Skyrim: Velk's journal - Part 2. *Contains spoliers*

Before I went to rest that night, I spoke to Sven who was playing music in the inn, and he gave me a letter to give to Camilla, to frame Faendal...

I rested well, very well considering the day I just had. This inn would be torn through in a moment, or burnt to ashes should the dragon come back... Anyway, I was awoken by the smell of breakfast on the spit in the center room, and the melodic notes of Sven... STILL playing to the same people getting drunk... these people are either very rich, or have issues...anyway, I decided to just snack on some of the food I had with me since finances are short, and headed back out into town. When I was walking back to the Forge to do some smithing, I bumped into Camilla. I gave her Sven's letter and told her that he was trying to frame Faendal... she was much appreciative and promised not to have anything to do with Sven. She asked me to seek out Faendal and tell him myself as he would appreciate it.

Whilst exploring the town, a man called Lucan told me that Bleakfalls Barrow up the hill across the river contains an artefact called 'Gold Dragon Claw'. I agreed to retrieve it, and headed along the path and over the bridge...

Whilst there I spotted a deer grazing down by the river... I notched an arrow and took aim, and fired - a direct hit. The deer jumped into the river and started swimming to the other side as my second shot hit it right in the side of the head, finishing it off. I skinned it, took what meat I could... and also a ring it was carrying...

I then head up the hill to Bleakfalls Barrow...  on the way I was ambushed by a wolf pack, that I scorched to the ground. Shortly after a blizzard rolled in, making it hard to see as I continued to climb, ahead I spotted a spire in the white-out, but as I got closer I got attacked by some bandits that had set up camp here... A brief melee later I had taken them all out, and taken shelter in the tower until the blizzard died down.

I then ventured the rest of the way to the ruin, where I took out more bandits and a giant spider with Greatsword and bow.

I delved into the dungeon, that seemed to be inhabited solely by spiders and the walking dead. Deep inside, I came to a door - watching a bandit pulling a lever, he was cut down with arrow-fire from a trap... The door it likely opens was barred shut.

After playing about with some statues in the room, and triggering the lever from a safe location, I managed to get a working combination for the door: Fish Snake Snake. The door ground open, and stale air and dust greeted me, aswell as a lot of spider webs.

As I passed through the corridors, looting what I could fit in my pack, I heard a man calling out for help... I noticed a room, blocked off with vines...

I cut through them to find a room covered in heavy layers of spider webbing, with numerous dessicated corpses and giant spider eggs... I could faintly see someone struggling in the webbing at the far end of the room, as a GINORMOUS spider dropped down right in front of me, a bear would have been a snack for this thing... I fell backwards out of the room, and started to attack with bow and arrow since it couldnt squeeze out through the door, and eventually done enough damage that it was visibly staggering, then run up and cleaved it in two with my greatsword.

The man introduced himself as Arvel. He told me he had the claw and knows what it is for - to unlock a treasure horde deeper into the dungeon, so I offered to cut him down if he would assist and give me the claw. I free'd him. He ran. He died. I chased after him and with my greatsword, cut him down, and took the items he was carrying.

The dungeon ahead was filled with the walking dead, and traps... it only made sense - I used the traps against them... having them step on their own pressure plates triggering traps, and hitting pots of flaming oil hanging from the roof so they burst over them as they passed underneath... it felt good!

Eventually I came to another door that had these unusual symbols associated with it, and a slot for the claw... After toying about with it I got it unlocked.

As I entered the chamber a flock of bats nearly knocked me on my ass. I moved further in and found some strange glowing writing near a tomb...

As I moved closer it seemed to flash, then fade and I felt... strange... moments later a powerful dreugh rose from the tomb, only to be cut down. I looted an Ancient Nord Greatsword of Cold from him... much better quality than what I was using, and enchanted to boot!

A secret exit was built into the room, and it lead me to the surface... it was night time once I got out, and I made a bee-line for town, stopping only to slay wolves and slaughterfish that took a liking to me, and paused momentarily to talk to a poaching huntsman.

