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Two days ago Marilyn (II), Bosmer assassin turned vampire hunter, with Among-the-Hist, Argonian vampire hunter, and Chara the Black, Breton bard/assassin/firemage,
- finally got around to investigating Dimhollow Crypt. Having tarried on the way bigtime, they were too late to save Vigilant Whatsisname, but what's worse, the vampires who had taken over the ruins killed the one companion who meant more to Mari than most of her friends and more than her casual lovers - they killed Meeko! (See also the Memorial thread.) I have no idea how she's going to cope with the loss, but let's just say that her willingness to entertain any non-hostile relations with vampires has plummeted to below zero.
- killed a lot of vampires and their boss, Lokil (turned into an endboss in full enchanted ebony by Requiem), whom they defeated only thanks to Chara's advanced pyrotechnics. (After the fact I went back to a save made before the fight and tried to beat him alone. Repeatedly. Let's rather not talk about the outcome.)
- found a mysterious beautiful woman who asked them to take her home. At the moment Mari is quite at a loss what to do with her. She's certainly hot (or rather cool, I guess, considering that she's not exactly alive) and seems kind of lost (although far from helpless), but see above... For now we're taking her to the Dawnstar Sanctuary, where she'll have two dozen blades at her throat if she tries anything funny.

After finally figuring out and fixing a sudden CTD on startup (yeah, missing masters, but none of my .esps were flagged as such, so it was tricky) I started a new character.

I only played long enough to get through chargen, mod config and the starting cell (using "Live Another Life"). I picked the Dawnguard start, which handily auto-completed the first two quests, letting me jump straight to "A New Order". The less I have to deal with a certain whiny vampire, the better.
Literally all I did after picking my new life was moving next to a fireplace, checking where Gunmar was this time (Clearspring, so it's not even far), checking what items I had and watching Isran leave the fort.

Larawen, Bosmeri assassin, listened to "Whispers in the Dark".

Long version

Milady Winter, nord spellsword and stormcloak:
- After killing Saadia, spent some time in Whiterun walking around invisible or cast calm on people
she got lot of :"Whoa, watch that magic!". Crafted and traided a bit.
- After she got tired of training her illusion-skills, she reported to Galmar. Hjaalmarch needs to be liberated. Started "False Front".
- Stopped by in Winstad Manor to empty her inventory, killed bandits attacking the house (they killed her horsey! those dastards!)
- Went to Rorikstead, talked with the Innkeeper. Then Milady spent way too much time going back and forth along the road between Rorikstead and Dragonbridge, trying to catch up with the Courier. Instead she found sabrecats and plenty of bandits (seems like there was bandit jumping at her after every bend of the road.) Tried to ambush the courier at the Robber's Gorge (after killing the bandits) but the courier obviously by-passed the place some other route....
- Finally decided to go to Dragonsbridge and wait the courier to appear to Four Shields Tavern. At least she'll be waiting in a warm place.

Firyal Swiftblade, redguard ranger:
- Killed all the bandits in Valtheim and found Amren's sword. Returned the sword to Amren.
- After selling loot, headed out to find Nettlebane for Danica.
- Now, she really needs to brush up her skills when fighting magic users (let's just said she was dying a lot at Orphan's Rock). I tend to forget she's not using armour.
I'm not sure where her last save left her (probably at Orphan's Rock), for when she returned to Whiterun, there was vampire attack and way too many people started dying around her (getting two inheritance letters!) Quited without saving. She adopted Lucia after getting upgrades to Breezehome, but I can't remember if that was before or after Orphan's Rock.

Xbox 360:

I decided to start a new character while Mod Organizer downloaded Interesting NPCs (seriously, 2.1GB?!), and ended up creating a pink Argonian named Prisoner #11914. #11914 because today's date is 11.9.-14, and Argonian because I wanted to make a silly-looking character. Can't make a pink human or elf.

