Neverwinter: Up the River

After that lengthy campaign in TESO, I've found myself back at Neverwinter with the new grind of the River District. So far, it has been pretty entertaining investigating the conclave of Far Realm mages acting as the antagonists in this module - all while trying to dig up lost riches for the now broke Lord Neverember.

It's certainly much better than fishing in the Sea of Moving Ice, which is what ultimately led me to rage-quit take a break in the first place. Slightly regretting that now as it just means I have more currencies to grind up on. It does help that I finally got a purple mount (thank you Siege event for that free one) because damn, speed makes things more bearable. If you are only spending on one thing in the game, get the fastest mount you can afford.

Dragonarm 2017

My guild, Dragonarm, is still small but have made much headway with the Stronghold in my absence - same with the rest of the Greycloak Alliance, with the Greycloaks themselves nearing the max level 20! I also quite enjoy the addition of the Marauder event, even if it's only worth doing once a week, as it gives the alliance yet another avenue for cooperative play.

It comes as no surprise, during our last guild event, where we six manned a Marauder attack, that I am pretty much the weakest now of my team. Haha. I seriously only out DPSed the Gray's dedicated healer alt. Look at those numbers!

Ah well, I guess I'll just say I'm playing the game on "hard mode". :P

TESO: Forlorn Crags

Adventures of Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

Having defeated Molag Bal, I venture next to the vast expanse known as Craglorn where a lot of my crafted goods have been being sent. A new threat has arrived in this zone: Aliens Celestials. Namely the Celestial Serpent, who managed to corrupt the Celestial Mage and Celestial Warrior. A band known as the Star Gazers, asks that I help them put these things back in the sky where they belong.

Easier said than done though as this zone is intended for group content, excluding me from at least 70% of the area. Still, I do manage to cleanse the Warrior's Apex stone, and assist a time traveling soldier to destroy an ancient emperor who uses terracotta warriors.

I also slam the local Iron Orcs, who have a penchant for feeding victims to their troll pets. After slaying their entire leadership structure I mess with the Scaled Court's research in making new beasties (Mantikora) and atronarchs (six armed air elemental)! Ultimately I also save the Celestial Thief from the Serpent's grasp, forcing the Serpent celestial to withdraw.

Ugly beasties.

Alas the actual final fight against it is blocked behind a "Trial" gate (requires team) so I doubt I'll ever get to see that. Worth noting the ATITD Pilgrimage idea is alive here - in the form of visiting six delves within two hours. Pretty cool, and still easier than the ATITD version! 

Having done most of the available content (I don't have the DLCs) I think it's time I take a well earned break, and thanks to one merc band in this region being called the Greycloaks, I have a good idea of where I'm headed back to.

MMOs: TESO Level Scaling

[Added to my MMO Design folder.]

Years ago I did a post about the problem with levels in an MMO. Having now experienced the Elder Scrolls Online, I now get to see the other / another side to it and that is level scaling.

Much like in Skyrim, the bad guys always match your level - irrespective of map zone. This is a truer scaling than what Guild Wars 2 tried to do, where a level 70 who is "down leveled" in a lower level zone can still steamroll everything. Here's a quick Pro/Con tongue in cheek list for what TESO does:

Pros: You can now go in any direction immediately and not his "Foe Walls" to your quest progression. Wandering into a level 60 zone while level 5? No problem! Those enemies will hold their punches for you. Also, this means your friend who just joined the game can come into that uber, end of game quest with you. Nice!

Cons: Missed the tutorial happy cake dungeon (that doesn't exist - just my example) and are going back as a max level character? Expect those tutorial monsters to have a lot of new DPS heavy moves and hundreds more HP - enough to actually challenge you! Also, congrats - you just finished the game after 3 months? The guy next to you finished it in 1 day... while level 5.

I can understand why people both like and dislike the system, and while I don't mind it since I do prefer people to be able to immediately play together in games, I still think having no "over all" levels is the best approach.

By that I mean, don't attach Life or HP to levels, or if you must make it by the smallest of fractions. A new player gets 100hp. And end of game character might have 110 at most. Getting hit by a bus, or more likely stabbed with a sword, should still one shot either.

And don't even get me started about level based gear either. Blargh.

