Week #2 - Burninating the Countryside

Part of my Explorer of Tyria journal - you can find the rest here!

Did a few more story-line quests this week including assisting Juris with a crazy bandit cult, defeating a surprisingly tough carnival Ringmaster, fighting various undead, helping our asura engineer Thaldir in a bunch of his ones - my favourite being intentionally getting jailed by the Arcane Eye to jail-break a professor. That was fun! Covered a lot of ground running from quest to quest too, but not as much as when I just put my mind to it. Areas cleared to 100% this time are the Wayfarer Foothills, Plains of Ashford, Kessex Hills and Metrica Province. Moved on to the Caledon Forest where I found my first bugged quest - a skill challenge with a Tengu (biiiiirrrdmaaan!) that doesn't fire.

Stand-out events were Juris managing to kill a bunch of veteran trolls (with me as bait) then escaping their cave, randomly encountering a shady NPC who summoned some demons, playing with the cute doggies in the Caledon Forest and defeating a whole bunch of boss-types including a Giant Jungle Worm in the depths of the same said forest. The best one this week though was when DL, Thaldir and I were completing stuff at the Metrica Province Reactor when a Fire Elemental appeared. Ohhhhh man. Tons of people showed up to help including our very own Yue, but everyone (almost) just got dead over and over and over. Obviously my evasion skills need work, as was again shown when fighting a bandit boss who for some reason was stronger -outside- his power armor in a different encounter. Anyway, back at the reactor - the Fire Ele eventually got bored and left and all our guys got absolutely nothing for it other than an increased death count and less coin! :P

All those piles were once people.

Strange as it sounds I look forward to facing it again once I've levelled up some more. Finished this week on level 36, while Yue reached 80. The guild also gained another new member, and DL has completed some of the various research stuffs which means we can start holding guild events soon!

Week #1 - Where am I?

Part of my Explorer of Tyria journal - you can find the rest here!

Arrived in Queensdale (Gunnar's Hold) with my standard rogue class and after the "tutorial" mission began exploring the countryside and unlocking my weapon skills on various hapless creatures. The graphics are pretty damn good, and I quite like the art style for the cutscenes with what I call "reserved animation". I also find the dynamic events to be really fun and a good innovation to mix things up while travelling through a zone, the highlights for me this week were helping the Norn in a full on assault on the Sons of Svarnir with my brothers and DL and I getting wiped out by Krait slavers in a particular village. Best of all I like how low-cut the Queen's dress is! ;P

Something like this!

My brothers (DL and Jim) also assisted me with my "story" missions a few days in, which involved rescuing Riot Alice and convincing her to stop working for evil bandits then stopping said evil bandits from poisoning a well at the cost of an idiot's life (sorry Quinn you had it coming) and finally killing the bandit boss. I do like the that we were given the "choice" of what to do though. Proceeded to then look for missing kids at the circus and passing clown college (very fun) to track down a crazy hypnosis inducing ringmaster. Later on I helped Jim infiltrate some mole men WMD construction plant via pretty funny costume wearing. As interesting as it is, the story mode didn't seem to yield as much xp as plain old exploration though so I left mine alone at that point to go wandering and get some easy exp's exploring the main cities.

The vista thing is a nice concept (which seems stolen from Assassin's Creed) but some jumping puzzles are just annoying - deadly annoying. Anyway, by the end of the week I had 100% completion on Divinity's Reach, Queensdale, Hoelbrak (barrel brawl was fun), the Grove, Rata Sum (mess to explore), Black Citadel (even messier), and the central hub of Lion's Arch where I completed the Ghost Pirate's cave too as a bonus. I know I'm probably still missing treasure chests in some of those areas but I can always go back for those. Finished up on Level 22, while fellow guildmate Rammy had already reached Level 80 (though he did start a few weeks earlier). Our guild also gained 1 new member.

Explorer of Tyria

Thanks to my guild, I've been given Guild Wars 2 and thought I'd record my experiences in the game, just like I did with Diary of a Marked One and Skyrim Adventure Journal. :)

Possible spoilers ahead:
1.   Week #1 - Where am I?
2.   Week #2 - Burninating the Countryside
3.   Week #3 - Late to the Party
4.   Week #4 - Memory of a Flame
5.   Week #5 - Dragon Down (gained Order of Whispers Banner)
6.   Week #6 - Falling from High Places (reached level 80)
7.   Week #7 - The Furthest Lands (100% World Completion)
8.   Week #8 - Miserable Mesmer (gained Priory Banner)
9.   Week #9 - Racing the Clock
10. Week #10 - Different Roads (gained Vigil Banner)
11. Week #11 - Setting the Board
12. Week #12 - High Forces
13. Week #13 - Out of Content
14. Failures of Communication
15. Week #14 - Hibernation Elsewhere 
16. Stockbroker Wars 2
17. The Fall of Zhaitan
18. Flame, Frost and Donkey Kong
19. Deal Breaker: Melted Alliance
20. Your reward is Crabs
21. Dragons Bashed
22. Path of Pirates? I don't think so.
23. Aspects of Fun
24. Achievement Based Play
25. Vote for Ellen Kiel!
26. Ellen Kieled it! Time to celebrate with the Queen!
27. Queen's Gauntlet: Thief Experience
28. Treasures of the Crown Pavillion
29. Mabi improving Guild Wars 2
30. Invasion of the Everything
31. Preparation is Half the Battle
32. Box 2: A Less Super Adventure
33. Dragon Hunter Rox
34. The Maddening Grinds

Bonus Guides:
Fastest 100% World Completion

Due to not being able to log in (thanks ArenaNet), this story has ended. Thanks for reading!