Prisoner followed Ralof out of Helgen, then attacked him as soon as they got out of the cave. Ralof wasn't happy, and neither were his relatives in Riverwood.
She also attacked the Imperial prisoner transfer party that's almost always the first random encounter between Riverwood and Whiterun.
Aaand she also attacked the Companions at Pelagia Farm. Aela didn't appreciate a fellow archer.
I ended my session after Prisoner #11914 was killed by Whiterun guards when she was trying to escape from prison (didn't have enough money to pay off bounty).


PC:

Restarted Ingrid Snow-Song, my newest character. Decided to pick the vanilla start instead of jumping straight into Dawnguard.
I got her through Helgen, "Before the Storm" and Bleak Falls Barrow (was pretty tough, because I have SkyRe - including the Encounter Zones module -, Revenge of the Enemies and Duel Hardcore installed).
Getting used to a couple new mods, mainly "Living Takes Time", is going to take some time.
I left her standing in Farengar's room after delivering the Dragonstone; not sure whether she'll want to take on a dragon right away. My dragons are seriously buffed, and Ingrid is only level 5...

Firyal Swiftblade, redguard ranger:
- Killed hagraven and retrieved Nettlebane, again.
- Spent a night in Orphan's Rock and then returned to Whiterun. (To find out that she had adopted Lucia before she headed out to Orphan's Rock).
- Visited Danica and man named Maurice Jondrelle tagged along with her. Examining her map, she decided that Windhelm was closest to Eldergleam Sanctuary and took carriage-ride.
- Headed south from Windhelm Stables and things started to go...well...south. Wolves they could handle, no problem. Then they ran into two necromancers. After those were taken care of, a dragon attacked! Poor Maurice didn't survive the dragon and Firyal only made it because the dragon was distracted by giant and she get to attack him/it behind.
- So she entered Eldergleam Sanctuary alone, got the sap...and you know what happens next.
- After leaving the Sanctuary, she explored the region, found the Atronach Stone and decided to give it a try. Maybe Atronach-birthstone will help her survive magic wielding enemies. Run into a lone, hostile fire atronach.
- Stumbled into Darkwater Crossing. Returned to Whiterun. Delivered the sap to Danica. Played tag with the children. Sold loot.
- Took carriage to Riften and started looking for Fort Dawnguard (didn't enter the city).

Milady Winter, nord spellsword and eager stormcloak:
- Waiting in Inn paid off when the Imperial Courier appeared there. Crowded Inn was no place for killing, so she followed him (invisible) when he left the Inn and the town, killing the courier after they had reached empty road. Took the message and his armour-set.
- Returned to Galmar, got forgeries. (She's stormcloak and she can't borrow a horse from Stormcloak Camp without stealing...what's the sense in that))
- Visited Windstad Manor again and asked Valdimar to buy her new horse. Named the new horse Gray.
- Delivered forged message to Morthal's Legate, wearing the Courier's armor. Back to Galmar.
- Milady's bad luck with horses continued...when she was riding to Fort Snowhawk, a chaurus reaper killed Gray. She killed the chaurus and continued on foot.
- Attacked the Fort Snowhawk and killed plenty of legion soldiers. Raised some of them as zombies. Started exploring the insides of the Fort.

Today my Redguard had my first Double Dragon encounter. I actually made it out relatively intact. Got myself plenty of sweet bones and scales for when I get the dragon crafting perk.

Milady Winter, nord spellsword and stormcloak Stormblade:
- after looting Fort Snowhawk, returned to Windhelm, reported to Jarl Ulfric and got stormcloak officers-set. Yay, she is officer now.
- next, she sold loot, crafted and improved her new armour.
- she visited Heljarchen Hall to empty her inventory.
- visited Riften, delivered gems to Madesi and took care of Shandr's dept. She visited Honeyside and was surprised to see Sofie. she has no memory adopting her...she must have been drunk. Took Iona with her and headed out to Mzulft (Iona is there to carry stuff). Started going thru the dwemer ruins, just reached the Boilery.

