Potions all around, indeed!

Did someone say "rum"?

So nice to follow along with Lothran's winter routine in Bruma. Has he volunteered his services to the guard force yet this season?

I wonder how many times he's cleared out Plundered Mine since 2007. Gotta be in the hundreds by now. 👺 Yet those goblins keep invading that cave like a horde of huns. What does his crowd control spell do?

OOOH!!! He's going to Olav's!!! Okay, let me shush. This is the big moment I've been waiting for, for months!

That was my Christmas presant last year. Made the rest of the winter go by smooth.

Not until new year's. First we gotta do the Pale Pass run


It paralyzes, absorbs health and damages health (all AoE). All timed of course but I'm not authorized to say for how long, nor the actual absorb/damage numbers. And I think there's another effect in there too...


And he's actually already been at Olav's, but I guess this is the more formal visit

It always seems like some weird stuff happens in Lothran's version of Olav's. Just weird moments here and there. I can't recall what, though.

Those weird moments often involve Ongar; he likes to go into sneak mode and steal food openly whereupon guards are summoned to come and hack him down

Tonight as many as three guards were there at the same time. Two hacked him down and the third struck up conversations with people

Oh gosh!

Today Lothran met two friendly female Khajiit bandits! One outside at the camp on the road eastward past Dragonclaw Rock and the other one inside Capstone Cave. He did find a hostile one as well though; just outside Bruma at the north gate.

Ah, that one hates Mondays.

As we're coming up on the Annual Christmas Ogre Hunt in Pale Pass™, Lothran decided to go clear out Plundered Mine once more. Didn't think it was necessary but yeah; plenty of gobs inside! Next up is Capstone Cave.

Oh, and we also had to clear the Abomb again. Number twelve if my count is correct.

Looking forward to hearing this years ogre teeth count from Pale Pass.

Place your bets!


.....................

Lothran's sweep of Capstone Cave was almost unnecessary. Only two occupants could be found this time. Beside the friendly female Khajiit bandit from before there was also one unfriendly female Khajiit bandit. Why?? If you don't count the totally unprovoked attack earlier, Lothran has been nothing but nice!

Also; last days before the big trip! Lothran is enjoying some time at Jerall View and will later take it to Olav's. One more festivity before the departure!

Pale Pass


Lothran set out early in the morning as usual after an evening chatting with the locals the evening before. He picked up his usual gear, including a few extra bottles of poison, and made his way out the east gate.
The forester was still guarding the bend in the road past the fork where the way south meets the way west towards Bruma and the way east, further into the Jeralls. The forester had been there now for many years, never tiring, never yielding. Forever vigilant and now with a torch in his hand as the morning was not yet light enough.

Lothran pushed on. Up north towards The Sentinel where a coule of Will-Os and a Billie were greeted by Lothran's Spriggan friend and her bear. Soon enough the old door to Serpent's Trail was opened up on its rusty hinges, and the Dunmer made his way inside.

The Spriggan met her match already in the initial fight within the cave system. Cause even though she's quite powerful, facing three ogres, a regular black bear and another Spriggan at the same time offers some challenge even for her. Moving on, she only needed to fight them one on one, something Lothran thought she appreciated.

Finally, after going through the entire system and picking clean the treasure chests along the way, Lothran stood before the door leading to his goal. And with the heavy door closing behind him he once again faced the legendary Pale Pass!

That's awesome. So a spriggan got involved this time as well?

I can still remember the first time heading into Pale Pass, it blew my mind. I mean, here I had this game which was huge. So much larger than any gameworld I'd ever seen on Playstation, and now I get to explore more???

Does anybody in Bruma say anything about us going into Skyrim? 🏔

I guess the Cavebosses got reinforcement from all the ass whopping they've had over the years


Same here. I absolutely loved Pale Pass right from the start and it fits Lothran nicely having this area to come to every Christmas


Well, they've heard all of Skyrim is under siege. The daedra allegedly lay waste to the old holds and apparently there is little to do to stop it

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Soon after entering the snowy valley, Lothran encountered the first Ogre Caveboss outside of Serpent's Trail. The Spriggan got some well deserved rest now as Lothran decided to take it on himself. Standard procedure but with a twist this time.
Opening up with a poisoned arrow is usually followed on by one of the two Weakness spells and then either Goldbrand or Snowflake, depending on which spell Lothran chose. This time after the poisoned arrow Lothran used the spell as normal whereupon the ogre froze and fell onto the ground. But rather than following it up with either weapon he decided to just stand there and see if the poison could finish it off, and it could! Weapon in hand is always a good idea though, just in case.

This, becoming the new standard, was used on every ogre on the path towards Fort Pale Pass except near the fort's entrance. Lothran saw an ogre and made a dash to freeze it with a spell and then finishing it off with Snowflake. But before that could be done, another ogre was spotted just behind the first one! So Lothran jumped back and gave himself some room between himself and the ogres, allowing him to prepare his crowd control spell often used against the hordes of goblins in Plundered Mine. Worked like a charm and only one blast was needed.

Now the tent has been set up as usual on the top floor of the ruin beyond the chasm where the floor has collapsed. Inside another pearl was put into a chest and some minor repairs were done on the equipment.
Before going to bed, Lothran jumped up on to broken walls over the tent and could from his vantage point spot another Caveboss in the distance to the left beyond the ice patches.

Tomorrow the hunt will begin.

Some nice new and creative ogre killin' tactics I see.

How can this be?

What's the news from the--- ooops. Wrong thread.

Hey, didn't know Lothran uses poison. Oh man. This sounds brutal. I actually feel for those poor ogres.

Lothran uses most anything at his disposal and as a Warlock rank in the Mages Guild, how can he pass up on posions?

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

Lothran has now made a sweep of Pale Pass (going clockwise) and hunted down the remaining Ogre Cavebosses. Last year he met, and I am not kidding, a friendly Caveboss! It was right to the left of the fort beyond the ice patches and he only found out it was friendly because he didn't shoot it first with an arrow like he usually does. Can't remember if Lothran got him in the end anyway according to the Leave Nothing Behind policy so we'll leave that question hanging*

Right now it's midday and Lothran is standing high up on a cliff overlooking the fort. As the hunting proper is basically over there's now free time to roam around the pass, partially looking for stragglers and partially just enjoying the area. We'll of course look up all the chests too



*I looked it up and apparently it originally happened two years ago and again last year. And the ogre did turn hostile when Lothran equipped the bow so it did get offed.

This post has been edited by mirocu: Dec 24 2022, 05:03 PM

Lothran is now performing his duty as a voluntary guard in Bruma. He's making patrol rounds as well as maintaining guard points around town. Most notably by the north gate during nighttime.