I retired to my room with a hearty-looking loaf of braided bread and a cup of thick, piping hot juice. Carrot juice, according to Geldis the barkeeper. The taste was... unusual, but not bad. I ended up tearing off bits of bread and dipping them in the stew-thick juice. By the time my hunger was sated, I was about ready to head on my way, but a sense of fullness prompted me to make use of the nightsoil bucket before I dressed. While busy doing my business, the door to my room quietly opened. I glanced to my weapons, stacked by the bed, and got ready to leap for them, but then Gwessa slipped into my room, shutting the door behind her.

 

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

 

"Oh, don't play dumb," she whispered through a smile, "you must know what I want."

 

I raised an eyebrow in her direction. "Humor me," I said after a momentary pause.

 

"I caught a whiff of what you were doing, and I'm feeling a little hungry. I thought maybe I could help clean you up."

 

So that's what she's after - more humiliation. "That can't be healthy," I observed. 

 

"No excuses," she shot back. Stand up and let me get a feel for you." Not waiting for my cooperation, she started to lift me up to my feet, walking me back from the chamber pot and onto the adjoining rug. "Ooh," she added, running her hands down my sides, "you're so hard. I like a woman with some muscle. This'll be fun... just don't crush my head with those thighs of yours."

 

 

She circled me, not letting her hands off my body the whole time, checking me out, until she was behind me, hands kneading at my shoulders. Then she turned me around to face her, slowly lowering down to her knees, her cheek pushed against my front and little sniffing sounds coming from her nose.

 

"I can smell the sweat on you. Even after the rain washed you clean. You've been working hard lately. I like it. Oh, yes, I like it a lot. And... oooh."

 

I felt her fingers softly flick at Wojtek's piercing. "Is that gold? What a fancy piece. Oh, it must feel so good. And the pain must have been so exquisite... it's been too long since Geldis or his friends put any needles in me down there."

 

After one more caress, Gwessa withdrew her hand and I could feel her lifting at my knee. "That's right," she murmurred, "just put your foot on my thigh like that. Let's start cleaning you up."

 

 

Gwessa started in a rather circumspect way, making little licks and kisses at the bottom of my vulva, teasing me until I could feel my skin starting to flush. Then, she pushed closer and started to run her tongue in long strokes from just below my slit all the way up to my clitoris. With surprising agility, she slid the tip of her tongue under the folds of my hood, up, and around.

 

After a few more laps, she pulled back for a moment. "You're... remarkable. I've never tasted anyone like you. It's almost like hitting the skooma. I... I think I'd swoon if I wasn't already on my knees. You're even better than that diabetic orc. His piss was like rotten apple juice... all sweet and smelly, but you... you're like a fine wine. Do you have any left? Will you let me drink from the source."

 

Sadly for Gwessa, I had long since emptied myself, but I petted the back of her head and said, "I'm glad you like it. If you're a good girl, I'll let you have some after you're done."

 

"Oh, I'll be a good girl. I'm always a good girl." She beckoned me to my knees, then, stretching out beneath me so that my head rested on her lap. I could feel her behind me now, working her tongue backwards from my pussy, along the cleft of my loins, inexecrable driving towards my back passage. She moved her tongue in slow, tight loops, the pressure magnifying the heat in my body and bringing fresh sweat to my skin. Then, with a long groan to pleasure, I felt her spread my cheeks and start running her tongue around the inside. I hadn't had time to clean myself when she'd intruded on me, and I realized that she must be licking up the traces of excrement. 

 

 

I reflected for a moment that Gwessa was very lucky The Teacher's children had moderated the caustic burn that my infusion of power had once brought to my nightsoil. Still, the eagerness with which she was licking and sucking on my rear as she closed in on my anus felt a little alien to me. I knew it wasn't an unheard-of desire - I remember the guard from Markarth who'd practically begged me to use him as a toilet - but I don't think his fetish was quite the same as Gwessa's. For the guard, I'm sure, he wanted to be soiled and disrespected because elsewise he occupied a position where his authority and dominance couldn't be challenged. Where he couldn't let anyone challenge it. I think it created a sense of incompleteness in his heart. But Gwessa... she didn't wield any authority or power. This wasn't about her filling in a missing piece in her life. She just thrived on the degradation, and I think that must have come from a different place in her heart. 

