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Today Eryniel visited Dawnstar for the very first time. She had Jenassa in tow, to act as her loyal mercenary and a pack-mule. They spent two days in town, selling the loot they acquired during their long trek from Whiterun via Winterhold. Also, Eryniel got a quest to fetch the pieces of Mehrune's Razor. The reason she actually had come to Dawnstar was to check out the story in a strange book she had found, and which had directed her to the Windpeak Inn. [SPOILERS BELOW]



But first she wanted to visit the College to get some new spells. There she was annoyed to find she had to join as a student. She, a 55-year-old woman and war veteran, an apprentice! But there was no way around it, so she acquiesced. At least she got two handy spells practically for free.

After the first lesson Eryniel went to the Arcanaeum, where she got some rude lip from two students. The young ones of these days. But she also met an interesting lady, one Olivia Meronin. She agreed to search for Meronin's assistant in Haafingar, as she was anyway going there.

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Two great mods have made this re-run of Eryniel this far very interesting. The two quests mentioned are from Interesting NPCs, a mod I like more the more I discover its content. Also, Skyrim Unleashed's item and NPC plug-ins have made the play quite challenging. More rewarding, too, since the loot is unlevelled and I've already found some top-tier magic items below level 20. But the fights are regularly so hard that I really feel like I earned whatever loot there is to be had in the end. Now this is balance like it should be.

This time I actually have to use the character build's Illusion and Alchemy abilities to survive, whereas they were more of an ornament the last time around. Namely, just sniping everything isn't that viable now. With Deadly Dragons making every single dragon fight a struggle for life and death, I'm very much more entertained than before. This is how the game should have been in vanilla state. The difficulty reminds me even of Daggerfall (although not quite as unforgiving) or Morrowind's earliest levels. But then, if the vanilla game was like this it maybe wouldn't have sold so well.

After many months of ignoring Skyrim for Fallout, I finally loaded up Felina's game and realized that I had no clue what was going on with her. So she went on adventures clearing places still undiscovered on her map and fought a really hard dragon, who came along with two trolls to also attack Shadowmere. Right now she's treasure hunting inside a den full of werewolf killers, which is bizarre to her that anyone would be willing to imprison werewolves she could release from their cages for fun.

Thoryn Battlemaiden, nord shieldmaiden:
- Returned to Whiterun with a sapling of Eldergleam to revive the Gildergreen.
- After selling loot she reported to Skjor who sent her and Farkas to Dustman's Cairn, to prove her honour (and kill plenty of draugr and silverhands). She became full member of Companions.
- She then proceed to empty more bandit lairs (Silent Moon Camp) and hunt mammoth (tusk for Ysolda.)


Mordred the Magnificent, breton travelling magician and charlatan with quick fingers:

- Arrived to Skyrim, nearly got executed and escaped Helgen with Ralof.
- Hung around in Riverwood. Few pockets got lighter.
- Walked to Whiterun and visited some farms outside the town (visit meaning: sneak in and steal every septim you can find)
- In Whiterun, he made himself new friends (like Brenuin), brawled with Uthgerd and took her as follower.

Tihm gro-Nilap, Orc enchanter and shaman, wandered into Honorhall Orphanage and watched Grelod the Kind berate the little children. Infuriated by the ill-treatment he witnessed, the Orc walked up to Grelod as she busied herself at the cooking pot. Tihm punched her in the back of the neck to get her attention, but the force of the blow apparently snapped her brittle old neck and she fell dead. Confused by the happy exclamations the orphans made about the Dark Brotherhood, Tihm beat a hasty retreat.

I did a lot of grinding with those "words of power" radiant quests from the greybeards.

I made another character today. An Orc named Dumag gro-Bol who uses Two-handed, Block, Alteration, Destruction, and Light Armor, and is also a follower of Malacath.

I believe this is around my 200th character. I wonder if he will be the first to break the record of level 22.

Theodore Savignon, breton alchemist and Kharjo, his khajit bodyguard:
- Fetched an ore sample from Shor's Stone and cleared mine from spiders. While they were at it, delivered messages from Sylgja to her father and back.
- Returned to Riften.
- Then they visited Winterhold and ended up solving serial killer-case.
- Then they headed out to Forsaken Cave...delivered ring to Dawnstar and White Phial to Nurelion.

Attia Nikovius, imperial paladin:
- battled witches and hagraven, found the Nettlebane.
- continued towards Ivarstead, battling wolves along the way and sleeping at the Alchemist's Shack.
- Arrived to Ivarstead and helped beggar to make a peace with his dead sister.

Went to Northwind Summit for a Word of Power. Then headed west with a stop at home at Heljarchen Hall. Sorted loot, prepped some food for the road, filled some mead bottles, crafted and tempered weapons and added furniture, shrine base and a shrine in the basement. I needed that shrine as I had bonebreaker fever and didn't want to down the only Cure Disease potion I had. I need some butter because I like to carry garlic bread for such an occasion.