TESO: Molag Bal

Adventures of Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

Beyond the torture chamber is the path up to Molag Bal's fortress, and by powering up the magic amulet via absorbing the life of the prophet, I gain a temporary boost of super saiyan strength - literally one shotting the armies of dremora that try get in my way. Even flights of demon dragons and thick fortress walls are no match as I blast my way up the mountain to the towering daedric prince trying to throw down meteors at me.

I like how my pet monkey is just casually following me at this part.

I get up to him and blast him down to a more manageable size, fight him in a more standard fashion and ultimately chop off both his arms! This forces Molag Bal to flee and Meridia is kind enough to restore my missing soul as a reward.

Winning pose!

With that victory, Lyris and Sai head off to the sunset together and Abnur, who is missing, is reported (by Meridia no less) to have taken the cheat amulet with him to Cyrodiil for his own use - though he won't be able to do anything with it for a few generations. Now re-souled I am free to do whatever I want, and I get a nice cauldron hat for my trouble. I suppose chasing Tharn into Cyrodiil is an idea, but that's all PvP land. Regardless, main quest complete!

TESO: Writhing Worms

Adventures of Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

With all the alliance zones mostly done now (still missing some group content and a few bits and pieces) I return to the Prophet's cave to find he and Lyris haven't done a damn thing since I last saw them ages ago. Since my GFX settings are better now, I reattempt that rescue mission they wanted to do... to rescue Abnur Tharn, and then a Redguard sword master named Sai Sahan, and then a magic deus ex machina amulet to use against Molag Bal.

Wouldn't be a magic duel without at least one beam contest.

Naturally the worm cult leader, Mannimarco tries and fails to stop us at each step of the way - ultimately fighting for real to try take the amulet for himself because he wants to replace Molag Bal. He really shouldn't have said that because after I beat him down, Molag Bal's giant hand comes through a gate and whisks Mannimarco away to Coldharbour.

His mistake was not taking the amulet instead, because we follow close behind and sneak through the very same torture chamber where Mannimarco and other familiar villains are getting their comeuppance, a few of whom are of the Tharn bloodline (not that Abnur minds since they are all douche bags like that). Most of the prisoners beg to be freed from their torment, but I ignore all of them because that's what they all deserve.

TESO: The Last March

Adventures of Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

Reaper's March is a breath of fresh air after the stifling forests of Malabal Tor. Apart from the Imperials assaulting this zone (led by Tharns no less) there's also an evil khajiit spirit called the Dark Mane (also conjured by a Tharn) raising scary looking Khajiit warriors wherever it goes. The main quest involves assisting a pair of twin sisters in stopping this threat, which is great.

Capoeira esquivas are useful here too!

Unfortunately that "threat" occupies only maybe 1/3rd of the region, with the rest occupied by local bandits, gamblers, an arena and skooma peddlers. I do get to free Barbas (the talking dog) from a prison of his master, Clavicus Vile, though. There is also an awesome side quest at a scary mansion with a massive cavern underneath occupied by Imperials who are looking for the Oghma Infinitum. Hermaeus Mora tells me they cannot have it.

Quite a literal army of bad dudes in the tunnels.

Finally I'm at a level where I can solo handle the group of 8 or so mobs here, and manage to take down the boss too. For all my work, Mora appears and snatches the Infinitum at the last moment - rephrasing that "no mortal" can have it. I manage to retain a single page, still enough to make most people insane.

After beating back the Tharns and destroying the Dark Mane, Queen Ayrenn seems more agreeable to an alliance or at least a cease fire with the Pact but I don't know. She looks, talks and smells like a Thalmor scum. Odds that she will keep her word are next to nil.

TESO: What is dead may never die

Adventures of Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

It turns out I was beaten to the very item I was sent to fetch by the Queen's own Vice Reeve who reveals himself as part of the Veiled Heritance who are present in large numbers here, as well as their sea elf allies the Maromer. Nearby orc clans also cause trouble for the locals but they are just road kill on my chase for the Vice Reeve whom I finally catch up to in an ocean confrontation thanks to a tip from Hermaeus Mora (seriously, don't steal from a Daedric Prince).

As for the Vice Reeve: I sunk his battleship.

The second half is more interesting, as the evil Prince Naemon who I had already killed last time had been revived as a lich by the late Vice Reeve, and is attempting to bring this part of the forest into the shadow realm. Slaying his undead minions, shades and ultimately the Prince himself (again) is quite fun as warping between the two states changes the spawn on the map. Doesn't matter so much for people who just kill everything but for a sneak like me I quite appreciated it.

