Two for Two

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

The first person I went to recruit was the tamer Gunmar who I found outside a nearby cave. Seems he was being tracked too, by a bounty hunter! After bonding through shared manslaughter he agrees to join after I help him kill a murderous bear. Aren't all the bears here murderous anyway? Once that easy task was done I trekked back to Skyhaven Temple to get Wynd, the transgendered elf, for patrol next - starting at Markarth (where I finally found my 100k gold - yay) and then went to find the artificer at her remote campsite beside a river.

I guess some bears are more murderous than others.

Once we got there we were met by the strangest sight - a thalmor soldier fighting a giant crab fighting a frost dragon in the river itself, and to make matters worse Sorine the artificer suddenly charges into the fray. Knowing we kinda need her alive we engaged all the opponents, drawing their ire. Wynd made the mistake of getting too close though, and there was little I could do as the giant crab grabbed him in its giant pincer and then have the dragon ice them both. His body was swept down with the current by the time I killed the dragon. Sorine wasn't even thankful, but at least she agreed to join the Dawnguard after I returned her bag of gyros to her.

While there I spotted a cave I hadn't been in before and marked it on my map, then returned to Skyhaven Temple for reinforcements and found Vilkas alive and well again, waiting for me at the entrance with his wolfish. I seriously have lost count how many times I have killed this were-draugr. He asked if I wanted a lesson in two handed weapons, so I requested a duel the traditional way - I punched him in the face three times. In the course of our battle I sliced him, hacked him, and pushed him down a small rocky cliff (with me in pursuit) and when he was on his knees saying "Enough! I am no ma..." I stopped him right there by grabbing his hair and slicing through his neck with Rayna's daedric blade, beheading the ugly bastard. Let's see if he can regenerate from that.

Wizards and Warriors

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

Bree the blade joined next and she was a powerhouse! She helped defeat the guardian mudcrab, skeever and bear, 2 ancient dragons, a frost dragon, laid waste to an imperial camp, single handedly killed a warlock and his assistant who were turning people into ghosts (after she fell into his trap while I didn't), and stood up to multiple draugr death overlords. She even won an archery duel against the hunter in Whiterun, and melee duels against a random Alik'r redguard and a bodyguard to the Jarl of Falkreath. She also killed an old maid targetted by the brotherhood with no remorse (though I had to pay a fee for that, I guess they were pissed -I- wasn't killing the marks so I personally one-shotted the next marked criminal mage hiding in some dwemer ruins).

There seems to be a steady stream of unsigned letters being delivered to me too, sending me to word walls in dangerous spots. Either my incognito friend(s) travelled to these places themselves or they are trying their best to kill me. One such spot during our exploration of the South turned out to be a wizard coven and with their combined spells finally managed to explode Bree into little pieces. Cat the ranger filled her shoes nicely though, especially when I gave her twin mage staves, it was she who was tossing the wizards around!

Wasn't to last long however as on our return trip to Whiterun for more thiefing jobs one of the guards attempted to arrest me. This led to a pretty large scale battle in the city streets and out of nowhere Vilkas, in full blades attire, appeared to assist the guards, forcing me to kill him (again?). During this, Cat took an arrow to the head so I quickly ducked in the tavern and found Lea the knight to continue the melee. Also went into the Jorrvaskr and inexplicably found both Torvar and Farkas alive once more, and hostile! Its almost like all the companions are destined to be draugr. After killing them we completed our remaining task and left the city. Hopefully they stay dead this time as I got their inheritance letters!

Came across another falmer cave in the Northern mountains which was easily cleared, then pushed forward to the next brotherhood contract - a pirate named Safia. I hate pirates. Found her ship and killed her quickly as she ate a leek. Her crew put up a better fight though, and Lea was beheaded by a daedric axe. The lady wielding this weapon was the last alive and when I accidentally put my weapon away, she did the same willing to call it a draw. I took the opportunity to slit her throat when the idiot turned around. It's a good trick though, wonder if I can use it on more people? Anyway, since I was nearby I decided to drop into my Solitude estate to drop off gear and visit Njada and Jordis for a well earned massage. ;)

That's a pretty lousy last meal.

