If you want your hold guard to be a her, let me know and I will email you my Deadwalker race mod. It is what I used to create Peresphone.

Captain Zanimal Sadri
Master of the Northern Cardinal
Solitude Dock Post Number 457
Haafingar, Skyrim


Brother dear,


I have forgotten when last we spoke. The years have lost their meaning. Set aside what grievances you may harbor from our mortal lives. At last our time has come.

Some associates of mine have gone to sack the Hall of the Vigilant. Their errand is one of utmost importance to our Lord, though I have no further details. They seek to improve their position here at court. Politics bore me terribly, but they’re a fact of life here. A life that holds many advantages.

My associates’ failure can be your opportunity. You know the power of which I speak. I have access to magic I couldn’t possibly imagine before. But my Lord does not share his Gift lightly.

Hasten to The Pale and seek out the Vigilants’ Hall. If you are worth our maker’s blood you will pick up the trail of my associates. Find them. Kill them all and claim their prize. Bring it to my Lord and join me. Then let the world tremble.


Hugs,

Feran Sadri

So I decided to go for the vampire pirate. I found the name “Zanimal” a while ago while poking through the Dunmer lore names article. I don’t know if there’s an actual guy named Zanimal in Arena or Daggerfall, but it was too funny to pass up. He’s a sorcerer born under the Steed so he has no movement penalty for his heavy armor. Fire in one hand and Soul Trap in the other. This is the first character I’ve had who loves the Soul Trap spell! And he’s good at it. My favorite moment so far was soul-trapping a bunny right before a wolf killed it, then soul-trapping and killing the wolf. This guy is fun but kind of an a-hole. He’ll use two-handed blades imbued with fire for backup since fire is his Destruction focus. Also I never noticed that the magical part of weapon attacks can’t be blocked. Hah!

I based his skills loosely on Oblivion’s Sorcerer class, switching Enchanting for Alchemy. He won’t take any armor or weapon perks since he’ll rely on his Destruction and Enchanting skills/perks to increase the enchantment damage of his blade. (At least I think that’s how it works.) After he runs out of magicka he likes to use the katana-style long sword he’s found and already enchanted. That makes sense to me since he’s not looking to poke through an opening in armor, he just needs to make contact and let the enchantment work. We’ll see what happens if he ever finds a staff.

He got his butt kicked while taking back his ship (Northern Cardinal mod) from rival pirates. Thankfully he survived. Right now the Zanimal is gathering his crew and heading to The Pale following his brother’s advice. (Feran Sadri is the bat-faced vampire alchemist at Castle Volkihar.) If things work as planned he should be able to sail his own ship to the castle.

(I took some liberties with the Fort Dawnguard part of the questline, since I’m tired of thinking up reasons why a vampire hunter recruit would turn to vampirism after seeing the grossest vampire thing ever.)

Thank you for the offer, SubRosa! I think I’m going to go with a new Njall, but I’ll likely make a female draugr someday when I think up a good enough story for her. Persephone is so awesome! I’ve already made Njall’s living followers Rafi and Tor with the guard voice sets for his alive life. They sounded hilarious when I tested them. Tor said one of Mjoll’s remarks about the brisk air and her Nord blood, and Rafi said the male guard’s comment about crawling under some furs. Fingers crossed for the bellyful of mead!

'Zanimal' How clever, and a pirate to boot. He could call his ship 'Bloodrunner'.

Zanimal sounds wonderful Grits! Can't imagine being a vampire pirate is easy.... You'd struggle to find a crew willing to work for a vamp and all that sailing at night could get tricky (unless you had a whole crew of vamps)

The Zanimal is a riot. Funnily enough he has a tremendous zest for living which is why he went vamp in the first place. I’m using a couple of mods that provide random mayhem, and this guy runs to battle with a pure joy that is unfettered by conscience. This morning I found that my player voice mod got an update including a very sarcastic and profane set, so his comments are perfect for him and hilarious. Also the Z-man LOVES the booty, not surprising considering his occupation. He’s picked up everything he’s come across unlike some of my squeamish minimal looters. Thank goodness for the Steed Stone.

When he gets back to the ship he’s going to appoint a first mate so they can sail during the day. It’s awesome to have a guaranteed light-safe haven parked at the dock for daylight hours. He just has to remember which port.

I think I absorbed a little too much of the local pirate history when we went to the beach this summer. Or “privateer” depending on which deeds are being discussed and whose side wrote the book.

