bulbaquil
...is not Sjadbek, he just runs him.
Inspired by the same person all the journals are inspired by. I am less "hardcore" a player than BIGwooly, but....
I. SALIENT MODS INSTALLED:
- Live Another Life
- Realistic Carry Weight (enforced reduced carry weight limit)
- Longer Jailtime (60 day max)
- Better Food and Sleep, with "base" health/magicka/stamina regen diminished to 10% of vanilla (it's not the most realistic survival mod out there, but this will ensure I don't immediately drop dead after a long jail sentence)
- Higher Bounties
- Immersive HUD, with the compass, quest markers, and stealth indicator turned COMPLETELY OFF. (Ensures no accidental theft but still allows for me getting lost.)
II. GAMEPLAY RULES
- difficulty set to "expert"
- upon leveling up stamina, carry weight increases by only 2 pounds rather than 5 (console-command to ensure this)
- maximum 50 arrows and 20 lockpicks
- may not harvest unreasonable items
- may not activate overpowered/unrealistic perks
- if character dies must return to an inn or temple and wait for 96 hours (four days)
- must spend 150 gold with inn/temple (console-command the gold away). If I have less than that, I have 12 game-hours to acquire the remaining funds, else I must console-command ALL my gold away and apply three times the remaining debt as a bounty
- may not use in-game map unless at a known location
- may not fast travel (except by cart)
- may not use exploits
- may not use smithing or enchanting (must find/purchase all gear). MAY improve gear as well as recharge already-enchanted gear
- may place no more than two perk points in "sneak"
- may place no more than two perk points in "pickpocket"
- may not have more than half of carry weight in inventory while swimming; if unexpectedly entering deep water with more, must drop items, starting with the heaviest without exception, until 1/2 carry weight is achieved
- may only use housecarls and for-hire mercenaries as followers
- mercenary's fee is for a 48-hour period
- dead is dead applies to mercenaries/horses
- wait 3 hours after reading a skill tome or spell tome
- wait 1 hour after improving weapon/armor or skinning game
- MAY cut wood for money, but must wait 2 hours every time the animation finishes
- may NOT order housecarls/mercenaries to cut wood for money.
III. CHARACTER RULES
- must start with 3,000 bounty in the Reach and 1,000 bounty in Haafingar
- may not use starting magic spells until spell tome is acquired
- must apply level points in a 0/1/3 fashion (magicka/health/stamina)
- perk plan up to level 19: Skyrim Perk Calculator - Plan the perks for your Skyrim character before spending them!
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17 Last Seed 201
I should never have gone to Markarth.
It was about ten months ago now that I did, seeking to find a Dwemer ruin in hopes of gaining further glory amongst the petty nobles of Wayrest, but instead I found that Bretons are looked upon somewhat leerily in Markarth.
Who can blame them? Too many Forsworn, and the fact that I’m far more fond of swords than of magic doesn’t help. I don’t even know a single spell. Anyway, I kind of got involved with the wrong crowd, and we accidentally ticked off one of the Silver Bloods. This was about five months ago now. Beginning of First Seed. Three of us got out – myself, the Nord Thalsteg, and the Orc Burgul gro-Mugshab. The rest were hauled off to Cidhna Mine.
We managed to overpower and replace the bandits at Four Skull Lookout, setting up camp there and waiting for people to raid. I have no idea how high my bounty in the Reach is now.
I woke up on this drizzly morning completely disoriented, with no idea what was in which direction, but Burgul insisted I go out and gather supplies anyway. So I did… or at least tried to. I headed to the river and grabbed a couple of nirnroots and mudcrab chitins, but how to get back to the camp completely slipped my mind. The Reach is a treacherous place; it is all too easy to descend a cliffside without knowing how to get back up.
So I decided I might as well try to make my way to a city. Obviously not Markarth, but someplace safer wouldn’t go amiss. I tried to go downriver, to where I think was Solitude, but a Forsworn encampment blocked my way and I didn’t want to tangle with them. They’d already caused enough problems.
So I had no choice but to go upriver, back toward Markarth. Eventually, around I don’t know what time of day (bloody clouds), I came to a roadway, and lo and behold stood before me a road sign. I knew which way I was going: the way that went away from Markarth and my bounty.
About an hour passed and I saw a horse ridden by a noble and guarded by an Imperial soldier. The soldier seemed to be distracted by protecting the noble and although he scowled at me for being a bandit, I kept my weapon sheathed and passed them up on the road.
