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

[Renee]

Exactly, Acadian... Gunter also never touched werewolf-ism again. It's forced upon the character, but I managed to RP that it was required for initiation only.

SubRosa: Whoa that is bizarre.

[Grits]

Acadian, congrats to Buffy the Small, the littlest Companion! The mental image of a little werefox is adorable. What a very Buffy take on the Companions questline.

SubRosa, I had no idea those book quests would give you a marker, much less one pointing to your own bookshelf! That’s hilarious. I think Jerric has a quest for Last Scabbard of Akrash in his journal. I wonder if it’s already shelved in one of Darnand’s libraries.

Jerric and Darnand have been in the Reach kicking tail and knocking off heads. Jerric finally found a weapon with the Absorb Magicka enchantment on it, so he disenchanted it and put it on the mundane Skyrim version of Atronach’s Redeemer. It’s a very weak enchantment with kind of an annoying effect. The blade looks cool but when he stabs someone they both turn blue. Oh well, I’m sure he has another one of those blades stashed in a chest somewhere.

Jerric joined the Bard’s College (so he could chat up the generally aloof bard women, I’m not kidding), and while he’s been told he can really bang the drums that seems to be his only bard talent. That and gathering up the lost artifacts that belong to various non-adventurer fellow bards. He and Viarmo finished up King Olaf’s Verse in a way that made Viarmo laugh and I had never heard before. So maybe there’s hope for him yet.

Here’s a shot of Jerric displaying his bardic smoothness while flirting with the ladies. He did not even see that hole until he was standing in it! To his credit, at least he is wearing a clean shirt.

[SubRosa]

Jerric is now a rock star!

[ghastley]

Jerric is now a rock star!

Fortunately all females in Skyrim are either 11 years old, or 21+. The screaming fan phase is explicitly excluded.

[Acadian]

Jerric the big bard! Well, it makes sense - that'd be where the ladies and mead can be found. And the drum is such a natural choice for Jerric.

I'll confess that Buffy does indulge me - when we're at the Winking Skeever, we can just sit and listen to Lisette sing for the whole evening.

[Lopov]

@Grits

Jerric joined the Bard’s College (so he could chat up the generally aloof bard women, I’m not kidding), and while he’s been told he can really bang the drums that seems to be his only bard talent. That and gathering up the lost artifacts that belong to various non-adventurer fellow bards. He and Viarmo finished up King Olaf’s Verse in a way that made Viarmo laugh and I had never heard before. So maybe there’s hope for him yet

In case you don't know about it yet, there's a mod which allows you to use instruments. Might suit Jerric as he tries to impress women.

@Acadian
Is that dog on the screenshot with Buffy?

[Acadian]

... @Acadian
Is that dog on the screenshot with Buffy?

Yes! It's actually a silver gray fox named Kitsune. The fox is one of several wood elf animal totem spirits that sometimes travels with Buffy.

[SubRosa]

Today Persephone finished off the Aetherium questline, forging herself a mighty crown of aetherium. Unless I find a mod that changes it appearance she won't wear it though. It is too big and gaudy. So it will probably end up in a drawer at Helajarchen Hall. Maybe the kids could play with it.

Persephone also had an unusual encounter in the Reach along the way. She came upon a patrol of Imperials slugging it out with one of Stormcloaks. The first to fall was from neither side however, but rather an Orc Hunter in iron armor. I am not sure how he got into the fray, or even which side killed him. The Stormcloaks won it hands down, and afterward as they walked off I noticed a cluster of four more people standing nearby and watching. Turns out it was Forsworn, who did nothing when Persephone rode over, or when the Stormcloaks walked by. I guess that battle showed them not to mess with the Stormcloaks, and perhaps word has spread that no one who tangles with Persephone lives to tell the tale.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Nov 5 2014, 02:49 AM

[Acadian]

I loved the Aetherium questline! It was a wonderfully satisfying and lengthy endeavor. Buffy loved Katria and saying goodbye to her at the end was bittersweet indeed. I agree about the crown - although kind of neat looking, it is just too big and gaudy. So. . . it now sits proudly on the brow of Mjoll the Lioness where it looks perfect.

