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Thank you! I was a bit scared of Frostfall before startig to use it, so much actually that I tried it first on a test character instead of my main char. It takes patience to play with the mod, since I need to invest time into preparing my trips into the wilderness, and my characters sometimes have to change their plans for the day due to bad weather. I don't mind all that, though, as I like to play the game slowly anyway.

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Back on topic, Amara went to Swindler's Den today, to get rid of Kematu for a certain Redguard barmaid.

She got distracted quite a lot on the way there, first by hunting and then she saw some ancient stone pillars in the distance and decided to have a closer look. The place turned out to be the site of some kind of necromantic ritual that had ended badly for the mages involved. Amara and Faendal took care of the skeletons that hung around the place and took what loot they could find on the mages.

Next they saw a giant camp with a strange-looking tree in the middle. They decided to investigate and snuck close, watching the giant herd his mammoths around for a while. When they finally went to leave, Amara noticed the entrance of a cave, went in and found another giant standing over the body of a dead orc. Thanks to her skill in sneaking, she managed to loot the orc and the treasure chest without being noticed by the giant. Once outside the cave and safe distance from the camp, she read a note she found on the orc's body and found out that the orc had been doing business with none other than her friend Ysolda from Whiterun. She also found a strange kind of potion on the orc, and after reading the note, began to fear that Ysolda might be involved in traficking some kind of drug.

She and Faendal set up camp near Swindler's Den. They went to sleep early so they could get up again in the night and sneak into the cave while the inhabitants were asleep (which did not work out as planned, since the bandits there turned out to be insomniacs).

Amara stealth-shot the bandits with her bow before running into Kematu and his soldiers. Having made up her mind that she would trust Saadia, she refused to listen to his side of the story and told him she would kill him instead. The ensuing fight was tough, and without her healthy supply of healing potions and her new elven shield she'd found earlier at Sleeping Tree Cave, Amara would probably not have survived.

They camped again in the tundra. The next morning, before leaving the campsite, Amara decided to try out the sleeping tree sap, to see what it would do. The stuff turned out to be rather potent, and have the side-effect of making her somewhat slow and drowsy. Still, she saw some pretty interesting colors, and she was somewhat disappointed when the effect wore off. Amara is quite aware that the stuff qualifies as a drug, but still she could not bring herself to give up the last two bottles when Ysolda offered to buy them from her.

Today, Aejiri recovered a book from Redoran's redoubt. She sold a lot of stuff in Whiterun and made her way back to Winterhold via carriage. She returned to the college and slept.

The next day, she purified Azure's star and believes that she is a good Daedra. She gave Urag the stolen books and was summoned to the arch mage quarters. She was told by a Psjic mage to find Augur and somehow, she has ended up lost due to her fear of frostbite spiders.

Well, it's been a while since I've been on here, but I finally got a gaming PC and bought Skyrim on Sale for like $7. Wow, this is miles better than the Xbox 360 version! I'm on Ultra High settings and the graphics look amazing, I have a solid 60 fps, the dialogue doesn't have long, awkward pauses like on the 360, the loading screens take, like, 1 second. So far, I'm very impressed, and I haven't even touched the mods, oh that's gonna be great.

Got an aetherium shard and re visited soul cairn to get arvak

Sylmirie refused a ghost's help in Arktmdhsghf today. Arkghfgstf

She and her apprentice, Onmund, carried torches and candlelight spells but its still pretty dark there. They were surprised by several Falmer and poor Sylmirie fell down a trail and ended up stuck in a waterfall. She nearly died, but Onmund pulled her out just in time. They're still in there nursing her wounds.

And so then I loaded my assassin's game for a minute, just long enough to hear her ask Urag about Orcs and where they live...just so she could remeber her slaughter of a stronghold days before. When he said that she had not earned enough trust to be made a bloodkin, she smiled wickedly to herself.

