Skyrim: Blood Bath

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

My new ally, Aeariel, did not last long at all as a new wave of bounty hunters, this time led by the nearly invisible archer, Flidais the Northwind, attacked. She wasn't the problem though as she opted to attack the exterior of Death Mountain, basically offering herself to be dragonchow four ways. It was the regular mooks who were starting to overwhelm the daedric guardians, with Aeariel being among the casualties.

Good to see some of the guards taking my magic stuff from display cases.

During the wave I retreated into the bath house to recruit Drania and exposed the resident staffer Saerven as a traitor. Despite being in swim wear, Drania managed to kill her and be effective against the invading bounty hunters. Once the combat lulled I got her proper gear (lots of it lying around) and decided to make a break for the College of Winterhold to let the daedric guards recover their losses.

Let me heat up that sauna for you...

There we came under attack by a dragon and another wave of assassins, this one led by Ladon the Volcano who was ridiculously weak considering his name. Still the battle carried on into the school grounds itself, where the other mages came to help. Tolfdir, Arniel Gane, and all the Winterhold guards were among the casualties. It was clear this place didn't have the man power to hold back the enemy, so we decided to go to where no one else would be put in danger: Morvunskar.

Bring it on!!! 
Yes, the pile of corpses is half a door high!

Fielding All Assets

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

After a quick stop at the lake to loot the broken king, my little band returned to Skyhaven Temple to swap out Bane for Anni the elven archer. For Bane's efforts I had promoted the khajiit to becoming a guard for Njada but understandably, he first wanted to see the current vampire threat ended. It was time to head back to Fort Dawnguard with Auriel's Bow but as usual we hit all sorts of side quests on the way: hunted a giant deer, two frost dragons, wiped out a bandit base, another master vampire and got Dummy to teach me the "Soul Rend" shout which seems pretty cool. He doesn't seem anywhere as useful as Odahviing though, so with our bargain done I think I'm going to let him rot in the Soul Cairn now.

We also stopped by the Mage's College to hand in some falmer tomes and it is becoming more and more apparent that other than Tolfdir, most of the other people there have a healthy hatred of me - and are becoming more open in their methods of disrespecting their "leader". I decide to let it slide for now since there are bigger fish to fry and we finally return to Fort Dawnguard, where we discover a small group of refugees(?) striking up camp right outside in hopes for protection. Isran isn't too thrilled about them, but his eyes light up when he sees the divine bow and after a stirring speech rallies most of his members for an all out assault on Volkihar Castle.

Agmaer and elf Beleval are to remain with the doggies and a few trolls to help the gate guard protect the refugees and base while we are gone. Knowing how strong the Volkihar clan is first hand I decided to field ALL my remaining resources for the upcoming battle: Anni, Lynn, Cutter, Bane and Jordis who was excited to get out to the front again. Even Njada, whom I would have preferred to stay safetly at home would have none of it after hearing what we were attempting, so she also came along. We met up with Isran's similarly sized group at the shore of the castle itself and when I asked what the exact plan was the crazy bastard just smiled devilishly, looked at me with excited eyes, and basically said "We charge the castle!"

This isn't going to end well, is it?

Fighting the Forsworn Army

Adventures in Skyrim - spoilers ahead! In this entry I am following my custom scenario "A Curse of Iron". You can follow the rest of the story here!

Received a letter from Tolfdir via courier today, while he hasn't found a cure for my condition yet he has learned that the spell cast upon me has a limited range and must be done from a pretty high altitude. Given I was in Markarth the best spot would be from the city itself, but since that's too obvious the second best spot would be at Dead Crone Rock which is where I needed to head next. First I managed to finally upgrade all my gear again then with Kharjo in tow we followed the path, right into a wandering bandit chief party. What the hell. There were four of them! All chiefs, no indians. After that fight we ran into a witch and a Shadow Nightingale!? Seems like something really wants to keep me away from this place.

