Sunday, January 8, 2012
I didn't even watch Doctor Who last night...
Last night, I had a dream. I was Amy Pond, and Rory had gone off with #11 to do something, I'm not sure what. Rory died. I spent the rest of the dream sobbing and yelling at the Doctor, who totally deserved it, for letting Rory die, the bastard! I also had three cans of carbonated lemonade that I'd found in the woods. And there was something about River Song amassing an army of mutants. What a dream. :\
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Fall 2012!?? Come on... :(
As bad as I feel about people using Allie Brosh's work with no credit given, I have to admit...this is SO true:
http://doctorwho.tumblr.com/post/15273205015/what-to-do-between-series-6-and-series-7
I need to write more substantial things here. This is a blog, not twitter.
Um.
I've ragequit my Skyrim warrior character. I do not take kindly to being told that I may not go places. I started a morally-challenged thief. She thieves in the nude(but I don't have a nude graphics mod, so it's not pervy, ok? Ok?!?). After completing the first real thieves' guild quest, I had to edit the skyrim wiki, because their implementation of the strategy I came up with(all on my own, tyvm!) to pass the last mercenary was so nonsensical. Spoiler: Why would you ever try to shoot the arrow to the other side of the guy? There's almost no room behind him! Just shoot it back down the hall you ran down, it's a long hall! People were trying the other method and failing with endgame equipment. I did it with sneak in the mid-30s, and totally naked.
So yeah. Naked Dunmer thievery. That's totally the most exciting thing that happened to me today.
http://doctorwho.tumblr.com/post/15273205015/what-to-do-between-series-6-and-series-7
I need to write more substantial things here. This is a blog, not twitter.
Um.
I've ragequit my Skyrim warrior character. I do not take kindly to being told that I may not go places. I started a morally-challenged thief. She thieves in the nude(but I don't have a nude graphics mod, so it's not pervy, ok? Ok?!?). After completing the first real thieves' guild quest, I had to edit the skyrim wiki, because their implementation of the strategy I came up with(all on my own, tyvm!) to pass the last mercenary was so nonsensical. Spoiler: Why would you ever try to shoot the arrow to the other side of the guy? There's almost no room behind him! Just shoot it back down the hall you ran down, it's a long hall! People were trying the other method and failing with endgame equipment. I did it with sneak in the mid-30s, and totally naked.
So yeah. Naked Dunmer thievery. That's totally the most exciting thing that happened to me today.
Monday, January 2, 2012
:(
Today, when playing Skyrim, I was riding down a road when I was confronted with an invisible wall and text across my screen: "You may not go that way." Bethesda, I'm disappointed in you.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Lots of stuff
Still here, still playing Skyrim, just got frustrated with mages and ragequit that character for a while to go play one who distrusts magic. I've been coming back around to the magic system lately, though, so I'll get back to playing him soon. For now, just some random thoughts:
Radiant questing - I thought this was super-awesome when I first started playing, and I still think it's interesting. But now that I've played enough Skyrim to see through all the fancy randomization and recognize when I'm being given a radiant quest, it seems a lot more repetitive and less awesome. I still think it has it's place, but it's frustrating for people who go for 100% completion.
Random events - On a related note, random events you come across on the road...yeah. Good concept, seemed amazing the first time I encountered each of them, but after that point it rapidly got old. Two examples: first, the old orc. Now, anyone who's played Morrowind might figure out where this is going, even without encountering him in Skyrim. My experience in Skyrim(highlight to read spoilers): I encountered him on the road, and agreed to give him an honorable death. We drew our weapons, and I slew him. No fancy loot, so it was actually a bit of a let down - I was honestly expecting something Umbra-like. However, what really bugs me is that this event continues to spawn even after he's been killed - I encountered him again 5-10 minutes later on the same road. How many death-seeking orcs are there in Skyrim? My other weird experience concerns the random event of the Alik'r warriors speaking to the Redguard woman. Again, highlight the spoilers: Even after my completion of In My Time Of Need(Saadia's side), this event continued to spawn for me. The Alik'r should have gone back to Hammerfall once I'd killed their leader, right? I think that the events could have been solved by including a greater variety with the game, having them spawn less often, and including some checks for some of them(to make them one-off, or stop happening after a quest was completed).
Crafting skills - Don't get me wrong, I love my crafting skills. But I feel that, when all three are taken full advantage of at once, they're extremely overpowered. I almost feel like you should be allowed to smith, or be allowed to enchant, and not both. That just seems to lead to über-gear, especially when you add in enchanting and blacksmithing boosts gained through alchemy. I do really like the alchemy system in Skyrim, though, and I think that in the hands of a proper role-player these issues are nonexistent. I guess I shouldn't let what silly people do for lulz on youtube bother me, even if it is overpowered to the point of being an exploit.
