Skyrim: Even in Death

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Well, that's an ominous looking robot...

The Nerevarine was hunting down some giant robotic WMD, and it was really difficult to miss when we found entered its room! All of us were having trouble damaging it though since it seemed to repair itself incredibly quickly. A series of levers around the chamber seemed to be the tacticians way of working out how to defeat the robot but I chose a different path: Slow time. Under the effects of that shout, the mechas regeneration could not keep up with my damage output and I sent him flying.

Literally.

After thanking us for our assistance, the Nerevarine said his goodbyes and headed off to wherever Azura guided him next but not before telling us that he sighted the strange Ebony Warrior camped nearby. Before we could investigate Mandryn showed up though and he was not pleased with us letting the Nerevarine go, so much so that he attacked tried to attack. Bo gave him a few new windpipes. A letter on his person revealed him to be a member of the Morag Tong.

Guess he wasn't expecting that!

With a shrug it was time to deal with the Ebony Warrior, but I wanted to make a pit stop first: at a dragon roost to tame a reverend dragon! Challenge accepted Ebony Warrior! With Bo, Red Shadow and myself atop this beast the Ebony Warrior was torn limb from limb, though to his credit it did take longer than I expected. Sure hope he wasn't expecting a fair duel! After he was dragon poop I decided to report back to Njada in Windhelm about our success, only to find Morag Tong assassins already defiling her corpse when we arrived.

And so, even in death the Ebony Warrior defeated me. :/

Skyrim: The Ebony Warrior

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Arriving at Windhelm I decided to check in with Njada but only got to the town center when a massive Ebony Warrior approached me and having "accomplished everything" wanted to duel me as his final challenge in life. I told him I'd think about it, and when he turned around I called the guards on him (by making him angry via pickpocket). I stood back as I watched the Ebony Warrior decimate the five guards that arrived, learning that he had decent restoration skills and that he too was dragonborn. That's not such a big deal these days.

I should really consider lighting a torch for screenies...

Not willing to risk the lives of any more citizens I let the giant of a man leave after he sheathed his weapon. I had hoped to track him outside but he simply vanished once he reached the gate! Concerned for her safety, I thought I'd advise Njada to move house but she adamantly refused since there were others in the city that required her protection.

My next stop was Riverwood where I recruited Bo after returning Marauder's body to the camp (it sort of got there on its own actually, kinda strange). She mentioned a possible lead in the local tavern and sure enough a dunmer named Mandryn was there asking for my help to track down a dangerous fugitive from Morrowind for a measly 500 gold reward. "Did this guy wear Ebony Armor?" I asked, "If so I think I've already run into him."

Skyrim: Return to Nirn

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And you thought Death Mountain was weird!

After eight or so maps of falling I finally ended up... on a UFO? What? Someone call XCOM! Haha! The view was amazing though. There were also some really cool shoes that negate falling damage just sitting there, which I figured I'd need - on the way down! LOL! Definitely one of the strangest adventures I've come across so far.

Prepare for re-entry!

It was back to business when I was back on Nirn, as Brutus told me Njada had been kidnapped (again) by a vampire and his bandit cronies. We made a beeline for the shipwreck that served as their base, and Brutus showed off his talent by killing everything himself. All I did was free Njada. Why do I even give her weapons? *sigh*

Decided to head to Riften to see if there were any rumors about where those bandits came from, and instead I find a more disturbing encounter, a dunmer "dreamer" who keeps talking about his resurrected lord who speaks to him in his dreams: Dagoth Ur.

Not you guys again!

Skyrim: Plotting the Course

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Braga's training continued as we hunted more master vampires and bandit bosses together. At Falkreath we received a strange request via courier: a local hunter wanted us to hunt down a monster in town. I let Braga take the lead on the investigation, which led us to finding the body of one female victim and ultimately into the "hunters'" house.

The price of guilt.

