Skyrim: The Dragonlord

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

Getting artsy with my screencaps! :P

Xuru. I knew that name. The brother of Zuna who I completely forgot to look for after her death. I guess the Thalmor got his hands on him and swayed him to their side. There would be no talking him out of it though, so Twilight, Sofia, Bo, Aurora and I went to face him at his mountainous retreat. He was easy to find with his two dragon allies slaughtering everything in sight. Fireballs began to rain from the sky as I went after the named dragon first. It died pretty quick after I confused it with a Bend Will shout. At the same time  Aurora got blown to smitherines right beside me from a falling fireball.

In the distance I saw a chain of lighting strikes from the sky electrocuting Bo. There was nothing I could do for her but run past to the second dragon and slam it with a one hit kill, before turning to face Xuru. He had just finished running through Twilight with his two handed sword, and then with a small wrist gesture - summoned a brand new dragon instantaneously. Sofia leapt at it to keep it off me while I faced off against the knight landing a number of solid hits. He returned some too, and I needed heal pots after each one I didn't evade.

The showdown!

With perma dragon-aspect active, Xuru managed to fus roh dah me away a good distance. I landed on the corpse of my horse - the one that I thought couldn't die. I got back on my feet to see Xuru facing away from me. At his feet, Sofia's mangled body. She had managed to slay the dragon, but it didn't matter. As he turned to face me simply summoned another one. In a rage I charged twin blades flashing but he parried and disarmed my 900+ damage sword which was subsequently thrown to who knows where with all the explosions and lightning.

He's definitely the toughest non-scripted enemy I've faced!

Against a single blade he was pretty good at parrying, but I knew exactly how to make him drop his guard. I rolled past him and slew the dragon. As expected he did that wrist thing to summon another but by doing so left himself open to the final blow. The next dragon never did arrive. Xuru fell to his knees and collapsed onto the ground, dead. Exhausted, I surveyed the battlefield as the rain stopped.

I was the only one left standing.

Skyrim: Thalmor Agent Yyon

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

Did I mention Brhuce rides a train?

Because he does.

Finally I collect the Tankard of Why, get out of that place and hand it over to Sofia. Brhuce still doesn't want to go back to his dad though, intent on continuing his adventures. We don't get to argue much though as a panicked villager informs us of an attack on Riverwood. Heading there we find the guards being slaughtered by Thalmor Agent Yyon and his cronies! This guy is far worse than Zavakin, having the ability to summon a shade of one of the named dragons I had already slain. Fortunately we have reinforcements in the form of Bo, Twilight and Aurora, as well as Brhuce's summons: the steam shooting "Trainmen". 

As I said, Brhuce also shoots trains.

Yyon's henchies don't last long but he himself is adept at healing just at the verge of death, so this ranged battle (thanks to Brhuce's continued knock back attacks) takes really long. Alas, Brhuce's own combo of shooting knock back trains followed up by instant teleportation beside his target to attack with his swords proves to be his undoing when he attempts it on an airborne dragon - and misses. With a loud scream and a sickening crunching splat, the law of gravity proved to be his undoing.

Meanwhile, Yyon was setting everything on fire.

Yyon turned out to be quite the pyromaniac, but with so many targets for him to keep track of he left his back open for my +900 x6 sneak attack damage backstab which was far too much for him to heal from. With him finally dead, my old allies informed me that the Thalmor had sent an even bigger threat to Skyrim which is why Bo had returned from Elswyr and the sisters from their campaign in Summerset Isle. They had sent a Dragonlord!?

Skyrim: Summerset Isle

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The soldiers of Skyrim were doing a pretty good job slaying the Thalmor defenders, despite taking losses of their own. I was pleased to see Aurora and Twilight with them in the fray, but I could not let them have all the fun. Using my super speed I made sure to get ahead of the main pack and slaughter as many of the enemy as I could, personally.

Though it was nice to watch the two NPC forces clash too.

During my rampage I came across a prison with a familiar face being slowly executed by a fiery boss Thalmor. After slaying the incinerator I freed Brutus Brutalus, the assassin who obviously survived my final attack last time and whose armor I now wore. Apparently he managed to crawl away, only to be taken hostage by the elves and tortured for information. He did manage to escape and cause some chaos though.

The very definition of a hero!

Since he now owed me (a lot) he offered his aid against our common enemy. I told him to go recover first while I thought about it, instructing Braga to take him back to the ships while I forged ahead deeper inland where more Thalmor, including one of their "master wizards", met their ends at my blade. Their paralyzing archer squads came close to putting me down though. Close but not enough.

For glory!

Skyrim: Now you see Me

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

A letter on Brutus mentioned where Roiseadh "the mother", (aka the main boss) of the Sinister Seven would be waiting, up on the mountains just South of Falkreath. Deciding it was time to end this, Drania and I swung past Whiterun to pick up Twilight and Aurora and in no time at all, we were climbing up the slopes to meet her. Obviously she was a gimmicky boss too.

Party assembled!

Other than summoning the usual horde of assassins which I let my companions take care of, the witch enjoyed use of mirror images and the fact that hitting her in melee caused her to go completely invisible (unlike the "predator invisible" of her mooks) and teleport in a random direction. Took awhile for me to cotton on to what she was doing, but when I did aura whisper was the correct tool to bring her down.

Must be a three eyed raven...

With her dead, I mopped up the remaining bounty hunters. Yes, while I was busy dueling their boss they had downed the sisters and gutted Drania like a fish. It was over now though, and no more bounty hunters would come. I was the last one standing, and at level 70 to boot! With the threat passed I returned to Morvunskar and finally set Njada free. After waving good bye to Sanguine, the two of us headed back home to Windhelm for some much needed R&R.

