I remember that from somewhere …

Thought you would.

Nice to have Elenya helping to keep track of the group’s dance card and route planning.

The Eternal Flame looks like Twinkle’s fiery cousin.

Nice to hear a mention of Melus Petilius.

Yay! Twinkle finds Skull of the Mountain. Good idea seeing if Tar-Meena can help figure it out.

I find it amusing that the Jandaga is an Arch Mage who doesn't attend to administrative duties. At all. "Good have them on my desk in the morning" (meanwhile, I won't be here. I'll be ... somewhere else).

I wonder if he'll finish doing Umbacano's quests. After all these years, none of mine have managed to do so yet.

Whoops, I was wrong. He's got the tactical pamphlet ready for review. Good job, Arch Mage.



Absolutely. I like this part of Vampire Hunting. Always have something else to do, especially for those of us who have already done all the vanilla parts.

I notice in the one pic it looks like your character's running away from that giant minotaur. Yeesh.

Yeah we were a little slow getting out of the building this time. If Raminus has learned anything it's if you want to get the Arch Mage's attention you got to be quick.

My first character did the collector quest. It's been something like 12-years ago. Hard to beleive that it's been so long.


The Jandaga is a master at the Hit-n-Run technique.

This post has been edited by macole: Oct 17 2021, 07:20 AM

20211017 Univerisitum Arcanorum, Midas Magic,
Set sail before the sun
Feel the warmth that's just begun
Share each and every dream
They belong to everyone.
(The Moody Blues)

The choice is to continue on our original course or go back to the Imperial City to consult with Tar-Meena about the Skull of the Mountain. We decided, each for their own reason, to return to the Imperial City. Upon seeing the Skull of the Mountain book, Tar-Meena told us she would need a couple of days to study it. My Ladies let out a joyous cheer while I nervously fumbled around in my empty pockets.

While the Ladies terrorized the clothing and jewelry shops in the city, the Jandaga put on one of his best robes and spent his day visiting some of the newer departments added when the old university was remodeled and renamed Univerisitum Arcanorum.

Museum of Ayleid Antiquities’ Rylindasil informs me that the current display is from the Late Middle Merethic Era. Is this the skeleton of one of the Ayleid kings?

Museum of Dwemeri Artifacts Velina Daleth directs me to their most recent discovery, a Dwemeri Sphere. Recently discovered in the Bethamez ruin near Gnisis, no one knows what its intended functions is.

Department of Arcane Sciences; just missed a lecture. The lector left as soon as he saw the Arch Mage walk into the hall. In one side room a caged Dremora, Anhaedra, was found. All Anhaedra would say is that this is better than Maar Gan.

Department of Magical Practicum, another lecture hall, had a most unusual item on display. If you can see it, that is.

(Oht Quam Oht Fraternity, the frat house I had mistaken as another Better Cities tavern.)

With nothing to do for awhile I paid a visit to Oht Quam Oht. Just to ensure the fraternity was abiding by university rules. Nearly choked on my beer when I learned the fraternity was founded in honor of Midas Aurumius. Surely this was a flagrant violation to the Arch Mage Traven’s orders.

Why was the frat house allowed to remain active? Midas Aurumius is rumored to have the backing of very powerful and influential individuals both financially and politically. Could it be true?

With administrative duties taken care of, the Jandaga stopped by Midas Magic - Spell and Sundries Midas. Recognizing the Jandaga as a previous customer and maybe more importantly the current Arch Mage the store owner, Midas Aurumius, didn’t object to the Jandaga browsing through the books on the shelves.

Four were very interesting;

Skimming through Midas’ copy of “On Lycanthropy” starts the quest “Where Tiger?”. From Midas’ handwritten notes the Jandaga learned of a Khajiit by the name of Jo’Mahma, who stole items from Midas. This Jo’Mahma has been staying at Oht Quam Oht and any effort in finding this Khajiit should start there. The book also contained a very interesting spell recipe, “Midas Silver Bullet” that might prove useful.

Reading “A Warlock's Luck” starts the quest “A Warlock's Luck”, and it contains a few recipes. The reading also enables Ungarion at A Warlock’s Luck in Bravil to sell three new unique spells.

The book "The Prime Morpholith" described the location of a ruin named Khaza-dun. This could be an Ayleid ruin of great reward and danger. The book also contained spell recipes to summon a Balrog and to open an Oblivion gate.

One book “Eye off the Beholden” tells of a horrid many-eyed creature. Ha, we have already fought this one and plucked out the mother’s large central eye.

The Jandaga bought what books he could and took notes on the two he couldn’t so Elenya could research them and add pertinent information to her maps and quest journal. The Cute Elves are definitely cute but they are also very fastidious note takers.

