Today in Cyrodiil, spoilers version, TES: 4 Oblivion character accounts & stories Options

[gpstr]

I'm not sure at this point what I'm going to do with Bob. I might end up shelving him for a while and letting it percolate.

He's not a sociopath - he does still feel sort of bad about the Argonian (and about the Imperial soldier before). It's not overwhelming - he probably should feel worse about it than he does - but he does at least feel some remorse.

I'm currently leaning more toward the notion that he's just sort of cowardly and/or weak-willed. With the soldier and the bear, that's really what it was - HE didn't want to fight that bear, and the soldier stepped in, and that saved him having to do it. And that's at least part of what it was with the Argonian - he was afraid to try to fight all the MD mooks without a weapon, so he picked up the dagger, but then he was still afraid - there were just too many of them and they were all looking right at him, waiting. It just seemed too... what? Scary? Complicated? Overwhelming? I'm not sure.

I've spent some more time with him over the past couple of days. He hasn't done anything really momentous, so it's been okay, but I just can't get a fix on his personality, so I'm wary of doing too much. And honestly, it's sort of exhausting investing that much time and energy into trying to figure him out. That's part of why I play so many different characters - after a while of doing that, I start getting the urge to switch to someone easy - someone with a vivid and established personality, so they'll take charge and I can just coast along for a while. And sooner or later, something will click and I'll get some more insight to the character who's giving me problems.

We'll see...

[Renee]

Does Bob tend to enter a lot of Oblivion gates? I know the last character I had who did the Main Quest (way back in 2011) would only take care of the gates which were nearest to roads, or nearest to civilized areas. He felt he didn't have enough time to delve into the really obscure ones.

Yah, you've really been getting into Bob's head quite a lot! Maybe it's time to step back and be with somebody who's got less on his / her plate. This is the reason why I tend to flip from one character to the next--it's all about perspective for me. Still, it's fun reading about Sir Bob.

mirocu: Lothran is in the Thieves Guild? I Mean, I know that he joined, but I didn't know he made it this far into the guild. Wow.

[gpstr]

No - that's another thing that leads me to believe that he's cowardly and/or weak willed. After delivering Martin and Jauffre to CRT, he passed by at least half a dozen of them without even the slightest urge to do anything other than avoid them. The one he went into near the road between Kvatch and Skingrad was the first after the original one at Kvatch, and pretty much the only reason he went in it was because it was too close to the road, so he would've ended up dealing with its creatures every time he went by. It went better than he expected, so he wasn't quite so hesitant about the next one, but again, it was mostly because it was too close to a path he expected to take again. I don't think he would've willingly gone in one otherwise.

That's in contrast to, say, my Altmer barbarian Lemdel, who really struggled early on since he was a pure fighter (bow and battleaxe) saddled with the Altmer attribute penalties, but he was eager and constantly challenged himself trying to get better. And he went through pretty much every gate he saw, from the very beginning. Bob doesn't challenge himself at all, really. He does what needs to be done, and doesn't even do that terribly enthusiastically.

[Renee]

Tirdas, 5:58 pm, Rain's Hand 16, 3rd Era 434

Days Passed: 233

Bounty: 1,250

Kahreem of Weet spends all day in his home, the Marie Elena. Taking it easy. Eating, sleeping, that sort of thing. Eventually he decides it's time to get serious, and get out of town. Head toward Cheydinhal. His big dilemma? What should he wear? He goes through several sacks placed mid-deck, and decides it could be time to break out one of his guard outfits again. This time, he'll dress as a Bravil guard. He gathers up his things, gets suited up...

...and then realizes, what would the point be of pretending to be a guard "Fokke!" if he's walking around with a bounty? He'd spent most of the previous day trying to avoid a single guard, who'd witnessed him mounting "his" horse at least three times. Getting on or off. This guard had first witnessed the Redguard stealing a bay horse on the Waterfront, and though Kahreem had already had a bounty at this point, it was not big enough for any random guard to recognize him right away.

It had taken hours for him to finally evade this guard. He'd had to ride all the way to Fort Homestead, wait until the guard followed, and then ride all the way back (crossing Lake Rumare this time) to the Waterfront. He'd then been able to sneak back to the Marie Elena; his Dark Brotherhood outfit had definitely helped.

He removes his guard's armor, and then puts on his new black robe.

8:12 pm:
Despite Kahreem's best efforts at sneaking, Servatius Quintilius, one of the shiny-armor guards, catches him just as he's passing by Armand Cristophe's place. Kahreem knows where he last saw the horse he'd been riding, and decides he'd rather spend time in jail in Cheydinhal, than in the Imperial City.

"THEN PAY WITH YOUR BLOOD!"

The riderless horse is back on the roads. Once Kahreem has safely left the Waterfront, he puts his magic Ring of Shadows on. This makes it look as though a horse is simply walking along, returning to its stable. It won't make any difference once a guard sees this 'riderless' horse, of course. By now, all guards along the road would be alerted for this very sight.

This post has been edited by Renee: Aug 28 2016, 02:07 AM

[Acadian]

How clever that Kahreem can go invis while riding! Riderless horse indeed. He keeps coming up with clever shennanigans.

[Lopov]

I had to look up the name of that Watch Captain on the UESP because I wasn't familiar with the name. Turns out he's a substitute for Lex who is already in Anvil in Kahreem's game.

Kahreem with the Ring of Shadows - could a thief want anything more?