 

My rumination was interrupted as her tongue circled, and then pressed up against my back passage. I failed to suppress a little gasp as it pushed up between the puckered walls, probing and massaging. I realized, it had been a while since I'd last had someone - or something - in my rear end. I think, actually, I'd gone too long without scratching that particular itch, because I could almost feel the muscles all around my lower back first tense up and then relax with a deep sense of contentedness.

 

Gwessa pulled back from a moment, breathing a little heavily. "I can feel you have more inside you. Please, please let it out, let me finish cleaning you."

 

Under other circumstances, I think I would have had a hard time fulfilling her wish. It was hard enough to let loose on that guard, and at such intimate quarters I can't believe that it would be easy for me to overcome a lifetime of training against public defecation. But the plunging massage of her tongue had loosened me up considerably. "Are you sure?" I panted.

 

"Yes! I want everything. Everything!" She sounded practically crazed with ardor.

 

Well, far be it for me to deny her. I squeezed lightly at first, even as Gwessa resumed her tongue work. As I opened wider for her and the contents of my rectum started to shift, her long licks changed to sucking kisses at the edge of my hole, and then at last long, lapping strokes as she gathered up the filth even as it slid free of my body. This continued for maybe half a minute until I was truly empty, but Gwessa did not stop yet, continuing to lick at the edges and edges until I must have been completely clean. 

 

I turned to her then, finding her blushing deeply and smiling at me almost drunkenly. Remarkably, there was no mess on her face. Clearly, this was far from the first time she'd embarked on a such an excapade.

 

"Was I a good girl? Do I get my reward?" she cooed.

 

I couldn't help but laugh. "Yes, you were a very good girl. Wash out your mouth with that waterskin," I said, pointing to one of the four that I kept in my pack.

 

"Oh no, no wine," she denied me, "I'm not ready to wash out your taste yet. It's like... pumpkin pie and walnuts. The best meal I've had in weeks."

 

I winked in answer. "I didn't say it was wine. You aren't the only one who knows about the special traits for my... water. And you've earned another taste."

 

Her eyes flashed with an excited light, and she padded over on her knees until she was close enough to grab the skin. Defly uncorking it, she made one tentative pull on it, before greedily drinking down the comments. So fast did she consume it that little rivulets trickled down at the corners of her mouth.

 

"You're... amazing!" she gasped.

 

"Maybe," I said, "but come get the rest of your reward. Come on, lie down on the rug." I patted the spot next to me for emphasis.

 

 

After a momentary hesitation, she returned to me and lay down as I commanded. I let her rest her head on my forearm and looked into her eyes as I reached towards her nethers with my other hand. 

 

Excited, she asked, "did my degradation sicken you? Are you going to puke on me? Please?"

 

I laughed and gave her an indulgent smile. "No, though if there was anyone I'd puke for, it would be you, naughty girl. No, I'm going to give you a different reward." To punctuate my words, I slipped my finger between her legs and started rubbing.

 

She pulled away from me, trying to squeeze her legs closed and shut me out. "No, no, I'm not allowed to cum. It's the rule!" 

 

"Uh, oh," I chided, "will you be punished if I don't stop?"

 

"Yes, yes! The worst punishment! Please stop!" 

 

"But I thought you liked being punished? No, you're in my room, and I get to make the rules. I'm going to make you cum so hard, and then I'm going to tell Geldis all about it, and I'll make sure he punishes you harshly." As I picked up the tempo of my massage, I leaned close to her, whispering, "the punishment is my real reward for you, good girl."

 

I didn't let up, didn't let her get away despite all her squirming and protestation. I didn't let up when she started breathing faster. I didn't let up when waves of goose bumps erected all over her legs. I didn't let up when she arched her back and squeezed her butt cheeks tight together - I worked her clitoris all through her climax, only stopping when she relaxed and flopped to the floor. 

 

Shifting, I lay next to her, looking deep into her eyes. Gwessa was panting, and the smell of excrement and piss was strong on her breath, but I ignored it as I considered her. The blended flavors of anticipation on her face - stemming from fear and excitement in equal measure - was a fascinating study in the emotions of a humiliation lover. Masochism, my mother would have called it. 

 

 

"Before I let you go to collect your punishment," I whispered, letting my forehead come in contact with hers, soaking in the warmth of her skin, "I want to ask you something. Do you know about the sleepwalkers? The ones who work on the shrine west of town?"