NPCs with no sense of direction - So, I'll go off following some NPC for a quest, and everything'll be fine, until they start running off in the wrong direction for a while before realizing their error and turning back around to go the right way. Bit silly. Delphine was a pretty bad offender with this, oh, and speaking of Delphine and A Blade in the Dark(highlight the spoilers!): so, she wanted to see me kill a dragon to prove I was the Dragonborn, right? So on our way there, we totally pwn a dragon. She's super unimpressed by this feat, but once I kill the one at the burial ground, she's all worshiping the ground I walk on. Way to pay attention, lady.
Dragons - Pain in the ass for meelee-only characters. I flirted with taking up archery on my warrior, but decided against it because it went against the character so strongly. But it's hard to get that dragon on the ground! I found that sometimes they won't land at all if you're in a tight place, like on a bridge or on very mountainous terrain. So you sometimes have to run quite a distance, with them breathing fire/ice down on your head, before you can find a place where you can actually fight them. Loving the early-game loot drops though, I can go ahead and sell it all since I'm nowhere near the point in the game where I'll be making my dragon armor set. However, that brings me to...
Wealth - It's way too easy to end up filthy rich in this game. In Oblivion, I had to scrimp and save to buy my first shack in the waterfront district. In Skyrim, I do like four quests and I can go ahead and buy it. It costs something like 7.5k fully upgraded, comparable with Oblivion's cost, but unlike in Oblivion 7.5k is nothing to raise, even at low levels. In Oblivion, I could only get my hands on that kind of cash during the early game if I was playing a thief character who looted every home they could get their hands on. In Skyrim, I was swimming in gold by level 10. I've been sitting comfortably between 20k and 25k for the past several levels(the warrior I've been playing is level 18). Admittedly, I haven't been paying for training, as I haven't felt that any of my skills are lagging terribly far behind, and besides I never really got in the habit of paying for training in Morrowind or Oblivion. But still, that's a lot of gold.
Ansilvund - This is my favorite dungeon so far. I was sent there by a radiant quest from Windhelm. Location: southeast of Windhelm, follow the signs towards Riften through the lowlands and then climb a hill up a dirt path. It's right near a Dwemer ruin, if you find that one then you need to go back to the path and keep going up. Contents: mages and draugr. I really enjoyed the level design, and felt that the dungeon's "gimmick"(finding out that the hated legend of Fjori and Holgeir was actually true!) worked well. Also, the boss fight at the end was pretty challenging for my particular character build - your mileage may very.
Male character models - So ugly! What is it with the hands and arms? The females are so much more natural-looking. I haven't been playing chicks because they're hot, it's more that they're actively not horrifying from 3rd person back view.
User interface - Still sucks. But I found a neat mod called SkyUI that takes care of a lot of the suckage on the inventory page; they're still working on the other parts of the interface. I downloaded it, and it works and looks great. Check it out here, on Skyrim Nexus. Also, just fyi, you can actually zoom in on things in your inventory by hovering your mouse over the image and spinning your mousewheel. The first claw puzzle in Bleak Falls Barrow was a bitch before I figured that out, I was squinting at my screen and trying to figure out what all those tiny pictures were supposed to be. Maybe I'm just stupid, I don't know, but I figured I'd toss that out there in case anyone else reading this is similarly stupid.
That was more random thoughts than I thought I was going to have, sorry. Before I end this overly-long and rambling post, I want to share a very interesting YouTube channel that I came across earlier today. Check out HostMikePushkin's Skyrim tutorials playlist. Obviously I haven't checked them all out, as there's a lot of content on there for almost every type of character, but he seems to have his head screwed on properly and approaches things more maturely than most of the youtube crowd. Also, I'm really loving his accent.
It looks like WoHP's been reset now(had to ask Calan to do that, I'd managed to pwn an important ladder while attempting to set up some stuff for this weekend...I swear, my time DMing there is just a huge list of things I've fucked up, I'm surprised they keep me), so I should get back to working there. I do have a Let's Play post written, as soon as I can get over the horribleness of the screenshots and add them in I'll get that posted. Happy last days of 2011!
Radiant questing - I thought this was super-awesome when I first started playing, and I still think it's interesting. But now that I've played enough Skyrim to see through all the fancy randomization and recognize when I'm being given a radiant quest, it seems a lot more repetitive and less awesome. I still think it has it's place, but it's frustrating for people who go for 100% completion.