Team Wipe

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

Roggi was soon gutted by a backstabbing falmer, and his replacement Thea the ex-imperial lost to the first falmer scum she met. Fortunately her compatriot Leif lasted longer, past a giant frost atronarch, a handful of corsairs, hagravens and some strange magic spiders before also being slain by the falmer. Recruited Tish the miner/knight next who seemed to do better against the falmer scum. We then came across a dumb khajit who was marked by the brotherhood and simply egged him on to fight us - he obliged and was promptly killed by a patrolling stormcloak guard. Since Tish wanted to fight a dragon we stopped by with Esbern and got the blades into action. I had also learned Meeko wasn't obedient and left my Solitude house so I decided to bring him too. The ancient dragon managed to roast Mjoll's boyfriend Aerin to crispy pata but it soon was dead.

Meeko claims he was delicious.
I had intended to travel with the blades members (Mjoll, Vilkas, and Athis) back to Sky Haven Temple but for some reason they all seemed to pick different paths so instead I explored around that area and found some dude in a hut who tasked me with hunting various "guardian" critters. Also came across another imperial camp which we wiped out. Meeko was slain in the battle. After killing an alpha sabrecat that ripped apart a stray dog Tish and I made it to arc wind point and fought past another ancient plus death overlords. It is a pity that she died against simple bandits at the next ruin we visited, having her jugular slashed open.

Cali the archer was next to join and while she had an early victory against a blood dragon, a strange encounter with a banshee, bear, tiger and mage left her charred corpse in the middle of nowhere. Recruited a khajit thief named Dex at the ragged flaggon for my next job of scouting out Pinewatch lodge - which turned out to be a huge bandit base. Dex was arrowed to death early, and his replacement Jala the elf archer was axe-murdered in her first fight by the same gang further in.

Found the guardian wolf nearby after that. Or rather, it's location. There was a troll party happening in that forest when I arrived and after a few minutes I got the message that the wolf had been killed. Mission accomplished despite me never seeing it. :/

Gotta Catch them All

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

With the major crisis(es) averted, my vacation was cut short when I learned that the lich guys (dragon priests) are actually finite. Should have guessed with them all having names and all. Seems I missed something when I was last at Labyrinthian, and with Iona in tow we revisited the cold ruins and I found the wooden mask that when worn transports me to some sort of chapel for these -eight- dudes. I know I've killed a few of them already so it was a small adventure in itself returning to all my houses and storage areas to try find where I left them lying around. This involved thwarting an attack by an ancient dragon on the mage school and killing a pirate dremora (arr?) in its basement. Yeah that was strange. Anyway after much searching I already had five of the masks.

I recalled that I encountered one of these freaks beside a dragon roost previously so I decided to take up the Blades' offer on a wyrm hunt. One gutsy frost dragon decided to attack right at Sky Haven Temple's courtyard while I was there and after dispatching him met the Blade recruits, Mjoll, Vilkas and Athis to take down an elder dragon roosting at the top of some mountain. Alas, no lich guy here. Next stage of the plan was to take a game designer's view on the matter and if I was them I'd scatter them to the four winds (the edges of the map). Keeping an eye out for ancient nordic temples preferably high up in mountains I finally came across Forelhost where a dude pretending to be a Stormcloak officer (I knew he was shifty after pickpocketing his orders) tasked me to get the staff of the resident lich within. Turns out the old temple is home to a veritable army of Deathlords and Deathoverlords. Around midway Iona dies to their onslaught on one of those reverse spike trap pillar things.

Didn't matter as I backstabbed the rest of them and the lich face too. Couldn't kill him outright though, but Meridia's gift was sure handy in taking him out. Outside I find the traitor trying to get an imperial guy to scout the ruins out too and he rightly deduces that mr quest giver is a thalmor scum. After killing them both I picked up Brelyna the apprentice mage as my new escort as she owed me for that time she turned me green, and into a few animals. Turns out she's a very capable wizard, blasting things to hell and atronarch summoning left and right. After a few days of searching for the next target I get quite frustrated and run into Mister Wiki in a tavern who gives me directions on when to find the remaining two priest guys.