‘Bloodrunner’ is an awesome name, Acadian! Yay!

I was gonna say: I was confused at first because this 'Captain' is seeking to mess with the Vigilants. I was thinking 'Captain' as in Watch Captain, probably Imperial. Then I see that you've got a pirate.



Ha ha this is like the guy I had two years ago: The Mighty Khahkhayre. He was also a total pr!ck. Not really pure evil, just rude and obnoxious. A personality thing much more than a good/evil thing.


Funny how this works, right? Mych became a vamp for the same reason. She found mortal life dull, but the life of a vampire completely engaging. She accepted the vampire's "curse" wholeheartedly.

Lookin' forward to more Zanimal, G.

Zanimal has recruited most of his crew, including one of my old characters Asrael who now lives in Ivarstead as an NPC. He is not too impressed with Serana. This is the first time I’ve had a character meet her already as a vampire. According to her dialog she was locked away not long after she was turned. This might explain why she sounds more like a whiney kid than a dread creature of the night. Regardless the Zanimal has decided that she’s not very good at being a vampire.

Still not sure if he’ll be able to sail to the castle. Things got very crashy for a while at the Windhelm docks. They were shooting from the ship at a bear on the shore. Probably not recommended.

Here’s a picture of the Bloodrunner docked in Windhelm. She’s an ugly beast up close, but she sleeps nine crew all of them delicious. Actually the Z-man has only snacked upon one of them, and she’s not one of his raiders so he figures she’ll have time to rest and recover while he’s dining out.

The Zanimal scored what I thought was a very nice suit from a dead guy in Dimhollow Crypt, but he prefers his pieced-together outfit. Steel plate cuirass and gauntlets, Witchplate hood and boots. The boots were a lucky find off one of those Altmer shield mages we’ve been talking about. I forget where he found the hood. Probably somewhere gross. The Zanimal is not weak in the stomach.


In other news, Abiene seized control of her test session and took a bunch of quests in Solitude. She has Jerric with her. SubRosa, you would be so proud of her. Not only does she publically own up to having wild hair, but she’s also purchased an Adept robe and headed out adventuring.

It seems that her Healing Hands spell helps both Jerric and her summoned sabrecat, so when things get rough she lets them past and supports from behind. She also sometimes stands behind Jerric’s shield arm with her Ward up for both of them when they’re getting pelted by archers. Not sure if that works at all, but it’s a pretty badass move for Abiene.

She’s also made some progress with her Illusion spells, and her Alteration spells are now as good as armor would be at her level. This all happened the first night they spent at Jerric’s Solitude cottage. After he went to bed she gave herself a stern talking-to. She’s not just a healer, darnit, she’s a University trained mage.

(Jerric’s Solitude house is the adorable Princess Solitude Barnacle Cottage by Princess Stomper, right by the market well. Jarl Elisif insisted that he own property inside the city, otherwise he’d just stay at the Skeever. He’s rarely there so feel free to stop in and drink some ale if you’re in town. It’s never locked. )

Gosh, I'm flattered that you actually named Captain Zanimal's ship the Bloodrunner. She looks imposing indeed out in the harbor.

Very clever (and brave) of Abiene to figure out ways to help fight from the rear in a supportive role.

I didn't even realize the Princess (Stomper) was making SkyMods. Neat, and I can see (having owned it in our last playthrough) that the vanilla house mansion in Solitude is waaay too much place. Can't even imagine trying to keep it clean! Buffy's with Jerric - this time her plan is to simply live at the Skeever while in Solitude. After all, Buffy (and I) can listen to Lisette sing for hours.

Marius’s house in Riften (Riften Riverside Home) is another delightful Princess creation. The downstairs is especially neat.

I had to smile at Buffy’s remark in the picture thread about roots and wings. Most of Jerric’s crew have found some place in Skyrim to leave a spare toothbrush, but Lildereth keeps everything in her (and Jerric’s) pack.

And of course they all have built Lakeview Manor in their games, but that is Aravi and Kharjo’s house.

I have princess_stomper's Better Raven Rock installed but not activated. I was considering using a different player home there, but found that one added too much, especially as the extra stuff is just filler, with no quests or anything.

The Bloodrunner is bloody huge! It fills up the whole river. They will have to back up get it out to the Sea of Ghosts.

Very neat mask in that second pic.

You found a shield mage too! I am glad it is not just in my game.

