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

[Lopov]

Bjorn really looks wild - a true ruffian.

Do you use some mod that darkens dungeons?

[Renee]

Do you use some mod that darkens dungeons?

Yea I do, and (again) cannot remember its name. It also darkens regular interiors (like inns) and makes nighttime darker too.

[Acadian]

Nice shots, Renee! Tough guy in his element.

[SubRosa]

He is definitely Bjorn to be Wild!

[Lopov]

High Ambassador Lambert De Orayana didn’t sleep well this night. Not because of his important political position in Morrowind, where he’s for years been acting as the most important representative of High Rock, but because his youngest daughter departed on another adventure.

“You know what, father? One of these days I’m going to explore Velothi Mountains,” Forrah said one morning and Lambert De Orayana knew that one of these days was going to be that very day. He didn’t even bother to try and talk Forrah out of it – he knew very well that she inherited unpredictability and single-mindedness from her late mother, Arkay bless her soul. But Lambert De Orayana not only lost his wife but his eldest son as well, and as such, he was afraid each time Forrah departed on another adventure. So far the girl’s been lucky but when she sometimes told him about events that occurred to her, Lambert De Orayana thanked the Divines for watching over his daughter.

But this night something was different. He woke up, covered in sweat, and immediately thought of Forrah. Something must have happened to her, he was sure of that…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

…and this time Lambert De Orayana had every reason to be afraid. Forrah was lying in a pool of her own blood, nothing but loincloth on her body, her breathing shallow.

“Is this…the end?” a voice in her head asked.

“No…” she uttered and spat blood out of her mouth. “It can’t…end…like…this!”

With her remaining strength she raised her left palm and concentrated…every muscle of her body hurt but most of all hurt her head. But hours of arduous restoration training paid off and yellow light appeared in Forrah’s left palm. Within minutes she could feel healing magic run through her beaten body - bleeding was stopping, wounds were closing and her eyes were slowly opening again. She took a deep breath, delighted to find out that bleeding in her mouth stopped as well. Carefully, she stood up. A wolf howled not far away.

“Wolves…then I’m still close. They tossed me out, thinking I was dead. How very wrong they were…” Forrah deviously smiled, slowly sneaking in the direction of howling. It was bloody cold but right now she didn’t mind. Her mind was set on one thing only – revenge.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You threw that bitch out?” the Butcher asked Steff, one of the bandits under his command in Cragslane Cavern.

“Yes, boss.” Steff didn’t dare to look the Butcher in his eyes.

“How could you be so dumb, you idiot? You were supposed to guard her but she managed to untie her hands in front of your very eyes!”

“It wasn’t just me, boss! Gro-Yozha was watching over her as well!” Steff protested.

“Of course, that’s why he’s dead now!” the Butcher yelled back. “She freed herself and burned Gro-Yozha before he even grasped what’s going on! I had to act, else she’d kill both of you imbeciles! I hit her too hard but if you had actually watched over her, she couldn’t escape! The bitch was rich, so it’s a real shame she’s dead. She was a daughter of some wealthy ambassador, we could fetch a nice ransom for her. I paid one thousand septims to my friend from Morrowind to get information about her whereabouts, I spent one week stalking her, and when I finally managed to get my hands on her, you and Gro-Yozha ruined my plan!!! Better start thinking where you will get one thousand caps unless you want to be thrown to the wolves for my amusement!”

Steff said nothing and the Butcher continued to polish his battleaxe. He had a fine operation going on in Cragslane Cavern. Not only was he setting wolf fights, earning on bets, but he was the main skooma supplier in the region. Being close to Skyrim’s eastern border made it easy to get customers from Morrowind as well, though with the Civil War escalating even passing to Skyrim via Velothi Mountains wasn’t safe anymore. Occasionally the Butcher would kidnap someone rich and demand hefty ransom, just like he intended to do with the ambassador’s daughter. Too bad his stupid fellows foiled his plan. Uproar was heard from the other room where gamblers were betting on wolves. It was nothing unusual for his customers to get loud, especially if they drank lots of mead but this time it sounded like they were fighting someone.