Random events - On a related note, random events you come across on the road...yeah. Good concept, seemed amazing the first time I encountered each of them, but after that point it rapidly got old. Two examples: first, the old orc. Now, anyone who's played Morrowind might figure out where this is going, even without encountering him in Skyrim. My experience in Skyrim(highlight to read spoilers): I encountered him on the road, and agreed to give him an honorable death. We drew our weapons, and I slew him. No fancy loot, so it was actually a bit of a let down - I was honestly expecting something Umbra-like. However, what really bugs me is that this event continues to spawn even after he's been killed - I encountered him again 5-10 minutes later on the same road. How many death-seeking orcs are there in Skyrim? My other weird experience concerns the random event of the Alik'r warriors speaking to the Redguard woman. Again, highlight the spoilers: Even after my completion of In My Time Of Need(Saadia's side), this event continued to spawn for me. The Alik'r should have gone back to Hammerfall once I'd killed their leader, right? I think that the events could have been solved by including a greater variety with the game, having them spawn less often, and including some checks for some of them(to make them one-off, or stop happening after a quest was completed).
Crafting skills - Don't get me wrong, I love my crafting skills. But I feel that, when all three are taken full advantage of at once, they're extremely overpowered. I almost feel like you should be allowed to smith, or be allowed to enchant, and not both. That just seems to lead to über-gear, especially when you add in enchanting and blacksmithing boosts gained through alchemy. I do really like the alchemy system in Skyrim, though, and I think that in the hands of a proper role-player these issues are nonexistent. I guess I shouldn't let what silly people do for lulz on youtube bother me, even if it is overpowered to the point of being an exploit.
NPCs with no sense of direction - So, I'll go off following some NPC for a quest, and everything'll be fine, until they start running off in the wrong direction for a while before realizing their error and turning back around to go the right way. Bit silly. Delphine was a pretty bad offender with this, oh, and speaking of Delphine and A Blade in the Dark(highlight the spoilers!): so, she wanted to see me kill a dragon to prove I was the Dragonborn, right? So on our way there, we totally pwn a dragon. She's super unimpressed by this feat, but once I kill the one at the burial ground, she's all worshiping the ground I walk on. Way to pay attention, lady.
Dragons - Pain in the ass for meelee-only characters. I flirted with taking up archery on my warrior, but decided against it because it went against the character so strongly. But it's hard to get that dragon on the ground! I found that sometimes they won't land at all if you're in a tight place, like on a bridge or on very mountainous terrain. So you sometimes have to run quite a distance, with them breathing fire/ice down on your head, before you can find a place where you can actually fight them. Loving the early-game loot drops though, I can go ahead and sell it all since I'm nowhere near the point in the game where I'll be making my dragon armor set. However, that brings me to...
Wealth - It's way too easy to end up filthy rich in this game. In Oblivion, I had to scrimp and save to buy my first shack in the waterfront district. In Skyrim, I do like four quests and I can go ahead and buy it. It costs something like 7.5k fully upgraded, comparable with Oblivion's cost, but unlike in Oblivion 7.5k is nothing to raise, even at low levels. In Oblivion, I could only get my hands on that kind of cash during the early game if I was playing a thief character who looted every home they could get their hands on. In Skyrim, I was swimming in gold by level 10. I've been sitting comfortably between 20k and 25k for the past several levels(the warrior I've been playing is level 18). Admittedly, I haven't been paying for training, as I haven't felt that any of my skills are lagging terribly far behind, and besides I never really got in the habit of paying for training in Morrowind or Oblivion. But still, that's a lot of gold.
Ansilvund - This is my favorite dungeon so far. I was sent there by a radiant quest from Windhelm. Location: southeast of Windhelm, follow the signs towards Riften through the lowlands and then climb a hill up a dirt path. It's right near a Dwemer ruin, if you find that one then you need to go back to the path and keep going up. Contents: mages and draugr. I really enjoyed the level design, and felt that the dungeon's "gimmick"(finding out that the hated legend of Fjori and Holgeir was actually true!) worked well. Also, the boss fight at the end was pretty challenging for my particular character build - your mileage may very.
Male character models - So ugly! What is it with the hands and arms? The females are so much more natural-looking. I haven't been playing chicks because they're hot, it's more that they're actively not horrifying from 3rd person back view.