The next one we visit is royally screwed as another wizard named Anska joins the team to clear out his lair. I didn't have to do much at all in there, and the last lich didn't fare much better as he had a longer dungeon thus I was more annoyed when I reached him. :P Finally with all eight masks in hand I returned to their temple of masks and put all of theirs up on display... Seems there is a ninth mask as a reward. Slightly disappointed there was no super powerful foe wearing it though. No matter. After reclaiming all of those Brelyna and I headed back to Solitude to chillax for a bit with Jordis and Njada.

Mission complete.
I know that I'm only level 45 and I haven't cleared -all- the areas (haven't even found some either) but these adventures, despite being highly entertaining, have been causing some real life fatigue. With all the major quest lines out of the way I think its time for a break, especially with some big real life adventures coming up for me. Thanks for reading up to this point! Maybe this will be continued with a future DLC? Only time will tell. :)

The War that Waited for Me

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

At last, we get to the "great" war that has been the backdrop of this epic setting from the very first scene. It's kind of disappointing to report that the enemy troops barely scratch me at this stage (a level 45 thief), but it puts a good conclusion to the tale.

Jarl Bossman of Whiterun decided to side with the legion and is the first to fall to the Stormcloak army. Stupid man. The game also prevents me from executing him and his housecarl after defeating him as is what should have happened. Anyway, this is followed by the Stormcloaks attacking many forts scattered throughout the map. The last one even had a pseudo-hero in a high level bounty hunter who was there to hunt me down, but none were a match for the army that had a dragon providing air support. Hell, they had trouble fighting my horse!

After being promoted a few times I reached a rank that let me purchase property in Windhelm which I did, and had another fun battle on my way to the rallying point for the final siege where I was beset by a dragon and an Ancient Dragon at the same time! That was great! Though I think I should really rebuild those Blades to put these critters down before they get out of control.

The final domino of this one sided war was Solitude where General Tullius soiled himself just before Ulfric chopped his head off. I made sure to strip and pose the corpse of the traitorous whore Rikke on the table too as a message to anyone who joins the empire. They get f... killed. At last, the war was over (and all my bounties expunged... muahahaha).

With the empire now mostly driven out of Skyrim and the world eater disintegrated in heaven (lol what?) I decided to rebuild the Blades to handle the dragon slaying for awhile. First I took Mjoll the lioness who was accompanied by her puppy dog follower guy. I was going to take Lob the last orc next, but he was killed by a giant upon my arrival so I decided to look in Whiterun instead. To my surprise now Vilkas had come back to life (after I killed him at Boethiah's pillar?)! Well if the Blades need anything it certainly is people who don't know how to die so I brought both him and Athis to sign up at which point spy girl said they had enough people to start handling the dragons on their own.

This is excellent news as it means I can enjoy some well earned R&R for a while, so I decide to empty out the hall at Jovaskar by marrying Njada who has really grown on me. I tell her to go live in my house at Solitude with Jordis, then get Iona to follow me and meet up with them there for some fun times... maybe playing Dungeon Defenders or something. :P

Because going to the beach was not an option.

The Cleansing

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

J'zargo didn't turn out to be as good as he thought he was, as he was slain by in battle with common bandits. With a delivery task back to Whiterun I discovered all the companions could now follow me. Not wanting to have a freaking werewolf I decided to take Athis the asshat, to evaluate his skills. I watched as he was knocked down and begging for mercy by four unarmed pirates. And again by one Khajit assassin. I don't know how he ever joined the supposedly best fighters guild in the region. We also went to assist an Imperial fleet take out a Pirate hold (pirates are more scum than the empire so it was ok for this short truce). Ofcourse, they sent me and Athis in alone to kill the leader - a task in which Athis was axed to death by a single pirate minion. I cleared out the pirate keep only to discover the imperial ships began bombardment... while I was still inside. TRAITOROUS SCUM! I should have known!

