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The Real Delia Dalomax, Chapter 16

Delia Dalomax, a Breton, rode Delia's Prior Maborel's Paint Horse from Skingrad to the Imperial City, dismounting every 10 seconds to fight some new thing that attacked her along the road. That's all.

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After that, I finally had enough of the frequent roadside fights, so I downloaded and installed a small mod that hopefully will make traveling a little more peaceful. It's called "Passive Wildlife" and it just makes the animals non-aggressive. There will still be more than enough monsters and bandits to fight. I can do without fighting lions and wolves and bears (oh my). I haven't gotten to test the mod, yet.

I hate that about riding horses. You'd think they would be a speedy way to get around, but the hassle caused by having to dismount every time the fight music starts cancels out any advantage you might get from riding instead of walking.

I suppose you could just keep right on riding and outrun whatever is chasing you, but I'm always afraid to leave whatever it is alive less it attacks a civilian traveling the road. I hate the idea that some civilian NPC died and I could have prevented it.

It's like that thing with Peter Parker's origins. "Hey stop that guy!" "Why? It's not my problem." and next thing you know Uncle Ben is dead and you can never look at a bowl of rice the same way again.

A mod that makes wildlife docile is nice.

A mod that makes things not attack your horse would be better. Like seriously why does everything attack my horse instead of me. What did my horse ever do to you?!

A mod that removes random bandits on the highway would also be good. I can understand the Highwaymen, but random bandits just standing in the middle of the road out in the open? That's just stupid.

Any bandit with a septim of sense would stick to the hills and stay out of sight of patrolling legionnaires. At least the Highwaymen have the sense to hide in the bushes. Most of them anyway.

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What did I do today? I followed Dar-Ma around Chorrol like some crazy stalker. I wish there was a mod that let your character marry her and the two of you could move into Arborwatch together.

The Real Delia Dalomax, Chapter 17

Delia Dalomax, a Breton, met Armand and received her next assigment. It required her to go to Cheydinhal, which is convenient - she can also get her Mages Guild recommendation, and that will serve as cover for her shadier business. She left on Delia's Prior Maborel's Paint Horse, slept for a few hours at Aleswell, and continued on.

There were boars along the way, but they did not attack (the Passive Wildlife mod works). They also encountered some bandits and ogres, which did attack, but that's OK - the roads are at least a little more peaceful now.

An Oblivion gate had opened near the road SW of the Roxey Inn, so Delia closed it. After that, she came across Herminia Cinna on the road and they traveled together the rest of the way to Cheydinhal, killing a couple of bandits and a shrek.

At Cheydinhal, Delia explored the town and traded, cheered up beggars and got some advice relating to her Thieves Guild quest, then went to the Mages Guild for the night. The mages were a fairly interesting bunch. The next morning, she spoke to Falcar about a recommendation. The quest took a rather disturbing turn, but Delia was pleased about the...

I'm making good progress in the Mages Guild. This time around, I want to make it feel like I've earned my way into the Arcane University, so I always get the guild hall-specific magic skill to 25 before I start the recommendation quest, even though most of the recommendation quest are basically just fetch quests and nothing more than trivial tasks. Bruma, for instance, which doesn't even have a school of magic because it gets destroyed, but it still took a while to get the quest done since I have the timescale set to real time, so I actually had to meet Volanaro at 10 pm. Which, also makes me realize that once I get to the Arcane University, that one quest where I have to wait for the certain day of the month for the dark fissure to appear may take an extremely long time, and I'm not one to just press the wait button or sleep for 24 hours. I rarely ever use the wait button, in fact.

The Real Delia Dalomax, Chapter 18

Delia Dalomax, a Breton, had dinner at the Cheydinhal Bridge Inn, then slept at the Mages Guild house for a few hours. She then slipped out around midnight and sneaked to the Chapel of Arkay, and broke into the Underkeep. Delia then (spoilers for "The Elven Maiden" quest)

Delia sneaked back to the Mages Guild, slept a few hours, and left the next morning for the Imperial City. Along the way, she finally got around to closing that Oblivion Gate near Roland Jenseric's cabin. That took the rest of the day and night. She had to fight a couple of bandits and a minotaur near Sercen, but the wildlife continued to leave her alone.

