Level 57

Reading books is good. Rastas had stockpiled a great many to use later to help level skills later when they really counted for more rather than earlier when they were easier to gain.

Now was the time to use them. It's slow going levelling, but with the amount of books, and some training, level 57 has been reached. Furthermore, level 58 is really not that far away either due to the over supply.

The skill point went into Speechcraft. I can now pay 500 gold to a vendor and they end up getting more money to use each day. This pays back almost instantly. One of the problems that Rastas has, is selling off loot. He simply has accumulated too many things and it's difficult to cart them around to sell off.

Additionally, I've gone now for an all light armour build. My heavy chest armour was sold off for 12,000+ gold which was good as it helped level Speechcraft further. While light armour is not worth anywhere near as much financially, it's still pretty awesome and has the same bonus's.

Apparently the armour cap is 567 rating. Anything over this is a waste. With shield on, I go over, with shield off, I go under. Next level I might spend one more point in light armour to get the 25% bonus for having a set of glass armour and that should put me over, even with a bow, without a shield.

All physical damage will be reduced by 80% which is very handy.

Permadeath is still good.

It's been a long, long time since I posted an updated on my permadeath experience with Skyrim.

A number of things had happened in real life which put it down the priority list. Work, a major expansion release in LOTRO and some significant hardware upgrades on my PC along with some OS rebuilding meant that it took a back seat to all the other things happening in my life.

I'm pleased to say though, I'm ready once more to continue, this time on a far more powerful gaming system. I'm playing on Ultra settings, with a 4gb graphics card (2 x 2gb in Crossfire configuration), plus I have a new on board PCI-E SDD drive which is simply lightening quick.

As Skyrim is a Steam game, I had to figure out how to link the folder on my old style mechanical drive, to the new SSD drive and make Steam unaware that the physical files weren't in the location that it thought they were in. Mklink was my friend :)

Additionally, with some recent Steam sales I picked up Dawnguard and the other minor expansion for house building on PC so I now have new content to explore which I know nothing of.

First logon to the game in many months was successful. Hardware upgrade, Steam reinstallation, reinstallation of all the mods etc, is completed without issues....yay!!!

It took some time to reacquaint myself with the controls. Running around on top of some battlements I was practicing jump and jumped over a big hole which would have been the death of me if I'd botched it. I only just made it over too....and I kind of had a reality check.....this is permadeath, don't be an arse and do stuff like that! You'll blow 56 levels of careful work.

So with the re-install, and a patch that had since come out while from my last post I was pleased to get a letter from the Jarl in Falkreath. I'd been doing a lot of work there, in the hope I'd be a Thane, but something had happened which stopped the Jarl from talking to me. Obviously, something in the new patch, or perhaps the expansions has realigned the Jarl and he felt it his duty to write me a letter and welcome me back. I of course, made my way straight there.

He mentioned some problem with some bandits. I needed to kill them off. I'd done this on other play throughs but had never become a Thane in this hold. I accepted and set off to kill his enemies.

The controls and feel of the game seemed strange to me after being so long away from it. I wasn't able to travel to the location directly so went to the nearest ruin. Once arrived, I was immediately set upon by foresworn. Great....not willing to take any risk here with being overrun while struggling to get my rhythm back, I potted and invisibility potion and backed away.

I stumbled across a wood elf, very suspicious.....I did a test shot nearby and he instantly turned hostile and started looking around for the person who shot the arrow. Not wasting my advantage, I plugged away at him, but he kept advancing.....hmmm....I thought I had god mode by now....

He started using magic, looked like some protection or healing spell. I rained arrows into him and eventually had him begging for mercy. Beg all you want Wood Elf, but today you die. I shot him in the neck and that was the end of him.

Not sure what his story was, maybe he would have tried to rob me if I got near enough. Oh well, he clearly was not friendly.

I moved on further up the valley and encountered a bear which I one shotted. Now that's more like it. Btw, the time was 2am so perfect for some sniping.

Finally, I've come upon the bandit outpost. I've got into a nice position in a very dark shadow and taken out the lone guard that was keeping watch. Beautiful shot through the night, poor guy didn't know what hit him.

Working my way up onto some rocks overlooking the wall I spotted another victim. Two arrows to dispatch him, and this time his friend was alerted. He gave up looking for me, turned around, and whack, an arrow hit him in the chest and finished him off too.

The bandit camp was now empty. One doorway to a mine was the only other place the bandit leader could be hiding. I've snuck in and could immediately hear the guy talking about how he was thinking about getting into town and paying off his bounty so he could live a free man. The fool, he has crossed forces he could never even comprehend. The mine had some beautiful shadows where I was able to carefully take my aim and shoot into him.

Twas a beautiful shot, with a cut scene and everything. The arrow went through a gap in his heavy steel armour and almost went right through him. The flame damage from the bow lit him up from the inside out and he crumpled to the ground dead in one deadly shot.

That was it for the first session since a large break. It was quick, but it was a lot of fun. I think next session I'll spend my time doing easy quests and getting the feeling back. Then it will be time to take on some of the more risky stuff again. I hear Dawnstar is about Vampires….shudder…those guys are very tough.

Level 56 - God Mode.

The balance of the game has been skewed to the point where it really does feel that I simply can not die. I know better though. The game can quickly turn and within a few seconds, I'll be dead, probably with that surprised look on my face as I topple over.

I feel that this over confidence is going to be my downfall.

The tactic that Rastas is using is either a stealth bow shot, or a sneak up and critical strike with 30 x backstab damage. Not many things withstand the first hit.

There was one recent point where it was touch and go. Roaming around the wilderness I spotted a battle tacking place in the middle of the night between some sort of wizard and a bear. It didn't last long, but I had positioned myself in the shadows of an overhang and waited. Sure enough, the wizard walked towards me. I had my dagger ready for a nice backstab. This is the ideal way to kill magic users, don't even give them a chance to fire off their magic.

As the wizard walked closer, the eye indicator for stealth opened right up and before I knew it I'd been spotted. It was night, I was in shadows, I have muffle spell on my boots, I have a stealth rating of 100. How? Well, it turned out what I was waiting for was actually a Volkihar Master Vampire.

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Volkihar_Master_Vampire

My health evaporated under some blistering spells. It was all I could do to keep my health high enough and not get taken out. I thought about engaging, but I was burning through health and stamina potions like mad. I ended up doing the sensible thing and just running for it. This thing seems to have infinite mana. It was destroying me. I ran down a rocky hill in the middle of the night and was lucky not to have fallen to my death. I finally got rid of it.

During my most recent session I completed the quest Waking Nightmare. I must say, the Daedric whispering orders into my ear has a high appeal. I know what they want is wrong, but still, acting out what they want feels good. That Erandur was deceitful and had it coming in my opinion.

Level 51 - 100 ranking in Alchemy

Things are shaping up well, levelling has slowed considerably though, and I need those skill points badly.

I'm way to craft heavy.

Alchemy now has 100 skill point ranking, and I've invested in 5/5 to make the most powerful potions.

My time is now spent trying to sell off the massive stockpile of potions I've made, and then finding/buying components to make potions of enchantment, Daedric weapons, grand soul gems, and enchantments.

I alsmost have a complete set of Alchemy and Smithing clothes that give a 29% boost to their respective skills.

My last potion of blacksmithing potion I made gives a 130% increase to smithing skill which I believe is the highest possible amount.

My gear needs to be upgraded now both with Smithing and Enchantments. Once this is done, I'll be protected well for most situations. I still have a big fear of magic users, one shot traps, and orcs with two handed weapons.

