Today in Skyrim..., Epic battles, mudcrab sightings, anything but spoilers. What did your Options

[Grits]

Rowan and Lydia are walking to Solitude from Riverwood. There has been quite a lot of flower picking along the way, so it’s taking a while. Met a cute, red-headed farmer boy and encouraged him to pursue a life of adventure. Must check back later and see if he’s still alive.

Had a very satisfying dragon fight on the road, lots of jumping over rocks and sprinting while being flamed by the dragon and peppered with arrows from a nearby idiot bandit. I got to see Rowan’s dragon finishing move for the first time, it was great! Until I realized that she was still wearing her talking-to-the-cute-farmer dress, not her health-enhancing battle wear. Oops. No wonder she needed so many potions.

But the big news: we got a dog! Woo hoo!

[Grits]

I'm glad that Ragnall is out there taking down those Thalmor. Rowan still has to slink on by when she meets them.



Here's an update from J'Shanji:


J’Shanji leaned against the fence in the morning sun, waiting for Faendal to come out of his house. He hoped to convince the Bosmer to join him on a bandit hunt. It wasn’t difficult.

On the way there Faendal told the tale of his evening with Camilla. J’Shanji had been right about her. Well, she sounded more flexible than he had imagined. And a lot less concerned about hygiene.

“Perhaps in our travels, Faendal will find a woman who possesses some dignity and self-respect,” J’Shanji said.

Faendal gave him a look. “This one isn’t interested in that kind of woman.”

The keep was visible from a good distance. Two towers joined by a bridge over the swiftly flowing river. That meant the road was also visible from the keep. J’Shanji and Faendal crouched down for some tactical planning.

J’Shanji decided they would cross the river and take the western tower first. He expected that the bandit leader would be in the most fortified location, and this way they wouldn’t have to cross the narrow bridge while under fire. A quick swim and a careful climb up the rocks put them into position. J’Shanji’s arrows sent the first bandit falling to his death in the river. He hoped that he wouldn’t need to retrieve anything from the body. J’Shanji hugged the cliff wall, waiting for his next shot. (Though how they missed a black cat against a gray cliff in the sunlight is beyond me.)

A commotion arose on the far side of the river. The bandits in the tower were shooting at someone on the ground. A hapless traveler? J’Shanji turned to consult with Faendal.

The Bosmer wasn’t there. J’Shanji had one second of confusion before he heard Faendal’s distant battle cry. The crazy elf had swum back over the river and engaged the bandits.

Dammit! J’Shanji plunged back into the river, angling downstream toward the fight. He quickly realized that the current was strong because of the WATERFALL. On the other side, Faendal scorched the air with his curses. J’Shanji was too busy fighting bandits to be impressed.

When his last enemy fell, J’Shanji looked up to find Faendal on the bridge, trading arrows with the bandits on the opposite cliff. That looked like a bad idea. J’Shanji raced up the tower to get an angle on Faendal’s opponents. He took one down with arrows, but then he couldn’t see Faendal anymore. There was a small body washed up against the shore on the opposite side of the river. It occurred to J’Shanji that Faendal could have crossed the bridge and been shot on the cliff by J’Shanji himself. Crap.

J’Shanji couldn’t get a shot at the last bandit, and she headed for the tower on that side. He decided to race her so that they would fight in the tower. While J’Shanji was charging across the bridge we realized that somehow Faendal was now behind him. Yay, he’s not dead, but that complicates things.

Did I mention that I got stuck with the crappy controller? That is significant because when J’Shanji hit the door with Faendal at his heels and the bandit queen stepped out and pushed J’Shanji off the bridge onto this tiny little ledge, the controller stuck and I was on my feet trying to get him back on the bridge through my own sheer body motion. I’m recovering from a disc injury, so this is not good. Then when J’Shanji got back onto the bridge, Faendal and the bandit queen bashed him off onto the ledge again, and the controller stuck AGAIN! This time he got back on behind the bandit. He and Faendal took her down in a shower of red.

Cue quest update. Whew.