It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, and I’ve never done one on Kintsugi. But you know what’s fun? Messing with Bethesda games. Possibly breaking them in the process, but hey! It’s Bethesda! That happens anyway. I have a good few shiny mods on this thing, and I’m open to suggestions on adding/subtracting any before I get this started. I’m also definitely going to make this open to suggestions on what the hell we do in this run, though I do have one fixed point: No siding with the Stormcloaks, and The Dragonborn is going to be this awful, awful person, and their diary entries are going to serve as the main body of the LP: Meet London. They started out as an agender Darkling Antiquarian in a Changeling: The Lost game I was in years ago. Bookish, somewhat unhinged, and filled with seething resentment for just about everything. For purposes of this LP their backstory is up for debate. Are they: An uninfected half-vampire a la Agronak gro-Malog, fleeing to Skyrim to escape the bitey half of the family after they got in an argument with an uncle that left him as an ash pile? The Tamrielic equivalent of a mad scientist, fleeing to Skyrim to conduct their experiments unmolested by those pesky guilds or guards or ethics? One of the Dunmer diaspora, fleeing from Skyrim because being cold sucks and so does being a suspect in a murder/chicken theft or three? Something else that’s amusing and I haven’t figured out yet? You decide! I’ve installed current version of STEP Extended (i.e. every mod listed on that page), plus I’ve incorporated these: Ordinator: I’ve played with Perkus Maximus before, and while it’s a nice mod, it’s something I’ve seen already. ·ShowRaceMenu Precache Killer: Bugfix for a potential crash when accessing ShowRaceMenu in the console. Lovely Hairstyles CE: STEP tries to be very faithful to the look and feel of vanilla Skyrim, but that limits the number of short hair options for female-bodied characters. The scuzzy hair London’s got is a product of this mod. Practical Female Armors: Boobplate be gone! Practical Female Armors aMidianBorn Content Addon Patch: Possibly redundant? Documentation, documentation, my kingdom for a proper documentation file! And maybe: Aemer’s Refuge and/or Druid’s Den: a couple of player houses that have auto-sorting chests and a library/display areas, respectively. Since they’re not entirely lore-friendly I’d probably keep them off-screen and just use them for inventory management, unless anyone wants them in the mix. Organized Bandits in Skyrim: 57 new bandit groups to make them less generic. Includes a more complicated hierarchy. Not sure if I can get this working, but it might happen. ASIS: Not the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, though that would be funny. Automatic Spells, Increased Spawns. NPCs can access all spells, potions and perks that you can, buffs up enemy AI. Again, contingent on getting it working. Unique Vampire Dens: Vampire dens hidden in the five major cities. I’ve never actually gone and found them, but apparently they’re fit pretty nicely to each city’s style. Enhanced Lights and FX: Things are prettier but it might conflict with other mods already loaded and/or make nights too dark. I’m willing to try suggestions more/fewer mods so long as they’re lore-friendly or a small step removed, but it’s all dependent on whether the game can stay stable, basically. If I’m experiencing periodic CTDs, decreased performance or bugs that aren’t funny, I’ll have to nix it. I’m not sure I can remove any mods from STEP without this whole precarious edifice crumbling to pieces, but if anything in it becomes obnoxious for some unforeseen reason, I can try. So! Decisions for the first entry: What should this little bugger’s backstory be? And while I think it would be inconsistent with their character to side with the Stormcloaks in the long run: When faced with a choice to follow someone to escape a dragon, who should they choose? An imperial soldier who showed sympathy for you but didn’t try to halt your execution, or one of the Nord separatists who’s the reason why you were going to be executed? I’ll leave this up for a few days or until there’s sufficient response to pick a winner. In the meantime I’ll be ensuring that these mods all work together, no NPCs have ended up naked or missing bits of themselves, etc. Oh gods everything's on fire WHAT AM I DOING
I vote either >Dunmer trying to get out of this hellhole or >Mad scientist. Also, >fuck following people, run for the nearest door that's not on fire. (iirc this ends with you following the stormcloak, but in the spirit of proper roleplaying I am more concerned about the Immediate Dragon than the stupid soldiers arguing about who betrayed who :P) eta: also, if it exists for the fancy new edition (I am a lazy egg who doesn't want to figure out Nexus), suggest Smeltdown: Items To Ingots if London's gonna be smithing.