Level 45 reach...a close call with death

Had two very close calls with death in the last session.



I was fighting Mammoths to farm Grand Souls, and heard a thundering footstep sound. I normally play with the headset on but this time was playing with speakers. Wasn't sure where it came from as my hearing direction was confused with the mammoths fighting my minion in front of me. Spun around and looked, couldn't see anything, so continued to range down my arrows onto the mammoths. It was then I was thumped by a massive giant swing knocking off 3/4 of my hit points. I was able to recover and swap from bow to my paralysing dagger and use some healing pots. The fight was pretty frantic though, it got a few big hits on me and seemed to resist the paralysis a lot. I swapped over to a daedric sword of fire (+31 fire damage), and continued my assault. It's huge blows would knock my health down a lot forcing me to use my health potions to recover. I got the feeling I was just one critical strike away from death. Thankfully, the damage the sword was doing finally paid off and the giant lay dead at me feet.



The second fight was against a bandit outlaw. We were going at each other with bows. I didn't bother even trying to dodge with my massive 550 hit points and heavy armour and just lined up the bandit and was shooting him. Problem was, he was doing the same, and was doing ALOT of damage. My damage was not fast enough and I was forced to use health pots twice. As he was finally being worn down, my hits were on 50% and I wasn't interested in wasting a health pot at this point. I lined up for the last shot, and he did the same and he managed to get me first. I blinked because my hits and dropped to just 10% and that heartbeat sound effect was coming through the speakers, I was in big trouble...he crit'ed me on that shot and almost finished me. My arrow was let loose and it struck true, dropping his hits down enough to make him beg for mercy. I put him out of his misery.

A big lapse of concentration on both accounts almost cost me my characters life. Even at level 45, I need to keep focused.



Enchanting is now 95/100, all focus is getting this maxed out to get the double enchantment trait which I've never managed to get before. This will change everything, I'll stack on fortify health on every armour/jewellery item I can equip and it will protect me much better with extra hit points.

Level 43 - very strong character build

I've reached level 43 and have maxed out my smithing. My characters build is the best yet. I feel in control on all fights and am rarely using healing pots.

Really enjoying the game now. Biggest problem is contstantly being overloaded and levelling. The levels are much slower now and I'm desperate to get traits picked out. So many good ones that I would like but can't level quick enough to get them.

My new best method of attacking is to use a dagger with paralyze on it, pop and invisibility potion, sneak behind the victim and do a 15x backstab attack on them. If they have enough hits (which they often do) to survive the initial attack, they are paralyzed and I get them with a second 15x attack as they haven't detected me while paralyzed.

It's incredibly powerful, but what can they do. I have not given them any real chance of detecting me and they are at my mercy. I'm only thankful that the NPC's haven't worked out this combo attack and get me with a similar method. I'd be one shotted for sure. I don't think I could survive more than 6 hits anyway without potting.

Hit points are boosted to over 500 atm as well to protect from big one shot hits.

Power Levelling!

Had a couple of big weekends playing Skyrim and power levelled Rastas all the way through to level 35 (about to hit 36).

Pure permadeath. No deaths.

I've managed to level well, and have good crafting skills. Still just under the levels that Lormak died though, so I am still vulnerable.

Fought a Pyromancer at level 35 and it was pretty brutal. My companion took most of the damage. Getting one of those guys at the wrong time and it's good night for sure. The fireballs were just relentless.

Archery damage has gone down considerably since the latest patch. Still, I'm hardly ever drawing my sword.

Next session will attempt to push through level 40. It's going to be some weeks away though.

Rastas - Breton Permadeath

I'm rerolling with a Breton called Rastas. 25% magic resistance is a solid bonus for the racial class. Permadeath is possible in Skyrim, perhpas this will be the right combination.

Focus will be on crafting, aclchemy, enchanting and smithing. Combat will take second place. Magic skill third place.

Key quest line focus will be to join the Imperials and follow the companion quest line through.

Rastas is in Skyrim for glory...nothing else.

Valeria has died - for real.

It's been quite sometime since I last posted an update.

Diablo 3 got released, and took my focus away from this game for a bit.

I plunged back into Skyrim over the last few weeks and managed to level Valeria up to level  27.

I'm convienced that this game could be permadeathed. She was unlucky to die fighting some Foresworn in a mine.

A Briarheart hit her with that frost spell. The mine was thin, and the spell run ice up the length of the tunnel. She survived the initial blow, but the pulse damage from the ice surrounding her dropped her before she could take some health potions.

Nice move by the Briarheart. An awesome way to use that spell.

I replayed the fight and of course was able to defeat the Foresworn without dying, so it was a wasted death. A winnable fight, just unlucky to get caught be such a good move by the Briarheart.

Once I hit level 20, the next 7 levels were all on crafting. It's a shame, as they made me quite a lot stronger, and this was my first real fight since about level 20. I'd missed the chance to do a lot of armour upgrades. It probably wouldn't have helped.


I believe if you can get to level 35 without dying, then it would take something pretty special to kill you off, or be very unlucky. The hardest difficulty level is really hardest on the first 35 levels. Once you can enchant armour properly, smith up good weapons, and create strong potions, you can certainly take on harder boss's.

I'm playing on a non-permadeath character and rarely die at level 49. The main reasons I die is simply due to me rushing through. I'm slack with crafting armour, and don't have the best gear. I'm sure a proper fitted permadeath character would be fine at the higher level stuff. I'm soloing Ancient Dragons on the hardest difficulty. I've taken out some big fights pretty comfortably solo.

In the future, I'll reroll another permadeath character. Probably after the new expansion pack is launched and a patch or two is put onto it. I found the latest 1.6 patch to be pretty buggy as well and it did impact some of my play in combat which was risky. Did not impact my death though.


RIP Valeria. It was good while it lasted.

Valeria has died....or so it seems.

Last night I had a successful battle focused session which involved me taking on Skooma smugglers nearby Whiterun, followed by a return to Helgen to fight off some bandits that moved in there, and last of all a clear out of Embershard mine between Helgen and Riverwood.

The Skooma smugglers were quite tough. They were of the Outlaw bandit type which I am unable to solo without drinking potions. Two v’s one is really difficult as they can reduce poor Valeria to near death with a couple of swipes. I wasn’t going to fight them both at once and cleverly took them on one at a time. Still burned a few health potions in the process though. While looting their three more walked in. Don’t know where they came from or why they weren’t in the camp originally, but they didn’t like me nosing around their stuff and gave chase. There is a nearby outpost with Whiterun guards at it which I ran towards. Somehow, more bandits saw me while running there so I had over five giving chase. As I arrived near the guards, there was a battle going on with bandits at the outpost. It was quite frantic, but once I shook off the ones that were running immediately behind me onto some of the guards it allowed me to turn around and shoot at them with my bow which easily does the most damage. The bandits didn’t have a chase as the guards were well equipped to handle them. They all lay dead around the tower with plenty of great loot to sell off. I returned to the camp and completed my looting there.

Next destination was Helgen. I bought a horse for the trip with my new found wealth and it was a good thing too as there were quite a lot of bandits roaming around in the ruins. The horse helped out quite a bit in the fight, distracting the bandits while it gave me a chance to pick them off with my bow. Inside the old citadel there were even more, some of them the outlaw types which were much harder to kill off. Had a very solid fight against once with a mace and shield. A worthy foe indeed! This group also had a bandit chieftain with them. A female as well, this was one very tough fight. I burned through all my poisons on her, two potions of paralysis and lots and lots of food and health potions. Finally she succumbed to my cuts and I defeated her leaving me to loot a large chest down there with some pretty decent items in it.

