The Elder Scrolls XI: Wouldn't Want To Be Elsweyr

[Aeson]

Okay..... So the boots. Turns out yes you can run like the wind, but you can't see! Not even mild impairment of vision, complete and total blindness, so you can run like the wind until you trip over a tree root and snap your neck. Bitching to some of the locals about it, I got told that Pemenmine was actually a wanted felon that she had a history of selling false goods, that I was just the latest victim.

Try putting them on while affected by one or more Resist Magicka effects, preferably of high magnitude (duration doesn't matter, as long as you get the boots on before the effect wears off). Alternatively, try putting them on and then drinking a Potion of Night Eye or casting a Night Eye spell.

It was called Hallgerd's tale.

That's the one about the guy who was more ... fun ... in his armor than out of it, isn't it? That's one of the more amusing skillbooks in the game, in my opinion.

Some of my fellow adventurers had been bitching about cliff racers. A species apparently native only to Vvardenfell, these well they looked like Petrodactyls, and they flew around and would ambush adventurers. After a flock descended upon me, I could kinda see their point as I grumbled over their broken bodies to start harvesting for their next meal.

If you're in the Molag Amur or Ashlands region, trama root is fairly plentiful, and a potion made from trama and racer plumes can be fairly useful. Just be careful not to get too high on it. Coda flower can substitute for either, but in my experience coda flowers are irritatingly rare whereas Cliff Racers (and therefore Racer Plumes) have more or less the opposite problem, and trama root is all over the place in the Ashlands and Molag Amur.

Talking to her outside of Gnaar Mok, I told her how I knew she was a wanted felon and that she was to get in front of me and march to the guards, or I'd be dragging her unconscious to them. She tried to lie to my face about how I must be mistaken, I brought up how her boots literally blinded me while I was wearing them, and that I knew she had to be the girl they were looking for.

At that, she drew her axe on me and started swinging. I was left with no choice but to draw my mace and fight back. I pleaded with her that this didn't need to happen I was still willing to spare her life, if she would drop her weapon.

Unfortunately she didn't accept my offer, as my mace made it's final crack to her skull, I shuddered as she fell to the ground dead. Shivering, I pulled her body over me as I grew pale. I didn't like this one bit but it was now my job to bring this woman's body to the guards.

Doing so, they took her body after letting me pick stuff that would be useful from it, they wouldn't pay me the bounty for some reason, even though they admitted that there was a bounty on her head. Not really wanting to argue with them, I winced as I realized that the axe I had marveled over earlier this morning was now in my hands. I was keeping it, solely because it could save my life one day. If I ever got a magic mace, I would sell it instantly and if I could ever find her family I would give them the gold from the sale. At least that's what I told myself.

Ah, yes, video game justice at its finest. Yeah, it would've been nice if you could intimidate Pemenie into accompanying you to the nearest guard or something like that and get the bounty that way.

As it is, I kind of feel like the lack of payment of a bounty is sort of an implicit condemnation of killing Pemenie - it's kind of like the guards are saying "okay, well, she was a wanted criminal with a bounty on her head, and, at least according to you, she did strike first, but we don't really feel that her crimes merited her death, so while we're not going to pay you the bounty, we're also not going to charge you with murder, and we'll call it even at that." That, or she's been paying the guards off and they're a bit ticked that you've just killed one of their sources of ... supplemental ... income, so they're going to take advantage of their position to tell you to shove off and then claim the bounty for themselves to make up for it.

(I suppose there's also the question of proof. "Dispose of corpse," after all, is rather unspecific in what you do with the body, but it could as easily be (and probably is) a euphemism for "hide/destroy the body" as for "drag the corpse somewhere for proper burial." And since you killed Pemenie outside of town without any witnesses nearby, well, who's to say that you aren't just making things up? Granted, "dispose of corpse" also doesn't, strictly speaking, preclude the player dragging the corpse back to town as the proof necessary to claim a bounty, or to provide a proper burial. There might also be some question as to whether or not the bounty on Pemenie is a legal bounty posted by the proper authorities or a questionably-legal or maybe outright illegal bounty posted by some rich or important person that she ticked off; I seem to recall that the dialogue in Gnaar Mok suggested it might be more of the latter than the former, though it's been a while since I've read that bit of dialogue. She's definitely a criminal, but I'm less than certain of the standing of the bounty on her head. It might even be something through the Morag Tong, though I'd be surprised if she'd survived long with a writ out for her, in which case the nonpayment of a bounty by the guards is entirely understandable.)

[Illven]

Try putting them on while affected by one or more Resist Magicka effects, preferably of high magnitude (duration doesn't matter, as long as you get the boots on before the effect wears off). Alternatively, try putting them on and then drinking a Potion of Night Eye or casting a Night Eye spell.


That's the one about the guy who was more ... fun ... in his armor than out of it, isn't it? That's one of the more amusing skillbooks in the game, in my opinion.


If you're in the Molag Amur or Ashlands region, trama root is fairly plentiful, and a potion made from trama and racer plumes can be fairly useful. Just be careful not to get too high on it. Coda flower can substitute for either, but in my experience coda flowers are irritatingly rare whereas Cliff Racers (and therefore Racer Plumes) have more or less the opposite problem, and trama root is all over the place in the Ashlands and Molag Amur.