When I got back to Riverwood, I returned the claw, sold my loot and headed back to the inn for rest. All in a days work!

Skyrim: Velk's journal - Part 1. *Contains spoliers*

As previously mentioned, I wanted to keep an in-character game journal, much like Arwen. It will contain spoilers, I have no intention of editing thme out, if you dont want to see them, please don't read. I am a veteran of Morrowind and Oblivion, so I am going to try my best not to use any exploits I find in the game, Im likely also going to stick fairly close to the main quest line with this character, and explore all the fun to be had with guilds when Im not trying to keep notes as I go! And with that over with: INTO IT!

*****

I awoke, with no memory of where I am, or why I am here... I was in a cart, being transported in convoy with what appears to be prisoners. Ulfrik Stormcloak introduced himself to me. A few others rode beside us... We arrived at a keep soon after... One by one the prisoners were lead forth to be given their last rights before... before being beheaded. I was not on their list, but nevertheless, the captain ordered that my head should be removed along with the others...

The first man hurled taunts and insults at the guards, and was promptly dispatched. The lucky one. A freshly sharpened blade took his head in a single stroke.

By now, eerie sounds could be heard echoing from the mountains... but it made no difference... I was next. Perhaps the sounds were my own imagination as I stared death in the face... As I lay my head on the block, some strange beast flew in from behind the keep, and landed on a rooftop, and started raining fiery death to the village. A Dragon! 

AArrgh! Death!

 I made my escape with Ulfrik, into the keep with a few other injured survivors...

We made a break across town, and I met with Hadvar, the guard that tried to bargain for my release with the leader at the executions, and we headed into the Keep, and made way through catacombs.

We fought our way through a number of Greycloaks that decided they fancied some hostile negotiations, but we managed to fight our way through and out the otherside. When we got out, the dragon flew right over our heads and over the mountains in the distance...

Spot the dragon!

we watched the Dragon fly off into the distance. Hadvar informed me the local town of Riverwood would be a good place to shelter, so we headed off along the path. He pointed out an old ruin, and we paused at some blessing stones.

Thieving time!

We then continued heading on towards the town, being halted briefly by a pack of Wolves, though they were easy to dispatch with my bow, and Hadvar's sword.

We entered the town of Riverwood where Hadvar and I met his father, Alvor. We went inside his house to talk...

Alvor and his wife

I talked to Alvor in length about assistance he needs. Soldiers from Whiterun seem to be his prime concern, he told me a little about Whiterun and the Jarl - this may be tricky, he is quite opposed to the war, although he doesn't side with anyone, it may make it tricky to coerce him to assist...

I spent a little while milling about, cooking some Cabbage Apple Stew, and sharpening my weaponry at the blacksmiths and had a brief run around town. It was dark now, and a full moon was out.

The mountains at night. Pretty. Dangerous. Hide.

I decided I want rest, and somewhere to sell all my loot, but Alvor and his family had been hospitable enough, so I headed to the Sleeping giant inn. Hopefully I can get some rest, a clean and some coin for my troubles. After coughing up 10 gold pieces, I rested for the night. Whiterun can wait until tomorrow... I need rest, lest I will fall to another wolf pack and never even get the alert out!

*****

Thats it for now folks - I did not get much time to get into the game as I am still in the midst of studies, but the more notes I get, the more I shall post :) My thoughts so far: plotline seems good, the game is very immersive. Full HD on a 22" screen, with headphones on makes it very immersive, and I love the water and the atmosphere, especially walking through the valleys and looking up at the misty peaks above! :-)

-V

Journals! (Of the diary variety, amongst others.)

This topic might be a bit controvertial for geek-value, but Im in the mood to write about it and its my blog so... deal with it. Read it or skip it :p

So... since I was little, I have kept some sort of diary/journal... I feel kinda silly each time I actually think about it, but at the same time it is kinda fun. People keep journals of all sorts of things. Work journals, project journals, etc etc, to keep track of what they are doing and the goals they are seeking to achieve in such things which is all very valid. But what about every day life?

