I haven't got a theme song for Pym but when wronged Pym is more likely to go straight to "It's Judy's Turn to Cry". But Pym is young and I'm thinking of the Lady Gaga type.
Hmmm, maybe not that bad.

20210415 more Tales of Elsweyr Anequina Calketoc
Waking in the morning and stepping out into the dry desert air, one of the empire’s undaunted couriers presented us with an announcement. The notification stated that the interior of Fort Sutch was now complete. We will make of point of stopping by Fort Sutch next time we’re in the vicinity.

“Feache, look over there!” exclaimed Kaleah. “Just across the road, an Ayleid ruin. You’ve had luck finding artifacts in old Ayleid ruins and this one looks ancient.”

Khajiit soldiers were stationed around the entrance to the Ayleid Ruin. From talking to a Khajiit battlemage we got the impression that Calketoc has been the site of serious disturbances as of late. Sergeant Jakari has led a squad of four into Calketoc hours ago and has not returned yet. The battlemage further advised us not to enter.
Um, when did we ever listen to that kind of advice? We push the stone door open and step into Calketoc.

Hello darkness, my old friend I've come to talk with you again.

With Twinkle lighting the way the entrance takes us down a flight of stairs to a small maze of devotion rooms. On a shelf in one of the rooms sits the Mother’s Head. I have no idea what this ugly thing could be used for but it might be worth something to someone somewhere so I collect it.

My ladies have found a bronze gate locked with a very hard lock. My first thought was to remove my armor so I could cast my Unlock Everything spell. I did but even though my alteration skill is 108 my spell failed. The lock is too strong.

Perhaps that is a good thing for now there is at least a half dozen undead creatures swarming around the gate trying to get at us. Had the spell worked being near naked would have left me in precarious situation. Yeah, I think with all those undead; skeletons, wraiths, lich, and who knows what else milling about on the other side maybe we don’t want to open this gate.

Leaving the locked the gate, I left to find another way around. My Ladies stayed, continuing to pound away at the gate in a futile attempt to open it and get at the undead on the other side.

Going in another direction I enter a large chamber. Of course there’s a lich and a few wraiths to deal with. With my Ladies busy elsewhere the Sisters of Insanity and a Bloody Succubus eagerly respond to my call to arms.

“Hey you’re not supposed to do that!” Did I just see the Golden Saint drop her golden sword and picked up a magical dagger off a sarcophagus and then disappeared back to Oblivion?

Searching the room for valuables I came across a pair of Obsidian Greaves. Nice!

There’s a stairway leading up a second floor. The second floor is large but aside from a single Ayleid Reliquary it’s empty.

Off to one side of the room is an Ayleid doorway that leads to the Calketoc Mausoleum.

A beautiful desert morning! Glad to see Twinkle back up fully in service and lighting the way into that dark ruin.

A grisly trophy in that mother's head!

Wonder what's in that mausoleum?

20210416 more Tales of Elsweyr Anequina Calketoc continued
My Ladies decided to give up on breaking down the locked gate to join me in the mausoleum. Before taking a step into the mausoleum, Kaleah handed me a bow of black glass.

“You missed this in the last room”, Kaleah said.

“That obsidian bow is black as the night and it was pitch-black dark in that room.”

“ZZZT, zzzzt, ZZZZT (translated: don’t blame me cause you can’t see),” complained Twinkle.

Strange, we’ve come this far and have not seen nor heard any evidence of a Khajiit patrol. Leaving the dark hallway and stepping out onto a balcony overlooking a great room I think we found the reason why. There floating above scarlet clad bodies of fallen Khajiit soldiers were several wraiths, at least 3 normal lich (if you can call a lich normal), a Nether Lich, and one nasty Ancient Lich. Blood was everywhere.

The battle began quickly and was over almost as fast. Unable to contain herself, Pym charged down the stairs leading to the great room. From the balcony Kaleah loosed arrow after arrow at the undead, while I, following Pym, summoned as much support as I could; the Sisters of Insanity, a Dremora Lord, and a Bloody Succubus.

The fight was over yet Kaleah gave me a look that indicated something was wrong.

“You forgot to charge my bow, again!” she exclaimed while handing the Hatred Bow to me.

Oops. Some days nothing goes right.