I'd just left Dragon Bridge on my way up to Solitude. In the late night darkness I could see a figure in the bushes off to the side of the road at the usual spawn point. The person was standing there, arms spread like they had their weapon drawn. So I figured, Dark Brotherhood or a hostile adventurer. Might as well get in the first shot.

Boom. Solid hit and a sparkle. He's down. He's dead. Might as well walk up and see who I—

—on approach, I then saw the other two. Revelers.

Whoops. My bad. Sorry about your friend and whatnot. Why, yes: I would like to share a Honningbrew Mead with you!

@Dark Spark I never got that random event on the ps3. I noticed that I missed out on a lot of those events... like only once I bumped into the orc that wants a good fight. And I only encountered the three bandits impersonating the legion, once. I bet there are a lot more.

Two words: Ebony. Warrior.

The most challenging thing I've done in Skyrim. Basically, I used invincible Mjoll as a mouthy and exposed distraction/pincushion as I stayed as hidden as possible and rained arrows at this guy.

His armour and weapons are now decorating Lakeview Manor.

Milady Winter, nord spellsword and Stormcloak officer with her beast-of-burden, Iona:
- made little more progress inside Mzulft, and then had to made it all again because the xbox decided to throw a tantrum (and I hadn't saved).


Auri Leafblade, bosmer warrior/ranger and housecarl Rayya:
- Took carriage to Riften Stables...she had heard the area was good for hunting. She did indeed find lot of things to kill: Wolves, frostbite spiders, spriggans, deers, troll and sabracat. She discovered Shor's Stone, and aqcuired Bow of Hunt. She then arrived to Darkwater Crossing. Liking the place, she stayed there a bit, mining ore for money and talking with people.
She returned to Whiterun, sold loot, then headed out towards Halted Stream Camp, hunting at the plains.

Borga, Orcish archer of renown, fairly able sword and board fighter, and indifferent alchemist, recently came out of retirement and returned to Solstheim to finally find that new source of Stalhrim. He did, but became distracted along the way a few things:

-Reopening Raven Rock Mine.
-Preventing an assassination on Councilor Morvayn. Morvayn may have had it coming but Borga cared too much about Raven Rock to see it fall into turmoil.
-Ending the Ash Spawn attacks on the town.
-Finding Dwemer advanced crossbow schematics.
-Finding and reading a few Black Books.
-Finding Neloth a new steward.

All this complete, he found the source of Stalhrim, learned from the Skaal to work it, and celebrated by crafting himself some new weapons and Erik the Slayer new weapons and armor.

Licinia Selvanis, young imperial battlemage and Belrand, a hireling:

-After dead witch and very alive fire atronach (who tried to roast them and apparently had already roasted the witch), Licinia found her destination: the dwemer ruins of Arkn...sumthing...too many consonants anyway.
-Heading inside, she met dead chick named Katria. They teamed up. Killed dwemer spiders, falmers and chaurus and got as far as finding Katria's bow, Zephyr.

Started a new character (yet again) and got to level 10. At that point I had my first real dragon fight (no, not Mirmulnir) and found out the hard way that I had one too many script-heavy mods installed. Frostfall started complaining, not that I hadn't noticed the problem almost immediately after the battle started.

Oh well, fixing it is a matter of uninstalling one mod and, since it's scripted, restarting the character. I'll only lose about 7 hours' worth of progress, which is practically nothing.

Milady Winter, nord spellsword and Stormcloak officer with her beast-of-burden, Iona:
- continued exploring Mzulft. Reached the Oculotory, met the lone surviving Synod-fellow, Paratus Decimius.
- Solved puzzle, found out where the Staff of Magnus is kept and made sure that Decimius won't be sending any reports to Cyrodiil. Ever. To anybody. At all.

**********************************************************************************
Yesterday evening:
Licinia Selvanis, young imperial battlemage and Belrand, spellsword-for-hire:

- Licinia solved the tonal lock-puzzle after only two misses (literally...didn't notice her firebolt didn't activate the lock, switched to bow, much better). They got the treasure and the first shard and said bye for Katria.
- Leaving Arkngthamz turned out to be bit problematic (spectacular falling death cam, though). Eventually they made it and headed to Markath:
- where they saved Margaret and sold loot.
- They headed back to Whiterun where they traded with Khajit caravan and cleared unmarked bandit camp outside the city. (She needs the loot/money).

