My Auspicious Life or the Diary of Vitus Faustus (Skyrim)

[satael]

...or a week in Skyrim.

the plan:

• race: imperial
• alternative start: sail to Skyrim (Dawnstar)
• main skills: block, conjuration, heavy armor, one-handed, restoration
• crafting skills: enchanting, smithing
• no stealing (except in special cases), no sneaking, no lockpicking (except by spell)

Day 1,
Dear Diary,
Today I arrived at Dawnstar on the ship named Sea Squall. The captain of the ship spent the whole journey whining over how everyone thinks he's too young to be a captain and how he lost his last shipment of void salts (as if to prove everyone's point). It seems that the people in the town are mostly miners and that there isn't really any other work available here. I did some digging but I didn't forget that a life of a miner wasn't why I'd come all the way to Skyrim so I decided to try my hand at hunting as I had seen a group of horkers on a beach near the town and their tusks seem to have some value here.

Since I had no skill at bow I'd have to get close and those tusks looked very sharp so I needed some protection. Luckily I still had the ore I had dug up and a session at the smelter netted me a bunch of iron and quicksilver bars. The local smith Rustleif was happy to sell me some leather in exchange for the quicksilver bars and he allowed me to use his forge. Soon I was clad in some heavy (self-made) armor and ready to face the horkers! Luckily the horkers are slow on land and with some effort I was able to dispatch 4 of them. As I was butchering the animals I noticed a shipwreck in the distance and since there was nothing more to hunt nearby I decided to go and take a closer look.

Along the way I came upon a ruined boat which served as a home for some mudcrabs which I vanquished and was awarded with a book and a pair of fine boots (courtesy of the boat's previous owner). The shipwreck turned out to be of a ship called Brinehammer and it too had some mudcrabs (that were no match for my superior might). The upper levels of the wreck revealed nothing interesting and below decks were too dark to see (remember to buy torches or a lantern).

Since it was starting to get dark outside it was a good time to head back to Dawnstar and just in time as heavy snowfall started just as I arrived at the inn (where I managed to trade horker meat and mudcrab legs for the night's lodging).
(end of day 1: level 3)


edit  -forgot to add the goal of the character: to become an evil (evil as in willing to do whatever it takes not evil as trying to kill everyone and their dog) necromantic overlord

[satael]

day 2:
Dear Diary,
The sleep on the first night here in Skyrim turned out to be filled with nightmares and since the priest that had been babbling on about dreams was still in the main room of the inn I decided to listen to what he actually had to say. While the priest who was named Erandur was all mysterious and not willing to tell all the details he seemed to have an idea how to solve the problem and it seemed like a way to get on the good side of the people here in Dawnstar so I agreed to help him out.

We headed out and were immediately attacked by bandits just in front of the inn (seems that Skyrim is a rather lawless frontier). Luckily the locals helped and we were able to defeat the bandits without much trouble.One of the bandits had a nice fur cloak and since noone objected I decided take it since it does seem to snow here very often.

While the temple was just a short walk away we still managed to run into some trouble as a half a dozen wolves tried to eat us. Erandur proved that he could hold his own against the beasts and soon I had some pelts to work on when I'd get back to the town. As we made it to the Nightcaller Temple's door (which was supposed to be the source of the problem) Erandur told some more tidbits of information that just left me even more suspicious of him.

Inside the temple where the Skull of Corruption responsible for the nightmares was we were caught in a fight between the cultists and orcs that had been sleeping due to some magic by the cultists. I also found out why the priest had needed me; someone had to drink a rather suspicious elixir which resulted in some pretty weird hallucination or timetravel. We left a trail of dead bodies (though most killing was done by the cultists and orcs, we just finished off anyone still alive after waiting for them to fight each other) and Erandur proved to be even more of a shady character as it turned out he'd been a member of the cult in this temple worshipping the Daedric lord Vaermina before he ran away. When we finally made it to the staff that was supposed to be the cause of nightmares in Dawnstar I'd had enough of Erandur and when a voice in my head suggested killing him instead of letting him destroy the staff I had no problem doing just that (it also turns out Erandur had some torches which I had once again forgotten to buy).

It was already late and I was soon back in the inn looking forward to a good night's sleep.
(end of day 2: level 6)

[Paelos]

Already listening to the Daedric Lords eh? 

[satael]

day 3:
Dear Diary,
I woke up after a good night's rest despite having the Skull of Corruption tucked away under my bed. While the locals seemed to be happy about sleeping better it was clear that my time in this town was coming to close (and some people were starting to wonder about my story of Erandur's heroic death).