 

Dreamily, she nodded, exhaling hot, reeking breath on me. "Yes... and I know you joined them. I saw. That's when I knew I had to visit you, after I saw your beautiful body."

 

"Do you know what power compels them? I've never felt anything like it."

 

"None of us do," she admitted, "but no one who sleepwalks there is ever hurt. They just work on the shrine. It's a real mystery."

 

"And you?" I pressed, "have you ever woken up there?"

 

"No, never."

 

"What about your humiliation? Did you love it so before you came here?"

 

Gwessa laughed in another puff of foul breath. "You think that's why I do what I do? That I'm under... mind control? Ha, still a hero, I see. No, I used to be the daughter of a powerful merchant in Windhelm. I wanted for nothing, until Jarl Ulfric found out my father did business with the Thalmor. Now he's toiling as a slave on a plantation somewhere in Morrowind, and the rest of us are scattered to the four winds. I ended up here - with no money, no skills, no prospects... except for my body. And even then the Dunmer soon bored of me. Each visit was more cruel than the last, and I cursed my life... until I realized that each humiliation was more exciting than the last."

 

So she's more like that guard than I thought, I realized. "Ah, I see. So while you fell into this life by choice, you realized it was the life you'd always wanted?" 

 

She smiled at that comment - her teeth were bright and white. Clearly she'd swished thoroughly from my waterskin. "I think so, yes."

 

Before we could speak further, the door burst open with a crash. An Orcish woman, dressed in lamellar armor and wielding a greatsword stepped into the room.

 

"Kirstia Fire-Eye?" She growled, "I've got a message for you from Betrid Silver-Blood."

 

"Dammit," I spat, leaping for my weapon. The Orc was fast though, and I had to dodge out of the way as her sword swished through the air inches from my face. Landing on my rear, I scrabbled backwards to avoid another swing - then my hand found purchase on the chamber pot, and I flung it at the attacker.

 

Evidently the Orc lacked Gwessa's tolerance for excrement, because she staggered back with a curse. That bought me just enough time - I could already feel the spiders crawling up from my throat and into my mouth, as well as swarming up my body as they burrowed their way out from my guts. Leaping, the spiders were quickly all over the orc, biting at her exposed flesh as the Orc screamed. I didn't waste any time, grabbing my axe and swinging it towards her. I deflected off her lamellar coat, and had to block a quick return swing, but then I was under the Orc's guard and I pushed her hard while I hooked a leg behind her. She fell hard, crashing into the ground, and I split the crown of her head with my axe. 

 

 

"What in Oblivion's name is going on in here?" Geldis demanded as he rushed into the room, then stopped. I was still swallowing back the last couple spiders, and he stared at me for a second before pushing past me to help Gwessa back to her feet.

 

"Fucking snow apes," he muttered, "you always trash the place. I need to raise my room rates."

 

While he groused, I searched the Orc. It was pretty clear who she was working for based on her greeting, but I wondered how she'd found me all the way here in Raven Rock. I found my answer soon enough in the form of a small scroll. It had a rather good drawing of my likeness on one side, and a bounty notice on the other - promising some gold for my location and even more for my death. I wondered if these were being circulated around one of the guilds, or if it was simply a case that someone had cashed in on the smaller offer while I was in Windhelm, and this bounty hunter followed me to Solstheim.

 

Either way, not great. The sleepwalking business was bad enough without bounty hunters looking for me. I didn't even want to think about what would happen if they found me in the shrine, literally asleep on my feet.

 

I gulped down the last spider, then turned to Geldis. 

 

"Snow apes, huh?" I challenged, "and I suppose you thought it was perfectly normal for her," I pointed with my toe, "to bust down my door?"

 

"Snow apes, greenskins, all the same as far as I'm concerned. Get out of here. As far as I'm concerned, your rent's up. Be lucky I don't throw out the crazy one, too."

 

I almost argued with him, but then I shrugged and just offered him a sigh. "Fine, I'm out of here once I'm dressed. Have fun cleaning up the room." I realized then that when I'd hurled the chamber pot, I'd liberally sprayed that side of the room with its contents.

 

Once I got my armor buckled on, I went out to check on Gwessa. She'd wisely fled as soon as the fight started.

