The 'What You Did in Skyrim Today' Thread

[noobishlord]

It is a testament to the Elder Scrolls games, no matter the number, when you can go back so many times and keep playing.

[The SheoDovah]

What did Kalgar get up to? He survived Helgen, wiped out the bandits of Embershard mine after Gedur and Hod mentioned it, sold stuff, recovered a golden claw, became Dovahkiin and now fighting a dead shouting ghost man.

Ok, i headcannoned the reason for Embershard mine but it is a bit surprising that they did not use that as a small bounty type quest or a Skyrim version of Goodsprings defense. I wikied the quest and [&@%!], tis a level 14 suggested quest. I am level 7(surprisingly quick at levelling up). I am loving my choice of weapons. Two axes, one warhammer/battleaxe(Tis Burning axe of Whiterun) and all of this is within 5 in game days. Some folks have trouble killing bandits. It defines their life, drives them to become the best of their field but for Kalgar, it was Turdas.

[Aarah]

Because of mods and Skyrim SE being available, I started an Argonian character with added moddy things. There's so many. It's the first time I've had any mods and also only my second character ever.
I'd previously mentioned not getting/noticing pc kill cams, but now I realise it must be because Aarah (1st character) is higher level and has all the potions and gear for staying in one piece, thus she hasn't been getting into trouble, but with this new character...boy, is that not the case.
Wolves were ok, a horker took a load of arrows before I ran out and had to switch to a flame spell, but the thing that caught me out was a damn ice wraith at the serpent stone. That thing took about 7 goes before I managed to kill it, and only then was it achieved with mostly a mace and evasive manoeuvres. Didn't have enough magicka to use flame for long, and couldn't use regen either. Cast hiltskin which I presumed helped.
Ice wraiths are usually a piece of [&@%!] for Aarah, but Vlethin-Re had a right old time.

Even with added mods, I don't think I'll do much in the game. Was just trying it out more than anything, but I am interested to visit Bruma.

[Nord85]

This is a summary of the latest two playing days of my newest character, Runalwen. Her full bio is in the post your character-thread, so as a short summary: She's a half-Altmer, half-Nord woman, a peddler, bard and a "mage" who has never fired a spell in anger before the game's events, but now has to try and survive with a few measly starter spells. She came to Skyrim to get possession of the "estate" her Nordic paternal uncle left her. Her journey so far:

After struggling out of the wreck of the ship aboard of which she had been traveling, she swam to the shore. Her first, glorious fight was against three horkers who she killed to get some food, as she had lost almost all her possessions. After drying out in Dawnstar's inn, she left the next day towards her destination, only lightly clad in a shirt and trousers. Her journey was beset with difficulties: An almost constant blizzard made visibility very low, and almost every step was haunted by ice trolls (which she quickly learned to hate to the very the bottom of her heart) and ice wraiths. She almost died more than once, but somehow survived using her two offensive spells, flames and firebolt. On the way she happened to stumble onto the hall of the Vigilants, where she had a nice conversation with an Altmer woman Vigilant.

After a hellish trip, she finally reached her ineritance. Her uncle's will had spoken of "villa" and "lands". Well, turned out the villa was a tiny cabin of two rooms and the lands amounted to a stony cliff ledge of maybe quarter of an acre [the cabin is a player home mod]. She was crestfallen at first, but gradually regained her optimism. At least the place was warm, and there were some valuable jewelry and ingots in the chests. Thus, Runalwen could now think about her options in peace.

She had noticed that there were quite a few plants with alchemical properties even in the snowy reaches of the Pale. Besides, her shack had both an achemy and echanting table. So, the next morning she decided to embark on a gathering trip to more southernly areas to see, if there was profit potential in alchemical "cottage industry". If not, she could always return to Cyrodiil. The trip would be dangerous, but with as little money as she had, she would have to make the return trip to Cyrodiil on foot anyway. She knew very little about Alchemy, but thought that the work would teach the labourer in time.

Turned out the idea was good, since the warmer holds abound with every kind of plant. Slowly Runalwen also realized she could survive the inevitable fights in the wilderness: With her profits she bought some new spells and learned to use her existing ones in more tactical ways. So, for the time being she decided to stay in Skyrim. She's anything but a quitter and her dream of becoming a wealthy, landed lady was only strengthened by the nasty surprise she got with her inheritance.

She's also beginning to get acquaintances: She retrieved a magical vial for an alchemist, and is at the moment on a quest with a Bosmer woman to get a magical horker stew for a friend of the said Bosmer.