[mirocu]

If Kahreem would ever catch a break I think he´d be bored out of his mind

[Renee]

Darkness all around. Cold and damp. The sound of dripping water, coming from nearby. What feels to be rock beneath her. Her body aches. Her head feels a peculiar combination of cold and hot. Feverish. What has happened? Where is she? Certainly not in Skingrad anymore, she feels.

Sarah Phimm stands from the cot she'd been placed upon, many hours earlier. Looks around.

"Where?"...

It's all she can say. Her body, it's so weak. Dreadfully weak. And with this one mere word, she stumbles, because she's lost some sort of tenuous grasp her mind has got left on the realness of her situation. She lies right back down on the cot, her chest heaving, her heart palpitating, as though she'd just run from Skingrad back to the Imperial City.

She struggles to stay awake. After some time, she does fall asleep. The first dream begins. And then she remembers all of it.

@-}----------

Several hours earlier...

Heartfire, 27

To-day 'tis the day, the grandest of days. I know of such, and I feel such and have taken cautions in preparation, that the accrument of these knw knowings shall prove one sodden, and sudden, turn. That Takya, and his evil-doing necromancers, all of whom await my decision posthaste, shall thusly bow their heads in disappointment.

Faor my decision, it is "no", to what-ever sce scheme they have finally concocted. "No", as in "Never."

And .. more: To-day I placed an advert upon the notice boards here in town, seeking the employ of noe one sturdy and alert man, to come and reside with me in Summitmist. Upon this advert I could not promise any payment in gold, but of certainty, shelter. And to my luck, one man inquired; a home-less Nord, displayced several years ago from Kvatch, and now living by the chapel.

Though not having seen this man in previous days nor weeks, I have great intuition that he is fair. Honest and humble. And good with a blade. And ever-so-grateful for a plac to safely rest. Assurance for my safety. And discreet. He has made promies not to tell the other waifs of his newfound place of stay.

To this Nord, by the name of Dortmund, I have revealed my position in entirety, so that he is in-the-know on the subject of Takya, and his expected messenger. And that my answer shalt be in the negatory. And if this displeases Takya's messenger, that Dortmund and I must be ready for what could become a skirmish, right here in my manor's foyer.

I have also made procurement of a simple bed of maple, ordered and constructed by Gunder himself, and had it delivered here to Summitmist, but placed within its upper foyer, right by my flaming hearth, rather than three stories up-stairs. I shalt have immediate presedence and advantage, should this messenger appear in the night, and my answer displeases to the point of aggressions.

Fare thee well, my journal, on this warm and hushful eve, that to-morrow might I might have fruitful, bountifully pleasant things to say.

12:03 am, Turdas, Heartfire 28
The man in the fancy clothes had made good time. Daylight had come nowhere near to breaking. He had not visited Skingrad in awhile, perhaps years. So it was good he had found the correct avenue, had found the correct house, and was now inside its parlor, standing over the sleeping red-haired scullery cook who'd been of such interest to him, and his cohorts. And now that he was here before her, he knew the risk had well been worth the travel.

"Wake up, my princess," he'd commanded.

"Whaaa--? Who are you?" asked the red-haired cook, grasping quickly out of bed in one swift movement. She'd tried to move in a cat-like manner, wondering if the Nord she'd hired had still been guarding the foyer below. She'd raised her hands, ready to cast fire if need be.

But the man before her was well-dressed, with an opulent air about him. Immediately, Sarah felt her resolve begin to slip.

"Hello my darling. I am Farnacas Collins. So nice to make your acquaintance."

"Oh." Sarah had said dumbly. Suddenly feeling a bit foolish for raising her hands. Though she didn't know the man before her, one thing had been for sure: he'd looked like a fop. Well-dressed and perfumed and harmless. "Farnacas," she'd replied rather slowly. "Well, how can I help you? Did my hired hand greet you downstairs?"

"Your guard? He has been given the night off. Permanently. And effective immediately. You'll have no more need of him."

"Permanently? ... Immediately," she'd replied, relaxing. This man, this Farnacas? Not a threat. Not at all.

"Such a pitiful man, but he tried his best," Farnacas had said rather smugly.

"Pitiful? What do you mean? You.... you are from Takya?"

"Takya? ... You think I have been sent from Takya? I'm afraid not," he'd answered in a crisp accent. "My name, as I said, is Farnacas Collins, and I have nothing to do with Takya, that amateur seer."

"Amateur ... seer," Sarah had answered, feeling more relaxed than ever. His eyes. This man's eyes. She'd looked into them, and could feel the most pleasant of sensations...

"No, I am not from Takya. I am of another organization entirely, and I will be right up front with you. I am a vampire."

"A ..... a vampire?"

"Absolutely. You must be surprised to see me here, in your new home. Not to worry. We have been watching you ever since you came to Skingrad. I can see you are ... unsure about my presence within your home. But it is no matter, Sarah."

"It is no matter?"

"Soon you will see," replied the well-dressed man. "Soon you will come to embrace ... Oh, what am I speaking of? Well as I said, I have been keeping watch on what you've been up to here, in Skingrad. I know much about you. Your relation to Aunt Matilde, the fact that somebody contacted you to move to Skingrad, and now you are here. IN Skingrad... Working some menial job, toiling away under the tutelage of an abominable orc."

"Matilde..." Sarah had replied, showing a tinge of concern. But this concern seemed as though it might as well have been in the next room.

"How do I know of your aunt Matilde? Well she told me about you, that is how. She told me everything. Where you are from, where you've been staying, And that you've been contacted, by many people. Although I do not know of them all, I do know of your... special talents."

"Special ... talents."