 

"You alright?" I asked. 

 

Gwessa nodded, then looked away. "I'm sorry I couldn't help you."

 

"Forget about it. I'm the one who chose this lifestyle, not you. Are you going to be safe? Geldis seemed pretty upset."

 

She shrugged. "I'll be fine. He'll come up with all kinds of horrible punishments but... well, you know my secret. He's just encouraging me."

 

 

The misty and rain had cleared when I emerged from the Retching Netch, but gray skies still threatened further downpours. I pondered my next step. I was curious about this necromancer, Ildari. I wondered if she played a role in this chain of consequences The Teacher had spoken of. I also considered the new wrinkle of the Silver-Bloods apparently knowing my whereabouts. I seriously doubted that bounty hunter was the last I'd encounter. 

 

NOW THE HUNTER IS HUNTED

 

Hircine once more demonstrated his flair for stating the obvious. Grumbling, and doing my best not to look like a crazy woman talking to herself, I shot back, "do you have something helpful to offer?"

 

WHEN THE HOUNDS HUNT GULIBEG, HE BURROWS INTO THE GROUND. FIND A BURROW, FIND A REFUGE.

 

Gulibeg. The trickster-fox aspect of Hircine. "And where exactly should I look if I want to find a burrow?"

 

YOU ARE THE FOX. BUT YOU ARE ALSO THE HUNTER-MAN. MAN BURROWS FOR SPARKLING STONE AND SHINING METAL. LOOK FOR THE MAN-BURROW.

 

I recalled seeing a mine entrance on the northwest side of town, and decided that I might as well investigate. It turned out to be a fairly easy walk, and next thing I knew I was descending into the earth.

 

"Dammit woman, I said to leave me be!" 

 

"Crescius, last time you explored the mine you almost fell to your death. I'm not spending the rest of my days as a widow!"

 

 

The speakers were, respectively, an old man and a young-looking Dumer woman - though of course, given elves' longer lifespans I didn't find it at all surprising to hear her call the aged man her husband. Such is the tragedy of man-mer lovers. 

 

"And I'm telling you that I'll do whatever it takes to find my great grandfather's remains. He's down there, I tell you."

 

"That was almost two centuries ago. There may be nothing left to find!"

 

"Just let me go, woman!"

 

"Crescius, you're an obstinate old fool and you're going to get yourself killed!"

 

Seeing no sign that the argument was going to end any time soon, I interjected, "excuse me? Can I help you with something?"

 

The woman turned to face me, irritating writ clearly across her face. "I apologize for Crescius' ravings," she said. "That fool thinks he's thirty years younger than he is. He's going to get himself killed traipsing around the mine."

 

"What's he looking for down there?"

 

"He's convinced that there's some sort of... conspiracy involving the East Empire Company and the closure of the mine. Ever since we found those letters from this great grandfather... well, now he believes every word of them."

 

 

"What did the letters say?" I asked.

 

"Crescius' great grandfather worked for the Company. Apparently he was sent to investigate some sort of discovery. Really, it's nothing remarkable. Certainly nothing to get excited about, and yet..."

 

"And yet your husband thinks there was foul play?"

 

"Exactly. Crescius' great grandfather died in a horrible accident when one of the tunnels collapsed - but that's just it, it was an accident. The whole section's unsafe and it's all sealed off. But Crescius... he's convinced that it's all an elaborate cover-up to hide the Company's dirty laundry."

 

"But you don't think so?"

 

"My beloved is almost eighty years old. He's... he's easily confused, and he's prone to flights of fancy. I love him dearly, but I can't support him in this foolish course - I can't accept losing him to a rocky grave."

 

"Excuse me," the old man interjected, "I'm standing right here."

 

 

"That's a fair point," I conceded. "I'm sorry for ignoring you. What are you doing down here?"

 

"That's none of your business," he shot back, "I don't even know who you are."

 

"I'm Kirstia," I said with as much warmth as I could muster. "I'm a priestess of the House of Dibella."

 

"Is that so?" He responded with clear skepticism, "and what are you doing down here?"

 

"Well," I said, "the truth is I need someplace to hide out for a bit. It sounds like you might need someone to go down into the mine for a while. Maybe we can help each other."

 

"Ah, so that's what you were talking about with my sweetie. It's true I'm looking for a secret in here. It's a secret as old as the Red Mounain's been spewing that ash, and it's a secret that'll put Raven Rock back on the map."

