The 'What You Did in Skyrim Today' Thread

[Chadonraz]

- Fetched a book, a drum, a stone tablet and a lute, in that order.
- Fought two Yol'Loot'Maar dragons (one of them was Mirmulnir) and a Forest Dragon.
- Got randomly attacked by an Imperial soldier for no reason whatsoever...

[Snail's Pace]

Newly wedded Vittoria Vici stopped addressing the guests at the wedding reception and told her new husband Asgeir "You never should have come here!", then attacked him with a dagger. Poor Asgeir had no idea how quickly his wife would change after marriage. He probably thought they would have at least a few good years together before she got buyer's remorse, but no - it happened at the reception. He had to kill her in self-defense, which was pretty much a buzzkill for everyone at the party. What a disaster. I'm sure his father wishes they hadn't spent so much money on the wedding.

But Asgeir didn't know that Larawen, Bosmeri assassin and wedding crasher, was responsible for his wife's premature case of "Seven Year Itch". The sneaky Bosmer had poisoned Vittoria with Frenzy (using the Poisoned perk), then quickly downed an invisibility potion before anybody saw her on the balcony. And if Veezara hadn't showed up and started attacking the guards, no one would have known that the Dark Brotherhood was behind Vittoria's "bridal moment". Oh well, it was supposed to look like a murder, so it's probably a good thing Veezara showed up.

It had been a dark day for the city of Solitude. Oh, I forgot to mention... they beheaded Roggvir that morning, too.

Larawen got away without a bounty. While making haste back to the Sanctuary, she was attacked by a frost dragon, which she had to fight while wearing a dress because her player had forgotten to equip her armor after escaping Solitude. She got assists from a roadside "thief" and the Stormcloaks at the Haafingar Stormcloak Camp. Sadly, the quartermaster was killed by the dragon.

Back at the Sanctuary, Astrid was elated.

[Varyag]

Nelya, bosmer huntress/werewolf:
- Found Esbern (had to wait until she turned back from wolf to elf) and got him out of Riften, despite some ambushes and Esbern summoning frost atronachs to block the corridors. ("get that ice block outta my way!")
- Took him to Delphine and decided to join the two blades and walk all the way to the Sky Haven Temple (instead of fast travelling to nearest known location). Got only past Half-moon Mill and then game decided to freeze. (the dragon at the distance probably had something to do with it.) After it froze second time around at the same spot, I gave up and started watching Under the Dome.

[Zim]

Wilhelm, Nordic Paladin in Training has been busy of late. The Wolf Queen apparently wasn't all the way dead, so he took care of that, dropped off Jenassa in Whiterun, and headed to the College of Magic for training. So far today, he's:
-Found the Eye of Magnus
-Visited the Shrine of Azura
-Reunited with Jenassa
-Cleared Fellglow Keep for the books relating to Saarthal
-Spoke to a member of the Psijic Order twice

[Varyag]

Kyra Frostblade, nord barbarian/werewolf and Serana, presumedly nord vampire:

- Kyra wasted lot of arrows trying to shoot down bonehawks.
- The two ladies started to explore the undercroft of Volkihar Castle...and the courtryard and the ruins. Kyra is getting rather annoyed by Serana's habit of resurecting skeevers and dead hounds.

[Pilaf The Defiler]

Never realized how fun Backstabbing was in Skyrim, but my Bosmer custom Nightblade build is a blast. I've pumped several hundred hours into this game since 2011 and it still finds ways to amuse me. That's a good sign.

[Varyag]

Nelya, bosmer huntress and werewolf:

Nelya had to kill a blood dragon before she could pass the spot where the game froze (she tried to avoid it before). She also misplaced the two Blades. It isn't her fault they can't keep up with her. There was second blood dragon attack near Old Hroldan Inn and Delphine re-appeared after that (after the dragon was killed). Together they dealt with forsworn at the Karthspire Camp. I dunno were Esbern was, he appeared when they entered Karthspire. They made their way to Sky Haven Temple, Esbern gave a lecture and Delphine wanted to revive Blades. Nelya went to Solitude to sold loot. Then she returned to Lakeview Manor to spend some time with the family.