Raz and Mai'q get honorable mentions for being my travelling "companions" in the zone since they keep showing up unexpectedly. Also on my journey I do ponder why some skeletons hold torches. Does it let them see better? Anyway it's then on to Malabal Tor which is under attack by... Redguards?

TESO: Not so Graht

Adventures of Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

Despite all my efforts it seems the Lion's Guard went ahead and captured some pact soldiers which led to my return to their valley encampment the Nord dagger man, Craizee, and together we killed every single Lion Guard scum left in there. At this point I definitely regret reviving King Emeric. Anyway, there's still hope for an alliance with Queen Ayrenn so I sail over to the giant forest of Grahtwood next, and this place is a mess - story wise.

The trees here are massive!

It's like they put piece meal ideas everywhere, such as a rebellion, a vampire den, the Worm Cult messing around, freeing forest spirits, a showdown against Sheogorath's new favorite mortal, assisting an Ordinator of Almalexia shutting down a dolmen and so on with no main thread tying them together like in past zones.

At least I got to push a drunk wizard off a tower.

Ultimately I just need to retrieve pieces of an ancient machine so that the Bosmer (who are actually cannibalistic since they don't eat plants) recognize Ayrenn as their true leader. Her brother Naemon tries to use the machine first which turns him into an ugly daedra which I destroy easily. Ayrenn (who did no work for any of this I might add) doesn't change at all, just powers up(?) and then sends me to fetch her next accessory over at Greenshade.

TESO: The Dumb and the Dead

Adventures of Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

I don't remember how I ended up in the sea, but I'm sure glad I was fished out by a passing vessel that so happened to be heading to the Alik'r Desert, home of King Fahara'jad whose region is being plagued by a group of necromancers called the Withered Hand. Turns out the Redguards are a very superstitious lot, to the extent that "defiling" the dead in anyway is taboo. Even if said dead are reanimated and trying to kill you.

This leads to many ridiculous occurrences of so-called tough warriors cowering in fear to what an average adventurer would consider an average zombie. Obviously it's up to foreigners such as myself to save the day again, especially once the Withered Hand steal and corrupt the deus ex artifacts which previously prevented consecrated dead from being revived. A couple of dead necromancers, a vampire and one lich later, King Fahara'jad is proclaiming me a(nother) hero of the region.

Despite having a predictable quest line here the Alik'r Desert is one of the best zones that I've been in so far, not just for an aesthetic stand point. The open sight lines make it easy to spot material to farm and I suspect it's position at the very top of the "locations to warp to" list also makes it a very popular and highly frequented dolmen smashing spot. Makes sense since the rewards for shattering dolmens aren't zone specific.

Yeah, the dolmens in this zone have no chance.

Oh, and I found M'aiq the Liar is camped out at the remote dunes too. Not only did he survive the wounds from that Orsimer attack, but he retained his sense of humor as well.

"M'aiq speaks the truth, except for when he doesn't. With you, always the truth." - M'aiq the Liar

Today I Smiled: A Soul less Dark

Hope you all enjoyed what is probably the last entry of my Dark Souls tale, since that was the final DLC. I certainly had fun playing through it! I am getting exhausted with this daily posting schedule though, especially this year which seems to be flying by. It's the end of April already and I feel it's like I've done nothing productive. Anyway, the Skyrim/TESO story will carry on for a bit more but with more gaps between them as the content there finally catches up to where I actually am. Yes, I do like holding posts in reserve.

I plan on making my Nameless creative writing experiment, which has taught me that drawing eats a ton more time than writing, fill the gap for a bit: and I'm going to break that wall of using my own art per post in that story since it is really stifling myself. Back to generic pictures we go! To leave you with more entertaining stuff, here are some youtube vids: the Indian Nod, the Indian Alphabet Song, and just to have something non-Indian, Dork Souls III - a cartoon parody which is more effective for those who have played the game, or have read through my playthrough.