While there was no carriage service in Dawnstar a local was willing to a give ride on a boat to Solitude in return for a small fee (before I left I had some time to craft a few pouches from the wolf pelts I had gathered and a new shield).

I arrived at docks below Solitude and made my way into the city itself. The first thing I noticed was an execution taking place near the gates but it wasn't my business so I moved on. I was able to sell most of the stuff I had gathered in Dawnstar at a local shop and heard that I might buy some spells from a mage in the court .

I made my way into the Blue Palace and came upon the court in session while someone was petitioning for help concerning a cave near some village. Since it turns out that the cave had actually been a lair for some necromancer a long time ago and that there probably was nothing there I volunteered to check it out (due to curiosity and a chance to make a good impression with the hobnobs). I was also able to buy some new spells to add to my repertoire though it did take most of my earnings from the visit to the Nightcaller Temple.

It was already late so I headed towards the local inn stopping only to admire some glowing insects on the way. Winking Skeever as the local inn was called offered a nice room at a reasonable price so I turned in early to get a good rest before the next day's journey to Wolfskull Cave.

(endf of day 3: level 6)

[satael]

day 4:
Dear Diary,
I woke up early and headed to the carriage located outside of Solitude walls. I managed to get a ride to the Dragon Bridge village where the petitioner the day before had come. Unfortunately it turned out when I arrived at the village and asked around for the location of the cave that it was almost as far from Dragon Bridge as it was from Solitude (so I'd endured the carriage driver's yammering about his star sign (Steed) for nothing...well, actually I had paid for it).

Luckily it was near some roads so I didn't have to slog thru the uneven terrain to get there and I was only ambushed once (by a frost spider) on my way there (Skyrim seems to be a pretty dangerous place). I knew I was at the right location and that it might hold more than enough excitement for the day when I was attacked by a couple of skeletons at the entrance.

Inside the local populace was even less friendly with visitors as I was attacked by Draugr and necromancers before I could even try to explain my presence there. Luckily they were all novices and as such didn't offer too much resistance but once I had ventured deeper into the cave and came upon a large cavern with ruins I knew I was interrupting something. A bunch of necromancers (still mostly novices) and draugr tried to stop me but with the help of my own undead (thanks to previous day's shopping) I was able to overcome them and finally end the ritual (along with its master). While one of the novices had carried a spellbook which I quickly added to my arsenal the cave proved otherwise a disappointment when it came to loot and so I was soon on the way back to Solitude. The trip was for once uneventful and I was in time to collect a small reward for stopping the second coming of Potema the Wolf Queen before turning in for the night.

(end of day 4: level 9)

[satael]

day 5:
Dear Diary,
It seems I'm making a name for myself! A courier arrived this morning and delivered a message from a man named Siddgeir who is the jarl (which means lord here in Skyrim) of Falkreith, a town a day's ride south of here. I was flattered by this attention and with no other things currently on my calendar I took the carriage to Falkreith (I pretended to be asleep the whole way to stop the driver from talking).

It was already evening by the time I arrived and the first thing that happened after I stepped down from the carriage is that I was attacked by three witchhunters! The guards didn't seem to care one way or the other and I was able kill them with the help of my summoned draugr. Despite searching all their belongings I was unable to find out why they had attacked me (it might have something to do with necromancy or the Skull of Corruption but who knows).

Since it was late already I decided to postpone meeting the jarl for the next day and find the local inn. There I met an interesting khajiit who talked about travelling the moonpaths (something to keep in mind if the thing with the jarl doesn't work out) and there was a creepy kid sitting in the corner of my room as I was getting to sleep (luckily she was a  normal child and not some nightmare demon or hallucination like you'd expect from a situation like this).

(end of day 5: level 9)

[satael]

day 6:
Dear Diary,
I woke up and that creepy kid was sitting in the corner again! Luckily everyone else sees her too and I'm not going crazy. The jarl seems to be new at his position which might be the reason he wants to hire some stranger like me to deal with his bandit problem. As I have no problem with clearing out some "bandits" we soon had a deal and I was on my way to the Bilegulch Mine where the people needing to be take care of resided. I did come across some ruins inhabited by a spriggan (which I disposed of) and an argonian that suddenly attacked without a provocation swinging his fists! A later examination of his belongings revealed a sizeable amount of skooma and moonsugar which might explain his behaviour.

