I still can't believe the amount of work it has taken to begin properly building my home. As it stands, it's little more than a simple house, a single room with a cooking pot and a bed, but I've expanded to include a garden and a pen for some chickens outside. I hope to build a stable soon, but I'll need a lot of resources before I can do that. My Steward, Valdimar, has proven most useful in procuring the basics of home construction at least. While I have to make trips out of the area to speak to merchants in neighboring communities, he can simply send couriers off to order and pay for stone, clay and wood as needed. I hope to make a truly glorious home for myself in time, but for now...Well, simple though it may be, I can't get over the fact that it's mine.

Now, I just need to pull together enough resources to actually spruce the place up a bit more, and THEN...Then I can look into expanding. For now, though, it's a place to call my own and to store my various goodies! Not that I have very many; most of the garbage I looted off the Vampires and Bandits I've had to deal with went right to a merchant. Helped pay for the house, at that!

Well, after days of boredom and little else, I finally managed to find some more work around the hold. Of a sort, at least. Firstly I was contacted by a courier to inform me that I was to meet a contact for a mining company at the Stonehills Mine and Quarry. It was a bit of a trek, but it gave me an excuse to try out my new camping gear that I had been putting together for the last few days!

I had been keeping myself busy with new skills, learning to sew and tan leather, as well as some minor smithing. I can make iron nails and am close to crafting my first dagger, but at the moment I've mostly been using the skills I'm practicing to make more arrowheads. On top of that, I've been hunting around Morthal which has proven most fruitful. The land is rich in Elk, Deer and feral Goats, which I've been picking off for their hides and meat. I have little to worry about food-wise, and financially I'm flush. I have more than I had started with, as well.

Before leaving town I was stopped by one of the locals, a burly sort named Benor who thought he could prove himself by challenging the "vampire killer" to a fist fight. I can't say I'm much with my hands, but I managed to floor him with little difficulty. It helped that he was clearly drunk, to be honest. He did promise to put in a good word with the Jarl after my "marvelous showing", clapped me on the shoulder and wandered off. At least he was in good spirits afterward.

The walk to the Stonehills wasn't a long one, but it was colder than I'd like. I need to work on padding out my leathers in the future, simply because I spend so much time in the snowy mountains! Either way the walk was made nicer by having Meeko there, although he did run off and get into a tussle with a stray Wolf we passed. No serious matter, given that Meeko is a brute of a dog in his own right, and once I managed to drag him away and the Wolf had run off we were back on the path in no time.

Stonehills was a lot smaller than I had anticipated, mostly consisting of one building, a tent village and the mine entrance itself. In no time I found the local mine head, who had sent for what he dubbed "a capable individual" to act as a courier...To Solitude. Of all the asinine things to be asked, so far from the Capitol, THAT was what he wanted of me. He said he'd put a good word in with the Jarl, though, and that I could even use the cargo wagon they had nearby to make the trip easier.

Well...I was to be paid for my help, and a good word with the Jarl would go a long way toward earning my status as a Thane. The ride to Solitude was to take hours, most of a day in fact even with a wagon at my disposal. When I arrived it was well after dark, and my only choice was to find a place to bed down. I hadn't been to Solitude in years; it was with my Mother back when I was young, and only to deal with a merchant who had failed to send us a bundle of wheat as Mother had asked. The city itself is impressive, but don't particularly care for the overabundance of Imperial forces wandering it. I don't like the idea of being stuck anywhere that might become a target of attack by one side or the other in the ongoing war.

I made my way to the local Inn and Tavern, got the cheapest room they had and settled in for the night. The beds there were certainly better than the ones in Morthal, but the place never seemed to really "wind down" and get quiet. Meeko was up all night, snuffling at the door. I think he smelled the food in the main hall of the inn, but at least he wasn't barking. I was up at dawn and out the door, heading toward the Blue Palace itself.

My business was with a local woman, some member of the royal court who had ties to the mining interests in Stonehills. I delivered a missive and was promptly paid for my assistance. Not too shabby of a job, although the trip was an absolute bore. Thankfully I could just catch a wagon back and save myself some trouble. To cut a long story short, I returned to the supervisor at the mine in due time, was rewarded with a bundle of iron ingots which was NOT what I had expected, but could still prove useful, and returned to Morthal.

Evidently my local good deeds were enough, and word had in point of fact gotten back to the Jarl. She called me to her hall and I was informed that not only was I to be named Thane of Morthal, but that I was to be bestowed a unique, enchanted sword for my work in the Hold, and that I would have a place in her hall of my very own. A room, with board! No more sleeping at the Inn for me.

But what really took my attention was when I was approached by one of her court and informed that, as Thane, I was to be granted the right to buy land. Not just land, but a premium plot on the shore facing Solitude, not far from town. At first I didn't understand why I would want that, but then it struck me: I could build a home. I, Maeara Comes-From-Behind, who just half a month prior had left the equivalent of a hovel in Dragon Bridge, had been named Thane of Hjaalmarch, and I now had the right to own my very own land and home!

He told me that the investment in the land was five thousand septims...All of my money, effectively. Every coin I had with me to begin with, every remaining coin I had earned but not spent in the meantime.

Of course I bought the land. Of course I did, because there is no greater step toward one's new life than building a home of your own. Money can be earned again, but the chance to call a place my very own? That's an investment I had to jump on.

I'll head out there with Meeko tomorrow and inspect the property. I can't wait to get started!

I should have known I'd end up sitting on my tail for a while after how busy those first days of my adventure were. Mostly I've been getting to know the locals and teaching Meeko some tricks, but mostly while I've been considering my skills and interests.

I've been looking at the various plants and whatnot that I've been collecting during my travels, including weird stuff like fire salts and vampire ash that I've collected from various sources. I've always liked the idea of alchemy, of doing something interesting with my hands and making a product that people will find useful. I've also always liked music, and there's a beautiful lute that a traveling merchant had for offer the other evening. He's still staying at the inn.

