Today in Cyrodiil, spoilers version, TES: 4 Oblivion character accounts & stories Options

[Renee]

macole: I think I caught the tail-end of your Hentai Mania days.

Yes, Better Cities Leyawiin can also be customized so that half the town is slightly underwater, at least in the version I've got. With some characters (who live in the 5th to 7th Year / Fourth Era) I'll have the town partially-flooded. In Renee Gade III's game, there is no flooding. Her game started 20 years after the 4th Era began. I like using these variations of Leyawiin to keep things fresh and different in each gameworld.

Me and my daughter were supposed to move into our new home in May, but we decided to take advantage of so many people being out of work to move this month instead. Anyways, no Kahreem this week but hopefully this Saturday I'll write more.

macole, thanks for the info on your gang.

Agreed. Thanks for taking the time. I at least wanted to know their names and quick summations at their roles, and at this you have succeeded. Kahleah being Daedric makes more sense now.

On avoiding getting shot in the back / avoiding NPCs rushing headfirst into stupid situations: I grew up with table-gaming, in which we always had parties of four to ten player-characters at one time. Heck maybe more if we include unskilled hirelings / beasts of burden. So I like using this concept of large parties in Oblivion and Skyrim too, for those characters who prefer this. Here are some helpful tips I've found.

1). If you've got a melee type who rushes straight into battle, Jandaga or whomever, try to flank whichever enemy this melee type is fighting. Since the NPCs will often be standing directly behind, firing arrows or spells, try to approach the enemy in a non-linear manner.... almost semi-circular. The NPCs in your party will continue to stand where they are, maybe moving around a little bit, but they won't be directly behind your character anymore, shooting arrows or fireballs directly into Jandaga's back. Problem solved. Once melee combat ensues, pivot your character so that now your party will have clearer shots at the enemy.

I think that for a lot of us, as soon as the battle begins, adrenaline kicks in. And we want to just rush into battle just like the NPCs do. But the NPCs in our parties haven't got the ability to "see" that we're in their way. A little flanking helps here.


2). Tell your party to WAIT instead of follow all the time. Now, you've got the freedom to scout ahead without them ruining any sneaking / reconnaissance. If your character gets involved in combat but things get too tough, simply go back to where the party is waiting. Voila. Jandaga (or whomever) can take a few moments to heal up, while the rest of the party goes berzerk.

Of course, Jandaga may not wish his party to get separated in the first place, but those are two techniques which I've found useful.

This post has been edited by Renee: Apr 14 2020, 06:57 PM

[SubRosa]

Good luck on your move! I hope nothing you really like breaks or gets lost in the process. I hope the pizza and beer warm pop you have as you unpack at the new place is as good as ever!

[Acadian]

Renee, I hope the move goes smoothly for you!

[macole]

Renee: Hope your move goes well and the new home is everything you want it to be.

For the party early in the game when I often died by friendly fire I preferred to use method #3; distribute all bows to one companion and all arrows to another, keep all staffs for myself. The Ladies would rush in to fight while I'd summon reinforcements and cast healing spells as needed.

I like and use the flooded BC Leyawiin too.

[macole]

20200415 No Stone Unturned
Returning to Merendin has reminded me that we have left many things sitting just waiting to be completed. So on the morrow bright and early we’ll make an effort to wrap some things up.

The day was dawning when we left Merendin, heading north to the Imperial Bridge Inn. The inn was crowded with Imperial soldiers as usual. Sitting at a corner table by himself was an Altmer who had an out of place look about him. While the Ladies were ordering drinks I sat down and struck up a conversation.

Lithnilian offered to tell us everything he knew about a Breton traveling with a large wolf like dog if we do him a favor first, though. Agreeing to help him recover his research notes he lost in Bramblepoint Cave. Lithnilian then tells me that he saw a Breton with a large dog talking to Davela. “Go ask her.”

What? Well, I got sucked into recovering a notebook only to be told go talk to someone else. Really should be more careful with what I’m agreeing to.

“My Goddess, don’t let the ladies hear about this.”

Anyways, we talked to Davela. Yeah she saw the Breton and knew about where he was heading. He should be somewhere near Sage Glen Hollow.

Ok, according to our map both locations are close to the inn. Drawing lots we decided to explore Bramblepoint Cave first.

It wasn’t long after entering Bramblepoint Cave before we ran into a huge Ogre blocking the tunnel to a large room.

Ogres weren’t the only creatures we encounter roaming the halls of the cave. Pym and Maeve took on their share of Land Dreugh.

Finding a trapdoor we climb down a ladder to the Inner Bramblepoint Cave where Pym has an electrifying discussion with a spriggan.

