Today In Skyrim (Spoilerific), Like the other one, but with added spoilers!!! Options

[Acadian]

SubRosa, that sounds like Dawnguard? Buffy's got the College 'paused' before any of the limited faculty there gets killed. And she's Thane of Half-Finger. I do believe Dawnguard might be appropriate for her. . . .

We still consider this to be a good trial and learn playthrough. Buffy's decided that, despite the fact that she's level 30 now, she likes the hunting bow the best. So. . . I helped her with a little Acadian magic to temper her hunting bow up to snuff so she doesn't have to go to a bow she doesn't like as much just to get appropriate-for-level damage.

So at the moment, she's using a real bow (not the bound bow) and mage clothes (no armor). The bound bow can't be used from the saddle and it is also a bit more cumbersome to use (select & cast) instead of just select. Even though Buffy has the quiet cast perk, the flash and noise from conjuring the bound bow while slinking in a dark dungeon feels rather odd compared to silently slipping the bow from her back.

[SubRosa]

That is Dawnguard. The DG questline opens up some new areas to explore, and adds lots of new stuff. You can play it from the vampire side or vampire hunter side. But be warned, even if you play as a vampire hunter, you have to have a vampire for a sidekick for the entire questline. So it is not for characters absolutely consumed with the desire to kill vamps.

[Acadian]

Thanks! Buffy learned from Count Skingrad down in Cyridiil that not all vamps have to be killed on sight. I think Buffy'll stock up on anti-cramping potions and we'll give it a try!

[ghastley]

And even if you choose the vampire side, you still end up killing a lot of other vampires - other bloodlines, one assumes. The whole DLC is nicely on the grey side, as you never really identify with either faction, and can play it in more than just the two obvious ways.

[Grits]

Congrats to Haafingar’s newest Thane! Jerric is a big fan of Solitude. The stone-walled heights remind him of Kvatch. The hunting bow is Lildereth’s favorite. She’s using one I modified for her. I’m glad Buffy is finding her way with Skyrim horses.

SubRosa, the Dead Duo are in one of my favorite spots. Thankfully breathing is optional for them so the sights can’t take their breath away.

Valdi has just embarked on the Dawnguard journey. She’s on her way back to the fort to meet up with new recruits. Here’s a picture of Erik enjoying one of Sorine Jurard’s idle markers. He is not known as one of Skyrim’s great thinkers, so maybe he was just scratching his chin.

I absolutely love when Valdi checks back in at Aravi (Lakeview) Manor. Horses, dogs, and chickens everywhere, friends saying nice greetings, and everything she needs growing in the greenhouse and garden.

Valdi has evolved nicely in Skyrim. She stuck with bandit light armor for a long time while using the basic healing spell, war axe, and bow. By the time she got Lakeview Manor built with all of the Jerric’s world NPCs and KC’s Aravi follower settled in she was ready to learn from her mentors. She picked up Block from Jerric, Alchemy from Darnand and Lil (potions/poisons), and Abiene trained her in Restoration. (NPC Abiene had to train her before she moved to Lakeview. Somehow she loses her training dialog when she moves.) In the game Valdi simply started using these skills with the exception of buying more spells and training from Abiene. She’s a very conservative alchemist. She mixes up what she needs and nothing more.

She is still very much a vagabond, though. Lakeview is not her home. She doesn’t really have one. She travels with Erik the Slayer most of the time. Her horse Tage (the grey one) hangs out with the herd at Lakeview unless she’s going to the northern holds. Then she needs to bring more stuff. She’s always worried that what she loves will be taken away, so Tage gets to relax in safety while Valdi hauls the tent all over the province.

It’s interesting to play a young character who is so unsure of herself internally while at the same time she’s aggressive and capable. Fort Dawnguard and the motley crew that has gathered there remind her of her Ma’s gang of smugglers. If she ever thought of a place as her childhood home it would have been some creepy old abandoned fort or ruin. Erik the Slayer’s sunny Rorikstead makes her feel like she’s not good enough, even though she likes to stay there. It doesn’t help that Erik often says how he hates bandits and thieves. Every time she starts to get comfortable he accidentally makes her feel like trash. It looks like there will be two bedrolls in the tent for a while longer.

[SubRosa]

The remark about Erik scratching his chin makes me think of the intro to Fellowship of the Rings, and how hobbits are not counted as among the very wise...

