Excellent, epic writeup UncleMikey!

This is the kind of thing I love to read on these forums. Keep 'em coming, everybody!

Well I didn't write out any stories about today's adventures. It was an eventful day in the land of Skyrim for Thadious. In Ivarsgread, Thadious stumbled upon Sam Guevenne and participated in a drinking contest, which led to Thadious waking up in the Temple of Dibella in Markarth. While in Markarth, Thadious got involved in a lot of goings on, from a Forsworn conspiracy, to taking out bandits to return stolen merchandise from a shop, and even aiding a dark Daedric lord and being rewarded with a menacing weapon.

Thadious did gain a new follower, a mercenary by the name of Vorstag. Vorstag accompanied Thadious into the Dwemer ruins beneath Markarth and has been with him ever since.

I haven't gotten Vorstag killed yet either!!!*

*Well, technically, Vorstag did die once, but I reloaded it because of events that happened that I didn't intend for. I won't call them a "glitch", I'll just say the game mechanics didn't do what I wanted them to, so I reloaded.

I didn't do any write ups, but I did take some pictures.

Unfortunately, I am on the X-Box 360, so I am taking camera phone pictures off of my TV instead of taking legitimate screen shots

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff52/nell2thaizzay/72832_10150915660928324_660438323_9719360_1191970695_n.jpg
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff52/nell2thaizzay/560365_10150915660303324_660438323_9719356_1540477824_n.jpg
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff52/nell2thaizzay/301840_10150915657273324_660438323_9719338_2122270927_n.jpg
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff52/nell2thaizzay/481045_10150915660653324_660438323_9719359_134916854_n.jpg

Great stories everyone

While you were telling them on the porch of Dragonsreach, maybe you've seen 5 cats that came uninvited, shamelessly made themselves comfortable and just listened to your tales.
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m49kfpERqv1rukl9oo1_1280.jpg

Great stories, everyone!

I really enjoyed them. Dragon encounters in towns are great - only had a couple, one in Winterhold, but they were very dramatic and memorable. You really feel a sense of urgency to get the dragon killed before it can hurt any innocent passersby. Well, I do anyway...

JDD

In that case we should change title, because it suggests that it's only about dragons

Somehing dumb from me. It contains tip how to do most of College Of Winterhold questline without being named archmage.

"We finally delivered Staff of Magnuss to College of Winterhold. But delivering it wasn't actually enough for them, they wanted us to bring down some magical forcefield with it first. Funny thing, there were a lot of mages around, but nobody wanted to do it. Even that smarttail Jzargo said, that 'honor' of using Staff of Magnuss should be given to me. Yeah, right, honor my tail... Raksha is sure that they were just afraid that it's going to explode or something... Those wizard weasels were constantly using me as test subject for testing potentially hazardous magical items and this was just another example of this..."

((OOC 'resetquest MG08' console command saved the day. With it I could avoid stupid final fight and getting named 'archmage' ))

"But of course I did it, it even worked and nothing exploded this time. From then on, those mages from College just sorted rest of their problems themselves. As a payment we could keep this Staff of Magnuss, and of course Jzargo, seeing that it's safe, was quick to snatch it for himself. I hope he's not gonna 'enhance' it like he did with some scrolls..."

I liked that write up, nice! I like the voice that you gave your character, especially the worry about the staff blowing up.

Also, question - your screenshot of all the Khajiit, are you using some kind of mod to have a traveling group of Khajiit? Or is that just some content I have missed?

And as far as your suggestion about the title goes, all I could edit were the tags. Perhaps if there is a mod reading this thread, we could add to the title? Something about "Share your Skyrim adventures here!" to go along with the already existing title? I'm enjoying everyone sharing their stories, and responding to each other's write ups.

Couldn't you PM a mod, asking for a title change?

I'm glad you liked it

Yes, I use mod for multiple followers and did myself some tweaking in Creation Kit to get Shavari and Tsavani in my group.