The mine was inhabited by about ten bandits who met their end in a timely fashion (including the leader of the group who was an orc). I think "the bandits" had been mining for orichalcum which I collected and smelted down into bars at the mine's forge. Since it was already getting late I decided to use the remainder of the day to improve my own armour. The bedroll near the forge seemed comfortable enough and far enough from the bandits' corpses so I decided to sleep there and start back to Falkreath early next morning.

(end of day 6: level 10)

[satael]

day 7:
Dear Diary,
I made it back to the Jarl without any problems and he was happy to hear that the bandits were no longer a problem (he did let it slip that they had stopped paying him so their banditry might have been state sanctioned if they were bandits at all). While he did reward me with some gold I was rather disappointed when he next tried to sell me a plot of land somewhere out there in the forest (for a ridiculous price no less) and his offer of the position of thane was on condition I'd go around asking if the villagers needed my help for anything. I did give the thought a moment or two before deciding to take up on the khajiit's offer to travel the moonpaths instead.

And so my foray into Skyrim came to an end with just a week having passed but atleast I had gotten a nice new staff from the whole ordeal as I set my sight on the lands that lay beyond the moonpath and my next destination: Elsweyr.

(end of the travel, day 7: level 11)

[Paelos]

Is this a mod going to Elsywr?

You are going to do more than a week right?

[satael]

Is this a mod going to Elsywr?

You are going to do more than a week right?

If someone actually wants to read this then sure I'll keep going. As for Moonpath to Elsweyr I won't be playing it since it's a mod better suited for a higher level character and it's something any Skyrim player should check out themselves (it's in my opinion one of the best quest/new land mods not counting Falskaar which is in a league of itself).

[Paelos]

Yeah do it through one of the guild stories. That would be interesting.

[satael]

day 1 (of week 2):

Dear Diary,
Travelling with the khajiit was an interesting and a very hazardous experience but unfortunately the journey was cut short when I received word that Falk Firebeard in the Blue Palace needed to see me. Catching a caravan back to Skyrim took a while but they dropped me off near Helgen and since I had previously heard about a war there I decided to take a look... only to find the whole village burned down and some madman's journal about dragons and whatnot.
 
I continued at brisk pace towards Riverrun, the nearest village hoping to find a carriage ride there. Unfortunately it was a small place with no carriage service so I only stopped for a bite at the Sleeping Giant (local inn). I did meet an interesting woman there and since I had come to appreciate skilled company during my travels with the khajiit I decided on a whim to let her tag along (since she demonstrated her ability with healing magic and that could come handy later on). I happened to mention the whole dragon at Helgen thing to the local bard and he made me promise to tell the Jarl of Whiterun about it.

We were soon on the road again and it became apparent that Cerwiden did not have adequate armour for whatever anything we would be facing (even some of the local dogs were better armoured). A quick stop at the forge in Whiterun and I crafted her some battlemage armour to wear for the time. The khajiit had also recommended a local dark elf as someone who could hold her own and had no problems with getting things done. A quick word with the local jarl and we were off in a carriage back to Solitude to meet Falk (I didn't have time to go look for whatever dragonstone the Jarl's mage wanted).

I found Falk at the Blue Palace and it seems that Potema the Wolfqueen whose resurrection I had stopped in the Wolfskull Cave earlier had somehow gotten free and now I'd have to deal with it since some priest of Arkay said so. I did feel somewhat responsible and there was sure to be some necromancy involved so I promised Falk I'd talk to the priest first thing next day. As the first day back in Skyrim was ending I was wondering how my new companions would fare against Potema since that encounter certainly wasn't going to get resolved peacefully.

(end of day 1: level 15)

[satael]

day 2:
Dear Diary,

The sun was shining brightly as we walked to the hall of the dead. The priest of Arkay there was named Styrr and he told me that Potema had actually been the queen of Solitude at some point (I wonder if I missed that or nobody bothered to tell me before) and that now her spirit had been released. It seems she still had some followers who were searching for her actual remains which were located in the catacombs below Solitude and I should get to them first and bring them back to the priest.

I wasn't really surprised when it turned out that the catacombs were under the local temple but how I had to go through a cellar (and a more dusty cellar), something that looked like an actual catacomb, a cave, strange levers opening strange revolving doors before coming to the part which looked like it could actually house a necromancer queen left me a bit baffled (at one point Jenassa and Cerwiden were really starting to question what we were doing). All this was interrupted by occasional attacks of vampires and draugr (you can spot when a vampire is a fledgling by their need of dramatic dialogue). It was rather tiring and I even fought a draugr for a chance to rest my legs a bit.