Ah, yes, video game justice at its finest. Yeah, it would've been nice if you could intimidate Pemenie into accompanying you to the nearest guard or something like that and get the bounty that way.

As it is, I kind of feel like the lack of payment of a bounty is sort of an implicit condemnation of killing Pemenie - it's kind of like the guards are saying "okay, well, she was a wanted criminal with a bounty on her head, and, at least according to you, she did strike first, but we don't really feel that her crimes merited her death, so while we're not going to pay you the bounty, we're also not going to charge you with murder, and we'll call it even at that." That, or she's been paying the guards off and they're a bit ticked that you've just killed one of their sources of ... supplemental ... income, so they're going to take advantage of their position to tell you to shove off and then claim the bounty for themselves to make up for it.

Thing is, Dark brotherhood armor is better for defense. (One of the better armors in the game for that, really) So the only time I'd use them is to bolt like the wind in which case I need a potion of magic resistance.

Does that exist?

No it was he was so stealthy in heavy armor that even with it loaded with stuff, he could still sneak up on his wife having an affair.

I'd need to buy alchemy items first, and it would cut back on what Mary could eat. One of the unwritten rules is that she needs a pound of food a day. (And yes, diamonds count as food.)

Or even if it were an option to command her into following you, right next to the guard. Not that Mary could do it, but....

[Aeson]

(And yes, diamonds count as food.)

That's a bit of a rich diet, don't you think?

I guess emeralds and other gems also count as food? What do you do about ingredients that weigh more than 1 pound, such as scrap metal and ebony (which both weigh 10, if I recall correctly), or raw glass (which weighs 2)?

So the only time I'd use them is to bolt like the wind in which case I need a potion of magic resistance.

Does that exist?

There are standard Potions of Resist Magicka in all the normal strength ratings, with strengths ranging from 5% to 20% and durations ranging from eight seconds to one minute. If you drank one of each strength of potion, you'd have 58% Resistance to Magicka until the effects started wearing off, though it's a little on the expensive side; the base value of a bargain, cheap, standard, quality, and exclusive potion is 310 gold, and that's 4 pounds of potions that you'd need to be carrying around. Probably cheaper just to have an enchanted item or three with Resist Magicka on them, either as a spell that they can cast or as a constant effect, or to have a Resist Magicka spell or two of your own. In Morrowind, the magnitudes of effects of the same type add together as long as the name of the source is different; you can have two or three spells (say, Resist Magicka 1, Resist Magicka 2, and Resist Magicka 3) that all increase Resistance to Magicka by, say 30 points, and if you cast them all on yourself, then you'll get the sum of the effect magnitudes rather than seeing the effects of the previous spells be replaced.

You can also create custom potions of Resist Magicka with Ash Salts (which come from a number of Ash Creatures; as a warning, Ash Creatures can be rather dangerous to hunt) and Belladonna Berries. Note that acquiring Belladonna Berries requires you to go to Solstheim, and that there are two varieties (ripened and unripened) which can be combined with one another to create a potion with all the effects of the berries (three positive effects - Resist Magicka, Restore Magicka, and Fortify Magicka - but also one negative effect - Drain Magicka). Resist Magicka is the first effect of both types of Belladonna Berry, so if you eat the berries raw you might gain the effect for a little while at a low magnitude.

No it was he was so stealthy in heavy armor that even with it loaded with stuff, he could still sneak up on his wife having an affair.

Yeah, but there's also the mention that he's up there for quite a while, and that when he and his wife return to the fight she's got a bit of a smile on her face and is a little flushed. And at the end, "it's a story about a guy who was more accomplished in his armor than out of it."

[Illven]

That's a bit of a rich diet, don't you think?

I guess emeralds and other gems also count as food? What do you do about ingredients that weigh more than 1 pound, such as scrap metal and ebony (which both weigh 10, if I recall correctly), or raw glass (which weighs 2)?


There are standard Potions of Resist Magicka in all the normal strength ratings, with strengths ranging from 5% to 20% and durations ranging from eight seconds to one minute. If you drank one of each strength of potion, you'd have 58% Resistance to Magicka until the effects started wearing off, though it's a little on the expensive side; the base value of a bargain, cheap, standard, quality, and exclusive potion is 310 gold, and that's 4 pounds of potions that you'd need to be carrying around. Probably cheaper just to have an enchanted item or three with Resist Magicka on them, either as a spell that they can cast or as a constant effect, or to have a Resist Magicka spell or two of your own. In Morrowind, the magnitudes of effects of the same type add together as long as the name of the source is different; you can have two or three spells (say, Resist Magicka 1, Resist Magicka 2, and Resist Magicka 3) that all increase Resistance to Magicka by, say 30 points, and if you cast them all on yourself, then you'll get the sum of the effect magnitudes rather than seeing the effects of the previous spells be replaced


Yeah, but there's also the mention that he's up there for quite a while, and that when he and his wife return to the fight she's got a bit of a smile on her face and is a little flushed. And at the end, "it's a story about a guy who was more accomplished in his armor than out of it."

Those I sell, usually for a pretty penny.

Huh, here I thought potions would go with the highest effect like in D&D.

Right I forgot about that part.

[Aeson]

Huh, here I thought potions would go with the highest effect like in D&D.