Back at the Imperial City, she traded and went to the Abandoned Shack on the waterfront to sleep a few hours before meeting Armand. Oh no! (more spoilers about "The Elven Maiden" quest).

After a couple of hours sleep, Delia met Armand, and got a promotion. She now has a new Doyen and a new fence available.

Thanks.

The Real Delia Dalomax, Chapter 19

Delia Dalomax, a Breton, left the Waterfront and went to the King and Queen Tavern, where she celebrated with food and drink, then slept. The next morning, Delia went to The Main Ingredient and The Gilded Caraff, where she bought out most of their low-weight Alchemy ingredients (0.5 weight or less - the petite Breton likes to keep her Alchemy concoctions light of weight). Then she spent most of the day experimenting, crafting all sorts of interesting poisons for her own use, plus some other potions to sell.

After trading again in the late afternoon, Delia went to see Tandilwe about Speech training, but Tandilwe caught Delia trying to cut corners on her present assignment, telling her "there are still poor souls you haven't spoken with." Hmmm, where could these poor souls be? Maybe Bruma. So we came up with a plan that should keep her busy for the next few days, taking care of other business while tracking down these poor Delia-deprived souls.

But first, Delia went to the Arena, where she broke even betting on the Blue Team. That evening, she saddled up Delia's Prior Maborel's Paint Horse and rode to Aleswell for the night.

Delia Dalomax, a Breton:
1. Spent all day traveling to Bruma, cheered up beggars, and fenced some stuff.
2. Traveled to Chorral for the final Mages Guild recommendation.
3. Cheered up beggars, met the mages, agreed to Teekeeus' task.
4. Explored a bit around Cloud Top and camped out.
5. Got the recommendation - Earana was displeased.
6. Rode to the Imperial City to visit the Arcane University.

Longer version. Contains spoilers for Chorral recommendation quest, a.k.a. "Fingers of the Mountain."

I actually played little bit of Oblivion yesterday

Talwina Sero, dunmer sorceress
- Killed Black Brugo and his Black Bow bandits with Mazoga the Orc and got them knighted.
- sold loot, selling ~300 iron arrows one by one took some time.
- Checked out White stallion Lodge and then walked over to Bravil, the only town left where she hasn't done the recommendation quest for Mages Guild. On the road, she couldn't walk a mile without being attacked by bandits or wildlife. On the otherhand, her destruction and restoration got lot of training.

Delia Dalomax, a Breton:
1. Broke into Umbacano Manor after hearing about it from a loose-lipped Argonian. Did not steal anything. This was just for recon.
2. Dealt with Imperial Corruption, finished cheering up all the beggars for Tandilwe, and made a bit of progress on Garridan's Tears.
3. Rose to Journeyman of the Mages Guild. Got a Mage's Staff of Paralysis (8 sec). I don't like using staves, and but I suppose she can carry it in case of emergency.
4. Hates necromancers more than ever after seeing their murderous acts and unprovoked hostility.
5. Probably will advance no further in the Mages Guild, as I want to save that questline for another character.
6. Made a spell called "Twilight Sparkles" (Paralyze 1 sec + Shock Damage 4pts x 3 sec).
7. Made some enchanted weapons and may have her weapon set for the rest of the game:
"Electra" - Glass bow delivering Shock damage, 12 pts x 2 sec.
"Sparkles" - Elven dagger delivering Shock damage, 20 pts x 1 sec.
"Carlotta" - Ebony dagger delivering Fire damage, 20 pts x 1 sec.
"Esmeralda" - Glass dagger delivering Absorb Health, 25 pts (made earlier using a Sigil Stone).

I decided a while back to use only daggers for melee weapons with this character, and give her an assortment. With all of these weapons, the first strike is usually poisoned nastily (she carries a large assortment of home-made poisons), so I didn't want the enchantments to be too powerful. Plus, she doesn't use soul trap, making efficient use of enchantment charge somewhat important. So, she has a bow and 3 unique daggers that can be used in different situations (mostly for variety's sake - I doubt that Shock or Fire have any gameplay advantage over Absorb Health).

