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

[Renee]

How about Ghan Dolph the Grey for a wizard?

Hmm. Hmm. Actually, this might work!

Mithilion the Hammer has been busy helping orcs and pleasing Malacath.

This is so awesome. It's Hammer Time! (lol couldn't resist). No seriously, it's cool to see this happen. All my characters are only mildly tolerated at best, when it comes to orc strongholds.

This post has been edited by Renee: Mar 6 2015, 03:41 PM

[Grits]

Oh my gosh you guys, that gives me an idea. *runs to the CK*

The White Phial is another object that I’ve been puzzling over for clues to a different tiny project in my stack. I know absolutely zero about scripts, so my learning curve has been very steep. Pretty close to vertical, lol.

I love oddball characters. The ones of mine that fall flat seem to be mostly the classic types.

***

Added: SubRosa, those helmets look very cool. There’s one with a skull and horns that I have to make a character for someday. I have a wild bulked up Bosmer in mind already. And Ghosu’s horn and feather one would look awesome on the heavy armor/unarmed Argonian of my dreams. Plus I love those plain metal helms. Thank you for these!!


Lardrumph may have given her approval to young Borgakh the Steel Heart, but The Hammer is not ready for that yet. Also he thinks it would be a crime to free her from one stronghold only to tie her to another, so he suggested that she go her own way. Maybe he’ll look her up in a few decades. Or maybe she’ll wander back to Greenspring someday.

In the meantime The Hammer and his true love’s head have some orcs to visit and more adventures to find. He still needs large antlers and a snowy sabre cat pelt to finish decorating his stronghold. Or I should say their stronghold. The rest of the world thinks that Mithilion is talking to a dry, broken bone, but that’s not how he sees her.

(I’m thinking a once per day Summon Lardrumph effect to help The Hammer out in the boss fights. I think Malacath would allow it. )




This post has been edited by Grits: Mar 6 2015, 08:47 PM

[Renee]

The White Phial is another object that I’ve been puzzling over for clues to a different tiny project in my stack. I know absolutely zero about scripts, so my learning curve has been very steep. Pretty close to vertical, lol.

I need to learn more about scripts. It can be so fun, once you figure out how they work. I added a bunch of 'thought's to one of my Oblivion character's games...like if she picks up a bottle of wine, a message will appear saying "Can't wait to gulp this down!"

Learning about scripts is like homework for me though. I'm here to play, not work. So I am learning this stuff really slowly.

I love oddball characters. The ones of mine that fall flat seem to be mostly the classic types.

They're awesome, hon.

[Acadian]

Grits, how nice that you put some ethereal substance (?) to Lardrumph! Aww, what a touching moment before digging into some pie!

[Lopov]

Oh, ethereal Lardrumph! What a great way to create her in Hammer's mind.

[SubRosa]

Summoning Lardrumph is a great idea! Like the first Conan movie (truly a cinematic masterpiece... ) where Valeria comes back from the grave to save Conan at the end.

[Renee]

Sundas, 1:20 PM, 17th of Last Seed, 4th Era 201

The stranger enters the inn. It's been hours? Or days? He is not sure. It's all a blank and a blur. Where are the rest of my men?... Where is my crew? He is not sure.

He had awoken about an hour or two before, on a large flat stone, all alone. Near him lay several bandits .... dead. He had looked around, expecting to find the others he had been traveling with, but they were nowhere to be seen. Good thing the sun was out, and he had awoken in the middle of daylight. He'd probably have frozen to death if night had come.

Suddenly, he remembers something. They had spied Winterhold! ... Yes! They had seen the College's famously-large tower in the distance. They had been lost, for hours they had been lost; trying to find their way from Windhelm to Winterhold. They had been on their way to join up with the Mage's College, and they had seen the college, way in the distance. So where had they gone?

It was no matter. Wherever they had gone, they had not been with him when he had awoken, and it's dangerous to be alone. All sorts of things to defend yourself against, up here in Skyrim, things they had not seen in Cyrodiil. They had been ill-equipped for trouble, that was for sure. He had decided to walk toward the college. It had been easy enough to find, once you actually saw that gigantic tower.

