85. More Dark Brotherhood quests!

I kill Lurbuk in Morthal then head east out of the place getting chased by guards a few of whom I kill. I am heading for Whiterun once again via Labyrathian. I sort all my gear out and buy and sell in Whiterun before heading back to The Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary. Once there I get the quest to go see Amaund Motierre who is in ruins called Volunruud which is not that far from Whiterun.

It has been quite a while since I have confronted any Draugr and those Deathlords are still pretty tough. I go through the ruins and come across a quest to find ceremonial weapons which will be used to open one of the doors in there. I fill up on gear so I leave and put some in a chest outside before going back to Whiterun for my horse and I sell a load while I am there.

When I get back I find Amaund and he gives me the news that I must kill the Emperor. I take this news back to Astrid but she needs time to think about it and in the mean time she tells me I should go see Delvin Malory who is my thieves guild buddy down in Riften. I walk down to Riften as I have not been down there in quite a while and there are probably lots of ingredients and encounters along the way.

I get there and sort out the business with Delvin then buy another horse and start my journey back. A brief stop at Whiterun then I am off back to the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary where something strange happens. When I get inside the whole place seems to be coming apart, from the point of view of the structure and graphics of it. If I go from one room into another I end up falling through “space” and have great difficulty getting back to the rooms I need to. I go back to an earlier save and just go see Astrid in the first room so I don’t have to deal with any of the rest of it for now but I am worried that if it stays this way I will not be able to continue because trying to navigate around the place will become impossible.

I have a mission for now to kill the Bride at a wedding in Solitude so I will go and do that.

84. Dark Brotherhood continued...

355 Hours 48 Minutes, 378814 Gold, Level 57, 212 Creatures Killed, 33 Bunnies.

I hide in the Night mothers chamber and she ends up speaking to me because I am the listener as it happens. She tells me to go and see some boyo but Astid needs time to think about it so she tells me to go get some contracts from Nazir. He has two contracts One is to Kill a vampire and his girlfriend (also a vampire, really!) at Half Moon Mill and the other is at Morthal.

Half Moon Mill is not that far away and it is more or less on the way to Morthal. These two are very easy I cast flame on the Girl as she’s standing outside after dark and then I cast Frost Atronach who’s pretty strong. The male Vampire then comes along and do a fire rune as I run (don’t get to close to them vampires) and another Frost Atronach, job done. I end up veering west for some reason and wind up in a clearing where there are three bandits. I get the first two easy enough but the third is an archer and he’s hitting me hard I keep my distance and wind up running into an arch conjurer who happens to be nearby, he then ends up killing the archer for me but he proves very hard to kill but I get there in the end albeit having used a lot of potions. I wait until light to make sure I have found and looted all the bodies in the area.

While searching around for bodies I get sidetracked very briefly and wind up finding Bannermist tower which is close by, first I know of it is the mistakable phrase “Well ain’t this a surprise?!” I kill two Bandits who leave me over encumbered but I quickly go into my apparel and put on my three pieces of “Carry 42” gear which leave me good to go once more. I begin running now because there is not that much room for anything else. I decide to visit Rorikstead first and least get rid of a few items which are heavy. Then I am off again through the Mountains. I encounter another load of Bandits on the way and am very soon well over my weight once more. Another encounter close to Morthal is quickly avoided because I must go and get rid of all this stuff before killing my quarry and continuing…

83. Catching Cicero out.

I head out for Markarth once more after doing all my routine tasks like buying, selling and storing in Whiterun. I don’t time the trek to Markarth but I would say it takes me under 5 minutes sprinting and walking, makes me wonder what all the fuss was with this journey from the whiners who so love fast travel. Once in Markarth I do what I must then buy and sell and start out for the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary. I head a way I have never went before through the mountains and end up at Dushnikh Yal, from the distance I am at I think it’s a Bandit or Forsworn camp and I can see one person standing guard on the Battlements so I fire off an arrow only to find 3 or 4 Orcs coming out to greet me! I kill them pretty easily and when I go inside there are still two of them who don’t attack me working at the Forge.

Out of nowhere come a few Bandits who the Orcs help me kill then I am on my way again sticking to the Mountain route when I chance upon a Forsworn camp just as it is being attacked by some Stormcloak soldiers. I kill the remaining Forsworn and fill up on loot so I have to go back to Markarth to sell a load of it (I leave nothing lying around!)

I continue South after I am done up at Markarth and get attacked by some hunters without provocation, first time that has happened. Then there’s the usual random encounters, some Bears, wolves and out in the Wilds I find a Dog who is alone and has just killed some Skeevers, I heal it and move on. Once back at the Sanctuary Astid asks me to hide in The Night Mothers chamber to find out what Cicero is at. I cannot get rid of Cicero quick enough he has some good Apparel on him.

