It’s a common notion that Valentine’s Day is a corporate-driven cash grab. For starters, you don’t get a day off, which already regulates it to the weaker tier of holiday celebrations, right up(down?) there with Columbus Day, April Fool’s, and Chinese New Year.

However, for those of us who are lousy spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, or in my case, bloggers, we need a Valentine’s Day. We need someone to force us to do something because fuck if we’re going to find the motivation to do it ourselves. That’s what Valentine’s Day is for me.

It’s a reason to make a blog post.

While the most romantic quest in the mod is To Warm Sands, there is plenty of love and heartbreak to be found, from Morviah’s tragic affair with a Nord soldier to Vigram’s romance with his horse. The player too can write their own love story, as the mod offers an ever-growing number of men, women, and zombies to wed.

However, there are some possible missed connections as well. Maybe you think two NPCs are perfect for each other. Or perhaps you think an NPC is perfect for you. If you’d like to ship a pair of NPCs together, make it known. Who knows, maybe I’ll make it happen.

Here is some awesome Raynes fan art by SN Yozh. I’ll let the artist explain this one:

Raynes was one of the first characters in a mod that I found myself fond of despite my best intentions. I hate references to torture, after all. There isn’t that much revealed about him, really (how much does one need to know?) but what is there is visceral and compelling. I liked the idea of drawing him engulfed by an overabundance of fur and claw armor, so here you go.

Here I go indeed. Now to go hunt some filthy lawbreakers.

• You can contact SN Yozh at hedgie_yozh@yahoo.com

Here is the sixth of ten weekly updates before the release of version 3.05. This week we have Lajjan the Khajiit follower voiced by Cassandra Wladyslava, who can be found following Ri’saad and Co. Arghus’ (Daniel Hodge) full dialogue has also been unlocked, so he’ll now comment and yell at bandits when you take him on your adventures.

Jaspar Gaerston is also now a marriage candidate, but for men only because that is just the way he rolls, and not say, the result of a paralyzing fear of vaginas. Lastly, I altered the safe in Azzarian’s Gold so you can’t brute force your way in. Should heighten the tension a bit.

3DNPC v3.04.6 UPDATE [Requires Installation of 3.04]

New Quests
• Azzarian’s Gold (Glen Michael Cooper, Jay33721)
• Black Robes (Lila Paws, Ryan Cooper, Elisabeth Hutner, Damien Lacambra)

New NPCs
• Arghus (Daniel Hodge)
• Duraz (Jessica Osborne)
• Azzarian (Glen Michael Cooper)
• Dro’bar (Joshua Brayton)
• Lattimore (Ryan Cooper)
• Julius (Damien Lacambra)
• Merissa (Elisabeth Hunter)
• Cassius (Randy Westbrook), Ogdul (Ryan Cooper)
• Yggleif (JLawrence Kenny)
• Geel-Jah (Matthew Dixon) and Torveld (Ryan Cooper)
• Lajjan (Cassandra Wladyslava)
• Tanita (Cassandra Wladyslava)

Re-Recorded NPCs
• Melea Entius (EvilSeedlet)
• Morviah Hlaalu – Lila Paws
• Beatrice (Alice Bell)
• Carmella (Katie Votapka)

Temporarily Muted NPCs
• Ylgyne (William Sawikin)

New Marriage Candidates
• Daenlyn Oakhollow
• Duraz
• Jaspar Gaerston

New Textures
• Svashni’s Swords – (nonoodles)

New Music
• Nocturne (Giramor)
• Seven Septims for Sigurd (Ronja Monto)