Amara has decided to make her way to Windhelm, to investigate a certain rumor about someone called Aventus Aretino. She's come under attack by Dark Brotherhood assassins lately, and she thinks that finding the Brotherhood might might be a viable approach to get these attacks to stop, although she hasn't decided yet what she will do once she finds them. On the one hand, they are trying to kill her. On the other hand, she's from Morrowind, where the Morag Tong used to be a legal organization, in the good old days before Red Mountain blew, and - well, she doesn't share the moral qualms many people have about the profession of an assassin.

The journey was quite eventful, and so she did not have much time to think her plan through to the end. At first she and Faendal came across a couple of Vigilants of Stendarr who were hunting a vampire. As she hates undead with a passion, she naturally helped them dispose of the vampire. Afterwards she spoke with the Vigilants and found out that she doesn't like them too much, either - they admit to hunting daedra, and as a daedra worshipper, that didn't sit too well with her. The Vigilants were friendly to her and Faendal, though, and so she decided to keep her religious views to herself and left.

Amara and Faendal then set up their tent for the night. The next morning brought about another vampire attack before breakfast - Amara thinks it might be smart to check out that Dawnguard group everyone is talking about.

The bandit leader at nearby Valtheim Towers had a price on her head - and to her bad luck, Amara and Faendal had read the bounty letter. The fight there was rather tough, since Valtheim Towers is about the worst possible location for her favorite sneak-up-and-shoot tactics, and Amara seriously sucks at melee combat.

After spending the night at Valtheim Towers, Amara and Faendal went on in the morning. They were attacked by a bandit gang on the way, observed a battle between Stormcloaks and Imperials at Mixwater Mill, killed a bear, survived the bitter cold of Eastmarch, and finally arrived at the city gates of Windhelm.

Today, Aejiri found the augur of Dulain after avoiding running away from a spider. She ran back towards the COW but a dragon decided to attack Winterhold. It's the second time it's happened. She spoke to the Archmage and prepared herself for the long trek to the Syod's location. Although she wishes Mirabelle gave her better directions then to look in the general area in the west section of Windhelm hold.

Ursula found a Moth in a jar. Now Ursula and Frank both have the captive Moth's. A fun decoration. Hope there are holes in the lid.
This one was in Dusk Glow Crevice.
Today, Ursula went in search of new locations, and is trying to find the passage over the mountains South of Valhume. Anyone know how to get over those mountains to the South?
Anyway, Ursula rode "Sassy" the black horse from Whiterun. She wanders home as soon as you dismount, everytime all the time. Traveling with Gregor today, and wearing the usual Dragonscale Armor,Ursula decided to change Gregor's armor a little bit, He wears Wolf Armor, but Urs. Leveled and enchanted a Stormcloak Officer's Helmet for Gregor. He loves it, and it looks cool on him.
All that [&@%!] took an hour or so, inventory management, etc. I digress. Back to Valhume, it is a crypt place near Markarth and the Orc stronghold in that area.
We met a ghost who needed help.Then they went to Markarth, sold stuff, bought a paint horse and re-hired Vigilent. Fast traveled home and made the girls giddy with the new dog. And [&@%!] you Sassy, you can stay in Whiterun

After a 30 min conversation with Septimus, Felina Imhatius realized that she hadn't understood a word the old man said. She asked for clarification and regretted it when he confused her even more. So off to Alftand she and Lydia went, with all the soul gems available to them. Dwarven ruins make Felina nervous, so she took her Chain Lightning staff with her. After several battles with all sorts of fun only found in Dwemer ruins (and nearly exploding to death from an unseen trap on the floor), Felina and Lydia cleared their way to Blackreach where I left off with them having lunch inside some stone hut.