Turns out he was the monster too, but ultimately we didn't have to fight him since he took himself out with a dagger. After that slightly depressing mission we finally got word from Njada about the source of "the Kraken" from last time - Summerset Isle, home of the Thalmor. She had already arranged a fleet and loyalist troops to go and eliminate all the scum there. I was only too happy to join.

No place to run, assassin!

During the voyage I was attacked by a left over bounty hunter who had snuck aboard, but Braga and the nearby soldiers took care of him. Soon enough we reached the shores of the Thalmor controlled island, and charged onto the beach under enemy fire. The elf scum were waiting.

Skyrim: The Student

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Less than a week had passed when Braga Clearwater of Adal Matar came knocking on my door. She sought me out to be her tutor in all things adventuring. Unlike her brother she had no combat experience so I thought we'd  start with simple things like recovering books for the College of Winterhold and hunting vampires for the Dawnguard.

Pierce the chest and remove the head.

I demonstrated how to sneak past giants, pickpocket vamps and obviously tested her combat ability against some Silverhand and Summerset Shadows gang members. She was also tested by the Augur of Dunlain beneath the College against some pretty tough ghosts, a test she passed easily and was rewarded with a powerful restoration ritual.

I then took her on patrol along the shoreline and found another gigantic enemy: the Kraken. Not what I was expecting though, as it was a giant dwemer spider bot! Fortunately the machination was malfunctioning and was easy for Braga and I to destroy. I did wonder where the heck this thing was built though, so I sent pieces I could salvage back to Njada to examine.

Not your typical kraken!

Skyrim: Now you see Me

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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: The Flash

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Magic training is BORING, but I persevered - content in the fact that the assassin's must be going mad looking for me. After a few days they did start investigating the ruins though. A smaller group than usual. Sanguine looked to me and smiled. I was ready. Instead of taking them head on, I let them go past and exploded the area.

It didn't kill any of them but it sure caught them off guard. Quickly vanishing, I left Drania and Sanguine to handle them while I looked for their leader. I found him outside, a black - fleeting shadow.

Not quite!

Brutus, "the Father" was definitely a speedster but unfortunately for him, dragon shouts trump speed force in this game and with a slow time yell it looked like he was moving in slow motion making it easy to end him and loot his amazing armor. Why is it amazing? Because in in a dark area or night time, you move faster than if you were on a horse! And that's just jogging. When you sprint... WHOA!

The one glowing blue eye (gained by joining Dawnguard I think) makes it even cooler.

With my new found super speed I raced back into Morvunskar and cleaned up shop, happy to see Drania was ok. And Njada. She's still safely bound in her cell. Sanguine has god mode on so I knew he'd be fine. :P

Skyrim: Moving Target

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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: Sanguine's Apprentice

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I decided to make a detour to Fort Dawnguard to let them know of Strogan's fate. While Einer tagged along, the sisters went off to seek out the next Dragonslayer. Would be a while before I rejoined them though, for at Fort Dawnguard I was informed that Njada was captured by vampires!? Vampires likely allied with the Dragonslayers methinks.

Not wasting any time Einer and I headed to Morvunskar to deal with the scum, easily annihilating the exterior guards. Someone had beaten us inside though, and was happily killing all the vampires and arch-death-omancers within, named... Sanguine. Wait. What? Yes, the Daedric Prince Sanguine was there killing stuff in person. Apparently it was his way of apologizing for that drinking prank so long ago, as he genuinely wanted to try increase my skills. That doesn't stop me from trying to punch him but he's immortal (as if striking air) as usual.

In the depths of the place we find Njada, tied up. I hesitate trying to free her since she might secretly already be a vampire. While deciding, Sanguine quietly mentions "this would be a great opportunity to practice your destruction magic!" He has a point. Especially since the Arbiter's Helm lets me cast shock indefinitely, and I have a target who can both take the punishment and won't fight back... so...

Time to level up! (Lev 57)!

(Sanguine is super effective!)

