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

[ghastley]

It’s a beautiful day, a hot summer day.

It was the comma that threw her off. A colon would have given it away.

Jerry Garcia did not play banjo on that album.

[macole]

to ghastley, enjoy. Great album BTW. Best listened to with headphones and a glass of cheap wine.

It's A Beautiful Day - Hot Summer Day - YouTube

Right about Garcia, although he did sit in on two tracks of the second of the albums, Marrying Maiden. Banjo on, Hoedown, and pedal steel on, It Comes Right Down To You.

This post has been edited by macole: Aug 1 2022, 05:00 PM

[Acadian]

Sounds like a fun and boisterous night out on the town in Anvil. The Jandaga is rockin’ that hat!

Reading about the quest involving Godras, I actually recall (vaguely) doing it many years ago while rebuilding Kvatch.

Summons are super handy when you want to roam around unencumbered but still want some back up available. Summoned helpers and summoned weapons too.

Well, several days to wile away and an Ayleid necroden beckoning. . . .

[Renee]

to ghastley, enjoy. Great album BTW. Best listened to with headphones and a glass of cheap wine.

You went for the Cheap Wine, eh? No Surilies or Tamika's for macole!

[macole]

You went for the Cheap Wine, eh? No Surilies or Tamika's for macole!

Well thinking back to those days it was Boonesfarm Strawberryhill or Ripple. Tastes have changed since then.

[ghastley]

If the music is REALLY good, the quality of the wine won’t be noticed.

However, if the quality of the headphones is bad …

[macole]

20220807 Ayleid Steps-wasting time skipping stones

Into the darkness of Garlas Agea I went with only Twinkle to light the way.

“Been a long time since we’ve been alone together in the dark,” I whispered to Twinkle. “Are you ready?”

‘Zzzzt, zzzzt, zzzzt,” Twinkle laughed.

“Alright then let’s go.”

Entering Garlas Agea I could hear voices in the chamber around the first bend. From their conversation they sounded like MOO grave robbers had invaded Garlas Agea and were hunting down necromancers.

The MOO grave robbers and artifact collectors call themselves archeologist but unlike true archeologists of the Archeology Guild this MOO faction care nothing for preserving sites and relics for posterity. They are nothing more than destructive thieves.

Outnumbered and with Twinkle’s light making stealth impossible I summon the usual reinforcements. The Sisters of Insanity with my help made quick work of six grave robbers.

There are three doorways out of this chamber other than the entrance. Taking the western door led to a long hallway. Down the hallway we went until half-a-dozen swinging blade traps blocked the path. Not wanting to run the gauntlet I turned back to look for a safer way.

The eastern door wasn’t much better. It led down to a large chamber filled with poisonous gas. Once again I turned back in search of a safer path.

Blade traps to the left of us, poison gas chamber to the right of us, what lay before us as we enter the center doorway? A balcony of death?

With Twinkle shinning like the brightest star in the heavens, we stood overlooking the southern end of Garlas Agea’s main chamber. Grave robbers down on the floor below spotted Twinkle and it wasn’t long before a tomb raider and an artifact collector met us on the balcony.

After managing to survive the battle Twinkle and I crossed the open balcony. Turning north the balcony became a long dark hallway. An intersection appeared to the right with a flight of stairs leading down to the main chamber, or so I thought. The gas filled rooms I had discovered earlier stopped our progress. Frustrated, we returned to the hallway and continued on.

The dark hallway turned and opened to a balcony on the north side of the chamber. Near the middle of the balcony a light spilled forth from the doorway of a small room. Entering what could only be a necromancer’s operating theater, I discovered evidence of a battle between the original residents, necromancers, and the grave robbers.

Next to the operating table in a pool of her own blood lay the body of a necromancer. A dead grave robber lay nearby. All I could say was that I was glad the necromancers were gone. Grave robbers are so much easier to deal with.

When Twinkle and I finally made it down to the main chamber floor, all was quiet. I guess all of the grave robbers had come out to greet us and there were none left to offer a cup of coffee for stopping by. A search of the main floor yielded some points of interest.

On one side of the dark room sat three Ayleid Steps. I ignored them for the moment and continued to other side of the floor, where I discovered a small campsite. At the campsite a small alcove in the wall hold a statue of Molag Bal. Candles set to light the statue of Molag Bal spread their warm glow over a bed and three bed rolls.

