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

[PhonAntiPhon]

I hope she (and you) had fun invading Thalmor territory.

And whoa, Ysolda is selling hist tree sap? Oh, I see. sleeping tree sap supplies. So, paraphernalia, basically? What we in America call head shop supplies.

Apparently so, but hey, Kaia's hardly gonna knock that on the head with her track record, she was just a little surprised - (in a good way).

We both did yes, it was amusing leaving them to chase their tails...

[PhonAntiPhon]

From Winterhold, north to retrieve the Jarl's relic, only to discover that she needs the Coral Key; south it is to Whiterun; quick hello and goodbye to Yssi and the girls, then back up to the frozen north; get the relic.

Back to Winterhold via the Boethiah's shrine, an interesting proposition but not yet, not yet - the dark side's always there but since her run-in with the Brotherhood she's pushed it to the back of her mind.
Maybe one day, but not now...

From Winterhold to a nearby Dragon Shrine; an Elder Dragon, downed easily enough but another soul stolen. She's going to need to head back to Solstheim to deal with that sorcerer at some point.
Back to Winterhold

And then on

To Windhelm: A visit to the Gray Quarter, buy the flowers from Soph by the gate - (plus a little extra as usual), stay in the inn overnight, a decent bed after Winterhold...

Down country to Riften and into the Ratway: Esbern and some troublesome Thalmor, plus a break with the past in the form of some fairly serious hairdressing courtesy of the strange character in the Thieves' Guild, she's not sure about it but it'll grow back, eventually.

Mara knows what Yssi will say when she sees though.

-x-

[Acadian]

Aww, nice to buy Sophie's flowers when she passes through Windhelm.

[PhonAntiPhon]

Aww, nice to buy Sophie's flowers when she passes through Windhelm.

Every time we go there we buy all of them. It feels like the right thing to do...

[PhonAntiPhon]

Kaia's now in Solstheim, there's a lot to work through there - primarily to deal with Miraak and regain the stolen Dragon Souls but also because, now that the the whole Dragonborn business feels like it's moved on, she gained an urge to visit her homeland...

...The days before sailing had been busy indeed, the rescue of Esbern from the underside of Riften accomplished with only bloodshed on the side of the Thalmor and some fairly incompetent hired thugs.
They had taken a wagon to Whiterun and then to Riverwood, where Delphine and Esbern were reunited.

It's now on to Karthwasten and what feels like a very important step in her life, so much so that she felt driven to spend some quality time with Yssi and their children, not leaving - (and then reluctantly) - until the next day, when she journeyed up to Windhelm and took passage to Solstheim.

-x-

[PhonAntiPhon]

Brief update...

It's finally getting close to time for Miraak to get his, although Kaia finds herself doubting her skills with respect to him. Maybe that's why she has been finding literally anything else to do rather than face him.

One of the many things she has done is develop a near pathological hatred of Rieklings, particularly the mounted ones. Up until (re)discovering them, her least favorite race were Argonians - whom she simply cannot bear for a multitude of reasons.
But even they, cold and slimy-skinned as they are, are at least marginally better than Rieklings...

-x-

[Renee]

oops

This post has been edited by Renee: Nov 2 2021, 10:48 PM

[Acadian]

Phon, good luck to Kaia taking down Miraak.

Renee, I always thought the Dawnguard was a great DLC. An engaging questline, a guild where you can remain a worker bee instead of being pushed into being the boss, and great companion strides forward with Serana compared to previous companions. And vampire slaying of course.

[SubRosa]

Phon: Sounds like Miraak has outlived his welcome in Mundus and Apocrypha. I am sure Kaia will send him on his way.


Renee: Oh Lord (Half-Mersey) is that a man-cave!

There can be only one!

[PhonAntiPhon]

Phon: Sounds like Miraak has outlived his welcome in Mundus and Apocrypha. I am sure Kaia will send him on his way.

Oh yes, she certainly did that.

She has been back in Skyrim for some time now, and, feeling a certain wanderlust coming over her, has been traversing the north part of the province, picking up casual work as she goes, almost as she did years ago. She's aware that there are important events occurring around her that she needs to address but for now she's not wanting to be fussed with them.

And so she finds herself in the region of Solitude...