[hollywoodb1]

Aeronil, High Elven Knight:

Completely Overestimating her combat abilities, she stormed into a conflict between a dragon and a giant and was promptly roasted before being sent like a fiery meteor into the stratosphere with a Hulk Smash from the giant's club.

Another good day in the plains around Whiterun.

[hollywoodb1]

Never realized how fun Backstabbing was in Skyrim, but my Bosmer custom Nightblade build is a blast. I've pumped several hundred hours into this game since 2011 and it still finds ways to amuse me. That's a good sign.

Ha Stealth is my favorite style! I use a straight up Assassin build on an Argonian though. I also find stealth characters oddly overpowered in vanilla Skyrim, because I don't know about you but when I go stealth, I go all out with Dark Brotherhood gear combined with Thieves' Guild stuff to max out my bonuses & Stealth critical hit to 32x, all the while dual-wielding Mehrune's Razor and The Blade of Woe... Oh yeah. Two crazy powerful daggers. 32x damage each. Dual-power attack from stealth. That combo has been known to take out giants in a single attack

I just wish I could use that on a dragon. It's difficult to convince them that they should land and turn around so I can get them with it

[Pilaf The Defiler]

My Imperial is a stealth archer, but I gave him no melee ability. The Bosmer is going to be a straight up backstabber, by contrast. Should be an interesting change. Also using some Illusion this time around to augment the stealth. This game still has a lot to offer even in vanilla.

[Dark Spark]

"Calixto Corrium, by authority of the Jarl, I arrest you for murder. You have the right to remain silent. If you give up that right then anything you say or do— would be a quite an accomplishment, considering I just rammed this sword blade behind your collarbone and ripped every organ in your torso asunder."

[Varyag]

Kyra Frostblade, nord barbaria/werewolf and Serana:
- Explored further into Volkihar ruins and found Valerica's study.
- After

Hidden:

being partially soultrapped,

they entered Soul Cairn and started exploring it.

Milady Winter, nord spellsword and stormcloak officer/assassin/arch mage.
- Killed Narfi (back stab with the Ebony Blade, Mephala was pleased.)
- Killed Beitild without dirtying her hands (Fury-spell cast while hidden and guards took care of the rest).
- Then she returned to College of Winterhold, took care of Arcano and the Eye and got herself nominated as the Arch-mage.

Arn, orc warrior and dead-is-dead character.
- Arrived to Whiterun, got to know the citizen, brawled with Uthgerd.
- He delivered the dragonstone and killed his first dragon. Got thaned afterwards. He's still alive, albeit barely...the dragon nearly did him. But nearly doesn't count.

[Zim]

Wilhelm, Nordic Paladin in training:
-Solved the mystery of Frostflow Lighthouse
-Discovered what happeneded to Isabelle Rolaine, finding Pantea's flute in the same dungeon
-Brought some writings of Shalidor bag to Urag
-Learned that he needed to find the Staff of Magnus
-Found out his Restoration skill had become high enough that Collette Marence was willing to teach him (sell books for) a whole new set of adept level spells.
-Perhaps unwisely agreed to help some fellow students, learning in the process that it's not easy being green. These undead killing scrolls of J'Zargo sound especially interesting...

[Varyag]

Arch-mage Milady Winter, nord spellsword and stormcloak officer:

- Milady got familiar with her new quarters, nice.
- Then she delivered ten dwemer cogs to Arniel and Arniel asked her to deal with Ethnir. Ethnir wanted her to fetch a staff from...quess where? Morvuskar. Why does he always send my sonas there? And Milady hasn't done the Sanguine's quest.
- Milady then stopped in Windhelm to sell stuff and decorate Hjerim. She also visited Jarl Ulfric and got Thaned.
- Heading out of town, towards Morvuskar, she ran into imperial patrol escorting stormcloak prisoner. What were they doing so close to Windhelm? She naturally freed her brother-in-arm and killed the imperial soldiers.