Yeah, Morrowind is a little unconcerned about stacking effects. I think Spell Absorption is the only effect that doesn't stack additively (that one stacks multiplicatively, so two 50% Spell Absorption effects absorb 75% of incoming spells), and I don't think that there are any effects which just go with the magnitude of the strongest source, whether or not the sources are of the same type.

Also, I decided to check (because I was pretty sure that healing potions stacked with themselves even if you drink each before the effect of the previous has worn off) and discovered that I was mistaken about the potions. You can stack five Exclusive Potions of Resist Magicka with one another for 100% Resistance to Magicka for the duration of the potions (if you have a Weakness to Magicka, drink more potions to cancel the weakness out), which protects you from the Blind effect but lets the Fortify Speed effect through (note: you will still be protected from the Blind effect even after the potions run out; what effects are applied by an item with a constant-effect enchantment will only be checked at the time the item is equipped, not continuously while the item is equipped), as well as from any hostile non-elemental spell effects that strike you for as long as the potions are in effect. A bit more expensive in gold (875 combined base value for 5 Exclusive Potions) but much lighter (1.25 pounds instead of 4) and much more effective (100% resistance versus 58%). Granted, anything more than 0% resistance will get you some visibility, as will Night Eye (resistance to magicka is better than night eye, though, as the visibility granted by resistance to magicka lasts for as long as the boots are equipped whereas visibility granted by night eye will only last for as long as the spell or potion lasts).

It's only the spells (whether cast from magicka or from an on-use or on-strikes enchanted item) that require you to get the effect from sources with differing names.

[Illven]

Also annoying accidentally playing on the highest difficulty for a time because your other file is on it.

[Admiral Squish]

Spoiler: Elyna Lehart, Entry 11

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I woke up in the early hours of the morning with a gasp, soaked in sweat, from a terrible nightmare. All I can remember of it now is looking down and seeing blood-soaked claws where my hands should be and my parent’s bodies, bloody and mangled, on the ground below. It’s not an image one could easily forget. At the time, I was shaking and panting for breath.

There was a commotion just outside my door, and I found a small group of townsfolk confronting a priest about strange, repetitive nightmares. The priest is trying to assure them they’re just dreams, nothing more, but the townsfolk seem convinced there’s something more to them. Once the group departed, I approached the priest to ask if there was anything that could be done to prevent them, and have gave me an appraising look, before telling me, in a hushed tone, that there was, in fact, something that could be done, if I were of the adventurous sort and willing to aid him.

With my mission complete, the only thing waiting in Whiterun was my pay, so I agreed to help him. I decided to leave Lydia to sleep, since he apparently wanted to keep this secret. He gestured me to follow, and led me outside, the sun still barely peeking over the horizon as he began to lead me out of town and up the mountain behind it. Along the way, he explained that the nightmares were the symptoms of her slowly stealing away the memories of the townsfolk. The tower at the top of the mountain was once a chapel to the daedric prince Vaermina, but it had been sealed long ago, and only was the daedra’s power beginning to seep out. The entrance was unintentionally guarded by a handful of frost wraiths, but Erandur wasn’t one of those purely peaceful priests, he was handy with a mace, and some powerful fire spells, too.

The tower is full of cultists and orcs, all asleep under the influence of something called the ‘miasma’, as Erandur called it, but our way further into the tower was blocked by a barrier. He said he had a way to get past it, but we’d have to go through the library to get it. I asked how he knew about the library, and he confessed it was because he was once one of the priests of vaermina, but he’d since reformed and now served Mara. I was a little surprised by the sudden admission, but it seemed like his past was paying off, as we quickly made our way through the library and into the alchemy lab, to find a vial of a potion known as ‘Varemina’s Torpor’.

The potion was supposed to allow me to travel through dreams, and it would allow me to circumvent the barrier. HE couldn’t drink it, since he was a sworn priest of mara and the potion worked on the soul or something, I’m not much one for alchemy, so much of the explanation was lost on me. Still, I didn’t have much choice, and I drank it. The dream I found myself in was actually relatively calm. I was a priest, being sent to release the miasma back when the temple was first invaded by orcs and sealed. I had to run through the chaos to find my way up to the release chain, passing orcs battling priests all through the tower.

When I reached the chain and pulled it in the dream, I returned to reality to find myself standing in the same place, and right next to the soul gem powering the barrier sealing the passage. When I took the gem from its ‘seat’, the barrier faltered allowing Erandur through, and together, we pushed deeper into the fort. Each room we came upon was once a battle scene, and some still were, our presence seeming to wake the sleeper only to have them turn on each other immediately, as though no time had passed at all. With Erandur and the Atronach in the mix, the battles turned to chaos quickly, and the confused sleepers were swiftly put to sleep in a more permanent fashion.

As we reached the bottom, two notable cultists stepped forward, the same pair I’d seen in the dream, old friends of Erandur from when he’d been a member of the cult. But cults are not known for their cameraderie, and they seemed to have no issue attacking their former brother to protect the artifact of their dark lord. While one squared off with Erandur, the other blasted me with lightning, keeping me pinned down as I warded it off, barely giving me enough time to summon up an atronach to join the fight.

