside the AU, having just checked out the Orrery - now operational after she recovered the stolen artifacts. And the thing that's most engaged her attention at the moment is this whole business with Umbacano and the Ayleid Statues. So, with nothing else pressing, she decided to go check out one of the ruins that Umbacano had pointed her toward - Wenyandawik.

It was a pretty straightforward trip down, though it took her a while to find the ruin itself. She was a bit disappointed to find it full of undead though - she doesn't find them to be much of a challenge and they generally have poor loot. Between her custom on-target fire and her cherished sword Ursula (the she-bear), she cruised right through the place and sure enough, there was a statue there. It couldn't have been easier.

It was evening by the time she got out of the ruin, so she decided to spend the night right there.

The next morning (which was when that first screenshot was taken), she set out for the Imperial City. She was a bit dissatisfied though - Wenyandawik has been too easy and she hadn't found anything of any real value - so she kept her eye out for another dungeon to loot. As she was approaching Pell's Gate, she remembered the Ayleid ruin upriver a ways from the town... what was its name? That's right - Sardavar Leed. So off she went.

That was more like it. It was a huge ruin - some undead, some daedra and a few conjurers (and, of course, their undead and daedra summons). She had a ball in there. She still didn't find any really valuable loot - one decent spell tome for an on-target shock spell that's a bit more powerful than the one she was using and a training book for hand-to-hand, which does her no good at all, along with the usual rubbish - but the dungeon was just so huge and complex that she had a great time exploring it.

When she was done, it was mid-afternoon, so she finally made her way back to the IC. Coming into the IC. She went to Umbacano's and delivered the statue, then went to the Market District and sold off pretty much everything she'd accumulated along the way. Then I took her out onto a point southeast of the Arcane University, where I'm considering building her a house, and where she's now parked.

Awful lot of background and not much story in that post...

This post has been edited by gpstr: May 1 2015, 08:04 PM

After a couple of days in Cheydinhal and a brief stop in his Waterfront shack, the Dunmer known as Lothran is now cozying it up in his Bravil home

Iron Maiden? Excellent! Sorry, I always think of that when I hear Iron Maiden. And I am actually a Maiden fan. Have been since high school.

Maybe I should get Lothran a nice set of Aces High or Hallowed Be Thy Name armour...

And just like that, Run to the Hills is looping in my head.

Yeah - I didn't mention any of that, but... yeah.

Killers was released the summer after I graduated high school, and, along with Saxon's Denim and Leather and Def Leppard's High 'n Dry, served as the soundtrack for a lot of that year...



This post has been edited by gpstr: May 1 2015, 10:20 PM

Lovely story there, Lopov, and sometimes I wonder how you can bear things with your Redguard, gpster *ba-dum*. When all else fails, I always find it best to grin and bear it. X-)

Sorry. I'm looking forward to playing some Oblivion this weekend, so stay tuned.



Fly .... on your way .. like an eagle!...

This post has been edited by Renee: May 1 2015, 11:10 PM

Gaspar found his legacy. He found Deepscorn Hollow.

He reached it by unlocking old wooden door in the submerged house, then swam down a short underwater passage, at the end of which he emerged in what seemed like a common cave. But it turned out to be much more – continuing down the only passage leading from the cave, Gaspar found the “heart” of his legacy, a surprisingly well-lit stony cloister with several small rooms, most of them filled with broken crates but there was also a big room which judging by its dusty double bed, served as Greywyn’s bedroom. Cobwebs and dirt proofed that it’s been a long time since anyone walked these gloomy halls. There wasn’t a trace of his uncle but Gaspar found his journal with the last entry written in 3€421. Reading it shed more light on Greywyn’s life, and though some things were still unclear to Gaspar, it seemed that his uncle wasn’t just an assassin but a vampire as well. Greywyn supposedly heard voices of Sithis and wanted to purge the Dark Brotherhood, replacing them with his own followers, called Crimson Scars. However, his plan didn’t work, since he was betrayed by one of his own Scars, and Greywyn had to escape, that was when he returned to Deepscorn Hollow.