Well in regards to the original topic - Dragons - I had another first. This time, I experienced my first dragon attack within a walled city. Windhelm. I have seen them attack open cities like Riverwood, Winterhold, or Rorikstead before, but never a closed off city. Just as I entered the city, I was greeted by a dragon swooping through and attacking the city. This dragon was defeated without any casualties.

But the more interesting story comes way before I made my way to Windhelm.

Thadious was closing in on the truth behind the Forsworn attack in the market in Markarth. Too close. Amidst threats from thugs and the Markarth city guard themselves, Thadious continued pressing on. After finally getting the information he needed, he ran off to tell Eltrys. Unfortunately, Thadious wasn't the first one to get to him.

The guard walked up to Thadious as he entered the Shrine of Talos, Eltrys' dead body in the background. The guard explained that the murder was to be pinned on Thadious, and he was to be taken away. Thadious fought back. In a strong act of defiance, Thadious drew his weapons and began attacking the guards. More rushed in, he knew he was outnumbered. He grabbed Vorstag and the two escaped out of the Shrine.

With guards firing arrows at them every step of the way, Thadious and Vorstag bobbed and weaved their way through the streets of Markarth, finally reaching the gates. Outside the city walls, Thadious and Vorstag split up. As Thadious made his way down the path, he was ambushed by a patrolling guard. With the aid of his Thu'um, Thadious quickly eliminated the guard. As more guards were in hot pursuit, Thadious used his dark powers of necromancy to raise the fallen guard to attack his pursuers. As the zombie ran towards the oncoming mob, Thadious escaped away.

Down the road, Thadious had finally lost his pursuers, and came across a small hut, a hut that belonged to one of the Markarth miners. The door was locked, and Thadious knew nobody was home.

"This will be a great place to hide out for a bit."

Thadious picked the lock and entered. As he sat for a moment, Vorstag soon made his way into the house. The two had reunited.

"Good to see you, I wasn't sure if you had made it." Thadious said.

The two went down stairs, and Thadious began to cook so the two men could rest up. Before he had a chance, Markarth guards burst through the front door. Four altogether. Thadious and Vorstag drew their weapons and ran upstairs. Outnumbered, they had no other choice but to fight back, or get sent to Skyrim's most infamous prison.

Edit: Decided to delete this, as it was boring, poorly written, and just a tad too "spoilerish" for many. Sorry, bad move on my part.

I just had another fun dragon encounter, this time in Kynesgrove. From an RP perspective, I am deciding whether or not I want to dismiss Vorstag for his actions in the ordeal. Especially since, being part of the College now, I'll have other followers available to me.

-----

Thadious and Vorstag accompanied Delphine to Kynesgrove to investigate the dragon burial site, where they encountered Alduin bringing to life another dragon. As Alduin flew away, the trio fought the newly risen dragon, defeating it. Thadious absorbed its soul, and Delphine would venture off back to Riverwood, where Thadious was to eventually meet with her. For the time being, however, he returned to Kynesgrove where he planned on spending the night in the inn.

Unfortunately, there were other plans. Another dragon arrived at Kynesgrove, and a panic swept through the town. Unfortunately, Thadious didn't realize that not all of the villagers had fled. Thinking it was just he and the dragon, he read a scroll, causing a huge explosion in the face of the dragon. There was, however, collateral damage from Thadious' actions. Thadious tried to do what he could to help the villagers caught in his crossfire, but it wouldn't be enough.

Thugs would approach the scene, attacking Thadious. As the dragon swooped down and landed, it became a massive free for all. Temporarily, all were aligned against the dragon. As the dragon died, Thadious finished off the remaining bandits. On one of them was a note - a contract on Thadious' head, from one Gemma Uriel of Kynesgrove, in retaliation for the death of Ganna Uriel.

"What?" thought Thadious. "I made sure nobody had died from my blast!"