All Fixes and Tweaks from v3.04
• Crabber’s Wife – Juryk’s family not disabling
• Post combat dialogue was not firing for inexplicable reason, moved it to a new quest and works again
• Paper Mirror – Speech check for alternate ending was incorrectly applied to Theron
• Black Robes – Telling Anum-La to Wait at the Mourner’s Den will cause her to wait there forever if Lattimore is sent to Winterhold upon completion.
• Improper condition for Meresine upon meeting.
• Missing files for Alassea inn dialogue and the request portion of the Journey, also Journey flagged incorrectly as “SayOnce”
• Gales of Guilt – Removed “SayOnce” flag on Foromir for cases where a line is triggered too early. Asgeld now teleported to the Blue Palace if the player beats him there.
• Mogo’s Mead – Dialogue may have been disconnected in v3.04 causing quest not to start, also fixed rare issue where Maven is late to the party by teleporting her into place.
• Sleeping Giant – Added failsafe package to ensure Anum-La and Fjona follow
• Amsien not going to Lakeview Manor – “Setstage DialogueAmsien 3″ will fix for old saves
• Changed vanilla RiftenHoneysidelocation to “LocTypeHouse” as it was incorrectly flagged “LocTypeInn”

They broke it down one day, our humble little universe. They documented it all with equations and charts. Some of them even drew pictures. Atoms, particles, strings – they showed how it all tied together, how everything was connected and why the choices you made had consequences.

Then, when they were finished breaking it down, they built it back up, piece by piece, from the invisible to the unseen. They showed how it got bigger and bigger until there was nothing save an assortment of dots, and the further you went, the harder it was to connect them. Pretty soon, all you could see was the emptiness.

And yet, whether all of it mattered or none of it did, whether it was part of a grand design or just the way things were, the one thing Sonja knew for sure was that the universe was working against her. And when dealing with a world that actively hated her, she figured the best thing to do was not make any plans. The less she tried to make happen, the less disappointed she would be by the outcome. So one day, she just decided to shut herself in.

With each passing day, the world outside grew smaller and smaller, and the space inside her apartment grew ever so big. She wondered if perhaps she was shrinking, turning so tiny that none of her roommates could see her. In the end, Sonja wasn’t sure if this made her a planet or an atom, nor could she decide which one she preferred to be.

Here is Jessica Osborne voicing Froa for the upcoming quest, The Immortal Coil. This quest will also feature David Lobach voicing Telthar, but as his dialogue is super spoilery I can only link to the profile here. Lindenlaurel will round out the cast, but she’s currently busy voicing paid work, so there’s no real ETA at the moment. Still, we’re close.

Whoops, I’ve neglected to post here in a few days, and I wasn’t even chained to a radiator this time. Anyhow, as I promised previously, here is FedoraandRapier with another cat. I will have another cat for you tomorrow. So many cats. It’s a cat-o-rama.

If you’ve finished the 7000 steps quest, here is some bonus footage for Dar’rakki. Just a little scene to his backstory. Some lines may be silent in tomorrow’s update, I forgot to include some lines in the script so that’s my bad.

Here is the seventh of ten weekly updates before the release of version 3.05. As always, the updates are cumulative, and encompass everything from version 3.04 on. This week we have Yushari voiced by Jennifer Hedwig, as well as Dar’rakki by FedoraandRapier.

I’ve also decided to let you use Ylgyne (William Sawikin) on a provisional basis. Technically, all but his opening two lines are silent/missing, but there’s a lot of re-takes that I need to have done for, well, reasons, but he’s otherwise functional and marriageable, and can be found in Fort Hraggstad.

Dagri’lon’s voice has also been re-recorded with a higher pitch so it’s easier to understand. Jay is a machine.

Lastly, foster xbl has also given permission to use the armor meshes from the Fat Bastard Mod, which look incredible. I want to use the mesh for a butcher in an upcoming quest, but I may go back and alter some of the older NPCs as well. 