Down in the basement knowing that this Astral Gate (we’ve been there) takes us to the Portal Gateway we ignore it and searched the rest of the room. Passing by a section of brick wall a brief sensation is felt. A closer inspection reveals a secret door.

Surprisingly the door opens to a long staircase. Descending deep below the Universitum Arcanorum,Midas has hidden The Great Astral Gate. It’s inactive. Now, how to activate it?

Returning to Midas’s basement and activate the Astral Gate there. From a vantage point on the Portal Gateway a small island can be seen floating in the void. How do I get there?

Returning to the Universitum Arcanorum courtyard I found a seat and sat down to await the return of my Ladies. Better talk over what I discovered with them.

Later, much later:

“Look at the poor dear,” Kaleah cooed over the sleeping Jandaga. “He’s been running around like a child in a candy store. What he needs is a hot bath and a massage to ease his tensions.”

“Oooh, good thing I bought this,” Elenya eagerly offered a small ornately decorated bottle of extremely expensive oil. “It has a luscious lavender scent,”

Pym just demurely smiled.

Good to see the Jandaga keeping busy! But tell Elenya to refrain from buying overpriced lavander oil just because the bottle is pretty.

A Dwemer sphere... yes, we came across such a thing among the baubles offered for the decoration of Riften. Our construction company said it was among the artefacts brought over from Morrowind recently. But we decided it would look better in Markarth, besides the Jarl was not keen on mysterious artefacts rotating under an unseen power. I suppose it is safe in a museum though.

A fun tour of the bits added by Univerisitum Arcanorum.

Oh noes! Not the feared and infamous Jo’Mahma!

And the tour continues into Midas’ shoppe of arcanery.

Sounds like the Ladies missed their Jandanga.

I forgot to include the picture of the robe the Jandaga was wearing.

Jo'Mahma, seriously I didn't make that name up.

This post has been edited by macole: Oct 18 2021, 03:20 AM

Phancie/schmancie!

I am trying to suss which Moody Blues song that is, but I don't recognize those lyrics. I'm also still waiting for macole to really get into the heart of the psychedelic era. Let's see some Strawberry Alarm Clock lyrics! Or Moby Grape!



This episode packed with subtle humor. I don't know how Jandaga doesn't just wind up in Cyrodiil's equivalent of a mental bin sometimes.

Moody Blues, For My Lady, Seventh Soujorn album, verse #4.


We'll see.

20211020 Rumple, Midas’ Magic, Better Cities, and something special for Renee

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

“Feache! Feache wake up!” Kaleah burst into the Arch Mage’s quarters. “Let’s go, Tar-Meena has news on the Skull book.”

try to remember the shape of your name
where did you go when they started the game?
how did the sand get inside of your brain?
(Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies)

Shaking my head to clear the sand and cobwebs, I got out of bed. Last thing I remember was having a tea before leaving Midas’ Spells and Sundries. Must have been a good tea but why the lingering perfume of lavender?

Head clear the Ladies and I sat down at breakfast to discuss our options. While we were all in agreement with proceeding on our original course of action, we thought it best to check with Tar-Meena first.

When I brought up the subject of activating the Great Gate in Midas’ basement, Kaleah was particularly adamant about being properly prepared before tripping in Midas’ astral plane. One small mistake and the trip could end badly. She suggested that a few of Midas’ spell recipes would be useful.

The spell Wings of an Angel for example; it allows flight for 30-seconds. That should be useful in getting to the little island I saw floating in the void. It requires an angel feather and to get that I would have to summon an angel. For that I would need a white monk’s robe. We’ve known this for quite some time. I’ve just never paid much attention to the items we pick up.

Why bother with it when I can levitate (tcl) to get myself around. I am after all the Arch-Mage of Cyrodiil, and Archmagister, emeritus of House Telvanni.

Tar-Meena was at her usual station in the Mystic Archives. She was happy to tell us that she was able to open and translate the book. Tar-Meena wasn’t so happy to tell us that the powerful destruction spell described in the book had such a high Magicka cost that it was useless.

With a random thought I suggested using a sa’angreal or some sort of Magicka battery in place of one’s own Magicka to power the spell. Tar-Meena took that thought and countered with own idea of using one of the Dark Welkynd Stone traps that are found in Ayleid ruins.

She walked off mumbling about which of the other mages would know if there's a way to take one of those from an Ayleid ruin, and have it retain its power. Well, I guess we wait another day or two.

While we wait we might as well enjoy ourselves. Stopping at the Oht Quam Oht frat house for a glass or two we happened to come across Jo’Mahma’s personal copy of Lycanthropy. By Jo’Mahma‘s handwritten notes we are shocked to find that Jo’Mahma has discovered a way to turn himself into a weretiger.

Obsessed with becoming like his Ka Po’Tun brothers, Jo’Mahma has gone into hiding somewhere near the Panther River to live out his dream. Not liking the thought of a weretiger running amok in the countryside we thought we’d go take a look while we waited on Tar-Meena. Paid the bar tab and left immediately.