I am glad to hear that Valdi is still roaming Skyrim. Even though it looks like Erik's careless remarks will insure they remain just friends. Maybe she will take a shine to Serana?

[SubRosa]

The Dead Duo have spent the last few days clearing the Falmer out of the Forgotten Vale. Today they made their way to the Inner Sanctum and confronted Vyrthur. When they were done, Persephone flung his body off the balcony, down to the frozen lake below. Now it is off to Castle Volkihar, with Auriel's Bow on Persephone's back.

[Acadian]

It's good to hear that Valdi is alive and well!

And that Purse-Phone and Serana are happily hunting Forsworn.



Well, Buffy's now a dragon slayer! We are exploring the game, after all, and Buffy actually makes a surprisingly good tester. So we decided to embark on the MQ. And instead of Dawnguard, figure that maybe we'll let the MQ flow into Dragonborn to check that out. If we complete the College questline also, that will be plenty for this playthrough. Then maybe we'll look at some mods and try a different set of quests for the next playthough.

After evaluating what vanilla horses and followers can do, Buffy's back to solo. She's level 31 now and just helped kill her second dragon (the one with Delphine). She's seen a couple randoms, but they have just ignored her. We're finding that dragon fighting for her means lots of bow damage and lots of magic resistance - and she's well set for both. Her weakness (as ever) is to avoid melee at all costs. She's pretty sure one dragon bite can probably kill her if she lets them get close enough.

[SubRosa]

There are some horse mods out there that improve the riding experience. Though I suspect that you may be investigating them already. There is also a mod that makes Tolfdir the Arch Mage after the end of the College questline (though a few other teachers do get capped along the way). So you can finish it without everyone calling you the boss. In any case, it sounds like Buffy has plenty to do!

Tonight the Dead Duo returned to Fort Dawnguard to gather the troops. Then they marched upon Castle Volkihar and stormed the place. I do have to say, the final battle in the castle and then against Harkon in the cathedral is a good one. While Persephone is not an archer by trade, she still put Auriel's Bow to good use.

After all was said and done, the Dead Duo made a trip back to the Soul Cairn to find Serana's mother, and tell her it was safe to return. This is something I had forgotten to do in Helregin and Hervor's games. She turns back up in her study at the same time you return through the gateway from the Soul Cairn. On the way back, the Dead Duo stopped by the Reaper's Lair in the Soul Cairn. I had collected all the Reaper gems my first time through, but forgot to put them to use. The Reaper is not much to fear. He went down pretty quick, and did not have any interesting loot either.

Afterward Persephone left Serana at Fort Dawnguard and decided to go run some errands on her own, like selling those unknown Falmer books she had found in the Forgotten Vale.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: May 31 2014, 05:08 AM

[Renee]

Aww wow that's beautiful, you actually used Auriel's Bow. I think LHM may have fired off one shot (just to see what it does) but he was never an archer. He actually left the Bow at Harkon's castle, under Serana's care.

There is also a mod that makes Tolfdir the Arch Mage after the end of the College questline (though a few other teachers do get capped along the way). So you can finish it without everyone calling you the boss.

I'm going to want this one when I start modding Skyirm. The College questline (and Companions) felt too short to me. It's not that these quests are short, it's that my character shows up to the Mage's College (or Jorvaskr) and literally within weeks this char's now running the show. They are now at the top. This position didn't feel 'earned' to me. What bugged me was that some of the NPCs who've been at the College or Jorvaskr longer than me obviously want to be at the top.

I can't provide any examples, but I seem to remember there are snide comments here and there made by these NPCs. Would've made more sense if there were some sort of challenge or duel against one of these others, and so therefore the title of Arch Mage or Harbinger would truly feel earned after fighting for it. That would make more sense than 'okay, here ya go newbie, you win!"

I like Dawngaurd and Dark Brotherhood, in both cases it takes lots of time to make it to the top.

This post has been edited by Renee Gade IV: May 31 2014, 03:08 AM

[Acadian]

Thanks SubRosa. We'll take the College to the end this playthrough, but then I'm sure we'll want a mod like you mentioned. Buffy's not cut out to be 'in charge' of anything.

So Persephone's going to take a break from Serana. That should be good for a change. I'm guessing she'll still have Darryl on call.