"Just say the word if you need something to drink or eat," says the lady before him.

"Have you seen anybody else pass through here? A group of others ... magic-using types?"

"If you have business with the college, you've come to the right place," the man next to the lady says. "It's where most of our business comes from, in fact."

"Please, I am desperate. Might I stay here for a bit? .. I seem to have lost my companions."

"What does this look like, the Temple of Mara? No gold, no bed."

The man with the long white hair and beard looks down upon himself. Of course! ... He looks disheveled and hopeless. He looks like a common beggar, in fact. Probably smells like one too. His companions, wherever they may be, probably looked and smelled worse than he. They had all lost their way, it seems.

He backs away from the counter, wondering what he should do. They had seen the Mage's College, way in the distance, but from that moment on, he can't remember any further. But he is here now. He made to Winterhold, that was for certain.

"Where are the others? Perhaps they are in the college already."

He decides he'll leave the inn, to go have a look. He hopes he won't get turned away.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

1:01 PM

"The mages at the college keep to themselves, mostly. So we don't see much of them," the lady innkeeper informs.

The man with the white beard nods, but does not reply. Instead, he heads out the door, turns right, and walks toward the college itself. What has he got to lose? ... As he walks toward the college, he realizes there's not much to the 'town' of Winterhold. The rumors had been right about this, that's for sure. It had once been a more lively, but now, was a mere shell of its former self.

"Cross the bridge at your own peril," says an elven lady, after the man climbs the college's initial staircase. "The way is dangerous, and the gate is not open."

"Please. I ... I have lost my companions. I have not any gold. And I am chilled to the bone. I am not here to ask for help or coin, but merely to find the folk I had been traveling with. Have you seen them? Did they pass through?"

"Welcome to the College of Winterhold, I am Faralda. Is there something I can assist you with?"

The man with the white hair scratches his white beard. "Please. May I pass through? I have come here, seeking knowledge, and now here I am at the college. We were on our way here, from Cyrodiil, and I seem to have lost them."

"I am here to assist those seeking wisdom from the college. And if my process might helps deter those who intend harm, so be it. The more important question though: why are you here?"

"As I said, I was traveling with others. All of us ... we had some gifts, unbeknownst to others. Magical gifts. Others had not knowledge of this, that we might have some skills, with magical means. We formed a bond, and a union. We came together. The peoples of Cyrodiil, the citizens, would have never guessed that we might have had some skills, but oh...we did. Had we not formed our union, and not decided to migrate here, the former arts of our magical skills might have gone for naught."

"Ummm ..... what?" asks Faralda.

"And we had heard that it is here, within the College of Winterhold, that we might benefit our skills further," answers the man with the white beard, hoping she won't press this issue. Hoping she won't ask him why a man wearing the clothes of pure poverty was now at her domain. "Might I gain entry, at any event?"

"Perhaps. But what is it you hope to find within?"

"To the point, as your intentions. Well, as you can see, I am a beggar, and am dressed as so," he says. "Might as well be up-front about that. Despite my less-than-humble status, I do have something perhaps to offer here. All of us did, all of those with whom I traveled with. We were all beggars. Layabouts. Dips. Common Cyrodiilic rubbish. Yet we all realized that we had some small talents, in magic, and pooled together. The Empire is at war, yet we were too old to fight. And my health is frail, anyways."

"Go on..." Faralda says, impatient, yet curious.

"So I figured, why not travel here, before my days are done? .. I gathered my friends, all of us the former types who would beg for coin, claiming we might get some better shoes, claiming we might be able to now feed our children, and all the while pocketing this gold for our trip to Skyrim. And now that I am here, I can show ye my prowess with magics."

"I see. That power certainly exists, I assure you. Wield it faithfully, and few can withstand you. It would seem that the college has what you seek. The question now is 'what can you offer the college?' Not jus anyone is allowed to go inside. Those wishing to enter must show some degree of skill, and magic. A small test, if you will."

"Certainly. Explain your requirements."