There's always tanning and smithing, as well, which are both skills that may prove helpful in the future...But I have to ask myself, can I really master all of these interests? Do I WANT to? I feel that all of them will be useful in the long run, but I'm not sure whether or not I should pursue them in equal measure or start small. I could play music for tips at the inn, or I could learn to brew poisons and potions...And I've been meaning to patch my leathers since the bandit camp. Tanning and sewing would certainly prove useful then.

Hrmm...Things to think on while I wait for the weather to clear and the snow to slack off. Then I can try getting out into the Hold again and seeing who needs my help. Or maybe I'll just take up fishing and see how that does me.

_______________

So, audience participation time! Should Maeara pursue one interest, or should she become a Polymath and try to be the best little lizard ever at everything? At the very least I need to get her good enough to craft a fishing net and some camping gear.

Well, the Jarl didn't waste much time finding another job for me, that's for sure. No sooner had I gotten settled in and had a good rest at the inn after dealing with the vampires, and she sent to have me brought before her. It seems that a group of bandits had been causing trouble in the area, and since I had shown such delightful skill and efficiency at removing their vampire problem the Jarl felt that I would be best suited to handle the NEXT problem that came up.

Thankfully bandits are something simple enough to deal with, next to Necromancers and Vampires. They were camped out in a cave some distance from Morthal, overlooking a river and the home of some local crab poacher. I asked the poacher about the bandits, and he said there were no more than five of them living up the mountain, squatting in a cave. They would hit caravans on the way by on the nearby bridge and road heading toward Morthal and beyond, and that they tended to hunker down in the cave during daylight hours otherwise.

The climb up was a bit of a chore, but it wasn't too bad. The advantage of claws and good, strong muscles! Once I had arrived at the cave mouth I found that the bandits had staked up a couple of corpses as a warning. After the vampire waste chamber and the collection of remains I'd seen before, that was almost downright friendly.

The cave interior was frankly quite small, and easy to pick my way through. The first bandit was tending a fire, preparing to cook a meal no doubt. He ended up with an arrow in the neck for his trouble, as did the female bandit who had been seated behind him, sleeping. Beyond them I found the bandit Chief, along with an archer and another swordsman. The chief was a big, intimidating Orc with a warhammer, but he also wasn't too bright. Arrows to the gut and chest brought him down, but I managed to take an arrow in return to the shoulder thanks to the Elven witch hanging in the back.

Meeko wasn't around, or I'm sure he would have mopped up for me. I'd left him at the inn for the time being, and in the long run it may have been a fool choice. Couldn't very well have him climbing a mountain, though. The arrow wound wasn't severe; a shallow cut and a torn sleeve, not much else. I returned fire and brought the archer down, while the last bandit made to flee. A shot to the calf and a finishing blow to the back of the head stopped that nonsense.

After sifting through their belongings, I managed to find a booby-trapped trunk in the back of the cave that held an assortment of gemstones and a few useful potions. Needless to say, I picked the cave clean and made my way back to Morthal, flush with pride at my success. Another job well done.

I'll be Thane in no time!

Movarth. I'd never heard the name before these events, but I feel I'll remember what I saw in that beastly creature's lair for years to come. The citizenry that accompanied me to the cave he called home were somewhat less than helpful. In fact, they stacked up outside and waited for ME to scout it out. Of course, I felt obliged to do so. I made Meeko stand guard with them, mostly because I didn't want him plunging head long into a horde of who-knows-what. Again.

The cave itself wasn't exactly difficult to enter; there was no door, no guardian, no nothing. Just an open hole in the earth with some clutter and detritus out front. I guess Vampires aren't keen on cleaning up after themselves. Either way, upon entering I found myself moving to the rim of a downward spiraling construction, staring at a pair of those ghastly spiders once more. I swear, if it isn't the Undead it's Spiders!

Either way, I made short work of them with my bow. They didn't hear me, or see me. Simple, that. What was less simple was the actual guard that waited beyond. A Vampire Thrall, a slave to their will. Dunmer, upon close inspection. He did spot me, but the arrow to the throat stopped him in his tracks before he could raise an alarm. From that point on it became something of a blur for me.

I recall finding more thralls, and several lesser Vampires as well. Arrows, thrown spears, even a firebomb I had found in one of the rooms built into the tunnel network...All I know for certain is that I left nothing standing. Least of all when I found a room they had been using as a charnel house, storing mangled corpses and drained victims for later purposes. Food for the thralls, given the table laden with cutlery and a human skull picked clean nearby.

Movarth himself proved to be surprisingly easy compared to his acolyte, Alva. I caught him in the back with a spear, dipped in spider venom beforehand. He went to his knees, giving me a fair chance to finish him off with a second blow. I made sure to pierce his heart, just to be safe. The arrow to the head afterwards was more to make myself feel better. Alva, meanwhile, held out until the end, retreating deeper into the cavern until I had her cornered.

She used necromancy, raised one of her fallen Thralls to attack me as well, but I caught her by surprise when I doused her in lantern oil and threw a torch at her. Despite her seeming durability, fire truly is the great equalizer.

When all was said and done I left that cave, shaken but victorious. I ordered the locals to pile everything within outside and burn it, to ash. Then scatter the bones in the swamp, just to be safe. The last thing the town needed was some creative Necromancer flouncing along and making things worse.

For my troubles I was paid a handsome sum, 400 septims, and offered a chance at becoming a Thane for the Jarl! Me, a Thane! I could actually hold a position of power in a town, rather than simply turning tricks for bread money or gutting elk in the snow...Granted, Morthal isn't much to look at, but it would be a place to call home if ever I needed it... I think I'll stick around and do my best to help improve the situation here. At least for a brief time.

Now that there aren't any fucking Vampires, how bad can it be?

__________________________

Well, THAT was a mess.

Before anyone asks, my game is heavily modded. MOST of the mods are either graphical fixes/updates, sex related (poses, scripts, skeleton extensions for the poses, etc), or lore-friendly gear and quests/world spaces. I have a handful of non-lore friendly ones, just because I like them (some sexier armor, etc), but you'll hear mention of things that may not make sense in the context of Skyrim. Throwing spears, oil and firebombs, etc. These are all part of a Throwing Weapon mod that adds numerous realistic throwing weapons to the game, including spears, torches, bombs/grenades of different types that suit the setting, axes, daggers and the like. So this isn't hyperbole; Maeara burned that bitch down like a bad concert hall.

