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

[macole]

@Renee - The Jandaga was being a bit greedy or selfish. You see if he lets the Ladies in... well they end up killing many of the vampires and his sword the Light of Dawn doesn't get charged up.

Yes, I did add Arthmoor's Sutch Village per someone's recommendation. There is so many mods in my game that adding something new gets a bit dicey. I'm hoping it all goes well.

As always thanks you for your appreciation. I'm glad everyone like the pics and the look of the game. Many of my landscape shots especially the ones without characters in them, end up in my PC's monitor background slideshow.

[Renee]

Traveling with a group is fun, but there are times when it's good to have some solo time too. Strategy is much different. You can be stealthier if that's Jandaga's thing, but he has to be more careful, because now he hasn't got that immediate support from his gang.


To all: These are good times. I am loving this period of high creativity at Chorrol. Everyone's writing is tops. Everyone's imaginations are peaking lately.

Well, almost everyone....


Sun's Height 27, 3rd Era 434, 2:26 am





"I like what I see."

Armand Cristophe says this with that knowing "wink" in his voice, as Kahreem, his most-trusted scoundrel, pulls a bottle of Cheap Wine from his nightsack.

"I brought some wine, Armand, Surprise!"

"Well hello wine!" Armand's eyes widen. "It's going to be a pleasure to drink with you."

"Ha! That's not even the surprise I was talking about. You really think I'd make all this fuss over a two Septim bottle of wine? Especially after rushing in here, knocking miscellaneous things around, almost making you fly back against that wall?"

"Maybe so," the doyen says thoughtfully.

"Well. Just wait'll you see what else I've got in this bag. You are never going to guess in a hundred years' time."

Armand says nothing. But he's thinking hard. His eyes travel across the room as he ponders. One never knows what Kahreem will be up to next, Kahreem imagines him wondering.

"I am like the moons, Armand. Masser and Secunda You have seen me through so many phases of life. Kahreem the Art Thief. Kahreem the Spice Merchant. Kahreem the dragon slayer. Kahreem the Dark Brotherhood Speaker."

"Look Kahreem, I haven't got all day. Can you get to the point here?" he raises his voice, tapping the table he's almost sitting upon for emphasis.

Kahreem of Weet uncorks the bottle, then takes a long, slow swig of its juice. Makes a face to indicate how much he's enjoying its puckery taste. Passes the bottle to Armand, the man who'd started Kahreem's whole career as a top-rated thief. The man who'd nurtured him from obscurity. The man who'd brought him away from his previous life as a teenaged, West Weald bandit. The man who gave him a tangible career, a tangible future.

Armand finishes glugging his share of the bottle. "You sure can spin a yarn, master thief. Come on! What have you got in that bag?"

And those are the last words spoken by Armand Cristophe for the next several minutes.

//////////////////////

"You-- .... you..."

"I ... I?"

"You.... How did you get that?" The bottle Armand holds in his hand is just one finger away from smashing all over the floor. "As I live and breathe, YOU are the Gray Fox?"

Kahreem smiles under his new disguise, perhaps the most ultimate disguise of all time.

"Yes. I am the Gray Fox."

Armand lowers his eyes. Mental calculations of some sort zipping through his mind.

"How's that wine, Armand?"

Finally, some sort of conclusion. "All this time. All this time! YOU were the Gray Fox, Kahreem! You ... pretended to come here as a nobody. A lowlife bandit living on the West Weald..."

"Hey, easy there. I was not a lowlife...."

"... yet all this time, you were really the top ultimate leader of the Thieves Guild. Right here in front of me. Pretending to be horrible at lockpicking. Pretending to be bad at thievery..."

"Hey hey! I was not bad at thievery!"

Armand stops his sermon. Paces his whispery shoes back and forth in front of his hearth for a few moments.

"Salute, my brother." Armand passes the bottle back to a brown hand, whose face is still shrouded. "You certainly had me fooled. You had all of us fooled. How did you do it?"

As Kahreem of Weet spends the next two hours concocting a string of lies which aren't really lies, it all depends on perspective and context, the rain outside finally stops pouring.

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


Good to be back home.

This post has been edited by Renee: Jun 6 2020, 02:06 PM

[SubRosa]

Uh oh, Khareem is going to pull out some two day old mutton, the Cowl of Nocturnal!