Retribution for the Khajiit soldiers complete, things began to improve or at least the amount of loot recovered lessened the heartache. I checked the bodies of the Khajiit soldiers while My Ladies looted the room. Sergeant Jakari was carrying orders from his captain to proceed to Caraba Mine after taking care of Calketoc.

Brave Sergeant, rest easy, we took care of Caraba Mine for you.

“Found these scattered about,” Kaleah said handing me three obsidian items; a dagger, a short sword, and a pair of gauntlets. “This Runeskull of Dragons was on the ancient lich but you got to come see this.”
Leading me to the far end of the room, Kaleah pointed to items laid out on two sarcophagi.

By the looks of the enchanted helm and shield a very important Ayleid must have been laid to rest here. They’re old and very Ayleid in design. Nothing to indicate being of Fey origin.

Along with everything else we find two very hard Ayleid Reliquary. Reluctantly I stripped down to my undies and cast Unlock Everything. Only one reliquary opened. Suddenly I remembered something, two rings in my pack that could boost my alteration skill to 122. The spell works.

It’s much easier and much less embarrassing to call upon the power of the goddess (TGM) but some frown upon that.

There’s a stairway going up. We take it hoping it will lead us to the exit only to find our path blocked by remotely opened gates. At the far end past the gates we could see three reliquary guarded by two skeleton heroes.

Looking around for a way to open the gates I notice what looks like an obsidian shield on a ledge below us.

Jumping down to pick-up the shield got us into the room behind the locked gate we failed to open near the entrance of Calketoc. It also got us into another big fight with three more lich and another ancient lich. During the fight with the undead I noticed three Ayleid push blocks. The fight over, we activated each of the push blocks. The sound of a gates opening above us was satisfying to hear.

Amongst the loot we gathered was valuable Runeskull of Decay taken off the ancient lich.

Now the question is how to unlock the gate to get out of this room? Strip and endure the snickers from the gallery so I can cast the Unlock Everything spell or use the long lost and forgotten Fae magic to levitate (TCL) up to where we dropped in.

Hmmm, there’s still some treasure up above and My Ladies are going to need new shoes when this adventure is over. We chose the levitation option.

That done we take the long way out of Calketoc searching for any missed loot as we go.

A profitable run of that mausoleum. I see that Twinkle has been infected by the Ladies' penchant for picking on Jandanga.

So in another place I was asked, “Have you considered if there is any connection between Feyfolken and the Fey? The name is rather suggestive.”

My answer was, “No, I had never considered it but it is an intriguing question. Breaking down the name Feyfolken does tend to lead one to think ‘fey folk’.”

Now that started me down the dangerous path of thinking.

It’s been awhile since I read the Feyfolken books. In book II the Great Sage confirms that the Feyfolken is a Daedra and was a servitor of Clavicus Vile. So that kind of negates any connection between the Fey and the name Feyfolken.

But what if the Great Sage was wrong. He wasn't there, he really doesn't know for certain. Suppose this Feyfolken creature was not Daedra at all but is instead the fey equivalent to a Mannimarco-like arch-villain of the Faerie Folk? Driven by the desire for ultimate power Perhaps he sold himself, made a wish sort of, to Clavicus Vile, the Prince of Trickery and Bargains, the Master of Insidious Wishes for power only to have his soul captured in a soul gem until it was used to enchant Thaurbad’s quill? That does sound like something Clavicus Vile would do.

My second thought was the Feyfolken as a mighty hero of the Faerie Folk during the long lost and forgotten time of mythic legend when the Aldmer invaded the Sommerset Isles. During the ensuing great war between the invading Aldmer and the indigenous Faerie, the Feyfolken was defeated and his soul captured in a gem. The soul gem set aside and forgotten until it was used to enchant Thaurbad’s quill. The Feyfolken is now extracting his vengeance upon the Altmer in the only way he can.

Or perhaps a combination of the two? In desperation the Feyfolken (not his real name), a great faerie hero petitions Clavicus Vile for the power to defeat the Aldmer. The Prince of Trickery and Bargains grants Feyfolken the power to curse his enemies into killing themselves. Only to trick the Feyfolken and capture his soul in a gem shaped like a quill. Feyfolken is now cursing his enemies into destruction one at a time.

