Gaming

And I probably forgot some complaints. I mean quests. Oh and I didn't mention the werebears.

 



And I don't think I'll be going there for a long time yet.
Supposedly the spoiler chap I mentioned is one of the toughest in the whole game.
 

Doesn't surprise me, I've seen some of his minions... Besides the cultists, that is. Fought one. Didn't stand a chance. Oh and fought some others. Only succeeded due to the help of others in the vicinity.

Geralt: "Hmmm, I've seen this before..."
Me: "Erm... Have you?" *tries to remember* "When the hell was that then?"
Geralt: "...back at Crow's Perch with (spoiler)."
Me: "But that was aaages in the distant past. Is that something else I didn't do right over a year ago? (EDIT: Just checked. It was TWO years ago!) I can't be expected to remember...."

*quits game*
*tentatively googles once more to avoid spoilers*
*re-watches an old cut scene on YouTube*

Oh, right. I did do that one.
Back to the game again.

Just the problems of being one of those slooow gamers with a fading memory.

Yet you know exactly how many years ago you did that thing you don't remember doing.

I looked through my screenshot folder and found one from that old quest and it was automatically tagged with the date.

Anyway, enough of Geralt, I've decided to travel all the way to Markarth to do that little errand before coming back to enter Windhelm for the first time and it seems I need to get into a locked place again and there's quite a few people wandering around here.
So, Brelyna, you stand right here to block this path so that no-one can watch me picking this lock. And Arissa, you stand over there and block the view if any guard comes around the corner.
Good. This is how you plan things.
Crouch into sneak mode.
--HIDDEN--
Good, goood.
*approaches door*
Now let's pick this lock.
*presses E*
*door automatically opens*
Oh, yeah. I've got a key for this place and I'm allowed in.

I forgot again. It's a while since I've been here.
It was still a good plan though.
But I don't think I'm allowed in this next place, even though I have a key for that one too.

And without spoilering I'll add that I've finally met a spider that I liked!
And found some special loot. Especially special if you've played Morrowind.
The Thieves' Guild are gonna like me when I return there.
And I wonder what's down here?
*cough*
*cough cough*
Why is that little icon flashing in the corner?
*cough*
*notices vanishing health bar*

I'm dying for some reason!!



EDIT: Ooops.
Killed someone important and got into a bit of Bounty related trouble...
(And I don't mean the choccy bar with the coconut that gets stuck in your teeth. Crime kind of Bounty)
... all of which required a bit more killing.
Much more than was necessary.
I discovered afterwards that there was a clever trap that I could have used to save/distract certain people whilst still being sneaky but ...erm.. well.
I shall pop in the Hall Of The Dead later to pay my respects and say sorry. Sorry, but you did attack me too and I can't be the one doing the dying. Don't you know who I am?

Can't believe I started this post by claiming to have a plan.
It seemed like a good one too.

Right, I have my new Indigo lightsaber that can split in two for some fancy moves, I've got past many armies of stormtroopers of increasing difficulty, plus several mobs of K2 droids, two (TWO!) AT-STs ... AT THE SAME TIME (admittedly if I'd been cleverer I could have done them one after the other, oh, and after defeating them I forgot that they have a little man inside driving them and they can shoot too afterwards. ) so now what...
Ah, back to Dathomir for the zillionth time

I'm sure there won't be another different boss battle to surprise me.
Great.
What kind of big droid is this with the massive health bar?

Well that was a rather epic Dragon fight in Skyrim and yet not the intended one.
I set off to do a contract to take out a specific one in a specific place and was even accompanied by a goat for part of the journey.
The goat then returned to its normal skittish behaviour, but I noticed Arissa also seemed a little twitchy all of a sudden. And at that moment I heard the big, deep woooosh and was hit by the down draught of the wings as the Dragon swooped over me.
We were sort of trapped in a narrow path between mountains so it was gonna be an archery shoot with nowhere for it to land. Time and again it circled around hitting me with fire but I didn't care whilst wearing my Helmet Of The Unburned. After a few successful strikes I then switched to my higher damage glass arrows and got in a critical shot that sent it spinning over the mountain.
It wasn't flying away. It was coming down!

I chased it over the top and saw it hit the ground by a Forsworn Camp, charging towards it now with my sword drawn. As it turned to offer one final attack I shouted it into a tree and killed it with a couple of swings.
And as I was absorbing its soul... I got attacked by the Forsworn.
Idiots! Didn't you just see me take down that dragon??
So as I was still glowing with dragon soul magic I casually swatted the Shaman's head off to teach him a lesson.

But I still haven't got to the dragon that I was supposed to kill.
Sadly I took a wrong turn and got lost after that.
The area north of Karthwasten is kinda hard to navigate with followers thanks to all those steep ridges. I'll try to take a better route next time.

EDIT: Found my way there in the end. Had to go past the big dwemer place to bypass all the mountain ridges and got harassed by a cocky little kid on the road. He tried to sell me some stuff before running off.
Anyway, killed the intended dragon then made my way back to Markarth for the reward and saw a bear running up a hill. Chased after it and found it had already been killed by Farkas and The Boys who now seemed to be having a drink...

 

I just love the way you can bump into him all over the place. Last time he was killing something just north of Riften. It seems like he explores the world more than I do.
While we were together I took the opportunity to ask if he had any work that needed doing and he told me off for not finishing that job for Aela.
I have finished it. I just keep forgetting to tell her.

I have no idea who Farkas is.

The day before yesterday I started up my normal Skyrim game, felt that I wasn't inclined to do any more dying just then, and started a new character. I intended to make a male thief but ended up doing another Bosmer female (my first try-out character was a Bosmer, my main one is a Nord). But I am trying to change things up a a bit, so this time I went with Raluf when escaping the dragon attack (also noticed for the first time, that that was Alduin).

I activated the mage stone instead of the warrior stone - I figured I usually increase my sneakiness pretty fast anyway, and did I. We were harassed by some crooks on the other side of the river on our way to Riverwood (I was over encumbered after a wolf attack so it was slow going). I was sneaking and trying to shoot them, and while I mostly missed (stand still, damn you! ) and I think my sneaky sneak skill was close to 30 before I even entered Riverwood. But by the time I had got rid of my Helgen loot and gone back to search for those bandits (we did kill 3 out of 4) all I found was a weapon on the ground (and a bunch of arrows that couldn't be picked up but proved I found the right place). While looking for those bandits I came across a khajit named Mai'k the liar or something like that. He was annoying. Then I was attacked by some mages that I think were planning to attack Anise but they went for me instead. I barely escaped with my life (they didn't). I talked to Mai'k again but he now refused to say anything, he was "done talking". Then I had a chat with Anise who hadn't even noticed the fighting...

At least she's alive this time. For now.

Farkas is one of those Companions in Whiterun that you've been avoiding for ... reasons.
He seems to have his own private adventures as he goes around killing things with a couple of his friends.

And is that you're first sighting of Mai'q?
And you didn't like him?
My endless exploring wouldn't be the same without his occasional comments when I frequently encounter him.

I was a Raluf chooser too at the start. That "hidden" choice amidst the opening chaos was one of the really interesting things that drew me into the game. The differing bias of those characters completely skews your early view of the world. I was completely in agreement with the idea Stormcloaks until I started to meet and talk with more people, especially Arcadia. Once I saw how scared she was by the consequences of the war I couldn't really take that side any more.
Of course, if I was a Nord...