User interface - Still sucks. But I found a neat mod called SkyUI that takes care of a lot of the suckage on the inventory page; they're still working on the other parts of the interface. I downloaded it, and it works and looks great. Check it out here, on Skyrim Nexus. Also, just fyi, you can actually zoom in on things in your inventory by hovering your mouse over the image and spinning your mousewheel. The first claw puzzle in Bleak Falls Barrow was a bitch before I figured that out, I was squinting at my screen and trying to figure out what all those tiny pictures were supposed to be. Maybe I'm just stupid, I don't know, but I figured I'd toss that out there in case anyone else reading this is similarly stupid.
That was more random thoughts than I thought I was going to have, sorry. Before I end this overly-long and rambling post, I want to share a very interesting YouTube channel that I came across earlier today. Check out HostMikePushkin's Skyrim tutorials playlist. Obviously I haven't checked them all out, as there's a lot of content on there for almost every type of character, but he seems to have his head screwed on properly and approaches things more maturely than most of the youtube crowd. Also, I'm really loving his accent.
It looks like WoHP's been reset now(had to ask Calan to do that, I'd managed to pwn an important ladder while attempting to set up some stuff for this weekend...I swear, my time DMing there is just a huge list of things I've fucked up, I'm surprised they keep me), so I should get back to working there. I do have a Let's Play post written, as soon as I can get over the horribleness of the screenshots and add them in I'll get that posted. Happy last days of 2011!
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Let's Play Skyrim: III - Windhelm
Middas, the 19th day of Last Seed
I am now in Windhelm, the heart of the rebellion. The rumors are true; Ulfric Stormcloak also escaped the attack on Helgen, and appears to be even more resolute in his fight. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
With some of last night's profits, I hired a carriage to take me to Windhelm. It's easier than walking, and much less dangerous. The weather was foul as well, with pouring, ice-cold rain, so I preferred sitting in the back of the carriage to trekking through the mud. Unfortunately, by the time we reached the old city in the late afternoon, the rain had turned to snow and ice - not an improvement at all.
I'm not sure what I expected to find in Windhelm, but it was strangely disappointing. The city is old and crumbling, with beggars huddling around fires to keep warm. I heard talk of murders as I walked through the main district on my way to the Palace of Kings. The palace itself was nicer than what could be found outside, but it was still large and bare, for lack of a better description. Windhelm deserves better, perhaps when the rebellion is won it can be restored to its proper glory.
When I entered the palace, Ulfric was speaking to one of his soldiers, apparently a commander, named Galmar Stone-Fist. They were discussing what to do with Jarl Balgruuf and the city of Whiterun. I hope he'll declare support for them, I would hate for them to have to take the city by force - and it sounds like that's what they intend to do.
After they were done, I spoke to Ulfric about the possibility of joining the Stormcloaks. Unfortunately, Ralof had not returned yet - I hope he didn't meet any misfortune on the way here - so there was nobody who could vouch for me. Ulfric dismissed me, telling me to speak to Galmar about joining. When I did so, he set me a task to prove myself. I must go to an icy island in the far north, Serpentstone Island, and kill an ice wraith. The idea of facing any sort of wraith sends a chill through me, but ice can be fought - with fire. He gave me four potions to help in the fight, one of which is a draught to help me resist the cold, and the other three - indentical - which I can't identify. However, they fill me with warmth as I hold them, so I believe they may be useful against this wraith that I must kill.
I found lodging at an inn called Candlehearth Hall. While I was eating dinner in the common room, I overheard a strange conversation. Apparently, in some parts of the north, Tiber Septim is still worshipped in secret as the god Talos, a ninth divine. Curious. In the south, we only worship the eight, in accordance with the White-Gold Concordat. I wonder what it is about this Talos that so inspires people to the point that they would go against the Concordat?
I leave at first light tomorrow, heading northwards across the ice towards Serpentstone Island.
Notes: Wow, I took a huge lack of pictures that day(and all the ones I did take had freaky-Skyrim-male-model-hand-syndrome). I guess it's because pretty much nothing happened. He spent most of the day in a cart, then he went to see the Jarl, and by then it was late enough that he pretty much just had to hit the sack in order to be up at dawn. The action starts on day 4, though, I promise. Maybe he'll actually *gasp* level.
I am now in Windhelm, the heart of the rebellion. The rumors are true; Ulfric Stormcloak also escaped the attack on Helgen, and appears to be even more resolute in his fight. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
With some of last night's profits, I hired a carriage to take me to Windhelm. It's easier than walking, and much less dangerous. The weather was foul as well, with pouring, ice-cold rain, so I preferred sitting in the back of the carriage to trekking through the mud. Unfortunately, by the time we reached the old city in the late afternoon, the rain had turned to snow and ice - not an improvement at all.