And for those curious, here's a little picture of Maeara and her stupid fucking Dog who keeps jumping into danger:

http://i.imgur.com/eWAXHvy.png

Morthal is a miserable little town. It’s like a poor-man’s rendition of Riften, in that it’s built quite predominantly on water. The water, though, is a shallow, frosty bog full of rotting weeds and stumps. On top of that, when I arrived in town a Frostbite Spider was assailing a guard, and evidently one of the homes in town had recently burned down. After Meeko and I helped put the spider down, the Guard directed us to speak to the local Jarl, a “mystical” old bag named Idgrod Ravencrone. She wasn’t terribly polite, nor was she pleasant company, but I got the gist of the local situation and found out I might have luck in finding work locally.

In particular, the house that had burned down seemed to be of some import. A local fellow named Hroggar had lost his wife and daughter in the fire, but had somewhat suspiciously betrothed himself to a local woman named Alva in no time at all. The first step was to speak to Alva and Hroggar themselves.

Unfortunately Alva was nowhere to be found while I searched the town and asked around, but luckily for me Hroggar was near his home. Upon speaking with him I found him chillingly indifferent to the death of his family, and couldn’t help but agree with the local feeling that he must have had something to do with it. The next step was to search the ruins of the burned house.

It turned out to be somewhat more illuminating, and unsettling, than expected. Searching the cold ruins of the home, I had the strange experience of actually seeing and speaking to the ghost of his daughter, Helgi. She told me of her death, but proved difficult to keep on track due to child-like whimsy.

She made me promise to play hide and seek with her after sun down, and then she would tell me whatever I wanted to know. I couldn’t very well refuse, given the circumstances, so I went to the local inn and settled in for a few hours of sleep. The road had been wearisome, to say the least.

Waking after nightfall I set to searching for the ghostly child. It took me far longer than I’d like to admit, but only because she wasn’t hiding IN the town of Morthal, but rather beyond the edge of town…In her own grave. Unfortunately, she wasn’t alone, as there was a Breton woman there with a shovel. And a sword, for that matter. Meeko immediately began to snarl and bark, hackles rising. It wasn’t until the woman raised a hand and began to approach that I noticed her strange eyes and deathly pallor.

I’d never seen a Vampire before, but I had heard of them. Heard enough to know that I didn’t need to feel bad about putting an arrow in the undead bitch’s heart, and another in her head to make sure she was down. They claim Vampires can rise from the dead, but I’d like to see her try that trick with cold steel and solid oak in her. Either way, Helgi’s spirit revealed herself and explained what had happened.

The woman was Laelette, the wife of a local man who had supposedly vanished, abandoned the town to join the Stormcloak rebellion some time ago. It seems she had instead been turned by someone, somewhere. She had been trying to turn Helgi, and in an effort to cover her tracks she had burned down their home and killed Helgi and her Mother. On top of that, further digging and a talk with Laelette’s poor husband Thonnir indicated that she had been spending an awful lot of time with a local woman…Alva.

Things were starting to come together, but it wasn’t until I managed to sneak into Alva’s home unnoticed that I was able to verify my suspicions. Alva had a basement with a coffin, and a blood-stained journal that revealed all the truth I needed. She was a vampire, and had wanted to have Hroggar’s family murdered so she could have him for herself. Laelette had been her servant, a slave who had evidently lost her mind after being turned. She had failed to do as she was instructed, starting the fire rather than handling matters as desired, and as a result Alva had retreated to the swamp. In particular, to a hidden lair of what she called her master, a powerful vampire named Movarth.

This job has suddenly become very complicated… The Jarl is amassing a group of strong warriors to stand with me and assault the vampire lair. I’m barely away from home and I’m already hunting the Undead and solving murder mysteries…This is NOT what I had anticipated, but it truly is thrilling. I’ll join them at dawn, when we know the bloodsuckers will be contained.

I picked up a set of throwing spears and some good torches to take with. We'll burn them out if we have to, but one way or another Morthal's going to see a severe decline in neighboring Vampires from this point on...

Meeko has proven to be worth his weight in gold so far, and I’ve only just had the dog for a day! Within minutes of leaving his former home I found myself approaching the tumbledown ruins of an old fortress along the road to Morthal. Nothing much to think of; such remnants of past glories litter Skyrim from what I’ve heard.

What was of note was the fact that it appeared to be absolutely infested with the Undead, and the Necromancers responsible for raising them. I had seen Necromancers being paraded through Dragon Bridge on their way to be executed in Solitude when I was younger; I knew their black robes and had heard the stories of their wicked ways.

What I wasn’t ready for was Meeko’s immediate, even violent response to the presence of their skeletal minions. Maybe it’s just how a dog reacts to a pile of bones, but he was off like a bolt and breaking limbs off of the damned things before I could catch him by the scruff.

Next thing I knew, the skeletons who had been preparing to fire their aged and decrepit bows at me were trying to hit a rapidly moving and very agitated dog. I wasn’t about to let that happen, so I took up my ax and made a run on them as well.

The skeletons proved to be laughable; slow and easy to dismantle. It was when a spike of ice nearly took off my tail that I knew things had gotten further out of hand. Luckily Meeko was there to keep things in check, as he was on the Necromancer before I could do much else. That dog is something else, I’ll say that much!

No wonder his owner was so worried about him. Meeko has a heroic nature, it seems, but very little self-preservation instinct. Either way, before all was said and done I’d had to nock an arrow or two and put them squarely into a duo of Necromancers. All told, Meeko and I must have destroyed a dozen of those skeletons and killed four of the mages between us.

I’d thought that killing someone would be…Harder. Maybe it’s just the way life is in Skyrim, or maybe it’s because I knew the Necromancers were too dangerous to let live. Either way, the only thing I felt once Meeko and I had finished up was a sense of relief that we’d made it out unscathed. Who knows if we’ll be so lucky next time?