Long version. Contains spoilers for "A Mage's Staff" and "Imperial Corruption".

Delia Dalomax, a Breton:
1. Was turned away at the Sleeping Mare Inn at Pell's Gate, so had to sleep outside.
2. Did nothing to help an Imperial Forester fighting a bear. The bear won.
3. Met her new Doyen, S'Krivva, and was sent to Leyawiin on a quest that revealed disturbing things about Countess Caro ("Ahdarji's Ring" quest).
4. Did her sneakiest sneaking yet while sneaking around Castle Leyawiin, but still needs higher Sneak skill and a better Chameleon spell.
5. Was promoted to Prowler in the TG, which is fitting, but I have a feeling the Blades will soon need some Prowler services, so further progress in the Guild is likely to be delayed.
6. Hung out with an Argonian underwater for a while.
7. Went to Chorrol for some much needed Athletics training. This skill is lagging, but I consider it an important one for the character, so I have a feeling Delia and Honditar are going to become good friends over the next several levels.

Long version. Contains spoilers for "Ahdarji's Ring".

I love reading about your character. It sounds so much more vibrant than what I do which is just functionality first and map travel to objective a for directive a etc.
You can write about the game to make it seem more interesting if you ignore map travel.

If you follow the clues, you do not have to sneak much at all in Leyawiin castle (or have high sneak skill). You just have to turn sneak on momentarily to get through a couple of doors and run/walk from here to there one time. It is all about timing with the guard on duty in the private chamber. The thieves guild and the dark brotherhood are the most fun/challenging IMO because you can do all of those quests without having any chamelion or high sneek or invisibility. Some can be tough but they are designed to be do-able at low skill level. Ability to pick locks (either player skill or character skill) is more critical in most cases.

@ Black Weasel, glad you like them and I'll try to keep them entertaining. For me, writing updates has become as much a part of playing the games as actually playing the games. I'm glad they provide some amusement to others.

@ Chicken Slayer - The living quarters wasn't too bad, especially using Detect Life to track the guard's movement, and in retrospect, you're probably right, I probably didn't need chameleon or much sneak if I'd been more patient about learning the timing. But I also wanted to get out of the castle without being seen by the downstairs guards that stand just inside and outside of the main castle door. The only way I could figure to exit the castle unseen wasn't very elegant and required sneak, chameleon in both potion and spell form, and invisibility - all at once. Oh, and the character was barefoot and wearing regular clothes. I'm hoping that high sneak plus a moderate chameleon spell will be sufficient for future situations like that, as I don't like relying on invisibility (just a preference).

You are safe once you get into the main public room. The guards will ignor you. It's not like helping the Argonian escape the Skingrad white lady dungeon later where everyone is after you because you have an escaping prisoner with you. The Leyawiin quest is quite challenging if you try to do it through the main private halls, but simple using the secret passage.

You can get the Jones Shadow greater spell from the runestone north of Bleak Flats cave and west of the Daedric shrine (Sanguine shrine I think) with only ten reknown points. It has invisibility and a good sneak boost which can come in handy in emergencies if you don't have much in the way of sneak or chamelion (when escaping the top of the tower after the library at the end of the thieves quests and walking past the patrolling guards in the dark brotherhood prison quest.)

Delia Dalomax, a Breton:
1. Rode cross-country between Chorrol and Skingrad, finding locations and fighting goblins along the way. When she is Empress, she will have a road built directly connecting the two cities.
2. Searched Skingrad for wines of 399 vintage. Eventually stole some. Sinderion has them now.
3. Was attacked by Audens Aventius as she awoke at the Mages Guild. The mages protected her.
4. Closed an Oblivion gate north of Skingrad and returned to Chorrol to meet with her personal fitness trainer.

Longer version. Contains a spoiler for the quest "Alchemy Training"... the spoiler being where you can find the wine.

Indeed there should be a road there. Anyway nice story and it's so nice when guildmembers help you out.