Last of all I cleared out Embershard mine. This was pretty easy/straight forward. Some good ore to be found in there and some average loot.

With all the money that I’ve earned I took some more lessons in one handed fighting and paid off all my bounties. I’m no longer a wanted woman and can now breathe easier. I think I need to get to all main Skyrim cities and check them out. I also need a fence to get rid of stolen items as I am building up quite the collection of stuff which I’m carrying around but can’t sell off.

My level is now midway through level 11.

So how did I die? After playing the game I was plagued by the most horrible of dreams. I am getting over a cold, and had a disturbed sleep as well which didn’t help. The dream had Valeria once again fighting the bandit chieftain, but this time her hits went down close to 0. I’ve hit the tab button and my items have shown up but in the dream I couldn’t use any health potions or food. It kept saying error. When I tab’ed out the rest of my health vanished and I fell down dead. I felt completely helpless in the dream to prevent this and was quite annoyed. I knew it was a dream but in my half sleep I kept tossing over the various options I should have done to avoid that situation. I woke up the next day exhausted. Hopefully it’s not a vision of the future J

Comprehensive Looting of Whiterun

Last nights session has given me cause to re-think the whole training strategy.

The point of it was to make sure that on each level I was heavy with combat increases. Doing too much non combat ranking in skills early makes your character weak in combat. In the early levels, it's very easy to dilute your skills as everything can go up quickly.

Picking up all the free and easy loot in places like the Companions headquarters and the Dragonsreach itself yielded me plenty of gold which allowed me to train in several ranks to up to level 8. I am maxed on level 8 already.

Plates, pots, pretty much anything that I could pick up and on sell was taken. It was picked clean. This is a safeway to gain strength but it counterproductive.

I could easily go out and fight bandits and hunt down creatures without too much risk. I can rank my combat skills pretty easily this way as I'd be constantly using them. I'd hold back on crafting and stockpile things that I've found. This way I'd still be combat heavy on my first 10+ levels, but I'd have not wasted a fortune on training. It's quite expensive and it is tedious picking up junk to sell off. Better to fight and get combat loot, save my money and spend it on better armour and magic items.

Seems obvious now, I'll be level 9 when I level up and I'm obviously much more confident now as I've invested in increased hit points each level so I'm much stronger. Additionally, I'm armed with a good supply of healing potions, have invisibility and paralysis potions. There are a number of basic dungeons nearby which will allow me to clear them out and start gathering ore which I will stockpile for crafting later.

I'm confident I can comfortably reach level 20 without taking on too much risk with fighting. I'll then focus on upgrading my characters armour/items and focus on crafting. Level 20 through to 30 would be strong crafting levels. Of course improved combat through there would also be good.

My main focus at the moment is:
Archery (11 trained ranks in this so far)
Stealth
Speech craft (for the extra money it brings in - the higher I get this early the more it pays).
One Handed (7 trained ranks in this so far)
Heavy Armour
Block

I've also left a number of skill books lying around without using them. For instance, there's one on Smithing at the Skyforge. That can stay there, when my Smithing skill is up around the 80+ mark, that book would be much better to read then, rather than now as it is very easy to gain a rank in Smithing at the moment.

I wish there was a way to pick up skill books without reading them so I could stockpile them.

Balbus - shot down and killed.

Another two levels gained. Trying desperately to hold back on levelling so I can get 5 combat ranks per level in Archery at the moment.

Found more bandits and looted along with a treasure map to find a chest near Riverwood which allowed me to finance the next 5 levels. Unfortunately, I’d gained too many skill increases and I was forced to jump from level 5 to level 7.

It’s better than the level 1 to level 5 jump I did last. I think I should be able to control it from now on. I’ve now bought 10 ranks in Archery and levelled it quite a bit in fighting as well. I have over 30 skill points in it already.

Also found a guy called Balbus lurking around Riverwood on the outskirts. He was blabbing on about collecting ingredients for someone called the gourmet. With pick pocketing, I inspected him and decided he was a prime target for a bit of highway robbery. I shot him in the back with my bow while he wasn’t looking and he almost died after one hit. A second shot finished him off. All his stuff is mine including his fork!

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Balbus

Valeria has now made it to Whiterun and talked with the Jarl about the Dragon attack. There’s plenty of free loot lying around his home which she is picking up and selling off. It’s quite profitable. She’ll be seeking to level up one handed with training as it should be fairly cheap to do this for 5 ranks and get it out of the way. Definitely want to get my sneak skill higher as well. Doing triple damage from sneak attacks is really going to be a big advantage if I can get that in these early levels.

So Valeria needs heaps of money for training, and she needs to pay off some bounties. Whiterun guards haven’t bothered to halt her for the 25 gold bounty on her head there. That’s fine with me. She wants to clear the Falkereath bounty as soon as possible.

The Companions have also extended an invite to their organisation. I should go there and loot their building clean as well. I’m not too interested in what they do at this point of the game, but it does have an advantage of some paid work and a place to stay.

Hired Thugs – Battle of Riverwood

As Valeria returns to Riverwood, laden with loot from bandits and Talsgar the Wanderer she spies a few burly Nords walking towards her from the Sleeping Giant Inn.

 

A feeling of apprehension arose in her, but she walked forward. Sure enough, it was bad news. These were apparently hired thugs sent to teach her a lesson. They were all wearing heavy armour, two with two handed weapons the other with sword and shield.

 

Still on level 1, Valeria was clearly out matched by these guys. All she could do was run for it. The whoosh of a two handed weapon gave her extra incentive to sprint away and jump a fence to get out of the immediate danger. Maybe there was a better way out of this, she waited until they got close enough and used “Voice of the Emperor” on them and two of them sheathed their weapons, the third continued on with the attack.

How dare they! Time to fight back. She ran down towards the rivers edge and use her new evasive technique to outfox the pursing hired thug. All arrows were put into him and he was still up and running with about 33% of health. These guys were tough too! Then she remembered the paralysis poison. If she could coat her sword with that, paralyze this guy, and then hack into him, it may just be enough to take him out of action. The plan worked brilliantly. As the poison wore off the thug, he tried to rise to his feet but it was too late. The finally killing blow came as a cut scene. Ha! Serves him right.

 

On his body was a note saying that Orgnar at the Sleeping Giant Inn had hired them to teach me a lesson. What! I only stole a bag of coins from under his counter…there is no way he saw me do that….hmm.

As this news sunk in, the two other thugs showed on the other side of the river. A battle which now stretched out to around 30 minutes occurred. I quickly ran out of arrow recovered from the dead thugs body and ended up using my Sparks spell to range them both down. It took ages. They had a lot of health and I constantly had to move around using the river as a way to slow them down and gain distance from them. It was a pretty intense fight with two of them, but once one died, the other was easier to manage and it was another great victory despite still being on level 1.

 

I now had enough gold generated by selling all the loot from the fighting to buy training for archery 5 times. Gladly I leveled up and had enough ranks to push me midway through level 5. Missed out on training a bit then, but it can’t be helped. All level bonus’s were put into health. Now I need to find enough gold for another 5 training sessions.

I went back to the Sleeping Giant Inn and eyeballed Orgnar. He pretended everything was okay. If I hadn’t seen the note, I’d have never known. I told him all about these thugs that I beat up alongside the river so I think he got the message. Back off Orgnar, try that again and I’ll come back and personally run you though!