W00t to Abiene and her wild hair! Maybe Aela should teach Abie her Absorb Health spell? It is a Restoration spell, and makes a good combo with a ward (though that eats magicka!). Let me know and I'll email it to you.

Gilda got bored waiting for me to create more of the Nocturnal quests, so she went and became Arch-mage, just for something to do. She didn't like the robes, probably because they were too tight in the chest, so she gave them to Clark/Marcurio. He still hasn't commented on that. You'd think that after the number of times he's reminded her that he's a mage, not a packmule, that he'd appreciate the outfit.

She'd been meaning to change his outfit for a while. The old one makes him look like he has a paunch, because everyone else in the game who wears it does.

I switched back to Vicuña for a while this weekend, and she decided to make her Destruction and Alteration legendary, and build back up again, for the challenge. And it really is! Without the cost reduction on the spells, she has to use the lower-powered offensive ones for magicka efficiency, and throw more of them. She tried doing the same with defence, and dropping back to Stoneflesh, but she's lost the multipliers, and it's no longer viable at her level. So she still casts Ebonyflesh, and waits until she's regen'ed the cost before wading in. With the Restoration perk for faster magicka regen, that's reasonable.

She probably couldn't survive on her own, as she did before, so she has Serana (cured) with her. She's about level 40 now, so she's left quite a few possible followers behind. Alvin the Bullfrog's busy looking after Lucia, and she wasn't impressed with his tank abilities before. We considered Mjoll, who has her sword back, but two mages seems to work better than I expected.

D and A are back around 50, and beginning to be effective again. She has a level of augmented effect back, and can use a higher level of spells cheaply, and of course has a greater magicka pool than the first time round. But then, the enemies have more hit points, too, so it's still edgy, and fun.

Before this, the only skill I'd made legendary on any character was Smithing, and there's no downside to that if you've already got all the advanced gear made and fully upgraded. Since nothing wears out, you just don't use the skill any more. As a pure mage, Vicuña stopped Smithing around 60-70. She wanted to be able to temper her Dawnbreaker backup weapon, and it naturally raises when you're house-building.

---

Doing this has tempted me to fire up Fleur again, and try making two-handed legendary. She has a devastating legendary dragonbone sword, enchanted with fiery soul trap, so it would be interesting to see what the reduced skill does when she uses it. She has a mage follower for backup - I can't remember if it was Illia or Areana - so she should do OK. If I really get bold, I'd make her armour skill legendary and lose the multipliers.

When I made Persephone's Two-Handed Legendary it was really challenging at first. You come to rely on all those extra damage and lopping peoples heads off perks.

The thing that makes it hit home, is that you've added the multipliers on gradually, one at a time, but legendary takes them all away at once. So it's single damage, at full cost, until you build up again, for a mage. I was thinking that a melee character would have less problems, as the weapon enhancements (from Smithing) would stay. The cost part of using the weapon is stamina, and only Champion's Stance - an early perk - improves that. A two-hander can use a full-power weapon just as much (except for the one stamina perk), so their damage rate remains high. The perks for beheading are cosmetic, and I generally ignore them unless they're the path to one I need.

Vicuña still knows the higher-level spells, but she can't afford to cast them so often. She's lost damage, and increased cost at the same time. Making Destruction and Alteration both legendary at the same time was probably a mistake. I should have done one, built it back up, and then done the other, but the problem is really in Destruction alone being hit hard by the legendary process. She can use Wards for defence, as Restoration remains normal, and is boosting her magicka regen. But I can't find any perks etc. from other schools that put back any destructive effect, the way that smithing gives you a better weapon and armor, and helps out those skills.

I agree that two mages work well. Buffy's taken several mages with her as followers. Brelyna probably works best for her. I was surprised how well two mages, each with a summon can do. And mages tend to stay out of the way, unlike steel-plated tanks.

Honestly though, Buffy's been able to adjust her tactics to work well with heavy tanks, bow & blade sneaksters, summoners and destruction mages. Each seems to have pros and cons. Buffy has to watch her own bow shots carefully when using a tank (to not shoot them). And she has to watch her own position carefully when using a destruction mage (to not get shot).

Using a melee tank means not using AoE spells, so mage+mage avoids that restriction. Right now, she just wants those spells back in her magicka budget!

