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

[Elisabeth Hollow]

Nah dude, if I'm dying, my last words would be "I hid the million dollars near the..."

[King Coin]

...Near the what?

[Colonel Mustard]

The bandits here were tough; almost too tough for him. He spent several hours attacking and retreating, until all the outside scum was dead! Haaf-Mersey then tried to take on those inside the fort, but these were just too much for him. They saw him enter, and as soon as they did, three of them were swinging and flailing!

Yeesh, I know just how poor LHM feels here! I keep jumping into old forts and caves in the northern parts for a dungeon dive and half the time I end up getting murdered! The northern parts of the Skyrim are absolutely merciless for lower level characters, especially all the places that are infested by rogue mages.

And I'm happy to entertain, Elisabeth! I'll admit I'm having a hell of a lot fun playing Terrenna. Mainly because I can play as the psychotically greedy borderline-sociopathic that's my usual playing persona and still keep up a roleplay (just as a complete moron instead).

Extract from the Journal of Terrenna Calmenin

Day 5
So myself and my main squeeze got to Winterhold, stopping by Windhelm on the first night of the journey. Windhelm was a bit rubbish, mainly because everyone kept giving me trouble for being a Dark Elf. I'd like to see how much trouble those damn Stormcloaks want to give me when they're on fire and dead.

Note to self: Join Legion. Burn Stormcloaks in a way that's totally legal. Also, liberate oppressed brethren etc etc.

Closer to the present, though, and I made it to Winterhold. I got there fairly late in the night so I decided I'd try the college in the morning; in the inn, I chatted to the Jarl of the region, Jarl Korir. He was nice, and asked me to pick up the Helm of Winterhold for him from an old shipwreck. I did a couple of oddjobs for people aroudn town in the evening and stole a staff from an Altmer to give to another Dark Elf in exchange for some hints on chatting people up, and helped a drunk settle his debts, and got the Helm from a shipwreck in the morning [Mustard's note: I actually got given this quest twice due to a glitch, but as the reward was 500 septims, I wasn't complaining...]. Apparently all this helping people business is a good thing, as the Jarl made me Thane of Winterhold! That's another title to add to my collection (three titles in a week, I've been productive).

Anyway, after a productive morning I headed off to the College. Unlike the rest of the place, it wasn't a dump.It was pretty cool, in fact, sitting on this big rocky outcrop. Learned two new spells today, those being Fear and Lesser Ward. Neither of them involve fire so I doubt I'll be using them in future. I also met some of the other apprentices including Brelyna, a Dark Elf like me and J'Zargo. J'Zargo's great; he's all about Destruction magic like I am and we really hit it off. I also got given my own room in the Hall of Attainment with an alchemy table nearby with a whole ton of ingredients to use [Mustard's note: Expensive potions ho!!] and some new robes to help me regenerate magicka quickly and cast destructions spells with less energy, and a hood that improves my overall magicka capacity [Mustard again: The Novice Robes of Destruction and Novice Hood, along the perk I took for halving the amount of magicka that Adept-level destruction spells need are an absolute godsend; I'm able to rapid-fire firebolts at lower level enemies and slam the higher-level ones with a couple of the dual cast ones before Lydia finishes them off. Makes my life so much easier].

So we did some tutelage stuff and tomorrow we're going to check out an old ruin called Sarthaal. This evening, however, I'm using my newly-acquired status of Thane of Winterhold to requisition a few barrels of ale and booze; J'Zargo and I are having ourselves and all the new apprentices a party. Freshers week, whoop!

[Elisabeth Hollow]

Can I just post the important stats on here? I doubt anyone wants to know how many hours my elf has waited, lol

Speaking of, do we HAVE to post stats, or can I just post the gameplay?

[Grits]

Elisabeth, feel free to post whatever you are inspired to write. Some folks like to keep to the facts, while others fictionalize things to varying degrees. I’ve seen one character’s game story told entirely through reports and letters written about him by NPCs. All are welcome.