I should have waited, as they would have been beset by wolves. Instead, I was. I managed to kill one of the wolves. The other attacked me for a little while and then strayed off to attack the noble and horse. Figured they’d probably make better feedstock than a lanky Breton bandit.
The noble dismounted to kill the wolf, evidently not noticing that the ancient Akaviri archgod B’eth-Ez-Dah has installed the patch of moutned combat. This was good, as it allows me to steal the horse. But then I dumped the horse after praying to a shrine of Dibella. Which in retrospect, I shouldn’t have done. Nothing against Dibella, mind you—I’m perfectly happy with beautiful women—but an improvement in my ability to talk didn’t really help when I was on the road alone.
Further along the road I encountered MORE Imperials, these ones escorting a prisoner of some kind. I was sure glad I wasn’t him. I thought it useful to tail them, as they’d probably deal with any threats that came along the road (WOLVES) but then they turned off the road, forcing me to spend two more valuable healing potions dealing with yet another pair of wolves.
And then I heard a bear. I couldn’t go on like this; I was out of food and knew no healing magic. The bear sounded distracted, hopefully by an armed person, and didn’t seem to notice me. Turned out someone else killed it—a woman named Ria. She was obviously a mighty warrior, even if she was babbling about Jorvisk-something, whatever that was. I followed her for a while, but then for some reason she too ran off the road. But shortly thereafter I saw a cow led by a farmer. Cows meant civilization, didn’t they?
Well, not enough of it. The farmer drew his blade as YET ANOTHER wolf attacked. I hate wolves.
The sky turned dark and I was still miles from any sort of town. I heard yet another howl; turned to run and ran right into a bloody skeever. I really needed a good night’s sleep. Instead I encountered what appeared to be a military fort, but the soldiers patrolling outside it weren’t Imperials. It must have been the civil war thing, and they were Storm whatevers. I really should have paid more attention. Still, that meant I was probably in the right place. The Storm people didn’t care at all about my bounty in the Reach.
They told me I was standing by Fort Greymoor, and that they were not actually stationed there—that was a bandit fort. I’m not one of their crew of bandits, so the bandits there would likely have been hostile to me—good thing I didn’t try to sleep there. At any rate, at what must have been ten in the evening, I finally arrived at Whiterun and was let in with no problem.
And that’s where I am now, writing this in the evening candlelight. Can’t say I started the day expecting to be here. I’m running a bit short on funds, though, and need to obtain more.
I. SALIENT MODS INSTALLED:
- Live Another Life
- Realistic Carry Weight (enforced reduced carry weight limit)
- Longer Jailtime (60 day max)
- Better Food and Sleep, with "base" health/magicka/stamina regen diminished to 10% of vanilla (it's not the most realistic survival mod out there, but this will ensure I don't immediately drop dead after a long jail sentence)
- Higher Bounties
- Immersive HUD, with the compass, quest markers, and stealth indicator turned COMPLETELY OFF. (Ensures no accidental theft but still allows for me getting lost.)
II. GAMEPLAY RULES
- difficulty set to "expert"
- upon leveling up stamina, carry weight increases by only 2 pounds rather than 5 (console-command to ensure this)
- maximum 50 arrows and 20 lockpicks
- may not harvest unreasonable items
- may not activate overpowered/unrealistic perks
- if character dies must return to an inn or temple and wait for 96 hours (four days)
- must spend 150 gold with inn/temple (console-command the gold away). If I have less than that, I have 12 game-hours to acquire the remaining funds, else I must console-command ALL my gold away and apply three times the remaining debt as a bounty
- may not use in-game map unless at a known location
- may not fast travel (except by cart)
- may not use exploits
- may not use smithing or enchanting (must find/purchase all gear). MAY improve gear as well as recharge already-enchanted gear
- may place no more than two perk points in "sneak"
- may place no more than two perk points in "pickpocket"
- may not have more than half of carry weight in inventory while swimming; if unexpectedly entering deep water with more, must drop items, starting with the heaviest without exception, until 1/2 carry weight is achieved
- may only use housecarls and for-hire mercenaries as followers
- mercenary's fee is for a 48-hour period
- dead is dead applies to mercenaries/horses
- wait 3 hours after reading a skill tome or spell tome
- wait 1 hour after improving weapon/armor or skinning game
- MAY cut wood for money, but must wait 2 hours every time the animation finishes
- may NOT order housecarls/mercenaries to cut wood for money.
III. CHARACTER RULES
- must start with 3,000 bounty in the Reach and 1,000 bounty in Haafingar
- may not use starting magic spells until spell tome is acquired
- must apply level points in a 0/1/3 fashion (magicka/health/stamina)
- perk plan up to level 19: Skyrim Perk Calculator - Plan the perks for your Skyrim character before spending them!