I'm not sure what I expected to find in Windhelm, but it was strangely disappointing. The city is old and crumbling, with beggars huddling around fires to keep warm. I heard talk of murders as I walked through the main district on my way to the Palace of Kings. The palace itself was nicer than what could be found outside, but it was still large and bare, for lack of a better description. Windhelm deserves better, perhaps when the rebellion is won it can be restored to its proper glory.
When I entered the palace, Ulfric was speaking to one of his soldiers, apparently a commander, named Galmar Stone-Fist. They were discussing what to do with Jarl Balgruuf and the city of Whiterun. I hope he'll declare support for them, I would hate for them to have to take the city by force - and it sounds like that's what they intend to do.
After they were done, I spoke to Ulfric about the possibility of joining the Stormcloaks. Unfortunately, Ralof had not returned yet - I hope he didn't meet any misfortune on the way here - so there was nobody who could vouch for me. Ulfric dismissed me, telling me to speak to Galmar about joining. When I did so, he set me a task to prove myself. I must go to an icy island in the far north, Serpentstone Island, and kill an ice wraith. The idea of facing any sort of wraith sends a chill through me, but ice can be fought - with fire. He gave me four potions to help in the fight, one of which is a draught to help me resist the cold, and the other three - indentical - which I can't identify. However, they fill me with warmth as I hold them, so I believe they may be useful against this wraith that I must kill.
I found lodging at an inn called Candlehearth Hall. While I was eating dinner in the common room, I overheard a strange conversation. Apparently, in some parts of the north, Tiber Septim is still worshipped in secret as the god Talos, a ninth divine. Curious. In the south, we only worship the eight, in accordance with the White-Gold Concordat. I wonder what it is about this Talos that so inspires people to the point that they would go against the Concordat?
I leave at first light tomorrow, heading northwards across the ice towards Serpentstone Island.
Notes: Wow, I took a huge lack of pictures that day(and all the ones I did take had freaky-Skyrim-male-model-hand-syndrome). I guess it's because pretty much nothing happened. He spent most of the day in a cart, then he went to see the Jarl, and by then it was late enough that he pretty much just had to hit the sack in order to be up at dawn. The action starts on day 4, though, I promise. Maybe he'll actually *gasp* level.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Fail
Today I am full of fail. I couldn't eat breakfast because the yogurt was a weird texture and later I kept the library keys in my pocket after closing up the downstairs and took them home with me. The sandwich guy at subway kept screwing up orders, I think it was just because I was standing there. My fail is contagious.
Also, due to the yogurt incident, I ended up having red velvet cake for breakfast. Fuck yeah.
Also, due to the yogurt incident, I ended up having red velvet cake for breakfast. Fuck yeah.
Let's Play Skyrim: II - Off to Meet the Jarl
Tirdas, the 18th day of Last Seed
Ah, Whiterun. Now this is a Nordic city. I only wish I could visit under different circumstances. Maybe I can truly enjoy my time here once the dragon crisis and the civil war are over. I got plenty of sleep last night, and woke a few hours after dawn. I got changed into the clothes Gerdur gave me, and wrapped the cloth around my head to hide my hair in case I ran across any Imperial soldiers who'd escaped Helden; I didn't want to be recognized. Then, I went to the blacksmith and Riverwood Traders to sell what I didn't need for some coin, and browse their selections. I didn't purchase anything at the blacksmith's, as the steel dagger I took off one of the Imperial officers was better made than most of his offerings. However, I did find the general store to be useful.
I'd picked up a set of mage robes from the torturer's dungeon when we passed through back in Helden. I figure they must have belonged to someone who had died down there. It turns out, according to Lucan Valerius at the general store, that they're novice robes from the College of Winterhold. I could feel the magical enchantments in the cloth, so I decided to keep them, to wear when I'm not conducting business in town. Lucan didn't have much to offer by way of magical training, apparently I have to go to the College if I want that, but he did have a few spellbooks. I purchased Oakflesh, a novice-level Alteration spell to turn my skin hard as bark, and Frostbite, a novice-level Destruction spell which allows the mage to channel frost towards an enemy.