Wow, that was quite the mixup that P-10 witnessed of Imps, Stormies, orc bandits and even Forsworn. No wonder the Forsworn stayed out of it - they were probably confused.

[Lopov]

I fairly often encountered friendly Forsworn with my former character Corcaigh. At first only one group was friendly, the one which you encounter if traveling from Whiterun to Markarth, close to a dead Khajiit merchant and an overturned carriage. Eventually more and more Forsworn were friendly but only those outside, those inside still attacked on sight. Later I read about it at Beth and it's supposed to be a glitch. It didn't bother me because Corcaigh was a Breton so it made sense that Forsworn left him alone.

[SubRosa]

Persephone has been exploring the Reach since finishing up the Aetherium questline. Last night she came upon that same group of Forsworn who had been friendly before. This time they attacked, along with a second band of Forsworn. Apparently they did not know that 8 Forsworn vs. Persephone & Darryl was not nearly enough guys!

[ghastley]

Getting back to the topic of the Bards' College. My archer, Spike, found Finn's Lute, before even going to Solitude, and she doesn't want to become a bard. Guess who's the only member who never leaves the College building? It's a good thing that quest items don't add to encumbrance. She's just got enough levels in Conjuration to be able to cast a Bound Bow and still have magicka left for her armour, so she's able to run around without anything hanging on her back.

Drelka, on the other hand, is trying to kill Harkon without using Auriel's Bow. She's probably too specialised a build, pure mage, using only her health draining spell, and she keeps running out of magicka too soon. She can out-drain the vampire lord, but she's very vulnerable when her ebonyflesh expires, if she can't recast it right away. I may have to reload a bit earlier, and collect some more potions to take to the party!

[SubRosa]

Persephone knocked off The Reach a few nights ago, finishing up by exploring Nchuand Zel (where she slugged it out with Mini Me), and wiping out the Namira cannibal cult. With the Reach now safe until things respawn, she headed east, and began wandering the forests of western Falkreath hold. She cleaned out the entire place, up until Cracked Tusk Keep, which she is leaving for later. She turned east and north again after that, and is now standing just inside Ilinalta's Deep, on a mission from Azura.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Nov 12 2014, 04:08 AM

[Acadian]

SubRosa, I love those Calcemo quests under Markarth - what a cool dungeon Nchuand Zel is. A baby falmer! Wow, it looks as ugly as the grown up ones. Especially standing near the lovely undead beauty that is P-10.

Azura's quest is a nice one. I imagine P-10 will have no use for the Star. Buffy's perked out mystic bow can fill it just fine. . . but the irony is that the bow does not require charging. So the Star is really just a pretty decoration.

[Lopov]

Are those small Falmers vanilla or from a mod?

Glad she put an end to the Namira's Cult!

[SubRosa]

The mini Falmers are pure vanilla. There were several of them in Nchuand-Zel. I am sure they were some sort of glitch, where their scale somehow got set really low. Because other than their size, they were exactly the same as any other Falmer, including the names I saw on the hud when I moused over them.

[ghastley]

I took Clarisse to Solitude to check out the ships. She's building Lakeview, but it just makes her want a ship to live in as well.

Redwave has an essential crew-member, so taking it over would be problematic.

The Dainty Sload doesn't have that issue, but it's full of junk (and now dead corsairs, too). Clarisse has a better stock of scimitars, now, so it wasn't a complete waste of time.

I may have to add another ship somewhere in the area for her, thinking maybe she'll build Windstad and anchor a ship nearby.

[SubRosa]

I did it! I beat the game! All Your Base Are Belong To Us!

Which is to say, Persephone has just completely explored all of mainland Skyrim, discovering every location, and clearing every dungeon that can be cleared (and that she wanted to, she doesn't go around killing animals).

Of course there are a few places she never did, because they are only created by quests that Persephone doesn't want to do, like how the DB questline takes you to the Emperor's ship. I also noticed that Japhet's Folly disappeared from her world map, even though she has done the East Empire quest. I think that might be intentional though, as from what I read on the UESP, going there after finishing the quest can leave you trapped there.