Noted! I think this functionality is covered in one of the mods contained in STEP: the Complete Crafting Overhaul. There definitely will be some scrawny-armed smithing going on, if only for the amusement factor of this tiny nerd learning how to smack a piece of metal until it's vaguely pointy. Oh, and I'm actually not playing on Legendary because some mods still aren't compatible with it, most critically SKSE. I've got all the DLC, graphics mods out the arse and a SKSE.ini tweak that appears to have stabilized the whole thing tremendously, so Legendary is kind of redundant unless I run into RAM issues. When SKSE switches to 64 bit (which is expected to happen mid-March) I'll transfer over so that I can use a few higher quality graphics modpacks, but I'm not sure it'd be feasible at the moment.
I would like to humbly suggest a combination of Option One AND Option Two! A half-vampire mad scientist whose unethical experiments managed to SERIOUSLY offend a former uncle (maybe London cooks with too much garlic, badum tish).
As Drake pointed out, the half-vamp thing isn't mutually exclusive with the others. Hell, apart from the location element none of them are mutually exclusive. Could be a half-vampire who released fire-breathing frogs on an uncle and then fled with their research notes, committing various and sundry crimes along the way to finance their escape and evade vengeful second cousins.
So, fun fact: I had to restart the intro sequence today during mod testing because I’d forgot to save London's face as a preset in RaceMenu, and when I loaded my pre-Ralof or Hadvar choice save, this happened: They were just stuck there, bobbing gently on the tower stairs, slowly folding in on themselves. A new save is working fine, though, and prep for the first entry is underway. Bug Count: 1
[I have part of a post ready to go, so here it is! Mad scientist was the winner of the poll, but it was also pointed out to me that pretty much all of the backstory elements can coexist without issue. So we'll be moving forward with a katamari of personal history, amounting to a Dovahkiin uniquely unsuited to the role! Huzzah!] 17th of Last Seed New journal. Don’t know if the old one even exists now. If it does: forget what I wrote before. This was undeniably the worst day I’ve ever experienced. The incident with the fish does not compare. Travel had been without incident, and the border crossing was within sight. I proceeded after sundown to better evade patrols as necessary. In fact, that part went just fine. Then, well past the border, I rounded a turn and ran straight into a Nord. Stupid, beefy nord! It was about to kill me, I’m certain, I saw that look in its beady little eyes, but then a man on a horse came sailing in out of nowhere. “A distraction!” I thought, “I’m saved!” But no, he was trailing half the blighted Imperial Army behind him. “Ancestors no, this is the last thing I want right now,” I thought, “But it's still a distraction!” And then someone almost knocked my brains from my skull, and that was the last I saw of consciousness for a while. I came to with nostrils full to the smell of Nord, which was not pleasant. It smelled like wet, musty fur and unwashed skin. I tried to pretend I wasn’t, but I was apparently too woozy to manage it convincingly. I felt inclined to agree, but the bearded blond didn’t seem too keen on it. I was fairly sure in that moment that he was the one I'd smacked into at the start of this. Or was it the man wearing half a bear sitting across from the horse pilferer? That didn’t ring any bells. That made the bells jangle slightly. I hadn’t researched the current ins and outs of Nord politics when I decided to try out northern living. Events conspired to make the move rather rushed. But a ‘rebellion’ I’d heard of. Somewhat. It wasn’t a good word. I came to the same conclusion concurrently with the goggle-eyed thief. I also came to the realization that my pack was gone. And my coat! That was unfair! The misty air was chilled, not just because I’d realized I was thrown in with a bunch of humans that were about to become somewhat shorter and much more dead. I wasn’t built for this weather, unlike the bear-wearer over there and he got to keep all his regalia. Beyond that, I would have dearly loved to have had all the things in those hidden inner pockets. My knife, my research notes, the potion made with the powdered remains of a difficult family member, and any number of little crafted widgets and stolen goods which undoubtedly would have