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

[Renee]

Bravo! *claps* Yes, I've also returned to a character (Mycharonna the Ice Witch) who I haven't seen since June of last 2013, I know the feeling. I've been in that Helgen situation too. I think it has something do with the way the Tutorial is programmed. We're not supposed to be able to wait or sleep there because at the beginning of the game, this would be counterintuitive if a dragon's outside attacking.

[SubRosa]

Yes, Helgen is set to disallow sleeping (and I think waiting too). It is something you can do to any cell. I had to change that when I made my Helgen mod for my homemade Alternate Start without the main quest.

[Vital]

It's a nice feeling returning to a character you haven't played in a while, particularly when they just stopped in the wilderness or the middle of a journey. It can take a bit to get into them, but finding your bearings again is almost like the beginning of a new game.

I had another good session with Ravos recently. He traveled to Dawnstar after leaving Blackreach and headed south to whiterun. On the way he passed the Weynon stones, which for no particular reason, I really like. Maybe it's that they're so mysterious. After a night in Whiterun he decided that hanging around with an elder scroll was unwise, so he set out for Ivarstead via Eastmarch. Somewhere along the road, after a riverside lunch shared with his yet to be named horse, Ravos came across a dinner mage and three iron-clad figures. Turns out it was Taron Dreth, a dwemer scholar who has worked with Katria from the Lost to the ages quest. A fight followed and Ravos left the scene with a new pair of robes.

Continuing his journey, Ravos came to dark water crossing late in the afternoon. His plans to snatch an early night were ruined by the sight of a dragon over the volcanic tundra. After dispatching of the dragon, the locals residents of dark water crossing were reasonably friendly. He spent the night by the campfire, sharing rumors and stories with the townsfolk.

He rose early in the morning and set out for Ivarstead. On the way he passed Sarethi farm, home of an alchemist who knew Sinderion well. He gave her news of his demise and delivered the samples of crimson Nirnroot. In return she gave him a copy of the Nirnroot missive and he also received an alchemy blessing.

He's now in the Ivarstead tavern. Enjoying a nice meal and a few pints before the treacherous climb ahead.

[Grits]

That explains why I couldn’t sleep in Helgen even while rebuilding it. Hmm.


Jerric, Darnand, Lildereth, and Abiene are wrapping up their affairs in Skyrim in preparation for the trip home to Cyrodiil. Valdi is staying. I expect it will take a while to get everyone back to the house and ready to go. Most of them are out somewhere with bags of junk to sell and at least one urgent matter in the Quest Log.

Lildereth and crew made their way to Mount Kilkreath by way of Winterhold to pick up Valdi, then Dawnstar to meet Kharjo, and then Lost Knife Hideout to recover a stolen amulet. They found Kharjo still in Dawnstar and spent the night.

There were two giants and a mammoth fighting some bandits in the pass to Winterhold. Lildereth handled the situation in a way none of my others characters have attempted. It was an easy sneak up the rocks. Then Jerric happened.

There’s apparently a ghost in the pass (added by a mod) that you can see at the bottom of the picture. Jerric is running up to fight it unnoticed by me as I was moving the camera. Lil’s clue that this was happening was that while I was taking the picture she heard Jerric say, “You’re making me angry!”

Then this happened about a second later. By the time I got the camera back Jerric flew into the side of the cliff and fell back down to the path. The giants can move pretty fast on those legs. They were back on him in about three strides. Lil saw healing spells while she shot at the giants.

Much later in the ruin after she ditched the creepy rock Lildereth paralyzed Malkoran with a poisoned arrow and then danced back and forth in the doorway shooting between her allies and dodging Malkoran’s Ice Storms after he got back up. It was over very quickly even though most of the gang went down during the ten second fight and she had to take on Malkoran’s Shade by herself. Lil has no magic resistance and a negligible AR, so it was important that she not get hit at all. She came through without a scratch.

On the way home to Lakeside they swung through Rorikstead and picked up Valdi’s crush Erik the Slayer. By the time they reached the manor it was pitch black (mod) with no moons up. Lil was leading the parade of NPCs Jerric and Valdi, Erik, Kharjo, King Coin’s Aravi , and a horse. Darnand was home and still fooling around outside. He stays up late.

