A lot has happened since my last post. Ok maybe just two things... firstly I'm now a married man and have moved in to my new house with my wonderful wife! Woohoo! Secondly, my home compy is not hooked up to the internets yet and it may be awhile before it is (need funds for house upgrades x.x), meaning my online adventures will be put on hold for a bit.
This is ok as it means I can focus a little on creative works again instead, possibly alternating with a run through Stalker Soup - a massive and hardcore fan-made patch to Shadows of Chernobyl (which I had previously won, but it was so awesome I'm willing to do it again). I'll most likely start a journal of that too when I get the chance. :)
Thursday, 17 May 2012
Monday, 30 April 2012
Leftovers
Adventures in Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the whole story here!
Revisited Red Belly mine and found spiders respawned in the now "safe" mine - attacking the workers within. I managed to save all except for a young lady who became spider chow. I then pushed on to Darkwater Crossing to pickup my old dragon buddy Derkeethus. Three hired goons showed up as well, but they didn't attack me - they just followed me like puppies and helped me collect some Jazbay grapes and defeat a blood dragon. I was beginning to take a liking to the three stooges but I knew that they had been sent by daughter Black-Briar (since I managed to pickpocket a contract from them).
Decided to hand in the grapes at the Sarethi farm first - took awhile to find the damn things, I had this quest before I fought Alduin (like 10+ chapters ago). Unfortunately the dunmer lady would not be able to make use of them as she and her daughter rushed to the aid of a wandering nameless khajit under attack by... the three stooges. Having forced my hand, I aided the farmers but could not kill the heavily armored warriors in time to prevent them doing painful looking finishing moves on them. Derkeethus did one of his own with his daedric axe as the finishing blow.
Marched straight back to Riften to confront the alchemist daughter about this and she feigned ignorance. However she let slip again that she wanted to become a necromancer and practice dark arts so without further hesitation I put an arrow into her face and tossed her body down one of the murky canals leading into the sewers. With that done we revisited Esbern, the last remaining blade as Mjoll was still MIA. He had no more dragons to hunt so Derkeethus and I returned to my Solitude home to rest up with the others: Njada, Jordis, Wynna, Rayna and Anni for whatever next adventures lie ahead.
There were still khajit caravans to stop, places to clear, and plenty of falmer to slay but they could wait for another day. With that I am taking another break from Skyrim - for how long? Who knows.
Revisited Red Belly mine and found spiders respawned in the now "safe" mine - attacking the workers within. I managed to save all except for a young lady who became spider chow. I then pushed on to Darkwater Crossing to pickup my old dragon buddy Derkeethus. Three hired goons showed up as well, but they didn't attack me - they just followed me like puppies and helped me collect some Jazbay grapes and defeat a blood dragon. I was beginning to take a liking to the three stooges but I knew that they had been sent by daughter Black-Briar (since I managed to pickpocket a contract from them).
Decided to hand in the grapes at the Sarethi farm first - took awhile to find the damn things, I had this quest before I fought Alduin (like 10+ chapters ago). Unfortunately the dunmer lady would not be able to make use of them as she and her daughter rushed to the aid of a wandering nameless khajit under attack by... the three stooges. Having forced my hand, I aided the farmers but could not kill the heavily armored warriors in time to prevent them doing painful looking finishing moves on them. Derkeethus did one of his own with his daedric axe as the finishing blow.
Marched straight back to Riften to confront the alchemist daughter about this and she feigned ignorance. However she let slip again that she wanted to become a necromancer and practice dark arts so without further hesitation I put an arrow into her face and tossed her body down one of the murky canals leading into the sewers. With that done we revisited Esbern, the last remaining blade as Mjoll was still MIA. He had no more dragons to hunt so Derkeethus and I returned to my Solitude home to rest up with the others: Njada, Jordis, Wynna, Rayna and Anni for whatever next adventures lie ahead.
There were still khajit caravans to stop, places to clear, and plenty of falmer to slay but they could wait for another day. With that I am taking another break from Skyrim - for how long? Who knows.
When the time comes, we'll be ready.
Sunday, 29 April 2012
The Lioness
Adventures in Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the whole story here!