gotten me out of that cart and up over the hills and safely away from the death parade. I wouldn’t have had to listen to blasted small talk at the very least. Or the thief apparently forgetting the names of three out of the eight gods he was hoping would whisk him away. Or the beardy one coming up with conspiracy theories. Or an excerpt from the local guide representing the Personal, Unrelated Reminiscence Resolving to Political-Leaning Exposition, a Commentary and Tour Service (PURRPLE CaTS, special rate available for seniors, half-off on Tirdas). I swear, it sounded as if it was lifted from little bits of a speech he’d been working on. It wasn’t very good. Maybe that was why he’d become a professional thing-hitter instead. But at the very least I didn’t have to deal with children today. But Ancestors, I’d only known this man for three minutes at most and I was already growing to despise him. What sort of person thinks it’s reasonable to demand dignity and good cheer from others who you’ve dragged to an unjust and undeserved execution? And I’d just spotted the Nord I’d collided with, crawling out of the other cart behind him. There was the man who was the sole reason why I'd been noticed by the Imperials, thus sealing my fate. Good cheer was in no way on the itinerary in that moment, no matter how much Beard was trying to make it happen. Or maybe he was mocking me when he smiled. The smug s'wit. Maybe his head was purely for decoration and threat of decapitation wasn't actually bothering him. Gods know, he hadn't demonstrated he had much use for its contents. Am I being unfair? Maybe. I think I deserve it at this point, because fate wasn't done heaping troubles on me. Somehow the trip to the executioner's axe and a Nord tour guide weren't the worst things that I had to escape today.
[And some more, now that I'm back from work!] That was blondybeardy’s name. He’d been insufferable for the whole cart ride and to top it all off he nearly knocked me over shouldering past me to go stand like a rotten lemon with his friends. He’s earned a spot on The List, that’s for certain. And the redhead that had doomed me, didn’t catch his name, so he doesn’t get one. Because the thief started screaming and getting terrible ideas. He got maybe seven paces before he dropped, doing a stupid little split on the way down. I mock the thief for his poor planning, but I hadn’t a single productive thought in my head at that point. It was all devoted to trembling and hyperventilation. I blurted out something vaguely name-shaped, he wrote it down. Apparently I’m London now. Yes. Refugee. I’ll need to remember that. I don’t think I babbled anything about “I didn’t do it!” or “No one can blame me for it, if Eronthor had just followed my instructions, he wouldn’t have exploded!” or “If Biene Masolaude sent you a letter, don’t believe her! She’s a liar!”, even though if I had said it, it all would have been true. Besides, Eronthor survived, the ungrateful little bastard. I won’t forget The List! She’s on it now, definitely! I’ve only been there once! What else was I going to do? They demonstrably had more pointy edges than I did, and I had no idea where they’d taken my things. So I just stood there (standing was a miracle in and of itself), listening to the second obviously practiced speech of the day. I’m sure Bearback had a speech all ready as well, but all I heard of it was “mrrrgflmrr.” Astounding. The first indication that the day was somehow going to get more terrifying than summary execution was a roar echoing over the mountains that interrupted the oration. I resented it even then, because it made the human lose his place and give up. She sounded very offended. I was doubly offended because again, something had conspired to nudge events ever closer along towards my impending doom, and it was that blasted Nord I’d run into at the start of all this. He took himself off The List! No, no. If I ever go back to that place, I’ll have to find his remains and kick them. From what I could hear there was a crowd of maybe two watching the proceedings. On balance it’s better that way, less chance of surviving witnesses, I suppose. On the other hand, it was deeply insulting. I’d worked so hard, I had so much left to do, and now that I was to be executed it wasn’t for anything I’d done and no one was there to see it! But still I would have appreciated it if they’d prioritized this rebel king over me! Even the mountains roaring again didn’t deter the woman’s desire to see me die for some reason.