And just for kicks, one more Dark Souls video - apparently the armor of thorns does damage when you roll into things, so of course... we get Dark Rolls! Have a good day everyone! :)

TESO: All these People Suck

Adventures of Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

While King Emeric recovers from his death in Bangkorai (lol) I head to Rivenspire next where there is a civil war afoot. Normally I'd let these people just kill each other but when it becomes clear the dominant Montclair faction is composed of vampires I definitely have to intervene. Just to semi complicate matters there are three "good" vampires too, but its because of their leader and an Ayelid doohickey atop Mount Doom "the Doomcrag" that this whole thing started. I am also annoyed to learn that this vampire is one of Emeric's closest friends. What sort of King lets vampires wander around? What a douche.

It comes complete with aircraft warning lights!

Ultimately I kill all the bad vampires and the lead "good" one sacrifices himself to remove the ayelid relic (that can just change people into vamps via gas) from the Doomcrag. How? By giving himself and the WMD to Molag Bal, who takes it into Coldharbour. WHAT? That's not a F*ING SOLUTION! Emeric himself shows up after the fact and then asks me to choose from the remaining surviving candidates on who should become overlord of this region, because having many equal people didn't work. I pick the devout and peace loving Baroness as to weaken the Covenant as much as possible.

In the process I also beat up a cave full of orcs (a rarity here) and prove to Malacath, the daedric prince they worship, that all orcs are worthless pieces of shit. In town I also am  surprised to find Captain Kaleen, stripped and tortured in a basement no less. Seems like the kinky Redguard spy she was hunting turned the tables on her. After helping her kill the bastard I take her back to the docks. I was headed there anyway to gain passage to the Alik'r Desert anyway. During this I notice that in all the scuffles with those vampires, one managed to get me good on my arm.

I'm sure it's nothing.

TESO: Daedric Tharn

Adventures of Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

With Stormhaven mostly freed from Vaermina's manipulation I rode on into Bangkorai, a region under attack by talking crows - and more reachmen. Where the heck do all these guys come from? After convincing the local Queen to do her job I am sent to stop this threat and quite humorously succeed in doing so by accident. You see I was racing towards a distant Dolmen which I ended up missing entirely as other heroes shut it down - and found myself near the main reachman camp. A little stealth and snooping about led me to their hagraven leader who I had no trouble in slaying.

That force turned out to just be the appetizer though, as the main threat soon revealed itself to be the Imperial army led by one Septima Tharn who are all allied with Molag Bal (of course). With the help of King Emeric and his timely army, we pushed them back into the Southern Desert region of this huge zone. Then I got side tracked in rescuing elf maidens from a Troll den and helping a nereid eliminate a bunch of Hermaeus Mora's followers. Take that you kill stealer. In the region I also have to outhunt Hircine's chosen hunter and defeat an avatar of Mephala - guess the Daedric princes really like this zone!

Explosions are effective against ghosts!

By the time I catch up with Septima Tharn after all those distractions, she has already defeated Emeric's army and killed the arrogant king. I sneak into her camp and have an epic duel against her, one of the best fights in the game so far - ultimately I slay the sorceress and have the Queen's forces wipe out the remaining Imperial douches. Through convoluted events I end up with King Emeric's soul in my backpack and have the option of resurrecting him. I am soooo tempted not to, but ultimately give in and revive him. In exchange I tell him to withdraw all his forces from the war. He says he'll think about it.

TESO: Perchance to Dream

Adventures of Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

After cleaning up some left over Bloodthorn cultists at Glenumbra I move onto Stormhaven which is plagued by a totally different set of cultists who worship Vaermina and her nightmare realm. They are actually quite effective in getting people to behave irrationally, causing wide spread disturbances and even a high profile assassination. Eventually I reach the capital, Wayrest, and meet High King Emeric. He tasks me with stopping this nightmare cult and in exchange agrees to hold the advance of his army camped near the Rift.

Just as well he does for he too eventually falls under Vaermina's spell and I save his sorry Breton hide from... himself, basically. And Vaermina's beholder champion, Galthis. Vaermina is notably upset at this, trying to trap me in her domain but the attempt is so poor it barely is worth mentioning. I guess she's really out of steam in this region at that point. For my efforts I am rewarded with a pet monkey. Lol, what?

Awesome!

Anyway, this area is also where I complete my first solo dolmen, defeating liches, a naga and a dread grievous twilight demon in a really long fight that involves hiding behind many nearby pillars and trees. It's not the most efficient nor the fastest way to clear a dolmen, but I certainly felt heroic after doing so.

