I picked up Molly Hatchet's game again in the last few days. I last left her about to climbed up to Bleak Falls Barrow to retrieve a golden claw for Moira Brown Lucan from the Riverwood Trader.

Before heading up Molly availed herself of the town weaponsmith's gear. After all, without period weapon maintenance the only Wasteland asshole your gun is going to kill is going to be yourself. After improving her gear, the armorer showed her some tips to make a bow. Just a primitive, tribal stick with a string that throws smaller, pointy sticks. A far cry from the old Magnum and Hecate II Molly toted back in the Wasteland for those hard to reach enemies. But the smith assured Molly it would get the job done.

So armed and ready, Molly headed up, and she found her new bow was indeed quite effective against the Raiders she found encamped on the approach, as well as outside the barrow itself. After clearing the rest of the Raiders with her hatchet, she made her way down past a huge mutant bug, and found another humanoid mutie Raider all caught up in webs. She cut him down from the webs, and then cut him down for good, before he could try anything funny.

Going deeper in to look for more loot, Molly came across a whole pack of feral ghouls living among the corpses. These ones were a little different from those back in the Capital Wasteland. For one they had glowing blue eyes. For another they actually used weapons. But when it's all said and done a feral ghoul is a feral ghoul, and Molly has just the hatchet for them... Speaking of which, Molly upgraded her hatchet inside, picking up one that a feral had been using. Its glowing letters reminded her of her Protonic Inversal Axe. Obviously it must be some kind of pre-war tech, since it glows, but Molly has yet to figure it out. But she does know it chops really well.

At the end of it all she fought the biggest, baddest feral yet. This one had some kind of sonic emmiter tied to his mouth. Cause he nearly knocked Molly off her feet just by shouting. A big computer array disguised as a stone wall with carvings on it acted up when Molly got close to it as well. But she couldn't find a keyboard, or even a monitor to try to hack it from, so she left it alone. She also found a big stone home plate thingie, like they used in baseball diamonds from pre-war times. Molly took that as well, and headed back to Riverwood. She found it makes a handy hotplate when set over the fire at her little camp across from Riverwood.

Lucan and claw reuinted, Molly stopped by the Riverwood Inn for some chow. She certainly does not miss the two hundred year old Salisbury Steak! The bar tender gave her a bounty sheet on some Raiders in a place called Valtheim Towers. So the next morning she geared up and headed north. Molly spied Whiterun from afar on her way, but decided to deal with the Raiders first. That way she could kill two bloatflies with one bullet when she returned to collect the bounty on the dead Raiders.

Said Raiders were soon made dead, and Molly returned to Whiterun with their loot in tow. It was strange stuff. Little golden discs, and shiny rocks of different colors. But caps were caps, even if these ones would never fit over a nuka cola bottle. She unloaded her gear at the local merchants, and headed up to head honcho's place on top of the hill. His bodyguard was another mutie, whom Molly almost had to kill. But the tribal chief reined his dog in before Molly had to get to hatcheting. She passed on Gerdur's message, and somehow the blowhard got the idea that Molly wanted to volunteer to help his egghead with some pet dragon project. Whatever a dragon was. Probably some sort of mutant. Molly thought it was strange that this place was full of mutants, but there didn't seem to be any radiation or bomb craters. Maybe they got a lake-full of FEV in the war, but no nukes?

Molly could care less, so when the loud-mouth chief - named something like Yaril Ballin' Gruff - was finally done yapping, she got out of there and headed back downhill to the rest of the city. She was afraid that if she stuck around longer, he would try to rope her into doing something really stupid, like actually killing one of these dragon things.

On the way down she overheard a conversation with a really pussy-whipped guy and his beyotch wife. She was threatening to leave him if he went to get his family sword back from some Raiders. It looked like a win-win situation to Molly... But sensing an opportunity for more killing, Molly volunteered to get the sword for him. When I last left her, she was heading out across the plain for a place called Redoran's Retreat. Though she had no idea who this Redoran was, or why he retreated?

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Apr 30 2015, 02:36 AM

I absolutely love your Molly Hatchet Does Skyrim posts! Though I've never played Fallout, you provide just enough detail that I'm just chuckling to myself through this entire post.

Maybe it's not so odd when one is a certain age, but I keep picturing Molly Hatchet at the end of the MQ looking like this.

She is beautiful, Ghastley! And WOO HOO !!! Great figure and clothing!!!

SubRosa: Rider's right - the adventures of Molly the round-ear in Skyland are great fun. I especially loved the Druglord mutant with the sonic emitter where she found that nifty hotplate. Mebbe she'll be able to program some of the Dwemer tech to work for her.

When I'm not reading (and chuckling through) Molly Hatchet Does Skyrim, I'm spending time with Alise.

She has officially started the MQ. She's at level 22, so things are going to get tough. But she's ready! She now carries a glass mace upgraded to Epic, a Penobscot War Bow II also upgraded to Epic, and a bunch of glass arrows. Her Vagabond Armor is also upgraded, to Flawless, I think. She needs the extra armor rating, as she likes to snipe first to injure the enemies, then get in close with her mace and Firebolt spell in support of Argis.

