Doppleganging shape shifters open up all kinds of concerns. A spell to detect them seems in order.

And it's off to Leyawiin, then possibly Niryastare?

Really love that purple top the maomer is wearing as she meditates. I could see myself wearing such garb when I was younger.

That conversation had me laughing. "Why are you looking at me like that?" "You attacked me!"

Let me ask: how many Current Quests does Jandaga have? Right now?

Yeah, it is part of the mod dialogue and I laughed at that conversation too.

As of today Jandaga has 55 open quests and has completed 234. He has found 433 places and has acquired fame of 134. I'm sure I won't finish everything but there is still some vampire hunting to do.

20210720 What next, decision in Leyawiin

Now after talking to everyone we left Merendin to take the taxman’s bag of gold to Leyawiin.

Reporting the death of tax collector Trittilius Pentius Count Mario Caro repeated over and over again, “This can’t be. This can’t be.”

Producing the heavy pouch of 500 gold septims broke his spell of bewilderment. His eyes practically popped out of their sockets. Suddenly it’s “Oooh, let’s forget about all that stuff. We’ll just put this in the Watch Fund, shall we?”

(That closed the book on the Stranded Light, Missing Tax Collector. Stranded Light is more extensive than I had anticipated.)

Yeah like there really is a Watch Fund.

With that we were quickly dismissed and ushered out of the hall, Elenya spoke out, “My Jandaga, there is no Watch Fund. The greedy bastard is just going to pocket the ill-gotten gold. We must right this wrong.”

“It’s the human nature. All the people of Blackenmarch know is that the crooked taxman thief has met a just end. The way they see it is that they’d be paying one way or another anyway, so who cares? Strike one injustice down and another will just take its place. Same goes for the Mer, Khajiit, Orcs, Argonians, and all the other intelligent races of Nir. Better to strike down the big wrongs and let the little things settle on their own.”

Kaleah just shook her head, “Sometimes Feache, you surprise even me. May you never change.”

We all had a laugh and went to Best Goods and Guaranties, and the Dividing Line to sell a ton of stuff we’d never use. With our pockets struggling to hold the weighty gold, we stopped by the Five Claws Lodge for drinks and dinner. Afterwards we retired to our home and OVB Chapter House for the night.

It was around 10:30 the following morning when we walked down to the river to get a late breakfast or early lunch at Admiral Cosmos’ Tavern. On the way to the tavern our conversation turned to what to do next.

While crossing the Leyawiin draw bridge over the Niben, Kaleah let her bias toward witches show when she voiced her opinion in favor of proceeding straightaway to Fort Goldthroat and deal with the witch Viola Tarensa.

Not that simple, Elenya countered by pointing out that we were expected to inform Raminus first. Elenya voted for investigating Niryastare for Jo’beala’s crystal. Niryastare is less than a day’s walk from Oyster Bay. We could, she suggested book passage aboard a ship and enjoy a nice relaxing cruise on the way to Oyster Bay.

The Jandaga paused in the middle of the bridge as he pondered the options.

To this point Pym was quiet as usual. But she simply grabbed me by the chin, turned my head to face northeast, and emphatically pointed in that direction. She then marched at a very determined pace, to the Yellow Road City Gate.

“Well now, that’s settled. Come on, what are we waiting around here for? There are things to do and artifacts to find.”

Count Leyawiin needs that money. He went nearly broke paying Mazoga for all those black bows.

Haha, the Count does indeed need a large Black Bow reward fund.

Wise of Jandanga to share his philosophy on choosing which injustices to focus on trying to correct.

Looks like you have a nice mod to help deal with the Niben being able to flow into Topal Bay.

Pym in charge and off they go!

If I'm not mistaken that is Better Cities. It is an essential mod in all my own playthroughs.

Yes it is Better Cities updated to version 6.0.8. I've been using Better Cities since 2010 at least.




You got that right!

20210726 a walk along the Silverfish, Lost Boy
It was a pleasant day and with a quick pace we were soon at the spot where we found the dead tax collector. The body of the slain bodyguard still lay in the middle of the blood stained road like some dead skunk, stinkin’ to high heaven.

A little further on up the road, as we crossed the bridge over the Panther River we could see the broken wreckage of a ship. Our curiosity piqued we had to go and check it out.

Of course the wreckage was haunted. Ghosts and wraiths of various ranks inhabited the bones of the ship, fighting us on every deck of the ship. There is a room we can’t get into. It’s locked with a mechanism that requires a key. Double checking every nook and cranny we searched for the key but to no avail. Barred from entering the locked room we left the Emma May to the river spirits.