I love how Armand goes on and on about what a terrible thief Khareem is!

[mirocu]

Kahreem was the Grey Fox all along! Even in Lothran's game!


Who knew?

Good to be back home.

Why, hello there, Deadpool

[Lopov]

Clever of Kahreem to make up a tale of how he was actually the Gray Fox all along. Not sure if he intended it from the start of he decided to make it up, after seeing Armand's surprise.

Whispery shoes FTW!

[Acadian]

Well done, Renee! What a surprise for Armand! Kahreem certainly has many titles. Kahreem the horse collector comes to mind. . . .

[macole]

@Renee - Ha, I like the way Kahreem lets Armand go on thinking that he has always been the Gray Fox. Armand should think himself lucky that Kahreem didn’t pull out a tally sheet that list all the things that Armand needs to improve.

This post has been edited by macole: Jun 7 2020, 06:00 AM

[macole]

20200606 Vilja-A Melting Heart, GwedenBrothel-Darwen
By the grace of Nir the vampire infestation of Ninendava has been quelled. It’s midnight and raining, when we step outside. No sleeping under the stars tonight. Back inside Ninendava we go to sleep on the cold hard stone floor where at least it’s dry.

Morning comes and we’re eager to leave Ninendava. On a clear day the trip to Bruma along the northern trail that winds through the Jerall Mountains is beautiful. Too bad it didn’t stay that way.

The sky had begun cloud over looking like it was going to snow when a giant Minotaur Lord ambushed us. He was big but not very smart.

As we climbed higher into the mountains we spotted an Imperial Mountain Rider fighting two or three Skyrim Bandits.

We raced to the Rider’s aid but she had the situation well in hand and by the time we got there she was cleaning up getting ready to leave. It was Claudia, the Redguard girl we had rescued from the guards in the Imperial city. From the looks of the dead bandits Claudia and her bear are making a great team. After a nice little chat we continued on our way.

It was still snowing when we encountered several giants herding mammoths. Using the heavy snow storm as cover we kept a very respectful distance as us we attempted to pass peaceably by the giants. Would’ve made it too if it hadn’t been for Vilja and Wolfgang wanting to play wack-a-giant.

It was mid-afternoon Loredas by the time we arrived in Bruma. Our first top is the Hammer and Axe. Fjotreid mentioned that a pretty Bosmer bear hunter has been coming into town on the weekends since the last time we were here.

I met Darwen, she's quite a character and cute to boot!

With our transactions concluded and a quick stop at our house to freshen up and put on something more appropriate, we headed on over to Olav’s for dinner. Sereni Hlaalu was there. After all the time we spent tracking down a tame wolf now she doesn’t want it. She’s got a new pet, a stinky scamp of all things. She doesn’t want Heneri’s husband anymore either. She handed me a skull to take back to Heneri.

A skull! Really? The sisters are fighting over the remains of the dead husband. Sweet Goddess the whole Hlaalu family is a bunch of wackos!

By 9:00PM Olav’s was getting crowded. As the Hero of the Battle of Bruma I was asked to be one of the judges for the dance contest. I was ready vote for Kiyana my lovely Ohmes-raht house sitter, when Darwen threw off her clothes.

I tried but my chooice was out voted by the other two judges.

The dance contest over, Darwen kept dancing and drinking. I spoke to Olav about Darwen. Oh the story he told. He plies her with doctored drinks, she gets drunk, and dances naked until she passes out. She puts on a good show that packs the house with thirsty customers. The more they cheer the wilder she dances. The wilder she dances the more coin the crowd spends. Next morning she remembers absolutely nothing.

It was around 2:00AM when Darwen passed out. The pile of gold coin on the dance floor had grown quite large by then. Olav scooped up the coins and put all but a few in his cash box. “She’s all yours “, declared Olav.

Under the watchful eyes of My Ladies, I carried Darwen to a room and tucked her into bed. We then left Olav’s to get some sleep ourselves.

On the way home we ran into Firukuruzk. She thanked us again for getting her the job with the Bruma Guard. She loves it; the job gives her a strange feeling of pride.

Morndas, just before dawn we caught up with Darwen outside the city walls. When I told Darwen of Olav’s treachery she was incensed. She didn’t mind the part about, ‘waking up in a strange bed with some extra gold in her purse now and then’. Oh no, she was mad that she wasn’t getting her fair share of the coin.