^ That's one of your best yet. I love the Orc's version of the King Olaf story.

Yes, that was hilarious, thank's Gbaji. And back to business:

Licinia Selvanis, young imperial battlemage:
- spent day in Whiterun, sold loot, enchanted, mixes potions, purchased Breezehome+ upgrades, fired Belrand.
- next morning she headed out to Korvanjund, killing a dragon on the way.
- battlemaged her way thu the ruins with Legate Rikke, Hadvar and the redshirts. Got the Jagged Crown.
- she delivered the Crown to Tullius and got sent to Whiterun. Delivered message to Jarl Balgruuf. He gave her axe to deliver. Instead, Licinia took carriage to Riften and went looking for Dawnguard.

Larawen, Bosmeri assassin:
1. Got new jobs from Nazir.
2. Wonders who has been giving Astrid and Nazir the contracts in the absence of a Listener.
3. Scoped out Half-Moon Mill and decided it was too soon, so decided to do the job in Morthal first.
4. Likes the Plains of Whiterun, which are teeming with game and with Shrines of Z'enithar.
5. Helped Vigilants clear Fort Snowhawk of necros and skeletons.

Long version

Ditto about Borat's poem. My favourite verse is the third from the end - every Nord skald would be proud to have wrought such an expressive alliteration!

Marilyn (II), having taken her leave from Among-the-Hist, Argonian vampire hunter, after their (sort of) successful vampire hunt in Dimhollow Crypt, spent some quiet days at the Dawnstar sanctuary crafting, trading and most of all trying to make up her mind what to do with the mysterious vampire she'd freed from some sort of imposed stasis ; the choices being
a) kill her with fire,
b) add her to Mari's little collection of torture victims or
c) deliver her as a prisoner to the Dawnguard to do with as they pleased;
d) take her home as requested wasn't given any serious consideration, as her home was likely going to be crawling with even more vampires and Mari has had more than enough of vamps for a while. She even went as far as to pray to the Night Mother for guidance on the matter, but Mom had no advice to offer but the usual "go there, talk to that guy, take his money and kill the target".
Finally she settled for c) because after all it was Isran who had sent her to Dimhollow Crypt in the first place. Not trusting Serana any farther than she could throw her, Mari took another Brotherhood member with her as escort and guard, but this time Chara the Black was replaced by Jean LaPierre (from the same mod), a split personality wont to summon her alter ego in combat (who summons a wolf in turn, making a little army of six with Serana's habit to raise anything that doesn't decompose fast enough).

Mari's attitude towards Serana began to change when they were ambushed by a group of other vampires on the Whiterun tundra ("Hey you, traveller! Over here!") and Serana surprised her by joining forces with her and Jean and fighting valiantly against her own kind. She still didn't dare to sleep in the same room with the vampire without Jean keeping an eye open, but after a while she found herself making an effort to time their travels so that Serana would have to endure a minimum amount of sunlight.

When at last they entered Dayspring Canyon and approached Fort Dawnguard, Serana didn't like the feel of the place and would rather have waited near the entrance, but Mari and Jean took her into the fort under duress (in other words, AFT overrode her script and made her follow anyway). When they presented her to Isran, however, he advocated option d), much to Mari's bewilderment. (Um, Isran, she's a vampire? She has an Elder Scroll? Which is probably why those other vamps were looking for her? So you want me to take her and her Elder Scroll to her home, which is likely to be the motherlode of vampirism in Skyrim? Yeah, sure, how could that possibly backfire?)

On their way back to Riften Marilyn noticed their horses being spooked in the peculiar way which she's learned to associate with the presence of a nearby dragon, and indeed it turned out that the lair of Lost Tongue Overlook (which Mari had cleared some time ago) had been reclaimed. When after a short but intense fight the dragon had been slain and Mari was looking out across the valley from its lair her eye was caught by what looked like an ancient Nord barrow on the opposite mountain top; she had noticed it before and given it a berth, but having become quite a proficient draugr slayer in the meantime she vowed she was going to explore it this time.