Headed to Markarth to see if a replacement amulet would allow me to complete the Book of Love since my genius self wasn't paying attention and sold the one I was given for the quest. Nope. Left there and headed for the Shrine to Peryite. Turned in the requested goods and then headed to Bthardamz to manage the Afflicted. Got that cool shield even though I'm not a shield user. However, I left there headed for Lost Echo Cave and the benefits of that shield were much appreciated. I had cleared that cave on a previous trip, but I was looking for Shalidor's Insights now and the critters inside were pretty tough. Even with a summons to help and the shield assisting with the magic attacks, the fighting was brutal. I was eventually killed and that's usually when I quit.

I'm not giving up, though.

Attia Nikovius, imperial paladin:
- Cleared two small bear-caves near Ivarstead. And the ruins of Nilheim. Those bandits won't fool travellers any longer. Then she headed up the 7000 steps (and got killed by frost troll).

Kyra Frostblade nord barbarian/werewolf and Serana:
- Wandered around Soul Cairn until the found the mom, and the rest of the stuff she needed to get out of there. Battled dragon. Found all the pages of the Opus (finally!) Got out and head to Solitude to sell loot.
in other words, just another day in Dawnguard.


Nelya, bosmer werewolf.
- Delivered Dravin's bow to him. Went wolf and killed some stormcloaks and spider.
- Then she headed to clear Wolfskull Cave and nearby bandit lair. Went back to get her reward. Funny thing was that she didn't even kill those necromancers doing the ritual, just those who were wandering around the cave + draugr. Maybe it was Dawnbreaker's power outbust?

Scathach, orc sorceress:
- Killed Mirmulnir.

Odd, that. When I slog through the last chapter of the Book of Love, the Amulet of Mara becomes a quest item and cannot be dropped. I'd hope it shouldn't show up in a barter screen at that stage then. An oversight on the part of Bethesda?

I went to the Statue of Merida, the first time in a long time. All the while a dragon was flying recon near Solitude. Getting shot up into the air for some chat time with Miss Glowy, I could see the dragon flying around far below me. For a little while, at least. It disappeared when I was dropped.

I wanted to enchant a pair of boots for a follower with Muffle but ...

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Muffle_%28effect%29

... and my character was at level 77.
So I figured the only way to get 'Boots of Muffling' was as 'random enchanted armor.

Where to do this?
The Atronach Forge but I'd need to get a Sigil Stone first.
I could get one by doing the conjuration master level quest ... after I had a conjuration skill level of 90.
My conjuration skill was at 26.
Only 64 levels to go.
Time to grind!

5 or 6 hours later I got conjuration to level 90 and did the master level quest.
I went to the Atronach Forge, saved, and started generating 'random enchanted armor.
It took 2 hours to get 'Boots of Muffling'.

After I did all that grinding to get 'Boots of Muffling', the next ruins I went into had 'Steel Boots of Muffling" in a chest.

Just another day in Skyrim.

After much testing with a stealth oriented character, I discovered a couple of things about Muffle. First, it's more useful at low levels than at high levels anyway. Early on, you may not be able to cast the spell version, and you're not likely to have the perks that let you move silently with armor. The Muffle effect will be the same no matter what kind of soul gem you use to create it.

However, once you're farther along in the game, you're better off going with Fortify Sneak. A high enough Sneak skill will let you remain hidden from enemies, even after they walk right up to your face to investigate who's shooting them with arrows. If you still want the Muffle effect, it might actually take less time to save up for the Silence perk than to grind for the enchanted items.

The thing that strikes me is that you climbed 77 levels without ever encountering such boots in your travels.

Yesterday was an odd day. Cassie took Jenassa with her to Liars' Retreat because Casandra wanted to loot that bar wench's outfit and incidentally clear the place (basically, the girls went out clothes shopping, assassin-style).

The penultimate Falmer in the entire place was killed by Cassie using a sneak attack with double daggers (Mister Stabby and his evil twin, in fact). Thing is, Jenassa was caught in the same attack. That Dark Elf survived dragons, hordes of hostiles, and one particularly cranky horker, and she ends up dying from friendly fire? This is why Cassie works alone!

I shrugged it off and engaged the last Falmer in the entire dungeon. Alone. With no one to distract the arrow fire, this last Falmer was able to kill Cassie before she could bring healing into play. This is why Cassie needs a follower, people!

Hence, Jenassa's death was reversed via Cassie's own demise. Next time 'round, the girls turned right instead of left, cleared out Fort Sungard instead.

Second reload of the day: Riverwood versus the Ancient Dragon. You can probably see where this one's heading. The fight was being managed rather well: we wounded thr dragon enough to force a landing, all without a single guard falling to the frost breath of the mighty beast. As every heavily-armed guard is rushing towards the dragon (Cassie is wearing a Whiterun Guard's outfit the whole time), guess who is out in front, foolishly clutching a fearsome Iron Warhammer he pulled from his forgework? Yes, it's Alvor. By the time Cassie gets close enough to divert the dragon's attention, his focus is purely on the pleasure of clamping his jaws down upon the blacksmith's head and shaking him from side-to-side. While occupied as such, I could have easily killed the dragon. Didn't bother to. Reload. All the way back to Markarth again.

inorite

It's the 2nd time I've reached that high a level and not been able to find or buy a pair before going above level 70.
The really odd thing is the 1st time was on my last play through.