The Devastating Blow perk (that causes decapitations), also adds an extra 25% base damage as well. So it does make a big difference. Likewise all the levels of Barbarian are straight additions to damage, and the Deep Wounds makes you more likely to do Critical Damage. So the perks you lose when you reset Two-Handed (or One-Handed), do have a large bearing on the damage you can mete out. Your weapon is still smithed up, but you still won't be dishing out nearly as much damage as before.

For example, before Persephone went Legendary her Two-Handed was at 100, and her base damage with her sword was 92. After resetting her skill, her damage with the same sword went down to 40. It is only a Steel Greatword, but it is smithed up to Legendary level. Now that she has worked her Two-Handed back up to 60, her base damage is still only 67. So it does make a huge difference on a melee character.

Tuonetar was exploring around Riften when she contracted Witbane from a skeever bite. Since she already had some charred skeever hide in her inventory, all she needed to make a cure disease potion was some mudcrab chitin. So she went walking along the shore of the lake to find a mudcrab. She walked all the way from Riften to Ivarstead, and back, following every inch of shoreline. There is not one fetching crab in The Rift!!!

Isn't that the way?!? Never a mudcrab when you need one!

Yeah Acadian is right; there's always a mudcrab somewhere until you actually need one.

Acadian: Brelyna is a fun mage to have around. I like the little quest she does with us when we meet her. Brel was with my 3rd character (Claire Voyance) for quite awhile.

ghastley: Naw, you definitely don't want Motormouth Mjoll in your party.

I finally made a skill go Legendary. Interesting how that works. Mycharonna got 100 in Illusion pretty quickly (lots of Invisibility and Muffle spells will do that), and I finally understand what people mean by reassigning perks.

Congrats to Arch-Mage Gilda! Now she’s Gilda of two guilds. I’ve also found that two archers is a lot of fun.

How funny about the crab-free Rift waters. I never noticed!


Capt. Z has filled his crew with the mercenary Stenvar and a tasty looking Dunmeri mage (Elsif from a mod) that he met on the road. First he hired Jenassa because he thought she might not object if she witnessed him in the act of his favorite deeds, but she was so grim and dour that he fired her before they got back to the ship. You have a life, woman! Enjoy it!

Anyway he took Stenvar on a midnight rampage up the coast. Due to his Steed blessing and vampiric gifts the Zanimal is pretty good at sneaking. He loves to creep up on unsuspecting mortals and then set off an explosion right in their face. (If he was better at sneaking he could sneak-bite them. That’s what he really wants to do.) Stenvar is a little heavy in the feet, though, so Zanimal has to approach very carefully when he has the big man at his back.

The sky was completely overcast so they approached Fort Hraggstad from the front. Capt. Z wanted to determine how far these Nords could see in the pitch dark, mostly for future reference. His hood and boots have glowing runes on them, by the way. The Captain is not worried that they might make him a target in the dark. He thinks they look magey, cool, and intimidating as befits a sorcerer. I can’t argue with the Captain’s sense of style.

The night was a silken cloak concealing their movements. The Zanimal slipped up toward the fort, picking out his first target. Stenvar had managed to get this far without tripping on a rock and giving away their position. Capt. Z readied a Fire Rune in his right hand and a zombie spell in his left.

Then there was a gigantic thump. A dragon landed pretty much right on the Zanimal’s head.

Things got confusing. Vampire night vision is not a good combination with dragon fire. Thankfully the Zanimal is far too lusty to let himself get blood starved (he’s usually more like blood-stuffed), so he didn’t burn to an instant crisp. The bandits joined in and it would seem they can shoot pretty well in the dark. Stenvar was extremely helpful lighting the dragon up with his shock-enchanted blade. (Called The Blade of Storms. Zanimal was not impressed with Stenvar’s creativity. The Z’s fire blade is called Ashmaker.)

The dragon turned out to be not terribly tough. Zanimal charged joyfully into the fort which was now boiling with alert bandits that the dragon completely failed to kill. The dragon’s soul swirled around like a big quest arrow for the bandits pointing at the Zanimal. Stenvar and his Captain ripped through the fort backed up by Zanimal’s awesome summoned skeleton. It was extra fun to not have him freezing to death by the end of the fight. As a vampire Capt. Z is not bothered by cold, wet, or hunger for food. In fact food and potions are no benefit to him. He does however still have a taste for wine. The Z will go to great lengths to loot every last bottle.

So the Zanimal drank a bunch of wine afterward while pillaging the fort. He takes just about everything. Stenvar got all of the ale and mead but it was hard to tell if he was lit, since he sounds like a guy who’s trying not to sound drunk even when he’s sober.