Before reaching Mjoll I stopped at the tavern I had dismissed Rayna at and to my surprise she was still there! Got me thinking that I could/should start building up an army for the impending war against the Thalmor and/or the falmer so I took her to my house in Solitude where she was happy to keep Njada and Jordis company. Anni the elf archer and Wynna the mage soon followed suit, though Wynna helped me retrieve a number of dwemer cogs for a dude at the mage academy first, and slay the thief-allied mage there while we were at it.
At Skyhaven Temple Mjoll agreed to join me but there was something she had to do first (she wasn't following me) so I watched as she and spy-gal Delphine went to the outer courtyard, saluted and began to spar. At least I thought it was sparring - until Mjoll sliced Delphine's throat with her axe! With Delphine dead on the ground we were off next to fight an ancient dragon for Esbern. This one was particularly nasty but Athis, Mjoll and I took it down all the same. Ofcourse now that I knew Athis was turning into a draugr I couldn't let him live and yelled him off the mountain.
Next stop was the Nightingale Sanctuary where I let Mjoll duel Karliah (a battle she won easily) before storming the Ragged Flagon in Riften itself. In the bloody combat that followed, every single thieves guild member save for Brynjolf (protected by threads of fate) were slain and looted, but our task wasn't done. It was evening time when we returned to the surface and we found the imperial-loving, thieves guild supporting Lady Black-Briar at the tavern. I used a mayhem scroll to make the fight seem natural and managed to kill her and her husband in the melee. Somewhere during this Mjoll ran outside the door for some reason and that was the last I saw of her. She was gone without a trace.
The guards of Riften were mainly in the Black-briar pockets so I did not hesitate in slaying every single one that dared get in my way, as well as a bunch that wanted to hide in the barracks and castle. I made sure to visit just to check who would and who wouldn't attack. Now I know which are my friends, since all my enemies are dead.
Or so I thought.
I completely forgot about the god-damn Batman.
Good thing he's not in this game. :P
Before reaching Mjoll I stopped at the tavern I had dismissed Rayna at and to my surprise she was still there! Got me thinking that I could/should start building up an army for the impending war against the Thalmor and/or the falmer so I took her to my house in Solitude where she was happy to keep Njada and Jordis company. Anni the elf archer and Wynna the mage soon followed suit, though Wynna helped me retrieve a number of dwemer cogs for a dude at the mage academy first, and slay the thief-allied mage there while we were at it.
At Skyhaven Temple Mjoll agreed to join me but there was something she had to do first (she wasn't following me) so I watched as she and spy-gal Delphine went to the outer courtyard, saluted and began to spar. At least I thought it was sparring - until Mjoll sliced Delphine's throat with her axe! With Delphine dead on the ground we were off next to fight an ancient dragon for Esbern. This one was particularly nasty but Athis, Mjoll and I took it down all the same. Ofcourse now that I knew Athis was turning into a draugr I couldn't let him live and yelled him off the mountain.
Next stop was the Nightingale Sanctuary where I let Mjoll duel Karliah (a battle she won easily) before storming the Ragged Flagon in Riften itself. In the bloody combat that followed, every single thieves guild member save for Brynjolf (protected by threads of fate) were slain and looted, but our task wasn't done. It was evening time when we returned to the surface and we found the imperial-loving, thieves guild supporting Lady Black-Briar at the tavern. I used a mayhem scroll to make the fight seem natural and managed to kill her and her husband in the melee. Somewhere during this Mjoll ran outside the door for some reason and that was the last I saw of her. She was gone without a trace.
The guards of Riften were mainly in the Black-briar pockets so I did not hesitate in slaying every single one that dared get in my way, as well as a bunch that wanted to hide in the barracks and castle. I made sure to visit just to check who would and who wouldn't attack. Now I know which are my friends, since all my enemies are dead.
Or so I thought.
I completely forgot about the god-damn Batman.
Good thing he's not in this game. :P
Gyromancing the Stones
Adventures in Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the whole story here!