Today, Aejiri found the location of the Staff of Magnus. Only after fighting her way through Falmer and Dwarven machines. And almost dying. And getting lost on the way. And then a dragon decided to attack her after she left the ruin. Oh and her knapsack is full from the stuff she found. She ahd to dump some stuff on the floor in order to make room but she only lost some minor bits. Goat and Wolf hide, minor potions. She found a lot of expensive things but went from 99 lockpicks to just one. A master lock was the main cause and she was disappointed when she finally got through it. It was an absorb health glass sword that she will use to learn the enchantment. She also killed her first Centurion.

You should talk to some Interesting NPCs on occasion; I nearly laughed my head off earlier this evening watching Gopher get totally befuddled by conversing with a certain, um, sanguinic personage placed by said mod on top of Rift Watchtower - priceless (somewhere in the second half of thisvideo).

Anyway, Marilyn (the second of the name in my history of playing Skyrim) had some not exactly legal but highly lucrative dealings with various Argonians in and around Solitude, part on the Guild's behalf and part freelancing, only one of which (referring to the lizards) survived getting involved with her. After a short detour to Markarth where she completed another INPC quest with the help of her friend Eola she is now on her way back to Whiterun and, in the long run, onwards to Riften to sell stuff, report to the Guild and get new orders.

Blade, after getting very lost in the ridge along Haafinger (and having to spend the freezing night in a cave along with the bloody remains of a bear's prior meal), managed to make it back to the road and into the Reach, where she was attacked by a dragon. Unfortunately, the bloody thing chose to attack a group of forsworn that were out of reach, and her hound refused to leave until the dragon was dead.

With that out of the way, and the weather turning to rain, she found herself faced with a decision to go into a forsworn encampment, go back, or follow the road up into the hills. She continued along the road, only to find more forsworn (and at this point was regretting her choice and the path not taken through Whiterun hold, which is considerably better for its lack of wild reachmen she had no quarrel with, but who seemingly have a quarrel with her)

Once she had dealt with the forsworn, even venturing into the cave both to get out of the rain and irritation at the attacks, she found herself amongst towers, a throne, and in possession of an ancient sword. There was a book on a bloody altar, and after some reading, realized the sword to be Red Eagle's Fury (to say she had read Legend of the Red Eagle would be inaccurate; too impatient and short tempered, especially with her very new ability to read, she had more glanced at the book, and kept it for struggling through at intermittent times before it got chucked across her tent).

Deciding she had nothing better than to do at present, especially since the rain did not seem to be letting up, she made her way to the Rebel Cairn, and inside, placed the sword in it's obvious place. This opened a doorway, and within, she sniped off the skeletons guarding the draugr within. She had some difficulty in dispatching him, but managed to kill him. Her altered sword was interesting, but not as good as her others, and she found herself more fond of the cape found (courtesy of Cloaks of Skyrim).

After that, she made her way along the road, the rain not letting up, and took her frustration out on a party of Thalmor justiciars and several sabrecats before she finally arrived at the Sanctuary.

Just in time to witness the arrival of Cicero.

Today, Aejiri returned to the COW after slaying another dragon. She killed a Skooma dealer that attacked her for no reason and is now in Labyrinth to find the staff of Magnus. She enchanted her bow with a fire enchantment and gave her sword a shock one. She has just defeated the skeletal dragon. Also, the game decided to be an utter troll and not let me in. Had to enter another area before the cermonial door worked.

Amara went into Windhelm today, and she was shocked by the racism she saw directed towards her race. She checked out the Grey Quarter, where she traded some self-made potions at Sadri's, agreed to help him get rid of Viola Giordano's stolen ring, visited New Gnisis Cornerclub, and spoke with everyone who would listen to her.

Amara and Faendal rented a room for the night at Candlehearth Hall. Elda Early-Dawn was decidedly unfriendly, and Amara finds herself missing Hulda from the Bannered Mare greatly. So much, in fact, that she has decided to chop some extra wood for her the next time she makes it to Whiterun. So far, the only Windhelm Nord she genuinely likes is Brunwulf Free-Winter.