I never received much proper magical training back in Cyrodill. Most if it consisted of a friend of the family telling me the basics of how not to blow myself up. But magic runs in my blood, and I'd managed to work out how to perform a few simple spells on my own. I knew Sparks, a novice-level Destruction spell that allowed me to channel a shocking jolt. I also knew Fury, a novice-level Illusion spell that caused some people and creatures of weak mind to fly into a mindless rage, attacking anyone or anything nearby. The last spell I knew was Healing, a novice-level Restoration spell which allowed me to channel healing energy through myself and heal my wounds. In addition to those spells, I'd found a spellbook in the torturer's dungeon, along with the robes, that taught me how to cast Flames - a novice-level Destruction spell that allows the channeling of fire through my hands. I found that spell especially useful during my escape.
I'd gotten all that I could out of this small village, so by mid-morning I set off northwards towards Whiterun. Along the way, I made sure to pick blue mountain flowers for healing potions, and red mountain flowers and mora tapinella mushrooms for magicka restoration potions. I passed some Imperial soldiers escorting a prisoner, and my heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest as I hurried past, my head down. They didn't stop me, but I couldn't relax until I'd left them very far behind. Fortunately, I didn't see any other Imperial soldiers on my way to Whiterun. At the foot of the hill leading to the city, I stopped to speak to a carriage driver named Bjorlam. He recommended an inn - the Bannered Mare - and warned me of the two old clans in Whiterun - the Battle-Borns, and the Grey-Manes. It sounds like a conflict that I definitely want to steer clear of at this point.
As I approached the gate, one of the guards stopped me, telling me that nobody was allowed to enter the city now that dragons were about. That didn't - and still doesn't - make a whole lot of sense to me, but it doesn't matter as he let me in anyway once I said that my business concerned the dragons, and that I was coming to petition the Jarl to send aid to Riverwood. As I walked through the city, I tried to take note of the shops I was passing, noticing the Drunken Huntsman(what a name for an alehouse!) to my left and Warmaiden's blacksmith on my right. Then I entered a marketplace, with three stalls selling food and trinkets, Belethor's General Goods, Arcadia's Cauldron(as I found out later, it's an apothecary) and the Bannered Mare. Continuing up the stairs to the next tier of the city, I took note of the temple(and tried to ignore the raving madman shouting something about the divines), then set to work climbing the stairs to Dragonsreach. And believe me when I say that there's a lot of stairs.
I wasn't challenged by the guard at the door, so I went inside. The Jarl was sitting casually on his throne at the far end of the long room, and I walked quickly towards him, stepping around the long dining tables. However, a Dunmer guard drew her sword and stepped forward, intercepting me before I could get near the throne. She was Irileth, the Jarl's Housecarl, and she demanded to know why I wished to see him. I told her that my message was for his ears only, and I thought for a terrifying moment that she was going to strike me down where I stood with that sword of hers. But then, the Jarl spoke, saying that he wanted to know what I had to say. So I approached his throne, and gave my request, trying my best not to let my fear show. If it was apparent, he gave no sign, and after a brief discussion between himself, Irileth, and a man who appeared to be his adviser, he decreed that a squad of guards would be sent to defend Riverwood. I've seen a dragon in action, and I'm beginning to think that an entire army couldn't hold one of them off. But peace of mind for the villagers is something, I suppose.
Jarl Balgruuf then said that there was something that I, as one of the only survivors of Helgen, was uniquely qualified to help him with. I followed him to the room of his court mage, Farengar Secret-Fire. I really don't like that guy, he may be a Nord but he's got the ego of an Altmer. Thinks he's better than everyone else. But the Jarl asked me to help, so I will, no matter my personal feelings about the guy. He was reluctant to actually tell me anything, only saying that I should go to an ancient burial site called Bleak Falls Barrow(note: wasn't that the name of the ruins Ralof pointed out on the way to Riverwood?) and obtain a stone tablet called Dragonstone, which is supposedly engraved with a map of dragon burial sites. After I pressed him for more information, he eventually told me some of the stories of the ancient dragon wars, long before recorded history, a time when men and dragons battled for dominance over the world. Is that what we're returning to? But the dragons have been gone for so many years, why have they returned now?
I asked Farengar if I could receive magical training from him. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised when he coldly refused, though he did offer to sell me a collection of spellbooks. I purchased a spellbook for Candlelight, a novice-level Alteration spell to create a ball of light that will follow me around wherever I go. Just as I was about to leave, he stopped me, and requested that I do something for him now. With no small amount of trepidation, I asked him what he wanted me to do. Fortunately, he only wanted me to make a delivery of Frost Salts to Arcadia at her apothecary. I gladly agreed, as I intended to visit there anyway, and departed quickly before he could come up with any other menial tasks for me to perform.