[SubRosa]

Archmage Tolfdir is the mod. At the end of the College questline it gives you a dialogue option to make him Archmage instead of you.

However, people still call you archmage. You can fix that with these console commands:

player.removefromfaction 103372
player.addtofaction 1F259 4

Basically that takes you out of the Archmage faction, and puts you back in the regular college faction.

[Acadian]

That sounds wonderful, SubRosa. Thank you!

[SubRosa]

Persephone did some puttering around today, exploring the little nooks and crannies she had not been to along the Sea of Ghosts and down the eastern mountains of Eastmarch. She has discovered most of the locations on the world map. I just checked her stats, and it says 305 locations discovered.

Right now she's in Raldbthar, and I think she has a couple places left to find in the valley between Windhelm and Whiterun. After those, she just has High Hrothgar to tackle, and she should have the entire eastern half of the map explored. She has huge swathes of the western half explored already too, thanks to all of her travels. She will probably be my first character to literally see it all.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jun 1 2014, 05:11 AM

[Acadian]

Wow, Persephone the explorer! I agree that it's fun to uncover lots of places on the map.

[Grits]

I’ve enjoyed the Thieves Guild much more with the main questline slowed down (by a mod). Marius has done all of the city influence quests necessary to get the new vendors installed in the Ratway, but he still has work to do before Brynjolf gives him the third big quest. I set the conditions so that he would need 50 in Lockpicking, Sneak, and Pickpocket plus a random number of city quests, so even I am not sure when he’ll get the next big task.

Marius is still a nervous pickpocket, so he likes to train with Vipir the Fleet. This drains his gold faster than his former skooma habit. (He kicked it a while ago after a fellow addict from a mod offered to help him relax. That was it for Marius. He switched to moonsugar and then mead.) So rather than getting drawn into adventures Marius is doing what he does best, sneaking around and stealing stuff.

He recently decluttered the Blue Palace as well as several of the nicer houses in that neighborhood. He spotted Falk Firebeard in Irnskar Ironhand’s bedroom at two in the morning. Irnskar was sleeping while Falk sat in a chair drinking. Falk did not spot Marius even though Marius nearly soiled his britches in surprise at the sight of Falk. He’s not sure who Falk was visiting in Bryling’s house at night. Bryling and her maid were also awake in a different room. Irnskar may not be the focus of Falk’s attention.

Next Marius is headed out to the Reach in the hope that the city dwellers have some good stuff to steal. He brings Rune along on the road trips. Rune usually waits nearby when Marius is on a job, but sometimes he really needs backup.

[Grits]

Marius sneaked his way past nearly all of the Falmer and chaurus in Irkngthand. It was a good thing he managed it because the two Falmer he had to fight after Karliah and Brynjolf woke up the Dwarven centurion nearly killed him. There’s no way he would survive one big chaurus much less the swarm they found. All three of them made it silently along the pipes. It was fun.

Oh, and he had no problem letting the other two deal with the centurion. They both stepped in bear traps multiple times on the way in. Marius was disgusted by that performance and ready to let them reap the whirlwind. Also he was bleeding to death and chugging his entire supply of potions so they got to be badasses while he crawled around picking up arrows for a few minutes.

He still travels with Rune and Thrynn, mostly in case they meet a dragon. He and one guard had to fight one in Winterhold. It was a huge pain in the neck. Now he has better weapons and a rain of arrows is better than a trickle. Marius is not Dragonborn or any kind of hero, but letting dragons burn and freeze everything without consequence would be bad for business. If he meets another dragon he’ll do his best to take it down.

[Grits]

Valdi likes to explore even when she’s on an assignment. Today she found Lost Prospect Mine while looking for the Dawnguard canyon. (It moved when I installed a mod.) I had never seen Lost Prospect before. It’s a tiny place with a story to discover if you’re willing to scramble around and get wet. Valdi is very willing. She knows the kinds of places that bandits hide their loot. This time she didn’t find treasure, but it was a neat (and a little sad) discovery just the same.

[Renee]

Oh wow, Lost Prospect Mine is totally unoccupied according to UESP. Kinda neat.

[ghastley]

No treasure? The place is a veritable gold mine! (which is useful if you're grinding Smithing - jewels use up your gems and turn them into perks).

This post has been edited by ghastley: Jun 4 2014, 01:48 PM