Managed to kill them too then had a bit of peace and quiet until we reached the forsworn camp at the base of Dead Crone Rock. Despite killing the sentries quietly and smoothly the sheer number of opponents here was problematic, but Kharjo and I persevered (mainly using lots of food) and slaying them all. We were in for a surprise at the higher level though, where my missing horse Shadowmere was fighting the Briarheart and his pet troll! WTF. No Idea how the hell that happened, but I'll take any help I can get! After we cleared out the outside we assaulted the tower itself, easily clearing out the few remaining forsworn and reaching the highest point with the Word wall. There I found the tome that had been stolen from the mages college, and after browsing some pages found what was afflicting me. More importantly I found what I needed to cure myself.

Other than a skilled mage (which I'm not), I was going to need bear claws, taproot and a giant's toe - and I already had all except the last. However I knew exactly where to get one - slightly annoyed I had to leave Shadowmere again though, due to the non-iron metals in his saddle (or being, what the heck type of horse is he anyway). We returned back down the road where we were ambushed by a lone wood elf (stupid girl) and then ran into Maiq the Liar. Chatted for a bit then moved on to Karthspire. I knew there was a dead giant there that would be easy pickings. What I didn't know was that all the forsworn had returned to the area, making it a hell of a task getting to it given I was out of arrows. In the end we just had to bolt, grabbing the toe while evading spells and arrows of the defenders then running quickly up into Sky Haven Temple where they refused to follow.

All that's missing is a Scorpion King.

Two of Nine

Adventures in Skyrim - spoilers ahead! In this entry I am following my custom scenario "A Curse of Iron". You can follow the rest of the story here!

As the seminar on "Restoration as a valid school of Magic" began I quietly questioned suspects beginning with the high elf girl Faralda, however she seemed clean. Next was the dunmer Drevis and right away I knew I had my man, especially when he kept expressing his desires for the Eye of Magnus. Kept him busy until the seminar ended and people began to leave. Once I thought we were the last two I shoved my sword into his gut, killing the bastard and looting an undecipherable letter from his corpse. I wasn't as quiet as I had originally thought however as Faralda came rushing back in to fight me. I quickly ducked up the stairwell and hid, letting her pass me on the way up while I made my way back to Tolfdir.

He was understandably upset but after reading the letter discovered that Drevis is just part of a group working for the Thalmor! The spell really was just to covertly weaken what could become a threat to them later on. Seems like they didn't want to just march in and start up the whole war again. Tolfdir suggested these agents would be scattered across all the towns which made sense, as it was pointless to have spies all in the one spot. Furthermore he believes all of them had a part in the curse placed on me, and I would either need to break their will or eliminate their life force to rid myself of the magic. Alas the letter didn't specify who exactly I needed to track down so I'd need to ask around in each town.

Thanked the old guy and snuck out of Winterhold now that I was a wanted man here too. Decided traversing the mountain was the safest path South, and other than witnessing a fire and ice mage duel in the distance, sneaking past a sleeping bear, and killing a few wolves I made it to Windhelm with no issues where FINALLY there were tanning racks! Using the many leathers I had acquired on the way my first order of business was creating a full set of superior leather armor. Well, almost full. I couldn't stand wearing the helmet - something with this curse made it unbearably hot to wear. Now that I was geared up nicely it was time to find the Thalmor agent in this city, and put an end to their miserable life!

Stopped by the two taverns in town for clues but there was no one that gave off that "vibe". Decided it maybe someone higher up and ventured into the castle. It wasn't the mage, or the cleaner, or the body guard dude. It was... Ulfric!? That made no sense (stupid dice) but thinking about it now, he probably felt I was a threat to his High crown. No matter his reasons, I knew what I had to do. I wouldn't be as careless as I was in Winterhold, especially given this guy's reputation in battle. No. I just waited till he slept, then killed him in his bed. No witnesses.

Because I have less style than this guy.

Curiosity Fed the Cat

Adventures in Skyrim - spoilers ahead! In this entry I am following my custom scenario "A Curse of Iron". You can follow the rest of the story here!

After sneaking across Dragon Bridge (guards will probably cane me) we continued on our journey past a friendly pair of Vigilants of Stendarr and then into Fort Snowhawk which was controlled by Stormcloak soldiers who recognized me from the war. Managed to take a lot of food some iron arrows and some hide armor. Also ditched the two hander and lumber axe for a pickaxe and regular sized iron sword. After cooking up what food I could we continued through the Morthal marsh fighting past a charrus reaper, a trio of horkers (for their meat) and a number of bandits, off whom I could scavenge better fur armor parts.