82. Horse Collecting!

I buy myself a horse at Markarth and begin heading back but I don’t get too far. Just down the road a bit at Kolskeggr Mine three bandits come across the bridge at me just as a Dragon is descending. I double back and let them scrap it out but one is firing arrows at me and my horse disappears from beneath me! The dragon gets two of them and I fire two arrows at it to finish it off then another 4 or 5 arrows gets the last bandit.

I go back to Markarth to get another horse because I am putting together a collection of horses just outside Whiterun, there are four there at present (one stolen) and I am going to have as many as I possibly can there, just for the craic!

Once in Whiterun I buy and sell (per usual) and get ready to head for Windhelm. Nilsine Shatter-shield is in the Temple of Talos and she’s an easy kill. From There I head for Raldthbar (spelt wrong) which is in the mountians near Irkngthand (spelt right!) Alian Dufont is in this ruin with his bandit buddies and they’re pretty easy to be honest. So now I must take the long trek back to Markarth then onto the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary again.

I may have to take a break from Skyrim for a few days due to life getting in the way but I shall be back!

81. To Markarth.

341 Hours 52 Minutes, 358189 Gold, Level 56, 739 Food Eaten, 33 Bunnies!

I begin to head back to the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary to continue those quests. I pack some potions to sell to Lucan along the way and make sure I have all my archery gear and my Carry 42 apparel. I get to Riverwood first and buy and sell then move on, I don’t stop in Falkreath on this occasion as I am wanting to get on with these quests.

In the Sanctuary I speak with Astid then go talk with Nazir to get payment. Astid gives me another contract up in Markarth and I decide that I am going to head straight up there and keep going. On the way I get into all sorts of scrapes. A necromancer attacks me a little North of the Sanctuary in a clearing, easy kill! On up I run into a gang of Bandits and an Orc Camp. Then Further a Breton with strong magic abilities attacks but dodging his fireballs while I squeeze off some arrows does the trick. At Markarth I find the travelling Khajiit caravan which is always good for the odd unexpected items and a haul of soul gems.

In Markarth city I come across a Vigilant of Stendaar who asks me to have his back while he checks an abandoned house for Deadra then Molag Bol ends up telling me to kill him because he’s weak! I then must do a quest for this prince of darkness. I also pick up a quest from Lisbet in the general store and I find that my next target for TDB is in Windhelm so it’ll be a long trek back there and I will do the other two quests I have just picked up on my way back here.

80. Contracts completed.

336 Hours 20 Minutes, 344336 Gold, Level 56, 166 Locations, 33 Bunnies!

I head for Dawnstar across the snowy plains after visiting Morthal and have a Dragon to contend with, a blood Dragon this time, easy peesy! The contract is in Dawnstar standing up beside the mine and I kill her with one arrow then nearly get arrested, but hey I am with the guild!

I then make my way back to Whiterun again to buy, sell and put stuff in storage then I am off to Ivarstead. I stop again on the way past Valtheim towers and take out a few of the bandits but I don’t bother going inside this time. The next contract is a beggar hanging out in wrecked shack, another easy kill, one ebony arrow to the head! The guards start coming after me but I just do a runner. I head back toward Valtheim Towers again then take a shortcut through the mountains just down the hill east of there because my next contract is at a campsite just up from Angas Mill, once more another easy kill.

I then make my way towards Whiterun but I check my encumbrance along the way and decide I could do with gathering more gear, Irkngthand is close by and there are loads of bandits there so I take on all the ones outside then begin again for Whiterun, stopping briefly at a Giants camp to take out him and a mammoth which completely fills me up!

My enchant skill is now up to 100 and I have enchanted a necklace, ring and gauntlets each with a carry capacity of 42, I am not sure if I can get higher, I assume I can because the potion I was using to enchant was only a 26% increase so I will have to check out how to make that more.

I will head for Whiterun now then onto the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary to continue with those quests…

79. First contracts to kill.

323 Hours 54 Minutes, 312835 Gold, Level 55, 164 Locations Discovered, 31 Bunnies!

After finishing up in the Shack out in the swamps I start heading for Morthal when I am done getting some Deathbells and Fungal pods. In Morthal I buy up ingredients and sell some stuff before making my way to Dawnstar. It’s important to do this, to travel around and gather ingredients through bartering and gathering, long term it means you’ll have a massive stock of stuff for alchemy which benefits both your longer term gold hoard and any potions you may need along the way.

After Dawnstar I begin heading for Whiterun on the way I find a crypt which I enter because a few bandits outside it attack me I find some there who says she was captured by the bandits and she’s looking for a sword which I will come back later to seek. Once in Whiterun I buy and sell then make up a load of potions as I am heading Riverwood direction. Same again in Riverwood old Lucan and his 10000 buying power! On the way to the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary I stop of in Falkreath and a dragon comes swooping down, an ancient dragon, bit tough but I get there in the end and then begin heading to the Sanctuary again.

I now have to three contracts at once. I have to kill three different people. One at Dawnstar, one at Angas mill which is on the way to Windhelm and the other at Iverstead. I am making my way now to Dawnstar as it’s the furthest one away then I’ll decide what way to sort the others out afterwards.