------

Gotta say I love the said horker quest. I had almost forgotten it, and it's still as fun as the first time around. The setup, the characters and their dialogue, even the music that plays when you fight the monster horker - pure comical genius! No wonder I have had quite a few good laughs already and the quest is only halfway through.

Also, starting with Skyrim Unleashed active, only three starter-level spells and next to no possessions in the Pale was quite intense. Every step had to checked for enemies, and the fights were punishing since every blow could kill. Quite fun, in other words. It felt quite an accomplishment to clear out this character's first dungeon.

[BlueMissed]

I installed all my mods on to the new Xbox One X since it removed them during the transfer. Then I went to Whiterun where I had my significantly upgraded Breezehome waiting for me. Lo and behold, everytime I open the door, my game crashes. Not the coolest feature ever considering all my awesome items are in there. Guess I'll have to start a new character on a new save.

[ciberzombie]

you may have missed one or few of mods from before transfer and you had some of that missing mods "things" in Breezehome so it goes like this: you try to enter Breezehome> game tries to load content of Breezehome> game can't find resources of some content inside Breezehome> crash

[Dark Spark]

The thought crossed my mind while I was switching out Ahtar's skillset from Heavy Armor to Light in the Creation Kit today: Why would an executioner need to wear heavy armor? It's not like the prisoner is going to be much of a fight...

[ciberzombie]

cause executioner when not in company of guards may receive some bad attention from relatives of current and previous "receivers of service" of said executioner

[noobishlord]

The thought crossed my mind while I was switching out Ahtar's skillset from Heavy Armor to Light in the Creation Kit today: Why would an executioner need to wear heavy armor? It's not like the prisoner is going to be much of a fight...

Considering the Elder Scrolls Player Character Prisoner records, heavy armor may be needed.

[Unionhack]

I tried being a stealth archer for like the 80th time and it was just as uninteresting as the other 79 times. How do you guys make this playstyle fun?

[BetaB17]

How do you guys make this playstyle fun?

Have a crazy jester, a vampire lady, and a blue devil-man follow you around

[Unionhack]

Of those three, only the blue devil-man does not make me want to pummel them into Oblivion (pun possibly intended). Seriously, I hate Serana. Cicero isn't much better.

But like... only option is to do stuff outside of the playstyle? Yeah, nah. Stealth archer is like all of the power of stealth melee without all the fun and the risk. Combat archer is hella fun, but stealth archer? Blech.

Any other suggestions? :P

[Cassandra]

I had a good time with my stealth archer, but I don't really remember what I did. I think I just liked not having to fight people, tbh.

[Lord Timster]

I tried being a stealth archer for like the 80th time and it was just as uninteresting as the other 79 times. How do you guys make this playstyle fun?

I go Stealth Archer in Skyrim all the time now.

First thing I did is to *ban* the use of any 'Detect Life'-style effects by my character. They turn stealth into a snooze-fest and suck all the fun out of it. Instead you now have to use your Green Cross Code to clear locations:

Think; Stop; Look and listen; Wait; Look and listen again; Arrive alive.

Secondly I would recommend turning the difficulty right up so that there is an actual danger of getting killed in open combat - and playing with a limited number of 'lives' (or even dead-is-dead if you have the time.)

And now try to clear locations without being detected.

I love it. Planning out an infiltration route, sneaking from hiding spot to hiding spot picking off enemies in small groups then suddenly realising that deep pool of shadow you were about to run into has a Briarheart standing right there in it.

imo v cool. YMMV tho as always.

[noobishlord]

I tried being a stealth archer for like the 80th time and it was just as uninteresting as the other 79 times. How do you guys make this playstyle fun?

I have a lot of patience, which helps me. I'm more than willing to sit there and wait who knows how long to study enemy paths and when I can pick things off.

Plus getting a groin shot at "can barely see the target" range is quite satisfying.

[Dohva.]

I forgot how frustrating it is to battle in the last quest of the Civil War as a stealth character. Talk about everyone getting in the [&@%!] way!! Ugh

[Nord85]

I forgot how frustrating it is to battle in the last quest of the Civil War as a stealth character. Talk about everyone getting in the [&@%!] way!! Ugh

Quite. I still remember storming Windhelm with my illusionist-sneak archer-alchemist. Let's just say that I had some 15 or 20 potions of fortify One-Handed at the battle's start and two or three left directly after. Surviving felt quite an accomplishment, though.