In the quiet darkness I began looting the bodies. Grave robbers and tomb raiders don’t carry much in the way of valuables. The few gold coins from the grave robbers pockets, a handful of Ayleid coins gathered from various Ayleid Reliquaries, and the 12 septims found on the alcove next to the statue of Molag Bal totaled of less than 200 coins

While searching pockets for valuables I noticed something resting on a ledge just below me. From the balcony I eased my way down to the ledge to recover the unique meteoric OOO artifact, the dagger Paras Ecetu.

Tired, I returned to the camp. Out of habit I dug out the straws to draw for the bed when I remembered I’m alone, the bed is mine! With a satisfied grin I climbed in the bed to get some sleep.

You know how it is. You’re exhausted yet your mind is racing, full of questions preventing you from falling asleep,

There’s not much to Garlas Agea, why all the fuss? Were the Ayleids some sort of crazed paranoid peoples? One might think so by looking at the construction of Garlas Agea. From the first chamber if you take the door on the west you run into swinging blade traps. The door on the east leads down to a poison gas chamber. But, the center door puts you on a trap free path that takes you all the way through the main areas of the ruin. It makes no sense at all. There has got to be a reason. What is here that warrants all these traps?

The questions gradually slowed until I finally fell asleep. Morning came and as my eyes opened the answer came to me. The gas chamber, there has to be something there.

Returning to the gas filled rooms I readied myself to walk in the waist high green cloud. Avoiding the gas jets and walking as slowly as possible so as not to disturb the poisonous cloud I managed to explore the gas chamber. In one corner I discovered a stone door.

Anticipating finding an immensely epic artifact I fumbled around in a pouch full of keys until I found one that worked. The Ancient Ayleid Key opened the stone door and I entered Agea Erfinsal (The Ayleid Steps).

So this is the secret of Garlas Agea. It’s a step way station. These things can take you to some dangerous places. I think I’ll leave it be for now and come back later better prepared. Grabbing the 9 welkynd stones that were laying about, I left.

Back at the camp I gathered my things and prepared to leave Garlas Agea. Passing by the three Ayleid steps located in the great chamber a familiar velvety dreamlike voice whispered seductively in my mind.

“It’s just a jump to the left”

“Who said that?”

“And then a step to the right”

With beads of perspiration forming on my brow I resisted.

“With your hands on your hips”

“Stop it!”

“You bring your knees in tight”

Clapping my hand over on my ears I screamed, “No! No! No!”

“But it's the pelvic thrust”

“Aaaagh!”

“That really drives you insane”

I couldn’t take it anymore. Shattering a welkynd stone on the middle stepstone I stepped on it…

The cold damp darkness of Beldaburo Anga greeted me with its silence. An adept conjurer and his gold golem performing some arcane experiment weren’t so quiet. I guess he didn’t want anyone peeking over his shoulder to see what he was brewing. He sent his golem and a conjured minion to attack. The sounds of battle brought three other conjurers to join in the fight.

Countering with my own summoned warriors the skirmish became a contest of will. Whose summoned army will prove the stronger? Well let’s just say it’s hard to beat a Dremora Markynaz and Guardian Angel combo. The conjurers of Beldaburo Anga didn’t stand a chance.

Subduing the conjurers of Beldaburo Anga took more out me than expected. Tired, I looked at three stepstones sitting in a dark corner. Sure, I didn’t want to open the door to Beldaburo proper and fight my way through a horde of unknown monsters to find the exit but trading one unknown for another? Just what was I thinking when I activated the left stone and stepped?

Snow blind and freezing, I knew that I was high up in the mountains. As my eyes slowly adjusted to brightness from where I stood I judged that I somewhere north of Sancre Tor. I also saw that there was only way off of this mountain was the stepstone I was standing on. I activated the stone…

“Why did I do that? I got spells galore that will send me anywhere I would want to go.” I said to myself.

The friendly sights and sounds of the northern edge of the Colovian Highlands hugged me as the warmth of the late afternoon sun pried me away from the mountain’s icy grip.