"Excellent. A standard skill for Destruction is the 'firebolt'. Casting one at the seal here on the ground would be sufficient."

"Firebolt?" He thinks the lady speaks of Skyrim's ultra-speedy fireball spells. He had seen atronachs casting these spells some days before, in the distance. "I have not this within my spellbook. I can cast some standard flames, instead?"

"I look forward to it."

He casts some flames from his left palm, really puts some effort into this, but Faralda is not impressed. She then offers to sell him the required spell, for 30 gold, but he has not this sort of coin, or any coin, as a fact of matter.

"I shall return soon, hopefully then, I can provide what is needed."

His days as a beggar were not too far behind. The man who would someday be known as The White Wizard decides maybe it's not too soon to seek his usual form of assistance.



This post has been edited by Renee: Mar 8 2015, 08:45 AM

[Lopov]

So he used to be a beggar, eh? He has an interesting backstory, he and all those that traveled with him united together to try and make something of their magical talents.

He looks great, BTW, in the first pic he reminds me of Rasputin.

[ghastley]

Athla, Arch-mage of Winterhold, was passing Soljund's Sinkhole on her way to deal with Red Eagle, when she got pulled into a side-mission. Mjoll decided not to follow her down the mine's signature feature, so she was alone when she got to the draugr boss at the end.

The boss is leveled, and gets a random set of spells and shouts, and this time the game gave him a healing spell. She's run out of magicka potions, but has the amulet boosting her regen. Without any armour or resistances, she wants to avoid the fireball statue in the room, so she's lurking at the entrance out of its line of fire. We got stuck in a cycle of beating him down to about a quarter of his health, when he'd run off and hide, heal himself and then come for more. Athla would be waiting for her magicka to replenish, before she could do anything, and we'd be back where we started.

I finally broke her out of the impasse by remembering she had a bow and a few arrows to use when she ran out of magicka.

[Lopov]

I've never seen them heal themselves so far. What is Athla's level?

So it's Wednesday here, which means it's a day for Aard's story...

--

Time to pay his debt has come. The last thing which Aard remembered was going to sleep in Hjerim, after checking the house for possible intruders at least two times. He received a note from the Dark Brotherhood when walking to Windhelm and had a feeling that something was about to happen. But his kidnappers were damn good at their job – without feeling anything, without even a slight sense that something happened, he was now in some shack that had walls painted with blood - three possible victims in front of him, and the blue-eyed assassin behind him.

Khajiit Vasha was the obvious choice – he admitted being a rapist and a killer. Of course he could be pretending but Aard didn’t think too much about it – he cut the Khajiit’s throat, hoping that he earned his freedom. He certainly didn’t expect to be invited to the Dark Brotherhood. It probably doesn’t happen often that the organization invites new members and many people of his kind wouldn’t even think twice about joining the legendary family of assassins. Aard committed occasional murders in the past, and sometimes he was indeed paid for it, but most of the time it was heists gone wrong.

He had his doubts but somewhere in the back of his mind he saw an opportunity to become something more than just a pickpocket from Windhelm. Still, there was something sinister not just about Astrid but about the entire initiation which he had to undergo to repay his debt. Just as Astrid said ‘Innocence, guilt, right, wrong… irrelevant’ – did he have guts for it? He couldn’t know unless he tried.

Two days later Aard was walking through the pine forest in the southwest of Skyrim, a new companion at his side. As a late Nord’s diary said, his companion’s name was Meeko and he walked on four legs. And as Aard saw with his own eyes, Meeko’s bite was deadly so besides having company, he also had a fighter at his side. Following Astrid’s instructions, the sanctuary should be located ‘just beneath the road, hidden from view.’

While Aard and Meeko were drinking cold water from a small pond, Aard spotted something out of the corner of his eye. Hidden behind rocks there was a large black door, carved with a giant skull with a bloody red hand on its forehead. Before Aard was still slightly stoned from skooma which he consumed when leaving Rorikstead but now he suddenly felt being completely at his senses, his eyes focused on the black door.

“You wait here,” he ordered Meeko and showed him to sit down.