3DNPC v3.04.7 UPDATE [Requires Installation of 3.04]

New Quests
• Azzarian’s Gold (Glen Michael Cooper, Jay33721)
• Black Robes (Lila Paws, Ryan Cooper, Elisabeth Hutner, Damien Lacambra)

New NPCs
• Arghus (Daniel Hodge)
• Duraz (Jessica Osborne)
• Azzarian (Glen Michael Cooper)
• Dro’bar (Joshua Brayton)
• Lattimore (Ryan Cooper)
• Julius (Damien Lacambra)
• Merissa (Elisabeth Hunter)
• Cassius (Randy Westbrook), Ogdul (Ryan Cooper)
• Yggleif (JLawrence Kenny)
• Geel-Jah (Matthew Dixon) and Torveld (Ryan Cooper)
• Lajjan (Cassandra Wladyslava)
• Tanita (Cassandra Wladyslava)
• Yushari (Jennifer Hedwig)

Re-Recorded NPCs
• Dar’rakki (FedoraandRapier)
• Melea Entius (EvilSeedlet)
• Morviah Hlaalu – Lila Paws
• Beatrice (Alice Bell)
• Carmella (Katie Votapka)

Unfinished NPCs
• Ylgyne (William Sawikin)

New Marriage Candidates
• Daenlyn Oakhollow
• Duraz
• Jaspar Gaerston

New Textures
• Svashni’s Swords – (nonoodles)

New Music
• Nocturne (Giramor)
• Seven Septims for Sigurd (Ronja Monto)

All Fixes and Tweaks from v3.04

• Cat and Mouse – Nasrin teleported to player in the event he doesn’t show up in time
• Callen and Raynes “meet me there” conditions fixed
• Crabber’s Wife – Juryk’s family not disabling
• Post combat dialogue was not firing for inexplicable reason, moved it to a new quest and works again
• Paper Mirror – Speech check for alternate ending was incorrectly applied to Theron
• Black Robes – Telling Anum-La to Wait at the Mourner’s Den will cause her to wait there forever if Lattimore is sent to Winterhold upon completion.
• Improper condition for Meresine upon meeting.
• Missing files for Alassea inn dialogue and the request portion of the Journey, also Journey flagged incorrectly as “SayOnce”
• Gales of Guilt – Removed “SayOnce” flag on Foromir for cases where a line is triggered too early. Asgeld now teleported to the Blue Palace if the player beats him there.
• Mogo’s Mead – Dialogue may have been disconnected in v3.04 causing quest not to start, also fixed rare issue where Maven is late to the party by teleporting her into place.
• Sleeping Giant – Added failsafe package to ensure Anum-La and Fjona follow
• Amsien not going to Lakeview Manor – “Setstage DialogueAmsien 3″ will fix for old saves
• Changed vanilla RiftenHoneysidelocation to “LocTypeHouse” as it was incorrectly flagged “LocTypeInn”

Here is Jennifer Hedwig with Yushari, who was included in yesterday’s update. Seeing as how this role took eons to cast, and doing a female Khajiit voice with the gravel is no easy feat, I have to say she did a tremendous job.

Now to some, a Khajiit inside the city walls may seem like a furry big cat-tastrophe, but this is Riften, where purrhaps a little coin always greases the wheels, and Yushari is a longtime resident who’s paid the gate fee. Besides, it’s not as if followers, Dragonborns, and the like can’t scratch and claw their way past the front door. So pawnder that over your next meeting at nitpickers anonymous. And, of course, if you don’t find the dialogue amewsing, you can always tabby out.

Here is William Handford with the revamped Skjel the Gray. I wanted to give this NPC a more gravelly, monster voice like the vanilla skeletons, but still keep that jester-ish quality, and William’s rendition hit all the right buttons.

This is one of those NPCs that requires playing Skyrim and talking to vanilla NPCs, so I may have to do more of that to really flesh him out, so to speak. I tried to sprinkle a little more of that into his base dialogue as well – he previously used more idioms than Skyrim-speak – an example of which is in the following clip:

As I’ve been living in Riften on my recent test run, Skjel now has more idles pertaining to that city, but I eventually need to head out to other places and really listen to the chatter. Just another thing added to the list of shit to do.

