Originally Posted By Fnord

I don't know if I should trust this mace

It looks rather evil, and the guards keep telling me to get away from them when I have it equiped (even if it is not drawn)

(Name blocked out to avoid spoilers)

ehrm, that thing doesn't look OSHA compliant.

why does it have spikes at the handle, does the manufacturer want to kill their own customers? 

Horses don't seem all that faster than running. A slight increase in speed isn't worth all the babysitting when you get off. It would be fine if the horse ran away but when it attacks it dies within seconds.

I'm not using followers anymore, they keep on getting killed by my chain lightning spells.

Also i hate it that they keep on blocking doorways, in fallout you could at least push them out of the way

Right, Mark, that is very irritating.  And they glare at you too, as you try to sidle past.  

I shot a companion by mistake and he attacked me.  I quickly went into god mode and just stood there as he slashed and slashed me.  After about a minute he stopped and mumbled, "It's not worth it."  Then everything was normal again.

@Fnord, um, no idea... give it to your companion and see if anything bad happens to them? XD

I don't use companions, they just keep getting in the way. I guess I'll be the guinea pig for this thing. 

ehrm, that thing doesn't look OSHA compliant.

why does it have spikes at the handle, does the manufacturer want to kill their own customers? 

Considering who gave it to me, I don't think "it" really cares who dies, as long as one person involved does (which makes me worried about there being some hidden effect). Darn extraplanar creatures. 

*edit*Darn, Ice dragons are nasty! This was the first time I died while fighting a dragon, without being swarmed by other things as well, or interrupted by fugitives that wants me to take their ill gotten goods. Heck, I did not even get it down to half health before it killed me. 

Has anyone been into the Blue Palace to retrieve Pelagias? I'm stuck at the bit where he's asleep in the bed. The only thing to do is to shoot him with the staff, then a wolf appears and boy, etc.. Nothing seems to work and there's no way out until I've completed my task.

That is exactly what you have to do.  Spoiler AlertYou shoot him sleeping, his nightmare/fear appears, you shoot the fear and it becomes harmless. You do this 5-6 times to differnt things, then Sheg will tell you you're done.Spoiler Alertnull There are three zones you need to complete, each with a weird little quest. Try everything. They are not hard.

Then you talk with Sheg and you're done.  I hated that part. 

Originally Posted By Fnord

 

Considering who gave it to me, I don't think "it" really cares who dies, as long as one person involved does (which makes me worried about there being some hidden effect). Darn extraplanar creatures. 

 

I've got the mace too and i don't know what to do with it either. I found that the whole quest felt wrong, because i didn't see an alternate path to avoid all the killing.

It's difficult to be a lawful good character in Skyrim.

I'm still avoiding any war related quests as I don't know which side I should join 

Originally Posted By Halcyon

That is exactly what you have to do.  You shoot him sleeping, his nightmare/fear appears, you shoot the fear and it becomes harmless.  You do this 5-6 times to differnt things, then Sheg will tell you you're done.

 

There are three zones you need to complete, each with a weird little quest.  Try everything.  They are not hard.

 

Then you talk with Sheg and you're done.  I hated that part. 

But it doesn't work! I shoot the sleeping dude, then the wolf, then the boy, then the monster, who disappears and nothing happens. I've completed two other parts successfully and the guy says congratulations, but not this one. None of it makes sense. Why am I going around shooting random things in the first place?

..

Has anyone tried to puzzle together what has happened since the last game? This is what I've got thus far:

The red mountain has erupted, and many dunmers have left Morrowind because of this, some have fled to Skyrim, but it would seem like most have found their way into other provinces (though I would suspect that most would try to avoid Black Marsh, due to the troubled history between the Dunmer & Argonians). Also, slavery has officially been abolished in Morrowind, though not all houses have ceased that practice. 