“Well a lot of guys have spiked my drinks before now, but all they wanted was a night of fun. Well he’s lost his main attraction! The little golden purse is going south.”

I suggested Gweden if she needs a job. She said she’d think about it.

[macole]

20200610 Vilja-A Melting Heart, Maids-Anburke’s Letter

The trip to Cheydinhal was uneventful. We delivered the skull of Heneri’s husband to Heneriand she in turn handed over two melting daedra hearts. We needn’t have worried so much about Heneri’s reaction to receiving a skull. In fact, Heneri said she did it herself after a failed experiment turned him into a zombie. I thanked her for the melting daedra hearts and got out of there as quickly as I could.

Those melting daedra hearts stank so horribly that we popped on down to the Imperial Ciy Waterfront as quickly as I could work the spell. Finding Thordor in the Bloated Float we hand him the package of stinking melting daedra hearts to take to Melinda in Morrowind.

That’s done now it’s off to the shops.

Passing through the Talos Plaza District on the way to the Market District, we made a couple of stops. First stop was to sell three Ayleid statues to Umbacano. He now has 5 statues in his display case and we have heavy pockets. Since we have shown ourselves to be competent explorers (he doesn’t seem to understand that as head of the Archeology Guild exploration is my passion), Umbacano asks if we would recover a decorative carving from the High Fane. Of course we’ll look for it.

Leaving Umbacano’s we are approached by one Claude Marie, another artifact hunter employed by Umbacano. As fellow employees of Umbacano Claude suggests a chat over drinks at The Tiber Septim Hotel. While trying to out Baron Munchausen each other with stories of our escapades, the subject of the High Fane came up. Claude knew of the place and renamed it Malada.

“Better you than me,” Claude said. “That place is dangerous! Suggest you read Cleansing of the High Fane.”

An hour or so later as we were leaving, Pym tugged at my arm. Pointing to Augusta Calidia, Pym reminds me that
I have a letter for Augusta.

Oh yes, Anburke’s letter asking Augusta to find more women for DeSann’s place.

No, I didn’t purposely read someone else’s mail. It just happened to fall open on the floor as I pulled it out of my pocket. I just gave it a quick glance as I picked it up. Amazing how often that happens.

Augusta read the note and quickly wrote a reply and handed it to me saying, “Take this to Anburke.”

Funny how these pieces of parchment fall on the floor like they do. The reply to Anburke was Augusta’s resignation. Augusta wrote that it was getting too hard to select women for Anburke’s so-called modeling enterprise.

It’s late. We’ll rent a room and get a good night’s sleep. Before falling asleep a thought occurred to me. I’ve seen what goes on here, Augusta is just trying to get a bigger piece of the action.

[Acadian]

Bruma - Beautiful trip to Brima indeed! I recognize that bear rider from ghastley mods, inc. A fun night! Darwen sounds like a fun party girl. That is a great shot of Darwen in front of Jandanga with the four ladies lined up behind him outside the city walls.

Cheydinhal/IC – Lots of quest turn ins and working on loose ends. And shoppping!

[macole]

@Acadian - Ghastley (along with many others) is a legend in my game world.

20200611 VH-OVB The Abyss Gazes Back
Early the next morning, first thing after breakfast we pay a visit to the Bank of Cyrodiil to deposit all gold we were carrying around. Our account balance is 1,444,868 Septims.

Reading over our journal we find that we have left Publius Scipio sitting in jail. The once famous Imperial Guard and right-hand-man of Adamus Phillida is now disgraced and some say falsely accused of murdering the Emperor’s nephew. Convicted, Publius Scipio now sits in jail with the criminal scum he used to drag in. His wounded pride and honor would not allow him to accept our offer to help him escape from jail when we first met.

Wonder if his time behind bars has softened his attitude about escaping and joining the Order of the Virtuous Blood?

Continuing on to the Prison District we discover that sentiment for Publius Scipio still runs high. After questioning several guards we get the impression that many of the guards feel Publius was framed and would like to see him released.

That impression is reinforced after we enter the Bastion and the jailer takes us down to talk to Publius. There we are, Publius and I discussing plans for a jailbreak while the jailer standing right next to us apparently doesn’t hear a thing. Well, my Ladies were gathered around so maybe the jailer’s mind was on other things at the time?