---

Today I, on my part, tinkered with changing my mods from NMM to Vortex, replacing some mods with new ones and then making a new character after a long while of no Skyrim. My character is a Breton housewife who fled to Skyrim, so I didn't do my usual trick of giving some extra initial skill points to her main skills with console. (Because she's supposed to suck at everything at the start). I expected the start being even harder than usual, but surprisingly it wasn't. That was because I found Meeko who was great help, for instance while storming the exterior parts of Fort Icehawk. Also, because I could bypass a few tougher monsters.

In other words, pretty fun but nothing spectacular. Maybe I should ditch Meeko and go alone for extra challenge. That would even suit the personality of my character by and large.

Also, must tinker with Vortex a bit more. That program doesn't allow making load orders by dragging and dropping but only by some arcane rule system. My game froze a few times mid-play, so I think some mods aren't in proper order. *Sigh* This is the no-fun part of playing Bethesda games. Sometimes I feel I have to tinker with mod managers almost as much as I play.

[CursedGrim]

Freed a true son of Skyrim from Thalmor, Restored Meridia's Temple for the 67th time, Soul trapped enough souls to enchant most of the guards' weapons like they always ask (kinda wish I could), had the first bite with a certain ring, learned that dragons don't like having their magicka drained when perched on Word Walls, saw the usual experiment regarding the Skyrim Space Program, and watched helplessly as a vamp spawned in Riverwood and...stood still staring at me without moving until Faendal put an arrow in his side. Good times.

[Valus]

Thank y'all for keeping this topic alive all these years, it's pretty cool to see. I've been playing Skyrim quite a bit recently after being laid off due to the current situation.
I figured I'd do a one life or "dead is dead" character of every race just for the hell of it. I started off with a run-of-the-mill Orc Barbarian build, two-handed and heavy armor.
Since I'm playing on PC nowadays I have a number of mods including Random Alternate Start and Amazing Follower Tweaks.
I'm playing on Master difficulty, so I figured the only way I'd be able to survive at all from the start would be to use AFT to amass an entourage to aid me in battle.
I'd find the mercenary companions while wandering the roads and use AFT on them rather than paying their fee, since I couldn't afford it at the time.

After a while of just going from city to city doing bounties, I actually managed to become quite wealthy (thanks to a mod that slightly increases bounty payouts) and started construction of Lakeview Manor.
At this point, I had about 5 followers and things were actually getting a little too easy since they'd all cut down any enemy within seconds, so I told 2 of them to hit the road.
The AFT mod has a feature called Skill Synergy that allows me to still earn xp even though my followers rush in and do most of the combat before I'm even able to take the time to unsheathe my big-ass warhammer, so I was around level 20 I think before I found Meridia's Beacon and figured, "what the hell, I'll do it" though I sincerely doubted that I would survive the battle with Malkoran even with my band of mercenaries at my back.

So, we arrive at Mount Kilkreath and proceed to bust some black ghosts before reaching Malkoran. As I predicted, he nearly smears my Orcish ass with a single ice storm, but we still manage to defeat him. I thought that was the end of it, until I start getting hit by fireballs from out of the blue and die. I wanted to give myself another chance since it didn't really seem like a fair death, after all I didn't even SEE what killed me. The only save was my quicksave right before battling Malkoran, so I figured if I can beat him again and whatever killed me afterwards, personally, I'd still consider it a legit deathrun. But the second go around Malkoran hits me straight on with an ice storm and I'm [&@%!] dead. So, rest in peace Orc Warrior.

Having 5 followers for a while gave me the inspiration for my next one life character: A Breton Mage that has a small crowd following her that fights everything for her while she just stands on the sidelines and watches them at it. I think it'll be fun, in fact I'm going to see if I can go through the whole main quest without drawing a weapon, using destruction magic, or personally attacking any enemy in any way. I'd have my followers do all the combat, while I use protection spells and even re-animation or summoning spells. May prove difficult when fighting dragons, though, but I'll see how it goes.

So, I've got my build set up on Random Alternate Start and it drops me right next to the Abandoned Shack. I figure Astrid would make a great first follower so I console command the door open and use AFT on her. I head down to Morthal for a night's rest since it's around 4 AM and pick up Benor as a follower (using AFT rather than brawling with him, of course) while I was there.
On the road, I come across a trader caravan (from a mod that adds more of them) with a mage for a guard and commandeer her with AFT since I'll be needing at least one follower with ranged attacks for dealing with dragons. After doing a couple bounties to get some spending money for spells from Farengar, I'll now be heading to Helgen to trigger the main quest.


Edit: After breezing through Bleak Falls Barrow, the battle against Mirmulnir wasn't so tough, then again it never is. Our mage Laurie lit him up with lightning bolts and once he landed,
the rest of the group made short work of him. Lydia has now joined the group. I've given her an Orcish bow I found and made her the group's designated marksman.