There have been close to 100 actors who have worked on this project, and while the DNA tests may prove inconclusive, to me you are all my children. So while as your parent I can play no favorites, I think everyone who’s contributed to the mod can and should audition for Bioware’s new Dragon Age contest, which user Reznore alerted me to on Nexus.

Details can be found at the link below, but I encourage everyone to send in an audition and become famous. Then maybe you can invite your deadbeat father to the red carpet unveiling.

http://blog.bioware.com/2014/02/25/take-your-place-in-the-inquisition/

Victory or Sovngarde?

I’m experiencing something odd as of late pertaining to combat.  Previously, the Combat to Normal dialogue wasn’t firing, so I moved it to a separate location and that seemed to fix it. Recently, the taunts have stopped, although it only seems to apply to old saves.

In this video, the first half shows the combat with the taunts mysteriously muted. In the second half, I move them to the Attack section, and they suddenly fire. This means that the taunts themselves are conditioned correctly. They just for whatever reason aren’t firing off, and only for old saves. 

While in the video you wouldn’t see much of a distinction between taunt and attack dialogue, the advantage of a “taunt” is that they’re spoken regardless of what behavior the NPC is exhibiting. So a taunt can be screamed while someone is chasing you around, but an attack only fires when you’re, well, attacking. In any case, it’s bizarre, but I may need to move them all to the Attack section like in the video until I can figure out what the hell is going on.

Here is the eighth of ten weekly updates before the release of version 3.05. As always, the updates are cumulative, and encompass everything from version 3.04 on. This week we have Skjel voiced by William Handford, and more lines for Meresine.

You’ll also notice a new clothing shop in Riften on the lower level. Right now, it’s just a vanilla shopkeeper, but this is basically an NPC that I will be using as part of the Tailor Made quest, which is finished and uncast.

I wanted to mention something else, but I saw something shiny and I forgot. If I remember, I’ll put it right here where this text is now. Fortunately, I’m fairly certain this thing I forgot has nothing to do with the fate of our civilization, but you never know.

Turns out if was just the fate of Riften, Mark Voided mentioned that when doing a little city planning to add the new shop, I accidentally moved a wall back two feet, which made things weird. Here’s a re-upload of 3.04.8 with wall edit removed.

3DNPC v3.04.8.1 UPDATE [Requires Installation of 3.04]

New Quests
• Azzarian’s Gold (Glen Michael Cooper, Jay33721)
• Black Robes (Lila Paws, Ryan Cooper, Elisabeth Hutner, Damien Lacambra)

New NPCs
• Arghus (Daniel Hodge)
• Duraz (Jessica Osborne)
• Azzarian (Glen Michael Cooper)
• Dro’bar (Joshua Brayton)
• Lattimore (Ryan Cooper)
• Julius (Damien Lacambra)
• Merissa (Elisabeth Hunter)
• Cassius (Randy Westbrook), Ogdul (Ryan Cooper)
• Yggleif (JLawrence Kenny)
• Geel-Jah (Matthew Dixon) and Torveld (Ryan Cooper)
• Lajjan (Cassandra Wladyslava)
• Tanita (Cassandra Wladyslava)
• Yushari (Jennifer Hedwig)

Re-Recorded NPCs
• Dar’rakki (FedoraandRapier)
• Skjel (William Handford)
• Melea Entius (EvilSeedlet)
• Morviah Hlaalu – Lila Paws
• Beatrice (Alice Bell)
• Carmella (Katie Votapka)

Unfinished NPCs
• Ylgyne (William Sawikin)

New Marriage Candidates
• Daenlyn Oakhollow
• Duraz
• Jaspar Gaerston

New Textures
• Svashni’s Swords – (nonoodles)

New Music
• Nocturne (Giramor)
• Seven Septims for Sigurd (Ronja Monto)

