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

[Acadian]

Oh, Valdi. . . you got it bad. . . .

Yes, I wish her the best with Erik the HoePusher.

[Lopov]

I hope the delays at Dawnstar and huntin' Vokun for Anska don't let someone else beat Lydia (and her Thane) to Jurgie's Blowhorn.

That's exactly what happened. How did you know this?

Erik did not seem to notice her advances. (He ignored her Amulet of Mara.) Perhaps it was the Falmer, or the stone beds, or the Dwarven constructs, or Valdi’s complete failure at building a fire so that they didn’t get uncomfortably cold, or maybe it was the chaurus poison that soaked both of their clothing, or possibly the number of times she accidentally shot him (a lot), or maybe he’s just not into her. Whatever the cause was Erik was not in the mood.

Love this paragraph!
--
The horn of Jurgen Windcaller was taken from its owner’s resting place before us by the innkeeper of the Sleeping Giant Inn in Riverwood. Delphine, that’s her name, wanted to talk to my Thane alone but my Thane didn’t allow it and made me joyful by saying that “my housecarl is always at my side”. Delphine had no choice so we had a short conversation about dragons returning. Whether it was because of my presence or not, Delphine didn’t reveal her motives for her interest in my Thane, instead insisted to go with her to Kynesgrove where my Thane is supposed to “prove”? to her that he is indeed the Dragonborn. My Thane agreed and Delphine wanted to depart immediately but my Thane told her that we will meet her in Kynesgrove in a day. She didn’t like his decision but I certainly did, we walked a long way this day and we needed rest.
The following morning, that is today, we rented a carriage passing through Riverwood, and now we’re traveling to Windhelm from where we’ll continue to Kynesgrove. The carriage rider wanted to chat with us but my Thane is quiet today, no doubt absorbed in his thoughts about the mysterious events that happen to him - to us.

Lydia, on a carriage,

2nd of Frostfall 4€201

[Renee]

So as this carriage is travelling, it travels in real time, right? Do all the random assaults (Thalmor, vampires, etc.) still happen?

[Lopov]

It travels in real time but assaults don't happen, they're disabled while you're traveling because you don't have control over your character while sitting on a carriage.

[Acadian]

Lopov - Nice update from Lydia. Glad her Thane insisted that she be brought in to Delphine's scheming. The carriage mod sounds very nice. I should imagine it to be very handy for horseless adventurers - but free of the headaches of owning and maintaining a horse. Mara knows how much Buffy's world revolves around her horse!

*

Buffy looked into rumors of someone restarting a gang of vampire hunters at the old Fort Dawnguard. Well, turns out to be true and, for quite some time to come it seems, Buffy now has her very own pet vampire called Serana. During most of the Dawnguard questline, the player is unable to free themselves of Serana via wait/dismiss so it is a notable commitment for the little elf who generally prefers only four legged companions who can be instantly summoned and unsummoned.

Serana is a good sneaker, but absolutely no follower can really keep up with Buffy's favored stealthy dungeon tactics revolving largely around using illusion spells to start fights then fading away. The constant in/out of combat is too much for any follower AI to keep up with, so they typically commit into the fray - forcing Buffy to reveal herself as well to keep the follower alive. Oh well. Simple sniping works well also and Serana does provide some nice back up when Buffy starts sniping into a crowd.

And thanks to Convenient Horses, Serana rides a fire (not blue) version of an Arvak-like summonable horse and wields a flaming blade from the saddle. Very neat!

[Lopov]

Good to read about Buffy traveling in a company for a change, even if it means undead. I hope we see some screenies or girls and their horses.

About the carriage mod...yes, it's a nice addition for someone like Lucius who doesn't own a horse. He still prefers to travel by foot and only uses carriages when it's important to get somewhere fast. The good thing about the mod is that you can talk to a carriage driver anytime and:

-change destination but it has to be a nearby town/village,
-exit a carriage anywhere,
-ask a driver to hurry so he travels even faster

[Renee]

OH wow, we can ask the carriage driver to move faster? Neat! I'm getting that mod for sure. nom nom..

Buffy looked into rumors of someone restarting a gang of vampire hunters at the old Fort Dawnguard. Well, turns out to be true and, for quite some time to come it seems, Buffy now has her very own pet vampire called Serana. During most of the Dawnguard questline, the player is unable to free themselves of Serana via wait/dismiss so it is a notable commitment for the little elf who generally prefers only four legged companions who can be instantly summoned and unsummoned.

Ha ha I remember this! Yeah I can see Buffy getting frustrated by having such a loquacious vampire around, given Buffy's past exploits against vamps. I had to RP that bit heavily with Lord Haaf-Mersey, because he was NOT wanting to have Serana join him, no matter how civilized she seemed.