"You can immerse yourself in fire, eh? Quite a neat trick. And one which I, and my minions, are keen to exploit. You see, we vampires have an ... unfortunate weakness for fire. We cannot withstand it for mere seconds. We abhor it. And the flames of a god fire, not to mention light of the sun above, which I personally have not seen in decades. Either of these things can kill us in small time."

"... in ... small time."

His eyes ... they seemed to scream at her, that it would be alright. Everything would be alright.

"But what if we could BEAT this weakness, with perfect resistance to fire itself? Well that would be perfect, would it not? And so here's where you come in, my dear."

"Come ... in. What??"

...A depth, a sort of brevity, and latitude in those eyes....

"What do I want with you? he'd said, chuckling casually. "Well I am so glad of your inquiry. We want you to become one of us. But the catch is, unlike that lowlife who gave you this beautiful old home, I will not give you a choice."

"Not ... a choice?"

"You MUST join us. You are to become one of us, effective immediately. And I shall see to it that you're kept locked up within my lair until you are fully one of us."

... one could dance in those eyes ... and see the reflections of a thousand souls...

"Now, off we go. Nobody will notice or care that you are gone, by the way; you're too new, and un-rooted in this town. Young folk like you go moving all the time, you see? ... I have many friends, believe it or not. And I have already arranged your replacement with Mog, your employer at Two Sisters'. This replacement is a perfect human example who will keep her mouth shut, in return for a favor we've granted her."

"... favor. Favor?"

"Enough talk woman. You are coming with me now!"

"... coming ... with ... now." Sarah had replied, while a fraction of her inner mind had protested and screamed.

@-}----------

Though she doesn't know it yet, this is Sarah's last day at work.

Being proactive, she had hired a Kvatch refugee bodyguard.

He assures he'll keep her safe (and later, I could hear this guy fall over dead from upstairs, as soon as the vampire made contact with Sarah, all because of a bumped quest stage). Creepy.....

Sarah does not sleep well...

Because maybe she'd sensed something was wrong

Farnacas Collins makes his demand

And poor Sarah Phimm finds herself in exile.

This post has been edited by Renee: May 4 2022, 08:22 PM

[Lopov]

A twist I did not expect - Sarah being "kidnapped"! Looks like several different people (or factions) are interested in her because of her fiery abilities. I liked the dialogue with Farnacas (who looks very creepy BTW) as Sarah doesn't have proper control over her words and deeds.

[Acadian]

Barnabas Collins! Woot!

You did a great job of displaying how his vampire illusion abilities worked their way into Sarah's mind, insidiously easing her valid fears.

[SubRosa]

Looks like Dark Shadows are being cast upon Sarah Phimm! Very cool story with Barnabas and his desire to use Sarah's pyromancy to his own ends. But I think in the end, he will be the one getting burned...

[gpstr]

That's fascinating and well-told. Thanks for the read.

Like the rest here (and that says something awkward about age), I got the Dark Shadows reference. I'm assuming that's a mod, since the dialogue is actually in the game? A quick google didn't turn up anything.

And, on the heels of that terrific bit of storytelling, I'm going to predictably kludge the thread up with a wall of dry exposition.

-----

Since I've spent the last week or two with all sorts of old and well-established characters I don't have to think about much, taking screenies of their houses and taking that opportunity to spend some time traveling with them again, I've had a chance to think about Bob the Breton a fair bit without having to actually do anything in his game, and I think I'm starting to get him figured out.

I was sort of stuck because I had gotten the impression early on that he was easy-going and relatively pleasant, but then he went and killed that Argonian captive at the Mythic Dawn shrine in Lake Arrius Caverns. That just didn't jive. (That wasn't the first odd thing he'd done, but definitely the most notable). I kept tabs to see if it seemed that he felt any regret over that - if he didn't, then that would imply that he was sociopathic. He did, but probably not to as great a degree as he arguably should have, so that didn't seem to quite fit either way. And I still got the impression that he was easy-going and relatively pleasant. And that "easy-going" thing was sort of specific - he seems to be a "go along to get along" sort of person, but in sometimes sort of odd ways. He tends to take the superficially easy path, but it's not always the truly easier path. He went along with Jauffre's insistence that he go find Martin, then went along with Savlian's insistence that he do something about the gate, and later help retake the city. In a sense, it would've been easier for him to refuse any one of them, but he went along with them anyway. So really he ended up taking the more difficult path, because he took the easy path in the beginning, by not refusing. And I never got any indication that he resented it, even afterwards, and that in spite of the fact that retaking Kvatch in particular was very difficult and dangerous. It was ultimately just a thing that he went along with and did.

So I was stuck. Is he easy-going? Well... sort of. Is he impulsive? Well... sort of. Does he make poor decisions? Yeah... sometimes. Does he regret them? A bit, but probably not as much as he should. Does he avoid bad decisions? Yeah... sometimes, but notably not always. But I couldn't work out what was behind all of that.

It started coming together while I was traveling with someone the other day, and I started to ponder the simple fact that Bob's a Breton who uses no magic to speak of. I've had a couple of characters like that - an early Breton named Lydia who was determined to be a sword fighter, and the self-styled Altmer "barbarian" Lemdel (who, IIRC, was not coincidentally the one I was traveling with when I started thinking about this), and with both of them, they deliberately set out to focus on melee instead of magic. It was a conscious, motivated decision for them. I didn't get that impression with Bob - it's just what he does.

And as is the nature of such things, when it clicked, everything fell into place. And I spent some time with Bob last night, sort of testing it out, and I think it's right.