Then bandits attacked. There was no point in Lil trying to shoot or take a screenshot because all we could see in the dark were frost, sun, and fire spells and the pale-colored horse trampling everyone. Abiene came outside and summoned something and then started firing shock spells. I nearly fell over because she is not supposed to do any of that. I finally got a glimpse and she was using staves! What the hells! She’s a merchant, maybe they’re from her inventory chest? It was very strange. Anyway, those bandits picked the WRONG house to rob!

[Renee]

Gritsy: Sounds like the gang's been quite busy. Yes, giants can move surprisingly fast, good thing most of them are peaceful. Laughed out loud at Jerric fighting the ghost, and also Abiene using staves. Yeah it is kind of a shocker when they pick up any sort of weapon which is out-of-character, so to speak.

A fight followed and Ravos left the scene with a new pair of robes.

I love this!

[Grits]

Jerric is preparing the gang for their migration back to Cyrodiil. He has a few items he needs to deliver around the province first, plus Froki has him challenging animal spirits to test his Nordliness. But the most important errand is the great horse roundup. We realized that he only has Banner at the house. He needs to collect Flash, Kip, Rose, and Tage (Valdi’s horse).

Of course he went to Markarth and got Flash first. Now Jerric, Darnand, and the beloved paint are walking through the rain to Solitude.

[Grits]

Jerric and Darnand stopped by the College of Winterhold on their way to Windhelm. Jerric wanted to get the Expert and Master level Open spells from Tolfdir. The only problem was that when they arrived at the College he remembered that Tolfdir was waiting for him outside a nearby ruin along with some college students. So he and Darnand parked the horses and walked over the ice to Saarthal for a quick rummage through the ancient Nord stuff.

When they got there Jerric had a chat with Tolfdir before they went inside. It was revealed that Jerric already had those spells, he just couldn’t use them yet. HE knew this, but I had forgotten. Cue smug Nord who is supposed to be packing his stuff for a road trip but instead gets to explore a tomb and put some undead kinsmen to rest.

After the fun they spent the night at the College. Jerric shamelessly looted the shelves for alchemy ingredients since he had spent most of their horse money on pastries and sugar in Dragonbridge and the rest of it on Adept Destruction spells when they ran into Faralda. He mixed up a few potions to sell. There was nearly a fight while he was poking through Darnand’s inventory with acquisitive intent. Darnand carries all of the books, and he had accumulated quite a collection. Jerric knew he needed 1,000 Septims to pay for Rose’s boarding at the Windhelm stable and another 1,000 to get Tage in Riften. They agreed that Darnand would hand over all of the empty soul gems to sell, and Jerric would make up the remainder by killing things on the way to Windhelm.

It was mentioned that if Jerric was less inclined to buy everything that he could eat, drink, or explode and not so squeamish about looting his ancestors’ tombs they wouldn’t have money problems. Funnily enough neither of them wanted to sell their supply of Alto wine.

[Acadian]

One of Jerric's many endearing qualities is how he cares for his animals.

Heh, I would have thought that expert and master open spells for Jerric would have meant a big mace and a bigger one.

[Grits]

The Nord’s skeleton key!

It was a lot of fun escorting the herd back to Lakeview. For some reason NPC Darnand can’t ride in Jerric’s game so they walked the whole way. The horses’ aggression is set to “run away,” so after every little dustup on the road Jerric had to whistle to get them to come back. It’s an actual hotkeyed whistle sound and then the horses come running from wherever they stampeded off to. Hilarious.

They even found a Dwemer ruin that I’d never seen before while they were looking for Flash after one fight. Of course they went inside. When they got back out it was dark and raining and a cave bear was attacking the horses. Luckily after that excitement they got camp set up before Darnand froze to death. (Jerric gets cold too but always acts as if he’s stopping to camp for the Breton.)

Then there was discussion about not buying Vigilance the war dog in Markarth. Jerric thinks that Vigilance would do a good job guarding the horses while they poke around underground in dangerous places. Darnand thinks that when they get back to Anvil Vigilance would eat all of their cats.

Here’s a street scene from Riverwood. Kip (the yellow horse) is telling Jerric they took a vote and he should buy more apples.

After they got back to the manor Jerric, Darnand, and Flash headed out on a few last-minute errands. Here they are passing through Helgen in the rain. Now Jerric can summon a guardian sabre cat thanks to SubRosa’s wonderful Nature Summoning mod. He wonders if it will still come to his aid when he’s in Cyrodiil.

[SubRosa]

My that is a herd! They have more horses than Genghis Khan!

I think Darnand will find that the sabre cat turns into a mountain lion once he gets to Cyrodiil...

