1000 Fun

Yea, you are reading that correctly. I have now clocked in one thousand hours of game time in the single player game, Skyrim, the fifth installment of the Elder Scroll games.
1000 hours.
That's 41½ days. Of effective gaming. 41 days of play time, in a game where I am alone. Not online, not on some server... alone. Just me.

That is insane. And I think most people will agree with me on this.
I played far more of World of Warcraft, but there I had others to keep me company, to raid with, overcome difficulties with or to just chat with.
In Skyrim, I had myself and noone else.
So that is the best 100 bucks I've ever spent, and before you start nagging (if that is what you want to do), just ask yourself this, when is the last time you got to have fun for a total of 41 days, for 10 euros?

Anyway, as I saw this coming, I'd thought I'd give you something special. A lot of screen shots, in order, from a quest I found in a town called Morthal.

Morthal (modded)

If you look closely in that screen shot (above), look to the right of the largest building that looks like it has 3 floors. You'll see a building, a small one, that looks like it's seen better days.
So I went in to the local tavern that is to the right of that building, the one with 2 floors, and talked to the innkeeper.

Jonna, the innkeeper. She's a Breton.

So I asked her about the burnt down house, cause if you wanna know anything of interest in a town, you talk to the women/men that knows everything, the innkeepers, bards and beggers. Morthal did not have any beggers, and their bard was a very ugly orc that could not sing to save his own life.

She told me how ever, that the house had been burnt down, and it was the man of the house, that were the number one suspect, but if I wanted to know more, I needed to speak to the Jarl.
So I went to the Jarl.

Jarl Idgrod is a cranky bitch... and ugly to boot.

Speaking to the Jarl, I find that they did not have any evidence of the man suspected, that he had actually done anything, and that if I wanted to help out, try and find evidence so they could finally get that filthy business behind them, and move on.

I headed to the burnt out house, to look for clues... I found something alright.

I found a freakin ghost... of a small girl.

Helgi was the daughter of the house, and she was afraid. I tried to get her to tell me who had burnt down the house, but she wouldn't tell me. But if I played hide and seek with her after dark, she would tell me, cause that is when the bad woman comes.
And then she disappeared.

There were nothing else to do, but wait for nightfall, and try and find her.

I found her...

The people of Morthal had buried her, but a woman, vampire, Laelette, came to the grave as well, and before I could speak to Helgi again, I had to kill the vampire, which I did with great joy.

Helgi then told me that Laelette had been tasked with burning down the house, but changed her mind and tried to change Helgi to a vampire, but it was too late, and Helgi died never the less.
After I spoke with Helgi, a man, Thonnir, came along and found Laelette's lifeless body, and through him, I found that he thought Laelette had gone to join the Stormcloak Rebellion (whole other story), and that is why she had been missing for awhile. But also that she had spent the last night in town with a woman called Alva, a woman she had earlier dispised.

Time to look in to this Alva woman. In order to find out anything ,without raising suspisions, I had to break in to her house... in broad daylight!
(also, due to how we found Laelette, we suspected, that maybe Alva was a vampire too)

That's an unusual bed...

In the basement of Alva's house... I found a coffin. Only vampires use coffins. In it, were a diary.

Alva's Diary: My life is dreary. Where is my prince come to rescue me? Where is my bold Nord warrior to sweep me off my feet?

I meet a man today when picking nightflowers. He is exciting and exotic. We kissed in the moonlight. It was so romantic. I'm going to see him again tonight.

Now I understand the true colors of the night. Movarth has shown me the true black of night and the true red of blood. He has promised me a feast of blood if I do his bidding in Morthal.

Hroggar was easy to seduce. Movarth said I should find a protector first, someone to watch over my coffin during the day. Hroggar is perfect.

Laelette came to visit me tonight. She slaked my thirst. I've hidden her away to let her rise as my handmaiden. I've spread the rumors in town that she left to join the war. Fools.

Movarth has confided his grand plan to me. I am to seduce the guardsmen one at a time and make them my slaves. Then he and the others from the coven can descend upon Morthal and take the town. We won't kill them. They will become cattle for our thirst. And endless supply of blood and an entire town to protect us from the cursed sun.

Hroggar's family is becoming inconvenient. I've told Laelette to kill them all, but make it look like and accident. Hroggar must be seen as an innocent if he is going to be my protector.

That little fool! Laelette burned Hroggar's family alive. I asked for an accident and she gave me a scandal. To make matters worse, she tried to turn his little girl, Helgi. Except Laelette couldn't even get that right. She killed the child and left the body to burn.

Something is wrong with Laelette. She keeps talking about Helgi. I think her mind has snapped. She seems to think that the child can still be brought back to be her companion.

There is a stranger in town, looking into the fire. I'll have to be careful.

The pieces are falling into place. All I needed to do now, was speak to the Jarl again, and show her this diary.

Movarth seem to have hidden himself well.

She asked me to do one more thing for her and Morthal. Find and hunt down the master vampire Movarth.

Who am I to say no to that? Kill an ancient vampire? Sign me up!

Luckly, they had an idea of where to look...

Well that's not omnious at all...

Movarth's Lair... on the edge of a bog that not even Thor, the god of thunder would want to venture into on a whim.

Is that a vampire thrash can?

When going down the lair, I found dead bodies everywhere, even a small pit with bodies piled ontop of each other, wheelbarrows full of bloody bones and skulls everywhere.

Taking aim at something old.

There he sits. Like a king of an underground kingdom. Oblivious of the doom he is about to come to.

My arrow were true, and I killed him in a single shoot. This angered the other vampires obviously, but I dispatched of them aswell, even found Alva in the depths of the cavern and took her out too.

Only one smile were seen in the lair when I was done... and it wasn't mine.

Saying goodbye.

Helgi poped in just as I was about to head out and back to Morthal, to say thank you, before disolving into thin air and was gone, gone to Sovngarde where all the brave nords go in death.

When I had shed my tear, I went out and back to Morthal.

She seems suprised... I'm awesome, what can I say?

I was rewarded for my heroic act, got gifts and the right to purchase and own a house or land in Morthal, which I did, and after building my house, I even opened a mine I told you about last time, that has so far made me rather rich and filled my chests with minerals of all kind.

If I also help the citizens of Morthal (3 of them) the Jarl will also make me a Thane of Morthal, and award me with a weapon that will functions as my badge of office, and a personal housecarl to protect my home and life.

Haven't done that yet... battling other vampires currently.

Well this turned out to be a lenghty edition to the blogg, but fuck it, it's a celebration of a thousand hours of game play in this fantastic game.

You think I'm done?

Not a chance!

Cya