Thadious investigated, and finally found the lifeless body of Ganna. Searching her body, he found 3 arrows that had come from Vorstag. Now aware of the situation that his ally had gotten them into, Thadious knew they could not stay in Kynesgrove, as Windhelm guards would be after them at any moment. So instead, Thadious and Vorstag quickly and quietly made their way to the carriage driver outside Windhelm's gates, and paid fare for travel to Winterhold, where Thadious would seek shelter in the College of Winterhold.

Characters:
Princess Orcina - High Elf - Daughter of a Jarl of a small province she was sent out to Skyrim to join the Thalmor as a military leader to aid in the civil war.
Janessa - Dark Elf - A mercenary that Orcina met and liked her style and thought she would make a good ally.

As we were on our travels from Whiterun to Solitude we came to a place called Robber's Gorge. It seemed innocent enough. Just a few bandits holding up any traders and travelers that pass bye. One even told me I had to pay a toll. What a fool. He even just stood there as I pulled out my bow and shot an arrow right between his eyes. His friends didn't like it too much though. But the poor fools. Thinking they had the upper hand because we were out numbered began to circle us as if they even had a chance to take us out. Little did they know just as things were looking bad for me and my friend I had already called upon my spirit wolves out of the shadows to aid us in our battle.

There was this one Nord bandit though that thought he was tougher than the rest in his quaint little banded iron armor with matching shield and sword. Little did he know I to dawned a Shield and sword of my own. (Elvin of course) I was able to get an isolated fight with him even with all the other commotion going on. He was tough but still was no match to a higher being as my self. Just as I struck the final blow that drained the last bit of life he had in his worthless body a large wooden fort door opened up behind him with two more bandits standing at the entrance. Thinking quickly I revived my recently deceased friend to aid me in battle.

Luckily I did this because there was this little bald magic man that even though we out numbered him his knowledge and ability of casting frost spells was quite good for a mere Nord. After he was taken out me and Janessa stood looking at each other talking about how we haven't had a battle like that in a long while.

We then could hear yelling coming from up the hill. "What in Oblivion is all that noise out there?" is what we heard as if it was coming from a Giant who's sleep had been molested. Quickly I revived the soul of the little bald man (I think I will name him Baldy from now on) we nearly decapitated. The Bandit Chief barely gave us enough time to prepare for battle as I was still restoring health to myself and Janessa when he came running around the corner. Baldy did not seem to mind as he belted the Bandit Chief with ice spike after ice spike. As I was healing I began to feel bad for Baldy because I could see his fate coming as I could see the Bandit Chief winding up his Orcish Warhammer to deliver a devastating blow. Just then Janessa steps in to take the blunt of damage struck by the Bandit Chief.

To this day I have no idea what was going on in that little head of hers. Perhaps she was trying to get in a quick hit. Perhaps she thought she could step in dodge the blow then deliver a devastating power attack of her own that would finish off her opponent. Or maybe she ,like me, felt a little remorse for our little bald friend and did not want to see him suffer from that attack that would definitely send his soul back to Oblivion. Either way the hit she took sent her to her knees and I could see the Bandit Chief getting ready to send off the next swing.

As I seen my friend, My Janessa, My Mer sister, down on her knees in front of him I began to see RED. There was no way I was going to let one of my kind ,especially my friend and sister in arms, lay at some Orcs,some abomination of the gods feet. I ran at him with full force. Bashing and slashing away at him with shield and sword. I will admit he was able to get a few good hits on me as I was swinging away but my adrenalin was pushing me through any attack he could muster up. Finally with his strength diminished as he knelt down before me crying for one last breath to extend his meager life I sent my blade through his neck.

As I stood there covered in blood looking at my kill for some reason the only thing I could think of is "Is that pile of ash in the corner of my eye Baldy?" I had wondered what happened to him. The spell must have worn off during the battle.

"Janessa"

I said waiting for her to pop her head up. I was hoping she was able to see that battle with her own eyes.

"Janessa."

I was waiting in anticipation. Awaiting her praise thinking how stories of my valorous act will be told for years to come.

"Janessa?"

Where in Oblivion did this woman go?