Talsgar the Wanderer - Encounter

My escape from Helgen was amazing. I’d learned some basic fighting skills from some of the caravan guards as we travelled through Skyrim and I put these new skills to the test as we fought our way through the dungeons underneath Helgen.

Stormcloak prisoners and escapees were within. My anger at my recent experience with them rose in me like a red tide. My dance of death was too quick for them as I nimbly worked them around the stone chambers darting in and out of their wild swings gradually wearing them down. It was quite satisfying to bury my sword up to the hilt into the back of one of them. That was the first time I’d ever hurt anybody let alone killed. A strange thing has awoken within me as I enjoyed it a lot. I hate these Nord Stormcloaks and death is almost too good for them.

I picked up some of their weapons. Big two handed swords, axes and hammers. How great would it be to take a huge swing at one of them while they were unprepared? With that thought in mind, I ran into the next room and did that very thing. The blow staggered back a bear like man and he was badly wounded. Now it was time to unsheathe my swords and finish him off with my flashing blades. He never stood a chance and his blood washed over me as I delivered the killing blow. This feels fantastic!

I escaped with a Nord called Hadvar, who helped me hide in Riverwood. I don’t really like Hadvar or his family, or in fact Nords in general (understandably). However, he is an Imperial Solider fighting the very Stormcloaks I’ve sworn vengeance on. I’ll tolerate them, but I really want to get out of this backwater village filled with hicks and go to some place more civilized like Solitude and get my life back in order. They offered to help me, but they said I need to go to Whiterun and inform the Jarl about the Dragon. I’ll do this, as it may help me in Solitude when I offer my services to the Imperial’s there. Hadvar’s father is a blacksmith and he said I can take what I need. His wife is strange though, she told me to keep away from her husband and when I took a hunting bow from a table downstairs she drew a knife on me. Silly bitch! I calmed her with my voice of the emperor ability and got out of there.

On the way to Riverwood, Hadvar and I had killed three bandits at a camp, and another guarding a mine entry, plus three wolves. These lands are certainly dangerous but Hadvar didn’t think much of it. Seems like anybody on the open roads is fair game. I returned to where our fighting occurred after my trip to Hadvar’s family for the purpose of looting the dead bodies. I was surprised to see a burly Nord running down the path towards me. I drew my weapon but before I could swing at him, he handed me some magic armour and told me that he would return for it later and I’d better not double cross him or he’d kill me. Bah…I’m not going to be threatened like that. I waited till he crept off some distance then I shot him with my hunting bow in his back. He took a few shots before he dropped dead. Good riddance, the man was obviously a scoundrel and wont be missed.

I walked further up the path and there is yet another person on the road, a hunter. He asks if I’d seen anybody running through here. I’m a bit embarrassed about the dead corpse down the road so I lie to him. He then carry’s on down the road towards where the body lay. Now I have to get rid of this guy as well, I don’t want any more trouble. He took two arrows only before he got down on his knee begging for mercy. I finished him with my daggers.

A cry goes up behind me and there is yet another person on this road. It turned out this was “Talsgar the Wanderer”, some kind of Bard. I also note due to him seeing me, I have a 1000 gold bounty in Falkreath to pay out. Anyway, I was still level one as I was holding back and trying to get five ranks in my training. I shot him with an arrow and it took off less than 5% of his health.

 http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Talk:Talsgar_the_Wanderer

This guy was mean, and to top it off, he was doing some kind of magic as well but thankfully not the destruction kind. I ran for it, ran down the road into the river and swam across it. Talsgar was on the other side yelling out at me but he did not cross the river. Instead, he spotted another Hunter camped by the river and started to attack him as well. What a psycho! I knew I had to do something here, so I got into position while Talsgar and the Hunter fought and started shooting him in the back with my bow. I didn’t do much damage to him, but I was gradually wearing him down. The Hunter eventually was cut down and Talsgar turned on me next. For the next 10 minutes we had a running battle in and out of the river and around rocks while I kept away from the reach of his dagger but constantly shot at him with bow. Eventually I ran out of arrows and I engaged with my big two handed attack and then with my one handed attacks to finish him off. He took a beating but he finally died and it was over. This guy was carrying plenty of loot too so it was good, potion of paralysis was the highlight.

Big problem though, I have a 25 gold bounty in Whiterun due to my criminal activity in Riverwood, and I also have a 1000 gold bounty in Falkreath. The bounty wasn’t removed when Talsgar died. I’m going to be in big trouble if I got anywhere near Falkreath without the money to cover my bounty. I don’t like having this hanging over my head, I want to get a clean name as soon as possible. 1000 gold is a lot though.

Name meaning - background story

Her second name comes from her Grand Father. He was a famous bowman that patrolled the walls of the Imperial City. During a festival, a competition was held to see who could shoot an arrow the farthest from the city walls. Many attempted and it was quite an event but it was Valeria’s grandfather’s practiced arm that was able to have the winning shot with a convincing win over the nearest competitor.

The Emperor himself was watching and enjoyed the competition, especially seeing it was one of his own city guards that had won.

The prize was a handsome payout of 500 gold and the Emperor bestowed a new name that would be passed onto all descendants of the victor. The name was of course Arquebus which in old Imperial language roughly translates to “Long Shot” or “Far Shot”.

For this reason, Valeria will favour bow above all else. It’s in her family’s blood.

Valeria Arquebus - Mission Statement

Mission Statement:

For Valeria Arquebus the same rules of permadeath will apply as stated in Lormak’s mission statement. Please see “What are the rules of Permadeath in Skyrim?” on the link below.

http://lormakthebear.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/lormak-mission-statement.html

Details on “What is Permadeath” and “Spoilers” are also on the link. Yes, this blog will contain spoilers. This is not a guide but a log of events in my permadeath playthough.


Who is Valeria Arquebus?

Valeria the daughter of an Imperial merchant that has travelled to Skyrim to sell wares. It was a risky enterprise, with the war unfolding, but it was a calculated risk her father was willing to take. “With high risk, comes high rewards” he used to say to her.

They sold all their assets back home and pooled their wealth. The idea was that they would bring supplies, weapons, armour and luxury’s to one of the Imperial camps deep in Skyrim.  No doubt, these items would be in high demand they could command a high price. Better still, they hoped they could trade warm blankets and jackets for captured treasures. “What good are baubles and gems when you are freezing to death”, her father told her.

Valeria helped plan out the trip meticulously. At first she thought this trip was too dangerous and argued with her father. Overtime, he won her over to the idea. It did indeed have it’s merits, by modest calculations they could get 3 or 4 years worth of profit out of this one trip alone. At best case, they would have several years worth of profit which would set them all up for life. Valeria was under no illusions though. She made sure a large caravan guard was hired. This cut into the profits but it was foolish not to have, they’d be a prime target for any Stormcloaks or bandits.

The journey was going smoothly, they were very close to their final destination, an Imperial camp outside of Helgen. They’d offloaded a large amount of cargo through the Imperial controlled towns and fortress’s they’d passed on the way, each step deeper into Skyrim meant that their profit margins shot upwards, higher and higher. This last camp was full of front line troops and they would pay handsomely for the remaining items available for trade.

As the day drew to an end, they could see the camp fires in the distance to their final destination. Her father leaned over to her and gave Valeria a big hug and said “Well done Valeria, we’ve made it”. He had a proud look in his eyes and looked incredibly happy. All of a sudden, his body jolted, his eyes rolled back in his head and he slumped forwards. Valeria caught him and felt warm blood run down her hands as they locked around his back. An arrow was sticking out of this back, it had gone in deeply and pierced his heart!