The thing that Bob is, underneath it all, is just not very bright. He's just... well... sort of dumb. He's not cripplingly dumb, like Hale the Nord dolt, but he's definitely on the slow side. He actually is relatively pleasant and easy-going, and he does sort of go along to get along, but he's not bright enough to always figure out that what seems right now to be the easier path isn't going to be in the long run. And he does (at least sometimes) see after the fact when he's made a bad decision, but it's still sort of distant from him, as if it's just sort of the way it goes - as if he can't quite grasp the fact that he should've made a different decision. And it's also why he uses weapons instead of magic - it isn't a conscious decision - it's just what he has to do in order to survive, since he's not bright enough to use relatively complex magic.

This could turn out to be an especially interesting roleplay. The only other notably dumb character I've played is Hale, who's so dumb that it's ridiculous - Bob is just dumb enough that it makes his decision making a bit odd. For the time being, I have to be conscious of filtering things through that - I not only have to try to figure out his motivations, but have to keep in mind that he's not entirely clear on them himself, and might not reason effectively regarding them anyway. Hale's relatively easy to roleplay (though difficult to keep alive) since his reactions are very simple. Bob's going to be different, since he does reason - he's just not really good at it.

So, finally, where is he now? He's in Leyawiin.

The one thing I did with his game was disable Kvatch Rebuilt. I'm just not all that interested in dealing with it now, and it pulls Bob in too many different directions at the same time. He's got a mission - get a Daedric artifact for Martin - and that's what he's doing.

He only knew of a few Daedric shrines, and Sanguine's was the closest to CRT, so that was the direction he headed. I had left him parked outside of All Things Alchemical, where he'd learned that they didn't have any Cyrodiilic Brandy. He checked everywhere else in Skingrad, then, since he had accumulated some loot along the way and since it seemed the most likely place to find some brandy, he made the trip back to the IC, spent the night at Luther Broad's, dumped off his loot and bought a bottle of brandy. He left later the same day and returned to Skingrad. He'd passed an Oblivion gate in the cemetery just off the road outside of Skingrad, and on his way back, since it was still relatively early and he didn't want to have to deal with that gate every time he went that way, he went into it and closed it. It was sort of long (the one in which you have to hike up a series of switchback trails connected by caves to get to the central tower), but it wasn't terribly difficult. Then he spent the night at the Two Sisters (he had been habitually staying at the West Weald, but he was a bit put off by the fact that the last time he was there, Else God-Hater attacked him and nobody even tried to help him). The next morning, he hiked back out to Sanguine's shrine, gave up his bottle of brandy and found out he was supposed to go to Leyawiin.

He hadn't been down that way before, and would've preferred to take more time, but the dinner party he was supposed to go to was the next night, so he felt some pressure to hurry and ended up going pretty much straight through to Leyawiin, and got there fairly late that night. He found an inn almost immediately - a place called the Five Claws that was just inside the gate - and was sort of thinking of at least looking around town a bit before he turned in when he was attacked by a Bosmer in an iron cuirass and carrying an iron warhammer. He was apparently a mythic dawn agent - he kept muttering something about giving his life for Lord Dagon. It was a somewhat difficult battle, mostly because of the Bosmer's armor and weapon, but Bob had the edge from the start and made it through okay. Then he decided he'd be better off just turning in, and exploring the city in the light of day.

The next morning, he went to the shop across the street from the Five Claws and sold some loot he'd accumulated (including, of course, an iron cuirass and warhammer), then talked to a few of the locals. He didn't learn anything about the dinner party, but he did hear about a woman named Rosentia something who apparently has barnyard animals in her house? He's not sure why that would be such a concern for other people, and he's got this party to deal with, and that was the point I left him at - parked in the middle of the west side of Leyawiin, probably going to try to get some more information about this dinner party if he can keep his focus.

I promise the next one will be more to the point, and who knows, I might even take a stab at a narrative. Though I suck at writing narrative, so maybe not...

This post has been edited by gpstr: Sep 6 2016, 12:49 AM

[Renee]

Yes, I'm a big Dark Shadows fan, ha ha. I had no idea how close I got Farnacas to look like Barnabas until I was in-game though. I was pretty astonished because you can't really tell what people are going to look like in the Construction Set until you're out of it, and back in the game.

gpster: No need to google. Sarah's game (her entire game) is a custom-made quest that I've been writing for several months now. Quest stages, NPCs, dialog, it's all tailor-fitted for her gameworld. Some of my characters (Kahreem and Joan of Arkay for instance) are on Xbox / no mods, but Sarah's game is all my work.

I know what you mean about dumb characters. I've had a couple 'dumb' characters over the years .... they sometimes have an intuition (good instincts) though, which makes them one of those persons who just breezes through life. This seems to be what Sir Bob is all about. He is not overly brilliant, but he gets by.

[gpstr]

Ah... got it. And I have to say I'm just that much more impressed - that you're not only writing an account of the adventure, but creating it in the CS.

And yeah - doing faces in the CS is tough, since it's so hard to tell what they're going to look like in game. It's a shame too, since it's actually easier to get just the settings you want in the CS - it's just so difficult to tell which settings you do want.

A different approach to a Bob update - not a narrative per se, but a bit of exposition that'll hopefully sort of capture some part of what I'm coming to see as his personality. Unfortunately, it's even longer than one of my normal dry descriptions would be - probably because I went through the whole series of events rather than just a broad outline. Need to maybe try to split the difference with the next one...

-----

Busy busy...

Maybe he shoulda taken Rosentia what's-her-name up on her offer to pay him for getting rid of that staff she had. She said she had a Daedric item she'd give him as a reward, and for that matter, wasn't the staff a Daedric item too? Maybe that woulda worked for Martin.