I returned to the spot where I last seen her. There she lay limp. Breathing, but barely. With all the commotion of that last battle she must have took an errand hit from that Warhammer. It couldn't have been a strong hit but must have been enough to knock the last bit of life from her.

I quickly knelt over her. I summoned all the strength I could from my ring of restoration and cast a spell of healing hands but with all my strength, all my power, she was to far gone to be revived.

I wrapped her body up and kept her in a safe place over night thinking I could give her a proper burial in the morning. I could barely sleep that night. There were many thoughts going through my head.

I could reanimate her body, she would not live long but long enough for us to say our good byes.
But she would not be the same Janessa I grew to love. Just some lifeless corpse raised to do my bidding.

I could send her to her homeland but how would I find a wagon to take her in, I could not leave her alone too long for it would not take long for critters to find and start gnawing at her body.

I decided that even though this is not her homeland, I believe her gods would understand and accept what I had planned as a proper burial.

That morning before the sun came up I set her in a small boat I decorated with near by flowers and her belongings, Said a prayer, lit the fire so the gods would know where to find her and sent her off down the river towards the rising sun.

Nice, Zombified. I always hate it when you lose a companion. I lost Janessa too - a shame, because I really liked her. You lost her in a slightly more dramatic way than me, though!

JDD

So speaking of losing followers, from an RP perspective, does anyone have a take on what I should do with Vorstag?

Again, I'm speaking purely RP, because I understand the actual game mechanics that led to it happening.

Since I am playing a noble and honorable character, should I dismiss Vorstag for "murdering" Ganna? The RP being that my noble character wouldn't want to any longer be associated with a murderer. (Obviously, Vorstag didn't -obviously- murder her, I'm just roleplaying it).

Or should I not roleplay that, and just keep him around?

Great stories, everyone. I have really enjoyed them. Maybe, I'll write one up myself.

I remember the first time I ran across two dragons (Frost dragon and a regular dragon). it was when I was traveling on the road to Dawnstar (I think).

thing is - it was right next to an Imperial camp, so everyone from that settlement came out and started attacking the dragons. all this happening with the Aurora Borealis happening in the sky. needless to say, the Frost dragon completely decimated the Imperials but since I was a Stormcloak already I didn't even care, lol.

So I decided to let Vorstag go.

We got to Whiterun, I put up some of my weapon trophies in my home, and sold some gear. I took his Ebony Shield from him, and displayed it in my bedroom. I also took away his Imperial Helmet, which was actually part of the gear that I got for joining the Legion.

I didn't want to send him back empty handed though. I let him keep the Steel Plated gear that I had given him, as well as the soul trap Dwarven Mace I crafted and enchanted for him, and I crafted him a new helmet and shield to help protect him on his long trek back to Markarth, and then sent him on his way. I watched, somewhat saddened, as he walked through the Whiterun gates, headed back for his home.

Thadious will now be on the lookout for a new companion to accompany him on his adventures. In the meantime, he still has Sanguine Rose in case he needs help in a pinch. But perhaps one day, our paths shall cross again.

"It's getting colder, very nice indeed." Shadow mentioned, looking down the valley behind them. "You sure you've been here before?"
"The road's familiar, don't worry." Xeevai reassured him. "Helgen's not so far away and from there we'll take an off-road shortcut straight to Riverwood. Simple."
"Tell that to the old man. If the cold doesn't get him, the rough terrain will. No one of us is exactly a healer or doctor that can stave off death due to a failing heart."
"He'll live."

The shadows, which the mountains provided, grew ever so shorter as the morning sun was approaching its zenith, revealing the snowberries and overgrown ground flora encroaching on the road. However, there wasn't much of a road to be had either. Time had already eroded most of the ancient rock and beyond the bloodstain of the recently slain woodland critters and miscreants, there wasn't much else giving a clue of its direction save for the occasional old road sign at the bottom of the valley.
A fox was spotted chasing a few rabbits down the green-and-orange covered slopes. It was a welcome change from the couple's escapades in the Rift last night. Shadow's mouth was watering from the thought of sating his hunger with fox and rabbit meat, raw if need be, as breakfast was nonexistent in the abandoned cottage on the meandering road downhill and both he and Xeevai were too busy avoiding to become dinner for the bears under Masser's shining light to find dinner for themselves. He grasped his black-and-red bow, his right hand stroking the feathers of an arrow in the quiver, but quickly put the bow and hand away, forcefully turning his head towards the road ahead and putting one foot ahead of the other. Now was not a time to deviate.