Reaching the start of the snowy region we came across another group of bandits taking down a big mammoth. Killed them off and took what I could before running into their nearby camp. There were only three of them, but it was a very tough fight. After killing the first guy, Wynna took an axe to the face leaving me to handle the remaining two dudes with a handfull of arrows that ran out quickly. Managed to finish the next guy with my sword before having to run circles around the final bow guy. Luckily my trick from Stalker Online worked here too, as I found a "sleeping" alpha snow sabrecat and hid near it. The fool woke it up by looking for me and became kitty litter while I made my escape.

This one loves breakfast in bed.

Finally reached Dawnstar where I -wasn't- a wanted man (for a change). Decided to hit the iron mine and smelter then pushed on to a nearby deserted imperial camp where I used their forge to make a matching iron sword to my current one and upgraded both of them. Unfortunately there were no tanning racks around for me to make use of the hides from wolves and such I had been collecting though, so I pushed on - scavenging a small lighthouse for food then sneaking past a lazy giant snowbear before finally reaching Winterhold where I marched directly to the Mages College.

I found everyone gathered at the main hall, preparing for a seminar so I pulled my old teacher Tolfdir aside and explained my situation. He was intrigued and said that a few weeks ago someone had stolen something from the library's restricted section. Since no travellers had been reported coming in he assumes it had to be an inside job, and could be related to my problem. While the mages could come and go, they were currently all here so it was the perfect time to find the culprit.

Heroes of Darkwater

Adventures in Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the whole story here!

Decided to return some books to the Mage's college and promptly found that no one would talk to me because I had been expelled (from the last entry). Ironically the reasoning for this was not because I am an arch-mage with no magic, but because I got one of their own killed while hunting down said books. Talked to Tolfdir regarding this and apparently the going price for life here is 250 gold, which I reluctantly paid just so I could get rid of these tomes. I was almost tempted to leave the ancient dragon attacking the place out of disgust but I figured I shouldn't let such a thing roam around freely. Afterwards I decided to get the hell out of there and back to the warmer climates of the South.

With a new personal goal of finding and clearing all the areas in the land of those that oppose me, I found myself in Darkwater Crossing again and remembered something about one of their number missing upstream. Found a cave pretty high up near the waterfall inhabited by even more falmer, and during my cleansing of the place came across captured lizardman Deerkeethus who decided to tag along with me after I set him free. Turns out he must have dragon blood or something, as he survived numerous bandit camps, burial cairns, caves with alpha sabrecats, big mammoths, and my becoming Thane (finally) in Windhelm - no wonder the falmer just imprisoned him. During our travels we also found a tower full of witches and tried to help one of them (Illia) stop the others. Alas half way up Illia was eaten by a troll but we continued her task and slew her mother. Afterwards we revisited a cave I had already been in to eliminate another bandit crew that had taken up residence. The battle was somewhat made more complicated when we were knocked down into a lower cavern and had to fight our way back out. Was good to see J'zargo again - even though he was dead.

... Or asleep. Hard to tell with cats.
Back at Darkwater Crossing, Anneke Crag-jumper was so amazed by my skills that she wanted to leave her miner husband and come adventuring with me. I figured Deerkeethus was due for some rest so I agreed to take her along in his place. Wiped out -all- the slavers at Mistwatch tower and an elder dragon with her before heading to Riften (due to a questmarker regarding the Dark Brotherhood) where I formulated a plan. With the "No essential NPCs" mod I knew the thieves guild and brotherhood scum that had survived so far were no longer protected by their threads of fate, however I wouldn't kill them just yet. I figured if they actually became successful then perhaps I could attract all the scum to the one area and kill most of them in one fell swoop - or at least learn of who the scum are hiding in other cities, so with an evil grin I decided to buy all the upgrades for the Dawnstar Sanctuary and began picking up little thieving tasks to do at a later stage.

For now, I think there are still lots of areas here in the Southeast section of the map to find and clear out.

*As an unrelated aside, two of my favourite webcomics have combined powers this week with "Axecop and Lolbat"! Funny to see what Malachai does to Scott Kurtz's character. :D