From the Mouth of the Panther we continued north on the Yellow Road until we reached the Silverfish River.

Just before the Silverfish Bridge, Pym turned off the road onto a narrow foot path that ran eastward alongside the southern bank of the Silverfish River. This area is not new to us, we’ve been here before. A stepped trail branches off to the south leading up the mountainside to Vigilacian’s Vantage and the Overgrown Spire. We pass it by continuing east.

As we crossed a rope-n-plank bridge strung in front of the impressive Stredia Falls a nagging little thought began to grow louder and louder until it became a voice.

“Where are we going, Pym?”

Pym looked at me with those big vacant eyes as if I should know. With a shrug she produced an arrow. Breaking the arrowhead and handed me the shaft. That jogged my memory back to the OVB report of vampires coming from Arrowshaft Cave.

“Ah, I remember now.”

The trail continued on passed Peryite’s Shrine where it became so overgrown that we lost it. As we wandered around blindly in the dense forest searching for Arrowshaft Cave, the jungle canopy began to close around us, funneling us toward a cavern entrance. We had stumbled upon Lost Boy Cavern. Or, as Elenya believes, did the jungle guide us here?

“Nature could find a home here if it was properly cleansed and balanced,” declared Elenya as we stood before the entrance of Lost Boy Cavern.

Just outside the cavern entrance we found a Weathered Journal belonging to someone named Vangaril. The journal describes Vangaril’s realization that his friend Erandur has become a lich. “I learned he had become a miserly disciple of the Worm King, a cunning wraith. A Lich,” he writes.

Rebuked by the Mages Guild, Vangaril’s pleas for assistance to cleanse the Lost Boy Cavern and save the soul of his friend went unanswered. Armed with rites of cleansing, on his own Vangaril took on the grave duty to purge the fearsome Lich and set free the soul of Erandur,

The journal closed with the statement, “I leave this testament behind, lest I may never return from these depths; as a warning to those who may follow my path.”

The fact that we found this journal outside the cavern doesn’t bode well for Vangaril’s well being, I’m afraid.

“Well Elenya,” I ask. “This looks like a big one. Do you still think this place could be a home for nature?”

The cute little aelfa adjusted her feathered headdress and with a steeled look upon her face drew her sword declared. “Does not the grass have blades? Do not the stars shoot?”

Sounds like Elenya has a bone to pick with Lost Boy Cavern. Hearing no objections from Kaleah or Pym, I’m guessing we’re taking on the challenge.

As ever, I'm constantly amazed how beautiful and lush your game can look. In this case, the wreck in the Panther River is stunning.

“Nature could find a home here if it was properly cleansed and balanced,”
- "Go for the eyes, Boo! Rangers everywhere, rejoice!"

“Does not the grass have blades? Do not the stars shoot?”
- Wonderfully creative, this. ^

Yes that’s Jaheira from Baldur’s Gate. At times the comments from Companion Sound Sets v1.0 by brucevayne fit the scene so well, it surprises me. Except for Pym, it works well.

20210728 Lost Boy Cavern, OOO A Path of Iron
What a dangerous maze this cavern turned out to be. The first three chambers of the cavern; The Cavern, The Canyon, and the Yawning Halls were crawling with necromancers and nether lich They weren’t the problem, the army of undead they commanded were the problem. Summoned specters, spectral wolves, and spectral warriors coupled the necromancer creations; zombies, skeleton warriors, and other such ghouls made exploring Lost Boy Cavern exceedingly difficult.

It’s not like My Ladies weren’t having fun though. You could hear Kaleah’s laughter “Ah Hahahahahaha!” and Elenya exclamation, “Foul creature, die your final death!” echoing throughout the cavern. Even the ever silent Pym would let go an unexpected faint, “Whoopee!” now and then.

We had some unexpected help too. Our good friend, the intrepid Orc Adventurer lent us his aid in the first section of the cavern. He declined to accompany us any further into the depths of the Lost Boy Cavern. He stayed in the room filling his backpack with treasure for Gortwog.

Entering Lost Boy Canyon we receive more unexpected help by way of the terrain. Many necromancers fell, often with a little help, into the jaws of the chasm. Their crumpled bodies could be seen lying at the bottom of the deep gorge.

While looting of The Canyon we found a rickety scaffolding staircase (Snus Dungeons) leading down into the dark depths of the chasm. At the first landing, about a third of the way down, there was a tunnel dug into the chasm wall. The tunnel exited on a second platform.

