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

Became a Miner

Been playing a bit of Skyrim again. Got a new mod that allows me to gain the deeds for a mine. Sounds boring right? A mine, a cave in the middle of nowhere... well it's actually pretty awesome.

You start it all by finding a crashed minecart close to Whiterun, the first mayor city you come across (if you follow the main quest that is). You find a note in the rubble that tells of a gang of bandits that has taken over a mine.
Your job is either, don't give a shit or kill the bandits and claim the mine for yourself.

Guess what I did? I killed the bandits.

Now I didn't get a good screen shot of that... but later, I killed another bandit... and let's just say, it was a one hit kill.

Once the mine was clear of any ill-meaning folks. I got the deeds to the mine from a guy in a nearby town, Morthal, for the low sum of 2919 gold, and just like that, I was the proud owner of a mine.
But I'm the goddamn Dragonborn! I have dragons to kill, empires to bring down and mystic evil to unravel and all and all, be a nice guy with lots and lots of blood on my hands.
Who has the time to go mining all day with all that in their baggage?

Well, as it turned out, the mod did not stop there. For once I had the deeds, I could build up the mine properly, even have some buildings outside and hire miners to do the dirty work for me. Allowing me, to just come by every now and then to collect the profits.

There it is, the mine (centered by the cross hair) and it's busy little town.
In that screen shot, you can see: A fishery (bottom long house), A tavern (above fishery to the right), A blacksmith and Mine Office (all the way to the left) with an ore and ingot safehouse infront of it.
You have the mine in the center, as I said, and a guard tower at the top. There is even a small house between the guard tower and the tavern, for housing the guards (2 patrol at night, and 2 at day).

I love mods like this... will probably install the Whiterun Farm mod too. Where I farm different things, then brew ale to sell. And who doesn't like ale ey?

Cya

VIP Sale and Coins

Emptied my piggybank today, and exchanged the coins for more manageable bills. The end result came down to 1200 sek.
I went to a local shopping mall after that and spent 900 of them. A store at the mall, had a VIP weekend, which were perfect as I wanted to visit them and buy a specific item this weekend. I had even made the decision to buy these things the day before I found out that they had VIP sale. So instead of having ALL the coin-to-bills money disappear, only 9 of the bills did :P

Anyway, got inlines, K2, and protective gear for my knees, elbows and wrists. I did not buy a helmet, I know, I should have bought one, but I didn't, so get over it.
Inlines: 999 sek
Protective gear: 199 sek
After VIP sale of 25% off everything: 899 sek in total.

I would say, that's a bargin.

Now I just have to learn how to use these things... preferably without killing myself in the process.

Cya

Three Screenies of Old Shit

Almost bought GTA 5 this weekend... but then I started using my logical brain, and didn't.
Now, don't think I did not buy it cause of the prize or something foolish like that, I was ready to pay the 59,99 euro for it.
What stopped me from buying it, was my own computer... it needs to be updated before I go for such a spec heavy game. I do have most of the things required to play this game, some even more than enough. But I also have a graphics card that is singing on it's last tunes.

This means, I won't be getting GTA 5 until sometime after the taxreturns have come in, and I have bought a new graphics card and made sure my computer has more power too (electricity that is), I don't think 600w will do when the new graphics card is put in... should go to around 800-900w probably... just got to make sure it's the right dimension on it first so it fits in the chassi of my lovely computer.

Anyway, this means, I've played a lot of Minecraft and even some Skyrim.
You're probably wondering: But Daniel, didn't you just get 2 other games? One where you kill cars with a car and one where you are the evil Underlord bent on world domination?
To that I say: Yes I did!
I haven't forgotten about them, nor grown tired of them. I just haven't played them all that much, and when I have... I keep forgetting to take screenies :P
So that is why you wont see any screene shots from those games...
But you still need a screen shot... so here... get some Skyrim ones :P

For those that have played, you'll know this place. Our First Word is learned here.

Skyrim is beautiful... but even a place like this, makes grown men wee in their pants.

My latest character, just "born". And she's already a vampire. Poor girl.

Enjoy these screenies, save em to your harddrive, use em as desktop images (1920x1080p is their size if you go do that) or scroll past them in an effort to find boobies... in which case, I have bad news for you... there aren't any here.

Cya

Volenteer Congestion

For years now, I have been addicted to nasal spray. No, that's not good, obviously. But there it is.
I don't know for how long this has gone on, but it is years, I know that much, probably more then five years... which anyone can tell you (or tell me if you feel like telling me stuff I already know), is close to six years too long.