Sorry, missed that. Which follower are you using?

Serana

Ah yeah, good for stealth characters. I tried using her for a while in my last run, but even though she's one of the most competent followers, I ran into a slight snag. For some reason, the dialogue option, "I need you to do something," never comes up with her. I don't know if it's a glitch in my game, or if that was by design, but it meant I couldn't have her pick up heavy items from the ground. So I ended up switching back to the DB Initiate. They have better stealth skills than most followers, and no level cap. That said, I also ran into a problem with them. Since they respawn at the sanctuary every few days, any equipment left on them when you dismiss them gets flushed down the toilet.

Anyway, if you're having trouble finding boots of Muffling, the wiki suggests the blacksmith in Riften, since he's the most likely to carry large numbers of magic items. If that still doesn't work, I would get the Ancient Shrouded Boots, temper them as high as you can go, and give that to your follower.

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Today I took out both bosses of Dragonborn using werewolf form, just to see if it was feasible. Miraak was pretty easy, since he kept fleeing from me after I hit him a few times. Karstaag was a pain in the ass though, because of his Frost Cloak and accelerated HP regeneration. The trick with Karstaag is that you have to kill him in less than 60 seconds, before your combat buffs wear off (since you can't recast them or drink potions when in werewolf form). I knocked him on his ass and, with the help of my summoned pack members, was able to claw him to death with seconds to spare. However, killing him this way rendered his remains unsearchable.

I was trying to do it without murdering someone over and over.

.....

Today I cured Kodlak's spirit at Ysgramor's Tomb ... and got another pair of Steel Boots of Muffling from the boss chest.

Some days I think the game is $*&#ing with me!

Attia Nikovius, imperial paladin:
- Finally reached High Hrothgar and met the Greybeards (had to resort to shooting the troll full of arrows while standing on ledge at the mountainside). After receiving lessons, she delivered Klimmek's supplies, battled cultists and found out who's haunting Shrouded Hearth Barrow.

Zafirah of Elinhir, redguard warrior:
- Cleared few dungeons, Shrouded Hearth Barrow and Ironbind Barrow . All in a day's good work.
The trip to Ironbind Barrow was interesting: ice wrath's, wolves, snarky stormcloak soldiers. She did not like Salma and Beem at all, they were rushing ahead, while she took more slowly and explored the place. The two hot heads got to do all the work. After leaving the Barrow, she wandered up to the mountains, found more icewraiths, interesting dwemer shrine, a dragon and dragon's lair (which was empty since she had just killed the dragon). Sold loot in Winterhold before heading back to Whiterun.

Khora, khajit ranger:
- Wandered around being helpful hero. Cleared Valtheim Towers for bounty. Then she wandered around some more, killing spiders and bears and marking locations to her map. Eventually she had to head to shops to get rid of the loot.

Lygia, who is the Dovahkiin and slayer of Alduin, the Harbinger of the Companions, and Stormblade to Ulfric, winner of the war... does not appreciate the corrupt Silver-Blood family trying to tell her what she can and cannot investigate within the city of Markarth. She does not appreciate back-talk or being told what to do. She had many choice words to say to the guards, that I can't repeat here, and did not enjoy being thrown into Cidna Mine. Which was the first time she has ever been jailed, and she was quite angry over it. Borkul the Beast got a beat-down, because the normally silver-tongued woman was in too dark a mood, the werewolf in her quite close to surfacing, to bother with persuasion. She did not have the patience to deal with Madanach's nonsense, and showed him exactly what a Nord can do with a pair of pickaxes, and what the Dragonborn can do with her Voice.

Thus ended her adventuring within Markarth (my least favorite city) and finishing up of local quests throughout the land, helping people and being a proper hero. She's been noticing a growing vampire threat, and they recently took the life of one of her friends, Adrianne Avenicci. It might be time to seek out the Dawnguard...

You don't actually have to kill the shopkeeper. You just have to turn them hostile. I like knocking them over with Unrelenting Force just to see their reaction, before I reload. Though if you still don't like doing that, you can do a circuit of all the major cities. By the time you get back to where you started, the inventory will have reset.

Adrianne is also all of my characters best friends too. I didn't know that vampires wil kill her in the dawnguard dlc. I wish I can avenge her too.

Well you did reference the wiki and it says "killing".
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Muffle_%28effect%29

What was I supposed to think?

Typical time in game:

1. Adventure & pillage
2. Go to merchants/smithies in Soliture->Markarth->Falkreath->Riften->Windhelm->Whiterun->Riverwood
3. Profit

Rinsed & repeated every day or two.
No 'Boots of Muffling' to be bought or found.

.....

Today I built Heljarchen Hall.
Added a nice library, garden and greenhouses.
Only the sounds of bees and the wind to break the silence.

Well...there are occasionally the dying screams of foolish bandits.

Lygia prefers to forge and upgrade all her own weaponry, and often did so at Adrianne's forge, so there was often conversation (in my head, anyways). I normally will make sure there's no vamps when I enter a place at night, but I was in a hurry, and didn't find out until she left Lygia an inheritance, and by then it was too late