The trip to the Panther River was uneventful as was traveling up river to reach the Panther’s headwaters. There, not far from Fort Redwater we stumbled upon a large fortress like Ayleid ruin, the Halls of Lôrn (Better Cities quest).

Entering the Halls of Lôrn we were impressed by the size of the great hall.

“Didn’t Ma Syd Jun in Bravil mention something about this place?” asked Kaleah.

“It does sound familiar,” I replied.

”Or was it Oron who mentioned the Halls of Lôrn,” Elenya added. “We never did look deeply into their concerns.”

“Maybe we should next time we’re in Bravil. I certainly don’t like the Black Hand banners and some of the other trappings we see here.”

Leaving the Halls of Lôrn we began our canvassing of the area surrounding the Panther River headwaters. The search for the weretiger didn’t take long at all. He found us!

We hadn’t been out in the jungle for very long when with a tremendous roar the weretiger sprung upon us. My Ladies, ever quick with their swords, brought it to bay. Down it went seemingly dead only to spring back up to come at us once more. Again the four of us took the beast down and again it rose from the dead stronger than before. This pattern went on for some time.

Was the weretiger getting stronger with each false death or was it just Weariness tightening its grip on my Ladies and myself?

I'll never know for at that time a frustrated Kaleah gasping for breath yelled out, “Why won’t it die! Do we need a Silver Bullet!?”

Silver Bullet, of course that’s it! Thrusting my hand, fingers spread wide I called forth Midas’ Astral Gate. The four of us were transported instantly to the Astral Gate. Ignoring the gem powered portals we stepped into the portal that stood alone off by itself. We stepped out in the basement of Midas’ Spells and Sundries.

With his usual smile, Midas greeted us as we emerged from his basement. “Ah, another group of intrepid adventurers has arrived. How may I help you?’

“I’m terribly thirsty, you wouldn’t happen to have any of that tea left would you?”

“We need the Silver Bullet spell,” an impatient Elenya interrupted.

“You have the ingredients; 1 gold nugget, 1 silver nugget, and a bottle of skooma. Good. Place it in the Aurum Reactor and cast a spell on it. That’ll be 10 Septims. “

“No, no more tea but, I hear that Gilbert Grape over at Oht Quam Oht has made a fresh batch of Abtoklas cakes.”

Yuck, that residue tastes like blackstrap molasses.

Now armed with the knowledge of a Silver Bullet spell we left Midas’ Spells and Sundries to return to the area where we first encountered the weretiger. A day after leaving Midas’ shop we were in the vicinity and as before the weretiger found us first.

Only this time after I hit it with the Silver Bullet spell and my Ladies pounced on it the weretiger stayed down.

Waving the weretiger pelt like a banner, it was a happy trip back to the Imperial City. We did the Eagle Rock all the way.

This post has been edited by macole: Oct 21 2021, 07:16 AM

Ingredients for a spell? What happened to "I'm a Sorcerer, not a village witch"? And why are they not requiring a spleen from a virgin werefrog? I'm sure that's needed!


Ever tried black liquorice sweets? Cough medicine as a treat? There's no accounting for taste.


I see the beginning of a beautiful garment.

What an interesting twist there with Jo'Mahma's use of lycanthropy. Sounds like the Midas spells include some scavenger hunting in with the cost.

Lena's right - sounds like that weretiger pelt has a future as robe or some such.

Lena: The ingredients are used as a way to learn the spell. No classroom or studying required. Just combine the ingredients, eat the residue, and there you have it, the spell is yours. Once the spell is learned it works as normal.

20211025 Rumple, Umbacano The Collector

Returning to the Universitum Arcanorum Tar-Meena had nothing new to say about the Skull of the Mountain leaving us to wonder how long it was going to take for her to build her trap. If she even could. Oh well, we’ll just go and tell Ocato that Tar-Meena is working on it. Maybe that’ll be sufficient and he order construction of the Bear Rider’s Hall.

On the way out of the University we stopped by Midas’ Magic to check on value of this weretiger pelt we had acquired. We had heard rumors that the weretiger pelt might be of some use later on. Midas showed no interest in it so we stashed it in the Customer Storage chest for safekeeping. Midas assured us that the Customer Storage chest was safe to use.

Chancellor Ocato was sitting in the near empty Elder Council Chambers when we caught up with him. Good grief, how does not go insane spending his days surrounded by all this emptiness? Myself, I got to get up and get out. I told him so, hoping that he’d get the idea that he needs to take a tour of the empire to get a better feel for what’s going on.

Anyway, when we told Ocato that Tar-Meena was studying the Skull book Ocato informed us that the Bear Rider Lodge had been approved and construction should be completed soon.