All Fixes and Tweaks from v3.04
• Added temporary tailor in Riften for future quest
• Added an additional status update for Gales of Guilt for players who are winning but will ultimately lose the trial to make it less misleading
• Altered the cost of the cipher in Azzarian’s Gold to check the player’s wealth and adjust accordingly
• Fixed condition for Way of the Nine where Keerava wasn’t giving a note
• Cat and Mouse – Nasrin teleported to player in the event he doesn’t show up in time
• Callen and Raynes “meet me there” conditions fixed
• Crabber’s Wife – Juryk’s family not disabling
• Post combat dialogue was not firing for inexplicable reason, moved it to a new quest and works again
• Paper Mirror – Speech check for alternate ending was incorrectly applied to Theron
• Black Robes – Telling Anum-La to Wait at the Mourner’s Den will cause her to wait there forever if Lattimore is sent to Winterhold upon completion.
• Improper condition for Meresine upon meeting.
• Missing files for Alassea inn dialogue and the request portion of the Journey, also Journey flagged incorrectly as “SayOnce”
• Gales of Guilt – Removed “SayOnce” flag on Foromir for cases where a line is triggered too early. Asgeld now teleported to the Blue Palace if the player beats him there.
• Mogo’s Mead – Dialogue may have been disconnected in v3.04 causing quest not to start, also fixed rare issue where Maven is late to the party by teleporting her into place.
• Sleeping Giant – Added failsafe package to ensure Anum-La and Fjona follow
• Amsien not going to Lakeview Manor – “Setstage DialogueAmsien 3″ will fix for old saves
• Changed vanilla RiftenHoneysidelocation to “LocTypeHouse” as it was incorrectly flagged “LocTypeInn”

Well, that was quick. While some NPCs can take months and years to voice, and some quests even longer, I made this NPC and quest over the weekend. Now it’s all but done, and should be ready by v3.04.9. Here is William Handford voicing the new tailor in Riften, selling his soggy clothes from the sewer. But he has his reasons.

You may have noticed this already in the last update, but some of Fironet’s files have leveled up. Alienslikechocolate is working on re-recording Fironet, which should give her better audio, a cleaner dialogue tree, and more songs to play.

As this was one of those NPCs for whom the torches, pitchforks, and torchforks would have been out in full force had I replaced her, I was glad to find the original actor among the living, and as luck would have it, one of her friends happened to have a brand new mic.

One thing we’ll get for sure with the brand new Fironet is more singy songs, since she was originally created back when the mod had nothing save her own. Although I don’t want to go overboard as that would be out of character, having a few in her arsenal besides the one isn’t a bad thing.

Here’s a commentary done by Giramor after beta testing the Elder Scrolls Online. You may recognize the voice as he’s done a number of roles for the mod, and if you enjoy it, be sure to like, subscribe, and recruit Skjarn on your adventures.

She can’t remember the last time she laughed. Really, really laughed. At least, not since that day. She was about seven or eight, and her cousin Teralyn was chasing her across the ash. On summer days the soot was so dry it would bloom off the dirt and dust your face as you ran. You could tell how bad you were at tag by the amount of ash on your chin, and so it seemed fitting that by the time Teralyn caught her, she had grown a full-fledged beard.

Looking at her hapless cousin, Meresine couldn’t help but giggle. And when Teralyn could only offer a brainless stare in response, she laughed so hard she started to cough. It’s only when the blood started pouring out of her teeth that she knew something was wrong.

The elders warned them to never go back. They said the ash was bad for their lungs. But they would do it anyway, laughing and scampering across stretches of ancient terrain. They would climb up the frayed, charcoal trees and take turns shooting arrows at the sky. They would crawl down into the smoke-stained dirt, laying their ears to the ground so they could listen to the mysteries of the dead. And while the smoke thickened and the earth cooked in the hot wrinkles of air, the land itself remained faultless. The ground underneath was home.

The coughs were violent then – the blood erupting from her throat – but now, years later, they merely echo, the flares of pain replaced with deaf streams of heat. When she touches her chest, the blood leaks unflinchingly down the wound’s lip, content to pour slowly over a dimming fire.