Either way, the looting was good, mostly magical potion ingredients, robes and daggers, but I also managed to salvage one of the bows from the Skeletons and found it to be of surprisingly exceptional quality despite the obvious age of it. A bit of work on the strings, and I can put the bundle of arrows I gathered from that mess to good use as well.

Not long to Morthal, now!

_______________

Well, the adventure SEEMS to be going well enough. Any votes for where to head or what to do on the way to Riften?

So far my journey has proven to be both strangely mundane and shockingly eventful in ways I didn't entirely anticipate. As stated in my last entry I intended to leave with the sunset and make my way east, however a sudden snow storm meant that I had to leave before nightfall. If I wanted to make it out of Dragon Bridge with any sort of decent time I had to leave shortly after midday, and even then the snow had started to pile and the stones of the road had started to freeze over.

Eventually I gave up on trying to work my way over frozen paving stones and opted to instead move off of the path, following a game trail as I went. I spotted some Elk, and even a pair of foxes along the way, but nothing I felt like hunting actively. The problem with an early journey is that darkness conceals one's movements, whereas moving through knee-deep snow in broad daylight does little good for a hunter in dark leathers, and I certainly didn't like the idea of carrying any skins or hides with me in those conditions. Extra weight would just be a burden.

Less than two hours in to my journey and I stumbled across something unexpected. Near the road, walking through the brush, I found a dog. A ratty, haggard looking old herding dog from the looks of him, but friendly. He was upon me in moments, barking and snuffling, trying to get my attention. He then ran off, darting into the woods and only pausing to wait for me. He had something to show me, or so it seemed.

I followed him then, to a little shack off the road. A modest home, not much to look at, but enough for a woodsman perhaps. He lead me inside, and there I found his owner. The poor man...I found his journal, near his nearly frozen corpse in his bed. He had died from complications of a disease, Rock-Joint. I knew an old man in Dragon Bridge with it; nearly crippled due to how it afflicted him. The journal made it clear this man had a terrible case, and that his only concern was for his beloved dog, named Meeko.

I did the right thing by him and buried him. I won't say I was too proud to look through the house for useful belongings, finding a few dried vegetables and a rabbit caught some days before, smoked and hanging on a hook. I helped myself and bunkered down for the night after the long work of digging a suitable grave and burying the former owner. I let the dog in and settled down in the hut, a fire lit to keep us warm and safe. The dog slept with his head in my lap, and I found myself quite content to have him there. I think I'll keep Meeko for now, keep him safe just as his owner wanted.

It was the dawn of the next day when things got complex, quite rapidly. The fire had burned out at some point before sunrise, and I believe perhaps the lack of light was what drew the pair of Frostbite Spiders to my campsite. Meeko woke me with his growling, standing at the door of the hut and snarling. I rose quickly enough, finding myself staring through the window at a spider easily the size of any dog I had ever seen.

Meeko wasted no time in plunging out, knocking the table over as he barreled out the window and ran the spider down. The sounds it made! By the Gods, but it was dreadful. I didn't know what to do at first, at least not until the second spider managed to catch Meeko's feet in a gout of sticky silk. Thinking went out the window just as swiftly as Meeko had, and soon was followed by an arrow.

The second spider went down with only a pair of shots, the first blinding it partially and the second spearing it to a tree trunk. Meeko was still in danger, though. I plunged headlong into the thick of things with my ax, swinging at the spider until I had hacked a leg off. Meeko freed himself and joined me, toppling the spider over and laying into it with furious bites. Soon the spider was dead, and I was left flecked with viscous gore. Meeko, for his part, seemed pleased with himself. He even managed to pry loose a leg to gnaw on.

Well, waste not want not...I collected some venom to play with, perhaps to coat my arrows in, or even my ax. What I don't use I can sell, right?

Either way, Meeko and I set out shortly afterward. I don't know how long of a trip this will prove to be, but at least I won't be entirely alone.

I've always hated this town. Years spent here, raised in the shadow of Solitude, always dealing with the scorn and ignorance of the Nords. The only people who have it worse here than Argonians are the damned Dunmer, and only because they made the bigger mistake of stepping on the wrong toes. Dragon Bridge, though...It's not even a nice enough town to warrant mention other than the fact that it's on the way to the capitol city. My Mother raised me alone, after my Father disappeared without warning. Some damnable pirate, according to her. Probably got himself killed by the East Empire Trading Company, or simply wandered off and died in the snow.

Not my concern now. I'm finally of an age where I can do something with my life, and I've been saving and scrounging every septim that has come my way since childhood. Sold every lick of meat and hide I could hunt for, dug rocks and ore out of the soil with my bare hands if I needed to. My Mother lost her arm trying to escape a Bandit attack on one of the merchant caravans passing through the town years ago, and it was everything I could do to help keep us fed and strong. Mother's gone now, though. I sold our home, sold everything I'd never need again. Five-thousand septims. Enough to start a new life, elsewhere. Enough to make a name for myself.

Always been a hunter, a scavenger. I've got tricks up my sleeve, gifts and abilities I can put to use to make a bit of coin here and there. Forest knowledge is strong, and I'm a fine fisherwoman when I need to be. Good with an ax and a bow, as is expected. And then of course there's the fact that not every Nord or other human is immediately...Displeased...By the idea of a woman with scales. I didn't even need to reach my first spring as an adult woman to find out that little secret. And needless to say, I've made at least a couple of coins on my back rather than in the brush. Sometimes both, depending on the mood.

And so I've set down my first investment: A good longbow, new and supple, well-crafted. A quiver full of arrows to go with it, as well as a set of nice, snug leather armor. Warm, too; useful this far north of the Whiterun Hold. I intend to leave tonight, though. Set out with the sunset and make my way ever eastward. I've heard there's work for a clever lizard like myself in Riften, the den of thieves and whores.

At least it will be warmer, from what I've heard. And I do so love the water. The thought of a city built over a lake thrills me.

For once in my life, I, Maeara Comes-From-Behind, will be ahead of the game. Look out, Nirn; I'm free.