Not a face you can trust.

I made it out under all the explosions and had a stern word with the imperial lady in charge afterwards, Adelisa. She wanted to join my adventures? Sure. Let's see how you like being betrayed. A prime opportunity arose when we found the Cult of Boethia, who wanted me to sacrifice her on a magic pillar. I had other ideas though, we killed all of them instead. Adelisa also helped me get half way through a dwemer ruin looking for a powerful staff before she had her insides ripped out by Falmer bastards. Those guys are really ruthless. Also found and assisted an empire aligned mage there, but due to his obligation to report the goings on here to his superiors I had no choice but to slit his throat.

Decided to head back to Whiterun to handle a problem that's been nagging me for awhile. As guild leader of the companions, I wanted all werewolves OUT. To my surprise when I get to the hall I see Athis there - alive and well. Little bastard somehow made it off that island! No matter, next up for evaluation was Ria the rookie. We did minor tasks for the three circle wolves and she handled herself amiably, even managing to slay a dragon (normal type - haven't seen them in awhile). I had hoped the lycans would reconsider their condition especially since they knew there was a cure for it now, but alas they seemed to all be happy with their condition. I had no choice then, as guild master it was my responsibility to deal with this potential problem. With all three in tow I took them to the pillar of Boethia where the threads of fate (game immortality) could not protect them and I grinned as I ended their miserable lives. There would be no more werewolves coming from you three infected bastards. That felt so much better!

Next up for evaluation was Torvar the drunk, and I took him to assist in the problems up at Winterhold where he performed waaaay better than I thought he would. He survived defending the broken town against magical anomalies, against a skeletal dragon, a wisp mother AND a lich. He also got to fight the thalmor prick Ancano and his associate. Alas, in the final battle he had his jugular ripped out by a crazed magical anomaly. After avenging his death and fixing the main problem at the mage school I was named arch-mage, which is ironic since my level of magic ability is rather low. Guess these mages aren't so smart after all.

A whole lot of killing

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

Thanks to being interrupted by a Jester with a broken down carraige, I was left to catch up with the three fools at the dungeon itself where really only one of them was of any use. The first twin was too sad and the second was afraid of spiders (what? lol) so it was up to Aela and I to reach the deep crypt past all the warriors of old. Once there the ritual for the cure simply involved tossing a severed head into a flame. Easy enough. Since I brought extra, I decided to cure myself too. By strange coincidence I find myself now the leader of this Companions guild that has a few too many members that I dislike. The three amigos stay for awhile to worship the dead while I head on back to Solitude to infiltrate a Thalmor party at their embassy. I like this mission already.

After slipping away from the guests I make sure to assassinate every single Thalmor guard, assistant, official, or general supporter I find. Backstabbing and throat slitting has never felt so rewarding. Those I could not reach I had to kill using arrows through a fence, but I made sure none remained alive. With the information I needed in hand I was assisted by my housecarl Jordis to escape using a one-way underground tunnel (which leads me to question as to how she got in there in the first place). She also is a good fighter assisting me in defeating another Forsworn stronghold, a blood dragon, two elder dragons, and vasals of Mehrunes Dagon. Phew! That's a lot of killing.

Back in Winterhold the Mages College has tasked me with gathering more intel on this giant floaty orb thing as well, so I decide that it would probably be prudent to bring a mage on this task and with the novice Onmund offering to help after I retrieved his family necklace I told Jordis to take a break and meet me back at the house in Solitude. She was happy to do so, but first she pulled out her axe and began an uprovoked chopping on the Thalmor agent Ancano. Before I can do anything, Onmund is shooting lightning at her, defending the Thalmor scum! What the hell man. ANY SUPPORTER OF THE THALMOR MUST DIE. With daggers in hand I tore Onmund into tiny little pieces, leaving what was left of his corpse lying on display at the center of the hall. Ancano unfortunately is immortal (I did try killing him on our first meeting, stupid game), so eventually I managed to calm Jordis down enough to get her outside and on her way home. By luck and skill, no one actually saw me killing my fellow student, so I waltzed onto choice number two - the khajit J'zargo who had in a very sly way tried to kill me earlier I think.