Little did she know that she had stumbled into what was the last refuge of the Dragon Cult back in the wars of the late Merethic era, haunted not only by the ghosts of the dragon worshippers of yore but harbouring the undead remains of one of Alduin's very high priests. In the end Rahgot's followers were slain and the dragon priest himself felled by the Staff of Corruption, but Jean LaPierre laid down her life (or rather both her lives) defending her Listener in the final showdown.

So when at last Marilyn and Serana stepped out on the balcony Mari found herself alone with her prisoner and in a flash of awkwardness finally realized that the prisoner had become a companion who had saved her butt a dozen times over and she might just as well start trusting her, vampire or no. *cue last line of Casablanca*

Tero Indarys, dunmer knight:

- sold loot and beheaded an orc who insulted him, all that in Riverwood. Embry coplained something about thing laying around when tripped to the head.
- then Tero sold more loot in Whiterun.
- he headed out to Meridia's Statue to get rid of the beacon. Clerared the temple, killed Malkoran and got Dawnbreaker.
- next stop: Windhelm, where he sold stuff, adopted Sofia and took a ship to Raven Rock.
After arriving to Solstheim, Tero talked with various people to find out more about Miraak. That led him to Earth Stone and Neloth.
- he continued exploring the island, killed some netch, an elder dragon and a werebear.


Milady Winter and Iona:
Left Mzulft and had another visit by Psijic Monk. Arrived Riften.

Larawen, Bosmeri assassin:
1. Poisoned Lurbuk the bard in his sleep. No one in Morthal even knew she was in town.
2. Met a crabber who is scared of crabs.
3. Sniped Hern the vampire and made it look like a skeleton had done it.
4. Was told by Astrid to follow the Night Mother's lead to this Aumand Motierre fellow. Yes, ma'am.

Long version

Malandor, bosmer assassin:

- returned to Darkbrotherhood Sanctuary to cash the reward from killing Safia.
- He and Shadowmere rode to Markath, where he delivered daedra heart for Moth and had a chat with the cook Anton. It ended with Anton dying and Malandor took his clothes.
- But before going after Gourmet, he had one other thing to do. He and Shadowmere went to look for Deepwood Redoupt. Near Volskygge, they were attacked by frost dragon. Malandor managed to draw it all they way to Deepwood Redoupt. While the dragon and the forsworn entertained each other, Malandor sniped both sides. Then he emptied the Redoupt.
- Next, sneak and snipe and stab through Deepwood Vale. Before entering Hag's End, he had to stop by in Solitude to sell loot.
- Poised arrows took care of the witches of Hag's End. He found the assassin of old and got new set of Ancient Shrouded armour. The hagraven is still eluding him.

Spent 3.5 real hours fighting Mirmulnir, his reinforcements and the reinforcements' reinforcements. Sometimes I feel like DCO really, really hates me...
I'm using Enhanced Mighty Dragons (the "easiest" version) for the first time ever, and boy does the mod live up to its name! Combined with DCO it certainly makes for some truly epic battles.

What else did I do... hmm... oh yes, fought some more dragons. Three Ruddy Aspfangs (from Bellyache's New Dragon Species) and a random assault (courtesy of DCO) dragon.
I wonder when I'll see a Deadly Dragon... I usually get swamped by Forest Dragons at low levels, but not this time.

In addition to all that Dovahkiin stuff I also helped restore Solitude's "Fire Festival" and recruited then fired Lydia. She was absolutely useless, and kept blocking doorways. I sent her home from High Hrothgar... wonder if she's made it back to Whiterun yet.

PS. In Solitude I also witnessed a highly entertaining battle between the city guard and a Stormcloak spy (who was dressed like the guards, used guard dialogue, and briefly wondered whether he was the Dragonborn). Priceless!