I know where I am. There’s a little Lakeside Camp just over there. A short ways further there is a dancehall inn. The House of Earthly Delights, what better place to spend the night and rejuvenate the soul.

[Lena Wolf]

The pelvic thrust always does it. But only if you're wearing charming undergarments, of course! Otherwise that picture turns into a horror show... Ooooooh...

Those Ayleid steps seem to be fun, though. I might put them in.

[Acadian]

Yay, a Twinkle adventure! Heh, Twinkle's not very stealthy for sure. Nice to have those backup summons as well since the Ladies weren't with him this time.

Oh yes, all those traps must be guarding something. . . .

[macole]

20220814 Ayleid Steps - Lost Nemice and a few other steps
The House of Earthly Delights, what better place to spend the night and rejuvenate the soul. At 500 drakes a night the suite may be the most expensive room in Cyrodiil but the appurtenances are worth the admission.

Maybe not so well rested but feeling pretty good I left Ave’s House of Earthly Delights early in the morning. Could be that I was feeling a little too relaxed for when I passed the Ayleid Step just south of the Lakeside Camp (DwedenBrothel-FalkreathGS_RM) I activated it. The hope was that I’d get closer to Anvil thus saving me from having to walk to whole way.

It worked; I was closer to Anvil, kind of. Maybe a league further south but further west up in some the most difficult mountain trails in Cyrodiil. There I stood on a mountain trail high up in the Colovian Highlands just below the ancient Colovian Cliff Dwellings (Unique Landscapes).

“Remember four years ago when we found the ancient cliff dwelling ruins? Never did find out who lived there, did we?”

“Zzzzt!” Twinkle replied.

“Well, you don’t have to get snippy about it. I’m sorry, I forgot you weren’t with us then.”
Not wanting to climb my way through the mountains again I considered my options. I could cast a spell to teleport to Anvil but what would I do while waiting for Sundas. I activated the stepstone and hoped for the best.

“Twinkle, I don’t like the looks of this place.”

We had found Lost Nemice. Dark and foreboding the place had a bad feeling to it. Thinking of the difficulty we had in Garlas Agea and Beldaburo Anga I thought it best to leave immediately. When I used a welkynd stone to activate the Ayleid Step, it failed.

What went wrong? Inspecting the stepstone I noticed there were bluish spots dotting its surface. Could this tarnish cause sporadic and unpredictable performance?

My first thought was that I could use a teleport spell to get out. That could work. It must have taken me too long to decide between the Midas or Stranded Light spells for the room had become dark. Twinkle had wandered off. I guess that means we are exploring Lost Nemice before we leave.

Twinkle returned at my call. It’s better that we stay together I told her as I led the way through the closest of the two doors. That path quickly ended in a dead end, a remotely locked gate barred our path.

The other door led to a large chamber. It too had a remotely locked gate, only this gate stopped us from crossing a bridge. The bridge led to a second floor balcony on the other side of the room. As we searched for a remote switch to unlock the gate wraiths and zombies constantly harassed us.

Shortly after the last wraith exhaled its ectoplasm we found an Ayleid push block switch with an indecipherable Ayleid tablet placed above it. With a push, the sound of great stones grinding against each other resounded throughout Lost Nemice.

Stairs were rising from the ground floor to a solitary second floor balcony when I returned to the open chamber. Climbing the stairs to the once inaccessible balcony gave us access to a second Ayleid push block. This one opened the locked gate that prevented us from crossing the bridge.

Now that we could cross the bridge we found a stone Ayleid style door on the other side. The door opened to Nemice Cinsel. A long dark hallway took us to a large room. Large rocks and glowing blue fragments of welkynd stone lay strewn about the once elegant room. Evidence of an unstable roof I assumed.

A troll came charging out of the darkness to my left. It didn’t last long against Light of Dawn’s fire. The demented spriggan that followed the troll was of sterner stuff. She too fell to Light of Dawn, just took a little longer.

As the spriggan fell a bullish bellow filled the room. The Minotaur Mochtumbar came charging out of tunnel on the far side.

It is times like these that I wish I hadn’t left my Sylphim enchanted Dragon armor behind in Cheydinhal. Oh you should have seen us dancing. Hopping from rock to rock I managed to stay out of Mochtumbar’s reach as I a strike in now and then. Mochtumbar got a sampling of my favorite fire and lightening spells before I hit him with the paralyzing Midas Prism Ray. Down he went and Light of Dawn gave him the coup de grace.