In horror she saw Stormcloak warriors leap from the bushes alongside the road and start to cut through the guards. These looked to be hardened crazed fighters. One was foaming at the mouth as he hacked off the head of one of the guards and let loose a blood curdling cry as the blood sprayed up over him.

Valeria didn’t have time to mourn, she knew it was all over. The caravan was being overwhelmed all she could think about was to save herself. She leapt into the bushes on the side of the road and started to yell. Somehow, nobody seemed to notice and she ran and ran. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity she slowed down and stopped and started to cry as the horrors of what just happened started to sink in. Her father was dead, she was lost in a foreign land, it was freezing cold and she had lost everything. The situation was utterly hopeless and she sunk to her knees with her over her eyes sobbing.

She didn’t hear anybody approach, but she did feel the cold steel blade on her throat and she certainly felt being lifted up by her hair. A couple of Stormcloaks had followed her after all! They turned her around and she could see in their eyes what they were thinking. One of them threw down his cloak on the snow, and then they threw her down onto it and told her to take off her pants. She froze, and they stepped closer ready to strike her when a noise of armour clanking could be heard approaching. In the darkness the Stormcloaks must have thought these were more of their friends but they were wrong. These were Imperial Legionnaires.

There were many of them too. They told the Stormcloaks to surrender, which they did. Unfortunately the Legionnaires also captured Valeria. They’d assumed that she was with the other two and was settling in for the night. She was after all found lying on a Stormcloak. Her pleas fell on deaf ears and the other prisoners seeing what was happening played along with her being with them. She started to argue and struggle and that’s when an officer struck her with the pommel of his sword and knocked her out.

Next thing she knew, she woke up on a cart heading into Helgen. Thankfully, it looked like those other prisoners hadn’t had their way with her, they were nowhere to be seen and she was with a new group of prisoners. One apparently was Ulfric Stormcloak himself. She kept silent, she hated him bitterly, and hated his army and everything he stood for. It’s due to him that all her dreams were ruined and her father was dead. As she stared at him, she knew that one day she would get revenge on this man personally.

As she was unloaded into Helgen, she had to give her name and found out unbelievably that she was to be executed. Nobody would listen to her, and as she put her head onto the chopping block it looked like this would be it....but then the dragon attacked.........this is where Valeria’s permadeath adventure begins.


Valeria’s Skyrim Strategy:

The stealth archer way technique is definitely the right combat style for permadeath. No doubt about it. This will continue to be used with Valeria.

Patch 1.5 of Skyrim introduced changes to the way Smithing worked. In my opinion, this is an improvement. Smithing is vitally important but the level rate will be slowed down. Being able to make good items and armour is critical. However, as it was much easier to level this with Lormak I feel that I became too craft heavy in my character without enough fighting. More combat experience will be needed to improve Heavy armour, weapon skills and Block.

Valeria will favour one handed combat and specialise in bladed weapons this time. Lormak’s love of the mace was good but it is a slower weapon. I’ll experiment between dagger and sword. Dagger should be much quicker but do less damage. The thing is, with each hit you can coat the blade with poison, so you can hit more poisoned attacks with a dagger v’s a sword or mace.

I’ll use the Warrior stone rather than the Thief stone at the beginning. This should make combat skills level faster. Picking locks, stealth will level slower.

Alchemy wasn’t particularly strong with Lormak. I see this as the weakness it is. Being able to make strong and deadly potions will give me a big edge. Poisons in particular were underutilised. The ones I did make were weak. I need to improve these and make strong ones and they will do big damage. Paralysis and invisibility potions are a must as well.

Valeria’s goal will be to always get 5 ranks of trained every level. This is going to require a lot of money. Valeria will be money focused, picking up everything she can and selling it. She can raise huge amounts of funds by doing this. Additionally, there are a lot of the miscellaneous quests that Lormak neglected that do pay out good coin. These are easy wins. She will focus on doing these easier quests to get income up to hit her 5 ranks trained per level requirement. She also has the “Voice of the Emperor” racial skill which I understand also gives a +30 in Speech which is handy for doing trades.

Housing – Lormak was hopeless, he owned only one house in Whiterun. Valeria seeks to rebuild her wealth as well as seek revenge on the Stormcloaks. Owning property and business’s will help her fund her revenge.

Main quest line for Dragon born. This is not a priority for Valeria. She will be unaware she is Dragon born until much later in the game than Lormak. While dragon’s aren’t really a big issue for permadeath on master difficulty level, Valeria’s objectives are to re-establish herself in Skyrim and build herself up for the revenge on the Stormcloaks. Only after this objective is complete will she take stock of the other opportunities she will have in this new land.

Weak in magic, very strong for health, moderate for Stamina. First 10 levels will put ranks in health only. More hit points, mean more protection from one shot kills.

Keep well clear of one shot foes. Anybody with two handed weapons, especially orcs with two hander weapons in heavy armour. A cut scene can trigger on these attacks even with health being near full. This foes are incredibly dangerous. With patch 1.5 there may also be the risk of cut scene triggering on ranged attacks. Best insurance is to always have high health, good items, and enchantments that protect you. Early levels in the game carry the greatest risk but clearly, it’s a risk at any level.

Slow and steady. No need to rush through levels. Take your time, enjoy the game. Level carefully.

Skyrim Permadeath - Valeria Arquebus

I've re-rolled and created a new character which I hope will take me further on my permadeath journey in Skyrim.

Her name is Valeria Arquebus, a female Imperial with an axe to grind against the Stormcloaks.

Her background story will be told in another post along with a mission statement. She will be bound by the same permadeath restrictions as Lormak.

Lormak is dead - the end of his permadeath adventure

The mighty bear has died.

Felled through dubious game mechanics.

At the end of level 37, taking on a bandit chief, who on his last leg ran Lormak through, impaling the big man on a two handed sword.

What's worse, the bandit chief fell dead as soon as the cut scene finished.

I had a clear view of Lormak's health, greater than 50% health, probably 55% - 60%. Which would translate to close to 200 hit points left.

The brigand chief has triggered some kind of cutscene on a regular attack and simply run Lormak through. I have to object that I was unable to use my shield. After the cutscene triggers, it simply means you die. So if you get caught with your shield down, you risk the cutscene triggering and then will have no ability to react to it.

This is wrong. I know it's on master difficulty but that is not fair. A blocked power attack is not going to take that many hit points off. I seriously doubt he could power attack anyway, as it was near the end of the fight, he had wasted his big hits on me early (which I blocked) and my mace drains staminia.

So he does a regular attack triggers a cut scene and gets rid of more than 50% of a level 37's health, whom has legendary dragon plate armour on and a dragon shield.

This is a flaw in game design. Cutscenes should only trigger when a character is unable to block (back attack) or down on the ground begging for mercy. The other exception is when an attack is blocked, but they don't have enough hitpoints to soak up the damage. They would die anyway, so a cut scene could rightly trigger on a person with low hitpoints that is blocking.

Having such a large amount of health left, plus the ability to block the attack, I feel cheated.

What's more confusing is that Lormak seems to have delt the guy the final death blow just as the cut scene triggered. The cut scene was not interrupted and the guy runs Lormak through then drops dead himself. WTF?


I went back and replayed the fight. Same thing happened again, but this time I was on 40% health. The bandit chief didn't drop dead this time though as I didn't have him down low enough.