That was it. No chest of riches, no unique magical trinket, no elusive Ayleid or fae artifact, just a platform in the darkness too far from the chasm floor to do us any good. That and a rope ladder leading back to the top of the chasm. We left the Canyon to continue our search for artifacts until we found the entrance to the Yawning Halls.

There was nothing sleepy about the Yawning Halls. Three necromancers and two MOO Plaguebringers led an army of zombies, skeletons, specters, nether lich, and powerful ancient lich as they tried to make our final day filled with fun and excitement. Didn’t work out the way they planned but it was fun and exciting.

Standing in front of the entrance to Lost Boy’s Hidden Bastion we thought we knew what to expect and prepared ourselves for another brutal fight. Still when we entered the Hidden Bastion we were surprised at the presence of corpus stalkers (Creature Diversity) and a mummy.

Past the now truly dead creatures we climb a marble staircase to enter an ancient temple of Ayleid design. Here again we’re surprised to see beer bottles lying scattered about on the floor. Glancing above revealed a dead drunk goblin, beer bottle in hand, hanging over a ledge (OOO).

“Is that a treasure chest on the ledge with the goblin? Just how is anyone supposed to get to it?”

“Take my hand and we’ll soar to heights unimaginable.” Kaleah whispered.

That delicious thought lasted just long enough to allow a ghoul, an ancient ghost, and a couple of nether lich led by a Keeper of the Dead (OOO) to launch an attack. As my Ladies danced with the lich and necromancers, something upstairs attracted my attention.

From the upper landing I could see movement by two robed figures at the far end of the walkway. It soon became obvious that spectral warriors were charging down the runway.

There are two ways to deal with conjurers. First is to fight the summoned creatures in the hopes that the conjurer runs out of magicka before you run out of life. The second is to ignore summoned creatures and kill the conjurer before the summoned creatures kill you. I like door number three; summon the Sisters of Insanity to distract the summoned creatures while I dispatch the necromancers.

Works every time! The Lord of the Dead and his consort, Cruth Sailathil (MOO) were soon dead and their creatures vanished.

My Ladies having won the dance contest arrived just in time to help me go through several treasure chests. Funny how that happens.

A pair of boots stood in a prominent spot among the treasure chests. The Boots of Melius Petilius (OOO A Path of Iron) wouldn’t budge when we tried to pick them up.

At an alchemy station we found notes written by Vangaril and the lich Erandur. From these notes we were able to piece together what had happened. Vangaril was only partially able to defeat the lich. Somehow the malignant soul of the lich Erandur was able to merge with the soul of Vangaril. The combined souls have formed the lich Erandur-Vangaril that now threatens to kill every member of the mages guild.

A locked double great door stood before us. A key was found in one of the chests near the Boots of Melius Petilius, I decided against using it. Instead I opted for a long rang unlock spell. A horde of undead led by the lich Erandur-Vangaril poured through the unlocked doors.

The ensuing fierce battle ended in our favor. Erandur-Vangaril is dead.

Several minutes of restoration spells were needed before we could move. As we were leaving the Hidden Bastion we discovered an entrance to the Canyon. This led us to the chasm floor we had unsuccessfully tried to reach.

The pockets of the Master Necromancer (MOO) and other necromancers were well worth the time.

Tired we sought a place to sleep. Though the sleeping stones were cold and hard sleep came quickly. The next morning we left Lost Boy Cavern in search of Arrowshaft Cave.

In the final tally, we did pickup a couple MOO runeskulls; Runeskull of Mist and Runeskull of Rupture.

A bonanza of undead! I've heard that Snus dungeons can be really (really) lush. It just occurred, is Pym normally so quiet? Perhaps I had just not previously noticed. I like the Jandanga's door #3 approach to conjurors.

Yes if you like your caves dark, dank and dusty or dripping with wet limestone, Snus Dungeons can be overly lush. I can ignore all the seemingly misplaced greenery for the chance of finding things like the scaffold staircase in Lost Boy Cavern.

Pym doesn’t speak, never has.
In-game she has sworn to never reveal the great secret she shares with Kaleah. It’s all about the relationship between Kaleah, Pym and the Jandaga. (more on that later if I can ever write it up properly).
Since she has taken a vow of silence Pym communicates via sign language (read sub-titles). She’s often a little more physical with the Jandaga, grabbing him by the chin to turn his head so he sees what she wants him to see, that sort of thing.

Technically, there are two reasons why Pym doesn't speak.
First, other than a few high pitched squeaky battle cries (Japanese or Korean that sound like wahoo, yessa, yep) her creator did not include a voice for Pym’s custom race, Pym2. In fact I had to correct an error to the voice folder naming structure just be able to use the sounds that were included in the mod.
Second, the companion sound set that I use doesn’t work for Pym’s custom race. Adding a new race to the set isn’t that hard, I’ve done it before years ago. I had intended to do so for Pym but I got to where I like her battle cries and without a suitable voice to match I left her mute.