[SubRosa]

Yesterday Revansch had a thief come up to her and give her 500 gold, which he said was her cut of his earning. Only Revansch has never done a single Thieves Guild quest?!?

[Grits]

I suspect that the thief was reacting to Revansch's armor. The Nightengale armor is a reward in the Thieves Guild quest line.

[Lady Saga]

Can I just post the important stats on here? I doubt anyone wants to know how many hours my elf has waited, lol

I'm the only one who posts stats in detail, and it's mostly because I like looking back at where my character was at a certain point in time.

Speaking of, do we HAVE to post stats, or can I just post the gameplay?

Do whatever you like. It's creative writing. You don't have to post a long, elaborate story either. Some folks are perfectly content with...

Today Sasha went to Whiterun. Killed several bandits afterwards. Farkas would have been proud, had he been there.

and leave it at that. Me on the other hand....

Middas, 1:16 PM, 31st of Evening Star

Days Passed: 136

It has been two days since Lord Haaf-Mersey has slept. He's walking along a road he's never been on before, and comes across another traveller. The traveller seems friendly, and does not draw his war axe.

"Oy'm on my way to Solitude", he says. "A united Empire is better for everyone".

The Lord neither agrees nor disagrees with this statement. He just wants to walk with this man (safety in numbers, again) and find a way to get back to Dawnstar, where he left Marcurio behind.

He looks at his map, and sees he must be near Solitude. And while following the man, the two come across what looks to be a village or town way up near the sky. This must be the place. Haaf-Mersey is curious about Solitude, which does not seem as run-down as some other areas of Skyrim, but he cannot waste time. He must get back to Dawnstar.

"Been up to the Blue Palace?" asks a guard as the Lord walks onto a dock. "Tis a sight to see. Even if it is filled with fops".

Lol I've never heard that one before

2:00 PM
"'Hoy there".

The Crusader from Cyrodiil finds a man sitting on a dock, near a smaller boat.

"Looking to hire a boat?"

"I am".

"Where are ya headed?"

"Dawnstar, please". Lord Haaf-Mersey can barely keep his eyes open.

"Climb on in the boat and get comfortable".

Lord Haaf-Mersey does so, and is asleep in minutes.

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

10:47 PM

"Let me know if there's anything else you need".

Lord Haaf-Mersey arrives in Dawnstar, only to find Marcurio did not wait here for him.

"Very well then. I shall have to go to Falkreath, then. And see to my little girl Lucia".

Haaf-Mersey plans on staying in Falkreath for awhile. As he eats some baked potatoes and beef with goat cheese melted upon them, he decides it is time to bring his manor-house into full order. Falkreath also needs his assistance, and he can become the village's Thane if he accomplishes two more tasks for the Jarl.

He also wants to seek out a wife. Being around a seductive and charmful creature such as Serana has .... touched something inside he did not know existed, by Dibella! He can't have Serana, but there must be plenty of other potentials about, in either Falkreath or Whiterun.

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

Frdas, 1:24 PM, 2nd of Morning Star

"No! Leave me alone!"

"I'll kill you if I have to!"

Lord Haaf-Mersey is taken by surprise. As he nears his home, he cannot believe it. His girl is under attack!

"YE SHALT PERISH IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, MISCREANTS!"

The Lord unsheaths his silver sword, and starts battling the attackers. Bandits? This scum seems a bit more well-equipped than the typical bandit. They are wearing steel, not furs and leather.

"Pray to Stendarr while you can!"

"I have. And yet to Arkay shall ye bow as ye fall!"

One by one the enemies perish. Haaf-Mersey apparently kills their leader, and a nearby archer decides to give up the fight.

"No more! I yield I yield!"

"You had better. For I shalt take thee to face thine maker, otherwise".

As the archer leaves, Haaf-Mersey searches for Lucia, casting Detect Life all the while. She appears far away as a blue image in his vision,

"Papa! You're back! Look what I found! Here, take it!"

