There and back again

Canon EF 28-135mm IS USM Lens

Tales of Skyrim: Part 2

After a few days break I ventured forth into the lands of Skyrim once more. Having defeated some bandits outside Saarthal last time I headed back to the College of Winterhold to meet with the Archmage as requested. Explaining to him what "we" had found beneath Saarthal he (seemingly) reluctantly agreed to go there, but on the condition that I'd do some research for him in the Arcanaeum. He did however reward me with a staff of Magelight.

The Arcanaeum is run by the Orc-mage Urag gro-Shub who is very protective of his domain, and threatens those who will disrupt it's peace with flame atronachs. Suprisingly (?!), the books containing the information about the sphere in Saarthal were stolen by some mages of questionable motives, led by Orthorn, earlier. It didn't seem to bother him that they were stolen, despite his proctiveness of the Arcanaeum, but told me I'd have to track them down to Fellglow Keep to get them back.

Outside Fellglow were a couple of Mages lazing around, but they were soon taken out with the use of the Skyforge blade allowing me to venture inside. Whilst travelling through Fellglow Keep there were plenty of Mages to kill, and at one point there was even the opportunity to practice lockpicking to set some vampires free to kill more Mages. Eventually I came across Orthorn locked up in a prison, he told me the books he'd stolen had been taken by "The Caller" and reluctently I agreed to set him free so he could help me reclaim them. Several fights later he was then slaughtered by a Mage who maged to spear him with an ice shard through his head.

This left me to confront The Caller by myself. After telling her I wasn't going to leave without the books I killed all her Mages to get she unleashed a fury unlike any of the other Mages thus far - every time I managed to damage her she'd summon a flame atronach to attack me. Probably wasn't the best of times to be almost out of health potions. This battle involved a lot of strafing and hiding to avoid the flame and frost attacks whilst only attacking The Caller when it was safe to do so. Eventually she was defeated and I was able to take the three books I was after and return to the College of Winterhold.

Upon arriving in Winterhold I was asked for help by Onmund, a fellow student and a Nord, who was hoping I'd be able to help retrieve an amulet for him. I accepted the quest, but decided I'd leave it for later. Getting these books back to Urag gro-Shub was more important. Inside I noticed that Tolfdir had returned with the sphere, now revealed to be the Eye of Magnus. In reward for returning the books Urag gave me a few skill books which I read and then sold on before going back to Tolfdir to tell him about the "Night of Tears" book. We didn't have long though before we were interrupted by Ancano who sent me to see the Arch-mage and his guest from the Psijic Order.

Upon arriving in the Arch-mage's quarters the monk from the Psijic Order affected time so that we could talk in private - he warned of the dangers of using the immense powers of the Eye of Magnus and that I should speak to the Augur of Dunlain. Asking around the mages I found Tolfdir knew of the Augur of Dunlain and that he/it was located underneath the college in the Midden.

The Augur of Dunlain was revealed to be a mass of swirling energy that inhabits one of the rooms of the Midden. He warned that in order to control the Eye, I would need to first find the Staff of Magnus. The only problem with this is that no one really knows where it is, though the Arch-mage did point me in the direction of Mirabelle Ervine who knew some Imperials were looking for it.

Leaving the college behind me I then headed back to Whiterun where I dropped off weapons I didn't need and sold those I didn't want at Warriormaidens. I also took this opportunity to buy a Warhorse and took it out for a ride, inadvertently running into a mammoth which I killed for it's tusk (for one of the side quests). Not very nice having to slaughter such magnificent beasts, but hopefully they're as infinite as the dragons. I then rode to the city of Windhelm, the former capital of the first Empire, and where the Stormcloak rebellion against the Imperials is led from.

Tales of Skyrim: Part 2

Tales of Skyrim: Part 1

This is my first post in the Tales of Skyrim series of posts that follow the adventures in the Elder Scrolls world of Skyrim. This story doesn't begin at the start of the game, but several hours in after already having got the first word of power and becoming a werewolf.

Tonight I started in Winterhold, an almost deserted town in the north of Skyrim. The people there shun the Imperials, but were happy enough for my Imperial character towander around helping them out. Speaking to the locals I soon found that although they have issues with Imperials they seem to hate the College of Winterhold even more due to catastrophe years before which they blame them for.

My primary purpose there was to get into the Mage's college, but I wasn't quite ready due to not having got the flaming atronach spell. I did try to blag my way in, but the Mage was too clever for that and wouldn't let me pass. As I was already in Winterhold but couldn't pass anywhere further I thought I'd talk to the locals whilst there to see if there was anything else to do. To start with I went into the Longhouse of Jarl Korir. Talking to him the distrust between the people of Winterhold and the college was obvious. After a quick run down of the local history he then me a mission to retrieve the helm of Winterhold from the shipwrecked Pride of Tel Vos, to the North-east of there. On the way out of the Longhouse I also picked up a mission by a Dark Elf there to steal a staff from the mage that lives in the Inn.