________________

Well, the votes were in. Where will she end up first? I guess we'll find out, won't we? Stay tuned!

I've decided to go Argonian. Her name? Maeara Comes-From-Behind, a Huntress and part-time thief. I'll be knocking out a backstory blurb for her later. Keep an eye out for that journal. She'll be starting in a small town, she has the potential to become Dragonborn, but that's not her goal.

Oh, and for reference: She appears baseline female, but will also be an Alchemist on the side with a flair for exotic concoctions that may result in...Additions from time to time. Kinks include public sex, rough sex, interspecies (She likes Khajiit and Nords, hates High Elves, though.) and just a touch of bestiality. In that she's curious, but hasn't indulged. Yet.

I am now also open to suggestions of where to go in here first adventure. She is level 1, starting out of Dragon's Reach. She grew up in the Solitude area, for the most part, and is looking to make more of a name for herself than as a simple hunter. Be aware that this game is running over a hundred mods, adding new mechanics (fishing, being a Bard, polygamous marriage) and has none of the DLC. Can't afford it, so I don't have it. The game also has several area mods. I will be keeping a log, if nothing else, of her adventures.

Well, things haven't been narrowed down any. I only have three votes on three very different fronts for the Skyrim playthrough/stories I'll probably be doing. So far, here's what we have nailed down:

Race: Currently hovering on Elf, Argonian or Khajiit. Argonian may be winning.
Gender: Female or Hermaphrodite.
Sexual Preference: A solid Pansexual on this one.
Random Kink: No winner yet.
Class/Archetype: Most votes are inclined toward Rogue/sneaky-sneaky ranger type.
If a magic user, pref. for magic types?: Alteration or Illusion so far.
Hardcore Character? : Absolutely not. Nobody wants to see the character taken out.

Still waiting to see if I get anymore feedback before I go with things. Probably going with Argonian unless things go otherwise.

WELP, I'm bored, so here's what I'm going to do:

I'm going to start a new Skyrim game, standalone without the Dragonborn storyline. Don't have ANY of the DLC (Can't afford it :C Always super broke.), but I do have a literal fucking ton of mods, including ones meant for...Well, adult activities. SO, what's the point of all this?

Going to take votes on race, sexual preference, class, and some other stats.

SO, here's the list, vote below, and I may write some porny fiction involving the new character:

Race:
Gender:
Sexual Preference:
Random Kink:
Class/Archetype:
If a magic user, pref. for magic types?:
Hardcore Character? (If they die, that's it. Perma-death playthrough. Could severely limit the fun with one character, but eh.)

I'll see if I get anything.

I have a friend looking to get into commission writing, and I'm going to try and help them get a little assistance. They're a good writer, and a good friend of mine, and I'd really love to be of some assistance. Even with my current block, I can still help them out.

SO! Here's the deal. My friend is trying to start writing. If any of you folks commission them for something (even something small) and I get word from them that you mentioned me, I will chip in a shorty for you of my own. This'll help me break my block, and it'll help my friend get started. And you get some porn from two awesome people.

Sounds like a win-win to me, right?

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7775619/

Go on over and say hi to my sweet friend Juli/Jay, okay? Tell 'em I sent you!

Alright, folks; I'm making some all original Pokemon for a tabletop campaign I'm thinking about. So far I've got a good selection, but what I'm looking for is animal suggestions and type suggestions. I want to avoid treading over the same ground as the actual games as much as I can, so give me some suggestions.

My starters are, thus far:

A fire Amphibian that evolves into Fire/Psychic.
An Ice Buffalo that becomes Ice/Stone.
A Ground Ant that becomes Ground/Steel.
A Ghost-type based on a Coffin that can go the Eevee route and evolve based on elemental influences, otherwise is a pure Ghost type. It's a sort of "secret" Starter.

I also have:

A fighting-type flightless bird and their evolution.
A whale that evolves into a steel/water Narwhal.
An Ice-type flying squirrel with a male Ice type evolution and female Ice/Flying combo.

So let me have some ideas; if I like them I'll write them up for you and see what you think. Just give me animals and elements, and if you think you have a good combination for animal/type that's fairly original, suggest the combo and I'll see if it clicks!

So, I've been playing a stupid little iPad/Android game called Monster Legends. Markiplier, one of my favorite internet personalities, introduced me to it and it's actually pretty cute. Only catch is you sort of need to know people who also play to get some of the monsters and content, so I'm seeing if any of the people I'm familiar with on HERE actually play. Just curious, really; if so maybe we can help each other out a bit.

I play a *lot* of these sort of games in my spare time. Mostly I'm hooked to Jurassic World more than anything else, though.

So, most of my regular commissioners, fans and friends may know that I've been in the middle of a dreadful writer's block recently. It's depressing me to no end, so I've decided to work on some small side projects to see what kicks in for me. As such, I've started a small personal project, the start of a romantic/adult sci-fi story. I'll post the first part here, just a bit of setting info so far, and just see what's what.

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Six long years. Six long, boring, tedious years dedicated to the task of hauling cargo from Arachne-7 to the central cluster worlds of the Galactic Concordance. People don’t realize exactly how boring the work of a solo long-haul freighter pilot is, at least not until they experience it for themselves. For Amber-Lynne Martin, though, it had become a singular fact of life. Ten years as a pilot in total, having started young (and illegally) at the age of sixteen on the Titan ring-habitat, driving low gravity cargo tugs from the methane refineries to the waiting gas transport drones. Back and forth, hours at a time, making the trip from the shining metal band circling Saturn’s largest moon to the low orbital refineries and back again.

That work had been boring, sure, but it had gotten a foot in the door for the scrappy Titan native. Most people who lived and worked on the ring-hab didn’t have big plans for their lives, didn’t intend to really make anything of themselves. Amber-Lynne, or Al to her friends, certainly wasn’t one of the normal residents in that sense. She hated living in one of Earth’s boondock colonies, and especially hated the mining and refining lifestyle of the locals. Her parents were forced to live their entire lives there due to financial hardship, but she wasn’t going to be trapped. She was going to touch the stars.

