Resdaynia Wanderers

With all the times I've gone through the Oblivion armor mods at Nexus, how in the world did I miss this?

New Leather Armor
New Leather Armor - Male Version

Neldor is wearing the dark leather version while Aeronwen is wearing the lighter one (they each look good in both versions).



It was well worth taking the time to go through the mods again. I wasn't expecting to find this gem in the midst of all the "stripper armor".

It's currently another dark stormy day in Cyrodiil so the family is staying indoors. While Aeronwen was working on a painting she noticed that the twins were lying on the floor along the wall reading.

Is it me or is this very...twin-like? ( Read more... )

Wow that didn't take long at all. Anyway, I remade the Highwood Arts and Brews Shop and I think it turned out a little better than the first version. Before I officially add it to my load list I'm going to go back in an fix the lighting. Even after the shop opens it's too dark in there. I also need to adjust some paintings which are crooked on the walls. ( Read more... )

Another mod I was glad to find: Retextured Potions. The vanilla Oblivion potions weren't bad, but a little dull. These retextured ones make me want to set them out on a shelf.

And the other mod I've been taking a look at is Trade and Commerce along with the Trade and Commerce Update/Patch.

Using a test save, I consoled myself the needed funds to buy the shop, the shop's furniture and hire a shop keeper, and I must say I like the way the store is set up to sell the player's items. You can of course sell the usual armor, weapons, and other things you get from dungeons, but you can always specialize. In Aeronwen's case, she would sell her potions and crafted items. This is the sort of mod I've always wanted in Morrowind; a place where crafted items could be sold. I've heard that there are such mods for Morrowind, but I've never found one.

The only thing I wish was different is the location. The shop is in Chorrel, right next door to Northern Goods and Trade. Seed-Neeus and her daughter are such nice people. Like a number of people who left comments, I feel bad about opening a shop right next to hers that could take away from her business. Of course from a roleplay standpoint it might not be so bad if the shop is selling Aeronwen's potions, pottery, paintings and bolts of cloth that she has woven.

Another reason I wish the location was different is because it's not close to any place where Aeronwen's family could end up living. Ideally I would have liked the shop either in Anvil (near Highwood) or Cheydinhal (near Millstone).

On the other hand, perhaps it's good that the shop is in a more neutral location since I will likely be greedy and have the family end up owning both farms; Millstone first since it's more like a private farm and the baddie they need to kill is a bit easier than the horrible lich they have to deal with the get Highwood, which seems more like a "commercial farm" with its brands of drinks and honey bars.

Anyway, there appears to be no problems in the test save and could be something for Aeronwen and Neldor to shoot for down the road since they don't really like raiding caves and basically killing bandits for a living. No matter where they are living, they can occasionally take a break from tending their farm and go to Chorrel with a load of crafted items to add to the store's inventory.

My Tribal Hidden Elf (whom I called Alandis because I like the name) and Vilja are now at the point where they are investigating the Mythic Dawn. By now they've gone into a couple of Oblivion gates and I was really surprised at how intimidating the atmosphere and the dremora look.

Throughout ESO there are times when the player goes to the realms of Oblivion, but none of them made me stop and have that "we're not in Kansas anymore" reaction. And I jumped in my chair the first time a dremora charged at me.

This makes me repeat something I said earlier when comparing ESO's Vvardenfell to TES3's (admittedly modded) Vvardenfell; ESO feels like a theme park while the places in the single player games feel like the real deal.

TES4 has an interesting story but it does confirm what I was thinking earlier; this is not a questline that Aeronwen and Neldor would get involved in, at least not officially. If they would do anything it would be entirely off camera and not mentioned in the story blog and would be for no reason other than to get some gates spawning so Aeronwen can record seeing these historic events in her diary. But as far as "official" involvement; investigating a dangerous cult and raising a set of young twins doesn't mix. The most they would do is kill any daedra that might spawn near their home(s). Otherwise they will just be observers whose priority is to protect their children.

In order to make the Highwood Farm house suitable for a family of four, I had to turn the bathroom into a bedroom. While I'm glad I was able to make that change, I still felt bad that this little family who values cleanliness lost the means to bathe and take care of...other matters.

When I was adding a fancy bathroom to the Gweden farm house so that guests would be more comfortable, the irony struct me that guests would have bathing matters better than the owners of the farm. So before adding my Highwood Crafting patch to my "live" load list, I made one more change; The Highwood Farm Bathhouse. ( Read more... )

Along with adding a few more decorative elements to the twin's bedroom (which was originally the bathroom) I made some changes to the downstairs sitting room. I removed the suit of armor, the weapon rack, the decorative shields on the wall and the red wall coverings. The items were replaced with a bookcase, book containers, deer figurines and deer trophies. I also added a sofa so that more than two people can sit down in there.

( Read more... )

I also removed elements like pictures of the previous owners. While I have the upmost respect for the mod creators and understand what they were building (the home that their characters occupied), I don't think I want that for my characters if I decide to have them use Highwood (along with the mod that allows them to own Gweden farm so they have one big property). With all they've been through, they should eventually end up living in a place that feels like it belongs to them rather than living in someone else's space.