Checking the big minotaur’s body I found 1127 pounds of loot on Mochtumbar body. There’s no way I could carry all that stuff. Several unique (Alyleid Steps) items stood out; 6 Arceste Pilin, the War Axe of Beguilment, Cuirass of the Assassin, Gauntlets of the Pugilist, and Helmet of Magicka Resistance. The bulk of the stuff on Mochtumbar was Ayleid dinnerware. Six place dinnerware settings in ten different styles. Just what is a minotaur going to do with all those plates?

The captivating thought of a different table setting in each of my houses played in my mind for a moment.

If only Kaleah was here; she would carry it all, I told myself. Then an idea came to me. Midas sells a spell that creates or summons a Chest or as Midas calls it a Hammerspace storage pocket. Using the Midas Astral Gate I was able to pay Midas a visit, learn the Chest spell and return to Nemice Cinsel. Then by casting the Midas Chest spell, I opened the hammerspace storage chest and placed everything into it. Works pretty good, I may never be over-encumbered again.

With the Mida Chest I was able to loot the entire complex. Unfortunately I found no other exit. I returned to the Ayleid stepstone.

“Where’s the adventure in casting a teleport spell?” I asked myself and activated the step..

“I know this place,” I said to myself. “That’s the Old Bridge and the Archeology Guild Hall is just over the rise. Any closer I’d be standing on the doorstep.”

As much as I would have liked to stop in and visit, I knew I’d be inundated with a mountain of paper work. Headmaster duties are never done, best to avoid them altogether. Activating the stepstone to get away didn’t take me far. Just north of Fort Roebeck a pretty little pond full of flowering water plants greeted me.

Tired of all the step skipping I needed a change of pace so I took a few hours to walk to Shadowcrest Vineyard.

The witch Fiona was overjoyed to see me. We spent the night practicing magic and learning new spells.

[Renee]

Phew. Another rainbow.

Also, Unique Landscapes really does a good job. I never installed that. Looks beautiful though. How close is UL to lore? In other words, does it add things which lore says should be in the world, but Beth didn't get round to adding them in?

Is Jandaga by himself? Maybe he needs some "me" time, I know I would after being around all those girls.

Yeah, why does a minotaur need a set of plates? There used to be a thread in the old Beth forums on this very subject. Why might we find a fork inside a mudcrab for instance? Opinions varied. One of them is that we aren't just searching inside the creature, but also including whatever nearby hole they live in. It's a tough explanation to swallow (pun intended).

Whoa. Are we sure "practicing spells" is all the Jandaga did with Witch Fiona?

[Lena Wolf]

Lots of lovely pictures in this one! I had to wait to get to a big screen to look at them properly.

Those Colovian Highlands certainly look nice. I was actually looking at that mod just recently, thinking it would be a good one for me too. I don't like to alter my Cyrodiil too much because I already know and love as it is but this is an out of the way area, so that would be nice, I think.

“I know this place,” I said to myself. “That’s the Old Bridge and the Archeology Guild Hall is just over the rise. Any closer I’d be standing on the doorstep.”

And this is exactly why I don't want to change Cyrodiil too much. Then I won't recognise it. You get used to things.

Why does a minotaur need all those plates? Well, may be he's a collector! What do we know? The real question is where he was keeping it? He is not wearing clothes with large pockets, he doesn't have a backpack... It's easy enough with small things like a single fork inside a mudcrab - it obviously swallowed the fork, dogs do it all the time, so why not mudcrabs. But 1127 pound of loot... That's a lot to swallow! And would you really still want it, covered in stomach juices and all?

[Renee]

And this is exactly why I don't want to change Cyrodiil too much. Then I won't recognise it. You get used to things.

Mm hmm, very true. This happened in my case with Snu's Dungeons. Fantastic mod, lots of work went into it, but the first cave we went into (the one under Chorrol with bandits) was waaaaay different! I couldn't "explain" it in the context of the game because many characters of mine have been in there.

And that is also true about some creatures collecting items, especially shinies. 💎 Also, it's not unheard of for critters to find some object (let's say that crab with its fork) and then using the object to dig better, or make its home tougher.