Delia Dalomax, a Breton:
1. Went to a meeting with Countess Carvain in Bruma. She was late for the meeting by several weeks, but the Countess didn't seem to mind.
2. Found that Bruma has grown on her, so she bought a house there. Nice and cozy.
3. Toured a historical site and recovered the Madstone for Countess Carvain ("Lifting the Vale").
4. Went for another workout with her personal trainer, Honditar.
5. Received word from above that the Blades request a meeting with her.

Longer version

lol @ nuts foresters. You use a bedroll mod? Sounds cool.
You really seem to like Honditar. Are you attempting to master athletics?
Can you tell us your character's class etc?

Yeah, before the character got a bedroll, she couldn't stay out after dark, like she had a curfew. Now she can enjoy some rudimentary camping.

The character's profile is on the Post Your Character page, 5 posts up from your character Daemos Maleficus. The character is currently level 28-ish, with all attributes in the 90's except Strength (49) and Luck (50). I'm deliberately keeping Strength relatively low on the dainty Breton.

Athletics has been leveling very slowly, so Honditar is getting the character into shape, sort of like a personal fitness trainer. I may even put a few more points into Strength just to reflect the success of his training regimen.

Not playing so much Oblivion, but I recently downloaded the Construction Set and have been busy building my own custom version of Arborwatch.

I've become rather fond of Chorrol, but I always hated the lack of adequate storage space in Arborwatch.

There are a few "improved" Arborwatch mods, but I've never been satisfied with any of them.

So now I'll just make my own, and hopefully get Dar-Ma to be my lusty argonian maid hee-hee-hee.

It's not that hard actually. Just tedious. It took all morning to make a sitting area (two benches, coffee table, rug, picture, light fixtures) and the better part of the day doing the dining room.

Then I had to delete half the kitchen when I realized I put in the wrong containers. They were set to respawn, and I have yet to learn how to unflag them to be safe-containers.

I am also [&@%!] there is no stove. I got a counter top, and there's a cupboard that could pass for an ice box (primitive refrigerator), but nothing to actually cook on.

I tried putting in a Castle Fireplace, being the only fireplace I could find, but it would not fit. It takes up too much room. Which sucks as it could sort-of function as a brick oven.

Today The Black Weasel (Male Bosmer)

Discovered Gottlesfont Priory
Cleared Fort Wooden Hand
Bought a Mortar and Pestle
Made restore health bouillons


After finding a fine steel bow and spending all his money on steel arrows, The Black Weasel (TBW) headed into the great forest and ran into Gottlesfont Priory.
After talking to the priestesses and collecting some Lady's Mantle Leaves, he went hunting some boars and deer.
When he realized how close a fort of maurauders was near the priory TBW crawled inside and shot down all the Marauders and made of with some good loot.
Sold his stuff to Thoronir in the market district and bought a Mortar and Pestle from the alchemy shop.
After he made his way back to the woods, TBW put some water, venison, and mantle leaves in his Mortar and Pestle and made some awesome herbal bouilon for those long treks through the woods. :3

Delia Dalomax, a Breton, was called back to Cloud Ruler Temple, where she agreed to help recover the Amulet of Kings and joined the Blades.

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Longer version. This is about as "role-playey" a post as I am likely to make, but I wanted a sensible way to get the character back into the Main Quest after some time away from it. Just assuming she would show up at CRT and say "hey, I'm back" didn't feel very satisfying.

Today at level 18, (trying for a realistic scenario) I cleared out the Mythic Dawn Dagon Shrine at Lake Arrias starting with a poisoned dagger and the Jones Shadow doom stone spell. I dropped the dagger before Harrow stripped me and picked it up when he started walking away. Before I got called up to the alter, I cut him and cast the spell so no one could find me. When he died I got my equipment off his body and killed the others with my fireball staff (40 points in a 15 foot radius) as they swarmed me in a corner.

I think I could have killed Ruma Camoran and taken her staff to kill the others. I'm going to try that today to see if it works. Her staff doesn't have many shots, but it is powerful. The game usually provides you with a tool to succeed in any given quest, and that might be the tool. I doubt that at level 18 I can kill her with the silver dagger from the alter and then take her staff before I get killed, but you never know.


edit:

Tried it. Ruma Camoran wouldn't stand still to be hacked up with the silver dagger so I got killed, repeatedly. Poison needed.