When the battle was over, Erandur admitted his remorse at killing his former friends, and I found myself comforting him, which seemed a little strange, seeing as I so often was the one who needed consoling. He swiftly began his ritual to break down the barrier protecting the artifact, and as he did, a sickly-sweet voice began to whisper in my mind, telling me he would betray me, that I should kill him and take the staff for myself. I had to grit my teeth and shake off the otherworldly influence, once I realized what was happening. Once the ritual was complete, the voice simply went silent, and the artifact was neatly removed from the world.

Erandur was extremely grateful for the help, and offered to help me if ever I found myself in need of a companion. As tempting as the offer was, I was growing rather fond of Lydia. While Erandure headed upstairs, I decided to search the temple a little more thoroughly. It turns out, one of the orc was wearing a pair of orcish bracers, a significant upgrade compared to my current steel plate, so I was quite pleased… Until I opened a chest and my jaw dropped. A suit of ebony armor! Sure, it was missing the boots, gloves, and helmet, and it was a little dinged, but it was remarkably intact ,and I knew just the enchantment for it! I just needed a little ebony to fix it up and customize the fit, and it’d be ready to enchant.

When I got back to Dawnstar, I headed straight for the inn, woke up Lydia, and headed straight for the wagon, directing them to Solitude. Surely somebody in the capital will have the ebony I need.

[Illven]

Ship ErandurxElyna. OTP!

[Admiral Squish]

Ship ErandurxElyna. OTP!

You know, I never really considered what kind of person Elyna would be attracted to. Now I have to really put some thought into it...

Spoiler: Elyna Lehart, Entry 12

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Apparently, nobody in Solitude has any ebony, as unlikely as that may seem. After shopping around and finding nothing, and being told it’s not terribly easy or common to find ebony in Skyrim. I decided to go by the bard’s college, as long as I was in town, and as bards go traveling all across the land, maybe one of them would know where I could go to find some ebony.

When I arrived, I found Pantea pacing around in the front hall. I approached her from behind, opened my mouth to speak, and was promptly cut off with a snarled outburst of ‘I am going to wring her little neck!’. She turned to face me, and offered hasty apologies, but then proceeded to launch into a rant about a former student who took her prized flute and sold it to a bunch of necromancers in the north with a bogus story about its mystical properties. Apparently I have something of a reputation around the college since retrieving the poem about Olaf One-eye, because she proceeded to implore me to retrieve her flute, and even told me I could find it. I told her I would think about it and hastily exited before I could get roped into anything else.

I found Gerard next, but he didn’t even hear me call out to him the first two times. When he finally surfaced from his thoughts, he explained he was just thinking about Rjorn’s Drum. I asked him what that was, and immediately regretted it as he proceeded to excitedly explain that Rjorn’s drum was the instrument of a famous ancient bard and that it was thought lost but somebody actually found it, far to the south. He pleaded for me to retrieve the drum, calling it a piece of history. Again, I foundmyself telling him I’d think about it and excusing myself.

Inge was a little harder to find, but a infinitely more helpful. She said the biggest ebony mine in Skyrim was in the east, and it was worked by an orc stronghold. It would be a long trip, but apparently they had more than enough ebony to fix my armor, make the missing pieces, and then make a dozen more suits on top of that. I thanked her profusely, only to have her comment that if I really wanted to show my thinks, I could give her a hand with something. Apparently some bandits had stolen a unique, historical lute from the college, and were camped out a little to the south of the stronghold. She added she’d be very grateful if I retreived it, and I sighed, telling her I would do my best.

Sometimes, it seems like all anybody ever wants from me is for me to go into dangerous places for them… I haven’t had a chance to sing for an audience since I arrived in Skyrim.

I re-hired the wagon that brought me out to solitude and told him to take me to windhelm. There’s a long ride ahead of me...

[Illven]

You know, I never really considered what kind of person Elyna would be attracted to. Now I have to really put some thought into it...

England is my spirit civ, and that's because I ship everything.

In other news.

Spoiler: BEST ADVENTURER

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When I woke up I asked the local guildmaster Percius Mercius if he had any work for me. He said I was a little too low ranking for him to be able to trust me with the sensitive jobs he tended to handle. I told him I understood, and we started discussing things. He mentioned that if I ever had doubts about a fighter's guild mission that I could come talk to him and we'd work it out together. Part of me liked that we were discussing this, the other part of me wondered if he could just read it on my face or if Eydis Fireeye had discussed it with him.

We further discussed the Fighter's guild history. Apparently he used to be the guild master but stepped down. I asked why, and he kinda dodged the question. He did say he regretted it, as the current head of the Fighter's guild was corrupt. I asked what we could do about it, but Percius didn't seem to think we had any options right now but to limit the innocent lives lost.

Leaving the fighters guild with heavy thoughts raging in my head, I wandered next door to the Mages guild. Selling some of my items that I had obtained in my short time as captain of an adventuring group I decided on impulse to buy this amulet that would teleport me to the nearest Imperial cult shrine. It seemed like a good buy if I ever got into trouble. Especially since it would renew itself on it's own.

With the cure paralysis potion in hand. I started to make my way to the south west of Ald-ruhn to meet Hisin Deep-Raed... Surely he wouldn't be too upset about waiting a day, right.... As I mused about his possible fury, a veritable swarm of Cliff racers descended from the cliffs eager to feast on my blood. Taking them all out, this only reinforced my position about how right adventurers were.