But instead, here he was in a prison cell, with nothin' more'n the shabby clothes on his back and a vague but mostly pleasant memory of the countess and her guests runnin' around the dining room as naked as the day they were born. Okay - he had to admit that was actually pretty funny, and nice too - that countess was kinda hot really. 'Course, it was just when he was noticing that that that big horsey woman who was hangin' around the countess started shriekin' and comin' at him and he realized he was just as naked as they were. It was almost a relief when the guards arrested him, since at least they pulled her off first. Thought she was gonna claw his eyes out.

What was he gonna do now though? Everything he owned just vanished. He didn't even realize it was gone until that broad started comin' at him and he felt a lot more exposed than he should've - not just no sword but no nothin' at all. This wasn't gonna be fun. Hafta think about things a bit.

By the time he got out a day later (seemed like sort of a short sentence, but then, he wasn't even sure what they'd charged him with. Indecent exposure? Assault with a funny spell? Hehe...) he at least knew where he was gonna start. He didn't have any money, so really the only place he could go was the Mages Guildhall. At least he could find a bed there, and there were boxes and barrels and crates all over the place - maybe he could scrounge together some stuff ta sell and at least get enough gold to buy a bit of armor or a sword.

Not much had changed since the last time he was there (well... that was just the other day, so that sorta made sense). The old lady was still crazy, the Nord guy was still creepy, that Agata was still all business but smiling anyway and the other two were... in the back room, puttering around with whatever they puttered around with. When he walked in, everything just sorta stopped for a second while they all looked at him in his prison duds, but nobody said a word. Probably news of a naked countess and her naked guests travels fast. Nobody said anything about it though - after they upped and downed him a bit, they just went on like normal. Or sorta normal, considering the crazy lady and the creepy Nord and Agata all business and smiles and those other two back in the back room doing whatever they do back there.

He spent the next hour or two rummaging around the guildhall, picking up some good odds and ends. He didn't touch anything that was obviously out like it belonged to somebody - he wasn't no thief - but if it was some old dusty moldy thing in a crate tucked in a corner, he figured it prob'ly really belonged to somebody who was long since dead, and they wouldn't miss it. The best find was a steel shortsword, and he also found some fairly valuable stuff - some pelts, some empty soul gems, a coupl'a pieces of jewelry. Then he crawled into one of the beds upstairs - wasn't sure if it was one that somebody else used, but figured they'd sort it out somehow.

He bolted awake in the middle of the night, but it took him a minute to figure out why. Then he saw some guy in... prison duds? Yeah - that's what they were - looked just like his. Bald guy. With a dagger, and a crazy look on his face. Prob'ly not a good thing.

By the time he got outta bed, Agata was in the room and whalin' on the guy. Here she was, sorta the head of the local mages guild (since the old lady's crazy), but she wasn't castin' a single spell. She was just beatin' the hell outta him. Maybe it's a Nord thing. Bob almost just let her finish him off, but he remembered the Imperial soldier that didn't beat the bear, and he really didn't wanna see Agata get hurt over whatever it was that was going on (though if he was a betting man, he'da bet on Agata anyway), so he got around to the other side of the guy and then he and Agata sorta passed him back and forth until he was just a heap on the floor. Felt sorta sorry for the guy really. Turned out to be that crooked guard from the Imperial City - Audens something-or-other. Had some crazy rambling note on him, and more important (all things considered) about 50 septims. That'd help.

Bob went to check on Agata - make sure she was okay - and she just smiled and nodded and pushed her way past him and climbed into the bed and went to sleep, with the dead guy still all huddled up in the corner. Maybe that's a Nord thing too. That and not waking up. He kinda thought about climbing in the bed with her anyway, but he sure didn't want her beatin' the hell outta him too, so... gonna hafta find another bed.

And... there wasn't another bed. He thought about tryin'ta sleep on one of the benches, and thought about gettin' a room, but it was already near dawn, and he didn't really have any money to spare, so he just made his way down to the Five Claws (Bosmer guy was still propped up against the wall out front - bodies don't seem to bother these folks much) and took a table and tried to look in-con-spic-yew-us 'til the shops opened.

When the shops did open, he discovered that nobody in Leyawiin had any cheap armor or weapons worth buyin'. The old Bosmer couple had nothin' really - some arrows, but no bow, and some iron weapons, and for that he might as well just hang onto that shortsword he already had. And the armorer wasn't much better. Well... he had a lot of really nice stuff, for WAY too much money, but other'n that he just had about the same sort of junk. There wasn't one single piece he could buy with the money he had (almost 200 septims all told after he'd sold all the stuff he had to the Bosmer couple) that'd do him any good.

He'd been kinda thinkin' about another way of maybe doing things, but he didn't really like thinkin' about it. But now it looked like the only choice. Here he was, a long ways away from anything useful, with nothin' but some prison duds and a shortsword. He sure wasn't gonna be able to fight his way to anywhere, but he could prob'ly run. In fact, with so little stuff, he could prob'ly run faster, and further, than anyone who was tryin'ta catch him. It'd be a bit dicey, but it sure beat tryin'ta fight his way through. And... well... it's not like there was any reason to wait, so out the gate and up the road he went.

He hadn't made it even a mile outta Leyawiin when he came across another of those Oblivion gates. There hadn't been one there when he came down - he'd seen a couple over toward the other side of the river, but on this side, where he'd come down the other day, it'd been clear the whole way. But there was one there now.

Somebody oughta do somethin' about those things.

Oh.

Hey...

He... was he that somebody?