"I have returnth mine little one. And I have a little something for thee as well!"

ha ha, he remembered her gifts this time!

"What is it? What is it?"

He gives her a blue dress, finally replacing the wretched green one she's been wearing since her Whiterun days. He also gives her a couple of dolls, and a honey nut treat.

"Thanks!"

I have no idea what she gave him. Went thru his inventory, and nothing is really standing out. I also wanna say how AWFUL that was. Those bandits were literally swinging at Lucia from close range! Something needs to be done about this, and this is the reason Haaf-Mersey needs to marry. Or become Thane. I think Thanes get a natural follower, right? If this follower is a female, and LHM likes her, all they gotta do is go to Riften and seal the deal

The next morning, LHM was surprised to hear an additional set of foot steps in his house. Turns out, Marcurio returned here. LHM can't get rid of the guy. Lol.

This post has been edited by Lady Saga: Dec 11 2012, 12:44 AM

[SubRosa]

I suspect that the thief was reacting to Revansch's armor. The Nightengale armor is a reward in the Thieves Guild quest line.

I suppose it must be. I looked in the CK and the Nightingale pieces have a "Nightingale Armor" keyword. The Thieves must be keying off of that. It surprised me though. I knew they would do that after you finish the TG questline. So I thought it was some sort of scripted variable that was kicked off in one of the last TG quests. Like the way random dragons are kicked off when you deliver the dragonstone to Farengar and kill the first dragon outside Whiterun. Instead the Thieves themselves must have a script that causes them to look for those keywords in your gear, then if they find them they give you money instead of attack you. But I could swear that Thieves have attacked Revansch before...

ES games are always full of surprises. One you think you know how things work, presto! they surprise you again.

[Colonel Mustard]

He also wants to seek out a wife. Being around a seductive and charmful creature such as Serana has .... touched something inside he did not know existed, by Dibella! He can't have Serana, but there must be plenty of other potentials about, in either Falkreath or Whiterun.

LHM is jousting in the lists of love, eh? Well, I could certainly see him and Mjoll the Lioness getting on rather well indeed.

And Elisabeth, there's no right or wrong way to do these. You want to post up bullet points of what you did, bullet points are fine. You want to do a journal, a journal is fine. you want to do prose, and prose is fine. Hell, if you wanted to write it in the style of an Icelandic Saga I doubt anybody would complain about the style of that!

Anyway, Terrenna's day in Skyrim...kinda sucked. First off, it's hit this bizarre glitch where no spells consume magicka; as she's a mage, it basically means that I'm playing with cheats whether I like it or not, and removes any real sense of challenge (it's now possible to spam firebolt with one hand and just hold down Heal with the other). Secondly, Lydia died! She got murdered by a powerful Draugr under Sarthaal and it left me kind of annoyed; now I have nobody to lug all my stuff around!

In any case, with that game broken I thought I might try a new character; Terrenna was kind of fun, but I was never really able to get into the role of a pure spellcaster and I do like Skyrim best when I'm in somebody's face with a weapon. So with that in mind, I started a new game as The Kid. I've been playing a lot of Bastion lately, so I'm trying the narration style in the same vein as that you get from the game's narrator; if you want an example of what this is like, I'll point you in the direction of this Let's Play.

So without further ado, we shall begin the tale of The Kid!




Well, if the Kid had one thing going for him that day, it was luck. The others were merciful, if you could call leaving him with a weapon, an old, rusty suit of armour, and a weapon merciful. But even when he was on the Bard's Leap Summit, he knew that he'd got lucky. He thought about going after them, but he didn't; no point trying to take revenge for a stupid mistake like his.

It's getting dark by this point, so the Kid looks for shelter. First place he tries is an old abandoned tower, off in the distance; inside he finds himself a Hagraven who seems eager to make his acquaintance and give him a nice and warm greeting of fireballs and claws. Now, the Kid ain't no pushover; he's a good shot with a bow, can swing a weapon pretty well and he's Breton, so he can cast a spell or two without too much trouble. But Hagravens are nasty old creatures, all hate and black magic, so he finds himself running away; no point dying like a fool so soon.

