TESO: Not so Graht

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

Despite all my efforts it seems the Lion's Guard went ahead and captured some pact soldiers which led to my return to their valley encampment the Nord dagger man, Craizee, and together we killed every single Lion Guard scum left in there. At this point I definitely regret reviving King Emeric. Anyway, there's still hope for an alliance with Queen Ayrenn so I sail over to the giant forest of Grahtwood next, and this place is a mess - story wise.

The trees here are massive!

It's like they put piece meal ideas everywhere, such as a rebellion, a vampire den, the Worm Cult messing around, freeing forest spirits, a showdown against Sheogorath's new favorite mortal, assisting an Ordinator of Almalexia shutting down a dolmen and so on with no main thread tying them together like in past zones.

At least I got to push a drunk wizard off a tower.

Ultimately I just need to retrieve pieces of an ancient machine so that the Bosmer (who are actually cannibalistic since they don't eat plants) recognize Ayrenn as their true leader. Her brother Naemon tries to use the machine first which turns him into an ugly daedra which I destroy easily. Ayrenn (who did no work for any of this I might add) doesn't change at all, just powers up(?) and then sends me to fetch her next accessory over at Greenshade.

TESO: A Boon for my Servant

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

Having been sent back to the Rift to deal with the problematic Reachmen who are allied with the Worm Cult, I make a detour to Riften (one of many to unload gear) and while there complete both Mages and Fighter's guild quest lines. For the Mages one, Shalidor uses the tomes to transport us to his missing island of Eyevea which Sheogorath has left littered with dremora. After cleaning those up we get to keep the island though Sheogorath does take the now insane tome decypherer, Valaste, with him back to the Shivering Isles. Shalidor still rewards me with a "library" type function (recall all books / papers through a menu).

Afterwards, I went to track down the murderous Argonian fighters guild master with the Fighters Guild to Coldharbour, where she openly admits to the murder of the previous leader - all because Meridia demanded to get the Fighter's Guild involved against Molag Bal. Conveniently, his "back up" weapon is here and I end up assisting her in destroying it along with a traitorous khajiit who Molag Bal transforms into a Demon Dragon thing.

Molag Bal should hand out boons more often - that looks cool!

The murderous Argonian is spared, but stripped of the guild master title which goes to Mr. replacement guy. I'm just happy that's all done and I can go back to exploring!

TESO: Convoluted by Design

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

When I get there, Windhelm is in the middle of a celebration for Jorunn's 10th year anniversary of being king. As expected, there is a party-pooper in the form of Fildgor, Jorunn's twin brother who resents the fact that he didn't become king. Fildgor's jealously leads him to start a civil war and making multiple attempts on his brother's life, each one stopped by yours truly, though Naryu does show up to help occasionally.

A Breton illusionist comes closest to slaying Jorunn with daedric poison, but thanks to a convoluted ritual involving dream walking and vampire blood he recovers fully. Does this mean Jorunn is a vampire/dhampir now? Not sure. Majorn the Ancient, the vampire who so willingly donated it to me after I helped him slay his son for making "sentient" thrall, seems to think so. Pity the game doesn't let me slay Majorn too.

After much chasing, I finally catch up to Fildgor at Sovngarde (of all places) and defeat him there where he is humiliated among all the dead heroes. I figure that's enough of a punishment for him and convince Jorunn to let him live. I also collect the final tome of Shalidor after one more silly trial from Sheogorath, and learn that the fighter's guild council has put out an arrest warrant for their current Argonian guildleader for he murder of their previous Nord guildleader. That stuff advances pretty slowly in the background.

I think Sheogorath's uncle was someone's stunt double in Resident Evil?

TESO: Dangerous Celebration

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

With the battle won, Meridia tells me of some, god-forsaken hamlet that even she fears to tread in need of holy cleansing in one corner of this daedric realm. I decide to give that a miss, sending allies to check it out instead while I return to Mournhold and the search for Lucia and Sofie.

I don't get very far before Naryu tells me that the bio-terrorist group I thought I had beaten prior to gallivanting in Coldharbour was still around, and plotting to attack the city. Obviously I'd have none of that, and the two of us hunted down all the remaining members still hiding in the Deshann area - including their leader, a traitorous magistrate.

Did I mention one of the "living gods" is in this area? Cause she is.

She also hates bio-terrorists. :P

With the zone under control I then ventured further South into the Shadowfen where one of the first things I do is attend a crazy, endless and dangerous party held by party demon Sanguine to retrieve an "Eidar" scroll for Sheogorath. Him and his cheese huh? Fortunately most delves are open to everyone which makes things easier and far more enjoyable (for me) than instanced garbage.

Scroll in hand, I also retrieve the Wabbajack and Fork of Horripilation then participate in his "Circus of Cheerful Slaughter" which sees me fighting each of the pact forces and their leaders in one messed up play. All this earns me two more tomes for Shalidor.