At the age of nineteen she hit her big break, and found herself in the employ of the Riley and Ames shipping company, a middle tier cargo business operating out of the Arachne system some three systems away from Sol. They were looking for people like her; smart and tough, skilled with cargo vessel repairs and control, and more importantly dead desperate to get out of a one-way life. Unfortunately for Al she signed a contract without a second thought, only to realize she’d gone from one dead end to another.

The promise of adventure and profit in the stars was soon revealed to have been something of a scam. She had signed a seven-year non-negotiable contract as a freighter pilot, under the assumption that she’d be making trips to all sorts of exotic starports, satellites and worlds in the Concordance. Instead she found out she would be working one fixed route, hauling machinery, robotics, scientific testing equipment and hull plating from the forges and factories of the mineral-rich Arachne system back to Sol-local to aid in the now legendary Operation: Undaunted project. The real heroes, the real explorers, would be trained and outfitted on her hard work so to speak, while she got paid a decent wage to spend droning, mindless hours watching the completely unchanging screen of a mostly automated cargo hauler’s navigational computer.

She was a glorified monkey in a box. Flip a switch, confirm a prompt, go make some coffee and rub one out in her bunk. That was pretty much her day in a nut shell. It was mind numbing, and it lasted for weeks at a time. Even with a Class-4 drive in place her ship, The Conspicuous Smirk, couldn’t make the trip from the Arachne system to Sol-local in under a month and a half. And she wasn’t allowed to travel with passengers or any other human company due to insurance issues. She got a two week down time between month long trips, but it did little to assuage the dread she felt every time her next jaunt came due.

The last trip had been one of the worst for Al, in all honesty. Her on-again, off-again partner, Aleksi, had decided they just weren’t going to work out. She’d spent a solid month stewing over his decision to dump her right before the trip, knowing full well that he did it on purpose so that he wouldn’t have to deal with the fallout immediately. Sure enough, she stewed all right. She did more than that, though. She got mad.

When Al had touched down at the Arachne-7 port and gotten her permissions cleared away, the first thing she did was head to her favorite bar, John’s Jungle, for a drink. Unfortunately for everyone involved she had found Aleksi there, with one of her fellow freighter pilots and a friend of hers, Miranda. Needless to say things got ugly, fast. Al wasn’t what you’d call a “small” woman; over six feet in height, muscular and tough, with short coal colored hair and muddy brown eyes. She was a classic colony mutt; one-third Jamaican, one-third Irish and one-third Dutch. You could see a bit of the Jamaican heritage in her facial structure, but her build and attitude was all Dutch-Irish: She was a brick shithouse that didn’t take that sort of nonsense laying down.

So when the 6’1”, 255 lb. woman found her ex and her friend getting pleasantly drunk together in her absence…Well, her space-paled features turned a livid red that almost washed out her scattered freckles, and she started swinging. Aleksi, not a small man in his own right, went down like a load of bricks with a broken jaw, two broken ribs and a collapsed eye socket. Miranda got a broken nose and half of her hair torn out for her trouble, and Al, whose reputation for a bad attitude at the best of times was well known around Arachne-7’s port, ended up in the cooler with bruised knuckles and a corporate fine against her pay. Fighting was frowned upon by the company, after all, especially when it resulted in two of their staff getting hospitalized.

She had skipped her downtime entirely after she got out. She demanded another load, waived the overtime and just left. A head of steam blown and a bitter pill swallowed, she didn’t want to spend any more time on that rock than she had to. Besides, Arachne-7 was a shithole. Forty percent of the surface had been converted to factories and refineries for ore from the other nine planets, two asteroid belts and seventy or so moons in the system. The rest of a chest-deep salt marsh/shallow sea hybrid covered in mangrove-like alien trees, swarming with more insects than you could shake a stick at, and as humid and miserable as one would expect from a planet that was half swamp and half high-intensity factory.

No, she’d be better off in space, alone again. She’d watch her gameshow recordings, play some games, read one of the thirty-seven thousand digitized books the company loaded into the ship A.I. as a courtesy, or maybe just use the food synth system to brew up some moonshine and get pleasantly shitfaced while she listened to some Zeppelin. Sure, the company didn’t know she’d modified the Smirk’s synth system to produce alcohol and smokes as desired; it was meant to make healthy food and supplements after all, but she didn’t care. What the company didn’t know wouldn’t hurt ‘em.

Still, two days into the trip and Al was bored out of her fucking mind, per usual. She lay sprawled out in her bunk, face down with only a pair of shorts for modesty. Who cared, anyway? She was alone, save for the ship A.I., a basic model that went by Stanley, and the cargo down below: A dozen dormant L.E.N.O.R.E. model robots, ready to be distributed to the flagship of Operation: Undaunted. Experimental, from what she understood, and incredibly advanced.

Regardless of how fancy the cargo was, though, she was well beyond caring about her job or anything else. Partially due to the synthesized cocktail she’d chugged for lunch, and partially because she had a set of ear pieces in to listen to her classic music. People really didn’t respect the oldies anymore; she’d probably move to some Sabbath once she was done burning through her catalogue.

The ear pieces were the main reason she didn’t hear the alarms chiming from the control cabin, or the creaking of the ship plating as the ship passed through a gravitational anomaly that, until that point, had never existed in the nav-comp registry. It wasn’t until the ship rolled to one side and the gravity system failed that she realized anything was amiss, and by that point it was because she had bounced head first off of a bulkhead and right into the warm embrace of unconsciousness.

Some weeks go above and beyond “crap”, don’t they?


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So, tell me what'cha think, if anything. Thanks!

Alright, folks. I know nobody really reads these, but I'm going to go ahead and throw out my two cents on these two major league game releases that I've picked up recently. Let us start with the Elephant in the room, Overwatch.

Now, before I begin let me simply state that I like both games. I really do, they have their good sides and down sides, and I'm going to address some of those. But Overwatch, I feel, is definitely the weaker of the two on a couple of pretty key levels for me. The first is the one people will probably argue with me the most over: I think Overwatch would have been a lot better served over all as a story driven solo game, or at the very least with a genuine campaign. As it stands, it's just Team Fortress 2 with Waifus.