Between the two of us we came up with a couple of plans.

Plan A: would be to use the secret (not so secret) tunnel that leads to the sewers. This would require getting Publius transferred to the special cell.

Plan B: give Publius an invisibility potion, which would allow Publiu to walk out unseen. All I would have to do is unlock the cell while three guards are watching. (With the eyes of the two male guards glued on my oh so modest Ladies, all I have to do is wait for the female Bastion Guard to start her rounds. She'll go up stairs then I use a spell to unlock the gate, no problem.)

We chose Plan A. Leaving the Bastion we make inquires on how to get a cell transfer. Bhusari the Warden’s secretary who also happened to be a dear friend of Publius said she would file the transfer if I could get the papers. I just have to sneak into the Warden’s office, fill in a transfer form, and stamp it with the Warden’s own seal.

With hours to kills we strolled around the city until after midnight. In pouring rain, we head back to the Prison District. Outside the offices I asked my Ladies to stand guard as I went in alone. Everything was going smoothly according to plan until I opened the door to the Warden’s Office. There stood the Warden, eyes blazing, and fangs flashing. Oh my Goddess, he’s a vampire!

Drawing Light of Dawn the two of us danced around the office for a moment. With the warden dead I found the transfer papers, filled one out, and stamped it with the warden’s seal. Out of curiosity I read the Warden’s journal. Poor guy, he was bitten by a prisoner who turned out to be a vampire. The fool should have gone to chapel.

Bhusari was waiting for us. She’ll file the papers as soon as the office opens.

Providing Publius is a man of his word he should show up at the office of the Order of the Virtuous Blood within a day or two.

On the way back to the Market District we intercept a vampire on the bridge. The poor Altmer is cured and the Light of Dawn is satisfied.

Tired we take a room at the Merchants Inn for what’s left of the night.

This post has been edited by macole: Jun 12 2020, 06:18 AM

[Acadian]

Your four ladies are indeed world-class distractions.

The warden . . . I know, right? How dumb is that not to go see a priest and get cured?

Wow, vampires in the city!

[Renee]

Yikes, 3 updates! Sorry if I fall behind.

You've got real snowflakes which are pretty. Where from? I've already got two snow mods, but they barely do much of anything. I want real snowflakes!

It's funny to see them trying to climb those super-steep mountainsides. They can get annoying sometimes.

After all the time we spent tracking down a tame wolf now she doesn’t want it. She’s got a new pet, a stinky scamp of all things. She doesn’t want Heneri’s husband anymore either. She handed me a skull to take back to Heneri.

Ha ha whut?

Wow, you've got a dance contest in your game.

[macole]

Acadian – I should have seen it coming, it is the Vampire Hunter – Order of the Virtuous Blood mod after all. The warden caught me off guard. I was just thinking the invisibility option was too easy.
I do like both of ghastly’s mods that I have installed. I never have recruited all of the girls for Gweden. Best I’ve done is the four I have now

Renee – To see snowflakes as I do you need High Quality Snowflakes?, created by OC3 and Deathless Aphrodite.
You might also be interested in Better Rainbows, Falling Stars?, and Falling Leaves?.

Have you started your Orc game yet? If not, there is a really good MQ delayer, PrinceShroob Main Quest Delayer. It includes various alternate start options.

Now for the dance contest, that just kind of happened. Having recruited Darwen before, I was hanging around for her to start dancing. The Ohmes-raht Kiyana from the Stranded Light mod showed up and began to dance. I just nudged the two gals close together and took a couple shots. I gave you the PG one.

[Renee]

Awesome thanks! Real actual snowflakes. I gotta have those.

And I have started the orc character, yes, it was raining hard one day this week and I finally had time to sit down and create Balztu Dahwalz. I shall share pictures of him soon.

Yah that is hilarious! Dance contest in Tap 'n' Tack.

[macole]

20200618 VH-OVB -Filthy Sewers, Gweden -Sugar
It was late in the morning when we finally woke-up. We went straight away to the offices of the Order of the Virtuous Blood to tell Roland of our successes at Ninendava and in recruiting famous patrons. Roland was excited about the new of Ninendava but Publicus Scipico had beaten us to the OVB HQ spoiled the surprise.

Roland’s plan for Publicus is to have him spend most his time in the office for fear of being arrested. Advising and training new agents will be his primary duties for the time being.