But over time, he softened to her. At first she had to hypnotize him (to get out of Dimhollow, for instance), but after awhile she explained her side of things. She said: "Hey you spend all this time ridding the world of baddies, and it's okay for you to raid a bandit camp, so why is it not okay for me to feed from bandits?" That's how I RP'd it anyway--she never fed from ordinary citizens, only outlaws. *shrugs*

Another RP bit is my crusader really wanted to rid the world of Skyrim from vampires and vampire attacks, so what better person to consult from than an actual vampire?

This post has been edited by Renee Gade IV: Dec 6 2014, 08:30 PM

[SubRosa]

Actually Serana never drinks blood at all. Ever.

It's not like she's a vampire or anything... (yes, this is me rolling my eyes at Bethesda )

[Lopov]

Luckily mods? fix this too.

[Renee]

Oooh, NPC Vamps can feed? Nice!

It's not like she's a vampire or anything...

I also blame the new vampire culture that's going on in the media for this. Twilight especially.

This post has been edited by Renee Gade IV: Dec 7 2014, 12:28 AM

[SubRosa]

I also blame the new vampire culture that's going on in the media for this. Twilight especially.

No arguments with that. I recently watched the Underworld movies again, and like Serana, the lead character Selene never feeds off humans. The same is true of almost every other vamp in the films too. We do see the big bad guy Viktor killing a family in a flashback, and at first we are told that it was because he could not help but to gorge himself. But later we find that he killed them because they knew too much, and had to silenced. Other than that, we don't see vampires ever killing people. At least not until the final movie, where humans have found out about vampires and have started a new Inquisition to hunt down and kill them all. So there it is just self-defense.

What I realized about the Underworld franchise is that they are not horror movies. They are super-hero movies. Vampires and werewolves are how they explain people having superhuman powers. All that stuff about having to kill people to survive is just excess baggage when all you really care about is seeing super-powered heroes and villains slugging it out.

I have studiously avoided the teen soft-core vampire porn like Twilight and True Blood. But I imagine that they have much the same reasons. They want ham-fisted 'romance', and it is probably difficult to make young girls sigh over mass murderers who butcher people like cattle.

In the case of Serana specifically though, I think the problem is that Bethesda made the DG questline so you could play as either side, and it forced Serana on you either way. So she has to appeal to the Mr. Goody Two-Shoes like Lord HM, and to the Doctor Evil types. But how do you shoe-horn someone into both categories? The first time I tried playing the DG questline it was with Revansch, who was back from the grave for vengeance after she and her wife were tortured and murdered by vampires. Yes, I know James O'Barr is suing me for stealing the plot to the Crow... Once she met Serana, there was just no way she could let her live. Serana is a vampire, and Revansch's only purpose for existing was to kill vampires. I literally had to stop playing the character.

So because Serana is forced upon you, joining the Dawnguard really does not work if you are a hard-core vampire hunter. Quite the irony. But I found that it works just fine with other characters who are not dyed in the wool with hatred of vamps. For example, Serana was a wonderful companion for Persephone, who is undead herself. In fact, Serana is the nearest thing to a friend that Persephone has outside of her summoned Draugr Darryl. The problem with making friends with the living, is watching them eventually die. Serana and Darryl are eternal, like Persephone is herself.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Dec 7 2014, 01:37 AM

[Grits]

I’m sure that the adults in Valdi’s life would like to shake some sense into her. Luckily for the peace of the household she does her moping in private.

Lopov, I love that Lucius told Delphine that Lydia would stay with him. He doesn’t talk much, but when he does it’s awesome.

Acadian, taking Serana on as a companion is indeed a big commitment! Best wishes to Buffy the pint-sized knight as she helps out the Dawnguard. That flaming horse has been a point of discussion between Valdi and Serana. Valdi recently hit the horse with one of her Sun Fire spells during a roadside vampire attack. Ouch.

SubRosa, I had forgotten or hadn’t realized that’s what ended Revansch’s game. I do remember her very grim origin story, though.

I find it interesting to see how different characters perceive Serana since the game presents her the same way to both sides. My filthy, blood-soaked, vampire-hating werewolf Mikke was considerably softened by her. Valdi is awed by Serana’s age and experience but realizes that she’s being manipulated. Captain Zanimal sees her as a young pup who was locked away before she could learn what it is to be a vampire. And of course Dame Serafíne found her to be at best an annoying necessity in infiltrating the Volkihar, and in Serafíne’s lowest moments Serana was a revolting reminder of what she herself had become.

