Eventually got in the inn where no surprises awaited. I decided I wasn't happy with the body I was using for my followers and now would be a good time to have a change.

Ivis with the body she has used thus far:

 

And with the new look. Not much difference, maybe a bit slimmer on t' 'ips. What I should have done is also have a look at the four or so followers who are at the other end of the inn.

 

I'm having a think about what is going on in the game. I'm level 27 so those HSO villains, although dangerous, should not be that deadly. The same for some of the other things that have been flattening me. ?

The problem, I realise, is that I am mixing my play styles up.

First: I have lots of mods which add extra hostiles to my game and when I play with those mods active I play with lots of followers. If I want to play solo I deactivate a lot of those mods before I start. At the moment I am running with only Ivis as back-up but I still have all my mods active. ?

Second: Regardless of whether I run solo or with a pack of followers, I can use armour in the regular way or do without it and rely on Untamed giving me 'natural' armour from shagging creatures. Thus far I'm not wearing (torso) armour and not really shagging enough creatures. Ergo and ipso facto, my armour rating is nowhere near good enough to cope. ?

So my options are either to deactivate some mods; to get some serious backup; or to get a decent armour rating one way or the other. The only other option is to put off the decision until some time in the future.

After a good 10 seconds of thinking I decide to put off the decision. ? And just to show that I know what I'm doing, I dismiss Ivis. What could possibly go wrong? ?‍♂️

 

Looking at the image above I realise that the first order of business is to get that energy bar filled.

 

Hrold Hrolden Hrinn is not the busiest place in Skyrim so time for the off. Gloomreach first, I think.

 

Not far out of the inn and the first dead bodies. There is usually a Dreugh here but no sign of it.

 

Closely followed by a dead sabrecat. A group of Pilgrims chasing something up in the top right. My spider senses are tingling.

 

I can just about make out a riderless horse up ahead. Pilgrims don't ride horses but lone nutter Adventurers do and oh, look a red dot appears on the radar.

 

Sure enough the Adventurer comes charging down the road and just for laughs all the Pilgrims decide to go hostile too. ☹️ Bugger this.

 

I stood on this side of the river watching the red dots run up and down the road obviously in some sort of fight with something. It got down to one dot which I assumed was the Adventurer so I moved off. I fired off a few speculative fireballs just for the sake of it. ?

There is usually a friendly Durzhog around here that takes on all-comers - anything from slaughterfish upwards. He doesn't give a flying fuck, you step on his riverbank you face the consequences. Maybe he only works days.

 

I turn around and nearly trip over a dead wolf. I'm guessing he met the Durzhog.

 

I get to the junction where you can turn right to go up the hill and a Thalmor Patrol decides to attack me. I dropped a bollock because I ran through them up the hill - it was dark up there and I couldn't see crutch. I ran around like a lunatic launching fireballs and swinging at shadows.

 

They didn't take long to deal with and I made it to Gloomreach. I'm getting strong HSO villain vibes.

 

Yep, there she is. Rabbit by name. This shot is from my first attempt as she turned around and killed me very quickly. ? The second attempt involved letting a few falmer do some of the heavy lifting before I stepped in. 

 

 

I can't remember this bear or the other dead animals being a feature of this dungeon.

 

This guy has to be taking the piss. He doesn't even have a proper name, wears rags, lives in a cave with falmer and chaurus yet thinks he can take the moral high-ground.

 

After leaving Gloomreach with my energy fully charged I am passed by a skeleton sauntering along the path. Friendly enough cove though I've never seen that type before.

 

A little further on I meet two draugr, like you do. ?‍♂️

 

A little later, not so good. A dead Hammerfell Bandit and a dead Goblin. I don't remember Hammerfell Bandits round these parts before and they travel in groups.

 

Some civilised folk for once.

 

I decide to take a detour up the the hill and get attacked by a Huge Cave Bear who isn't in his huge cave.

Closely followed by an attack by a sabrecat. Then I find this.