It would seem if the shield is raised, then it stops the cutscene from triggering. However, you can't kill the guy then, you have to hit him with your mace sooner or later. Lowering the shield and having hits which are lower than the maximum damage that he could do on a big power attack seems to make a cut scene possible even with regular attacks. It seems to work like this as the player. They've been a few times when I've done massive damage via a cutscene to finish a foe off without a power attack.

When you are on the recieving end of this, it really doesn't seem right. The mechanics behind how this work are out of balance for both the player and the NPC's. Cutscenes should only trigger when you give them a finishing move. They need to be sufficiently weakened without the ability to avoid the attack.


This is the last post for this blog. The best that Lormak can hope for now is that he comes back as some sort of vengeful spirit.

MODS used in this Permadeath playthough with Lormak

Skyrim has a strong mod’ing community and to enhance the enjoyment of playing, I’ve applied a few Mods.

Remember, that the mod can not provide a clear advantage, like special items, or exploits, or non native content where special rewards are gained. The mods I’ve used are as follows:

Crimson Tide

Provides much more bloodier (realistic) wounds and even have enemies bleed out on the ground. Arrow wounds are now soaked with blood. Nice!!! Must have!

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=12798

Sounds of Skyrim – Dungeons

Adds much more environmental sounds in the dungeons. I can hear rats squeaking somewhere, and can even hear if it’s raining if I’m near the entry way to a dungeon. Pretty cool.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=8601

Sounds of Skyrim – Wilds

Here the rustle of critters as they wander around the forest. More bird noises. Fox barks, rabbit screams (yes rabbits do scream). Very nice. Only thing with this, is it freaks me out, I hear stuff rustling in the forest and poor Lormak is spinning around looking for assailants in a cold sweat.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=10886

SkyUI

Enhanced user manager which replaces the default game system. This is far superior. Why wasn’t it good like this in the first place? This is simply a must have, no excuses.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=3863

Static Mesh Improvement Mod

Smooths out some of the rougher graphics on some of the items strewn around Skyrim. Makes Skyrim more graphically pleasing to the eye.  

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=8655

Skyrim HD – 2k Textures

Massive project, massive mod. Focus on graphical upgrades to Skryim to all environments.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=607

All of these increase the immersion to the game, none give me any advantage whatsoever on the game itself. They are basically graphical enhancements or sound enhancements. All very nice though, I’m glad I have them installed. They work well. I have noticed my FPS has dropped in some areas, and I am investigating another mod to get more out of my graphics card. This is Skyboost. I don’t think it’s ready yet for this version of Skyrim so I can wait.

Influence of the Daedra on Lormak “The Bear”

Lormak follows Talos, but is also open to the allure of the Daedric Lords and simply can not say no to offers of power from them. Normally there is great risk involved with dealing with them. Already, a few interactions have started to look bad, only for Lormak to turn it around and come out with a great looking item.

It seems the way to get onside with them, is to simply do exactly what they want.

Lets look at a few cases.

Molag Bal

Tells Lormak to kill two priests. Lormak follows orders without question and gets the awesomely evil looking Mace of Molag Bal to smite his enemy’s with.

Hircine

After acquiring a cursed ring off a Werewolf, Lormak then follows directions to kill a special beast of the forest. Hircine appears and orders  the death of the Werewolf. Without question, Lormak agrees and succeeds being awarded favour as well as some special armour made from the hide the Werewolf. Nice! There’s also talk at the Companions about a blessing that can be awarded to those in the inner circle. Lormak’s not exactly comfortable with this, as it does have it’s downside.....but then again, the Companions are highly regarded in Skyrim, and being part of the inner circle is prestigious cant be too bad if this is true, maybe I’ll take them up on that offer.....

Namira

Lormak encountered one of her follows who told him she knew he had feasted on the dead before...maybe as a child. This did unsettle Lormak quite a bit, but it also made him think that maybe he did do these things.....if anybody would know, it would be this disciple that follows Namira. Maybe he ate a dead person without knowing. Those dodgy meat sellers could have sold him human remains and he wouldn’t know. Maybe that lump of flesh he found by the side of the road that time wasn’t venison....

She’s extended an invite to Lormak to join her and help her out with a task at their cave. No doubt some feasting on the dead will be needed. While unpleasant for some, Lormak must consider this as a way to get in favour with a powerful Deadra. Anyway, it should make for an interesting experience.  

Nocturnal

Clearly a Daedra of interest, especially for the likes of Lormak. There’s indirect work going on here, but worth a mention as Lormak’s path in shadows is clearly aligned closely to what Nocturnal holds dear especially since joining the thieves guild.

He also is particularly respectful of Sithus and is working in the Dark Brotherhood already in his name. I’ll add more as I come across them and what Lormaks interactions are like. Remember, while some of his deeds can be looked at as repulsive, he is doing this for ultimate power, for the ultimate goal of throwing out the Imperials from Skyrim. He knows that just one person can’t make a change like that, unless they are backed by some powerful deitys.

Key Skills of Permadeath

As Lormak’s travels unfold in Skyrim, there seems to be a number of key skills that assist with Permadeath play that offer a big amount of survivability and almost should be focused on at all costs.

Here’s my thoughts on some:

1.       Eagle Eye – Archery

As Lormak’s whole survival method is a stealth/ranged build (which is working very nicely), it’s skills like this that really leap out. Having some bandit chief in plate steel armour running at you, constantly getting staggered which pretty much allows you to loose another arrow into him is a huge bonus.

2.       Power Shot – Archery

30% faster draw with bow...means 30% more arrow output. Coupled with Eagle Eye, the archer becomes a deadly damage dealer from range. 1 v 1 fights rarely involve a melee encounter. 1 v 1 with archers normally means Lormak is able to get the damage output much faster than the foes and with staggering happening, can land multiple unanswered shots. With sneak attacks hitting multiple times, it’s very deadly.

3.       Bullseye – Archery

15% Chance of paralysing the target for a few seconds. This will be very useful. Sure, you can use potions to get this effect, but this comes free of charge. A downed unit is one you can continue to lay down the pain on without any fear of retaliation. Think of it, a mage going for you, but you drop this little beauty on him, and he is down on the ground unable to defend, and you can just keep shooting arrows into that milk drinker and he can’t do anything about it.

4.       Stealth – Sneak

Rank this up as quickly and as much as possible. Being unseen means you control the fight. Having high ranks in this, often means you can let off two or more stealth attacks on a target before being detected.

5.       Light Foot – Sneak

Even the most cautious adventurer sometimes misses the trap trigger plate lying on the floor. With this nice little perk, you manage to avoid the traps without even realising it. More often than not, it’s your poor follower that cops the brunt of traps. Getting one-shotted by a trap is a serious risk for killing your character. This is insurance.

6.       Deadly Aim – Sneak

Triple damage from stealth on ranged attacks. You’d have to be crazy not to get this. This is awesome. This is what makes the whole stealth / range build work so well.

7.       Shadow Warrior – Sneak

I’ve never earned this, but I want it. Standing and crouching causes enemies to lose sight of you again forcing them to look for you again. Obviously if you have massive stealth, this could be a deadly advantage. Using invisibility potions, when doing this should stop combat and allow you to quietly line them up for another dose of sneak attack damage. If/when Lormak earns this, it’s going to be a big advantage.

8.       Shield Wall – Block

There are times where you need to get a big heavy shield and hide behind it while multiple foes hammer down on it. This is a good time to pray to Talos, it’s also a good time to be thankful for buying the ranks in this skill as you can increase the effectiveness of blocking by up to 50%. Those massive two handed blows which would normally kill you in one hit are battered away and give you a chance to drink those potions. Is this a life saver? You betcha!