[Dohva.]

I missed my assassin, Felina Imhatius, so much that I recreated her. She's currently level 5, exploring the Rift aka stalking the old woman at the orphanage. In the one day she's been in Riften, she managed to murder a skooma dealer for his goods, wiped out a bandit den, and got drunk with Marcurio. I'm so glad she's back. <3

[Zephyr]

A couple of firsts for me: I discovered the

Spoiler:

Skooma drinking option

to get past the gate in Redwater Den, and noticed the sign above the Honorhall Orphanage door.

[Varyag]

Created an orcish summoner-warrior (see: Special Skyrim challenge for Third Anniversary - thread).
Named her Margat gra-Burzag. She has brother who lives in Shor's Stone.

- She escaped from Helgen, emptied a bandit camp. Arrived to Riverwood, sold loot and smithed a bit.
- Then she headed to the Whiterun. Poor Margat keeps dying a lot, since the dice forced me to play higher difficulty level than my usual. Learned couple of stragecies that will hopefully help her survive: Don't get surrounded, hit-and-run.
My normal orc-characters just rush into a thickest battle and whack away, ignoring any hit they take. Margat fights like an elf or ranger.

Myriah, little redguard thief:
- Helped Narfi to find out what happened to his sister.
- Started to go up the 7000 steps. Due unfortunate incident with frost troll, was forced to do all that _twice_.

[Dohva.]

Felina moved into the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary in Falkreath. Unfortunately, they don't allow dogs there so Meeko has to stay outside.

She really wanted to choose the bed above the supper hall because of its warm and comfortable location. But Gabriella's snores proved too much and she decided to shack up in the dank, leaky room at the back of the place. What's to be Cicero's room but she doesn't know that yet.

[Aarah]

Having not done anything in Skyrim for a while, Aarah returned and has gone to the dark side.

Spoiler:

Having previously kept away from the nasty creed of the Dark Brotherhood, something - perhaps the stress and toil of constantly aiding the land - made her decide to complete the first contracts of killing Narfi et al. Finding all 3 kills oddly not as bad as when attempted long ago, she continued down the path of the assassin.
After meeting Cicero, the first dislike came in having to hide herself in the coffin of a long dead corpse.
Aarah was not surprised to find out that she was the long sought after 'listener' - she had become used to being 'all things special', even if it would have been nice to just be more normal for a change.
More journeys and assassinations ensued until one contract pulled at her morality. She was to kill Vittoria Vici at her wedding. Now, Aarah had previously met Vittoria in Solitude and she seemed to be a perfectly nice lady. She had so far managed to block out the severity and inhumanity of killing a random, unknown face in the world, but now it was someone that she knew - not well- but she knew her name, her face, she even lived next door to her for a while when living in Proudspire Manor.
Aarah's old self, one of good and right, had begun to creep back, and she was unsure whether to continue on with the Brotherhood.

[Dark Spark]

Vicki tries to grab a kickback from an alcohol vendor. So she's not all that nice, you know.

[Varyag]

Myriah, little redguard thief:
- Reached the top of 7000 steps and received lessons from old, greybearded men. Lydia waited outside.
- They returned to Ivarstead and got attacked by two odd guys in funny masks. These taken care of, they headed towards Riften. Now, Myriah is city girl and dislikes wilderness...even more after this trip. Rockjoint _and_ witbane...come on! Everything seemed to try take a bite of her. She's becoming quite a good archer though.
- In the city of Riften, Myriah send Lydia away and joined thieves guild (after visiting Talos's shrine, she had no cure disease potions). She framed innocent trader and cleared ratways from vermin. Then she collected some depts.