When I got to Hisin Deep-Raed he instead stated that I had the wrong potion. I just assumed that since he couldn't move, he wanted a cure paralyzation potion, but what he wanted was a cure disease potion. Knowing that I was truly the best adventurer I swiftly went back to Ald-ruhn and returned, giving him the potion.

He gave his only remaining piece of non underwear clothing, at first I tried to insist it wasn't necessary. But he further explained this was magic, that is was from his father, and his father's father. But with no sons or daughters to pass it down too, he was giving it to me. A hat that would resist cold..... I didn't have the heart to point out that as a fellow Nord I was also immune to cold.

Going back to Ald-ruhn I decided to deal with the debtor.... Let's just say negotiations broke down, and about an hour later I was standing over his corpse, sighing that everything I touched seemed to die, and that if I were a more persuasive speaker this probably could have been avoided. Ah well. Let's get my job done.

Bevene Releth rebuked me when I returned with the amulet. Somehow within the time of me going straight to the store, she had managed to hear about the murder. Pointing out that he swung first did nothing to cool her rage, she paid me for the job stating that she had promised to do so, so she would, but then she practically threw me out of the store. She shouldn't have said to use any means necessary if that was the case. I would have been more agreeable.

Deciding I was done with Ald-ruhn for now, I took the teleport circles the mages guild had set up to Sadrith mora. Remembering Percius Mercius's word that the guildmaster here was good, I decided to see if they had any jobs for me. They told me they did. There was a dwemer ruin far to the south and that I was to go there and aid someone in exploring it. Archelogy seemed like a peaceful low conflict job. I agreed that I would start moving in the morning.

[veti]

Let's just say negotiations broke down, and about an hour later I was standing over his corpse

Lady, you really need to work on your persuasion skills. I didn't know it was even possible to "fail" that conversation...

[Illven]

Lady, you really need to work on your persuasion skills. I didn't know it was even possible to "fail" that conversation...

Technically you have to have booze or a certain book to persuade him.

I had neither, and pretty much taunted him into attacking me.

But Mary is BEST ADVENTURER!

[veti]

Technically you have to have booze or a certain book to persuade him.

I had neither, and pretty much taunted him into attacking me.

But Mary is BEST ADVENTURER!

No, last time I did that was only about a month ago, and I had neither of those things. All you have to do is get his disposition up to 50, which is a pretty modest threshold - if you have the Lady birthsign, or if you're a Dunmer, you pretty much should be there before you even open your mouth.

Edit: sorry, it's 60 you need to get it up to. Still not very hard.

[Illven]

No, last time I did that was only about a month ago, and I had neither of those things. All you have to do is get his disposition up to 50, which is a pretty modest threshold - if you have the Lady birthsign, or if you're a Dunmer, you pretty much should be there before you even open your mouth.

Edit: sorry, it's 60 you need to get it up to. Still not very hard.

I have the lady birthsign, but Mary's a nord.

[Admiral Squish]

I've FINALLY written up to the point where I'm caught up with Friday's adventures.
I really want to play a character that uses the Ghostblade as their primary weapon.
I also have no idea how I'm going to handle what's coming up next in Whiterun...

[Balmas]

Is it going against the spirit of an overhaul to find out that higher skill levels don't decrease the cost of magic, and immediately install Skytweak to "fix" it?

[veti]

Is it going against the spirit of an overhaul to find out that higher skill levels don't decrease the cost of magic, and immediately install Skytweak to "fix" it?

Well, the overhaul author has presumably put a lot of thought into rebalancing the game, so yes.

But on the other hand, the mere existence of an overhaul implies a support for changing what you don't like. So no.

Knock yourself out.

[Inarius]

Is it going against the spirit of an overhaul to find out that higher skill levels don't decrease the cost of magic, and immediately install Skytweak to "fix" it?

I'd say no because the whole spirit of an overhaul is to change the game more to your liking and on top of that magic needs all the help it can get imo.

[Balmas]

Ugh. Do you remember during that portion of the main questline when you need to trap Ohdahving in Dragonsreach, how you need to talk to the Jarl? How there are two options, one of which is listed as (Persuade)?

I was so optimistic. "I've never been able to pass this check before," I told myself. "But this playthough, I've held off. I'm level 88. I am a speech MACHINE. Peace of cake. Now we can skip that stupid portion of the quest where we run from Whiterun to High Hrothgar, and then to Windhelm, Solitude, and back to High Hrothgar in what has to be the most asinine bit of writing of the main quest."

I don't know why I deluded myself like that. Took the check, made the check like a friggin' champion, only to find that... It made no difference. I said the same things I normally would, nearly verbatim, and then when I'd told him I was Dragonborn and I needed his castle to help me save the world, we jump right back on the rails. "I can't leave my city vulnerable to attack!"

I wouldn't even be this pissed off if it weren't for the game offering me that sliver of hope that I wouldn't have to do Season Unending, which is by far the worst quest in the game. Season Unending has no literary or merit to it whatsoever; all the tension and excitement of "I just kicked Alduin's scaly arse, now let's do it again in ASGARD" drains away as you're walk to High Hrothgar and talk to some people. Then you walk to Windhelm and talk to some people. Then you walk to Solitude and you talk to some people. Then walk back to High Hrothgar, and the writers throw in what amounts to a fifteen minute cutscene where the player makes a series of choices that aren't really choices because they have zero impact whatsoever on the game. Boy, I sure do love it when the writers are so infatuated with their own work that they shove it down your throat on EVERY FRIGGIN' PLAYTHROUGH. It's not like it gets tedious or annoying or anything like that.