It was then suggested to me that;
@macole - Come to think of it, Feyfolken could be a title rather than a name, not unlike the Jandaga. A hero fighting for the Fey folk? Along the lines of what you proposed, may be? Do I see a quest for the Jandaga to locate the quill holding Feyfolken and to release the soul of the great hero?

Now that would be a grand quest indeed. To free the soul of a legendary fey champion from the Clavicus Vile’s snare. I may have to think on that for awhile. I mean, I did free a goddess from a sword in the Lost Spires. Surely the Jandaga can find a quill.

This post has been edited by macole: Apr 21 2021, 05:41 AM

Interesting thoughts on the origins of things.

Buffy often ponders the heritage of several species that almost appear to be hybrids - goblins, minotaurs, centaurs, dreughs, spriggans and nixads.

Nixad pets, that's an ESO creature. I'd like a Shocking Blue nixad as a pet. I'd call her Venus.

20210422 ElsweyrAnequina Orcrest
Stepping out of Calketoc and into the light of the early morn the first thing we did was inspect the loot. What a haul.

Looks like we now have the full kit of obsidian arms and armor along with an elven glaive, Shield of Nature’s Vengeance, Helmet of Life Sight, and three runeskulls e.g. Runeskull of Dragons (red), Runeskull of Dread (green), and Runeskull of Decay (grey).

From the walls of Calketoc we could see Orcrest to the south. With luck we could make Orcrest by the time shops are opening. Noticing a strange tall structure just west of Orcrest we decided to investigate there first. The tall structure turned out to be the Orc Shrine of Mauloch.

“Could these be the orc skulls that the Riverhold Mages Guild alchemist Jo'Rasma wanted?” Kaleah asked. “That Khajiit said she wanted a dozen ancestor orc skulls from the shrine of Mauloch near Orcrest.”

“Could be but I’m not sure we should disturb them. Let’s move on.”

Orcrest, home of the Great King Grogolagmuth, Lord of the Orcs, residents which includes huge beefy Minotaur and giant rat-like desert goblins, are up and moving but the shops are not open yet. So we spend some time talking to the residents. Trying to fit in, Pym decided to change into a more appropriate (she thinks) Orcrest attire. who am I to disagree.

G’juna of the Q’wazani tribe asks for our help. G’juna’s father the tribe’s chief has died and G’juna is on a quest to prove that he worthy to claim the chieftainship. His mother prefers G’juna’s younger brother and has given G’juna a near impossible quest. He has to capture the heads of 10 Valenwood warriors and the head of a Valenwood captain.

We hear rumors that in Dune the twin princes Khaffi and Qajirr are still fighting over succession after the death of the king.

Nirasja, the fiancée of the Khajiit highwayman that Pym did in when we left Riverhold gave me a small token of appreciation, her Desert Chameleon Scarf, for bringing her ring back to her. She understood the situation and of course I took care not to mention Pym’s involvement.

Then there was Eloine Brigette, a pretty young Breton girl of Orcrest who has fallen in love. She asked me to help her romance a Minotaur. What? Is there no shame in the world anymore? She doesn’t even speak Minotaur. No way am I getting in the middle of this.

“So says the one who consorts with Daedra!” admonished Kaleah with a wickedly provocative smile. “And aren’t you the one who arranged a rendezvous with a love stricken Xivilai and an Imperial man in Skingrad?”

“Oh alright, I’ll help the girl find a Minotaur translator.”

Pym just walked around whistling nonchalantly with her hands behind her back trying to ignore the whole thing.

Asking around the market we find it rather odd that no one knows anyone who speaks Minotaur. How do they conduct business with all the free roaming Minotaur? More than likely they all just don’t want to get involved.

Our search for a translator takes us into the residential section of Orcrest. While standing in front of the palace of the Great King Grogolagmuth, we notice that the population here is very diverse. In fact with all the Minotaur and rat-faced Desert Goblins roaming about there seems to be more non-orcs than there are Orcs. The town has its fair share of beggars too. An Argonian beggar named Chews-on-rats asks us to catch him 8 rats and a Big Rat steak. By Big Rat did he mean a Desert Goblin? We decline the ratter expedition.

A dust storm blew through forcing us to seek shelter. Ducking into the Three Tusk Tavern to wait out the storm we met Dorna gra-Morok. After several over priced drinks the surly orcess mentioned the orc hag Moga dro-Guush is fluent in Minotaur.