This post has been edited by macole: Jul 29 2021, 06:55 AM

Ahah. Her cryptic sign language indicating Arrowshaft Cave a couple episodes ago falls into place now.

I love that part.

Your explanation for why Pym is so quiet is also something I might come up with. An in-game explanation for something technical.

20210803 VH-OVB Arrowshaft Cavern- Snus Dungeons the bad

Our search for Arrowshaft Cavern continued. Further north we went, taking us past the remains of an Oblivion Gate. A little used trail took us high into the mountains overlooking the Silverfish River valley. It was about midnight when we eventually found the cavern we were looking for.

Remember the OVB’s advice is to attack during the daytime and stake the vampires while they sleep. That’s the big conundrum. Do we wait outside until dawn or enter now? Either way you’re taking a chance on encountering a nasty wide awake vampire. We went right on in.

At first we wondered if we were in the right cavern. Wild boar and Minotaur were all that we found in the first two sections of the cavern. Then there was the morning glory that impossibly grew in the darkness (Better Dungeons).

It was when we entered the Subtarrane things began to change.

“They’re here,” warned Kaleah. “Be careful.”

Kaleah may be able to smell them but there was no physical evidence to be found. Crossing a narrow bridge that spanned a deep pit we cautiously followed the tunnel as it twisted its way deeper into the mountainside. A noise came from up ahead. Cautiously turning a corner we came face to face with the first living thing we had seen in a long time, a huge minotaur.

After defeating the minotaur and a troll we relaxed a bit allowing two vampires to suddenly flash into existence before us. Had they been following us cloaked in invisibility and had chosen this time to attack? A couple of bites from the Light of Dawn prove them wrong and they vanished as quickly as they appeared.

Soon we came to the end of the tunnel as it opened up to a good sized room. From the entrance one coffin could be seen sitting next to a large boulder.

“There’s supposed to be three. I only see one,” I whispered.

“The coffins are behind that boulder,” Kaleah pointed out a huge dark boulder (Snus Dungeons, The Bad, much as I like Snus there are times when it collides with other mods.)

Well they can run but they cannot hide from the Light of Dawn. We’ll just cast Passwall (TCL or Disable Object to simulate Arena spell) and force them out.

Feeling that this would best be done alone, I asked my Ladies to guard the entrance to the cavern room so I would not be disturbed as I worked the magic. As I approached the boulder that shielded the vampires I could hear Kaleah and Elenya singing the Waiting Prayer while Pym tapped the meter on the stone walls.

My love you march to war defiant,
May Nir returneth you triumphant,
And you'll be brave, be strong, be true, my love
And I'll be waiting for you,
Forever…

Passwall (TCL) allowed me to step inside the boulder to reveal the two coffins within.

One at a time I opened a coffin and to stake the sleeping vampire. That didn’t work out exactly as planned. The vampires did not die immediately and having to reset the Passwall spell (toggle TCL) gave them time to recover.

That wasn’t too bad considering it allowed Light of Dawn to consume the souls of the vampires Gretel the Unjust, Bruno the Mighty, and Gelyndor the Wizened.

On the flipside the vampires brought their thrall (MOO) to the fight. This was serious business as often times the thralls proved to be tougher than the vampire.

Bruno the Mighty brought Andriel Bluehollow,

Gretel the Unjust brought Seliulus Galseus an Argonian,

Gelyndor the Wizened brought Sinsoud Khakar a Khajiit.

The big cheater Gelyndor the Wizened also summoned a skeleton. Didn’t do him any good though, he ended up appeasing Light of Dawn’s hunger just like Gretel and Bruno before him.

The three vampires that had been terrorizing the Silverfish River valley have been given the final cure and are now dead. All we need to do is inform Roland at the OVB HQ.

We were about to backtrack through the cavern to the exit when I noticed light coming from the far end of the subterranean room.

Is this the way out?

“Come on Ladies, no need to rush but grab what you can carry and let’s go this way,” I called out.

Some serious vampire slaying going on there! I recall folks talking about such things as MOO and OOO but they always sounded too scary for me and Buffy. What a wonderfully handy spell Passwall is! Paired with Twinkle, I'm sure it makes exploring much more convenient.

Acadian: used sparingly the old magic (passwall, levitation) can save your bacon when mods write over each other.
MMM,OOO and MOO or why I travel with so many companions.

