Clavicus Vile's Dog and The Ring of Hircine

I found and followed Barbas, the dog outside of Falkreath. He, of course, belongs to the Daedric Prince of Wishes, Clavicus Vile. He lead me to one of his master's shrines, where his master is stuck in a statue. Clavicus Vile ordered me to retrieve an axe for him since it would prove... ominous ellipsis... interesting. I assume that he likely wants me to kill someone with this axe, so I believe I will put the quest on the back burner for now. Daedric quests aren't usually my cup of tea, though if any of them happened to send me to strange areas, with unique flora and fauna.... Regardless, this means I now have Barbas as a companion until I finish the quest.

Interestingly enough, the next thing I did was manage to get involved in another Daedric quest, also based out of Falkreath. The man in the Falkreath jail, Sinding, was jailed for savagely killing a little girl, evidence he is out of control of his lycanthropy. As a vampire, the ring didn't affect me, so I took it from him and sought out Hircine, who he had managed to anger by spurning Hircine's gift and not reveling in the hunt instead of wishing to suppress the urge.

Hircine, being angry as he was, sent numerous hunters after Sinding. I followed them and, with Sinding, killed the hunters. Hircine was actually pleased, since he thought this best depicted the savagery of the hunt, but I had misgivings about leaving Sinding alive, even to spite a Daedric god. Though Sinding swore to live out in the wilderness of Bloated Man's Grotto, there is no guarantee that he would be able to control his form forever, and the spot is far from an unpopular one. I went back into the grotto to finish the job. This, of course, pleased Hircine even more.

On the way from Bloated Man Grotto to Silent Moons, I happened upon a group of vampires who masqueraded themselves as Vigilants of Stendarr, but their glowing eyes gave them away.

I took a detour up to Silent Moons Camp, a fairly mediocre bandit camp over what looks like old Nordic ruins, which had three mushroom clusters of no particular significance and a locked room with nice high level potions in it. It is somewhat interesting for the Lunar enchanted weapons found here, which might come in handy if I keep the vampirism. The camp could make a decent base if need be, since there are so few bandits in it that it's easy to clear out.


I also apparently spent a lot of time in first-person with magic hands, as is evident by these pictures. Magic!hands!

Journeying Around Hjaalmarch and Whiterun

Instead of riding immediately back to Falkreath, I went south to Morthal instead of into Solitude itself. Hjaalmarch is much more interesting in terms of flora and fauna than Falkreath. There are Swamp Fungal Pods, Slaughterfish Eggs and Slaughterfish in the numerous marshes, Spiky Grass, and a decent number of vampires and skeletons.

Morvath's infamous boot collection.

Immediately on entering Morthal, I found myself engaged in the Laid to Rest quest, where I routed out a vampiric plot. Unfortunately, just as I closed in on the head vampire, Movarth, I myself completed my transformation-- whoops. I finished the quest regardless and headed back to town, only to be met by a member of the Dawnguard, telling me that they were attempting to put together a force to combat the vampire menace. Serendipitous timing much? In Movarth's lair were several iron deposits

Lovely grotto beset with trolls.

Seeing as how the Dawnguard is out of Riften and I would like to go north, it will probably be some time before I can head that way, but it's good to keep in mind. I headed back to the Whiterun and Falkreath areas so that I could clear some of the quests out of my log, heading to Darkshade to retrieve Runil's Journal. Darkshade had once been a bandit camp, but was overtaken with five trolls. The area is a gorgeous underground grotto, made grotesque by all of the bloody corpses due to the troll infestation. There are also two gold veins. It could be a decent place to harvest troll fat and gold ores once it recovers from being cleared. I immediately headed back to Falkreath, where the guard asked, the moment I entered town, if I had seen a dog. I said no, but headed to the blacksmith Lod, who had originally put out the request for someone to find the dog. He gave me some gold and fresh meat to look into it for him, and I dropped the journal off with Runil. Now, to head out of Falkreath, find the dog, and hopefully finish up in southern Skyrim for a while!

Entering Falkreath Hold

I traveled south and west to Falkreath. On the way from Helgen to Falkreath, I found a Shrine to Talos that had been destroyed by the Thalmor. This was on the shores of Lake Ilinalta, where I was also able to find a Pine Thrush nest and nearby a clay deposit. On the way, I was also twice beset by vampires! Fortunately, after I killed them, their excellent enchanted armor became mine! Unfortunately, I began to feel ill afterward. I am still trying to decide if I want to experience being a vampire.

The Thalmor orders.