[Dark Spark]

The snowstorm's rage against the stone walls of Fort Neugrad was barely felt as a whisper within the keep, so the Bandit's voice could be well-heard as he sat at the table and began to sing.

With three beers down, the Orc did frown.
And bid the Elf good bye.
For none could know— 'twas not for show.
And someone had t— auggggh!

A moment later he fell dead, an arrowshaft blooming from his throat. I may or may have not timed the shot that way. But it happened.

[Finn Wolfshorn]

Single version:
Marilyn (II), Bosmeri vampire archer, and Serana, Nord vampire, accompanied by CuSith and Garmr, deathhounds, crawled around in the bowels of the earth Nirn and ended up discovering a forgotten world in a previously unknown corner of Skyrim, complete with oversized reptiles, ruins of an ancient civilization and a coveted artifact of great power.

LP version (Dawnguard spoilers):

Spoiler:

They started out from Solitude where Marilyn had briefly visited the Bard College to meet a client who had performed the Black Sacrament. Mari felt a pang of nostalgia when she heard one of the bards practising "Mogo's Mead", a song she used to love back in the careless days when she still walked in the sunlight... when she took people's purses, not their blood, and the only pleasure she found in killing was pride of her skill, not the twisted lust of consuming another's life essence... It reminded her that the powers Lord Harkon's bite bestowed upon her came at a great price, and considering what the search for power did to Serana and her family she's beginning to question whether the price may not prove too great in the long run.

Setting forth at dusk, they briefly stopped at Dragon Bridge where they supped at the Penitus Oculatus outpost and then rode on into the nightly wilderness until they found the entrance to Darkfall Cave at the precise place where Marilyn had seen it on the Elder Scroll. After killing a few spiders and trolls they discovered the first of several Wayshrines left by the ancient Falmer and met a living relic of that prehistoric race - Knight Paladin Gelebor, the last uncorrupted Snow-Elf in Skyrim. Mari wasn't sure what surprised her more - his mere existence or the fact that he seemed to be completely cool with helping a pair of vampires find Auriel's Bow. Although he still had eyes he was just as blind as any Falmer in his own way.

The long trek through Darkfall Passage had Mari worried that she might run out of arrows before their quest was done, and she started collecting any Falmer arrows she found. On the bright side the chaurus (chauruses? chauri?) they ran into offered her ample opportunity to gather their Venomous Spittle, so valuable both for brewing poisons and for conserving blood in phials to be consumed later.

A whole day had come and passed, and it was night again when at long last Mari and Serana emerged from the Passage into the uncharted mystery of the Forgotten Vale, its beauty breathtaking under a red and golden aurora. The spectral prelates they encountered at the various Wayshrines proved just as oblivious to the true nature of the two 'pilgrims' as Gelebor had been and were very helpful, unlike the two dragons in the frozen lake who broke the ice just as the first rosy hue of dawn tinged the eastern sky. A warning from Auriel/Akatosh himself, perhaps?

When Voslaruum and Naaslaruum had succumbed to Serana's ice spells and Marilyn's poisoned arrows our two heroines were forced to flee the sunlight and take refuge in Forgotten Vale Cave. At sunset they came out again and made their way through the long glacial canyon and crevice. There was no aurora that night, but the two moons were out and bright enough for Mari to shoot by their light without having to use her night vision. All those poor Falmer Betrayed who gathered around the Inner Sanctum never knew what hit them as the two vampire ladies and their deathhounds swept through their homesteads like a black wind of death.

So in the end they reached the Inner Sanctum, came face to face with Arch-Curate Vyrthur and learned the true origin of the prophecy that had led them there in the first place - all that just to take vengeance on an Aedra by desecrating his artifact? The mer was even more bonkers than Harkon ... and easier killed as well.