“It’s her!” someone shouted. “The woman that’s supposed to be dead! Ahhh!”

“It can’t be!” The Butcher grabbed his battleaxe and ran to the other room. She couldn’t survive that hit, could she? He could swear he had heard her skull cracking.

But there she was. Standing in nothing but her loincloth, wielding a mace in one hand and flames in another. There was a pile of dead gamblers and bandits at her feet.

“Looks like I didn’t hit you hard enough?” yapped the Butcher. “Doesn’t matter. Maybe this time I can make you ‘mine’ again. You are worth…aargh! Bloody bitch!” Forrah’s flames burned the Butcher’s face.

“I’ll kill you for this!” He fiercely swung his battleaxe…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

…and hit Forrah hard in her left shoulder. The Butcher was a formidable opponent, she already experienced it on her own skin. But this time she wasn’t outnumbered and this time she won’t make the same mistake of not healing herself during the battle. She hit the Butcher with her mace and as he staggered, she jumped back, healing herself. He once again attacked fiercely and Forrah couldn’t avoid this blow either but she reacted quickly, burning his face yet again, causing him to wobble for a few seconds. Forrah’s head was hurting from the Butcher’s last blow and she knew that this time she might not survive another strike from his heavy battleaxe. The Butcher already raised it high, ready to strike a killing blow, but Forrah was quicker, she ran right into his chest and with remaining strength swung her mace directly to his head. The Butcher’s skull cracked, he dropped his battleaxe and in the next second the great bandit collapsed to the floor, the years-long criminal operations over for good. Forrah fell to her knees next to his corpse and just like before, she concentrated and flames in her left hand gave way to a soothing yellow light, healing magic again circling through her body.

About half an hour later Forrah, donned in heavy armor that once belonged to her captor, stepped out of the Cragslane Cavern into the cloudy sky of…

“…of where?” she asked herself. “Am I still in Morrowind? Or already in Skyrim? I don’t remember anything from the moment when I lost my consciousness. So, Forrah, time to find out where in Oblivion you are.”

This post has been edited by Lopov: Dec 22 2016, 12:39 AM

[Acadian]

What a fascinating and creative beginning to Forrah’s Skyventures!

Those bandits captured the wrong woman!

’I paid one thousand caps to my friend from Morrowind’ - - How many septims = a cap?

[Lopov]

What a fascinating and creative beginning to Forrah’s Skyventures!

Those bandits captured the wrong woman!

’I paid one thousand caps to my friend from Morrowind’ - - How many septims = a cap?

OMG that's what happens after playing months of Fallout only. I read the story over several times but completely missed this. I'll edit it now.

[Renee]

Nicely done, Forrah! That was awesome. Fun to read. And the backstory makes sense too, with her being stalked because she is rich.

To those who don't know, Lopov is using some sort of alternate start mod called "Death Alternative?" that starts our PC as nearly-dead in several scenarios.

[Renee]

Tirdas, Heartfire 23

This day was mostly spent getting deeper into Snow Veil Sanctum. Karliah has not been found because the place is pretty big. Again, Bjorn and Mercer had to return to Amol to rest up, after many hours of delving.

Bjorn currently uses an ordinary, unimproved iron battleaxe as his primary weapon. He managed to find a Bow of Soul Snares somewhere in the past. This traps souls, as long as he's got a gem big enough. He doesn't use most of the soul gems he creates though; instead he sells most of these. Soul gems with souls in them fetch more gold, you see.

Monetarily, Bjorn's money tends to fluctuate, but he's never really been "rich" ...yet. I suspect he will eventually get rich, but right now he only has 63 gold. I have a scarcity mod in my Skyrim games though, so for one of my Skyrim chars. on PC to get rich, requires that they actually work for it!