Calder and I continued the hunt for the stones, looking through the Markarth and Falkreath areas with no luck. At the Pinewatch bandit place where Dex was previously arrowed to death, Calder also died after being hacked, stabbed, and taking two arrows to the face. Unfortunately the stone there was already gone too so he died for nothing. It was around this point that I noticed Shadowmere was no longer following me, probably due to its old master turning into dust before its eyes.
No matter, next stop was Whiterun where I knew the guards wanted my head. Nice of them to still ask if I'd like to surrender though, and one of them was even so nice as to ask me to stop all the yelling as it was frightening people (i agreed) - just before trying to kill me. Got into the local pub which was quickly being emptied of inhabitants but found Rayna an ex-imperial soldier willing to follow me into battle. She probably was impressed by my Stormcloak killing ability.
After clearing the streets we checked the crypts where we didn't find a stone but instead found fresh coffins for a whole group of familiar names. Always wondered what happened to Uthgerd - turns out she was moved down here awhile ago. Next stop was Dragonsreach itself, so after fighting through more guards we made our way past the slain Jarl Vignar (from my last visit) to his quarters and there waiting for us is Jarl Bossman! He had returned from his exile in Solitude and seemed to now be running the show again, and he was still pissed off from our last meeting. Fought our way past him (a few times) but alas, there was no stone to be found up here either.
Luckily the next spot, a keep full of necromancers did have one. Decided to dismiss Rayna back to Whiterun since she was a handy asset to have in that location when I picked up the mage Ralan. Unfortunately he was a complete loser who wouldn't want to go past the entry points of the next few places I explored (including a charrus infested lighthouse) and soon met his end (via friendly fire arrow) against some conjurers in a cave where again - there was no stone.
Replaced him with a barbarian lady named Sunni who showed off her skills by slaying a brash redguard right in the tavern I found her in. With her I found the last two remaining stones and was tasked to retrieve the crown they sat on from a falmer infested cave. The crown was retrieved but Sunni was left floating face down in a pool of water after getting eviscerated by the falmer bastards. Having completed the "end game" for the thieves guild I figured it was time to go get the person who most wanted them dead - Mjoll the Lioness who now resided at Skyhaven Temple.
Calder and I continued the hunt for the stones, looking through the Markarth and Falkreath areas with no luck. At the Pinewatch bandit place where Dex was previously arrowed to death, Calder also died after being hacked, stabbed, and taking two arrows to the face. Unfortunately the stone there was already gone too so he died for nothing. It was around this point that I noticed Shadowmere was no longer following me, probably due to its old master turning into dust before its eyes.
No matter, next stop was Whiterun where I knew the guards wanted my head. Nice of them to still ask if I'd like to surrender though, and one of them was even so nice as to ask me to stop all the yelling as it was frightening people (i agreed) - just before trying to kill me. Got into the local pub which was quickly being emptied of inhabitants but found Rayna an ex-imperial soldier willing to follow me into battle. She probably was impressed by my Stormcloak killing ability.
After clearing the streets we checked the crypts where we didn't find a stone but instead found fresh coffins for a whole group of familiar names. Always wondered what happened to Uthgerd - turns out she was moved down here awhile ago. Next stop was Dragonsreach itself, so after fighting through more guards we made our way past the slain Jarl Vignar (from my last visit) to his quarters and there waiting for us is Jarl Bossman! He had returned from his exile in Solitude and seemed to now be running the show again, and he was still pissed off from our last meeting. Fought our way past him (a few times) but alas, there was no stone to be found up here either.
A true nord never backs down. Just like Aerys Targaryen?
(art by GoranGligovic)
(art by GoranGligovic)
Luckily the next spot, a keep full of necromancers did have one. Decided to dismiss Rayna back to Whiterun since she was a handy asset to have in that location when I picked up the mage Ralan. Unfortunately he was a complete loser who wouldn't want to go past the entry points of the next few places I explored (including a charrus infested lighthouse) and soon met his end (via friendly fire arrow) against some conjurers in a cave where again - there was no stone.
