[X] My Assistant

[macole]

Oh my gosh, I remember getting Helga out of jail.

[Lena Wolf]

Oh my gosh, I remember getting Helga out of jail.

I remember reading about it in your stories! Along with the wonder how on Nirn did that girl get such a name...

So now if you install TWMP one day, you can do it all over again and hear her talk!

[Lena Wolf]

An anecdote for you. This happened today.

You're playing a game that is rated to have some adult content. You come across a nymph in all its aquatic glory (she is aqua-coloured with a suggestion of nipples). You fall for her charms, even though all she wants to do is kill you and eat your brain. You make a video of this (the fight, not the eating of the brain). You post it somewhere on the internet. You get slammed with a "nudity" punishment. You return to the creator of the game and request that nymphs should be wearing shorts and bras.

The question here is whether you would have fallen for the nymphs' charms in the first place if they were wearing clothes?

[Acadian]

Clamshells anyone?

[Lena Wolf]

So, the solution is then to play ESO instead because the nymphs there are more modest. (Although they will probably still eat your brain.)

[macole]

Claire says no to clam shells claining they're not supportive enough.

to answer the question, NO. (If I say yes several pairs of angry eyes will burn holes in my back.)
I've been told that the lack of clothing is a distraction technique used to make the mind more susceptible to natural charm spells. Not really necessary but effective none the less.

[Acadian]

Claire wins!

[Lena Wolf]

I have too many projects going. Could it be true? It seems so.

I have therefore been on a path of finishing up some of them. Since I released Lena's Companions master files as a separate mod, I started releasing companion files as well. They've been hanging around here for a long time, some of them for a very long time, they've all been in my game in some form or other, but having to clean them up and get them ready to go makes them "finished". It just puts a milestone in the project development path and allows me to move on. Also it gives me a fixed version that I can return to in case my future improvements "improve" them beyond usable...

I still have four companions to finish up, and then I feel I'll be able to park them for a while and get on with something else, such as playing.

What did you do that for?

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Dec 13 2022, 12:53 AM

[Lena Wolf]

The Black Pearl

"There is no such thing as a black pearl!" Am-Ra frowned at her companion. "I travel all over Skyrim, and all you find inside clam shells, is a bit of meat and sometimes a regular pearl. Black pearls are a fairy tale!"

"Not true," a Khajiit in red coat shook his head. "Khajiit knows. Khajiit has seen a black pearl himself."

The conversation was held in hushed voices, and yet everyone at the Bee and Barb turned around and stared at the Khajiit.

"You're lying," Am-Ra retorted flatly. "You're just repeating the same nonsense as that captain - he even named his ship 'The Black Pearl'. Completely besotted, he is!"

"Captain Octavius Rex is a respectable gentleman who is welcome here any time!" Keerava proclaimed loudly from the bar, noticing that the captain just entered her establishment. The scales on Am-Ra's face changed colour, but she didn't say anything, and the conversation in the room went back to mudcrabs and goblins.

"Did you say you've seen a black pearl yourself?" A Bosmer joined Am-Ra and the Khajiit at their table. He spoke very quietly, knowing that only beastfolk and the Bosmer had sufficiently sensitive hearing.

"Khajiit saw a black pearl," the cat purred. "They exist."

"So if that is true, then perhaps the amulet... Could that be true as well?"

Am-Ra rolled her eyes at more such nonsense, but the Khajiit continued purring: "Khajiit doesn't know for sure for he has never seen the amulet, but Khajiit believes it is true..."

The Bosmer rubbed his chin, then slipped a heavy coin pouch into Khajiit's coat pocket. "If you have any more information, I am all ears..."

The Khajiit smiled a toothy smile, got up and motioned the Bosmer to follow. They crossed the road and disappeared behind the Chapel of Mara - a secluded spot favoured for secret conversations. Am-Ra shook her head at this and smirked, since everyone in Riften knew that if you stood on top of the hill behind the Chapel of Mara, you didn't even need beastfolk hearing to overhear anything that was said below... The sound carried. She knew also what the Khajiit was going to say to the Bosmer: that the black pearls could be occasionally found in the very same clam shells that normally produced ordinary pearls; and that no one knew where the forge was located that could fuse black pearls together into an amulet; and that even if someone stumbled upon that forge by accident, he would not survive it because such a forge would be undoubtedly guarded by a Dragon Priest at least. So what was the point?

The Khajiit returned some time later, inconspicuously dropping a coin pouch into Am-Ra's pocket. He counted a stack of septims, signalling Talen-Jei to bring his usual. "One Velvet LaChance," Talen-Jei put the drink in front of him, swiping the septims into his own pocket.

"Another one fell for it," Am-Ra grinned.

"It's true though, about the black pearls," the Khajiit looked a bit offended. "Khajiit didn't lie."

"No, but Khajiit didn't tell the Bosmer the most important part, did he?" The colour of Am-Ra's scales changed again, becoming iridescent - she was laughing with silent laughter.

"Well, no, we don't want anyone to actually find that forge, do we?" The cat's whiskers were trembling with laughter too. "Who would pay for Khajiit's drinks then?"



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am working on the next batch of quests for Skyrim. It's all true - the pearls, the amulet, the ship, the captain... the Dragon Priest as well. The trick is to link it all together to get the ultimate prize.