» Wed May 30, 2012 4:05 pm Day 1: I begin my search in a bandit cave that yields a surprising amount of iron ore. I come out with forty chunks of the stuff, a few garnets and amethysts, but no rubies. Thanks to a transmute spell I make a pretty septim of gold ore.
Day 2: I journey to Shor's Stone and into Redbelly Mine after clearing out the spiders dwelling within. I find some ebony, and a normal ruby; nothing flawless, though.
Day 3: I begin travelling to Orcish strongholds in search of gems. I spent the whole day travelling to the nearest stronghold to me (I refuse to fast travel). I discover a few veins of iron ore along the way and despite an amethyst, nothing valuable.
Day 4: I reach the first stronghold by sunrise. Discovering how unwelcomed I was due to my Breton ethnicity, I travel to a certain crater and find a certain pair of gloves for a rather rude chief.
Day 5: I slay a dragon to get the gloves and return to the stronghold. It is dusk when I arrive. I am welcomed, now, among the strongholds. I make way for the mine and find my fair share of Orichalcum ore, a few garnets and amethysts, and even a sapphire. The rubies flee from me yet. I sell the ores to the blacksmith and sleep in a tent until first light, and I set out.
Day 6: With the sun just rising I head towards the next closest stronghold, it's location given to me by an Orc who marked my map of them. Along the way, I come across a Forsworn redoubt. After killing a few I discovered that the Forsworn often held gems. By midnight I have cleared one redoubt and am heading towards the next.
Day 7, 8, and 9: On these days, I clear three redoubts, and acquire a fair share of sapphires, amethysts, garnets, and a few flawed rubies, but not what I wanted. I order Lydia to hold on to them and then I push her off the top of a redoubt to die on the ground below. She did, and I don't loot the body.
Day 10: I loot another redoubt today. Every Forsworn that I killed was gathered into a pile atop an oil spill. I cast Flames upon the lot of them.
Day 11: I reach the stronghold I originally set out for. I am welcomed as I was in the other, as Blood-Kin, but that doesn't stop me from killing all of the residents. I impaled all of them on their own spikes which they set up outside the walls. I exploit the ores out of the mine and kill the Orc miners there, and set out again.
Day 12: In the middle of the night I stealthily moved my way into an Imperial camp in the mountains. I killed one of the wounded in the tent and dragged her into a bear's den, so that the beast may eat well even this far in the cold north. I aim to please.
Day 13: After I fed the bear, it was early morning. I made my way for a mine - Darkwater Crossing. I mine the ores, sell a few things, and buy a pair of fine boots to wear. After I bought the boots, I killed the seller, and took his boots, just to show him I didn't need to have bought the boots. He had an amethyst on him. It reminded me, I was supposed to look for a flawless ruby. I grew angry that I didn't already find one, so I killed all the others in the tiny settlement.
Day 14: I find another bandit cave on my way to the stronghold. I try to sneak past as many bandits as possible, so I don't have to kill anyone without reason. There were only two veins of silver ore in the cave. No gems. I leave in the early morning.
Day 15: I continue towards the stronghold and Whiterun comes into my view. A town often had valuables in it. By noon I was within the gates. I sold off some objects to a blacksmith, a woman one, and then I kill her so I can take the forge. Everything I forge, I put on her body, so that she can sell it. I went to the town's inn and slit the throat of an overconfident bard. I put the body inside my bedroom just so he wouldn't feel uncomfortable that he was the only one sleeping. It isn't proper to sleep on the common room floor, after all!
Day 16: I saw an old woman, at a stall, selling baubles and other trinkets. I punched her because she kept trying to get me to go into her home, and then robbed her stall - a flawless ruby! Victory!
And that is Quest for the Flawless Ruby.
The end.