A pile of bodies seemed like a good hint that we were close to the goal and opening a door nearby revealed the spirit of Potema waiting for a showdown.  This involved a horde of draugr bursting out from every nook and cranny taking me by surprise but luckily I wasn't alone and after a frantic fight (and facing Potema for the last time...hopefully) all that remained was to collect the bones. Luckily there was an alternative exit from this chamber and it was good to see the sunlight again after all these hours underground.

After dropping off the bones at the hall of the dead I returned to the Blue Palace to claim my reward which was a substantial amount of gold and a shield (though I haven't been using one since learning to dual wield bound swords while travelling with the khajiit). Falk also explained that my deeds wouldn't get the public attention they deserved since it would be bad for the morale if the public learned that a former necromancer queen had almost risen from the dead right here in Solitude. While I was ready to leave Elsif, the Jarl of Solitude, asked me for a personal favour which I kind of accepted (didn't seem like a good idea to refuse and I only need to take a horn to an altar somewhere which seems like a relaxing trip compared to today's events).

Atleast that's what I kept saying to myself as I headed back to the Winking Skeever for the night

(end of day 2: level 17)

[satael]

day 3 (and 4):
Dear Diary,
The Shrine of Talos seems to be located near Whiterun so I took a carriage there once again. It was already evening but since the shrine wasn't that far away and the weather was good I decided to keep on going instead of looking for an inn. The shrine was easy to find and it seemed like this errand would be entirely bloodless (which is something I haven't yet experienced in Skyrim) when I was suddenly attacked by thalmor agents who were charged with killing any people who came to the shrine to worship (this came apparent from a letter I found in the pocket of one of the elves).

At this point I decided to continue back to Whiterun and Solitude without any further delays (i'd rather not explain why I had killed thalmor agents) and it was just past the midday when I reported the horn's delivery to Elisif who was thankful (it seems as thane is actually an expensive title rather than something useful as Elisif promised to make me one if I bought a house in Solitude for the exorbitant price of 25000, in addition to helping the locals with their problems ofcourse). I declined the honour as I had nowhere near that kind of gold.

On my way out of the palace I tried to get some information from a highelf on who might be behind the thalmor agents I met at the shrine but it seems that if I really wanted to learn anything I'd have to go to the embassy and i doubt if anyone would be any more forthcoming there.

As I stepped out into the warm sunshine I pondered on where to head next but first I was going to do some training at the local forge. While I felt I was getting better at smithing it seemed I still had a long way to go before I could forge a proper plate armour as I ended the day's session and headed once again to the Winking Skeever

(end of day 4: level 18)

[satael]

day 5:
Dear Diary,
While Cerwiden complained about a bard song stuck in hear head (the local bard at the Winking Skeever did have a habit of repeating the same few songs over and over) I had a bigger problem as It seemed that a gem I had picked up during my visit to the catacombs was talking to me! The "gem" wanted me to go to a nearby mountain top and place it on a pedestal next to a statue. Luckily the mountain was close by and despite Cerwiden and Jenessa giving me odd looks when I was a bit cagey on where we were going (and why) we were soon off.
On the way we were attacked by a troll but it was the normal kind and alone so the three of us had no problems dealing with it. I was relieved when it turned out that there actually was a statue where the "gem" had said (whatever the voice had been that told me to kill the priest in the Nightcaller temple hadn't spoken to me since then) it would be. I'm not sure if I actually flew up into the sky or not (certainly felt like it) but the gem did speak again and commanded me to "guide a light" through some ruins. While this was the part where I was going to run as fast as I could into the opposite direction when the gem mentioned that the root of its problems was a necromancer named Malkoran I decided to see where this was all going. And where it sent was fighting corrupted shades, guiding beams of light and finally facing off against Malkoran (who unfortunately didn't give me a chance to speak before attacking).

an epilogue by Cerwiden:

Malkoran proved to be a too tough an opponent for Vitus and he was speared with an icicle.  Jenessa and I did manage to defeat Malkoran but there was nothing we could do for Vitus so we laid him to rest in the catacombs and sent this journal to the Imperial Library in Cyrodiil (thinking he might appreciate this last gesture).

(end of Vitus: level 19)

[satael]

I'm not really getting enough originality into this playthru so I think it's better to end it now.

[Paelos]

Fair enough, good effort!

[rk47]

Fair enough, good effort!

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