[Acadian]

Grits, I love that horses are becoming even a bigger part of Jerric's world in Skyrim than in Cyrodiil. And, of course, I love the screens of those wonderful Skyrim heavy horses. I can imagine they probably rival Jerric when it comes to an appetite!

Leave it to SubRosa to work her wonderful witchcraft in both games regarding summoning furries. I'm sure if Jerric brings his summon sabrecat spell to Morcant (east {Edit: oops, west} of Cheydinhal), she'll fix him right up with its Cyrodiil equivalent of teeth and claws with fur.

This post has been edited by Acadian: Mar 13 2014, 12:19 PM

[PhonAntiPhon]

Your humble narrator is having to run to catch up currently.

Eilidh is actually deep in Bleakfalls, she got the claw alright but there's more in there to find. These draugr-filled tombs don't phase her any, back when she was a mercenary she and her outfit would regularly hide in them...

Narratively she's still in Helgen, about to meet Ralof - (or is it the other way round?) - but more on that story elsewhere...

This post has been edited by PhonAntiPhon: Mar 13 2014, 03:22 PM

[Grits]

The Jerric gang has headed home to Cyrodiil for the summer. The Gold Coast surf beckons. Here they’re taking a break before crossing the border.

It was a quiet moment of reflection and fond farewell. To Jerric’s beard. Of all things Skyrim I think we’ll miss that the most!

A visit to Morcant is definitely in the plan, as is a look through Oblivion horse mods. Jerric loved traveling safely with Flash in Skyrim. And not just because he carried the tent.

[Grits]

Neph got caught being naughty in Markarth and had to do some time in the mine. (As usual she ran but when the forced conversation starts we play that means she couldn’t get away, ignoring the ‘fight/run away’ option.) She started off very annoyed that the guards took her wig, but she soon got over it. Much to my surprise she had a decent time in prison. She hit it off right away with the incarcerated thugs. Especially Borkul the Beast.

[PhonAntiPhon]

Game-wise Eilidh is back in Whiterun, where she hung around a fair bit back in the day.
She has a few friends and contacts there, which is handy because she needs to find 1000 gold and fast, if she's to get what she needs from the broker in Solitude - (so she's been told by an old acquaintance in Riverwood) - thankfully that means the trip to Markarth is postponed.
She hates Markarth - got beaten up there once.

Upon arrival she's gratified to note that the old Bosmer prejudices are still, even after 5 years, very much alive and that humans really do hold grudges almost as badly as she does.
I mean sure; violence, drunken assault, and prostitution could be considered unwelcome behaviour but it was a while ago and it's not as if she slept with - oh wait, yeah ok it was but it wasn't like she forced anyone, and it was strictly business - a means to an end.

Still she was a decent bodyguard and she got the job done if asked - (and paid) - and if she was sober enough, so that's still worth something thankfully, now she just needs the money, and a drink.
Make that several.

-X-

The Fanfic is still currently in Helgen, with Ralof, who's about to discover that one shouldn't judge a book by it's cover.
Or even the first chapter.

-X-

[Elisabeth Hollow]

Kayla is gathering materials for her Falkreath house, and she's really surprised at how quickly her savings has depleted because of iron ore!!

[PhonAntiPhon]

Next installment: fanfic thread

[PhonAntiPhon]

Eilidh is now in the inn in Solitude.

She had to come in the back way in the end owing to the guards and Tullius' decree. Fortunately she was not spotted outright. Having broken into a house and 'gained' some civilian clothing and some extra cash she was then able to make her way out in the open.
It's a passable disguise covering the majority of her tattoos, and the hat hides her ears. Folk still know she's an elf though but height aside they all look the same, don't they?

This post has been edited by PhonAntiPhon: Mar 22 2014, 08:57 AM

[PhonAntiPhon]

She spotted Jaree-Ra hanging around by the steps up to the castle.
That was a good thing, they were old mates him and her, went way back.

Turned out he had got some work on and yes she could come in on it.
Nice.

This post has been edited by PhonAntiPhon: Mar 22 2014, 09:14 AM

[Elisabeth Hollow]

Ushak gra-shub is my new character. She's sort of no-nonsense. She found a Nord woman walking the road, who said something nasty to her. Immediately, she turns around and goes "Excuse me?"

She's now wearing the woman's armor and weapon. She looks good in heavy armor.

This post has been edited by Elisabeth Hollow: Mar 22 2014, 04:00 PM