Bjorn leveled up to 15 during this session. He had two perks to choose, so I gave him Light Armor: Agile Defender (2/5) and Archery: Overdraw (2/5). I also use a mod called Third Era Attributes, so I dumped +2 into Strength, +3 into Agility (he really needs this to pick locks better, omg), and +3 into Endurance.

[Lopov]

@Acadian - thanks! It was nice to start the game with a different scenario instead of the default one.

@Renee - thanks! When you say that Bjorn and Mercer retreated back to Amol, do you mean Fort Amol? I'm asking because that fort is far from the Snow Veil Sanctum. I like it, though, that exploring a ruin takes more than just one attempt.

__

Dear father,

I’m in Skyrim! How I came to be here, I shall reveal to you once I return, but for the time being you should know that I’ve been safe and sound in the province of the Nords and that I intend to stay here for a while.
I’m writing this letter in Winterhold, the only place in Skyrim from where magical letters can be sent to almost any place in Tamriel – at least that’s what the man in charge of magical letters claims. I could have sent an ordinary letter by a courier but it’d take weeks for the letter to reach you. Thanks to magic, you should get this letter in two days at most. Next to it will be a blank paper and a magical quill which you can use to write back and I shall get your answer right here, in Winterhold. I’ll wait in the town, not that there’s much left of it, for a few days and assist around the College of Winterhold. You were a student of the College, weren’t you?

I’m aware that the following news might upset you but I want to share it with you, father - I’ve seen the Snow Elves! I know you’ve seen lots of them in your adventurous days and that you asked me to avoid their underground lairs if I ever find myself in Skyrim but blood is indeed thicker than water, and the cave I ventured into, at first seemed like an ordinary one, only after I descended deeper, I met its blind denizens. At first I thought to turn around and run away, which is what you’d prefer me to do, but what kind of adventurer would that make me?

I hope you’re doing fine and that the political turmoil in Morrowind doesn’t keep you busy from dawn ‘til dusk so that you still manage to find some free time for yourself.

Forrah, 30th of Last Seed

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Forrah,

I’m delighted to “hear” from you and I thank you for letting me know about your whereabouts. I’ve spent some of the most interesting years of my life in Skyrim. I was indeed a student at the College, that’s where I trained my restoration so I could one day pass the knowledge to my children.

But as you already experienced on your own skin – the province is very dangerous, especially if one ventures in its deeper reaches. I know you’re a skilled adventurer but I’d once again ask you to be careful, especially if you’re going to explore underground lairs and forgotten ruins. Indeed, you’re following in your mother’s and my footsteps. Though in a way your letter scares me about what’s yet to happen to you in Skyrim, it makes me proud of you – not many can survive fighting Snow Elves and tell stories about that.

I’m not familiar with these magical letters but I’ll try and include a special necklace with it. It will slightly protect you from catching diseases. I wish you caution, wisdom and luck on your travels and I hope that my answer reaches you in time.

Your loving father, 1st of Hearthfire

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With the new necklace snapped around her neck Forrah left Winterhold and headed west towards Mzinchaleft to retrieve a sword for her friend from Riften.

[Acadian]

Renee - Sounds like Bjorn is making fine progress in the Guild of Thieves.

Lopov - Wonderful letters and a clever way to send them! Nice of Forrah to update her father - and his attitude seems a perfectly fatherish blend of pride and concern.

[Renee]

Lopov: no, Amol is an actual village, as well as a Fort. If you ever play TES1: Arena, you'll notice there are some villages & towns that are in TESV: Skyrim, but there are plenty which are not in this latter game. So somebody made a mod which adds several settled areas which are found in that first game. Most of these are rather small, unwalled places, but they're still appreciated in TES: V, especially with the Frostfall mod and my usual hardcore plug-ins going on. Plus, they're fun to explore, these extra places.

I love this technology they've got in your game. Magical letters, whoo! They're still not as fast as email, but email can't send physical items from one place to another. I imagine her father's surprise when he found this oddly-placed letter on his desk, or wherever it wound up.