Lydia has just joined her, after Alise killed the dragon at the Western Watchtower outside Whiterun. Alise experienced her first dragon soul, and by the Gods, it hurt! It is also the first time she heard the term 'Dragonborn', whispered in the dragon's dying breath. The whole experience has left her puzzled and a little bit scared, as being a Cheydinhal Dunmer, she has not paid much attention to Nord stories. And now she has to go see the Greybeards at High Hrothgar? She is inclined to ignore it, but the way the high-ups in Dragonsreach are talking about it, she'd better not take chances at alienating anybody that she might regret.

So this time, instead of going through Helgen, Alise and her two housecarls are on the northern road, and have just cleared Valtheim Towers. I just can't talk Alise out of clearing out every bandit nest she comes across. And it was a good opportunity for her to see just how Lydia fights. Now if only the damn woman would quit the incessant humming and sighing!

Mellewen has been working her way through the quests on Solstheim, both the DB MQ, and Neloth's side-quests, as shown by her last screenshot.

As she was going along, having epic battles in Apocrypha, and towers full of Ash Spawn, I was hammering away on the Fraps screenshot key, expecting to sort through the results and pick out the best for here. When I closed the game down after finishing off Miraak, I discovered that I hadn't started Fraps.

So she's got Ildari's Telvanni robes, and all Miraak's gear, hanging on mannequins at Severin Manor, but no record of getting them. Now she's back in Skyrim, looking to enchant some Fortify Restoration items to bring the magicka expenditure for her Absorb Health spells down. She finds that she runs out too quickly when she's battling groups of enemies, and has to run and recover too often. One lurker in Apocrypha would drain her completely, and she'd be keeping an eye on the nearest magicka fountain. Her Robes help, but apart from that she's only found a ring and a circlet, both with a paltry 10% assistance, plus one duplicate that taught her the enchantment.

Unfortunately, she's neglected enchanting, so that has to be her next priority. Boosting it with potions isn't an option, as that's another weak skill. Without a weapon to recharge, she's only been getting experience from disenchanting items, which is slow.

The positive aspect is that the Absorb Health spells aren't unbalanced. She doesn't need a lot of defense, as she's getting health back as fast as she loses it, but she's limited by magicka from being OP. Some enemies, like the Ash Spawn, resist it, and she has to use Destruction instead.

Ghastley, glad to hear that Mellewen's surviving Solstheim and doing pretty well with her absorb health spells.

Buffy's hunting Forsworn. She overheard the Markarth Jarl and Steward lamenting that the Forsworn were too elusive for soldiers to find/fight/kill. She took that as a challenge.

This post has been edited by Acadian: May 5 2015, 04:50 PM

Lopov, I’m glad Aard is deceiving his ‘Leader.’ Your writing reminds me of all the things I liked about the Dark Brotherhood questline.

ghastley, I love it when your characters start demanding things from you. Do the Psijics view Mysticism as a valid school of magic? Darnand finally got to the point where Quaranir holes up in the Frozen Hearth, and he’s fascinated by him. Quaranir of course has little to say to Darnand, which helps us ignore the role Darnand played in getting the College settled. Great pictures of Mellewen, she is gorgeous and so very tall! Apocrypha sounds tough with a mage. I haven’t tried that yet, I’ve only gone through with warriors.

haute, it was great to hear some of Alise’s background and adventures. A mature character provides some fun insight into Skyrim’s sometimes strange events. I lol-ed at Argis the Teddy Bear! Alise, Lydia, and the Big Bear must be a force to be reckoned with.

SubRosa, Molly’s view of Skyrim is great fun to read. As I have gushed on and on before, I absolutely love her look. Sonic emitter and stone wall computer array!! The Dragonstone hot plate is going to stick in my memory.

Acadian, soon the Forsworn will be talking about an elusive hunter that they just can’t track down…

*
Chases the Fish returned the stolen item he recovered from Bleak Falls Barrow with a couple of hours of daylight to spare. He had considered trying to find a buyer for it, but in the end he decided it was probably worth the most to its owner. In the Sleeping Giant Orgnar was still pissed off about catching him cheating at cards. Chases decided he could make it to Whiterun before dark. And if he didn’t make it, he might find someone to rob on the way while the guards couldn’t see them.

The sun was setting over the mountains as Chases walked through the Whiterun gates. He decided to first unload the heavy-ass rock he was hauling for Farengar and possibly get paid enough to buy a spell or two and/or bankroll a big night at the Bannered Mare. Things got dragon-y as soon as he got to Dragonreach. Chases decided to tag along and watch the fight, partly because he was curious and partly because he was sure there would be some bodies to loot afterward.

In the end there were indeed some bodies. Chases staggered back to Whiterun in moonless darkness under the burden of dragon scales and bones. Maybe these Nords were mocking him with their talk of Dragonborn, or maybe there was something to it. Either way it sounded too much like work.