... overall though, some objects in creature inventories are pretty hard to explain...

[ghastley]

Whenever needed, there is always the magical “bag of holding”, the small pouch that contains as much as you want to put in it. Once inside, everything becomes weightless, of course.

What never makes sense is why your character empties the bag, but doesn’t take the bag itself. Too dumb?

Acadian and I have both described our characters using them. At one point, I had Brelyna pull a five-foot staff out of a ten-inch square satchel, and then reach her whole arm in to rummage around the bottom.

[Acadian]

I'm enjoying the personality that Twinkle is displaying. I didn't realize Twinkle was a she. She's not much good in a fight but lighting the way is pretty important I figure.


What ghastley said.
Buffy uses a mage satchel for unlimited storage. It hangs from her hip just like a normal mage pouch basically eliminating the bulk and weight of anything she puts inside. Some quarters refer to them as thieves bags and they work similarly to a bag of holding. She has tried and appreciates a summonable chest though and I'm sure the Jandaga will find it most helpful.

This post has been edited by Acadian: Aug 15 2022, 08:26 PM

[Lena Wolf]

At one point, I had Brelyna pull a five-foot staff out of a ten-inch square satchel, and then reach her whole arm in to rummage around the bottom.

Oh but that's classic! Even Mary Poppins did that!

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Aug 15 2022, 08:27 PM

[macole]

Renee
Rainbows are a nice touch. Shooting stars in the night sky are pretty neat also but they happen so quickly it s near impossible to get a picture.

The version of Unique Landscapes that I use is over 4-years old and for the most part only touches the landscape. I think it does a good job of making the mountains more mountainous, the forest more wooded, and the jungle and wetlands more dense and swampy.
Chorrol Hinterlands and Skingrad Outskirts adds houses and farms outside the city walls. Chorrol Hinterlands is really nice while Skingrad Outskirts looks good it is terribly laggy. A look at the latest UL version shows the UL team adding more houses and other features outside Anvil. That may take some getting used to and a newer graphcs card to run it. I don’t use the Unique Landscapes Compilation. I only picked those that i thought would be most compatible and least system taxing (Made a mistake with Slingrad Outskirts);
FallenleafEverglade.esp
ColovianHighlands_EV.esp
BeachesOfCyrodiilLostCoast.esp
AncientYews.esp
PantherRiver.esp
RiverEthe.esp
BrenaRiverRavine.esp
ImperialIsle.esp
CheydinhalFalls.esp
SkingradOutskirts.esp
CliffsOfAnvil.esp
SilverfishRiverValley.esp
ChorrolHinterland-BC6.esp

Yes the Jandaga is adventuring alone with only Twinkle to light the way while the ladies recover from illness. It kind of plays on returning from my vacation. Everyone except me came back with COVID and had to quarantine.

"Practicing Spells" who are they trying to kid? I have no idea what goes on after I power down the PC.
Lumber up, limbo down
The locked embrace, stumble round
I say go, she say yes
Dim the lights, you can guess the rest

Lena Wolf & Renee
Snu’s Dungeons can be overkill. I will also say that after playing Oblivion for a couple of years after its release I put it up while I played Skyrim (9-months the least amount of time I’ve ever spent in one TES game), Arena, Daggerfall and Morrowind. By the time I came back to Oblivion I had forgotten what it looked like. All I remembered was saving rats in Anvil.

ghastley
I haven’t had that problem, my companion Kaleah carries everything we pickup between city stops. She is going be one happy camper now that we have the Midas Chest. On the minus side sshe will miss the Jandaga rummaging through her pockets for stuff.

Acadian
Is Twinkle the ignis fatuus (giddy flame) male, female, or nutral? Don’t really know. Twinkle likes the sound ‘she’. It sounds a lot like ‘sidhe’ and it leaves Twinkle feeling much more appreciated than being called an ‘it’. I think she has something like a 1-point or les shock attack,

[Renee]

I do have shooting stars in my Cyrodiil. They do move really fast, but they happen often enough at night that we're able to see a half-dozen or so if we spend enough time outside at night. They actually fly not very high up in the atmosphere. One of my characters had a witch's broom which she could fly on, and one time she flew high enough that she saw a meteor fly under her!