##############################################################
17 Last Seed 201
I should never have gone to Markarth.
It was about ten months ago now that I did, seeking to find a Dwemer ruin in hopes of gaining further glory amongst the petty nobles of Wayrest, but instead I found that Bretons are looked upon somewhat leerily in Markarth.
Who can blame them? Too many Forsworn, and the fact that I’m far more fond of swords than of magic doesn’t help. I don’t even know a single spell. Anyway, I kind of got involved with the wrong crowd, and we accidentally ticked off one of the Silver Bloods. This was about five months ago now. Beginning of First Seed. Three of us got out – myself, the Nord Thalsteg, and the Orc Burgul gro-Mugshab. The rest were hauled off to Cidhna Mine.
We managed to overpower and replace the bandits at Four Skull Lookout, setting up camp there and waiting for people to raid. I have no idea how high my bounty in the Reach is now.
I woke up on this drizzly morning completely disoriented, with no idea what was in which direction, but Burgul insisted I go out and gather supplies anyway. So I did… or at least tried to. I headed to the river and grabbed a couple of nirnroots and mudcrab chitins, but how to get back to the camp completely slipped my mind. The Reach is a treacherous place; it is all too easy to descend a cliffside without knowing how to get back up.
So I decided I might as well try to make my way to a city. Obviously not Markarth, but someplace safer wouldn’t go amiss. I tried to go downriver, to where I think was Solitude, but a Forsworn encampment blocked my way and I didn’t want to tangle with them. They’d already caused enough problems.
So I had no choice but to go upriver, back toward Markarth. Eventually, around I don’t know what time of day (bloody clouds), I came to a roadway, and lo and behold stood before me a road sign. I knew which way I was going: the way that went away from Markarth and my bounty.
About an hour passed and I saw a horse ridden by a noble and guarded by an Imperial soldier. The soldier seemed to be distracted by protecting the noble and although he scowled at me for being a bandit, I kept my weapon sheathed and passed them up on the road.
I should have waited, as they would have been beset by wolves. Instead, I was. I managed to kill one of the wolves. The other attacked me for a little while and then strayed off to attack the noble and horse. Figured they’d probably make better feedstock than a lanky Breton bandit.
The noble dismounted to kill the wolf, evidently not noticing that the ancient Akaviri archgod B’eth-Ez-Dah has installed the patch of moutned combat. This was good, as it allows me to steal the horse. But then I dumped the horse after praying to a shrine of Dibella. Which in retrospect, I shouldn’t have done. Nothing against Dibella, mind you—I’m perfectly happy with beautiful women—but an improvement in my ability to talk didn’t really help when I was on the road alone.
Further along the road I encountered MORE Imperials, these ones escorting a prisoner of some kind. I was sure glad I wasn’t him. I thought it useful to tail them, as they’d probably deal with any threats that came along the road (WOLVES) but then they turned off the road, forcing me to spend two more valuable healing potions dealing with yet another pair of wolves.
And then I heard a bear. I couldn’t go on like this; I was out of food and knew no healing magic. The bear sounded distracted, hopefully by an armed person, and didn’t seem to notice me. Turned out someone else killed it—a woman named Ria. She was obviously a mighty warrior, even if she was babbling about Jorvisk-something, whatever that was. I followed her for a while, but then for some reason she too ran off the road. But shortly thereafter I saw a cow led by a farmer. Cows meant civilization, didn’t they?
Well, not enough of it. The farmer drew his blade as YET ANOTHER wolf attacked. I hate wolves.
The sky turned dark and I was still miles from any sort of town. I heard yet another howl; turned to run and ran right into a bloody skeever. I really needed a good night’s sleep. Instead I encountered what appeared to be a military fort, but the soldiers patrolling outside it weren’t Imperials. It must have been the civil war thing, and they were Storm whatevers. I really should have paid more attention. Still, that meant I was probably in the right place. The Storm people didn’t care at all about my bounty in the Reach.
They told me I was standing by Fort Greymoor, and that they were not actually stationed there—that was a bandit fort. I’m not one of their crew of bandits, so the bandits there would likely have been hostile to me—good thing I didn’t try to sleep there. At any rate, at what must have been ten in the evening, I finally arrived at Whiterun and was let in with no problem.
And that’s where I am now, writing this in the evening candlelight. Can’t say I started the day expecting to be here. I’m running a bit short on funds, though, and need to obtain more.