That was a weird thought - almost made him stop runnin' right there, thinkin' about it. Always before, when there was somethin' that somebody oughta do somethin' about, it meant somebody else. He'd never thought that someday he might be the somebody who oughta do somethin' about somethin'. I mean - he'd always sorta wanted to be somebody - you know, instead of nobody. He just wasn't so sure that he wanted to be the somebody who oughta do somethin'. Or at least not the somebody who oughta do somethin' about gates to a world of lava and monsters and shouting guys in spiky armor.

That was when he saw the bandits, hangin' 'round the road down by that cove with the dock on it. He'd checked that place out on his way down, just 'cuz it looked like the kinda place bandits'd hang around at, but nobody'd been there then. That was sorta late at night though, and this was broad daylight - did bandits just work during the day? Is it like any other job, and they clock in for the day, then go home to the family at night? Anyways, they were there now, and one of 'em had a bow. Bob just put his head down and kept going.

He took an arrow in the arm, but it wasn't much of a wound and he didn't even hafta slow down to cast a healing spell and deal with it. Then he passed one of those mud crabs, and was relieved to hear the bandits getting into it with the mud crab. He kept going.

He passed another bandit just short o' Bravil, but this one had a battleaxe, and all she could do was take one swing sort of towards him as he went by. He never saw or heard her again.

He thought about stopping in Bravil, but it was still early and he was feeling fine, so he just kept on going, all the way up and into the IC. He passed a wolf near the bridge to the IC, but the guards jumped all over it, and that was that for the trip. Even easier than he'd hoped.

He swung by his stash in the Market district and picked up his old leather armor, the katana he'd got from the Blades, and that magic bow he found in that one Oblivion gate. He wasn't so sure about using the bow, since he maybe couldn't recharge it and definitely couldn't repair it, but he didn't have a lot of choice, and he was really sorta happy to have an excuse to use it. Then, since it was still fairly early, he swung by Luther's and had a bite to eat, then set out west. Figured he'd at least make it to Skingrad, and maybe even out to Sanguine's shrine.

Turned out he didn't make it past Weye before his legs started to give out. The whole time he'd been running, they were fine, but guess stopping wasn't such a good idea after all. He barely made it across the bridge. He spent the rest of the day sprawled in a chair at the inn (that woman sure does love wine - rest of the world's going on about Oblivion gates and the Emperor's murder, but not her - almost gotta respect that in a way - like the tomato lady in Skingrad), then slept the sleep o' the dead.

Set out bright and early the next morning. His legs still ached a bit, but they loosened up as he walked (had enough running yesterday), and the trip was fine. He got a coupl'a chances to try out the new bow, and decided he was gonna keep using it. He'd just hafta try'n rememberta swing by one of the armorers when he got the chance and get it repaired (and maybe pay for some training so he could learn to do it himself). And he'd heard stories, and found out that he really could recharge it at one of those Ayleid well thingies, so it'd probably be okay. And it was just cool to hit an Imp with an arrow from it and see it burst into flames.

He didn't even bother to go by Skingrad - just swung up the trail to the north (right past where that gate had been before, and see? He was the somebody who hadda do somethin' 'bout those things and when he did, it was done), then cut off west across the river, then up ta Sanguine's shrine. And lo'n' behold, he didn't just get a reward - all his stuff was there waiting for him and what a relief that was. And the reward was perfect, sort of. He'd been afraid it might be something that he'd actually wanna keep, but it was a staff that did... something. He wasn't really quite clear on what exactly, but it didn't seem to be something that would do him any good, so it'd be fine to give it to Martin. First though, he was gonna hafta swing back by the Imperial City and dump off all this stuff he didn't need no more, since he got the rest of his stuff back.

Busy busy.

[haute ecole rider]

That was a weird thought - almost made him stop runnin' right there, thinkin' about it. Always before, when there was somethin' that somebody oughta do somethin' about, it meant somebody else. He'd never thought that someday he might be the somebody who oughta do somethin' about somethin'. I mean - he'd always sorta wanted to be somebody - you know, instead of nobody. He just wasn't so sure that he wanted to be the somebody who oughta do somethin'. Or at least not the somebody who oughta do somethin' about gates to a world of lava and monsters and shouting guys in spiky armor.

This part made me laugh out loud. Julian of Anvil was always that somebody! Too bad she wasn't around to take that bit of pressure off of ol' Bob . . .

[Renee]

Hey this is awesome! Fun to read! I just polished off a couple bowls of granola while reading this before bed!

Somebody oughta do somethin' about those things.

Oh.

Hey...

He... was he that somebody?

:

This post has been edited by Renee: Sep 7 2016, 03:02 AM

[gpstr]

Pshew...

I reached a point last night, rereading it for the umpteenth time, when it took all of my willpower to not just delete it entirely.

I still think it's pretty bad myself, but thanks.

The whole "somebody oughta do something" bit came to me just as related, since, as has been his most common reaction, when he saw the gate, he just kept his head down and kept going. Granted, that time he had a pretty good reason, since he was running home with nothing more than prison duds and a steel shortsword, so keeping his head down and keeping going was the way he was dealing with everything. But keeping his head down and keeping going has been the way he's reacted to most things that seemed too complicated to deal with all along, and that whole "somebody oughta do something" thing is a cliche, and it just sort of spiraled out from there.

It's provided a good "in" to get him to do stuff too, since he's really not all that keen on doing stuff, but he's been sucked into the main quest, which requires doing a fair bit of stuff, so there has to be some reason that he does it. He's not bright enough to figure out what really needs to be done when, but he's too independent to just do as he's told, so there had to be some reason for him to go along with all the stuff he's being asked to do.