Skyrim: The Eternal One

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A spark lit in Captain Guomundr's eyes after we slew the Leviathan. The giant finally told me of his little village that was destroyed by Iko-Turso "the Eternal one" and asked for my help in taking it down. Sure enough we found his sea shelf village in ruins, but I didn't need to be ready for a fight. Iko-Turso, a gigantic walrus, was already dead.

It just occurred to me how bad this thing would smell.

Camped nearby was an eye-patched wearing hunter who obviously beat us to the prize. I had actually seen him before on his steamship at Dawnstar but didn't pay him much mind since he had no conversation lines of note. Impressed with his skill I asked him for some hunting tips. This was his reply:

LOL!

Guomundr was pleased with the result nonetheless, and helped me carry all the loot (heavy pieces of giant monsters) back to my house at Windhelm. I got a fright when Njada Stonearm walked out from around a corner too - I had totally forgotten she was here as my proxy. After celebrating with a home cooked meal it was time to head back out into the wilderness once more.

King of the Hill

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I had to change my usual visit somewhat in that this time I didn't want to kill any of the guards, if possible, because I was going to need them against those orcs. Fortunately I still had an invisibility potion that let me sprint up all the way into Dragonsreach undetected. There on the throne waited Jarl Bossman, discussing with his court mage how clever his plan was. He was supplying the orcs with free passage and supplies while they run about and decimate as many Stormcloaks as they can while the Imperials rebuild their army to take back the region (following their loss in the civil war). The Riften thieves guild (ie. Brynjolf) was in on it too, providing scouts, maps, intel, and occasionally kidnapping a girl here or there for Jarl Bossman's pleasure. The punk made me so angry I smashed my hand down on a nearby table - and became visible. We all drew our weapons simultaneously and I was surprised to find an ally here - a maid named Juliette who was tired of being Jarl Bossman's toy.

One by one I cut all of his court down but I left Jarl Bossman himself to be executed by his own servant who thanked me profusely after plugging a final arrow into his head. As if on cue more guardsmen came into the castle and between the two of us we tried to explain about what the Jarl had been doing and of the orc threat but they were having none of it so I opted for a diffent route. Since all of these idiots are greedy bastards I simply bribed them to work for me. After all my adventures I could afford it anyway and they easily accepted the sound of gold, swearing their service to me (until there's a better offer ofcourse) but for now, I was King of the Hill. I asked Juliette if she wanted to leave town but she opted to stay, saying there was another slave taken in a few days ago, but not to the castle.

We went to Jovasskr and to our surprise found the draugrs Farkas, Mia and Torvar there. People who were supposed to be DEAD. Furthermore, a slave girl named Kitana was there too which riled me up even more. These bastards were in on the Jarl's plot! I ordered them at once to release her but Farkas refused - and would non stop talk shit at me. My sword through his chest shut him up good, then I tossed his corpse on the fire (again) to hopefully slow down his regeneration. I got Juliette to free Kitana and told the shaken girl to go to Windhelm where Njada would look after her then turned angrily on the remaining two draugr and they surprisingly backed down. I suppose having witnessed Farkas' brutal treatment scared them? Anyway they said they could help me against the orcs, and Torvar even offered to come with me on the "lure" run. I accepted, telling Juliette to head back up to the castle. As the old saying goes, keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

Cats do it all the time.

I did a quick sweep of the town afterwards, finding there were quite a few new adventurers here which was good (and makes sense being the trade capital of the region). I told all of them and the guards what was coming, and to prepare. Then I did something I should have done a long time ago... I bought a horse. :P

Good Help is Hard to Find

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Having lost the last of my army to the vampires I decided it was time to look for additional aid again since there should be new adventurers in the region since my last recruitment drive (added more mods). To start with I just wanted an extra guard for Njada at our new "Butcher's" house in Windhelm. As an aside, she had found out how "the Butcher" severed the threads of fate on his victims. Turned out it was pretty simple really - a simple incantation (ini file change) that banished the fates from your actions temporarily. Needless to say, I used it because there were quite a few people left alive that really, should not be. 