And what happened next? My uncle was probably hunted down and killed, which explains why diary entries abruptly end twelve years ago when he was just about to purge himself of vampirism. But if he was dead, how did he send me the letter? Or did someone else send it in his name?

The journal mentioned another Scar that survived, someone named Rowley Eardwulf that was responsible for furnishing Deepscorn Hollow in Greywyn’s name. Supposedly Rowley was located in some inn west of the Imperial City…

…but that was twelve damned years ago! He probably isn’t there anymore, if he’s even alive. Huh…I was hoping to understand more of Greywyn’s past but now I’m even more confused. A lot of things don’t make sense. Why was I chosen as the owner of this…this hideout? I don’t think I can do much to restore it, not only because I don’t have enough gold and because Rowley the furnisher is who knows where but because I don’t have any use of this maze at all. Or do I? Am I missing something? Uncle Greywyn wants me to honor Sithis by killing the virtuous but…

For a few seconds a vision struck Gaspar, he was walking through tall grass, a stranger in heavy armor walking in front of him. He was clutching a dagger in his hand and was just about to stab the person in the back…Gaspar quickly shook his head, and the vision was gone instantly but the unpleasant yet tempting feeling remained.

Disturbed, he put the journal aside and went on to explore the rest of the lair. Deep below he found some shrine with a statue, presumably of Sithis, and a Daedric dagger was placed in a small wooden box beneath the statue. Gaspar slowly lifted it and felt vile magic emanating from it. The dagger was a powerful and wicked tool, no wonder belonging to his uncle. Holding it made him feel guilty and influential at the same time. He wanted to give it back to the box but his own hand didn’t obey him and as he tried to lay it down, he felt a burning sensation in his skin.

“Fine, then!” he shouted at himself and his voice echoed all over the shrine. He put the Crimson dagger in his satchel, but oddly enough he didn’t have any unpleasant sensations, when compared with giving the dagger back to its wooden box. “Like if this dagger can sense that I wanted to get rid of it.” Despite he tried to convince himself that daggers don’t feel and aren’t capable of controlling beings, Gaspar didn’t truly believe himself. This night he didn’t feel like walking all the way back to Leyawiin, so he shook blankets to get rid of the dust and then lay in the double bed in what used to be Greywyn’s bedroom.

It’d be better if I left and never return but knowing myself, I won’t do this. Not until I find out more about uncle Greywyn…or about Rowley the merchant if he’s still in that inn. If he’s not, perhaps someone there can point me in his direction. And I can’t deny it to myself…there is something inside me, something tempting and sinister, something that seems hard to control. I had such feelings before in High Rock but over past few days they’ve gotten more and more intense…I better not think too much about it. I need to make some gold…buying the potion of water breathing, which I didn’t even need, cost me a fortune, and if I don’t find some gold, I won’t be able to pay for lodging at Five Claws. I should consider Dagail’s invitation; see what benefits the Mages Guild has to offer. Maybe I earn some gold this way.

As Gaspar fell asleep, all torches slowly stopped burning one by one, until utter darkness prevailed in Deepscorn Hollow, as if old walls sensed that their old master came home again. Blood is thicker than water, after all.

Goodness, you're carrying the Oblivion thread this weekend at the moment. We need more writers!

Just kidding. The story of Gaspar reminds me of another story I read long ago, though I can't remember which one. Especially at the end. He seems to be grinding his way into madness, and I think I know who really sent that letter.

Well, I never got around to writing this weekend, so here's my lame 'update' on Lady Saga. She cleared Capstone Cave of bandits, and gathered her posse from Applewatch (which includes Maglir and a Imperial legion guy at the moment) and headed to Bruma. Once in Bruma, she did her usual shopping around, perusing stuff to buy. Her eyes swept many rooms.