The next place the Kid tries is an old grotto; the Spriggans there don't take kindly to uninvited guests and the Kid finds himself having to run once more. It seems like tonight ain't a night where he's gonna be allowed to sleep, so he decides he's gonna have to try something else.

O' course, by this point, he realises something; the cities out to the east don't know who he is. Sure, the Folks over in the Reach might not take kindly to him, but there are other holds. He keeps his head down and stays out of trouble for a few months, and he should be fine. Hell, if he stays away from Markarth long enough they'll probably forget they even have a bounty on his head, what with all the trouble they're having with the Forsworn. The way he figures, he can head to Whiterun, maybe get himself a job as a mercenary with the Companions or something like that.

His road's a lonely one, the only company that he gets on that journey are a couple of wolves who try to stop him. The Kid stops them instead. He skins them, figuring he can make some coin from their hides, and heads on his way.

Dawn's rising overhead as he finally reaches Whiterun. He's footsore, tired and hungry, but he's got himself to civilisation and he's got himself a fresh start. And he's sure as hell hoping to make the most of it.

[Lady Saga]

Huh. That's a painted up glitch, the magicka one. Has that been reported by other gamers?

On the other hand, it's good to read about the Kid. It sounds like you're just as addicted to this game as I am. Glitch shows up in one game? Start another! Lol. I am at the point where my newest character (Sharonne the Ice Witch) has a story that I'm (finally) not going to be writing up. Her story is kinda similar to Skankee Krahk-ho's story, so I have been gaming with her when I don't feel like writing. LHM still will get the bulk of his tale written, of course.

[Elisabeth Hollow]

This is my Attmer, Kayla.I picked this name because it's my real nameand didn't feel like being creative and givng her her own name.

Also, my keys are sticking. My husband spilled my hot chocolate and some splashed on my laptop. He did this while gracefully trying to hope over our couch and sit. He broke three glasses. So please be ind aout spelling mistakes, lol

I can't believe this. I can't believe this. I got dragged into another campaign against the undead.

I HATE undead.

Falk called me again to deal with Potema. I hate Necromancers. I hate undead. You're dead. Stop acting like you're alive!
I sneak in the chapel's undercroft and dispatch any draugr and vaampires I see. Blech. Draugr disgust me the most. Their dried up bodies with their sinewy muscles showing, skin rotted off but not so rotten they are skeletons.
I keep my Ebony bow on hand. If I can kill them from a distance, I won't smell them. If I can smell them, they're too close.

Potema has called me to her side. When she spoke, my vision grew fuzzy. I wasn't expecting her to use her magicka to contact me. I'll have to steel myself for any future contact.

Draugr rose from the walls, from the water, and vampires snapped and struck at me. I kept checking my pack for cure disease potions, but I can't find any. I'm probably panicking too much to see them. It's okay, Kayla. Just get Potema's skull and bring it to Styrr. That wonderful, wonderful man who would consecrate Potema's skull and I would never have to deal with her again.

The temple's undercroft eventually turned into a cave. I will never understand why Skyrim has so many caves. How has it not collapsed from under them? A blinding light shone from above in the next room after I killed a vampire. I absentmindedly wondered why no one noticed a giant hole in Solitude as I shot the resting draugr against the wall. I heard a choked growl. Oh Sithis! One was hidden behind the pillar! I unsheathed Dawnbreaker and quickly stabbed his dried up body until it no longer moved. As a precaution I loaded the strongest fireball spell I had to burnt the corpse of the...corpse.

I continued. I saw a large lever in the center of the room. I stared at it. What...why?? Where's the gods-damned door? I pull it and duck. The wall next to me makes a grinding, scraping sound that makes my teeth hurt. I now hate ancient Nords.