Back to hiring people, I had a quick sneaky look in Riften and Windhelm itself only to find no one. Managed to hire a "master mage" named Sparrow at Winterhold but he was not interested at all in guard duty. Actually the douchebag didn't seem interested in following any of my orders anyway but I took him along anyway. Paid a visit to the newly reopened Sanctuary at Dawnstar. Seems Babette managed to claw her way out of there afterall AND hire a new initiate while she was at it. Sparrow outright refused to kill either of them (what the hell am I paying this LOSER for) so I did it myself - beheading the idiotic initiate and then shoving my flaming daedric blade down that bloodsucking "child's" throat, and now without fate protecting her she died screaming in agony - as she deserved.

Unfortunately there were no new adventurers at the inn there or at Morthal (where the dumb guards had to be slain again since they attacked me). There was a new, pretty girl at Solitude named Jessica though - but she too wasn't interested in guard duty. In fact she was looking for adventure headed out of the region since she had just escaped from some rogueish slavers at Whiterun. Slightly curious when I heard that but I had one more person that needed immediate killing first. Sparrow and I headed up to the Valerica's tower (though Sparrow stayed outside since he's obviously a coward) at the Volkihar Castle and once I got there I wanted to ask her one more time if she wanted to cure herself, to be rid of the disease but she gave me no option, indicating that she would continue her evil vampiric, necromantic ways for all eternity. Not without the threads of fate, bitch! Ran that abomination through, ending her miserable un-life then tossed her corpse back down into the Soul Cairn to be devoured.

Hey guys! Lunch time!

Parting Ways

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The patrol run was going well, Beleval and I easily wiped out a medium sized bandit encampment to retrieve another set of dwemer schematics for Sorine, then proceeded into a cave to eliminate a master vampire before he could turn the many resident conjurers into allies. While the mission was a success, Beleval's inexperience was her undoing - slaying a flame atronarch at close range. The explosion knocked her off her feet and she screamed in agony as she burned to death.

Swung by Windhelm to make sure Njada was settling in ok before heading back to Fort Dawnguard to report in. She had taken a strange liking to "the butcher's" hidden room which was funny. Back at Dawnguard HQ I picked up Agmaer again to finish off the last part of our patrol - retrieving a shield relic from more vampires. Since it was on the way, I decided to swing by Morthal to check on Serana. I was getting worried since there was no sighting of her for awhile.

The guards didn't take kindly to my arrival as always, so I called Odahviing to help them understand to get out of my way. The battle was prolonged somewhat when a thalmor soldier brought an Elder Dragon into town. After eliminating all the enemies I scoured the town for Serana but to no avail. Failon was of no help either, too absorbed by the dead dragon to talk to me. This incident makes me wonder if there are actually other Dragonborn out there?

Super unlikely I think to myself.

Anyway we pushed on to the location and massacred the small vamp coven to retrieve the shield, which I gave Agmaer since it seemed it would be more use to him and checked in back at Dawnguard HQ. There, to my surprise was Serena, waiting for me and now fully human. With all that's happened I offered her to come stay with Njada but she declined, saying that she would be more useful to the Dawnguard. So with that I gave her a big hug and waved goodbye to the others. Isran knew I couldn't carry them forever. It would be up to them now to continue the fight on their own, and you know what? I think they'll do alright.

Immortal Blood

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While Njada and the rest of the Dawnguard secured the castle, Serana and I headed up the last tower to the cathedral where we found Lord Harkon waiting for us. He has a few choice words for his daughter and she for him which distracts him long enough to not notice me sneaking behind his back. When he finally realizes I'm missing, I hit him with a sunhallowed arrow and commence the battle. He manages to survive for awhile, prolonging the fight with summoned scum but in the end, he is turned into a pile or red dirt on the floor.

Now if -this- was the boss I think we would all be dead. :P

Once he is dead Njada and Isran enter, the latter thanking Serana for her help and the former just happy to see me ok. As we are leaving, I convinced Serana to find a cure for her vampirism and after thanking me she headed off on her own to pursue that personal goal. Provided she is successful this would just left one more vampire in her house, her mother. After making a quick trip into the Soul Cairn once again I found Valerica at the boneyard and executed her on the spot. Rather, I would have liked to if she wasn't protected by threads of fate (DAMN GAME).