Oh, the reason they were up there in the first place. Sybille Stentor sent Capt. Z on an errand to clear out some vampires nearby. That went well. It was kind of a boring job. Zanimal knows that good and evil are in the eye of the beholder, so he keeps up relations with certain locals in charge. That means taking jobs from the Jarls of port cities. It’s a comfort to know that while you’re out pillaging the guards aren’t back home attacking your ship.

One neat thing happened as the Zanimal returned to the Solitude docks right before dawn. He saw most of his crew leaving the dock tavern (mod) and walking back to the ship. He made a mental note to contact the Solitude head jailor in case in the future any of them get into trouble while he is away.

Zanimal nightfighting a dragon! How epic that must have been. Heck, sucking the blood out of a dragon ought to keep him good for a long time!

I'm surprised he's not traveling with a pretty young thrall that can double as a tasty snack when she's not defending him.

The dragon landing on Zanimal was a beacon for the bandits! I guess that makes it a Dragonball Z.

The plains of Whiterun, just chillin'.

Ravos is taking a slight detour en route to Solitude. He's headed there to gain General Tullius' support for a peace council to be held in High Hrothgar. He's already convinced Ulfric to come, so he hopes to use that to get Tullius there as well.

He's on foot for a change; Blaze, his horse, has misteriously disappeared. This is actually quite nice for a change though. He spent a few hours sitting by Gunjar's monument earlier and also watched some bandits get destroyed by a giant. He thought they were hunters and was going in to help, but upon realizing they were no more thanh brigands he let the giants do their work. Ravos likes to leave the tundrastiders to themselves, unless they pose a threat to someone innocent. That is the way of Kynareth, after all.

Oh yeah, he also has a letter from Falk Firebeard to look into, something to do with the Wolf Queen business he cleaned up a while ago...

Sound fun, Vital. Sorry about Blaze. Mebbe a short fast travel to a nearby location will recover the missing horse?

Oh, I think both the Potema quests are neat as can be. Especially the first one for a sniper.

Buffy's near the Nightgate Inn. She and her posse are gradually making their way from the College to Solitude - plenty to do on the way though.

I agree that the Wolfskull cave quest is an awesome way for a sniper to level up her archery. My Alise did the same thing there. The big room with all the draugr coffins in Shroud Hearth Barrow is another great place to practice bow and arrow skillz.

Buffy's visiting Dawnstar at the moment. I was simply delighted to discover a little thing where the game is so perfectly supporting our roleplaying. Buffy spoke to the Court Mage who was lamenting that she had asked the College for help regarding the locals having so many nightmares. That is exactly how Buffy is beginning to fit into Skyrim - as a traveling emissary of the College. Although she sometimes deals with Jarls and stewards, generally her point of contact is the Court Mage for whatever Hold she's visiting.

We simply pretended that the Court Mage of Solitude wanted College help with the Potema situation. And we pretend that Buffy is the only mage that the cranky Jarl of Whiterun will deal with.

Mara knows, there's certainly enough curious little fires and crises that can be attributed to magic in one way or another to keep her busy!

Acadian: I know exactly what you mean. There are those moments when everything lines up perfectly, and the game is supporting whatever RP we've got going on. It happens spontaneously sometimes.

Vital: I like how you've researched Kynareth there.

Acadian, I thought he might do that when he hired Elsif the Sweetly Pretty within two seconds of seeing her on the road. He plays a little game when he’s going to feed on one of his crew. There’s a room in the crew quarters that has only one bed in it. They all sleep as part of their routine so he lets them decide who gets his attention by taking the single room. What a great role for Buffy to fill in Skyrim. It suits her perfectly!

Vital, that sounds like a nice time on the plains. Apart from the lost horse. I hope Blaze turns up safely.


Captain Zanimal and his raiders are taking down a rival crew in a multi-step adventure. They’ve already slaughtered most of the Blackblood Marauders and their leader Captain Hargar at their hideout thanks to a tip from Ahtar. Now they’ve doomed an entire merchant crew to a watery grave. Capt. Z has been operating under a halo of legitimacy lately, but his recent actions reveal a ruthless nature. Condemn a whole bunch of innocents to further your own goals? No problem. This guy is fun but not very nice.

Next up: meet the rest of the Blackbloods at the wreck and kill them all. Find that idiot Jaree-Ra and kill him too. Then they’ll head back to Broken Oar Grotto and mop up any survivors that manage to limp back home.