In all seriousness, I would cheerfully murder everyone in both the Blue Palace and the Palace of Kings if it meant I could skip Season Unending. Like, not even a thought for the chaos Skyrim would be plunged into; I could skip this damn quest, and that would be enough.

[Admiral Squish]

Spoiler: Elyna Lehart, Entry 13

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While I was on the long road to Windhelm, I realized I was going to pass quite close to Dawnstar, and that the glacial cave where Pantea’s flute was supposed to be wasn’t far from there, either. So, I urged the driver to stop over in Dawnsar, before heading the rest of the way.

Once we arrived, I went straight to the beach and headed east. I wanted to get this done quickly. I wasn’t expecting it to be peaceful, but then, I also wasn’t expecting to have to face three saber cats, a half-dozen wolves, and two bears before I got there. I have no idea why so many predators would be lurking on the frigid beach, but at least they made for good leather… The ‘cave’ wasn’t like the usual ones, it was solid ice, a hollow in a massive glacier, the entrance set deep in a crevice. I doubt I would have ever found it, coming from above.

Almost as soon as I entered the cave, I heard a woman crying for help from a ledge above. I’d never really considered myself the heroic type, but when I heard her cries, I realized I had a rare chance to become one… as long as I acted fast. I rushed ahead.

Necromancers are, in my opinion, the worst mages to fight. They’re also generally terrible people, but mostly, they’re the worst to fight. The reason being, as long as they’re not working alone, then you have to fight their minions, then them, then once you beat them, you have to fight them again when their allies raise them from the dead. It makes progress slow, and the constant barrage of magic meant I could only progress with Spellbreaker raised. Every second I spent fighting made it more and more likely that poor girl would be dead before I reached her…

I started using fire breath to break through the resistance whenever I got the chance. With the living and the dead so difficult to tell apart in the heat of battle… I can’t really be sure I didn’t kill anyone. I feel like I should be an emotional wreck about that possibility, but… They were killing innocent people, and they were trying to kill me. I can’t seem to muster much regret for what I did, and that, itself, is disconcerting. Is this life turning me heartless? And if it is... is it really a bad thing?

Even aggressively shouting my way through the cave wasn’t enough, it seemed. By the time I arrived, the necromancers had made their sacrifice… all I could do was make sure they wouldn’t get to make another.

With the flute, I headed back to Dawnstar and rode east again, for the rest of the day. Night was falling by the time the wagon stopped in Kynesgrove, and I started up the path into the mountain. The grass grew sparse, then vanished entirely as the snow began to cover everything. Then I saw it, a rough wooden barricade, standing logs driven into the ground to surround the stronghold. I’d finally found it!

When I approached, however, I was abruptly stopped. The orcs wouldn’t let me in! I tried to explain I was just here to trade, I wouldn’t cause them any trouble, but they steadfastly refused. I wasn’t an orc, I couldn’t be trusted unless I was blood-kin. I asked what I had to do to be blood-kin, and the orc on guard considered for a moment. She said there was a ruin to the south, Ansilvund, that was supposed to contain a pair of gauntlets know as the Forgemaster’s Fingers. If I retrieved them for their chief, I would be allowed to trade in any orc stronghold.

I grumbled all the way back down the mountain to Kynesgrove, where I found myself a room for the night. I’ll head south in the morning.

[InvisibleBison]

In all seriousness, I would cheerfully murder everyone in both the Blue Palace and the Palace of Kings if it meant I could skip Season Unending. Like, not even a thought for the chaos Skyrim would be plunged into; I could skip this damn quest, and that would be enough.

I agree completely. On my last playthrough, I chose to win the civil war rather than sit through Season Unending.

[Admiral Squish]

In all seriousness, I would cheerfully murder everyone in both the Blue Palace and the Palace of Kings if it meant I could skip Season Unending. Like, not even a thought for the chaos Skyrim would be plunged into; I could skip this damn quest, and that would be enough.

I will admit, I am NOT looking forward to sitting through that thing again.
Honestly, I tend to play Skyrim with my phone propped up beside the computer and a webcomic archive open. I grab the phone and read a page or two whenever I start talking to a long-winded NPC, whenever there's a scripted scene that I have to wait through, whenever I go to mine some ore or chop some wood...
I get a lot of reading done.

[DomaDoma]

Okay, I've finished Dragon Age: Origins. Man. I was pretty sure, based on the level of fandom crossover, that playing it as my dominant Elder Scrolls persona would work out, but I didn't expect it to be quite so... on-the-nose about it.

Starting the LP thread later today.

[Balmas]

Spoiler: Elyna Lehart, Entry 13

Show

While I was on the long road to Windhelm, I realized I was going to pass quite close to Dawnstar, and that the glacial cave where Pantea’s flute was supposed to be wasn’t far from there, either. So, I urged the driver to stop over in Dawnsar, before heading the rest of the way.