9.       Deflect Arrows – Block

Arrows no longer do damage...if they hit the shield. Interesting.....and interesting why Lormak does not yet have this skill. This is on my to do list. Arrows on Master Difficulty hurt plenty. This skill will save potions, and let Lormak close in onto range foes and mix it up 1 on 1 for some well needed melee training.

10.   All Smithing

Being able to make high quality weapons and armour is no doubt a cornerstone for survival in a hostile place like Skryim. Ignore this skill at your peril. Heavy armour in particular is the way to go for buffering against massive damage.

With all these covered, other skills like Enchanting and Alchemy are the cherry on top. I don’t rate magic much as must have survival skills. Restoration is useful, but potions are much quicker and I am finding that I use restoration when a battle is finished to quickly heal up. I’ve bought no skills in magic at all.

Close to Level 38 now - many close shaves with death!

Those Grey Beards have summoned Lormak “The Bear” and he must go and pay them a visit. He has put of this journey for far too long and simply can not keep them waiting any longer. They are obviously very important.

The problem is that they are based in High Hrothgar which is a risky overland trip into mostly unchartered territory filled with all sorts of beasts and monsters as well as a dragon or two dive bombing poor Lormak on the way. Target destination is Ivarstead at the base of the mountains.

There seems to be no easy way to get there. Lormak decides to leave from Riften and travel through the woods away from the road. This way, it is hoped, that many of the random road encounters will be missed. He is particularly fearful of rouge mages that will start launching deadly magical attacks on sight.

So off he trundles through the pleasant woods. The sounds of the forest do nothing to relax Lormak who is crouched down and gripping his bow tightly.

First up, a camp fire flickers in the darkness ahead. He gets in closer, they could be simple hunters, or they could be a small group of bandits. He has learned that bandits react to arrows being fired near them, while friendly folk don’t seem to mind. A test arrow is fired from the darkness and lands into one of their tents....no reaction.....phew, turns out they are friendly hunters.

Just down the hillside from them, a Spriggan is spotted wandering around, and it’s controlling two cave bears which are glowing with green magic. This is Lormak’s first encounter with one of these creatures. It looks nasty, and those cave bears aren’t pushovers either. Lormak sets himself on a hill side and strategically launches bow attacks into them. The Spriggan is badly wounded and the bears attack poor Marcurio giving Lormak the time to finish the Spriggan who turns out to be a bit tougher than it first looked as it heals itself a few times before it finally drops. The two bears are then easy pickings, one is already near death and the other is focused on Marcurio giving Lormak some free shots into it’s bulky back.

So far so good, this little jaunt through the forest turns out to be easy.

Lormak travels further and further from Riften, killing a few more sole cave bears, and two brigands and their dog. He finally comes across another campsite which has a nearby fort in the distance.

It’s here he meets Stalleo who tells a tale of woe about the bandits that have taken over his home of Treva’s Watch.  This is a sidetrack to getting to High Hrothgar but the challenge intrigues Lormak, especially when Stalleo says Lormak can keep everything he finds. He will regret that when he finds that there is nothing at all left in Treva’s Watch once his done....if he survives. That’s what you get when you hire the best though.

So in we go with high expectations this will simply be a seek and destroy mission without too much fuss.

The first fight went badly. Too many bandits swarmed over poor Marcurio and Lormak forcing them to beat a hasty retreat to the safety outside. This did not turn them off though, once revived they got back in and could see a couple of bandits from the early fight already lay dead. One foolishly stayed near the doorway and was ambushed and killed leaving only a couple more left which were easily dispatched.

We push in and come to another tricky fight which forces us backwards. We take them down though as they follow us through the corridors and our confidences rises. A new skill is earned for Lormak where he can now fire a bow 30% faster. This is a huge bonus!

Then comes the disaster. In a tight corridor, a bandit can be seen asleep on he’s bed through an open doorway. Lormak of course stealth attacks and the arrow lodges in the door frame without hitting the bandit. Of course, this wakes him up, and his mate in the same room. A few other red dots appear on the radar as well as more bandits become aware of the intruder.

The woken bandit stumbles out and Lormak focus’s on taking him out as a priority. Whack...arrow strike in the chest, knocks him back a bit, whack another one, and another knock back. Whack a third arrow and the guy is still alive, but hardly has any more health. Behind him though, I now have other bandits join the fight, running from some other room that I can’t see. This is not good...Lormak’s trying to back down the corridor but can’t, Marcurio is blocking the way firing off lightening bolts into the mob. There are five in total, one down on his knees with arrows sticking out of his chest begging for mercy, the others behind firing arrows and one using spells.

Grrrr...darn it....Lormak tries to take out the weakened one but just can’t get that last arrow to take him out and the mob is onto him. Two guys with two handed weapons power attack and land their blows.....Lormak almost dies the first time. He frantically pops lots of potions to stay up in the fight. Immediately afterwards, the lightening bold and arrows land, more potions. Then after that more double handed attacks landing. It’s looking really grim here, he is essentially stuck, and getting absolutely pounded into. Raising his shield and guzzling potions is pretty much all he can do right now to stay up.

He swings around and tries jumping past Marcurio and succeeds in jumping up and down with his back to two guys with two handed swords hacking into him (one is a bandit chief as well to make it worse). More potions....I’m starting to run out, I’ve gone through over 20 by now.

I’m popping pretty much any potion that gives me a benefit. Then I see the potion of brief invisibility that I’ve been saving for just a situation. I pop that...and everything changes. The focus goes to Marcurio, who moves out of my way, and I am able to get out of danger. I am hit by some stray shot and become visible again but run through the twisting corridors fearful that I’ll blunder into a dead end and be hacked down there.

Thankfully, I get to an area near the entry way. I see Marcurio following me....or so I thought....it was the bandit chief....crap!!!! He two hand attacks me again and staggers me back. I have to drink yet more potions and then I start a one v one fight with this guy. He is dangerous, his hits take off around 40% every chop, so it’s a lot of potions. I’m blocking some though. Eventually I use my deadly mace to rain blows down upon him. He blocks constantly with his two handed sword but the damage is getting through to the point he can’t block any more and gets down and begs for mercy. It still takes three strikes while he is prone to finally lay him flat on the stones. I’ve lost the others and am able to regroup and pick them off and clear out the rest of the fort.

Lormak’s life had flashed before his eyes. He was done for. Only after reflecting on the incident did he realise that he could have used his Nord skill to force them to flee, or even used his Dragon Shout to push them back. Doing ranged stealth attacks all the time have let him forget some of these skills. Need to remember them, that was almost the end of the campaign.

Now he has the joyful task of looting everything possible and then going back to Riften and selling it all off. He can now travel by horse to this area and continue on to Ivarstead and then to the Grey Beards themselves.

A very large battle breaks out near Riften - Level 33 reached

It's been solid going. Lormak "The Bear" is Dragon Born and has defeated his first Dragon. All along, deep down he knew he was special. The Empire was foolish to falsely accuse him, he has not forgotten about the Stormcloaks and revenge on the Imperials.

In fact, he spotted a Stormcloak that had been captured by the Imperials. This injustice was soon corrected, one Stormcloak free, two Imperial swine cut down and left to rot on the side of the road.