 

"How so?"

 

"The East Empire Company found something. Something important. And rather than share it with the Dunmer, they covered it up and left us with a worthless mine. No doubt they're just waiting for the Empire to take back Solstheim from Morrowind, then they'll open it right back up so they can plunder it. Bastards."

 

"So you want to find whatever they covered up?"

 

"Exactly! And I found the key to the sealed section some time back, when my wife and I were cleaning up my family home. But... I can't find the entrance. And as you heard, she won't let me keep looking for it."

 

"Perhaps I could help. I'm a little more spry, and I've got some experience delving into caves."

 

He nodded eagerly; by now, Crescius' expression had turned from doubt to excitement, and he quickly produced a key - and a letter. "If you can find my great grandfather's remains, I'm sure he'll have clues about what's down there. Please, be careful, but don't give up either. I'm sure whatever's down there is big - big enough to make Raven Rock flourish again."

 

I took a moment to peruse the letter, and I could understand why Crescius was so intrigued. It spoke of ancient ruins found beneath the mine shafts, and reading between the lines it strongly implied that there was some measure of danger to the miners. Hopefully, also some level of danger that would ward off bounty hunters with their sights set on my head. I thanked Crescius for the key and reiterated my agreement to help him, then I explained to his wife that I'd search out the mystery in her husband's stead.

 

"Thank you," she said, "but you be careful too. That mine's dangerous."

 

"I will," I promised, and then I checked my lantern - an alchemical one I'd picked up in Windhelm before my departure - to make sure it was casting adequate light still. Satisfied it was, I made sure all my gear and weapons were well slung and started my descent into the mine.

 

Behind The Scenes

Elegant Magelight

Another ENB Light mod came out on the Nexus today, this one for the mage light spell. Unlike many similar mods, this one has a plugin so we need to scrutinize it to see if its suitable for adding to the game mid-playthrough. It has to be structured in such a way that we can put it at the back of the load order, since I don't want to change any form IDs that are already registered within the game.

 

The mod only contains 15 records, with no errors, deletions, or ITMs. It has only one conflicted record, which you can see below. What we're going to have to do here is make a temporary deconflict plugin that will act as an appendix for these sort of issues. It'll have to contain only overrides - no unique records - so that similar mods I inject in the future don't change any form IDs.

 

 

Below you can see how it looks after I merge this mod with Mysticism Magic. That should do the trick for now!

 

 

Longer term, I'll want to look at the two modded base effects (MAG_LightFFAimed and A69LightFFAimed) and see if I need to merge them as well, but that can wait until I have full freedom of action to edit these - not during a live playthrough. I've put a line-item onto my modding to-do list to remind me later.

 

 

The Case of the Disappearing Clit Toy

I noticed yesterday that Kirsti's clit piercing wasn't rendering during her sex scenes. This made me realize that I hadn't double-checked all the various Toys add-ons to make sure I'd applied Sexlab No Strip to their gear. I'd had to do this with the main file when I got the release candidate version, so I should have expected that change to flow down to the add-ons now that the release version is out and they've all be updated. Fortunately, this is a fix that I can do without having to wait for a new game - none of those armor item records get baked into the saved file, and even if Kirsti's piercing was, all I'd have to do is drop it and spawn a replacement. While I'm at it, I'm going to add the nostrip keyword to the various items that didn't have it already from the main set, since the lore indicates that they become magically intangible and don't prevent penetration during sex... so there's no reason to unequip them for those scenes.

 

To accomplish this, we just need to "copy as override" each armor entry to my conflict resolution patch, and then add the keyword. I want to use the CR patch to do this for two reasons: first, it means that the keyword will persist through future updates and second, it doesn't require me to change the masters for the various Toys mods; instead, my CR patch can directly use SOS as a master to support the keywords. (Note that there's also a workaround I could do involving an injected keyword, but it's just not worth the effort here!)

 

 

To actually get the keywords, we aren't going to work directly on the CR patch. Instead, we'll copy all the various Toys armor items to a working file. With everything added, we can just highlight the whole batch and use a script to apply the keyword.

 

 

After running the script, everything has the relevant keyword added. All we need to do now is copy these are overrides into the armor conflict resolution patch, and we're done!