TESO: Old Friends

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

With the Covenant halted, I managed to get in touch with the Prophet again. After finding him hiding in a not so nearby cave/hovel, he tells me that Molag Bal's plan to take over Tamriel must be stopped. Well, duh... some mages have low INT I guess? I need allies first though, which makes sense since the local war mage committed semi-suicide, and the first one that pops into his mind is Lyris so once more he opens a portal to Coldharbour and I'm tasked with putting her back together (figuratively, since dremora enjoy mindbending torture). Somehow this involves much slaying of dremora but we escape just fine this time.

Alas, almost as soon as we return the Prophet wants us to go back to rescue someone else! Sigh. Unfortunately this time the region he sends us to keeps crashing me to the desktop so much (GFX overheat?) that I end up abandoning that game-breaking piece of shit mission, telling him to let Lyris handle it. Not happy TESO. Instead I decide to explore a dwemer ruin to look for some lost books for the Mages Guild. I guess it's like working for a library? Anyway, one such book spawns the spirit of Archmage Shalidor who asks my help in retrieving... more lost books. And an island. From Sheogorath.

Seems they have a long standing feud.

I found Shalidor's four tomes really easily once I stepped through the gate he opened to the Shivering Isles. The guardian clanfear was really troublesome though, forcing me to learn how to quickslot potions. Of course Sheogorath wasn't going to just let me take all five tomes, instead he let me take one - offering the rest when I earned them. After taking the book back to the Mages guild for decyphering (Sheo cursed the books so that Shalidor couldn't do that), I was free to decide which way to travel so I hopped on my horse and headed North West to Riften! Because I needed to check on my daughters. o_o

Skyrim: 30 Days of Skyrim

Might as well be part of my Skyrim Adventure Journal! You can read the whole story here!

Turns out there's this "30 Days of Skyrim" challenge floating about, and since I've raked up hundreds upon hundreds of hours on the game I thought I'd give it a crack. Also rather than spread it out for 30 days I'm just going to hit them all at once. :)

Day One: Which race did you chose?
I always go with Nord. The natives of Skyrim. Which happens to be my character name.

Day Two: Mage, Warrior, Rogue or mixed class?
I always start with Rogue, then eventually mix into Warrior and only at the very end do I pick up magic skills. I don't mind worlds with magic, I just don't like being a magic user.

Day Three: Favorite Quest Line.
The Forgotten City Mod. It's fantastic.

Day Four: Favorite Quest Mission.
To Kill an Empire, and any others that involve directly slaying Thalmor or Imperial people.

Day Five: Favorite Faction.
Dawnguard. Definitely my type of crazies. :)

Day Six: Least Favorite Quest Line.
A Night to Remember (the one you get drunk). Did it for completion but it's ultimately stupid.

Day Seven: Least Favorite Quest.
No Stone Unturned. It's a collection quest. Blergh.
Also, Diplomatic Immunity because I'm not allowed to eradicate all the Thalmor in their estate.

Day Eight: Favourite Companion(s)
Serana from the Dawnguard DLC since she has the most backstory and is easy on the eyes. Brutus Brutalus [from the Summerset Isle Mod] was a real ass kicker though for whatever reason.

Day Nine: Favorite City
Whiterun, it's in the middle of everything and has a nice layout to the place.

Day Ten: Favorite Hold
Again Whiterun. I like the open, rolling, non-snowy plains. I also quite like the wandering giants and mammoths!

Day Eleven: Favorite antagonist.
Samel from the Inferno Mods. The guy just keeps coming back!

Day Twelve: Favorite Shout(s)
For a long time it was Dragonrend, but recent mods have me favoring Slow Time and Become Ethereal.

Day Thirteen: Favorite Spell(s)
None really, since I'm not a mage. I suppose the light ones are useful every now and then.

Day Fourteen: Favorite Weapon(s)
Paralyzing bows and paralyzing knives. Eventually graduated to dragon slaying katana and oblivion sword though (from the Death Mountain Mod).

Day Fifteen: Favorite in game book

This one from the Death Mountain Mod! :P

Day Sixteen: Least Favourite Creature
Slaughter fish, mainly because they are hard to target and pointless to fight.

Day Seventeen: Horder or no?
Not really items wise, but gold - wow I love gold. Despite having over a hundred thousand coins I still open baskets and nightstands to take all the coins I can find.

Day Eighteen: Favorite House.
Solitude. It's spacious and pretty functional.

Day Nineteen: Mods or no mods?
Definitely Mods. They add so much content to the game!

Day Twenty: What do hate most about Skyrim?
NPCs try to fight me when I'm clearly out of their league. They should either flee in terror at this point or simply surrender immediately.

Day Twenty One: Funniest thing you’ve done.
Chain executed maybe 20-30 enemies from the Sinister Seven Mod as they chased me through a door to a new area.

Day Twenty Two: Funniest glitch you’ve encountered
Dead dragon in Riften. Respawns dead. :P

Day Twenty Three: Favorite Song.
The dragon fighting music!