Roland had a new assignment for us. A vampire made a brazen attack inside the Imperial City. This time there was a witness. Simplicia the Slow saw it happen. Of course the guards won’t listen to a beggar. It is our duty to investigate.

Vilja is asking, “Why do we have to keep going around doing things?” Tired of adventuring she took Wolfgang and went home to Aleswell Cottage.

We search out Simplicia, ask her about the vampire she supposedly witnessed. She seems confused by our questions until gold flashes in her hands. Miraculously her mind becomes as sharp as a tack. Now she remembers in crystal clear detail of the female vampire she saw retreating down into the sewers.

No wonder the guards have little regard for the beggars. They’re too tight with the coin to grease the palms and get to the real stuff.

Now how to get into the sewers? The only entrance to the market sewers that we could find only led to a single room with an impassable locked door. Perhaps the sewer that I used to escape the prison leads back to the Market District? We’ll give that a try.

No luck. Apparently tired of having to explain why not one but two prisoners managed to escape his prison, Adamus Phillida ordered the Prison Sewer Gate sealed. Turning to my Ladies I ask, “What now, any ideas?”

One at a time we work the Market, Arena, and Arboretum Districts for any information concerning vampires and the sewers. The rumor mill is churning about Publicus Scipico’s great escape to join a group of vampire hunters. No one wants to talk about the sewers and they laugh at the idea of vampires in the city.

It was getting late in the day when we found ourselves in the Universitum Arcanorum at the shop of an old friend, Midas. Midas couldn’t tell us much of anything about the sewer system but he did have one bit of information that sounded interesting. Seems there is an Orc female known as Sugar, working the Arboretum bushes late at nights. He wonders why the guards haven’t run her out of town by now.

Midas would understand if he could see the stream of guards flowing in and out of Gweden.

As we left the Midas Magic Shop to go find this Sugar person I couldn’t help but think as I always do, that we should explore the basement a bit more thoroughly.

Sugar, actually her name is Soo Gaar, turns out be kind of attractive for an Orc. She’d work out just fine at Gweden. Unfortunately she’s lost her axe, stolen she thinks, and won’t go anywhere without it. The Waterfront would be a good place to start the search.

After talking to Sugar we rent a room for the night at the Arboretum Hotel (Better Cities).

[Renee]

Cool, this is a good part of Vampire Hunting; the Imperial City chapters. Have you been seeing any Kamikaze vampires in the I.C. yet? Renee Gade III got into the habit of always sussing these vampires out and then ALWAYS confronting them, which got stressful for me. Because she's my Xena lookalike character, very dangerous while out dungeoneering, but when she returned to the I.C. she'd always be dolled-up. It was her "time off".

So she'd confront one of these vampires, who would typically attack her, or disappear. But she wouldn't have any weapons (usually) and like I said, she'd be dolled up in Goddess Store clothes. So it would then be up to any guards nearby to finish off the vamp.

There was a bug at the end of this quest if I remember correctly. I had to fix it myself, just in case you encounter it as well. Has Jandaga done the Thieves Guild quest involving Jakben?

Cpngrats on finding another lady to add to Gweden Brothel! An orc, in fact!

[macole]

Renee -Yes, I have had run ins with the Kamikaze vampires in the I.C. and in other cities too. Have to be careful with them. One false strike or A.O.E. spell and the whole district erupts in violent brawl. One time every shop owner in the Market District was killed.

The Jandaga hasn't started the the Thieves Guild. Don't know why he hasn't, I like the first quest. In fact I can't remember ever completing the Thieves Guild or the Dark Brotherhood.

[Acadian]

Vilja fatigue is real! Understandably wise to send her to Aleswell Cottage for awhile.

Gold is certainly the key to unlocking the fount of secrets guarded by beggars.

Vampire hunting!

An orc named Sugar. Though I never used ghastley’s Gweden mod, if think I remember mention of her name – perhaps from ghastley’s tales that involved that mod.

[Renee]

macole: Okay well when you get to the part with Jakben Imbel (spelled that wrong) if you have any probs let me know. He is a part of Thieves Guild but if the vanilla TG quest has not been done you'll have to fudge a couple things, as I recall.

Acadian: has Buffy had to deal with had the pleasure of having Vilja around?