The dragon studies her jaw to jaw, because for all their distance, their fight felt the same. Intimate. Still, in the end this archer was just another mortal, another meager ant blind to the futility of its march. Yet what this dragon doesn’t know is that in another life, this mortal had stood side by side with the Dragonborn, the vanquisher of Alduin, and called this person a friend. Now those days are just a reflex, the way you can only look back when time ceases to move forward. And as the smoke rises from her wound, she feels another tug of nostalgia. A voice from a thousand miles away, urging her to come home and lay with the dead.

She spits in its face. Don’t make me laugh, she says, reaching for her dagger. We aren’t done yet.

Unedjis suggested I let Olette play the lute, so here she is playing instruments. If you bring a bard such as Amalee, Skjarn, Daenlyn, or Alassea to your home, she’ll also play along with you. Ronnixx suggested I add a trade option as well, but it’s not working at the moment – not sure if it’s only valid with certain factions or if it has something to do with her being a child, as I tested on wild Olette. In any case, this should add a little more functionality to the little skeever brain.

Here is a very loose sketch of the Fallout 4 character I’ve been working on, voiced by Damien Lacambra. The demo itself was built by nonoodles – despite its similarities to the CK, I was too lazy to learn G.E.C.K. and she was magnanimous enough to offer her services.

As the character is designed for a game that doesn’t even exist, the dialogue may not totally jive with the setting, but nonoodles did her best to sort that shit out. The face and other physical traits are also just placeholders, I haven’t in all honesty even thought about what he’d look like.

Here is the ninth of ten weekly updates before the release of version 3.05. As always, the updates are cumulative, and encompass everything from version 3.04 on. This week we have a new quest Tailor Made voiced by William Handford, Jennifer Hedwig and Jay33721.

Next week will be the release of v3.05, so I’ll mostly be doing upkeep from now until then, and adding whatever voice files I get. In addition to some half-finished NPCs like Ylgyne, there are still two other quests that are not fully voiced at the moment, and given most people only use Nexus, I’m keeping my fingers crossed they will make their way in. Although right now, because it would be impossible to type with fingers crossed and it would also imply that I was lying.

3DNPC v3.04.9 UPDATE [Requires Installation of 3.04]

New Quests
• Tailor Made (William Handford, Jennifer Hedwig and Jay33721)
• Azzarian’s Gold (Glen Michael Cooper, Jay33721)
• Black Robes (Lila Paws, Ryan Cooper, Elisabeth Hutner, Damien Lacambra)

New NPCs
• Korrilan (William Handford)
• Morbush (William Handford)
• Arghus (Daniel Hodge)
• Duraz (Jessica Osborne)
• Azzarian (Glen Michael Cooper)
• Dro’bar (Joshua Brayton)
• Lattimore (Ryan Cooper)
• Julius (Damien Lacambra)
• Merissa (Elisabeth Hunter)
• Cassius (Randy Westbrook), Ogdul (Ryan Cooper)
• Yggleif (JLawrence Kenny)
• Geel-Jah (Matthew Dixon) and Torveld (Ryan Cooper)
• Lajjan (Cassandra Wladyslava)
• Tanita (Cassandra Wladyslava)
• Yushari (Jennifer Hedwig)

Re-Recorded NPCs
• Dar’rakki (FedoraandRapier)
• Skjel (William Handford)
• Melea Entius (EvilSeedlet)
• Morviah Hlaalu – Lila Paws
• Beatrice (Alice Bell)
• Carmella (Katie Votapka)

Unfinished NPCs
• Ylgyne (William Sawikin)

New Marriage Candidates
• Daenlyn Oakhollow
• Duraz
• Jaspar Gaerston

New Textures
• Svashni’s Swords – (nonoodles)

New Music
• Nocturne (Giramor)
• Seven Septims for Sigurd (Ronja Monto)