Now, the reason I've been addicted, is rather simple. I don't like to not be able to breath through my nose. Simple right? Well, whats worse is, that when I can't, I panic.
Just yesterday, I woke up after having slept for less then 2 hours, in a panic, be cause my nose had clogged up. Took me another 2 hours to get it working again (with nasal spray), and I could get some sleep again.
Today, it took an hour after waking up before one nostril opened up. But that is when I decided, that it is time, to suffer some panic... for a week or two.

Luckily, if I also put pieces of paper in my nostrils, toiletpaper, as it's softer and easier then newspapers or cardboard, that if I put that up there, making sure I can't breath on my own, I don't panic.
It's like a reverse psychology thing. If I'm controlling it, even a little, my brain just goes: Yea alright, I'll keep cool for ya.

Now the real bad thing... If I can't breath through my nose... It's even more difficult for me to sleep.
Normally, it can take me a good hour or two to fall asleep. Without a functioning nose... double that.
Add to that, that I won't be going to the gym... can't do my routines properly if I can't breath right... and of course... who would want me there if I also "drool" from my nose on all the equipment.

I only have one more day left at work this week... but that day... is not gonna be fun.

Sure do hope I get some sleep at a good hour. Need to do some shopping tomorrow too.

Cya

One Room Pixels

Since my friend, JJ, had me start up Minecraft again, I am almost ashamed to admit, that it's pretty much all I've played this past week.

Built a small town in a "wild west" place, then I built another city at the edge of this biome, next to a river, called "River Town", where I now have my own house and kind of my Head Quarters. Also the place where I dug myself down to Bedrock (the furthest down you can dig in Minecraft)

Here's what my one room apartment looks like.

Got a stone couch, a music box with a pair of tables that has some flowers on it, another flower next to the bed in the right corner (that small speck of red, that's the bed).
Before the bed, you'll see a fence, leading down to the hole that will take you to the Bedrock.

Of course I have Jack-O-Lanterns as lights to keep the pesky critters away from my home too.

Also built another town, pretty far away, in a swamp, and then I contected all these towns with rails so I didn't have to run for an hour to get there.

It's been a slow week when it comes to gaming.

Let's cross our fingers for a better week next week.

Cya

Ka-Blam Moments

At work today, I had some time for myself, and being one to always drag my laptop with me, incase of boredom and strokes of genious, I found myself sitting at the kitchen table, with "Book 2" open, waiting to have a few words written on it.

But nothing happened. I wrote one sentence in 10 minutes.
I felt that the part I was writting, was missing something. That something needed to fill out the very, VERY, boring part of the story.
And then KA-BLAM! I found a hint of "my brilliance", and the words started pouring out.
Before I knew it, I had written 3 pages, and I had to get back to work. My real work that is, the one I am actually getting payed to do :P

Anyway, let that be a lesson to you all, if you are persistent, even if you have not a single ounce of creativity or willpower to do what you want to do, it will come. Just hold on, and the willpower or creativity, will find you.

Now, as I am a new and ignorant writer, I don't get those "ka-blam" moments very often. But when I do, I use em as much as possible. I don't even bother with correcting my spelling mistakes until that creative explosion has run its course.
... just crossing my fingers, that they don't ONLY happen at work :P

Yea, I think that's it for now.

Cya

Evil is Fun

The game War for the Overworld has officially been released, 10% off for a while, ending at 25,19 euros.
I bought it. I have played a bit. I do not regret this purchase.

Ever heard of a game called Dungeon Keeper? Well this game is the 3rd installment of that series.
I know, it's not called Dungeon Keeper 3, so how can it be DK3? Well it is, but the name seems to be owned by some other assholes, so they picked another name.
But guess what.... IT IS Dungeon Keeper 3. And it is goooOOoood!

Destroy that thing!

 In Dungeon Keeper 2 you had to kill the boss at the end of every map, to gain his jewel. But in War for the Overworld, you have to destroy inhibitors that make it impossible for an Underlord (the player) to come closer to the king. So there is (not always) a crystal like the one in the above picture that you need to destroy.

You comfy?

 The latest map, gave me access to the Torture Chamber and its Succubus. Here they are diligently converting a bard... I guess even the evil creatures of hell need some tunes at times.

When you are hungry, there is always one or two minipiglets to eat.

To keep my minions happy, I have to make sure they have things like food, a bed and entertainment. The food consists of minipiglets in the slaughter pens.
In the above picture, you can also see my army. Contains things I can not produce thou.. but enough time in the torture chambers, will convert anyone :)

MOOOAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA...

Me so evil! Me hate you long time! Killy killy! 5 stabs!

Cya