Skyrim!

[Rhyela]

I was also feeling a little lonely today, so I went and asked Ghorbash to follow me. He's a good fighter, but OMG he wouldn't shut up about my "grim look". Overall, I think he just reminded my character too much of what she left behind, so I dismissed him and we went our separate ways.

I made my way to Rorikstead later to talk to Erik since I didn't remember much about him. I like that his voice isn't the typical nord voice. I did the quest to get his father to let him become an adventurer, then went and recruited him. He's pretty chatty too, but it's okay. Since he and my character are probably about the same age, I see them as becoming fast friends. We double-teamed a couple giants today, and I just got this mental image of them high-fiving each other, lol. They have somewhat similar backgrounds, feeling trapped in their situation and wanting to get out and seek adventure and battle. So anyway, for now they're buds, will probably become best buds, and we'll just have to see if it goes anywhere from there. I've read that others view their relationship as mentor/apprentice, but it's not that way for my character. They're pretty much on equal ground, except that Shiraz has a little more fighting experience. But being the same age, I believe they would have similar personalities: adventurous, curious, etc.

I'm just having a hard time imagining that anyone would fall for an orc lady (besides an orc dude, that is) since they have such a harsh appearance. She's not a delicate flower, she's a tall, muscular greenish orc broad with big ol' canines and a dreadhawk hairstyle. Like seriously, what non-orc guy would see her and feel any sort of attraction to her? I mean, I don't think she's ugly per se, she just clearly isn't some golden-haired lass that all these nord boys want. Poor Shiraz.

[Nefretiti]

To me Erag and Gregor's relationship isn't really about love per se though Erag has some feelings for him since she likes his personality, I see them more as beeing with eachother for comfort,security and companionship .. love may come later when they know eachother better than they do now after travelling and fighting together, but that's just me
I like Erik even though I haven't really used him much, I tend to go back to my old tried and true like Argis and Vorstag for the most part.

As if I don't have enough characters already .. now I'm thinking of a character that will settle down and work alongside her husband as either an innkeeper or a blacksmith apprentice, possibly taking care of a bounty here or there to supplement their income .. there are one or two innkeepers and a fair number of blacksmiths in the eligeble batchelor list

[Rhyela]

More characters is never a bad thing!

Sadly, I think I'm having more fun playing Shiraz than Thrana right now. I don't know if it's just because I've already played her (Thrana) for so long, or what. I've only finished the DB questline, so I still have the Thieves Guild and Dawnguard stories. I'm not going to worry about the main story or the civil war on her since she has no interest in either. I dunno, I still play Thrana, just not for very long before I hop over to Shiraz. It might just be a bit of burnout, which will most likely wear off after I've played Shiraz for a while.

Now that I've got a tanky companion, I might try out dual-wielding after maxing out 2H. I definitely want her to be a DPS warrior rather than a tanky one. I may also still try bringing along a mage companion, although that may mean more enemies beat on me.

I feel like I'm rambling, I'm sorry! There's like...nothing to do at work right now.

[Nefretiti]

Hehe still undecided about the innkeeper/blacksmith. but I do have a prospective hubby in mind for her if I decide to give it a go




for now I'm mostly focused on playing my companions and Idris, my nord/altmer lady. letting Ameridin rest for abit since he's almost done with the mainstory and has finised Dark Brotherhood as well as Dawnguard.

[Rhyela]

That's not the same Wilhelm that's in my game.....

[Nefretiti]

I have an overhaul installed that cleans up and gives some npcs minor changes, vanilla Vilhelm isn't too bad but he's cute with said overhaul installed

I installed a mod that expands on your homelife abit, as I like to rp with this one I can pretend that my adopted kids are actually my characters biological ones, purely for immersion since some of my characters wants a proper family at some point.

Oh and I updated Harald abit, going to make him a werewolf and perhaps he'll marry Aela if the mood hits.

[Rhyela]

Whoa, are those bi-colored eyes? That's AWESOME!

[Nefretiti]

Yeah heterochromia when I saw it I just had to pick those, he was originally going to be greeneyed

[Nefretiti]

Made me some more pretty manflesh



He's probably going to be a mercenary/sellsword of some description, mostly kindhearted but with some evil traits since I may make him a Voikhar vampire at some point.

[Rhyela]

Ah! Nice! Is he imperial?

[Nefretiti]

Nord actually by the name of Jorunn

[Rhyela]

I sent Erik on his way today. He's just soooooo freakin' chatty. I can't tell you how many times I've heard about how he enjoys his new life as an adventurer, and how he doesn't miss farming at all. He's a handsome lad, but it seems like he never shuts up. I swear it must be every time we stop moving, I hear one of two lines. On the plus side, he's able to hold his own in a fight pretty well. I gave him some new armor today which he looked pretty nifty in.

After I sent him off, I picked up Ahtar, the headsman from Solitude. He might not look so ugly if he didn't have a perma-scowl thing going on. But at least both he and my character are ugly, lol. He's much quieter, but very gruff and to the point. I'm also not sure how great of an idea it is to be a 2h warrior rolling with another 2h warrior follower. My defense is not so great right now, so I kinda liked letting Erik get in there and take the beating while I circled around and killed stuff from behind. But at the same time, Ahtar kills things much faster, which in essence takes some heat off of me. Blah, I dunno. Anyway, I gave him some new armor, too. Unfortunately, his usual attire disappeared when I went to give him new stuff. Just *poof*, gone.