All Fixes and Tweaks from v3.04
• Added an additional status update for Gales of Guilt for players who are winning but will ultimately lose the trial to make it less misleading
• Altered the cost of the cipher in Azzarian’s Gold to check the player’s wealth and adjust accordingly
• Fixed condition for Way of the Nine where Keerava wasn’t giving a note
• Cat and Mouse – Nasrin teleported to player in the event he doesn’t show up in time
• Callen and Raynes “meet me there” conditions fixed
• Crabber’s Wife – Juryk’s family not disabling
• Post combat dialogue was not firing for inexplicable reason, moved it to a new quest and works again
• Paper Mirror – Speech check for alternate ending was incorrectly applied to Theron
• Black Robes – Telling Anum-La to Wait at the Mourner’s Den will cause her to wait there forever if Lattimore is sent to Winterhold upon completion.
• Improper condition for Meresine upon meeting.
• Missing files for Alassea inn dialogue and the request portion of the Journey, also Journey flagged incorrectly as “SayOnce”
• Gales of Guilt – Removed “SayOnce” flag on Foromir for cases where a line is triggered too early. Asgeld now teleported to the Blue Palace if the player beats him there.
• Mogo’s Mead – Dialogue may have been disconnected in v3.04 causing quest not to start, also fixed rare issue where Maven is late to the party by teleporting her into place.
• Sleeping Giant – Added failsafe package to ensure Anum-La and Fjona follow
• Amsien not going to Lakeview Manor – “Setstage DialogueAmsien 3″ will fix for old saves
• Changed vanilla RiftenHoneysidelocation to “LocTypeHouse” as it was incorrectly flagged “LocTypeInn”

Here’s another set of screenshots I took over the last few weeks. Originally I thought we could turn this into a running segment, as in Screenshot Saturday, but then I realized I really don’t play enough Skyrim to justify a weekly collection of screenies. Modding Skyrim, sure, but playing it, just haven’t had the time. Also today is Tuesday.

This first shot is a nice little action photo. Too bad about the text – I’d photoshop it out if I wasn’t so lazy. As I mentioned previously, I’ve been staying in Riften for most of my recent playthrough – just there for the fishing I guess – and picked up Skjel on my way to test the new quest. While I’ve heard people say he’s a poor fighter, he was casting Frost Atronachs and smashing heads at level 25, so he seemed pretty badass to me.

I wasn’t sure if Yushari’s flower carrying mechanism was working properly, but lately I’ve seen her pottering around Riften with her wares in hand. Serana, meanwhile, is also hard at work in her career as a professional creeper. Soon.

Here’s Balimund wearing his brand new bread-based kneeguard. He bakes them over his fire salt forge and then lets them sit out in the sun until they get so stale they can stop a spear. Some mistakenly believe that bread goes stale due to a loss of moisture, but it’s actually due to starch retrogradation, which is science talk for magic.

In any case, Balimund proves you don’t have to be a master smith to make capable armor, just grab some bread and some glue and you’re ready to face a Draugr horde. Just pray the Draugr don’t own bread knives, because then you’re completely fucked.

I moved Alphena from outside the Retching Netch to a little box just outside the docks, allowing her to theoretically accompany you from the moment you step on dry land. I say theoretically because again this mod will never happen.

Sometimes Serana will get really creative with her sandboxing. This is her getting into an Indian Step to set up for a classic “B-Boy Flare” maneuver popularized by the legendary Rocksteady…what? A horse and carriage bug? Nonsense. Serana is a street legend and also incredibly insane.

Well, that’s it for another episode of 3DNPC screenshots. Somehow Meresine and I managed to get another picture posing with a corpse before Serana could fondle it, but perhaps she was too busy working on her windmills.

Eleanor was one of those early, goofy NPCs and for the most part she still is, but when re-working her dialogue I also decided to give her a slightly more adult voice. The original fit the character but not necessarily the world, if that makes sense, and Siren Mesa’s is more mage-y in general (not to mention studio quality). Eleanor will also now take orders when she’s at the inn, and provide a neater dialogue tree when you speak to her. She might not make it into 3.05 though, there’s still re-takes and things that need to be done, and so she may get chopped again.