We found Moga dro-Guush sitting in front of her house. With a little persuasion she has agreed to act as translator. Apparently she knows the Minotaur in question and leads us straight to his house. The big bull seemed a little confused, but has agreed to a secret rendezvous with Eloine. To help win over the Minotaur, Moga suggested that Eloine take a batch of her special irresistible stew as a gift.

Eloine thanked us for organizing the rendezvous and the batch of Moga's special brew. Next time we’re in Orcrest we’ll find out how it went but for now it’s time for us to continue our journey.

This post has been edited by macole: Apr 23 2021, 06:42 AM

Wow, your crew really did pull a lot of loot out of Cakewalk!

I remember Orcrest vaguely and much is coming back seeing it through your descriptions.

Yes, those sandstorms in Elsweyr are wicked – glad they were able to find shelter instead of having to resort to Kahleah’s wings.

Nice to see that the Jandanga actually evaluates quests before accepting them - and rejecting ones that are distasteful or just plain silly.

I don't know how to talk about these things. I don't want anyone to think that I'm imposing my view of creation on them. My view of the creation myth stories takes a divergence has always been at the point in the Anuad where it says "On the world of Nirn, all was chaos. The only survivors of the twelve worlds of Creation were the Ehlnofey and the Hist.
Nope, something is wrong there. What about the all the different beast folk? I can't just sweep the centaur, dreugh, sload, imga, and nymphs under the rug. That's just the just the Tamriel side of the world. There's even stranger stuff over on the Akavir side.

20210428 ElsweyrAnequina south from Orcrest

Approaching Orcrest’s south gate we heard the most intriguing rumor. Ever wonder where all the Minotaurs in Orcrest come from? I did. So, upon the rumor of a Minotaur village somewhere near the Cyrodiil border we instantly changed direction and left through the north gate. A chance to uncover long lost secrets concerning the origin of the Minotaur and put a crimp in the Imperial history books is worth the effort.

We hadn’t traveled far, just slightly northeast of Orcrest near Sand Whip Cave when we were attacked by a couple of those rat-like desert goblins, so prevalent in Orcrest.

While I took care of one near the mouth of the cave Pym and Kaleah turned their attention the Ragasha Warlord bowman.

When you get that kind of reception by just walking peacefully by, well as Kaleah says it deserves our special attention. And what do we discover? The cave is rich in silver ore and emerald deposits. No wonder the greedy little Ragasha are so touchy. Proceeding deeper into the cave we’re met by all sorts of Ragasha e.g. warlords, skirmishers, seers, female shamans, and berserkers.

Fighting our way through the tunnels of the cave we come to a chamber with a ladder. To continue exploring we climb the ladder and enter a room of what we presume to be a mining shack. We are greeted by a room full of hostile Ragasha.

Once the hostilities were over we exited the mining shack to… Of all things, we’re back in Orcrest!

Oh well, searching for the Minotaur village didn’t quite turn out the way we planned. We got a room at the Broken Jaw Inn for the night.

Sunshine came softly through my a-window today.
Could've tripped out easy a-but I've a-changed my ways

“You looked worn out after yesterday’s spelunking,” Kaleah said in a soothing voice as Pym gently nudged me to get up. “We let you sleep late but come it’s time to go.”

A visit with the market vendors to get rid of some weighty items and we left Orcrest. This time with a desert song on our lips we headed south.

“You might think that I'm dreaming a dream
Allow me to say that it's not as it seems”

It was a hot dry afternoon and hour after hour of traveling south through the Ne Quin-el Desert was beginning to get to us when we spotted an oasis. Realizing it wasn’t a mirage the idea of a cool bath (bathing at the Broken Jaw Inn was “not” something you’d want to do) we forgot all caution as we raced to see who would be the first to take the plunge. Only one little thing stood in the way, the Greenvale Mere is inhabited by crocodilians.

Shades of Daggerfall, there be Lizard-Men!

After a tough fight that muddied up the once crystal clear water we decided bathing here wasn’t such a great idea. Following the along the banks of the little river that slowly flowed from the Greenvale Mere we continued south.

The lazy little river soon turned into a raging torrent of white water cutting a deep gorge as it made a hasty escape from the desert highland to the coastal flats. At one point along the gorge we had a good view of one of the river’s waterfalls spilling into a grotto. Naiads frolicked in the frothy pool below.