Day Twenty Four: Stormcloak Rebel, Imperial Legionnaire or neither?
Stormcloaks forever. Imperials are pussies since they lost/had to make peace with a bunch of elves. HUMANS MUST REIGN SUPREME ABOVE ALL OTHERS!

Day Twenty Five: Vampire, Werewolf or Vigilant of Stendarr?
Vigilant of Stendarr I guess, though I never really wear that title. Guess it fits somewhat though. Dislike of magic, slayer of non-humans. *nods*

Day Twenty Six: Favorite Armor set
Mastermind's Armor from the Sinister Seven Mod. The darker it gets, the faster you can move ultimately twice or three times of someone on horseback. Especially useful in dungeons where you can sprint up to an enemy (from the front) in stealth and execute them before they can draw their weapons!

Day Twenty Seven: One thing you would change about Skyrim
Let the game handle thousands of combatants in combat without crashing.

Day Twenty Eight: Who did you marry in game?
Njada, because she's a human Nord. I quite like her scars too. For me they make her look better than the ones who have flawless skin.

Day Twenty Nine: Favourite Deadra
Sheogorath. I'm biased though, since I really liked him in Oblivion and the Shivering Isles too. Still disliked his quest here.

Day Thirty:  What do you love most about Skyrim?
The dragons!

Skyrim: The Gray Fox Lives

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

Makes me want to revisit TES: IV.

A lone figure awaited at the end of the bridge a throne surrounded by cheese. It was none other than the daedric prince, Sheogorath. He's a bit of a loon as usual, but I am reminded of his dual personality. After the events of the Shivering Isles the Champion of Cyrodiil did become Sheogorath, and when that side of him manages to take control I can finally have a decent and most interesting conversation with him.

No big final fight, just a relaxing talk.

We talk for a long time about his past, our ties with the Elder Scrolls, and pretty much everything. Eventually it was time to get back to the whole cowl business so after bidding me farewell he opened a final portal to some deserted mountain in Akavir. In an unmarked urn at the shrine was the unassuming Cowl of the Gray Fox (aka the Gray cowl of Nocturnal), who is like the Batman (with more kleptomania) of this world.  Basically whoever wears it, becomes the Gray Fox (regardless of race, gender, etc) which is how he manages to live for so long - because many people have been him. The magic of the cowl prevents ones true identity from ever being discovered. That's pretty cool.

There is that little caveat wherein whoever wears the cowl is erased from history for that duration, but I'm pretty sure the Champion of Cyrodiil broke that curse. Besides, I didn't come all this way to NOT put it on... There was only one thing left to do.

The Gray Fox lives!

Or maybe not... since the next thing I know, I am undead? :O

King and Queen

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

Found a Thalmor patrol in the mountains today and after killing them located their embassy high in the mountains. Unfortunately we could not break in. Continued onto the Imperial Stronghold of Solitude since it was nearby, and it must be a contender for the worst place to put a city. After overhearing general Tullius I knew for certain that the Empire and all who supported them were a bunch of sissies that loved bending over for the elves. At least the Widow Jarl there seems to be on the fence still. Helped out the people in town including my old buddy Sheogorath and a sneaksie Argonian Egyptian (Jaree-Ra?) which resulted in the death of some imperial fools, followed by a very obvious betrayal and the death of Mr. Ra and his marauder buddies. That actually worked out quite nicely for me as I left no witnesses alive.

Argis and I proceeded to clear out tombs of the dead men, including one King Olaf (a task which the bard's college threw a festival in my honor - very awesome) and for a change also some disease carrying Peryite worshippers (which, ironically was a task set by Peryite itself). Back outside we encountered a courier delivering a letter for me asking me to return to the Blue Palace where Widow Jarl is (good to see I'm not the only one delivering stuff). Once there we learn that old queen Potato who dabbled in necromancy was rising from the dead. We couldn't have that, so we charged into her quite deep burial chamber slaying all her minions until we reached her council chamber. There a large amount of dead men supported by the spirit of Queen Potato shooting lightning all over the place made for a good battle. All her minions were slain, but so was the Champion of Molag Bal. With only Potato left on her throne I decided not to use my 100 stealth or archery (which I reached sometime in this post) and instead challenged her head on with a glass dagger and Meridia's Dawnbreaker (very useful against the undead). It was a short battle because really, the Queen was no better than a Potato and my sword cooked her to non-existence.

The end of Queen Potato.
Back in Solitude I hired the crazy drunk spellsword Belrand to help carry my gear and we proceeded to the small town of Morthal which is run by a soothsaying, imperial supporting Jarl. My suspicions of her actually just being an idiot were confirmed when she said she assembled some fighting men to help me eliminate a nearby vampire nest. Instead of having well armed guards, she sends torch bearing townsfolk - most of whom lose their nerve once we reach the lair. Even Benor, the braggart who thought he was the "best fighter" in town until I punched his face in shat his pants and ran home. Whatever, this town seems to just be full of losers. After dealing with their problems I decided to head back to Whiterun to stow gear.