TESO: Beyond Reach

Adventures of Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

I came to as Orla shook me awake at the entrance of some crypt with a squad of pact soldiers behind her. Disoriented, she advised that during a skirmish against Reachmen I had fallen down the short pit which is serves as the standard foyer to most of the burial mounds here in the Rift. Whoever designed it must love flooding tombs. After clearing my head of that vivid experience, I assisted her in eliminating the local Reachman boss within, though all her soldiers died in the effort.

Turns out the Reachmen have some giant allies.

From there I continued pushing back the Reachmen and their Worm cult allies all the way past Ivarstead. I also execute a survivor from the Bleakrock invasion so long ago, since she had fallen under the sway of Molag Bal's promises to restore her fallen family members. For a change of pace, I also have to rescue a school of skalds who inadvertently got Vaermina's attention, unleashing nightmare forces on their little island.

With that done I earn the "Hero of the Pact" title, despite not being able to stop one particular threat in the region - a neighboring valley filled with an army of Lionguard troops! There are far too many for me to handle alone (group dungeon). Fortunately they don't seem to be going anywhere so I figure I might be able to talk King Emeric into standing down. Unlikely, but it's worth a try! One short Wayshrine trip later and I find myself back in the Covenant controlled land of Glenumbra.

Dragon's Dogma: Into the West

Adventures of Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

Back at Cassardis, we meet the busty merchant Madeline who asks for an escort to the encampment which is easy enough. She even comes along for a short detour in clearing out lizard men from the town well. Once there she parts ways with us and I recruit Rook's replacement, a veteran warrior of infinite battles: Lily. We decide to go exploring to the West, stumbling across a friendly young witch who makes ales and less friendly foes in the form of brigands, goblins, phantoms, ogres who are "excited" by women, a chimera and even a drake!

This game makes a big deal out of hearts.

The drake is extra challenging since it charms Lily mid combat, meaning I have to fight her as well. Fortunately my magic ice sword from Bitterblack Isle deals with her effectively while skirting around the beast. Fortunately knocking her unconscious is enough to break the monster's will over her and it is over powered in a long fight. More difficult however are the phantoms, since our melee weapons go right through them.

It is up to Rose's magic to keep them at bay as the eerie cloud form ghosts (ghosts done well, better than TESO for sure!) take turns "latching" on to us to drain life force. At one point it seems the forest is filled with these bastards but with the dawning of the sun they vanish - which quite literally saves us. Anise, is clearly shaken by the experience so we head back to the encampment to rest.

TESO: A Boon for my Servant

Adventures of Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

Having been sent back to the Rift to deal with the problematic Reachmen who are allied with the Worm Cult, I make a detour to Riften (one of many to unload gear) and while there complete both Mages and Fighter's guild quest lines. For the Mages one, Shalidor uses the tomes to transport us to his missing island of Eyevea which Sheogorath has left littered with dremora. After cleaning those up we get to keep the island though Sheogorath does take the now insane tome decypherer, Valaste, with him back to the Shivering Isles. Shalidor still rewards me with a "library" type function (recall all books / papers through a menu).

Afterwards, I went to track down the murderous Argonian fighters guild master with the Fighters Guild to Coldharbour, where she openly admits to the murder of the previous leader - all because Meridia demanded to get the Fighter's Guild involved against Molag Bal. Conveniently, his "back up" weapon is here and I end up assisting her in destroying it along with a traitorous khajiit who Molag Bal transforms into a Demon Dragon thing.

Molag Bal should hand out boons more often - that looks cool!

The murderous Argonian is spared, but stripped of the guild master title which goes to Mr. replacement guy. I'm just happy that's all done and I can go back to exploring!

TESO: Convoluted by Design

Adventures of Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

When I get there, Windhelm is in the middle of a celebration for Jorunn's 10th year anniversary of being king. As expected, there is a party-pooper in the form of Fildgor, Jorunn's twin brother who resents the fact that he didn't become king. Fildgor's jealously leads him to start a civil war and making multiple attempts on his brother's life, each one stopped by yours truly, though Naryu does show up to help occasionally.

A Breton illusionist comes closest to slaying Jorunn with daedric poison, but thanks to a convoluted ritual involving dream walking and vampire blood he recovers fully. Does this mean Jorunn is a vampire/dhampir now? Not sure. Majorn the Ancient, the vampire who so willingly donated it to me after I helped him slay his son for making "sentient" thrall, seems to think so. Pity the game doesn't let me slay Majorn too.

