What about the horse? Or perhaps she found an alternative source of motive power - I've seen a mod somewhere that adds a Dwemer mechanical mount.

Blossom the horse swam right across with no problem. You wouldn’t have known she was pulling a wagon. I’m not sure if the back of the wagon dragged along the bottom or if it sort of floated low. I’ll try to swim the wagon across where it’s deeper in Mojo’s game. Dar-Ma would not enjoy the drama if things go badly in deep water.


I don’t recommend crossing deep water.

Unless you’re an Argonian.

Mojo made it across here without drowning, but he had the gurgling sound. Best to look for shallow places! The good news is that the horse and wagon were fine, nothing strange happened.

This post has been edited by Grits: Dec 9 2015, 09:29 PM

I'm so glad to hear that Dar-Ma is better at wagoneering than Jerric is. The thought occurs that Jerric would probably do fine if hitched up to the wagon, not sitting in the driver seat.

And it is good indeed that Dar-Ma can breathe underwater!

Run Silent, Run Deep!

It's that time of year when I want to dress my character in a red-and-white outfit (with shiny black boots) to suit the season. Yes, I mean Vampirella!

I had to make the costume, as nobody else had done so for Skyrim. I think I had to do that for Oblivion, too, And certainly for Daggerfall.

It's not working properly yet, as she jiggles through it. Her body has more bones than the outfit, and they don't move together, but I'll have it fixed soon. Then I'll post some screenshots, if I don't upload it to the Nexus as a mod.

So she's headed for the Dawnguard quest-line first, and gone into Dimhollow Crypt at rather a low level. She's having major problems with Lokil, as he's ten levels higher than her, and heals himself (at her expense, via his vampiric drain spell) faster than she can damage him. So she's sniping from a distance, and running away before he can get near enough to drain her health. Or at least, that's the theory. In practice, I'm having problems escaping fast enough, and he's getting health back. I had to save with him only half-way down on his health. And she'll be needing more arrows/bolts soon!!

Ha ha ghastley, cute! Good luck in Dimhollow. There's a reason the game doesn't start Dawnguard until Level 10, or whatever it is.

That underwater carriage. It's like one of those boat tours, gone awry.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Middas, Sun's Height 15, 4th Era 202



Location: Vernim Wood

Level: 36
Playtime: 199:05:50

In the first years of the First Era, a powerful race of Elves called the Ayleids, or heartland high elves, ruled central Tamriel with an iron hand. The high and haughty Ayleids relied on their patrons, the treacherous Daedra Lords, to provide armies of daedra and dead spirits; with these fearless magical armies, the Ayleids preyed without mercy upon the young races of men, slaughtering or enslaving them at their whim....


Claire Voyance pores over the book she'd just found in Fort Amol, one which she'd read before, yet had still gathered inspiration from, many times in her life. As a young girl "The Amulet of Kings" had fascinated her. During her teens and into young adulthood, simultaneously training with the Imperials to be in military, and with the monks to be clerical, she had been captivated again and again. Imaging those of past lore. Imagining a different world from thousands of years ago, but one which was not really all that different.

"Ugh ... I'm going to have to bathe thoroughly to get this stench off me."

Lydia complains from downstairs, while Aela probably rolls her eyes.

"Just a few more hours and I can crawl under some furs."

Their newest recruit, an Imperial soldier named Mykke Honnt, probably sitting there stolidly. Mykke had been one of the only soldiers Claire had met in all her travels who desired to break away from official Imperial warriors' camps, and join Claire's pack full-time.

"Blood on the wind today. Good hunt ahead of us."

Aela, always the wild one. The one who wasn't entirely human, yet Claire had become fast & good friends with this barbaric archer, somehow.

Claire closes her book, yawns, and thinks of the day to come. "Legate Rikke will be pleased," she says, in reference to the downing of Stormcloaks at Fort Amol. "Time to turn in."

This post has been edited by Renee: Dec 12 2015, 02:47 PM

Vampirella did finally whittle Lokil down and get past him to release Serana, who thankfully is appropriately levelled to match the opposition! And now she has taken her home, and accepted Harkon's offer to join their group. I don't recall if she'd already turned vampire at that point, but she had been infected and was on the way.

Now I'm seeing the opposite balance problem. Her Vampire Lord abilities are at the level she'd have been doing it all later, and she's overpowered against levelled enemies. Not using it takes her back to over-weak. It seems like Dawnguard makes Lord form necessary all the time, rather than being the ace in the hole.

Plus I need to un-vampire her face (I'll go look at the Face and Body thread for that) and find the right hair, preferably to match the Frank Frazetta cover art. Unfortunately, most of the available hair is long both front and back, and she needs it long only at the back. I may end up patching pieces together from various mods to make my own.

And I have a question for those who've been here before: do the changes to make the player character less bat-faced also mean that all the NPC's get the same treatment? If so, I'll have to see if Unique works for it all.

This post has been edited by ghastley: Dec 11 2015, 04:14 PM

ghastley, to un-vamp Serafíne’s face I copied her human face files and renamed them in Data/textures/actors/character/female as the following:

femaleheadvampire.dds
femaleheadvampire_msn.dds
femaleheadvampire_s.dds
femaleheadvampire_sk.dds

That did not change the NPC vampire faces. Upon reflection I can’t be sure the other vampire faces weren’t also changed. I just don’t remember. I was also using a few vampire mods, but I’m pretty sure her non-gross face was the result of my Serafíne’s Face mod.




I'm glad I put my tea down for this one!!