Oh, Jerric and Lil just picked Kip up at Katla’s Farm, crossed the frozen marsh, and searched an empty tomb. It’s almost as if some adventurers had been there right before them.


Edit: Found the pic I was looking for.

Maybe the Elder Scroll will give her some insight into Erik the Greenthumb's lack of interest?

Or maybe this will?



This post has been edited by Grits: Dec 7 2014, 04:27 PM

[Renee]

SubRosa: yeah, kids these days. I at least have taught my daughter the difference between real vampires and soft-core new-age ones. She'll be able to carry the torch when she's my age, and the world is full of folks going 'ewww, why did ppl usedta think vamps shuld drink blud?' before firing up Elder Scrolls XIV: Crenshaw Blvd. on their Microsoft Hollowdecks.

ES XIV will be so dumbed-down that damage will be a thing of the past. So will stat bars, and even perks. In Elder Scrolls XIV: Crenshaw Blvd., it will be one gigantic Godd Mode. The Elder Scrolls universe we know (all that boring lore and messy, complicated perks) will be a thing of the past. All the players of the future will have to do is step inside their Hollowdeck and wave their arms around. This will safely give them the feeling of euphoria and EradiKation (not death....EradiKation...death is also a word from the past) as they GM all the BBPs (Godd Mode all the Bad Boulevard People) they encounter. Yah, like who needs to go to that uh.... Tamreal place when we can just do some ragin on Crenshaw Blvd? Gamers usedta be such nerds!

Sheesh. Where am I? Oh good. Phew, it's 2014.

Oh, Jerric and Lil just picked Kip up at Katla’s Farm, crossed the frozen marsh, and searched an empty tomb. It’s almost as if some adventurers had been there right before them

Great! I needed an ESV update after seeing into the future. I love it when 'adventures are right before me'. I sometimes purposely save/quit right before entering such a place, just so I have something really cool to look forward to.

Lord Haaf-Mersey is in Volskyyge; he got to that room in which the puzzle with the fox, snake, bear, and wolf appears. and that's as far as he'll get, methinks. I managed to figure this one in the past with my second character (Thor a'Zaene) who got killed long ago by a draugr death lord in this very lair, but last night LHM could not get this done. It's okay. I'm looking forward to my first PC character anyways.

EDIT: and what's going on in that pic, Gritsy, hmm?

This post has been edited by Renee Gade IV: Dec 7 2014, 07:38 PM

[SubRosa]

Grits: I told you Erik preferred sausage to fish! Valdi is not the first woman to be smitten by a hot gay man. It is always what we cannot have, that we want most.

Renee: I am rolling over the fact that you taught your daughter about real vampires! Not something like the birds and the bees, but vampires!

[Grits]

Lol. Sandboxing NPCs provide some of my favorite game moments. Though it looks like Darnand managed to marry The Slayer, that bed became unowned when the family bedroom wing was built. In the picture they are both NPCs who chose to share the bed.

Renee, I’m so tickled that you’re getting your Skyrim PC game set up!!

SubRosa, exactly! And longing for someone who is unobtainable is in a way safe. Valdi does not have a healthy history with men, and she was as worried about what would happen if he liked her as upset that he didn’t. (Like some RL teens that I know.) I think deep down she knows she can’t have him. Also I need to show that picture to Jensa! It would ease her mind about her own Slayer fail!


After an overnight in Whiterun, Jerric and Lildereth went to Riverwood to see about a stolen horn. Jerric had an idea about who “A Friend” might be. Delphine did not fool him with her hood when she tried to play mysterious that day at Dragonsreach, and while Jerric is not a student of architecture he has spent enough time on his back in the Sleeping Giant to know that there is no attic room. When they got there he gave Embry some mead and then asked Lildereth to stay outside with the horses since he had an idea that the day might end in a dungeon.

I should point out that Jerric is not a bully, and while he loves a good fight he does not beat up defenseless people of any race or gender including Breton women. However no one who could make their way through Ustengrav to get that horn could be considered in any way defenseless. So when Delphine admitted that she had been jerking him around and then proposed to jerk him around some more, Jerric gave her a few of the smacks that she had so thoroughly earned.

By the way, Delphine pulled a dagger on him and used healing spells throughout their tussle. Jerric accused her of fighting like a Breton. Here is a picture of Jerric’s expression while he was punching her. I’d say he looks pretty happy. That fine was the best 40 Septims spent ever.

After Jerric patched things up with the Whiterun Guard and Orgnar, he and Lil went on the cold ride to return Jorgen’s horn. To Jorgen. It took some console magic but now that horn is resting on its stand in Ustengrav. Jerric and Lil are camping tonight by the waterfall.