Replaced him with a barbarian lady named Sunni who showed off her skills by slaying a brash redguard right in the tavern I found her in. With her I found the last two remaining stones and was tasked to retrieve the crown they sat on from a falmer infested cave. The crown was retrieved but Sunni was left floating face down in a pool of water after getting eviscerated by the falmer bastards. Having completed the "end game" for the thieves guild I figured it was time to go get the person who most wanted them dead - Mjoll the Lioness who now resided at Skyhaven Temple.
Thursday, 26 April 2012
They know what I did last Blogger
Adventures in Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the whole story here!
Picked up Raven, a pretty blades archer (because she had their armor) near Windhelm to clear the nearby lowlands and she was put to work early with a blood dragon and a Shadow Nightingale coming out of nowhere to attack us! The Nightingale was damned tough and when we finally killed her she vanished into a puff of black smoke. I'm beginning to think the thieves guild is on to me if they're sending assassins now, so I went directly to them while playing "dumb" to see if anything was amiss and sure enough there were strange things afoot. Brynjolf was too busy to talk to me, Delvin began talking about a contract at Solitude mentioning the name "Erikur" as the contact but the quest never generated, nor did he ever speak of it again, and the task I did get was to chase a khajit caravan far away. Sure felt like they didn't want me around.
I let it slide for now and decided to clear out another cave full of conjurers I stumbled across. Seemed like the whole conclave came at us at once, and a master wizard zapped Raven to death in the battle. Decided to pick up my Windhelm housecarl Calder who was getting bored of sitting at home and growing his enormous sideburns. First stop was a dwemer ruin high in the Eastern mountains. The initial, empty hall turned out to be an elaborate pit trap that nearly killed Calder in the fall. Couldn't help but wonder if the nightingales were behind it as we fought our way out of the falmer infested caves back up.
Hoofed it across the map and finally cought up with the khajit caravan I was tasked to deliver drugs to. Seems that for a small amount of catnip these furry traders were willing to smuggle stuff for the guild, and not just this caravan - all of them! Damnit, I like the khajits - but criminals do not deserve jail; they deserve death. And that is exactly what I gave him and his friends.
After fighting a giant we stopped by Morthal since I was in the area and the entire guard contigent decided to fight me for killing their previous leader. Idiots. The ancient dragon that showed up midway through actually helped me out quite a bit. When the streets were littered with the dead and dragon bones we pushed on to Solitude where I found out from Njada and Jordis that "Erikur" was a thane of the local court. They had also been doing research on a bunch of stones Vex was looking for and gave me a list of where I could possibly find them. The only catch was I had most of them already (missing only 4) and I had forgotten where I got them.
This meant I simply had to visit each and every spot on the list, the first being the Blue Palace itself, so we marched straight back in there and slaughtered this Erikur person. No upstanding citizen would contact the thieves guild anyway, and the guy was a bit of a douche. Nice to see all the dead bodies still in the basement where I left them too - but the stone here was already gone (in my pack). More disturbing, Jarl Bossman who was one of the survivors from my previous rampage here, was nowhere to be found.
Picked up Raven, a pretty blades archer (because she had their armor) near Windhelm to clear the nearby lowlands and she was put to work early with a blood dragon and a Shadow Nightingale coming out of nowhere to attack us! The Nightingale was damned tough and when we finally killed her she vanished into a puff of black smoke. I'm beginning to think the thieves guild is on to me if they're sending assassins now, so I went directly to them while playing "dumb" to see if anything was amiss and sure enough there were strange things afoot. Brynjolf was too busy to talk to me, Delvin began talking about a contract at Solitude mentioning the name "Erikur" as the contact but the quest never generated, nor did he ever speak of it again, and the task I did get was to chase a khajit caravan far away. Sure felt like they didn't want me around.
I let it slide for now and decided to clear out another cave full of conjurers I stumbled across. Seemed like the whole conclave came at us at once, and a master wizard zapped Raven to death in the battle. Decided to pick up my Windhelm housecarl Calder who was getting bored of sitting at home and growing his enormous sideburns. First stop was a dwemer ruin high in the Eastern mountains. The initial, empty hall turned out to be an elaborate pit trap that nearly killed Calder in the fall. Couldn't help but wonder if the nightingales were behind it as we fought our way out of the falmer infested caves back up.