-x-

It's a common misconception that people always die immediately from being shot with an arrow.
Anska at High Gate Ruins learned this to her cost - she contacted Kaia and asked for help gathering a scroll hidden somewhere in the complex, but did herself no favors by attempting to charge through the early sections of the tomb, completely going against Kaia's advice.
Ironically what eventually did for her was Kaia herself who inadvertently nailed her with an arrow after Anska stood between her and her target just as she released the bow.
By the time Kaia had despatched the Draugr, it was far too late, and Anska lay bleeding and moaning on the dusty floor of the tomb, the long, dark-fletched shaft of an ebony arrow protruding from her lower back, her breathing shallow and rattling.
Kaia drew her knife and did her the kindness of releasing her to her ancestors.

Kaia found the scroll eventually, although it was useless to her.
Of more use was the Word Wall, gained after the dispatch of Vokun, who went fairly easily in the end...

-x-

[Acadian]

Oh yes! Friendly fire is a challenge in Skyrim.

[PhonAntiPhon]

Oh yes! Friendly fire is a challenge in Skyrim.

You got that right!

[PhonAntiPhon]

Erdi has a "Thing" for Kaia.
The maid is very friendly indeed whenever Kaia is in the Blue Palace. Kaia doesn't mind really, Erdi is inoffensive enough and kind of naively attractive in her way but it's been bothering her in the sense that she's been away from Whiterun and Ysolda for far too long. Having too much Alto wine and getting hot and bothered around Endarie - (of all people) - in Radiant Raiment whilst being fitted for a new dress didn't help either.

Mind you she's been drinking a lot of wine recently.

She doesn't even like wine.

Still and all it's been a busy couple of days in the Solitude area...
Jaree-Ra thought it had double-crossed her, but she had the drop on it. It's sister Deeja thought that it was similarly clever until Kaia put it down with a maximum of prejudice, before hunting down the sibling. She's never liked Argonians - scaly, cold lizards - and these two have merely served to reinforce her view of the species.
Perhaps had that one not done what it did all those years ago things might be different, but you can't change the past.

Heading back to Solitude she stopped at The Dainty Sload to tie up some loose ends. A couple of the corsairs on the boat had taken pot shots at her earlier. They went the same way as the Argonians, although there was no joy in it to be honest.

Back at Solitude she engaged in some trading, and then took in the view out to the ocean near Proudspire over a few more bottles of Alto wine. Dunmer can take their drink, it's true, but 6 bottles was pushing it and by the time she had wandered into the Blue Palace and been chatted up by the aforementioned Erdi she would have been ashamed to admit that had her willpower been just a little bit less strong...

Elisif The Fair - (and she is) - didn't seem to notice however, and offered Kaia a task. Perhaps Kaia could have said no, and perhaps she should.
But she didn't.

Off to find a shrine of Talos it is, then...

Ysolda will have to wait, and Kaia will have to take care of herself for another few days.

Perhaps a bottle of wine?

-x-

[Renee]

I agree. Keep looking for that wine! So long!

I gamed with Lord Haaf-Mersey again. He is currently in Windhelm. Two days ago saw him delivering a book to the orc librarian in Winterhold, and he is headed toward Snapleg Cave to retrieve yet another book. How does that orc know where all these books are? It makes no sense.

Oh duh, magic. Anyway, I will game with Haaf-Mersey until all his current quests are done. Then I switch to PC. Claire Voyance's the Cleric from Chorrol is who I'll travel with next. That's going to be a blast.

[Renee]

Loredas, morning, 19th of Hearthfire, 4th Era Year 202

Claire Voyance

Playtime: 240:18:22
Days Passed: 397

Hours Slept: 2579
Hours Waited: 608

Gold Found: 127,151

Today I switch to Claire Voyance's Game, and she is in a mod-added town called Helarchen Creek.* Lately she's been involved with the Vigilants of Stendarr, whose quests often involve the takedown of Evil.

So I must remind myself of a few things. Claire Voyance is a cleric, originally from Chorrol. Combat-wise she is interesting for me to play. She's not such a good fighter, instead she focuses mostly on healing the rest of her party as fights ensue. Restoration Magic at 100, for sure. Only occasionally does she brandish her mace or axe to directly fight.