Things have been going smoothly up to this point and, oddly enough, on the way to Ivarstead I was very nearly killed by one the bandits of Valtheim Towers. One of the higher level ones bullseye'd me with an arrow and devastated my health even with my protection spell on. Now I'm thinking of reconsidering only increasing magicka on level ups rather than health as some other more powerful enemy may be able to one-shot me and I'd be done for. Anyway, after visiting High Hrothgar, I've decided to join the College of Winterhold before proceeding with the main quest to have access to more spells.
Now that I have the essentials, I'll hopefully be able to get my Illusion to the point where I can Calm spell most enemies we come across on the road.


Edit: Once, we reached Saarthal, I decided to have the entourage wait outside, as there are so many NPCs inside already during this quest I didn't want them bumbling around and turning the place into a cluster [&@%!]. I figured I could just level up my conjuration a little by summoning flame atronachs and reanimating corpses to deal with the few draugr before the battle with Jyrik which I re-summoned the entourage to help out with.

I've had a few strange occurrences today, in particular. We came across an Assassin, who I'm sure would normally attack me and be carrying the contract saying someone wanted me dead and the black sacrament and whatnot, signed by Astrid, but seeing as how she's my follower, the assassin wasn't hostile. I did, however, command Astrid to kill her own assassin which she did without hesitation, funnily enough.

Also, after retrieving Delphine's note from Ustengrav, we returned to Morthal for the night only to find a master vampire murdering everyone on the street.
He wasn't hostile towards us for some odd reason. He cut down every guard that stepped to him, then turned on a defenseless courier who had just given me the letter from Jarl Siddgeir.
He ran for his life and the vampire gave chase. I figured it was none of our business, so we carried on to the inn for the night.
Upon leaving the inn next morning, the vampire had returned and was taking on the day shift guards and finally, after many casualties, Morthal's town guard had killed the vampire. Took the carriage from Solitude (I prefer not using fast travel) to Whiterun, met with Delphine and next will be the dragon battle at Kynesgrove.


Edit: The battle with Sahloknir went on for a while, but eventually we brought him down. Now, at this point I was almost sure the main quest would be the death of me.
Next is the embassy party quest which means thalmor and their deadly lightning bolts. I figured I may as well get it over with, maybe the thalmor won't be as tough since I'm only level 10.
Made the journey to solitude to begin the quest, everything was going well until I reached the courtyard, I summoned the entourage of course, and look out for lightning bolts. I just recharged Astrid's Blade of Woe not too long ago. I wonder if I give her soul gems she could just recharge it on her own? I'm surprisingly able to calm some of the lower level thalmor which makes things a little easier.
Found the documents and freed whatshisname and dipped before my calm spells wore off, I still only have enough magicka to cast 2 at a time.

I guess I haven't done the main quest in a while because I don't remember thalmor being in the ratway tunnels when you go to find Esbern. I also wasn't expecting more to show up after actually meeting with Esbern. The door was still open and the entourage flooded outside to counter-attack. I put on my protection spell and stepped outside to see what all the ruckus was. That's when a stray crack of thalmor lightning zapped my ass to Oblivion. Rest in peace....

Now I kinda wanna play Oblivion...

[MidbossVyers]

Apparently, Lisette has Stormcloak sympathies (she is in the Stormcloak encampment during the Battle for Solitude), and Tullius either has no soul or has too big of a soul to be trapped (using a soul trap weapon to kill him did not fill any of my black soul gems).

[MidbossVyers]

The only difference between the Dawnguard and the Silver Hand is that one of them is playable. The Dawnguard at the end of the day are really just a band of self-righteous bandits. As a vampire, I encountered some on the road. However, instead of attacking me, they first decided to kill Balbus the chef: https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Balbus What did he do to deserve that?

[BetaB17]

He clearly overcooked the lamb

[MidbossVyers]

Another vampire run, and the Dawnguard killed Balbus again. For my next Dawnguard run, should I be killing off Balbus for RP purposes or something?

[vakilpaul2]

I think the Aetherium Forge is the only place with lava in Skyrim, I saw a rock in the middle of it, and tried to Whirlwind Sprint on to it, but I overshot it and burned to death rather quickly.

[kumarabhinavv9]

Finally got my Breton battlemage at 100 Destruction (guess who forgot to read the Oghma Infinium?) and completed the Dectruction Magic Ritual. Fighting dragons has never been easier when you're kamehameha-ing the absolute -life- out of them >:3c