The Thalmor rebelled against the empire in Summerset Isle (home of the Altmer (high elves)), and won the conflict there. Shortly thereafter they also invaded Valenwood (home of the Bosmer (wood elves)), crushing the imperial army and bringing that province under Alterm rule. During this war (or a later war?) the Altmer, led by the Thalmor won against the imperial army, effectively wiped out the blades (some are still left, but the organisation as we know it from Oblivion is no more), and put what might be considered a puppet emperor on the throne.

Originally Posted By walsh

Originally Posted By Halcyon

That is exactly what you have to do.  You shoot him sleeping, his nightmare/fear appears, you shoot the fear and it becomes harmless.  You do this 5-6 times to differnt things, then Sheg will tell you you're done.

 

There are three zones you need to complete, each with a weird little quest.  Try everything.  They are not hard.

 

Then you talk with Sheg and you're done.  I hated that part. 

 

But it doesn't work! I shoot the sleeping dude, then the wolf, then the boy, then the monster, who disappears and nothing happens. I've completed two other parts successfully and the guy says congratulations, but not this one. None of it makes sense. Why am I going around shooting random things in the first place?

It does work.  Be patient.  I'll explain again: Spoiler AlertThe man sleeping is a madman. He is tortured by his fears and insecurities. He can't wake until you solve them for him. So, shoot him (with the staff Shegoreth gave you) and a nightmare appears. Shoot the nightmare, and it is transformed into something harmless. Shoot the sleeping man again, another nightmare appears, shoot the nightmare and it is rendered harmless. There are 5 or 6 things, then he'll tell you you're done.

The other two areas are just as tricky. If something doesn't work, look around for something else to shoot.  I spent the first ten minutes of the quest you are in Spoiler Alertcatching butterflies before I discovered what to do.  

I got it, apparently you aren't meant to shoot the boy or the woman - you have to shoot the sleeping guy instead when those two appear. Damned if I know why, but there you go! Thanks for your help anyway.

Glad you got it done.  It's such an odd quest. 

hmmm, all the bard's college quests seem to be bugged in my game. Either i can't give the right item to the quest giver or i can and get a reward, but the item remains in my inventory and the quest doesn't complete 

I'm 70 hours in, at level 35 . 

If I were to start taking Smithing perks, would I have to take all perks from both sides of the tree in order to make dragon armour, or just the side that suits my character?

Glad to see everyone is still making progress and exploring the various quests. That overview was interesitng Fnord, i am intrigued about the lore and story development, i understand 150 years have passed since the Oblvion Main quest...but so far that is all I know about the new story. And there are lot of dragons and giants

Originally Posted By Fnord

If I were to start taking Smithing perks, would I have to take all perks from both sides of the tree in order to make dragon armour, or just the side that suits my character?

The short answer to having to choose all the perks in the tree, "No."  The long answer, "I don't think so."  

Here is the best explanation I've found about skills and perks and how to use the perk trees:

http://segmentnext.com/2011/11/11/elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-skills-and-perk-tree-guide/

No, to reach the top you just need to go from either side.

As long as you have just one of the abilties that connects to dragon armor you are good.

but you cannot continue past dragon armour. If you follow the heavy armor branch you cannot unlock glass armor after dragon armor. You have to take the light armor branch to do that, vice versa with daedric armor.

The skill tree is not a circle

Right now, about 3 p.m. ET, I can't login or launch Skyrim from desktop, .exe, or from Steam.  Anyone else?

works fine for me, but i did saw that skyrim was being updated by steam an hour ago.

Steam updated the .exe so that you can no longer launch the exe by itself without steam running.

Yes, it was a patch.  But I couldn't launch even with Steam running. I had to go into Steam, right-click on my game in Library, click Properties, Local Files, then verify my files.  Apparently the game re-downloaded, becasue I had to reset all my graphics settings.  I know they made fixes to some graphics choices.

apparently some people can't launch it either, they've modded their game with some graphical mods that seem incompatible with this version

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2244540