And to that end, by way of a (somewhat) shorter update, last night, on the way up to CRT to deliver Sanguine Rose to Martin, he saw the Oblivion gate near the Orange Road turnoff (which he's passed by every other time, since it's far enough from the road that the Daedra don't notice him, so something he was willing to keep avoiding doing anything about), and, fired by the sort of flattering understanding that now he's the somebody who oughta do something, he actually went in and closed it.

And better yet, after he talked to Martin, Jauffre told him that he needed to show the Bruma guards how to deal with their new Oblivion gate, and he was actually sort of eager to do it. I don't think he's ever been in that position before, where he knows something that somebody else doesn't know, and they're depending on him to teach them about it. It made him feel important in a way that nothing else so far had.

He had a bit of a moral crisis though, since one (well... both actually, eventually) of the Bruma guards died along the way, and Bob couldn't pass up the opportunity to take his cuirass and shield, figuring that nobody would notice, then the two dead guards' bodies appeared on the ground after they closed the gate, with one notably missing his armor and shield, and Bob ended up feeling like a bit of a scumbag.

He also got the word from Martin and Jauffre that he needs to go to Sancre Tor, but I'm playing it that Jauffre not only warned him that it's a dangerous place, but told him that he needed to be sure he was well-prepared, so he's actually going to take some time and finish up the MG recommendations and build his Armorer skill up to the point that he can repair enchanted gear, then do some serious upgrades on his gear. Even with his new-found determination, he's really struggling in the Oblivion gates with his unenchanted gear, and using Hatred's Soul has clued him on on the advantages of good enchantments, AND on the problems with not being able to repair enchanted stuff.

After the Bruma gate, he beat it out of town and down the hill to the IC, dumped off extra stuff, then swung by Rohssan's and picked up a new sword (Jaysus' Steel Tizona, to which I added a scabbard), then spent most of his remaining money on Armorer training. He still can't repair enchanted gear, but he's getting closer. He spent the night at Luther's, then set out the next morning for Bravil, and is currently parked just north of the Oblivion gate near the Inn of Ill Omen.

[Renee]

I still think it's pretty bad myself, but thanks.

No, it's fine. It's fun to read, that's all that matters to me. Nobody is trying to win the Pulitzer around here.

[mirocu]

Interesting development on Bob there, gpstr. I can somewhat relate to the inflated ego one gets for knowing something someone else doesn´t. It´s a little addicting..

[gpstr]

Yeah... it was sort of an odd thing with Bob and that mission to teach the Bruma guard how to deal with Oblivion gates, since he's obviously the center of lots of things - starting with the Emperor himself telling him that he was "the one." But somehow that all seemed sort of distant to him - like he couldn't quite get his head around any of it. This was more immediate and he got it - he, all by himself, was going to show them how to close an Oblivion gate. That meant he was somebody important.

I'm kind of curious to see if he'll have worked out at least some idea of how important by the end of the MQ. My guess is that he still won't quite have though - I don't think it's in him to really consider things on that broad of a scale.

So I was playing last night and this thing happened, and I started writing it out in my head, so I had to stop and write it out for real. The problem though is that I couldn't come up with any satisfactory way to end it, and I had a few ideas for how to frame it, but didn't trust myself to write a decent setting along with the dialogue (monologue, really), so I just wrote the monologue and let it go at that.

------

Overheard at Silverhome-on-the-water:

So I need ya to do something for me, okay?

Lemme explain here first.

This is just... it's just the weirdest thing... I mean... some weird stuff has happened last coupla months or so, but this just...

So I'm in the Imperial City, right? Well... first, I was down here in Bravil, dealing with the mages guild stuff so I can get in and use their enchanting altars, and that Kud-Ei sent me off ta get back a staff belongs ta one o' the other mages, and it turned out some guy in the IC had it, so I'd gone up there to get it back from him.

So I'm in the IC, lookin' for this guy - name's Soris Arenim and word was he lived in Talos Plaza. So I find his house and the door's open, so I went in - gonna talk to him and see 'bout gettin' this staff back - and the first thing I sees is this Mythic Dawn assassin comin' at me. You heard about the Mythic Dawn? The people killed the Emperor? They got these assassins see - I've been runnin' into 'em all over - they just appear - they're like normal people y'know, but then they go all crazy and they summon up this magical armor and stuff and they start attacking me, goin' on about Lord Dagon this and Lord Dagon that 'n...

No, really! Seen like five or six of 'em so far, all over the place - pretty much every town's got at least one, and they attack me when they see me 'n I gotta fight 'em off 'cuz they're tryin'a kill me, but the thing is... no - hang on a second. Gettin' ahead o' myself. There's somethin' weird there, but jus' let me tell the rest o' the story, then we'll get ta the weird bit.

Well yeah, but I mean the really weird bit. Yeah, it's all weird, but just wait.

So this assassin's comin' at me 'n he's got this magic armor and a magic mace and stuff, 'n he's goin' on 'bout how he's gonna give his life for Lord Dagon, 'n I'm thinkin' "I sure hope this ain't the guy's got the staff, since it's gonna be kinda hard to get it back from him if he's dead y'know," but what else can I do? He's swingin' at me with his mace and goin' on about Lord Dagon, so I pull out my sword and start swingin' back at him.

So we're crashin' back 'n forth in this room, 'n he's hittin' me but I'm hittin' him more so I'm not too worried really, and I start noticin' that there's two people 'round the corner, out 'a sight, talkin'. They're jus' chattin' away, like it's just a normal Loredas afternoon and there ain't two guys tryin' a kill each other in the livin' room.