When Kaleah realized that I was intending to dive into the pool, she stopped me with a warning, “Feache, take care. These Naiads have scale-bark disease and are very dangerous.”

Managing to get a closer look I could see that Kaleah was right. These monstrosities are nothing like the nymphs of waterfalls I heard about in the old childhood stories.

The descent from the desert highland to the coastal flats took a longer time than expected. The two moons were rising in the evening sky as we approach the Imperial fortress Fort Riverkeep.

We decided to spend another quixotic night under the Elsweyr stars on the roof of an Imperial fort.

As with your previous episode featuring Orcrest, this one brought back long dormant memories of the wonder of exploring Anequina!

Wow, that is an amazing sky approaching Fort Riverkeep!

Thank you SubRosa and Acadian. The screenshot Two Moons Over Riverkeep will be added to my Desktop slide show.

20210501 ElsweyrAnequina Darkarn Place
A night under the clear starlit skies of Elsweyr Anequina can rejuvenate the soul of the weariest traveler.

We left Fort Riverkeep shortly after breakfast, a lavish formal affair complete with speeches and toasts from all the officers. They had heard of our exploits and had gone out of their way to show their dedication to the Empire. Personally, I think they were more than happy to see us go.

We came to a crossroad east to Leyawiin or west Corinthe. Kaleah gazed off toward Corinthe to the west as Pym touched my hand and stared pensively at me.

“Dear Feache, It’s been just over a year, maybe we should we go to Corinthe and visit Jobasha of Vivec City again. Maybe get lost in his library and read a long book?” Kaleah asked.

“That would be very nice. Only we’d have to sit through the telling of how a glyptodant attack resulted in his shattered legs being reconstructed wrong. Besides, there are still things in Cyrodiil we must attend to.” We turned east toward Leyawiin.

On a dusty desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of carnitas, rising up through the air

The inviting little adobe Darkarn Place Inn looked like a perfect place to stop for lunch. The inside told a different story altogether. Stepping inside we notice there weren’t many tables and only ones there were the proprietress, three Khajiits, and an Imperial guard. Something just doesn’t feel right in Darkarn Place.

While at the bar ordering drinks for my Ladies I struck up conversations with the servants; Snuggles a Cathay, Wibbums a Suthay, and Fluffball who looks like he came from Cyrodiil.

(I liked the way Elsweyr-Anequina Snuggles and Wibbums looked so much that when I saw a new mod to correct OCOv2 Khajiit body textures that I had to install it right away. It works great!)

They each spoke of beatings for either misbehaving or trying to run away like it was no big deal. That’s when we noticed the shackles… slave bracelets.

But there’s and Imperial guard here, why doesn’t he do something? Maybe it’s a prisoner work program? Or maybe he has something going on under the table? Or maybe local law allows this arrangement? Either way Kaleah and Pym agree it’s not our problem.

Libia Beltaire the proprietress got in on the conversation. Actually she wanted to know if I could help her with a little taxidermy problem. She recently accidently killed two of her pet kitties and needed someone to fetch a batch of preservation fluid from the witches of Orcrest.

Pym was wiping a mouthful of wine off her cuirass and Kaleah jumped out of her seat to strike me several times on the back (a few more than necessary I might add) as I nearly choked on my wine when I realized what she had just said meant.

Holy Mother Nir, she’s mad! She wants to stuff her deceased “pets”; a Khajiit couplet, male and female that she killed when she caught them having a bit of fun.

I recovered and politely told her, “You ain’t no damsel, Porky! And I ain’t your hero!”

Kaleah and Pym got in between us before Libia could draw her cudgel. While Libia was distracted I snuck down stairs to see what I could see.

Poor Tickles; died in a cage after days without food or water.

Here stands Squishy, beaten to death, stuffed, soaking in a tank of preservatives.

I also found her chest of kitty treats. As I guessed; cane sugar, moon sugar, and skooma. No wonder Snuggles, Wibbums, and Fluffball are seem to be so happy being beaten.

Things were getting a bit noisy upstairs. Having seen enough I hurried upstairs and told Kaleah and Pym it’s time to go. Let’s get out of this house of Sheo.

Darkarn Place - what a. . . well, place. I seem to remember an organization devoted to rescuing Khajiit slaves.

