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Well, here goes...


karlpaws

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So this is the... well a story of Lady Rose von Septus. I am going to break the fourth wall a lot because, really, its not much more than an open window with no shutters or even a screen. I'm can't really do a humorous dialog making fun of the mechanics and silliness that comes up when quests have to be written (wait, quests? written?) so they can be done at any time and any order for the most part, to maximize repeated playthroughs. At times I'm probably going to fall out of character but the general idea is write how I explain various actions, motivations and how persuade or intimidate checks might be "made" rather than a plain dice roll.

 

So, I'm Lady Rose. Not really a lady, but that's part of the cover my parents put together when we had to split up at the end of the war. The other part was a job in the East Empire company, which I love. I can travel, see lots of people, places and shiny things. After working my way up, I'm now an Agent specializing in troublesome places and people. I go by a variety of names, though they do often depend on whether I'm in my official role, undercover identity or what kind of day someone just had and how much of a hand I just had in making it so. "Daedra damned Imperial WHORE" seems to be the most popular if someone just had a lousy day delivered by yours truly.

 

I've lately been dispatched to a northern problem. Business at our Windhelm offices has dropped off quite a bit so the company wants to know whether it is an internal or external problem and find out which fix is needed. A clerk also found some old letters in one of the Solstheim accounts with conflicting information. Our ebony mine in Raven Rock might not be played out there after all, unless the writer was just a raving loon claiming he saw monsters. The official line of "closed, cave in" usually would have documentation on how much work was done to clear the cave in and how stable or unstable the resulting shaft was, but nothing related was in the file.

 

After a long boat trip I'm finally on the docks of Windhelm. Spotting several argonian workers and few nords I ask one, going by the name of Scouts Many Marshes, about the labor situation. Turns out he works for the competition but is underpaid. I offer to see what I can do, thinking that we could hire them if the problem isn't that dire and the market shifts back in our favor. Leaving the poor lizard to his work, I make my way over to our offices.

 

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Our main factor in town, Orthus, is a weedy, but capable clerk. As soon as I introduce myself he's quick to apologize for the state of the offices and just as quick to ask if I'm here to handle the pirate problem. After a short discussion I am armed with the little information he has been able to gather. I decide to stop in the Shattershield office, conveniently next door, and play the part of a shipper looking to contract a ship. When it appears the office staff is out to lunch I head into the city. I'll probably need to arrange lodging for the night and I might as well find out more about the Shatter shield family while I'm here.

 

After directions from a little flower selling girl (and a little donation to her Life Improvement Fund) I quickly find the inn. Coincidentally I also find the missing shipping clerk being harassed by a few of Windhelm's finest... dung collectors. At least, I hope that's the best job they've found. Intelligence isn't high on their list and neither is their smell. Lucky for me though, a little jostling of the crowd and I'm able to make sure Suvaris bumps into me at least once and a few seconds later I have an extra key in my pocket. Talking with her afterward, I quickly find out that she isn't happy living here or working for the nord family but is loyal and happy to have a job. When I inquire about her boss, she mentions that he is likely in the marketplace if he isn't in the inn trying to drink himself to forgetfulness.

 

Key in hand, spending time in the marketplace would be a good way to pick up information and wait until the office is closed before doing my own investigations. Looking over the variety of wares for sale, it isn't hard to identify my potentially pirate hiring competitor. Despite his depressed attitude I find it easy to strike up a conversation with him. He is quick to tell me about his lost daughter and grieving wife. He is just as quick to call his workers, not even lizards but boots, worthless and not worth the little he does pay them. I have no amulet to give or sell him but ask "If you're concerned about the souls of your daughter and wife, you might want to consider your own as well. Not that I think your treatment of other people caused your daughter's death, but wouldn't you rather your own death be lightened by less weighing on it?" Torbjorn grudging agrees and decides to pay the dock workers a fairer wage. I can't resist the parting shot "And now it'll be harder for the East Empire to poach them from you." He surprisingly responds "I have people working on that. I can also promise you that your shipment will get there on my ships, and not get there on theirs." It seems he knows something about our troubles after all, and they aren't just happenstance.

 

Deciding it is late enough, I head toward the inn to check on beds before my nocturnal escapades. The arrangement of a bed is made without issue and a meal eaten by an everburning candle before I head out again. Back at the docks, I give my good news to a surprised Scouts and meet a few of his fellow workers. Taking my leave, I slip down the docks and quickly find the Shatter shield office and gain entry with "my" key. It doesn't take much to locate the little office in the warehouse and the books kept there. I find that Suvaris even keeps her own journal here, documenting all of the under the table work she does for her boss. Very sloppy Su, very sloppy. You just never know when a competitor would happen to find a journal like this and blackmail you, flip your business and drive your boss into the ground. Lucky for you, that's not my line of work this week. Most useful to me is the names of her pirate confederates and the place she meets them. It seems I have another boat trip in my future. In the morning I can tell Orthus what I found and arrange for passage over to Dawnstar.

 

Head to Dawnstar
---

 

This is probably long enough at the point for one entry. I'm going to post this but probably come back and edit it again at some point in the future. I'd like to know if people think it is too wordy, too descriptive, needs more dialog back and forth or not, etc. I am planning to do the Rise in the East quest followed by the Raven Rock ebony mine one, though that should be a lot shorter. The story will take us briefly to Solitude and then Helgen, Riverwood, Bleak Falls and eventually Whiterun. I plan to follow the MQ as our heroine finds out she is a dragonborn but if people want me to branch off here or there, I am open to that.

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I like your story. It's written very good. Only wished if it's followed with more pictures. But, you explained why you can't have it so it's OK.

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Well I can take more shots, but they're mostly going to be scenery like the one I included with this post.  Later chapters do have more shots to go with them, and since I'm finding it takes a lot more time to write than clip pics I might do that more.

 

The other thing I consider is anyone on a slower internet connection as I am will have trouble loading posts with a lot of pictures. Some of the threads here with multiple posts of pics or the animation threads with animated GIFs I cannot even load, as they either take too long or time out.

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I know exactly what you mean. I have sometimes a problem with opening a posts with a large amount of pictures.

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I tried looking at your last blog post, with Mjol and only saw half of the pictures, if that gives you any frame of reference.

 

I have a 2nd chapter up and will start the third soon, since I have pictures for the end of it. They will be in the style of Chapter 2, pic 2 and 3 if you want to give any advance feedback (and see this post in advance).

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