I try to duck through the opening when the bars rise. I barely slip through before being crushed in half. (at this point my notes simply say "turns in" and I have no idea why I wrote that.) I see an alchemy station, and around it are old potions and dried ingredients. I taste one potion; it's a very strong healing potion. I put that in my pack and open the other one and stop myself from tasting it. Judging from the smell and viscosity and...the smell, it's Frostbite Spider venom. Wonderful. I put that in my pack as well.

The equipment seems to be functioning alright, so I check my ingredients. The only useful thing I could make is a slow poison, and a damage magicka poison. I mixed these two together. I don't know what form Potema will be in, and in case she has possessed one of her undead servants, I'll need this.

I walk through the door and hear...too much activity. That grinding, scraping sound can be heard. I slink to the next room, down the stairs and see the rotating doors. No one else seems to be around. So I stand up straight and pull a lever. One door stops...aw, Sithis. I pull it again and it continues in the other direction. I think I've figured this out. Eventually all three doors have an opening for me and I slip though quietly. But not quietly enough.

In the next room I see a draugr...no, a draugr DEATHLORD on a throne, his head bowed. A vampire casually walks out from behind the pillar and addresses me. Once he mentioned joining Potema, I lost it. I ran at him so fast he yelled in surprise. When Dawnbreaker's blade sunk into his cold flesh, an explosion resonated from the blade, reducing the vampire to ash. Tears stung my eyes. I will never, ever be ANYONE'S slave.

I heard the sound of old bones and joints rubbing against each other, papery muscles gaining strength and an old throat finding its voice.

The deathlord.

I had rushed the vampire without forming a plan of attack. I pretend I can't hear him, so when he raises up his sword for the death blow, I see it in the fire light. Right before he strikes I roll out of the way. The greatsword hits the stone ground and I can see the vibration in the sword. He doesn't care. He opens his mouth.

"FUS, RO DAH!"

I hit the stone wall, Dawnbreaker knocked out of my grasp. "Oh yeah?" I choke out. "Two can play at this game."

I take in a deep breath as the Deathlord rushes me and put all of my strength in the shout.

"IIZ!" Arms raised in another final strike, one that would have surely killed me or wounded me beyond saving, the draugr's mangled face was frozen under the ice in a look of rage. I grabbed Dawnbreaker and searched frantically through my pack for a healing potion. I had about ten seconds. I find the one from the room, and see some of my potions were broken. Sithis. I downed this one and coughed at the bitter taste of the ancient potion. Potions are NOT like wine.

I stand up and gripped Dawnbreaker. I could see the ice melting. This gods-damned leathery piece of Mammoth dung was NOT going to kill me before I killed Potema for good.

[King Of Beasts]

Great post Elisabeth Hollow! I can understand why there are so many spelling mistakes. Not much you can do about a broken keyboard. Though I'd reccoment putting quotation marks on all of the character dialogue, I'm not sure if it's due to your keyboard sticking. Great Write! Seems quite interesting

[Elisabeth Hollow]

I see quotation marks on all dialogue...Hmmm...I bet you're talking about inner dialogue. I didn't specify when she was thinking lol

This post has been edited by Elisabeth Hollow: Dec 11 2012, 10:44 PM

[King Of Beasts]

Oh I see. I just got a bit confused ( I'm a bit dyslexic so sometimes I read stuff backwards or wrong )

[Elisabeth Hollow]

It's cool :]

[mALX]

*

WOO HOO !!! Elisabeth !!! Very powerful beginning! I loved the Potema quest, that dungeon, and LOVED what you did with it in this chapter! This feels like a Kayla is a friend telling me about her day, I absolutely love that! I have no nits to mention at all, this was absolutely perfect !!!!


*

[Elisabeth Hollow]

awww! ---gets teary-eyed-- Thanks!!

[Colonel Mustard]

Huh. That's a painted up glitch, the magicka one. Has that been reported by other gamers?

Not that I know of, though I don't really frequent any forums where people report glitches and so forth, so I can't really say either way.