So she's an adventurer, and surely this is why she has decided to go looking at dangerous work. Good thing she's got somebody with her now.

------------------------------------------


Middas, Heartfire 24

Bjorn woke up early on this day, and found the smith. Made some leather from animal pelts he'd collected over the past few days. This stupid smith has everything though, except a grinding wheel. Argh. Bjorn probably needs to repair his battleaxe by now, and a grinding wheel is necessary for this. And he can't afford to pay the outrageous monthly fee being charged by Amol's smith to fix his weapon up.

On top of that, neither of Amol's two vendors have any gold to buy things with. And Bjorn needs to sell some loot to make money. So a trip up the road to Winterhold was necessary.

"Trinkets, odds and ends, that sort of thing," says Birna of Birna's Oddments. We're off to a good start. She's got plenty of gold too. Bjorn sells several items: gems, jewels, and magicka potions (he'll never use those, never uses magic), and other tidbits. He decides to keep the Staff of Firebolts though. Hmm. Might come in handy some time. Though he doesn't cast spells, Bjorn has no aversion to using magic items, potions, and scrolls.

He left Birna's Oddments with 535 gold. Much better. An hour later, back in Amol, Bjorn was able to pay the smith here to have a look at his gear. Turns out, the battleaxe hadn't been worn too much (50 gold), and Bjorn's Thieves Guild armor wasn't broken at all.

After returning to Amol's inn and doing some cooking, it was now late afternoon, and obviously nothing was going to get done today, adventure-wise.

This post has been edited by Renee: Dec 31 2016, 07:18 PM

[Acadian]

Ah yes, keeping your gear up. Unfun, but important.

[Renee]

Ha ha yeah, you said it! Although weapon/armor upkeep doesn't bother me at all, it gets tricky because some smiths don't have everything we need. And it's too much work going into the CK to add smelters, grinding wheels, tanning racks (etc.) every time we come to a place which isn't fully equipped. We just deal.

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Turdas, Heartfire 25

Bjorn gets drunk the previous night and sleeps for 12 hours. Now it's morning, and time to get back to work.

Back in Snow Veil Sanctum (Day 4 now, lol) Finally the job got done. Things turned out oddly though. Yes, they found Karliah, but Karliah managed to paralyze Bjorn before he could do anything (this involved a rare Bethesda cut-scene). Next thing Bjorn knew, he was back outside Snow Veil Sanctum, with Karliah explaining that Mercer Frey had tried to lure Bjorn into some sort of trap. Something like this. And Karliah just saved him.

But did she just save him? Or is Mercer still inside SVS, dead because of Karliah? Who is the real bad guy (or gal) here? Later on it occurs to Bjorn that perhaps he could backtrack through the ruins and see if Mercer is still in there... dead. But by the time he realizes this, he's already too far down the road.

This post has been edited by Renee: Jan 2 2017, 11:56 PM

[Acadian]

Wow. B2BWild is blasting through the TG!

[Lopov]

@Renee - the quest in Snow Veil Sanctum was one of my favorites in the TG questline though I never finished them all. Yet I remember a scene where your character fades out a bit differently - I thought that Mercer talks to you and reveals that he tricked you and even "thanks" you for helping him this far. Maybe I'm wrong, though.

__

Mjoll the Lioness was admiring her lost sword Grimsever, still not fully believing that she will truly wield her favorite weapon once again. All thanks to Forrah, a young spellsword which was passing through Riften and to whom Mjoll, who liked to talk a lot, recounted her unpleasant adventure in Mzinchaleft which almost led to her death. Mjoll didn’t expect that Forrah paid any attention to her story at all, and even less she expected that the courageous spellsword would venture to Mzinchaleft and retrieve Grimsever.

"Astonishing. To think you actually were able to reach it and yet return to tell the tale. Rarely in my travels have I encountered those who possess skills equal to your own. I see I still have much to learn. If you'd permit me, I'd be honored to accompany you in your travels for a time."