Thank you for the UL list. Yes, they really did a great job, the UL team.

Ohhhh, they are still ill. Damn.

"Practicing Spells" who are they trying to kid? I have no idea what goes on after I power down the PC.

Ha ha exactly!

This post has been edited by Renee: Aug 17 2022, 01:20 PM

[Acadian]

Oh I know what happens after I power down the PC as far as Buffy goes. When in game, I travel inside her head. When outside game, she travels inside my head. We are quite literally never apart. I guess that is a good thing.

[macole]

Acadian: I understand what you are saying and i agree it is a good thing.

20220821 Ayleid Steps, Kvatch Rebuilt

Magnus had risen and was shining brightly over the grapes of Shadowcrest Vineyard by the time I awoke got up the next morning. It wasn’t the light shining through the window that woke me. It was a strange dream.

Ayleid Steps were swirling around me. Darting in, as if they were going to hit me, and out of reach, as I tried to catch them. Now and then strange places would appear only to quickly vanish. Then a ghostly person appeared urging me to investigate clues hidden in some book. I got the impression that the ghost had lost something important. The dream ended and I woke up before I learned what I should be looking for..

At first I thought it was the incense that Fiona was burning that had caused the dream. It’s happened before.

Discussing the dream with Fiona during breakfast I came to realize that the dream had something to do with the Alyeid steps. There is a book titled Ayleid Steps that I carry with me. I should take some time to study it.

If I remember correctly we also found the journal of Ervvin Austel. In the journal he described his finding and using the Ayleid step system until his untimely death, trapped in a room when the step system failed. Unfortunately I have this bad feeling that I sold Ervvin Austel’s journal as I can’t find it anywhere. Hopefully the book Ayleid Steps will be sufficient.

Fiona said she’ll see what she could do and began drawing symbols on the table. Then right in the middle of one symbol she popped up saying, “Oh, Nearly forgot!”

“For the trip,” Fiona instructed. Shoving a small sack in my hands she plants a kiss on my mouth and then quickly ushered me out the door.

Caught by surprise, I stood outside the door of Shadowcrest Manor wondering, “What just happened?”

With a giggle Fiona said, “My Jandaga had better get going or he’ll be late ghostly rendezvous.”

Now how did she know that?

So that’s that. As I left Shadowcrest Vineyard I opened the sack Fiona had given me. The smell of Fiona’s savory biscuits warmly greeted me. Unable to resist I took one out and ate it…

Sun turnin' 'round with graceful motion
We're setting off with soft explosion
Bound for a star with fiery oceans
It's so very lonely, you're a hundred light years from home.

Don’t remember much of the journey other than I ran tirelessly the whole way to Anvil while overhead Mangus, chased Masser and Secunda around the sky with a fiery whip.

Sundas morning was such a pleasant sunny day I thought I’d take the Mystical Unicorn (Cute Elves mod) for a walk. Mysty followed along so well that I thought we’d walk over to the lighthouse. Mysty must have thought that would be too much like work and refused to go through Anvil’s gates. I sent Mysty home and continued on alone to the lighthouse.

Arriving at the lighthouse I began to have doubts on finding the ghost of Belwen. Am I too early or late? Where would she be? There she is. I should have known she’d be hiding in a flower bush; I nearly walked right past her.

The ghost of Belwen explained happened on the day she died. The accident was not entirely Godras' fault although Godras has placed all the blame squarely on his shoulders. He may have bumped into her but a sudden gust of wind is what caused her to lose her balance and fall.

Belwen loves Godras and does not blame him for what happened. She had hoped that Godras would come to talk to her so she could tell him so. She knows that Godras blames himself for her death. The ghost of Belwen gave me her wedding day gift from Godras, a pendant. She wants Godras to have the pendant as a sign that she will always be with him. The ghost of Belwen vanished, leaving me to return to Sapling Manor.

Godras was still sitting in his chair when I returned to Sapling Manor. After hearing what the ghost of Belwen had told me, Godras began to remember things clearly. Clasping the pendant close, Godras felt the comfort of Belwen’s love.

Godras accepted the Kvatch contract, saying he feels it will be his finest work. He immediately left for Kvatch.