Anyways, I think she is done with Bruma for now. She wants to head toward Leyawiin, where she believes the final Ayleid statue lies, deep inside some ruins. She will (of course) take the long way from Bruma to Leyawiin.

Gpstr – Rydri looks very pretty! I like her hair and armor very much also. I think a spellsword is a fun choice for her!

Mirocu – So nice to hear that Lothie is settled in to Bravil for a time. Ask him to say hi to Kud-Ei and ‘her girls’.

Lopov – Gaspar’s story is getting very eerie. Seems he is indeed his uncle’s nephew and, as you say, perhaps blood is thicker than water. Eeep! Maybe Dagail can help him – sounds like a good plan.

Renee - Good luck to Saga and her gang as they continue statue hunting down south.

I'm sorry, but these days every time I see that name I think of this. Oh well, comes with the territory, I guess.

Sounds like Deepscorn wouldn´t tickle Lothran´s fancy. Gloom and doom? No thanks



Said Dunmer is now close to finish the quest he conjured up two winters ago; collecting one of every town cuirass. Only Leyawiin is left...

I think Buffy's got one around somewhere. One of those nice guards gave her his surcoat after she ended up mysteriously naked during one of the Countess' dinner parties. They never did find out who was behind the mischief.

She better keep it in case it happens again...



Not sure what to do about Kvatch actually. Lothran got a cuirass a long time ago that was enchanted, maybe he wants a "clean" one? We´ll have to discuss this

thanks! ... And by the way, I have a feeling that if (and that's a rather BIG IF) she finds that final statue and returns it to Umbacano, this won't be the end of her adventures in these forums. Heh heh heh....

Ooh, the Umbacano questline - one of my favorites!









Is that for his collection? The Kvatch one is an honor memorabilia; not part of the collection I would think - or maybe what inspired him to collect the others.

That´s a good point - since it´s enchanted it can´t be part of the regular collection. Thanks, mALX. Now Lothran has a reason to visit Kvatch again


If only the fires would stop and the place rebuilt after all this time, it´d be even better..

Acadian got a mod for that, something like "Kvatch Rebuilt" but don't quote me on that. I know he loved it.

I have a new character, his name is Vion Terentius and in case the surname sounds familiar, you are on the right track; he is the younger son of Count Regulus Terentius of Bravil. Twenty-year-old Vion had enough of his manipulative father and his skooma-addicted brother, so he decided to leave Bravil and fulfill his dream to become a knight. To become someone to whom Men and Mer will look up to, to help those in need and to contribute his share in making Cyrodiil a safe land.

--

His first day outside city walls was quite hectic, partially because of his inexperience and partially because of his too high self-confidence. He wanted to explore Bloodmayne Cave west of Bravil but came running out of it faster than a deer, chased by a Will-o-the-Wisp. No matter where he ran and where he hid, the wisp found him but stubborn Vion refused to run back to Bravil because his father would immediately hear juicy rumors about his 'brave' son.

So he sought help from two traveling legionnaires, walking down the main road to Leyawiin, but unfortunately the wisp killed both of them. Desperate because he lured servants of the Empire to their death, young Vion plucked up his courage and picked up a silver longsword that belonged to one of the legionnaires, finally wielding a weapon, capable of damaging the deadly wisp.

The battle was very tough for the young noble but with help from the Nine and from his healing spells, he managed to kill the wisp. At the same time he learned that life in Cyrodiil, especially in wilderness, isn't meant to be taken lightly, and that he should consider his actions more in the future, because legionnaires paid for his mistake with their lives.

He wasn't strong enough to carry their bodies to Bravil but he dragged them from the main road to nearby grass and placed them in a more appropriate position, hoping that their comrades will take care of them when they pass through the area. After a short prayer in which he thanked them for trying to save his life, Vion returned to Bloodmayne Cave, where he's sleeping at the moment.