There are two paths that lead out of Inner Bramblepoint to Deep Bramblepoint Cave. One is blocked by a stone door and the other leads to a flooded pit (Better Dungeons makes some serious changes to Inner Bramblepoint).

Searching for some mechanism to open the stone door proved fruitless. Don’t want to but it seems the watery pit is the only way forward.

It wasn’t easy searching underwater not once but twice, for cracks in the rock wall to squeeze through so we could continue on to the deepest part of the cave.

Stepping out from the flooded passageway we find ourselves bathed in the blue glow of raw welkynd. Lithnilian was right, the growing welkynd stone is an impressive sight.

A quick search of the chamber yielded Lithnilian’s journal. Now how do we get out of here?

[SubRosa]

A Breton with a dog? Uh oh, I bet his Clavicle is pretty Vile too...

Looks like the team all got stoned in the end.

[Acadian]

It looks your game sure makes for a fun time with Lithnilian's quest! That was quite an adventure. I hope the pay was worth it.

[macole]

SubRosa: When Maeva the Cute Elf gazed upon the glowing raw welkynd she broke out in song.

What did you do there? - I got high
What did you feel there? - Well I cried
But why the tears there? - I'll tell you why - yyyyy
It's all too beautiful, It's all too beautiful
It's all too beautiful, It's all too beautiful.

[macole]

202004xx No Stone Unturned

Not wanting to swim that underground river again we took a little time out, collected some stones, and went over our options. We could use a teleportation spell but the ones we have available would take us far from the Imperial Bridge Inn. Not desirable.

Deep in thought as we idly roamed about looting the place, we stumbled upon an Ayleid Stepstone.

Lithnilian said he ran out, nothing about using an Ayleid Step or swimming. There must be an easier way out of Bramblepoint Cave than the way we came in. We started searching in earnest.

One tunnel looked promising until the path was blocked by a large stone. Could this stone be the one we had discovered earlier? If so it still wouldn’t budge.

Dejected and not paying attention, we took a wrong turn as we were walking back to Lithnilian’s camp. By the grace of Nir we stood facing a rope switch.

Blessed be the Lady, we gave the rope a pull.

“Listen, stone is moving,” Kaleah said.

We ran back to where the stone blocked the path. Sure enough what once was, is now gone.

I was about to lead the Ladies out of Bramblepoint Cave when Pym grabbed by the arm and began dragging me back the way we had come. Letting her lead, Pym pulled me all the way back to the Ayleid Step. With a stern look on her face she firmly point to the stepstone.

Hmmm, I haven’t done much with the Ayleid Steps since we activated the system. Well OK let’s see where this one goes.

Kaleah handed me a polished Welkynd Stone. Taking every precaution to prepare for the unknown, we activated the step. Our vision clears and we’re standing in Morahame.

A couple of Minotaur were hanging around the Stepstones. They won’t be a bother for awhile, that’s for sure. Other than a few imps, some blade traps, and a slow cycling red crystal we didn’t have too much trouble finding the exit. Luckily we did not find ourselves on the other side of the map. Instead we were close enough to the Imperial Bridge Inn that we made it there before dinner time.

Lithnilian was thrilled to get his research back and rewarded us with 12 bottles of strong water breathing potions which I distributed equally amongst the Ladies.

Spent the night at the Imperial Bridge Inn leaving for Sage Glen Hollow after the morning ritual.

[Acadian]

A reasonably productive exploration of Bramblepoint and a good day's work, though the water breathing spells would have handy earlier. . . .

A night at the inn and off to the next adventure!

[Renee]

For the party early in the game when I often died by friendly fire I preferred to use method #3; distribute all bows to one companion and all arrows to another, keep all staffs for myself. The Ladies would rush in to fight while I'd summon reinforcements and cast healing spells as needed.

Yes, I had a character in Skyrim who was primarily a healer for the rest of her party. She'd often be behind the action, keeping them going while they took care of the heavy stuff.

Thanks to all for kind words. Moving went well, we only moved a couple blocks away, and like I said, it helped that so many people are bored sitting at home. No Kahreem this past weekend, but next one should be good.

Uh oh. So Jandaga encountered that elf who permawhines about his lost book.

My gosh, his armor looks fantastic. All of them look just like a table-gaming party we had back in high school in that one pic.

Ah, it's the old pull-rope in the hidden location trick. Good thing somebody has lots of Light to see by. Damn, who would go through all that trouble just to hide some stupid research notes?

I love Imperial Bridge Inn, and so do a couple of my characters. It has that cozy feel, lots of scenery, and the sunsets from the bridge are to die for.

[macole]

Sage Glen Hollow went badly. It took me a week to work through some problems. Here is part one.