After Jarl Balgruuf gave him some advice and a ridiculously heavy axe, Chases went to the tavern. He was feeling lucky. But he lost a bunch of money playing cards with Hulda. Then he rented a room and on the way up spotted another Argonian, Jeer-Tai was his name. Chases bought him a drink (for real, Speechcraft mod) and then won his money back playing cards with Jeer-Tai. Feeling super lucky now he attempted to entice Jeer-Tai up to his room (Speechcraft mod again), to no avail. That was embarrassing. So he bought a drink for Olfina (I think), but that didn’t make her like him either. It crossed his mind to try his luck hitting on an elf, but the only one available was that snotty Altmer from the market. Even Chases the Fish’s accommodating standards did not stretch that far, so he went to bed alone.

He slept for twelve hours. Now it’s midday and he has a bunch of stuff to sell. Tonight he’s going out on the road again. There are a lot of soldiers about, but eventually he is going to find someone he can rob, dammit.

Sounds like someone will need to change his name to Chases-The-Dragons. Maybe he can try mugging them?

Chases the Skirts is now Chases the Reluctant Dragonborn, is it? Hmm, someone's been having fun with that new card game mod! Anyway, Chases had a big day. His night . . . not so much.

Whhat is that when you say "playing cards", Grits? Is that imagination, or an actual mod? If it's a mod, I'd like to see what that's all about. And if it's not a mod, cheers!



That's because it's fun! And epic!



Hate when that happens!

This post has been edited by Renee: May 6 2015, 01:47 PM

It’s a card minigame added by this mod: Minigame Mod - The Battle of Heroes. Time passes in the game while you’re playing, so it’s easy to accidentally stay up late playing cards in a tavern.

Wow WOW holy [censored]. Must .... have ... this ... mod. I wonder if it includes rummy. That's one of the only games I know how to play. Well, that, Uno, and Go Fish.

It’s a pretty simple game at this point, but just being able to actually do something in-game adds a lot to tavern life. It’s a lot like basic War with an optional dice roll to increase your hand. Also I love the art on the cards. I’m still testing it in Chases the Fish’s game to make sure nothing bad happens in the long run, like with NPC disposition.

This is an awesome mod! Like playing Caravan in New Vegas! I've added fake card games to all my mods to make it look like people were playing, but to actually be able to play would be great! Thanks for the link!

So Buffy was approaching Dragon Bridge from Solitude today and encountered a hostile cave bear. Buffy’s fox distracted the bear so Buffy could open fire from the saddle and dispatch it. She then noticed a child wandering – within sight of but still a ways from Dragon Bridge. Buffy doesn’t really know that children are invincible, you see, so she dismounted and approached the child to suggest he return to the safety of town.

As soon as she got close enough to see the child’s name come up (Clinton Lylvieve), she heard, "All right, hand over your valuables, or I'll gut you like a fish." Fully focused on the child, she was quite confused – why did this child sound like a male adult Argonian? Why was he threatening her? Why weren’t his lips moving? No kidding, it took her several seconds to realize that a thief had come up behind her while she was focused on the child.

Fortunately, the thief gave her enough time to reply – and formulate a response. The words 'Take it from me if you can' were not fully out of Buffy's mouth before she spun to face the thief. Green magic flew from one hand to paralyze the Argonian even as blue magic in her other hand blossomed into the mystic bow that would end this thief's career.

At some point during all this, little Clinton disappeared – most likely at a dead run back to town.

An Argonian thief disguised himself as a human child! I hope it wasn't Chases-The-Fish!

If Chases met Buffy on the road, I expect he would also make his last mistake!

I’m chuckling over Clinton’s hasty retreat. Now he has a story to tell his pet patrol goat. Outstanding response from Buffy! Yay!

That's a dangerous direction for Clinton to wander. There's always something lurking by the road, often a troll. However, it's not uncommon for two enemies to spawn close enough to engage each other. I've watched Thalmor fighting the troll a few times.

----

Mellewen just hit 100 in restoration, from using her Absorb Health almost exclusively. So now she's looking for another skill to work on. She has 30% cost reduction from her Psijic Initiate robes, so it may be Enchanting next, to see if she can bring her magicka needs down with Fortify Restoration. At present, the best she can make is 10%, so she wants more levels and perks before she can make something better than the ring (12) and circlet (15) she has. I expect her to find better ones first, although she always seems to find that enchantment on armour.

She won't find a spell tome for Ebonyflesh for another six levels, and since she's not joining the College of Winterhold, she can't buy one from Tolfdir. Alteration will get used, but it won't get any attention for a while.

*

@ Acadian - I had to look up who Clinton was, lol. At first I thought Buffy's sympathetic heart almost cost her here; that she had been set up by a decoy child belonging to some thief, lol.

Aw, Clinton's background story is a little sad! That said, I may be looking into Lucky's AI packages and scripting for Patches!

@ Ghastley - Wow, I have never hit 100 in restoration in any game! In Oblivion I barely got over 25 in restoration, lol.
ba
What is "Ebony Flesh?" Is it kind of like the "Barkskin" perk in FO3?

Mellewen's build is amazing, I have never sat down and thought out all these workarounds for a mage character before; it is really intricate! I never realized how much so before! This was an Awesome insight - I think I'll be scared to have a mage character now though,