The apothecary was nice enough, very like the ones back home, even if the ingredients are strange to me. Arcadia was very nice, and gave me several free potion samples. She said that she was going to use the Salts in a love potion...to give to Farengar! I wonder if he knows? Well, I'm certainly not going to spoil her fun, Gods know the man probably needs a love potion. After the apothecary, I browsed the market stalls for a short time, and got to talking with the keeper of one that sold goods from a farm. Her name was Carlotta Valentia, and apparently some bard named Mikael had been harassing her as if she was a tavern wench. I've known that sort before, and I agreed to speak to him on her behalf, though she didn't seem convinced that it would work. I found Mikael in the Bannered Mare(the usual place to look for a bard) and, just as she'd predicted, reason entirely failed to move the oaf. Unthinkingly falling back on old habits, I slipped him some coin, and he agreed to leave her alone. Now, in my current financial state, that was a move which wasn't well-thought-out at all. But luckily, Carlotta was so happy that I got him to leave her alone that she gave me a reward four times what I had to bribe the bard with.
I booked a room at the inn for the night, got some dinner, and settled down with the books that Gerdur and Hod had given me for some quality reading time. 'Olaf and the Dragon' was a fine scholarly work regarding the ancient Nord named Olaf who allegedly fought and captured the dragon Numinex. This is apparently where Dragonsreach got its name, for after Numinex's capture he was imprisoned there. I would recommend this work to anyone who has an interest in old Nordic tales. 'Of Fjori and Holgeir,' on the other hand, was frankly quite boring. It was a short, rather pointless love story that ended with both people dead. I intend to pawn this one off on the first bookseller I come across. It's getting rather late, and I intend to leave for Windhelm at first light, so I will retire to my room now. It's a very nice room, even having a small balcony from which to watch the common room activities. I would stay at this inn again.
Notes: Still level 1. I'll get with the leveling soon, I promise! I linked to the text of the books he read at the unofficial elder scrolls pages wiki, so if you're unfamiliar with them or don't have the game you can read them there if you'd like. Next update should be coming soon, as it's pretty short, and not many pictures. The two after that are going to be satisfyingly long, though, so it makes up for it! In fact, day 5 might have to be two updates, I don't know...we'll see!
Next
I'd picked up a set of mage robes from the torturer's dungeon when we passed through back in Helden. I figure they must have belonged to someone who had died down there. It turns out, according to Lucan Valerius at the general store, that they're novice robes from the College of Winterhold. I could feel the magical enchantments in the cloth, so I decided to keep them, to wear when I'm not conducting business in town. Lucan didn't have much to offer by way of magical training, apparently I have to go to the College if I want that, but he did have a few spellbooks. I purchased Oakflesh, a novice-level Alteration spell to turn my skin hard as bark, and Frostbite, a novice-level Destruction spell which allows the mage to channel frost towards an enemy.
I never received much proper magical training back in Cyrodill. Most if it consisted of a friend of the family telling me the basics of how not to blow myself up. But magic runs in my blood, and I'd managed to work out how to perform a few simple spells on my own. I knew Sparks, a novice-level Destruction spell that allowed me to channel a shocking jolt. I also knew Fury, a novice-level Illusion spell that caused some people and creatures of weak mind to fly into a mindless rage, attacking anyone or anything nearby. The last spell I knew was Healing, a novice-level Restoration spell which allowed me to channel healing energy through myself and heal my wounds. In addition to those spells, I'd found a spellbook in the torturer's dungeon, along with the robes, that taught me how to cast Flames - a novice-level Destruction spell that allows the channeling of fire through my hands. I found that spell especially useful during my escape.
As I approached the gate, one of the guards stopped me, telling me that nobody was allowed to enter the city now that dragons were about. That didn't - and still doesn't - make a whole lot of sense to me, but it doesn't matter as he let me in anyway once I said that my business concerned the dragons, and that I was coming to petition the Jarl to send aid to Riverwood. As I walked through the city, I tried to take note of the shops I was passing, noticing the Drunken Huntsman(what a name for an alehouse!) to my left and Warmaiden's blacksmith on my right. Then I entered a marketplace, with three stalls selling food and trinkets, Belethor's General Goods, Arcadia's Cauldron(as I found out later, it's an apothecary) and the Bannered Mare. Continuing up the stairs to the next tier of the city, I took note of the temple(and tried to ignore the raving madman shouting something about the divines), then set to work climbing the stairs to Dragonsreach. And believe me when I say that there's a lot of stairs.