Instead I tell her Harkon is gone and she returns to the castle to pursue her studies. In necromancy. As a vampire. This riles me up pretty bad, but there's not much I can do about it right now so I make like the Terminator and tell her "I'll be back". After a quick stop to Markarth to sell Calcemo an exploding dwarven bolt, I take Njada to visit Fort Dawnguard since she wanted to have a look before heading off to her new residence at Windhelm. While there I agree to help out with a few loose ends - more vamps on the loose whose locations were found from the castle tomes. The elf Beleval is assigned this patrol with me and her skills are tested early as we ran into (and slew) a pair of vampire scouts just outside Fort Dawnguard's walls. 

We Charge the Castle

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From my vantage point atop a nearby abandoned tower I confirm that Isran is an idiot. For whatever reason his group rushes the long stone bridge immediately meaning any dragon support I call down will most likely result in friendly fire. Worse, most of them bypass a pair of gargoyles and vamps who charge down the bridge to my team waiting in reserve. Still, they are outnumbered out here so I concentrate my sunhallowed fire onto the bridge proper where the Dawnguard group is getting thrashed and it seems to turn the tide for them somewhat, until I hear a large angry growl next to me.

Goliath? Is that you?

One of the gargoyles had made it up the tower and resisted my soul rend shout (thanks for nothing, Dummy) so I was forced into close quarters combat until I finally killed the sentinel. Once that was done I did a quick scan of the battle field: all the Dawnguard forces were either dead or kneeling over like bitches to the remaining two vamps on the bridge. Just outside, my group didn't fare much better - Cutter and Bane were lying dead on the sand along with one vampire and a death dog, Anni was floating face down near the jetty and I can only guess the various red smears around were what was left of Lynn. Jordis and Njada were still fighting off the remaining vamp and gargoyle but were not doing well so I prioritised them first and sniped off their adversaries before doing the same to the remaining enemies on the bridge.

Miraculously most of the Dawnguard team weren't dead (yet) and staggered to their feet to continue the charge into the castle proper where the vamps were waiting at good spots to blast us with their magic. I returned fire from the entry balcony while Jordis charged forward with the other brazed Dawnguard fools. A second wave of vamps from a different door appeared and rushed Njada and I, forcing us back to the entry way but we managed to down them on our own. When we did catch up with Jordis in the basement, she had bloodshot eyes and an extremely pale complexion. She lunged at us when she saw us but Serana shoved her aside with her magic and I could only stand dumbfounded as the two gals fought it out, at that moment unable to raise my weapon against one of my best followers.

The fight lasted a few minutes until finally Serana landed a direct hit with her lightning spell, throwing Jordis violently against a wall before her smouldering body crashed lifelessly to the floor. After making sure she was dead, we returned to the castle proper which seemed to have been fully cleaned out. Only one more opponent remained.

Fielding All Assets

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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?

A Bloody Massacre

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Solving the puzzle brought me another surprise, as it freed rather fetching, elder scroll carrying vampire girl named Serana. My first instinct was to kill her but since she seemed disoriented and non hostile I thought I'd question her first. Simply put, she wanted to go home, and wanted me to take her there. Since it was unlikely it was going to be a trap, I decided not to pass up the opportunity to get the location of a secret vampire base. Back topside I decided to swing by Solitude to rummage through more of my gear, and to check in with Jordis and Njada who were a little curious as to who my new raven-haired, red-eyed, friend was before pressing on.

Turns out the "secret vampire base" is a bloody great castle just off the northern coast. How did anyone miss that? Anyway, we literally stroll inside (for some reason I can't go on a murderous rampage right now) and are welcomed by her father, Lord Harkon Volkihar and his court. As thanks he offers to make me a hideous monster (LOL). I politely decline and explain it was hard enough to cure my werecorginess so instead he banishes me back outside and warns me not to return. Naturally the first thing I try is to get back in there but I am defeated by their closed gate. With a sigh I decided to go to Skyhaven Temple to rummage for my things there and upon hearing of her friend Rayna's death, Alyssa asked to accompany me against this new threat.