20210807 Snus Dungeons-Arrowshaft Cavern Exterior and the Lost Ruins
(Snus, The Good - this is Snus Dungeons doing what it does best)

Into the light of day we stepped to be greeted by a peaceful valley dotted with teepees. Enjoying the peaceful moment of discovery didn’t last long. Answering the unspoken question of who lives here, roaring minotaur bulls came charging from the camp of teepees.

Fighting our way clear of the minotaur, we discovered a stone door at the far end of the valley. The door opened to the large subterranean chamber of the Lost Ruins.

With barely enough light to see the path in front of us we crossed a rope bridge spanning a chasm so deep the bottom was lost in the darkness. On the far side an enormous column of stone rose up from the inky black abyss to the roof of the cavern. Light from a campfire could be seen on the right hand side of the jagged column of stone.

The path wound around to the left taking us away from the campfire. Soon after crossing a stone bridge the path branched off in three directions. To the left is a wooden scaffold leading down into the abyss. Straight ahead the path leads to a stone bridge leading to ruins of what could be a temple to some long forgotten god or goddess.

Taking the right most path we arrived at the campsite we had seen when we first entered this chamber. An Orc adventurer was leaving the camp when we arrived. A few friendly words and he went on his way, disappearing into the darkness.

That old Orc hadn’t left much for us to pocket, just a few gold coins.

Backtracking, we crossed the stone bridge to the temple ruins. A group of bandits looting the temple ruins tried to stop us from crossing. The spray from the waterfall made footing treacherous. Lucky for us it was the bandits that slipped and slid off into the darkness.

If this was a temple there was not much left to indicate the deity it was dedicated to. Just a few welkin stones and a single varla stone was all that was left of any value.

Elenya closed her eyes and contemplated for a moment. A minute passed. Elenya opened her eyes, “This place was once held sacred to nature but, the spirit of this temple has long departed.”

Leaving the desecrated temple we crossed the stone bridge once more and turned towards the wooden scaffolding. I started to descend the stairs when Pym grabbed me and spun me around.

The sight set before me cried out to me, touching my soul. For an instant I felt my inner self being drawn to the shining citadel shrouded in mist. A voice, so far away, was it Kaleah who called out my name?. An angel caught me up her strong arms and tenderly brought me back.

My eyes opened to find myself laying in Pym’s embrace while Kaleah stood over me shouting my name over and over again. I could see Elenya nearby, her hands glowing brightly intent on giving me the shock of my life.

“What’s all the shouting about?” I said weakly. “I’m ok.”

“My gentle Feache,” Kaleah cooed as she caressed my cheek. “DON’T EVER DO THAT AGAIN!”

There was a small argument about going down into the abyss to find the citadel. My Ladies were adamant that place was too dangerous. Not worth the risk they said.

“Risk? Risk is what we do!” I explained. “Am I not the Archeology Guild Headmaster and the Archmage? Is it not my duty to boldly go where no… um? Sorry, got carried away. Anyways, it’s the memories of Grandpa telling stories of a great shining city shrouded in mist. It’s what I search for. I need to know what if anything is left of the fae or has the dream faded in the mist?”

My Ladies followed as I descended the scaffold stairs. The scaffold came to an end and we searched the landing until we found a rope ladder that took us down to the cavern floor.

Hours were spent crawling over the rough stone cavern floor or wading through chest deep water as we searched for a way to the citadel. We found bodies of the bandits that had fallen into the abyss during the fighting up above.

Where the blackish water was deepest we were attacked by a dreugh.

Just when we were debating whether to give up and leave this place, we turned a corner and there before us a marble staircase rose up as far as we could see.

Climbing the 1000 steps took us the Lost Ruins of the shining citadel of my dreams.

The excitement of this new find kept building until we found the entrance door. Not locked, the door is not operable and simply would not budge. Hmmm, it’ll take greater magic than mine to see what’s behind this door. (Kaleah suspects there is nothing there behind the door.)

(Snus, The Ugly – trying to save while in Snus altered portions of Arrowshaft Cavern (Subterran, Exterior, and Lost Ruins) always resulted in a corrupt file. I don’t know how or have the time to fix this. The best work around solution I found was to use the Midas Magic Astral Gate spell to set a mark which will allow me to return here. Then use the LAME Teleport Home spell to travel to my Cheydinhal home (any home will do) I was able to save the game. Yay! The Astral Gate returns me to the dungeon and I can now continue on. Cumbersome but it worked.)

I see that venturing into lands outside of Cyrodiil can be a dangerous affair. Best spend some time with the Telvanni first to learn all those forbidden spells.