I’ve been able to simulate launching the longboats (which don’t actually exist) by having him swim in first person. Gosh this guy is fun.

Grits, so glad you and the Z are having fun. Sometimes ya just gotta be a bit (okay, a lot) naughty, eh?

Captain Z sounds a lot like a privateer, which is to say a pirate with a letter of marque from one of the European kingdoms. Yaaar.

Some of Victoria's screenshots recently have got me hankering to adapt an old friend over to Skyrim.

When we left her and her sister in Cyrodiil at the end of the third era she looked like this

Two hundred years later she looks a bit more mature, but with an elf's lifespan (pointy ears, so reasonable assumption), it's not much more, and she now looks like that.

Her horns have grown, as you might expect. She still wears chains rather than anything else. I found some hooves and adapted them, but I'm still looking for a tail. I'll probably have to make her one. However, she does have Animated Demon Wings that can be turned on and off with a spell-cast. The wings change the jump animation so that the wings help boost the height and distance. It also seems she can fall farther without getting hurt if she spreads her wings. I'd recommend the mod. I dropped the glow from the ones she's using, but I think those were the only pair that had it.

Since her half-sister was a round-ear, she most likely didn't last as long, so I won't be bringing her over. Diablita could end up as the Dragonborn in Clark's Skyrim, as she looks the part! So far, I've played her as a mage, as that's the viable path for someone who won't wear any armour. She's reached level 14, and is just getting to Adept level in Destruction and Ateration.

Woot! Aerial combat between Alduin and Diablita!

That’s the exact inspiration, SubRosa. I dragged my kids through a lot of Blackbeard museum stuff this summer!

Dovahkiin Diablita! I love it, ghastley! The years have been good to her. Wings sound like a lot of fun. She looks great!

This weekend has not been good for playing, but Darnand still managed to get his stag on.

Darnand's stag looks very neat! Now. . . does he ride it, eat it or try to send it into battle?

Wow, he's a horny one. Bigger than I expected too!

“Summon Dinner.” I’m pretty sure there’s not going to be a sudden demand for battle deer, but he makes a nice horny friend for Darnand to hang around with.

Now he just needs a "summon sleigh" command and you've justified fast travel.

An update on the Nightmares in Dawnstar quest. Buffy's done that quest on each of her several playthroughs and quite likes it. As I mentioned above, we discovered that the court wizard had requested College assistance and that fit into our RP very well. It also occurs (as Buffy runs around Skyrim doing matchmaking chores for Mara) that the same quest perfectly suits as a task for Mara, since the priest you help is a priest of Mara. We just like that quest!

Fredas, 2:12 AM, 31st of Sun's Height, 4th Era 202

Mycharonna the Ice Witch is stalking around Castle Dour in Solitude. She is to assume the role of the much-applauded Gourmet. The real Gourmet was killed a week before though. This should be an interesting part of the quest.

But I am Rping that she doesn't have to meet with Commander Maro until noon. Since it is now 2:12 AM, this means she's got hours to kill before she meets Maro, and during these hours, she desires to see Castle Dour, as much of it as she can. Now that she can go invisible, this should not be a problem at all.

4:25 AM: She finds some horsemeat she can feast on. Yum yum.

7:00 AM: Mych shape-shifts until she blends into one of the darker areas in a storage room of Dour. She spends the next 4 hours unseen. Not like anybody's looking for her or anything though.

11:34 AM: one of the rare times she goes outside, but she had to do it. Luckily it's raining and gloomy out. No sun. She speaks to Maro and shows him proof that she is the Gourmet. He lets her pass into Dour's kitchen area.

3:24 PM: Mych meets up with a fellow chef named Gianna, and together they prepare the feast. I don't want to say exactly how this is done, but it's a rather creative Bethesda moment, how the food which will kill Titus Mede II is prepared.

4:34 PM: The next set of events happen very fast. The Emperor eats the tainted food, and dies. Everybody blames Mycharonna the Gourmet of course, so she has to flee. Thank goodness I chose the right direction. She wound up on a passageway on top of Solitude, and was confronted by three soldiers. The one soldier made one of those long, epic videogame speeches, something about the man Mych just killed wasn't the real Emperor, and how the DB is finished, yadda bla bla. The soldiers then began to pursue my witch, all three soldiers draw weapons.