It's a quick run over to the shipwreck, and after taking a peek into the wreckage I was quickly set upon by several bandits who I dispatched pretty quickly with fire and some cool hard steel in the form of the Skyforge sword. After retrieving the Helm of Winterhold I dropped it off back at the Jarl who then told me I needed to help 3 locals in order to become a Thane of Winterhold (when you become Thane in Whiterun you also get the ability to buy a house). Fortunately I already had one to solve - I just needed to steal the staff. I crept into the Mage's room in the Inn but was instantly spotted, though putting a basket over the Mage's head soon sorted that problem so stole the staff without being seen and made a run for it back to the Jarl's Longhouse. Local #1 helped.

For the second task I was asked by the barmaid in the Inn to help get one of the regulars, Ranmir, to pay his tab. Unfortunately persuading the regular didn't help as my Speech skill was too low, but intimidation sure worked a treat. I thought I may be able to get the third one there also but found after intimidating him to pay his tab he wouldn't accept help from me anymore. What I did find though was that I could buy the flame atronach spellbook I needed from the Mage who lives there, so bought it and headed back to the bridge that leads up to the college.

Casting the flame atronach spell in front of Faralda, the gatekeeper to Winterhold College, allowed me to enter. Once I arrived in the courtyard I was shown around and given a brief history by Mirabelle Ervine. As part of the tour she shows where I can keep my things in the Hall of Attainment, and also to go and meet Tolfdir in the Hall of Elements. Before going there I donned the apprentice robe she gave me, and stowed the heavy armour away for later use. Tolfdir preached about the safety of magic and then gave a lesser warding spell so we could practice the spell in the hall. For further practice he then sent me and three other students to the archaelogical dig site at Saarthal.

The ruins of Saarthal are a short walk from Winterhold and were deserted when I arrived, though as it was only 4am I'm guessing the other students were properly taking a quick nap before the days lessons. Rather than going for a wander I slept their for 4 hours and awoke to Tolfdir and the other students arriving. Once in the dungeon like rooms underneath the ruins of Saarthal I was sent to see if the scholar needed any help. As expected, he did: he needed help with retrieving a number of enchanted rings. Whilst collecting them there was there was an Amulet of Saarthal, which when removed caused me to become trapped until I hurled a fireball into a wall to reveal an alternative passage out. This revealed a crypt of sorts where a vision of Nerein, a member of the Psijic Order appeared forewarning of a impending doom.

Tolfdir didn't see this vision, but found it curious as they had not been heard from for many years. Though that didn't stop him from sending me off alone to explore these newly revealed ruins a little more. Along the way there were many more Draugrs to fight, but the combination of the ward spell and a flame spell made short work of them.

Eventually there was a big battle against a tough enemy named Jyrik Gauldurson who is protecting a giant glowing blue sphere. It took a while to kill him, but at the end of it there was the reward of the dragon speech word for "Ice" (and no it has nothing to do with cooking MC's like a pound of bacon... vague reference to Vanilla Ice) and returned to the surface just to get ambushed by bandits that were waiting for me...

Stained Glass Reflections

Saint Michael's Cathedral, Coventry

Derwent Dam

Derwent Reservoir is the middle of three reservoirs in the Upper Derwent Valley in the north east of Derbyshire, England. It lies approximately 10 mi (16 km) from Glossop and 10 mi (16 km) from Sheffield. The River Derwent flows first through Howden Reservoir, then Derwent Reservoir and finally through Ladybower Reservoir.

When I visited it this year the water level was a good 10 metres below the edge meaning it's seriously low on water.

Canon EOS 5D mkII with 28-135mm Canon EF lens at 75mm, ISO 100, 1/160sec at f/7.1

Lotus Formula 1

The Lotus Formula 1 racing car from the 2010 Grand Prix season. This was seen racing around the Silverstone circuit for the Renault World Series weekend.

Canon EOS 5D mkII with 150-500mm Sigma EF lens at 289mm, ISO 1000, 1/3200sec at f/5.6

Roman Baths - Naturally Warm

Naturally warm water flows from the overflow for the Roman baths in Bath. The area was slightly lit so no flash was required.

Canon EOS 5D mkII with 28-135mm Canon EF lens at 28mm, ISO 1000, 0.3sec at f/7.1

Common Green Grasshopper (Omocestus viridulus)

Canon EOS 5D mkII with 90mm Tamron EF lens at 90mm, ISO 100, 1/125sec at f/3.5

Bumble Bee

A close-up of a bumble bee using a Tamron 90mm Macro lens.

Canon EOS 5D mkII with 90mm Tamron EF lens at 90mm, ISO 100, 1/250sec at f/5.0