Hoofed it across the map and finally cought up with the khajit caravan I was tasked to deliver drugs to. Seems that for a small amount of catnip these furry traders were willing to smuggle stuff for the guild, and not just this caravan - all of them! Damnit, I like the khajits - but criminals do not deserve jail; they deserve death. And that is exactly what I gave him and his friends.
Obey or die.
After fighting a giant we stopped by Morthal since I was in the area and the entire guard contigent decided to fight me for killing their previous leader. Idiots. The ancient dragon that showed up midway through actually helped me out quite a bit. When the streets were littered with the dead and dragon bones we pushed on to Solitude where I found out from Njada and Jordis that "Erikur" was a thane of the local court. They had also been doing research on a bunch of stones Vex was looking for and gave me a list of where I could possibly find them. The only catch was I had most of them already (missing only 4) and I had forgotten where I got them.
This meant I simply had to visit each and every spot on the list, the first being the Blue Palace itself, so we marched straight back in there and slaughtered this Erikur person. No upstanding citizen would contact the thieves guild anyway, and the guy was a bit of a douche. Nice to see all the dead bodies still in the basement where I left them too - but the stone here was already gone (in my pack). More disturbing, Jarl Bossman who was one of the survivors from my previous rampage here, was nowhere to be found.
Wednesday, 25 April 2012
Southern Patrol
Adventures in Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the whole story here!
Took a break from the cloak and dagger of the thieves guild to patrol the Southern border of this fantastic land. Most of it I'd mapped already, but there were some fun parts including revisiting Helgen and eradicating the bandit scum that had taken residence in the ruins. Ren became frost troll chow a few caves later and I met an isolated archer girl called Angi who I wish I met earlier in the game. Pity she didn't want to join my team. I easily won her fun archery practice game and was glad that there was another imperial hating awesome archer in the land. Since I was in the area I decided to revisit the Falkreath Sanctuary and using my weeeeak magic decided to bring zombie-Astrid with me to Riverwood to see if anyone wanted to join my travels.
Unsurprisingly, the Whiterun allied guards there along with a few townsfolk I had -thought- were my friends all came to attack me. Zombie-Astrid did pretty well but was turned to ash by the mill-woman's rusty knife. After killing all those who opposed me I found the bard Sven who for some reason wanted to come along with me - most likely in hopes to have some of my fame rub off on him. He was a good guy, refusing to attack anyone (bandits) I asked him to. Alas the guards at the next town of Falkreath where I was to collect a bounty (from a friendly maid turned town steward! Awesome!) thought differently and ripped the aspiring bard a new one... With a war axe.
Apparently, it makes you sing better.
Found an ex-imperial named Conner to take his place at the Old Hroldan inn. Stayed the night too as I don't remember the last time my character slept. Woke up due to some screaming and a ghost looking for a sword. Finally I could get that thing out of my inventory. Continued exploration/clearing and after killing a Blood Horker pair I revisited the cave where the Redguard Alik'r Kematu was camped out. I asked him what he was still doing there having captured the girl he was looking for much earlier, and of the recent wandering Alik'r that attacked me. He offered no reply, and given that his men had unsheathed their weapons I figured the answer was clear.
After wiping him and his team out Conner and I found a bandit hideout near Whiterun I had completely missed. While he dueled a skilled blind bandit at the entrance I handled the rest of the scum and finished first before he finally ran the blind guy through. At the top of the summit was the bandit leader and Conner wanted to duel the guy so I let him. Conner was terribly outclassed but pulled off a fantastic last move - as the leader shoved his two handed sword through him, Conner somehow managed to push the guy off the platform sending both of them to a very messy and crunchy death on the jagged rocks below. I really wish I managed to video it.
Took a break from the cloak and dagger of the thieves guild to patrol the Southern border of this fantastic land. Most of it I'd mapped already, but there were some fun parts including revisiting Helgen and eradicating the bandit scum that had taken residence in the ruins. Ren became frost troll chow a few caves later and I met an isolated archer girl called Angi who I wish I met earlier in the game. Pity she didn't want to join my team. I easily won her fun archery practice game and was glad that there was another imperial hating awesome archer in the land. Since I was in the area I decided to revisit the Falkreath Sanctuary and using my weeeeak magic decided to bring zombie-Astrid with me to Riverwood to see if anyone wanted to join my travels.