"That old man had better be worth it." he muttered to himself, restraining himself and controlling his ravenous hunger.

A chilled breeze filled with snow blew downhill from the snow-covered ravine up front. Petrified stone figures overlooking the pass protruded into the sky. Xeevai's reptilian gaze followed them up as her body stood on the spot, her head moving back and forth a bit to ease the focusing of her eyes' constant movement. Shadow walked up slightly behind her, whispering into her right ear.

"We're lost, aren't we?"

She turned her head towards him, rolled her eyes, and returned to gazing the structures.

"No, I've just never noticed these before." she responded. Shadow leaned against a nearby tree, arms crossed.
"You know, we could've just gone north, around Snow Throat." he condescendingly spoke.
"Snow what?" she quickly twisted her head and stared at Shadow.
"Snow Throat, The Throat of the World, one of the Towers on Tamriel." he said, looked to the right and back to Xeevai. "Nevermind. Let's just get going."

The old man caught up with the couple, slightly winded. Shadow laid one gaze upon the man and turned around, determined to get to Riverwood and eat. The man paused for but a moment and then followed. Xeevai, however, wasn't moving, for her ears had caught familiarity but it was not the familiarity of the road. She looked upon the mountain range and saw a dark silhouette releasing once more another familiar roar, followed by another and the rise of her heartbeat. Her body started producing a scent of aggression and her eyes kept tracking the silhouette's movement on the sky as it circled around her.
Shadow started to notice the scent and hastily turned his attention, producing his own familiar scent. The bow is grasped once more as he backtracks to her, but the arrows laid in the quiver for now.

"A dragon. As if bears and witches weren't enough." Shadow noticeably muttered, which Xeevai picked up.
"What kind do you think it is?" she asked, slightly turning her head towards him but still tracking.
"How about the dangerous kind? As much as I would like to be an expert on ornithoherpetology, dracology or whatever the field is called, at this range it's too hard to tell if it's a frost or blood variety. Or worse. And the colors don't blend nicely with Magnus in the background."
"Well we can't let it fly around, burning down towns and caravans."
"If only dragons could focus on bears instead. I'm sure they would all be loved."
"Now's not the time, love."

Xeevai let loose a few firebolts at the sky slightly in front of the dragon's extrapolated flight path in order to gain the big reptile's attention. A few of them missed but the one that did hit was enough to force the dragon to rapidly turn and pursue the Saxhleel travelers and the old man. Shadow grabbed Xeevai's arm and lunged themselves out of the way as the dragon strafed them, hellfire spewed across the once green-and-orange slopes. Shadow was the first one to his feet in his enchanted light armor and subsequently fired a barrage of arrows towards the beast. But the beast was far more different than the ones he and Xeevai had seen before. Old scarring across the wings and back and long, battered horns. The scales were flaking and red as fire. This one didn't look like any dragon. This one seemed ancient.

The dragon strafed once more, but Shadow took cover behind a relatively thick tree while Xeevai set up a ward around herself. Apparitions of fire and ice were summoned from Oblivion to draw the fire of the beast. As the dragon landed on the ground fighting them, Xeevai let out a cry of death in the beast's own tongue and Shadow summoned flames of his own from his mouth, but the dragon was far from defeated. The apparitions faded into the aether as the dragon turned its attention to Shadow, who had swapped out his bow for Shadowstrike, a massive, enchanted, steel greatsword of his own making. Shadow charged the beast, connecting two or three hits as Xeevai hurled bolts of fire from afar. However, the beast was mighty enough to withstand the bite of both and whipped Shadow away with its tail and took to flight towards the west and the mountains, giving a slight pause of relief.