Getting pissed off at Delphine provided the clarity that Jerric needed. Jerric has had the honor of serving two Dragonborn Septims. He is not going to allow that title to casually be granted to him. Not by some paranoid innkeeper, and not by some bunch of Nords no matter how grey their beards. Like his Knight Sisters and Knight Brothers in Cyrodiil and all over Tamriel Jerric will get on with things until the next Dragonborn rises.

(Whew!)

(Also I am relieved that Delphine’s dialog didn’t require too much mental mangling to make it work in Jerric’s early 4th Era world. She just sounded like some kind of nut and didn’t mention the Blades at all.)

[Acadian]

Yay for Jerric unloading on Delphine a bit for screwing around with her silly games!

And a brilliant outcome to Jurgy's horn.

Absent any further console magic, having Delphine's quest perpetually open means dragons will now only spawn (and respawn) on dragon walls - and generally stay close to them. I call that 'Dragons Lite' and find it my preferred solution.

[Lopov]

Lord Haaf-Mersey is in Volskyyge; he got to that room in which the puzzle with the fox, snake, bear, and wolf appears. and that's as far as he'll get, methinks. I managed to figure this one in the past with my second character (Thor a'Zaene) who got killed long ago by a draugr death lord in this very lair, but last night LHM could not get this done.

I remember that this riddle puzzled me in Corcaigh's game. It was the only situation in Skyrim where I was literally stuck. I haven't figured it out but then Corcaigh, furious because he didn't know how to solve the riddle, just started randomly "playing" with the levers and the door somehow opened. Even today, I don't know how to actually solve it, maybe Lucius will stumble upon it some day, then I'll give it some more thought.

@Grits - I love Jerric's "approach" to Delphine, I hoped he punched her good. And I assume he won't continue his Dragonborn career.

@Acadian - I didn't know that dragons don't spawn when Delphine's quest is active, interesting.

This post has been edited by Lopov: Dec 7 2014, 09:22 PM

[SubRosa]

I am sure Jerric is not the first character to introduce their fists to Delphine's face! Though I think it usually happens later in the main quest, when she starts making demands.

[Lopov]

We’re in Windhelm, the cold an unfriendly city of Stormcloaks. It has been a stressful day. In Kynesgrove we witnessed a resurrection of a long-dead dragon by another dragon that my Thane remembered from Helgen. The resurrected dragon whose name was Sahlkonir or Sahloknir, turned out to be a very challenging foe and my Thane, Delphine and I had difficulties bringing the beast down. Nonetheless, with its “death” my Thane absorbed its soul which was enough for secretive Delphine to believe my Thane about his dragonborn heritage.

She revealed herself to be a member of the Blades and we arranged a meeting in Riverwood in two weeks. I don't know much about the Blades except that they were supposed to guard Emperors of Cyrodiil centuries ago so it would be wise if I read some books about them. Delphine said she’ll investigate further into the matter of dragons returning, while we bring the horn the horn of Jurgen Windcaller back to the Greybeards.

For the first time since we’ve been traveling together, my Thane began to tell me a story of his arrival to Skyrim which was not willingly, as I assumed. No, my Thane used to be a commander in the Imperial Legion and was meant to be executed for disobeying orders yet his life was saved by the same black dragon who resurrected Salloknir and whose name was Alduin or Lord Alduin as Salloknir called him. Unfortunately he didn’t finish his story because we spotted not one but two dragons in the distance! One was flying over the geyser field in Eastmarch and the other one was seen west of Windhelm. From an occasional dragon attack here and there, it seems they’re now spread all over Skyrim. Battling one dragon was enough for today so we headed to Windhelm, but neither of us feel comfortable here so we’re leaving after breakfast and are heading to High Hrothgar. Without question we will fight dragons on our journey there.

Lydia, Candlehearth Hall,

3rd of Frostfall 4€201

[Renee]

Renee: I am rolling over the fact that you taught your daughter about real vampires! Not something like the birds and the bees, but vampires!

Oh yeah, she's heard me rant about this a few times. I grew up on Anne Rice and traditional vampire lore. Even cheezy Hollywood vampire movies like Fright Night and Lost Boys are more proper to me than anything I've seen lately.

Lovely story there, Lopov. And it sounds like you have a lot of dragons in your game! I am going to be such a wimp compared to you.

And what a crazy fight there between Jerric and Delphine! What the heck? I guess that is some sort of quest I've not done yet, or am not remembering.

This post has been edited by Renee Gade IV: Dec 9 2014, 02:20 AM