“Woof woof!”

“And shut up!”

“…”

As Aard was slowly walking towards the Black Door, he felt unnatural coldness emanating from it, causing him shivers. Feeling like in a state of trance, he touched the cold doorknob when the most eerie voice he ever heard, spoke through the door:

"What is the music of life?"

Aard felt how heavy his tongue had become. He knew the answer because Astrid told him, but he didn’t know whether he’s ready or not. Perhaps it is the greatest opportunity of his life or perhaps it is his downfall. He will only know if he tries. He will only know if he answers. He hasn’t come this far for nothing.

“Silence, my brother,” he whispered in return.

“Welcome home,” the eerie voice said.

He insecurely turned the doorknob and slowly opened the Black Door…scared but curious, Aard entered the sanctuary.

[Acadian]

Renee - Welcome to the White Wizard! I see his reception by both the locals and the weather has been rather chilly. It was neat the way you wove in that his Cyrodiilic beggar skills funded his journey. Hopefully, those skills can rustle up another 30 gold for Faralda. And Lopov is right – he looks great!

Lopov- Sure enough, Aard got an invitational kidnapping and has launched his Dark Brotherhood career. And he’s got a doggiepal!

*

I smiled at the coincidence of the White Wizard’s arrival in Skyrim. The reason is that I restarted Buffy’s game today and, although her arrival was quite a bit flashier, she likewise began her journey cold, underdressed and at the College of Winterhold. She’s an experienced Knight of the Lamp from Cyrodiil but it, nevertheless, takes some practice to tweak her talents so things function smoothly in Skyrim for her. After some time at the College getting her abilities and gear in order, she joined a small group of fellow mages on her first adventure.

[Grits]

Renee, the future White Wizard is getting a humble start indeed. How neat that he randomly showed up near Winterhold.

ghastley, that’s a tough spot for a mage. I can’t remember my last character who faced that boss, but I remember ducking back to wait for magicka while cursing that the draugr was healing at the same time.

Lopov, Aard is home! I laughed when he told sweet Meeko to shut up. Good luck with that.

Welcome back to Dame Buffy. The College is lucky to have her!

~
Jerric has been traveling between Falkreath and Whiterun Holds on personal business (getting his new game situated). Lildereth, Ulfe, and the horses Kip and Rose are with him. I’m using a new mod that as a side-effect causes companion Lil to fall seriously behind without warning sometimes and then pop up unexpectedly, so she is more herself in this game than she has ever been as an NPC.

Jerric plans to part ways with Lil the next time they pass through Whiterun. One of his fondest joys is killing necromancers, and he feels the need for a rampage. When they went through Sunderstone Gorge recently he nearly got her killed. Ulfe has the sense to run away when things get hairy, but Lil will not leave him unless he asks her to. He might bring Darnand along next, since Darnand has an equal love of blowing things up and by now can probably cast Fireballs. I’m guessing not, though. This might be another dark period best passed alone.

Some things to report: he found a kilt. And now he’s wearing it. I’m not kidding.

Also he finally got around to fixing up Anise’s cabin (because I made a little mod for him). Jerric is not bothered by rumors that the old lady is a witch, and he tends to take people as he finds them. Now when he passes by to check on her he can chop some wood for her fire and put it in a respawning barrel while Lil chats with Anise about lovely poisons and helps her pick deathbell and nighshade flowers.

[Acadian]

Grits - Good luck getting Jerric's new game going and I know what you mean about putting on some blinders for some of the early game chores that are necessary. For example, when I start Buffy anew, I always make sure (out of character) that Riverwood gets some soldierly defense before the random vamp attacks from Dawnguard commence around level 10. Heh, I can see what you mean about the quirk with Lil actually being in perfect sync with her nature of appearing and disappearing quite mysteriously (to Jerric).

Gosh Jerric looks fabulous in his man-skirt!

Huntin' necrodudes is always good for the spirit.

I'm so glad to see someone else who likes Anise. She presents as a kindly old lady and I like to imagine her as simply a reclusive practitioner of nature magicks.