Unsurprisingly, the Whiterun allied guards there along with a few townsfolk I had -thought- were my friends all came to attack me. Zombie-Astrid did pretty well but was turned to ash by the mill-woman's rusty knife. After killing all those who opposed me I found the bard Sven who for some reason wanted to come along with me - most likely in hopes to have some of my fame rub off on him. He was a good guy, refusing to attack anyone (bandits) I asked him to. Alas the guards at the next town of Falkreath where I was to collect a bounty (from a friendly maid turned town steward! Awesome!) thought differently and ripped the aspiring bard a new one... With a war axe.
Found an ex-imperial named Conner to take his place at the Old Hroldan inn. Stayed the night too as I don't remember the last time my character slept. Woke up due to some screaming and a ghost looking for a sword. Finally I could get that thing out of my inventory. Continued exploration/clearing and after killing a Blood Horker pair I revisited the cave where the Redguard Alik'r Kematu was camped out. I asked him what he was still doing there having captured the girl he was looking for much earlier, and of the recent wandering Alik'r that attacked me. He offered no reply, and given that his men had unsheathed their weapons I figured the answer was clear.
After wiping him and his team out Conner and I found a bandit hideout near Whiterun I had completely missed. While he dueled a skilled blind bandit at the entrance I handled the rest of the scum and finished first before he finally ran the blind guy through. At the top of the summit was the bandit leader and Conner wanted to duel the guy so I let him. Conner was terribly outclassed but pulled off a fantastic last move - as the leader shoved his two handed sword through him, Conner somehow managed to push the guy off the platform sending both of them to a very messy and crunchy death on the jagged rocks below. I really wish I managed to video it.
Tuesday, 24 April 2012
Unsupported Preparation
Adventures in Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the whole story here!
Not that she will talk much though.
Slew a named dragon (something like Nasalgift?) and cleared out a mine that dug too deep to draugr territory, then decided to visit the Dawnstar Sanctuary again since the quests for the Brotherhood seem to have dried up. When we arrived the redguard and the female initiate were busily torturing the prisoners. Having had enough of these posers, Cleve and I wiped them out and freed the captives from their bondage. Alas the vampiric child was still protected by threads of fate so we instead just buried her alive with the talking corpse. Hey, at least she has company.
Ran some more thief jobs in Solitude which is costing me some money (each time I do a job I leave gold to compensate the target, after all I don't really want to support the thieves guild). Also protip for the silly guards: if I save you from an ancient dragon, do not try to arrest me right after. Found an imperial supporting ex-Jarl that escaped the palace butchering at the tavern and got Cleve to eliminate her bodyguard while my daggers found her back. Also revisited Jzargo's cave -again- to retrieve a stolen necklace. I am beginning to suspect the dead khajit is actually leading these respawning bandits somehow.
After helping the Blades (Athis & Mjoll) hunt another dragon we were tasked to find and eliminate a rival thieves guild - the Summerset Shadows. Found their lair easily enough since I had been there previously, and managed to slow mo one-shot all of them save their leader who was an absolute tank. His daedric arrows were too much for Cleve (in full ebony armor) who ended up as a broken pincushion. After eliminating them I returned to Windhelm where Torsten Cruelsea and a fence named Niranye offered to support the Riften thieves. Needless to say they too felt my daggers sting, having outed themselves as criminal supporters. There was no one to witness their deaths.
Picked up the dark-elf archer Fynn at the run down pub then proceeded to Markarth for another "special" thieves task. On the way Fynn got himself eaten by the first normal dragon we came across so I got the barbarian Ren to join me once I reached the city tavern. Our contact, a local silversmith wanted to get his silver mold back - an item which I already had. He was so overjoyed he made the mistake of offering to support the thieves. So unfortunate that this otherwise good man would be so easily corrupted. Ren didn't hesitate when I asked him to bury his axe into the smith's skull right in the middle of the tavern's happy hour. Strangely, no one saw it happen. I suppose that is what happens when you drink to much mead.
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