Once we arrived, I went straight to the beach and headed east. I wanted to get this done quickly. I wasn’t expecting it to be peaceful, but then, I also wasn’t expecting to have to face three saber cats, a half-dozen wolves, and two bears before I got there. I have no idea why so many predators would be lurking on the frigid beach, but at least they made for good leather… The ‘cave’ wasn’t like the usual ones, it was solid ice, a hollow in a massive glacier, the entrance set deep in a crevice. I doubt I would have ever found it, coming from above.

Almost as soon as I entered the cave, I heard a woman crying for help from a ledge above. I’d never really considered myself the heroic type, but when I heard her cries, I realized I had a rare chance to become one… as long as I acted fast. I rushed ahead.

Necromancers are, in my opinion, the worst mages to fight. They’re also generally terrible people, but mostly, they’re the worst to fight. The reason being, as long as they’re not working alone, then you have to fight their minions, then them, then once you beat them, you have to fight them again when their allies raise them from the dead. It makes progress slow, and the constant barrage of magic meant I could only progress with Spellbreaker raised. Every second I spent fighting made it more and more likely that poor girl would be dead before I reached her…

I started using fire breath to break through the resistance whenever I got the chance. With the living and the dead so difficult to tell apart in the heat of battle… I can’t really be sure I didn’t kill anyone. I feel like I should be an emotional wreck about that possibility, but… They were killing innocent people, and they were trying to kill me. I can’t seem to muster much regret for what I did, and that, itself, is disconcerting. Is this life turning me heartless? And if it is... is it really a bad thing?

Even aggressively shouting my way through the cave wasn’t enough, it seemed. By the time I arrived, the necromancers had made their sacrifice… all I could do was make sure they wouldn’t get to make another.

With the flute, I headed back to Dawnstar and rode east again, for the rest of the day. Night was falling by the time the wagon stopped in Kynesgrove, and I started up the path into the mountain. The grass grew sparse, then vanished entirely as the snow began to cover everything. Then I saw it, a rough wooden barricade, standing logs driven into the ground to surround the stronghold. I’d finally found it!

When I approached, however, I was abruptly stopped. The orcs wouldn’t let me in! I tried to explain I was just here to trade, I wouldn’t cause them any trouble, but they steadfastly refused. I wasn’t an orc, I couldn’t be trusted unless I was blood-kin. I asked what I had to do to be blood-kin, and the orc on guard considered for a moment. She said there was a ruin to the south, Ansilvund, that was supposed to contain a pair of gauntlets know as the Forgemaster’s Fingers. If I retrieved them for their chief, I would be allowed to trade in any orc stronghold.

I grumbled all the way back down the mountain to Kynesgrove, where I found myself a room for the night. I’ll head south in the morning.

Aahh, Gloombound Mine. Best place to get Ebony in all of Skyrim.

I agree completely. On my last playthrough, I chose to win the civil war rather than sit through Season Unending.

I think I might actually do that. Of course, that actually brings up the question of which side to choose, which is always a fun discussion.

Spoiler

Show

Stormcloaks:
Pros:

• Anti-Thalmor. Really, this is probably the biggest one. Siding with the Stormcloaks guarantees that there will be a fight with the Thalmor, and that I will be able to guiltlessly continue to murder their patrols when I find them.
• Religious freedom. Out of curiosity, do they reinstate the alter of Talos at the church in Sanctuary?
• Could be an example for other provinces. I'm imagining Skyrim joining forces with Hammerfell, and maybe even convincing the Empire to join them when the time comes for war against the Thalmor.

Cons:
[list][*]"SKYRIM BELONGS TO THE NORDS!" Screw that attitude. Yes, you live here. Doesn't mean nobody else should, you inbred racist hicks. Besides, the elves were here before you conquered it. By that logic, the Empire belongs to the Aldmeri Dominion. I have a hard time imagining my orc dragonborn being alright with that.[*]The Stormcloaks are douchebags, nearly every single one.[*]My two main houses are in Whiterun and Solitude, both Empire-affiliated cities. And honestly, I like Elisif and Balgruuf far more than I like Ulfric.

Empire:
Pros:

• Mostly good people caught in a crappy situation. Kind, polite, and dignified.
• All people are equal.
• Nominally unified. If this conflict can end in a good way, the empire can be more unified when the time comes to fight the Thalmor. Too bad we have Bethesda writers.

Cons:

• The Thalmor's whipping boys. If I side with them, I might have to stop mooning every Thalmor agent to show them my "I'm a Talos heretic" tattoo, so they attack me and I can murder them without bounty issues.
• Empire is already disjointed and mostly beaten down already. Doing this could either give them the push they need to strengthen, or just delay the inevitable.

It probably says something about my mentality that I'm seriously asking, "Why is murder not an option? Walk into the palace, guy has maybe two guards waiting on him. I'm better at Shouting than Ulfric is. Go to the next room, kill the lieutenants. Boom. Rebellion over." WHY IS THAT NOT AN OPTION? Oh, right, because the writers are terrible, and can't imagine that you wouldn't want to participate in their soaring circus of stupidity, and so everyone plot critical is immortal. Ugh.


Incidentally, I'm not sure which mod added it, or whether it's a mod at all, but I was incredibly amused to find a cliff racer soaring over Forelhost, near the Skyrim-Morrowind border. (Yes, Cliff racers are native to Vvardenfell and there's no connection to Skyrim there. No, I don't care. It's fun.)