It is fun, don't get me wrong on that point. The controls are nice, the character variety is good, and I do like games with collectible aspects. What I don't like is the fact that the game suffers from what I call Personality Over Content Syndrome. The game is full of gorgeous environments and wildly unique characters with their own playstyles and undoubtedly interesting background stories. Unfortunately, it is a fast paced, spastic shooter in which you will never really have time (if playing well with your team) to appreciate the small details and amount of love that went into the level design, and the despite all of the personality imbued in the characters they are still shallow as all hell because the game never addresses the EXISTENCE of their backstories in any tangible, appreciable way during gameplay. There are some throw away dialogues during level start-up, but the only way you'd know there is a story is if you went and looked for the videos, comics, etc. online. The fact is, I doubt the majority of Overwatch players will ever bother to do so; these are the same meatheads that populate TF2 servers just for hats and CS:GO just for weapon skins. The story is available, but not in-game.

Battleborn suffers from the same problem. Yes, there are level dialogues, and yes the game has what can loosely be called a narrative structure...Sort of...But it's mostly just a number of loosely associated levels that are "Kill all the enemies in this spot. Now move on and do it again. Congrats, here's some credits and a level up." The number of actual worlds at work in the game is very small, and what story there is comes to you through dialogue from external sources. Your character, no matter which freakshow you choose, is unlikely to have any dialogue or impact on what goes on. And every single character has a backstory, yes, but the game makes the idiotic mistake of blocking you from their backstory by making it an unlockable collection you have to complete challenges for. That's idiotic. Yes, it is a multiplayer game, but it also has a campaign. Why in God's name would you restrict someone from learning about the character they're playing as unless they've played it a dozen times and gotten all of your niggling, petty achievements? It's especially dimwitted in the modern era, where literally every character bio was online and on the wiki within 48 hours of the game coming out. It's a needless restriction just for the sake of adding more busywork to a game that is predominantly busywork to begin with.

Couple that with both games featuring multiple collectible aspects, skins, micro-transactions and a bunch of cute but pointless taunts and emotes, and you can see the biggest problem with both games; They're aimed squarely at the Hats n' Guns market for the sake of making money off of micro-transactions. The fact that Battleborn has a tutorial that teaches you the basics with a character you then can't even PLAY until you've beaten the game or ground out the levels to unlock her (unless you use a Hero key...Which you would only get with the special edition, or if you're already Level 40) is just bizarre, as well. While the micro-transactions aren't essential, and don't impact gameplay in a significant manner, that doesn't stop them from being a sticking point for a lot of people.

This isn't just a rant about the bad, though. There are lots of good elements to both games, with one of the chiefest being the absolutely ridiculous character variety. While Battleborn wins purely for absurdity and strangeness of cast in many ways, they both shine for having a remarkably fun and unusual assortment of characters to play with. From Battleborn's collective Mushroom entity Miko to Overwatch's Winston the Talking Gorilla Scientist, both games have taken great strides to make sure that no two characters play exactly alike.

On top of that, art design, character design and music are all incredibly strong points. The music in Battleborn feels appropriately frantic at times, and often matches the strangeness of situations and hilarity of dialogue. The music in Overwatch, however, feels appropriately grandiose and heroic very often, and suits the game perfectly. Though Overwatch lacks in humor compared to Battleborn, both shine in their own unique ways for what they are: A fast-paced, team based arena shooter and what is essentially a vastly simplified Borderlands. And that's not a bad thing; a million side quests isn't always necessary, so at times it's actually nice to just run straight through a horde of enemies and slap down the next boss in line.

So far I'd say Overwatch is the more fun of the two in short term stints, but in longer play periods I feel that Battleborn is more rewarding. I've found a nice balance between when and how I want to play each, and I will say that it has been a joy testing out each character. My favorites in Overwatch so far are Mei, Reaper, Zarya and Genji, while my favorite crew members in Battleborn are Orendi, Oscar Mike and Montana. There's just something hilariously charming about a minigun toting lumberjack who constantly makes ice puns.

So while I will say both games have obvious flaws, they're both very much worth owning and enjoying. If you only pick one, I'd say base it on your play style. If you want to sit down for two hours and bang out some action, go for Battleborn. If you only play for 45 minutes at a time, though? Overwatch is ideal for you. That's enough time for several rounds and some fiddling with character customization.

Oh, and unrelated to both games? Everyone who loves Shooters should just get Doom as well. No review on that one; fukkin' buy it. That game's fantastic.

Cheers, mates.

I'm curious if anyone out there has been doing requests lately, and if they'd like to do something for me. Since I got out of the hospital I've been really bummed, and sort of out of it. Art cheers me up, and thankfully my good friend  Omina has been around, and is doing something for me. But it never hurts to ask about more. I'm not trying to be greedy or cheap, but I don't exactly have the finances right now to commission anything else.

I doubt I'll get a response to this, but it's still worth looking into. Thanks for taking the time to read this, if you do.

Alright folks! I've got a sale I'm starting now as part of my recovery process from the hospital. Any story commission that involves:

Shortstacks
Bestiality
Giants
Food-based Characters
Xenomorphs
Goo Girls

Will have a $5 discount for my minimum tier, and a $10 discount for all other tiers.

Also, I am accepting art trade requests for my writing.

Hey folks; it's me at last. I didn't die, thankfully, but I'm still in rough shape. As stated by my sweet mate I spent quite some time in the hospital for aforementioned problems. Now I've got a machine hooked up to my thigh and a giant wound that needs regular treatment, but I'm home.

For those of you who worried about me, left messages and checked up on me, thank you. I love my fans and my friends, and your well wishes made a big difference in how miserable the hospital stay was.

I'll be slow getting back to work as it exhausts me to just...Exist right now, but I will hopefully be back into the swing of things soon.

 KaevielEff back - sorry for silence the last few days. I really didn't have anything new to share - Joe's condition has been fairly stable and consistent, and I figured people didn't want me clogging their journal updates with "I miss Joe" and "I want Joe home" for three straight days. But, like the title suggests, there has been a big change today; Joe is home!