Lastly, I got a new helmet/cloak thing called Mantle of the Silver Hand. It's kinda sad that it's a werewolf pelt, but at the same time, I think it looks wicked awesome. Pics below.

P.S. I find myself feeling frustrated by the sheer amount of nord companions in the game. It makes my non-nord characters sad when their followers yell, "Skyrim belongs to the nords!" Like, gee thanks, glad to know I'm not welcome here. I was really disappointed when Erik yelled it today (a few times actually), and that's kinda what made me decide to search for a non-nord follower who wouldn't be so racist and throw my non-nordiness in my face all the time. I mean yeah, I'm aware that this is Skyrim and it's largely populated by nords, but do they ALL need to be so racist?

[Nefretiti]

Shiraz looks like she's thinking "Did you really stick this on me??" in that picture

I downloaded a bunch of Tera armors but several lacked their proper textures which annoyed me so I uninstalled it again. found a very nice armor with a similar feeling to the companions wolf armor that Harald will likely be wearing.

I've noticed that too and it annoys me to no end especially if a follower who claims to not care about the civil war yells it, I'm not sure if it's wired into the game or something unintentionally added by mods like UFO or AFT since that line exists in several voice sets that also belong to stormcloaks.

[Rhyela]

Oh, I didn't think of that. You might be right. It does seem like even Valdimar got a lot chattier after I installed AFT. But with him, the lines are short like, "We've stopped, what is it?" so it doesn't get on my nerves like Erik's lengthy speeches about farming did. And he yelled something about "his land" before I installed AFT, so apparently he's one of the nord bros. But Erik has a unique (or at least uncommon) voice, so I was surprised to hear it from him.

I think I'm going to just forget about recruiting specific followers from here on out. I keep trying to find some that might appeal to my character, but I get frustrated by one thing or another. So, I thought of a plan this morning to instead do a few quests in a certain hold, and recruit a follower from that hold to complete them with me. So if I'm working in the Rift, I'll take Marcurio for example. If I'm working in the Reach, I'll take Cosnach or Ghorbash. If I'm in Whiterun Hold, perhaps I'll take Uthgerd or one of the Companions once they're available. When I'm done in that area, I'll dismiss them and move on to another companion. I'll get a variety of friends for my character that way, and I won't take them far from home. The only one I might not be able to find a follower for is Winterhold since I'm not joining the College.

If, by some miracle, I happen to "click" with one of those folks, then perhaps I'll make them a permanent companion. But for now, I keep seeking out these specific NPCs that I read about, and it just isn't working out for me. I'm trying to force something to happen, and it isn't happening. It's not as immersive as recruiting someone from the local tavern, either. So yeah, I'll dismiss Ahtar tonight and recruit someone else from wherever I decide to quest, and see where it goes from there.

[Nefretiti]

Ahtar looks kinda neat, now I'm curious about how he looks in my game if the overhaul I have installed have changed him in any way.

I've been playing my breton Carina lately,she's kind of amoral kanoodling with whoever she wanted and now she's in trouble because of it *Snerk* having to actually do some work to get a proper home for her "complication" and herself.



she travelled with Erik for awhile but got tired of his chipper attitude, Helped Faendal with Sven and they travelled for abit, I liked him but he too was abit too much of a goody two shoes for her.



when you're near Markarth give Vorstag a try sometime, he's a decent axe and sheild warrior and a fair archer to boot and not as chatty as Erik.
I think that's a good idea, might do that on Carina since she loves her freedom far to much to settle down.

[Nefretiti]

Been thinking about Klarissa and Sinawen, my reguard and falmer.
I think they are friends, Klarissa beeing a guardian of sorts for Sinawen as she's falmer and thuss interesting to less savioury people such as the Thalmor since she's one of the last of her kind.
They were forced to flee their old home and by some twist of fate they ended up in Whiterun where Klarissa applied to the companions to get them money to keep searching for a haven where Sinawen could feel safe but her charge wanted to join as well and no matter how Klarissa tried to talk her out of it she was determined.
Klarissa worrying about how her friend would be recived du to her race and given the companions history embarked on her own trials with her husband to be (though she didn't know it at the time *Snort*)

That's about as far as I've gotten .. not sure if I should keep working on the story or not.

[Rhyela]

The only thing about Ahtar is that his face is permanently grumpy like that. I mean, it suits his character, but while idle he's always got that look like someone peed in his Cheerios. He might be a little too serious for me (at least on Shiraz).

I know what you mean about the story stuff. I kinda dropped Thrana's and haven't picked it back up. I sorta started writing out some ideas for Shiraz, but haven't been able to get far since she hasn't really done much in Skyrim yet. Even though I'm level 26, I've only just barely started the Companions questline and been to High Hrothgar. Other than that, I've just been doing little side quests.

[Nefretiti]

Hehe
I want to continue but right now my ideas have dried up. I like the companion questline and I adore the twins though Vilkas is a teensy bit ahead of his brother because of his voice.

I don't think the girls will remain werewolves though, it just doesn't suit their characters.

[Nefretiti]

once I finish the companions on the girls I'll likely be playing around on Harald and Jorunn for abit.

I love this armorset I found for Klarissa from a mod.

[Nick]

I do agree that the oversaturation of Nord characters is a pain, especially when you're dealing with a character who, y'know... isn't Nord. Or doesn't like the Stormcloak ideals. >____>

The only Khajiit NPCs you can get are from the caravans and I think you need to do a quest for them before they will follow you. Or you need to mod them in as followers, like Inigo. I'd kill for more Khajiit followers, or Argonians. Anything but Nords @___@;