I wasn't challenged by the guard at the door, so I went inside. The Jarl was sitting casually on his throne at the far end of the long room, and I walked quickly towards him, stepping around the long dining tables. However, a Dunmer guard drew her sword and stepped forward, intercepting me before I could get near the throne. She was Irileth, the Jarl's Housecarl, and she demanded to know why I wished to see him. I told her that my message was for his ears only, and I thought for a terrifying moment that she was going to strike me down where I stood with that sword of hers. But then, the Jarl spoke, saying that he wanted to know what I had to say. So I approached his throne, and gave my request, trying my best not to let my fear show. If it was apparent, he gave no sign, and after a brief discussion between himself, Irileth, and a man who appeared to be his adviser, he decreed that a squad of guards would be sent to defend Riverwood. I've seen a dragon in action, and I'm beginning to think that an entire army couldn't hold one of them off. But peace of mind for the villagers is something, I suppose.
Jarl Balgruuf then said that there was something that I, as one of the only survivors of Helgen, was uniquely qualified to help him with. I followed him to the room of his court mage, Farengar Secret-Fire. I really don't like that guy, he may be a Nord but he's got the ego of an Altmer. Thinks he's better than everyone else. But the Jarl asked me to help, so I will, no matter my personal feelings about the guy. He was reluctant to actually tell me anything, only saying that I should go to an ancient burial site called Bleak Falls Barrow(note: wasn't that the name of the ruins Ralof pointed out on the way to Riverwood?) and obtain a stone tablet called Dragonstone, which is supposedly engraved with a map of dragon burial sites. After I pressed him for more information, he eventually told me some of the stories of the ancient dragon wars, long before recorded history, a time when men and dragons battled for dominance over the world. Is that what we're returning to? But the dragons have been gone for so many years, why have they returned now?
I asked Farengar if I could receive magical training from him. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised when he coldly refused, though he did offer to sell me a collection of spellbooks. I purchased a spellbook for Candlelight, a novice-level Alteration spell to create a ball of light that will follow me around wherever I go. Just as I was about to leave, he stopped me, and requested that I do something for him now. With no small amount of trepidation, I asked him what he wanted me to do. Fortunately, he only wanted me to make a delivery of Frost Salts to Arcadia at her apothecary. I gladly agreed, as I intended to visit there anyway, and departed quickly before he could come up with any other menial tasks for me to perform.
The apothecary was nice enough, very like the ones back home, even if the ingredients are strange to me. Arcadia was very nice, and gave me several free potion samples. She said that she was going to use the Salts in a love potion...to give to Farengar! I wonder if he knows? Well, I'm certainly not going to spoil her fun, Gods know the man probably needs a love potion. After the apothecary, I browsed the market stalls for a short time, and got to talking with the keeper of one that sold goods from a farm. Her name was Carlotta Valentia, and apparently some bard named Mikael had been harassing her as if she was a tavern wench. I've known that sort before, and I agreed to speak to him on her behalf, though she didn't seem convinced that it would work. I found Mikael in the Bannered Mare(the usual place to look for a bard) and, just as she'd predicted, reason entirely failed to move the oaf. Unthinkingly falling back on old habits, I slipped him some coin, and he agreed to leave her alone. Now, in my current financial state, that was a move which wasn't well-thought-out at all. But luckily, Carlotta was so happy that I got him to leave her alone that she gave me a reward four times what I had to bribe the bard with.
I booked a room at the inn for the night, got some dinner, and settled down with the books that Gerdur and Hod had given me for some quality reading time. 'Olaf and the Dragon' was a fine scholarly work regarding the ancient Nord named Olaf who allegedly fought and captured the dragon Numinex. This is apparently where Dragonsreach got its name, for after Numinex's capture he was imprisoned there. I would recommend this work to anyone who has an interest in old Nordic tales. 'Of Fjori and Holgeir,' on the other hand, was frankly quite boring. It was a short, rather pointless love story that ended with both people dead. I intend to pawn this one off on the first bookseller I come across. It's getting rather late, and I intend to leave for Windhelm at first light, so I will retire to my room now. It's a very nice room, even having a small balcony from which to watch the common room activities. I would stay at this inn again.
Notes: Still level 1. I'll get with the leveling soon, I promise! I linked to the text of the books he read at the unofficial elder scrolls pages wiki, so if you're unfamiliar with them or don't have the game you can read them there if you'd like. Next update should be coming soon, as it's pretty short, and not many pictures. The two after that are going to be satisfyingly long, though, so it makes up for it! In fact, day 5 might have to be two updates, I don't know...we'll see!
Next
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