He's been home for about an hour and a half half at this point... And honestly, he feels like crap: They have a wound vac connected to his leg and it's packed with foam, and they just repacked it before they sent him home today. Someone will be coming by two to three times a week until he can have the wound vac removed. So his leg hurts, he's exhausted, and overall does not feel great... But he's home at last, and maybe now, if he can get a little comfortable, he can catch up on a lot of much needed rest.

Not too much else to report. It's wonderful to have him home, and we're going to do everything we can to get him back to rights. Again, thank you everyone who gave kind comments and well wishes. It'll probably be a few more days before Joe feels up to being on the computer. I'll update you folks if there's anything new.

Hrgh... :KaevielEff:, back again with less than stellar news. Joe did not come home today. Most likely he won't be home until Monday - the doctors want to monitor him and perform the initial wound care on him. It is frustrating to everyone involved - Joe most of all, and we all want him to come home. It's been a long, stressful week and a half, and we're ready for life to get back to normal. But on the bright side, he's doing well - or as well as can be expected. No fever, while his still leg hurts and he's still whipped.

Life won't be normal for a bit, though. Our wife, Kristen, is going to take a leave of absence from work for three weeks to make sure our household can keep functioning until Joe's back on his feet. Our boyfriend Jay starts his job on Monday, so we'll still be bringing in money; things will be tight but workable. And hopefully Joe will be well enough to get back to writing for all his lovely commissioners - he has missed writing for you guys and himself so much. And again, thanks to everybody for your kind thoughts and wonderful comments. Thanks for your support - I'll keep you up to date.

 KaevielEff back again; hopefully I won't be manning Joe's journal for too much longer. Today, as I announced last night, was Joe's surgery to help deal with the infection... He had a rough night before - he was so anxious and worried he didn't sleep. But on the bright side, Joe wasn't alone all day or for his surgery; Kristen has managed to get time off for FMLA, and she was with him most of the day. And his surgery went well - but he is undeniably tired and his leg hurts in new, different ways.

So, if all goes as planned, Joe comes home sometime tomorrow afternoon. Fingers crossed that he has no fever until 2PM tomorrow, and Kristen can bring him back home at last. We're all ready for him to come back - Joe more so than anyone else. Don't expect him online right after he gets back, though - he has A LOT of sleep to catch up on.

 KaevielEff back with the newest developments on the situation with Joseph. Going to kick this off with the least pleasant news to the good stuff. Starting off, as the title indicates, Joe will be stuck in the hospital until at least Thursday (so two more days, minimum). This is because the surgeon has decided they're going to perform surgery on him to drain the abscess in his thigh and get the rest of the infection and fluids out (sorry if this is TMI, folks). If he doesn't have a fever for 24 hours after the surgery, along with a few other things, he'll be able to go home Thursday afternoon. So that means he'll be stuck in the hospital by himself for two nights and probably all of tomorrow unless we can get someone to stay with him. Not good stuff. Oh, and for the curious, the infection has finally been confirmed as a staph infection. Joy of joys. -_-

On the brighter side of things, his leg looks better, he's moving a bit better - and hopefully both those will continue after the surgery - and while he's still got the flu symptoms, but not much can be done at this stage but ride it out, and he'll recover from that. And the good news is he WILL be coming home... We've just got a lot of bullshit to deal with until then.

Thanks for hanging in there with us, guys. Joe's been checking out the comments (he can't type so well on the iPad, and he hates my laptop, hence the lack of replies there), and knowing you guys are wishing him well and hoping for his quick recovery makes him feel good - and with being stuck at the hospital, he needs as many things that make him feel good as possible.

This continues to be  KaevielEff, one of Joe's mates and your news bringer on our hospital misadventures. As you might have guessed since I'm still manning Joe's account for the moment, we will be spending a third night in the hospital.

Now, that doesn't mean that he's not improving; he's actually fairly improved. All his lab results are in normal ranges, he's staying hydrated, he's eating a bit more (he still feels queasy from the flu issues), and the infection on his leg, while still not pretty, is reducing in size, color, and tenderness. There's a spot at the center that's causing the most concern, but the antibiotics are doing their job.

He still feels like crap, of course; leg still hurts, and it's hard getting rest when you have nurses and doctors coming in day and night every few hours, and various machines scream at you. I'm getting plenty first hand experience with that as well, what with staying with him for these past three nights. Today's been a rough day, though - even more tests and pokes with needles, and there was a mishap with his IV while our wife, Kristen, and I had to leave to get stuff done for the house. He's fine, don't worry - but he does have a nasty bruise and they had to find a new spot for the IV. He actually has a few new bruises from the needle pokings he's been getting, but I guess it's par for the course for hospital stays.

Anyway, to the cruddiest of news: We don't have an ETA on when he's getting discharged yet. It all depends if the surgeon that's handling Joe and his other doctors decide if they need to operate on the spot on his leg (they're saying it might be a kind of abscess). If they aren't going to, maybe we'll luck out and he can come home tomorrow, loaded down with antibiotics and in need of more care, but still home. If they decide he will need a surgery, he'll be stuck here through at least Wednesday, when the doctor would actually perform the procedure, and we don't know when they'd send him home after that... Needless to say, we're all leaning towards the hope that he doesn't need any kind of operation, but we want him healthy and safe, so whatever they have to do to do that, we'll work with it.

The next bad thing is Kristen and I have to work; I had today off (the first of three Mondays I scheduled off a few weeks ago - did not see this coming, but definitely glad for the timing), and Tuesday is one of my normal days off, but Wednesday I'm back to work, and Kristen works weekdays. That makes it very likely he's going to be alone for the last of his stay, which bothers me quite a bit... But crossing my fingers and hoping for the best. Again, I'd like to thank everyone on my and Joe's behalf for your support during this stressful, worrisome time. Everyone who's commented has been wonderful. And Joe wants you all to know he wants nothing more than to get better, get out of this hospital, and get back to work on your stories - so everybody keep your fingers crossed, hope for the best, and we'll keep on keeping you guys apprised of the situation. Thanks and appreciations again.