20200420 Vilja-A Melting Heart Sage Glen Hollow #1
Sage Glen Hollow, we’ve been here before. Snuck in, found what we were looking for, and snuck out avoiding the Hideaway locked behind a Golden Gate. The Hideaway is where we’re thinking we’ll find the Breton (I ignore quest marker unless absolutely necessary).

Kaleah grabbed me by the shoulder and spun me around. Lifting me up so that our eyes were level, with a trembling voice she pleads, “Feache, my Jandaga, do not allow the Guardians of Oblivion to take me back!”

“That shall not happen,” I pledged.

Grimly, we entered Sage Glen Hollow and as expected we were soon attacked by Guardians of Oblivion.

A running battle ensued with Ulseth Enakbrak. His conjured daedric armor made him a very tough opponent.

While My Ladies defend the rear, I attempted to unlock the golden gate leading to the Hideaway.

It’s a very hard lock and attacks from the Daedra and conjurers made concentrating on casting my Unlock Everything spell impossible. Resorting to the Skeleton Key, took some time due to my low skill but after what seem to be an eternity it opened.

When the gate finally opened Guardians of Oblivion and their Daedra cohorts were waiting. All manner of Daedra and conjurers joined in the fight; Spider Daedra, Flame Atronachs, Hungers, naked Seducers (Kaleah’s wild sisters), Astral Lords, Plane Summoners, Master Conjurers, and others. There was even a Mythic Dawn Assassin.

A Blue Gate stood in a corner of one room. Daedra reinforcements were rushing through the blue gate to join the battle against us. So that’s where the Daedra are coming from.

Wouldn’t it be fun to get our hands on that Blue Gate? Perhaps it could be used to travel to the Cute Elf Retreat. How disappointed we were at its disappearance when an Astral Lord was slain.

Fighting our way further into the Hideaway we are shocked when we step into a room with numerous mounds of a fleshy like substance. Growing from these mounds were spikes of bloodgrass.

What the heck is going on here?

At the center of the bloodgrass field the fighting becomes intense at the foot of a Vaermina shrine.

A stout defense of the shrine by a Dremora Kynmarcher ends in our favor.

We find the answer to our question in a small side room. Crates of bloodgrass spikes and a few dead bodies lead to the only conclusion. Of all the vile things, it’s a bloodgrass farm fed by the blood of innocent victims.

A disgusting operation brought to an end but no sign of the Breton or a tame wolf.

[macole]

20200424 Vilja-A Melting Heart Issues
The party of Jandaga, Kaleah, Maeva, and Pym worked their way back to the main corridor of Sage Glen Hollow. Taking the main tunnel away from the entrance they came to a small room containing a table and chairs. Half hidden by the table was a trapdoor leading to Zrenk Cave.

Fighting their way through Zrenk Cave, and Zrenk Inner Chamber they entered the Ayleid ruins of Zrenk. There they found the body of the now dead Breton adventurer.

“I have found the corpse of the Breton adventurer. I should search his body for the wedding ring, or for clues about the missing wedding ring.”

The party searched the body and found a clue about the missing wedding ring; a note from a girlfriend in Skingrad. There was no quest update.

The party then found the wolf wandering around in the ruins. Here’s the thing about the wolf. Sometimes he’s locked in a chamber with an Ayleid push block release mechanism and then sometimes he’s roaming free. Didn’t seem to make much difference either way the quest didn’t update.

Something didn’t seem right so the party fast traveled to Skingrad and my fears were confirmed. Skingrad NPC weren’t functioning properly.

Bummer!

I went back and redid the whole thing over and over again trying every variation of find the wolf first or second, locked up or when roaming free. Save and restart right before finding the body. Save and restart after finding the note. Days have gone by and nothing has worked.

Desperate now I resorted to using setstage. Stage 75 recognized the note but finding the wolf still did not work. Again using setstage I advanced stage 85 to recognize the wolf and get instruction to go to Skingrad.

Fast traveled to Skingrad revealed a partial success. NPCs function properly but can’t find the target girlfriend. It's at this time that I notice that the quest marker is always green and I realize the quest is still not working properly.

Then I think (it does happen sometimes) maybe if I bring Vilja along the stages will cycle properly. Only I forgot where I parked Vilja (add another day finding Vilja)

With Vilja in the party we explore Zrenk again. When Vilja makes a comment about the finding the dead Breton I’m encouraged but nothing happens when I find the note on the body.

Dejected I’m about to give up and forget this quest when I hear, “Ahem”.

Turning to Vilja I see her mouth moving. Engaging Vilja she tells me “got the note we should go look for the wolf.”

The quest updates. Same thing happens when we find the wolf and the quest updates properly.

To test we fast travel to Skingrad. The girlfriend is where she is supposed to be and the quest continues to next stage.

Yea!