“I’d be honored to share your company,” smiled Forrah. “The massive construct which almost killed you, a Dwarven centurion, still stands. I… I wasn’t sure whether my skills would be a match for it. So I tricked it…I led it up the stairs on the right side of its chamber and once it came up, I jumped down, took Grimsever and ran straight for the elevator which took me to the surface.”

“That was a clever technique,” approvingly nodded Mjoll. “A wise warrior knows his limitations and does not try his luck against the unknown. That was the mistake I made on my journey to Mzinchaleft.”

“Maybe one day we’ll descend in Mzinchaleft together and destroy it for good.”

“Maybe. It sounds tempting, does it not? Now let me invite you to Aerin’s place. He’s a good friend of mine and he’ll be happy to host another woman in his house, he’s a real gentleman, you will see. Follow me.“

In the next few hours while sipping Honningbrew mead and eating salmon steaks cooked by Aerin, Forrah already knew everything there was to know about Mjoll’s father – the hunter –, about Mjoll’s mother – the swordswoman and how cliff races made for excellent sport when her father took her on hunting expeditions to Morrowind.

Girls made a plan of their adventures to come – first they would head north to Dawnstar, where Mjoll’s friend Madena was asking for help regarding strange nightmares. Next they would descend to Mzinchaleft and finish off the Dwarven Centurion. On their adventures they hoped to find a Daedric heart, needed by a cursed Orcish tribe west of Riften.

And once they’ve accomplished all of the above, they would sail to Solstheim and explore the mysterious island. Listening to them and occasionally saying a few words, when Mjoll stopped to take a breath, Aerin realized that girls won’t run out of adventures anytime soon and that he might be without his dear Mjoll for a long time.

[Acadian]

I love the mighty motormouth who wields Grimsever! So glad to hear the two ladies hitting it off and planning to travel together. Kudos for knowing about the Mjoll connection to the nightmare quest in Dawnstar!

It is wonderfully thoughtful and wise of Forrah to consider that bringing Mjoll back the ruin to slay that troublesome Centaurian might be a fabulous boost to the Lioness' confidence - just what she needs I'll bet.

[Renee]

Poor Forrah. I bet she heard that information about Mjoll's mother and father (and everything else she says) not just once but several times! It's good that Forrah has somebody to "adventure like dis" though.

[Renee]

Fredas, mid-morning, Heartfire 26

Bjorn spent night in Frozen Hearth, and then headed to the Mages College.

"Cross the bridge at your own peril. You shall not gain entry, and not have access to the College of Winterhold!" a snot-nosed woman spat.

"Who in Oblivion are you?"

"Welcome to the College to Winterhold, I am Faralda..." the woman rambled quite a bit, none of which Bjorn cared to hear.

"Well I do not care. I want to get in and talk to somebody inside. and none of your business who that might be."

The lady made Bjorn cast a spell from a scroll she gave him. And then she seemed to mistake Bjorn for a man seeking initiation into the college.

"Look, I don't want to be a milk-drinking mage. Do I look like a milk-drinking mage?" But Faralda did not seem to get the hint. "Looking for some man named Enthir. That is all."

But Enthir was a hard one to find. Bjorn searched all over the college before learning that he occasionally goes to the Frozen Hearth. So Bjorn decided just to meet him there. The trip into the college wasn't wasted though. Plenty of soul gems to take or steal. :evil: Alcohol, lots of food. Still though, as soon as Bjorn found a mage-looking type in the Frozen Hearth, finally he was able to get some answers.

Enthir was not able to read the tome which Karliah gave to Bjorn though. Enthir has indicated though that a man in Markath named Calcelmo might be of more assistance.

Oh goody. Road trip #247

[Acadian]

Bjorn didn't get on well with Faralda? Imagine that!

Could Calcelmo possibly be any farther away from the College and still be in Skyrim?!?