That only leaves Solstheim left. I left her standing on the deck of the Northern Maiden in Windhelm's harbor, ready to travel north for more adventures. Tbh, though, I am thinking of stopping here, and starting Persephone 2.0 instead.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Nov 14 2014, 09:58 PM

[Acadian]

'Grats to you for P-10wning the game with yer toon!

If you haven't seen Solstheim yet, you should maybe go there and wander around some before starting anew.

Speaking of which, I have found starting anew to be a pleasure in Skyrim. I think that is because the chargen menu is so easy to work with. It's easy to remake Buffy and have her look the same. I think Buffy's on about her fifth playthrough. Most of them were only 50 hours or so and used to learn how to refine things. I think her last one was a couple hundred hours and her current playthrough is well over 500 hours.

I think Buffy's discovered all locations and cleared all the ones that we want to clear. Our fast respawn mod and fun/creative use of radiant quests ensure plenty of continuing fun. Buffy usually has a bounty quest for some Jarl going, a couple College 'fetch some book' quests and a Companions quest ongoing. Her faves are the Companions hostage rescue quests.

[Lopov]

How long did it take you to explore every possible location? I don't expect a detailed answer in years, months, days and hours but just in general?

--

There was something about her eyes, something that Lucius found sinister on one hand yet charming on the other hand. When he was talking to her, it felt like nothing else matters except her but as soon as he made a few steps away from her, he found her odd and scary, even repulsive. Nonetheless, the pay was too good for mere wood chopping so he intended to stay at the Half-Moon mill for a while to earn much needed gold.

Hert, the lady in charge of the mill was of course not an ordinary human. She was a vampire and like many of her kin, she was a very good seductress and hypnotist, capable of playing with minds of those around her. She was still young and her powers haven't yet fully developed, so her powers were limited only to her close vicinity. Seasoned travelers might see through her scheme but Lucius hasn't slain many vampires in his life, not to mention that because of recent stressful events he was more susceptible to Hert's magic.

She could have easily fed on him while he was sleeping like a baby in her shack yet she decided not do it. Not only because this would anger Hern, her husband, currently on a hunt in the Reach, but also because she sensed something unexplainable when controlling his mind. To Hert it felt like there were some hidden powers inside him, powers that set him apart from ordinary men and mer.

Although Lucius intended to stay at the mill for more than just one day, he changed his mind the next morning. When Hert was not close to him, he could think for himself again, and something just didn't feel right at that mill. He found what looked like a pile of human bones in a shack close to mill yesterday, yet when he tried to ask Hert about it, he just couldn't do it, instead he picked up an axe and continued chopping wood.

So this morning he waved at Hert's from a safe distance, thanking her for honest payment.

"Do stay for a while," she said with a soft voice,"there is much more wood to be chopped. And I'm all alone out here..."

Lucius almost agreed but he forced himself to think about that pile of bones.

"No, no...I'm leaving. Someone other will come by sooner or later. Goodbye!"

He waved at her once again then hastily left the mill.

...

Just like Keiko the Khajiit, Lucius didn't have any real purpose in Skyrim. At least not yet. He didn't think much about it before when he was still a soldier in the Emperor's Army, but now he really appreciated some freedom. He turned off the main path a little farther west from the Half-Moon Mill and continued by Lake Ilinalta. He came upon a sunken fort and despite reading a fisherman's journal, warning any readers to stay away from the cursed fort, he pushed on.

It turned out that Ilinalta's Deep wasn't much different from forts in Cyrodiil. It was infested by necromancers, probably preying on unsuspecting travelers or fishermen, capturing them and experimenting with their minds and bodies. Although he wasn't a member of the Legion anymore, Lucius still felt like on an official assignment. He didn't have any qualms about "killing" skeletons with a bow from shadows, but he switched to his sword when battling necromancers. It just didn't feel right to him to attack any human (or beast) enemies while undetected - he never operated as such in the Legion and he didn't intend to change his habits now.

It was late when he was done clearing Ilinalta's Deep of its evil denizens and he decided to rest in this wet and damp place. Fortunately, he found some warm fur armor in an ash pile, probably belonging to some unfortunate victim of the necromancers. He also found a new hunting bow, more arrows and some proper, freshly baked food. After filling himself up, Lucius went to sleep.