So now everything is back to normal.

And that is the rest of the story but in the recorded annals of history what is written is slightly different.

[Acadian]

Quite some Daedra whomping in Sage Glen Hollow with some interesting discoveries. A bloodgrass farm – clever but yucky!

Then off to Zrenk Cave for some pesky questiquirks. Yay! Vilja to the rescue!

[macole]

Been so long that I played vanilla game, I don't know what vanilla looks like anymore. I'd have to check but I'm thinking the bloodgrass operation might be a Better Dungeon addition.

[macole]

20200427 Vilja-A Melting Heart, Zrenk –A Boy and His Dog
As we exited Sage Glen Hollow Vilja was just arriving from Anvil. Somehow she had heard we were going to Sage Glen Hollow and she thought we might need help with controlling the wolf. Fortunately for Vilja we emerged from Sage Glen Hollow when we did. A An-Xileel Fanatic which had been stalking Vilja chose this time to attack.

After apprising Vilja of the situation Vilja asked if we went through the hidden trapdoor we had discovered the last time we were here. Ah, well no. Kind a forgot about that.

Back into Sage Glen Hollow we went. After arriving at the room with the trapdoor we dropped down into Zrenk Cave. Thought we were done with this but here we are again fighting conjurors, necromancers, and their Daedra.

We obtained the Serpent Blade when we looted the body of an Argonian name Macedatea Persion.

The Keeper of the Realms was tough to bring down. Too proud to flee when he had the chance and his summoned assortment of mud, water, storm, gold, and ebony atronachs failed to save him.

The first part of the Lower Chamber is much like the earlier cave segment. Dark, dank, and dusty the cave is filled with assorted liches, gouls, and mummies all trying to stop us getting to the main halls of Zrenk.

Further into the Lower Chamber; we find ourselves in what appears to be the outer halls of an Ayleid temple. While cautiously advancing through the Ayleid halls we encountered an unexpected horror greeted us, a corprus monstrosity!

After dispatching several liches, conjurers, and necromancers in the large chamber we came across the body of Carleon Corneir, a Breton adventurer. He apparently did not fare well against the vile denizens of Zrenk. A search of the body revealed a perfumed letter from someone in Skingrad.

“You might want to read this,” I said while handing the letter to Vilja.

“We should go talk to this poor boy’s girlfriend,” Vilja said. “But first we should find the wolf.”

I agreed but I didn’t tell Vilja that the letter from the girlfriend sounded a bit strange. More like a Dear John letter, know what I mean?

We found the wolf roaming the halls of Zrenk.

“Such a tame wolf, he’s just like a dog,” exclaimed Vilja. “We should go to Skingrad now and find the girlfriend. She might have Terje’s missing wedding ring.”

“It’s been a long day. How about we go back to the Hideaway find some cots and get some sleep first.”

Everyone was good with that idea.

[Acadian]

Nice to see Vilja, as the party carves their way through Zrenk Cave.

[macole]

It's a good feeling to hear Vilja shouting "You leave him alone" as she charges into the fray.

I've never taken her quest this far so A Melting Heart is new to me.

This post has been edited by macole: Apr 28 2020, 08:54 PM

[Renee]

How does Jandaga's party ever get to the point where they feel the need for sleep? Kidding.

In all these years, I have never tried Vilja. Is she still b1tchy and complaining, constantly asking for money? I have heard some horrible things about her. Yet everybody in the Oblivion modding world has had her in their game but me.

I like that one pic with the purple armor. Psychadelic, man! Prince would be proud.

[macole]

@Renee: We sleep around often. What? That doesn't sound right.

Usually after clearing a dungeon Jandagaa will find a bedroll for a nap. Jandaga doesn't get much sleep though, what with being interrupted by the dreams or by the Ladies squabbling over the available bedding. Sometimes Jandaga gets the floor.

I should mention that Jandaga suffers from a strange Porphyric Hemophilia bug. He gets the dreams and unless he uses the Ayleid Cleansing Shrine (from The Lost Spires) daily he will suffer sun damage but it has never progressed past that in past two years. I probably could use the console to clear it but having the condition gives Jandaga a bit of life-like vulnerability.

Vilja can be annoying at times. She is not shy about letting you know what's on her mind. Especially when she's got her quest on her mind. She does have a lot of to say about nearly every place we go or do in the vanilla game. one of my favorite Vilja lines is what she has to say we met Signy Home-Wrecker and Faustina Cartia. Of course it doesn't seem to have the same impact if your playing a female.

The purple armor? Oh that one. Jandaga got hit with a spell from that greenish Ancient Lich. Prince would be I imagine although I'm more of an Old T-Rex fan myself.

This post has been edited by macole: May 1 2020, 03:06 AM