The next morning, Amara and Faendal went back to the New Gnisis Cornerclub, where Amara bought Honningbrew Mead and a sweetroll for Faendal and asked him to wait there. She was up to no good by then, and had a feeling that Faendal would not agree with her plans for the day.

She had intended to break into the Aretino house, but couldn't, due to a Dunmer woman hanging out in front of the door. So she tried her luck at the house of Viola Giordano, where she also had bad luck, because one Windhelm guard, Angrenor Once-Honored, and an Inconsequential NPC all hung out on the front porch. So she went to the market to kill some time. She spoke with all the merchants there and got asked by Nyrelion to retrieve the White Phial for him.

When she returned to the Aretino house, the way in was finally clear, and she broke in to have a talk with Aventus, which ended with the plan to kill Grelod the Kind. She will decide whether or not to go through with that as soon as she has met the woman in person.

She then managed to return Vioila Giordano's ring to her house before nightfall and went to pick up Faendal at the New Gnisis Cornerclub.

The next morning, she bought a horse at Windhelm stables and rode south to Bonestrewn Crest to kill a dragon mentioned in a bounty letter. She and Faendal managed to kill both the dragon and the witch from nearby Witchmist Grove. An inspection of the witch's treasure chest yielded Meridia's Beacon. As a Daedra worshipper, Amara feels honored to have been spoken to by her Ladyship, and she intends to go to Mount Kilkreath as soon as her business in Riften is concluded.

She and Faendal checked out the dragon lair at Bonestrewn Crest, rode further south and spent the night camping near the Atronach stone. They mounted their horses in the early morning hours and reached Darkwater Crossing at sunrise.

I was leaving Markarth just after noon headed to Dragon Bridge Overlook. I'm expecting to encounter a few Forsworn near the bridge and mine, but what I encountered was a bit more than I expected. I'm fighting the Forsworn on the bridge and while I'm turning them in to pin cushions, I notice something weird going on with the lighting around me. It is almost as if something is quickly moving and casting shadows.

I drop one of the Forsworn and turn around. There's a tail hanging in front of my face. It happened to be connected to an Ancient Dragon that was hovering just above me. As I notice this, he shouts and I'm nearly dead.

Run AWAY!

I head back the way I came as Marcruio hurls his magic at the dragon. I duck behind some cover and attempt to get my health back up. Once sufficiently healed, I pull my bow back out and prepare to pluck at the dragon and hopefully nail him with Dragonrend.

This fight isn't going well. Marcurio is quickly running low on health and I can't take more than a few seconds of the Dragon's breath before I'm nearly dead, even with the enchanted items I have that provide resistance. Ducking for cover and attempting to get a shot off is taking far too long so we make a break back towards Markarth.

Oh, look! A dragon flying over the mine outside of Markarth!

This one doesn't engage anyone right away. In fact, I've never seen a dragon shoot straight up and vanish in the clouds, but this one did. That said, the dragon we were fighting at the bridge is hot on our heels. I'm in a mad dash to find some Markarth meat shields when the second decides he wants to play.

Dead. Reload. Repeat.

Finally, after the third reload, only one dragon attacked. That was at the bridge, but it was a different dragon. This one had frost whereas the previous one was shouting fire. Not that my health noticed a difference. But I was finally able to filet him while he focused on Marcurio. If I can get to them, I can kill them quickly. That whole "getting to them" part is sometimes tricky. But Dragonrend worked well and the lizard landed in a position that helped with my attack.

Whew!

Finished off the quest at Dragon Bridge Overlook and then held up there for the night to eat and rest. That really is a great view from the overlook. Especially on a clear night and early in the morning.

On to Solitude where we watched the Louisville - Cincinnati game.

Today, Aejiri found the staff of Magnus and defeated Ananco. She was made Arch Mage and decorated her new, very large quarters. Then decided to travel to windhelm to sell a lot of stuff. She has a lot of crap to sell. Probably 5000 septims worth and she can't sell it all due to her sack not having the space. She also enchanted her sack so it now fits a lot more items.