Showdown at Sky Haven Temple

Adventures in Skyrim - spoilers ahead! In this entry I am following my custom scenario "A Curse of Iron". You can follow the rest of the story here!

Since he had done such a good job I offered Kharjo to join the Blades but he refused as I thought he might. I set him free of his debt, hoping he had a safe trip back to Elsweyr. Mjoll then called me over and asked how I was doing, taking me outside to the training area for a little chat. It was there that she revealed she too was working for the Thalmor, explaining her sudden disappearance from Riften before. Mainly it was to get back at me for letting Aerin die. Well that's too bad. I drew my iron sword and readied my hide shield while she pulled out my high level magical ebony blade. The hell? Seems she has all my old stuff too!

Our duel lasted for a long while, but she certainly had the upper hand with that magic blade. Furthermore each time I would get her to half HP she would fully heal! It was then I realized that she's using my potions! Things took a turn for the worse when Esbern appeared as well and began thowing magical fire at me. Great, he too is now the thalmor's bitch. No use continuing the fight out here so I pushed past into the temple proper where my large group of friends waited... and did nothing. It's like they didn't know if they should obey me or obey the leaders of the blades! Fortunately one of them decided to help out - Kharjo, who hadn't yet left took on Mjoll while I delt with Esbern, hacking him down as quickly as I could and then returning to the fight against Mjoll for perhaps the longest / best boss fight ever.

Kharjo and I would alternate as each of us would get knocked back, while she just kept healing. Eventually though she ran out of potions and in one furious backhand I sent her head flying from her shoulders. With their leader(s) dead, the remaining people stood even more gobsmacked as before... until they eventually took a knee and accepted me as their new leader. I thanked Kharjo again and the khajiit gave his farewells as he exited the temple. All that was left now was to get this curse off me which meant another trip to Winterhold, so I asked for a volunteer to come with and the knight Rayna jumped at the opportunity. We made our way out and the forsworn were nowhere to be found - they probably fled after their "leader" was killed, so we continued on the road where we passed Kharjo again, as well as Maiq, and upon reaching a pretty high bridge came across a patrol of imperial soldiers with a prisoner. I grinned to Rayna who knew what I was thinking and after slitting the throat of the guard at the very rear, charged the remaining two with sword held high.

Skyrim is for the Nords!

Taking a break from Skyrim again here, so I thought I'd leave you with a few extra goodies. :)

Skyrim Cosplay with Jessica Nigri
Skyrim Cosplay with Manzi de Young
Skyrim Cosplay & Music Video with Lindsey Stirling and Peter Hollens
Elder Scrolls Online

Fighting the Forsworn Army

Adventures in Skyrim - spoilers ahead! In this entry I am following my custom scenario "A Curse of Iron". You can follow the rest of the story here!

Received a letter from Tolfdir via courier today, while he hasn't found a cure for my condition yet he has learned that the spell cast upon me has a limited range and must be done from a pretty high altitude. Given I was in Markarth the best spot would be from the city itself, but since that's too obvious the second best spot would be at Dead Crone Rock which is where I needed to head next. First I managed to finally upgrade all my gear again then with Kharjo in tow we followed the path, right into a wandering bandit chief party. What the hell. There were four of them! All chiefs, no indians. After that fight we ran into a witch and a Shadow Nightingale!? Seems like something really wants to keep me away from this place.

Managed to kill them too then had a bit of peace and quiet until we reached the forsworn camp at the base of Dead Crone Rock. Despite killing the sentries quietly and smoothly the sheer number of opponents here was problematic, but Kharjo and I persevered (mainly using lots of food) and slaying them all. We were in for a surprise at the higher level though, where my missing horse Shadowmere was fighting the Briarheart and his pet troll! WTF. No Idea how the hell that happened, but I'll take any help I can get! After we cleared out the outside we assaulted the tower itself, easily clearing out the few remaining forsworn and reaching the highest point with the Word wall. There I found the tome that had been stolen from the mages college, and after browsing some pages found what was afflicting me. More importantly I found what I needed to cure myself.