When all was done Knight Paladin Gelebor showed up and, after being told about his brother's true nature and intentions, rewarded Mari for Vyrthur's death by making her a present of Auriel's Bow and a batch of Sun-hallowed Elven Arrows; never indeed was a mer blinder. As Mari had a couple of elven arrows left Serana volunteered to donate a bit of her blood and turn them into Blood-cursed Elven Arrows, so the two lovers were now in possession of both the means to fulfil Harkon's dream (at least temporarily) and the weapons to slay him if they have to. Time to return to Castle V for the final showdown!

ETA (still Dawnguard spoilers):

Spoiler:

Lord Harkon is dead. In the end it didn't even take Auriel's Bow to slay him, a few sword strikes did the job well enough. Surprisingly (or maybe not so much) the leaderless Volkihar clan seems to look at Marilyn for guidance. As far as she's concerned Harkon's throne belongs to his daughter, but she doesn't mind sparing Serana the trivialities of day-to-day management - after all she has a little more practice running secret organizations. She has already authorized Garan Marethi's suggestion to reopen the access to the old courtyard (a very perceptive vampire, that one), and in due time she and Serana will brave the dangers of the Soul Cairn once more and bring back Valerica. She is a bit worried by Harkon's words about the weakening of bonds between immortals spoken shortly before his death and hopes that this won't be true for the bonds between Serana and her mother... nor between Serana and herself. We'll see.

[Varyag]

Margat, orc-female summoner-warrior.

- Instead of going to Whiterun, she hired carriage to Winterhold and joined the College.
- After the first lesson, she managed to track down the conjuration teacher and buy some spells. She also cleaned focal points...or something.
- then she went to Saarthal. The ability to summon familiar and the bound sword really helped her thru some tight spots. Defeated the Gauldursson alright.
- Returned to the College and reported to the Arch-mage. Got the next mission and few misc. quests too.
- Now she headed out to Whiterun. Shopped, crafted, brawled, took Uthgerd along and did some small stuff before talkint to the Jarl and his court wizard. Now they want her to fetch some stone. She took carriage to Morthal instead (College-business).

[Aarah]

After finishing the Dark Brotherhood main questline, Aarah partook in a mixture of activities.

Hidden:

Finished exploring Volskygge and found the Kahvozein Fang blade to remove the heartscales from a dragon for the Master Alteration spell quest for Tolfdir.
Killed the dragon at Lost Tongue Overlook (again) and used the blade to get the scales. Got a spell tome to learn the Dragonhide spell from Tolfdir. Apparently there are two more phases of the spell but will have to wait to initiate the second part. I was rather disappointed that, as yet, there has been no necessity to use any alteration spells for the Master Alteration spell quest. Seems a bit odd. When I did the Master destruction spell quest, it involved having to use all three types of destruction magic in order to complete.

At the College of Winterhold, J'Zargo was yet again sitting on my seat in my old student room in the college. I told him I had run out of his flame cloak spell scrolls (which I haven't even used yet), to get rid of him. He left in a huff but it got him out of my room.
Tolfdir then strolled in the room and proceeded towards the chair to sit down also. 'Oh, no you don't!' I said, and quickly sat in the seat before he could sit his aged behind on it. He made a disgruntled noise and then left. Ha!
What is it about my chair? Sit in your own damn doorless rooms you trespassers. It's not a big deal but for some reason it bugs me no end!

Strolled around the Lost Tongue Overlook area, trying to find a route to some icon of interest that had appeared on the compass when I was close. Passed by Lorgashbur whilst it was under attack from a giant, killed it, then two trolls appeared -Arniel and I killed those and a bear got involved too. Ogul and Lob from the Orc Stronghold were killed in the battle, as were a number of goats. Lorgashbur was desolate, I don't know where everyone had gone, hopefully the giants/trolls haven't killed them all.
Credit to them both though, as they had the decency to stay outside the stronghold despite the gates being open.

In the end, had to resort to riding the 'laws of physics defying' horse to go up a steep mountain slope to find the point of interest. Unfortunately, the ruins of a Dwarven structure that I found turned out to be a point of no interest.