Delia-Jessamine Maric, Breton stealth-mage now leading a relatively routine life:
1. Explored Geirmund's Hall and killed three draugr with one shot*.
2. Found another Gauldur amulet fragment.
3. Had a quiet evening at home.
4. Woke up not knowing where she was or how she got there.

(*Very surprising. The wiki says this particular draugr has up to 1300 health. Jess's bow is not over-powered and the difficulty level was Adept.)

Long version:

With Ursula, it was not my intention, but after a false start, taking Calder to Soltheim to deliver a map to the Smith, and learn smithing of Stahlrim. Discovered that quest was not working, Arrow over the head, but no dialog pertaining to my quest. Took off to find Deathbrand stuff, got to the edge of the water and could not find anything. Fast traveled home. Left Calder home. Booked the boat again. I like to pay the guy to take me. Don't want to die with all that gold, may as well spread it around. Now for the real story...Activated the quest, read Waking Dreams on the boat still, went to Apocrypha finished the puzzle. Took on Miraak with a Nord Ax and Sanguine Rose.(is that cheating?) Good strategy after a few trys figuring it all out. No spoilers, those who have done it and want to comment can PM me. So, that was fun. My husband had to go to work and missed it, so we reinacted it this morning with a save I had.
To recap tried to do two other lesser quests and failed. Took on Miraak and his stuff is in my "Trophy" area in Heljarchen Hall on top of Generl Tullius' crap. Not a bad day.

Jabberdave, thanks for that vivid narration which describes my own dragon fighting experience perfectly! Do you play with Deadly Dragons by any chance?

* * *
Marilyn, just arrived in Whiterun, stepped into the Drunken Huntsman for some selling and shopping ("How my heart soars to look on a sister Bosmer!" - Oh Elrindir, you have no chance, but it's nice to hear you try anyway, even if you aren't very inventive in your compliments) when who should be sitting near the cooking fire but her old mate Gorr the retired arena fighter (courtesy of Interesting NPCs) whom she hadn't seen in a long while. Nevertheless she almost forgot about him when she saw what Elrindir had lying on his counter.

Virtuous Ebony Bow. Turn undead up to level 35, and 35 points of irresistable damage against undead. 11000-odd septims (no joke, that's a fair Requiem price for enchanted ebony gear).

She had about 6000 on her and 6000 more in Frost's saddlebags, so she yelled at Elrindir "Don't sell that bow till I'm back!", run/sprinted to the stables, galloped Frost right to the city gates so as to lose no time, dragged herself back to the Huntsman (coins have weight in Requiem, and 11000 weigh quite a bit), slammed the coin purses on the counter and blissfully grabbed her new bow before collapsing into a chair next to Gorr's.

After sharing stories of their respective pursuits since their last meeting over some fried venison chops the two friends agreed it would be nice to go adventuring together again for a while, and Marilyn being eager to test her new bow the natural target was Bleak Falls Barrow; they'd been there once before but had been forced to withdraw after narrowly surviving the fight against the giant spider, realizing they weren't up to this yet. Would they fare better this time (something like 10 levels or so later)?

As it turned out, not only had the outside of BFB and the old watchtower been reoccupied by bandits in the meantime, but apparently an egg of the giant spider had hatched and grown to portentous size rivaling its mother; nevertheless the creature was dispatched quickly and efficiently. The real challenge came when they first encountered the undead denizens of the Barrow; in one encounter with a group of draugr Gorr was severely injured and Marilyn had to leave him behind nursing his wounds* and venture forth on her own. So far she has handled herself pretty well, thanks to her new bow, and has just entered Bleak Falls Sanctum where I left her because I realized I need to be a little bit more awake and sober for what lies ahead of her.
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*(read: he glitched and wouldn't snap out of the bleedout animation even after I'd healed him, so I reloaded and told him to wait for me.)