But yeah, I'm beginning to relapse back into my old Skyrim addiction now that I've played all the 2012 releases I was into and 2013 doesn't really have all that much that interests me. Plus with the DLC and the big load of mods abounding that I haven't tried yet I've now got a whole ton of new content to try; I'm trying to work the Kid up to level 15 or so and get him some good shouts so I can try the Moonpath to Elswyr mod.

I'm loving Kayla btw; I haven't actually done the Potema quest yet (never hung around Solitude all that much) but it's a great read and dead exciting, especially the fight with the Deathlord; those things are nasty pieces of work, and no mistake...



The Kid makes a stop just outside of town to trade goods with a small group Khajiit who've set up camp just outside the gate; gets rid of his mace and shield that he got lumbered with and finds himself a few health potions. As well as this, he gets himself a weapon more to his liking, an old iron hammer with a fire enchantment on him. Give that Kid a hammer and there ain't much he can't smash down with it.

So he heads inside town, looking for some work to do and coin to make. He lends his hand at a forge at Warmaidens, learning the basics of smithing and metalwork, and makes a little coin selling what he puts together. With that done, he makes his way to Jorrvaskr, the home of the Companions.

His greeting ain't much, what with all involved being distracted by a fistfight going on between a Dark Elf and a Nord. Figuring he ain't gonna have a chance to talk to anyone before it's over, the Kid watches. Once that's done, he asks a couple of questions about joining, and is sent to talk to old Kodlak Whitemane, Harbinger of the Companions. Kodlak takes a shine to him, says he can join if he beats Vilkas in a duel. The Kid agrees, knowing that he should be just fine when it comes to swinging his hammer. When he's asked what his name is, his says; "Folks call me the Kid." The Companions don't ask any more about it. The Kid appreciates that a lot.

He's given dogsbody work after that, fetching and carrying, sent off to a farm to go act as the muscle in some dispute. Once he gets back from that job, Skjor wants to talk to him; says he's going to an old tomb by the name of Dustman's Cairn, that he needs to fetch a fragment of the Axe Wuuthrad, the weapon once used by Ysgramor himself. Farkas is gonna go with him, see how the Kid does, and if he makes a good account of himself Skjor says he can call himself a Companion. The Kid agrees.

The journey there ain't long, and there ain't much chatter in it; neither Farkas nor the Kid are folks much inclined towards talk, and so without much talking they get along just fine. The Cairn itself has a few more surprises for them beyond just Draugr and traps, though; a bunch of crusader-bandits calling themselves the Silver Hand are waiting for them in that old tomb. At one point, the Kid gets cut off from Farkas, leaving the Companion to fend for himself against a bunch of Silver Hands who think they have him cornered. The thing they forgot is this; you back a beast into a corner and it'll fight twice as vicious to get out of there.

The Kid ain't too bothered about Farkas' little secret of being a werewolf, and he swears himself to silence; he never took the time for gossip in any case, so that's one thing that ain't much trouble to do. Once the Kid's set free, they set to work their way through the tomb; the undead and the Silver Hand alike find them too much to handle, and no matter what they throw at them Farkas and the Kid just knock them back. Some of them the Kid takes with his bow, but most of the time he uses his old, reliable friend, his hammer.

They find the fragment right at the bottom of the tomb, and the Kid finds something else real interesting too; an old wall, carved with funny runes of a kind that he's not seen before. So once all the Draugr are cleared out, he takes a moment to have a look at it. He gets a funny feeling, let's call it intuition, that he knows what one of those runes means; the word 'Inferno'; and somehow he gets the sense that if he some kinda key, he could unlock that rune's power. He does that, but that's a story for another day.

So the Kid and Farkas head back to Jorrvaskr. Farkas does him the favour of helping him claim a bounty on a bandit chief in Redoran's Retreat on the way, but once they're back in town, the Kid's taken round the back of the Companions' hall. The whole bunch of them are gathered there to meet him, and he's sworn in, one of the group.

[Elisabeth Hollow]

I LIKE this narration. It makes him seem like a cowboy!