After much chasing, I finally catch up to Fildgor at Sovngarde (of all places) and defeat him there where he is humiliated among all the dead heroes. I figure that's enough of a punishment for him and convince Jorunn to let him live. I also collect the final tome of Shalidor after one more silly trial from Sheogorath, and learn that the fighter's guild council has put out an arrest warrant for their current Argonian guildleader for he murder of their previous Nord guildleader. That stuff advances pretty slowly in the background.

I think Sheogorath's uncle was someone's stunt double in Resident Evil?

TESO: The Alchemy of Graphics Cards

Adventures of Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

With the Mages Guild quest line coming along nicely, I also help the Fighters Guild  do some research on a secondary weapon of Molag Bal and begin the process to craft countermeasures to it. Bal must be really weak since he could only muster a few skeletons led by a weak lich to try stop that. On a side note: The Ghosts in TESO really need some better/more obvious lore. Not only do they have ghost clothes but they also hit me with ghost arrows from their ghost bows... what? Is there ghost gold where they buy ghost equipment from a ghost shop?

It is then time to get the rest of the Shadowfen back under control, and while the Worm Cult has a small presence here the main enemy are Dominion troops - soldiers of Queen Ayrenn! The Thalmor scum are causing all sorts of problems in the swamp, though truthfully it would help if the Argonians stopped leaving their powerful relics lying around.

Ooh, can I tame one as my steed?

There are awesome lightning dragon things in this region too, who look really cool. Alas, the biggest problem I have in this zone is the "blue hue" that enjoys crashing my graphics card making it a real pain to traverse! Fortunately following this forum post alleviates the problem, enabling me to not crash during dolmen invasions (because Molag Bal hasn't given up) and slaying the Dominion leader and alchemist Ruuvitar in the region. As if hearing my advice, the lizardmen then send their relics by ship up to Windhelm for safe keeping. Since my work here is done I decide to tag along.

TESO: Dangerous Celebration

Adventures of Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

With the battle won, Meridia tells me of some, god-forsaken hamlet that even she fears to tread in need of holy cleansing in one corner of this daedric realm. I decide to give that a miss, sending allies to check it out instead while I return to Mournhold and the search for Lucia and Sofie.

I don't get very far before Naryu tells me that the bio-terrorist group I thought I had beaten prior to gallivanting in Coldharbour was still around, and plotting to attack the city. Obviously I'd have none of that, and the two of us hunted down all the remaining members still hiding in the Deshann area - including their leader, a traitorous magistrate.

Did I mention one of the "living gods" is in this area? Cause she is.

She also hates bio-terrorists. :P

With the zone under control I then ventured further South into the Shadowfen where one of the first things I do is attend a crazy, endless and dangerous party held by party demon Sanguine to retrieve an "Eidar" scroll for Sheogorath. Him and his cheese huh? Fortunately most delves are open to everyone which makes things easier and far more enjoyable (for me) than instanced garbage.

Scroll in hand, I also retrieve the Wabbajack and Fork of Horripilation then participate in his "Circus of Cheerful Slaughter" which sees me fighting each of the pact forces and their leaders in one messed up play. All this earns me two more tomes for Shalidor.

TESO: Attack on Coldharbour

Adventures of Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

My first task from Hollow City is to refill it by saving as many people as I can from the various torturous dremora in Coldharbour, most of whom are Fighter and Mages guild members. There are others here too whom I ally with, such as elf-eating Lamias, Argonians who have sold the soul of their Hist tree to Molag Bal, and a repentant Angoff (the druid terrorist leader from before).

Once the force is assembled it's simply a matter of pushing forward and upward in Coldharbour, slaying the armies of vampires, dremora, and daedra in the way. Molag Bal shows up in person to try stop us but as expected Meridia reveals herself to duel with him while the rest of us continue with the mission of destroying the Planemeld - aka the doohickey that Molag Bal requires for his grand plan.

 Whatever you say, boss!

Many / most of my allies die in the experience, but we are ultimately victorious in "planting the bombs and blowing things up" which pretty much puts a stop on Molag Bal's world-killing plan. Meridia takes us survivors back to the Hollow City for celebrations. Wish they made it more clear who made it and who didn't though. What is this, the Deathly Hallows or something?