4:44 PM: Mycharonna manages to escape, by simply running forward into some sort of tower. Runs down a spiral staircase, then goes invisible. The staircase keeps going downward, and luckily this means she doesn't have to run through town. Instead, she winds up somewhere on the Karth River, Solitude now above her.

I don't think she's ever returning to Solitude.

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ghast.ley: Very cool idea, bringing your elf into a new era. Love that [censored].

I have always thought of that as a quest for Mara rather than one for Vaermina. But then none of my characters have ever wanted to keep that staff of hers.


Given Mycharonna, I get the feeling that this was meant literally, not figuratively...

I liked your idea of RPing that many of the quests Buffy completes come from requests for help to the college of winterhold Acadian. I always imagined the court wizards and such were members of the college...

Renee, I can't read your updates because I've yet to even touch the Dark Brotherhood. I'm not even 100% sure how you join (although I think I might have an idea)!!

Anyway, Ravos arrived in Solitude a couple of days ago and since then he's spoken to General Tullius and managed to convince him to come to the peace conference on high Hrothgar, by telling him Ulfric was coming. He deliberately chose to get Ulfric's support first as he knew he would be easier to convince (given his links to the greybeards and fear of Alduin as a nord) whereas Tullius would need a more tactical reason to come.

He also spoke to Falk Firebeard and sorted out the little issue in the catacombs..

Well the other day Alise and Argis the Bulkhead are in Bleak Falls Barrow with Faendal as backup. As usual Alise is in the lead, and is eyeing a Restless Draugr at the far end of one of those stone bridges that's so common in these Nordic ruins. She pulls out her glass bow, loads up on Dwemer arrows, and takes aim. She gets three arrows in the guy before she backs up to one side to give Argis room. Argis moves up just in time to get a frost blast from the Draugr. He doesn't even flinch but gives the Draugr the most beautiful shield bash to the chin that staggered the big undead. That move would have done Julian proud! Two smites with his Elven sword (that Alise forged just for him) later and that draugr is history.

Ironically enough I've played about 300 hours (over two playthroughs) of Skyrim and that's the first time I've seen that shield bash. That it would be Argis to demonstrate it just tops it all off - he is my favorite Bethesda follower so far (though I have yet to meet Calder).

SubRosa – I agree. Buffy, of course, had no interest in trying to keep the staff – she doesn’t even know what it does. Happily, she didn’t buy into Vaermina’s drivel for one moment.

Vital – Thanks! Sounds like Ravos is up to his ears in bringing trying to help the Nord and Imps sort out the dragon business. Hope he enjoyed the Potema quest.

Rider – Don’t you love it when a carefully planned assault comes together? Have not met Argis the Bulkster so had to look him up. I’m glad he’s working out as a sturdy (and smart) follower. I have seen Jordis execute a shield bash before and it is pretty cool.


Buffy has kind of a full quest log right now in the Reach. She's working for Dibella at the moment - trying to find a Sybil - "A young girl, about your size," they told her.

Excellent escape, Renee! I’ve had a couple of characters get in serious trouble there. My assassins don’t tend to think well under that kind of pressure.

Vital, that was good thinking on how to work Jarl Ulfric and General Tullius. I really enjoy the Falk Firebeard business. He’s one of my favorite NPCs.

haute, Argis is another of my favorites. I liked him so much I cast him as Jerric in Darnand’s first game.





Captain Zanimal Sadri and his raiders cut through the Blackblood Marauders like a hot knife through scrib jelly.

They approached the wreck from the sea, expecting treachery. They were not disappointed. Captain Zanimal spent most of the fight trying to bite one of their mages. Something was amiss with either his vampire mod or his timing. It was weird that the other gang went hostile right away. Then again they might have been responding to an angry slaughterfish in the water. Either way they drew steel while the Z crew was still off shore and it was on!

That lizard bitch Deeja (Captain Z’s words) died on her knees. She was pretty mouthy on the docks when there were guards around, but in the end she didn’t have much to say other than the usual “no, please, gods, mercy,” blah blah blah. As expected that lizard bitch Deeja had in her possession A Note. Back to Broken Oar Grotto they went.

On the way Capt. Z got distracted by the glorious night sky (as he sees it with Predator Vision). This happens a lot on the ship but it’s a bad idea for a vampire in a longboat. Happily they got where they were going well before sunrise became an issue.

I was really looking forward to this part because when the Zanimal went there previously Captain Hargar put up one hell of a fight. I thought the game would re-spawn his crew with maybe another boss as part of the quest, but no. Captain Z’s raiders entered to find a lot of empty wine bottles and naked dead bodies lying around. It was clear that their captain had been there recently.