Xeevai rushes to Shadow, who was lying on the ground struggling to get up.

"Are you-"
"I'm fine. Just give me some time." Shadow interrupted her, grabbing his sword as she attempted to heal any of his wounds. "At least the old man hasn't begun pushing up the Nirnroots yet."
"He'd better not. We need him." she said, temporarily checking up on the old man.

The old man sheathed his weapon and turned his attention to the couple. But that was lost quickly, as the dragon returned from its trip to the west. Xeevai pulled her love up to his feet and the both spread out once more. Behind rock or tree, they fought the dragon at range until the sun passed its zenith. Battered, but still standing, they watched as the mighty beast could no longer sustain flight and crashed into the permafrost. It had become more dangerous than ever, for the grounded beast would not leave itself open for a counterattack. It charged, one wing and hind leg at a time, towards Xeevai with hell's fury flooding from its bloodied maw. Cracks were forming in the ward protecting her and their stock of potions were running low; all fire retardants had already been spent.

Steel slashed at the beast's left side, breaking the attack and giving her time sprint to the nearby meadow. The beast, irritated by the Saxhleel attack, kicked, shoved and bit but Shadow was determined in spite of the wounds he received. A firebolt from Xeevai distracted the beast long enough for Shadow to shove his sword into the beast's chest; a final blow as the once mighty dragon was thrown powerless to the ground by his own mass.

Xeevai got back to the bloody scene, tending to Shadow's blood-gushing wounds once more.

"We should keep moving. We don't want to keep the old Riverwood lady waiting, right?" Shadow defiantly joked as broken bones and cut tissue were mended.
"You know, next time, I think we'll head north around Snow Throat." Xeevai said and smiled. Shadow chuckled.

http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/678/screenshot801953.png

Tired, hungry, but determined they carried on towards Riverwood.

The old man watched, followed and never spoke a word.

So Thadious' bad luck of women dying around him continues. This time, it was Janessa, accompanying Thadious to Fellglow Keep where he was to retrieve some books stolen from the College of Winterhold. The duo got through Fellglow Keep just fine, but afterwards, decided to investigate a word wall. Here they encountered a Blood Dragon, and battle ensued. After slaying the dragon, Thadious approached the word wall, where he was ambushed by Krosis. Thadious used everything in his disposal to defeat the dragon priest, unfortunately Janessa didn't survive the battle.

Well written and a good read, Da Nang. Kudos.

Yes it was.

Glad to see some more responses from people!

"Raksha will remember to not go on any adventures with Thadious, as he probably does not care about his followers and just lets them die..." Khajiit looks at Thadious reproachingly. "Raksha is studying hard restoration magic to be able to take good care of her friends, she invested a lot of septims in it."

"Now, when some bigger battle begins, you can see Raksha throwing away her bow, taking sword in one hand, healing spell in other, and just protecting her dear friends, sometimes even with her own body, while they dispatch whatever is attacking us." Raksha proudly presented Heal Other spell, hesitated for a bit and then just casted it on Thadious, to show him how this one takes care of her teammates.

((sorry, couldn't resist it ))

lol

Well I typically do use Heal Other / Healing Hands when I can, but when my followers just run off in their own death or glory mission, it makes it hard to keep tabs on them.

So Thadious took up another follower.

This time, after returning to Solitude following his mission of espionage in the Thalmor embassy, Thadious decided to take a new follower for his future adventures. This time he met the Nord Belrand, who was staying at the Winking Skeever Inn.

So far, Belrand remains alive, the duo having gone through the catacombs in Solitude to destroy the spirit of Potema. The two will be traveling to Whiterun, so Thadious can inform Jarl Balgruuf of Ulfric Stromcloak's intentions to attack Whiterun, as well as rendezvous with Delphine in Riverwood.

I just got Lydia. I remember her just being annoying the first time I had her but now she is starting to grow on me. i just hate when she is like "I am sworn to carry your burdens" I mean man I just want to give you a better shield.