No - I'm not kiddin' - we're crashin' 'roun' the room, shoutin' and knockin' stuff over and metal clangin' together - I can barely hear 'em over all the noise we're makin' - but they're just goin' on with their normal chitchat, like it's not happenin' at all.

So I finally kill the guy, and when he's dead all his magical stuff disappears, and it's this fancy Dunmer guy I seen 'roun' town - this Ulen Athram guy who was all'atime goin' on about how he made a fortune in the flin trade or somethin' and now he's retired to the IC 'n livin' a life o' ease. So I jus' stan' there, catchin' my breath and lookin' at him and tryin'a figger out what I'm gonna do now, and all'a time these two people are still back there talkin' like nothin's goin' on, 'n I'm thinkin' how this ain't the guy I'm lookin' for, so I figgers it mus' be one o' them, 'n sure 'nuff - I go 'roun the corner 'n back there by the stairs is Mr. and Mrs. Arenim, 'n they finally stop chattin' n' look over at me, like they just then noticed that I was there.

So what else can I do? I kinda straighten up and brush myself off and start talkin' to this Soris Arenim, askin' him 'bout the staff, 'n I gotta sorta chat him up a bit 'n that's still not enough, so I gotta use this scroll I got from Kud-Ei to charm him a bit, 'n he's finally willin' ta give up the staff, but I gotta buy it from him. I jus' wanna get outta there by then - his wife's wandered away and I'm sure she's gonna see this body sprawled out in the livin' room 'n start screamin' 'bout murder 'n I don't think I wanna be there then. I mean, it's not like it was really my fault since he attacked me, but it's just so weird and I don' know what I'm gonna do about it if she starts screamin' 'n stuff. So I give Soris the money and he gives me the staff and I start headin' for the door. 'N when I come through the livin' room, Mrs. Arenim's in there, sorta looking down at the body and I'm thinkin' "Uh oh - here we go," 'n I'm just tryin'a figger out if I should say something or make a break for it, and she just turns around and walks back inta the kitchen 'n I hear her say to her husband, "Whats up with you?" like she didn't even see nothin'.

No - I'm not kiddin'! She was standin' there, lookin' straight at the body, then she just turned aroun' and went back inta the kitchen like it was nothin'.

I don' know... I mean - the body's definitely right there on the floor and the room's all tore up and there's blood all over and stuff, 'n she was standin' right there lookin' at it, but it was like she didn't see it, y'know? I don' know...

'N listen - that's not even the first time it happened. I didn't put it together 'til later, but a coupla weeks ago, I was in Skingrad 'n I walk inta the West Weald 'n this woman starts attacking me - same deal, except she's got a claymore instead of a mace, though this was the first time I saw one o' them assassins 'n I didn't know yet that they usually got a mace, so all I knows is this woman in this weird armor's attackin' me, 'n I end up havin' ta kill her. 'N when she dies, all her stuff disappears and it turns out ta be this local name o' Else God-Hater, 'n...

Yeah - God-Hater.

Yeah - goin' on about giving her life for Lord Dagon - yeah, I thought that was kinda funny too. But anyway, I thought it was sorta weird then 'cuz there was three or four other people in the room and not one of 'em did a thing. I thought then that they jus' didn't wanna get involved, 'n it really kinda pissed me off, but now I'm not so sure.

Had one in Leyawiin a few days ago too - Bosmer guy, 'cept this one didn't have the armor and stuff - he was just in an iron cuirass and had this big ol' warhammer, but he was sayin' all the same stuff about Lord Dagon 'n all, so he was definitely one of 'em. This was right out in front o' the Five Claws but it was the middle o' the night 'n there wasn't no one else aroun', so at least it wasn't like people were there and didn't see it so I didn't really think much o' that at the time, but y'know - when I left the nex' day, the body was still there propped up against the wall right by the entrance and it was sure like nobody was seein' that. Thought it was kinda weird at the time, but after all this...

But see... that's still not all o' it. See... after that whole deal with the Arenims and stuff, I beat it outta the IC 'n I come back here, 'n I went up to the mages guild and I give the staff to Kud-Ei and she thanks me 'n all and that's all dealt with, so I go back out and I figger I'm gonna come up here and jus' set a bit 'n maybe drink a beer or three, 'n I come aroun' the corner 'n there's another o' them Mythic Dawn assassins right there in the street - same deal, all decked out in that armor and swingin' a mace and goin' on 'bout Lord Dagon and stuff.

No - really! Right out there, not more'n half an hour ago.

N' just like with the others, we're fightin' away, 'cept it's right out there in the street, 'n jus' like the others (since I'm payin' attention now and notice it fer sure), there's other people aroun' 'n again, it's like none of 'em seen a thing. I'm jus' fightin' there by myself 'n wonderin' how come it's like nobody's even seein' it.

So I finally kill the guy 'n it's some guy I ain't never seen before - looks like he's a smith, but I ain't seen him 'round town before, 'n...

Yeah - Nord guy. Works up at the castle? I dunno - like I said, I never seen him before. Might be him though - sounds about right.

Yeah, no kiddin. Couldn't'a been more'n half an hour ago, right before I come in the door there.

So... yeah. So... what I need you to do... I need you to go outside there and jus' look. Jus' tell me if you see a body out there. 'Cuz this is really startin' ta freak me out...

Yeah... no... I'll be right here. I ain't goin' nowhere.

This post has been edited by gpstr: Sep 8 2016, 06:11 PM