I keep work journals when working, project ones when working on projects (such as my honours project), and I have kept a couple of holiday journals (More specifically me and Kat's honeymoon journal (nothing dodgy!) which is kept on display in the living room and that we occasionally flick through to reminisce)

From about 1991 I have kept a written journal of sorts. Admittedly, every time I take a look at one of these diaries from my childhood - it is embarassing... The crap I would waffle about beggars belief, but it helped my writing skills immensely and gives me something to look back on and reminisce. I was inspired by the likes of Sue Townsends Adrian Mole diaries (at least, the earlier ones. The later ones were too depressing to read.) and some other comical diaries like Mr Beans diary and "The Log" from Red Dwarf.

From about 2002 onward I decided to keep an electronic diary. I don't put entries in it often, I would guesstimate I put an entry in, on average, once per week. Sometimes it can be a month before I put in an entry, other times I can have a straight week where I update it daily.

So, lets be analytical. What are the advantages of keeping a diary?

Well, firstly - its a scrapbook of your life. I find that when I have partaken in an event, be it family, holiday, or just a random day - that by writing about it, I remember it better - and when I look over old diaries I can remember the day clearly. This goes back as far as the diary I was writing in when I was 9 - so almost 20 years ago.

Secondly - if you need to vent somewhere, or get your thoughts down, then it is a good outlet. I find when I look back at half my entries, if they are not a "log" of activities on a day or from an event, they irritate me... but I have them down and it helps me analyse things that have happened, or why I feel a certain why, or am affected by something in a certain way. It irritates the shit out of me when people "Emo-book" - basically putting a status up on a social site like Facebook to get attention then hiding from the responses whilst most likely keeping an eye on them to judge your self-worth/pity. That's what I use one of these for! I don't need the attention, I need the outlet or Ill go putting my fist through walls, head through windows.

There are some other advantages that I wont go into detail with, such as helping remember things if your short term memory is shot by updating it as things happen, etc etc.

Disadvantages?

People will read it. No shit sherlock - its human nature - if you have one of these and someone gets their mits on it, they WILL read it. Get used to it. If you want something that is truly private, keep an electronic copy, and password it up tight. But moreso, get used to the rule of self-censorship. There are some things that shouldn't go down, because Im sure there are certain circumstances where you would have to provide it as evidence or something in court by law, or you may leave the document open.

I remember when I was younger, my sister would keep sneaking my diary away to read it, and tease me occasionally on its contents, and more recently I found out my mother read it aswell. A bit embarassing, but also a giggle since I would never keep anything so serious in there that I would get in trouble for it...

Another disadvantage could be the time constraints and the "whats the point" factor. How often are you going to read it? Are you EVER going to go back and read it? Why put in the time?

Well, time commitment is minimal, you can sum up a day in a 30 second paragraph if needs be, or you can go into as much detail as you like (memory is cheap! Same cant be said for the paper diaries I used to keep!). You may find you appreciate the effort later on, moreso for being a log of important or special events that happen in your life, but it is also nice to just read back over a normal day and contrast yourself to then and see how much you have changed. (Its usually a good thing in my experience!)

So what about other aspects of keeping a log/journal/diary?

Co-authoring: Not a good idea for a "diary" - but it can work quite well as a log of activities in, for example, a holiday journal. Co-authoring could work in the instance of short term memory loss. I think it would be a fantastic day for family members visiting a relative with dementia/alzheimer's to make a little journal entry of their visit for the relative they are visiting to go over once they have left, perhaps updating it with images etc remotely.

Remembering loved ones? Pictures, remembering activities you done? Everybody's gotta go someday... it may make you sad to read about activities past, and see pictures, but I would rather that than have no way to remember them.

But yeah, I think I have waffled on. What can I say? I keep a diary! I have done for 20 years! No you cant read it. So:

fuck you! ;-)

Anyway - the majority of what I would say in a diary nowadays goes on facebook for friends and family to see, nothing really special is kept in it - its simply a log, where I can keep some scrapbook-esque pictures, notes and occasionally bitch to myself about whats pissing me off with life. The venting helps!

I recommend you try it ^.^
-V