Lieth the Bosmer left husband Vilkas napping at Honeyside while she went out to play in the woods. She discovered the Shadow Stone and battled a Master Conjurer. The Altmer's shock spells stung Lieth's sensitive skin, but she is a trickster of a woman after all so she used the rocks around the area to her advantage. She played hide n' seek with the mage, sending a poisoned arrow her way from behind this rock and that one. No one can beat the Dovahkiin in battle, so the mage ended up in a rightful pool of her own blood after all was said and done.

And Lieth touched the stone, excited that she's now able to turn invisible once a day. That's all she wanted...she didn't want to have to kill anyone for that. Sigh.

She continued her exploration in the woods and found a dragon's lair. All she wanted was his treasure...and to learn that word of power he guarded. So she played hide n' seek with him as well, robbed him of his treasure, and ran away laughing back into the trees. But the dragon was angry by this point (and bloodied from her arrows) and so he chased after her. She tried avoiding him...heading for home...but he was relentless in his chase of her. She was able to get bears on her side and together they killed the dragon.

On her way back home, she was attacked by another bear and saved by the wandering Companions. Brother-in-law Farkas was in the group, so he offered to escort her back home.

Short one today, no time to play! Ursula took Gregor to Solstheim in order to check in on the blacksmith at the Skaal Village. This time, he gave the necessary dialog and that quest was completed. (Had to get rid of Miraak first). Next order of business, finish Deathbrand quest. Started in the northern area according to the map. Arrived and immediately Reiklings attacked us. Gregor had a bit of trouble and I had to get those buggers off him. Once he recovered we took those fools out! Moved to the locations we were looking for and did find another piece of Armor. Next location is near the Tel Methrin area. Fast traveled there and had to save. Ready with Dragon Aspect and full weaponry when we take it up later tonight. (this should be the last piece of Armor now).

Amara and Faendal explored Darkwater Crossing today. Amara had a conversation with Iris the Elder (an Interesting NPC), who turned out to be a retired courier with some interesting stories to tell. She then followed a rumor about a missing resident of Darkwater Crossing, which led her to nearby Darkwater Pass, where they camped for the night.

Amara then took Faendal inside and had her first run-in with the Falmer. Thanks to her sneak and archery skills the Falmer were no real threat, but the resident Chaurus were another story. She finally managed to take them out by asking Faendal to wait out of sight, conjuring a Flame Atronach and staying hidden while the Atronach took care of the creatures.

The next day, Amara and Faendal rode south towards Riften. They camped again at Shor's Stone and killed some spiders in the mine. Later they reached Riften and traded with the Khajiit caravan. To save her own firewood, Amara decided to pitch her tent next to the caravan's campfire. (That resulted in the amusing event that she couldn't pack up her tent in the morning because one of the Khajiit had decided to sleep on the spare bedroll.)

She then went into Riften, got a bunch of miscellaneous quests and paid Honorhall Orphanage a visit, with the intention to meet Grelod the Kind. After seeing how Grelod treats the children there, Amara made up her mind to go through with the contract she'd gotten from Aventus Aretino.

Since she intended to strike during the night, Amara and Faendal killed some time by shopping. Amara acquired some nice Elven armor and Elven boots with a fortify carry weight enchantment (which actually were a tad too expensive for her current financial situation ). She left Faendal at the Bee and Barb and snuck out in the middle of the night to take care of Grelod.

Her bloody promise to Aventus fulfilled, she returned to the Bee and Barb for a few hours of sleep.

In the morning she bought Faendal a bottle of Blackbriar Mead and sent him home. After she's started down the path towards joining the Dark Brotherhood, he doesn't seem to be a fitting follower any more. I've decided to roleplay that he suspects her of being involved in old Grelod's death and that he refuses to continue adventuring with her.

Thanks to previous day's uncontrolled shopping spree she's now left with a mere 20 gold in her pockets. She also needs to find a new travelling companion. I'm thinking of hiring Derkeethus for the time being, although in the long run I think Jenassa might suit her better.