That lizard bastard Jaree-Ra (Captain Zanimal has no love for Argonians) died like a cornered skeever at the hands of Asrael and Stenvar before Captain Z could even blow anything up. Then things got exciting.

A party of Dawnguard vampire hunters attacked right while Zanimal’s crew was bunched up in that scaffolding viewing Jaree-Ra’s remains. The hunters use silver weapons from their mod and some kind of vampire killing spell that knocked the Zanimal on his backside and made him smoke and hiss. It was terrifying! He had to run away completely blind from the effects. Some mage nailed him with enough lightning to sap his magicka at an alarming rate. There were no bodies under his feet so he summoned a weaker skeleton minion with the magicka he had left to distract them while he ran up the ramp. He scraped along the wall on the right to keep from falling off since he was pretty sure there were rocks and a boat under him. As far as we know vampires are as susceptible as any mortal to cracking their heads open.

So the crew earned their gold after all. Capt. Z really needs to get an Absorb Health enchantment onto a blade. He was pretty close to meeting Molag Bal that night.

Back on the ship (here’s a picture from the ride back) Capt. Z made plans to haul his tail up to Winterhold the next night. I’m not sure if they’ll be able to sail there once he’s discovered it, but he had to walk this time. Stenvar and Asrael stayed with him. The Zanimal was still smarting from the silver overload of those Dawnguard fetchers.

On the way somehow they picked up a bounty, probably from a Reveler witnessing Z being a little too free with his fangs. He does like to drain the ladies, and among the things that attacked them on the road was a cute and tasty spellsword. She looked adorable later fighting a frost troll with her bare little reanimated fists. Anyway the guards greeted them in Winterhold with some mild hostility.

While the Zanimal marveled over the guards’ unknown method of communication and paid his small fine to one of them, Stenvar and Asrael killed the others. Then they killed the one talking to Captain Z. In the silence that followed Captain Zanimal considered reviewing some standards of conduct in cities for his best pirate raiders, but then he just couldn’t be bothered.

A quick chat with Faralda at the College gate lightened his purse, fattened his spell book (Fireball, yay!!), and confirmed his suspicion that killing all of the witnesses is an effective way to end disagreements with the law. Apparently she hadn’t seen or heard anything, or perhaps she didn’t care. Presently the Zanimal, Asrael, and Stenvar are headed back to the ship which is docked in Windhelm. Oh, after the Blackblood adventure they sailed to Windhelm.

Captain Zanimal feels like eating some countrymen. He’s headed next to Solstheim.

Deeja's name always makes me think of Druja from Oblivion. So she is a pirate? I did not know that (I never had a character take up Jaree on his offer). I cannot say it is surprising though!

The night sky does look neat with Predator vision.

I see Captain Zanimal has a typical Dunmer's love for Argonians. I.E. on a spit! Tuonetar echoed the sentiment.

A Dawnguard team attacked in a dungeon? I have never seen that happen. But then, I didn't play Helregin for too long either. The only time she was ever attacked by the Dawnguard was outdoors.

Solitude looks really neat in the last pic. You can really see how the Blue Palace got its name.

The (un)life and times of Zanimal! So much of what he's doing is all new to me and great fun to read. Wow, sounds like those Dawnguarders are pretty mean with their silver and sun mojo! I did complete the DG questline in our last playthrough but only from the DG side of things. I'm with SubRosa in really liking that last shot (of Solitude) from the sea. It's a beautiful city to begin with and simply spectacular in that screenie.

Capt. Zanimal has extra Dawnguard patrols added by three different mods in his game. These very tough and well-armed vampire hunters come in random groups of up to I think six, so they are a real danger. They are also an occasional source of head-desk. It’s fun when they attack in the middle of a dungeon, but Serafíne got attacked by them once while she was in the Soul Cairn.

The Captain got attacked again when they had almost reached the Windhelm docks. This time it was a group of three Hired Assassins wielding the same kind of silver weapons (because they are from the same mod). They had a named Vigilant of Stendarr with them who turned invisible and fled after they all were killed. Two of the assassins had notes on their bodies, presumably from the Vigilant who had hired them. It was pretty neat.

Wow, Grits - sounds like those mods to put some teeth into the vampire hunters (no pun intended) are really making (un)life for the Zanimal tough.