This post has been edited by Grits: Dec 11 2015, 06:21 PM

@Grits - what a funny scene of underwater traveling. If you hadn't shown that pic, I probably wouldn't know there's an actual dragon mound underwater.

@Renee - good that Claire's attack at Fort Amol was successful. I think the final battle for liberation of Skyrim awaits her soon.

--

Playtime: 206 hrs, 45 mins (got inspired by Renee's update to check this)
Days passed: 193
Savefile size: 14.5 MB

Lucius Caro, the Dragonborn, opened his eyes.

He felt...odd.

Though his magical hourglass was telling him that he was sleeping for nine hours, he had a feeling like he's been away for much longer. Perhaps weeks...or even months. Nonetheless, he knew where he was and where must he go. He was in the Winterhold Inn and his destination was Alftand. He already was at Alftand a day or two ago and gained entry to Blackreach but since he was too exhausted and running out of food, he retreated back to Winterhold. Feeling slightly dizzy, Lucius put on his trusted stahlrim armor, enchanted with powerful restoration magic, which he found on Solstheim on his mission against Miraak, the first Dragonborn. He bought some food from the innkeeper and then headed out where he was greeted by a huge snowstorm, common for these parts. Putting a trusted brown hood on his head, the Dragonborn began his walk towards Alftand and onwards to Blackreach, to find the Elder Scroll and thus gain knowledge about Alduin's defeat. His thoughts shifted to Lydia, his Thane and girlfriend that was patiently waiting for him in Whiterun, keeping order in the hold while he was away. He began wondering whether he loves Lydia as much as she does him but quickly shoved these thoughts away. Now was not the time to think about women but about dragons.

"Is there any difference between the two actually?" Lucius chuckled at his own thoughts as he ascended the slope just behind the Jarl's longhouse, leaving the snowy village behind.

Gritsy: Ha ha yeah! You see that eh?

Lopov: Nice. Welcome back Lucius. May you soon fastend your lips to Lydia once again. Fasten. Sorry.



Claire & Co. have gotten to the point that their next stop is supposed to be Whiterun, for the Big Finale, I suppose. And I got the urge to just stop her game right here for awhile. I'm going to do the Stormcloak side next. I have to create a new character (who's going to be a Nord guy, though I don't know his name yet). I figure one of these sides is going to win, but I'm not sure which one, yet.

This is an endless topic in Skyrim & Lore forums: which side is supposed to win? It seems most gamers give the edge to the Stormies. The empire dies in the next TES installment. Hmmm....

I will actually return to White Wizard's game for awhile. I feel like being with a magician.

This post has been edited by Renee: Dec 12 2015, 02:46 PM

Thanks. I'm not sure what if any future at all awaits him with Lydia.

I checked dates when I created Lucius and when I took a break from his game, and coincidentally I created him on the 12th of November 2014, took a break on the 12th of April and returned today - 12th of December. Looks like 12 is his lucky number.

I'd say that White Wizard is a good choice as your main character for the coming winter.

Wow, no kidding? My goodness. It's funny when weird stuff happens like that, you know?

BWAAHAA!!!







WOO HOO! I'm ready to sit in Santa's lap and tell her what I want!









Nice screen of the month!

~ The Christmas Day Massacre ~

Buffy and Superian were traveling through the forest west of Half-Moon Mill. More specifically, halfway between Bannermist Tower and Knifepoint Ridge. Up ahead through the trees she saw what looked like a blackrobe mage casting spells. As she got a bit closer, there were numerous figures running around and fighting. She drew her bow but held Superian steady for a time to let things settle down. As the activity ahead seemed to stop, she rode closer – only to be attacked by a pair of Thalmor.

After dispatching them, she dismounted to recover her arrows. That’s when she noted several more corpses in the area. Curious, she cast her detect dead spell and it seems half the nearby forest lit up with the glows of dead bodies! She checked them all and this is a fairly accurate account of what she found:

- 3 Thalmor, one of them with an execution warrant for her.
- 4 Bandits.
- 3 Stormcloak soldiers.
- 3 Necrodudes, one of them with an execution warrant for her (doubtless from helping Azura recover her Star).
- 1 Blackrobed ‘fire mage’.
- 1 Flame atronach.
- 1 Refugee (one of those annoying dudes who interrupts you by stuffing some trinket in your inventory and demanding that you keep it for them).
- 2 Foxes.
- 1 Goat.
- 1 Partridge in a pear tree.

It certainly seems that particular ‘spawn point’ went hyperactive today.

!!

That is hilarious! That is the kind of thing that can only happen in a Bethesda game. Which is a compliment. Other games don't allow for that kind of spontaneity in the game world.

I see that Buffy is still leaving a trail of disaster in her wake.

Yes, yes, I know that she just sat on Superian and was keeping it calm, but we do not believe that for a second. It is like a lovely lass who walks down the street and a car accident happens, sure it is not her fault, but we all know that it is.

This post has been edited by Winter Wolf: Dec 26 2015, 09:46 AM

Oh my goodness, Acadian! What a battle that must have been. That’s hilarious. I’m glad Buffy managed to stay on the edge of that one!

That sounds great! That must have been fun to watch.

Oh noes, the goat died as well!

They should have constructed a graveyard at that place.

Since I have the laptop with me on vacation, I'm playing Oblivion again. I found that either I hadn't made a Vampirella outfit for that game, or hadn't loaded it on the laptop, so I made another.

Oblivion Vampirella has just been to Kvatch to get the MQ going, as she'd like to open the city gates and recruit Prizna for Gweden. I'll post a screenshot once I get back and can put it on my server.