This one thinks that it is you who is the fool.
Then it was off to Windhelm, a city of snow, racism and murder. By sheer first impression I already had an idea of who was the murderer anyway but no one was asking me to help solve the crime so I did the usual "talk to everyone and punch a few people in the face" routine. Finally also "properly" met Ulfric Stormcloak, leader of the rebellion. He has spirit and I am inclined to join his cause, but not yet - there still be the dragon mystery to solve. Apparently he's also quite racist (so am I, I hate all races that don't bow down to me) so it is a minor flaw compared to the many that plague the defunct empire.

Ashes to Ashes

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

On the road to Markarth we came across a Thalmor unit with a prisoner. After getting into a theological argument with them, they attacked (as planned) and I tested Erandur's will to kill his own kind (elves), which he passed with flying colours. He is quite a violent priest. After freeing the captive we continued to the City of Stone for what was meant to be a simple pickup job for the mages college and a bounty retrieval from the Jarl's steward. This was not to be. One of the guardsmen at the main hall wanted to arrest me: on charges of treason for "aiding" the forsworn. I aided them by killing their leader? I knew quickly that the local Thalmor bastard (who was standing there at the time with his usual smug grin) had organized this. I told the guard "fuck you", and began a long fight back out to the city gates, but not before I made sure the Thalmor asswipe and his two lackeys were lying lifeless in pools of their own blood. Between Erandur and I we must have slaughtered half the guardsmen at Markarth before reaching the gates. Alas in the final melee, the priest was cut down and his body lay in a pile of other soldiers he killed.

Decided to steal a horse and make my way to a nearby orc camp which I was turned away from earlier. The blacksmith lady (orc) in town had told me I would be welcome now after helping her which I was. Upon arrival I did what is customary I assume. I challenged their chief to a fist fight and publicly humiliated him by knocking his lights out. Then I got his brother Ghorbash to join me on my next tasks which involved killing hagravens and as luck would have it, a great number of orc bandits. The stalwart warrior was not in my company long though when he met his end to a master necromancer who then raised his body to fight against me. Upon killing the wizard with my arrows the once mighty Ghorbash disintegrated into a pile of ash.

How many people end up when Necromancy or Fire is involved.
Back at Whiterun I found that the Silverhand had been busy and managed to actually kill the old leader guy. YES! One less werewolf. Vilkas, one of the twins, wants vengeance and demands to come with me. Ofcourse his vengeance can wait. First we go back up to High Hrothgar where I finish my training and can finally use the shout that all these dead men have been using against me (Fus ro dah!), then we go kill a troublesome giant, fight an elder dragon and the lich Krosis at the same time (that was tough), and find Azura's star. Also became Thane of both Winterhold and Dawnstar, and retrieved missing books and rescued the stupid student Orthorn for the mages college from a sorceress who calls herself "The Caller". When she saw me she instantly panicked and let me take whatever I wanted. Silly for her at that point I wanted her life for making me go through all her minions. Dagger to the back resulted in her instant death and prevented any stupid boss fight that may have happened.

Finally we get to Vilkas' revenge. The Silverhand stronghold is expansive, but generally they are no match for us. Also decided to free a captive werewolf who turned out to be wild (as I predicted). I let Vilkas deal with it to see if he had the cahones to murder his own kind. He did. I grinned and laughed. That should be the fate of all stupid werewolves (I'm a werecorgi, I'm not included in that generalization :P). I was tempted to backstab Vilkas right now but I knew from the fight with Krosis earlier that he was immune to death (damn game). Back at Whiterun we attended the funeral of the old leader guy where Aela burned his corpse on the pyre. I also learn that there's a cure for this lycanthropy, so with the twins Farkas and Vilkas and Aela we begin our run North to find it.