Homeward bound. ^_^

Skyrim: No Interuptions... Almost

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

The downside of slaying all the Dragonslayers was that a new master dragon took the opportunity to show up and terrorize ... Labyrinthian. The ruins high up in the frozen mountains where no one goes. Lol. Anyway, since dragons are sort of our job, my team got there - avoided the meteor shower and killed the silly thing without batting an eye (twin katanas of dragon death helped).

"Dragon shmagon, I'll make boots out of you."

I sent the sisters back to Whiterun at this point, for their own safety, since I knew the forces of the Sinister Seven wouldn't rest while I was still alive. I opted to go to the safest place I knew: Death Mountain, and there I continued my self-studies in schools of alchemy and enchanting.

Sure enough an army of assassins led by the giant orc, Temujin the Thunderer, came barging in and were dealt with splendidly by Einer and the daedric guards. They didn't even interrupt my work! Alas, running out of ingredients did though, so during a lull in the fighting, Einer and I snuck off pick up supplies.

Fortunately there were none as talented as Ezio.

Skyrim: Dragonborn "D"

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

High in the mountains, at the shrine of Azura, we encounter the Dragonslayer and dragonborn, Dragur the Devourer. Was that enough "D"s for you? He is the easiest of the targets thus far since basically Einer and I out shouted him off a cliff. You'd think the bounty hunter army would have heard that but nope. They were nowhere to be seen.

FUS RO DAHHHH!

That's because they were gathering at Bleakfalls Temple, knowing we'd be there to hunt the next guy - Deyravale the Paladin. Once again I left Einer and the sisters to handle the assassins while I forged ahead through the regular dungeon spawn. It didn't matter since they all caught up to me by the time I reach Deyravale at the end of the cavern though. This guy was an absolute tank, and required a significant number of backstabs (with a 900 damage weapon) to finally be put to rest.

I guess this is my favorite position. ;P

Next was Endur the Acceptable who came a close second for easiest target since he was so... accepting of his fate. He had a nice mask which Einer took for his own. The last Dragonslayer, Harrian Burndar, a flame based dragonborn, hid in Moss Mother Cavern. Due to the difficult and bugged environment which sent into "swimming mode" 90% of the time, it was up to my allies to deal with him. He downed the girls again and came close to slaying Einar but was beaten to the punch as Einar ran him through. It's the Death Mountain training man. I bet he never experienced ultra skeletons. :P

These two have a low survival rating...

Skyrim: Moving Target

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

My training is interrupted when a bunch of bounty hunters come wandering into Morvunskar, and while Einer easily dispatches them the notes in their packs clearly illustrate that I'm now the target of the Sinister Seven (Prepare to Die), a band of deadly assassins who again I assume work for either the Empire, the Dragonslayers or both. This prompts me to continue my own assassination missions, leaving Njada under Sanguine's protective care.

Einer and I rejoin Aurora and Twilight at a small inn where they tracked down the next Dragonslayer, a khajiit named Rolan Nightkiller. The extremely agile, life stealing bastard manages to down Twilight before being Einer kills him via shouting him through a wall. From his correspondence we learn the location of another target, hiding in a tomb where we travel to post haste.

Khajiit's all share the same weakness... their tail! :P

There we are met by more assassins and a dragon! While my comrades deal with those I head on inside to face Arvale Staggerlow who turns out to be an easy opponent. The fight outside is not going well however as both girls are being downed multiple times to what seems to be an endless stream of assassins. Fortunately there is a small gap mid wave where we manage to escape into the mountains.

Also made gaps between some heads and shoulders.

Skyrim: The Dragonslayers

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

Since my band was near Hollow Tooth ruins, I decided to revisit the ghost, Ilfhild Merilion and got her to join the party. She advised us that enemies of the Blades, known as "the Dragonslayers", have begun showing up to hunt dragons and tasks me with slaying them to find their secret agenda. What? There's really nothing to say these guys are evil, so I'll just assume that they work for the Imperials. Yeah. That'll do. Time to hunt! 

First up is Golothan Holyfist, peacefully mining away in a remote hole in the ground. When confronted he proves to be a very troublesome foe, downing both Aurora and Twilight before I can behead him. Next is Darkeye, a marksman exploring some ruins. This guy is -really- tough, primarily due to his freeze shot ability.

Thirty seconds on ice - not fun!

The sisters are downed again, and Ilfhild is destroyed before I can thaw out and stun lock the bastard. After running him through I decide to return to Death Mountain and recruit Einer the warrior before hunting the next target: Cerion Drainfang. This adversary has absolutely no chance since it turns out Einer is dragonborn too. As it turns out, all the followers available at Death Mountain are.

Skyrim: Nine Lives

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

I had returned to Whiterun to unload loot from the undead invasion and to check on the town when I met the Khajiit jester, Strogan, who wanted assistance in hunting a vampire. Seems like the Dawnguard accept just about anyone these days. Also found two gorgeous Blades members, Aurora and Twilight (guess I'm not the last one of those either) who asked my help in finding their dad at Helgen. Obviously I chose to help them first.

Whatever you say, blondie.

Helgen's never really been the same since my first visit, the ruins only inhabited by random bandits these days. One of them managed to plant an axe into Aurora's face which killed her instantly. More interesting is that because of their "system" I found I could actually respawn her, albeit a little differently. While an exact clone of the one that died is still dead, this actually increases both the girls longevity by literally having nine lives (more like 16 I think). For the purposes of this journal I'll just say they are "downed" instead of killed, until they actually are.

Finding their father's corpse completed the quest, and so we moved on to vampire hunting for Strogan. The silly cat stepped on a trip wire at the entrance of the lair and died from a simple rock foll trap. A large stash of skooma on his person probably hinted as to why that was. Unlike the Blades sisters though, he wasn't coming back and we had to execute the vampire ourselves.