[ghastley]

Some things to report: he found a kilt. And now he’s wearing it. I’m not kidding.

Och, that's turrible! He's nae wearin' his Sporran! Ye cannae wear a kilt wi'oot a Sporran.

It's just not kosher, or whatever the Scottish equivalent is. It probably also helps protect the family jewels. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt on the sgian dubh, as I'm sure that's hidden in his boot.

[SubRosa]

So that is what Chris Hemsworth would look like in a skirt. Pretty good!

[Lopov]

After some time at the College getting her abilities and gear in order, she joined a small group of fellow mages on her first adventure.

Good to read about Buffy being in the College too. Maybe he, The White Wizard and Lucius will in Hall of the Elements.

Lopov, Aard is home! I laughed when he told sweet Meeko to shut up. Good luck with that.

The best I could do, was to install a mod that makes barking quieter.

Jerric looks great in his kilt and IIRC kilts are supposed to be worn without underwear. I love the pic from Falkreath's longhouse. Nice to see him helping Anise by making her shack rainproof.

--

Although he stayed in Whiterun only for two days, it was great to see Lucius again. We had a lot to tell to each other since we haven't seen him for more than a month. He told me about his adventures on Solstheim, an expedition to Saarthal, a battle against a necrophile close to Dawnstar and many other events. While he was gone, I was busy as well. As Lucius' housecarl, I took upon myself to protect the Whiterun hold in his absence so I regularly cleared out bandit camps close to Whiterun and made sure none of them harassed Riverwood or Rorikstead.

Lucius told me that he's currently busy doing some investigations on behalf of the College of Winterhold but that he intends to search for a man called Septimus Signus, who should tell him where an elder scroll is located. The man supposedly lives somewhere in the far north. As a Nord, I don't trust a lot in magic, but since Lucius is a skilled healer, I believe he does well for himself at the College.

We decided not to travel together, at least not now. Lucius was pleased to hear that I've been protecting the hold and I have a feeling that I might get in his way if we used to travel together again. Besides, when not on the road, he's a completely different person, more talkative and caring. When adventuring, however, he prefers not to talk too much unless necessary and it seemed to me like he wasn't aware of my presence at all times.

We spent a lovely evening together, details of which I won't share even with you, my dear diary. But in the morning Lucius was already gone. I hurried to a nearby tower and I think I saw him walking down the road to Rorikstead, his Stalhrim armor shining in the bright Sun. May the Gods watch over your battles, my Love.

Lydia, Breezehome,

16th of Sun's Dawn, 4€202

[Renee]

GrrrrRits: Lol at the kilt pics! To quote mALX: SPEW

Jerric might someday feel a shadow subtly lurking in Anise's Cabin. On the other hand, Jerric might find some pretty wacky poetry stashed in the dresser, there.

Lopov: We spent a lovely evening together, details of which I won't share even with you, my dear diary ... Uh oh.

This post has been edited by Renee: Mar 15 2015, 03:01 AM

[Acadian]

Lopov - Aww, what a nice diary entry from Lydia. I'm so glad she's building up her own heroine creds in the Hold doing noble deeds and keeping busy. That makes wonderful sense.

[Lopov]

Thanks, it felt good writing with the magical pen again.

--

After being accepted to the Dark Family and introduced to its friendly, rude and mad members, Aard didn't want to come across as someone who does nothing but stand around, so the following morning he departed west towards Ivarstead.

The first name on his to-kill list was Narfi, the hapless beggar from the village under High Hrothgar. Aard wondered whether that's what awaits him in the Dark Brotherhood; killing emaciated beggars who couldn't even defend themselves. He knew that orders weren't meant to be questioned but he couldn't help but wonder why would someone want such a man killed by the Dark Brotherhood. Unless there was more to Narfi than met the eye, and perhaps he lived another life before becoming a beggar. While some assassins preferred to kill their victims while looking them in their facse, Aard preferred to remain unseen and unheard. Besides, deep inside himself he knew that he doesn't have guts to kill a weak beggar while looking at his eyes. Narfi was just about to empty another tankard of wine when he slept... forever.