Seems the vampires are on the ball though, because upon our return to the Dawnguard HQ we founnd it under attack by a small group of high level vampires. In a rage, Alyssa charged into the fray along with most of the other Dawnguard members (some new ones too). It was a massacre on all sides and in the end only the most powerful vamp, Isran and myself remained alive. I the chaos I didn't see what killed Alyssa the first time, but I certainly know what turned her into a pile of dust after she was raised as a familiar - Isran's gigantic warhammer. It was a long fight to defeat the last Volkihar vampire, and at the end Isran was in such a beserked state he kept trying to attack me too! I hid from him in his own fortress for a day (well, a cave behind the fortress to be exact) to let him cool off.

Dude was pissed.

Apart from Isran and myself, only the newbie Agmaer and the two war huskies survived (because they stayed in the keep). It was no surprise then that my next task was to recruit two "specialists", a tamer and artificer, because Isran knew his group just got pwned.

Duelling the Dead

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En garde!

Took the Knight Alyssa for her tests next, starting with the forsworn just outside my new base. We then moved on to colder regions where she handled multiple draugr deathlords just fine and survived an ancient dragon - however this winged beast got away! Checked in with Esbern who thought he had a lead where it may have gone so I left Alyssa there (her finishers on the overlords were impressive) and took her friend Rayna instead, who had already previously proven her skills. Once we reached the spot, Mjoll was there too and so was... Athis!? How many times did I have to kill this soon-to-be-draugr!?

No time to worry about that though as we came under attack by the -wrong- dragon. This one was just an elder one and we slaughtered it just fine. I then asked Athis about his state and he was very dismissive, continously walking away so I used this as a good test of Rayna's skills - telling her to duel the freak dunmer while Mjoll and I just stood back and watched. It was a long fight but Athis was just outclassed and once again was run through. Mjoll then promised to find whoever did this (I assume whoever brought Athis to back life, again). Hopefully this time he stays dead as a courier came by to deliver his inheritance?

After leaving Rayna at the Temple, I took the brash knight Cutter next as he was getting bored in Solitude. For as much as I dislike him he still proved himself, managing to help me clear an unfinished dwemer ruin (despite his fear of such places), defeating a wisp mother on his own, and surviving a big mammoth and two troll combo. Having passed, I sent him off to the temple too and took the lizardman archer Anu next. After surviving an easy frost dragon and a few bandits I decided to revisit the Dawnstar sanctuary to make sure the brotherhood (that is down to one little girl and a corpse) was in check. Sure enough when I got there I found they had recruited a new male initiate! Figured this would be a good test of Anu's skills and got him to duel the new guy in a knife fight. This time, the fight was not in my favour though - and the lizardman was gutted from navel to neck before falling lifelessly to the ground. Just as the initiate breathed a sigh of relief I appeared from the shadows and slit his throat.

Returned to Solitude where Njada wanted to give me some tips on blocking. After that I brought Alle the high elf for her trials next. Esbern had found another dragon to slay, and my little band had also researched a second one to be hunted down deep underground! After warming up on an easy Blood Dragon (where Mjoll was late to arrive on the scene) we descended into Blackreach to hunt Vulthyrol. I needed to get close enough to yell at the giant "sun" which meant a quick covert run through the Silent City via the tunnels, silently sniping the patrolling falmer. Eventually I did manage to summon the dragon, and Alle was too hasty in charging it as a shadow master and his pet dwarven centurion arrived on the scene. The dragon was caned quickly but then while I handled the giant centurion, I lost track of Alle and her pursuing falmer. Eventually I found her corpse behind some buildings with the shadowmaster doing some obscene things to her face. After extracting revenge it was time to get out of there.

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.

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.

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.