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.

Level 15 reached. Joined the Thieves Guild

Lormak "The Bear" has joined the Thieves Guild and made level 15 on master difficulty with permadeath rules. It's not been a walk in the park, many close calls. One of which was meeting a traveller on the road near Whiterun who sunddenly cut loose some lightening bolt style magic and almost killed him in a few seconds. Poor Lormak ran for it. There was no way he was going to win that fight. Another near death was getting into the thieves guild, certainly a dangerous area in the ratway without backup. Lormak has also joined The Companions. Part of the quest line means he has to prove his honour. Unfortunately, any hired companion that was travelling with him now leaves, and he can't hire any replacement until this quest is done. This quest is going to be no small thing to do as permadeath. He will need copious amounts of healing potions, awesome armour, sneak skills thorugh the roof and massive bow damage. To do this, he now must quest solo and pick off quests that you can do like this. This is very, very hard. Level 20 is in sight though, he can do this, and maybe after level 20 he'll have enough skills levelled, and proper items to survive more difficult encounters.

This is what permadeath is all about!

Wow...just had a fight where everything was put on the line. Lormak "The Bear", has meticulously been working on his smithing to get some good quality heavy armour as an insurance policy. Having recently developed the skill to make Dwarvern Heavy armour it meant that a trip to Markarth was in order. Everything went well, he found the components to make a full set of Dwarvern armour, and also made a shield and mace (of course). A potion of blacksmithing had also been found, which gave a 30% bonus to the skill, he quickly upgraded all of his items to "superior" level.

The feeling of safety in this new impenetrable armour suit was sort lived though. Upon leaving Markarth, he stopped buy a vendor selling a companion hound. Lormak quite likes dogs and the 500 gold price did not put him off. As the transaction closed though, three armed thugs started beating into his back.

WTF!!! I'm just trying to buy a dog, for f%#ks sake! No doubt, the terrible, punishing blows that were pounded into my back would have been fatal with lesser armour. The time invested into upgrading armour has paid for itself.

Now Lormak is in big trouble. These guys aren't run of the mill bandits, these guys mean business. Luckily, the hound that he just purchased instantly jumps into the fray and starts biting the bad guys. Lormak runs for it, this 3 v 1.5 isn't the type of odds he likes. He gets back to the Markarth city gates, but then turns and starts dishing out a bit of pain back to the first thug that get within mace distance.

The others catch up, and Lormak's balancing if he should run into the city and try and shake them off there, or try and turn this around and wipe them out. The hits he has managed to score on them do maybe 5% of damage even with his superior mace. These guys are super tough.

With the dog running amok amongst them, the decision is made to run them around, and try and seperate them from each other. 1v1 is something that Lormak thinks will work. Using the natural landscape outside of Markarth Lormak achieves this and isolates one of the thugs with a shield and mace. It becomes clear that if Lormak just continues to hit the guy, he will continue to block....to his own detriment. Lormak unloads maybe 20 strikes into the guys shield arm....it probably broke in the end, and as he asked for mercy, Lormak applied the Coup De Grace and put him out of his misery.

The others close in, axe and shield guy, and two handed sword guy. Lormak goes for a massive mace strike but his foe moves out of the way and his new hound cops the brunt of the blow and dies. So much for 500 gold, but it was still money well spent.

After much running, and turning around, plugging them with his bow, and running some more, Lormak finally triumphs over some impressive odds.

This is what permadeath is about, not giving up no matter what, fighting on like it matters. This was an amazing victory!

It turns out that Olfina Gray-Mane has hired these guys to get me. Lormak can't even remember what he did wrong to her. She probably wants me and was jealous of Lormaks attention on that bard in Dawnstar...but how did she find out.....

Karita - Lormak's love interest....perhaps?

Karita the bard has had an impact on Lormak. Her stunning looks and song about the Dragonborn certainly stirred something deep in his heart. Maybe, when the imperials have been banished from Skyrim he can come back to this place and sweep her off her feet.

Lormak "The Bear" goes beyond level 5.

Lormak “The Bear” is free from the Imperials and now has a purpose in life. He will join the cause of the Storm Cloaks.

First things first though, he is only a young man and has only limited skills. Clearly, if he was to wage bloody war and vengeance on the Imperials he needs to be much better prepared than this else he’d just be one of the many young men that perish during their first real battle.

While on his way to Riverwood he was ambushed by some wolves. A bandit also joined the fight against the wolves and Lormak made short work of him too by ranging him down with a well placed shot from his long bow. Embershard mine was very close, so it’s likely the bandit was from there guarding the doorway. Hmmmm what to do.....go to Riverwood where it’s safe, or got into Embershard mine and bust some heads and get some good loot. The choice was simple, Embershard mine it is.

Lormak is wearing the vile Imperial armour out of necessity. Wearing lesser armour is just out of the question. This is permadeath, he simply must survive, and is going into a dangerous mine at level 2. Difficulty is master and it’s entirely possible to get one massive hit which will take out 100% of his health in one go. Lormak needs to be very careful.

The mine proved to be a non-event really. Lormak easily defeated all foes within the mine through a combination of bow shots from stealth and hand to hand combat where the heavy armour really paid for itself by soaking up a lot of the damage. With all the bad guys out of the mine, the entire mine site is free to plunder, which will have to wait as Lormak is carrying too much stuff, so it’s onto Riverwood now.

In Riverwood, Lormak discovered that there is a very nice looking minor ring of the archer which will grant a 15% bow damage bonus. Price at the Riverwood Trade was just over 1500 gold which is a kings ransom at this point in the game. This is a must have item though, bow attacks are going to be the main form of attack, they do massive damage and can be done out of stealth. Lormak then spends the remainder of the session improving armour then selling it off, robbing peoples homes of their gold, and making potions to then sell off for cash. The big score was stealing a potion of haggling which meant that he finally could get enough to buy the ring, and have tiny amount of gold left over. All the smithing, alchemy and trading meant that he gained a significant amount of points, enough to level to level 5.

On each level so far Lormak has invested in health. The great fear is being one shotted by something. More health means more buffer to that happening.

Next session will be more of a grind to find more crafting materials, more gold, and better armour items. There is the small problem of the inn keeper in Riverwood catching me steal something from him. It was accidental as well, Lormak went to talk to him, but he is hidden behind so much clutter on the desk that Lormak accidently stole an item right in front of him. I now have the Inn Keeper and his wife chopping into me whenever I get near. I have a 7 gold bounty, the next session should see me quickly getting rid of that.

Picture of Lormak "The Bear"

Lormak, having just escaped the Imperials in Helgen.