I didn’t move until something sharp nearly put a dimple in my left kidney and I wobbled forward towards the block. They didn’t even bother to clear away the Nord first, and he smelled even worse than he had earlier in the morning when his head was still on. No brilliant plans were coming to mind. Then a dragon swooped down out of myth and legend and yelled the sky orange. I really hope I'm not just imagining that it happened. It had impeccable timing. But of course in the meantime it was absolutely bloody terrifying.
One skill one learns both from laboratory endeavors and family parties is how to sprint for safety at a moment’s notice. There was quite a lot of noise and fire and rocks falling from the sky but I was on my feet and into the nearest stone structure before my head had cleared. I’d accidentally run in the same direction as the rebel Nords, who apparently needed an authoritative source to confirm what their eyes could have told them. I wasn’t about to stay on the ground floor with them, though. Heat and smoke might rise, but I couldn’t be certain that the dragon’s head was too big to fit through that doorway. Lesson learned: Dragons make their own doorways. [Bug #2: one of my mods makes it so that dragons actually speak the draconic languagewhen casting all their magic, as per lore. It just happens to subtitle them in Spanish. I fixed this after this set.] It winged away after that random act of arson, and I managed to acquire a terrible idea before the Nords could. My hands were still bound, throwing off my aim. I missed the softer thatch and didn’t quite miss the bonfire. Nearly sprained everything, singed my pants, didn’t care, acceleration was the word of the moment. Ha! No, he was heavier and slower than I was, and cared about the safety of children. Not a chance. I was just about to take a moment to catch my breath and try and find something sharp when the wall I was hiding behind had a visitor. It then leapt into the air again, indicating to me that it wasn’t coming back for a while. Good. I could have a moment to get over my heart attack and then-- Be immediately given away by a screaming Nord. No one there would have lasted a week with my family. Tell my family I’m dead, please, it would simplify things immensely. Maybe I’ll be lucky enough to have them thrown off the trail, at least? Obviously the humans were doomed. The mages were throwing fire at the creature burning down the village and the guards didn’t have the sense to do what the Thalmor apparently had and just leave. I wanted nothing to do with the sorts of people who would stop to yell recriminations at each other in the middle of an open courtyard when a dragon was killing everything. I sprinted for the nearest door. This building might stay up a while longer.
Bonus: BUGS TIME! There’s supposed to be a Thalmor on a horse here, between the two soldiers in black. They’re staring at where he should be, as if wondering where the heck their boss got to. I have no idea where he got to, but I swear I heard a horse make a distant ouch noise somewhere way off camera about five seconds later, which potentially indicates that the Thalmor spawned improperly, plummeted out of the sky and his horse yelled on impact. Also, some of the dialog was fading in and out of audibility in the cart. Also the Thalmor armor isn’t supposed to be black but I don’t know if this is a bug or a mod changing that. I’ll find out eventually, once I get close enough to some. Bug Count: 4 (for now) So I quit out, cleaned up mods a bit, reloadeAAAAAAAAAAAAA Screenshots do not adequately describe how fast the cart was twisting through the air. I’ve seen other people experience this bug but this was intense. I'm guessing upwards of two rotations per second, and the cart seemed like it was never going to make it all the way to Helgen. (Warning: don't watch the linked video if you get easily seasick.) [Bug Count: 5]
So, viewers: London has just run into a big stone building that may or may not hold an escape route, trailing a Nord separatist behind them. What should they do next? Also: feel free to make suggestions or requests at any time. Like, for anything. Pretty much anything that can be done without killing essential NPCs, I'm game for it!
>Acquire warmer clothes, and also maybe something pointy and/or splodey (Steal the dead guy's armor and decide how we're gonna handle combat besides "run away")