She has already done the entire Civil War quest on the Imperial's side, although Sir Vyvoor's Stormcloaks won. So now that the war is over, Claire had the choice of either going back home to Cyrodiil, or staying here in Skyrim. So now that she's stayed, she's needed stuff to do, and thankfully there are plenty of ideas for that at the Nexus!


Here's an old picture of Claire

* Helarchen Creek was an original village found in the original game of Arena. The mod I am referring to adds all the original towns and villages.

Vigilants of Stendarr is yet another mod.

This post has been edited by Renee: Nov 2 2021, 11:17 PM

[Acadian]

Welcome back to Clerical Claire. Healing in Skyrim is definitely a call to mod your game. Lol.

[Renee]

Thanks Acadian.

Today it's 11/11/21. Ten years ago on this day I was playing Oblivion, probably with Lady Saga, in anticipation for the clock to get to about 10pm, so I could head off to GameStop and get in line for Skyrim. Before gaming I made a trip to Trader Joe's and bought a bag of chocolate-covered coffee beans. Usually my bedtime's between 9 or 10, so I needed to make sure I'd stay awake for Skyrim.

As I was gaming, I kept eating those beans. I lost track of how many coffee beans I's eaten! Pretty soon I was zinging.

I finally drove to GameStop by myself. Videogaming is pretty much a solitary thing for me. It's "Me" time, so my daughter did not come with. She was at a friend's house, sleeping over. Pretty sure 11/11/11 was on a Friday night, which made all of that more convenient.

There were already about 200 other folks when I got there, which was really neat! I got to talk to a few other gamers, all of us totally psyched for this new Elder Scrolls game. I was 42 at the time. I think I may have been the oldest person there, waiting in line with mostly college students and teens! Certainly the oldest woman.

Finally, midnight struck, and the line started moving. Turns out, there were actually three lines: one for the PC crowd, one for those who'd ordered the game on Xbox (that one was the longest), and my line, which was Playstation 3. Hardly anybody in my town ordered for PS3, which meant I was in and out of there in about 10 minutes. I imagine the Xbox line people probably had to wait an hour at most!

Gaming was a blur. I was so psyched out and zinged up from the coffee beans still. I rolled a Nord male name Blade 'n' Bone, that was his name. I decided to give him a stupid name like that because I was playing him dead-is-dead. I figured I wouldn't get attached to a guy with a name like that. Anyway, Blade 'n' Bone lasted two whole days. Wow.

Second character was named Thor a'Zaene. He was also a Nord male. Also dead-is-dead, although I took the game much more slowly with Thor. I think Thor lasted about a month. Claire Voyance was my third. I did not make her dead-is-dead, because she's supposed to be clairvoyant. She can see the future, through dreams and inspirations.

That's my 11/11/11 story. Maybe I should have started a new thread, but eh...

This post has been edited by Renee: Nov 12 2021, 12:23 AM

[Lena Wolf]

Here's a thing... Having read how Renee was eager to get Skyrim as soon as it became available, I have to share my own attitude to newly released games, films, books, whathaveyou. I won't touch them when they are brand new. That's too new. Raw. They've got to age a bit first. You don't drink the wine just after the grapes have been pressed, either! It's not the same thing, I know, those games, films and books don't actually change as time passes, so it must be something in my brain then. May be I just need to get used to the idea of them being out and about before I can actually try them myself. Weird, but there you have it.

[Acadian]

I'm with Lena here. I'm not an unpaid beta tester and won't go near games until they are out, reviewed as a success, patched and full walk-through/guides/wiki resources are readily available. Typically, I avoid 'em for at least a couple years.

[Renee]

Yeah as soon as I read Lena's response I thought of Acadian. Acadian goes even further. He won't even touch a game until all the official patches are out, all wikis are detailed, information is up at UESP, and so on.

I enjoy being a beta-tester, I guess. I enjoyed playing the game in its rawer form, and then it slowly changed as patches got added. I know we're not supposed to say things like that, we're supposed to yell at Bethesda for releasing a buggy game, but I'm gonna do the same thing for ES6. By the time Skyrim was released I'd been playing Oblivion for just over 3 years (vanilla game too, right?) and so I was really eager for a new ES game.

I need some coffee. Oops, all we got here is cake. Cake, cake, cake. We need new emoticons.

This post has been edited by Renee: Nov 12 2021, 02:11 PM