Other than a skilled mage (which I'm not), I was going to need bear claws, taproot and a giant's toe - and I already had all except the last. However I knew exactly where to get one - slightly annoyed I had to leave Shadowmere again though, due to the non-iron metals in his saddle (or being, what the heck type of horse is he anyway). We returned back down the road where we were ambushed by a lone wood elf (stupid girl) and then ran into Maiq the Liar. Chatted for a bit then moved on to Karthspire. I knew there was a dead giant there that would be easy pickings. What I didn't know was that all the forsworn had returned to the area, making it a hell of a task getting to it given I was out of arrows. In the end we just had to bolt, grabbing the toe while evading spells and arrows of the defenders then running quickly up into Sky Haven Temple where they refused to follow.

All that's missing is a Scorpion King.

End of the Road

Adventures in Skyrim - spoilers ahead! In this entry I am following my custom scenario "A Curse of Iron". You can follow the rest of the story here!

Asked around at the Winking Skeever for clues, getting an extra one from the kid Minnete who happened to be there too then began going door to door looking for the agent in this city, but finding none. Visited Proudspire Manor to let Njada and Jordis know I was ok (tested them and they weren't agents either) then went next door to the Bard's college where everyone seemed to check out until I got to the kitchen. It was the old cook! I simply waited for an opportune time and slit the old man's throat as he ate. With that easily accomplished I noticed more Pentius Occultus agents lurking about so with Kharjo we set to work eliminating all of them, where I managed to finishing stab one and throat slit another. A pair of guards got involved and they needed to die too, fortunately I managed to snarf a hunting bow from one of them. We then quickly shadowed our way back down the side entrance and began to hoof it to Morthal.

I knew this would be a harder task since I couldn't swim "up" waterfalls meaning I'd need to be on the road this time, and sure enough Dragonbridge proved a very tough place to pass with it's high volume of guardsmen (bad luck as a patrol was there too). Told Kharjo to just buy me time then escape so we split up, with the cat holding off a large portion of the guards while I high tailed it outta there. After what seemed to be a really long sprint across the mountains I was clear, and back on the road where I encountered a friendlier group of three Stormcloak soldiers who happened to be walking in the same direction I wanted to go. Figured it was safer to travel together so I just strolled with them down the road, and after a few minutes a familiar khajiit came running up - it was Kharjo! He somehow gave the Dragonbridge guards the slip and got ahead of us.

Even Chaos Knights go for strolls.

We were in high spirits as we neared Morthal when a group of forsworn raiders attacked. There were only three of them, but each of them managed to kill a guardsman before either myself or Kharjo could finish them off. I was so angry that I (finishing move) beheaded the last one. Finally we made it to the City of Stone and easilly found the last agent inside the Silverblood Inn itself. It was Muiri, who apparently would do anything for money. Despite the inn being crowded at the time I already knew how to take her out - hidden from a room with an arrow to the neck. Why would she turn on someone who helped her!? No matter, at least I'm closer to getting this curse removed.

Old Acquaintances

Adventures in Skyrim - spoilers ahead! In this entry I am following my custom scenario "A Curse of Iron". You can follow the rest of the story here!

After a quick resupply at Fort Dunstad, avoiding a wizard fighting various wild life, and examining a Shrine to Dibella that I had missed before I finally made it back to Dawnstar and went into the tavern to find clues. It was dinner time and there were a fair number of people here but none of them seemed to be the thalmor agent. Decided to stop by the iron mine again to get more ores but could only get two this time since the ones I harvested from my previous visit had not returned. Continued investigation on the docked boat but the sailors were all clean, then finally found the scum in the museum - that traitor Silas whom I had helped earlier! He hid his involvement well, but there was no tricking me. I asked him for a bowl of stew and he obliged - as he stirred the pot I shoved my sword through his back, killing the traitorous bastard. Should have let the dremora eat him.

On my way out of town I happened across a Khajiit caravan, the one with my friend Kharjo! I got him to join me and I asked him why he was previously imprisoned. Turns out he was selling drugs to kids. Just like the caravan is doing now. He refused to kill his fellow cats though, so I backstabbed all his compatriots for their sins and warned him that the same would happen to him if he didn't pay off his debt to society (me). Then the curse must have gone into a second phase because out of nowhere, Ria's corpse appeared and began floating around like a wisp mother. We all attacked it and when it "died" she vanished (no, it actually crashed the game so I had to reload). Now I'm seeing things. Great.

Trippin' balls!

Pushed on to Morthal passing two empty imperial camps on the way. I couldn't upgrade my sword though because I had forgotten to smelt the damn ore! Didn't matter as it was a quiet and uneventful run, and we snuck into the tavern in the dead of night to get some info. Since no one was there I decided to look around, finding Falion fighting a mudcrab for some reason on the street. Since he was busy I continued to the Thaumaturgist's hut but found no one there. Next building was the Jarl's longhouse but I knew that always had guards so I went back to Falion and found the fool cowering behind a house. When I asked him what was wrong he pretty much blurted out that he was the thalmor agent and ran to the edge of town with Kharjo and I right on his heels. It wasn't hard to beat him into submission, breaking his will. Fortunately for him threads of fate still protected him, letting him live another day. Satisfied that his role in this was over, our next stop was Solitude - gaining entry by swimming across the bay and climbing up the less used side-gate.