A fortress filled with those Imperial dogs was found at the same time a roaming dragon decided to attack. The dragon was slain inside the fort and the rejoicing by the Imperials was short lived as a ranged attacker picked off the men on the walls and then started indiscriminately taking out anybody in the courtyard. Once everyone was dead outside, Lormak moved into the Fort itself to slay the commander and his few remaining guards. While he is yet to be an offical Stormcloak, he is already making an impact.

It almost came unstuck though. While collecting a horse called "Frost" and riding it back to a man called Louis Letrush, a huge battle unfolded. Lormak was burdened down with a huge amount of loot, which he was dealing with by riding a horse.

First of all, two magic users were in view clearly attacking something. As they back peddled, towards where Lormak was, he dismounted from the horse and started laying down some ambushing bow shots from the cover of some bushes. It's then that multiple strong bandits were spotted fighting these mages.

One mage fell, and the other put up a very good fight for a weak milk drinker. He eventually fell due to weight of numbers though. By this stage, they'd moved over to where Louis Letrush was waiting for the horse delivery. Louis has foolishly run in and taken them on, then Frost joined in also as well as my follower Mercurio. I had no choice but to start firing into the melee.

As my arrows found their mark, the foes turned on me and rushed towards Lormak's hiding spot. Lormak couldn't run, as he was so heavily weighed down. Lormak didn't want to drop all his hard earned loot either. Luckily, Frost came within grabbing distance and Lormak mounted up on this mighty steed.

Another person joined in the fight. Some guy trying to raise a dead wolf. I saw him briefly, and after the fight was over he was gone. Not sure if his body is lying out there somewhere, or he ran for it. He did have an interesting staff on him though.

Anyway, Lormak circled the fighting on his horse while the tough looking bandits took on everyone one else. This got tiresome so Lormak rode up the pathway a bit, dismounted and peppered them as they gave chase.

Unfortunately, Frost thought it was a good idea to help out. He ran back and was peppered with arrows until he fell dead on the road. My quest to hand him in was over, failed. Silly horse, but it was a fight to the death, and these guys already took out two wizards, soaked up heaps of massive damage already and were still coming.

Luckily they were at the end of their tether, and Mercurio and I cleaned them up. Louis Letrush turned out to be no help as he constantly was beaten down and only looked to be fighting with a butter knife.  As the last one fell, a couple of Cave Bears then thought it would be a good time to have a go at us. They were right, we were completely unprepared and they rushed into us. We beat them off, and then killed them but it was not without cost. A vast amount of healing positions were quaffed to stay alive.

We then limped to the safety of Riften and were glad to get off the open road. It is a very hostile area.

Level 27 - Still Permadeath.

What's made a big difference is the use of a horse. I know you can't get the horse to carry your gear, but if you are over encumbered, and mount the horse, you can fast travel.

I cleared out Fort Greymoor near Whiterun and then spent time picking up all the loot I could carry. It was slow going, but once clear, I stepped outside.

There I found one last bandit who got missed in the initial purge (which was awesome, ranged attacks in the dark in stealth picked off all the sentry’s).

A bitter fight to the death which was a bit tricky as I could barely move. Lucky she wanted to go toe to toe and wasn't a magic user. It was a good fight, but my new mace took it's toll. Eventually she bowed down in front of Lormak and begged for mercy, he then clobbered her and put her out of her misery. A great cut scene happened where it splattered her on the stones of the fort. Awesome! Lormak's loving that evil looking mace.

Anyway, Lormak stored all the loot in a chest in the courtyard area. He then fast travelled to Whiterun stables, picked up his horse which was waiting there, fast travelled back to the Fort, picked up all the loot, remounted and then fast travelled back into Whiterun itself.

Sounds like a lot of mucking around, but this was very efficient. Lormak was then able to buy out iron ingots and leather from the smith there, and then work over the loot and upgrade heaps of it in one massive crafting session. This helped out a lot. I can now craft Ebony items which is going to be the next big thing. Will need lots of coin to get a complete set. Then Dustman's Cairn will surely be able to be completely cleaned out.

Mace of Molag Bal

Yes, that's right. While in Markarth Lormak was spoken to by the Daedric Prince Molag Bal. Unable to resist the chance of impressing a deity, he has followed the directions of the Daedric Prince and been rewarded with an awesome mace.

Lormak favour's the mace, and this mace is certainly one that brings him great joy. It's perfect for pulping weak milk drinkers like mages.

Level 24 - Permadeath - This is not easy!

After a couple of long sessions, Lormak has broke through the level 24 barrier and is halfway through to 25.

It's tough, very tough. So many close calls. Magic users and Orcs with two-handed weapons are the things that I most fear at the moment.

Also archers are to be feared on master level. Previously they were like annoying stinging flies in a fight, now they pack a real punch and can easily take off 33% of your hits on a regular attack, or a critical hit can take off 66%.

I'm still stuck with "Proving Honor" quest for the Companions. I am still unable to get a follower due to this. Don't know if this is a bug, but each time I go to recruit someone they inform me that I already have someone with me. Can't see how they would know that, as the guy is waiting for me outside of "Dustmans Cairn". Anyway, if anything, this is giving me a bit of focus. I need to clear out Dustmans Cairn so I am free to recruit a follower again. It's so dangerous without a follower, poor Lormak is a fine target all by himself.

So he's travelled to Dustmans Cairn and it's been super tough. Those Silverhands have been in the gym for Master difficulty and they really take some punishment. What's more, they have numbers in some fights. With hit and run tactics Lormak was able to finally beat them down and expose the entry to the final area. It's here his courage has failed. He'd run out of arrows and was low on health pots. If he is going to go into the final boss fight, then he'll need everything as it would be easy to get overwhelmed in there and die.

So that's the focus right now, getting everything ready for Dustmans Cairn. Need sneak up high, those undead seem to have real problems finding Lormak in stealth, if he can shoot from a dark nook in the room, he could clear them out without being mobbed.

Grelod the Kind

Some kid wants an old lady dead. Lormak "The Bear" has no problem with that. Sounds like the type of job he would relish. Check out this picture, the last thing that went through poor old Grelod's mind before she died was Lormak's arrow. Silly old crone, didn't even know I was there. To top it off, she caught on fire as well when the arrow struck from a sneak attack.

Sabre Cat Fight

Lormak's first encounter with a Sabre Cat was successful. These meaty beasties pack a big punch and can easily take out an unprepared adventurer.

The fight went brilliantly. Lormak was able to apply some poison on his arrow and hit the Sabre Cat out of stealth. This took around 10% of it's hits. This is on master level remember, so this thing is going to be tough to take down.

It of course works out whats going on and charges. Another arrow bury's itself into the Sabre Cat and it's upon poor Lormak who quickly gets his shield up to block the first vicious attack.

Wow...health goes down quickly even blocking the blows. A bit of food tops it back up and now the stratergy is to swing and back up. A handy bunch of stones happens to be within easy jumping distance.

Once on the stones, the Sabre Cat prowls around the base looking for a way on. As it finds the way, Lormak springs off and as it runs back around to get at Lormak again, he jumps back onto the stones. Alternating between mace hits and back onto bow, Lormak skillfully takes out the Sabre Cat with minimal damage.

Going toe to toe with one of these things will be a costly exercise. Using the landscape to gain an advantage over it was the smart way to go.

I had a look on Youtube for others that had Sabre Cat fights and there is a few good examples with Master level on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0uBNcDEfRQ

The video highlights how these things are dangerous. The thing mauled this guy and it was only his horse that saved his bacon in the end. Lormak did really well to take this one out without too much trouble.