While heading north to Windhelm, Meeko was unfortunately killed by a troll not far from Ivarstead so Aard continued on alone. He briefly stopped in Windhelm, got some sleep, bought some food and wine, and finally reunited with his mare whom he named Loyal because she loyally waited for him while he was gone. The second name on his to-kill list was Ennodius Papius, supposedly the paranoid main who knew that someone is out there to kill him. For reasons unknown, Aard didn't feel sorry for Ennodius as he did for Narfi, in fact he found the Imperial to be stupid, living all alone close to a main road wasn't really a clever way to hide. Just like with Narfi, Aard performed the assassination as unseen and unheard. Ennodius Papius was about to eat some bread when Aard's knife struck... and the paranoid man's fate was finally fulfilled.

The third on his to-kill list was Beitild, the divorced mine owner from Dawnstar. She was the only one with whom Aard actually had a short conversation, but not before killing her, yet during the day, to make sure she was the right person. "Frigid and hard-ass", that were Aard's thoughts about her. Funny, he didn't have any restraints at all about killing her because she went on his nerves when he barely greeted her. While waiting for the night to fall, Aard visited the museum of the Mythic Dawn Cult, not to get a lesson in history but because Silus offered him a job that seemingly paid well. Contracts for the Dark Brotherhood will probably take him all over Skyrim so it couldn't hurt to have any side jobs from time to time. He went to sleep in the only inn in Dawnstar, woke up around 2 AM and headed to Beitild's house.

The miner was obviously so attached to her pickaxe that she didn't part from it even while sleeping. Aard's knife struck once and the divorced miner became the dead miner. He took her coinpurses and some valuables, to make it look like a robbery, not that anybody will care about it. Heavy snowstorm began as Aard left Dawnstar, riding on Loyal's back, satisfied with himself, since he managed to perform all three contracts without getting noticed. Perhaps there was a promising career ahead of him indeed.

[Grits]

Lopov, I love that Lydia has her own life while Lucius is off adventuring. Aard is doing some good, clean work. Sorry to hear about Meeko!


Varia Velvus (who I don’t think I have posted about much here) finally made it to Solitude to join the Bards College. By now she is a Well-Known Bard (rank from Become A Bard) and can ask Jarls through dialog if they would like her to play for them. Instead of coin they give her gifts if they like her songs. She has gotten some nice enchanted jewelry including a silver and sapphire necklace that fortifies her magicka from Jarl Elisif. She sold everything so far except for Jarl Elisif’s gift, which she wears.

Thanks to another mod (Inconsequential NPCs) Varia got an earful of a foreign envoy being snide and very rude to Jarl Elisif while Varia was waiting for her turn to speak. In reply the lovely and sweet-voiced Jarl pretty much tore the envoy a new one right in the middle of court. Varia was impressed. She is a fan of Jarl Elisif. Varia also talked to Sybille Stentor at length and learned a lot about the Jarl and the late King’s stance on current events. Varia is no warrior and has no intention of joining the Legion, but she will play for legionaries for free any time she meets them now. Still, she will eventually make her way to play at Jarl Ulfric’s court, even though she is an Imperial. I think she’ll save that Hold for last.

The Bards College does not offer a bed to the player, so I made a cubicle for Varia in the downstairs quarters. Here she and her pal Coda (along with Meeko) survey her dorm room. No doubt they are both counting the beds, or should I say bed. Until I figure out how to get him to sing or play with Varia, Coda is going to have to sleep at the inn.

It was a fun coincidence that Varia finally arrived in Solitude during the Tales and Tallows festival. I’m using Wet and Cold: Holidays so there was a party going on in the streets. Here Varia joined in with two bards who were already playing. She didn’t get paid but it was awesome.

Varia and Coda (and Meeko) are headed to find the lost work of the bard Svaknir. I am concerned about the outcome. Varia is not a summoner and uses only mage armor. That place could end up a tomb for another dead bard.


Edit: forgot pics.

This post has been edited by Grits: Mar 19 2015, 12:26 AM