I know the organization is there (I cheated and used TES4Edit to look up the available quests), just have to find how to join. Maybe when we next pass through Elsweyr but for now we're heading back to Cyrodiil.

20210507 A bit of Midas Magic - Beholden Lair
My Ladies had up to here with the madwoman so didn’t take much encouraging to get them to leave Darkarn Place Inn. But before we left we took a tour of the boarding room. To spend the night your money gets you the open air experience of awning covered bed roll on the roof. The great view is a no charge feature.

After leaving Darkarn Place we climbed the Mount Alabaster’s South Peak to take in the view. Seeing Leyawiin and the Niben reminded us of urgent and neglected business back in Cyrodiil.

Back down the mountain to the road heading east we went. Hours on the road passed like minutes when we came across another large Ayleid ruin named Alabaster. This ruin has been well pick over by countless treasure seekers and is now inhabited by a dozen squatters. Not much to do here so we continued on to Leyawiin.

It was dark by the time we reached Leyawiin’s western outskirts (Better Cities). Tired and hungry and better odds of a decent meal then what’s available at my Leyawiin home, we stopped at The Drunken Donkey (BetterCities) for dinner.

Dinner and a night of relaxing at the inn the three of us staggered arm in arm to our Leyawiin home. Kaleah started singing something about shutting up and dancing. It was kind of infectious so I joined in as loud as I could.

“Ooo hoo shut-up and dance with me!”

Guards looked at us kind of oddly as we did the Eagle Rock through the city but we made it home alright. In the morning, J’Dato the Khajiit monk had breakfast prepared for when we awoke. After our trip through Elsweyr his mildly spiced version of Khajiit cooking was very much enjoyable.

During the meal J’Dato told us that the Order of the Virtuous Blood had left instructions to inform us that the vampire situations are in urgent need of our attention. We gave J’Dato a reply to send back to the Order that we’ll be there soon to take care of that business.

We left that afternoon fully intending to go north but something flashed in the dense jungle and we ended up chasing a blue dragonling along the coast towards Black Marsh.

The dragonling easily evaded us, leading us further and further east. Without Maeva and her mystic map we were lost in the jungle. Looking around to get our bearings we found ourselves staring at a shrine standing just off shore. Odd finding a temple shrine out here in the middle of nowhere.

“It can’t be but it is, Beholden’s Lair (Midas Magic),“ whispered Kaleah. Nocking an arrow in her bow Kaleah advanced toward the shrine. Pym and I followed her in.

Beholdens, I remember encountering those multi-eyed monstrosities while assisting the Silver Sky Temple. They can be difficult but not undefeatable foe. Just didn’t seem to be a reason for Kaleah to be so distressed over this shrine.

It didn’t take long to realize that the little temple building was hiding a dark secret. The temple interior was not meant for worship. It was a dark, dank, slimy cave. We didn’t get very far into the cave when we found out why the cave floor was so slick. We were attacked by slimes, jelly-like things oozing along the floor.

Shortly after that we encountered the first beholden. Judging by its size it was very young, quite possibly a hatchling. Entering one large semi-flooded room of the cavern a giant slime fiend caught us by surprise. Rising up from the knee-deep dark water it towered over us.

Pym was slimed when the fiend hit her with a large glob of poisonous mucous. Kaleah and I harvested the slime fiend’s heart while Pym washed off the slime.

The brackish water had an oily feel to it and wasn't helpful as we vigorously scrubbed each other while trying to wash off that sticky ooze but we made the best of it.

Making our way through that portion of the cavern we came across a door covered with strange glowing runes. Prepared for the worst we opened the door and entered a large chamber. We were prepared to meet beholdens but we didn’t expect or maybe Kaleah did but I sure didn’t expect to be standing in front of the largest one of these multi-eyed monsters I’d ever seen.

“Die hive mother!” Kaleah shouted as she loosed a fiery arrow at the thing.

When the beast and all its spawn were dead we collected the huge eye off the hive mother. As we were making our way back to shrine entrance Kaleah mentioned, “Your friend Midas might be interested in the Beholden Hive Mother's Eye.”

We’ll have to check that out next time we’re in the Imperial City.

Those Beholdens look pretty familiar...

“Die hive mother!”
Is this German for The Hive Mother?