[Triaxx]

Amusingly, you only get murdered for trespassing if you go through the main orc stronghold. If you go up and around and into the mine, they only yell at you to leave, but you're free to snag all the ebony you like. There's even a bit outside if you're a sneaky enough thief to grab it.

[Admiral Squish]

Okay, odd question: What rules do you follow when looting? Do you have any rules? Like, do you just take everything all the time? Do you just take some kinds of items and not others? Everything over a certain value? Do you take everything then drop stuff as you get more?
Like, I only takes stuff that's got a value greater than ten times the weight. Or if it's a crafting resource, since XP is worth more to me than money. And then, when I have more money than I could ever possibly need, I shift gears up to 100:1.

Spoiler: Elyna Lehart, Entry 14

Show

If my map was right, the cave where the lute was supposed to be was on the way south to Ansilvund, so I decided to stop in there first.

It turned out to be a narrow cave cut by a swift-flowing river, so narrow it was a challenge for me and Lydia to pass each other in bulky armor. I let her lead the way, which turned out to be wise once we encountered a handful of bandits. There was gas in the tunnel, so I couldn’t even summon the atronach to help her, and so I was left just… encouraging her. The lute was there, in a side chamber off the main tunnel, guarded by a particularly powerful bandit, and once I retrieved it, we turned around and headed for Ansilvund.

Ansilvund was not nearly as brief. As the name suggested, it was another nordic tomb. But in addition to the usual armies of draugr and skeletons, the place was also occupied by a coven of necromancers, and more traps than I’d ever seen anywhere else. All in all, a lovely place to spend an afternoon.

The leader of the necromancer seemed to be exceptionally powerful. She used magic to taunt and threaten me as I made my way deeper and deeper, and was able to raise multiple draugr at once, from a great distance, too! I’d never heard of power like this before. I could see why she would attract a following. Still, as much as I respected her power, as I learned more about her motivations, I found my distaste for her growing. Apparently her husband had been an imperial soldier, and had died in the line of duty, and she’d taken it as a personal slight. She then decided to try to raise his soul in the body of an ancient nord hero, only to fail and then decide, as long as she was here, she’d just raise a literal army of the dead and use it to punish both the empire and the people of Skyrim for her loss.

Clearly, this woman had a bit of a dramatic tendency. This was confirmed when we made it to the final chamber and she strode out from behind a pillar, declared I would never be able to stop her, and raised a pair of draugr champions against me. One thing mages can be counted upon for, though, is they are notoriously soft. She wore robes, not armor, and it would be easy enough to take her out and let her minions crumble. But while she was soft, the champions were not. They flanked around my shield, and for the first time in quite a while, I found myself running around, healing spells in both hands and an angry draugr on my heels. Eventually, I actually managed to shout one of the champions down, only for the necromancer to raise it again a moment later! It was infuriating!

Eventually, she ran too close to my atronach, which fell upon her in a flurry of fiery claws, and when she fell, the champions dropped like marionettes with cut strings. Much to my suprise, they left behind a glowing blue light which swiftly resolved into a pair of ghosts! The spirits thanked me for freeing them from her spell, and offered me a reward before they returned to the afterlife in one-another’s arms. The reward was the Ghostblade, a spectral sword, light as air and yet perfectly solid. I don’t think I’ll find a use for it, but I feel like I want to keep it, just to own such a curiosity.

The boss had the Forgemaster’s Fingers in her room, and I swiftly left after retrieving them. I made my way north once again, reahing the Stronghold just as the sun began to set. The watchwoman recognized me, and was about to turn me away again, when I triumphantly raised the gauntlets over my head. I was quickly brought inside, and upon presenting the gloves to the cheif, he made me blood-kin, and told me I would be allowed to trade with strongholds all around Skyrim. I took him up on his offer almost immediately, buying all the ebony they had on-hand and using their smith to fix up my new ebony armor. I still had to enchant it, but it was looking much nicer now, and it fit marvelously. I left with a couple-dozen ebony ingots. I’d learn how to forge with them properly sooner or later, and I did not want to have to repeat this journey when the time came.

I headed back down the hill to Kynesgrove, and got the same room I slept in last night. I’ll be heading to Windhelm in the morning, and catching a ride to Whiterun from there. I still have to get paid for my brawl in Dawnstar, after all.

[Illven]

I tend to loot everythin then drop what I don't need by a value to weight ratio.

[Balmas]

I think my response is tinged by the fact that I have Crafting Overhaul, which allows me to smelt down weapons and armor for their base components. As such, I usually only grab things that are worth more than a thousand gold pieces, or that have a bunch of valuable components like ebony or dragon scales.

[VoxRationis]

This question has been bugging me for a while:

What is the difference between "Damage X" and "Ravage X"? The only difference I seem to notice is that "ravage" type potions include the text "concentrated poison" in their item descriptions, but seem to do less damage for the same skill level. Does "ravage" stack with "damage" so you can poison-juggle better? Does "ravage" bypass poison immunity, or affect higher-level targets than "damage?" What's going on there?

[Temotei]

25:1 is my ratio for the most part. Spellcasters have a more lenient 10:1. Crafting materials are allowed to be worth less, but only for characters who use those crafting materials.

Late game I usually change the ratio to 50:1 or "just what I need," depending on the character.

EDIT: Ravage effects reduce maximums.