What would have been a peaceful trip to Bruma was disturbed by an altercation with a hill giant and a band of Skyrim Raiders.

Later on in the evening as we neared Bruma we lent a hand to a Legionnaire patrol in dealing with a frost giant. The legionaries suffered some losses but the threat was eliminated.

Being late we spent the night at our Bruma house. The next morning we went searching for the Bear Riders’ Lodge. We found it outside the city walls just east of Bruma.

“It’s the last house on the left,” Elenya confirmed. “Could be the Bates Hotel to the right.”

Introducing ourselves to the man standing behind the bar, Timo he tells us that Gudrun is in charge and we should speak to her. Timo then pulls me to the side and asks if we could help him with a problem he has. It seems that he’s been feeling strange ever since being bitten by a wolf. Oh no, this could be another lycan problem. Other than a silver bullet, we have no idea how to help him with that.

Upstairs we find Gudrun in her office. She is thrilled with the new lodge and plans to fulfill her duties to the best of her abilities. She has a problem though. Ocato has charged her with establishing bear patrols in the Valus Mountains. Problem is that the new recruit from Cheydinhal is late. Could we possibly help her with that?

Asking Gudrun about Timo’s little problem, her answer certainly wasn’t what I expected. I think Gudrun is seriously confused about the true nature of the issue.

“Now that you mention it, he has developed a few new tricks recently,” Gudrun replied to our inquiry. “I like the variety, so I'm not complaining about a change from "missionary".

“Um, that’s not exactly what I meant.” We may have to consult with someone at the university.

Elenya stifled a snicker and Pym, with a confused look on her face, tugged on Kaleah’s sleeve. From out of nowhere a book, Kama something or other, appears in Kaleah’s hand which she hands to Pym. Skimming through the pages Pym’s eyes got bigger and bigger as the pages turned. She finally put the book down and gazed in my direction. Her wicked smile and the predatory look in her eyes filled me with a sense of foreboding.

Leaving the Lodge we head south then west on the Orange Road. It was a foggy morning perfect for a roadside ambush or so I thought. We were lucky, there were no encounters on the Orange Road this day.

We were half way to Chorrol and it was getting dark when Elenya pointed to the south and declared that Lindai is not far from here. Stepping off the road and into the forest we went searching for Lindai.

Finding Lindai we entered the ruined Ayleid structure. Battling our way through numerous undead foes and floor traps we advanced our way to the gates of the Inner Tombs. It was in the Inner Tombs where we found the locked door Herminia Cinna told us about. Using the key Herminia gave us we entered the final chamber.

At the far end of the Varla Hall stands a solitary figure. A Sword Guardian! We’ve met such a guardian recently, in Malada. Now this one, the Hithlain Sword Guardian (Adonnay’s Eleven Weaponry), stands between us and the crown of Lindai.

Being prepared for a statue of stone coming to life does not lessen the disconcerting feeling when it does. It took every bit of our willpower to stand our ground.

In the initial moments of the engagement Pym and Elenya were struck down. With Kaleah’s ranged support and Twinkle’s guiding light I was able to hold off the guardian until my two companions recovered.

Elenya and Pym gather themselves and we renewed the attack. With all of us now fighting as a coordinated force the sword guardian is defeated.

The beautiful sword Hithlain is now in my possession as well as the Crown of Lindai, and two varla stones

My little band thoroughly exhausted by events in Lindai, I bid Twinkle farewell and sent her home. The rest of us then found a dark quiet corner for a well deserved nap.

“Will you put that book away and go to sleep!”

This reminded me of a passage from Sleeper in the Cave - a Morrowind story here on Chorrol. There two young women wonder into the House of Earthly Delights in search of a place to sleep (all other inns being fully booked), and as they hide in their room and opt for a game of cards, the illustrations on the backs distract them from the game. "I'm sure his leg would have been long broken in that position" - one of them comments. "Oh, I had no idea you could do that with a fish..!" - echoes the other. Perhaps Pym should visit there to broaden her education.

And then you send Twinkie away. I see.

Gosh, I hope the Ladies have toe rings enchanted with resist frost for Bruma!

The name Bear Rider Lodge sounded familiar from the distant past. The name Gudrun confirmed it from old stories of ghastley’s bear rider, Unna, sharing her tales with us.

Oh my, sounds like Pym’s garnered some new and creative ideas for play.

That fight with the sword guardian did indeed yield a beautiful sword and some nice loot.

Rings on the fingers and bells on the toes. I give them warm clothes that they simply refuse to wear.

Ghastley wrote Gudrun's dialog, I just recorded the party's reaction to it.

And that's where you go wrong - you give it to them. Take them to the Goddess Store and nudge them towards a goddess from a frozen land - let her outfit them with furs and other warm splendours. Spend a fortune or two. Then it might stick.