After meeting with the Jarl, I went on two quests to clear out bandit dens - Bilegulch Mine and Knifepoint Ridge. The Jarl, who is a major tool, had a deal going with Bilegulch Mine that they reneged on. Knifepoint Ridge was a bounty, probably set by the more useful Steward even though the Jarl's name was on it. Bilegulch Mine is mined by Orc bandit outlaws. It's an orichalcum mine, and overtop it the orcs have set up a full smithy, with some orc weapons. This could be evidence of an orc settlement in Falkreath?

Knifepoint Ridge was a very well-established camp with a full smithy and alchemy station, set over an iron mine. The bandits made Imperial prisoners work mining rather than doing it themselves, as the orcs did.

Although Falkreath is heavily wooded, there isn't really any interesting flora. There is a higher frequency of stumps, which yield Mora Tapinella, and due to the massive graveyards, skeletons can appear, which yield Bone Meal. There are also numerous Pine Thrush nests sprinkled around, and plentiful fishing. However, the area didn't yield much over the course of my brief survey, so I went back to Whiterun and took a trip north to Solitude. (Meanwhile, Lydia and I both overwent makeovers, presumably due to time spent doing each other's hair.)

I arrived at Solitude, bought a horse, and am currently trying to decide if I want to go in or ride back south to Falkreath before starting quests in the area.

"Yes, it totally makes sense that I look like a model. Hush, you."

Beginning the Journey

The character is rolled. I've called her Ella, and have decided that she is half-Nord, half-Bosmer, even though theoretically those may be two different species and thus incompatible. But this is my character and I'll mix species if I want to.

I was discovered crossing Skyrim's closed borders from Cyrodiil, as any character might be, RP background: I was trying to enter Skyrim to pursue my journeyman level of herbalist training. More than an herbalist, however, I strive to be a naturalist-- to catalog all the plants and animals of Skyrim. I intend also to become skilled in magic, since I don't want to be weighed down with heavy weaponry as I collect specimens, though a bow is necessary for animal ingredients, and I will need to cultivate some close-range weaponry skills as well.

And now, of course, there are dragons!

On the 17th of Last Seed, Morndas, 4th Era, 201, after I was to be beheaded in the border town of Helgen, and subsequently saved by a great and fearsome dragon, I took off with one of the Stormcloak soldiers who had been a guard to Ulfric Stormcloak. Ulfric, the Jarl of Windhelm, was bound and gagged, and in the wagon bouncing along with me, off to our apparent doom. Of course, that wasn't to be so. He was with the Stormcloaks and me, but we were separated and I ended up with one of my Imperial captors, a man named Hadvar. We escaped Helgen together and went to Riverwood, where his uncle Alvor runs the smithy.

Before we escaped, we ran into Imperial torturers. Despite being an Imperial-supporter himself, Hadvar did not seem to mind me ruthlessly killing both the torturer and his assistant. I can't abide torture.

Regarding animals and plant life: the road from Helgen to Riverwood had numerous wolves, foxes, and prey animals. The plants were far more interesting to me. On this road, one finds red, blue, and purple mountain flower, mostly blue, turning to patches of red as you get closer to the river. There is also thistle, but very little else. There were numerous kept plants in the village, but these, of course, were domesticated. There was a Frostbite nest in the catacombs beneath Helgen, where I was able to harvest Frostbite Venom and Spider Eggs. There was also, interestingly enough, a bear in the catacombs, but I quickly dispatched of her so I could harvest her claws and pelt, as there was no evidence of cubs. On the other side of the river in Riverwood, there was some Mora Tapinella growing on tree stumps.

Hadvar stayed on in Riverwood, but I was too impatient and left immediately for Whiterun. I made it by dawn and received a brief lesson in smithing from the local blacksmith, as well as hearing several arguments. I head up the Jarl's keep, Dragonreach, soon, but I am tiring fast. I have promised many people to look into many things (missing swords, bandit camps, stolen items), but first I must inform the Jarl about the dragon. I desperately want to make my way to the northern climes, to see what grows in the snow wastes, but I must finish up here first.

There was quite a bit of purple mountain flower on the road to Whiterun, as well as clumps of tundra cotton. There is much lavender as well. From Helgen to Whiterun, there were sporadic patches of snowberries. There was also numerous clumps of deathbell and nightshade in Whiterun, which is concerning, as both are obvious poisons.

Hard at work advancing my skills, I made many potions.

Blue Mountain Flower and Rock Warbler eggs = restore health.
Dragon's Tongue and Snowberries = resist fire.
Tundra Cotton and Lavender = resist magic.
Red Mountain Flower and Mora Tapinella = restore magic.

Besides the eggs, these are all very common ingredients. and I believe that harvesting them will allow me to advance my alchemical skills rapidly. I look forward to my adventures as a journeyman herbalist and naturalist!